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Too Many Good-Byes

It is very late, and I know I shouldn't be writing in here...but I wanted to make one post before I leave for Utah in a few hours. It has been a whirlwind weekend--where we flew to Salt Lake City on Friday night--then drove up to Idaho Falls on Saturday morning with our daughter, Emily, and her husband and baby. We got so into talking that we missed where we were supposed to go...and had to backtrack and get on the right road--we lost about an hour doing that--crazy! We still got there in time to have lunch and then to be there for the open house that night. All went very well, and we enjoyed getting to meet friends and family of our new son-in-law, Cody. Everyone had nothing but nice things to say about Cody...so we are feeling pretty blessed to have him join our family! katie is very happy about that too. :) We drove back to Clearfield, where Emily lives, on Sunday morning...and went to Church with them, and then flew back on Sunday night. We saw some people we knew on the plane, so that made our trip even more enjoyable. BUT we are tired tonight--have been getting the car packed, and trying to get things ready to take our daughter, Kelsey, up to BYU. I say hello and good bye too often to too many of my kids...and it has put me in a pretty emotional state. Kelsey has to keep telling me not to cry...and that's not easy to do. I'm pretty emotional about her leaving. As many know, she has been my right arm for the past year, and my dear friend...so having her go is hard on me. But I am excited for her to have all these new experiences, and I hope that college is wonderful for her.

I have to say so many people have been so kind to her as she leaves,both from Church and from work. She has a lot of friends, and people see what a wonderful person she is (like many of us, SHE doesn't see how wonderful she is but the people around her do). It has been quite amazing to her when people bring her gifts or call her just to say good-by. She is a powerful influence for good, and doesn't even realize it. I am so proud to be her mother--she is a terrific person, and I love her very much. I am truly blessed as a mother.

Just your average Wednesday!

It is Wednesday morning, and I really don't have anything earth-shattering to say...but thought I would write anyway. On Friday Spence and I will fly to Salt Lake City, and then drive up to Idaho Falls for Katie's open house in Idaho Falls (where Cody is from). We just found out last night that our daughter, Emily, and her family (Michael and baby SJ) are coming too...so we'll get to spend more time with them. That is always a treat!

We were feeling so grateful that my eating and dumping problems were getting better. However, I have had some dumping problems this week. On Sunday night I was in bed for most of the evening. Can you believe that is because I had one bite of a peanut butter brownie...and darn it, it was SO good! (But I ended up really paying for it). Last night I barely ate any dinner--I am a little paranoid again about having this problem. SIGH...the learning process continues.

I am back to taking Jodie (my oldest) to doctor's appointments again. It is better that I do it, since she missed at least 2 while I was recuperating. She has several, and it keeps me hopping to keep it all organized.

Next Tuesday we will leave for Utah to take our daughter, Kelsey, up to school. I am quite emotional about that whole thing. She has been such a friend to me, and SO incredibly helpful during my illness. I will miss her terribly. But I am excited for the experiences that she will have there. On Monday we went with her good friend, Erin Allred (and Erin's mother, who is MY good friend) to breakfast. We had a great time being together.

We are trying to put our house back together...but I am like ADD when it comes to working on the house. I can't focus on anything long enough to really get something done...and I need to. I can do things for a little while, then I'm bored...and on to something else. Well, here's to a more productive day! Happy days to you all, Louise

Some random thoughts

It is Sunday morning. In just a few hours I will be giving a talk in our sacrament meeting about the importance of early-morning seminary (the class our high school students go to before they go to school). I am reading some talks from General Conference, and just wanted to share a quote from one of those talks.

It says, "If we place our confidence in the Lord, we will be sustained in all of our difficulties, our trials, and our afflictions. This promise from the Lord to His Saints does not imply that we will be exempt from sufferings or trials but that we will be sustained through them and that we will know that it is the Lord who has sustained us." What a blessing to know that the Lord will sustain us--support us through difficult times. Those times will not be taken away from us, but He will give us the strength to get through them. How thankful I am for that principle and for the reality of those words. I hope we all will feel the strength of the Lord in our lives, for He truly is the source of strength, comfort and hope. Happy Sabbath to all of you!

Woo Hoo--what a wedding!

I have really been a slacker when it comes to writing on this blog--it is now becoming just a once a week event...hopefully I can improve on that. The wedding was fabulous--just about every detail worked out perfectly, and it was such a happy time with Katie. She was a beautiful and radiant bride--sounds corny, but that girl can really light up a room! She is so happy with Cody, and we are thrilled to have him in our family--he is such a nice guy. He comes from a very nice family, who all have tender hearts like he does. We had lots of family come from far away, and that meant a lot. The temple was a beautiful experience--Spence's dad, who is just months away from being 90, was able to perform the marriage...and that was so special. He is a great man, and has been a wonderful grandfather to our children. He has always has a special interest in Katie, because he is the one who discovered her amazing singing ability--he is very proud of that fact!

We had a luncheon after the temple ceremony and then a reception that night. As I get more pictures, I will probably post more of all the fun events of that day. My two sisters, Laura and Kathy, were here--and that always makes it special for me. Spence's two sisters who live out of town, Nancy and Rosemary, were also here...so we really had a celebration with both sides of our families.

Friday night we had a reception--there were so many people there, and that made us very happy. We had dancing, a chocolate fountain, and a photo booth...which was the hit of the night. So, all in all, we just had a wonderful time with everyone. Again, I just marvel that I just hit my one-year anniversary on August 9th of discovering that I had cancer...and here we were a year later...and able to do all that. Truly we have witnessed a miracle. I was blessed with lots of energy. What a blessing--and how happy we are for Katie and Cody!

Sleepless Nights--Wedding Worries!

Hello everyone! Since I still have not downloaded any pictures from our trip to the beach or our preparations for the wedding, you will have to read a picture-less entry! As you can tell from the time I posted, I can't sleep. I have too many thoughts running through my head--to dos for before the big day (wedding on Friday), places I need to go, things I need to get done. My mind was just churning as I lay there, so I thought I could kill two birds with one stone--can't sleep, might as well blog! :)

We have had a few wedding mishaps in the past few days--very typical for this time of your life. Katie and Cody went through the temple last night--this was Katie's first time, and it truly was a delightful experience. She seemed to do very well, and was very into listening and learning. She was very happy to have the people there who could come...and it was such a sweet experience for her and me--truly one of those precious moments with a loved one. The temple workers who helped her were so sweet, and some of them were long-time dear friends. I'm so glad we could be there.

That was not an example of a mishap...but this was. On Monday night I went with Katie and Cody to have their wedding pictures taken--not a good idea to do on their wedding day, since it will be the middle of the day and very hot. I stopped on the way home to put gas in my car. As I was throwing away garbage from my car, I inadvertently threw away my charge card also...so later that evening Spence drove back to Mesa to look through the garbage and find my card...which miraculously he DID! He found it on the ground. We felt very blessed. He brought it home, put it on the kitchen counter, and lo and behold, we couldn't find it later. I spent a lot of time looking for that dumb card, but then our cleaning ladies found it...and so all was well...until I lose the next thing or forget some important detail (that I think is so important, but really isn't in the big scheme of things!)

The thing that is so amazing about this August, is that it was exactly a year ago (I think on the 9th) that I found out I had cancer. Isn't it amazing how well I feel just a year later? I am cancer-free,I can work out,I can do just about anything, as long as I take a few well-placed rests(!), and I can eat. WOW--I have been so blessed, so I guess some minor wedding mishaps are bound to happen...and really don't matter nearly as much as the fact that I am here to enjoy them and to experience them. I am truly a blessed person.