Due to Matt's traveling, we had a lot of frequent flyer miles so I decided to take Caroline and my mom and fly out to Utah for a weekend to see my grandma. Taking care of Carter, Alex and Aaron was a bit tricky since Shanna had just had a baby and Lisa was about to have hers and my mom was going with me. A friend offered to take the boys for me for a day until Matt could get home from his business trip. Unfortunately, the day before we left, her kids came down with the stomach flu. She offered to come and watch the kids at my house, but I knew that she needed to be with her kids if at all possible. I called Matt's mom (she hadn't been able to commit because she was promised to Matt's cousin to watch her kids when her baby arrived and she was due any day). Luckily Michelle had just been to the dr and it looked like she would have a day or two before the baby came so Matt's mom came up. Another friend stepped up and watched Aaron for a few hours until Matt's mom arrived and so we could go! It wasn't all settled until late afternoon the day before we left, but luckily it all worked out!
Friday morning I got the boys off to school, dropped Aaron off for his play date and dropped Roxie off at the boarding place. We knew rush hour traffic is a nightmare and having to go all the way to the airport made us a little worried on how long it would take us to get there. So we left by about 8:30 and didn't hit a single bit of traffic the entire way to the airport. We didn't even slow below speed limit for the entire drive!
The flight was normal and we drove up to Provo to see Grandma, who was just moved into rehab.
We were able to visit Grandma 3-4 times while we were there. It was wonderful and heartbreaking at the same time. The first few times we saw her she knew who we were, and she was able to talk, but while he speech pattern was definitely grandma, her words didn't make sense together. We bought her some sweats and a couple of hats for her to wear. She seemed to like the hats--they were made of a really soft, silky/fuzzy material she would rub her hand on her hat while she talked to us. Our last visit with Grandma was an amazing few minutes. Grandma was able to talk clearly and so we could understand her. She told Caroline how much she loved all the letters Caroline sent her and how much she loves her and her 3 brothers. She told her to tell them that she loves them and just gave Caroline a big hug. She talked to me a while as well telling me how much she loves me and I told her how much Matt and I and the kids loved her. She told me "Melinda, you will never know how much I love you" and a few other things that had me in tears. Shortly after I finished talking with her, she was back to talking nonsense and we left so she could rest. It was such a blessing to have a few minutes back with my grandma. I thought a lot about if I should have gone before she had her surgery, but I realized that I have a lifetime of memories with my Grandma and she knows how much I love her and I know how much she loves me. I may not get to spend as much time as I would like with her, but the times we have spent have been wonderful and there is nothing that can take away the relationship that I have with her--the years and years of memories can't be diminished by her illness. It makes me realize how important it is to build those good memories and relationships now so when things happen, you haven't left anything to regret or want to change.
We were also able to spend a lot of time with my Grandma Johnson who is living in Provo.
Here is a 4 generation picture.
This is what we looked like 11 1/4 years ago!
It was great spending time with Grandma Johnson. She is such an amazing lady. We were able to go to church with her on Sunday and have dinner with her later. We spent a few hours visiting at her apartment.
Caroline was thrilled that it snowed and she was able to make a snowman in my Grandpa's back yard. Sunday afternoon we had lunch with my dad and Grandpa Olsen at Grandpa's house. She didn't have gloves and was in her church clothes (and shoes), but she pushed through and made a cute little snowman. We made sandwiches and as I made my ham sandwich a flood of memories came back. I thought of how many times I had made a ham sandwich at Grandma and Grandpa's house and how they always had miracle whip instead of Mayo (which I loved) and the same brand of bread they always had and I sat at the same table I had sat at my whole life. They would be selling the house in the spring and I didn't know if I would see the house again. There were so many memories that it was a bit overwhelming.
We didn't have a lot of time to do anything else, but we managed to fit in a few things on our list. We also visited the BYU Bookstore, Deseret Book/distribution center, Sweets Candy factory (for some chocolate covered cinnamon bears) and had dinner with my aunts and uncles a few times, and took my Grandpa with us to see the lights on Temple Square.
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