Sad Day Today

We are getting ready to go in to Vegas for my grand daughter's father in law's funeral.  I really don't like to go to funerals, but then who does.   Funerals always remind me of my first husbands death and how hard that was to go through. We felt we needed to support Jason and Renee at this sad time in their lives.  So sad, he was only 52 years old.

On another note I forgot to post some pictures of a project that Frank and I did a few weeks ago. 

I had been wanting to paint some accent walls for quite some time now and we finally did it.  Frank did most of the painting.  I painted below our bar around the edges and Frank painted the rest.  This is an arch in our kitchen and bar wall.

Frank also painted the arch that leads to our entry way out of our living area.  It really did make a huge difference and warmed the room up.  It was quite a chore as the first paint was entirely the wrong color and had way too much purple in it.  Paint sure is tricky and we have had our share of problems with the wrong colors.  I think I am color blind.  So this turned out to be a bigger project than planned.  An unplanned trip to Vegas to Home Depot to pick out another color.  Finally we ended up with what we wanted in the first place, but Frank had to paint everything twice.  He was suffering for several days afterwards. Actually, after I painted the trim, etc. I was hurting too.  Old age really does suck!!  He really can't do much without it hurting his back.  Now we have to get ready to decorate our home for the holidays. The outside is the big job that only Frank can do.  I'm not much help in that department. I can't believe that it is that time of year again.  Sometimes I just want to bag the holidays and escape someplace. LOL

More Catching up

When I saw this cute little boy and girl garden decorations at the Pomegranate Festival, I just had to have them.  Frank is going to move them to a different spot as the little dog and cat that goes with them doesn't show up very well.  I added this picture to this blog as I didn't get it on the last one.  How many of us have seen little boys doing this very thing.  Peeing outside.  I saw a neighbor's boy doing just that a few months ago, and I had a good laugh. 

When we were living in a small house with only one bathroom and I had three girls, and two boys all getting ready for school at the same time.  The boys would get impatient waiting for the girls to get out of the bathroom, and would go out on the back porch and you guessed it.  Pee off the edge of the porch.  Of course I didn't know about it, but I can't blame them as there is nothing worse than having to hold it in.

BAD NEWS:  Well on November 11, my granddaughter's father in law passed away.  He had stomach cancer, and I am not sure exactly when he was diagnosed with it, but it has only been a few months.  He quit his Chemo and they had hospice come in to the home to take care of him.  He was only 52 years old, and in my opinion was way too young to die, but God doesn't take just old people.  I know Jason and Renee will miss him as they spent a lot of time with him.  Jason and his Dad played guitars together, watched football games, and family dinners were shared too.  When we had Thanksgiving last year with Jason & Renee, Rick was there along with his family, and never would I have imagined that I would be going to his funeral almost a year later.  My heart and prayers are with the family.

MORE NEWS:  I called and talked to my cousin Penny a few days ago, as I hadn't heard anything about BJ who I thought had been diagnosed with cancer also.  He is the 22 year old cousin I blogged about a while back.  Penny told me the doctors diagnosed him with Mono, however Penny still isn't quite comfortable with that diagnoses.  I think he should still be checked out by an oncologist as he was referred to one.  I guess time will tell, and I hope and pray that Mono is what he does have. 

Today was our Primary Children's program at church.  It was so cute watching the kids sing, and say their parts.  It brought back a lot of memories of when I was in the Primary and was President for quite a few years, so I was in charge of these programs, and today it made me appreciate those primary workers who had to work with the kids to put on this program, as I know how much work goes into them.

As I was sitting there I was watching a mother sitting in front of me scratching her son's back.  It brought back memories of my son Garen, the estranged one, when he was small.  He would lay over in my lap and ask me to tickle his back, and arms.  It brought tears to my eyes.  Never then would I have guessed that he would not be in my life in the future.  Sad times.  I saw a picture of Garen's son Zach in our little paper and it was like looking at Garen.  I couldn't believe how much he has changed in his looks.  I never used to think he looked like his Dad.  I saw a picture of Mackenzey that Sierra took at a Homecoming parade and I didn't even recognize her.  I could pass my grand kids on the street and not even know them.  How sad is that!!!!

Catching up Again

It's been quite some time since I have blogged so I am way behind.  So here I go trying to catch up.  First of all I want to post some pictures of Rozlynn.  We went for our monthly hair cuts last month and I took these pictures.

I captured Rozlynn doing the Patty Cake thing.  I almost forgot how it went, it has been so long since we have had a baby in the family. 

As we were waiting at the beauty shop for Renee I was looking over the wall on the second floor where Renee's shop is and I saw her taking Rozlynn out of the car and putting her into her stroller.  I could see this cute bow in her dark hair.  She looked like a baby doll.  In this picture she is chewing on her new teeth.  She is getting some more new ones.

In this picture you can see her new teeth two on the top and two on the bottom.  Grandpa got her to laugh.  I was having a lot of fun with her on the floor.  She is such a cutie.  Rozlynn turned 1 year on the 18th of Nov.

Later in the day we met at the Clark County Fairgrounds to check out the Pomegranate Festival.  Grandma Sherry had a lot of fun buying more hair bows for Rozlynn, a wooden puzzle in Rozlynn's name, and some other stuff.  We had some corn dogs that were too salty, should have gone for the Burritos.  So Rozlynn was thirsty and Grandma Sherry gave her some lemonade through a straw.   

Frank & I bought the cutest garden decorations, and I bought what I thought was Pomegranate Jelly, but ended up with syrup.  Oh well, it is good on pancakes.  I will have to see if my friend Kathy has any Jelly left over from the sale.  It was fun to stroll through and see all the exhibits and art work.  I have to limit myself as to what I buy as there are so many wonderful things for sale.  They had entertainment too, but we didn't stay to watch any of it as Frank was hurting from walking.  So we headed home.

Bad News

We have been anxiously waitng for the CT-Scan results that was done on BJ, grandson of my Cousin Penny, and he is Lisa's son.  He had swollen lymphmodes in his stomach.  Here is what his Mom posted on facebook today.

"Bj is being referred to an oncologist for more testing, nothing to stress out about quite yet but still are concerned, he has enlarged lymph nodes, enlarged spleen, and other symptoms to not completely rule out lymphoma, but in early enough stage that we wait have more scans and if gets worse then he will go through a bone marrow test, so still no real answers yet, we pray, don't stress and be patient!"


BJ is only 22, and just recently got engaged.  He served a two year mission and his life is just beginning.  It literally makes me sick to my stomach that this has happened to him.  His Mom is going to have a baby girl soon, and has had her trials with the pregnancy.  Now this has hit the family like a bomb shell.  There have been so many prayers in BJ's behalf and still many more going on.  So we all have to keep the faith going, and hope and pray that the cancer has been caught in it's early stages, and can be cured.  I know he will have to go through some tough times with treatments.  I still can't believe all the cancer in our family and friends.  Something is going on with the environment, eating habits, etc.  Way too many people being diagnosed with cancer these days.

Catching Up

Not too much has been going on since we went to Utah for my family reunion.  We went to St. George last Friday and Saturday.  I went to a healer to see if he could help me.  When he put his hands over my stomach area I definitely felt something going on.  It felt like a rumbling was starting, and then it felt like something was running through that area, like water running in a creek.  It didn't start out very well, as there had been a lack of communication's between his wife and him as there had been a cancellation and she called me to see if I wanted to take it.  So as we were waiting for what we thought was too long of a time, the healer came out and it appeared that he was going home.  He spotted us and asked if we were there to see him.  So any way, to cut a long story short, he took us back to his room and he didn't explain anything, and just asked me what my health problems were and then proceeded to put his hands in the area of problems.  I doubt I will be going back. 

I did this out of desperation as I don't seem to get any answerer's from my doctors.  Except diet, and exercise. Diabetes takes all the life out of me, and fatigue is my constant companion, and just not feeling well in general.  Frank wasn't impressed at all, I could read his mind.  He was thinking "Quack".  I don't think so, but felt he should have taken some time to explain things to me.  So yes, I was disappointed in the whole thing.  Several people from our valley have gone to him and he has really helped them.

I have been faithfully walking on my "dreadmill" and have a stack of old VHS movie tapes that I have watched while walking.  I am wearing pants that I couldn't wear a while back, but I don't think I have lost any weight, I guess inches are a good thing.  I really need to watch my diet better and eat more healthy by adding more vegetables. I think my carbs are getting out of hand. It is soooo hard is all I can say.  If I had one wish, I would wish for a special dietitian to cook all my meals for me, snacks included.

Last Saturday we drove back over to St. George and went to our hotel and kicked back a while until it was time for me to go to my cousins baby shower.  Lisa is 43 years old and is having a third baby.  Her other children are all raised and in their 20's.  She has had a tough time with this pregnancy as she has had several health problems, one of the latest is gestational diabetes.  She will be having the baby early, and more than likely within the next few weeks.  I will be glad when it is over for her and her beautiful baby girl Cienna arrives. 

The baby shower was really nice and a lite dinner of soup and salad, and rolls were served.  It was a lot of work for Grandma Penny mother of Lisa, and she said that would be the last party she does.  She was worn out.  Her sister, Lorri helped and never stopped the whole time we were there.  I helped clean up a little as I was feeling sorry for them. Lisa got a lot of nice things for the baby. I was so exhausted that I didn't even feel like taking pictures and there was a beautiful cake I would have liked to have a picture of.  I am just learning how to use my new camera, and that didn't help matters.

Yesterday as I was cleaning and dusting, my attention was drawn to a picture of Merritt my grandson, and I thought to myself, "I haven't seen him nor heard from him in quite a long time, maybe I won't hear from him anymore."  So what happens last night as we were just finishing up dinner, I received a phone call from him, and it made my day.  We chit chatted about how things were going in his life as far as work, school, etc.  He finally got a car, and I was so glad as he was riding the bus back and forth to work, and now college is added to his agenda.  A while back the bus he was riding was shot at, and that made me know how unsafe Vegas is and unsafe the bus ride and waiting for the bus could be.  So a car for him is a good thing and makes me feel a whole lot better.  I am really proud of him for working hard, and getting into college, where his goal is to become a doctor.  So keep up the good work Merritt.  I love you bunches!!!!

Family Reunion - Tife Ranch



Tife Ranch Lodge



Allen- Slide Show

 We left for Utah last Friday October 8th for a family reunion in Morgan, Utah at the Tife Ranch.  My brother Allen had been telling me about the Ranch for quite some time.  Robert and his wife Ange are the owners of the ranch.  Robert and Allen served in the Great Lakes Mission back in the 70's.    Robert was the owner of  the Robert's Craft stores in Utah, until  he sold out the franchise a while back. The top picture is Robert and Ange's home, and they call it the lodge. If I am remembering right it is 15,000 sq. feet.  We stayed on the bottom floor of the home, and it was a full sized apartment and used by the owners as a family room.  We couldn't believe how beautiful it was.  It had a small kitchen, two big bedrooms, a full sized bathroom with granite counter tops and a family room with a huge TV in it.  Allen and his wife stayed in a bedroom upstairs next to Robert and Ange's bedroom.  It was hard for me to believe that they would share there home with complete strangers.  All we had to do was donate money to stay there.  The donations go to the different charities that Robert and Ange support. They do a lot of good things with their charities.

The ranch has a large pavilion and that is where we had the reunion.  Again we were amazed at how it was furnished.  Granite counter tops, an over sized stove, warming oven, huge gas grill, two stainless steel dishwashers, and two kitchen sinks, and a huge stainless steel refrigerator.  On the outside of the pavilion was two full sized bathrooms all tiled, granite tops, and a nice shower.  The bathrooms were off from a utility room with a big front load washer and dryer.  You would have to see it to believe all the deluxe furnishing. 

There were three cabins, if that is what you want to call them.  They were fully furnished to the max.  Just no running water.  There was another small pavilion that had bathrooms for the people staying in the cabins, and of course fully furnished. 

Allen gave a really neat slide show of the family genealogy and I learned things that I didn't know about our family.  It seemed like all we did was eat as Joyce and Allen did a pulled pork dinner Friday night for those of us that were there to spend the night.  Then Saturday morning they did breakfast of pancakes, eggs, omelets, bacon, sausage, and orange juice.  It was delicious.  Then for lunch Allen grilled hamburgers and hot dogs, and there was a potato salad that I had brought.  There was all the trimmings for the hamburgers along with a big green salad, and a fruit bowl.  No one left hungry.


Bret & Sierra

  I was disappointed that Laura and Sherry couldn't make it.  As usual things came up for several people and they couldn't make it.  Allen planned the reunion around a cousins schedule, and he ended up not being able to come with his family.  Then Joyce's brother and his family left early Saturday as they were given football tickets for the BYU game that day.  So the reunion ended up being small.  Bret and Sierra left right after we had lunch, as they had a long trip to make back to Overton.

It seemed like every time I looked in the kitchen, Joyce was working her hinny off.  I did help her clean up after breakfast.  I told her that I didn't ever want to see her work that hard at a reunion again, and that if we ever had another one, we should change it so no one had to work so hard.  She said that she had told Allen no more reunions, and  Allen agreed.  I don't blame them at all.  She is on Chemo treatments for lung cancer, and even though she was in between treatments, I feel that it was way too much work for her, and Allen too.  So I doubt there will be any more reunions, maybe just a family get together.

Uncle Don and his son Roger

Old Picture of Grandpa and Grandma Luker



Uncle Don & Frank



Sherry, her husband & Frank

 I was taking pictues and my sunglasses were in the way and as I was trying to put them on my head, I dropped my camera and it hit the hard cemet floor.  So I didn't get to take as many pictues as I wanted.  My camera was broken and had to be thrown away, but the memory card was okay.  I now have a new camera as I ordered one from Costco and it is similar to the one I had so I won't have to take a lot of time learning how to use it.  It does have some new features that I will have to learn how to use, like tagging pictues, and downloading right to my blog or to my facebook. 

It was nice to see my cousin Sherry and her husband. She had brought a family picture that was of her family with our grandpa and grandma Luker.  It was a much younger grandpa and grandma. Frank took a pictue of it with my camera. 
My Uncle Don came with his son Roger. Uncle Don is 88 years old and is senile.  I loved seeing him, and one time he broke out in a song we sing in our church.  "Give me some stout hearted men"  His last name is Stout.  He said his father used to sing that all the time. We got a kick out of it, and had a good laugh.

Joyce Luker in the kitchen

After we helped clean up the pavilion, we headed back to Salt Lake.  We drove over a beautiful mountain called East Canyon and enjoyed the scenery and fall leaves.  After we checked into our hotel room, we crashed for a while and then headed over to Allen and Joyce's home to take some things back to them that they didn't have room for in their car.  We visited for a while, and then headed back to our hotel for the night.  We left the next morning after having breakfast at The Cracker Barrel and had a nice trip home.

Ryan and Mellisa Luker

Good News Update

I have been sitting on pins and needles waiting for my follow up doctor's appointment after my CT-scan.  My appointment with Dr. Zinni was for 9 AM this morning in Mesquite so no sleeping in this morning.  I have been praying that I wouldn't have to have surgery so as I waited in the exam room for Dr. Zinni I prayed  again.  When doctor Zinni came in the first thing he said was that I didn't have a hernia much to his surprise and to mine as I had two doctors tell me I did have one.  He told me that it didn't show up on the scan, and that my pancreas, intestines, etc. looked good.  He told me he didn't know what the bulge was, and he would not do anything about it.  I was told to get back with him if it got bigger, or started to bother me.  I gave him a thumbs up and thanked him for the good news.  I got the results of my mammogram today in the mail and it was good too.  So I am a happy camper with all the good news, and now I think I am through with doctors until my next Diabetic check. All I can say is Yea!!!!!

I went to see Dr. Bret for a treatment this afternoon, as I have been hurting a lot the past two days.  I told him the results of the CT-scan, and he told me that maybe this all had something to do with my tummy tuck that I had several years ago and that maybe the muscle that was repaired had fallen apart with my weight gain.  So I am thinking that if I do have problems with it, I will go back to a plastic surgeon and get his opinion.  Also about six years ago I had a cyst on my stomach and the dermatologist I was going to removed it and some of the fluid blew out into the area of the cyst and Dr. Zinni has a theory that this infection caused a weakness in that area and helped cause the problem.  Oh well, I am just happy that I don't have to have surgery.

Tonight we took the missionaries out to dinner at the Scoop.  I told them that they could order anything they wanted and their faces lite up.  They ordered steak dinners. I had the grilled pork chop and it was really good.  It is so refreshing to visit with the missionaries as they have such a special spirit about them.  One of them quoted a scripture and now I wish I would have written it down as it really applied to what the world is going through now.  One missionary was from Chicago, and the other from Wisconsin.  We talked and ate dinner for over an hour and then they left to go visit a family.  All in all it was an enjoyable evening.