Bitter Sweet

Monday and Tuesday I watched my neighbors boy most of the day while she studied and had her class for her Nursing Degree. We worked on getting Adam’s truck cleaned Monday night and then on Tuesday Adam took an overnight trip to Winslow Arizona. The rest of the week was bitter sweet. Susie and I loaded our kids up on Tuesday afternoon in her car and traveled to Sondra’s house in Pleasant Grove where we stayed the night. Her and Spencer were so hospitable to us, feeding us dinner and a yummy crepe dessert and Sondra waking up at 4:45 to make us some sandwiches and a bunch of yummy snacks for our trip as we headed out early to Oregon. Thank you Sondra for those snacks, we didn’t have to stop for any the whole way as they were sufficient to tide us over. We arrived to Oregon only to find everyone gone to school and work and found Thursday to be the same. We celebrated Logan’s birthday with pizza and a cake. On Friday we attended the funeral of a very dear friend to the family, Ruth Oxford. This sweet lady has pretty much been a part of our family since I can remember. I was told from one of my sisters that when my mom was in her car accident and had to receive care at home which involved some enema’s and such that Ruth was there to provide that for her and that when Ruth’s health failed after a tumor caused her to collapse and she was now in that similar situation that my mom returned the care and that is just how the relationship between these two was. When I had some issues after giving birth to Tyson and Lincoln, Ruth would offer her bedroom for us to stay in when we came to visit so that I could have my own bathroom. She has always been a very giving and selfless person. I am glad to see her be able to leave this life from the condition she remained in after her tumor and happy to know that she is with her dear husband (Big George). She is much happier where she is at now and someday it will be a great reunion with both of them. My Mom and sisters MaryJane, Lillie, and Susie sang at the funeral (found out that morning that we were singing) and some close friends to Ruth gave the life sketch and spoke. It was a good service which I was glad to be home for. Originally the main reason for us traveling this past week to Oregon was so that we could listen to my sister Lillie’s farewell talk today. She is leaving on Tuesday with Susie for Provo and will enter the Missionary Training Center (MTC) on Wednesday afternoon where she will begin her missionary training before going to the Olongapo Phillippines mission where she will labor in sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ for the remaining of 18 months. She did a great job on her farewell talk and although we didn’t get to see much of her as she was the closest to Ruth and was very much involved in planning the funeral service, I am glad that we made the trip to support her in her decision to serve the people and the Lord. We left right after sacrament meeting as we had to hook on to a gooseneck trailer that we spent most of Saturday loading (as Adam arrived late Friday night with Daniel and the trailer to take home equipment he had purchased from an auction in Nampa the week before) and travel the soon to be long trip back to Southern Utah at a steady 65 mph. (not excited about that). On Saturday evening we did go out to eat in Nyssa at a small dining place to celebrate Susie’s birthday on Friday as we didn’t get to do much to celebrate it then and then Adam and I stopped by Alan and Tami Peterson’s place and had a relaxing, enjoyable visit with them (although we did interrupt their movie they were watching, sorry about that, however it was nice to visit and get a break from our kids).