Spring Break

Spring break was a big mixed bag this year. Aubrey flew down to CA with Kylie and Olivia to spend some time with the kids at CBU, and Grant, Greg, and I were all here. It brought us joy to see the BeReals of Aubrey having fun down at CBU. She even got to go to Disneyland one day! They had a blast, and Aubrey came home convinced she needs to go there for college, too. Some of her friends came by the house, even though Aubrey wasn't here, to enjoy Grant's peanut butter brownies. 

Greg and Grant helped my mom and I move Grandma to a different memory care facility. Hopefully, it will be a better situation for her. 

I decided it was time to purge my closet of my "skinny" clothes. I've gained a bunch of weight in recent years, and those size 4, 6, along with some of the size 8 clothes (a girl can dream) and ALL the size XS and S had to go. Having been in the double digits for quite some time, it was past time. It was sad saying goodbye to so many clothes I loved. But, oh well. 

Greg came home with a pretty horrendous haircut that I later "fixed" by trimming the sides, so it wasn't so round. He will not be going back to Sarah at Hello Handsome. 

I spent some time with Natalie on Tuesday. I've visited her her a few times at the hospital, but for a couple weeks, there were no visitors allowed. Paul needed some help this week, though, and with it being spring break and the boys being home, he needed to be home a bit, so we ladies filled in. We dubbed ourselves "Natalie's Army," and it has indeed been an army of friends who have stepped up to help in every way possible. Caleb's birthday was this week, and Natalie really wanted him to have homemade cinnamon rolls and pulp-free orange juice, as that's what she's always done. I volunteered to make the rolls and get the OJ and took it over to their house the morning of Caleb's birthday. 

On Tuesday, though, I spent the morning and part of the afternoon in her room with her, helping her get to and from the restroom, fluffing pillows, adjusting machines and tubes, letting her know her numbers, reassuring her she was ok, making conversation, and also just reading silently while she rested. I left the hospital feeling so very sad. She was still talking about how "the chemo" HAD to work and just really wasn't facing the reality of her situation, which broke my heart. I cried on the way home and prayed that God would bring her peace and allow her to relax (difficult to relax when it's hard to breathe, though), to rest in the knowledge that he loves her and her family and that he will take care of them. Well, on Wednesday things went south quickly in the morning, and by Thursday, she was marveling over the fact that "she didn't know she'd be partying with Jesus this weekend." God answered those prayers and helped her accept her reality. We had a game night at the Pate's Thursday evening, to just be together, to pray, and to laugh through our tears. (Kylee flew home for the weekend, so she was there at the Pate's with us. I took the photo with her to send to Kari.) We knew Natalie wasn't going to be with us long. She was unconscious by Friday morning and entered heaven that night, surrounded by her family, dear friend Ang, Paul, and her boys. We ladies, "Natalie's Army," met at Ang Stump's the next morning to process, cry, and to hear about her final moments. It was just so surreal that she was gone.