Saying a Final Goodbye

I traveled to San Diego this weekend to join my siblings to spread out dad's ashes over the ocean. Tina's parents live near San Diego and were gracious enough to let us stay at their house and took us out on their boat. Ralph and Abby Dickman have been so wonderful to us. Kathy flew out to Las Vegas, met up with Sharon, and the two of them drove out here with Dad's ashes. Bill, Tina, Billy, and Eliza came out earlier in the week so they could go to Disneyland. I flew out here on Friday and will be heading home tomorrow. We went out on the boat yesterday and it was absolutely fitting that the weather was overcast and it felt like being back in Bandon. The waves were kind of choppy and we laughed and screamed as if we were on a roller coaster ride. Along the way, a bunch of dolphins joined us, swimming along with the boat. It was really fun watching them swim in front of us and around us, jumping out of the water. After we got far enough out on the ocean, Bill said a nice prayer and we spread Dad's ashes in the ocean. Then we headed back to the harbor and had some fish and chips, walked along the pier, and headed back to the Dickman's house. After some games, movies, and some time in the hot tub, the day was over. Sharon and Kathy had to take off this morning and Bill headed home this morning since all of them have work tomorrow. I'm here one more night and then I will be back in Utah. It was a great experience and I'm glad we could get together out here. I wish Rick could have been here. I hope it won't be our last chance to get together as siblings.

Watch Out for the Glass!

The turn signal lightbulb went out on the truck and Emerson went to change the bulb for me. The bulb was really stuck and in the process of pushing it in and turning it, the bulb broke and sliced into his thumb. It took awhile to stop the blood from spurting, but he seems to mostly be okay. He is just inconvenienced by a very sore thumb this week. Today, Dexter managed to trip while walking out of his bedroom and stabilized himself by putting his hand through the glass of the pantry cabinet door. If you really need to see the results, check out Dexter's Facebook page. Of course I didn't want to be left out, so when I came home and tried cleaning up some glass shards the vacuum missed, one of the shards managed to make its way into my thumb. Feeling rather wimpy at this point, I ended up asking Dexter to pull the glass out for me. It's probably a good thing Dwayne isn't here since he's a fainter...

Challenge Over, Life Continues

The 100-Day Heart Challenge is now over and I came in 4th. In addition to losing 25 pounds, I lost about 3% body fat, brought my glucose down from pre-diabetic to normal level, lowered my blood pressure from a scary high level to practically normal, and made dramatic changes to my triglycerides level. I'm so happy to be healthier and I plan on continuing with what I learned during the challenge. We ended things with a 5K and I even sprinted the last 200 yards of that (because a friend challenged me to). I have a lot more weight to lose, but I plan on doing it the proper way. Emerson and I have been going to the gym together and we're both trying to eat healthier. Some of my coworkers go walking with me for a mile or so most days and we're helping keep tabs on each other.

So here is what our little family has been up to lately:
Emerson is finishing his special education certification this summer. His classes are done and now he just needs to pass off his student teaching and pass the Praxis exam. He has been working like a maniac to get our yard ready for July 4th festivities with the family. Dwayne has moved to Chicago to sell home security systems for the summer. It has been tough for him to be so far away from family and sales work has been very tough. Dexter finished his junior year of high school and he's continuing the job search. He has pioneer trek at Martin's Cove coming up on Monday. I have been very busy at work with various fundraising events. I was happy to get our garden in and it's one of my best sources of sanity. I sure do love to watch things grow!