April 30, 2010

Dear Children,

Another incredible trip is past and of course, I feel behind in writing about it and getting our photos organized. Mas vale tarde que nunca! Nevertheless, I wish to get my thoughts onto paper while they are still fresh. I usually get back from a trip and spin my wheels while I get back to speed but I have hit the Beaverton ground running since returning on Monday evening.

As you know, Grandma was hospitalized this past weekend while we were away. Thankfully she has a great ward who adores her and rallied around her. Friends went in and cleaned up after she was sick for an entire evening. A couple of sisters brought her some food and cleaned her refrigerator when she returned. One sister, Cathy (her new best friend!), even offered to sleep on the couch Sunday night, the first night that she came home from the hospital even though she has a newly adopted baby! She has three beautiful vases of flowers in her living room to brighten things up while she recuperates.

This was really a scare for Grandma and the rest of the family. She had a stroke in the cerebellar vermis area of the brain which controls speech, memory and vision but she has been very lucky to not feel too many side affects. She tires easily and still gets headaches when she is trying to remember something or concentrate on something. She also is very light sensitive so everything that could cause her headaches before is even more intensified.

We visited the doctor today and although they cannot really say exactly what caused the stroke, they think a small piece of plaque from some veins came loose and traveled to the brain until it got stuck in those skinny vessels and caused a blockage. It is very good that Grandma finally called 911 to get help from what she thought was a massive migraine all night. Her doctor has ordered lots of new tests to get to the bottom of the problem which we hope will all take place in the next couple of weeks since he would like her not to start driving until the tests are done.

Luckily, she may start exercising again since she still wants to work on getting her legs feeling better from the Spain trip. Her visiting teacher just signed up for the same gym so they will be able to go swimming together which is great news. She needs to be on a low cholesterol, low sodium diet so some of her favorite fast food treats and grocery store simple prepared meals will have to be spaced out. I told her that this will help her clean out her freezer and update her food storage. She feels fairly good so she will be getting stir crazy as she recuperates. Too bad all of you didn’t live closer as one of the internet articles she read said playing games was good therapy for this kind of stroke. And you know how she would love that! Maybe this will be a good reason for her to start a game night like she has wanted to before.

In between coming home from Spain and driving to Utah for Katie’s graduation and Aaron’s 30^th birthday celebrations, Heidi and Ainsley came to visit Scott for his birthday. It was so nice to be able to spend alone time with Ainsley while Heidi visited Scott on Sunday and Monday. She is such a doll baby with a delightful personality and easy temperament and those big eyes just capture your heart! It is too bad we were so busy playing with her that we forgot to take any pictures!

Ainsley loves the outdoors. One of the days that she was here I took her for a walk to the grocery store. She loved it so much that I kept her out longer as I spent some time outside weeding the front planter boxes and cutting tulips for a friend, Karen Powell, whose 91 year old mother passed away. Actually, I visit teach Karen but she has become a friend after visiting her for several years. Isn’t that wonderful about our church assignments? I would have never gotten to know Karen and her husband since they are never at church. Heidi was also away for part of Sunday so Dad and I got to take a baby to church. Dad busied her completely with the pictures in the miniature Children’s Songbook. She was enthralled looking at those pictures; can you believe that? She is just a doll! It was a very good sacrament meeting and one of my favorite quotes from one of the speakers was an Abraham Lincoln quote, “Most people are just as happy as they deice to be.” or something like that.

The day after Heidi and Ainsley left, Dad and I drove to Utah. Grandma was planning on coming but after a scare with her doctor wanting her to get an immediate CAT scan on her legs late Monday evening, she decided it was best to rest up from the affects of the Spain trip rather than make that big trip.

Most of the family gathered in Utah for the graduation ceremonies. We missed Nate and Scott’s family (Wendi left the morning after we got there so we only saw her for a short visit and to get some of her things to store at Grandma Bitter’s home over the summer). TJ and Kelly had just had their baby boy, Skyler, so we all landed at Aunt Julie’s home, which was perfect for our crowd. It was so nice of them to let us stay there. They were in Belize so the home was empty. I remember the days before leaving for Spain and having to leave tour home ready for a couple of families to stay in while we were gone; it makes more work. So, we are very grateful to Uncle Randy and Aunt Julie to be willing to do that on short notice.

Both graduation exercises were very good. I remember sitting in the big one in the Marriott Center on Thursday reflecting on Katie’s college years. Katie has always done things in a big way. I remember the day she opened her BYU acceptance letter and the first thing she screamed was, “I am going to Disney World!” We had a family reunion planned by Aunt Carolyn and if Katie had to go to summer session to get into BYU, she would have missed the trip. Since her acceptance was for the fall, she realized Disney World was a go! And “go” has been her mantra all throughout her years culminating with the amazing acceptance for her dream internship with the KSDK TV Station in St. Louis, one of her favorite cities during part of baseball season right next to Busch Stadium home of “her team” the Cardinals! Katie enjoys life in a big way.

2010 Outline for Sharing Time

After the Friday graduation ceremony, Dad and I traveled up to Daybreak to visit Rebekah’s Kindergarten class. She has a wonderful school with lots of fun and interactive areas in her own classroom. After she finished giving us a tour of her classroom, she rushed over to another part of the school and bravely auditioned in front of three teachers for a part in the school talent show. She had cute actions to a snowman medley.

The nieces and nephews all had a treat visiting the barn where Adrianne’s volunteers. She trains Fox Trotters to prepare them to be ridden by children with handicaps, mostly RAD syndrome and autism. Unlike all the years at Cheveaux Training Stables where novice riders rarely came close to even sitting on one of the horses, the owner surprisingly allowed each of the older grandchildren to have a turn riding one of the horses! They were so excited and so were we. They were having the time of their lives just feeding the horses earlier before we went into the barn.

Snow was predicted on our way into Utah so we experienced an unusual mix of weather there. On Saturday we had the wonderful chance to sit at a BYU baseball game in the warm sun just as if we had been enjoying beautiful spring weather the entire trip! Some of the family even got a sun burn there was so much sun that day. Shawn and Aubrey’s boys were treated to a personal visit from Cosmo!

There was lots of celebrating and fun and games over the weekend. It was just so wonderful to be able to gather so much of the family. On Sunday we attended Adrianne’s church, which was an excellent meeting, after Dad and I went with Grandma Bitter to her sacrament meeting. Afterwards we relaxed at Grandma’s and had a feast for Aaron’s birthday. I cannot believe he is 30 already! We were able to get in some good visiting time and back yard play time. The grandchildren are all so lucky that they have such fun and attentive uncles and aunts. We were also able to meet Adrianne’s boyfriend, Blake, over the weekend. He was a sport and went along to most all of the family events and played right along with us.

Most all of the travelers went home on Monday. Aaron and Morty flew home early that morning. We took them to the airport and then drove home from there. Shawn left the evening before to get an early start on his drive. He was driving alone since Aubrey and the boys were staying for her sister’s graduation the next weekend. Katie drove to the Bay Area with four of her friends to meet up with another friend and fly to Hawaii for the week. They stayed overnight at Aunt Denise’s home in Antioch and had a blast there. Aunt Denise had bought them all Antioch, California T-Shirt and they got a big kick out of that! Adrianne will stay in Utah for spring semester and hopefully be home for summer and get a short term job before going back to school.

Since we have been home, dad has had lots of work to catch up on and I have been trying to help Grandma Maldonado and also get things ready for the garden planting. It is that time of year . . hooray! Today is Katie’s birthday. . . woohoo! HAPPY BIRTHDAY KATIE!!!!

I love you! Love, Mom