It's August 14th and the month is half over already and I haven't made a post so guess it's time. It hasn't been as hot as July was and we've had more rain than New Mexico's use to which is good, except for the flooding we had a week ago. We didn't have any damage but a lot of Farmington did. It's pretty green these days which is nice. Holly and Kaylee were gone for about 10 days to North Dakota for Megan's wedding. It was a 20 hour drive (once they got to Utah) so it was pretty rough but they were glad they went. They traveled from Utah to North Dakota with Brandon which a great relief to us. Major and I would like to have been there but we had to go to the Bookshow since we missed it last year. Tara and Ryleigh will be flying in on Tuesday to spend almost 3 weeks with us while Mat is in the Red Phase of his second cycle of Boot Camp as a Drill Sgt. He is gone a lot and especially during the first 3 weeks so he suggested she come and spend some time with us. We are excited to say the least. Tara and Ryleigh will get to spend a day and night with Tony and J.L in Denver before they fly in to Durango on Tuesday. They are the only family members who haven't met Mat yet but they will be the first to meet Ryleigh. Pam and the kids have done some traveling this summer, first to Utah for her class reunion, then her grandfather passed away so they stayed an extra week. This week Pam and Morgan were invited to fly to Wisconsin to visit a friend for a few days. School starts on Monday here in Farmington (although Devin and Chase started already last Friday because they are beginning High School and Middle school) Mark and Brittani home school their kids so I'm not sure when they begin for the new school year. Mark and Pam both begin school the following week. I think Brett and Heather's kids begin next week as well (along with Dad and Mom!) They are a busy family. Elise doesn't start school in NY until September, but then she didn't get out until June either. That pretty much sums up the things we've done and are about to do this month! Whew!

It's July, well actually July is clearly almost over and I haven't posted anything for July. We spent 2 1/2 weeks in South Carolina loving on the newest granddaughter Ryleigh and hated to have to go home but reality is reality! (We get to Skype and see her everyday so I will live through it) It has been hot, wait....stifling.....102 (but feels like 112). I got into my car to go home from work the other day and my car said it was 117! Of course when I got the air going and the car running down the road it went down to 102, but 117!!!! Yeah and it felt like it was too! Major had another blood draw yesterday morning and I overnighted it to Houston. Did you know it costs $43 to overnight a spinned blood sample to Houston by Fed Ex? I'm looking for an alternative way to overnight it and hopefully find it a little cheaper! We won't have any results back for a week or two. Cross your fingers that his numbers are still down! I had my yearly check up yesterday and was told I am the picture of health (well with an elevated white blood count but told it was nothing to be alarmed about and we will re-check in about 4 months). My triglycerides are still at a normal number and Dr. Harmon says it's pretty amazing that I could get it down from 1021 to a normal 157! Does he realize what #**# I went through to get it there? ha ha It took a little over 4 years to do it but my daily fish oil cocktail plus tricor plus slo-niacin plus lots of hives are what finally did the trick! But it's worth it to feel safe from a "stroke waiting to happen" outcome. Pretty proud of myself! So all in all we are doing very well. Major hasn't felt very good the last few days, doing quite a bit of bleeding (which was expected by the way) but he is doing really good too. We have gotten 2 phone calls from the Albuquerque Temple President asking us to come to see him when we can, so who knows, we may be working in the temple soon if all checks out with Major and his check ups. We have to return to Houston in October for a thorough check and that will tell the tale. It will be 1 year in October so again, cross your fingers!!!

Well it's June 29th and I haven't posted anything for June. We left Farmington on June 17th and headed to Denver where we were scheduled to catch a plane (Jet Blue thanks to Gary and Kayelyn! thanks guys). We flew the red eye (which I swore the last time we did that coming home from Hawaii that I would never do again!) beginning at 11:00 pm and landed the next morning at 5:30 in Boston. From there we flew to North Carolina and then Mat and Tara picked us up and we drove 1 1/2 hrs. to Columbia, South Carolina. Tara's dr. told her we should head on out because she was dilated to a 3 and wouldn't last until Monday. It was fun to see the kids. Tara certainly looked "ready". However to make a long story shorter, she did last until Monday. (We did get to attend their ward here in Columbia and they certainly do live up to their pledge, to be "the friendliest ward in the church." I feel much better knowing what a great bunch of people there are here to watch after "my kids". ) Monday morning at 6 am we were at the hospital for Tara's induction. After a 15 hour labor (which is another whole story) a beautiful little girl, Ryleigh Lucinda Kale Rigg was born. She weighed in at 7# 5.8 oz. and was 20 inches long. I love being there when a new little one makes their way into our hearts. The kids were thrilled to say the least. Now today she is 8 days old and is such a good baby. I am so grateful for that because with Mat's schedule as a drill sgt. she will be alone from about 4 am to 8 or 9 each night 6 to 7 days a weeks for the next 2 years. On Sunday Ryleigh was blessed. Tara can still barely sit so she was blessed at home. They wanted Major and I to be there and this was the last Sunday Mat could guarantee he would not be working. She looked beautiful. Tara asked me to make Ryleigh's blessing dress and had actually picked out the pattern when they were in Farmington in December. Most babies are blessed after a month or so and have had a chance to grow a little. Little Ryleigh was less than a week old so her dress was a little big. I found a needle and some white thread and was able to take it in by hand so that it didn't drown her! Anyway time is flying by so fast and before you know it we will have to return home and it's going to kill me to have to leave. They are hoping to come and spend a couple of weeks in Farmington the first part of December but she will be so changed! All in all it has been a wonderful time!

On this Memorial Weekend I just wanted to say "thank you!" to all the service men and women who serve or have served. My Dad, my sons, Todd and Mark, my son-in-law Mat and all those who have given all for our country. As bad as it is sometimes, it is so much better than any other country out there. God Bless America.

I also want to remember my Mom, My Mom and Dad in-law, my sister Sharon and my angel twins Eli and Cayden! We love and miss you all!

Well it's May! Actually it's MOTHER'S DAY! I've got to repent and do better! I use to write in my journal every single day, my family used it to figure dates etc. out and when we went to Houston I blogged every day and haven't written in my journal since. We'll see if I can do better.

I am probably the most blessed Mom in the world (and maybe out of the world even). I started out with the best husband. Sorry girls, there was only one and I have an eagle eye and found him first! Well, I'm sure there are some who come a close second but I have #1. He is the reason I am able to celebrate my 44th Mother's Day and feel so blessed and content. Life isn't always perfect but what would it be like to have hum drum perfect? (well I have to admit it could be nice....ha ha oh well.... I love my family..... All of them!) I decided to tell the world, and hopefully not make anyone jealous in the process....here goes.....

I became a mother for the first time in May. Todd was born on May 5th, 1966 at 4:06 p.m., he weighed 8# 3oz and was 22" long. What a precious little boy he was! I came home from the hospital on Mother's day. I never felt so special in my entire life. I had a beautiful new baby boy and he was perfect! This is my official 44th Mother's Day. Then just 14 months later on July 14th 1967 at 10:32 a.m. a second son, Tony was born. He weighed 6# 6oz. and was only 19". I still remember the shock of seeing my firstborn when I came home from the hospital. He looked so big and Tony was such a tiny baby. I felt so guilty and felt like I had robbed Todd of his place as baby. Tony was such a sick little guy and it took us almost a year to find out that he was allergic to milk. I always felt guilty that I had done something to cause this for him. He was such a precious little guy and to this day he is the most patient, unselfish loving person you could ever hope to meet. I felt so lucky but learned my lesson and waited 3 years to have another one. On July 14th, 1970 at 4:27 a.m. ....oh yeah....three years to the day, our sweet Gary was born. He weighed 7# 1 oz and was 20". He had lots of black hair and he was gorgeous! (He still has black hair) He was such a good baby! After 3 years, having another baby seemed to be a piece of cake. Both Todd and Tony were potty trained, no bottles, diapers (besides Gary's) and life was good. No....life was great! We had bought our first house and had 3 precious little boys. I remember Revis Taylor telling me one Sunday that we had the perfect family and I have to tell you, I thought she was sooo right. However I really wanted a little girl but had a secret fear that I would never have one. Back in those days there were no ultra sounds to give the secret away. On December 22, 1972 at 10:45 p.m. (7# and 21 1/2" long) our precious Brett made his way into the world, just 1 hour and 45 minutes away from his Daddy's birthday. We came home from the hospital on Christmas Eve. I thought I knew what Mary must have felt like when she had the Christ Child. I held this perfect little boy in my arms while we had our Christmas Eve Home Evening and felt that the Lord must really love me to give me this little boy at this special time of the year! I decided that 4 boys made the perfect family and my impressions that kept coming to me must be right, no girls for me and I was becoming more satisfied at that but Major suggested we might try one more time for a girl. I was the one who wanted a large family not him, so this was a surprise but I was happy to try one more time! (Every Mom wants a little girl just like every Dad wants a son) On August 27th, 1975, our precious Holly made her way into the world, with lots of black hair like her brother Gary. My fastest yet......about 2 1/2 hours from first pain to last. She was born at 6:45 p.m. and weighed in at 7# 6 oz and was 20". Oh my gosh was a shock when I changed her for the first time! I was not used to this change in the "plumbing!" ha ha She was beautiful and I was at peace. I had a daughter. I had the baby blues after Holly was born and I was so grateful that she was a girl because I thought people would think I was blue because I had another boy. I love boys! I would have been fine but what was a bonus she was (and is). Well Major and I decided we had finally broken the mold and decided we'd better hurry and have another girl before we forgot how to have one. On August 7, 1977 at 4:44 a.m. our precious blonde blue eyed Mark weighed in at 8#6 oz. and 21". Not the girl we thought we'd hurry and have but oh he was beautiful! He had the whitest blonde hair you could imagine! And so much of it. He took after his Grandmother Graham who at her death at 85 still had the blondest hair you would ever see. (She never did turn gray!) We gave him her maiden name Harris as his middle name because of it. 5 boys! wow how blessed were we! He was such a good baby and life was good. We were done! We had our 6 kids (which was what I had set my goal as a teenager for ha ha) For a little over 7 years we basked in our perfect size family. Holly looked up to "her guys" as she called them and was our little princess. (although she was a tomboy much to her mother's dismay.....what were her chances of not being a tomboy with 5 brothers! What was I thinking?) However, every night when we would kneel around the kitchen table for family prayers, many, many, many, many times I would look up before we started to pray and ask who was missing? (slap my face! no one was missing....we were all there!) But guess what? We were NOT all there! Our little angel in heaven was trying to remind us that we had forgotten her! On Christmas morning, December 25th, 1984 I awoke to severe nausea! Oh my gosh! I knew immediately that it wasn't the flu! I was pregnant! I was a little upset at first but got my mind right very soon, however I did ask the Lord for one favor...."please don't send me another cub scout!" I was soooo tired of Cub Scouts! He granted me my wish...on September 4th, 1985, a little over 8 years later, Tara was born weighing in at 7# 1 1/2 oz at 9:42 a.m. For the first time I had an ultra sound but they were pretty new and said they thought it might be a girl. I didn't want to jinx myself and painted her room blue, the crib and dresser blue etc etc. After all a girl looks very pretty in blue but a boy in pink? I think not! Holly was so pleased to have a little sister even if there was 10 years difference. She would sit her in the middle of her bed and surround her with all her dolls. Tara couldn't make a peep before someone would grab her up. I'm surprised she ever learned how to cry. Her chances to try it out were few and far in-between. She had 6 willing babysitters and life was great. And the best part.....no more "someone is missing" at family prayers! Our family was complete and life is indeed good. By the way did you notice a pattern? I'm a "numbers" freak. All my boys were born either at 4 something or 10 something. Holly was born at 6:45 so when Tara was giving us a hard time trying to make her appearance, I took a look at the clock. It was getting dangerously close to 10:00 and I told Dr. Vassall, "Hurry up and get that baby out! It's almost 10 and it will be a boy!" He complied, used a suctioning machine and she was born just 15 minutes before the deadline!

Well there you have it! My 44th Mother's Day has come. My family is spread out these days, Todd and Pam are in Farmington and have given us our start with 5 grandchildren, Tony is in Colorado and has given us our beloved J.L., Gary is in New York with his beautiful wife Kayelyn and 1 granddaughter, Brett is in Oklahoma with his sweet wife Heather and have added 3 more grandchildren, Holly is here in Farmington with one more granddaughter to add to our list, Mark and Brittani recently moved back home with 6 more gorgeous grandkids (and gave us our angel twin boys) and finally Tara and Mathew are in South Carolina patiently (well give or take a little impatience) waiting for our newest little granddaughter to arrive. That makes 8 grandsons and 11 granddaughters! Tanner, Chloe, Devin, Cole, Elise, Chase, Brooklyn, Taylor, Eli, Cayden, Rachel, Dalin, Kaylee, Morgan, Nicolas, Eliza, Miriam, Sariah and Ryleigh! Now what could be better than that? Nothing.....I rest my case!

Well It's April so guess I'd better post something. The last session of April Conference has just concluded. I'm thinking this is the best conference ever, but then I think I said that last conference and probably the last....... I do miss going to SLC and attending in person though. That was something Major and I did every single conference for so many years that I can't count them. That was sort of our time together to set new goals and make new resolutions to be better. I miss that. Watching on TV just isn't quite the same. Major is still doing very well. He still has his bad days and gets impatient that he hasn't got the energy to do things he wants to do but the drs. in Houston told him sometimes it can take a year. It will come. There are still some "kinks" that need to work out and then I will feel more confident that he's ok but all in all he is doing good.

It's March 14th at 7:23 a.m. and it's the first day of Daylight Savings Time and it's snowing ........AGAIN for the umpteenth time this winter. First of all I hate DST! I can't believe I capitalized it, like it was important or something! I really wouldn't care which time it is, I just want it left one way or the other. I like change except for this one! Am I the only one who feels like this? Hope not. When I can jog my brain and figure out how to post a picture I would like to post one of all this snow we've had.

It's Valentine's day tomorrow and February is half gone. I haven't been doing very well on our blog so I guess it's time to add a little bit. Major seems to be feeling better all the time, getting stronger and having fewer bad days and nights. He had 3 different dr. appt. last week. One with his Urologist, one with his internist and the last with his dermatologist. What a week. All three went well. His Urologist was super pleased with his PSA score and actually gave him a new PX for a pill that has helped him sleep better at night. That's a real plus!! (cause that means we both sleep better now) His internist encouraged him to get a personal trainer to help him get some more weight off and to help him get his shoulder feeling better. (He can't lift his arm very high at this point and it's very painful) His dermatologist removed a small cyst growing under the skin on his tummy that had started bothering him lately. She sent it off to be checked but thinks it will come back fine. So all in all he fared very well! Things are continuing to look up. So we will be celebrating our 45th Valentines Day together tomorrow. I love you Major! PS Major says to add that he loves me too! I guess that's a very good thing since we will be spending the eternities together!!! ha ha

Just to document.....Major was told yesterday that his cancer is undetectable, that his numbers had gone from 472 to 39. When Major asked Dr. Choi if that was good his reply was: "Yes! Very good in fact." I'd say it is very good too. He will be retested again in April, July and again in October. If he continues to keep his numbers down, we don't have to come back. He also told us that if Major would be patient for another 3 months, he should be feeling much much better, be much stronger and his numbers could possibly go down even more once the Lupron gets out of his system. He is looking forward to that for sure. So all in all the trip was very worthwhile. As a side note, when my dad asked me how long we would be in Houston this time, I told him hopefully not long because I didn't lose anything in Houston. However, Dad, even at 90 is very quick on his feet, came back with, "Oh yes you did, your purse and everything that was in it!" yep he's right, as usual. It has been very cold here so we will be glad to get on our way home early in the morning. Hopefully a warm spell will hit Farmington by Monday so we can warm up! (not holding my breath though)

Back to Houston! Tomorrow is Major's first check-up and visit with his dr. since he finished his 2 1/2 months of treatments. Guess we'll see how he is faring. Major says they will tell him the cancer is gone. Hope he's right. We'll see!