July 2013

The month of July brought us a quick trip to Utah to see Matthew, Sarah and "Miss Ladybug" while they were visiting Sarah's family in Springville, Utah.  It was a quick trip but definately worthwhile as we were able to spend time with Matthew and Sarah and get to know our darling granddaughter better.  She was such fun to be with.  It was great to get to know the Richardson family better and we were able to visit with our friends the Ellis's in Ogden, Utah and our daughter-in-law Mandy's mom Verna in Beaver, Utah.  With children in 4 different states visits are not very often but we try to take advantage of the opportunites when they arise.

The best news of the summer is that Matthew and Sarah are expecting another bundle of joy in late January!  We are very excited for them (and for us!).  By the time this baby is born we will have 6 grandchildren under the age of 4!  Fast and furious-that's our clan's motto!

2013

2013 began with a Feb. visit to Milford, Utah to visit our daughter in law Mandy and granddaughter Naomi.  Mandy was visiting her mom while Jim was doing training for his job in Georgia.  It was a really fast two days, but worth seeing everyone.

Our daughter Becky has moved from Knoxville, TN to Hot Springs, AR so she can "nanny" for a friend of hers.  We are excited because she is only 4.5 hours from Andrew and Kate in TX!

We are beyond excited to announce that two little grandsons will be joining our family this year.  About August 1st Andrew and Kate's little boy is due in Texas and about Sept. 5th Jim and Mandy's little boy will make his entrance in NH.  We are growing by leaps and bounds!

Summer 2012

This summer was a hot busy one with two trips to Utah and a visit from Andrew, Kate and Eden.  On Sunday July 15th Jim and Mandy's little girl arrived weighing in at almost 9.5 lbs and 20 inches long.  We went to see them when she was 4 days old.  Oh was a darling baby!  While we were there we were able to spend several hours with Matthew's wife and daughter who were visiting Sarah's grandparents in Springville, Utah for a few days while Matthew was doing Scout training.  What a joy to see 2 grandbabies in one visit.  Then the first week in August Andrew, Kate and Eden came to our place and visited for several days before we all drove to Utah for the blessing of Jim and Mandy's little girl.  Well not all of us drove-I flew up the day before everyone else left in the car.  The blessing was wonderful and our darling granddaughter was as good as gold!  She is getting big quite quickly.  Again it was wonderful to have 2 grandbabies together at one time.  We truely have been blessed with a wonderful family and miss them all as they are scattered across the good ol' USA!

Been a while again since the last post.  We had an enjoyable visit to Texas over Memorial Day to visit Andrew, Kate and Eden.  At 18 months, she is no longer a baby.  She a big girl now and very busy!  Lots of fun and very affectionate.  We got to see Andrew's classroom at Denison high school and the podietry office where Kate works plus some of the city and country side surrounding Denison.  All seems to be going well for our loved ones there!

We keep track of Matthew and his family through pictures and Skype.  He loves his job with Boy Scouts and they seem to love him too!  He will be spending a week in Philmont, NM training the summer.  Sarah is the busy mom of an adorable 9 month old and does editing for a couple of companies.  Live seems good in Kansas.

Early July will find us with a new granddaughter!  Jim and Mandy's little girl will make her debute in American Fork, UT and we will be anxious to go and see her after she is born.

Our garden is growing very well this year with zucchini and tomatoe plants that are big and healthy.  Planted yellow squash this year too along with peppers, just to be different!

It's been a while..........

Yeah, it's been a while since I have posted anything on our blog. From reading my last post I can see that I have been a bad Nana! September 2nd our second granddaughter was born in Phillipsburg, Kansas to Matthew and Sarah. She was born at home with a midwife and weighed 6 lbs. and was 19 inches long. According to Matthew, Sarah was a champ and did very well. We went to see them when she was about 10 days old and then again in early Nov. when she was blessed. We were excited that Andrew, Kate and Eden came in Nov. We were in grandparents heaven for 2 days!

Christmas Day found us driving to Utah to be with Jim and Mandy when they returned from their Christmas holiday in West Virginia. We were there a few days before heading home. The good news-NO SNOW! The great news-grandbaby #3 will be here in mid July via Jim and Mandy! Three darling grandchildren within about 19 months-incredible!

More good news-Becky got Skype so now all our children have it. It's hard to be so far away from them but seeing their happy faces helps!

Another great daughter in law joins the Jacquier family!

After 2 1/2 months of anticipation, the much hearalded wedding of our son Jim (aka James), and Amanda McCullom came off without a hitch (well almost) on July 30, 2011. A wonderful reception was held the night before. It was a pleasure to meet Amanda's family who came from Utah, Idaho, West Virginia and other parts of the country for the occasion. Saturday morning dawned cloudy and misty. We all prayed really hard that the sun would be shinning by the time we came out of the temple where they were married (Mt. Timp. in American Fork, UT). The sun gods smiled upon us and it was a beautiful day by the time Jim and Mandy came out. Pictures were taken and lunch was had as we waved good bye to the happy couple.

In the midst of all the wedding fun, son Andrew and his wife Kate and our darling grandaughter Eden (who also lived in Provo) were packing up to move to Texas. Andrew has a job teaching high school physics in Denison, TX. Several hours after the wedding ceremony was over, they left for Bedford, TX where they are staying with Kate's parents until they can find their own place.

As this blog goes to press, we are anxiously anticipating the birth of son Matthew and daughter in law Sarah's first child. Their little girl is due around the 13th of September. They live in Phillipsburg, Kansas where Matthew now works for Boy Scouts. We are looking forward to a trip there after the baby is born.

Our Becky is now living in Knoxville, TN with a friend after spending 2 months this summer as a nanny for our good friends the Ellis's in Ogden, Utah. Timing was great in this respect as she was there for Jim and Mandy's wedding. Hopefully she will be able to find work in Knoxville! We miss her very much!

The heart of the matter

May 20th started out like almost every other day, except that I had an angiogram scheduled at Anaheim Regional hospital. I had already had 2 echo-cardio grams and it was determined that my aeorta valve that wasn't working properly. The angiogram proved this was the case and a cardio surgeon was called in. He convince me to spend the night and have the surgery the next morning. After spending a sleepless night, I was wheeled into surgery about 7:15 a.m. on Sat. May 21st where my aeorta valve was replaced in a 2 hour surgery. When they finished, they all stood back and watched to make sure things were working the way they should be and after a few minutes 2 arteries gave out! A double bypass was done and almost 5 hours later I had new plumbing. Son Jim drove down from Provo to be with us at this time which I really appreciated. Eight days after surgery I was able to come home where Carl tirelessly helped me out. We had dinner provided by our church friends and ladies came and sat with me in the mornings the week after I returned so Carl could return to work.

I healed quickly. Dr. Ott said I was the youngster of the group because most of his patients were at least 10-20 years older than I am. After about 4 weeks I was allowed to drive and at 5 weeks I returned to work. I feel truely blessed that this problem was discovered before more damage was done and am very appreciative of all those who said prayers, sent cards and came to visit me.