Another sad day in the life of a Longshore

Do you remember how we have a birthday curse? Well, it has hit again!

November 13, 2012 was a sad day. My oldest cousin on my dad's side, Nicholas Major Wells-Longshore, and his sweet, sweet wife Caroline, delivered a perfect little boy who had returned to Heaven too quickly. They were so looking forward to raising their son here on Earth, but Heavenly Father had other plans. Colton Todd Wells-Longshore was born still-born. Nick and Caroline were devastated. Colton was named after Nick's dad, Todd, who passed away in May 2006.

Several months later, Nick and Caroline found out that they were pregnant again, this time expecting in April 2014.

Exactly one year after Colton's passing, November 13, 2013, Nick and Caroline decided to celebrate Colton's 1 year birthday. They went up to Idaho to hang out with several of Caroline's family, and to ride ATV's at the sand dunes.

Nick was riding an ATV and hit a sand dune wrong, and ended up having to jump off the ATV. By freak accident, the ATV ended up landing on him and broke his pelvis instantly. It broke in what is called an "open book" fracture. He broke several ribs, and had more injuries that we are just not too sure about. Nick was rushed to the emergency room, not really too aware of the severity of his injuries. While waiting for a doctor to come, Nick ended up coding. He wasn't breathing for at least 20 minutes.

Complication after complication happened. The next morning, Nick's mom was able to fly in from California, and the rest of the family joined them in the hospital.

Unfortunately, after several attempts, Nick was not able to be saved. Before saying her last goodbye, Caroline was able to get a sonogram and find out that her and Nick were expecting a little girl. They are going to name her Hannah Nicholas Wells-Longshore. (Hannah after our cousin who died as a baby, and obviously Nicholas after her father).

The morning of November 20, 2013, Nicholas Major Wells-Longshore returned to our loving Heavenly Father, and was greeted by the Longshore Men, including our Papa Russ, Nick's dad Todd, and their son Colton. It must have been one of the sweetest reunions ever! I am so grateful for the Plan of Salvation, knowing that we get to spend ETERNITY with our families.

As I have been thinking and pondering what has happened in the last week, I realized that I would have loved to write Nick a letter and let him know how much I love and care about him!

So, I am going to write it here.

Dear Nick~
 First of all, I just want to tell you how much I love you. I love your giant bear hugs, and I love your words of advice. I love that you were always concerned about my personal life and all that I was accomplishing.

Thank you so much for being such a great example to all of us. No one better could have led our generation to righteousness! You knew how important the relationship is with our Savior, Jesus Christ, and how important Temple Covenants are. You set the example by marrying in the temple and by going on a mission.

You led all of us cousins! You served others selflessly, and loved unconditionally. You taught us, by example, how to protect our family's name, and how to stand for righteousness at all times.

I am grateful that you are just like your Dad! It was a sad time when Uncle Todd passed away, and the more I got to know you, the more I realized that you were just like him. That made his passing less painful, and our relationship with you more tender. I am grateful that you took on a fatherly role for your siblings. Their lives were blessed immensely because you cared, and were willing to step up to that hard responsibility.

I love that you cared for each of us. I love that you could tease us, just the right amount, so we knew that you loved us deeply. I love that you asked about my life, and took an interest in what I was doing.

Thank you for setting such a great example for us about the relationships we can have with our Mothers. Your relationship with Aunt DeAnn was tender and special, and you let us know how much you care for her through your words and actions.

Thank you for sacrificing a lot so that Caroline could be happy! Thank you for showing love to her, and for supporting your relationship with her.

Thank you for never giving up! Thank you for being there when we needed you, and for being so wonderful.

I will miss you dearly. However, I have a lot of fun memories to look back on and know that you will always protect us and our family.

Love always and forever, Gwen deLynn Marie

Some Quality Family Time

There is this boy....who has red hair...is super tall...and makes my heart soar every time he holds my hand!

But this story is not about him....it is about his Angel of a Mother and her awesome talent.

A few weeks ago, I was with the Adams family, and I noticed that all the girls had super cute skirts on. Being the observant person I was, I commented on the fact that all of their skirts were darling. All 3 sisters commented that their Angel of a Mother had made them. I was super de duper jealous.

These skirts were most definitely of superior quality. If Mama Adams made them for a department store, she could retire with millions of dollars. Being the person that I am, I sidled up to Mama Adams and told her that I needed a skirt too! {I, of course, told her in a nice way that didn't make me seem like I was a moocher and just wanted free things....because that is not how I roll!}

Mama Adams suggested that we get together for a girl's day and sew some skirts. Micah (Daniel's sister) called last Saturday and set up the date for today {Tuesday!}. Since I got the phone call from Micah, I have been beside myself with excitement!

Let me give you some background really fast! The Adams family is amazing. Dan and LuAnn had and raised 6 amazing kids. {However, I have only met 5 of them since the 6th is serving a full-time mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Massachusetts}. They are all incredibly nice, and are all respectful. I got to spend a weekend with them about a month ago, and just loved every minute of it. And, of course, they raised an amazing man that may have stolen my heart...

Of the 6 kids...there are 4 girls, and 2 boys. It goes G, G, B, B, G, G. The first "G" is Micah, and she is married and has a baby girl. The first "B" is my Daniel.

Micah and Mama Adams came and picked me up from UVU today around 12:30 so that we could go together and pick out fabric and supplies needed for the skirts. I was so excited to be with them. However, they still make me a little nervous because I feel like I need to impress them all the time, and make them love me. {I know that sounds silly....but it is just how I feel!}

We went to an awesome fabric store and picked out some great fabric. I got two different fabrics. I picked out a yellow on yellow paisley pattern {that was super on sale...YES!} and then this pink on pink that fabric that makes you feel like a girly girl. It is not really something that I would have picked out normally...but it just spoke to me! And I needed to get it for my new skirt.

We headed over to Walmart to pick up zippers for the skirts as well. After that, we headed to Adams Family Headquarters (Dan and LuAnn's beautiful home) and sat down to eat some lunch. Delish!

After lunch was consumed and cleaned-up, it was crunch time!!

Measurements were taken...fabric was spread out...scissors were flying....and thread pieces were piling up! I LOVED every minute of it. Because Mama Adams is super talented, I let her take the reins on everything so that I actually got a skirt out of the process. LOL

We talked...she sewed....we shared stories. Again, Mama Adams is an Angel. She shows her love for you openly, and lets you know that you are important through the little things she does. There were moments of silent adoration on my part. This woman was willing to take me into her home, and her life, and show me that I was cared for. It made me miss my own Mama, who I don't get to see very often. I don't think words can express how much gratitude I have for Mama Adams right now.

One broken needle...5 brads...dinner consumed...and several hours later, I was presented with a beautiful yellow masterpiece. My excitement of my new skirt was brimming! I wanted to take lots of pictures and send it to everyone I knew! I want to wear my skirt everywhere for a week so that everyone I meet can see my masterpiece. I want to shout it from the rooftops that my life was again blessed because I know Mama Adams.

So...here are pictures so you can enjoy a bit of my day too!

Cutting out the pieces of the skirt!

The first stitch! Can you feel my excitement!

The belt for the front of the skirt

Mama Adams serging the edges

Micah measuring and cutting out her own skirt.

Me and Daniel

The finished product! {Excuse my shirt...}

I love love love it!

Grandpa

I have been slacking on my own blog. I am currently keeping up my sister's blog (Trio #3) while she is on a Mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. My BFF Brenna writes on her blog all.the.time. It makes me feel like even more of a slacker! LOL

I have been living with my Grandpa for the last 6 months. It has definitely had its ups and downs. Trio #1 and I were talking about how old people are very stubborn. The reason why is because they have been in charge for at least 50 years, and have been their own bosses. Then they start to diminish, and then we (their kids, grandkids, care takers, etc) want to start making decisions for them and want to take away that judgement that they have had over their own lives. Then they start to fight it, and then it turns into something ugly.

Now that I am starting to understand that, I am starting to know how best to have a good time with Grandpa. :o]

Yesterday, we were sitting down eating dessert. I had made apple pie! (Don't you just love fall?!) He was eating his with sharp cheddar cheese, and I was eating mine with ice cream. I asked him how long he had been eating his pie with cheese, and that launched stories about his childhood. {Before I tell you about what he shared, let me tell you that he is almost 89 years old, and sharp as a tack!}

He grew up in American Fork, UT. His dad worked at a creamery (that is no longer there...) and so Grandpa started working there when he was 13, only for the summers. {Year 1936}. He was on the milk truck. They drove around to many farms and were in charge of collecting cans of milk. Sometimes they would collect 2 cans from the farmers, but on the larger farms, they would collect up to 10 cans. The truck that they drove could hold about 100 cans of milk. Grandpa said that they would start at 3:30 am and would finish around 1:30 pm. He would do this everyday during the summer. 

After collecting the milk from the famers, they would take it back to the creamery. The creamery workers would test the butter fat of the milk. The higher the butter fat, the more money the farmers would get.

Then when he was about 15, he moved up in his responsibilities, and was moved to CHEESE! He was in charge of making cheese shapes (?) and then wrapping them up to let them cure. He told me that there were three different shapes. One was a three-pound block. One was about 15 pounds, and then the last one was a 50-lb wheel. The wheel was about 12 inches in diameter, and was about 8-10 inches thick. 

The cheese would be shaped, and then wrapped, and then put in a cellar, and Grandpa was in charge of flipping the cheese so that the water wouldn't settle in the bottom and cause the cheese to separate. He said they would flip the wheels every 5-6 weeks. The longer that the cheese cures, the sharper it becomes. He told me that he ate some cheese that had been curing for 45 years! He said it was super sharp!! 

During High School, he still worked in the creamery. They made cheese, sour cream, cottage cheese, and butter. His favorite, though, was still working with the cheese. 

Now, most of the farms are not there. Most of the orchards are no longer there, but now the fields are houses. The house that he lived in was right across the street from the creamery. Again, both places are gone. He said that there is a Domino's Pizza where his house used to be. 

I'm so glad that I get to live with him. I really respect him and the life that he has lived. I know that he is lonely since my Grammy passed away about 15 months ago, but I hope that me being there with him makes things a little easier!

OH Man....

I was on my BFF's blog and she has a ticker on the sidelines that says that I haven't posted in 5 months...and it made my heart break a little. I always think about what I am going to write next, and then get distracted, or discouraged.

I am, however, keeping up my little sister's mission blog!! If you want to follow her adventures are she serves a Mission in South Korea...then go HERE!!

MUCH LOVE

Withdrawals!

I am in a crafting withdrawal right now! I want to make something...more specifically, I want to make these!
Pin Wheel Hair Clips

I may make them when I get home...and send them to someone who wants them....or a random stranger....

Birthday Curse

There is a curse in my family! No really..... It is called the Birthday Curse. You would think that birthdays would be a day for celebrations, but when our birthdays come around...we kinda expect something to happen.

And a couple of weeks ago, the curse struck again. But before I go into that, let me show you how the birthday curse has affected our lives.

Our dog Sparky died on our grandpa's birthday: November 10.
My Papa Russ died on his wife's birthday: March 22. The day after is my mom's birthday.
My uncle got in a head-on collision on Trio #3's birthday: December 13. Luckily he survived.

A couple of weeks ago, we were getting ready to celebrate Trio #1's birthday, July 10.

But unfortunately, we were not really in the celebrating mood.

 My Grammy, Sara Jayne Woolsey Meeves, was in the hospital. She started having stomach pains and was admitted to the hospital with a bowel obstruction. They put a tube in her nose that helped remove all of her stomach contents so that they would stop putting unnecessary pressure on her bowels.  As she was in the hospital healing, she was eating ice chips (her favorite) and she aspirated some of the water. It would be fine for anyone else to do that, but Grammy had really bad lungs. She has really bad asthma, and her lungs are not very functioning. Because of the aspiration of the water, she contracted pneumonia. For someone that has bad lungs....pneumonia is a cuss word.

She got moved up to the Adult ICU. They tried to put her on a c-pap machine, but she was extremely uncomfortable and was not wearing it appropriately or long enough. That means that she was not getting any better. While admitted in the ICU, they laid out all the possibilities of her survival. Not something that anyone wants to hear. My mom was in contact with the nurses all week. My mom, actually, worked at that same hospital about 9 years ago, and knew most of the nurses that were taking care of Grammy. My mom asked them to call her if things got really bad, and she needed to fly out to Utah. My mom got that call on THURSDAY, July 7. She booked a flight from Memphis, and was going to be in Utah on Friday, July 8 at about 5:00 pm. My uncle from Birmingham was also flying in on Friday evening.

On Sunday evening, my Grammy asked them in intubate her. After being intubated, if she was not off the ventilator in 4 days, she was most likely not going to be able to breathe on her own after that. On Thursday, things were not looking good. The pneumonia was not getting better. They asked my Grandpa for her living will. That's when it finally hit my Grandpa (and the rest of us) that things were was worse than we could have imagined. My Grammy and Grandpa had decided long ago that they would sign a DNR and stick to it. My Grandpa knew that this was the time that they had dreaded for a long time.

Trio #3 and I were down in Colorado working. Every time we got a phone call from either Mom of Trio #1, we dreaded it. We got a phone call on Friday afternoon from Mom that said that she was flying into Utah, and that they were taking Grammy off life-support on Saturday morning. We shut off our tractors, and rushed home to pack our bags. We left as soon as we could and drove the 6 hours to Provo. We went straight to Grandpa's house.

Everyone got into town on Friday night. They were able to take Grammy off the sedatives so that she could know that my Mom and Uncle Kevin were there. On Saturday morning, we all met for breakfast at Uncle Ricky's and Aunt Dawn's house. Then we all drove over to the hospital. It was a very somber experience. There were several of us there. It was Grammy's brother Perry, Grandpa, Mom, Trio #1, 2, 3, Uncle Kevin, Uncle Rick and Aunt Dawn, Aunt Mary Lynn and Uncle Scott. I cannot begin to tell you how grateful I was to be there, but sad at the same time because the last image I had of my Grammy was in the hospital bed, hooked up to lots of machines, and in pain.

The nurses took her off sedation for a little while so that we could all say goodbye to her. My cousin Robert's fiancee just had a baby boy, so they brought pictures of baby Talon Conrad to show her. We all told her goodbye and kissed her. Then, something spiritual took place. In our church, we believe that men of the church can be given the power to act in God's name. It is called the Priesthood. Through the priesthood, the men can give others a blessing. It is all done in God's name, and according to God's will. My Grandpa was the one to give her a blessing. He blessed her to pass quickly from this life and to rejoice in the world to come. He told her that she had accomplished a great work here on this earth in regards to Genealogy. He told her not to worry about us and to go peacefully. I cried so hard. He then told her he loved her, and closed the blessing. The Spirit of the Lord was soooo strong. I think it was one of the strongest I have ever felt in my life.

The nurses asked us to leave the room for just a moment while they re-sedated her, and took all the tubes out and turned most of the machines off. They told us to expect her to live for about 5 minutes. They told us we could come back in, and then left us to say goodbye. She looked soo much better after all the tubes were removed. We all stood around her bed, and watched her and the monitors. You could tell that she was more comfortable without all the tubes and machines, so she finally fell asleep, and even stated to snore. It was soo her. Her breathing started to slow down and were very slow. My Grammy is kinda stubborn, and showed her true colors those that few moments of her life. She actually lived exactly an hour after they unhooked all the machines. When she took her last breathe, it hits you hard. I have never cried soo incredibly hard in my life. We all just sat there in stunned silence not wanting to believe that she is truly gone. We all just sat in perfect silence that whole hour. Then we all slowly left her room after she was gone.

That was Saturday, July 9, at 12:55 pm. Trio #1's birthday is July 10, so luckily the curse did not hit us on her actual birthday. The next several days were all a blur. Going to bed was the hardest, because then when it was dark, you can just let the tears flow freely. Praying for Grandpa was also hard because you feel bad that he has to now live on his own.


In our church, we actually bury people in their temple clothes. They are all white, and represent the highest of covenants that we make with the Lord here on the earth, and then continue to keep once we have passed from this life, into the next.  Only those who have been through the temple are allowed to see those clothes in their entirety. So, my mom, aunt, Trio #1, and I got to go dress my Grammy. She was already in her white temple dress, so we just added the accessories. My Grandpa was very adamant about her wearing her glasses, because that is what makes her look like her. I was nervous about seeing her, but was kinda willing to help out. I was putting on her knee-highs, and I touched her leg and she was freezing cold. She wasn't the Grammy that was warm and full of love and hugs for you at any time of the day. I totally lost it at that point. (I swear I didn't have full control over my tear ducts...) I wasn't able to help out again. Luckily my mom has done this multiple times, and was able to remain strong. Afterward, Grammy looked as amazing as anyone who is no longer here can.

The funeral was on Thursday, July 14. It was really nice. My dad got to give Grammy's life sketch, and tell about all she was able to accomplish in her lifetime. My mom, Kevin, and Rick all got to share memories and lessons learned from Grammy. We sang a song as a family. I am going to go off here and let you know that I do not enjoy singing at funerals!!!!! My grandpa requested that we all sing, and I tried to get out of it because I cannot physically stand up in front of everyone and sing a song that reminds me that the person we are singing it for. I did not make it through the song at my Papa Russ' funeral, I did not make it through the song at my Grandma Dixie's funeral, and I refused to even attempt it at my Uncle Todd's funeral. I tried my hardest to let everyone know that there was really no way I could make it through the song at Grammy's funeral, but no one was willing to listen. So I stood up there with everyone else, and cried so incredibly hard through the entire song!! The song we sang was "God Be With You 'Til We Meet Again".

After the funeral, and a luncheon, we were able to go up to the cemetery. Luckily, her burial place is really close to Trio #1 and Trio #2's apartment, so we can go take her flowers as often as possible. She is actually buried in a WALL, because she did not want to have anyone walk all over her, and she did not want any dirt thrown on her face. :o] It was so sweet because my Grandpa doesn't like standing up in front of people and talking, but he took a few moments to thank us all for coming and for loving her. He told us multiple times that he was hoping that she would live another 4 years. (We don't really know the significance of that amount of time...) He was very sweet and tender when talking about her.

I feel so blessed to have had Grammy in my life. I was very close to her. We spent many summers staying with her. She taught me how to quilt. We even made several quilts together. She taught me how to crochet, and was willing to make several projects together. She taught me how to play games, especially her favorite one "Oh Hell!". I learned how to play many different styles of solitaire, and loved spending many many hours playing games and sharing memories. She was unselfish in her teaching and always loves to give hugs and kisses. She will be missed, but I will keep her in my heart forever!!!

I think my own tractor is SEXY

I am so sorry for getting behind on my blogging. When you are working about 12 hours each day, and come home exhausted, it's really hard to pull out the computer, turn it on, wait forever for it to boot up, and then type out all the words in my head before I am asleep!

But....I told my mother today that I was going to try and catch up.
Here is a picture to hint at what I have been up to:

 That's right! I drive a TRACTOR! Can you ever believe that I would be doing this? Me neither. But, after many circumstances that were out of my control, I ended up here in Cortez, CO. I work with Trio #3 and her good friend, Brookelynn.

 We get to drive MacDon tractors all day. They are called Swathers and they cut hay. The picture above shows the rows of alfalfa that are freshly cut.

 Sometimes we find interesting creatures in the fields. These elks were really close to us, and could care less. It was awesome to see them soo close.

 And sometimes, the tractors get stuck in the mud. It is nasty! And you feel embarrassed when you have to announce over the radio that you need someone to come and pull you out. This is Trio #3's tractor that actually did NOT get stuck in the mud, but in a huge wheel rut, left behind by the sprinkler pivot.

 SHE IS FREE!

 This is a beautiful owl that we saw one day. I was riding tandem with Trio #3 in her tractor, and jumped out with my camera and chased the owl through the fields. The MacDon test tech stared at me like I was CrAzY! lol

 This was a HUGE pond in the middle of the fields. It makes it really hard for us to work in an efficient manner. If you look closely, you can see the shady bridge that crosses this grand canyon.

 The order of operations for the job, is to GROW the crops. Then we SWATH them. After they are cut, RAKERS come and combine two rows into one. After the piles are combined, the BALERS come and make bales. Then the STINGER comes and puts them in nice tall piles. When people don't do their jobs appropriately, this is what you find when you are trying to cut. A huge bale left behind....and lots of money lost because of it.

**WARNING** To those of you who have weak stomachs....do NOT look at the following pictures!!!

 I was driving in my swather, and it started to stink really bad. I could not figure out where the smell was coming from...and then I saw this when I drove past again. I will leave it up to you to notice the details... :o]

 If you know me, you know that I never wear t-shirts and jeans.  I think that it is too grungy, and I don't really have reasons to wear them. Well, working on the farm gives me reason to wear grungy clothes. I scrounged up as many t-shirts as I could from home and brought them with me. Most of them have some sort of significant value...so when I ruined the first t-shirt, I was really bummed. So, to solve the problem, I bought some mens undershirts. Well, wearing white is not a grand idea....so we had some fun! We each took turns to tie-dye my undershirts. Look how awesome they turned out!!

Trio #3's design

Trio #2's first design

Trio #2's second design

Trio #2's third design

Brookelynn's design

my hands were blue and purple after the fact!