November 2016 A Harvest of Memories Scraps

November is a very difficult month to endure due to painful memories. We honor my Mother in-law's birthday on November 11th and will never forget the loss of her on that dreadful day of November 19th, 2013. We watched my husband's mother slowly deteriorate from cancer, she died from a tragic fall, and a month later we nearly lost little brother from horrible health issues. November was when little brother became very sick and had to hospitalized weeks later. I am truly grateful for my testimony that families are forever. We will be reunited again with our loved ones who passed on someday. I am also truly thankful to God for answering our pleas in healing my son from his many difficult medical issues he encountered the first few years of his life. He is absolutely amazing and brings us so much joy in our lives! I'm counting my blessings! We have so much to be grateful for! 

In Loving Memory, 2013

Our Family: Life is Beautiful, 2013 

Credits: I used a huge collaboration kit (papers and elements) called"That's Life" from many popular scrapbook artists. "That's Life" was a Digi Scrap Parade freebie.  The templates are by Cindy Schneider from Sweet Shoppe Designs. I used the following fonts: FO-giggles, Lucida Handwriting, and print clearly. 

All Family Thanksgiving, 2015

 
Credits: The layout is by Penny Miscellany, Autumn Day papers, journal card, pie, flowers, and buttons are by Elif Sahin from Sahin Designs, yellow leaf, pine cone, mushroom, pine needles are by Kristin Cronin Barrow from Sweet Shoppe Designs, and acorns are by L Grier.  I used the grumble font. 

Welcome Home Angel: Isabel Worthen Free

November was an eventful month of sickness and heavy sorrows in our household. We started off the month with terrible colds after the sugar rush of Halloween candy (I think sugar definitely lowered our immune systems). Anyway, John had a sinus infection, baby brother had an ear infection in addition to teething pain, I was sick with a sinus head cold, and little sister caught some cootie too. Luckily, big sister dodged the sickness by loading up on vitamin C and keeping her distance from the rest of us.  Next, we found out some heart wrenching news about my Mother in-law. Since May after my mother in-law's thyroid cancer treatments, she struggled to eat due to inflamed vocal chords and had to breath through a tracheotomy. To say she was discouraged was the least of her feelings, she suffered with horrible pain and anxiety of fear of suffocating and chocking to death every day. She lost several pounds over the period of six months. To our surprise, some other tumors were discovered in her throat and sadly spread to her lobes of her lungs in October 2013. After many prayers and mediating, she and my Father in-law decided to fight the cancer with another round of radiation and chemotherapy. After a week of intense cancer treatments and unexpectedly as a result of her pain drugs, she hallucinated and tumbled down a large flight of stairs on November 12, 2013 a day after her 79th birthday. She suffered with a crack skull and a lot of internal brain bleeding. She was unconscious. So her loving husband and all eight children gathered beside her hospital bed to express their love and say their good byes. The family made a very heartbreaking and difficult decision to place her in hospice care, which she died peacefully with dignity and pain free surrounded by her loved ones.

On November 19,2013, my Facebook status said the following: Heaven has welcomed home an incredible, courageous, humble, beautiful, and strong woman. Our lives will never be the same without her radiant smile and tender hugs. It was a marvelous privilege and blessing to know her. She was a wonderful example to all and touched many lives. I especially admired her faith, love, determination, and fierce strength during her final days on earth. I will always remember and love you sweet Isabel Free my dear Mother in-law, friend, Grandmother, and Mother to my husband John.

She had a viewing in Mesa Arizona on November 21, 2013 and the funeral, burial, and luncheon was on Saturday November 23, 2013 in Panaca, Nevada. Since John had three days of bereavement pay from work, we checked the girls out early from school on Thursday and drove down to southern Utah to stay in Cedar City for a few nights. We planned on seeing Zion's National Park before meeting up with other family members on Friday afternoon at a Cabin and Condo in Brian Head, Utah. We got a hotel room at the Comfort Inn, which is pet friendly. The first night we went swimming and watched TV in our room. As we slumbered, it snowed a huge blanket of snow. Our plans of exploring Zions was cancelled instead we went shopping for winter gear. The next day we met up with tons of family members for dinner and everyone checked in with us at the same hotel due to the snowstorms. Due to the heavy snow, those without four wheel drive wouldn't make it up the canyon and we were all worried about not making it to the funeral in time the next morning.

We got up early, packed, and headed to Nevada for the funeral services. The girls and I had two perform two musical numbers with the whole family and other women descendants of  my mother in-law. We sang The Lord is My Shepherd.  The whole family tearfully sang Love is Spoken Here. Audrey was honored to speak briefly about her Grandmother during the funeral. Her talk was based on a wonderful scripture reference, which somebody found a sticky note of it in my mother in-law's purse after she passed away. The scripture stated: "Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you." Philippians 4:9.
 The following is Audrey's talk, which she read at the funeral:

Grandma Free had many talents. She was deadly at any dice games, great at puzzles, loved to bake, crotchet, played music, served others, and always had faith. As a result of all her many talents, she loved to teach her grandchildren many things.

Even though I am not a huge fan of playing games Grandma has taught me and my sister Savannah how to play Chinese checkers, Mormon bridge, and Uno. As far as putting puzzles together that takes patience, which Grandma had and I am still working on.

One of the many things grandma has taught me is that you can never have enough food to eat. I'm kidding but she did teach me that. For example, whenever I was at her house she always offered me food because she teased me saying I looked like a stick of bones. She always had the best homemade baked goodies such bread, Cinnamon rolls, cookies, etc. I hope someday I will bake just like Grandma did!

She taught me how to crotchet and play the piano, but I unfortunately forgot how to do those things. However, I enjoyed listening to her play church hymns on the piano and will always cherish my baby blanket, which she made for me.

Some of my favorite memories of grandma were when we served others. I loved how whenever we have big family reunions we were always doing service. For example, we have tied quilts, painted fences, made special packages for missionaries, etc. A couple years ago while visiting grandma and grandpa in Paragonah, my family went on a Sunday drive with them. We ended up at a dusty desert area where two trailer homes were located. We saw little kids, dogs, and cats everywhere.  Grandma and grandpa got out of their truck and started talking to them. We all talked for a while and grandpa introduced them to us and I learned that they were people in their ward who recently moved in.  We then gave them some dinner and desserts. Grandma taught me how to serve and love one another.

I have always admired grandma's faith. She set a good example to me by reading scriptures, attending the temple, serving missions, and always having faith that everything will be okay. She also taught me to have Faith in Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and Faith in myself. She has inspired me in so many ways.

The last most important thing grandma has taught me is gratitude.  She taught me to be so grateful for all the wonderful blessings that I have in my life. I apply this to my own life by having faith, doing service for others, loving one another, and being grateful. I am so glad that I learned so much from grandma and I hope to teach others the same things. I feel so comforted to have the knowledge that she will always be watching over us and we will see her again.

After the funeral the whole family about 72 of us went to Brian Head, which was a winter wonderland to stay at a family member's cabin or Condo. We had a lovely time together. The women and children honored Granny by wearing her moo moo dresses!

It was truly a celebration honoring such an amazing woman who left behind a wonderful legacy, which we will never forget and will try each day to follow her great example! We love you, Grandma! 

Little Brother's First Few Weeks

 Brother Loves His Big Sisters

Oh my goodness, how I love these precious children of mine! The girls absolutely love their new baby brother! They have been very helpful these past few weeks with bottle feedings, changing diapers, cuddling their brother, bathing him, etc. I love having my "live in" nannys! They are the greatest little helpers!

Brother's First Bath

Brother absolutely loved taking his first bath (in a chair)! However, getting dressed and lotioned after his warm bath was not very fun for him, but he was happy after he got his cute teddy bear and dog pajamas on. 

A True Red Sox's Fan!

Uncle Nate is a huge Boston Red Sox fan. He has bought his nephew a few baseball outfits!

Z Finally Met Granny and Papa Free

I went down to southern Utah with my sister in-laws (Marilee and Jean) to see my in-laws. My mother in-law was recently diagnosed with throat cancer. She had surgery to remove the cancer and will be receiving radioactive iodine treatments soon. We surprised Granny with my bundle of joy! It was the best medicine for Granny to hold her grandson while Marilee made tons of soft food for her to eat! Brother slept in a dresser drawer since we didn't have a pack and play!

Three Weeks Old

Aunt Jean bought this darling summer crab outfit and blanket.

Four Weeks Old

Five Weeks Old

Zach was caught sucking his thumb at five weeks old! Too cute!

My Visit with Grandpa Coleman Cape Cod Trip, 2011

Last year after several of weeks of not feeling himself and tired, my Grandfather was diagnosed with acute leukemia.  It was a terrible shock for all of us because that was the same disease that took my sweet Grandmother in 1979.  Due to his old age, he decided to not fight the cancer with radiation and chemo.  He was afraid the treatments would kill him.  Luckily, he has been doing well the first several month after being diagnosed due to his healthy life style of eating well and exercising.  A few months ago, the cancer showed its ugly face by wiping out a lot of energy from him.  At the age of 85, he finally retired from his job as a radio engineer for a Classical radio station on Cape Cod and volunteered citizen police officer.  He has a hospice nurse who checks on him regularly. He is getting by with blood transfusions every couple weeks as needed. Thankfully, the blood transfusions have been working for him and it has been several weeks since his last one.  He has been able to do some gardening, some small projects around the house, work a couple hours at the radio station, etc.  He is taking life one day at a time by making the best of it.   

My Grandpa with some old radio equipment downstairs.

A couple weeks ago my brother and I bought some last minute airline tickets to Boston, Massachusetts August 2-6, 2011.  My sister Karen was not able to come this year.  It was a  very quick trip not long enough for all of us but we didn't want to overwhelm him and my step Grandmother.   We wanted to purchase our tickets months ago, but we were advised by our Grandfather not too in case his health got worse.  More importantly, we all didn't know what to expect since he isn't aggressively fighting the cancer.  Since my grandfather is dying, we felt it was important to see him this summer.  I cannot imagine the guilt and grief that I would feel if he died without me seeing him this year.   It has been over five years since I last saw my grandfather and I am not close to him as I would like to be.  The distance in miles between us has made it difficult, but I have cherished my memories spent with him while visiting him on the Cape when I was a young girl, teen, and adult.  He came out to see us when we were kids occasionally too but I was sad we didn't live close by each other.  Over the years, we kept in touch by sending cards, letters, and phone calls.  

My girly girls and me! Big Sister is getting very tall!

Ready Set Go! On our way to the airport!

Nate and me at the airport ready to check in.

~My Journal Entries: My Summer 2011 Cape Cod Trip~ 

Goals: Eat fresh fish every day and spend quality time with Grandpa and Grandma!
Wednesday August 3, 2011 

We made it to Boston around 9:00 a.m. At the airport, I bought myself a ladies brown and pink Boston Red Sox cap and my daughters Red Sox t-shirts .  We were shuttled by bus from the airport to our rental car agency (National).  On the way down to the Cape, we stopped to see the Scituate Lighthouse, which is located on a very rocky shoreline.  The stones were very scared there and we were not allowed to take one as a keepsake. What a beautiful harbor and shoreline in Scituate!
Rocky Shoreline near the Scituate Lighthouse

 Scituate Lighthouse, 1636

   Next, we went to Plymouth for lunch at Cafe Nicole.  The view from this Cafe was breathtaking!  We could see Plymouth Harbor!  I ate calm chowder, fries, and a haddock sandwich.

 New England Clam Chowder and Haddock Sandwich

  To our surprise, we got a $15.00 parking ticket because we forgot to pay the meter, duh.  Good grief, I had at least $5.00 in change!!!  That was a terrible mistake due to lack of sleep and jet lagged from the airplane...  We learned our lesson the hard way, GRRR!  Finally, we made it to Marshton Mills later in the afternoon to see my Gramps and Grams Coleman.  We took our stuff upstairs and talked outside on the patio deck for a couple hours.  Then my grandparents took us all out for dinner at Wimpy's Sea Food Cafe and Fish Market in Osterville, MA.  I tried swordfish with capers for the first time and absolutely loved it!  I also had ginger al, dinner salad, rolls, baked potato, and squash.
Picture from ---->Wimpy's Seafood Cafe

 On the way home, we stopped by 1856 Country Store.  There are several cute souvenirs, decorations, gifts, books, candy, etc at the shop.  My father informed me that he and my mother lived in the apartment above that store many years ago.  
1856 Country Store

We all went to bed early that night since Nate and I were running on no sleep or nap due to traveling and sightseeing.

Thursday August 4, 2011

We woke up to the incredible smell of homemade blueberry pancakes, orange juice, coffee (for my brother and grandpa) and sausage for breakfast!  Nate and I visited with our Grandpa and Grandma for awhile.  We left the house around 11:00 a.m.   Today we spent most the day in Hyannis, Massachusetts.  We went shopping on Main Street. There is a lot to see and do on Main Street, Hyannis!
Main Street, Hyannis 

There are rides for kids, modern art, a large Cape Cod beach chair, several shops, many restaurants, a church, and live entertainment.  What a quaint place to hang out for a couple hours!    I bought some sea shells , a beach tot bag, a salmon pink Cape Cod jacket, some popular nautical postcard and print by Robert Edward Kennedy at Kennedy Gallery, and small souvenirs. As for lunch, we went to an Irish"rustic shire" restaurant called Common Ground Cafe.  The place was absolutely enchanting with handmade wood decorations!  I felt like we were in the middle of a forest among hobbits!  I ordered a fresh tuna wrap sandwich, chips, and bottled water.  They make an amazing homemade dressing  as a dip for chips or spreading on sandwiches/wraps.

  Afterwards, we went to Craigville Beach.  I was able to change my clothes at an old bathhouse.  The ocean water was extremely warm and the beach was filled with sea shells and grainy sand.  We enjoyed swimming and sitting on our towels soaking up the sun.  There were a couple snack shacks across the street.  Nate got a very yucky Coke there (fountain that was maybe expired).  Since my brother is a sales man for Coke, he knows the difference between the taste of fresh and expired product!
Craigville Beach

  We went home around 5:30 p.m.  Grams made homemade chicken pot pie, baby peas, a berry/pineapple yogurt salad, and cranberry sauce.  My grandmother spoiled us with her homemade hot fudge sauce over peppermint ice cream.  We spent the rest of the evening visiting with Gramps and Grams until around 10:30 p.m.  I enjoyed listening to stories about my Grandpa.  Several years ago, he worked with the Boston Pops and met many jazz singers.  He worked for a recording studio in Boston.  He showed us his awesome man cave in the basement!  He has a lot of cool toys such as vintage radio equipment, artifacts from the civil war time period, as well as several original paintings by my great grandfather.

Friday August 5, 2011
We had a light breakfast today cereal, English muffins, jam, and juice.  Nate and I  had a long day planned.  We decided to check out some more lighthouses and hang out at the beach.  Nate is extremely fascinated by the beauty of lighthouses in fact he has a book that contains the location and photographs of all the lighthouses in Massachusetts.  We drove south to Eastham, Cape Cod.  We saw Three Sisters Lighthouses as well as Nauset Lighthouse.  
 Three Sister's Lighthouses, 1838.

 

Nauset Lighthouse, 1923 was a twin lighthouse transferred from Chatham.

 

Next, we ate lunch in Orleans, MA at Lobster Claw.  We shared a plate of fried calamari for an appetizer. As for my main dish, I ordered fried lobster, fries, and coleslaw. We loved the restaurant!  The service and food was excellent!  
The Lobster Claw (Postcard)

We drove to Chatham, Cape Cod to see the Chatham Lighthouse.  What a gorgeous beach!  The water was so blue and the sand was white!  To our surprise, most of the beaches there were for locals only that required stickers (for parking) and there was no public parking near the beach we wanted to hang out at... 
Chatham Lighthouse and Beach

 So we continued our journey to find another beach near the coast.  Along the way, we stopped at the old Eastham Windmill off 6A.
Eastham Windmill 

Then proceeded down the road to First Encounter Beach in Eastham. According to history, First Encounter Beach is where the pilgrims first met the native Indians.  The pilgrims stopped at Provincetown, then Eastham, and afterwards they headed towards Plymouth, MA where they settled in 1620.   Anyway, it was high tide during that time of the day at the beach.  There were a lot of sand dunes which were prohibited to walk on.  I recall the sand was rocky.  The water was extremely warm like Craigville Beach.  Most beaches have very cold water and we were lucky to swim in two warm ones during our trip, Yay! 

We headed back home around 5:00 p.m.  Grams made a dinner reservation at Amari Bar and Ristorante in East Sandwich.  The authentic Italian food was magnificent.  I ordered shrimp scampi while Nate got shrimp parmigiana.  We had tons of left overs for the next day!

 After dinner, we drove out to Sandy Neck Beach.  Nate and I walked on the beach for a few minutes enjoying the sunset.  Sandy Neck Beach is extremely rocky compared to the other beaches.  It is also cold to swim in, although it is a beautiful beach to sit and listen to the waves.  There are beautiful sand dunes there too. 

 
 When we got home, we ate some lemon cake, played a game of Phase Ten, and talked way past my grandparent's bed time! 

Saturday August 6, 2011-August 7, 2011

This morning, we packed up our things and spent some quality time with Grandma and Grandpa Coleman.  We had blueberry muffins and juice for breakfast.  Before we left, we had some of our leftover food from Amari Bar and Ristorante and took many pictures on the backyard deck of my Grandfather's home.  I cannot believe how quickly our trip came to an end!  It was so hard to say good bye!  My grandfather truly appreciated the time we spent with him and Grams. We sure hope and pray he can be around for a while.   

If there is another "next time" on the Cape in the future we would like to extend our trip another day or two. Travelling home was brutal!  We saw another windmill on our way to Boston. We returned our car around 1:45 p.m.  

We bought some last minute RED SOX stuff at the airport and were off to New York City around 4:00 p.m.  Since we had a couple hours until our next flight, we ate dinner at a Sports Bar and Grill.  We were able to watch the Red Sox versus Yankees at the airport restaurant.  The Red Sox won that night 10-4, Woohoo!  We proudly wore our Red Sox caps in the New York airport and boy did we get the glares!  For dessert, I got some Ben and Jerry's sweet cookie and cream ice cream!  Our next flight was so messed up in New York.  We had no seats assigned to us luckily we were able the get the LAST minute row seats at the ticket counter since it was a FULL flight.  
No surprise we were delayed, ugh!  
Our gate changed on us three times.  Our "plane" was taken twice by other flights.  There were mechanical problems with the third plane.  So around 9:00 p.m. we boarded a plane from Boston and sat on the runway for ONE HOUR!  I need to remind myself to avoid the JFK Airport next time.  Every time we fly from there we were always delayed due to the heavy airplane traffic. So the captain on our flight home to Utah allowed us to watch free movies and Nate got free cocktails. I slept a little, watched some TV, and listened to my iPod.  My husband John and daughters greeted us around 1:20 a.m. near the Jet Blue pick up parking.   I went to bed around 3:00 a.m.  I was extremely jet lagged for a day and half later.   Overall, we had a fantastic time!  We saw many lighthouses, beaches, and windmills! We ate delicious sea food and Granny's home cooked meals! We went swimming and shopping.  Lastly, best of all we made some wonderful memories with our Grandfather and Grandmother Coleman.