Our beloved Nana Curtis

Today we said Goodbye today to our sweet, beloved Nana, grandma, and great-grandmother. Nana is Mike's grandmother, my mother-in-law Pat's Mom. She is so cherished and so loved by all who know her. She has been sick for a while, but she's always been strong enough to fight it. The fight starting to overtake her body a few weeks ago and she began to struggle and we all started to try to wrap ourselves around an idea of a world without our sweet Nana. It has been so difficult to even imagine and it's been heartbreaking to watch this unfold.

Last night she had a wonderful night of chatting and reminiscing with family and enjoy other's company. She had a wonderful talk with Bompa and then she went to sleep. When she awoke this morning she was unresponsive and only responded to anything by moving a hand or foot, although she was never fully awake. However, Bompa was still able to get a smile out of her here and there. It was the MOST touching thing I have ever seen watching him take care of her, wipe her eyes or her nose, holding her hand, Singing to her (and she tried to sing back), and even teasing with her. He was so darling and loving and tender. My heart will never forget watching that love between them.

She quickly started to get worse as the afternoon wore on. Her daughter Candy was flying in from SLC (and her plane was delayed sadly) and then they were going to do a family prayer and blessing on Nana at 6:00 p.m. Nana passed away about 5:40 p.m.

This is such a wonderful thing that she was able to die at home and with no pain. It was very peaceful for her and now she has rejoined many, many loved ones that have gone on before her, including her sweet parents Grandpa and Grandma Kelly, and the down syndrome daughter who passed away at only 11 months of age from an infection, Maralyn Kay, but nicknamed "Susie" by her grandpa. It is sad for those she left behind because we are going to MISS her terribly.

It was been an absolutely joy and privilege in my life to know Nana ~ Carmen Curtis. She is a tremendous and loving woman with so many loving gifts. She has forever changed and blessed my life just by knowing her.

Nana, we so love you and we miss you! May you rest in peace.

Nana's kids

These pictures are from Thanksgiving 2007. We had a huge Curtis Family Thanksgiving Reunion. It was so memorable and a great time. There were lots of family pictures taken, which was great to have for posterity. And we had a neat program in which each family contributed a part. Bompa and Nana used to sing hymns in bed at night as they fell asleep. It was tradition for them. And so they were requested to sing a hymn together. Nana was feeling shy at first but Bompa broke out into song. And then he stood up and sang a love song to Nana. It was such a sweet moment between them and we were all teary eyed watching this moment. It was a sweet tender mercy that I am grateful for. They were truly the love of each other's lives and they showed it as often as they could.

Another tradition of theirs was to watch the Phoenix Suns games on TV. They love rooting for the Suns!

We have such great memories of Nana and we'll always love her and never forget her!

Tub Time

Brynlyn was so messy after eating today that I just had to soak her in the sink tub just to get the mess off of her. She's really coming around to eating a little more, atleast she's more interested in it which is great. She has a ways to go, but we like the baby steps that we are seeing her take.

Ballet performance

This girls have been involved in a ballet company named Yen Li Chen Ballet. They learn classic Russian ballet. They had their performance and they all did a wonderful job. Grandma and Grandpa Sugar came and so did Granda and Papa. We didn't get a picture with Granda and Papa, which I was bummed about. These pictures were taken after the performance. The girls had already taken off their costumes. Thanks for coming and supporting us guys!

Lauryn's Kindergarten graduation

Here is Lauryn and Mrs. Tripathi on the last day of school. Mrs. T. was such a wonderful teacher to Lauryn. She learned alot and grew up so much. Thanks Mrs. T for everything! Have a well deserved wonderful summer!

Jenna, Dillon, Lauryn, Macey, and Vanessa were standing in line getting ready for their big moment: Kindergarten Graduation! They performed a few songs for their parents and did such a great job. It's hard to believe that this year has already come and gone and they are ready to move up to the world of First Grade. Congrats kiddos!

We were lucky to have a boy come and play at our house today. My nephew Jackson (Janelle's little guy) came over to play so his parents could go to a wedding. We had so much fun with him; he's such a cutie pie.

Lauryn and Macey

Lauryn's friend Macey came over today to play. They swam and played and ate watermelon like crazy and had such a fun time. It's cute to watch them play together because they are so much alike and such buddies! We're glad she lives close enough so we can play alot this summer.

Granda's Surprise: May 11th

For Mother's Day, Papa (Farrell surprised Granda (Pat) with a beautiful bird bath and a new plant area for her window overlooking her tub. She can now soak in her tub and look at the window and see her own private garden oasis. It was really fun to see her reaction because she was so excited about this! She had to hop right in the tub and "try it out." You can see that Brynlyn and the girls had to get right in on the action also. Happy Mother's Day Granda! We love you!

May 2008 - Oh what do you do in the summertime...

We love swimming in the summertime! The girls already have a head start on the summer swim time!

May 11, 2008: Happy 37th Birthday Mike!

Today was Mike's 37th Birthday. At first he wasn't overly thrilled with the idea of sharing his birhday with Mother's Day, but he should be used to it by now! ha ha We celebrated Mother's Day in the morning and then the rest of the day was His in celebration of his birthday. We went over to Pat and Farrell's house for hamburgers and Texas Sheet Cake for dessert, Mike's absolute favorite. Brynlyn's favorite part was blowing out the candle. Look how disappointed she was when there was no more "fire" to look at. Aw man! hee hee

May 9, 2008 - Justin's Funeral

Today was the funeral for Justin Bluth. Oh it was the saddest funeral I have ever been to and I cried like crazy. It was a healing cry though. The funeral was a beautiful tribute to his life and his amazingly strong wife spoke and bore such a beautiful testimony. His parents gave a wonderful tribute to his life story. And his younger brother Jordan Bluth (who is a recording artist) sang the most beautiful songs. It was really an amazing and beautiful funeral, but still so sad that a wonderful life was cut so short leaving behind his boys. They are darling and fun boys and they will be a living legacy to Justin's life.

It certainly confirmed the message in my heart that this life is so short, a fleeting moment and we should never take for granted the ones we love because we really don't know what the direction our lives will take and what's in store for us or the ones we love.

Never miss an opportunity to tell your loved ones that you love them!

www.justinbluthmemories.blogspot.com

May 2008 - Birds Nest

We have this sweet little birds nest that's nested in our wreath hanging on our door. We have birds that have come three years in a row and nested here in our topiaries. Mike thinks it's the same bird for the past three years but who knows!? I don't know what it is about our house but the birds like to nest. It's really fun for the kids and they love to pull up a chair to check out the nest and the baby birds. It's been neat to follow their path from nest to egg to hatching and now the babies have grown so fast. The only gross thing is they have pooped all over their nest and a little on our door. Aagh! That'll have to be cleaned promptly when they're gone, but until then we're stuck with it. They're getting ready to fly the nest soon so we had to grab these quick pictures before our 2008 nesting stage is over with. We hope they come again next year.

Playing Dress Up

Ashlyn put this Sleeping Beauty dress up dress on Brynlyn and they danced around. I'm not sure if Brynlyn was feeling like a princess or not because it was 2 sizes too big and was dragging along the ground as she walked. But she sure looked cute wearing it!