My Brother, Neil

 My brother passed away on Saturday night. He was diagnosed with neuroendocrine cancer almost five years ago. When he was diagnosed, we had no idea how long he would be able to live with the disease. We are grateful we got as many years together as we did. He did a lot of living in those years, traveling to many interesting places. 

This week, he started to feel worse than usual. No matter how much pain medication they gave him, it didn't seem to help. By Friday, he was unresponsive and he passed away Saturday at 7:30 pm. Our hearts are broken.

"End? No, the journey doesn't end here. Death is just another path, one that we all must take. The grey rain-curtain of this world rolls back, and all turns to silver glass, and then you see it."

—J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King

Lessons my brother taught me:

It's never too late to find love.

Life is better with good friends.

Always be positive. Happiness is a choice.

Winning is fun.

You can't hit a homerun if you don't swing...and work on your form. Homeruns are more fun than singles. Besides, you don't have to run so hard.

Go for the double play.

When things are coming at you fast, choke up on the bat.

There's always the next game.

Be a team player.

There's something to appreciate about every part of the world.

If you get a chance, go!

There's no need to be too serious.

Just because someone says you are sick doesn't mean you have to quit.

My brother was a courageous fighter and an all round great guy. Everyone liked Neil. I can't even express how much he will be missed. On October 9, he hit is last figurative home run and rounded the bases jubilantly, all on his own. I only wish I could have seen the high fives on the other side.

This is how I will always remember him. In this picture, he is in the Czech Republic at the World Junior Hockey Tournament 2020. Canada beat Russia in the final game. He was thrilled to be able to be there. This is how I will always remember him:

Wedding Days

 This weekend was Jillian and Chase's wedding and it was a wonderful celebration! They were married in Cardston. We have a temple in Calgary but it was closed for some minor renovations. Allen and I were married in the Cardston temple and it had been a lot of years since we had been there. The person who married them was Brother Ursenbach. When I met him, I said, "Oh! I have some favorite Ursenbachs: Andy, Dan, Matt, Chuck...." and he happily responded, "Those are my sons!" The lady who helped us in the bride's room was from Paris and so it was fun for her to be able to speak French with Jill and later with Chase. The ceremony was really lovely. He encouraged everyone there to apply the covenants they make in the temple to their marriage. I had never thought of temple covenants that ways before. 

After the ceremony we had some Subway trays and Allen's mom and Carmen brought some veggie trays. Then we were off to take pictures on the temple grounds.  I can't wait to see the pictures!

That afternoon we had a lunch in Lethbridge at Earl's restaurant with lots of family and friends. It was nice to be able to sit and relax and visit. I stole a cool picture from Zoe's instragram from the restaurant.

Saturday was the reception. Celebrating with lots of extended family and even more friends made our hearts swell! 

Now they're off to their honeymoon!

Bridal Shower

 We are only a few weeks away from Jill and Chase's wedding. Last night some ladies in the ward planned a shower for them. Because of the new covid restrictions, we ended up doing it on Zoom. Peirce and Zoe and I went to their new place to be part of the shower. It was so fun! I'm so grateful for my dear friends who organized the shower! We felt the love! 

Karyn was up to her usual amazingness. 

She made no-bake cheesecakes and also had macarons. 

It was delicious!

The Power of 30 Minutes

 During the summer, I always have these grand plans about things I'm going to get caught up on in my house and in the yard. However, I run into the problem of balance. If I spend too much time cleaning and doing yard work, I start to feel like I'm getting ripped off. If I don't do it, I feel like I'm wasting all this extra time I have. 

A number of years ago I decided I would do a load of laundry every day. It changed everything when it comes to laundry. I still do it religiously every single day. The loads are never very big, which makes it easy to wash and dry and put away each day. Sometimes I even have to look for things that I should wash - but not that often. Bedding, towels, etc make up the lulls in empty baskets. The nice thing about it is that I never have baskets and baskets of laundry to fold and put away and I never have piles of laundry sorted on the floor waiting to be washed. It's just become a quick and easy thing that gets taken care of each day. 

I decided to implement this strategy for my housework and yard-work goals this summer. I committed to 30 minutes a day for each. It's amazing how much gets accomplished in 30 minutes! This morning was a great example. I have mostly been working in the front yard but now things are mostly caught up and it's hard to find 30 minutes of work to do each day so I decided I should venture into the back yard. It's been something I've stayed away from because we are working on building a new fence and a new deck and there is a lot going on back there. However, today I decided maybe what I should do is tidy up the pile of boards that have been left for a couple weeks from fence work. Imagine my surprise when it was all taken care of in only 7 minutes?! I went from this:

to this:

So then I had to figure out something to do for the last 20 minutes. See all those shoots around the lilac bush? I decided to get to work on them. It's amazing how much of that was taken care of in just 20 minutes! 

One of Gretchen Rubin's secrets of adulthood is that nothing is more exhausting than a task that is never started. That is so true! I looked at that pile for so many days and hated it....and it was so easy to look after! 

Engagement

 Jillian is engaged! This was her post on Facebook:

I wouldn’t have guessed when I met Chase at that post church grilled cheese party what the next year and a half had in store! But now, even more than cherishing the memories we’ve already made, I can’t wait to spend forever together!

We are super happy for them and excited to have Chase as a member of our family!

Renovations

 We have been doing a lot of work around our house. We got new lights on the outside. We got a new roof and 3 skylights (and what a difference they make! So much light!). We are in the midst of new windows (three new windows have been put in the master bedroom....not quite finished though) and today we had some major fence repairs done. It's a beautiful fence!

It's a great feeling to get some of these things done. So grateful for all the coordinating and hiring and work Allen is doing for it.

Old boards!

Beautiful new fence!

Employed!

 Peirce has had a number of interviews. Today he started his first full time job in the pharmacy industry! He is working at a place that supplies pharmacies....so if they need a compound, they make it. If they need some unusual drugs or combinations, they put them together. It's very exciting....and he loves it! 

Off for his first day!

Our Boy Is Amazing!

 We are so proud of Peirce! He has finished the in-class portion of his pharmacy program with a near perfect GPA. It was really hard at first but he buckled down and figured out strategies to keep track of all the assignments and courses and technology issues when you're learning from a distance. He is now is doing a practicum in a pharmacy. He comes home excited every day to tell us stories of things he has learned. It's so fun to hear his excitement. 

Vaccine #1: check!

 It's hard to express the jubilation I felt at getting my first covid vaccine. My appointment was at our convention center downtown. They said not to arrive more than ten minutes prior to your appointment. I dutifully followed those instructions and was quite dismayed to realize how long the line was. It was like the worst kind of Disneyland line up with turns and twists. One minute I'd think I was almost there and realize that the line twisted off in another direction. In the end, it took two hours of standing in line. I felt a little irritated at that but had to reign in my feelings because I was finishing up a book as I stood in line that was about young Ukrainian people  during World War II. Reading about their struggles, sacrifices and how they were abandoned made complaining about standing in a line for a vaccine that would end a world wide pandemic seem silly to complain about. It has been a hard year. We have had to pivot again and again in schools and adjust what we're doing. Children have made many sacrifices and struggled through this year, but most of us weren't starved or abused. The idea that the vaccine could get us out of the measures Alberta Health Services asks us to follow is to me, exhilarating. The sacrifice we've been asked to make hardly compares to what others before us have made. This vaccine is a miracle. I'm grateful.

Teaching DNA?

When I think back to going to university, I marvel that I did it. At the time, there wasn't a track record for me to follow. Neither of my parents completed university. None of my aunts and uncles or grandparents did. They all were very successful people in business. Some of my cousins started university, but at that time they hadn't finished. I look back sometimes and can't believe I even considered going to school to become a teacher. I really didn't know what I was doing.  I didn't know how to select courses and maneuver the intricacies of a huge school like that. The content wasn't hard. The work wasn't that hard...the long haul of it was hard. Often when I was in the midst of my schooling, I wondered why I shouldn't just quit. I had skills I could use and places I could work and did work...but something propelled me forward.  It took me a long time to figure things out. I wasn't good at asking for help. It's a miracle I made it through. 

I certainly am grateful for all the help and support I got with my goal. University changed me. It helped me be open to thinking about and discussing things I would have never otherwise. In the end, I loved it. Still, I wondered where I ever got the hair-brained idea that I could become a teacher. 

Recently, I've been helping share family history stories my mom writes up. I felt impressed that I should help her out somehow and so I revived The Family Called Hyde blog and we share a story each day. One of the stories my mom shared was about my Great Great Grandpa Hyde. He was a teacher and was not very impressed with his son's chosen ambitions to become a blacksmith. As a result, his son decided to leave and never come back. In those days, it meant he'd never see his family again. It seems his father was okay with that and that is sad.

 After a while, it struck me that maybe a tiny part of me came from Great Great Grandpa Hyde. Maybe it was part of my internal make up. Maybe his DNA helped me through university. One thing is for sure, I love teaching. It has changed me forever.

General Conference - Saturday Edition

 I love conference weekend. I sit through all the sessions and write and read and listen and think. I was thinking today that I really don't have to wait for six months for the next one. I could have a deep dive weekend like that any time really. I guess the thing about this weekend though is everyone knows it's conference so they don't expect you to do other things. 

I didn't have a notebook ready so I didn't take notes today. I went and bought myself a new notebook tonight so tomorrow I'll get back on track. I've felt a bit ho hum lately about my scripture study. Perhaps I can turn things up a notch by re-listening and take notes from the Saturday sessions. Jill came over for the afternoon session...and lunch!

Now and then Allen likes to cook. Today was one of those days. He made us grilled cheese sandwiches that were to die for! I had turkey, swiss cheese and cranberry spread. It was a lot of calories....but it sure was good!

He doesn't skimp on the cheese, for sure! There were layers of cheese and turkey. So good!

Bunny Love

 Last year Allen got the crazy idea to buy some big bunnies and give them to his brother's kids. They loved it. It was a fun thing to do to bring some happiness to our new crazy covid world.

They really did enjoy them! 

They surprised us this year by bringing them back! We woke up to this in our car!

Allen then decided to pass the joy along and dropped them off at the house of a family he is assigned to minister to. Those bunnies have brought about a lot of smiles!

Blessed Drudgery

 Today was a great day. I have started on my new goals and I accomplished a lot! That always makes me feel great. 

One of my goals this year is to NOT scroll on my phone when I'm in bed. It doesn't mean I can't scroll during certain hours. If I want to, I just have to get out of bed to do it. To remind myself, I put a sticky note that I had written my morning routine on my phone. The idea is that I have to move the sticky note to use my phone. It was a good reminder! I got up right away and got my exercise clothes on. 

I'm reading a great book called Atomic Habits and he talks about habit stacking - which is similar to what Gretchen Rubin calls the strategy of pairing - where you do something when you're doing something else. For example, I used to always read scriptures when I was on the treadmill. Reading every day was no challenge at all. Then I started walking to school and I didn't have my pairing. I decided that each morning I am going to do some time on the treadmill for two reasons: One is because I want to become a runner. This month I'm committing to running for one minute every day (pathetic, I know....but it's something I know for sure that I can do!) Today I did it and I stayed on the treadmill for an hour because I also was reading at the same time. It was terrific! 

I also did quite a lot of housework. I did my usual Saturday House Blessing (vacuum and mop and generally tidy up) but I also got a bucket with some good soapy water and bleach and cleaned some floor spots that just don't get clean with a mop. What a difference that made! I also cleaned the oven. I sprayed it with oven cleaner and left it for two hours, but that wasn't quite enough. It required some scrubbing. Actually, it required a lot of scrubbing....and it was brutal! I did get the glass clean though! I promise myself I will never let it get that bad again!

Ain't that something! I posted the before and after and my cousin asked me how I got it so clean. After I told her, she said she figured she'd just buy a new oven. Honestly, I don't think that's a bad idea. It was exhausting work!! I'm eager to get back to school so that I don't have time for things like this anymore. LOL

More drudgery: I got groceries and made my lunches and snacks for next week. These are the things that make life so much better! It's a breeze if I don't have to think about lunches all week. 

Okay. That was a lot of drudgery - but it sure feels great to get it all done! Life is good. I'm grateful to have time for such drudgery.

 

2021!! Thank Goodness!

 Well, the whole world sure seems to be ready to be finished with 2020. It was a hard year and hopefully things will start to get better. 

Last night we had a ton of snacky food and watched a couple movies. Well, I watched one then the rest of them watched another. I'm really not one for staying up until midnight....even on New Year's Eve. Ah well! 

We watched Death to 2020, which seemed appropriate! It was hilarious!! I can't believe all that has happened this year.

We had WAY too many snacks left over. I quickly cleaned everything up this morning and took it down to the food storage room. I don't mind having snacks in the house but I DON'T want them being front and center so that we snack on them all day long. It seemed to work. And now we'll have some snacks for, er, next Friday?

This sunrise this morning was BEAUTIFUL!! I plan to enjoy a lot of them this year. I guess you could say I'm pretty set on my early to bed and early to rise gig.

Today we started off the year with some great food! Allen decided to try making pancakes for the first time ever! They were amazing. He used mango kefir and coconut. Of course, there was bacon and hash brown. Yum! 

It was great to have Jill over again. She and Peirce tried making a tiktok. It made for some good laughs anyway!

I didn't really expect that Allen would make another meal, but he did! We had an amazing cajun chicken based on the dish Cactus Club serves. Yum!!

I spent way too much time scrolling through twitter to get angry over people with political positions in Alberta who took trips to Hawaii and not enough time on my bullet journal. Tonight though I made some good headway. I'm excited for 2021 and have some good goals to work on! I also got to spend a bunch of time reading today while Jill and Peirce were out hanging out with Zoe and Daniel. They had a great time together!

I'm wondering if Chico set a goal to get along with Bentley this year. THIS has never happened! They're both on my lap.