Who are you?

I flew into Vegas on Thursday the 17th.  None of my family members were available to pick me up from the airport so I had to get an UBER to take me to my parents' home.  It was an interesting experience and not cheap!  It cost almost $100 for that ride, but it was cheaper than having to rent a car that I wold not use for five days.

 

This trip to Vegas was quite nice.  Rick was planning to make the drive after church on Sunday which would have gotten him there late Sunday evening.  As it was, he had to drive down to Panguitch on Friday to look at some roads in Garfield County so he decided not to go back up north but to drive over to Vegas from there.  He stayed in Kanab Friday night and then attended the 'Balloons and Tunes' Festival in Kanab on Saturday morning.  He loved it!  I wish I could have seen it with him.  He made it to Vegas Saturday afternoon.  I was so thankful that he came a day earlier than expected.  It is always so wonderful to have him around.  He is a good conversationalist and spends good quality time with my parents.  He rubs my dad's legs and neck, scratches his back, helps him shower.  (Along with bringing in the wood and keeping the fire going, and helping me in the kitchen at dinnertime and the really difficult task of sleeping on the couch during the night to be there to help my dad when he can't sleep).

 I love him so much for his compassion and love for my parents!

Before he got there, on Friday morning I took my mom and dad on a ride down the strip.

My dad hadn't been down there for years and he (and I) couldn't believe how much it had changed.

I thought all of the hotels looked really cool!  I love how a lot of them have different themes.  Bellagio (Italian)  Caesars Palace (Roman) Paris (French) and New York (with the skyline and Brooklyn Bridge).  It was all very fascinating.  There were quite a few tourists walking around and even saw a few showgirls walking the streets.  It was an enjoyable drive and I think my parents enjoyed getting out of the house.

My mom's memory seems to be getting a little worse.  She can still have conversations, but her short term memory is really off.  She will ask the same question over and over in just a five minute time span.  It can get a little wearisome but I just try to keep it all in perspective.  A LOT of repeating myself over and over.

She has forgotten some of her aunts and uncles.  Even telling her their names and explaining where they belong, she cannot recall them.  

She gets emotional quite often and really hates to get in the shower.  She cries just about every time she has to get in.  It all seems so overwhelming to her.  Even changing her clothes is difficult for her.  Sometimes, she will look at me and say, "Am I okay?" or "Things don't feel right." I try to reassure her that all is well but it is heartbreaking to see her confusion and fear.  Through all of this she is very grateful and appreciative of me (and Rick) being there.

  

She tells us many times a day, "I'm so grateful that you are here." 

 It is really sweet.😊

I know that Alzheimers patients can get combative but my mom is not that way.  She is very sweet and loving.  I hope she will always be like that.

While I was turning down her bed the other night she said, Thank you, Mandy."  I turned and looked at her and said, "I'm not Mandy."  She looked at me with a confused look on her face and said, "Who are you?" 

My heart skipped a beat. 

 I said, Who am I?  I'm your daughter, Janell."  She smiled and said, "Well yes, you are Janell!"

That has never happened before.  Sometimes she'll confuse my name with Deanna's, but she has never not recognized me.  I try not to think about that too much because it hurts.  I'm going to take every minute that she can recognize me and know who I am.

On Sunday, after Boyd came to help administer the Sacrament, we went out for a Sunday drive.  We were headed out to Calville Bay but decided to turn north instead of south when we got to the junction off of Lake Mead Blvd.  We drove over past Boulder Beach and over to the Hoover Dam.  It was really cool.  We didn't get to see much because Mom and Dad can't get out of the car but we did stop to take a look at the lake and dam from the AZ side.  Rick took a couple of pictures of us.  These are the only pictures of our time there.  I really need to be better at taking pictures.

It was super windy but it was sure fun looking over the lake.  You can see in the picture just how far down the lake is.  This drought seems ever ongoing.  This dam has been such a blessing bringing water and power to so many communities.  

We left yesterday afternoon and will be staying in St. George for a few days before getting back home.

It was nice being with my mom and dad and will plan to come back each month to help in their care.

 

Anniversary Trip to Hawaii

A little over a week ago we celebrated our THIRTY THIRD anniversary!

We celebrated in Maui.  Everything about this trip was absolutely wonderful!

Rick had a companion pass from Alaska Airlines that needed to be used so that's how we got to Maui.  We flew the two hours to San Diego with a very short layover and then flew five hours straight to Maui.  We were able to arrive in the early afternoon.  Rick upgraded our car rental to a convertible and it was so fun!

It was a CANDY APPLE RED CAMARO!!  Not flashy or anything!😆

Maui had just come off a bunch of rain so everything was lush and green.

We stayed at the Sheraton Maui Resort and Spa on Kaanapali Beach and it was fabulous!  We upgraded to a suite on the ground floor which we loved.  It was nice to just open our patio doors to the beauty of the resort.  The resort was so nice with beautiful pools connected by a river going under bridges to get to each one.  They even had a little slide for kids in the river part.  The resort sits right at Black Rock, one of the best places for snorkeling on Maui.  We got to see divers each day jumping off the Black Rock (which are not low)  and there were lots of coral and fish to see!  What's neat about Black Rock is the ability to hear the whales singing in the water.  We figured it was because the sound was bouncing off of the rocks. 

 It is really cool to hear them!

We were able to upgrade our morning breakfasts to a full buffet for just $10 each.  It was a nice full buffet complete with omelet and waffle stations.  Those waffles smelled so good but we resisted so that we didn't get too far off of our New Year's diet.😀  The breakfasts were so filling that generally we only ate two meals during the day.  One in the morning and one in the evening.  Of course we had some snacks to munch on at the beach or in the car.

Our first day there, after breakfast we headed out to the beach.  It was so lovely.  The view of whales spouting and breaching in the distance was amazing!  Rick remembered to bring his binoculars this trip so it was fun watching for the whales through those.  We spent the whole afternoon out on the sand and then came in to get ready for the luau.

The Sheraton hosts a luau every Monday and Wednesday right on their property not far from our room.  Wednesday morning Rick was able to get us a spot at the luau for that very night.  It was NOT CHEAP but the food was delicious and the entertainment was really nice.  Lots of Hula and we always love watching the fire dancers!  They are so cool to see!  The buffet included: pork, chicken and teriyaki beef with sides of purple potatoes, noodles, fruit, cole slaw, and other delights I can't remember.  The dessert was three small different delectables!

The next morning began our THIRTY THIRD ANNIVERSARY!  Congratulations to us!

We started out the day with a nice walk along Kaanapali Beach (2+ miles:) and then had the buffet breakfast.  We then packed up our stuff and headed over to Kapalua Beach.  We remembered this beach from when we had come before.  It has great snorkeling and views of whales out in the bay.  We spent just a few hours there because we had an appointment with some whales.😀

We went back to our room to get showered and headed over to Lahaina to go out on an excursion with Ultimate Whale Watch.  Oh boy, did we have an experience!!

This was the most amazing whale watch we have ever been on.

A female whale surfaced right next to our boat.  For an HOUR AND TWENTY MINUTES she stayed right there with us!  She would swim around and under our boat, poke her nose out, pop her blowhole up to take a breath, moan, and turn completely over for us to see her underside and even a couple of times   she came right up and looked right at us!  She was as curious of us as we were were with her...or more so!  

It was such an amazing experience that we will never forget!

During the time we were watching her,  another male came up in the same vicinity to be with her.

He poked his head up, and showed much of his body, as well.

At one point, Rick put on some goggles and stuck his head in the water with the whale just feet from him!

Did I mention this was an amazing experience?!😆

We got loads of video....

At the end, just before we left one of the whales breached just 100 feet away!  It was super exciting!

Here we are leaving the boat.  That's Emma, our guide in the background.  She earned a $20 tip :).

To top off a wonderful anniversary day, we picked up some L&L BBQ and had a picnic on the beach.  We watched a beautiful sunset and had some delicious Hawaiian food!  
 

              We ended the evening with some shave(d) ice complete with ice-cream in the bottom.

                                                 What a beautiful day it was!

The next morning Rick got up early to drive into Kihei to do some scuba diving with Pro Divers.  They went out to Molokini.  Rick got to swim with a couple of reef sharks and even saw some huge lobsters.  He had a great time!  While he was doing that I was enjoying the morning to myself.  I had breakfast on my own and then enjoyed the pool for a little bit.  When Rick got back he found me at the pool and we enjoyed the water together:)

That afternoon we drove into Lahaina for some window shopping.  We didn't buy anything but a street salesman got me into his store and put some cream on my face that tightened the wrinkles around my eyes.  It was called B-TOX and made my skin feel really weird.  No, we didn't buy any.

Here are a few shots of the huge Banyan Tree in the town square.  We saw the "no climbing" sign AFTER Rick climbed it.😁  This tree never ceases to amaze me!

That night we ate at Paradise Burger, a little place right on the water.  I had the coconut shrimp and a salad.  The shrimp was super yummy!

The next day was Saturday and I started it out with a lovely massage.  I then met Rick at the hotel's restaurant where we had breakfast together.  We then enjoyed some time there at Black Rock beach where I read my book and Rick played with the fish!  We were out there for a couple of hours and even though I got sunscreened up, I still got a bit of a burn.  This beach in Kaanapali at Black Rock is really nice.  It is such a great place to pass the time!

That evening we had planned a sunset cruise.  After being on the whale watching boat and Rick getting to sail out to Molokini I wanted to get back on the water so we found a dinner cruise.  It was an older boat but it was very nice to just be on the water and to see more whales and a beautiful sunset.  I had the prime rib dinner and Rick had the fish dinner.  The food was ok but the ambiance was very nice.  At one point this whale breached right in front of the boat.  Unfortunately, both Rick and I were just two seconds behind seeing it.  All I saw was the big splash.  A fellow who had a front row seat got this amazing live photo though, so we get to watch it breach on our phone anytime.

The next day was Sunday so we got to the 10 AM church meeting in Lahaina.

Afterwards we had a little lunch in our room (PB&J sandwiches) and then took a drive out to Halealaka Volcano.  We went right up through the clouds to get to the highest point on the island.  We were so high up that the temperatures dropped down into the low 50's.  We were both surprised how dry and desert-like it was.  Up at the top we could see the big island, ninety miles away in the distance.  For me, it was really a freaky experience being up that high up (11,000'). I don't know, it just gave me almost a frightened feeling.  Rick loved it, though!  We could see right into the crater of the volcano.  Everything was very rocky.

The next morning we took a drive up to the North side of the island.  We had forgotten that we had been there before.  It was so lush and pretty.  We stopped at a fruit stand and got to eat some coconut.  It was young and not that great but it was fun to watch the lady open the coconut for us:)

We drove over to the Blow Horn and got to see it spouting.  I didn't hike the whole way down but Rick did and got a front row seat (So to speak).  The Blow Horn spouted up to fifty feet in the air.  It was really cool to see.  We realized at this point that we had been to this blow hole before.  It's funny how things get erased from our memories and it takes being back there to remind us.

We then drove back and stopped at this beautiful viewpoint.  That is Molokai in the distance.

How about that car?!

We saw some surfers down in the water and also saw a rocky beach with people snorkeling in some amazing looking coral so we went to find it.  

We pulled off the road to find a trail that led through an old ancient burial ground to the beach.  This beach was not made of sand, though.  It was comprised of volcanic rock.  Rick really wanted to get in the water here but seriously, there was no place to sit comfortably unless you had a chair.  So... we didn't stay but next time I think I would like to get in and explore what's in the water there.  

We drove back to Kapalua Beach and did some more snorkeling there.  This time I saw an eel and a couple of turtles before I got out to relax on the beach.  Rick said he would stay out for a few more minutes. 

 

After about a half an hour he still wasn't back.  I started getting worried and searched for him through binoculars and I still could not see him.  I looked for quite a while and was getting fairly nervous (there were a lot of people out in the water) when I couldn't see him.  I said a prayer that I could find him.  I still couldn't.  I said another prayer and specifically asked Heavenly Father to help me find him right away.  I picked up the binoculars again and found him right away!  A quick answer to my direct prayer!

Rick was headed in but still had a ways to go.

Here he is getting the last of his snorkeling in for the trip.

Cutie!

That night we ordered pizza and salad and went to the Kaanapali Beach Park to eat and watch the sunset for one last time before taking off in the morning.

After dinner we walked over to Leilani's Restaurant and picked up some HULA PIE to end our last night on Maui.  It was a delicious send off!😋

Man, it was hard to leave this beautiful island!  We could have stayed a few more days.  In fact, Rick tried to extend our stay but couldn't arrange the flights.  So..... until next time, Maui, HANG LOOSE!💙💚