CELEBRATIONS!!!

April, May and June are full of celebratory events in our family!

MOTHER'S DAY - ever a favorite of mine.  I had such a special, wonderful mother of my own, and I always wanted to grow up and be a mommy. And by golly, I did it!  When we first got married, we had trouble conceiving, and the Dr. said we may not be able to have children.  Two years later, the little ones started coming - times seven!!  Each one was a precious treasure to us - and they continue to be!  I am SO grateful to be a mother!!

Cards & flowers - my favorites!!

These are some of the names I am known by:):)

We were able to pay a visit to Lothaire's mom - one of the sweetest angels on the earth!

Here he is with her and his brother Curtis and sister Antoinette.

I also got to witness our grandson, Parker, receive his Arrow of Light for Cub Scouts - good work Parker!!  Now on to Life and Eagle, right??!!

And just 3 days ago, our son-in-law, Alex, walked across the stage at UCDavis and received his PhD in Statistics.  And we were able to live stream it and watch from our kitchen here in Arizona - sometimes I truly love technology:). (other times, not so much!)  So proud of you Alex!!!

AND WE DO LOVE BIRTHDAYS IN THIS FAMILY!

We had a gathering to celebrate Jordan, Layton, and Adelynn who have birthdays in late April and May.  Somebody is watching those cupcakes pretty seriously:)!!

It was fun to watch little miss Addy enjoy her birthday cupcake!

Cute little one year old!!

She loved her new little pink sports car, and we loved

being here for her first birthday!

Mae and Eva share the first week of June for their birthdays - born just four days apart!

They won't always be in the same state for their birthdays, but they were this year, 

so what's a Grandma to do except have a Princess Party??!!

So much cuteness all in one room!  

(With cute little sister Daphne looking on longingly - don't worry Daph - your turn will come!)

Calvin turned 8 just yesterday!  Since his mom & dad were participating as "ma & pa" on their stake trek outing, Grandma got to pick him up and take him out for birthday breakfast - just the two of us!

Followed by - - - - a little outing to the Dinosaur Museum, of course!

I told Calvin that my favorite book when I was his age was "The Shy Stegosaurus of Cricket Creek" -

so this picture was a must!

I loved sharing your birthday with you, Cal!!!

NOW - if you happen to be stuck in the hospital on your birthday, party planners have to be a little creative!

These folks sang a great rendition of Happy Birthday for Lothaire!!

And kids under the age of 13 aren't allowed on the oncology floor.

BUT - there is a little family waiting area just outside of the floor, and they allowed us to have a little celebration in there.  (of course he had to bring his IV pole with him!)

It was a happy surprise for Lothaire!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MY LOVE!

HERE'S TO MANY, MANY MORE!!!

Visiting Angels

Since my last post in the middle of April, we have had so many wonderful visitors that have helped to lift our spirits!  I didn't get a photo of all of them, but here are some that I did:

Here is Lothaire surrounded by his Aunt Sylvia Lunt Heywood (sister of his mother) and Uncle Evans Heywood.
They have always been a very special part of our lives.
They served as Mission President and wife of the Chile Concepcion Mission from 1992-1995 and gave us so many insightful tips before we left for Chile!
The four of us share a deep love for Chile and her people and her missionaries!!



This is Lothaire's brother Barry, who lives in Wyoming.
It was such a sweet and pleasant surprise to have him show up on our doorstep -
complete with a freshly shaved head in honor of his big (I should say older!) brother:):):)



Our "foster" son, Rick, was deployed to the Naval ship USNS MERCY, for a 5 month mission in the Pacific.
In early May, he was in San Diego receiving training prior to departure.  He had leave on Mother's Day weekend and drove over to spend it with us. It was so wonderful to have him here.  He is now having quite an adventure at sea!



And look at these 2 little cutie pie visitors!  Eva & Daphne came over from California for a few days with mommy (Meagan).  They are trying out Grandma's new circle bench in the back yard:).




And, of course, it is ALWAYS special to have our missionaries drop by!!



Hermana Riggs home from UVU for a weekend full of weddings!


Elder Woods & Elder Cupello - we knew that Elder Cupello was coming for a visit - he lives and works here in AZ.
But Elder Woods' presence was a BIG and AWESOME surprise!!
He then went home and got married to the love of his life:).


We were also delighted and surprised when Elder Povar (from Oregon) called last week and said he was
in town visiting some family!  We had SUCH a great visit together!!!

A Little Update

I was shocked to sit down and see that my last post was nearly two months ago!  How does that happen??  So often??:)

So here is a little update on Lothaire - and then I will post a couple of other catch ups after this one.

Round 4 of chemo has been completed - something to celebrate for sure!  That means there are only 2 more rounds to go.  As miserable as it is to be in the hospital for 5 days straight every 3 weeks, being pumped full of medicinal poison, Lothaire has carried on like a champ.  The first week home is always the hardest and we keep a pretty low profile.  But then his blood starts to rebuild and he gets a little more energy, and life seems a little bit normal again - right when it is time to go back in for more poison!!

The grandkids are quite enchanted by grandpas shiny head!  

He finished round 4 on June 3rd (the day after his birthday) and was so happy to come home again - and I was so happy to HAVE him come home again!  But he didn't seem to be bouncing back as well as he did the previous times.  This last Friday evening (June 10th) he started having chills and fever, and we knew that was not a good thing.  We spent that night in the ER and they admitted him back into the hospital in the wee hours of Saturday morning (yesterday).  Over the last two days they have been pumping him full of liquids and IV antibiotics.  They also gave him a unit of blood.  He has become neutropenic, which means that he has very few white blood cells to fight infection.  It can be a very serious condition should an infection present itself, so we are appreciative of the proactive steps they are taking.  Even if it means a few more "boring" days in the hospital!!

He was feeling quite a bit better by the end of today, and we are hopeful that he can come back home tomorrow!!

Thank you all over and over again for your care and concern, your love and your prayers, your calls, visits and emails.  We feel abundantly blessed and we know that the Lord is watching over us.