Two More Elk Calves Tonight!

Just a quick note, we had two new Elk calves out this evening, still had their spots, they were so adorable. The kept nursing, it was so fun, we love watching them. It was too dark to get a picture with my little camera, just another time I wished I had a good SLR and a good telephoto lens. Soon they will be out jumping around and playing, now that is fun to watch! Video camera? Need one of those too! Maybe these ones will play in the puddles too.

Current Projects

Do you want to see some projects that I have been working on? Visit my project blog here. I'm trying to keep up with posting my projects, though admittedly, I'm not very good about it. If you see anything you want to do, come on over!

If I could just get the painting I want to do. I said I was going to do it "this summer", but it seems like I'm going to wait until fall or winter. The summer has just been too busy and besides, for whatever reason the thought of painting a wall or my bathroom really freaks me out. What's that all about!!! Want to come help?

cute little thing

Note this cute little field mouse. Now, none of us really like mice, I understand that. But if you know me, you know my love of all animals and this little guy is pretty darn cute, right? I don't even mind the tail. Now let me tell you how he came into my life.

This is Max: (hold on, temporarily outside somewhere and late for the photo shoot).....

Okay, here is Max. Not a great picture, but he works hard and is taking a nap.

The other day as I was walking through my family room when I see Max coming up the stairs, officially called "the cat stairs" (since as you can see...

there is no way a human can easily use them, unless they are very, very thin, about 3" thin to be exact), so here comes Max with some grass hanging out his mouth. Now, grass I say?, that is strange. Upon further examination I notice he is bringing me a gift, I scream NOOOOOOO as he heads for the cat door. He turns around and runs away. Dead rodent in my house averted. Yeah!! Do you hear the cheers?

An hour or so later, now madly knitting to get a gift finished, I look up to see Max coming through the cat door...

with the rodent still in his mouth (I assume the same one as he probably just went out and played with it for awhile, which they are wont to do). As I scream NOOOOOOOO again, instead of just backing out the door, he freaks out, drops the rodent and ...... it scurries away beneath my furniture. IT WAS STILL ALIVE!!!!! He tries to follow it as it looks for different places to hide, then, looses interest. Yes, that is right, he lost interest in this gift to me, it was successfully delivered I suppose. I run to catch Mimi, not easy to catch a cat when you are running towards them, they tend to run the other way, especially Mimi. This is Mimi

(she is NOT cooperating with the photo shoot so it doesn't show her full beauty) Anyway, I finally get her, grab hold of her, turn her face to the last place this "CLG - cute little guy" was seen (much more cute when they are outside by the way and I'm going to assume it is a boy since I don't want visions of a mouse having 100's of babies in my house), try to get her to take the scent and... she does. She tries to get it, but of course can't fit under the arm chair or couch, or where ever. So, off I go for a broom, a mop, anything with a long handle to slide under the chair so it will run right into Mimi's mouth, perfect plan, right? Max is still not interested by the way. So, as Mimi waits patiently where she saw CLG last, (Cat's are so patient when waiting for little things that move), when to my surprise, slowly the CLG exits the under part of the chair and sneaks around the corner, Mimi still patiently waiting. Cats!!! When did their keen sense of smell and movement, let alone their hearing go? Can't she hear or at least smell it getting away! As I jump up to see where it has gone, I notice it running and trying to leap up each stair into our bedroom. Not an easy thing for a very small CLG. No way CLG, you aren't going up there and I throw the broom ahead of it, like a broom with a long skinny handle is going to block the way, right! Now, some of you might ask, why throw it above the mouse instead of trying to smash the mouse? Do you know me? It was too cute to kill. I couldn't do that!!! However, it startles CLG enough that he turns and runs, only to find me standing there, the only out...down the stairs into the quagmire of Bill's shoes. (It's a scary place, it has every pair of shoes he has down there in that abyss, I'll even spare you the picture, it is too horrifying). I go running before it gets into our storage never to be found again, he's jumping, I'm jumping (I don't want him on my feet, however CLG's fear of that might be a bit more than mine, but not by much) Finally I think. Hey, If I can get him into one of Bill's shoes CLG will feel safe, I'll feel safe, neither of us will keep jumping, afraid the other is going to land on the other, good idea. What a great idea actually. It worked, I held a shoe over him, he jumped into it (I'm sure just so this giant would stop chasing him), went into the garage, opened the garage door and shook him out onto the driveway and shooed him off, reminding him of what a lucky CLG he was.

The rest of the story? The next day I come home from errands and find barf, specifically, cat barf. In the cat barf? One CLG tail. I hope it wasn't the one I chased. We kind of bonded.

Oh, one more thing. Don't tell Bill I caught a mouse in his shoe...he might not be too happy about it!

Catch Up....Again

I can't believe this summer is already half over. I have been so busy it's crazy. It's all been good stuff, you know how it is. I can't remember a weekend that we didn't have obligations, mostly church stuff, except on a weekend in The Dalles, OR visiting our DIL and granddaughter. Now that was fun!! We also got to enjoy Amanda's sister Marie's, wedding. Milan was the flower girl and so adorable. Check this out. This was on the dance floor. This girl loves to dance! She had a hard time keeping the dress up, but that didn't stop her. She would just pick it up, since it was too long, and keep dancing.

Isn't this just the cutest picture of her!
Because the dress was a little big for her, it was pretty long, she would pick it up just like a little princess and go running with the kids. Could it have been any cuter? I don't think so. Every once in awhile the dress would get the better of her and down she would go. As you can see, it didn't bother her much.

While at the reception I spoke to the grooms grandmother who had made these wonderful pretzels. They were so yummy! She adds spices to them.

It's hard to tell they have spices, but they do. All you do is combine a bottle of Orville Redenbacher (sp?) butter flavor popcorn oil, 1 package of Ranch Dressing mix and a heaping T. of Lemon Pepper. Mix that all together and pour it over 2 bags of pretzels and stir until it is all coated. Keep it out on your counter and keep stirring every time you walk by for a day or two, until it all gets absorbed. You don't bake it or anything, yummy. If you like pretzels, you'll love these.

On Friday before the wedding we took Milan for the day so the girls could do some final prep. We took her to the park . I think one of her favorite things to say is "cheese".

I love this picture. I have it as my wallpaper on my computer. Every time I turn it on, there she is swinging and smiling at me. It makes my heart sing!

Look at these adorable freckles! I'm not sure you can see them very well, but they are there and as cute as can be.

This was the view from the park of the Columbia River Gorge. Actually much prettier in real life, of course. Besides, I don't have a great camera.

We also took her to McDonalds for lunch and sometime during the weekend we took her swimming.

We just had a great weekend with her. Each night we got to take her with us to stay in the camper. It was such fun. We went for walks in the park and did lots of swinging and she just liked to be out walking. She even just loved staying close to camp and playing with the camp kitty and just talking and keeping busy. This has to be my most favorite picture for the whole weekend. I absolutely just love it. This is how happy she was each morning.

How do you beat waking up to this every morning. Did I mention how much fun we had with her?

We have had a busy weeks since then as well. More on that tomorrow (??). As for now, I'm going to go sit and talk with Bill about our schedule coming up. We just got home from a Youth Temple Trip and I'm tired. It was also my Temple weekend so I've been gone all weekend, I love the weekends I get to work at the temple, but I started working a 4 am on Friday and haven't stopped yet, (well I did get a few hours of sleep last night but it was so stinking hot in the house I stayed at that, well, it was just so hot it was hard to sleep. Beautiful old farm house with no insulation and 104* weather, must have cooled though, to at least 90*. So ...I'll be right back to share what a wonderful weekend we had last weekend on a Stake Trek. Totally amazing!

A Camper, finally

Well, we finally found a camper we wanted. We have been looking for a couple of years actually. Bill has wanted a Big Foot and they are not easy to find. But we held out and finally did find one. Here it is at the place where we bought it and also getting it on. I didn't want a big one, and this isn't, but is sure seemed big once it was on the truck. We got a camper so we could pull a boat or 4-wheelers.

We were so anxious to go camping and then we had church commitments every weekend for a month, between Stk Conf, which was wonderful (with Elder Johnson coming), out of town speaking assignments, temple trips, etc. It's just been busy. We finally got to go, it was kind of spontaneous (isn't that the joy of having a camper) when I realized I didn't have to work on Monday, so after we attended a funeral on Saturday, we came home, scrambled to get things ready and off we went. We had a lot of fun. We didn't go far, just up the McKenzie River, but it is one of our favorite places to be. The first night we stayed at Belknap Hot Springs, but got there kind of late in the day, early evening actually. Bill tried to fish, but the water current was so fast there was just no way.

This is the camper from across the McKenzie River our first night.
Bill fishing, of course. Below is a picture just up the river. It's so pretty up there.
Here is a picture of Bill's new friend that he made while there.

Then someone came along and insisted she get a picture of us both, ugh!

Sunday morning we got up and drove into Sisters for church. I can't believe I didn't get a picture, but seeing that the parking lot was full and realizing that we were late just didn't think of it, then or after. It was so fun seeing Nyle (Emily was in Az), Diane and Rick. They have a great little branch there and a very nice building. Nyle, who is the Branch President, said that they were working on the next stage of the building. I told him about when we were trying to get a building here and Floyd went around all the campgrounds playing Come, Come Ye Saints. It brought every member out of the woodwork. He would stop and ask them to come, no on cared that they didn't have typical church clothes, everyone just wanted them there. Because of that, we now have a building ready for 2 wards. I told him that when he picked his months to count, to let us know and we would try to get the whole ward there. Well, maybe the whole ward couldn't come, but a bunch of us could take turns and go all summer. (Good excuse to go camping too, right? Yeah, I'm thinking!)

After church we stopped at my favorite place, Suttle Lake, and had lunch. We stayed until thunder and lightening started and just a few drops of rain.

Met a new friend, shared our lunch with him, (or is it a her?)

or at least our Cheez-It's, and then off to find a place for the night. At Suttle there were 100's of these butterflies flitting about. They were so pretty. Just that time of year I guess, seriously, 100's.

I think we both wished we would have just camped at Suttle, but we didn't and that's okay. (Bill likes to move around) We stayed that night at McKenzie Bridge campground. We were about the only ones there. Seriously, I think there were about 3 campers that night, but it was very nice and quiet. I sent Bill to get pictures, but have no idea where they were, since they aren't on the camera. So, no pictures of that either. Oh well. It was relaxing, just BBQ'ed some steaks and zucchini and had a salad. Bill was boiling hot (for once he know how I usually feel, I was not hot, which is a miracle) and I had asked him to start a campfire. He thought I was crazy, but did it anyway, Good Husband! and within an hour it was cooling off and we had a beautiful night talking by the fire. Is there a better way to spend an evening?

Chip called and decided to meet us to go fishing the next day, so we got up early and met him, I don't know where, some park where you put in, he brought over the drift boat and they floated the river the next day and had fun fishing. They had a great time.

Here are a couple more pictures of them fishing during the day.

I just headed home after visiting Zach on the way and stopping at the garden store. Yes, I drove the truck/camper home all by myself. I'd only driven the truck once before so it was kind of weird for the first mile or so, but then it was fine, just big. I'm used to my Camry. All in all it was a great trip and we are excited to go again. Want to come along?

after 25 years...

On May 4th Bill and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary. It doesn't seem like that much time has passed, but then we think about our kids, who are now adults and of course, time has passed. We went out to dinner and talked about how much we love our life and our family. We are so proud of each of our kids and who they are. We have got great boys that are just nice people. It is fun to be around each of them and our best days are when we can be with them and their families. Certainly it's harder when they live so far away, but we constantly look forward to the time we can go and spend time with each of them. We also talked about how happy we are together, we talk about this often in fact. There have been rough times over the years. Sometimes we wondered if we would make it. But there is staying power in these covenants we make that go beyond this earth life and it's challenges. (if you want to know more click here) One of the things I hope we have taught our kids is that when the going gets tough, hang on and don't give up, keep living what and how you know to be right, pray and do all the other things that we have taught them. It may be easier to walk away, but it isn't usually the best way. Honor the covenants you have made, work hard and hold on.

So, if you know me, you probably know that I LOVE the movie Fiddler on the Roof. I love everything about it. The morning of our anniversary that song that Tev sang to Golde'. "Do You Love Me", you know the one, popped into my head. Now I know there are some differences. We don't have daughters getting married (does a niece count?), there is no trouble in our town, (just in the whole country), I don't think he's upset, he can't come inside or go lie down (he's currently mowing our lawn that takes 2+ hours to mow). He might have indigestion. Sometimes he acts like a fool, but only for fun. Yes I know, it's sounding more and more like there isn't much we have in common with this song (I have been trying for weeks to just get the short part of this song in a format I could post, to no avail). For 25 years I've washed his clothes, (well, he's been doing his own laundry for I can't remember how long), cooked his meals, (well, most nights), I've cleaned the house (we clean it together now) we did raise three boys, I haven't milked his cow (does a goat count?) Well, there are some similarities, right? We didn't meet for the first time on our wedding day (we had known each other 4 months). I was feeling a little shy, I don't know about him, nervous, maybe. I know I was. His parents were at our wedding, but I think they figured he already loved me, neither my mom or my dad were there. For 25 years I've lived with him, fought with him (should I admit that :), we haven't starved. For 25 years my bed is his; if that's not love, what is? "Tev: Then you love me?, Golde: "I suppose I do. Tev: Then I suppose I love you too.

It doesn't change a thing, but even so, after 25 years... it's nice to know.

Oh, did I mention, we are singing this every day of our 25th year...just for fun.

Never see deer

We never see deer here. In fact we were just talking about that with some friends the night before. We see herds of Elk, bear occasionally, I've heard mountain lion but have never seen them, coyote more than I want to with cats and chickens around, but very rarely deer, maybe one other time in the 24 years that we have lived her, at least as I remember correctly. So, much to my surprise, I walked into my kitchen this morning, looked out the window and this is what I saw. Two young deer. Sorry, didn't zoom in enough, but here they are anyway.

I think this one is going to check out the horse. Decides it's quite a bit larger that he/she is and heads back to his/her sibling.

Now the horse wants to check out the deer. Gotta check out those foreigners you know. (they think nothing about a herd of elk in their pasture, but these little foreigners...gotta get to know them)
Now that darn horse is getting to close, so they decide to leave. Have no idea where their momma was, couldn't find her anywhere. Off they go into the trees. See the horse on the right side of the picture?

That was the last I saw of them all day. Timing is everything! We haven't seen much elk this spring, much to our dismay. Usually the babies come out and play in the puddles, it is such fun to watch. We need a camcorder to record it when we see it.

Just to make you smile

Okay, so I know I'm putting two YouTube links on back-to-back, but really, you have to see this.

It looks sooo fun. It may be added to my goals and even top my wanting to learn the Thriller dance. Wouldn't this just be a blast to do somewhere! I wonder where you hook up with people doing this kind of thing! (in this country of course)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UE3CNu_rtY

Simon what's his name?

Just need to say, this Simon guy drives me nuts! He is so rude! I don't watch Idol or whatever it's called, but my sister told me about this lady that she saw on the news (she doesn't watch the show either) and I had to share it. I hope it works. If not, search on YouTube for Susan Boyle and look for the long version, about 5+ minutes. It will be worth it, seriously! But the link should work.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxPZh4AnWyk

This unassuming woman that just goes about her day, taking care of her family and friends, hiding a huge talent. I had to watch it a couple of times. It brought tears to my eyes (I know, I'm a boob!) Hope you enjoy it. I hope she wins!

Easter

Just a quick note because I wanted to share this video, it is awesome and taken from Elder Holland's General Conference talk.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpFhS0dAduc

We had a small but great Easter. Bill was still sick, so stayed home from Church, but Bud, his dad is here for awhile and so it was nice having him here for Easter dinner. Zach and Stefani came as well. We missed the other kids tons and wish we could have all been together. I wish we all lived closer so we could get together more often.

Hope you all had a great weekend.

Why Cows don't jump on trampolines

This is Jeffery.

Emily named Jeffery, before Emily saw him, his name was "Cow". He was just the neighbor's cow that lived in our pasture. The other day Bill went out to leave and Jeffery had decided that the grass under the trampoline was the best grass in the pasture and had somehow gotten under it, so here is this cow standing with a trampoline on his back. Suffice it to say, Bill did not get a picture, he thought about it, but didn't. I would have loved to have seen it actually. Oh well. Today Jeffery decided he was going to try out the top side of the trampoline.

Now, this is why cows don't jump on trampolines.

I'm up in our bathroom window looking down, so to get his attention, I just yelled "COW!". (He knows that name more than Jeffery)

Then I realize that his little legs are in the springs and he could trip and break those legs. So quickly I take another picture or two and then keep trying to get him to walk towards me to see if he can get himself out without breaking any bones.


Again. . . COW! And out he walked, safe and sound... of course! You know me. I worry about these things. So, don't ever let your cow (or the neighbor's cow) jump on your trampoline. It just doesn't work. The trampoline is now at the dump and the Jeffery? Well, on Wednesday morning Jeffery is being taken to the that place where all good cows go, he'll be back though, just all wrapped up in yummy juicy packages of steaks. Thanks Jeffery, you've been a good cow.

Do you have a cow?

Cupcake Pops

Last week I was cruising blogs I follow and found these cute little cupcake pops. They were adorable. Since we were having a small supper before the YW Broadcast on Sunday I decided it might be fun to make them as a desert. Of course, it was hard to even find any of the things I needed in our town, but finally found them in Eugene and went to get what I needed. Here is a picture of the finished product.

Aren't they so cute? These ones are without the stick, obviously, but they are still so cute, and pretty yummy too. Below are the "cupcake pops".

I didn't have a way to stand them up, no styrofoam to stick them in, so you can't see the stick very well. Sorry about that. Trust me, they are really cute. Here is a link where I got the idea and recipe. They were originally found on The Pioneer Woman's web page. Bakerella is where I got this, she was even on Martha and has a video of it.

Here is a link to Pioneer Woman's page on it: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2009/03/back-to-the-sweets-bakerellas-signature-cupcake-pops/

and here is Bakerella's blog link.
http://bakerella.blogspot.com/2008/04/make-your-cupcakes-pop.html

Have fun and give them a try. Bakerella has since posted all different types, chickens, bunny's, all very cute. Let me know if you try them, I want to see pictures!

oops

I just went on to a blog I am doing for projects, not a very active blog I might add (I keep forgetting to add things I'm doing there), but noticed that I accidentally put a Christmas blog on there instead of on this blog. I don't know how to move it from one blog to another, my guess is I can't. It has a picture of Chip and Andrea for those of you who were wanting to see their picture, so you will have to go there to look. The address is http://myoceansidelife.blogspot.com/. Again, if any of you know how I can transfer it from one blog to the next, let me know please.

Did you notice her hat? That went with the spiral scarf I mentioned on that blog as well (and the picture of mine in different colors). I love that hat. I think I need one. Just need to find the right color. Her scarf was in purples and pinks that went with the hat color. By the way, that is a self taken picture, can you tell? :)

El Charro Cafe

Just thought I would quickly upload some pictures of what is now our favorite Mexican restaurant. It's a shame that it is a two day drive to go.

El Charro Cafe - Sonora style Mexican food. Yum!

Their patio dining. Just reminds me of something in Baja, Riviera Maya or the Cozumel area, a few of our most favorite places.

Here are some inside shots, as well as a picture of all of us before we left.

If you are ever in that area, don't forget to stop by and give them a try. The food was amazing, the service great. They were written up by some travel place that it was worth going out of your way to try. Pretty good huh. I even went online to see what they offered and found a cook book, they don't sell them anymore, but I did find one at Amazon.com that I ordered. I'm excited to get it. It should be here when we get back. I think I'll try to find a Mexican grocer that I can get some local chili peppers and spices while I am there, if there is time.

Last night I was talking to Bill about which hotel to stay in while we are down there again this week (Tucson, AZ), his vote was the one next door to this place, and it wasn't about the quality of the hotel, I can tell you that. So, you see, it's not just my weirdness, it's both of our weirdness. At least we have each other. :)

Billie Madelene Scott

Late in the afternoon on February 26th we got a call from Bill's brother James that their mom had a massive stroke. I jumped on the computer and started looking for flights to Tucson Arizona, eventually found one, packed a few things and headed out to Portland. It was a long drive, made longer by freezing fog and the fact that we had both been up since 5 am, worked and it was now 1:30 am Friday just as we headed out. Bill had been driving all day at work, but on we went. After 4 hours we arrived safely, parked and got checked in. All was good, our flight on time and we arrived in Tucson at around 12:30 Friday afternoon. I know seemed like a long time to fly so close, but we had a layover in Las Vegas. It was all good though.

Carrie, Jim's wife, picked us up at the airport, apparently she had been waiting for an hour. We told her 12:30, I guess that was our time, not theirs. Sorry Carrie, really, I'm so sorry. Just didn't think about it. Can I use sleep deprivation as an excuse? She was very gracious and wonderful about it. Thank you!

We checked in to our hotel quickly, washed our faces and off we went to the hospital. Carrie filled us in on the way, Madelene wasn't doing well, she couldn't speak or swallow, but could understand everything and knew everyone, which we would have confirmed within a few minutes. When Bill walked in and went to her she threw up her left arm and squealed with delight. (Her right arm paralyzed) It was so fun to see. She just grabbed onto him and wouldn't let him go. She laughed and tried to say some things which of course we couldn't understand, but we knew she was a happy camper. That whole evening she wanted to hold Bill's hand or mine, James or Carrie's and of course Bud's, her faithful husband of over 63 years. We sat with her for the rest of the evening and into the night, happy to be there for her, with her. During the course of the day and watching how she was doing, hurting, we found out she had what the Orthopaedist called a sheared pelvis and broken in three places. They had found a spot on her lungs the size of a tennis ball during a CT scan in the ED and then of course, the stroke. This woman had every reason to moan and complain and all she could do was smile and laugh with us and be happy that two of her sons were there.

We took a break and let her sleep a little bit and went to James and Carrie's house for awhile, then leaving to freshen up and grab a bite to eat before heading back to the hospital. Now I know it has been awhile since I have been in good weather, but it was about 80* there, so we rolled the windows down to enjoy the early evening. As we came to the street that our hotel was on the most wonderful smell started getting stronger and stronger. Bill and I both looked at each other and said, "where is that coming from". As we followed our noses we found a restaurant called "El Charro Cafe". Oh my gosh, it smelled soooo good! Lucky us, as we turned the corner, there was our hotel, just next door. So, guess what, you got it. We got cleaned up and walked immediately over to experience probably the best Mexican food I have ever eaten. Seriously, ever! Later James would tell us that it was called Sonora style Mexican. Will I ever be happy with any other kind again? I just don't know. We just had simple enchilada's but they were absolutely to die for, and the salsa.....oh my gosh! Everything about it was wonderful. The restaurant made us feel like we were in Mexico, the staff was wonderful, food amazing and we were only staying next door. Could it get any better than this!!! We had to eat, right? Suffice it to say, we went every day, trying something new each time and never being disappointed. That restaurant alone could convince me to move there! Yum! If you ever get the chance, you have got to go. You friends in Phoenix, well worth the trip for a Saturday afternoon drive, seriously! (Picture to follow)

Okay back to Bill's mom. Saturday brought Paul and Diane, another wonderful moment when one more of her boys showed up. We all sat around the hospital and visited, getting to know each other (I had only met James and Carrie once, 19 years ago or so), laughing, taking care of any needs we could see of Madelene's and enjoying the time together. Every once in awhile we would try to be quite so Madelene could sleep and someone would say something funny and we would all bust up and Madelene would be laughing right along with us. More than once we told her we thought she was asleep, but she wasn't, she would lay there and revel in the fact that her boys were together and the family surrounded her. Roger also flew in, so all her kids were together, what more could a mother want. She was so happy. Every time another son showed up she would squeal with delight and hold their hand forever, kissing it. In time she was able to express two simple things, "uh huh" and "I love you too".

During this time this wonderful woman never complained. For the longest time the doctor would only give her Tylenol 650 mg (until the sheared pelvis was confirmed), but even in excruciating pain she never really complained. She seemed happy and content, all because her family was together. We did finally get her more pain medication, but never really enough and she would groan when she was moved or shifted for any reason, but I was amazed at how well she was. Eventually she got an infection and we knew her time would be short, for any of her four medical problems. Hospice was called in and she was transferred to their care facility, Pepe's House, on Monday. Monday night Bill and I and Paul and Diane went to say goodnight after being gone while she got settled in there. She seemed quite agitated and was picking at her clothes. Bill said "lets sing to her". So, the four of us started singing some Primary songs and other hymn's. She immediately settled down, it made us smile. After six songs or so we stopped and up popped her good arm and started leading us to do more, not just waving her hand back and forth, but in 4/4 time. It was hysterical. So, we started singing again. What a woman! It still makes me chuckle. It was so funny. Later that evening as I was sitting by her side she started to get agitated again, so I started singing again, after a couple of songs I stopped and she did it again. I'll never forget it, we'll never forget her, or this great, last, visit with this wonderful woman.

Bill and I, Paul and Diane flew out the next day, Roger on Thursday. This morning we got a call that she had passed away, and I know she did so content and unafraid. She had her family around her while she could still remember, laughed with us, sang with us in her heart, listened to the boys talk about childhood things with fond memories and knew that she was surrounded by people that loved her, knowing that we would meet again. I'm so grateful for the Gospel in my life. For the knowledge we have that death is just a beginning and that we can all be together if we but do our part. Sad? Sure, we are sad and will miss her. At the same time. No, because we know we can be together, that the pains she has suffered for so many years are now gone. I'm sure she is loving the reunions of family and friends and to be free of a body wracked with aches and pains.

Now, I need to say something about her care at the hospital. She was in St. Joseph's Hospital, Neurology Department. I can't say enough good about the nurses and aides who attended her. They gave her great care, they were always kind and loving, never short toward her or any of us who might have been overly concerned about her pain. They only showed us kindness throughout the stay, even with eight people in her room nearly 24/7. They never hinted that we were in their way, but always made us feel that we were welcome any hour of the day or night. They were wonderful! Also, Pepe's Hospice Care Facility. Wonderful! What a great bunch of women. We are so grateful that she had such good care there as well. It made it so much easier to leave, knowing she was in their hands. We would call for updates and always be told to call back any time, day or night.

All in all, it has been a wonderful 10 days or so. We have been blessed by the Spirit which has comforted us, testifying of the truthfulness of that great Plan of Happiness, we have visited with family, have bid our farewells, expressed our love to the Matriarch of this family, laughed with her, sang with her, thanked her for all that she shared with us and we have each had our quite moments with her. She left this world knowing of our love and sharing her love for us. We look forward to the day when we will be together again.

Madelene, we love you!