81 Years

It was this amazing ladies birthday today. She is 81 years old and still has a radiating smile.
A couple of weeks ago I got news that she was in the hospital with pneumonia. Things were not looking very good for her. I packed mine and Natalie's suitcases and was out the door a couple of hours later. We made the 6.5 hour drive to Ontario and got there at about 8:30 that night. Grandma was doing a bit better than she had been that morning.

Over the period of her week long hospital stay she improved a lot. However, it had become apparent that she could no longer live at home by herself. The hard decision was made and I helped move her into an assisted living facility. It is a nice new facility, with a large room and she seems to be doing well.

 It is so hard to go through changes in life. Our brains so easily get to a point where we feel that things will stay the same forever, people will always be there for us and never age. However, the opposite is quite true. A lot of life changes come in such tiny increments that we don't recognize what is happening until it brings about a reality that is totally different than what you have always thought it would be.

I love my Grandma very much and look up to her. I am glad things are going as well as they can be in her new place. I am especially grateful I was able to spend a week helping her and my parents with the transitions life has brought.

Happy Birthday Grandma Corn! You have been such an example to me of positive thinking, living life with a smile, creating strong family traditions, and always learning. We miss you and wish we could have been there to sing Happy Birthday and to eat an ice cream bar with you!


Justin and Ruth Blazzard

Trip

It is 9:42 p.m. and while I usually would be reading a book or getting this prego body ready for bed at this time, I really wanted to get at least one post done for my blog today, so here it is. A couple of weeks ago I was invited to a retirement party for my high school basketball coaches. They have coached girls basketball for 25 years and were ready to be done. This presented me with an awesome opportunity to visit my family as well!

Natalie and I flew to Ontario on Tuesday morning and stayed through Saturday afternoon. During that time we were able to see all 18 cousins, one of my best friends, spend an evening at my parent's wards Relief Society Activity, and visit with my grandma and great aunt and uncle. The highlights for Natalie were cousins, Tux my parents black lab, Josie the kitty, Aunt Mary, and Grandma and Papa Corn.

 

These two are 6 weeks apart. Mr. Trey is quite the tease, but he and Natalie played fairly well together. Natalie is enjoying a "chalk-it". My Dad buys little heart shaped chocolate boxes for all of the children and grandchildren on Valentines Day. He has been doing this for several years and is a fun little tradition we all look forward to.

She was such a good girl on the flights both ways and did really well with visiting everyone. It is too bad we don't live closer to her cousins, because they are a fun group of kids. It was especially sweet to watch her love on my younger sister's baby girl. We were driving home from lunch in town and Natalie held baby Henley's hand for about 5 minutes.

The retirement party was nice. There was a special presentation before the start of the Varsity Girl's Basketball game. Then the game and a reception afterwards for conversing with our coaches. I wrote them each a personal letter and there was a basketball, picture frame and scrapbook to sign for each of them.

It was also fun to see teammates I had not seen in 9 years. We caught up on all the life happenings. I missed seeing the many who were unable to make it. It will be fun to attend my 10 year reunion next year.

Going back to my old high school was sort of surreal. I have been in there since I graduated, but there are many things that have changed from how I remembered "Ontario" High School being. The demographics of the community have greatly changed over the last 5-10 years and have thus created major change in the school. I know the school faces great challenges that are a little disheartening to me when I think about my Alma Mater. Other than that, the school looks mostly the same.

The trip was fun, the right length of time and very rejuvenating for me. I am grateful for my parents always being such gracious hosts. Hopefully we make it back for Memorial Day.

Justin was happy to have us home. He picked us up at the airport at 5:30 and we came home to Papa Murphy's pizza, balloons, chocolates and flowers for Valentines day. Natalie especially loves her Frozen balloon Justin selected for her. It was a bummer that we missed him this week. The two weeks prior he had been out of town. He was able to be in Portland for this week of work, but it is so hard to plan with his job and we never know. I am grateful he was so understanding. 

Justin and Ruth Blazzard

Road Trip With a Baby

My little sister got married last Saturday, April 27th. This required a six hour drive for us to if we wanted to be present. I was a little worried about how Natalie would do riding in her car seat that far, being held by a ton of different people, and sleeping in a new place. Now that the trip is over, I realize there was no need for worry and she is actually a better traveler than me.

I was so excited to get out of town and introduce Natalie to my side of the family. No one except for my mom had yet seen her in person. We left in the afternoon on Thursday and stopped twice, once in Boardman and once in LaGrande to feed her. Grandpa and Grandma Corn and Aunt Rachel waited up for us. She slept really well that night and we started the dry, sunshiney day off great.

I hung out at my parents house with her all day to give her a rest and let her adjust. I even got a nap in that afternoon, which is rare. That evening my brother-in-laws parent hosted a pit bbq dinner for the wedding festivities. It was super yummy and all of my family was there. The reception area was all set up for the next day and we got a sneak peek at the beautiful decorations Rachel had chosen. We also got the opportunity to meet Jed, my older sister Mary's boy friend. I had heard a lot about him over the last year, so it was nice to finally meet him. He is an excellent person.

Saturday we hurried around to eat breakfast and get ready to drive to the Boise temple. The ceiling room was beauitful as always and Rachel and Ty looked so happy. I am so proud of them for the decision they made to get married in the temple and staying true to that decision. I felt the Spirit so strong there bearing witness of the importance and sacredness of marriage.

This picture was taken in the morning. I wanted to know why Ty was wearing a hat with his suit. My father and husband informed me that that is what men do. So they all put their hats on to make fun of my question. I had to snap a picture.

The bride and groom with the bridesmaids. I really enjoyed getting to visit with the bridesmaids on our drive over to Boise.

After the ceremony we took several pictures. One of which captured the three babies born in the Corn family this year. David - January 5th, Natalie - March 9th, and Trey April 20th. I love that you can clearly see which sibling family they belong to. When we laid them down together they all looked a little confused at what we were doing.

We ate at Fudruckers for lunch. Yummy food that tasted even better because I was so hungry. It was then straight to the stake center for the reception. The rest of the evening  was spent visiting with people from the community I grew up in and eating oreo balls and chocolate mints. Natalie did amazing through out the day and wasn't too fussy until we got back to my parents that night. We both slept really well.

Sunday everyone was beat, but we made it to church. We also traveled out to my grandfather's grave and placed some left over centerpieces from the wedding on his grave. I specifically dressed Natalie in her John Deere shirt for this trip. This Grandpa is the reason I love John Deere. My niece Cadi and nephew Michael tagged along with us and kept us laughing.  After the cemetary we visited Grandma and Grandpa Lasley and finished off at Cadi and Michael's house.

During the drive Justin was teasing the kids about going to Kalamazoo. Michael promptly told us he hauls his sugar beets to Kalamazoo and knows how to get their. Silly little boy. He also wanted us to drive him to our house in Portland that day. He promised he wouldn't even eat anything there.

 

 Great Grandma and Grandpa Lasley. Yes, she has red hair.

That evening Justin's family who was visiting for Rachel's wedding, my parents and my siblings got together for dinner. We ate leftovers from the pit bbq and the reception. I got to visit with two of my older sisters for some time. It is always nice to swap ideas and insight. A great game of chase was played with all of the nieces and nephews.

The dad's of these two cute babies were watching them while everyone else was eating. 

Monday it was time to leave. We spent the morning packing, cleaning, preparing and nursing. When I first got married it was always so hard to leave my parents house. Over the years that has slowly gotten better and less bitter. When it was time to go home this day I was happy to be returning to my home. I love my parents and family and had a wonderful visit, but feel as though Justin and I have established a good life where we live in Troutdale and we have a beautiful baby girl in our family of three. I enjoy it and feel at home here. Next big family event is only two weeks away with Natalie's baby blessing.

 

Families truly are heaven on earth.

Justin and Ruth Blazzard