Idahome

March 7, 2016

Dear Sister Kristina,

Well, we’re back home in Idaho. I was kind of getting used to the great weather in California, but we’re back to wearing shoes and socks and sweatshirts here. At least it’s not freezing cold, just a little chilly sometimes. We got home late Friday night. We flew through San Fran going and coming and it’s a hard place to fly through. There’s always some kind of weather issues there and both times we almost didn’t make our connecting flights. But we had a great view of Golden Gate bridge going and could even see where you had taken pictures that one day. Everything looked so green. It’s still so brown here. I miss all that green-so enjoy it where you are. :)

The highlights of our trip to California are being with grandpa, meeting up with Bill and Nancy at their beach house, going to lunch with them at that Mexican restaurant, walking the pier where grandpa all of a sudden decided he wanted to stand up from his wheelchair, turn it around and put his knees up on the seat and ride down the hill of the pier. Bill stopped him. haha Grandpa’s always the funny guy. I’m pretty sure he was a lot like Alex when he was younger. At the end of the day when I was saying goodbye to him, he said it was a GREAT day! I’m so happy he liked being out and around with us. But he and dad both got sunburns on their faces, so we’ll try to remember sunscreen next time. 

The beach always cheers me up, relaxes me. I love being there. It was fun walking by the house we had rented last summer too. We definitely want to do that again. Another highlight was meeting up with Alex and two of his friends in the Ad program. They had interviews in Santa Monica, so they stayed at Mike and Susan’s. We also met them in LA for dinner (here’s a yummy sticky toffee cake we had):

and a quick trip to the Santa Monica Pier which is always fun. 

Also on our trip we took grandpa for his meeting with the attorneys. Grandpa has a hard time talking and getting his ideas out from his brain. He has early signs of Parkinson’s disease which is what slows down his speaking. That’s the same disease that Sarah’s dad has. So I do all the talking with the attorneys and try to convey what my dad is thinking. He still manages to get his opinions in though. :)  We took him out to lunch afterwards at Marie Callendars, which he loves then dropped him off at the Winn, which he loves even more.

One night while there, we went to dinner at Kathy and Carl Brague’s with grandpa. They’re friends of our family since grandma and grandpa were first married. They make dinner for grandpa once a week and she’s an awesome cook, so it’s really a treat. Then they send him home with leftovers. Susan and Mike always have him for Sunday dinner and send him home with leftovers and one day a week Caryn brings a dinner into the Winn for him to take home. So he’s very cared for. Patrice lives with him full time now and takes care of any other needs he might have.

Dad and I had fun at Fashion Island one day and even went to a movie there. Their theaters are so fancy, but boy did they cost a lot more than in Idaho- $17 a ticket for the matinee! I also helped grandpa clear out a bunch of paperwork on his desk that had been piling up. He said that felt good to get rid of things.

Maria and Scarlett came over one day and it was so fun seeing Scarlett. She’s a hoot and so sassy, just like her mom. haha 

While at grandpa’s we found a CD that had some pictures on it, but he had never seen them since he doesn’t have a laptop, so we were able to show them to him. They were pictures that his sister had sent him. Here’s a couple from the CD. Most of them were older pictures of his grandparents and parents, but here’s a few you might like:

Kirk was not a small baby!!

I told you I loved the beach!

This was when we just got Patrice and only had 9 kids.

Grandpa on his plane in the Air Force.

It was a great getaway for me and dad. I’m so happy he came with me this time and he was happy too. He has so much going on at work, etc so I think it helped him relax a lot. 

So I need to catch you up on Leah a bit here. She has really been struggling and it kind of came to a head last Saturday night, the Saturday before our trip to California. We had to take her into Intermountain Hospital. She actually went in willingly because she knows she needs help. I was so happy that she went willingly. We weren’t quite sure what to do about our trip to Calif after that, but the psychiatrist told me I needed to go, that they were going to be working with Leah to get her to take more responsibility for her life and her actions and not depend on others so much, so it would be good for us to be gone. Plus they are so strict in there, that we could only call her once a night and for only five minutes. So we called each night from California. Nikki stayed with Cody and Sally like the original plan. The first thing they did for Leah was take her off all her focus medicine which they suspected was causing a lot of the problems. The side effects for some people can be severe depression. Within about two days, Leah was feeling so happy. I could hear the difference on the phone. The dr. met with her each day and said she was doing so well, better than expected. They changed her medication too. She will not take anything for focus probably ever again. This is going to be a struggle for her in school, but we all agree that happy is better than good student. At Intermountain she had so many rules to follow and she did everything she was asked even more. In fact she got Star patient 3 days in a row which I hear is very hard to do. She had group therapy sessions, cleaning and organizing she had to do each, goal making and achieving, lots of writing, learning about triggers and how to stay away from them, she’s learning coping skills, etc. She even asked for someone to come in and give her the sacrament which was Pres. Tanner (seminary teacher) and Ken Tanner. They gave her a blessing in there. The next Sunday the Bishop came with Ken and gave her the sacrament.

Dad and I got to meet with her Saturday for the first time. She looked great and shared with us everything she’s been learning and how she wants to change when she gets home. She’s learned sooooo much.I have to go in today and meet with her case worker and go over new rules in the house, etc and the case worker will watch Leah to see how she reacts to me and how things will be different at home, etc. Then she’ll decide when Leah can come home. We’re hoping she either comes home today or tomorrow. I’m nervous for her to be home again but also excited for her to move forward. Nervous that she will have the same struggles, but we really want her back home with us. These are hard, hard things but ultimately Leah has to take charge of her life, her decisions and consequences. She told dad and I that she was so happy we were her parents because she can’t believe the things she was hearing from the other girls in the hospital about their parents and families. Leah said she’s doing great compared to everyone else. :)  The real test will be for her to be back at school, with her friends, etc.

Other than that, everything’s going well here. Nikki is still doing great in school and is so determined to go to BYU. I love that she is so motivated still. So here’s the news from the week: Aaron Peery got engaged! Sienna has decided to go on a mission. 

Just got your email about your district meeting (dad’s at work today but I’ll try to get the word to him). My whole life I have learned more and more about recognizing and relying on the spirit. I recognize it much easier now with years of practice, but the first time I remember was when I was living at home with my parents. The phone rang late at night and because there was a phone in my room, I picked it up. I heard my dad answer the phone upstairs and it was a call letting them know that my brother Chris has been in a car accident. They didn’t have any further information other than he had been taken to a hospital. I could hear my dad tell me mom and could hear their scared voices. Chris had been living in northern California and we weren’t even sure where he was at the time of the accident. I said a quick prayer and then I remember thinking I should call some hospitals up there to see if he was there. There are lots of hospitals up there, but I had the words Mercy Hospital come to my mind. We didn’t have Google back then, so I couldn’t look anything up like we can today. I called information (411) for the area he had been living in and asked for the number for Mercy Hospital. They gave me the number. I called it and asked for the Emergency Room and I asked if Chris Trumbo had been admitted. They told me that they had treated him earlier, but they were able to release him. I immediately went upstairs to my parents and told them what I found out. I knew they had been so worried and I was able to let them know he was okay. They were so relieved and of course asked how I could possibly know. I just told them what I had done and I knew it had been a revelation from the spirit to me and for my parents. It was such a tender mercy! I have never forgotten that time. As a mom now, I have to rely on recognizing the spirit just about every day. There’s no way I could do the work of a parent without it. Words have come out of my mouth on behalf of my kids because of the great gift of the Holy Ghost. I knew the minute I said some things that they were not my words, but the words of the Savior. Knowing that the spirit is there for us has taught me the worth of every soul. Every soul is important and great in the sight of the Lord otherwise the work of the Holy Ghost would not be as important. I love that He has called it a gift, the GIFT of the Holy Ghost, because that’s truly how I see it.

I hope you have a wonderful week. Rely on the spirit in all that you do, you will be led but most times we don’t see that we have been led until afterwards. That’s where faith is so important. 

Here’s a fun pic of Addie for you. Kirk said she reminds him of Sean when Sean was a baby-needing binkys all over the place!  hahahaha

Love you soooo much,

Mom xxoo