Gma/Gpa Close Diagnosis (Surprise visit from Young's)

 Well, a lot has happened the last few months. Back in February, the doctors found a brain tumor in Grandma Close. They were able to get her on the schedule to have it removed the very beginning of April. The doctors sounded pretty promising and optimistic that it would be removed and not have any lasting effects on her. We were all still a little nervous just not knowing for sure. 

Then the Friday before Grandma's surgery we got word that Grandpa Close got diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia (a very agressive type of cancer). He had been working in AZ on Tara and Johnny's new property/house being built and came home to be with Grandma for her surgery. He had nocited that he was a lot more sluggish lately and couldn't run his normal 3-4 miles every morning. So he went in for a regular annual physical and after more extensive testing found he had cancer. The doctor said it had progressed so far that if he did no treatments at all, he would have about 3-12 weeks left to live 😳. The miracle of it is if Grandma didn't have her brain tumor, he would not have come home and by the time they found the cancer he may not have had a chance to fight it. 

So here we are today. He just finished his 3rd round of chemo and actually seems to be doing remarkable given the circumstances. On Thursday he does another bone marrow biopsy and a week from tomorrow will get the results if his body is ready for the bone marrow transplant. Cade is the match/donor for the transplant. If Dale's body is ready then they will collect from Cade on the 20th (and possibly the 21st) if more is needed). We are praying for a good outcome and many more good years ahead (if that is God's will). 

These picutres are from the weekend before Grandma's surgery and right after Grandpa's diagnosis. The Young's felt like they wanted to be there to just spend some time with both of them. Not the best circumstances, however, we always ejoy seeing them. 

Pics of Grandma in the hospital soon after her surgery. It was a couple weeks of rough recovery but now she is almost 3 months post surgery and she is doing great! Completely recovered!

Taking Grandpa to chemo infusion appointments at the hospital. 

There is still a lot of unknown for the future. We don't know God's will with Granpa's life and when it will be his time to go. But we have been trying to take advantage of the time we do have with them on this earth. We are very grateful for the plan of Salvation and know that families are forever. What a blessing. 

St. Patty's Day

 This year we had Grandma Bleak and Ava and Adlee come to our green dinner (since Gma was watching them while Kristen and Andrew were out of town). 

Temple Trips!

 It's been so fun to have 3 of our girls be able to go to the temple to perform baptisms for the dead. Nora is super excited since she is new to it but all 3 willing go anytime I set up appointments. Emma can drive and so she sometimes takes them all by herself. 

At the new Lindon Temple open house:

Benny Itty Bitty and Lucy Basketball and Lot of Other Fun

 Benson did itty bitty ball for 3 months and hated going only half the time haha. But he enjoyed hockey (rolling on his butt on scooters) and football (throwing the ball into the net). It was super cute to watch. Grandma Close came and watched a lot too!

Lucy did basketball with Evelyn and Sloan and loved it! One game she had over 20 points! We lost track. She finally found a team sport she enjoys. Hopefully she keeps enjoying it!

Home Depot craft with Daddy!

Lucy and her friend Anna sand and played ukelele's for the school talent show. They did such a good job! Anna had never played the ukelele but Lucy taught her and they learned it in a couple weeks (thanks Grandma Bleak for teaching Lucy!). 

Emma is obssessed with Utah Mammoth hockey team and wishes she could go to every game. She has even started taking ice skating lessons because of it. 

I also took Emma to a concert by Alexander Stewart with Madi Waite and her mom Jeneane. It was super fun. I loved seeing how excited Emma would get when he would start playing her favorite songs. 

Us and the Swan family went with the Nettisheim's to their cabin in Eden, Utah. SOOOOO much fun! I love their cabin. 

Sledding at Tibble Fork

 It finally snowed a little bit! Man, this has been the warmest winter in Utah in the almost 40 years I've been alive. Very. Little. Snow. But there was on storm that gave us enough to go up the canyon and sled (not even enough to sled at our house!). We brought Nora's friend Amelia and we had a great time. AND...no one got hurt. Bonus!!

Pres. Day Weekend in St. George!

Reese's Soccer tournament brought us to St. George again this year. We love going down there and LOVE that Grandma and Grandpa Bleak own a place down there for us to stay!  So awesome. And it's' beautiful and spacious enough for at least 3 families to go down together. 

Saying "hi" to Uncle Steve (Grandpa Bleak's brother). We love Steve!

We had lots of fun after we got through the first night down there. Cade and I drove separately because of his work and Emma wanting to drive back early for a group date. But the first night Cade had so much chest pain he thought he was maybe having a heart attack. I woke up about 2:00 in the morning with him sitting up in bed and in tons of pain. He finally was able to crawl to the bathroom and get enough strength to get in the car and let me take him to the ER. Poor Reese woke up to me saying to him "do you need me to call an ambulance?!" She was very worried and needed sleep for her soccer game that next day. I took him in and after lots of tests and blood work we found out he had pleurisy-- an infection of the lining of the lungs. The pain was right by his heart and so it felt like a heart attack. He was forced to rest the whole trip and pretty much stay in bed. We got him some medication and an inhaler and he slowly got better after a week to 2 weeks. 

He had been under so much pressure and stress at work from his new CEO that was hired a couple months before. There were several people at Fishbowl that had Cade's back and told the bosses that this CEO pretty much single handedly put Cade in the ER. That work day right before was a terrible day and this new hire was not good for Cade or the company. Luckily she got fired the week after this St. George episode. The whole company was grateful. But we are glad Cade is okay!!

So other things from the trip--we did a lot of the usual...watched Reese play soccer, played games, did some hiking, lots of swimming and hot tubbing, playing at the park, and did baptisms at the temple. But we also did a Valentines party all together and that was super fun! Emma got to go to parade of homes with Sisten and Andrew and loved that. 

We visited our friends, Wade and Sherri Beatty that we met in Israel. They live in Hurricane and loved seeing their place and all of their creatures/animals they have. Jane fell in love with the snake and loved it around her neck! They road horses and their little go-kart. We love those people and they make our kids feel so loved too!

Always good times in St. George!