February 2022

February was a whirlwind. That began with Covid. It was Emmie this time. We have no idea who she got it from but I do know that we were getting multiple emails everyday from the school about exposures at school. So we got it with the rest of the world. Literally everyone had it. 

After Emmie was done quarantining (her symptoms were super mild) I quarantined myself so that I could go visit my Grandpa and Bonnie. On Christmas eve my grandpa was admitted to the hospital and transferred to St. Lukes in Boise. He was ultimately diagnosed with (gallbladder or pancreatic) cancer and given 3-6 months to live. He was eventually released from the hospital after a few days and sent home to Twin Falls. He was 94 years old. It made me really sad, but Grandpa would be the first to say that he lived a good life. My goal is to live like him, so that when it's my time to say goodbye I can leave feeling at peace and contentment and like I lived my best life.  I drove down on a Sunday afternoon and spent a few hours with him. Bonnie was gracious as always and fed me and we had a really nice visit. Grandpa talked about his grandma's house in Lund and recognized the picture that is on Family Search of the old house. He told me about working as a golf caddy in Sun Valley and of how he thought that growing up around Lund and Ketchum when he did was the best place possible for a little boy to grow up. He got to have adventures and explore and golf and ski and run track and had a great childhood. He was doing well when I saw him and I'm so glad I got to go have a nice visit. 

Emmie also had a frenectomy surgery. Her upper lip was connected to her gums, and we knew we'd have to do it eventually. Her orthodontist recommended we do it when her front teeth were held together with her braces so the scar tissue worked in our favor. And so that's what we did. The procedure was incredibly quick and her recovery was fast as well. 

Ains and I also made a trip to Logan Utah for a tour of Utah State. She was still waiting to hear back from BYU, but we knew Utah State would offer her a full tuition scholarship and thought it would be worth checking out. I have to say, I was impressed! Utah State offers their students a lot of opportunities, and they are a tight knit group. If Ainsley didn't get into BYU I new that she would have done well there also. 

As soon as I got back from Logan I flew out for San Diego the next morning. I had planned a trip to visit Syd and to meet Melanie and help her out for a few days. 

We had a lot of fun and it was a great visit, but on my second day there we got a call from my mom that my uncle Mark (Kelly's husband) had had a stroke and he wasn't going to survive it. Our mood and our travel plans quickly changed. Syd was originally going to fly home with me and visit Boise for a week or so. But now we knew we would be driving down to St. George for a funeral. So plans were tweaked. 

Sydney's trip to Boise was just a couple of days. The big events were Mae's pizza in a cup...fun to make, but disgusting, fancy doughnuts from Albertsons, laundry, and lots of walking the dog. 

Within a couple days we were packed in a car on our way to St. George. Syd, her kids, me, and my dad were making the trip down this time. My mom had already driven down to go help Kelly. While we were on our way I got a call from Ainsley...she had gotten into BYU! I was so excited for her! Shortly after that she found out that her friend Elisabeth didn't get in. So we were thrilled for Ainsley and heartbroken for Elisabeth all at the same time.

This is the beautiful picture John took of Ains after reading her acceptance. She is clearly thrilled.

Mark passed away Feb 15th and we drove down to St George for the funeral on the 19th, We stopped in for a visit with my grandpa. It was so good that Syd got to see him (that was most of her original reason for coming to boise). We had a nice visit and he talked with Syd about his service on the USS Uvaldee, and his time spent in China during WWII. Saying goodbye was hard because Syd knew that was the last time she would see him. The death and sadness in our family has been a little hard lately.

After our time in Twin Falls and a 2 hour traffic delay near Cedar City we finally made it to St. George. Feeling there were so tender. We learned after we arrived that doctors were guessing that Mark had had a head injury at some point in his life that had caused a blood clot, and for some reason it had recently dislodged. He and Kelly had been working on a home project, adding weathered wood planks to their wall and there were still his fingerprints and the one last board they needed to install before they had stopped to go to the stake meeting where he ended up having his first of three strokes. Miraculously all of his children we able to get home before he passed away. Chloe was on her mission in Long Beach and she got on a flight and got to her house the same time as the ambulance with Mark. And to make the situation even more sad, his grandson was born the day after he passed away. And his daughter is getting married in September. He truly was too young...the whole situation is just so sad. 

All of Marks kids spoke at the funeral, and they did an amazing job. Their talks were all some of the best funeral talks I have ever heard. They are going to miss their dad so much, and they paid him the best tribute. I was incredibly impressed. Syd even got to be apart of the program and played a song that his boys sang. 

Cy drove through the night and made it there for the funeral. My parents were supposed to go down to San Diego the following week for Melanie's blessing, but since there was so much family around, they ended up blessing Melanie there, which I thought was a really nice ending to a sad event.

I drove home with my parents the day after the funeral and Syd drove back to San Diego with Cy and Kort and Dan drove back to Denver. I hate saying good-bye to family. I stopped at my Grandpa's again on our drive home. Lucky for me I was able to see him more in the month of February than I had in the last 3 years.

February ended with a little bit of fun. Owen's friend Clara was putting together a group of friends to go to a Sweethearts dance. Owen got asked by his friend Emma. 

The date ended up being a little weird because Owen's date couldn't come to any of the day portion because of a volleyball tournament. So Owen hiked table rock, played floor hockey, and made a painting of his date all by himself. Then he found out that his dad hand't bought tickets and the dance was sold out. So we were making a plan B, in case showing up at the dance with cash didn't get them in. Luckily the guy a the door let them in (but charged them more than the tickets were worth and then I'm sure pocketed the cash) so the kids had a fun night after all. Luckily Owen is always just up for having a good time with friends and doesn't worry about the details.