A bitter sweet summer...

It's hard to believe that it's been a year since I last updated my blog! Boy has a lot happened since then...My original plan when beginning to blog was that eventually, in the future, I would be able to look back and read through all of our family adventures. So I guess I'd better get to it! Anyways, this last summer started out just like any other. Full of excitement, getting ready for Bible camp, Kalei's birthday, and a whole array of adventurous summer plans! Unfortunately things took a different turn. We lost Andy's dad to pancreatic cancer on June 29, 2011. His illness was short and his death very unexpected. The entire family couldn't have been less prepared to deal with this sudden and horrific loss. Tommy was a legend. Of course nobody is perfect, but he lived his life to the fullest, was one of the most generous people I could have ever known, and his grand-children where the light of his life. Tommy and I were also very close. He was like a father to me and I still mourn his death daily. My kids are a constant reminder of him and I see him in everything the kids say and do. I've never suffered a loss quite like this one and I know it will take endless amounts of time to fully recover from his loss. I loved him very much and he will always have a piece of my heart. Can't wait to meet him again in Heaven. (Pausing for a minute to pull myself back together.) Our family is recovering slowly, but surely, and moving onward in this roller coaster we call life. Andy and the kiddos are also doing much better and healing well. We remembered Tommy with a wonderful celebration of life in which 300+ people attended. That should give you an idea of the impact he had on so many peoples lives! It was full of memories, family, friends, delicious food, drinks, Hawaiian dancers, and even an Elvis impersonator! Tommy would've been thrilled with the celebration. He always loved to have a good time with the people he loved. He was an amazing man. Diane is dealing with his death as well as can be expected. This isn't an easy thing for a wife to have to go through, but she is what Tommy called a "Super Woman." And he is right. We love our Nana and will always stand by her side.

On a sweeter note, all of my hard work in school has finally paid off! I've been accepted into a nursing program and will start my first quarter of nursing school in less than 2 weeks! This is a 7 quarter LPN-RN program that will be completed by June of 2013. (That's if everything goes smoothly!;) I'm excited to begin this new chapter in our family's lives, it's what we've been waiting so long for, but I'm also a nervous wreck! This will probably be the biggest challenge our family has faced so far. My schedule will be crazy and demanding and our family will be making a lot of "adjustments." When I say this, I mean that Andy will seriously be turning into a "Mr. Mom!" Ha! We will be depending on family and friends for lots of help and that can be hard and stressful for everyone. Fortunately we are so lucky to have such wonderful and generous helpers in our lives! Amen! I'm hoping to find a snippet of time here and there to update the blog on my nursing school progress as I know it will be an "interesting" adventure...He he.

In the big scheme of things, life is going pretty well. Andy and the boys have been very involved in football this season! Andy is head coach of the Ballard Knights 89er's football team, which Alex and Mason play on, as well as the league's vice president. So as you can imagine, life has been very busy and full of football lately! Our Kalei is also an awesome captain of the Ballard Knights cheer team. What can I say, Andy is in football heaven...We've had a blast of a season so far and have been VERY successful out on the field;) Andy has chosen to dedicate this season to his dad, as Tommy spent endless amounts of time preparing to be Andy's assistant coach. I know he is proudly looking down on his football boys.

So the title of this blog speaks the truth. It truly has been a bitter sweet summer. We've been through a lot, especially emotionally, but I'd like to think it's only made our family stronger. Our entire family has been, and continues to be, put to the test. There's nothing like a family tragedy to pull families closer together and I think we are succeeding. With the help of God and each other, I'm confident we can make it through any battle life might throw at us!