California Trip

Monday, I drove down to CA with Sandi,  the car ride with her was fun.  It was a little less than 10 hours of driving and we spent a lot of it singing out loud together and talking.  It went quickly and we arrived at our hotel and got settled in before mom and dad got back from the house.  

Tuesday morning, Sandi and I went to get a quick workout in before heading over to the house, but that seemed to stress my parents out, so we mostly skipped that the rest of the week - and I at least paid for it.  By the end of the week, my shoulders were killing me and I was exhausted.  The work at the house was hard - physically, emotionally and mentally.  My dad spent the whole week just working on the kitchen.  And didn't even finish it.  Granted, he admitted at one point that he was intentionally doing it in a non-efficent way so that he could get more steps....  But considering how exhausted he looked by the end of the days, he didn't need more steps....  It was hardest on him - he pushed himself past his physical limits and he was mentally stressed by trying to work through what he was allowed to do before he was made executor of her estate, emotionally stressed about the death of his sister and trying to put together a good eulogy for her memorial.  

My mom mostly spent her week working to bag up clothes in the bedroom and get access to the stuff in the bedroom, then working in the office to sort through paper work and try to find important stuff.  

Sandi and I bulldozed our way through the rest of the house - emptying (the top photo is most of the stuff from one room emptied out onto the back lawn and sorted some) the room enough to clean it out, then moving stuff back into the house in a somewhat organized manner.  

This was the living room after doing hours of work to get down to the plastic drop cloth over half the room and removing the drop cloth.  We emptied, cleaned and re-arranged so that the room was somewhat useable and navigable.  

There was one living cat left at the house - and she stayed entirely in the kitchen - mostly hiding.  I came in to feed her and she was very sweet - happy to be petted and fed and given attention.  I had decided before I went down to CA that I wouldn't let Pam's cats go to a shelter, and if none of the neighbors wanted them, I would bring them home, so Saturday when Sandi and I drove home, we took the cat with us.  The family decided to name her Crouton and she is just the sweetest kitty!  So far she is eating well.  We took her to the vet in CA to get her flea medication and get her all checked out.  The vet said she is around 12 years old and other than being underweight, she is in good health.  

The memorial was Saturday and was very nice.  But Sandi and I didn't get on the road until 3pm - so we didn't get home until closer to 1:30 or so.  The drive was quiet and Crouton did well in the carrier.  

Sunday, I was playing the organ and it went well - thankfully Eileen had chosen easy songs.

Tired and Fun

Monday, I was totally gassed.  I was so tired after Sunday!  I got up and swam and then went to work, then I got home and crashed for a few hours.  Finally got the shopping and such done, but I was dragging all day.  We managed to get all the prep done for David's birthday party, but I slept in the next morning!  

Tuesday, we went out to George Roger's Park to swim and play on the water.  David had some friends all come with us to play and snack and enjoy a beautiful day!  We stayed all afternoon, then headed home to grab stuff and change before heading to Water Polo.  

Wednesday was swimming and work and getting some recovery in!  In the evening, I coached water polo, then went to help out with the high school kids practice.  Dan has been super busy with work - he's working multiple jobs right now and I think he's getting burnt out pretty quickly.  He's also feeling useful and productive too, so we'll see how it all balances out.  

Thursday I had a work shift teaching an intro to Water Polo class at THPRD.  We had a fun time with the kids and at the end I also got to participate in an audit.  I got to pretend to get injured to see how the lifeguards respond to an emergency situation.  I got the kids in on it before so that they wouldn't freak out, and they thought it was great fun!  Then I swam and headed home.  David had water polo in the evening and then I went to Masters.  We had a great turnout and I had a ton of fun!!  

Friday morning I swam and really tired my back out, but it was a great work out!  Then work coaching grown up swim - we did a fun sprint set, and Evelyn came!  

Aaron is doing great with his CDL training.  He worked a lot on backing up this week and then had a test (that he passed of course) on Friday.  He is really enjoying this and already looking into potential jobs for when he's done!  

Saturday, I went with Aaron to Parkrose for water polo - it was a great group and we had a lot of fun! Dan went skydiving and had a great time, getting back just in time for the picnic. Then in the afternoon, we had the end-of-season picnic for THills water polo club, so we went and ate and played and had fun!  Then in the evening, Eileen and Dan and I went and met up with Ben and James to go see Supergirl.  It was good and we had fun!  

Today was wonderful!  We had a musical testimony meeting for church and it was wonderful - I think we could have easily done a full 2-hours of that, but we had to let the next ward in.  :)  Primary was quiet - we only had 3 kids, but we had fun singing and playing games.  Our afternoon was quiet with games and food and naps and such.  Eileen has been teaching Aaron how to draw cats and he's getting pretty good!  

Jones Family Reunion and Busy Weekend

Monday morning (after swimming and such) I spent a bunch of time packing and getting things ready to leave for Idaho.  Then after Dan finished meetings and Evelyn finished work, we drove off towards Idaho.  We stopped at some food trucks near a subway for dinner, then we finished the late drive into Burley area.  We got to our Airbnb and the code we had been given didn't work.  We couldn't get ahold of the people since it was 1:30 in the morning, so we got hotel rooms for the night and the next morning we got up for some breakfast before going back to bed for a bit.  We did a delayed check out and Dan and I went to the temple for some sealings with family.  Then we changed, packed up and headed to meet up with Jones family members at a nearby park so we could hang out and play until we could check in to the place we were staying for the reunion.  

We got to Albion, ID and found our rooms and got settled in, then had dinner and played some games and then had a surprise birthday party for Grandma Jones!  We had a blast sharing memories and partying together in celebration of her 80th birthday! 

The place we are staying also had a lot of animals including horses, peacocks, camels, cows and pigs (and baby piglets!)  The piglets were tiny and so cute and there were so many of them!!!  

The next morning was hot!  The place we are staying does a HUGE haunted house thing at Halloween and they are setting up for it year round, so they gave us a tour of them.  It was still pretty spooky even though it was daylight outside and we were only getting part of the experience.  The kids had a great time - Evie and James had fun trying to jump scare each other.  David screamed and cried and then said he LOVED it.  LOL

After a lunch of our Taquitoes and Burritoes (which were a hit) we went to swim in the pool - but it had started cooling off by then and the wind had picked up.  So after an hour or so, we gave up.  Then we played Jones Ball until dinner.  

We played some some minute to win it games, the played some volley ball and roasted marshmallows and as always with the Jones family, the nights ended in board games - including lots of Skull King.  

Thursday morning was breakfast and packing up and heading home.  We stopped at a park to eat our sack lunches, then got some snacks and finished the drive - getting in around 8 pm.  

Friday was back to the usual - Swimming, work, zumba, playing with friends and such.  Dan brought Evie and Aaron to grown up swimming which was a lot of fun!  In the afternoon, I took the boys to the dirt hills to ride their bikes for a bit before we came home for dinner.  Nicole and Peyton joined us too - we're trying to get rid of leftovers!  

Saturday, David had a tournament.  It was down at Newberg and the kids had a ton of fun!  The first game was a bit rough, but they won the last 2 games.  Both David and Paxton scored multiple times and between our last 2 games when we had a bigger break, we went to chick-fil-a for lunch and then to 7-11 for free slurpees!  It was a fun weekend and the kids all learned and grew a lot! 

After, Laura came over so we could talk a bit about the race and make sure we had everything we needed and so I could foist a few more of our leftovers off on her for dinner.  

Then I took Aaron and Evelyn and went to open polo.  It was a fun group - we played some decent water polo and had fun!  I was tired by the end, but it was great! 

Then Sunday morning - really early - I met up with Laura and we drove out to the river for her race!  She was doing the Portland Bridge Swim and I was her kayaker.  She busted her butt swimming 11 miles down the river in rather choppy water with way too much wind (though a gorgeous sunny day) while I paddled happily along beside her making sure she was safe and that she had everythings he needed - food, water, electrolytes, encouragment.  :)  She did amazing - finishing in less than 5 1/2 hours on her first ever race like this.  After the race, her boyfriend met us with flowers and food and a ride back to my car.  My only regret was that I actually wore my lifevest - too much chaffing!!  When I got out at the end - despire having felt like i was never working very hard, my arms and abs were tired and I was shaky getting out!  I went home for a bit of a nap before dinner and an evening of games with the family! 

The 4th and Pam

It has been a kinda crazy week.  Getting back into routines and such after vacation, while still prepping for the next one next week.  I got back to swimming - and finding a summer routine.  Dan and Aaron have been coming to my grown up swimming in the morning - it's been a good test at setting work outs that everyone can do and that can be adjusted for all levels.  

Evelyn has been loving her job at Terra Nova and is bringing home fresh produce all the time.  David has spent much of the week hanging out with friends - he had a sleepover with Landon one night and Paxton another night - then Paxton slept over here one night.  

Tuesday we got a call from my parents that my Aunt Pam was in the hospital.  She had been out walking and gotten into an argument with a neighbor that she has had issues with in the past.  The lady pushed her and since Pam was a nearly 80 year old woman, she fell and went unconscious.  She was taken to the hospital where they found a triple hematoma and she was in a coma.  The brain surgeon came the next day to see if it was possible to remove some of the brain in order to lesssen the pressure on the brain - unfortunatly, it was not possible and she was declared brain dead on Thurday.  My dad, knowing that Pam would never want to just be kept alive on life support, made the decision to take her off life support and she passed away less than half an hour later.  

We've been up in the air about what is happening and what will be happening.  I will go down for the funeral and also to help my parents with her house, but we don't know what the timeline for that will look like.  As hard as it is to lose her and in such an unexpected manner, I can't help but think that she would prefer this - quick and painless and without losing her independance and mobility - than a long drawn out illness or becoming debilitated and having to struggle with that.  

This weekend was the 4th of July - the observed holiday was Friday, so we had a fun evening together watching Sheep Detectives and I took Evelyn to get another piercing on her ears.  We had a fun afternoon together.  :)  

Saturday was the 4th of July.  David and Paxton hung out all day - we dyed Paxton's hair purple so he and David could be twins.  Then we got to talk to Anna for a bit - though the 4th of July in Canada isn't quite the same as the 4th of July in the US.  

In the evening we went to the Olsen's for dinner and fireworks.  We had lots of fun with friends and had lots of yummy food and then TONS of fireworks.  It was a fun and crazy night - we didn't get home until after 10pm - but it was a great weekend!