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!

Visiting Hometown America

Aly..As soon as I got home from the river trip, I was on a plane bound for Cleveland, Ohio. I remember as we flew into the city, I turned to the guy next to me and asked him what the big body of water was. He looked at me kind of funny and said Lake Erie! I know they call them the Great Lakes, but I really had no idea how big they really were.
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I rented a car and drove up to Erie from Cleveland and was happy to see Mom and Dad and Dave, Cicely and of course of Miles! Here is the morning after I arrived. Miles having a rare, happy moment. I think the move along with the fact that we were all busy working on the house caused him to be a bit grumpy.

This was a vacation of work and a little fun. It felt good to help Dave and Cic get settled. Their house is great, truly they live on what I like to think of Hometown America street. Tree lined streets with very cute houses. Before I got there, Mom and Dad and David had refinished the wood floors. More work than I think they realized it would be. Dad worked hard on sanding the kitchen cabinets before Cic and I painted them. I still have paint in my hair!

Here the cabinets are all painted and we are working to put the kitchen back together.
Three generations concentrating on putting the dishwasher back.
Lots of little jobs like making shelfing for a big pantry!



We did take a little break and drove up to Palmyra for a day. We visited the Grandin Press buliding where the Book of Mormon was published, the Joseph Smith farm home and the Sacred Grove. I was so happy to finally visit the Sacred Grove after studying and hearing about it for so long. Emotions just swell as you walk toward the grove and are able to walk on the many trails that are throughout the grove.

We visited the temple and later that night watched the pagent which was great. I didn't have super high expectations because all I could think of was Manti, but it was a really great production.

We visited Dave and Cic's ward on Sunday. There are a lot of LECOM students in the ward so that will be nice. This is kind of a close picture but I wanted you to see the missionary tag that you sent. By the way he is saying "cheeeeese".

Sunday night and Monday were spent and Presque Isle State Park. The shores of Lake Erie are like going to the beach. You would think it was the Ocean but it was warmer and not salty. Beautiful, and it was about 5 minutes from Dave and Cic's house.

By the time we were ready to leave I think Miles was adjusting to his new surroundings. Here he is just lounging on the front porch.

This was the morning we had to say goodbye. This little family is going to do great in Erie, Pennsylvania. We will sure miss them though. Just like we miss you Aly-boo. Loves.