Future Mr. & Mrs. Eric Hardy

Robyn and Eric came to the baby shower and I finally remembered to get a picture of them. They will be getting married on February 20 and I am so excited for them. Robyn has waited a long time to meet her soul mate.

Can you believe that her Mother Lori, is the one who played cupid, and got Eric and Robyn together. One time when a Mother got to pick a son in law. You did good Lori!!

Robyn will be quiting her job, moving to Mesquite where Eric is employed at the Mesquite Medical Center. They have found a nice home and will be starting their family. We are so happy for you Robyn, and I can't wait for another Great Grandbaby. :) I know your Mom is excited about having her first grandchild.

New Year Baby Ella & Family Baby Shower

Top right Lori, Carl, and his son. Lani & Terry the Grandparents of baby Ella.

Kristen & Tom Jackie

Bret & Laura


Baby Ella, and Grandkids piled on a bed watching a good movie while the adults visited.

Baby gifts. The one with the bunny was wrapped by Laura. Didn't she do a fabulous job?

Aunt Eileen and Rue





Tootsie and Lori

The proud parents, Taylor and Amanda arrived with baby Ella. Grandma Lani and Aunt Jackie greeting them at the door.

I am a little late with this posting due to the death of my brother. Lani, Lori, and Jackie planned a family baby shower for baby Ella. It was a lot of fun as the husbands were invited too and it was great seeing everyone, eating good food, and having good conversations along with a lot of belly laughs. It was nice seeing some family members that we don't get to see very often. I liked this kind of shower, no games and just a lot of family hugs and catching up on the family news.

Sorry that the lables of who is who in the above pictures are in the wrong place, but I can't figure out how to fix it.

Poor Little Rozlynn

Renee called me yesterday and told me that little Rozlynn was sick. She has RSV. Luckily Renee and Jason took her to the doctor in time and caught it before it got really bad and she would have been put in the hospital.

There had been a baby just before Rozlynn's doctor visit that had to be put in the hospital. I am so grateful that Renee and Jason were sharp enough to know that the baby was sick enough to take to the doctor. They have some good baby books to refer to and help them make those kinds of decisions. It is strange to me that I had never heard of RSV until one of my G. Grandsons had it and I read about it on his mother's blog. Is this something new? Or has it always been around and has a new name. Renee and Jason are giving Rozlynn treatments three times a day at home and I just talked to Renee and the baby seems to be improving. It is so frightening to me to have such a small baby be so sick.

Kenny Luker My Brother

Frank & I had been in Vegas for an overnight stay with my daughter and when we came home Thursday afternoon January 14th, there was a message from my brother Allen telling me that my baby brother Kenny had passed away.

Kenny had been living on borrowed time for several years as he was an alcoholic and had abused drugs. He had lived so much longer than we expected, it was still a surprise and shock to get the message.

This horrible addiction had already taken my Mother's life at age 50, and my brother Bobby at age 37 who committed suicide, and was drunk when he did it. My father was an alcoholic too, but when the doctor told him it was going to kill him he had the will power to stop drinking and lived a long life.

The funeral was hard for me to see my brother look so bad, and to see him buried in his Budweiser shirt and jeans. It was just a reminder to me of what had caused his death. I had to talk and was the last speaker and that was really hard too, and to see his wife grieve and cry over him before they closed the casket. She cried so hard that tears fell into Kenny's eyes and it looked like he was shedding tears too. Maybe he was?

My brother Allen and I are the only ones in our family who are not alcoholics and we both know it has a lot to do with our religion and beliefs. Even though I had seen enough of it as a child I doubt I would have ever drank as I promised myself that my life would be different and I would have a happy family someday. My childhood was not a happy one, and I saw more than any child should be exposed to. I was 16 years older than my brother and was married when he was just a baby of 3 years old.

Kenny didn't have a chance to have a normal life being born to Alcoholic parents. My husband and I found him one time crying over my Mom's passed out body and I caught him drinking out of a quart size beer bottle. He was only 4 years old when this happened.

I am grateful that I moved 400 miles away from all of this dysfunction and I stayed away from my family as much as I could as I didn't want my children influenced by them. I loved my baby brother, but we had such different life styles our paths didn't cross very often. He thought I looked down on him, but I didn't, I just felt bad as I knew the outcome wouldn't be good and it wasn't. He died just before his 53 birthday on January 31. I love you Kenny, and glad that the suffering is over for you.

Grandson's Visit

Tony came to visit us and spend the night last Friday. It has been great seeing him and spending some quality time with him.

We took him over to Mesquite to our favorite Mexican restaurant to have dinner, and on the way home Tony got a phone call from his Mom to tell him that he had forgotten his roof racks. Since we were all ready on the freeway, we decided to take Tony back into Vegas and get the racks and save him a backtracking trip the next day as he was heading back to Utah and Idaho.

The trip to Vegas was great as we were able to have some quality time for visiting one on one. It may be a long time before we get to see Tony again and we were grateful that he took the time to spend with his boring grandparents, before heading back to college. I don't know where the time flies too, but it is still hard to believe that Tony is 22.

Sherry called me this morning to talk for a few minutes and she told me that when she was taking her bath last night, Ozzie her new Sphynx cat decided to jump into the tub with her, so he had another bath as she had already given him one a day or so before. I guess he loves water. Sherry told me that his mother loves water too. I would have loved to have seen the bath time with Ozzie. It makes me want to go in to Vegas for another visit to Sherry's and get some loving fun with Ozzie, and get to see Rozlynn too.

Sherry's new Baby Ozzie - Sphynx Cat

Sherry finally made the decision to get a Sphynx cat. After we had dinner with Frank's family we headed to Sherry's condo to spend the night. Robyn and her fiance were there along with Renee, baby Rozlynn and Jason. Renee and Sherry had gone shopping for all the things needed for Ozzie, Sherry's Cat.

It was great to see Robyn and meet her fiance. Sherry, Jason, Renee and baby Rozlynn left to go and get the cat and we waited at the condo. I was excited for Sherry as it will be nice for her to have a pet to greet her when she gets home from work and to love her, and this cat is a lover. I couldn't wait to see him too. As soon as I picked him up he was purring and he crawled right up into my neck and cuddled with me. Since we spent the night, Frank and I both were able to love on Ozzie. The Sphynx's body temperature stays at 100 degrees so they feel hot to the touch. They are called healing cats.

I remember seeing an article in a magazine several years ago that had a picture of a lady with two Sphynx cats wrapped around her neck. She had been in an accident or had some kind of illness where she suffered severe pain in her shoulders and neck. These cats with their body heat would make the pain go away. They are registered so that they can be taken in places of business like a dog that helps handicapped people. So now when we go to Sherry's condo, I will be able to play with Ozzie and get my cravings for a pet filled.

Dinner with Family

Tuesday we went to Vegas to have dinner with Frank's kids and grandson. We went to the Redrock Station for their buffet, and was disappointed in the quality of food. Guess we won't do that again.

In the picture left to right are Chip, Frank, grandson Tony, and his Mom Robin. It was great to see all of them and especially Tony as it has been a few years since we have seen him. It was hard to believe that he is 22 now and will graduate from college next Spring. He came to Vegas to see family on his Christmas break from college. We are proud of him and his accomplishments. We will be going to Idaho for his graduation in the Spring if health allows. We sat and visited and we really enjoyed being with family. We hope to do it more often.