Ellen

As I was going through photos that I wanted to post here (Ahem... a lot of them.) I realized I never posted photos from my Aunt Ellen's funeral. I wrote a post about it on my other blog along with some thoughts I'd been having over the summer, so if you want to read about it, click here.

At first I thought having a family picture taken right after the graveside service wasn't the ideal situation, but maybe it is. It was a poignant reminder that families do exist beyond the grave. The feeling of peace was incredible.

Me and my roomies. Uncle Paul (R), and my dad (L), who, if he was wearing black, would be a pretty snappy secret service agent.

Trip to Utah

Well, technically we went to Idaho, too, but I didn't pull my camera out until the second leg of our trip. I'm horrible! We had a great time with my family, despite it raining every day for the 3rd year in a row. It's become kind of a joke.

The girls and I (Steve stayed in Reno and worked. Bummer.) made it down to Utah for a few days before heading back to Reno.

We spent a lot of quality time together. Ivy gave Carter some yoga lessons.

We tried to get a shot of the girls before church.

Anyone with a 1-year-old knows how hard it is to get them to stay in one place when they finally start walking and have more freedom.

Lydia had things to attend to.

Appointments to keep.

No time for cousin pics.

Fortunately, posing for pictures is one of the few things I can get both of my girls to do simultaneously.

Ah-ha! Great-Grandmas are really smart. We finally got all three of them in one picture. All smiling, too!

A-a-a-nd, one of us. Minus Dad.

Off to church!

After church, Uncle Devin reads to Lydia and Sophie.

Nice, Soph.

Sophie is sitting on the bed that my sister used to sleep on when we would visit as kids. My bed was on the other side of the room. I think they'll always be there!

Dad missed us while we were gone. Luckily we made it back by Father's Day!

I just remembered that I said something about an interview with Sophie. I'll have to pull that out and post it. 

Honestly, I forgot about it... this past month has been crazy. Did I tell you I catered a wedding open house 3 days before we left for our trip? It was fun, but seriously, what was I thinking? Then we had house guests the day after we came home (glad you came Beadles!), and two days after that I taught a pizza making class to some girls in our ward. Sundays are never a day of rest anymore, either. I kind of crashed on Monday and all I wanted to do was sit on the couch and eat cookies.

March: In One Post

Three weeks. I can't believe I haven't posted anything in three weeks. A lot of things have happened in the past few weeks, and this afternoon I'm finally to the point where I can exhale. And post a few things.

If you happen to read my recipe blog, you might have noticed that I've been posting regularly there, despite neglecting this one. I've started generating some income from that little project (which we need right now), and it's become a kind of part-time job. Thus, what little time and energy I had for blogging went that way.

I'm partially brain-dead, so this is going to be a list. Some of it chronological. Some of it might not make some sense. It's the best I can do right now. :)

Ivy's favorite thing to wear is a hood on her head. No arms in the sleeves. Sophie does it, too. All attempts at hairstyling have been put on hold for a while. Unless it's Sunday.

I had hoped the last visit to the urgent care would be the only one for a while, but we weren't so lucky. Four minutes into a church basketball tourney and Steve had a broken nose. He hadn't even broken a sweat yet.

Here it is the day after. He was lucky to avoid excessive bruising and black eyes.

It was around this time that I was called to be Primary President (basically in charge of the children's organization in our congregation). I know, right? We've been here, like, two months. Oddly enough I didn't freak out. I felt peaceful about the calling and knew it was inspired and that it was something I could tackle. Over the next couple of weeks I worked with the Bishopric (the leadership of our congregation) on choosing the rest of the presidency -- something that was really difficult for me, not knowing many people and having no experience picking people for callings.

Meanwhile, my Grandpa Dean was diagnosed with Pulmonary Fibrosis or "farmer's lung" after a few months of breathing difficulty. Basically, the air sacs in the lungs begin to harden with scar tissue, preventing the absorption of oxygen. The disease was in its last stages with no form of treatment and Dean passed away a few days later.

Dean wasn't my grandpa, but married my grandma after my grandpa passed away in the early 90s. He's been a part of our family for a long time, he loved my grandmother very much, and he'll surely be missed. (Snagged the photo from my cousin Sarah who wrote a beautiful post about him. Thanks hon. :))

I really felt like I should be at the funeral, and I wanted to see my grandma since I hadn't seen her very much in the past few years. Steve couldn't take any time off of work, so I packed up the girls, and we made the 10-hour trip ourselves. Thank goodness for DVD players, snacks, and audiobooks.

Dad & Mom with baby Lydia (Hillie's little girl) at the luncheon after the funeral.

The funeral was beautiful. All of my family was there, and it was the first time that all of my dad's siblings were gathered together in over ten years. (I think.)

We spent a lot of time hanging out.

Lydia, Sophie, and Carter.

The kiddos played together pretty well.

We got some much needed R&R, which prepared us for the end of our trip.

Sophie had a fever at one point, but it didn't turn into anything serious.

Oh yeah, and Ivy threw up the bed after she woke up Sunday morning -- the bed that she was sharing with Sophie. Sophie told me that afternoon that she didn't like having pizza in her bed. She preferred to have it on a plate instead. (Yes, you could tell what it was.) Ivy was fine the rest of the day.

My mom's birthday happened to be the day after the funeral so we had a birthday dinner for her. And I made her a coconut cake.

Hillie (sis), Devin (bro), and Andrea (sil) made her this rockin' flower arrangement. Seriously, why do florists need a degree?

(I'm so joking.)

Devin hijacked my camera and took some Pioneer Woman-esque photos in the backyard. (And probably some of the other ones on this post, but I don't remember which ones. Like I said... I think part of my brain has died in the last few weeks, and I'm waiting for it to kick in.)

While we were in Idaho, I was sustained as Primary President in my ward, and was already accumulating a list of assignments that needed to be done when I got back.

We had planned on leaving Monday, but because of the weather we stayed an extra day, which happened to be the only day out of the next several days that would be safe enough to drive home.

Sigh....

Monday was the day that all the "fun" began. After the girls woke up from their nap we drove down to Johnny Carino's for dinner. While we were waiting for a table, I was holding Ivy on my lap when suddenly my hands were really warm and wet. Ivy had thrown up all over my hands, my pants, her clothes, and a little splashed on to Sophie's shoe (which she was very stressed about and talked nonstop about for the rest of the night).

We get in the car and head back to the house. I began to feel a bit nauseous, but blamed it on being in the backseat of a warm, stuffy car that smelled like vomit. After a few minutes at home the feeling hadn't gone away, and I figured I was just hungry. We all get cleaned up, eat dinner (even Ivy, who seemed to be feeling OK again). I felt better, but an hour or so later the feeling came back.

After I put the girls to bed, I spent the next couple of hours near the bathroom waiting for the inevitable to happen and feeling grateful that I don't get sick during my pregnancies. (I have so much respect for those of you who endure that for so long.) I wondered how I was going to drive home the next day, how I was going to take care of the girls by myself, if I'd have to stay an extra week because of the snow, if I would get home in time to prepare for Sunday (when we'd be in charge of the Primary)...

I like this picture. I think Devin took this one, too. Nice work, bro.

Then my dad gave me a Priesthood blessing, which I'm so grateful for. (Thanks, Dad :)) That didn't stop me from getting up multiples times during the night, but I hoped for the best the next day.

The next day we packed up the car. I felt pretty weak, but most of the nausea had passed. I grabbed a 2-liter bottle of 7-up and a package of saltines and headed down the road. The girls were happy the whole way, I never got sleepy (which was a miracle for me), and we made it home safely.

Steve was really happy to see us. :)

Ivy hasn't thrown up since Johnny's, but she's had the runs all week. I think we had a stomach bug at my parents' house (No one else got sick as far as I know... it's weird that someone is always sick when we visit my family. Ugh. That's not a tradition I want to keep going.) Now I think she's getting her 2nd set of molars. That would explain the extra dose of cranky she gave out in Idaho.

A few days after we get home I met with the previous Primary President, had a 2 1/2 hour meeting with my counselors, prepared for our first Sunday in the Primary and then...

Steve and I got assignments to speak in sacrament meeting on Sunday. (What the!?)

Talks went well. Primary was a bit bumpy (as expected), and now I'm relieved of assignments for the next couple of weeks. (Yay, Conference!)

And THAT is what we've been up to.

Our Last Weeks in Cali Part 2: Christmas

My favorite things about this picture:

1. Her ensemble. Nothing says "Merry Christmas" like a princess crown, a Halloween shirt, and a mermaid tail.

2. The purple tree. We didn't have room for our big tree, so we let the girls pick one out at Big Lots. Thus, we ended up with a purple tree.

Ivy's always up for a kiss. Always.

Every year our ward in California has a dinner in December where Santa shows up. The pic on the right is of Sophie. It's amazing how much she looks like Ivy in the other picture.

This year no one cried. I have to admit I was slightly disappointed. Drama makes better photos. Ivy was so tired. She probably wouldn't have cared whose lap she sat on.

We spent Christmas Eve and Day at the Perrys in Sacramento. Grandpa was teaching the girls how to make pigs in a blanket.

Grandma got the girls matching red skirts and we tried to get a pic of them.

Then we had to have one of the grandkids in front of the tree. Layla wasn't a happy camper.

The after-photo-shoot dancing.

Then a special visitor came. Grandpa Perry makes a pretty slick Santa.

The kids didn't recognize him. It was perfect.

I don't remember the last time I sat on Santa's lap.

Then we had to have ANOTHER one of the grandkids with Santa. Layla flipped out. She really didn't like Santa, which is funny, because she adores Steve's dad. We kept waiting for her to figure out who he was, but she never did.

Here are all the Perrys with Santa. It's a strange photo. Why the weird look on my face? I was watching Steve's cousin with my camera. I don't have live view, which means you have to put your eye on the camera itself to get the shot set up (old school, I know). She never did that. She just held the camera out in front of her, took a photo, saw it pop up on the screen, move it to the right/left, took another shot, readjusted, and so on -- never seeing what she was taking a picture of before she hit the shutter button. It was weird.

Christmas morning didn't disappoint. The girls got a trunk full of dress-up clothes, which they have worn almost every day since Christmas. (See this post - that was this afternoon.)

The guys got matching shirts and headlamps. I have to admit, I chuckled a little at the headlamps thinking, "such a guy thing". But I wore it the other night while I was looking for something packed away in the garage. It's super cool.

Dr. Steve

I'm going to break from our roadtrip report with a couple of big announcements...

1. I would like to introduce you to Steve Perry, D.C.. (And soon-to-be C.C.W.P. - Certified Chiropractic Wellness Practitioner) Steve was done in September (and got his diploma), but graduation ceremonies weren't until December. (They only hold them twice a year.)

The next photos are the reason why I need to take a photography class. Once I'm out of natural light and in strangely lit areas, I'm helpless. I practiced on 5 or 6 people before Steve went across the stage, trying different settings and this is what I ended up with.

Lovely. Sigh.

Graduation attire kind of fascinates me.

I've always wondered where the robes and funny hats came from. The robe Steve wore reminded me of something from Harry Potter.

Sophie liked the tassel.

Here we are on the day we've been waiting the last seven years for: graduation. We're officially real people! (We're 30 and 31, so it's about time, right?) Yikes. All of the hard work and long hours at school and clinic have paid off. And he even finished with honors.

The Perry clan came out for the big day. (His brother Michael, Amanda, and little Layla on the left, Dad & Mom Perry, our family, and Aunt Kimi on the end. Ivy just woke up, in case you're wondering. I guess the ceremony wasn't entertaining enough.

Everyone had to have their own pictures. Steve's Uncle Ron and Aunt Kathy also came with Steve's cousin Scott. (bottom right)

A few of Steve's favorites at the school: Dr. Donaldson (Dean of the Health Center, also LDS) on the top, Dr. Hawkins on the left, and Dr. Hiliker (Steve's clinic faculty advisor) on the right.

I'm really proud of Steve. I love that he found something to pursue that he's passionate about. How many people can say that they truly love their career? Of course, he has lot of work to do ahead as he starts working and eventually opens up his own clinic.

And that brings us to our next announcement. . .

2. We're moving to Reno, Nevada.

Steve got a job with a doc (Dr. Cliff Fisher) who has an upper-cervical (Blair)/full-spine office. We actually stayed at his house one weekend in October so Steve could check out his office. We didn't expect him to offer Steve a job because he wasn't sure if he was ready to take on another associate yet (he already has 4 other docs working for him). But he called us on our way to Vegas last month. And within a few weeks we got the OK.

(Side Note: Steve had to talk to the doctor's business coach after his phone interview with Dr. Fisher, and toward the end of their conversation he told Steve, abruptly, "I don't need to talk to you anymore. I like you." Then the business coach called Dr. Fisher back and told him he'd be an idiot not to hire Steve. I agree. But then again, I'm sort of biased.)

Steve starts mid-January. We're moving out there the weekend of the 8th into yet, another, little apartment (AHHHHH!), but that's only because we're planning on buying a house sometime this spring. We think our move will be longer than the typical year-long associateship, so we're taking the plunge.

I've never felt a burning desire to live in Reno. Ever. But it feels right. I'm excited to move on, but I start crying when I think of all of the dear friends we've made since we've been here. (And some who've left already.) So I don't think about that. Otherwise I'd be crying all the time.

So please don't make me cry until January 8th.