Year in review ~ 2012

I had every intention of sending Christmas cards this year, but I forget how fast November and December go.  I will just have to settle for a blog update I suppose; although, looking at the bright side of things, I do save paper and ink this way.

This year has been one of ups and downs.  Our kitties turned one early in the year and subsequently got to visit the vet overnight.  They were NOT happy about that, but were very cuddly for a few days after.

In February I was introduced to Advocare, a health and wellness company. Eric and I did their 24-day Challenge, where I lost 15 lbs and Eric lost 17 lbs.  We love the products and are so glad we got involved with this group of people!  They are so positive and are always willing to help you in anyway they can as you work toward your health goals!

In March we took our semi-annual trip to the beach, but were rather sad that the campground we usually stay at was under six inches of water.  Evidently Newport had a very wet spring, and so we stayed at another place for a day or two ant then went north to Fort Stevens for the last 2 nights of our trip.  The older we get, the less interested in getting wet we are, so our trips tend to be in what most campgrounds call "Discovery season" (defined as cheaper and less crowded) so the weather is cooler, but there still plenty to do if you are willing to bundle up a bit. We planned to go again in October, but things got hectic and we weren't able to go.

This summer was a hard one.  Grandpa Jacks died on July 2 and Grandma Orton died August 10.  There is no way to describe the sense of loss and disconnect we felt for months after.  The easiest way to describe the feeling is upside-down and backwards.  After spending so much time with them, we were both at a loss as to how we should proceed in the coming months.  I spent quite a bit of time at the farm, helping bottle Sheffield Cider, which was both exhausting and exciting.  Eric began to work with my uncle Glen, doing both construction and working in a gluten free flour mixing facility.  We still feel this loss, and are well aware that the experiences we had helping them the last few years have changed us for the better.

In November we started getting ready for the annual Badger Mt. Christmas Bazaar.  It is a fun thing to do, and this year we not only did well, but were more relaxed than we have been in other years.  Eric is really hoping to make the rocks and vinyl into a business for real, because it will let us travel a little bit and we both enjoy being creative.

December was CRAZY!  So many fun family things going on, one of the best being that we got to Skype with Reid while he is in Brazil on a mission for our Church.  It was such a joy to hear and see him!

Since we are now in January, I will give you the latest update as well.  We are currently working with my sister Anna to get a website for the rocks and vinyl up and running, so keep a lookout for news on that!

Just some pictures...

First we have Kyri watching General Conference with me and Eric. She is fascinated by the computer and conference was no exception.

Next we have our bookshelves! Our house is finally coming together (we moved at the end of August) and we are very excited to have our bookshelves full of books rather than random stuff.

Last, we have my hair in a bun. This is only exciting to me, but the fact that I can use a pen to keep it up means that it is getting long again! I've had it short for most of the last 4 years, so long is fun!

Grandma Norma Jean Orton

I've been putting this off for well over a month, perhaps in the vain hope that I would wake up one morning and things would be different.

Grandma Orton passed away just after midnight on August 10, 2012.  She had been doing poorly for some time and it was certainly not unexpected.  The Wednesday before she died was the last day I spent with her, trying to get her to eat (which she was having none of) and coaxing her to drink (which she wasn't having much of).  Our last conversation was about Eric.  She asked where my hubby was.  I told her that he was at home, and she smiled at me.  "He is wonderful!"  I agreed and told her that he loved her so much.  "I love him back, and you too!"  She smiled and went back to sleep.  She was still sleeping when I left.  The next day, she didn't get up at all.  She stayed in bed and slept.  Eric and I went over about 9 pm-ish to say goodbye.  We were still awake when we got the call at about 12:45 that she was gone.

I found this on Pinterest, and though I did not write it, it is as close as it gets:

We love her and we are so glad that she got to go home, but we miss her all the same.

Grandpa Irwin Pete Jacks

Yesterday, just before midnight, Grandpa Jacks died from kidney failure.  Our lives will never be the same; WE will never be the same.  In the last 18 months, he has been a focal point of our lives.

We knew it was coming, he had been in severe pain for the last few days and eating less and less for the last month or so.  Dan made the choice to take him to the ER, where blood tests told us about the kidney failure.  We were told he had between 24 hours and 1 week to live.  That was yesterday morning.

We will miss him, but he is whole and back with his sweetheart now.  We can only hope that we did as much for him as he did for us.

Complications

If life wasn't already complicated enough (and believe me, at the moment it is) we have a new complication: Celiac.

I got tested a few weeks ago, and while I haven't gotten my results back yet, I went gluten free anyhow, just to see if it makes a difference.  IT DOES!  I have less anxiety (or rather less anxiety for no reason) and seem to have fewer headaches. 

I have also learned a new way to lose weight, it's called the "I have nothing I can safely eat in my house that won't take at least an hour to prepare and it's already 9 pm, so I'm going to drink a bunch of water and just go to bed" diet.  I've lost about 4 lbs in the past 2 weeks!  I am working on fixing this problem though, seeing as I really don't have much weight to lose. 

The sad thing is that my metabolism has decided to kick into a higher gear (between the no gluten and a lovely thing called Spark) and so I eat little meals, but eat more often.  This is the more healthy way to do things from what I have read (been doing research) but it is hard for me to come up with things I will actually eat, that I CAN actually eat. 

As hard as it is to work around, I am glad to have something to work at that I KNOW makes a difference in how I feel.  Is complicated, but will be worth the effort.

So, funny story...

For the last week Karen has been gone on a trip and Diane has been taking care of Grandma during the day.  I have been going over every evening to help get Grandma into bed and give Diane just a little social time.

We discovered that the easiest way to get Grandma all the way onto her bed is for me to stand on the bed and help her slide back.  I pick her up under the arms and we go back about 10 inches.  So far this has worked quite well with no problems.  Tonight we had one small difficulty:   When I placed my feet, I put them farther forward than usual.  The result was that, as Grandma came backwards, my balance shifted and I fell on my butt behind Grandma with a loud squeak!  We were all fine, although I was sure Diane was going to die from laughing at me.  Grandma wanted to be sure I was alright and then laughed as well.  It was an adventure for sure!

Mother's Day

I will be honest, Mother's Day is hard for me.  I am not going into all the details here, but suffice to say, I usually spend the day feeling like I've been kicked in the stomach.  This year was different for two reasons:

1.  Reid called.  Having that to look forward to gave me a bright spot to look forward to all week.  I kept reassigning Sunday from "Mother's Day" to "The Day Reid Calls" in my head.

2.  My beehives.  Two of them gave me Mother's Day cards "To Mommy Claire".  They made me cry.

Eric and I didn't stay for the last hour (I can't do Relief Society easily, there are a number of people who use the Doterra oils and while most are fine individually, more than one or two tend to make me get migraines) but before we left I popped into the YW room to say hi to my girls.  When I opened the door they all saw me and demanded to hug me before I left.  So I stood there, trying not to cry, as Rachel, Kayla, Bella, Ang, Megan, and Natalie all gave me hugs.  So cool!

 So, I can say that I am the proud mother of about 8 (Merilee and Hailey were gone on Sunday) 12 and 13 year-old girls.  =D

Eric's present to me:

This is a REALLY old piano (Okay, maybe not that old, but at least well-loved and last serviced, that we know of, in 1969) that Eric's friend was going to get rid of and Eric (knowing I have been wanting a piano) said that we would take off his hands.  I will admit that it needs some TLC, but overall it is actually in pretty good shape and works well enough for my level of skill to get me going.  He also got me a card (HILARIOUS!) and pink roses!

We had dinner with my parents and Joslyn, which was lots of fun, especially dessert!  Dad claimed the privilege of putting together the individual sized cheesecakes and here are his creations:

This was mine!

This one was for Jo!

And this was dad's!

Mom's was not as exotic looking (or rather normal enough looking that we didn't think about it much), so it didn't get a picture and Eric was late to dinner and did his own. (No mint and more berries!)

It was a good day!