Caring

 Meet Caring, mom's wonderful caregiver.  

We stumbled upon her a few years ago and she has been amazing.  She comes every week for four hours to give me a break...to get mom "off my shoulders" and give me a few hours of worry free time.  She also has watched mom for some extended time when I've gone to Utah or just a respite to the beach.  I know when Caring is there, mom's in good hands.  Thank you for all of your care and love for mom.  You are a blessing to our family.

Happy Easter

Our Easter celebration looked pretty traditional with the dying of eggs, a hunt for candy eggs in the backyard, and a Honey Baked ham, Kris' potatoes, and strawberry shortcake for dinner.  Oh, did I mention the cute basket and chocolate bunny from Gale?  Owen found a a new way to wear the basket!

COVID 19--Quarantine Update

 Life is more normal...vaccines are being administered...church is in person but RS and SS are still virtual

...my calendar from last March is vastly different than this years!!

last year--cleaning, pain doctor, Olga, RS, and 
book group were all canceled!  General Conference was
virtual.

This year!!

Wyatt had a volleyball tournament in Garden Grove and they opened it up to two parents each, so I went with Amy to watch.  May goodness, he has really gotten good.

While he was warming up, Amy and I went for a walk around the neighborhood and found a backyard full of chickens!!  A kind, older man brought out a couple eggs for us.

How else have we spent our time?

I spent a lot of time working on Amy's "Mortensen Journal"

I spent an hour walking around the temple.

We got our first strawberries...delicious!

Emma and I went shopping for new summer clothes.

A bike ride around Mile Square Park was beautiful.

Caring noticed that mom's blouse matched the flowers that she got for her birthday, and took a picture.

I spent some time deep cleaning Amy's bedroom--cleaning the rail and baseboards, washing the curtains, cleaning out the drawers and closet, and getting a new comforter.  It looks like a new room!

Kris' Temple Endowment

 After preparing for quite some time, Kris finally made it to the temple.  It was wonderful to be in the temple again, but even more special sharing it with my sister-in-law.  

I'm afraid I left as soon as I got dressed because I needed to get back to mom. 
I missed out on the picture!

Carlsbad

I hadn't been away since September, so I really needed a little respite from the worries of caring for mom.  Caring stayed with her, so I was able to drive down the coast and stay two nights in Carlsbad.  It was just what the doctor ordered.

This was the view from my room...absolutely amazing!! 

On Wednesday, I took a long walk to the Oceanside pier.  It was a leisurely walk with stops along the way to "smell the roses".  The sun was shining, the flowers were in bloom, and there were some interesting things to look at along the way.

I felt I was in England when I saw this!

I had an urge to hop on the train and see where
this track went!

Interesting piece of artwork in a traffic circle.

lots of flowers

Better knowns as PCH!

When I finally made it to the pier, I was excited to see that there was a Ruby's and started thinking about what I wanted for my late lunch.  Sadly, when I got to the end of the pier, it was closed!  For Good!!  Like the HB one!!!  So sad!!!!

The beach was certainly not like HB.  Rocks and more rocks!  I thought that I could walk all the way from Carlsbad to Oceanside on the sand but I ended up on roads.I guess we are pretty spoiled with the beautiful beach at Huntington.

That evening, there was a pretty sunset, but an even prettier moon.

I slept well, having walked a record number of steps!!

The next morning was spent lazing at the beach out my front door...and then a quick stop at the San Clemente outlets.  Guess what I found there?!  YUMMY!!

Happy Birthday Mom

 Because of COVID, we had three small birthday celebrations for mom.  The first was an "adults only" party at Milo and Gales where Mark and Kris helped celebrate.

On Sunday, we went out to Amy's to have a second party.  After a wonderful dinner, she opened presents and had banana cream pie.

And finally, her actual birthday!  She had strawberry shortcake for breakfast (because on your birthday, you can do anything you want!).  Birthday pancakes were eaten for dinner, and she donned her new Laker shirt to root her favorite team on to victory!!  Happy birthday mom.

Monday's Memory--Dried Flowers

 While I was cleaning out Amy's closet, I came across two treasures!!  The first one was an old pair of her pointe shoes.  

They had originally been used as a table decoration at the end of the year banquet for her ballet studio.  I had a friend, Marsh Clawson, spruce them up and paint them colors that went in Amy's bedroom, and there they stayed on a shelf for many years.  After she got married, they got relegated to the top of her closet, hoping that she would have a daughter that loved ballet as much as her.  Nope!  Dance is not Emma's passion, so they stayed in the closet.  I know a few years ago, I took a picture of these gems, intending to throw them out, but I couldn't do it! Back in the closet they went.  Until today.  Another picture and out they went!

The other gem was the flowers that held her wedding veil.  It's been up there for 20 years!!  I called Amy to see if she wanted me to keep it...and nope!  Out it went with the shoes!