Back to Life...Thankful as Ever

Sorry about the break. Last week was a hard week and now I am even more appreciative of the moments I have with my beautiful family. My younger sister's husband was killed in a car accident on the 17th so a few days were spent with her planning and helping with the funeral and burial. It was very hard to see my sister become a widow at the age of 27. I had never been through an actual funeral planning that intimately before, it was very humbling. Amy asked me to sing at the funeral which I was honored to do, but frightened to death because I knew how hard it would be to sing while my sister was in tears. The funeral ended up being beautiful. Amy even spoke and so did Toby's mother and it was a great celebration of his life. I know she's going to have a hard road ahead, but she is being stronger than I thought she would be. I pray for her continued strength and peace, especially for her boys. The evening after the funeral, my stepmom's father passed away so my parents left first thing the next morning to fly back East to bury him. To finalize the week, this past Saturday, my father-in-law borrowed our 4-wheeler to go out riding with some friends and ran over his leg, breaking his ankle in a couple of places and having to have surgery Sunday morning. Thankfully, he is doing okay, but it is very hard for that man to sit still so we will see how the "resting" part of the plan goes!

Needless to say, I am thankful for this new week - school's out, new beginnings, and happier endings I hope! I have just finished checking in on some of your blogs and it's so wonderful to see some happy pictures and beautiful spring/summer weather.
We have been spoiled with not having to run the AC too much yet because the weather has been hot/cool back and forth lately. I believe it will start warming up for good now...

It is wonderful school is out and activities are wrapped up for now. I have this week and next week left for T-ball/machine pitch/softball games and then we will be done for good. We are going to leave on our family trip up through Bryce Canyon and to go fishing next week so I am busy this week preparing our trailer for takeoff. I need to sew new curtains and cushion covers and put new shelf liner in all of the drawers as long as organize all of the storage situations in there. I love camping in our trailer. It makes life a whole lot easier when you have a crew of children to pack/unpack/and go to the bathroom at night! It should be a great time and I will post pics when we get home.

I'm posting some pics of Trista's field trip to Zion and our family trip to the Grand Canyon. We went out with Jon and the other exchange students and it was beautiful! The kids really loved it and it was nice to get away for a day.

I also wanted to mention that I was hired down at the gym to teach a couple of aerobics classes along with substituting when they need me. The great thing about the classes - they are Silver Sneakers classes, which are classes specifically designed for senior citizens. When I went today, there were over 20 in the class and we had a blast. You would be surprised how well some of those seniors can move. Anyway, it's been a great time and sometimes more fun than the younger groups! Maybe they'll let me take some pictures of them and I'll post them. We'll see! Well, that's about all for now. It's good to have a break from school, from dancing, and from grief! So seize the day, my friends, because you never know when it's your last! (Seriously) Love you all!