Diane Powell Miller

My sweet mother-in-law battled lymphoma for a few years but it was pancreatic cancer that took her life in just 5 weeks after being diagnosed. I am grateful to have the knowledge that families are forever. She is at peace, no longer in pain and reunited with family. I like to think she is with our little boy giving him as many hugs and kisses as possible before he makes his appearance in September. 

Our last moments with Diane were precious and will be held closely to our hearts through the coming years.  We feel so blessed to have had the chance to say goodbye to her. Matthew was able to be with his mother through the end along with his father and sister. Diane passed away with the three of them by her side. If your time is up, what better way to go than being surrounded by the love of your family. 

We love you Diane, You are deeply missed by all. 

The Obituary...

Diane Powell Miller, 61, passed away peacefully in her home on June 27^th, 2013.  Over the past month she had been battling pancreatic cancer on the heels of a year’s earlier battle with Lymphoma.  She was surrounded by family at the time of her passing.

Diane was born in Norman, Oklahoma on March 11, 1952 to Reed Madsen Powell and Kathryn Richards Powell.  She was the second of five children (Reed Jr., Laurie, Blythe and Susan).  Diane’s youth was filled with adventure as her father’s profession took her to live in all of Oklahoma, Guatemala, Massachusetts, Ohio and California.  After she graduated from Cal Poly Pomona, she met the love of her life, Arland Craig Miller, whom she married on September 7^th, 1977 in the Salt Lake City Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Diane and Craig settled in Orange, California where they lived for 36 years and raised two children, Matthew Craig Miller and Megan Diane Miller.  Her life was dedicated to her family, both living and dead.  She loved to be with and learn about family through frequent gatherings, phone calls and genealogy.  Aside from her family, there was no greater priority for Diane than her love for her Savior Jesus Christ and her Heavenly Father.  She was a devout member of her church and active in every opportunity she could find to serve others.

A funeral service was held for Diane at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, 9801 Newport Ave, Santa Ana CA on Saturday, June 29^th.  She was laid to rest at the Mountain View Memorial Park, 3115 East 7800 South, Cottonwood Heights, UT on Saturday, July 6^th.  Diane is survived by her husband Craig, son Matthew and daughter Megan along with two grandchildren on the way.  She will be sorely missed.

Grandma Powell's 90th Birthday

We went to Orange County to celebrate Grandma Powell's 90th birthday. It was fun to see family on the Powell side that we don't get to see very often. It was a great celebration for such a sweet little lady. And doesn't she look great for 90?!

A few days before the party we all received some not very reassuring news about Diane. Once we heard things weren't looking up I decided to hire a photographer last minute so we could get some family photos taken. I was able to find a great local photographer who was able to capture some sweet moments. This happened to be the last time all 6 of us were together. I can't help but get a little teary eyed when looking at them. 

Diane passed away just under 3 weeks of these pictures being taken.

photos by Gilmore Studios

Grandpa Powell's Funeral

It was very bittersweet to attend the funeral of Matthew's grandfather, Reed Madsen Powell.  On the one hand he had been sick with dementia for a very long time and he was moving on to a much better place but on the other hand we will miss having him around with us.  Matthew was very close to his Grandfather having received lots of great council from him on business and his career when he was younger.  The funeral was held in two parts, a service at the church in Orange County near where Grandpa Powell had lived the the past 20 years and a gravesite service in Salt Lake where he was buried.

The funeral in Orange County included remarks from each of Grandpa's children.  Craig delivered the Eulogy and Matthew was asked to read a few short remarks from his Grandmother and of course added in some of his own comments as well =).  All of Grandpa's living descendants were in attendance for the funeral.  We were all very touched to hear more of his life and were comforted by the blessing of eternal families.  

Red, White & Blue

We spent the 4th in LA. Matthew was headed down for one of his bi-weekly trips to see his mom so I tagged along since I was free from work. It was great to see Diane again. I hadn't seen her in over 2 months. It was a short and low key trip. Exactly what I needed after working 3 nights in a row. We slept (well more me than anyone), chatted, had a family BBQ, swam and watched fireworks.

Diane is a trooper. The more aggressive treatment plan wasn't shrinking the tumors to the oncologists liking so Diane was referred to another hospital and doctor. She is in the beginning process of starting her stem cell treatment. They will extract her stem cells and then pump her body with intense chemo drugs for 3 weeks and then put her stem cells back into her body. She will have a long recovery process and have to be watched over 24/7. In the end we are all hoping this will take care of the last 2 tumors in her abdomen. If all goes well the doctors have hope that she could possibly be in remission by October/November. We are all rooting for her. Diane is surrounded by so much love and support!

One Year Older & Wiser Too

This special guy (well he is special to me) had a birthday. We were both working like crazy the actual day of his birthday. On the plus side were able to fly down to LA & celebrate with his family while visiting Diane. Things were very low key (simple dinner & bundt cake) since Matthew doesn't like celebrating his birthday at ALL. I haven't come to comletely understand this but I try to go along with it as much as possible. He can be a little difficult at times but I still love him :) Happy Birthday, Matthew!

During this time Diane was still on her old chemo plan & just finished up her 5th treatment & was holding up pretty well. Not long after this trip we learned after another scan that the chemo plan she was on wasn't working fast enough & that she needed to look at other options. She is currently on a more aggressive treatment called RICE. The chemo is given to her in the hospital over 3-5 days. She will have two treatments of this & then another PET scan. She has already gone through one round and will have the second round Monday the 6th. As expected with a more aggressive treatment she is much weaker, has low energy & pretty sick. She is a very strong willed women and is hanging in there with all her might. We love you Diane!

(I don't mean to give a lot of detail about Diane but the updates are for our journaling purposes)

M.I.A.

I have been a little absent from the blogging world the past few months. There is a reason, I promise. Work :)

February...

• Valentines Day :) We did our traditional shopping and dinner at Flemings. We love the dining out experience and enjoy having a another reason to go out and celebrate our love for each other. I love the idea of focusing on US and remembering the years we have had together and how much our love has grown. We have such busy lives and it's nice to just stop and remember US.

• We went down to to LA the weekend of the 18th to help out with Diane. It was a nice and relaxing visit. At this time she had started her second round of chemotherapy. She handled it like a champ.

• I found out that I possibly had a job and Stanford started the background process on me :) A week later I was hired to work at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital in the Labor and Delivery Unit!!

March...

• I started my new job and absolutely love it!! It feels great to be back in the OR again and scrubbing in on C-sections. I love seeing those little babies come out and seeing how happy the parents are :)

Home from my first day of work (a.k.a. orientation)

• We made another trip to LA to celebrate Diane's birthday. She had her 3rd round of chemo by this time. She gets a little more tired and sick after each round which is to be expected. She had a CT scan which showed that the tumors are slowly shrinking and we learned that after her 8 rounds of chemo she will most likely have to do some radiation.

Isn't she rockin' that wig!!

• I went down to Texas to celebrate Z's first birthday. The last time I saw her was at Thanksgiving and she wasn't even crawling yet! Now she is walking and gabbing and is no longer a little baby :( I have decided I can't have 4 months slip by before I see her again.

Happy little birthday girl

We have had a good beginning of April so far. I guess that isn't saying much though since we are only 8 days into the month. I started the night shift at work this week. It has definitely been an adjustment and it is going to take some time to figure out a routine. My poor little apartment has been neglected this week and is saying "Clean me, Clean me".

Things with Matthew are still the same. Work, work, work. Still liking it. Still happy. We are thinking of going down to LA for his birthday next weekend and celebrating with his mom and family. He will be one year wiser :)

Events I am looking forward to within the next month...

• Mom is coming to visit as a birthday celebration at the end of April!
• Matthew is taking me to Hawaii for my birthday :) I will enjoy turning 27 while laying out on the sunny beach in Maui.

Life is good. We are happy.