Grandma Sandie

It seems like a whirlwind has hit over the last week or so. So many wonderful things have gone on, and in the midst of them all, something tragic has happened. My mother-in-law Sandie suffered from a ruptured brain aneurysm last week. She was actually at her father's funeral of all places when it hit. She thought it was just a migraine and just waited it out until a few days later she passed out and they took her to the hospital and found it. She went in for surgery a day or so later and they were hopeful that she could be okay. But since that point everything has gone downhill. She never woke up after the surgery and have discovered several vasospasms in the brain since, which I believe is where the blood vessels in the brain constrict and doesn't allow blood through. Thus the tissues die. It is not looking good for Sandie right now. This morning we got a phone call and all Ryan's siblings were on the phone on a conference call, they basically told everyone to fly out now to come see her, probably for the last time. She is in a coma and she has such severe brain damage that if she ever came out of it the doctors say she would be a vegetable. The machines and meds are what is keeping her alive right now. So they are deciding when to take her off. It is a bad situation. She is such a wonderful woman. I am only her daughter-in-law and I feel cheated. I feel like I didn't get to spend enough time with her. The last time we saw her was last summer, that's a long time ago. And I'm so sad she didn't get to come to Trey's baptism and we didn't get to spend that time with her one last time. I went looking for pictures of her with my family and I don't hardly have any close-ups. Take pictures with your grandparents! I want her around longer to glean from her insights and learn her faith and wisdom. She is such a faithful, strong, dedicated and loving person. I wish my kids could have known her better. I feel sad that I can't be there with the family now to say good bye, I can only imagine what the scene is like.

This was taken in the summer of 2009 at the annual Dickman family reunion. Robert and Sandie with their 6 children. What a great group!

This is the rest of the group, with spouses and grandchildren, and even great grandpa (Sandie's father who just passed).

Also at our beach trip family reunion with her sister Chrys, who is like her twin.

Grandma with Trey at Legoland.

Sandie we love you so much! We know that whatever happens, it is in the Lord's hands. Thank you for everything you've taught us and for the legacy you leave.

The stuff people say

Sometimes you have to write down what others say, not just your family members. Just the other day Trey and his friend were sitting in my car watching a couple of girls playing. One girl kicked the other girl (playfully) and Trey said, "Whoa, she kicked her in the privates!" Trey's friend said, "Girls don't have any privates!"

Recently I went to a girl's night out with friends. There were a few girls I didn't know. I met a cute young mom and she said to me, "What was your last name again, Pelosi?" She quickly realized that wasn't right!

December Recap

December came and went, and not a blog entry was entered throughout the whole month. So here's a little recap of our holiday adventures. Christmas was nice, but busy. I started off with a school craft fair project, my first one ever, and maybe my last! It was a lot of work, for not a whole lot of pay. But I'm glad I did it. I made caramel apples and they were yummy!! My kitchen was a mess.

We were jammin while practicing for the ward Christmas party, Ryan played the guitar and Justin practiced too!

My 2 Santas!

Seth was skeptical of this guy in a red suit.

Christmas Eve.

Santa brought Trey a piano for Christmas! We love it!

This was a project for Seth. I found it in Family Fun Magazine, thought it was going to be quick and I waited until late Christmas Eve to start, not a good idea. And it's still today not quite finished.

Seth LOVES his monkey!

Justin was excited about all his gifts.

Especially this one.

"YESSSSSSSS!"

Ryan had the week off after Christmas, we went to a couple of museums.

This cool air blower blew balls...

...and hair.

Justin's nick name is "Beast."

Justin loves his new glasses.

Feeding the ducks.

Justin's little mouse friend fell in the toilet. So we had to wash him and then blow dry him.

Trey put on a magic show for us. He got all his tricks from a book and made his little stage.

Seth was impressed with his tricks. Notice Seth is wearing pants AND shorts.

No ordinary moments

Why is it that so many blog entries of mine start something like this..."Wow I haven't blogged in a really long time, there's so much to say...now I'm going to do so much better!" Whatever, I blog when I get around to it! But tonight I was inspired. I went to a Stake Relief Society fireside (a church meeting for women) and sat by a lady in my ward who is a blogger, she has like 17 blogs. Then, one of the speaker's themes tonight was, "there are no ordinary moments" and she shared several special and precious moments with us that she's had. And I realized that I need to record in my blog my special moments! When I am writing in my blog more frequently I become more aware of those moments that I really want to remember, the ones that get me through the rough spots. They don't have to be grand or life-altering, but they are just those moments that I see Heavenly Father's love for me. So I thought of one of my special moments that I had just today. During church today in Sacrament Meeting Seth and Justin were fighting over crackers (I should just leave the crackers at home,) and Seth got mad and started throwing the crackers everywhere. I took him out, I was frustrated at that point with both of them. I told Seth he was in trouble and that he needed to share and not throw his crackers. His face got really sad, it was such a priceless face with his bottom lip sticking way out. He knew he was in trouble. He recovered. This is the special moment...he decided he needed to hug and cuddle and snuggle. He kept burying his face in mine and then gave me Eskimo kisses (where you rub noses) for like a minute straight. I loved it. I didn't want to go back into the meeting and make it end. I cherish moments like these that make me want him to stay little forever.

I love the thought that there are no ordinary moments. Every moment is important, no matter how mundane or unimportant it may feel. I think it makes one be more grateful and more aware of the good things that are happening around you. It helps you seize opportunities and cherish every laughter, hug, giggle, smile, even every tear.

Mormon Messages

I love Mormon Messages! I could watch them all day long. They fill me so much with peace and love and hope. If you need a boost, go watch some, they will make you feel better! Find them on lds.org.

Funny boys

Justin is such a funny character. He does things that always crack me up. Recently he said he felt sick and couldn't go to school. I didn't really believe him, and I should have listened to my gut. The carpool came and picked up Trey, they usually take Justin too, and as soon as they pulled away, he said, "I feel better!" And went and ate breakfast! What a stinker!

The other day I was having a Primary meeting at my house and Justin was home sneaking around and somehow ended up on the floor in the room where we were and fell asleep in this position. He did not look comfy!

Justin got some new glasses from the dentist!






Seth likes them too!

Thanksgiving

We got to go to Grandma and Grandpa's house for Thanksgiving, in Utah, this year! We had some obstacles, as ALWAYS, but overall it was a great trip! We got stuck in a snow storm heading out there and had to stop and buy chains, so the drive took 2 days instead of one. But it was fun to stay in a hotel because we never do. Then, two days after Thanksgiving, 14 of my family members, including Seth, woke up vomiting and diahrrea-ing like crazy! We're pretty sure we had some food poisoning from turkey day! That wasn't fun, but at least we weren't the only ones throwing up this trip! :) Other than that, we had a great time. We did some Cougar bowling, met up with old friends, went to Cabella's, shopped, hot tubbed with Grandpa, saw my nephew who just got home from a mission from India, and just hung out with family! Lots of plans fell threw, we just did a lot of hanging out with cousins and family, and my kids LOVED it.

We had my sister Krissy take some pictures for us for our Christmas card while we were there. We actually got some good ones, here are some of the winners. We don't get many pictures where we're all in it, someone always has to take the picture.

By this time, we were FREEZING! Justin was crying and look at Seth's face, his little nose was so red.

Justin and Trey got in the hot tub with Grandpa and loved it. Too bad they only did it once.