Goodbye Oscar - We Love You (Nov 18, 2010)

It is always hard to say goodbye to those we love. Those of you who love animals can understand that they are very much a part of your family and you know how hard it is to let them go when it is time.

It all started about three weeks ago with Oscar not really wanting to eat. Oscar had always loved people food, especially milk and tuna, so it was very obvious when he would not give those items a second glance, that something was wrong. When his breathing started to get strained, we decided to take him into the vet.

Dr Moss is an amazing vet that absolutely loves animals, including Oscar. The first time he saw Oscar, he couldn't get over how big he was. He had fun walking around his office showing all the nurses the size of Oscar!

He looked Oscar over, took some blood and it was decided to try some medicine to clear up oscar's breathing problems. This was on a Thursday, by Monday it was much worse and even though we had an appointment to take Oscar back in on wed, Dr Moss said to bring him back in that day.

This time we decided to flush out Oscars nose and take an x-ray of his head. The flush got out bits of a bug that Oscar apparently snorted while trying to eat it. We all thought this was great news and hoped Oscar would improve. Three days later, Dave was in his office when Oscar came wobbling in to see him. Oscar cried to get his attention to let him know something was wrong. One look at Oscar and we immediately got concerned. He couldn't walk in a straight line, his eyes were not responding and he wouldn't purr. This is a cat that Dave can get to purr just by talking to him, so it is very out of the norm for him to not respond to David. It was so bad we didn't think he would make it through the night.

It was a horrible night, not knowing when he would breath his last breath. For awhile there, he went off to hide. We assumed he was finding a place to die. But to our surprise, when I got up the next day to go to work, there was Oscar waiting for me. He looked horrible and far from normal. I ended up leaving work early that day to take him back to the vet.

It was heart wrenching to hear the vet say that he thought Oscar had brain cancer and that it was pushing up against his brain, making him act brain dead. That would explain Oscar almost walking off the bed (he would have it we had not caught him), as if he didn't know where it ended or Oscar going to stand with his head pressed up against the wall or the very fast decent Oscar's health had had. But the truly hard part was hearing the vet say that it would be more humane to put Oscar to sleep.

Dave and I knew Oscar would not last long, but having it end that much sooner, was very difficult to face. Dave was due back home that night, so we decided to wait until the next morning; Once again, we didn't think Oscar would make it through the night. He was so miserable and would hardly move at all. When he would move, he would just randomly stand up and stay that way until we helped him back down.

Will insisted on getting a picture of both the cats before I took him to school, bawling. Dave and I were with Oscar until the end. It's surprising how fast it goes once they put the needle in him. It was very sad to watch David have to say goodbye to his companion and friend. Our vet is a convert to the church and we had a really good talk with him about what we think will happen to Oscar. We believe we will see him again and that makes this passing a little easier to bear.

We love you Oscar. You are very much missed and longed for.

Tyler's 2nd Pinewood Derby (Nov 11, 2010)

We had a lot of fun at our 4th pinewood derby, which was Tyler's 2nd pinewood derby. It is hard to believe we only have one more pinewood derby in our future. Time sure goes by fast. Tyler's car did fairly well, but lost in the end to a limo. Tyler is very much like me and really doesn't like not winning, but I am proud of him, because he was still a great sport and did a good job cheering on the other boys.

Immediately after Tyler's pinewood derby, my brother Kylie's kid Mitch, received his Eagle Scout award. We were able to make it to most of the presentation. It was awe inspiring to see the eagle they brought in for the ceremony. I wish they would allow me to hold it or touch it. It was a beautiful, majestic bird. It helped get Will motivated for his Eagle scout award that we are working on.

 

Mariana baby blessing (Nov 7, 2010)

It was a very emotional day, watching my step-son Jon give Mariana a baby blessing. I enjoyed watching Dave get up in the circle to join with the other brothers in the priesthood as they performed this special ordinance.

How lucky am I to have a husband who is strong and obedient in the church, who is worthy to live up to his priesthood duty. I am grateful my sons have such good examples of what type of men they should become.

I always say this, but I'll say it again, we are very grateful for our little Ana and we love her with all our hearts.We are also very grateful for Kaylyn and the strength and love she brings to our family. Kaylyn is a very strong woman of God and is a great example to me. I admire your courage and devotion to what is right.

Ogden Chess Tournament (Nov 6, 2010)

First chess tournament of the year. I admit it was hard to get up early on Saturday, to attend a day long chess tournament, that you know wont start or end on time. But in the end it was well worth it. Both boys walked away with a trophy. Will took 3rd place and Tyler took 6th place.

 

Watch out for Pirates (Oct 29, 2010)

I was able to watch Ricky's kids for him while he and Jennie went out to a work costume party. Ricky and Jennie always find the coolest outfits. I will give Jennie 100% of the credit for that. This is now the 2nd time this year I have seen my brother dressed up. That is 2 times more than I ever thought I would see.

I love watching their kids! Max has always been so good for us. He is always very happy and very well behaved. This time he was very talkative. He wanted to talk to my fish and to tell me about my fish! Zoey was entranced by Dave's HUGE cat Oscar. Oscar is really good with kids, he just let her crawl right up to him squealing with delight. He let her pet him and even let her grab his tail when she could catch it. She tried to follow him from room to room!

Halloween (Oct 30, 2010)

This was my third year in a row to not have my kids for Halloween. This is also my third year in a row to cry about not having my kids for Halloween. My x made a nice compromise with me though and allowed me to take the boys to my Mom's house and up her street, before bringing them back to him. I was very grateful for that opportunity to not miss out on Halloween memories with my boys.

Halloween turned out to be freezing cold, which included rain. I left Dave at my Mom's nice warm house and ventured out with the boys with nothing more than a jacket and my Mom's borrowed umbrella. I had a lot of fun with my boys in the freezing cold though. I was just happy to be with them, sharing part of that holiday with them. The houses we stopped at were very generous with giving them candy, so in no time at all, they had a ton of candy, from only a handful of houses. Will got a lot of comments that he was scary to look at :)

Pumpkin Carving (Oct 27, 2010)

We had a lot of fun carving pumpkins this year. My brother-in-law Nate is great and let us pick pumpkins from his huge (several acres) pumpkin patch. It is a lot of fun to choose your pumpkin from a real pumpkin patch! Last year, I bought a pumpkin carving kit that we didn't use, so we decided to try it out this year. The cheap little knife it comes with only lasted for Tyler's pumpkin and a couple of cuts on mine. I somehow broke the blade right off. . . Which lead Will to have to do his pumpkin the hard way, with a normal knife. We had a lot of fun. I was very proud of my pumpkin, until Dave told me he had no idea it was suppose to be a witch on her broom. Maybe I'll have better luck next year.

 

 Can you tell it is a witch on her broom?

Grandma Roos Halloween Party (10-23-10)

Every year my Mom throws a Halloween party for the Grand-kids. They love it and look forward to it. It is a great opportunity for the kids to get together to play games and have fun. I am grateful for all the hard work my Mom has done to make these events special. These are the type of memories that will live forever with my kids.

This year, before the party, we all got together and had a family picture taken of the six siblings and then one with just the fourteen grand-kids. The kid picture was very entertaining to watch. My boys (who are 11 and 9) and Kylie's kids, were really the only grown up kids, so it was stress free for us. I have very vivid memories of the last grand-kid picture we took. My boys were 4 and 2, which was a horrible time to try to get them to sit still for a picture. So it was fun this time, to sit back and smile at my sibling trying to calm their little ones and get them to sit in the picture. In the end, we chose the picture with the most kids smiling and the most kids looking at the camera. It was still surprising how many kids were not smiling, or were being held against their will by another kid to be in the picture. Poor Zoey was so mad she was being forced to sit there, that she was turning red. I think Mason was ready to run away. Fond memories. I wonder how many Grand-kids we will have for the next picture...

Mariana fun (pictures from Oct 16 & 22)

 

Mariana is such a joy to babysit! I hope she is starting to recognize us. We can now get her to "talk" to us and smile for us. We sure do love this little girl. 

 

What a hottie!! (10-10-10)

Dave wearing the shirt I bought him, that he swore he would never wear. I got it for him at Banana Republic (for a price that I will never admit) and thought it would look really nice on him. Look who was right. . . it is now one of my favorite shirts on Dave!

Temple Sealing Day (Oct 9, 2010)

 

Being sealed to David in the Logan temple is one of the happiest days of my life. It was a day we had both looked forward to with great anticipation and with much joy. It was the first time either of us had been to the Logan temple, this has made that temple very special to us.

It was a perfect day! My boys were thrilled to sleepover at Grandma & Grandpa Roos', which gave Dave and I a nice opportunity to have some quality time together driving up to the temple. All of the attendants at the temple were absolutely amazing! They treated me with such great care and they all were so excited for Dave and I to be sealed in their temple. It was funny afterward, when I told Dave about the room they give to the women to get ready in, who are getting sealed. We got our own separate lockers, a nice separate waiting room with comfortable chairs, our own mirror with our name on it, big mirrors, and drinks. Dave told me that the guys use the normal lockers, do not wait in a special room and he did not get anything to drink :)

We felt this was a sacred, special event, so we decided to only invite immediate family members. It was funny when my Mom turned to me in the sealing room and asked me if I invited anybody from our ward. For a moment I wondered if my Mom worried that I hadn't made any friends in my ward. I do have many wonderful women in our ward that I admire and look up to, but we wanted to keep it between close family.

I loved being able to look around the room and see the people I love the most there across from me. Of course, the most important person in this room was my David. It was amazing to sit beside this wonderful man and know that he loved me enough to want me for eternity, the same way I wanted him. . . forever. Our time in the Celestial Room, alone together, I will never, ever forget. I was crying, which made it hard to get through. I am amazed that David was able to understand me.

The first thing I saw as we exited the temple together, were my two boys running towards me. . . This is what life is all about. It is about family, it is about doing our very best in this life so we can deserve to live with our family in the next life. That's all I want. I want to live righteously enough that the lords find me worthy to not only live with him again, but my husband, my child, my grandchildren.

I love you David and I will work hard the rest of my life to be able to deserve such a great husband like you. You are a wonderful example to me of love, kindness, forgiveness, strength, humor (that I still don't get) and every other trait that is admirable. I am so thankful the lord felt the need to challenge you with me and allowed me to find you. I could not ask for a better partner in life.