First Mountain Bike Wreck

While Tennie, Adele and I were busy with Young Women commitments last night Geoff took Ceci on a mountain bike ride.

Ceci was admittedly trying to show-off on one hill and zoomed down.  Right as she felt she was going too fast she hit some rocks and she and her bike went tumbling down the rest of the hill together.  Other bikers who saw it ran to her aid, and Geoff, who said it is possibly the worst bike crash he's ever seen, expected her to have multiple broken bones.  But thanks to Ceci's guardian angels she walked away with only a few scrapes and a body full of bruises!

Spring 2014 - Part II

Sometime at the end of March/early April Geoff's mother was sent home from The Medical Establishment saying there was nothing more they could do for her uterine cancer.  I admired her grace at receiving this news.  She was not afraid of her mortality.  She and Geoff's dad planned a few things for her remaining days.  One of her last wishes was to have her entire family gather.  ALL family overlapped for Easter weekend, although we (and some others) spent the entire week before Easter with her.  Miraculously, she had a rare week of energy.  Or maybe she was just energized by her family.  One thing is for certain, she didn't rest while we were all there.  She took advantage of every moment.  She radiated a deep and profound love and beauty.

A walk around the duck pond

Eating out at our favorite Auburn restaurant, Joe Caribe

Davey and Erica's little Eli with Pop Pop

Twins Cate & Eli in their I LOVE Pop Pop and Mormor t-shirts

An art class with our deeply missed art teacher, Dana Ross

Tennie painting Ceci

Ceci mowing her first lawn (What a lawn to start with!)

There is that adorable Eli again

Time to color Easter eggs!

Adele decided to dye her hair as well

At our house the Easter Bunny leaves baskets on Saturday morning

Aunt Heather is always up for doing fun hair for the nieces

Cousin's Easter egg hunt!

Easter Sunday was beautiful.  We worshiped together at home, taking the sacrament and blessing Cate and Eli and Clare.  I wish I had pictures.  They wore the blessing gown their great-great grandmother had made for their great grandmother to wear for her christening in Denmark.  All of our girls wore it too, when blessed.

A very generous and kind friend in our old Auburn ward, who is a photographer, came and took family pictures that afternoon.  I'll include a few.

Geoff's mom was the master event planner.  Even a typical weeknight dinner was an event with a beautifully set table and centerpiece, and artistically displayed food.  We kids and in-laws tried to put on an Easter dinner she would be proud of.  It took 15 of us to do what she could do single-highhandedly, and the feast was even purchased from her thoughtful brother and his wife!

Heather's L.A. shoes kept the girls busy while we did dinner preparations

She would have used beautiful china, but we opted for paper goods

Here she is waiting to be served like the queen she is

The Feast

The weekend couldn't have been more idyllic.  It was the first time in five years that every single member of the family was together.  There are now 35 of us.

We drove home the Monday after Easter and spent the week trying to clear the clutter that had been building from our closet clean-outs, catch up on laundry, do the shopping, squeeze in a little school, etc.  Friday night we received a call from Geoff's dad saying Geoff's mom had been rushed to the hospital and discovered she had a perforated bowel.  In her weakened state she wouldn't survive the necessary surgery, and without it she had less than 48 hours to live.  Geoff flew out Saturday morning, and the girls and I packed clothes that hadn't even been folded, yet, back into suitcases and made the 10-hour trip back to Auburn to help with errands, food and watching Emily's 1-year-old twins.  All eight siblings rushed back hoping to be there when she passed.

She lived for 11 days in the hospital.  The first days, when she was conscious, she literally radiated a pure love to each individual she spoke to.  She influenced doctors and nurses and visitors.  While she would describe her pain at a 7-8, she continued to minister to everyone.  And she was still such a lady to the end with her lip gloss and earrings!

Like when a baby is born, there is a reverence about the experience of death.  There is a sacredness about the room, just like there is when a baby enters this world.  Towards the end when her breathing was labored and her pain was subdued by heavy medication we waited patiently for her deliverance, and when it came we were all happy for her release.  She lived an incredible life.  It was not perfect, nor was she, but the sum total was nearly perfect.  Funny how life works out that way.

Having been away from work and families for so long, Geoff and his siblings put together a memorial service in just three days.  People came from every chapter of her life, from all over the country.  The memorial service was one of the most spiritual experience of my life.  She had planned the program before passing, and not only did she indicate who she wanted to speak, but what she wanted them to speak about.  It was her testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ from every angle.  Each person used her own quotes.  It was as if she spoke to each person, each old friend, there.  Her spirit was there, almost tangibly.  It is hard to explain, in words, things that are deeply spiritual.

During those eleven days we did a lot of waiting.

We went out to Tango, our favorite Auburn frozen yogurt shop

The kids did a great job keeping themselves busy (although playing poor kid in the ashes of the fireplace got them a lecture...)

Geoff's dad will likely leave that dear home in Auburn, much to everyone's great sadness.  Before we all left we had a fire down by the pond.  We made s'mores, sang songs and heard great stories from Geoff's dad's youth at summer camp.

It is strange how life goes on.  I've been through this twice in the last 18 months, first with my dad, and now with Geoff's mom.  A person can live a very influential life, and hundreds can mourn their passing, but then everyone returns to their lives, and food must be shopped for and eaten, houses must be cleaned, laundry washed, cars filled with gas, children raised.  Some of it seems so mundane after the significance of death, but it is what life is made of: mundane, every day actions that make up a full life.  So we returned to life.

Geoff's mom was buried in Salt Lake the following week.  Geoff and I picked out a peaceful, lovely plot in the Salt Lake Cemetery, right next to other valiant pioneers.  We had a nice burial ceremony surrounded by local friends and family.  Our days were filled with togetherness and support.  My mom came into town and stayed the week.  It was fun to have her here, although she got us in a rather tired state!

Family came to cheer on Ceci in her soccer game

We got some box seats to the Real soccer game, along with some of Geoff's work colleagues.

My mom, Adele, Ceci and I spent the afternoon in Park City.

Ceci put on several puppet shows for us

We got a new exchange student from Belgium named Sophie...

Sophie invited some of her friends to a BBQ at Emily's house for Mike's birthday

 Yesterday, Memorial Day, we went on a hike in the canyon.

Geoff has a Tormenting Older Brother inside, and it was out yesterday as he threw snow at all the girls...

Adele and Zoey

Since some of us were going at Zoey and Tate's pace Geoff went ahead with the girls, and eventually we came upon them having target practice with the No Parking sign.  If they hit it they got ice cream.

After our hike we met at the cemetery and had a Memorial Day picnic dinner at Geoff's mom grave.

See you in awhile, Mormor!