Kay

I was blessed with the best mother-in-law I could have ever imagined.  Kay was spunky and independent and practical.

She knew the challenges of raising a family on limited income.  Therefore she often shared her commodity food with us.  

Once we had children, there was always rummage sale finds and thrift store goodies that came to our home.  A lot of clothing for the children plus some other "things" that included toys, games or decor.

Anytime we would visit, she would always pull out chips & dip, cheese & crackers and pickles and whatever else she could find in her fridge.  She was the best!

When we arrived home from our mission in 2021, we asked Pat to help her get her "affairs in order."  We got on Legal Zoom and created all the documents she would need.

It wasn't any too soon as only a few months later she had the onset of dementia and it took off like a rocket following an emergency surgery.  Six weeks after that surgery she was living at Oak Haven assisted living facility.

Pat visited her most every week day.  At first she hated it there but as the dementia progressed it was different.  She had some days/nights where she was combative but those were not the norm.

At the end, she did not recognize any of her children.  She knew Pat was the nice man who came to visit her but did not recognize him as her son.  Still, she had some great delusions that kept us entertained.    

On April 9th, in the late afternoon or early evening she finally slipped through the veil.  What a blessing for all of us but especially her!

A funeral at the Swedberg funeral home with mostly family was held.  Pat was the officiant and gave a sweet message.  Jon Crowe's son played his guitar and sang "Amazing Grace".  It was phenomenal!  Evelyn sang the song that she had requested and even when the phone quit playing the music she finished strong.  It was only about half an hour but wonderful.  One of the nephews who was to be a pall bearer didn't show so Brock stepped in for him.

Carole, a niece, gave a prayer at the graveside.  A meal was provided at the church building in Shawano afterward.  When all was cleaned up we went back to the cemetery where Andrew dedicated her grave with just our immediate family in attendance.  It was a sweet and tender time. 

On May 30th and 31st, our family went to the temple in St. Paul where Adam baptized Evelyn as proxy for Kay.  She was then confirmed by Pat.  Erin was proxy for the initiatory ordinance where I was able to perform two parts of it.  During that time I had an extraordinary experience where I knew that Kay was okay with being sealed to Pete Pleshek.  I couldn't have asked for a bigger sign!  Clare was proxy for the endowment and then we all headed to the large sealing room where Pat sealed Kay to her parents and then sealed Kay to Pete.  President Foote came in and sealed Pat to his parents afterward.  Sammi and Andrew were proxy for most of that.  

Eternal families are what God's plan is all about.  We had a truly celestial day!

Mesa and Gilbert

 

We have wanted to go to the Mesa Easter pageant for some years.  This was the year we made it happen!

Tom joined us for this trip as well as Cami.  

Kevin and Mary Ballard were kind enough to let us stay with them.  We went out on a river cruise for a morning and enjoyed the wonders of God.

It was a beautiful, but HOT, day.  We had temperatures up to 100 while we were there.  

Tom bought a new shirt at Deseret book store and also represented Green Bay at the same time.  

We had to spend an evening with Jason and Laura Roe.  Cami came with us as a graduation gift to spend a long weekend with her best friend Olivia.  They had a great time together.  

I enjoyed our evening with Laura and Jason.  I've missed them.

Ice cream was the treat of the evening.  When we couldn't get prickly pear we went to another spot instead.  

I love seeing the cacti in the desert.  They're majestic in their own way.

While at the pageant we also saw the Stapleys and Browns whom we served with in Nauvoo.  What a great surprise to see Jim and Shelley Brown.  We knew we would see the Stapleys.

The pageant was a wonderful representation of the life of our Savior!  I only wish that the men sitting directly in front of me were a tad bit shorter.  

A lovely long weekend with forever friends!

Ice Storm

It's been a while since we had freezing rain that turned everything into a slick sheet of ice.

I don't really need to do it more than once in a lifetime but living in Wisconsin gives us a chance every winter.

I will say that the sun shining through the ice was so beautiful.  Shiny and sparkling as the trees moved in the breeze.  

Unfortunately, the heavy ice caused many trees to have limbs break off and land on power lines.  

Our church was cancelled due to slick roads but we went to Shawano anyway.  The roads were not clear but not slippery like they could have been.  

When we got home, our power was non existent.  Pat pulled out the generator and fired it up.  It ran just fine but as soon as we plugged something in, there was no power.  

Fortunately the Gourley home had power so we went to their house and borrowed their generator.  

We ran it all the rest of Sunday and into Monday morning.  We were without electricity for over 24 hours! We have since replaced that defective generator with a new one!

 

The Greenhouse

We have some daughters  that would love access to a greenhouse. Pat purchased one this spring and we spend hours assembling most of it in the garage. It was cold so after some time my frozen fingers had to quit. 

Several weeks later we finally got it finished just before Easter. 

We went to see a movie that evening after moving it to its designated place in the garden. We had some rain and light winds while we were gone and we found it flattened the next morning. 

Pat spent many more hours putting it back together. It wasn’t quite done and we were expecting some intense storms. We moved it too where Pat thought it would be safe. As the storm rolled through the greenhouse rolled into the front yard and up against the maple tree. 

Once more Pat spent hours attempting to straighten it and get it back together. Just a tiny breeze blew through between the house and garage and the greenhouse blew into the car and bent it once again. 

Enough!!!

Pat took the next few minutes kicking out the panels and disassembling the thing.   Then off to the dumpster and recycling with the entire thing. 

What was supposed to be a blessing turned out to be a huge headache and waste of time!

 

New Firepit

 This fire pit was first put in by my dad when he owned the house. We didn’t care for the weeds coming through between the pavers so we tried something different.  The first change was taking out the pavers and putting in ceramic tiles.  That worked great until Pat drove over some of them with the tractor in the winter.  Ceramic tiles and tractors don’t mix.  Cracked tiles.  We covered those with another type of tile that looked good for the summer.  They didn’t fare too well with the winter weather.  

A few weeks ago we pulled up all of the old and installed these new snap-together tiles.  It didn’t take long to find out we didn’t have enough.  Another order only to find out that color was not the same.  I came up with a pattern and I think it looks great!  Here’s to spending time around the campfire!

USS Missouri

After the USS Arizona we went to tour the USS Missouri.  It is in the background of this photo of Tom. 

The guns on this ship were HUGE!

We paid extra and took the captain's tour.  It was much more involved and we got to go places that others didn't.  This note came in telling the troops that the Japanese had surrendered. 

I can't recall the name of this communication device.  Something called a "Girl".  It is used without electricity.  A lot of cranking needed to keep the power. 

The captain's cabin with his bed.

This fancy table set in the captain's cabin. 

The captain's "head".  It is available to use. 

This very spot was where President George W. Bush sat.  

The seamen working in this space need to be able to write backwards.  They write on the back side of this plexiglass so the captain knows where everything is.

A small space where ammo was locked and loaded. 

This space is some sort of room that is always lighted like this.  

Looking through the "looking glass."

This spot on the deck is where the Japanese officially surrendered. 

Such a huge ship.  I certainly would have gotten lost without our guide. 

This is outside on the dock.  Couldn't resist taking the pic.

 

Hawaii Again

This trip to Hawaii we stayed right next door to the condo we stayed in last time.  This condo was much smaller and junkier.  Just not as nice by a long shot.  Still, it was livable.  

We walked the beach and saw another large sea turtle.  We walked the beach twice as that's all the time we had to do it.  

The wind never stopped blowing the entire time as witnessed by these palm trees.  

The temple was closed AGAIN.  We did find a way to serve in it though.  Pat emailed the temple president and asked if there was something we could do to help while it was being cleaned.  We were given the green light to do that so we went both Monday and Tuesday mornings and helped in the laundry.  We folded hundreds of pairs of socks both days.  It was quite satisfying.

I found a lifeguard tower which is exactly the same as the ones I see on Rescue Hi-Surf.  

The views are just as incredible.  I love the sight of the crashing waves with the teal blue water.  

I also love the mountains by Kualoa Ranch.  

The laundry facilities at the condo were horrible so we found a laundromat before coming home.  I loved the sign.  No Ocean Creatures.  haha

We visited the USS Arizona once again.  Such a sacred and solemn place.  

I love the North Shore where you keep driving along the ocean!

This view was taken while we were zip lining.  We were told to look for whales but of course we didn't see any.

This is the beach right next to our condo.  I like the variety of things in this photo.

We zip lined at Climb Works this time.  

The bridges on this zip line were much easier to cross which was the best thing for Tom.  He had a great time!  Awesome guides and a fun group to zip with.