We are in the midst of our longest visit with Mom. The days pass quickly, as always. Mom makes daily improvements and is even getting some of her emotions back.
Gerald and Frances came to visit over the weekend. Ben and Jes also came at the last minute. They stayed through the weekend and both families returned home on Monday. What a wild time we had! The kids frolicked through the house and yard. Mom loved it. She wanted to be in the middle of it all so she continued to relax in her living room chair and enjoy all the action around her. Ben and Jes' girls gave her an especially frequent amount of attention, trying to cheer and help her. Each evening we all gathered in Mom's bedroom for a family prayer. That was an especially warm and sweet time.
This past weekend was General Conference and Apple Fest in Cedaredge. Apple Fest is a yearly celebration of the apple harvest. The town turns into a festival of booths of all sorts. Food, including apples, are abundant as well as booths selling all sorts of arts and crafts, clothes, books and etc. The center of it all is the park, which was full of fun for the kids and offered live music by various groups throughout the day. It was cloudy, drippy and cool. All of us bundled up and went. It was lots of fun but the cold shortened our time there. I would have liked to shop through the booths but came home with everyone else instead. Layne was happy for that!
Sunday we watched Conference on the computer. All of us, kids and grown-ups, gathered in the living room to watch and listen. Ben set things up to work very well. The kids were quite good throughout the first session. They were playing together by the second session. All in all I think it worked fine. I'm grateful to be able to watch it all again on the computer whenever I desire. We live in a magical time.
By Sunday afternoon Alexis was throwing up. It was hard to call her really sick because she would be off to play as soon as her sick session was over. The kids checked out the calves in the pasture and played in the barn. By evening just about all the rest of the kids were throwing up and/or feeling sick. It was quite a night! Monday morning everyone left, with sick kids in tow, and the place fell quiet. We all missed the happy noise, even Mom.
It is Thursday now and we are once again adjusted to our peaceful days. Mom receives regular therapy from visiting therapists and our time fills up with care of her and general home duties. We don't see very many people except for the occasional visitor for Mom and the therapists. I like these peaceful days. Layne provides great help and wonderful companionship. We took Mom and drove up to the Mesa to see the color of the changing leaves. I was disappointed that we seem to have missed the peak color of this season. But it was still beautiful!
Pictures: top is Angelica, Jacqueline and William on the hay; middle are kids watching General Conference; bottom is Angelica, Jacqueline and Alexis with the calfs. Just above are the aspens on Cedar Mesa with Surface Creek Valley beyond.
