This Guy

Last week Jeremy and I took our first kid-less trip ever since having kids.  It's been a little over 7 years!  Normally I do not like to travel without the girls.  I worry about them, I worry about the sanity of the people watching them, and I worry about something happening to Jeremy and me.  For MY sanity, it is really just better to travel with kids.  But this was a trip where we decided we just could not take the girls with us.

Last Sunday, as Jeremy was traveling to New Orleans to attend his friend's funeral, we got word that his grandfather was not doing well, and the doctor was not giving him long- a few weeks at most.  My mom offered to watch the girls for us so that we could go see him and say our goodbyes.  I actually really debated for a long time about whether or not to bring Shelby.  I didn't want her to be upset at missing the opportunity to say goodbye, but in the end, I knew it would be much more upsetting for her to see Papaw in his condition.

We left Thursday night and headed over to the nursing home early Friday morning.  When we got there we learned that they had taken Papaw over to the hospital for x-rays.  We thought it would be quick, but after visiting with Mamaw all morning and going to eat lunch we decided to head over to the hospital to see what was going on.  They STILL had him in a tiny room in the ER, and would only let 1 person back at a time.  When Jeremy came back in the waiting room after seeing him he told me, "If they hadn't told me what room he was in I would have walked right passed him."  I knew right then we had made the right decision about leaving the girls at home.  Jeremy was right.  Papaw looked nothing like himself.  A shell of himself.  He is battling Alzheimer's, pneumonia, kidney failure, and as we learned Friday, Parkinson's.  After hours in the ER they decided to admit him again.  We spent some time with him in his room.  He tried hard to talk to us, though we could only make out about 1/8 of what he was saying.  At times it was clear he couldn't remember who we were, but a second later we could see that glimmer in his eye that told us he remembered. 

We had really good visits with both Papaw and Mamaw.  It was very hard leaving Papaw, knowing that was likely the last time I will see him alive.  Jeremy is going to try to go back sometime this week.  I am very grateful to have known this guy.  He is kind  and caring.  He is brave- he fought in WWII at Tarawa and Guadalcanal.  Read about him here- http://tarawaontheweb.org/jordan.htm .  He introduced Jeremy to the awesomeness of peanut butter and bacon sandwiches.  Right now we are praying for comfort for him- that he won't live out his last days in pain.  He is just a great, great man, and we love him very much. 

 

Just...sad.

This week has been sad.

Back in junior high, one of Jeremy's good friends committed suicide.  I can't imagine being in junior high and trying to cope with that kind of a situation.

About eight or nine years ago, one of Jeremy's very best childhood friends passed away.  It was sudden and tragic.  Jeremy is a very loving, sentimental person, and this was very hard on him.  I don't think I had seen him cry like that before.

This week, another of Jeremy's best childhood friends- the BROTHER of the friend that had already passed away 8 or 9 years ago (the three of them did everything together)- passed away.  Again sudden and tragic.

It is so hard to see Jeremy sad.  We tried to find all of Jeremy's pictures of him and his friends, but they've either been misplaced or lost in one of our moves.  He has been reminiscing and telling stories and just trying to remember fun times.

I just want to hug him.

The End and The Beginning

Summer has come and gone.  I feel like we did so much, yet not enough.  Moving is hard, and I still feel disorganized and out of place.  But we love the new house and we are loving Rockwall.  We especially love living closer to mom and dad and we feel incredibly lucky to get to spend time with them. 


Mom and dad joined the club at the marina, so we have been having fun going boating with them. 

Shelby showing off on the tube.

 

 

 Here I am water skiing.  This was only the second time ever I have been and I got up every time.  Obviously my form isn't great, but I was pretty proud!

So even though we still should have warm enough weather to swim for at least another month, summer is officially over and school started today.  I was honestly super worried about how Joey would do.  The past few weeks at church she has cried and not wanted to go to her class.  It's so not like her, and I am sure it can all be attributed to the move, but I was very worried she would be clinging to my legs as I walked away from her class.  We spent all last week getting ready- haircuts, new clothes, new shoes, school supplies, meet the teacher, etc.  Then last night Jeremy gave the girls blessings and we put them to bed.  They both woke up super excited.  After her bath, Joey came in to the kitchen where I was making breakfast and I said, "Joey!  Are you so excited about school?!"  She said, "YES!  YES!  Yes, yes, yes!  I'm so exci- WAIT!   Wait, wait, wait, wait.  What if I have to poop at school?!"  I died laughing.  Oh my gosh that kid cracks us up all the time.  Anyway, we went to drop Shelby off first and she told us we could just drop her at the door- we didn't have to walk her in.  What a 2nd grader.  Then we dropped Joey off.  Moment of truth!  She went right in, excitedly put her backpack in her cubby, and sat right down and played with the play-dough.  Both the girls had great days.  Lucy was a little lost without them at home, but I think she will get used to it.

McGrath Reunion 2014

This week, 2/3 of the McGrath kids and my mom and dad were able to meet up for a mini reunion in Surfside, TX.  Surfside is about an hour south of Galveston.  There is absolutely nothing to do in Surfside except go to the beach, but we chose it because we were able to find a house there large enough to accommodate the group.  I actually didn't even mind there being nothing to do, as I envisioned spending every second on the beach, being lazy, and just letting the kids hang out.

When we pulled up on Monday, we were met with a wall of seaweed.  You literally could not walk from the sand to the water, and it covered the entire coast line.  It was insane.  However, we didn't let it bother us.  We got right to work making our path.  First we tried digging a path, but then we realized there were GAZILLIONS of mosquitoes breeding underneath all of the seaweed.  And it smelled AWFUL.  So then we just started dumping tons and tons of sand and made a path to the ocean.  That worked alright and the kids (and all the neighbors) were grateful for the path. 

By Wednesday, the seaweed started clearing up.  There was still a bunch on the sand, but it was drying up and it there wasn't much washing up anymore.  The beach was now ideal for the kids again.  They could go a ways out in the water and it was still only at their waists.  They had fun boogie boarding in the small waves, searching for shells, and just being with their cousins.

Some of the highlights of the trip included glow-in-the-dark zombie tag on the beach (even though we all probably now have Malaria), playing Fishbowl, If/Then, and Telestrations. 

It was a great trip, just wish all of my family could have been there.  I also wish I had gotten more pictures (especially of the adults)

Well, at least we tried to get all three in a picture.

 

 

Aunt Ali is a hit with the girls.

4th of July 2014

We had another fabulous 4th!  Of course, I was sad we would missing the small town Oak Point parade this year, but Rockwall's did not disappoint!  It was just perfect.  Lucy LOVED it.  She was clapping and waving and yelling, "Hiiiiiiiiii!" to the parade participants.  It was cute. 

Later, we went to mom and dad's for dinner and swimming.  Colin and Alison are in town and the girls have been hanging on them like monkeys.  They sure do love their aunts and uncles.  Later in the night we went to the Rowlett fireworks show, where Sheena Easton was performing.  Uhhh, random.  Haha!  But the girls had a great time with their glow sticks and then watching the fireworks.  They were so tired when we got home that Lucy pretty much jumped in her crib.  All in all, it was a great 4th!

Shelby is SEVEN!

Last Saturday Shelby turned 7!  She had been asking for a horse themed party (not sure where that idea came from) for a while, but we told her since we had just moved a few days prior we wouldn't really have a party this year.  Instead, we surprised Shelby with some new boots and Jeremy and my dad took her horse back riding.  She loved it!!  She keeps asking when she will get to go back.

They came back home and we had hamburgers, cake, and ice cream with my mom and dad.  Notice all the boxes in the background!

She loves her big girl Vera Bradley purse and carries it EVERYWHERE.

Happy Birthday to my not-so-little baby!  I can't believe that next year she will be getting baptized!

Back It Up

I guess it is time to finally update the blog.  I just haven't had the time or energy lately to do so, but so much has happened I'm afraid if I don't just do it now I will miss something.

So, going back to March 1.  It was Jeremy's 32nd birthday and our nephew, Owen's, 1st birthday.  Tristan and Ana brought the boys to our house and we had a little party for Owen.  That night, Tristan, Jeremy, and I ran in the Big Easy in Little Elm 5k.  I did a lot better than I expected I would do!  Tristan won 1st place for his age division!

 

 

You may be wondering why I am wearing a "Vote for Flores" shirt in the picture.  Back around February I became the campaign manager for THREE candidates running for school board.  You wouldn't think that a school board election for a small(ish) town would be too much work.  You would be wrong.  This was life consuming.  We even worked with our local state rep, and in the end, ALL THREE candidates beat the incumbents, which is pretty unheard of, and we had a record turnout for voting. 

 



 

During that time we also decided to put our house up for sale and look for something closer to my mom and dad.  I have to say that selling a house this time around was far less painful than the last time.  Don't get me wrong...keeping your house "show ready" at all times with three little kids sucks.  But at least I had Jeremy here with me the whole time, and the house sold in 3 weeks.  We close in 3 days, and close on our new house in Rockwall in 4 days!  We are so ready to be settled in.  Throughout this whole process, we've had a lot of mixed feelings:

 

1) Leaving Little Elm - There is a lot of growth happening in LE right now.  We have loved living in a small town, but close to the city.  There are a lot of new, fun things, being built in LE right now that I guess we will miss out on.  However, we are excited to get to explore a new city.  We are basically moving from one lake (Lewisville Lake) to another (Lake Ray Hubbard). 

 

2) Leaving our ward.  There are definitely some friends that we will miss from our ward.  However, at this point I feel a sigh of relief to be leaving.  The dynamic in our ward has completely changed.  There is a lot of dissent, gossip, cliques, and people just outright not being good members of the church.  It's just weird.  Not to say every member is like this, but there is too much going on for my comfort.  I have no idea what our new ward will be like, but I am hoping for a much more peaceful ward where we can focus on the Gospel and not the drama.

 

3) Leaving our house.  We always knew this wasn't a long term house and that we would sell when it made sense.  But, we've brought 2 babies home to this house, and made lots of good memories, so there is always going to be an emotional attachment.  BUT, I am also SUPER excited to move to the new house with LOTS more counter/cabinet space, more bathrooms (which don't really matter now, but I keep telling Jeremy he will thank me for as the girls get older), and an overall better layout that will allow us to enjoy the house more.  I am also determined to actually decorate the new house, and not leave everything blank and bare.

 

That's about it in terms of updates go.  I am excited to post lots of pics of the new house!