Another Goodbye...

It's another goodbye to another Sister who served here in our valley. This is Sister Gonzalez, one of our favorite people, and an awesome missionary. She left here in January, and we promised her that we would see her off, so it was another trip in to missionary transfer conference yesterday. She has been a joy to know, and more importantly, was a real boost to the missionary work when we were assigned these girls. They have since taken the sisters out, brought the "boys" back in, and the work goes on and on. It has been a blessing for Kevin to be the ward mission leader for so long - over 4 years. This is one of those perks...
Plus, we got to get another picture with our favorite guy, Elder Gibson, who served out here for only 6 weeks, but ended up falling in love with (because he was such a GREAT missionary, of course :) Those dimples are the best...

Good, Clean TV

Okay, my kids are starting to tease me about this...but what can I say? I'm a succor for good, clean, make-you-feel-good kind of TV watching, and let's face it...there's not much on cable TV that fits into that category. Now my big girls are going to give me the business over this one, but I just can't get into watching a gay guy talking about fashion, or having to watch a show week after week, just to see who wins in the end, and frankly, I don't even miss watching Food Network that much, but this show... oh how it brings back the memories. When my big girls were younger, and we watched Disney Channel just waiting for this series to come on every week, that's when life was good - even for just the night. This is Road To Avonlea - a spinoff from the Anne of Green Gables movies, set in Avonlea with new characters like Hetty King, Felicity and Felix, and some thrown in from Anne also, like Marilla and Rachel Lynde, who ends up in all seven series' of the show.

When I watch these, half of me wonders how great it would have been to live back in that time - the early 1900's, especially if you could have lived on Prince Edward Island in eastern Canada. The scenery and landscape would have been enough ( I live in Nevada where nothing is green), and a simpler time would have been kind of nice...but then I think of all of the conveniences that I have today - indoor plumbing, instant hot water, an air conditioned car, and then I think that it might just be a nice show to keep watching, just for the "feel good" of it. So, now I am on my last season - season 7, where all things come to an end. I'm sad that it won't go on forever, but at least I have found something that not only made me feel good for a time, but also made me grateful for a lifetime.

Love These Guys!

Tuesday, Kevin, Tibi, Colton (Tibi's friend), and I got to go into Vegas to the missionary transfer conference to go see one of the sister missionary's off to head back home. Of course, I didn't get a picture of her, but we did happen to see plenty of missionaries that have served, at one time or another, here in Logandale. That was the best part of being there - being able to see some of these guys that haven't been out here for almost a year. They are all doing great things in their areas of assignment, nothing less than what we would expect of them, and they all look great too! There were so many in this picture, that they all couldn't fit. They were all pretty excited to see us too...
Elder Gibson (my personal favorite) was one of those that got "cut off" in the picture, so we grabbed him and had our own "personal" picture taken with him before he skedaddled off to his new area. I left him with some zucchini bread and a handshake! I am such a huggy type of person, so not being able to give these guys a good, motherly hug is torture for me...

They had a good number of missionaries going home that day, so by the time they all bore their testimony, and they gave out new assignments, it was a long meeting, but well worth it. We were famished by the time we got out of there (4 p.m.), so we hopped over to In'N'Out and got us a burger and fries. It's not very often that I eat fast-food, but my tummy was growlin' so I didn't care. Here's Tibi and Colton with satisfied bellies...

One of the sisters that we went to go see off decided to extend for another 5 weeks, so we will be back for the next transfer conference to go see her off. Good thing we loved it...

4th of July at the Cabin

We were able to get away out of the heat for a few days. Before we headed to the cabin, Tibi and I went up to Salt Lake area to meet up with family members for the sealing of my sister, Debbie's boy. Dad was able to perform the sealing for Craig and Breanna on Friday morning, which was wonderful, of course. At the reception that night I was able to see a cousin I hadn't seen in years, uncles and aunts I hadn't seen for a long time, and spend time with Kira and Michaela also. No pictures, as I took my non-digital camera to take pictures of the weekend events. On Saturday morning we all headed down to the cabin at Panguitch Lake to spend our annual 4th of July family time together. I ended up getting some kind of a bug which put me down in bed for a good day (Sunday), because I had been up all night throwing up. Not my idea of a vacation at the cabin...
Here's the pics that Kevin shot with his camera while I was in bed :(
Grandma Packard and Heather, my youngest sister's daughter (and the youngest grandchild)
Playing games without me (how rude...)

Some of us are okay with not playing games...
It was smart to have more than one game table in the cabin.
Presenting mom and dad with the quilt that me and my sisters made for their upcoming 59th wedding anniversary. This has truly been a labor of love, although it took us almost a whole year to get it done from start to finish.
On Monday, the guys went out fishing and caught their limits. We ate some for breakfast and brought some home too.

Teaching Landon how to gut a fish...

Good Times

What can I say? Life has been good to us. We are still "kickin", we are relatively healthy, and we are still best friends, which is saying a lot now-a-days. Plus, Kevin gets to work from home, I don't have to work, and we HAVE work. So we are grateful... at least for another day!
Plus, we were surprised to have Kira and Michaela show up late Friday night, right during family prayers! All four of the kids took off to the Valley of Fire the next day for a fun hike and play day... and they didn't even come back too sunburned!

I am especially glad that it was a holiday today and there was no school. I think I am ready for my alarm clock to go on strike...although I don't look forward to the kids staying up till THEY think they should go to bed. But I sure love the "down" time we all get. So here's to summer, not necessarily the heat, but here's to no school!

"Kit Love"

Today we said goodbye to Kit, our family dog that has been with us for the last 12 years. I was grateful that she stayed right at home to die, and not go off into the wild, like most dogs will. She has been battling a tumor for the last few months, and while some of you may think it's cruel - we don't take our dogs, or any other animals to the vet. We just don't have the money for it, and we feel that however long our dog can be with us, then we are blessed for that amount of time. So we said our goodbyes last night and this morning. Yes, she made it through the night, which surprised me. But knowing Kit, she was not going to leave us without letting us know that she was okay with it too. So this morning, at 5:30, Tibi went out to say her last goodbyes...she died seven minutes later.
Last night as I was taking trash out, I noticed Kit was walking very gingerly and like she was in a lot of pain. She has been deaf for the last few months, so I stroked her ear while talking to her to let her know that I was concerned. I immediately noticed blood on the back of her, on her tail and down her leg, and instantly knew that it must be the tumor finally taking over. Kevin and I got her to lay down on the porch, covered her with a blanket, and although hoping for the best, knew that she would not make it much longer. Even our cat sensed something was very wrong, and tried her best to console Kit...which I though was very sweet.

We have had many dogs at different times, but none like Kit. She was loyal and thrived on affection from us, even if it was just acknowledging that we noticed her. She would come up to you if you were sitting on the porch, and dig her nose under your arm, so that you would rub her head, or pet her - something that usually annoyed me, but that I will miss.

We actually were lucky to have Kit as long as we did. She delivered three litters of puppies for a total of 24 puppies a few years ago - which I'm sure makes her a granddog by now. No matter how old, or tired, or how much her bones hurt, she ALWAYS managed to have enough "puppy" energy to go on our walks, or a run with dad. It's like she transformed into a puppy all over again. It was the craziest thing...

Everybody loved Kit, even people that didn't "know" her. She would bark at everyone that came around (I think it was that protective "mother" in her that she never got over, even though we never kept any of the puppies she had), she would let us know that someone was around, but NEVER ever did I see her nip at anyone. As soon as you touched her, or called her name, she was your lover for life, even if you were a stranger.

I always thought I knew which kid loved Kit the most...but now I'm not sure I do. They were all so sad when I told them that she had died. Maybe it has to do with them not being here, to at least say goodbye. I do know that they are not too excited about us getting another dog anytime soon - which is fine with me. I'm not sure I ever want to go through this again.

So goodbye Kit. I will miss your barking in the middle of the night to let us know that you are keeping an eye on things. I will miss seeing you play with the grandkids, and having grandma say hello to you when they come to visit. Most of all, I will miss my "walking buddy" - walking out the door with my ipod and stretching will be pretty lonely without you jumping all over the place, knowing that we would be off on another adventure into the wild! Thank you for loving us and being part of our family...

Two Milestones

This little guy has made his grand entrance into our eternal family this last week. Little Amar'e Willard Hill was born two days early, on April 30th to Lexie and Sharrid. He wasn't due until the 2nd of May, but Lexie was wanting an April baby since they already have Phoenix's birthday in May. So he made it by the skin of his teeth, and all 8 lbs. 8 oz. of him too! He sure is a cutie though, and grandma got to go to Arizona for a week to take care of mom, baby, boys, and dad too. So here's to the newest little sweetheart...
While I was gone, Tibi had her own milestone...she went to Prom with this handsome boy, Ty Askeroth. They had a great time with about 17 other couples going on an "amazing race", and then getting ready in their lovely orange duds and heading to the dance for a while, and then over to a friend's house for a late-night movie. Thank you Ty, for spending a fun day and night with Tibi!

A full length shot of her beautiful bright tangarine dress - borrowed from good friend Jordan Chappell. Jordan also did Tibi's hair for her. Thank you Jordan! (Ty did his own hair...)

While Tibi was off having a blast at Prom, Landon had his own party with some of his friends...the friends that didn't go to Prom. They called it their "anti-Prom party." You know...getting together at a friend's house, goofing off, eating goodies, and watching movies. Almost as much fun as Prom...

And I missed it all - including the talk on Mother's Day that Landon had to give. Hmmm....

It's kind of weird not being home on Mother's Day...but I definitely was doing "mother" things!