Grandma Norma Earl

My Grandma, Norma Earl passed away on August 25. Oh how I miss her. This has been a such hard thing for my family but we also know that it was her time. I have been meaning to blog about this for quite sometime but it is very hard for me to get my words out about it. I have never been a good writer and I struggle with getting the words that are in my head out into blogger form. I am going to attempt to write about my Grandma- the lady she was and her death. I don't expect to you to read this long post, it is more for me and journaling purposing. But your welcome to read it all if you want :)

I have always been close to my Grandma. From the beginning I can remember always sitting on her lap, she would hold me and make me feel so loved. She was like my 2nd mom. She would come pick us up from school if we were sick and my mom couldn't come get us. I remember one year she took me school clothes shopping and I even remember the cute checkered skirt and lacy blouse that I got.  When I was in 4th grade we moved to our new house that was right behind my Grandmas. Her house was where I ran away to if I ever got in trouble. I loved sleepovers at Grandma's house. I think I slept over at her house once a week while I was growing up. I would go over to her house and she would make me toast with apricot jam (there was always something about Grandma's toast with jam that made it sooo good) and we would have hot chocolate. She would make me a little bed on the floor in the TV room and we would watch the Golden Girls. I loved playing with her old jewelry and gloves. She always took such good care of us. I know that she loved us so much.

I loved listening to her sing. Whenever my sisters and me were fighting she would always start singing "let us oft speak kind words to each other." She loved to dance and dance and dance. This brought her so much joy. She loved to tell stories and visit with people.

My Grandma took such pride in the way she looked and kept her house. Sometimes we thought she was too fussy or strict but looking back now I can see what a valuable quality  that is to have. We could never enter the house through the sliding glass door or enter with our shoes on. We weren't allowed to sit or play in the "GOld Room." And you never touched Grandma's hair. All these things make me laugh now. She really kept things so nice.

About 5 years ago my Grandma was diagnosed with Alzheimers disease. A nasty and horrible disease. I watched my Grandma slowly slip away. It actually was a pretty fast moving disease. But I am grateful to say it never got so bad that she became a vegetable. This was hard on my whole family but we also were able to pull together and learn so much from her and serve her. In some way Alzheimers opened another side of Grandma up and we were able to see a softer and more silly Grandma. About 2 years ago Regan and I moved in with Grandma while I was student teaching. This was about the time that she started to get worse and couldn't live on her own but it was also a huge blessing to us. She took care of me just as much I took care of her. I remember coming home from student teaching a few times in tears and she would be so concerned and hug me and tell me it was okay. I love this time I was able to spend with her. Getting her ready for dances, cooking her meals, watching Dancing with the stars, getting her ready for bed and tucking her in. 

We were always doing something with Grandma. Taking her shopping, out to lunch, to the movies, going on our all girl cruise, going to Nauvoo, and so many more fun things. She loved to go out and do something. She would always ask "what are we going to do today." These things really brought my family together. It was wonderful to see that somebody was always with her. I have to pay tribute my Mother and my sister Jamie. They were her primary care takers these last few years and they had such a big job but I just watched them in awe as they just stepped up and helped. I love them for this!! Because of my wonderful family we never had to put her in a nursing home. I know this was hard on everyone and everyone sacrificed things but I know that we were hugely blessed. This was what she wished-she loved her home and I am so happy she was able to be there till the very end. Thank you family!

She had a fall about 9 days before she died. The doctors believe that she had a stroke. This was the beginning of her downhill process. I was able to come home from Minnesota just a few days later. After the fall she pretty much stayed in bed, stopped eating and drinking, and lost most communication. Hospice had already been coming and they told us that she maybe had one to three days. My family rallied together and we all came together. It was so neat to see our family pull together. We really found ourselves always wanting to be at her house, close to her. People took a night shift and someone was always with her. We were drawn to her room, where she was and just sat with her, talking to her, comforting her, singing to her, reading to her. It was a sad but beautiful time. She held on for 9 days! She was fighter to the very end. Most all of the family was able to be with her in her last moments.  I still can't believe she is gone. I miss her so much. I just want to hear her laugh. I know though that we have a such a loving Heavenly Father and He created a plan for all us. I know that we have a Savior who truly did save us and because of Him we get to see our loved ones again. I can't imagine not knowing this to be true. The veil is thin and we have angels round about us. The funeral was beautiful and offered closure. I think about her everyday. I want to be a little bit more like her. I love you Grandma!

Traveling Gypsies

This summer has been a little bit different for us than the other summers we have had selling. We have moved alot and gone to many different places. We stayed in Minnesota at our Apartments from May till July. Then we went to Des Moines, Iowa for about week and stayed at the Marriott.

We then moved back to Minnesota for about a 2 weeks and then we were off to Decatur, Illinois (A little mid west town). We stayed at the Ramada Inn. We were in Decatur for about a week and half. 
We left Decatur and now we are in Champaign, Illinois staying at the Country Inn and Suites. And just when we thought we were done moving we had to switch rooms. 
We feel like traveling gypsies, living out of our suite cases, being creative on what to eat for dinner so we don't have to eat out everynight, making due with what we have. It has definitely been interesting but an adventure. We just have to go where Regan can be the most successful so we have to be super flexible. Looking back it kind of makes me laugh. Luckily, I have good friends out here to keep me company during the day- we are all in the same boat. I'm just grateful to have a home to go home to in one week!! See you soon Utah!

Best Buds

These two are best buddies. This is my parents dog Chancho, he is a boston terrier and the funniest dog you could ever meet. He LOVES Regan! They play and play together. If Regan isn't around and you say to Chancho "where's Regan?" Chancho will run to the window and look out for him and then when he sees him he will run to his toy box and get toy and then run to the door. Chancho always has to be right by Regan and even gets jealous when I am close to Reg. We miss this funny little dog.

Chancho doesn't do very well with babies and little kids so my mom is training him for when the new baby comes with a baby doll. It is the funniest thing. Supposedly he is doing better and learning. I think it is great idea.

Happenings in Minnesota!

Just a few little fun updates... we are still in Minnesota. Eden Prairie, MN to be exact. It has been an interesting summer but a really great one too. Reg is having his best summer with selling. He works so hard and I am so grateful for that since I had horrible luck this summer with finding a job. With no car and not much within walking distance it makes it pretty hard to find a job. I've learned to keep myself busy though. The summer has flown by! This is just a little bit of what we have been up to when Reg isn't working.

We love Lake Calhoon! It is a beautiful lake really close to the city. We went there on the 4th of July with Amanda and Travis. Travis (my brother in law) is out with us selling. Amanda was here for a week and it was the best week of my summer!! I need to get pictures from her. We did everything!
The Minnesota Temple. Such a pretty temple. So small but beautiful.
BBQing!!! Anytime we can we BBQ. It is so nice to be outside in MN! This is at Bryant Lake Park. I love that there are beautiful lakes to go everywhere in MN. Thanks Reg for always being the BBQ man!
Twins Baseball Game! These are so fun to go to. The atmosphere, the food and the game. It just can't be beat. 
Oh ya and I can't forget the biggest news of all! That's right folks we are expecting a baby! It's true, the day finally came and we can't be more excited! I know some of you were wondering when on earth this day would come and it's here. I am 14 weeks along. January 17th here we come!!!

House Stuff

These are the lamps and bookshelves we got at Ikea. I am still figuring what to put on the shelves but I love them. It is so nice to finally be putting things away. I still don't really have anything hung up on the walls but it is a work in progress. I can only do a little bit at a time or else I get really overwhelmed.

 We finally got our blinds!! We have been in our house for 4 months and we just got our blinds. We have been using garbage bags taped over the window. I know, a little white trash. We are just really slow and getting things. But we love our new blinds, they make such a huge difference.

Birthday Celebrations

25 year old! Say what?? Weird I don't feel that old ( I know that it isn't that old but you know what I mean). I had a great birthday! I had the day off from work which is a birthday present. Reg got me new gym shoes and lots of new earrings! I love them! He does such a good job at picking things out for me. Too bad he forgets to buy wrapping paper and has to wrap them in Christmas wrapping paper.Ü
We went to lunch at this new place in Draper called U Food Grill (I had a coupon), it was good and healthy. Then we went to Ikea. I have been waiting and waiting to go to Ikea to get bookshelves. Reg asked me what I wanted to do for my birthday and I wanted to go and get bookshelves. I had saved my money and was so excited. While at Ikea we also got lamps for our bedroom. I used to think that I didn't like Ikea but I love it now. When we got home we put them together and they were super easy to put together, that makes them even better.
Then we went my parents and Reg's parents to visit. Then we got take out from Bajio ( I am so a Bajio girl, not a Cafe Rio girl) and went home to watch Biggest Loser and American Idol. Such a great day and birthday! Thanks everyone!!!Ü

Easter Weekend

We had such a good weekend. I hope all of you did also. Amanda and Travis came from St. George for the weekend and it was great to just all hang out together. On Saturday we went to my Grandma Dangerfield's Birthday party. I am so grateful for her and her example. She never complains and has such a strong testimony.
Then we went to Regan's parent's house for dinner and the Easter Egg hunt. The kids were so excited! I think they were more excited for the Egg hunt than they were on Christmas to open presents.Ü
Later that night we dyed easter eggs at my parents and watched Marley and Me.
On Sunday we went church (we love our ward) and then went to my parents for Easter Brunch. My whole family was there and the weather was nice and it was just great. Reg and I hunted for our Easter baskets. Reg's was really high up in a huge pine tree and mine was in the garage behind a bunch of stuff. My Dad loves to hide the Easter baskets and always makes it super hard to find them. Anything is fair game with him.Ü It was nice just to hang outside and play. Later, we had a money egg hunt. Eggs were hidden with money in them and we each got five eggs to find. The funny thing is that most people couldn't find all their eggs cause they were hidden so hard. I was lucky enough to find all of mine.Ü There are still about 6 eggs hidden in our yard that haven't been found yet so if anyone needs some extra change come on over.
I truly love Easter. It has always been one of my favorite holidays. This is year I loved it especially because Our Savior. My thoughts have been on Him alot recently and everything He has done for me. I have truly felt loved by Him.

Grandma's Birthday Present

Last night to celebrate my birthday my Grandma, my mom, Jamie and I went to Hale Theater to see Phantom of the Opera and to dinner at Olive Garden. This was my present from my Grandma. It was a great girls night out. I usually really like plays at hale theater and this one was good but just different than what I thought it would be. It wasn't really anything like the Phantom of the Opera that we are all familier with. It was still well done and we all had a good time. Grandma was on a role last night. Most of you know that my Grandma has Alzheimers. It is a sad disease but we love spending time with Grandma. Well, last night during a scene in the play (it was showing the phantoms story from when he was a boy) so its this really serious and dramatic part in the play and its dead quiet... the phantom had just been born and so they make a sound like a baby crying and then my Grandma as loud as possibly could says, "there's the cat!" Yep that's right she thought the baby crying was a cat. We all died...its was so funny. I know everybody in the theater heard her.Ü So then were at the restaurant and she was just being so funny, pulling funny faces and making us laugh. Then out of the blue she say, "It's my birthday!" and we said its not your birthday and she said, "yes it is." So we celebrated her birthday instead.Ü Thanks Grandmas for a great birthday night! We always have a good time with you.

Spring is here!

Spring is here, which means golf season has started. I am hoping to take up golfing again... I really enjoy it. Reg and I went and hit a few golf balls the other day and it was great. I think I even hit a few balls better than Reg.Ü
I am loving this weather. Could it please stay like this forever?

Projects

I have numerous projects I want to achieve at this time in life. This was one of them! Finally we are starting to put things up in our house and decorate. It is a very slow process but I am just happy that we are starting. Reg hates assembling furniture. I like it. We did this one together and it was quite easy except I made a few mistakes and we had to take it all the way apart and put it back together. Ü Luckily it was an easy one. Now what do I put on the shelves??

Draper Temple

Reg and I had the opportunity to go to the Draper temple open house a few days ago. Suprisingly, this was the first temple open house I have ever been to. This temple is beautiful! It has become one of my favorites. It was a great experience to be able to walk through it and feel the power of the temple and what it means. I am so happy that we have so many temples around the world!

The month of February

The month of February was good to us. Here are just a few highlights:

*I went on a blog hiatus.Ü But I'm back.

*I did the 14 days of Valentines for Reg. It was super fun and I think he enjoyed it.

*We had a great Valentines. We spent the day with Grammy, taking care of her. She kept asking "who's my valentine" and I would respond, "I'm your valentine!" Oh how I love her. Reg got me a massage for valentines and went and got it yesterday. AMAZING!

*Celebrated Jared's 17th birthday! I know, I can't belive it either!

*Went to the Celine Dion concert with Jamie and My mom and Dad. I can't even tell you how much fun it was and how amazing she is! The costume changes were my favorite.Ü Thanks Mom and Dad!

*Got offered a dance teaching job for a great new studio in West Jordan! More details to come...

*Started Xfuze. More details to come....

*Loving our new house but still trying to hang things up and decorate.

The Ultimate Gift

I just finished the book "The Ultimate Gift." It only took me a few hours and was a really easy read. I truly enjoyed this book. If you haven't read it, you should. It just is all around good and makes you really think about your life and how you are living. THere is movie based on the book and I watched it last night and it was ok. It's a cute movie and has a good message but it is NOTHING like the book and the book is SO much better. I know that that is how most movies that are based on a book are but this one takes the cake. Anyways I just wanted to share a few quotes from the book because I loved it so much.Ü

The Gift of Work
He who loves his work never labors

The Gift of Money
Money is nothing more than a tool. It can be a force for good, a force for evil, or simply be idle.

The Gift of Friends
It is a wealthy person, indeed, who calculates riches not in gold but in friends.

The Gift of Learning
Education is a lifelong journey whose destination expands as you travel.

The Gift of Problems
Problems can only be avoided by exercising good judgement. Good judgment can only be gained by experiencing life's problems.

The Gift of Family
Some people are born into wonderful families. Others have to find or create them. Being a member of a family is a priceless privilege which costs nothing but love.

The Gift of Laughter
Laughter is good medicine for the soul. Our world is desperately in need of more such medicine.

The Gift of Dreams
Faith is all that dreamers need to see into the future.

The Gift of Giving
The only way you can truly get more out of life for yourself is to give part of yourself away.

The Gift of Gratitude
In those times when we yearn to have more in our lives, we should dwell on the things we already have. In doing so, we will often find that our lives are already full to overflowing.

The Gift of a day
Life at its essence boils down to one day at a time. Today is the day!

The Gift of Love
Love is a treasure for which we can never pay. The only way we keep it is to give it away.

The Ultimate Gift
In the end, life lived to its fullest is its own ultimate gift.

"TheUltimate Gift," by Jim Stovall

Two Cars

Well, we finally bought a second car! We have always only had one car, our whole marriage on car. We never really needed a second one and I was determined to go as long as we could with just one car. But the day came when we realized we needed two. I think we made it pretty long with just one. It just got too hard with me working 2 jobs and Reg going to school and selling on the side. I am going to miss having him drive me to work and pick me up. We looked and looked and looked for a SUV. I was starting to get really impatient with all the dealerships. Luckily Regan knows alot about sales and didn't sucked in to just buying one. He is really good at negotiating. Never pay the amount that you are told first for a car. They can always go lower! But finally we found one that we love and felt really good about it. YAY! Prices are really good right now for SUV's. It's an X5 and It's really fast.Ü

Home Sick

I am so ready for the weekend and by weekend I mean Saturday night and Sunday. I have worked all week and I work tomorrow from 9-6! AAHH I am pulling out my hair already. It has been a long week and I am super bored at work. So forgive me for whining. I don't think I have had one customer the whole day. Bummer. At least I can look forward to a nice friday night with Regan and the cousins.Ü But I am dreading tomorrow... I need something to do to keep me sane.

Also, I need to start hanging things up on my walls at our house and I am terrified. Decorating scares me so bad. I really struggle with it and I don't have clue what I am doing. Regan is better at it than i am. He actually has a really good eye but if he could have his way he woudn't hang anything up on the walls. What? Are you kidding?! So now its up to me to figure out where to hang stuff. I will probably only end up hanging one thing cause then I will be too afraid that I won't like where i hang the other stuff. I don't want to put holes in my new and beautiful walls.Ü HELP.

2009 ready or not

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday! We had a great one! It has been super busy, I don't remember other Christmas' being this busy but that may be because we moved into a new house 4 days before Christmas! It was the best. We are loving our new house and it feels so good to have a home. It is a slow process moving in but I am determined to not get stressed out and just take my time. I love unpacking and putting things away in their right places. With the holidays we haven't really spent much time in our new house and yesterday was the first night that we just hung out in our new house, just the two of us. And I cooked our first meal in our new kitchen... amazing.Ü I really want to post some pics but I have no idea where our camera cord is... I must find it. We had alot of ups and downs getting into our house...ALOT! It seemed that everything that could go wrong did and I thought I was going to lose it. I will spare all the details because they seem so minor now. Everything truly does work out even when it seems like they won't. Lets just say we learned ALOT.Ü

Good ol' Reg has been the little homemaker while I go to work everyday. That definitely feels weird. He has worked really hard trying to get everything order and fixed. I wish I was the one at home but I guess having a job is a good thing.Ü I seem to always say I wish I wasn't working but then when i am not working I go crazy. So this a good change.

Please come by to our new house and say hello. We would love having friends.Ü