MK's Curse

This is the story of MK's birthdays...

Two separate years she was so sick, she spent the majority of her birthday in bed or on the bathroom floor.

Another year she got terrible news about her best friend and cried and cried.

One year our family did a "no sugar" challenge with exceptions on Easter and birthdays. MK left for vacation with her friends' family on her birthday and ate birthday cake, and... wait for it...  got super sick from the cake throughout their 20-hour flights, connections, and boarding the cruise.

But she quickly recovered 😅

Another year, the Fab 5 decorated her bedroom, and then at midnight, with MK fast asleep in bed, about 30 friends snuck quietly up her balcony, creaked open her door... and then peeled her off the ceiling.

I just had to include this pic... of Mia 😂

Another year MK was away at college going Summer semester through her birthday to finish school early... but she was in Hawaii you know, so....

Another year we spent the night and morning of her birthday in the Emergency Room with a family member.

Not a great history of birthdays.

So this year, she resolved would be different. We would all pick up Getty from the treatment center and go out to dinner as a family. What could go wrong?

Whelp,...

Getty lost all privileges that afternoon at the center and was unable to leave the building.

So MK opened her birthday presents in a therapist's room at the residential treatment facility.

 

... and then we went out to dinner... without our Getty 😩

This is how Getty felt about that...

Getty was detached and not himself... the worst I'd seen him since his first week in.

Not an awesome birthday.

But friends came over later that night to see her.

Luis brought the flowers and cake (She's 23)

And they kept piling it on...

Better luck next year!

Memorial Day, 2017

Our tradition went down as planned: family bike ride to Elle's grave, fried chicken picnic, and shave ice at the bottom of the hill.

Then Getty called late in the afternoon from the treatment center way up north and said he finally got permission to come home. Could we pick him up? We hardly got to see Getty and jumped at the chance. Four hours later we biked back to the cemetery with him, and he told us of an awesome experience he had with Elle. And that from his experience, she's always with us... always. I know it's true. We were all in tears.

Elle's grave at Christmas

We joined about a thousand bikers (for real) at the Veteran's cemetery where Rob's mom is buried. Why didn't I take a pic of them?... duh Instead, what you see here is a very calm, sunny morning, just the two of us in the cemetery.... While in the real world, the bikes are rumbling about 100 feet away from us and line the entire road into and around the cemetery, people yelling to old friends over the engines... peaceful like that 😊 But the boys were entertained👍

We don't visit Rob's mom's grave often, but she was such a loss to our family. She was a paragon of a grandma to our kids and kept the extended family connected and feeling loved. 


She hosted family dinners every Sunday for whoever wanted to come over. 
 

She came to games and performances and would always entertain the little kids and take them for treats at half-time. She would laugh and tell us every little thing they did or said that was so cute or so funny. She got such a kick out of them.

She would go WAAAAY overboard for Christmas and birthday gifts and would personalize their birthday cakes. (See her wrist?👇 There are pins in there. You'd think that would slow her down. Nah, not Grandma....)

(MK, Getty, and Mia 😂 They're so little!!)

(Cam, Mia, and Aunt Cindy in Grandma's igloo of presents)

She would take the grandkids on field trips, out to eat, to the Dollar Store for shopping sprees, and hosted lots of sleepovers with cousins and campfires and roasted Starbursts and marshmallows.

 Wherever Grandma was, you'd find the kids

She was the Energizer bunny—always going and doing, cooking, cleaning, babysitting, shopping, gardening, hosting parties, magnifying her callings, plus working part-time at a senior center. 

Even on the Easter morning when Grandpa suffered a major heart attack and lay in a hospital bed, Grandma insisted on hosting dinner and the Easter egg hunt a few hours later as planned. 

Typical.

 (Trent! Getty and Cam)

(Here she is sewing a tree skirt and little tutu ornaments 
for Elle's tree at Festival of Trees)

Christmas dinner

I want to be her brand of Grandma!

Aunt Meme's family, Memorial Day, 2017

Newest nephew Remington

I'm so not done having babies!

 His big brother Brix. He's a dreamboat.

He kept leaning back in front of me, so I would catch him and break his fall to the floor 😂


I rarely visit my dad's grave, but I think about him every day. Next to Heavenly Father and the Savior, he's been my greatest help and support. His presence and influence have been so strong that I feel like I've morphed into a version of him. 

That's been my goal in life, so I'm a happy daughter.