Lionel Ritchie Concert

I bought tickets to the Lionel Ritchie concert at the Usana in West Valley. Tickets were only 20$ so I knew it would totally be worth it. Besides who better to go to a concert with than your best friends. Steve and Deb, Lora and Rick Cook went too.

I love my best friends. We have many years together and so grateful for their friendship.

This man still knows how to rock the concert scene even after all these years. Totally amazing concert!

Rick and Lora gettin down

Rog and Deb and Steve..boy these songs bring back great memories

We have such fun together. Crazy even at our ages..

Our Visitor From Educador!! Cesar Mendoza August 2014

Troy and Cesar. 

Cesar Mendoza is a young man that Troy baptized on his mission 10 years ago in Ecuador. We've been friends on facebook for years and every Christmas Eve he has called me and sings a couple of Christmas hymns to me. I look forward to that call so much because I know it costs him money to call and he takes the time to to do it. He taught himself english and really does well. Very understandable. I've told him for many years that if he ever wants to come to America and visit that he's welcome to stay at our home and we'd show him around. I really didn't think he'd ever do it because they don't make much money and it costs a ton to fly here. But he saved and saved and it finally happened. What a wonderful week we had with him. Troy and Colby and Addie flew in to be with us. Kori wasn't able to make it since she was 7 months pregnant and they'd just moved to Bakersfield. Brayden, Troy and I drove up to the airport to get Cesar and we waited patiently for him to finally get to us. What a neat reunion for he and Troy. They have a special bond since Troy introduced him to the church. Cesar also served a mission and baptized many people. We did so many fun things with him and all our kids and grandkids. He loved every minute of it. The kids and grandkids loved him! They loved when he did a family home evening for us too. We went to Park City with Jareds family and we did the Alpine slide, the zip line and went to dinner. We went to Temple Square with Shana's family and we showed him around. Cesar just loved being able to see the temple and where General Conference is held. He couldn't get enough of it. We also took him to City Creek Mall and he was able to get lots of gifts for his loved ones at home. 

We went fishing up to Midway and while we were there there was a beautiful double rainbow.

Temple Square

Temple Square. I love this picture!

Troy and Roger took Cesar 4 wheeling and he'd never been on anything like that. So he thought that was pretty darn cool. He loved the scenery.

Colby, Addie, Troy and Cesar on top of the world

We had so much fun at Stansbury Lake which is out by Shana. We rented paddle boats and paddle boards. The day was gorgeous! Kristi and Cesar getting ready to hit the lake

I grew to love Cesar so much . We really hit it off and had some great conversations. 

Gentry, Colby and Dax on the paddle boat

Jared, Easton, Kristi and Rog

Troy showing off his physic. 

Jared and Easton taking a break from the sun. 

Cesar got sunburned even though he had sunscreen on. 

Jake relaxing at the lake

Presley, Hadley and Jake

Daxton and Brayden got a kick out of Cesar. They loved talking to him 

Cesar made us a yummy ecuadorean dinner. I had so much fun shopping for all the food with him, He paid for all of it too. He was so excited to cook for us but worried we wouldn't like it. But everyone loved it.

I have so many pictures I wish I could have posted but couldn't post them all. He had the time of his life with our family. We took him shopping at the outlets in Park City and we bought him some clothes and running shoes. He thought that was so kind and he was so grateful.
I'm so thankful we had this fun time with him and got to him. He's a treasured friend and we love him dearly. His goal is to come back to visit us for Christmas 2016.
We also took him to the Provo Temple and to the MTC and BYU bookstore. I took him to my work and introduced him to my friends there.
We love you Cesar!!

2nd Cousins Playdate July 2014

In July I had  Joseph's girls and my granddaughters come to our place for a sleepover. We wish Adaline could have been with us darn it. But I wanted the second cousins to get to know each other. We had such a fun time and the girls had a blast together. They played so well together. I had everything planned out so there wasn't ever a dull moment. Before we went to the park we had a get to know you time. They each introduced theirselves and we had a game of learning each others names.
 

One event we did was go to the park and play. They sure had a fun time.
Jolee, Phoenix, Makinley, Presley, Hadley, Gentry and Ava in the back.

 
 We took a bunch of blankets outside and laid them on the front lawn. The girls would be doing cartwheels until we saw a car coming and when they saw the lights down the road they'd run and jump under the covers so the people in the car couldn't see them. Oh how I loved to hear them laughing.

Another thing we did was put on a play. The girls planned it all and they each had their own part. They loved performing. Makinley and Phoenix were in charge and told the girls what to do.

We also went in the back yard and we painted each others nails. The girls loved it! 

Aren't they adorable? They're all about the same age so it made it so fun. Makinley and Phoenix are both 10 yrs old. Gentry and Ave 8 and 7. Presley 5 , Jolee is 5 and Hadley is 3.

I'm a Great Aunt and a Grandma in this picture. 

Ava and Gentry pal'd up. Look at those adorable smiles.

These two girls thought they were in charge of all the girls. They were so cute together.

Phoenix painting Hadley's nails.

What a fun, fun time we had. We had breakfast in the morning then Joe came and picked the girls up about noon. They had so much fun that I need to do this again. I"m so glad they got along and we didn't have any problems. I love each of them so much!!

February 8th 2014 The Loss Of My Little Sister

The loss of my little sister has had a bigger impact on my life than  I ever thought it would. She's my blood, my full sister and I never appreciated that. And to this day, 9 months later, I'm still crying as I write this blog. 

In December 2013 Cyndee hadn't been feeling well for a while. She never really led on to how bad she really did feel. But her skin on her face, hands, legs, arms etc. began to peel. It was so painful for her. It almost looked as if her skin had been burned and it was the underlying skin. It was red and inflamed. Her hands were purple, her feet were swollen and she was weak and chilling all the time. She couldn't get warm no matter what. She went to a dermatologist, an internist, allergist. Many blood tests were done, scans etc. She finally tested positive for something that I can't remember the name but what it meant was there probably was an underlying cancer. She was so ill but never, ever complained. Geri and Kayleen took her to an emergency room where she ended up getting admitted. They knew on the scan that something wasn't right so they took her to surgery the next day. We all waited in the waiting room for the doctor to come out and tell us what was going on. We were on pins and needles fearing the worst. It was getting late into the night when he finally came out and told us she was full of cancer. He gave her maybe 6 months to live. Tears flowed, we were devastated, we were worried about Becka. So many thoughts and emotions that night and the days that followed. Cyndee was in the hospital for a few days when they released her and had her following up with the oncologist in Provo a couple of days later. She was staying at Kayleens so that she could help her. Cyndee had gotten to the point where she couldn't even walk. We rented a walker and wheelchair for her. When we went to the oncologist the nurse couldn't even get an O2 on her, or blood pressure. The doctor came in and through his questions determined that Cyndee was way too bad for his services and wanted her transferred to the Huntsman Cancer Center in Salt Lake City. Kayleen and Becka drove her up there that night and she was there for a few days. While she was there she was poked and prodded so many times. I was in awe of her because never once did she complain. She was thanking every single person who would ever help her. I can't tell you how many doctors and nurses she had. 

During a 24 hour visit I had with her I got to help her, laugh with her, listen to her, watch her and just be by her side. We got to apologize to each other for the way we treated each other through our lives. I'm so grateful we were able to have that time together. Over and over we told each other how much we loved each other. After we woke up in the morning in her room she wanted to shower so myself and a couple of the techs came and helped me get her into the shower. She was so miserable, hurting and out of breath. Her body temperature immediately dropped and she was chilling so bad she was going to break her teeth. No matter how many warming blankets they had on her she couldn't get warm. I put a washcloth in her mouth so that she wouldn't break her teeth. At that time she took such a turn for the worse. They transferred her to the ICU area. Kayleen and Becka got up to the hospital when more doctors were coming in. They told us that she had lymphoma. Untreatable..it had been going on for so long that there was nothing to help her. Cyndee had a DNR (do not resuscitate) order so no heroic measures were going to happen. We called Larry and Jill, Jim and Jane, Kay, Roger and we were all there. Shana came to be with me and that was so nice. They didn't think she would make it through the night. The fear in her eyes was so horrible. I couldn't stand to see her that way. 

Roger and Larry gave her a beautiful blessing to be able to relax and that helped but was still on a BI-PAP to help her breathe. Cyndee stayed in the ICU at Huntsman for a few days then was sent to Orchard Care Center in Orem where she was on hospice. It was an ok place but she hated it. I hated it for her. I was glad to have her closer to us but we knew her time was near and wanted to spend as much time with her as we could. Friends and family were able to come and visit. All of them knowing it would be the last time they saw her. Jean Wagner and Linda, who were like family to Cyndee came to visit. They loved her so much. Linda was her best friend all her life. Friends from high school came to see her. I don't think she ever knew how many friends and family loved her. 

Cyndee had only been in the care center on hospice for a few days when she finally said "I'm done, I don't want to go on anymore like this." That's when the hospice nurse talked to all of us and told us that they can give her morphine in large doses throughout the night to help her go into a coma. 

That night we all gathered together, told her we loved her, kissed and hugged her. We surrounded her throughout the night. Kayleens home teacher came over and with Roger gave her a beautiful blessing to relax and to be able to go home to our mom and dad and other loved ones. About 11pm we all went home except for Kayleen.  We figured it would be the next day when she'd pass away but Kayleen called us about 5:30 and said she'd just passed away. I'm so thankful she didn't go on any longer. She had suffered long enough and endured all she could. I miss her so much and think about her all the time. I'm so jealous that she's now with mom and dad. What a wonderful reunion she had. I know they were there to welcome her home.

Becka and her mom. They loved going to concerts together.  

 Here's a picture of Cyndee when she was just a little girl. Probably 4 years old.

Such a beautiful picture of her. She was feeling good at this time.

We're at Uncle James funeral in 2012

Cyndee and Kayleen were best friends. Her death has been the worst on Kayleen since they did everything together.

 I just want to add to this blog how sorry I am that I wasn't a better sister to Cyndee. I live with that regret every single day. If I could take all the mean things and words back I would. But I'm grateful we made our amends and were able to say I'm sorry and that we love one another. I look forward to February when I can go to the temple and do her temple work and have her sealed to mom and dad and me and Kayleen and Larry.

We Get To Give Kisses!

Rog and I on our way to Bakersfield to see our newest grandchild. It's about a 10 hour drive which is much, much better than San Antonio. I'm thinking those smiles on our faces are from the excitement of getting to see Troy, Kori, Colby, Addie and Vivianne.

Grandpa is in loving his sweetheart.

All snuggled up in her wrap. She takes good naps.

This grandma loves Vivianne

Oh how I love to snuggle her. The smell of newborn babies is a smell I could smell all the time. I could gobble her up

"Hey, what's that on my head?" 

Mommy talking to Vivianne. She loves her so much.

 
 It's so fun visiting Adaline and Colby. They love when we come to visit. Addie is in Pre-K and goes all day to school. She's learning so much. She's a little smarty pants.

 Colby loves his Papa. Papa throws the baseball and football to him in their backyard.

It's bath time for Vivianne. She smells so good. She loves the warm water.

Grandma made yummy banana muffins with Colby and Addie. They love to bake with me.

 
 I just love when I get to see my sweethearts. We spend time cooking, reading books, tackling on the floor, shopping, going for walks etc. I miss them so much.

Here's the Troy and Kori Pyne family.
Colby is 6, Kori 33, Troy 31, Vivianne 2 weeks and Addie 5

Happy Birthday to Vivianne Denice Pyne

Vivianne was born on September 28th, 2014 in Bakersfield, California. Troy and Kori and they're family had moved to Calif. from San Antonio in August 2014. Kori was about 7.5 months along in her pregnancy so she had to quickly find a doctor to take her on. She found someone she liked at just the right time. Vivianne was due the first week of October so was born a week early.

 Welcome to the world sweetheart! And boy she's got a set of lungs on her!!

 Colby loves his little sister. I think he was a little nervous at first since she's so tiny but he finally got brave enough to hold her.

 Mommy and baby are doing great. Vivianne is so lucky to have Colby and Addie as her big brother and sister. They love her so much. Adaline said "no way am I changing diapers"

Vivianne Denice weighed 6lbs 11oz. She's a bundle of joy and we're so happy to have her as a member of our family. Grandpa and Grandma can't wait to hold her and give her lots of kisses. She's our 10th grandbaby and we're just as excited about her as we were our first. She has been named after her Great Grandmother Vivian Pyne. Roger's mom. What a wonderful namesake for her.

I"m So Behind!!

So many wonderful things have happened this past year. But I've been such a horrible slacker that I haven't posted about any of it. So this post is just going to be some random thoughts, events, etc. that I can remember.

Beginning in January, Daxton turned 10 years old, Jared turned 36 and Troy 31. In February Roger turned 57 and Colby turned 6.
In March Makinley turned 10 and Easton 5. April was Gentry's 8th birthday and she was baptized a member of the church. Such a special birthday for her. Kristi turned 36. May was Presley's 5th birthday, June was Braydens and he turned the big teenager age of 13. In August was Jakes 32nd birthday and Kori turned 33. In September Adaline turned 5, Vivianne was born on Sept, 28th.