AGING PARENTS

The day after getting home from Capitol Reef, a Sunday, I attended church meetings and then headed out for St. George.  I overnighted there before  driving to Vegas the next morning. 

My dad had gone into the hospital the day before in preparation for another leg surgery.  His knee had opened up again so the dr wanted to get it closed back up.  These are graphic pictures but reality.

I got there Monday morning.  My mom was happy to see me and glad that I was going to stay for the week.  My dad was supposed to have surgery that day but for some reason my dad wasn't on the schedule.  He started having trouble with his lungs again.  His Dr. thought it was the pneumonia coming back.  They rescheduled the surgery for Tuesday, and then Wednesday, and then Thursday.  His lungs were just not looking good so they kept postponing.  On Wednesday they pulled 1.4 liters of fluid out of his chest cavity.  He could breath much better after that.  He had his surgery on Thursday and all went well (except he didn't have the surgery until after nine o'clock that night, fasting all day.)  It is now a week later and he is very swollen and his lungs have been filling back up with fluid.  The Dr. is stumped and doesn't know how to help him.  They are planning to pull the excess fluid out again to help with his breathing.  He hates being in the hospital and is just miserable with everything that is going on.  It is hard to watch.

In the meantime, my mom was doing pretty well.  She does not walk anymore so she is wheeled everywhere she goes.  Mainly to the bathroom and back to the couch or into bed.  There were a few days that she was very emotional.  Her dementia doesn't seem to be getting any worse.  I think the medications she is on is helping that.  Her blood pressure is all over the place meaning one day it is fine and then the next it is very high.  Her meds help with that, as well.  I was able to take her out each day to spend time with my dad.  They love being together!

After returning home she couldn't remember being with him so we also did a lot of FaceTiming so they could talk to and see each other.  It is cute.  My mom will say "I love you" then my dad would return with "I love you, too".  My mom would say TWO?  Then my dad would return with "Well maybe Three".  Also my mom would ask how much do you love me and my dad would say "a bushel and a peck".  These words are spoken EVERY TIME they are together or on the phone and usually is said multiple times.

 

They're in love!

        I left on Friday to drive back home and will return at the end of the month.

  As of now my dad is still in the hospital without any set time of being able to return home.

CAPITOL REEF

On Thursday May 25,  Rick and I, Skylar and Sarah, and Brach and Kendra with all their kids made the trek down to Capitol Reef for a few days of hiking and exploring.  We had Henry, Charles and Scout ride with us in the truck because Skylar was using his truck to pull a Ranger.  We ended up pulling the new Ranger and the Razor behind Rick's truck.  The trip was fun and the kids had a good time in the backseat!

We stayed at the Broken Spur (yet again).  We love that place!  We weren't able to get rooms on trade this year but that's ok.  We ended up only staying two nights this time.  They just got finished remodeling the rooms and they look very nice.  They had a great buffet for breakfast, as well.

Here are some pictures of the kids playing on the playground.  After the long drive they were able to get out some pent up energy, and they loved using the playground in the morning times after breakfast, as well.

 

We arrived on Thursday evening and immediately went to have dinner at La Cueva, the fun Mexican restaurant in Torrey.  The food was delicious!  After dinner we went swimming at the hotel pool.  Brach and Kendra did not arrive until later that evening.  We had Henry, Charles and Scout sleep in our room that night!

The next morning after breakfast we loaded everybody up and headed to Chimney Rock.  Right away the kids started chasing lizards.  They found a lot but could not catch too many.  We needed the master lizard catcher's help.  Grandpa came through with that job and caught a nice big one.  Rafe put it in his terrarium, which did not have a lid.  Rafe found a big rock, though and trapped the little creature for a few minutes anyway:)

                    The littles are so cute!  They had such fun running around and exploring!

Papa Skylar with baby Eric.

                                                     Grandpa, Brady, and Mr. Lizard.

                                            This was a steep climb for the kids....

A group picture with grandma and grandpa.

After Chimney Rock we headed over to Fruita for a picnic lunch.  Rick and I made a pb&j, Sarah had lunch meat sandwiches and we shared veggies and chips.  Brach and Kendra went back into town to eat at La Cueva since they had missed the night before.  Afterwards they joined us.  The kids had a fun time playing in the river and building a dam.  

Baby Eric got his nap in after lunch:)

The kids almost didn't want to leave because they were having too much fun in the river, but we had to get to the waterfall hike before it got too late so after spending a couple of hours at the park we drove over to the Visitor's Center and headed out on the hike.

Here are the pictures of our hike in no particular order...

After our hike the kids wanted to go back to the hotel to get into the pool, but instead we all went out on an ATV ride.  Skylar and Sarah and kids were in one Ranger (the open one) while Brach and Kendra and their kids were in the other (closed one).  Rick and I were in the Razor.  Those of us who were in open vehicles got a little chilly.  The cold wind was blowing in on us but we still had a good time.  We found an awesome place for the kids to climb and play on the rocks.  Some of them got up pretty high making the moms a little nervous.  

After returning, we had reservations at the Broken Spur Restaurant.  We all were very hungry and enjoyed our food...except those kids who ordered the pasta primavera.  Namely Brady.  Rick and I shared our food with him and he was happy.

After dinner the kids were excited to go swimming.  I was super tired so I went to the room and fell asleep while Rick went out to the pool.  After the kids went swimming they got ready for bed and came over to our room for a "party".  The party turned into watching a movie where most of the kids fell asleep.  Aren't they so cute snuggled up in the bed?  They all ended up being carried back to their parents rooms to sleep except for Charles.  He stayed the whole night with us.

The next morning we had breakfast.  Skylar and Sarah took their family on an ATV ride.  Rick and I ended up driving over to the Grand Wash.  It is such a pretty drive.  

We got  back and loaded up the ATV's and stopped at Slacker's Burger Joint for lunch.  

We had Rafe, Brady and Henry with us on the ride home.

We've got Capitol Reef down for another year in the books!

We sure love the beauties of that area and especially spending time with our wonderful family!