Sad News for Us

I usually have smiles in the title of my posts….. because I always have a lot to smile about….

…but today I feel like calling my post “Grammy’s tears” instead of Grammy’s Smiles”

Those of you who follow my blog know that our grandson, Johnny, is on the USA National Men’s Gymnastic team. At Nationals in May he came in 2nd in his age group on P-bars and 9th in the nation overall.

Doing so well at Nationals qualified him to move on to the P&G Championships this August to compete to be on the National team again.  He has loved being on the National team and representing our country at international competitions.  He looked forward with great anticipation to being on the team for the 3rd year.

However that is a dream that is not to be accomplished.

His shoulder has been hurting since before Nationals. The Olympic doctors iced it,  sent him to therapy and did all of the usual things to help it feel better….. but it just kept getting worse.

While he was training at the Olympic center in Colorado last week, the doctors looked at a new MRI and found that not only is there a tear in his rotator cuff muscle, but also the labrum (cartilage in the shoulder).  Both injuries require surgery which will put him out of action for 3 months or so.  Johnny wants to be on the National team so badly that he was willing to go ahead and compete at P&G with pain meds and a cortisone shot. The Olympic doctors considered it but ended up saying for his own health and future  he should not compete this year.    We all agree with them but it makes us so sad.

You can’t even begin to imagine all the work and effort Johnny has put into this goal. This injury right before qualifications is devastating.

  However, he got a very nice letter from the Olympic committee telling him that they know this is a “hard blow” but “it is only a bump in the road”. They said that they consider Johnny to be “the whole package” and look forward to him representing our country internationally again when he is healed. That made Johnny and all of us feel better but we are still sad about him being out this year. But….

…if he wasn’t disqualified because of his torn rotator cuff and labrum… he would be out now because of his foot. He was working on the pommel horse last night (the doctor said it was OK for him to keep training….just not to do things that hurt his shoulder)  He turned his ankle on the landing and tore 2 ligaments and has a possible fracture in his ankle.

I went to the doctor with him. The doctor said the good news is that by the time he has recovered from the shoulder surgery, his ankle will be healed…. In the doctor’s words….”This will just be a bad memory”.

So…. Johnny will not be on the National Team this year. Tears have been shed…. but there are also smiles. I am glad that the Olympic doctors are seeing that he gets the best of care. I am glad that he is expected to fully recover.  I am glad that this sweet boy has faith and such a good attitude in spite of the disappointment.

There is much to be thankful about…. so I’ve got to dry these tears and start smiling…. and I will.

Hugs, Grammy Lura

49th Anniversary Smiles

I have a lot to smile about today.

It was exactly 49 years ago that I married my sweetheart.

We were young  college students at BYU with 2 years to go until graduation…. but… we were so much in love that it didn’t seem to matter that we just had part time jobs and barely enough money to pay for tuition and books. Luckily John had the skill to lay floor tile and his part time job paid him much more than my $1.00 per hour job. We figured if we pinched pennies we could get by.

If we had looked at our financial situation rationally, I doubt if we would have had the courage to marry when we did….but… we were blinded by love and nothing mattered to us as much as being together as husband and wife.

So on July 9th, on a  sunny Friday morning, just like today…. we were married for time and all eternity in the Los Angeles temple  of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormon).

It has been a long 49 year journey we have made together. There have been good and bad times, ups and downs, sad and happy times, challenges and comforts. Through it all we have learned what love really is… not just what those 2 young kids thought it was.

I woke up this morning to find our grandgirl, Claire busy at work

…. setting a beautiful table.  Grampy asked her to do it while he went out to buy breakfast for us.

I saw that he had a card for me  so I quickly added my card for him to the table.

Austin and Claire have been staying with us since last Sunday. It was special having them be a part of our anniversary breakfast.  John getting Claire to set the pretty table and him going out to buy us breakfast was a total surprise to me….certainly more than I expected… but there was still another surprise  coming.

The doorbell rang just as we were finishing breakfast…. John asked me to get the door… I was the only one not dressed…. I was still in my jammies and robe.. but since John wanted me to… I went to the door….

And when I opened it there was a floral delivery man with a beautiful bouquet of red roses.

Of course, Grampy and the kids knew who it was so they came running with camera in hand to capture the moment. Wasn’t that a sweet way for my John to start off our 49th anniversary!

We spent the rest of the day enjoying the grands…. then….

This evening we went to dinner with our friends, Paul and Michelle and then to a good movie…. Belle..

Since we just got home from our cruise we said that we would keep this anniversary low key and simple….. however… I think John went the extra mile to make it extra special.

I’m glad those 2 kids decided to get married 49 years ago today. Our life has turned out just as we hoped and dreamed it would. We finished our education and got good jobs…. we raised our 4 wonderful children and have 14 dear grandchildren. Life is good.

We love each other more than ever. I treasure the years we have had together…. and I hope there will be many more.

Hugs, Grammy Lura

4th of July Smiles

I hope that you all had a nice 4th of July…. whether it was a holiday for you or not.

I love my native land.  I am very patriotic  and I love our Independence Day Celebrations.

We are not very original and we celebrated this year exactly the same way we did last year but we still enjoyed every minute of our holiday.

Early Fri. morning, July 4th,  we donned our matching red, white and blue shirts ….

… and headed to our church’s flag ceremony and patriotic program…..

….followed by a nice breakfast.

We enjoyed the good food and being with our friends. It was a nice way to start our holiday.

After the program and breakfast we came home and put the movie Independence Day on TV. I started preparing food for later in the day while we watched the movie.

Making home made ice cream is a 4th tradition at our house…

I put a pot of ham and beans on to simmer in the sun oven for a few hours …( my homemade bean soup is a family favorite recipe  that I learned from my mom.) … Later in the day,  I put some cornbread in to bake. I love using our sun oven instead of our kitchen oven…. especially when it is a sizzling 100 degrees outside!

Then I had fun decorating  for the 4th…. inside and out…

I dressed up my patio plants with flags ,

(they don’t show up very well but I put out about 30 flags in the patio plants) … and…

made it look patriotic and  festive  for our holiday dinner.

The kids got here as fast as they could after Ernie’s band finished marching in the 4th of July parade.  Mindy prepared the chicken while Ernie got the smoker ready.

Claire marched with Ernie’s band’s color guard today. EJ did not play in it because he is at jazz band camp.  Unfortunately I have not been up to attending the parade for the last 3 years since our car accident… but I was cheering them on from here at home.

 

While the tri-tip and chicken cooked a few hours in the smoker….

We had plenty of time to play in the pool….

and have fun together goofing off.

The sun oven bean soup and cornbread made a good lunch…

to tide us over while we waited for dinner to cook in the smoker… and yes… the kids did get to eat in the pool… which is usually against our pool rules.

When the meat was cooked to perfection…

… we chowed down on our delicious dinner with all the traditional 4th of July trimmings.

Of course, we saved enough room to enjoy ice cream and cup cakes for dessert. EJ is not in these pictures because he is at a music camp for 2 weeks. We surely did miss him.

With both our tummies and our hearts full, we went to the Quake’s Stadium….

… to end our holiday with a great fireworks show and patriotic music.

That is how we celebrated the 4th. I would have liked to have invited friends over and had a party but I just wasn’t up to it…. maybe I can do that next year.

I am glad that we could have a nice holiday with family as we counted our blessings and thanked our Heavenly Father for our country and our freedoms.  The long day of celebrating completely wore me out and I’ve had to spend all day down in bed today recuperating…. but it was worth it.

I hope you had a nice 4th of July too. What did you do to celebrate?

Hugs, Grammy Lura