Weekend

Dad was on "Cruz Control" pretty much the whole weekend. Shawn was able to come home from work around 4 o'clock on Friday. He came over to my parents and picked Cruz up so I could help my mom out with my dad. Shawn and Cruz went to Cabela's. The boys had a great time checking out all the stuffed/real animals on display. Shawn took pictures on his phone, so I will post those once I get those off his phone. Saturday Shawn was able to do a 40 mile bike ride in the morning and then he and Cruz went up to the Normans on Mt. Aire. Marc and Cat have this beautiful mountain home, they also have a white turnado, Yeti, a yellow lab which Cruz loves. Marc is trying to get some work done on his home so Cruz and Shawn went and offered their services. Luckily Cat was around to help monitor Cruz. Shawn just kept telling me what a blast Cruz had. They were able to go on a little hike and Cruz did most of the hiking. Shawn said he was panting the whole way!! Sunday morning we met our friends Doug, Terena, and Alex (6 months old) and hiked Katherines Pass up at Alta. It was nice to get outside and spend some family time. I then headed for my parents and Shawn and Cruz had some more daddy-son time.

Saturday at my parents house, randomly my dads brother and sister happened to show up at our home at the same time (unplanned). My dads brother, Stan, lives in California, and his sister, Nina, lives in Phoenix. I consider this a small miracle. Stan shared stories of the 3 of them when they were little, it was a very special time for them. It brought tears to my eyes as they shared wonderful stories about my dad. It brought a smile to my dads face, and that was the best part of it all. Sunday was a very hard day for us. My dad was having difficulty breathing and it scared him. He started to get very anxious and we could not calm him down. We ended up calling the hospice nurse to bring oxygen and some drugs to calm my father down. I can't imagine a worse feeling. He is with it enough to know that he can't breath, but his body is so broken at this time he can't get his body to clear his throat or fix it....what an awful feeling!! I would be freaked out at well. It was very stressful for my dad, my mom, and my mother. We don't want him to have to face that fear again during this ordeal...it was awful. We hope and pray this day goes smoother and that when my dads body does completely shut down it is peaceful and not frightening. We just have to take it hour by hour.

Happy 24th of July

The 24th of July is the day the Mormon Pioneers came off the Rockies and overlooked the valley and declared Salt Lake their home. In Utah there is a big parade downtown and fireworks at night. Local companies usually give their employees the day off but most national companies do not recognize it as a holiday. So, unfortunately, Shawn did not have the day off. Rebecca and I took Cruz to the beginning part of the parade. It is a huge parade and lasts about 3 hours. Cruz needs his morning nap, so we didn't stay too long. Besides, I think Cruz had more fun going up to all the people waiting for the parade and saying hi. My good friend Sherri was kind enough to come and watch Cruz for the afternoon while I could spend some time with my dad. Tonight Shawn, Cruz, and I had the opportunity to go to dinner with my good childhood friend Karen Carpenter McMinn. She was basically my big sister growing up. Her and her husband Doug live in Virginia, so I don't get to see her much. We had a fun time catching up!

Funny Kid

Cruz does the funniest things sometimes. Yesterday I was going to get something out of the fridge and this is what I found. Cruz got tired of caring his ghetto blaster around the house, so he decided to give it a rest on the fridges handle. He was off playing when I saw this and I had to take a picture.

Little Cruz man also is really into climbing. He loves to climb on the chairs, I think he feels like a big boy when he sits in the chair without his booster.

Tonight I was trying to get dinner ready and Shawn was working late. I turned on a Baby Einstein video. Usually he only sits still for about 2 minutes, but it was worth a shot. Cruz actually watched it for about 15 minutes. He didn't sit still though :) He started in his chair and then I found him in front of his chair, and then he was rolling around on a red chair but still watching the video. Hey, at least I didn't burn dinner!!

Kindness

I am so amazed at the love and kindness that has been poured out on my family at this difficult time. I hope that I can be as kind to people when they are going through a challenging time in their life. Since moving into our new house I haven't really had the time to get to really know our neighbors and ward members. One example of the many acts of kindness that has been poured out on me personally is a woman in my ward approached me at church and had heard about my families situation. Her best friend is my parents best friends daughter in law, small world!! Anyway, she offered to take Cruz whenever. I took her up on the offer on July 10th. I had to help my mom out and get ready for a shower I was having at our house. She has 4 kids and Cruz loved playing with her kids. It was so kind of her to take him. But not only that, her friend that knows my parents is a professional photographer and she came over and took some pictures of Cruz. It was all a surprise to me, and Jen, the girl in my ward came and brought me a disk with some pictures of Cruz on it and one picture blown up for me to go and frame and give to my dad. I started crying when she gave me the picture.....it was so thoughtful of both woman and so kind.

Bear Rattle Slippers

We are lucky enough to be the hand-me-down recipients of my cousin Wendy. She has 3 boys and her youngest is turning 2. We have thankfully received bags and bags of cute boy clothes for Cruz. I found these slippers on Cruz's shelf tonight and decided to put them on his feet. It has been so hot here that the thought of something hot on his feet sounds a bit sweaty, but I thought he would get a kick out of the rattles that are inside the bears heads. He was so funny in them. He would walk around the house with his little hands behind his back and then he would stop every once in a while to look down at them. I couldn't stop laughing at him.

He is also getting so smart. We were over at my parents this afternoon. My parents have a white board in their bedroom with markers on the ledge. Cruz likes to take the markers off of the ledge and put them other places. He was caring the markers around today and I asked him to put the markers back and he went right for the white board and put them on the ledge. Also, the other day I said lets put your shoes on, and he reached down for his feet. It still totally amazes me what these little brains can pick up in just 14 months.

Today I have had the opportunity to email with a woman who is going through this horrible ordeal with her husband Dave. It is strangely bizarre how similar our stories are. Shawn was doing some field work with a woman who works out of HDR's Boise office. He mentioned his father-in-law is suffering with CJD. She then said she knows 2 people in Boise that have died of CJD and another friend who is going through it right now. His family set up a caring bridge site for him as well. Shawn gave his coworker our site and she gave us this families. What is crazy about the whole situation is that both men were diagnosed on practically the same day at the end of May and both of them are basically at the same place in the disease. It has been nice to exchange a couple of emails with his wife to just see how they are handling some issues that are so particular to this disease. It is such a fast moving horrible disease a lot of health care professionals don't even know how to adequately care for patients and be ahead of the curve with this one. They seem like a very nice family and my heart goes out to them.

Weekend Away

My brother Rich came into town this weekend to spend some time with my dad and to help my mom out. We decided to take a couple of days and go up to Swan Valley. Rebecca invited a couple of friends and Shawn, Cruz, and I hung out in Idaho. We spent most of the day on the boat yesterday. Cruz loved to drive the boat. Also, Cruz loved to hang out with the neighbors dogs.

Cruz is doing the funniest thing when he walks around. He clasps his hands behind his back and just walks around...it is the cutest thing!! Also, he is saying "ball" pretty clearly. He does say mommy and daddy but not always for us. He also says, "nine", and I think he means mine but I am not sure.

random stuff

I feel like I haven't posted in a while. Life has been kind of busy for us. Cruz and I have our morning routine and then usually we go up to my parents house for his afternoon nap, sometimes, he stays home and naps at home with a babysitter. I like to get up to my parents at least once a day to see my dad and to help my mom. She is pretty much confined to my dads side and so when I come over she has a little bit of time to get the mail, run to the grocery store, or go out and water her plants. We do have a gentleman who has been coming and helping out everyday, but my dad still prefers a family member to be with him as well. He is already confused and he gets more confused if one of us aren't with him.

Cruz has the funniest personality....very busy too! Lately he likes to walk around the house with a mini getto blaster (you can see it in one of the pictures). He just pushed the play button over and over and little tunes come out. Maybe he is taking after his Uncle Ryan?

Cruz has this tractor that he puts toy cows, horses, pigs, and sheep into. Lately he has been into sitting himself in the tractor part and pressing the button that makes the tractor go. I can see his little mind trying to figure out why it is not moving when he is sitting on it, but it moves when the animals are in it. It is too funny!

Also, he is really into climbing. Shawn found him on top of the kitchen table the other night. I found him up on top of our desk playing with the phone. If we leave a chair out, he climbs right up onto it. He thinks he is such a big boy!!!

The last few picture are of 2 of our islands in our front yard. My friend wanted me to post some pictures of them, I am so proud how they look now!!

Los Angeles Film Festival....

Rich is on the far right
I have more bragging to do.....:) The Los Angeles Film Festival just ended last week, and my brother Rich, is basically in charge of the entire event. It is a HUGE production and he works all year for this 2 week film festival. He was happy with the festivals success this year. He has taken it from a small festivals to one of the premier festivals in the world. I have attached a link that you can go to if you want to read about the festival.


http://www.fest21.com/blog/editor/a_conversation_between_richard_raddon_director_of_the_los_angeles_film_festival_and_stephanie_ronnet

4th of July

Shawn and Cruz at the pool!

We had a nice family day today. The 3 of us went for a hike up Bells Canyon this morning before it got too hot!! After lunch we headed to the community pool. I loved having Shawn there to watch Cruz at the pool. Cruz is so curious and good in the water. He even lets us take him under (we learned that at swimming class back in January). After the pool we came home and all took naps, and then it was some fun time in the yard. For dinner we went up to my parents house and fixed brats....it was a good ol' fashioned Mid Western dinner. I have always loved the 4th of July...I have wonderful memories as a child of fun family events on the 4th. I hope we can create those for our little family.

Mommy and Cruz
Gramps and Cruz. Cruz loves his grandpa, he always goes up to him and pats him.

Me, Cruz, and Grandpa, 4th of July 2008