Summer fun 2010

Can you say WOW summer is almost over. Well at least for kids. School starts in a week and a half and I can hardly believe it.



We have had one jammed packed summer. We started it off early with our trip to Alaska. What a truly wonderful and enjoyable trip that was! We had a fantastic time and it exceeded all our expectations. And I cannot believe that I forgot to post about it or post our pictures. What a terrible shame that is! We took a few weeks to recoup from that.



We have been busy hanging out in the back yard with the neighbors and the kids. It has been so much fun. For the fourth of July, what family I have left in Utah, came down to hang out at our place. We bbq-ed and then the whole complex got together and we let of fireworks. It was awesome!!!!



Scott started swim lessons the last week of July and into August. Man it takes up your entire morning. It is prime time client time and it has been a struggle. We also have had the round of dentist appointments, Dr appointments, and foot Dr appointments. It seems to be a never ending round. I know they are all necessary but again it cuts into client time and it has been hard getting all my client scheduled in.



On the 24th of July my Uncle Gene passed away from a four year battle with cancer. It was harder than I anticipated letting him go. We knew for weeks that it was imminent but none the less his passing has left me and still leaves me teary eyed. I have lost three Aunts and Uncles to cancer and one Uncle from a stroke and one Aunt and one Uncle from diabetes all in the past 10 years. I know it is one of those burdens when you have such an extended family and I gladly take it for all the memories I have of them growing up. I love and miss you all!



The up side to all that is that I got to spend two days catching up with the rest of my Aunts and Uncles and all my cousins. We now have two generations of cousins running around the place and I love it!! I enjoyed being in St. George again. What fun memories I have of living their.



School in a week and a half, wow, its been a busy summer! And I have enjoyed the wonderful thunder storms we had last week, plain and simple summer fun!

wow its been a while

Wow, I did not realize it had been so long since I posted to anything.

Sorry for that. Most of you have probably quit checking it by now.

Anyhow here is a quick update on the Churchill family. Star started working for Superior Lamp out of New Jersey. Great job, downside is it is straight commission and we are having to adjust to this type of pay. Not to mention that because of budget cuts companies are finding it difficult to pay a little more up front and not as much down the road. It is a green company and their products are superior. Star's health has taken a turn for the better thank heaven. It would seem that between Isagenix and taking out his gal bladder he is doing tons better. He still continues the battle with his Diabetes but Isagenix has helped a ton in that area as well. We struggle to pay for his insulin which runs us over $200 a month. We have several agencies that are helping us try to find a way to get the manufacturer to give it to us or at least at a huge discount. He takes Humilin R and the company that manufacturers it does not do patient assistance. Thus the help of the agencies.

I am currently, avidly, trying for more clients. I am starting a self walking ad campaign by dropping of flyer's to the neighborhoods where I live. It is glitter toe season and I am hoping to pick up tons more clients for that.

Scott stands nearly 4 1/2 feet tall, size 8 shoes, and over a 100 pounds. He continues to grow faster than I can keep up with. He saw the foot doctor a few weeks back and the orthodicts we bought a year ago that are supposed to last two years has only lasted one year. So we have to come up with another large sum of money to pay for those. Unless Chip picks up the bill which would be GREAT! Scott continues to be into everything or anything military related. Including Star Wars and Vikings. His best playmate lives two doors down and they are so alike in what they play that it is a hoot to listen to them. We do seem to have issues with Scott being rather emotional over things. This is a new one for me,he has always been sensitive but what he cries over really baffles me. I have heard that this is typical for 8 yr old's. I sometimes wonder if he has PMS. I would expect this from a girl not a boy. But then again he is my son and I have depression issues so we will keep an eye on it.

We have another wedding in the family taking place in June. My brother Jay is getting married again. This time in Arizona. I am not sure if we can afford to go. Although I would LOVE to see Audria!!!!! I miss you woman!!!

My parents are doing well and so are the rest of the family. TTFN.

Christmas 2009 letter to family and friends

Dear Family and Friends,

Can I just say WOW! I love this time of the year! I love that we have a time of year that is specfically set aside for a time to remember how special family and friends are. A time to remember Christ and to give gifts of love to those we hold dear and to neighbors we appreciate. A time to catch up with those we may have lost contact with thru the year. Wether in good times or bad times I really enjoy this time of the year. As the years pass and I find myself older (approuching 40in January) and as I see my family spread out, I truly look forward to and enjoy getting together with my family. Although most of my family is still in the state of Utah we have spread out over the Salt Lake Valley and we have to travel farther to get together which does not make it easy sometimes.

2009 as usual found changes for our family. When is life not filled with its challenges? In October of 2008 we lost Star's Dad adn it made celebrating the holidays a little different for us. It was a happy time for us when he past as he had been in declining health for some time and he had no quality of life. None the less it was weird not to have him around and I still miss my weekly visits to him. Every now and then again I pause like I have forgotten to do something ans realize that I no longer need to make those visits. I love Star's parents and miss them both. We also lost my Aunt Sue this past year and I miss her as well!

2009 started out alright. I had finished nail school in mid December and took a breather before taking my state exams. That breather turned into fear and it was May before I took my exams. Which I passed with flying colors much to my surprise but not my instructor. I do enjoy doing nails! By May we found out what had been giving Star so many problems for months. He had a bad gall bladder. Since it took months to come to this diagnosis it had eaten up all his health benefits so we had some scrambling and a lot of out of pocket expenses to bring about his surgery. With his diabetes it took a little longer for him to recover and so by September he has exhausted all his medical leave and was left with no option but to leave employment until his health was in a better place. Now continues the search for employment.

Scott started second grade this past September. This alone was a challenge for us. For some unknown reason fear took over Scott's life and he spent the first two weeks of school either home sick or coming home sick. After a trip to the doctor's office for his annual exam and after sage advice we headed back to school. That sage advice was a little tough love. After that it only took three days to get him to go to class by himself. We started walking him to his class and handing him off to the teacher, then we waked him as far as the front office, and then as if by magic, drop him off at the curb.

This past week brought an unusual experience for Scott. He was involved in a fight at school with which he ended up with bloody nose. I guess having a boy I should have expected this to happen on day but still it was a bit of a shock when I got the call. Apparently had been trying to break up a fight he turned to the boy who threw the punch and asked him why he did it and then gave him a bit of a shove. Now, for those of you who have not seen Scott in a while he stands nearly five feet tall and over a hundredd pounds. He is our little linebacker and he does not know his own strength. So I am sure what Scott considered a little shove was most likely out and out a good hearty push. Well the boy retaliated by punching Scott. So all three were hauled into the school and calls home made. then began the lectures on where the situation went from being good to bad. Oh well. Some lessons are just learned the hard way. Being an only child does have its disadvantages. No other sibling to put you in your place or beat up on you, however you see it. Scott continues to grow like a weed. We just had him into the doctor for an eye infection and he grew two inches in th past two months. He is taking after his dad, uncles, grandfathers, and his cousins for the height.

Star's sister was married in May and this prompted a move for us. I spent the summer taking care of Star and stressfully looking for a place to live. I have never had such a hard time trying to find a place to live. On the first day chool we looked at a twin home on the east side of State street and found where we wanted to live! What a relief! Thanks to our good friends the Wilkerson's we were able to get moved. We left with a lot more than we moved in with as Star had inherited a few things from his father. Thank heavens for having a garage. As it has been a few months now that we have moved in we are finally feeling more settled. Unless we miraculously can qualify for a house this summer I believe we will be here for some duration. We enjoy our neighbors and our church ward. It is small but ever so nice. We have had sme choice experiences in the few months we have been here!

I truly wish that this beautiful season finds you in good health, good spirits, and good company! May the light of Christ shine in your lives this season.

Love to All,

Star, Jenn and Scott

ps: please forgive the typo's :)

Blue hair

Two weeks ago we died the top of Scott's hair blue. He has been asking me for two years to die his hair blue. What I did was bleach all of his hair and then just the top of his head blue. It turned out totally cool! I used Scruples Urban Shock brand and the color Azul.

We have had so many people comment on it. What amazes me the most is that it is elderly people that comment the most on it. They love it! It certianly is a great conversation peace. We were sitting at the food court at Costco when a lady came across the registers to us and asked us how I did it. A lot of people at first think that it is cool aid and will wash out. Then they are really surprised to find out it is a permanent color.

He started swim lessons today and the color is fading quickly so I may redo the blue color once or twice before school starts then I will bleach out the blue so he can start school on time.

Here are a few pic's.

Eve's wedding, Star's surgery, and a little trip

The past three weeks have been a blur of activity! On the 23 of May my sister-in-law, Eve, got married to Randy Bird. The wedding turned out beautiful! As with all wedding's there is much chaos but in the end it was great!

Then on Tuesday the 26th Star had his gall bladder surgery. What I found ironic about this was when the surgeon came out and showed me a picture of his gall bladder. He told me that all the yellow spots in it is where the gall bladder was becoming infected. When we met with the surgeon he was like, well your not displaying the symptoms that would require we remove the gall bladder, so it is totally your decision as to whether you remove it or not. Ya, after the surgery he was telling me it was a good decision to have it removed. Ya think! I kept telling the surgeon that Star does not display typical symptoms that most people do. Oh well it is over and done now and his follow up is on June 17th. The cost is amazingly out of control and with sucky insurance we will do our best to get this all paid off sometime in the next four years. I truly believe that part of the issue of Star not having as much pain as he should have with a gall bladder that was infected is because of IsAgenix. The health properties of these products are absolutely amazing! www.jennandstar.isagenix.com

The really nice part out of the past few weeks was our little trip to Layton for four days. As a thank you gift from Eve she paid for a hotel room for us for four days. So we opted to go North and visit with my family. We enjoyed days of hanging out at the pool, hanging out in the hotel room doing gel toes, and hanging out at my sister's houses and my parents. It was layed back and we got to see the Thunderbirds fly over in preparations for their performance at Hill. We loved it. We also got to see our friends the Wilkersons when we got back. They had been in California for a funeral and they got home and we left. So we hadn't had a chance to hang out together for two weeks.

Does life ever stop for a breather?

Well, k, here is the latest and greatest with us. One week till Star's surgary and he comes down with Bells Palsey on the left side of his face. So that means that we spend several days making and taking calls from his regular doctor and his surgeon. To top it all off we have maxed out Star's benefits for the year so we have to pay for all of this out ofpocket. Fun, huh! Well after days of calls back and forth Dr. Duros and Dr. Rasmussen decide to put the surgary off for two weeks while the steriods leave Star's system. Well, they schedule it for the 21st and that is two days before his sister gets married so that wont work. So now it is scheduled for the 26th. At least he will be able to be at the wedding and enjoy Memorial Day before hand.

I do have to say that if it was not for the health benefits of IsAgenix that Star would be far worse off than he is. I know that people are like ya, ya. But until you experience the health benefits for yourself don't turn your nose up at the product. After being sick for so many years I am finally able to function and am so happy about it. I am growing the business side of it as well and if I call you about and your not interested in building a second stream of income in this economy just tell me no and I will not be upset or offended. But do do do take a look at the health properties of the products!!!!

Does anyone know of anyone who would like to buy a 2001 Ford Taurus for around $4000.00? Call me or leave a comment.

One down & one to go & an update on Star

For those of you following this blog and wondering if I finally have gotten around to taking my test's-I finally took the first one. This was the practical exam which means it was a demonstration of my knowledge. I sat in a room with four other ladies, the instructor and the examiner. The examiner watches your every move! It is very nerve racking.I felt confident that I would pass the exam but by the time you get into the room, sit down, and they start reading the instruction I found that my cheeks felt like they were on FIRE! How embarrassing! I mean after all I know my stuff, right? Right! Then by halfway thru the exam I found my hands shaking! How embarrassing! I mean after all I know my stuff, right? Right! But it sure doesn't stop the nerves from wreaking havoc on you.

After the exam is over you haul all your stuff out to the waiting room where you wait for about 10 minutes while they calculate whether you have passed or failed. I tried to engage the other ladies in conversation but to no avail, there nerves obviously make them clam up while mine make me want to talk. Oh well.So after about 10 minutes the interviewer walk’s out and hands you a paper with your score. At first I thought I would wait until I was in the car and then I just couldn't. I turned down the flap and there it was the score.......PASS!!! I mean after all I know my stuff! I am good at what I do.

I walk out to the rear of my car and dig out my purse and then fish out my phone and call Star. He was not surprised to hear I had passed but it didn't stop the tears of relief that sprang to my eyes anyway. What a stress reliever to finally have it over. I have literally made myself sick over taking this test. One down, one to go. The next test is all by computer and I feel will be less stressful to take, which is next week.

Side not on Star, Star has been sick for a month now. Throwing up and constant nausea. So about two weeks ago I made him go to the doctor and this started a string of test's, medications, and more test's. He had an MRI done yesterday that showed he has gall stones. Tomorrow he has another test that will constrict his gall bladder and show how serious the problem is. So it looks like we are looking at surgery sometime in the next week for Star. He has started to process of taking a medical leave to help protect his job and health benefits.

As for me I believe that I have finally kicked the bronchitis! My word it took long enough, 6 weeks was definitely long enough!

Vday cookies

The Sunday after Valentine's day I finally got around to making the cookies that I had promised Scott we would make. What started out as just a mom and boy time quickly turned into a family event. We had so much fun. I had made the dough two days previous from a Channel 2 news recipe and it made a bucket load of dough. So Scott and I cut out

hearts, stars, lips, flowers, hands, and eagles. Eve had recently bought a new stove so we got to break it in. Fun! By the time the cookies had all finished cooking they were cool enough to start frosting. Once again using the recipe from Channel 2 news we made up several different colors from what we had at home. As you can see from this group shot we really got into it.

This one came about from a broken finger on a hand cookie. Very creative of Eve if I do say so. One of my favorites.

Star and Scott a little creative with the whole stars and stripes thing.

Scott is very into flags right now. Well one of many things he is into but he seems to be focused on what the flag symbolises and how it differs from state flags. Can you tell which ones Star did and which ones Scott did?

2.5 inches lost

Quick update, in one week I have lost two and half inches. I feel better most of the time and my skin is starting to look better than I have seen it years. I am way excited about IsAgenix!

Tirade on Medical Dr's

Ok, it has been a while since I updated. Sorry for that. I have simply allowed life to get in the way. But I have several thing happening all at once and I find myself excited about it. I am going to test at the beginning of next month for both state test's so that I will be licensed as a nail tech in the state of Utah. I had to delay for two weeks when I found myself stressed out to the point that I climbed into bed for 2 days and then I got the stomach flu yesterday so needless to say I rescheduled my exams for two weeks out.

The other thing that we did was we decided after many many many discussions on how frustrated we are with modern medicine and doctors to try IsAgenix. We feel there is nothing that doctors seem to be able to do or want to do to assist you when you hit a wall in your health care. Star has done just about everything the doctors have asked him to do in order to control his diabetes with no success. They put him on more med's, no change. They take him off all but one and still no change. Go on special diets/fasting still no change. As for me, after having C-Diff and Scott I have struggled with memory problems and losing weight. When I talk to doctors about my memory problems they just make a note and start asking questions about other things. I cannot get any of them to take this seriously. I know that I am in my 30's but it does not make it normal for me. Same thing with my thyroid and hormones. I can't afford to see specialists so what do you do? You start researching and Star and I came across some friends who introduced us to IsAgenix. Not only did I fall in love with thier products but we joined the company.

Other than having the flu yesterday I have noticed an increase in my stamina level for my daily activities. I noticed the same thing for Star. He started a day after I did, so while I lay in bed sick, I noticed his energy level. Very frustrating when you want to puke. He had a little more stamina than he normally did after spending the day on the phones with customers. I could hear it in his voice. That is what amazed me. Especially since the day before all he talked about was how tired he was since we had gotten to bed late for the past week.

I will be honest that this was not a cheap investment that we made. Neither was it terribley expensive. But it has replaced what I normally eat and thus not increasing my monthly grocery bill. I think that was what impressed me the most about the product was not only was it a live food and not filled with the fillers that you get when you buy over the counter but that this is not taken on top of your daily food as a supplement but it replaces two meals a day. I don't know if I am explaining this correctly but this is how I looked at when I got involved. After all the health issues I needed to find another route in order to help my family. First and foremost this is not a weight loss program, it is a natural side affect as you get your body back into its natural harmonic state. We all know this, we used to be taught this at an early age. These days there are so many lawsuits out there that doctors and people in general are afraid to talk to people any more about what real nutrion is because it is hard to find and almost impossible to get at your grocery store. IsAgenix is backed by some of the top nutrional experts/doctors in the US. What sold me was when Dr. Weil who was the nutrionist for 2 US presidents backed this product I was done. I joined and started the program.

Ok ok I will quit gushing about the product. But I will keep posting on our progress with the product. Because for the first time in 8 years of health problems I feel I have found the light at the end of the tunnel. Scott has even joined us.

So now you have the two biggest items in our lives. The other thing is that we hope to buy a house this summer. Will keep you posted on that as well.

If you want to know more about isagenix, with out feeling like you have to sit thru a presentation, which I wouldn't do to you!, you can go to www.jennandstar.isagenix.com and look around and read up on some of the products.

Christmas 2008

Wow I cannot believe that Christmas has passed! I have no idea where the last four months of the year went. Starting school threw my little world for a spin, which I enjoyed immensely, and I am still trying to figure out how to catchup on certain things and with people. I am not as good at juggling things like I used to. But I also have found that school opened up so many other doors that I am having a hard time not walking thru them all at the same time.

But let me back up just a little. To Christmas. Christmas was small and simple. I was not able to shop until the 23rd and the 24th. Which I do not recommend. But Star and I had a greed not to exchange gifts this year so I focused on stocking stuffers and then I did have to shop with Scott for gifts for both Star and I and also aunt Evie. Which is funny how quickly things add up. So I finished up the shopping along with grocery shopping and we started Christmas Eve around 7pm.

As usual Eve and this time Janice as well, managed to find the perfect gift for Scott. They both made him a cameo outfit. Badges, pins, hat, socks, shoes, belt, you name it they found it or made it. He loved everything! Eve managed to make and put together cameo pj's. That all just made his Christmas.

Having managed to wrap all the gifts earlier in the week(when there aren't that many gifts it makes it very easy and quick) we had no need to stay up really late. Scott of course woke up early. Shocker there. But we fiddled around until8:15 and decided to wake Evie and begin our morning. We quickly downed breakfast and began the unwrapping part of the morning. It was all very simple and quite. Unusually quite with out Ammon here.

We spent the rest of the day playing games and watching Mama Mia! Which currently has a cult following in our house. We tried to focus on the call from Ammon but by 5pm Eve was getting pretty antsy and threatening to call the Mission president. Finally around 5:15 we got a brief call letting us know that he would call in about an hour or so after his dinner apt. Which gave us time to get our dinner over with. When we finally got the call we were able to talk to him for a really long time. I would say at least an hour or so. It was so nice to hear his voice.

I am going to wrap up quickly here and try to throw up some pictures. I am currently on Star's laptop and with my long nails makes it hard to type.

A quick catch up....

Ok, I cannot believe a month has passed since I last posted. I swore that I would not let that happen. Well true to form in trying to catch up with Dad's passing, birthdays, and school it has been a tad overwhelming. Star was layed off for two weeks while transistioning to another account and has returned to work this week. I will shortly post some pictures from Scott's first birthday party, guess what theme that was? Yeah you guessed it Pirates.

Stories of Starford Leroy Churchill Jr

These are some stories that my husband Star has put together about his father.

Starford Leroy Churchill Jr.
June 25, 1927 to October 7, 2008

Dad’s Stories:

When Star was still a baby (about four to eight months) his family had a dog named Expert Tippy King (German Sheppard, I think). One day while his mom (Dorothea) was doing some ironing in the laundry area, Star had rolled out of bed, between the bed and the wall, pinning himself there. The dog heard the noise and trotted out to the kitchen and began tugging at Dorothea’s dress, then went back to Star’s room with Dorothea following. As she entered the room she saw that Star had fallen between the bed and wall and was having difficulty breathing. She was able to move the bed and get Star untangled from the sheets. King was a hero for saving Star’s life.

When Star was in school (somewhere in the middle grades) he was harassed by a group of kids that were always chasing him home and/or beating him up. Star did everything he could to avoid this group, taking different routes home, leaving as soon as the bell rang and running all the way home or staying late after school helping his teacher with odd chores. One day as he was running home and being chased by the group of bullies, he was spotted his father, who was out with his crew from the fire house. When Star Sr. got home, he called Star down stairs under the house (away from Dorothea) to find out what was going on. Star explained what had been happening and Star Sr. registered Star in a boxing training program at the local gym. After several weeks of instruction and training Star was once more on his own. Once again Star was being chased home by this group of kids, when he rounded a corner into lot and discovered that his father and the squad were there. Star was caught between a rock and a hard place. He decided to turn and face the oncoming group of kids and to take on the leader first. With a few well placed punches he managed to quickly eliminate the threat of a beating, not of the group of kids, but from his father, who was watching from the fire truck.

As a teenager in high school, Star had a very eventful life with his school buddies. There are several stories that I will try to tell:

One such event was the story of the pipe bomb, which as I remember happened during the early years of WWII. The boys had made a pipe bomb and decided to blow it up, so one night they got together and buried it in a large field near a movie theater. A few nights later they decided that it should be detonated, so they went to the movies (with the exception of Star, because he had been grounded that night), at intermission, one of the boys snuck out, wired the bomb to a detonator, and set it off. As it turns out, it had been buried between an Anti-Aircraft Gun and a Barrage Balloon; the resulting explosion put the Pacific side of the Canal Zone on Red Alert and the Atlantic Side on Yellow Alert. Fortunately no one was injured in the incident, but somehow the culprits were found and taken before the Military Commander of the Canal Zone for reprimanding.

Along with the previous story, Star was making a pipe bomb of his own in the back of the family garage. It was not something he was in a hurry to do and he had been working on it for weeks, slowly. One day as Star was messing around in the garage, a police officer walked up the sidewalk and stopped in front, calling Star out of the garage, he asked the office if something was wrong, the officer replied simply, telling Star to dismantle the pipe bomb and dispose of the components. Star looked puzzled and asked the officer, what are you talking about. The officer replied: would you like me to tell your father. With that Star said that he would take care of the issue and the officer left.

In High School, in Study Hall, Star and friends were watching Anti-Aircraft Guns test firing and decided to attempt to plot their locations. They were able to get a map, a compass, a thermometer and a stopwatch. Using their education in sciences, they would await the firing of a gun emplacement. One boy would plot the direction using the compass. Another would start the stopwatch when the gun flashed and stop it when he heard the report. The two other boy using the time and temperature would calculate the distance to the gun and mark it on the direction line already marked on the map, plotting the location of the gun. One of the boys’ Father was in command of the guns for the Pacific (west) side of the Canal Zone. This boy took the map home to show his father what they had done during Study Hall. The Father about freaked out at seeing the map. After reprimanding his son, he explained that they had missed one of the guns, but that was only because it was not firing that day, because it was (down for maintenance) being overhauled.

Star and his friends rigged a camera on a board with a trip line so when the camera was raised to the back seat window of Star’s car (just as the lens made contact with the window) a picture would be snapped. So as the boy drove around on base and saw something of interest they would raise the camera (as fast as the board could be raised and lowered) to take a picture. They did this on all the Canal Zone Bases (Army, Army Air Corps and Navy). These pictures went into an album that was presented by the boys to the Military Commander of the Canal Zone as he was leaving the Canal Zone.

Star and his friends spent a lot of time in the jungle hunting and at sea fishing. One time, Star and a couple of buddies were driving through the jungle hunting (they had rigged seats to the front bumper and side fenders of the car. Star had also read in a magazine, that if you grab a snake by the tail and snap it like you would a rope, it will break the snake’s neck region killing it) when Star spotted a snake sunny in the oath ahead. Signaling the car to stop and handing his gun off to his friend, he run ahead without any forethought to want he was doing, grabbing the snake by one end and giving it a snap, like a rope (which fortunately worked, killing the snake), because at that moment Star thought about at which end of the snake had he grabbed, turned out he had the snake by the head. LUCKY!

Star and friends had designed spear guns that used compress air canisters to launch the spears which had fifty feet of lightweight rope attached so the speared fish would hang below the diver in case sharks came by to investigate. One time they took this so call expert diver from Florida with them for some spear fishing. On the way out to a favorite fishing spot they instructed the diver on how to use the spear gun. During the adventure and after having speared some fish, a shark showed to investigate. Seeing the shark, this expert diver promptly placed the gun down between his legs and pulled the trigger, propelling himself to the surface like a ballistic missile fired from a submarine.

Papa Eagle

It has continued to be an emotional week. Dad Churchill passed away on Tuesday October 7th 2008. Six years and almost 1 month to the day that Dee passed away. The three of us took turns for 6 days sitting at his bedside. After about three days he no longer could really communicate with us but Aaron (he used to own Canyon Cove Asst Living, he and Ann stayed on as Hospice care) had informed us that hearing was the last thing to go so we could still communicate with him. We would let Dad know when we were coming and going and tell him things occasionally. After the Priesthood conference session ended on Saturday Bishop Wright came over and gave Dad a blessing. It was another one in offering him a peaceful experience.

Someone was with him during all the conference sessions and he at least got to hear about the Panama temple. I know he would have loved to have seen it in person.

The day that Dad passed Eve had gone over extra early. I stayed and took a nap and was there about 11:15 am. His breathing had become very shallow but was still very rhythmic. Hospice had given us all these signs to look for. We kept looking and looking. About 2 pm I noticed his color was a little different and was contemplating getting something to eat. Which meant leaving Canyon Cove. Instead I opted to put on some makeup. It was while I was putting on mascara that Dad took deep breathe. It made us look up as it was different from what his breathing had been. Then I noticed that he wasn't breathing and I called Eve's name and said I didn't think he was breathing, so I got up and put my hand on his chest and it was still. Then he took another half breathe and that was it. It was finally over. Eve was so happy for him that she grabbed his feet and said "way to go Dad!".

We had been telling for days that when he saw Dee to follow her. That in his present condition there was no need for him to stay. We all had been praying for a peaceful passing and that is what Dad received. We often asked him if he was in pain and he said no. We were told often of how a lot of elderly lie in intense pain for days and days before they die.

Dad lived an incredibly full life. He had the ability to tell the corniest jokes and make them funny. He was wonderful at sharing stories about his childhood in Panama and even when they moved to the states. Stories of what some might consider harrowing at times. Dad had a sureness of who he was and it showed in him and in his work as a machinist. He and Dee were truly very generous people. Not just with money but time, talent, and knowledge. One of the things that I enjoyed about Dad was that when he smiled it reached his eyes and his whole face would light up. I am going to miss that smile more than words can say. I managed to get one of those smiles with every visit up until about a week before he died.

I will try to put some pictures of Dad on our next blog.

A huge emotional week

It has truly been a very emotional week. On Monday evening I was informed that my Aunt Sue was dieing. On Tuesday I started beauty school and Tuesday night Aunt Sue passed away. I was not prepared for the emotions that over took me. I spent any break I had at school to stay in contact with various family members. On Thursday I was informed that my Father-in-law had only a few days to live. We have been expecting this and even praying for it. So once again on breaks I stayed on contact with Eve for any updates. Thursday evening we got a call that he wasn't doing good and we should come over. Well it is now Saturday and we take turns going over and sit with him. At moments he is aware of us yet most of the time he is not. It is very difficult to see him with his face so hollowed out and with no fat on his body at all. He has a rattle when he breathes. He has had no food or enough fluids to sustain his body. We expect him to pass today or tomorrow. It has truly been a rough week. Not one I would like to repeat.

Even though our faith gives us comfort in knowing that he joins our Father in Heaven and Jesus Christ , not to mention his dear wife Dee and Star's son Jonathon the physical loss is still difficult to deal with.

I promise to write something more uplifting next week sometime.

Dad and Sue, I love you both and thank you for being a huge part of my life. Thank you for sharing your love with me. God Bless.

Yeah it is Fall in Utah!

I cannot believe that we are fastly approaching the end of September. I love spring and fall. The change in the way the air smells and the change in the way the air feels. There is nothing like it. I have experienced fall on the east coast. I spent a few months in Virginia and traveled thru New York, Connecticut, and New Hampshire while living there. I loved it. I still have one very strong memory of being out for a drive and pulling up in front of this one tree that was of the most spectacular shades of orange. The tree literally looked like it was on fire. I grew up on the northern west coast and the seasonal changes are so subtle that they are almost unnoticeable until it is completed. Yet fall is beautiful there as well. You have the vineyards and apple farms in full harvest mode and it is a bustle that I do miss. Then there is Utah. I enjoy the obvious signs of the changes of the weather. I love to see the mountains change before the valley does. I love the crispness that comes with this time of the year. The one and only thing I do not look forward to is the snow. I appreciate it for Christmas and New Year and after that I don't want to see it. I do however get caught up in Scott's excitement of the snow. He is a true Utah child. He loves every season but none more than snow season.

As I approach the beginning of beauty school I have been in a flurry of activity, realizing that once I start I will be so tired that I will have literally no energy to do anything else but go to school and come home and rest. So in my flurry we took Scott up to Sundance on Saturday. Although he had been there before he would not remember as he was just a baby. I always forget how peaceful and beautiful it is there. There is so much more to it than just the name and the restaurant. Or the ski slopes. It is fun to attend the concerts and performances at the amphitheatre as well. At first we drove past and wound our way up the canyon. We pulled over just as the valley starts to open up, there we found a bright yellow tree. I had Star let me and Scott out so we could go pick some leaves. I was wearing the wrong shoes and could not reach the leaves and I turned around to holler at Star to join us and I noticed that we were suddenly overwhelmed with people. They just seemed to have crawled out of the forest. It was very bizarre!















After that we drove back down to Sundance and as if we called ahead found a perfect parking spot. Which was very lucky as we found out a wedding was taking place. So we just took our time meandering up the path that followed the little river. We gathered different leaves of shape and color. Also pictures of what we gathered. I love the camera that Eve got for us. It is fantastic. I enjoy taking pictures. After reaching the end of the paved path we opted to turn around and head back along the main path. We slowly made our way to the car and headed home. It was a great little adventure. I love to see Scott's excitement about things. I had to constantly remind him to keep his voice down as he just wound up about things. He is so dang cute!

The reason for the leaf gathering is that we made placemats for our missionaries to celebrate fall/halloween. We had a blast using the different leaf colors and shapes to make creative patterns. We accented with halloween stickers and stuff. We had a blast putting them together. That was our family home evening project for the week. Next week we are making Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle heads stuffed with candy. It has been fun to put together little things for our missionaries. We have four out just from our street. In fact it goes our house, the Keils who live next to us on our west side have two out, and then going west again the Bartholomews. They live next to the Keils and they have one out. He happens to be Ammon's very best friend since they were 5. Then to our south across the street we have another one. So 5 just on our one street. It is pretty awesome. They are incredible missionaries and what an example for Scott.

ImageWorks Academy of Hair Design, Inc.
I have been slated to start beauty school at ImageWorks on Tuesday September 2nd. But I have not heard from the school as to whether my financial aid has come thru yet. So I am waiting for a call from the school so I can make arrangements for Scott and a prescription from the doctor so I can stay awake while at school. I am incredibly excited about going. I am really looking forward to the professional makeup coarse. I do not believe it will be what brings in the money but for those of you who know me it is all about the makeup and always has been! Not to mention it is with my ultimate favorite makeup line, MAC. I have found out that my financial has not come thru as of yet but I am going to start on Tuesday as scheduled and as soon as my student loan comes thru for $500 I will be able to take home my kit and practice. YEAH!!!!!


For those of you who have never tried it and believe in spending money on quality, you need to try MAC. As far as pricing goes it is actually cheaper than Lancome and Este Lauder. I started buying professional makeup with Este Lauder and was deeply disappointed with its quality and ability to last. A friend from Arizona turned me onto Merl Norman and I liked their makeup then a coworker from Arizona turned me onto MAC and I have never gone back. I am a contact lens wearer and I have never had a problem with their makeup causing me any issues. There makeup lasts longer and looks better than anything else I have ever tried. I did stray for a little while when I converted to mineral foundation and waited and waited for MAC to come out with theirs. Finally, yes finally they did and I was able to afford to purchase it. Early Christmas present to myself, I mean after all how could I go to school to learn professional makeup and not be wearing MAC!!!! I know, self justification!!! Not to mention that they do makeovers and I have never been disappointed with the look they created for me.

Everything from an evening eye catching look to an everyday natural look. They completely shattered my image of what colors I could or could not wear. OK, I will stop now. You can tell I am in love with MAC, enough said. Here is their link if your interested in what they offer: http://www.maccosmetics.com

Catching up....

Wow, I cannot believe that it has been over a month since I last posted anything. We have had some computer problems. We needed to reformat our computer and then update some of the software. Well I had over 7 gig of stuff that I needed to save and we just had one problem after another trying to get that downloaded. Then the first reformat we did back to factory and that loaded a bunch of stuff of we had forgotten about and didn't need bogging down our computer. We bought a floor display model and so there was a ton of junk programs that came loaded on it. So we finally get everything downloaded and the computer reformatted and up and running. Running a something different than XP and Vista so it has taken me a week to get used to it. Now my hyper somnia is in overdrive and I am once again sleeping my days away. I hate wasting so much of my time sleeping. I am also very close to starting Beauty school. If my financing comes thru I will start school on the 30th. Which only gives me a week and half to get all my sleep in and pray for all the help I can get so I can get out of bed in the morning to be at school by 8. This is what forced me to quit working in the first place, I am unable to control how or when I handle getting up when the hyper somnia is in over drive. It is for only three months so if I can just drag myself out of bed and get to Springville.......

Quick update on Dad. He is doing great!!! At first he was saying that he would not have the other knee done because the recovery was so painful. Now that he is MUCH more mobile than he has been in years he believes that he will have the other knee done next summer. We are all so proud of him. His recovery has been great. He has truly put a lot of work into it and is happy with his progress. He should be able to go back to driving his bus very soon.

We had a block party last night and let me tell you what a blast it was. Kris and Ron Bartholomew host it in their yard and all but three families showed up for it. The kids had such a blast. Kris is so creative (she should be with so many kids) she took water balloons filled them with little prizes such as coins, filled with water, and then froze them. They were the biggest hit of the party. She has been doing this for 11 years. She also had a pinata for the kids. And of course my Scott is the one that hit the poor duck pinata in just the right spot and broke it. One good whack and down the duck went. He does not realize how strong he is. The party wrapped up by 8. We did it later this year than in years past and it was weird to have it dark by 8. It was really nice because we have a neighbor that is the editor of the Daily Herold here in Provo and they showed up as well. It was great because the non LDS neighbors sometimes get a little overlooked as most of us know each other from church. We used to do neighbor parties in California and let me tell you those are some of my favorite memories. One of our neighbors was the head chef for Peir 39 in San Francisco and he was italian. Mmmmmmmmmm, man could that man cook! We had a party at thier house and played Bocce ball and dogged thier Pot Belly pig. Ahh memories.

Well that is a quick update. I will be much better from now on. It will hopefully be filled with all sorts of stuff from beauty school.

One knee down for Dad

Ok, Dad went in for knee surgery this morning and three hours later he is now in recovery and being moved to his room. He opted to have just one knee done instead of both. Thanks to Jasmine for being there with Mom and Dad so they had an advocate for them as far as information goes. Not to mention just being there. It is one of the hard things about living on the other side of the point of the mountain, the distance. From what Mom said they found multiple bone spurs which would account for so much of the pain that he had. I wont get a chance to talk to him until this evening as he is sleeping off the local anaesthesia. Ashlynn kept getting upset with seeing Papa with an oxygen mask on.

Dad and Jessica both have birthdays next week. Dad on Sunday and Jess on Saturday. I am hoping that we can afford the gas so we can go up for a visit. That way Dad can show us his new scars.

Talking about Jess. She did an incredible job co-hosting on Good Things Utah last week. She hosted on Wednesday and although I was sick Scott and I got to watch her at home. Scott thought it was pretty cool to his Aunt on TV. What an incredible experience for her. A once in a lifetime kind of moment. Jess has more pictures on her blog if you want to see them. Oh, so does Jasmine as her and Mom were able to go down and watch her in person. I was so bummed to not make it! But what a thrill for Jess. Yeah Jess!!!

Quick update on Scott. We saw the ENT yesterday but were unable to determine if he needed to have the tube removed from his left ear because he currently has an ear infection. Dr. Denys believes that the right tube will fall out of his ear canal any day now. So we have 10 days of drops and then back to see Dr. Denys to see if the infection has cleared. If it has then we can determine when and how to remove the tube. I am hoping that it will fall out on its own. We do have a few more months for this to happen. If the infection has cleared then he will see the audiologist for the hearing test. With the infection in full bloom Dr. Denys said that we would not get an accurate reading. His next appointment is on Monday the 25th @ 10:30. So Scott will have a full week of school before his misses his first day of school of the new year.

But summer isn't over yet.....

Well, the reason for the long delay in blog messages is that last week I was down with a sinus infection that just kicked my butt. I was down and out for a full three days. Barely staying awake enough to know where my son was and what he was into. Yeah, what he was into... He is six and when the cat is sick the mouse will play. I am still not over the sinus infection and am now just barely keeping my head above water.

I am shock at quickly the summer has flown by. I am in total getting ready for school mode. Trying to figure out what to buy in the way of clothes and shoes and we don't find out what schedule Scott is on until the Thursday before he starts school.

I also have to take him to the audiologist on the 13th to determine how much hearing loss he has. We have been battling ear problems with Scott since he was two weeks old. We no sooner have the tubes out then we are back to ear infections and chronic sinus problems. In his last physical it was determined that he was suffering from mild hearing loss and still has a tube in that needs to be removed. So we will find out how much hearing loss there is and if he will need to have surgery to remove the tube in the ear canal and the one remaining in the ear drum. I am sincerely hoping it will be an in office sort of thing they can do. I cannot afford for Scott to actually have to go thru a surgery. Not to mention he has hard time coming out of anesthesia and he is groggy for a good day or so.

On Saturday the 2nd Star and I celebrated our 8th anniversary! It is hard to believe it has been 8 years. There are days when it seems just like yesterday that we were married. Although our eight years have been full of financial and health crisis's we are more in love now than we were the day we married. I would not trade any of the last eight years for anything. Despite everything we have been truly blessed. The Lord continues to look out for us despite the fact that we come up lacking most of the time. Our biggest blessing of course is Scott and has brought much JOY into our lives and I look forward to each milestone, OK sometimes I do approach them with some trepidation. When he started school I was not sure I wanted him to leave and when school ended I was thinking what am I going to do with him.

Star and I had free passes for a movie so we went to see the latest Mummy movie and then we went to Los Hermonas and we shared a plate of Nachos. We managed to spend under $30 for the whole date. It was really nice to be together with out Scott. Eve took Scott to Scera park where he could play in the water and sprinklers. It really is a fun place.

We enjoyed the the Mummy but did not care for the actress that played Evie. The chemistry between the main characters just was not there. Other than that it was a typical Mummy movie with all the cheesy lines and lots of Brendan Frasier. We will undoubtedly buy it when it is released so we can complete our collection. We did go see Mama Mia the weekend before and LOVED it.

I have been trying to load some pictures from our wedding but they will not seem to load. So maybe I will put them in a slide show on my sidebar. We recently reformatted our hard drive and put stuff on a CD, now I can't load them. Anyway keep looking for them in the next day or two.

By the way, Robyn, thank you for your email about the meanest mom. Thank you, it meant a lot to me. Your right, it will not be the last time I hear it. :)