Sibling Love in the Big Apple

My older brother  just finished his Dermatology Residency in Chicago and got this awesome Cosmetic fellowship in Manhattan. He was going to go look for Apartments over Memorial day and last minute asked my sister and I to come and we did not need to be asked twice.  Plus I don't think he could have done it without our help.

We took the red eye flight and were not able to check into our hotel until later that afternoon so don't mind the tired eyes in these first pictures. 

Our hotel.

We saw Pippen on Broadway

We had dessert at a restaurant called Max Brenner, an awesome chocolate lover's paradise and highly recommended.

We walked around everywhere looking for tiny apartments for astronomical amounts of money. This is the new dermatologist in front of one of his clinics in the Upper East side. 

We ate a lot of great food, but this was hands down the best breakfast I have EVER had. If you are ever in NYC make reservations at NORMAS and order the crunchy french toast, I think the syrup was straight up caramel.

I am sad he is moving further and further away from us, but I  am glad that I will now have somewhere to stay when I come visit.

BBQ on the roof top.

Although I felt like we were house hunting most of the time and my feet were killing me forcing me to buy some tennis shoes,  it was a fabulous trip and I was glad I got to spend it with these two.

Fun in the hot Arizona sun

We loved the time that we lived in Arizona. I had moved there for school, but it was much more enjoyable to get married and bring Jake out there with me and start our married life together. We have always said that we could see ourselves living there in the future, but I will tell you one thing that I didn't miss...that dang, blistering hot sun with not a single cloud in the sky.  I think when you live there your body gets accustomed to being hot all the time, but coming back I was definitely unprepared and it was barely in the 100s when we were there. We went down for one of my best PA gal's wedding. We went out early to go to Gannon's graduation party, but he was signed with the Dolphins and flew to Miami and didn't get the chance to walk or have his big party.  It was fun to extend the trip a few days and spend time with our second family, The Bradshaws and friends. 

We went to Schnepf Farms to pick peaches because it was surprisingly peach season there.

Lunch at the Olive Mill, with every kind of olive oil you could think of including chocolate.

Spent a lot of time at the pool with Parker, at the Bradshaws.

We went to Parker's last Orchestra Performance!

The new Gilbert Temple is absolutely Beautiful, but was closed when we went, which was fine since I brought Jake's old Temple recommend anyways.

Pizza from SAUCE.

The Beautiful Bride's wedding dinner.

Spent Saturday before the wedding lounging and eating at the Ritz Carlton in Tuscon like we were actual guests.

The wedding location was so Awesome!

Gannon was able to come back for the wedding which made Jake very happy!

I love dancing at Weddings, especially when everyone else besides the Mormons are a little tipsy.

Bahama Bucks, Jake is now a snow cone snob to anything else.

If you are ever in Az, eat here. They have a Farm in the back where all their food comes from and it is delicious.

Decided to finish off the post with some more food. Lucilles BBQ not even the slightest bit healthy, but the best biscuits ever. 

We had a wonderful little get away with good food and even better company!

NYC

Sometimes when your sister is going through a really rough time you book a last minute trip to Manhattan for a getaway!

See ya in two and a half weeks NYC!

GRANDPA SMART

This may be a long post, but I want to be able to go back and reread the details.
I have been extremely fortunate to not experience the death of someone close to me. My sister died when she was about 1 year old, but it was before I was born. My dad's father passed away a little over a week ago and I knew the time would come because he was 87 and his health was deteriorating, but it was much harder than I had anticipated.

I was always close to my grandparents, but when I lived in Logan for college I grew extremely close. The team started preseason training before we were allowed to move into our apartment for the school year, so "my soccer girls" ,as my grandparents called them, and I would stay a couple of weeks every summer at their house. My grandparents would always make us feel at home. They made us food even though the school gave us money to eat, my grandma did our laundry and my grandpa would make sure that every car fit in the driveway at night. My friends started to call them grandpa and grandma by the end our the first summer stay.

They were also some of my biggest fans and they never missed a single home game. I can still vividly picture my Grandpa in his Utah State hat sitting at the end of the top row of the bleachers. They always got to my games abnormally early so I could find them. They cut out every news article about me in the Statesman and the Herald Journal and for some weird reason made lots of copies and gave me one, my parents one, and put it on their fridge and in a separate binder. They brought groceries and treats unexpectedly to my apartment and let me throw a big graduation party for Jenn and I at their house. I have so many memories of my college experience with them in it.

This is my favorite picture of him when he was younger.

He entered the Navy in WWII when he was so young.

It was a Thursday when my dad came home from work and told me that an ambulance had taken Grandpa to the emergency department at Logan Regional hospital.  My mom said that we could go up after work the next day so I asked my dad to be honest and let me know if he would still be there. He said that he was really sick, but wasn't sure. I felt like I should go up that night because if I didn't I knew I would regret it. When I walked into his hospital room I just started to cry. He looked so frail and helpless and literally looked 90 lbs and probably was.  He has always been very skinny from being a marathon runner, but this was a sickly skinny and it hadn't been that long since I had seen him. He was also writhing around in pain, changing positions and was struggling to breath. I grabbed his arm and asked him if he was alright and he replied "I don't know, my whole body hurts" and then moaned and tried sucking for more air. It literally broke my heart and I thought somebody needs to do something. He needs more pain medication and needs to be intubated. I guess when they had arrived they wanted to intubate him, but because of his living will/DNR they couldn't. They also couldn't give him more pain medications because it would cause more respiratory depression and he already had aspiration pneumonia and fluid filled lungs. So as unbearable as it was, we sat and watched. At 10:30 pm my mom said we needed to drive home so I could go to work the next day. They were transferring him to the ICU and I hoped he could pull through. Everyone left his room while they got a urine sample and I went back in alone with him and said I had to leave. He has struggled with some Dementia, but I know he was fully aware of what was going on and who I was at that moment. I told him I loved him and that I would see him tomorrow, kissed him on the head and he told me he loved me, for what I didn't know would be the last time.

The next day at work I was just checking my phone constantly because I told my dad to keep me updated. He told me that his vital signs were about the same, but he was less responsive than what he had been the night before. I got a phone call from my dad at about 1:30 pm and I could tell he was choked up. He told me that the doctor had just come in and talked to my grandma and the children. He told them that he had some sort of infection, but weren't sure where it was coming from. If they wanted to keep him alive they would have to intubate him, transfer him to IMC where he would need a blood transfusion, dialysis and may be in a care center. We all knew this is not what he would have wanted, but in the moment you want to do everything that can be done. My dad said that they had decided to let him go and that I should come up. I immediately broke down and left work. I was bawling in the car with no Kleenex, so I was wiping snot all over my shirt and praying I would make it up in time and be able to see the road. I was in Ogden when my dad text me and said is blood pressure was 54/28 and he had maybe an hour. I then started to drive about 90 mph and thought if there was a cop out I would at least have a good excuse and be able to get out of a ticket.

I ran up to his room to silence and all my aunts and uncles looked exhausted from staying up all night. I kissed him on his head again, but this time he didn't respond at all, didn't even open his eyes. He just lay there doing this thing I had only learned about, Cheyne-Stokes breathing, its a sort of death rattle that happens before people die. It didn't take long, which I believe is a tender mercy from the lord, because I arrived at 4 pm and he left us at 6pm. The hardest part was that he was still hooked to the monitor that showed his vital signs. I just kept staring at his heart rate and respiration dropping and then all of the sudden his heart rhythm flat lined and made that terrible noise like it does in the movies. My grandma sank down on him and started shaking saying that she wanted to die with him and that her life was over. I tried comforting her, but she just kept saying that she wished she wasn't seven years younger than him and could go as well. I could totally imagine that I would say the same thing if I were in her situation, but it was hard to see her like that.

The man on the right served in WWII with my grandpa.

Every time my grandpa saw me he would give me a hug and say "Who loves you?" I know he loved me and I love him with all my heart. I am so grateful for my savior and for the resurrection and the knowledge that I will see him again!