November was a crazy month for us- so instead of doing different posts for everything, I'm just gonna lump them all in together.
The first weekend of November we went to the cabin with two guys that Ryan works with on the Gilbert Temple, and their families to the cabin. We were lucky enough to be there for the first snow of the year! We had fun sledding down the hill, watching movies and playing Kinect. There was 11 kids, so you can imagine not only the noise, but the mess!
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| Sledding! |
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| Good thing I bought Clark this coat the day we left! |
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| Charly's first snow. She loves her daddy! |
The day before we left for the cabin we got some bad news about our friend Dave Kastelar in Utah. When we lived in Utah Dave was Ryan's boss while we worked at City Creek. Dave was the first boss that Ryan has had that made him feel appreciated for the work that he did. Dave was more than a boss, he became Ryan's friend and mentor. A year ago October, Dave was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. It was pancreatic cancer that spread to his spine. He immediately started cancer and the doctors told him he had 2-5 years to live. We kept in contact with him about his treatments and when he was in town for Okland, we had him over for dinner. The news we got that Thursday before we left for the cabin was that his health had taken a turn for the worse and that he did not have much time left. A friend of ours in Utah, Leesha, told Ryan that Dave had told her "goodbye". Ryan and I decided that we needed to get up to Utah quickly to see him. My nephews wedding was the next Friday, and I thought we could wait a week till after the wedding, but Ryan was adamant that we go Monday. I luckily had some buddy passes, and the first flight we could get on was Tuesday morning at 6am. So we farmed the kids out to my mom and my sister Nancy and went to Utah for 2 days. When we got there Tuesday morning we really didn't have anything to do, so we drove up to Bountiful and Ryan took me to Grandma Johnson's old house.
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| Grandma Johnson's House |
We then met up with our friend Leesha for lunch and got the latest info on Dave. He was admitted into the hospital Monday, still not exactly sure what happened that got him there, but complications with the cancer. It turns out that even on the chemo- he had developed tumors on the inside of his skull and was in a lot of pain. After lunch we drove back up to Salt Lake and waited for the ok to go to the hospital to see Dave. Here's a picture I took of Salt Lake as we drove around. The weather was absolutely beautiful. Sunny and cold, the leaves were all changing- just a perfect fall day.
We finally went up to Huntsman's Cancer Center at the U to see Dave. It was very hard to see this 6'5" 300 lb man laying in a hospital bed, down 100lbs, pale, talking with just a whisper, only having the strength to use his hands. We told him about the kids, showed him pictures and Ryan told him all about the Gilbert Temple. He told us after talking with one of his doctors that he had decided he was done with chemo- and done trying to fight the cancer. They were going to gather their 3 kids that weekend and tell them that he was done. We could see, from the way he was talking, was that he knew that the end was near and that he was ok with it. He said he was scared to leave his family, but knew that there was nothing else he could do. The doctors said he had 4-8 weeks left. We only got to chat for a few minutes when doctors and nurses started coming in, and we knew that it was time for us to go. I grabbed his hand and gave him a squeeze, but couldn't say anything, but to thank him for all that he had done for us. He looked me in the eye and gave me some very personal advice.
When Ryan and I left, we felt so emotionally and physically drained. We went back to our hotel and fell asleep. There is nothing like being with someone near death that makes your take a look at your life and realize all the wonderful blessings you have, and what really is important. It made me so grateful for Ryan and the time we get to spend together. It was so nice to have 2 whole days together. Wednesday we drove out to Roosevelt to visit Grandma and Grandpa Roberts, and lots of time in the car to just talk and be together. It seems like we are always so busy, and have so many distractions, that rarely do we have hours, just the two of us, to hang out. It really was a blessing. We flew home late Wednesday night, and back to life as usual.
That Friday Dave caught pneumonia in the hospital and went into a coma Saturday. From what I heard, he did come to a few times to say good-bye to his family, and Friday the 18th he passed away. I am so glad that Ryan was persistent that we go to Utah immediately. If we would have waited, we would not have been able to talk to him. His funeral was Monday the 21st, but we were not able to attend.
I still have days and times where I am overwhelmed with sadness at his passing, but I take comfort in the fact that he was at peace with his death. My heart goes to his wife and 3 kids. Cancer sucks.
Thursday night my nephew Zack had his wedding dinner. At the dinner, all the young cousins sang L-O-V-E. It was very cute, and Clark- of all kids- sang the loudest and stole the show!
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| Nikki, Haylee, Clark, Jake, Kate and Ella |
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It wouldn't be a 'Haynes' party without dancing, so of course we had to dance! I think this is the first time Ryan has danced since our wedding! (Not really, but pretty close)
Zack and Cara got married Friday, 11-11-11. Congrats! |
Tuesday the 22nd Ryan's youngest brother Rick got sealed to his wife Amanda.
Wednesday the 23rd, I went with Kate and Clark on their preschool field trip. They went to the Park of the Canals to see the canal Native Americans had made when they lived in Mesa. Ms. Arlene had taught them all about the indians and pilgrims and the first Thanksgiving, so they went to the Park of Canals to have a Thanksgiving Feast.
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| Ms. Arlene telling the kids all about the canal. |
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| The kids spend most of the time playing on the playground- so it was a great field trip! |
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| Clark and his friends Hayden and Cohen. |
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| The kids getting ready for their feast |
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| Aggie, Clark, Cohen and Baylee |
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| Felicity, Jewels, and Kate |
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| This is their feast- turkey, grapes, rasins, cheese and carrots |
Last but not least was Thanksgiving! Ryan's sister was in town from Texas, so we went to the Johnson's for dinner. We also went to my parents house for dessert. It was a great day of nothing but food! I sure paid for it on Friday!
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| Happy Thanksgiving! |
