Rain, Rain, Go Away!!

My rain gutters are overflowing so I am having to put coolers and buckets along the stream of water and dumping them away from the house EVERY 1/2 hour!! And praying that my vegetable garden (in the background) won't be washed away! Stay strong corn seeds!!

And before some smart aleck tells me to clean out my gutters ~ we've tried. Whoever put up the awning / roof on our porch covered the gutters with the vinyl. Obviously there's enough room for junk to get inside, but we are having a dickens of a time figuring out how to clean it out without taking it completely down. Any suggestions??

Thank goodness we have a boat!!

A long ~probably boring ~ post

It's been a while since I've posted. Shame on me! It's been a crazy few months, but I must admit that's not why I haven't posted. I've been blog stalking my neighbor's kid's blogs and feeling overwhelmed... no - grateful... no - proud... no - scared... no. OK. Maybe all of the above.

First off let me say I have the greatest neighbors ever!! And I'll punch anyone that will dispute that. (I actually grew up in this circle!) We live in a cul-de-sac and have a total of 12 homes on the circle. And I trust any and all of my neighbors with my life. Truly. These people are the best people. But I have to admit my neighbors right across the street are extra special to our family. From the day we moved in they have made us feel so welcomed, loved and even a part of their family. I feel so blessed to know them, and to have had their help in raising my kids, and to be a part of their children's lives. Awww. The memories; the plays they used to practice for weeks and then put on for the neighborhood. The 'girls' singing Disney songs and making up dances to them. Annie telling Kirstie she couldn't get a drink at my house because it would be rude, but then turning around and getting a snack! Trombone quartets. I could go on and on. The dad and the youngest son are even Alex's best friends. Really! And someday I hope to grow up to be like Jill, THE mom. She's raised 9 incredible children, and supported a very busy husband all while serving so many people in our neighborhood no one can keep track of all her kindness.

So she called me the other day to say her grandson was having emergency surgery. He had been limping recently, and once in a while complaining of some minor pain with his knee so his mom had decided to take him to the doctors. He was diagnosed with osteosarcoma - a cancer of the bone, went through chemo and just recently had a radical surgery - rotationplasty (check out the mayo clinics video about it on youtube). While he was going through all of this, Jill came over to tell me her daughter - no, not the grandson's mom, thank goodness - just found out her melanoma had returned after only a few years, and things didn't look good.

So I've sat back and watched this family, prayed for this family, cried for this family - in fact I'm crying right now - and all those feelings I mentioned above have entered my life. This 9 year old grandson of theirs has had faith all along in his doctors and the procedures they have suggested. No questions asked. And if you watch the youtube video, you would question it if it was suggested to you, I guarantee it!! And their daughter with the melanoma, she writes so beautifully in her blog and is so open and honest. Sure it sucks!! And some days are better than others, but she's alive and able to enjoy her family, at least for a little longer, if not a lot longer!

Then I think of my family. My dad who should have died 10 years ago and because of medical miracles is still here to see his great grandchildren. My mom who has never been healthy and yet keeps a much cleaner house than I do and does yard work in circles around me. Alex... well, I have a whole list for Alex!! But seriously. Even though God himself isn't on the earth, he still performs miracles on a daily basis, and I have been so lucky to have witnessed a few of them. So... overwhelmed, grateful, proud, scared. Yup. All of the above.

And that's not all that's happened recently. (Maybe just the most inspiring)

My in-laws took us to Hawaii! No, I'm not kidding!! And we had a great time!! It was a big shock, and happened very quickly so I had a hard time even believing it was happening until we were on the plane. And look who our pilot was...


...ok. Not really! But they did give him a crash course on how to fly it in case they needed help. I thought that was very nice. Not only to show him the cockpit, but to let him sit in one of the seats and talk to him. Nice!



Here's the 3 of us before take-off. Alex did really well for his first flight. It was interesting to me that the speed didn't bother him - in fact, I'd say he loved it - but the clouds are what bugged him. If he could see any part of the earth at all, he was fine, but when we were in cloud cover, he was nervous.

And here's Alex once we arrived. Yes, I had to take these pics to send to the other kids to make them jealous. I'm evil!!

We got there, found our hotel, then ate dinner and went shopping for groceries since our hotel room had a kitchenette in it. By the time we went to bed it was very late Utah time, but when we woke up, we were ready to start the day. Alex woke up fairly early - still on Utah time frame - so he and I walked the beach when no one else was there. A great way to start a vacation. Then we went back to the room for breakfast.

Here's Alex on the balcony of our room eating his morning sausage.

It was so nice to spend time with the loves of my life! Mike didn't relax much because he was worrying about his new job; you see, he was sent to California to be trained by another district manager whose first words of advice were to "keep looking for another job and get out of this one." Not exactly what you want to hear from a fellow employee. But he tried his best, and I got to spend time with him. And in paradise no less!!

Alex was his usual, casual self. This is him chillin' with grandma and grandpa. I was very proud of how they handled him. They don't know him very well, which is our fault but they love him and treat him like the special little man he is. (I should clarify why they don't know him too well. Alex is a hard little guy to handle sometimes. So I will admit, we don't ask for help to watch him or be with him except from very few people. I know Alex would run over Grandma - I mean look at him! He's her size!!) And letting him come on this vacation with us was not only more financially (which they paid for EVERYTHING!) but also took away from some of the relaxation.

But just look at my 2 guys!! Snuggling up in bed. And what you don't see (hear) is the sliding glass door is open - all night long! - so we can hear the waves crashing up on the beach. Heaven!

And here's where my fish spent as much time as possible! He loved the pool. Not such a big fan of the ocean, but in the pool he would dive under water and swim, then come up long enough to get a breath and dive under again. (It's just been the last 3 years that Alex has enjoyed water of any kind. When we first adopted him he was even afraid of baths, so we are so glad and excited to see this part of him. Now if we could only find a 4' deep, warm pool around here!!)

Cali made me promise I would take pics of just Mike and I, so here's one I took. He's soooo cute!!

I HAD to not only make this, but take a picture of it. I have a book about BIG and LITTLE that I read to the kids at least 30 times a day, and one of the pics in it is a big sand castle and little sand castle. Haha! Here's my own private version of that book.

We had a great, relaxing time, ate lots of good food (shaved ice!!!), went to a luau, saw beautiful scenery and hoards of chickens. Yes, chickens!! I've heard two stories as to why; the first one was that a truck carrying chickens crashed and they all escaped and multiplied in the jungle. The second one was that one of the hurricanes that came through ripped apart all the chicken coops and they are all wild now. Don't know which one is true, but there were literally chickens everywhere!!! The best part had to be spending time with my in-laws. This was so kind of them to take us, and we so needed to get away for a bit.

And then when we got home, my kids surprised me with a combo Mother's Day / early birthday present....

...NEW kitchen flooring!!! It's so beautiful! They all pitched in financially then met the weekend before we got home and did all the work. I am so lucky!! And I'm not referring to the floor, even though I love it and it's the best present ever. I'm meaning my family.

AND Mike had a message for a new job offer when we got home! And he took it. Don't know what he was supposed to learn from his first, new job, but we are grateful he has another one so quickly. And he had a week in between the two jobs that he got to spend at home with us!


But these are the 2 big reasons I was glad to be home!!! Hawaii is literally heaven on earth as far as beauty is concerned, and it was fantastic to relax, but I missed my babies!

Last week Mo got sick. I just had to click this picture. Isn't he the best grandpa ever?! But one of the days she stayed home, we had a little picnic with Oakland at Mac's park. Can you believe it will be 3 years this June since Mac was born?

That may be another reason for my feelings of retrospect. Mother's Day I always think of Mac, and hope Cali is ok. There is nothing worse than seeing your child suffer, and even though Cali never saw Mac suffer, she still lost him. And watching her through this has been hard for us to see. What's interesting about all of this happening with our neighbor's is I've noticed how people are so grateful for their own trials and tragedies. When Jill was telling another neighbor about her family's cancer trials, they shared with her that their daughter's husband left her for another woman, and Jill thought, "I'm so glad we're not going through that." And even with our grandson dying, I've thought about how I'm so glad we were able to go through that instead of what others have gone through.

Anyway, we put some pinwheels on Mac's grave, and Oak jabbered at him, then had to touch every balloon and smell every flower within walking distance. It was a beautiful day!

As we were getting ready to leave, a tractor came to tear down the rest of the pedestal from the statue that was vandalized a while ago. I guess getting ready for Memorial Day. Sad to think that someone's stupid mistake could take away such beauty and comfort from a place that people go for that beauty and comfort. It really is true that our choices effect so many more people than we think.

And then just a little, fun side note; we got the girls these strollers the other night. They love them!! They would wrap their babies up in blankets, put them in the strollers and push them around all day. It's so fun to see them pretend! I'm lucky I get to spend time with them.

So, there you have it. The nitty-gritty of the last few months. I hope my post doesn't sound negative, because I don't feel that way at all! I feel inspired, rested, happy. And, again, so grateful for my family and friends.