A glimpse of our Life: Life's happenings

This was our last time at Lagoon this season. We enjoyed Frightmares and the very long lines! Not true about the long lines. We were spoiled during the summer when we could go on a weekday and avoid huge crowds. I think we made it about a dozen times. It made the season passes worth it.

On the morning of October 14 Wayne received a phone call from his brother, Alan. He and his brothers are close and fiercely loyal, but don't call often. When he picked up the phone Alan told him that his Dad had passed away in his sleep. Wayne called me around 8:45 am and said that his Dad passed away. He rushed home to pick me up so that we could ride together to his parents house. I'm so very grateful to be living close to family. When we arrived most of the siblings were there. My heart broken mother in law rushed to give Wayne and then me a hug. She said that Graeme's doctor said that Wayne could do the final check, declare the death and sign the death certificate. I think that was hard for him. After checking his Dad we said our goodbyes and waited downstairs for the rest of the family to come and then called the funeral home to come and pick him up. It was bittersweet for all of us. He had been on dialysis for a year and was also a Type 1 Diabetic with many other health problems that come from that disease. He had known it was coming. He put things in place months before. I've never seen such a fighter when it comes to health problems. We were happy that he was free of pain and the struggles that come with living with so many health problems. His mom and dad went to dinner and a movie the night before. He had fallen at home late into the night. The paramedics came, checked him and said that he just needed sleep. He fell asleep and didn't wake up. It was exactly as he wanted it. His face showed no struggle. We were all grateful for that. Toward the end of our time at the house their Bishop came by and asked if Barbara (my mother in law) needed a blessing. Wow. None of us had thought to ask and she probably never would have asked. She gladly agreed. It was touching to watch her boys surround her, place their hands on her head and give a blessing of strength and comfort. My favorite part was that he was being welcomed by all of those who had gone before him and those he had helped in his lifetime. He was a huge genealogist. He found around 10,000 family names, doing their temple work and tracing his history back to Adam in some lines. Knowing that those people were surrounding him and thanking him brought tears to my eyes and made me want to help find those in my family who need work done. I'm grateful that he welcomed me with warm arms anytime I saw him. He was never hesitant to say that we if needed anything to ask. I will always remember how he made me ham hock soup when I was pregnant with Alexis because it was one of the only things I could stomach and eat. Right after we moved to Utah he called the day after the kids started school. I told him that Jacob had a hard first day. He wanted to make everything better. He said, "Let's go to Leatherby's on Saturday." That's Jacob's favorite ice cream place. I'm so grateful Jacob, Trevor and Alexis were able to know him.

Wayne and I had so much fun with Andrew and Kara at the BYU football game on October 14th. It had been a very hard and emotional day finding out that morning that Graeme had passed away. We were grateful for something fun and honestly, something he was so passionate about. He would have wanted us to go to the game. Brett and Marianne (Wayne's brother) had extra tickets to the BYU tent. I wasn't expecting anything fancy. Boy was I wrong. I couldn't believe the spread of food and fun atmosphere in that tent! It was a great night and a great win for the Cougars!

Tuesday, October 18th, was the funeral. Wayne's aunt flew from New Zealand, which is where Wayne's dad is from. Many of his cousins who he hasn't seen in years came. It was a beautiful tribute and a very emotional day for all of us. Wayne and his brothers were the casket bearers. This is the only picture I was able to take at the funeral.

Oh my goodness, I am so excited for our first year of skiing/snowboarding as a family at SNOWBASIN!!!! Don't tell the kids, but we're all going to take ski lessons and have season passes for the winter! It's a Christmas present. We are stoked!

On October 23rd Alexis turned nine years old! She is so full of spunk. We are so lucky to have her in our family.

Jacob has become quite the rock climber. He's completed two rock climbing meets this year. We're all learning this sport. He is so strong. I literally cannot get out of his grip. He walks around the house doing fingertip pull ups everywhere he can. He's the team lead for his rec group. This picture is from class before Halloween.

We celebrated Alexis's birthday with Grandma Ormsby at The Garden restaurant at the top of the Joseph Smith building. The view is spectacular.

Alexis loved her gift card to Build A Bear for her 9th birthday.

Jacob wrestling with Uncle Eric and Ryan at Grandma and Grandpa Rytting's Halloween party.

We took the family to see Middle School. It was fun and silly and totally appropriate for this middle schooler of mine.

Showing off their Jack-o-latern's from G and G's Halloween Party!

Canoodling with a Death Eater for our Harry Potter party.

The 90 minute Slasher workout was a killer at Orange Theory Fitness. Wayne and I are in love with this workout and working out together.

Our sweet Trevor turned 11 on September 2nd! It's hard to believe he was born in Virginia and has seen and experienced so much in his 11 years.

Oh yeah. It's that time of year again. Following Wayne's heart attack I decided to can low salt salsa and low salt marinara. We've been eating it up. I don't know why tomatoes taste so incredibly different in the store. These ones from a farm in Perry, Utah are amazing!

I died my hair red to celebrate game day!!! Go Utes!

Fall is here!!! This is literally five miles down the road. It's called Mueller Park Canyon. There is hiking, running, and biking trails. It is quite the trek, but gorgeous.

Wayne had a conference in Park City and I was able to join in the fun. We stayed at the Hyatt in the Canyons. It was fun, but I woke up with the WORST twinge in my neck. It literally took six weeks to get better.

Canning, canning and more canning. This is grape juice! It was gone so fast. We made loads of Lime Rickey's. - (sprite, grape juice, and lime juice). My amazing neighbor has loads of grapes and shared the wealth.

One of the partners in Wayne's group has an annual party at his home. There was a taco cart, swimming, photo booth, more food and fun. While the kids were swimming we snuck into the photo booth for pictures.

A boring day at home is sometimes the absolute BEST! I love this man so much.

First day of school for these three. I cannot tell you how happy I am that they get to stay in the same home and school for the rest of their growing up years.