Thank You Victor Valley

As we get ready to leave the area I decided I would go and take a few pictures to remind us of the many wonderful blessings we have enjoyed while here.  We had our share of disappointments, our share of unmet expectations, and our share of "I wish I hadn't done that!" moments.  We also had an outpouring of blessings that far outweighed the challenges.  I will always hold this wonderful valley close to my heart as we now move to the "Valley of the Sun" where grandpa and I first began our life together.  Many new memories will be made in the coming years.  We will again have some disappointments, unmet expectations, and "I wish I hadn't done that!" moments.  But I know without a shadow of a doubt that we will receive an outpouring of blessings and I can't wait!  I hope you will enjoy the pictures I took and some brief memories I shared.

Church

The first thing we did when we came to Victorville for Grandpa to be interviewed to be the Assistant to the City Manager we found our ward building.  (Actually, it was the only Church of ours at that time).  Grandpa went in to the building and changed into his suit before he went for the interview.  Fortunately, there was an election that day and they had allowed it to be a polling place at that time.  We were only in the building a few months before we moved into a brand new Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Apple Valley.  The next building we went to was another new building on Ridgecrest.  It was there that Grandpa serve as a Bishop and now many years later there are now seven buildings full of happy Latter-day Saints!

Our first building on Hesperia Road.  Across the street was Center Street Park
While grandpa went for his interview the kids and I stayed at the park.  There is
a fun story about the building of this ward house.  Some day I will tell you about it.

This is where we meet now on Ridgecrest Road.   We attended several other buildings
as boundaries changed and buildings were being built but ended up here to finish our
church experience in the High Desert. 

Home

We owned three homes in Victorville.  I loved each one of them but the only one I cried when we left it was our house on Apple Creek.  I cried because that was the house where each of our children grew up in.  There were so many wonderful memories that I still cling to.  When we first got there it was wide open and over the years it finally was completely built up.  I remember the boys working feverishly to dig a whole in the lot next to our house so they could have a swimming pool.  I don't think it ever had water in it but they spent hours getting it ready.  I still picture Uncle Andy sitting on the curb down on the corner waiting us to get home because Bill was being mean to him.  I think of the hours spent riding bikes, playing with friends, learning to drive, and camping in Mojave Narrows or bird watching.  It was a great place to raise kids.  I loved our other houses but just in different ways.

14000 Apple Creek Dr
Believe me our house didn't look like this.  It was white with yellow trim (another fun story)
and had a white picket fence on each side of the front yard and rose bushes all along the fence.

28000 Fairway Rd
Still the same as when we left it with the exception of the
mock cherry tree in the front yard.  Those tall junipers were in our neighbors yard
but they brought us a wonderful cacophony of birds singing each morning. 

10938 Rockaway Glen Rd
We only lived here two years but it has been a perfect house for us.
I loved decorating it and making it feel like a home.

Schools

When I was growing up I started at Washington Elementary School (Grades 1-8) and finished at Washington High School.  Grandpa started at Creighton Elementary School (Grades 1-8) and finished at North High School.  I am proud of say that your dads and Aunt Amy all attended the same elementary school when we got here.  Irwin Elementary, Victor Junior High, and Victor Valley High School.  I learned something very important about education from your parents.  None of these schools were considered the cream of the crop schools.  Many of our friends sent their kids to more prestigious schools in the area.  I also learned something very important from that experience.  Most education comes from within the walls of your home.  Your grandpa taught your parents to love learning.  I think I taught them that you never give up and in spite of difficult situations we don't run away or hide from unpleasant experiences.  Those two things made all of the difference and I believe have made your parents the amazing adults they have become.

Irwin Elementary School

Victor Junior High School
now boarded up and abandoned.

Victor Valley High School

The old campus stands behind the new building now under
construction.

Work

Grandpa worked for the City of Victorville and the County of San Bernardino but the job he loved the most was being a school teacher.  This picture is the last school he worked before he retired.  A special treat was that Ava went to Kindergarten while he was still teaching.  He loved working there--and the parents, students, and staff loved him.

Galileo Elementary School

I started working as a substitute teacher when Amy was in first grade.  I did that for two years and then got hired to work in the Personnel Office with the responsibility to call the substitute teachers for the school district.  After a few years they started a new position to specifically assist the Principal so that they would be in the classroom helping teachers be better at their job.  My responsibility was to do all the behind the scene things that keep a school going.  It was a dream job and I loved going to work every day.  I started at Village Elementary School but spent over 17 years at Green Tree East.  I was there long enough to start having children of my students come to Green Tree.  The best part was having Perry and Ellis with me for many years.

Green Tree East School.  My office was on the left side of the coyote.  From there
I could see Mojave Narrows, the trains going up and down the track, and students
coming and going.

Happy Birthday Will!

                  11

               Years

                Old

      October 28, 2007

*Kind

*Friendly

*Adventurous

*Smart

*Quiet

Happy Birthday Miriam!

            17
          Years 
           Old

 October 27, 2001

*Serious

*Reader

*Violinist

*Focused

*Exceptional

Capt. Underpants!

When you dress yourself--you choose the style!

Abby Orchestra Concert

Abby had her first orchestra concert at Lehi High tonight.  I don't doubt that she did a great job!

We Were Robbed!

We were robbed last night in my dream!  I have mentioned before that I am quite the dreamer and last night I had a very interesting experience while asleep.  As I have loaded up boxes and emptied shelves I have taken them out into the garage for quick loading into the U-Haul.  I guess that must have been on my mind as I went to sleep last night.  In my dream I went out into the garage and someone had gotten into the garage and took everything away.  I couldn't believe it!  I kept trying to figure out how they could do that without me hearing or a neighbor seeing anything.  I was so upset and kept opening the garage door over and over to see if it was really true.  Then I starting thinking about what I would do without all my things!  The thought then came to me that I hadn't packed up the grandkids scrapbooks yet and I was so excited.  I realized that what was most important was not the things I had lost but the memories that were still mine.  The dream was so real that when I got out of bed this morning the first thing I did was go straight to the garage!  Everything was there!  By the way the scrapbooks will stay in the house until the day we load the U'Haul!

Quote

I saw this quote on Pinterest today and it so describes my feelings.  I thought I would share it with you.  I don't know who wrote this but it is so true.

There is much pain to endure when watching a loved one with Alzheimer's Disease.  There is the pain of perpetual grief.  There is the raw wound of continual loss.  There is the struggle to preserve dignity and the desire to respect the present and cling to the past.  However, in the midst of the heartache there is a small glimmer of light that exists to remind us of the things that Alzheimer's can't take away....the warmth of a touch, the importance of smiles and laughter, and the knowledge of what it truly means to experience unconditional love and acceptance.

Poor Grandpa

I had put it off as long as I could but Grandpa really needed a haircut and today was the day!  I talked to him all day about the need for him to go to the barber to prepare him for the upcoming event (and that is not an exaggeration!  It was an event.)  We went this morning at 10:00 a.m. but it was so crowded I decided to come back later in the day.  We went again at 1:30 and there was still a wait but I knew that it was now or never.  It took us (the barber and me!) about 10 minutes to get him to agree to sit down in the chair.  Several times he pounded on the chair telling us that he couldn't do it.  I am so grateful that the barber didn't give up and we finally got him in the chair and covered with the cape.  Then the next part of the agony began.  By the time he was almost done my hand was turning blue from lack of blood flow.  I thought that he was going to take off running several times and honestly by the end the cape was wadded up and hair was everywhere but it was done!  Thank heavens hair doesn't grow fast!

Never Take Things for Granted

This morning I helped Grandpa get ready and I took him into the livingroom and told him to put his  shoes and socks on while I went to clean up a problem he had had.  I was only gone a minute and as I started back to the livingroom he came down the hall kind of limping.  I looked down and he had his shoes on the wrong feet.  I took him back into the livingroom and saw his socks sitting on the couch.  He had put his shoes on without socks.  He was upset with me when I tried to take his shoes off and more upset when I asked him to put his socks on.  It finally became apparent that I would need to put them on for him.  Don't assume that everything you do will always be simple!  And never stop counting your blessings!

Ava's Latest

I love Ava's detail in her latest dragon sculpture

Quote

            If, in the end, you have not chosen                                      Jesus Christ it will not matter                                             what you have chosen.
                                                             Neal A. Maxwell

Flying Lessons

Recently Bruce took a course involving flying.  They weren't able to do the actual flying because of the bad fires in the valley but yesterday he finished up by actually going up in the plane!  What a wonderful opportunity.  I hope Bruce had a great experience.

Boating

On Saturday the Utah Duncan's had fun on the lake.  Will and a friend was in one of the boats and Bruce had his own.  Abby and her friend were in another one.  No picture of her!

Keep Praying!

I know that you all include Grandpa in your prayers and they are so appreciated and often answered.  I'd like to ask you to continue.  He is struggling more than he has in a long time.  I know the confusion of moving is weighing on him although I am not sure he knows what it means.  This week has been so hard on him and I am seeing a lot of aggression that I haven't experienced before.  This morning he got upset and started pounding on the console in the car and then started to get out of the car and I was afraid he would get away before I could calm him down.  I don't know if his medications are starting to have lose some of their effectiveness but it will be a month before we go to the new doctor.  This behavior is much like he was acting when we first got his diagnosis.  The interesting thing is that these outbursts are in the mid morning time which is very unusual for him.  I hope it passes soon because even I am having trouble getting him to listen to me.  He is doing a little better with his meds but I have to space them out instead of giving them to him all at once now.  I don't know if that is causing this change but it is the only way he is able to swallow his pills.  Hopefully, this is just a bad week and he will be able to calm down soon.  Thanks everyone!

Update

There have been some changes in Grandpa and since it has been a while I thought I would give an update.  Grandpa takes four pills in the morning and four again in the evening.  The morning pills are for his anxiety, seizure medication, and two are for his prostate.  In the evening he take the anxiety medication again and his seizure medication, the Aricept for his Alzheimer's and an additional anxiety medication.  In the last two weeks it takes a great deal of time to get his pills down.  He tells me over and over he can't or that he doesn't know how.  I have had to just stop and then try again in a while.  My concern about the pills is that without the seizure meds he could start having seizures again.  His anxiety is high right now probably because of the impending move but I hate to think what will happen if he doesn't take them.  I looked up ideas on helping to get the medicine down but found little help.  They said to ask the doctor for other types of medicines in liquid form.  Unfortunately, our doctor here has not been particularly helpful whenever I have requested things from him so I will try again when we get to Arizona.  The good news is that I found a new neurologist in Gilbert and our first appointment is Novermber 19th.  In the meantime I will just keep trying to encourage him.  I am fascinated by how long he can keep those pills in his mouth!  Sadly, the second change is that he doesn't always remember what to do when he needs to go to the bathroom and about every other day he has an accident.  I don't need to go into details but I am sure you can understand how distressing it is to him.  It isn't as hard on me because I feel so bad for him and so I just help him clean up and assure him that it is okay.  I will eventually have to start using an incontinent product but am afraid if I do it to soon then he will completely stop trying and I don't want that for him.  Other than that he is doing okay.  His eating is about the same and so that is not been a problem.  I do cut up his food but he hasn't had any problems swallowing his food so that is good.

Getting him to Arizona is the thing I am most concerned about.  Going in the car just to the shopping area is really hard now but I know that I have to keep some sort of routine before we head to Arizona.  I am very grateful that Aunt Bev is willing to come over and drive back with us.  Between the two of us I hope we can keep him safe and in the car!  Our plan is to pick up the UHaul on November 2 and load some of our stuff that afternoon and finish on Saturday morning.  Uncle David will drive the UHaul back to Arizona.

We haven't found a place to live yet but hope to have some answers this week.

Conference Watching!

Conference Napping!

Gpa's Testimony

Before I went to bed last night I asked in my prayer that Heavenly Father would bless Grandpa so he would be able to feel the Spirit of Conference so we could both have an enjoyable experience in each session.  Before he got sick he would take copious (I think that's the right word) notes and I remember that after each priesthood session he would call your great grandmother Duncan and would tell her all about what was taught during that session.  He loved conference!

The conference first session was so inspiring and exciting as I am sure you all felt that as well.  When the meeting ended I went into the laundry room to move clothes from the washer to the dryer.  All the sudden dad said, "The gospel is true!"  I turned around to see him standing in the doorway with tears in his eyes.  In spite of his limited ability to do so much the prayer I offered last night on his behalf was answered!

Happy Birthday Ava!

               
                11

              Years

               Old

      October 5, 2007

* Artistic

* Kindhearted

* Best Sister

* Reader

* Serious

Love it!

I got text from Aunt Angela.  She just got a picture that Perry had sent her.  It is Perry with his old Bishop and his son.  I love the small world we live in in the church!  BYU isn't winning but I hope Ava is enjoying her birthday treat in Utah!