We were so excited when Grant was born April 24 weighing in at 7 lbs 14 oz and 20.5 in long. It was such a different experience from when Luke was born. No NICU, and he was actually allowed to sleep in the same room as me and come home when I did instead of 10 days later. We loved having a new baby to love and hold. Luke was surprisingly good with his new brother. He enjoyed holding him for about 2 seconds and then was back to his agenda. He is a very busy little 2 year old. The day after I came home from the hosital Dan graduated from BYU in Construction Management. The next day Dan's parents drove our moving truck out to Ohio. We stayed in Utah for two weeks trying to recooperate from all the craziness and then drove across country with a 2 year old and a newborn. We did the drive in 3 days and arrived to an empty house in Ohio where we were planning on staying with family for a few days. We called around to find out where my parents were, only to discover that my dad was taken by ambulance to the hospital. He had gone in for a doctor's appointment because of a pain in his chest and the doctor thought he had had a heart attack so she sent him to the hospital. Long story somewhat short, we found out within the next few days that my dad had a tumor in his esophagus. A week later or so we found out that it was cancer, not only cancer but stage 4 cancer. The cancer had spread to his lungs, liver, and lymphnoids. By this time we had continued our move to Maryland. I flew out to visit and ended up staying 6 weeks. Dan stayed in Maryland where he was managing and selling pest control. My dad was in and out of the hospital all summer, I can still remember the day we found out he had stage 4 cancer and what a blow that was to our family, especially him and my Mom. My Mom never left his side and showed so much love and patience. She truely was an example to us all. My Dad started chemotherapy and radiation a couple days after the diagnosis. My brother moved up his wedding date from mid August to July 6th. My dad seemed to be improving and we had high hopes for him. All of my Dad's siblings and their families came out for Seth and Rissa's wedding and we had a wonderful time with them. Dan surprised me by driving all night long to be here a day earlier for the 4th of July. We went boating, enjoyed time with all the family, and did what we could to help prepare for the wedding. My Dad was blessed with a great day (healthwise) for the wedding. He was able to sit through the Temple ceremony, lots of pictures, and the reception. He even got out and danced with my Mom a little. It was a great day for us all. After seeing him like that and having been away from Dan for so long (and needing a husband to help take care of a newborn at night!), I left after Seth's wedding to go back and be with Dan. We enjoyed the rest of our summer in Maryland and in our free time took trips to the beach (Ocean City) and downtown D.C. The summer progressed and I heard that my Dad was able to eat some foods (he had been eating through a feeding tube that was installed when we first discovered his cancer because the tumor was so large he could not swallow). I was looking forward to doing many things with my Dad when I returned. He had his ups and downs, but we were all optimistic. My parents and a couple of my siblings took a trip to New York City the middle of August to enroll my Dad in a special cancer program. He had wanted to enroll in May, but he was not able to swallow and that was one of the requirements for the program. So as soon as he was able to, he submitted his application and was approved for this program. He had become weak and tired at that point, but we were all excited for him to go because it was what he wanted to do from the beginning. The weekend he got back was horrible for him and he had such a difficult time sticking to the program he was supposed to be following. His health went downhill from there and everyone could see how much pain he was in. He had caught an infection and his body was too weak to fight it off. He ended up going into Septic shock, where his organs were shutting down, on Wednesday, August 22 and was rushed to the ER. My family called us and told us we needed to leave right away to come home. We arrived at about 2:30 AM Thursday. Dan stayed with the kids and my brother, Seth, who had been in Maryland with us, and I went to go see the rest of my family in the hospital. We were able to spend some time with my Dad, who was completely out of it and in a coma state, before he passed away just after 7 AM. We found out while we were there in the hospital that the cancer had spread throughout his body and that the chemo and radiation had not done anything for him. The whole thing was numbing and unbelievable. It was like a horrible nightmare that I just kept hoping to wake up from. Unfortunately, reality set in and we had to have faith that this was part of Heavenly Father's plan. We miss him terribly, but have comfort in knowing we will see him again. So in what began with a joyful experience led to a heartbreaking calamity. We are now in Ohio for good, at least for the next 5 years or so. Dan is starting a pest control company here, which will be opening this coming April. We are thrilled and very grateful to be so close to family, especially now in this trying adjustment period. On a happier note, we are all healthy and the kids are growing too fast! After waiting over 7 months, I will finally update this blog with photos of my adorable children!!
These are the latest pictures we had taken of Luke. He loved getting his picture taken that day!
Luke loves talking on the phone. If he isn't calling family, he's trying to call some of his favorite stuffed animals.
Luke is a true boy...he can't wait until the day he gets his own 4 wheeler!
Luke is such a happy little boy. He is always trying to have a good time!
Here we are at Bridal Veil Falls enjoying the first warm day in awhile. I think it felt so warm because the sun finally decided to come out after a 2 week inversion. Luke loves playing out in the snow.
