It's been a tough couple of weeks, which is part of the reason my blog's been quiet. I just haven't been able to write about things yet. But last night I decided to share what's been going on. Here goes...Many of you know that my parents divorced when I was young, my mom remarried and I was adopted by my new dad, David Paeth. Because of this, I have been blessed to have 6 wonderful grandparents: The Lucias (paternal), The Quests (maternal) and The Paeths (adopted paternal).
On December 29, my mom's mother Helen Quest was my first grandparent to pass away. She's the one in the flowered blouse in this picture of me with all six.
Grandma lived in Alaska, so I got to see her a lot and we spent countless days either at her house having slumber parties with all my cousins (4 girls all within 2 years of each other), or up at our cabin in Chickaloon, playing Chinese checkers, cooking, cross stiching, roasting marshmallows, and doing countless other things that make great childhood memories. The picture below is my favorite one of her and I, at my wedding in 2003. I'm not sure if she's crying or not, but the look on her face is so precious.
This is also a fun picture of Grandma, celebrating one of her birthdays. That's right, not older.... better!
Grandma had eleven kids. My mom was #9, third from the right in this cool old photo. They lived in Wisconsin, Colorado, and Alaska. What a busy lady! Now she is in Heaven with her mother and youngest son, Thomas, who died when he was three years old (below is the only picture of the entire family while Tom was alive).
Grandma will be missed, but we are all thankful that she didn't suffer long and that we will see her again one day! If you are interested in viewing or signing the guestbook that's been set up for her, visit this link: http://www.legacy.com/ADN/GB/GuestbookView.aspx?PersonId=100586674 There are some more pictures there too.
PS: I'm sure you're wondering if I went to the funeral. I wasn't able to get a ticket to go to Alaska, they were actually sold out, which I have never seen so many airlines with not one ticket available. Talk about strange! Here's one last picture, this one from one of the many Christmas dinners at her house (I was in high school at the time this photo was taken).
Grandma died December 29, 2007. Just last Friday, January 18th, my mom's beloved Blue Heeler Riley died. In the photo on the left, Riley is in the center on my mom's lap. For those of you that don't know the rest of the family, Jason, his wife Jenn are on the far left, Jenn's daughter Kaitlynn in on Jamie's lap, and I hope you know the people on the far right!
Riley was only 2 1/2 years old. She had just had a litter of puppies about 3 1/2 months ago. My mom and dad decided to keep one of the puppies, a little boy named Rowdy. Rowdy and Riley loved to play. Last Friday, they were playing and little Rowdy's teeth and jaw got caught in Riley's collar and stuck. Mom wasn't home, and as Rowdy tried to get free, Riley choked. Mom came home to find the two dogs still stuck together. It's so horrible to think about what a freak accident this was. It has been a very, very difficult thing for my mom, to lose her mother and her close companion in such a short amount of time. I really appreciate everyone's prayers for her, especially as she feels guilty for not being home, for not taking Riley's collar off when she saw that the puppy's teeth were snagging in it, etc. Of course, it was just a freak accident, and there's nothing that could've prevented it. But it's difficult and very sad, to say the least.
Here are some pictures that my mom has sent me. The first one is of Riley, and the last one is of Riley and Rowdy. 
Like my mom said when I talked to her a few days ago, this year has got to improve!!
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