Angela

My sweet older sister Angela passed away on Saturday as a result of cancer. Angela was diagnosed with melanoma in 1999, which has gotten worse over the past few years. My whole family was with her and it was a tender and sweet experience.

Angela was always the sweetest older sister to me. She'd let me follow her around the house, made up dance routines for me and my friends, introduced me to the Beatles. She wrote me lots of letters on her mission, we shared a car during my freshman year at BYU, and went to several Salt Lake City Olympic events together.

Most of all, Angela was an incredible example to me of kindness, graciousness and love. She had a testimony of her Savior Jesus Christ and his Resurrection. She loved the temple and loved the Gospel of Jesus Christ and helped me to gain my testimony. I'm grateful we'll be sisters forever.

Here are the funeral arrangements:
Myrtle Beach, SC: Viewing at McMillan-Small Funeral Home from 6-8 pm on Monday, April 27. Funeral service: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at 6:00 pm on Tuesday, April 28.

Salt Lake City Utah: Viewing at Larkin Sunset Lawn Mortuary (2350 E 1300 S) from 6-8 pm on Friday, May 1. Funeral service at the LDS Church building (2795 Crestview Dr, SLC) at 12:00 noon on Saturday, May 2. Angela will be laid to rest in the Salt Lake City Cemetery.

Our life

Hi everyone! Lots has been going on in our family these days.

We came to South Carolina on Friday and have been sorting and unpacking ever since. Jason started working today and I'm sure he's glad to have something to do. Clara has had fun playing with her little cousins, too.

Clara now has a hard purple cast on her right leg, which she doesn't seem to mind. She has had it on since March 25 and learned how to walk on it about a week ago. She has a cute little limp, which should resolve itself sometime after she has her cast removed on the 20th. (Her baby also got a cast--in pink.)

General Conference this weekend was really wonderful. We watched it on the Internet and tried to listen over Clara. It was comforting and edifying to hear the Prophet and Apostles speak to us of the Atonement, the Comforter, eternal families, temples, trials and enduring to the end.

We were sad to leave Utah, but we're looking forward to the future and living in WV. Clara will get to see her cousins a lot and hopefully a lot of my family will be together for a while.

Moving Plans

Jason's acceptance into medical school will alter our plans for the summer. We've decided to move to South Carolina for the summer and work for my dad. We'll be sad to leave Utah, but it will be a better job for Jason and I'll probably work some from home, too. We're planning on moving to West Virginia around July, and I think school will start in August. We'll be moving at the end of March. Humidity, here we come!

Clara's Boo Boo

This has been quite a week. On Monday evening we were at the park with Clara's grandparents and as Clara rode down the slide on her grandpa's lap, her right leg got pulled or bent back and was pinned between his leg and the side of the slide as they came down. Without going into traumatic details (for my own sake), we took her to the Primary Children's ER, where we spent the next 6 hours. Clara was relatively happy while we were waiting in the ER, as long as she was sitting on my lap and not moving her leg.

When the doctor examined her leg, it only seemed to hurt her when he held her knee and twisted her ankle a certain way. Clara's leg was x-rayed (also very traumatic) and no fracture could be seen, but it's common not to see a toddler's break right away. Even though we couldn't tell for sure if her lower leg (her tibia, specifically) was broken, they put a splint on it anyway. They told us to take it off in a few days and see how she treated her leg: if she could walk/run, then it wasn't broken; if she can't, then we'll need to put a hard cast on it.

Update: we haven't taken off her splint, but she doesn't want to put pressure on it or walk on it, although she has crawled a little. We're assuming that it's broken, but we have to wait to put a hard cast on until next Wednesday when the Fracture Clinic at Primary Children's is open. (I think it's really strange that it's only open once a week.) One of my cousins is an orthopedic surgeon, and he seems to think it's broken, too. I think she'd only need a cast for 2-3 weeks.

I feel bad for my little Clara, but she seems to be doing pretty well. I'm sure she's enjoying being carried around everywhere, and the milkshake her grandpa made, but she does want to walk around sometimes (just not her leg). Hindsight is 20/20, isn't it?

West Virginia University

Jason has officially been accepted to the West Virginia University Medical School! We are happy that after two tries at medical school, we'll be on our way soon. We'll probably move at the end of the summer. WVU is in Morgantown, which is an hour south of Pittsburgh and three hours west of Washington DC. My family needs some good news and we're really grateful for it. It's been a good day!

Smarty Pants

My dad gave Clara and her cousins a reading program called "Your Baby Can Read" for Christmas, and Clara loves it. There are a few videos, flashcards, some games and books in the program. Clara is on the second video and can read lots of words: kick, elephant, hippo, tiger, rattle, point, chimpanzee, bubble, keys, giraffe, gorilla, wave, tongue, mouth, eyes, nose, hi, ear, diaper, clap, baby and book, just to name a few. She can also recognize mama, dada, Clara, Sarah, Tate, Lily, Allison, Mauri, and Dave. Clara can also count pretty well to 14 (we live on the 14th floor). We think she's pretty smart!

A Skiing Incident

Yesterday I went skiing at Brighton with Ashley and Allison--my first time in about four years. It was so fun to be up in the snowy mountains; it is so beautiful!

We had a lot of fun for a couple of hours until I was skiing slowly at the bottom of the hill over to the lift. Somehow I fell and landed on my thumb wrong-I know, strange. I sat there for a minute and almost went over to get on the lift and then I thought, "I should look at my thumb--it hurts." I took off my glove, and this is what I saw:

I could barely look at it. My knuckle was all pushed out to the left and looked really deformed. So we all went to the medical clinic where they x-rayed my thumb, which isn't broken, but no one could tell what had happened. Every medic that looked at it was shocked that it was so strange looking. I have a splint on it now, and the swelling should be down in a few days. My neck has started really hurting, too. I think that will be my last day of skiing for a while!