Grandma Huntsman

My sweet grandmother Huntsman died today, April 14, 2011. This is also Landon's birthday.
When we were down for my mother's birthday party last month, grandma seemed like she was gaining strength and doing well. She would take her walker and just plow through the toys. We would laugh and tell the kids to watch out for grandma. Last Friday, she still seemed fine when Cam and Julie's family was there. Julie told me that grandma held Brycen and even held his arms while he stood on her lap.
Sunday afternoon grandma took a turn for the worse. Grandma was nearing 92 and we knew it wouldn't be long. She went into her room Sunday afternoon and never came back out again.
We went down to check out SUU for Landon and I worried that she would pass away while I was gone and I didn't really want them coming to take her to the funeral home with my little kids there while I was away. I prayed every night that Heavenly Father would take her quickly because she was suffering so badly.
When I got to my parents home on Tuesday night, she didn't look very good, her bones in her back were getting stress fractures while my mom was trying to lift her to go to the bathroom and she was in tremendous pain. They were just in the process of getting Hospice care authorized and it took a long time. Wednesday night, we were finally able to get morphine for her and that seemed to help her a lot. She was able to get out of pain and she fell to sleep.
On Thursday, we got up and cleaned up the house and when I was ready to leave, I took my kids into her room to tell her good bye. I noticed that she looked very yellow and I knew it wouldn't be long. Katelyn gave her a kiss and a hug and told her that she loved her. I bent down and gave her a hug and told her that we were leaving but that we loved her very much and that if she needed to go that she should go. My mom and dad walked out of the room. It wasn't two minutes later and I told Landon to go get my mom and dad because I thought she had passed. My mom came in and checked her pulse and verified that she was no longer with us. It was a really tender time.
We will miss her greatly, she was a great example of a hard worker and she loved her family and her Father in Heaven. We know she is in a much better place and she is freed from her earthly pain. We love her and we will miss her until we are together again.
Here are the pretty flowers that my siblings bought for the funeral.

 

 

 

Happy Birthday Landon!!

While we were down in Southern Utah, we celebrated Landon's 17th birthday. His cute little cousin Presley turned one on the same day! These pictures are really bad, but you can get the idea. Alexa made Landon this ice cream cake. We put 17 candles on one end and 1 on the other end. Presley didn't care too much, but we just sang Happy Birthday and enjoyed one anothers company.
Landon is such a loving kid. He has been so much fun to raise. He will be going into his senior year this fall and then he will be heading off to a year of college before his mission. We are so proud of him and we all love him very much. HAPPY BIRTHDAY LANDON!

 

 

 

 

Cutest tea party

Holden was having a tea party and he had a few people join him. One of those that joined him was my dad. Holden made them have a prayer before they started and then they enjoyed cheerios and "tea". What a fun memory.

 

 

Easter 2011

Well, it isn't the Easter bunny, but it is the Easter squirrel. I took Landon, Alexa, Hayden and Katie down to Toquerville over Spring break. Landon wanted to check out SUU because they have a good pre-physical therapy program down there. While we were there, Ryan's kids came up and we had an Easter egg hunt. There was a squirrel on the front lawn collecting the remnants of nuts left on the lawn. The kids had a good time and they got a lot of candy.

 

 

 

Snails

Once again, the kids had a fun time collecting snails. My cousin Shelley had come up to see great grandma Huntsman and when she saw this container full of snails, she thought that was funny. She wanted us to list it on e-bay and she was sure it would sell--I guess some people buy some really crazy things. In the end, Katie ended up pouring salt on them and melting them--which is another favorite (and gross) past-time.

 

 

Katie's class play and Jump club

Katie and Hayden did jump club again this year. Hayden happened to be sick on the day of the spectacular, but they both had a good time jumping again.
Katie also had her first grade play. They did a fairy tale theme and Katie was a duckling. She had a small speaking part and she did spectacular.

 

 

 

 

Grandma's 60th birthday

This post is long over-due. I never seem to have time. My mom turned 60 on March 22, 2011. On March 19, we got together to bless Cameron and Julie's sweet new baby Brycen and we had a party for my mom. Angie lives in Michigan now, so mom was sure that she wouldn't be there. Paul lives in Idaho Falls and she was sure that he wouldn't be able to come either. Little did she know, we had a surprise in store for her. Angie was able to fly out and Paul picked her up from the airport on his way down. They stayed at my house on Friday night (while we were in Toquerville) and they had to deal with a punctured tire and a dead battery, but they made it. On Saturday morning just before we went over to the church, everyone showed up and it was a wonderful surprise.
Whitney made some darling cupcakes for my mom (along with help from us). Everyone pitched in and I made this nice "blessings" quilt for my mom. I listed the couples together and each of her 25 grandchildren on individual blocks. Some of her blessings are stitched along the outside edge. It turned out so nice and she really appreciated it.