Spring Break 2011

We have had a wonderful Spring Break!  To kick it off, My mom, Lisa's family, Chance, Alex, Michael, Jacob, and I all spent the night in Deer Valley so we could arrive bright and early to the "Kiss Me I'm Irish" Prostate Cancer Walk.


We drove over to Metro Center and ate at Chili's Friday night and then Brad took the kids swimming.  We watched from the window--looked like they had fun.  We woke up on Saturday and enjoyed a quick breakfast at the hotel and then headed over to the park.  This park was amazing!  I wish we lived closer to it, because I would love to go there often. 

All of us were clad in our "Daddy's Deeres" shirts and we were ready to walk.  We had a great time and look forward to doing it again next year!

Just to let you know. . .

I have had to limit what I am doing lately.  It is difficult mentally, but physically I am not able to take on and do all the things I would like.  I have been forced to put my magnifying glass to myself lately and really figure out how to make my life work for me and the five boys that I call mine.

Chris and I decided that the summer of 2010 was the time to figure out what is going on with my health and become proactive.  I found a doctor that is really helping me out.  She has found what seems to work to help regulate my thyroid and she is helping me get rid of my infamous shaking problem.  This is such a blessing.  It is the first time in years that I am starting to feel like myself again. 

For those of you that I have neglected, please know I do love and cherish my friendships.  The only friendship I have given up on is the long-standing love affair I had with diet coke.  Now I am creating newer and healthier bonds with water. . .

Happy Birthday Schmoopy!

Well, yesterday Chris had a birthday.  He requested carne asada, his family, and two really close friends.  It was a fun evening.

The first time Chris held my hand, I felt fireworks.  Just his touch made me feel like a kid on Christmas morning.  To this day, holding his hand our him touching my face brings me peace and calm. 

Chris, I love you because. . .
of who you are helping me become
you are gentle and kind
you are loyal
you make me smile
your boys idealize you
you have beautiful eyes
you can recite any seinfeld ever made line by line
you are good to my mom
I6
you are you.
Happy Birthday Schmoopy

Trading Tumblers

Well, two weeks ago tomorrow I had to say goodbye to my friend. "Diet Coke".  I had an idea that I would have to let her go, but wasn't willing to until it was absolutely necessary.

Well, that time came when my doctor convinced me that the neurotoxins I was ingesting through the aspertaine was one of the reasons why I wasn't having much luck thinking really clearly and it was contributing to my shakes. 

I will choose water, and an occassional real soda containing no aspertaine, and things will go well.  It's so funny.  My family is going through approximately 4-5 gallons of water a day now.  Sometimes you just need a little remidner to do what you know you should do anyway.

Balloons To Heaven

Well, I had read Lori Ashton's blog a while back and she wrote about sending balloons with notes in it to her dad.  This surfaced to my mind as I was wondering what I should do to make my Dad's death date something I could more easily manage.  My sister is crazy busy this summer so we decided to meet at her house for a brief window of time to send our balloons.  (Mine is the yellow one.  Can you see the note?) 

I showed up with full page notes that the kids and I had written/drawn and Lisa, who tends to see things more logically than me, mentioned that I may want to make the notes smaller so they could fit.  Hehehe. 

Let me tell you about Jake's note.  It was a picture of my dad--he had a halo on top of his head-- and Jake.  There were arrows and names pointing to each.  Then he wrote a little note telling his grandpa that he loved him and he hoped that grandpa would show him that he got the letter--like in a dream or something.

Well, I don't know whether this is possible or not.  I don't want to be skeptical, but I am not sure how he is going to take it if he doesn't get a "sign", so I say, "You know Jake, you may get a message from grandpa in a dream.  I don't know.  You may not.  Are you going to be okay if you don't?"

So, he looks up to me with those gorgeous dark chocolate eyes and says, "Yeah, mom.  I know.  It might take grandpa a long time to get his mail."      :0)

The kids were so excited to send their notes to heaven.  Ben drew a picture and as he drew it, he told us that it said, "Grandpa, I love you more than Mama."  I was ok with it.  If there was someone he loved more than me--grandpa is a good one--but did he have to keep saying it over and over. . .     :0)

Michael wrote in beautiful cursive and when I told him we would need to cut his letter so it would fit, he took the scissors and cut it into many little pieces.  Lisa helped me find the ones with most of his name on them.  :0)

And Thumper had crayola markers all over his face, mouth, hands, etc, but he sure drew his grandpa a nice picture.  :0)

What a blessing we all have of having my dad, Albert Sherwood Anderson, in our Eternal Family.  This has been a painful year.  One full of ups and downs.  One full of growth and sorrow.  One outlined in a few spots with laughter.  And you know what, the laughter is what he wants.  He was not a person who wanted people to wallow.  He looked upon self--pity as such a weakness.  He never had self-pity. 

It is now that I am starting to see the sunshine again.  I still miss him like crazy, but I am ready to truly celebrate his life and the blessings I have because he chose to be the father, husband, grandpa, friend. . . he was.

I love you Dad!

Fun Grandma Millie Style

Well, Grandma Millie asked me if I would be able to provide the car seats because she wanted to take the boys to a fun place she found one day for lunch.  Monday was the day.  I was wondering, "is there a new kids place out here that I haven't heard about?"  The kids were all taking wagers:  Jake:  "I bet she's gonna take us to Amazing Jakes!"  Mike:  "I wonder if it is Chuck E. Cheese?"  Ben:  "I wanna go with Gramma."  Thumper just smiled and ran around making a mess.

To our suprise, we followed her to a tepanaki place over by Lisa's house.  I had no idea what this even was until Millie had explained it to me.  It definitely wasn't Amazing Jakes.  There was a mouse involved, but it wasn't Chuck E. 

We had a blast.  Ben was terrified of the fire and would not sit by us.  I was trying to comfort him.  Thumper was freaking out so Millie was comforting him.  Michael and Jacob were in awe.  What a fun lunch we had.  Thanks Grandma Millie.