Up's and Down's

January was full of down's and up's...

It started off rough, on the 9th Alex and his brothers got the call that their Dad was in the ER, but didn't have any information as to why. So they get to the hospital and discover that he had been involved in a serious accident possibly a hit and run on his motorcycle. Nobody had details as to what happened but it didn't look good for Robert. I went with Alex to the hospital the next day and made some phone calls tried to find out what actually happened. After lots of calls and piecing together information, we found out that Robert was involved in an accident but then drove away from the scene (with broken ribs) and had refused medical help at the time. At some point after that he pulled over to the side of the road and someone called 911 for him. He was awake and conscious until they loaded him in the ambulance, when he became unconscious and never woke up. He had a traumatic brain injury. If there is anything good to come of this it's that they were able to find matches for some of his organs.

It's so sad and tragic and unexpected. Of course we don't want to think about our loved ones dying, and especially not our own death, but it's easy to take life for granted. I've learned some things from this experience. Make sure you have a will, a funeral plan (plots, money set aside etc.), someone else knows your bank and other account(s) information.. And don't leave things undone, if you need to forgive someone do it, if you are holding a grudge let it go, if you love someone tell them, if you need to have a heart to heart with someone so you can find peace and closure, do it. And don't take tomorrow for granted, there might not be a tomorrow.

Robert had a nice memorial service, I think he would be proud of his boys in how they've handled everything... Robert was a bit of a lone wolf during his life. But we've been able to meet some pretty great extended family members over the last couple months and even though we've just met most of them they feel like family. They've all been so loving and supportive to Alex and his brothers and their families, maybe that's another good thing to come out of this, having more FAMILY. 

"For death is no more than a turning of us over from time to eternity"- William Penn

I hope it doesn't seem insensitive to go from Robert's death to Abby's birthday all in the same post..

But we know life is a gift and it should be celebrated! 

And Abby's life is definitely a gift for our family to celebrate!

Abby turned 5 on January 27th, and she wanted to go bowling.  We invited a few of her little friends and hit the lanes. It was her first official friend party and she loved it. 

My Mom and Sister Kim came down for the festivities and it was such a great visit! Abby was so excited they came for her birthday it made her feel very special.

She, of course, had to have a Frozen party. And apparently so did all the other little girls (and maybe some boys) in our area, I went to Party City for some supplies and they had NADA! As in nothing as in NO Frozen supplies AT ALL! Nobody else had any either! Not even in Utah! Oh dear! 

So we tried our best to make the cake and cupcakes and favor bags as 

Frozen-y as possible. 

 Dance buddies!

 Such a fun day for our girl!

 We love our big 5 year old!