Living On The Edge Of Reason

Our pictures from Easter. Easter started on Saturday with an egg hunt in Duncan and then moved to Thatcher the next morning. Because of the addition of a dog since last Easter, the Easter Bunny moved his operations into the front yard this year.



I recently have had a couple of downer posts. Because of that, I have worried that I sound like I am a downer myself or am looking for sympathy and because of that, I have wanted to have a fun, interesting post next. Unfortunately, that just isn't working out.

On Saturday, April 10th, my grandmother June Martineau, passed away. This is my mother's mother. This in and of itself is not really a bad thing. She had had Alzheimer's for the last few years and was not doing well. However, we had pretty much assumed that my mom would not be traveling again. This event blew that idea out of the water as my mom was very determined to go to the funeral in Heber, AZ. Fortunately, Jerry has been in Duncan since the 5th of April and was able to help them prepare. I wish someone would have been here to help us prepare. Trying to get my mother out of the car to come into our house proved to be too difficult and painful. She ended up not coming in. It was pretty traumatic for me to see her hurting that much, but it was really hard on my kids. Braden just started walking down the block without asking and when I called him back, he came back with tears in his eyes. I asked him if he was sad because he thought I was mad at him. He said no, just that he was sad it hurt grandma so much just to touch her. That broke my heart and we just hugged and cried together.

Our view from the front door of our motel in Heber.

But, we did make it to Heber and it turned out to be a positive thing. I think it gave my mom's family a chance to say goodbye to her and vice versa. It was a very nice service, but by the end, my mom was done and so we got her back to the hotel before heading over to the gravesite. Because the kids are in school, we wished my parents and brother a hesitant but fond farewell and started home after the luncheon at the church. They stayed an additional night to let my mom recover somewhat.



A couple notes about Heber: It was snowing on us when we arrived. It is the middle of April and it was snowing. I am just saying.

Heber is not a big place, but very pretty. However, when I went on-line to see our hotel options, it was pretty much the Best Western or...it was pretty much the Best Western.

Spiffy looking boys. They looked better than their father even. At least for the first few minutes after getting ready.

I always find myself wondering what brings certain people to certain places in their lives. I live in Thatcher, but I grew up 45 miles away in Duncan and I married a Thatcher girl. It is somewhat understandable. The hotel owner was East Indian and had lived in New York. I didn't ask, but the thought kept coming back to me every time we entered the lobby and smelled curry. How did you and your family end up in Heber, and where do you find curry?

Last Saturday, Rhett Dodge came over and we trenched our front yard for a sprinkler system. This, of course, involved more manual labor with a shovel on my part. I am woefully out of shape and there is nothing like a day in my front yard to remind me of it.

This is our current view of the front yard. Someday...Someday!

Lastly, this weekend was Stake Conference. Timilee Brown's parents, Jay and Diane Layton, spoke as he has recently been called as Mission President for the Rapid City South Dakota Mission. They gave excellent talks and they will do an awesome job. Conference was outstanding and we are glad we had made plans to attend the temple this coming weekend because the whole conference was about the temple and being there and not finding reasons not to be there. You get the point.

We have a Rapier family reunion this weekend as well and we look forward to a slightly more upbeat post after that event.