I'm Ba-a-a-a-a--a-a-a-a-ck!!!

Weeping willows and day lilies.  A wonderful combination in my backyard.

It has been a while since I have written anything on my blog.  May was a crazy, hard, exhausting, emotional and tiring month.  But I thank those of you who sent me messages, telling me you missed my blog and gave me encouragement to keep writing.  Your encouragement meant the world to me during a very difficult time.

The craziness began with Paul's dad Burt Roberts being hospitalized at the beginning of April, and being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.  He passed away about three weeks later on April 30.

We traveled to Meridian to be with family the first weekend in May.

We traveled back to Meridian for the service, which was held on May 11th.

I had a convention I needed to attend in Burley, Idaho the following week.  I flew to Boise on May 16, and flew out of Boise on May 19th.

Memorial Day weekend was full of family as we all gathered for a special dinner on Sunday of that weekend to celebrate and honor our daughter Molly, who graduated from Lewis Clark State College with a degree in Education.  

On the following Thursday, my sister Christy and I drove to Moscow to do some preparations for our upcoming Delta Delta Delta sorority reunion that will be June 21, 22 and 23.  We are in charge of the Saturday afternoon activities, so we went and met with the people in Moscow who are running the activities.

We spent the night in Moscow, then Christy headed back to Kellogg, and I drove to Boise and attended a special retreat on Saturday, then headed back home on Sunday.

I was so glad to be home and not have to travel again until June 20th.  I have my sorority reunion this month, then a trip back to Meridian mid-July  to see "The Music Man" at the Idaho Shakespeare Festival with some of our family, and celebrate our anniversary.

And I have made a vow to do NO TRAVELING during the month of August.  I just want to be home.

Already, this past week, I can't believe how wonderful it has been to have time to work in the yard and garden, and not have impending deadlines.  I have needed this respite in my life.  It is really good.

My blog may look a bit different from here on out. I have some different ideas, and I have a whole lot of things I want to share, from the fun we are having creating our special backyard garden, to craft ideas, to community events and just everyday family stuff.  

Thanks again for reading!!  Grief is a funny thing.  You aren't prepared how it is going to affect things you do on a daily basis.  For some reason, I needed to stop writing for a while.  But now I am ready to start telling my stories again.

P.S. The service for Burt was absolutely amazing.  If you would like to watch a video of it, you can watch it on YouTube

here.