Our Life Lessons: August 2017

Monday, August 28, 2017

Life Is Precious!

Sweetheart writes:

It's been a long time since I've written. The move to Colorado has brought with it a lot of unexpected challenges. It has also brought with it some wonderful opportunities.

Saturday afternoon I was spraying the weeds in my front yard. My neighbor came out of her house in a panic. She called out to me, saying that she needed help and couldn't get her husband to wake up.

I dropped the sprayer and ran across the street. I went in to the room where her husband was on the bed. The pillow was soaked in sweat. He was breathing slowly, erratically. I checked for a pulse and found something. I tried to wake the man. I wasn't sure what to do, so I called Wendy. She said to call the paramedics, which we did.

The 911 operator asked me to listen for how often the man took a breath. I relayed the information and the operator told me to get the man on the floor. After doing so, the operator told me to begin chest compressions. As I placed my hands on the man's chest, I realized that this was a very serious situation. I did about 30 chest compressions before the paramedics arrived.

In a matter of minutes there were fire fighters, paramedics, and police officers all working on the man. The man's dog started to freak out, and the dog bit me as I tried to pick him up. I could see on the paramedic's diagnostic equipment a flat line. It was all kind of surreal.

While I was across the street, Wendy shared with that the wife was asked for the legal paperwork for Power of Attorney. The wife had a prepared notebook with all of their legal paperwork easily accessible. Wendy made a copy for the paramedics and returned the original to the notebook. This made all the difference in the situation. Wendy was very impressed by their preparation. We talked about making a similar book.

Wendy came over and sent me across the street to get the boys. She started talking with the wife. I got the boys ready to go for a little ride. I offered to drive the wife to the hospital in her car so that she'd have a way to get home. Wendy followed us there with they boys. When we got to the emergency room, the nurses sent us to a little room with a couple couches and a TV. The room had a keypad so that only doctors and nurses could open the door.

After a while the ER doctor came in and started telling the wife that the man may have had a heart attack but they didn't know exactly what had happened. (Later I learned from Wendy that the paramedics had asked the wife if he had a Do Not Resuscitate order. The fireman said that the man's heart had stopped.)

All my life I've seen shows and movies where someone is in trouble and a person starts beating on their chest. I never thought I would be the person doing that. I was glad that I had taken CPR training but I realize now that I was totally unprepared to handle the situation.

Take a moment to love the people you care about.

After all the excitement, we decided to do some grocery shopping. (Everybody's gotta eat.) The boys were crazy in the grocery store. I asked Underfoot what was going on. He said he was afraid that our neighbor might die. It is a very real possibility. Underfoot is a very tender child. He feels in a way that I can relate too. I remember the confusion I experienced as a child because of the social norm which told me that boys were not allowed to feel. I remember not understanding why I was not allowed to acknowledge feeling.

Two weeks ago a friend from Tucson texted me to get information about the Mormon cemetery in Tucson. I knew when we left Tucson that his mom was in bad shape. I called him back and we had a chance to catch up. As we talked, my friend related that his mom wanted to be buried in the Mormon cemetery.

So tonight after everything with the neighbor I decided to call my friend who's mom was in bad shape to find out about her condition. She passed away on Tuesday. It was interesting to hear my friend talk about how on one hand he wanted to be angry that she was gone, but on the other hand he was glad that she was no longer suffering. I wish I could go and spend some time with my friend, just to be with him as he goes through the grieving process. I know that the day will come when I will be the one to mourn the loss of my parents.

Life is precious. Don't let inconsequential things take precedence of the people you love.

Love you.

Tuesday, August 8, 2017

Test Drive - Week 50

Hurricane has been asking for a dog for almost 18 months. We have resisted because of many, many reasons. A family in our ward went on vacation and asked if we would watch their dog, Jackson. Jackson is a labradoodle.

The breed is considered a hypoallergenic. Jackson's personality is very mild, and he was extremely well trained. His feet never left the floor to touch furniture, people, or beds. The boys absolutely loved having Jackson around.

Sweetheart even enjoyed having the dog. They were sad to have Jackson go home but were grateful for the payment the family gave them for watching Jackson.

We have been redoing the beds in the boys' room. The beds have been sanded and are ready to be painted. We have also looked for new mattresses for them. After a search at IKEA, Mattress Firm, and Costco, we decided on the mattress from Costco.

In my effort to go and get the mattress, I hooked up our trailer. I thought that the hitch had locked onto the ball. We hit a bump and the trailer bounced off hitting the back of the car.

The bumper isn't awful, but I sure felt awful to have broken the bumper. We got the beds and placed them in the boys' room.

School registration was this week. The boys were asked to stay home. It was to turn in all the paperwork, pay fees, and get the teacher assignments for this next year. The school also hold a clothing sale since the students are required to wear a uniform. I walked away with 15 pairs of pants, 5 pairs of shorts, a school hoodie, and a bunch of shirts. We priced it out and saved a couple hundred dollars in clothing. I'm grateful the boys will wear second-hand. The boys started soccer this week. During soccer practice, Underfoot met his new teacher for next year. Her son will be playing on Underfoot's soccer team and be in his grade at school.

Underfoot finished up a requirement for Cub Scouts. He carved an arrow. His leaders thought it was a fish.

The boys have asked to go camping. For our family birthday, we decided to go to Buffalo Campground. The boys built a bridge out of logs from the forest, went on a hike with Sweetheart, played with other children at the campground, and tended the fire.

Hurricane was obsessed with the fire. He didn't want it to go out and asked repeatedly to add wood. We had an awesome fire while we were there.

Underfoot read "The Wizard of Oz," and I read part of a book as well called "How Can I Forgive You?" by Janis Abrahms Spring.

We came home and cleaned up and made a birthday cake. It was another request from our boys.

We invited people to come eat it with us. The surprising part was that Sweetheart liked the chocolate caramel frosting. He's not a big frosting fan, and he really liked this frosting.

Be Well.

*****

An Annual Picture - just to see how old we are getting.

The View from Our Campsite

The Walking Stick - He tried to sneak it home with him.

The Bazooka - It was more of a weapon. It stayed in the forest too.

The Kind Underfoot

Wednesday, August 2, 2017

Music Camp - Week 49

Hurricane wanted to attend music camp this summer. He attended this week. Since he will be attending a new school, he wanted to make sure that he wanted to take orchestra at a different school this summer. The other reason was that he was trying to decide if he wanted to take private lessons or be in orchestra. He said that he had fun and wanted to continue with orchestra.

Pioneer Day was a normal day except for the evening. We were asked by Sister Miller in our ward to have our boys sing a pioneer song, lead the group in a song, and to share a pioneer story. There were pioneer games and a meal.

On Tuesday, we hosted a book group. We put out a request for books to read and checked them all from the library. We showed the books to our friends but read the book "Naked" by Michael Ian Black.

Hurricane asked if we could have water balloons. So at the end, there was a water balloon fight.

Sweetheart has been reading "Hatchet" by Gary Paulson. I went to a Cub Scout Committee Meeting and came to home to them finishing the book. They were quite enthralled by the story.

Throughout the week, we cleaned the furniture. There was a yard sale with an old Singer sewing machine in a sewing table.

The sewing machine works, and the table looks lovely. The couches look great after being cleaned.

During the week, we all got up early and weeded in our yard for an hour a day. We made great progress. The boys took out a tree that had died in our yard. It took them two days to dig out the tree. They were really proud of themselves. Granted Sweetheart did a lot of manual pushing to help the boys along.

Sweetheart worked on his commute car on Saturday. He flushed the transmission fluid and one of the cooling systems in the Prius. As he cleaned out the cooling system, the fluid came out in pink clumps. He flushed the system multiple times until no pink clumps came out. He finished working on the car late in the night. I'm grateful to know that he has skills to work on our cars.

Auntie Yvette and her children returned from the trip to the East Coast. They spent the weekend with our family. We had a good time with them and visited the Nature and Science Museum together before they headed home to Utah.

On our way home, the boys found a random rainbow in the sky. They asked to take pictures for themselves.

Be Well!

Sanding Beds - Week 48

We returned from the family reunion to a pile of work. We took the next week to strip, sand, and wipe off the sanding.

My sister suggested that I use some stripper for the beds. It saved us time, money, and sanity.

The boys worked with me every day while we did this. When one boy wasn't working on the beds, the other boy was riding his bike or scooter. They loved it when it would rain so they could ride their bikes. My shoulder and rotator cuff got really, really sore by Friday. Every part of the beds got sanded.

The boys had a tryout lessons with 2 new different piano teachers. Their previous piano teacher did a wonderful job. I had a feeling that the boys needed a different teacher for this coming year. They picked a young man to be their teacher. They are excited to start.

We started cleaning the furniture we got. We needed to finish the sanding before taking on this new project.

Before

After

On Saturday, Sweetheart found an exhibit about a train engine called a Big Boy.

It was built to go between Ogden, UT and Green River, WY. The engine was built for the Wasatch Mountains specifically. It weighted 1.25 million pounds. The Forney Transportation Museum houses one the remaining engines along with other trains. The museum also contains cars from different eras, a bicycle display, and a rotating display of cars.

The current display was of 1960s cars. The next will be of low rider cars. We took a picnic and had a good time together.

That evening Sweetheart took me on a date to an Indochine Cuisine. This isn't his favorite type of food.

Red Curry and Coconut

He enjoyed my meal as well as his. We went to see Dunkirk after supper on a whim. We walked out of the movie thinking and grateful.

*****

Sanded Beds - Trundle

Sanded Beds - Another View of Trundle

Sanded Beds - Bed Rails

Forney Transportation Museum - 1960s Air Conditioning

Forney Transportation Museum - A Duster from the 1920s

Forney Transportation Museum - Corvette

Forney Transportation Museum - Goofin' Around

Tuesday, August 1, 2017

Locey Family Reunion - Week 47

Sunday: We were the chefs for the day. Mountain Man breakfast, PBJ sandwiches, and our supply of freezer meals were what we made. Since Friday, I had been struggling with some vertigo. Sweetheart stuck with me for every step of the meals. I really appreciated it.

We attended church. The boys participated in Primary. In Elder's Quorum, Sweetheart shared that he felt very grateful for our children and that we have the liberties we do in the United States. We talked about how we need to share our belief in God and the power that family has in our lives.

We watched "The Incredibles" as a family. It is an often quoted movie in our home.

Goldilocks came and took a selfie with Aunt Mimi and me to send to her sister at home.

That evening Aaron and Rachel with Chucho (my brother and his family) came from Salt Lake to share a meal with us for the evening. We had a really wonderful time with them. Chucho was a lot of fun to watch and see his enthusiasm.

Beck and Mimi had made arrangements for a friend to come and share about their experiences as missionaries in Africa. They shared great stories about how they saw faith and miracles as they served God.

Monday: We headed to the Jordanelle State Park for the day. Uncle CF brought his boat and showed everyone a really great time! He is an excellent driver. The boys with their cousins paddled out to an island they had seen the day before. This time they landed on the island and discovered the island had a lot of poop on it.

I went and had a massage to help with my vertigo. The massage therapist only worked on my upper shoulders, neck, and base of my head. The vertigo was gone.by the end of the day. The boys got a lot of sun. We came home and slept really well that evening after a few games of Hearts.

Tuesday: This was 7-11 day that had free slushies. We participated at the local 7-11.

We had a lazy morning and didn't get moving very quickly. The plan was to return to Jordanelle to play more. The troops arrived at the lake that afternoon.

We are grateful that Grandpa Locey went and got us a cabana for the day.

I went with Mimi and the nieces and nephews shopping while the boys went with their Dad. I found some shirts and earrings.

Underfoot and Hurricane created a Jeopardy style game for the family to guess. They had a fun time remembering the stories of growing up. Jilli, my Mom, came to help my brother with their new house. After helping my brother, she came and spent the evening with us. We felt so happy to see her and that she was willing to make the trip to come see us.

Wednesday: Aunt Mimi made arrangements to do the Locey Lope. It was a 2.1 mile race course. Everyone was awarded a medal.

Hurricane went at the front of the pack and said he arrived in 3rd place. Sweetheart and I took the tail. Underfoot wanted to be with his cousin's daughter, T.

He stayed with the stroller the whole way. I love the personalities of our boys and how they are manifesting themselves.

In the afternoon, we headed to the Utah Olympic Park.

We did the slides on inter-tubes, the ropes course, and the zip-lines. The ropes course was hard for Underfoot. He did great on the lower level but panicked at the upper level. He decided he would go with me.

The upper level was harder than the lower level. I fell on the upper level and had a hard time finishing because I got stuck. This helped Underfoot show how brave he was. My arms were completely bruised. By the time Underfoot had finished, he was SO HAPPY he had gone.

He conquered his fear and used it as an example later in the week. Come to find out, Underfoot was doing the adult ropes course not the children's ropes course.

Sweetheart went on the adult slide with his sister. He kept talking about how scary it was. We went on the zipline together at the end of the day as couple. The boys were watched by their cousin, Piper.

I spent that evening with my cousin, Julie. She is a nature photographer and works in Park City at an insurance office.

We got ice cream and went for a drive to Mirror Lake. We had a great conversation about life and got to know each other for the first time as adults.

She showed me some of her favorite spots in the Unitas.

Thursday: Early that morning Sweetheart and I went to a meeting in Salt Lake. He took me on a lunch date to the Lion House Pantry. It's one of our favorite places to eat. We came back and hung out that afternoon. In the evening, we went to the Desert Star to see the 3 Amigos.

We laughed at the jokes they made about Utah, the ad lib they did on stage, and enjoyed their 80s musical oleo.

Friday: We returned to Jordanelle State Park. Auntie M wanted to learn how to drive the boat, and Uncle CF taught her. The beach was full for the day.

Hurricane and Goldilocks were buried in the sand, and Handsome Ben played catch with Underfoot.

That evening was the family meeting. Sweetheart also invited Tom and Sherry Cutting to join us. We also got a call earlier in the day that Kirky and Jilli were coming down for the evening. The evening had lots of reunions. Kirky taught us about cars.

Saturday: We got up, packed the car, and rode the tram to the top of the ski resort.