Updates

Now to share all the happenings of the summer months. The easiest way for me to remember is through the photos we've taken:

I welcomed a new little nephew in May. My sister Nancy and brother-in-law Dave had sweet little Colby David Farnworth on May 12th, 2008.


Janet and I got to go spend a weekend with Nancy and her boys while Dave went out of town in June. It was so much fun to have some sisterly bonding time and to get to know Tyler better and meet Colby for the first time.



Then most of the family went to Nancy and Dave's for the 4th of July weekend to be there for Colby's blessing. Sarah and Tyler played in the little pool together, we all played games on the Wii and GameCube, and a few of us spent an evening doing a little mediocre tennis.




I got to be in my best friend's wedding!!! It doesn't get much better than watching your lifelong best friend find love and happiness and join the man she's crazy about in marriage. I'm so happy for Robin and her new best friend/husband Todd. It's great to have her join the married couple ranks! She was beautiful, it was a wonderful day and evening, and I shed a few loving tears. (and she had the coolest wedding cake I have ever seen)






On a sadder note, my sweet little guinea pig Nellie died on August 4th. She got stopped eating a drinking a week before that and got very sick. We tried to get her to eat/drink, but she wouldn't do it...she was just slowly dying. It was so hard and sad to watch her go through this. To see her little body grow smaller and smaller, and to feel all her tiny bones underneath her hair (there was nothing else but bones). The only option would have been to take her to an exotic pets vet to see if she could be saved, but Stephen and I decided it was better to just let her go. She had lived a good, long guinea-pig-life, and we felt like it was time to let it end. It really hurt, but I got to say my good-byes to her and hold her and pet her and give her kisses and cry for her before she died.


Just like me, Stephen got to be in his best friend's wedding too! We drove to Utah (along with Caleb and Shanelle) to be there for Kevin and Kaitlin's wedding (Stevo was the best man). Now Kaitlin has moved to Reno too and they live in the same apartment complex as us (with Caleb). It's so much fun having a new girl friend to hang out with, and to have another female in the group. We spend a lot of time with those kids, so it's nice to not be the only girl anymore.



And sadder even than Nellie dying...my grandma, Doris Mae Reed Young, passed away on August 24th. We had her funeral on the 30th, which would have been her 91st birthday. She actually had been dying for months and months, so it wasn't really a shock to any of us. Just like Nellie, she had been dwindling away...not eating or drinking, her body growing tiny until she was literally just skin and bones, only being able to lay around and sleep. She was in so much pain and had been suffering so much, that my heart ached for her. We were blessed to be able to spend time with Grandma and say good-bye as we prepared for her to die. When I got the phone call that she had passed away in the night, I hardly cried...I was more just relieved for her to not have to suffer anymore and happy for her to finally be reunited with her husband (she had been living without him for about 18 years!). It was wonderful to get to see all my cousins and family at the funeral, and to spend the weekend with all my siblings. Funerals are wonderful in that they bring the family back together again.

I truly love this woman, my awesome Grandma Young. I look up to and admire her so much. This has always been my favorite picture of her; I can't get over how gorgeous she is. She was an amazing dancer, an athlete, an incredibly intelligent individual, a teaser with a great sense of humor, a hard-worker, and most of all a loving wife, mother, and grandmother. I can't wait to see her again someday.