Happy Birthday Wibs!

Sweet Alyssa

When people find out where I work as a nurse their first repsonse is.."oh, that must be so hard". I always say, it has it's moments but we see a lot of success and happiness too.

This last week was one of those heart wrenching moments. This is a picture of Alyssa Chappell who I became quite attached to as I have told you in previous letters and emails. I was her nurse when she was first diagnosed in March with stage IV neuroblastoma. I was instantly drawn to her and her amazing parents. A bond of friendship was formed in that first couple of weeks while I was their nurse that will be forever.

Her parents, Lori and David were devoted to Alyssa and in the fight to win the disease that had taken over her little body. Things looked good going into the summer as she had responded well to chemo and the plan was in place for a stem cell transplant. A few weeks ago though, we learned that her neuroblastoma had progressed. This sweet picture was taken a couple of weeks before she passed away.

So to say the least it has been an emotional week for me. Alyssa would always say to us when we were in the room doing some procedure, "all done? all done?" We would reassure her, all done. I was able to attend her funeral where I was inspired by her parents who both spoke. They are amazing examples of people who have great faith in Jesus Christ, I was uplifted by them and their words at her funeral. David, her dad, told us about Alyssa a a few days before she died, where she mostly slept and was comfortable. She opened her eyes for a moment and said "all done, no more, all done".

Sweet Alyssa, I feel so privileged to have been able to care for her and know her and her parents. They have made an impression on me that will stay forever.

Beautiful Yosemite

Aly... Our trip to California was quick and in my opinion a good time..Lib may beg to differ. Flying there with all of Brad's climbing stuff and our camping stuff was a bit tedious but we lived and learned. Here we are on our first day in San Francisco, David's last day of work at Adobe. We just kind of hung out in the city and then met up with him after he was done working. When Lib and I lived here we never visited Coit Tower so we hiked up the hill to check it out.
On Saturday we headed to Yosemite! I wouldn't advise going in August because of the crowds down in the valley but most of our time was spent up in the Towalame Meadows area so it wasn't too bad. This is Sunday, on our way down into the valley. The view from this spot was amazing.
We found an LDS service in the afternoon held in this little chapel in the valley. It was awsome, 45 minutes long and we could wear our camping clothes.
We visited the Ahwahnee Hotel which has been open since 1927. I remember my friend Suzi showing me pictures of this hotel and had always wanted to see it. It was beautiful.
Behind the Ahwahnee Hotel near the Merced River.

Leaving Curry Village..before we headed up to the Meadows area.

I am not sure what Brad was teasing about here.. but notice the view behind us of Half Dome and El Capitan..

The next day we spent hiking and climbing. Davd and Brad found a easy route for Lib and me.

Brad whipping Lib..to get her moving up the wall.

Brad teaching me my first climbing knot. Make a loop and poke it in the eye.

Look..proof that I acutally tried to climb, it wasn't too bad.

We moved to a more difficult route and watched Dave and Brad climb.

It was a good trip. We need to go as a family and either go in May or September after you get home. Love you!

Happy 89th Birthday Grandma!

Aly.. We had our annual Cain get together and celebrated Grandma's 89th Birthday. There were lots of greats running around, lots of new babes. We met up at the Spruces and the weather cooperated and was quite nice up there. Out of the 127 people in our family, 70 were there! Not bad. I took lots of pictures of the cousins and Grandma and Grandpa..here are a few. Love you!