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| Taking care of dad while I work! |
It's been a whirlwind couple of weeks -- so I'm trying to remember what's happened to update the blog!
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Yes sir, yes sir
Three cans full! |
Every Sunday I try to talk to my dad and Suzanne. We usually talk for about an hour just to catch up and let them know I love them and am thinking of them. Suzanne has been a trooper taking care of dad as he continues to deteriorate from Louie body dementia. I've asked her if we need to put him in a home and she continues to say it's not time and she's taking care of things. Admirable.
With that being said, Dad made a comment recently that he didn't understand why he hadn't seen anyone for such a long time. In all fairness, it has been awhile. I think I went up a couple months ago and neither Becky or Ruth have visited since. So I really
felt like I needed to be a better daughter and get up there and visit.
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As soon as I walk in the door...
Books! |
Besides that, Suzanne could really use some help with the house. There is so much to do there. So much.
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| They LOVE story time! |
This has been on my mind for a couple of weeks but I finally found a way to make it happen. And planned a solo trip up north for November 21-26. Kind of a long trip without Andy.
Monday we had family night pizza over at Dad's house after we played pickleball. Tuesday, Andy had a remote at Advanced Window's from 4-6 p.m. He came home for a quick dinner and then I had a presidency meeting at Grandma Joyce Eardley's house. We got things planned out for the end of the year for YW. But by the time I got home the day was pretty well spent!
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| Millie and Eli enjoying dinner |
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| DJ, Gigi and Ellie |
Wednesday my boss realized I was leaving and it seems like work got super busy! haha. I had several meetings during the day, including an extra meeting the Mayor asked me to attend that didn't end (for me) until 5:30 p.m. The meeting actually continued another hour or more but my boss remembered I had plans and excused me. He arranged to come early Thursday to take care of some things before I left town so Thursday morning work started at 7 a.m.
Ben and Laura came to our side of town and had dinner at Rumbi's (to accommodate my late work). I was able to enjoy the tale end of their meal and they stayed and visited while I ate.
I had YW at 7 p.m. so we got home and put Andy in his therapy pants and I left again. Lucky for me it was combined YM and YW so I wasn't in charge. We were making ornaments for an organization that gives to people who have lost everything. There were three different ornaments to make and they were pretty fun.
Thursday morning Melanie Hayes from work picked me up (with my luggage) so that I could get to work without a car. (Eldon and Diane drove me to SLC, came back with Bryce and Marlee). Jeremy met me at 7 a.m. and we met with Mark Henning to discuss the Old Gym Remodel and getting the last details ironed out. (Spigots in the bathroom, trash cans, soap dispensers). The Gym project has been going on for months and the bulk of it is scheduled to complete the end of this year. Pretty exciting!
Around 11:30 a.m. Eldon and Diane let me know they were on their way over and we headed up the road. It was a pretty nice quiet ride up there. We hadn't eaten lunch before we left (that is what they always do) -- so we stopped at Sam's Club in Riverton about 3:30 p.m. and enjoyed some snack bar food. (Side note....they have a really good, inexpensive snack bar. I got a "pizza Pretzel" - it cost $2 and it was big and delicious!). We walked around afterward - I haven't been in Sam's Club for a long time so that was fun! It wasn't super crowded. I didn't buy anything but enjoyed just browsing.
I got to Dad's house a little before 5 p.m. and hung out with him and Suzanne for awhile. We talked about what we would do the next day and considered going out to eat. We wanted to include Ruth and thought she was going to have several people with her. Dad's hard to get places at this point so we decided to just go eat at Ruth's house. I went over helped Ruth. I had brought homemade pumpkin soup - so we warmed that up and served it. Ruth had some fancy salad that we made up and we made some pasta with meat sauce. Seriously, pretty quick but good meal! We also had 1/2 my pretzel (which everyone loved!) and Ruth had some bread sticks too. It was a nice meal. Turned out to just be the 4 of us - Eli, Ruth, Suzanne, Ray and me.
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| Emi, sipping from Gigi's water |
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| Girls waiting for dinner |
Ruth agreed to have Thanksgiving Laurito Dinner on Saturday BUT she said I had to help her get the house ready. I stayed overnight at her place. We talked and put away some nick-nacks and such until bedtime. Friday morning I got up and mopped her floor and cleared a counter before heading to Dad's house. Ruth had to work all day and was busy working at least an hour before I left.
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Gigi and Ellie
making faces |
When I got to Dad's, Suzanne reported that Dad had a rough night. He was kind of combative and said she was trying to kill him. She said they hadn't slept much (so my arriving at 9 a.m. was probably rough for her). He was still in bed for awhile after I arrived.
We had basically 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. to accomplish whatever we could. Ended up washing some dishes - just the sink had some from recent meals. Then I brought up new pots and pans from the basement that she wanted to bring out. (They were from pampered chef, purchased in 1999, never used. They were really nice!). I removed them all from the box and washed them. We intended to clear an area of the kitchen to put them in the cupboard but because everything in that area required Suzanne's direction it never worked out to do that.
I assembled a cordless vacuum she had purchased because she had a lot of dust and wanted to clean that out of the dining room. It needed to charge for three hours before it could be used.
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Gigi and Mo
making faces! |
We had breakfast around 11 a.m. Then I headed outside to prepare their A/C unit for winter. It had weeds growing through it that needed to be removed and then we covered the unit. The side yard was FULL of leaves so I filled a trash can with the leaves. Took me the better part of 2 hours to do all that. It was really dusty out there when I used the blower to move the leaves.
By the time I went in the vacuum was charged and I was able to get under the dining room table and get lots of dust bunnies. I also wiped down a couple of surfaces.
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Puzzle Time with DJ
He's really good! |
Our next project was to try to clear the hallway from the front door to the kitchen. She knows he will probably need a walker at some point and is working toward clearing it. I don't think it's as much/bad as it seems. That being said, we only got through 3 boxes of paperwork before our time ran out. There was still lots of boxes to go. I was able to remove about a trash can full of trash and boxes from the house at the end of the day.
Bryce came over for our last hour and helped to arrange Christmas things in the basement in a way that she'll be better able to access them.
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| Play-doh with the littles |
And then it was time to go!
Dallas and Kayla had a nice dinner for us and I got to play with my 5 babies.
I stayed at Bryce and Marlees. I was able to enjoy the evening. Read bed time stories to the kids and tuck them in and then go back to Bryce's house.
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Bryce watching girls at
Becky's house |
Saturday we just chilled - back and forth between the two houses - and then headed over to Ruth's house for our Thanksgiving dinner. It turned out really great. We ended up with about 23 people I think - and the amount of food we had was just about perfect. I'm so glad we were able to do that for Dad and Suzanne.
We got a good crowd...Ruth had her two boys. Becky had all her kids except Aspen (and John) because they live so too far away now. I had just my two kids with kids...Bryce and Dallas.
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So many fun new toys at
Aunt Becky's house |
It was fun to get all the kids and their kids together. Dillon's kids are about the same age as Dallas' (and Bryce too) so the kids enjoyed playing together.
Sunday was Sydney's homecoming talk. She just completed her mission. Bryce and I drove up together (Marlee had choir) and Dallas and kids drove up separately and we all went to sacrament meeting together. (Kayla was making pretzels with her mom and sister). We had 5 littles in the row -- they did pretty good tho!
Becky and Kevin made a nice meal afterward.
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| Chilling at church |
I had Sunday dinner with just Bryce and Marlee (Dallas and kids headed over to Brenneman's house for dinner). Sunday and Monday and part of Tuesday I just went back and forth between their two houses playing with the kids. We read books, did play-doh, went for walks, played trains, did puzzles and hung out in the play room. It was really fun!
The weather was trying to be nasty and there was some apprehension about heading to St. George. We couldn't leave until after Bryce and Marlee got off work on Tuesday. Bryce decided it would be ok and we headed out mid afternoon. (A little earlier than first thought -- since the weather was bad Marlee got off a little early). It worked out -- we didn't get into any of the nasty snow that was predicted but Bryce did end up driving in the rain most of the way, poor guy.
Mo did have a little mishap on the way to St. George. She was really good and happy most of the trip. She really enjoyed hanging with Gigi (and vice-vercy!) We read books and played with toys and hung out. But then just before Cedar City she started fussing. She's a baby so she can talk a little but she didn't say what was up. And then the poor girl started throwing up! Ugh! I tried to catch it on the second go-round and it ended up splashing all over the windows and sides of the car. Luckily most of her toys and books were ok and she just messed up her cute fuzzy shirt. Bryce and Marlee had a package of wipes - which we used generously to clean up the mess! We stopped in Cedar City to get dinner. Seems to have just been gagging from a cold or motion sickness because no-one else got sick and it was a one time event. Making memories!
Whew!
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| Bryce watching the kids |
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| Bryce and Mo |
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| Girls in church |
Some pictures from our Thanksgiving feast with the Laurito's, Chases & Griffin's.
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Uncle Kevin, Aunt Becky and Dad
at Ruth's house |
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Baby Mo sporting her Thanksgiving dress
which she accessorized with a hat.
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Becky as a baby...I think she looks A LOT like little
baby Mo! |
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Mo loves to climb rocks.
Each time we walked over she'd stop
and balance on this one. |
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| Bathtime!!! |
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| Mo enjoying dinner at Dallas' house |
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