mike cromwell

river and I hopped in the car on october 4th(happy birthday ashley!) and went to idaho falls. she was a delightful travel buddy and was supposed to keep me awake but she fell asleep 45 minutes in. but prior to that she would talk about the beautiful surroundings and say things like, "mom that sunset is beautiful. you should stop and take a picture." and i would. "that moon looks so pretty. you should stop and take a picture." and i did. once she fell asleep, i was having a really hard time and almost stopped at the sturgill's in twin falls because i was afraid i'd fall asleep. but after a little prayer i felt confident to keep going. I eventually made it and stayed with my cousin cheryl.

unfortunately the event that took us there was for my cousin's funeral(cheryl's brother).  but seeing all of my family was so fun.  i even got to see my washington cousins and uncle!
we took cheryl's granddaugther with us the next day to see my aunt peggy(cynthia's great grandma).  peggy played the piano with river and river was in heaven!  then we went to get ice cream before the funeral.  river and cynthia were two peas in a pod.  the three of us had fun at the dairy farm seeing all the animals after we ate ice cream.

i will always think of my cousin when i see a unicycle!  he was also an exellent bowler!

i love that my aunt and uncle kept the funeral true to mike.  they had everything he loved there and he was dressed in his flannel and jeans!  that's what he wore everyday!

my sweet cousin shauna!  it's been way too long since i've seen her.

and my awesome cousin ronny(shauna's brother).  they live in washington.  i've been grateful to be get to know them better through facebook.  i had no idea he is even more obsessed with halloween than kg.  i wish we lived closer anyway but during october for sure! i missed their siblings chrys and jodi!

it was a wonderful service and i'm really happy that i made the quick trip over to celebrate his life.

my cousin shauna took these photos before we got back on the road for home.  thanks shauna!

{cynthia-6, river-3}

rest in peace mike!  i love and miss you!

Sweet Becky.

My sweet cousin Becky lost her battle with Cystic Fibrosis today. She will be missed. She's been sick most of her life so it's not a surprise, yet I was surprised. I guess because she's been in and out of the hospital all my life, I thought she'd leave this time too. She was a fighter and I didn't expect anything less this time. But she was tired. And she was missing her best friend. She is an amazing example of fighting until the end. She had to fight her entire life. However for most of her life she didn't fight alone. Laying next to her in what was their second home, the hospital, was her younger brother Perrin. He lost his battle at a much younger age of 25. They layed in hospital beds side by side their entire lives when they had to have treatments. They went to CF camps together. They were each others best friend and biggest fan. Fighting for the last 7 years without him has no doubt been the hardest part of her life. She told me a couple of years ago that losing him was like losing a limb. It crippled her. They were rarely apart. And they were the only ones in their lives that truly understood what the other was going through. She was alone even with so much family surrounding her. I get so emotional thinking of the reunion they are no doubt having right now. She has meant so much to me throughout my life. Every time we would visit her, whether she was feeling good and running around with the best of us, in the hospital having another treatment, or hooked up to machines at home, she was always spunky and laughing. In the hospital she would pretend to be cranky about the nurses just to make us all laugh. She told me at a young age that my eyes could not be brown because brown is not pretty. My eyes were pretty and therefore they were milk chocolate. I have forever thought of my eyes as milk chocolate. Every time she saw me, even last year when she was meeting Flower for the first time, she asked me what color my eyes were. It was a fun endearing thing for us. I have also told Flower that her eyes are dark chocolate, since they are almost black after all. It makes me think of Becky every time and that will have even greater meaning to me now. She was told at a young age that she wouldn't live past her teens, and then she did. Then they said she wouldn't live to 20. And she did. They said she wouldn't live long enough to get married. And she did. They said she wouldn't live long enough to have kids and that even if she did, her body couldn't handle it. And she did. She has two beautiful daughters. And they've seen her fight and they know how strong she is. She surpassed everything they said she couldn't do, living 36 years of life to the fullest. She was only 4 'years' older then me but it was a lifetime. She had her first daughter at twenty who is now 16. Because of all she's gone through in life she seemed much more like one of my older, doting aunts. Our relationship was not at all the same as the relationship I have with my other cousins of her age. I actually can't even believe she was only 4 years older then me and I didn't realize it until I was writing this. She was beyond her years.
She was strong. She was loving. She was a champion.
I will miss her.
See you on the flip side Becky!

Sweet Baby Myra

Today I went to the funeral of my cousins baby...still born at 35 weeks! I am so sad that I will never have the pleasure of meeting this sweet baby. More then that though, I am deeply sad for what my cousin and her husband, as parents, must be feeling.
It was a sweet little graveside service.
Here's Myra's older sister Emma. Such sweetie!
I put Flower in our carrier so that she wouldn't be running around like mad during the service.
It also made it easier on me then having to hold her in my arms. Then I could take photos. It also kept her warm.
We both had fun with Miss Lorelai during the service.

This is my Dad's older sister Carolyn with her newest granddaughter, baby Carolyn. Can you believe how much she looks like her Grandma?! Such a doll.

There was a luncheon at the church after the service and it was nice to visit with all the family. It just sucks that it's these sorts of events that bring everyone together with everyone being so busy these days. All the kids had so much fun together. It's so fun for me to see Flower playing with all my cousins kids!


Here is my cute cousin Dani with Emma.

Here's Flower and Mackenzie. (my favorite cousin's daughter!)She too knows the pain of not knowing a sister. She has an older sister that died at 2 weeks of age. :(
Sweet dreams Myra. I hope your jumping and dancing with your cousin Whitney!