My Grandpa

Since I use this as my journal I need to write about my grandpa, who peacefully left this earth life on Saturday, April 4th. I will never be able to write a fitting tribute to the man who I called my "fun grandpa", however I must write something as opposed to nothing at all. I will forever be grateful for the opportunity I had of seeing him a little over a week ago. Everyone knew his body was not going to last much longer, hospice was involved and he laid in a hospital bed in the formal front room. On one occasion the sun was filtering in the plantation shutters and my brother-in-law was playing beautiful music on the piano in the background. It was such a calm and peaceful moment that I will always remember and cherish! The first two days I was there (St. George, UT) we had some wonderful visiting time. I teased grandpa about going for the Guinness book of world records for the largest medical file. He proudly told me of just one of his doctors having a whole bookcase filled with his files. If you didn't have the chance to know my grandpa he was a lot like Job. It was one medical problem after another, (a heart transplant and West Nile virus just to mention two). If there was ever someone who endured to the end it was my grandpa! I also enjoyed being able to do small acts of service for him while I was there. I got to shave his whiskers and make him bread and milk to his specifications. He in turn told me stories of being in the armed forces and having to eat spam for every meal.
When I was younger, my grandparents house was magical to me. From the toys in the basement to my grandpa's huge movie collection. Grandpa would keep a catalog of all his movies and he would rate them. The scary thing was sometimes we would start watching a movie and it would become apparent that grandpa's ratings were very generous like a G rating that really should have been an R. One thing I always looked forward to was going shopping with grandpa. He introduced the concept that I could have whatever I wanted. We would walk into a store and he would say "pick whatever you want." My mouth would drop open and I couldn't believe how lucky I was.
Not to sound prejudice but my grandpa was one handsome good looking guy when he was younger. He played professional baseball and was a fire fighter. Once I showed my sister-in-laws a picture of my grandpa and they both said "Man your grandpa was a hottie!" He is obviously the reason I am so good looking myself, HA!
My grandma never liked being away from my grandpa and I know she has been waiting anxiously for him to join her. It makes me smile to think about that reunion. I will miss him, I will miss him telling me "You are a good girl!" I know he will tell me the same thing again some day when we are all together again. I love you grandpa, I hope to endure half as well as you did!!

Busted Camera

The image sensor on our Canon Powershot went out, so we are offically without a camera. Parker and Josie have been so cute together recently, I really wish I had a camera. Josie made Parker a picnic lunch today and they ate it outside the patio on a blanket. Josie kept saying "it is such a nice day, I just want to lay outside on a blanket and listen to nature." So it might be a while before new pictures. Hopefully, my mom will have pity on me and let me borrow her camera for Parker's upcoming birthday and party.

Stake Women's Conference

Today was our stake women's conference which Sis. Nelson and Sis. Sheri Dew spoke at. It was truly an amazing time, I hardly realized it was three hours. The theme for the conference was "Spiritual Preparation for Times of Tribulation." I loved Sis. Nelson's talk, she spoke about the power of questions. She challenged all of us to take a question we needed answered to the upcoming general conference. She also said to take one question to the scriptures daily for 30 days. She told funny personal stories and I was just really impressed with her.
Then it was Sis. Dew's turn to speak. She started with telling us a story about when she was recently in Hawaii with her 5 nephews. One nephew who attends BYU was going to jump off a cliff and he wanted her to take a picture, so he could send it to all his friends and look cool. So she was preparing to take the picture and then a large wave came and knocked her down into the water. She said at first it was no big deal, until later, she realized that her blackberry was in her pocket and it was now water logged and not working. She said she had emails about work, she needed to access and others with whom she had to communicate. She became desperate and ended up standing in line at a local store for hours until she was able to obtain a new blackberry. She then asked "are we as intently interested in communicating with the Heaven's?" I thought that was a very valuable point and one that I hope to apply in my own life.
Anyway, I thought I would just jot down how grateful I am that I was able to attend this conference and fill my spiritual reserves.

For my Sisters!

Here you go Trisha, Carri and Krista! You have asked how big I am getting so here is some photo evidence. I don't know what has been happening with this third child but he has poked out there way sooner than all the rest. I have discussed it with my nurse practitioner and she just laughs at me! We go on Monday for another ultrasound, YAY!!

Discovery Science Center

Today was a holiday from school for Josie. I wanted to do something fun with her, so we decided to go down to Santa Ana and the Discovery Science Center. Well, thousands of other people thought of the same thing because it was packed!! The kids had alot of fun and they did have some really neat exhibits. I personally enjoyed laying on the bed of nails!

My missionary example

Okay so two spiritual posts in a row, I don't know what is happening to me! I just have to mention how proud I am of Josie! She lives her life not afraid of telling anyone and everyone about the gospel of Jesus Christ. She is such an example to me! She invited her best friend Jade from school to church this past week. Jade, her sister Lily and their mom Chris all came, to our surprise. We were sitting quietly during the sacrament and I overheard Josie softly telling her friends all about the first vision and Jesus, including showing them pictures from her scriptures. I told their mom Chris that if she has any questions just ask Josie!

Parker's answered prayer

For those of you who truly know Parker, know that he is a croup coughing maniac. He has had croup every winter since he was 18 months. He pretty much coughs off an on from October to March. The poor kid picks up the cold germ faster than I can blink (especially thanks to preschool these days.) Anyways, it was so cute yesterday when he came to me all in a rush and said "Mommy, did I cough last night?" I thought about it and answered him honestly "No, Parker I didn't hear you cough once." He got the biggest smile on his face and say "Yes, I knew my prayer would work!" The faith of my favorite guy inspires me!