part three

March: saw our middle son and his family move to Salt Lake. they were both able to transfer jobs before moving so were able to start work right away. They are living with my DIL parents for a little while to help them get caught up on bills. My Daughter in law seems much happier being close to her family . it is sad to see them go , we will miss them but also wish them much happiness wherever they are.

March Jim Hawthorn lost his battle with cancer,so we found ourselves back in Boise for his funeral and some family time.

April: a couple of weekends in Boise helping Betty and Russ with their yard.

May: I was able to go back down to Albuquerque to be with my daughters family while she was awaiting the birth of their little daughter. She was "supposed" to be a May baby (at least my daughter was hoping for that ) but being a bit stubborn she waited until June 7 to make her arrival. Jocelyn Paige S. Such a little sweetheart. sadly she struggled with some jaundice and they had to stay in the hospital for a few extra days so I was only able to visit for two days before needing to fly home.

July we found ourselves back in Idaho for the Jones reunion. Dale (our youngest) and his family were able to join us for the first time on this trip. It was nice to get away for a few days with them.

Aug/Sept: My husband and I took a road trip down to NM . He had not seen his newest granddaughter and wanted to be there to help give her a blessing. We both needed some time away so we packed up the camper and drove down by way of S.L. visiting the evening with my parents and our son and his family at the park with the woodcarvers picnic. very fun.

we had a very nice time in Alb. with the kids, they were so excited and had so many things they wanted to do and share with us.what a fun time.

catching up part two

December:
We lost our beloved dog Sadie. Our sweet little Dalmatian that we have had for 15 years. She had been having a hard time getting around we thought we had lost her in July at the Reunion but she wasn't ready to leave us . As the winter months moved in she slept more and more and started losing control of her bowels. we knew it was only a matter of time but she didn't seem to be in any pain. One day I came home from work and found she had gone to sleep never to wake again. We have been heartbroken.
We never wanted this dog but she ended up being the one dog we were the most attached to.

Christmas: We spent it quietly at home this year. Dana's family stayed in NM. Anthony's family worked most of the day so we opened presents with them later that evening. Dale's family came over around noon or so to open presents. it felt different to be home and not running to visit the kids. also missing Sadie.

one of the presents we treated ourselves to was a Bible box that we got from an Amish site. my husband was given a Swamb family bible that has been handed down ,last in the hands of his father. We wanted someplace special to keep it.

this was the cover we wanted but ended up with a box with a small cross and flowers on it...the carving was beautiful and we are very pleased with it.

January: quick trip to Boise to see Jim. He cancer is throughout his body and beginning to shut down. We wanted to spend a little time with them while we could.

Mom fell around the 19th on her front porch hitting her head against the house. got a nasty bump and a sore neck when she realized that she couldn't move it ,they headed to the hospital finding out that she had broken the second vertebrae. (C2)The Dr's.operated and put her in a Halo brace,which she was to wear for 3 months. After a couple restless days not knowing what was happening Cliff got the time off and we came to S.L. to help if we could. 
My older sister had stayed with her in the hospital the first couple of days, and then I stayed with her the next two nights. They transferred her to a rehabilitation facility and I stayed with her the first few nights there,until my neice who worked there stayed with her (they brought in an extra bed for me).My husband went back home and I stayed in S.L. thru the first of March to help my parents as much as possible. Dad doesn't do much driving any more and this was a struggle for him so it was nice to be able to stay and help out a bit. The shoe store is slow is the winter months so I was able to take some time off. They were wonderful with both of my parents . loved the staff and the facility in general ,lots of activities throughout the day. loved the ice cream in the afternoon. (YUM)

People were so good to my folks ,visiting ,bringing food and goodies by. Mom was even sung to  by a barbershop quartet that stopped by the house. Very comforting to see service in action.

While at the house I was able to carve a Santa that Dad had on the shelf. It was a cut off piece fun to work on. Dad is not doing much carving any more his hands ache and he gets frustrated,this was really hard for me to see. We have had this bond for many years and it is sad to see him age and lose the desire and ability to create with his hands.
Janica helped me to move Mom's computer upstairs,with the brace on she was not able to go down the stairs so we wanted to give her the ability to enjoy her computer . Of course this meant that we needed to do some organizing to make room for a small desk we found at the DI. Mom has taught piano lessons as long as I can remember and has acquired many teaching methods over the years and lots of music.I spent many days going through the music and reorganizing it into groups, hoping that this way she could go through it a little at a time and downsize a little bit. Mom gave me permission to make some calls to see if anyone wanted some of the teaching methods, Which I did. I had talked to my sisters about doing this but was surprised at the reaction that I got. One was thrilled to have me go through this, one was in a panic thinking I might be throwing away precious memories. Hopefully all worked out...I ended up just taking a few peices that had extras ,a few Mom specifically gave me,then made a list of songs and books that I wanted and when I came home I ordered them for myself so my sister could have them if she wants. very emotional time.
I stayed in SL through the beginning of March ,by then my parents were handling things on their own while I stood close by.
One reason I was able to stay until early March was that our middle son and his family were moving to SL so my husband was helping to move them and bring me back home to Wa. then.

It has been quite awhile since I have posted anything here. It has been a busy year for us with lots going on...just what has been happening in our lives well lets see if we can catch up with the 'Jones'.

July of 2010 our youngest was married to his sweetheart. they had their wedding here in our yard. It was a beautiful wedding in the

our yard. (many months of work to keep the yard up which my husband and I love to do anyway, if fact most of the summer we can usually be found outside most of the time.What an honor and a compliment to be asked to have the wedding here.)

We gave them a special wedding plague that I had carved with symbols that have meaning to them. they seemed pleased with it.

July: we spent the weekend in Idaho for the Jones Reunion. A nice time was had by all but full of many emotions. one of my husbands cousins has been fighting cancer for a number of years and it they knew that it is just a matter of time ,so it was a time for family and also a time to say we love you and goodbye.

August: We started going through my Mother in laws finaces, she had been getting up to $200 in overdrafts a week ,was always out of money , had many notices of bills going to collections . long story short my husbands sister and family were "Helping" her with her bills , had unlimited access to her debit card and no accountability as far as recording what was being spent. her outgo far exceeded her income. things had to change first by becoming aware , then by making changes and cutting off some of the perks the "helpers" were getting. (cable, internet,phone,insurance,food ect.) then it came time to ask that if they were staying in the home that they needed to help with expences by paying some rent (their part of bills) sadly this did not go well and there has been been a blow up in the family resulting in his Sister and her new husband moving out and no one speaking to us for a few months. (sigh).
So now we go in a couple times a week to pay bills and keep up on the yard.

November:
Our oldest grandchild was Baptized. I was able to go down to NM for his baptism and birthday as well as Thanksgiving celebration all rolled into one.

My husband was not able to go this time. I had flown down and ending up staying a few extra days. We were given the exciting news that our daughter was expecting but was having some difficulties which is why I stayed . things started to look up and with the assurance that there was lots of help from the RS and friends I came home.