Grandpa was kind and meek and loving; the very epitome of a Cute Old Guy. I can’t imagine life without him.

More later.

Jay O Johnson 1924-2010

Jay O Johnson, a native of Heber City, Utah, died on June 12, 2010 in his home in West Valley City, Utah, surrounded by his family. He was 85 years of age. Born July 16, 1924, he was the sixth child of Andrew Ralph Johnson and Sarah Luella (Cummings) Johnson.

He was preceded in death by his parents; by his sister, Atha; by his brothers, Fay and Rex; and by his son-in-law, Ray Lee. He is survived by his adoring wife, Theda A Carlile Johnson; by two sisters, Mae and Nona; by his children, Anna Lee; Jeanine Ehat (Stephen); Linda Bytheway (David); Kevin Johnson (Holly); and Mathew Carlile (Carrie); and by 17 grandchildren and 18 great-grandchildren.

He also is survived by a grateful nation. Called up to duty in World War II in June of 1943, he served as a tail gunner in a B-24, fighting with the 98th Bomb Group. Assigned to attack Hitler’s main source of fuel, the oil fields of Ploesti (in Rumania), his group flew out of Lecce, Italy, on missions of extraordinary danger. Outside of Berlin, Ploesti was the most fortified target in Europe. Flying in the tail turret of his group’s B-24, Jay’s life expectancy during combat was calculated at 18 seconds. He outlived that experience, though for the rest of his life he would carry a knee wound suffered during a direct hit on the turret by enemy fire. Jay would later be awarded the Purple Heart.

His darling Theda had waited for his return. Married in the Salt Lake Temple on October 24, 1945, theirs was the first wedding reception in Wasatch County after the War. Their love affair would continue for almost 65 years. Jay was the first mail carrier in Heber City, walking 15 miles a day and carrying up to 50 pounds of mail. Because of his knee injury, he transferred to the Salt Lake Valley, where he continued as a mail clerk and where he and Theda raised their young family.

A member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints his whole life, Jay served faithfully in many callings. Jay leaves an example and legacy of love and devotion that his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren will cherish and revere.

Funeral services will be held at 12:00 noon on Thursday, June 17, 2010, at the meetinghouse of the Valley View Ward of the Salt Lake Hunter South Stake, 5180 West 4700 South, West Valley City, Utah. Viewings will occur there from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. on Wednesday, June 16, 2010 and from 10:30 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. on Thursday, June 17, 2010. Interment with military honors will be at the Heber City Cemetery in Heber City, Utah at about 4:00 p.m. on Thursday.

Today, my grandma, his wife, was diagnosed with extensive bone cancer.

I guess the bright side is that neither will have to live without the other for long? I don’t even know.

In the meantime, tomorrow’s the fifteenth of April, and work is therefore kicking my butt. At least I’m getting time and a half for the overtime.

And here I was hoping that 2010 would be better than 2009. Guess not.

8 minutes after her mom (my sister, Laura) arrived at the hospital (and only two hours after labor began), my newest niece arrived in the world:

(picture shamelessly stolen from my brother-in-law, since my camera’s batteries were COMPLETELY DEAD :(( )

Abigail Diane (probably, with the middle name being pronounced dee-ahn, which is my grandmother’s name), 19″ long, 6 lbs. 14 ounces.

She’s got lovely reddish-blonde hair (like her dad), long fingers and toes (like her mom) and an adorable little cry (she squeaks when she inhales). Hooray for a new niece! That makes three nieces and a nephew for me. *happy sigh*

Being an aunt is the greatest.

My grandmother had fallen when she got out of bed, and had broken her ankle.

Great.

So I spent the afternoon in the emergency room. Grandma’s ankle would definitely require surgery. But she’s 83 years old, has had diabetes for 40 years (that’s why she managed to break the ankle in the first place– she was in low blood sugar), has heart trouble (had a triple bypass 15 years ago), and is just frail in general, and surgery would be dangerous. So they delayed surgery until this morning.

Luckily, she did fine with the surgery. 8 pins and a plate later, and she. . . won’t be able to stand on her foot for 2 months. Lovely. Because my 85-year-old grandfather surely can’t lift her in and out of bed. Plus she’s stubborn as all get-out (although today she insisted that she’s not stubborn, she’s persistent). We’ve found a good rehab facility for her (Aspen Ridge, I’m sure Nicole is wondering– the new one is our first choice, but the Wheeler one is second on the list, so maybe she’ll see your dad) where she’ll hopefully be able to stay for at least 21 days. And they said they won’t let her leave until she can get herself in and out of bed and into a wheelchair. Now we just need to find a solution for their super-skinny bathroom door.

What is up with the medical stuff lately? First my aunt has heart trouble, then my sister-in-law has a baby (at least that was good news, but, still, it’s a hospital), then my paternal grandmother gets vertigo, then my mom’s surgery, then my nephew gets pneumonia and my niece gets bronchitis, then my cousin falls out of the sky, and now my maternal grandma breaks her ankle getting out of bed. Fantastic. Now all we need is for my dad’s kidney to go into a sudden decline, or my sister to get into a car accident on the way home from work.

We had a fabulous time in Disneyland. Seriously, it was one of the best trips ever. The only damper on the thing was that I got tendonitis in both legs (it’s the tendon that’s on the outside of my calves) and in one foot (I think it was the pereneal tendon, which is below your ankle and on the bottom of your foot), and it was bad enough on Saturday that even the 3-minute walk from our hotel to the gate was enough for me to be nearly crying in agony. Not a good thing. So, we rented a wheelchair. I felt like an idiot, and felt badly that Sarah and Lisa had to push me around Disney, but it made it possible for us to actually go on rides. So I guess it was worth it. I didn’t go so far as to use the disabled entrances and jump the queue– instead we parked the wheelchair and I walked on to the rides like a normal person. The breaks between the queues was enough to keep the tendons from cramping too awfully much, so it worked out. $10 well spent.

Two days before we left for California, my mom had back surgery. This was planned– we got out of the house while mom was still in the hospital, and then were home and available when she was home. Luckily, instead of the vertebrae fusion that had been recommended, she qualified (and was randomized to) a research study for a new product called a <a href=”http://www.appliedspine.com/”>Stabilimax</a>. She actually got a level 2 Stabilimax, meaning that she’s been stabilized on two vertebrae instead of just one. She also had a herniated disc repaired. This surgery has been nothing short of amazing. If she’d had a fusion, she’d still be flat on her back right now. There would have been no bending for 6 months. Full recovery might have taken as long as a year. Instead, she’s up and walking and even drove herself to physical therapy today. The doctor expects her to be back to normal activity in 4-6 weeks. And mom’s so happy. Instead of being in constant pain in her back and down her leg, the only pain she’s feeling is from the incision. She feels better than she has in more than a year.

But while Mom is improving apace, we’re really worried about my cousin. She was in a paragliding accident on Saturday– fell 80 feet after hitting a windshaft. She has a crushed ankle, a broken pelvis and arm, and an abdominal hematoma that they’re worried about. Truly, she’s lucky to be alive. She went in for surgery this morning, which apparently went much better than expected, but she’s still not going to be able to stand for at least 6 weeks, and they expect at least a 6-month recovery. Rebecca is 9 months older than me– she was my “can I PLEEAAAAASE have a sleepover?” after every family event cousin– and has a 5-year-old little boy who saw the accident, saw the ambulances, saw the LifeFlight helicopter. The day before Mother’s Day. I can only imagine how horrible that must have been for him. It’s been an anxious weekend for us all, and it’s far from over.

In the meantime, I’ve been working out my anxieties by doing DDR for about an hour this afternoon. My sister bought my brother’s Wii from him (with 2 kids, he just doesn’t have time to use it), and I went out and bought the pad today. I haven’t moved that much since I went to the Keane concert.

Still no job. Still little progress on the thesis. But things are looking up.

I haven’t been able to post before now, because we’ve been taking care of her big sister while mom and dad are still at the hospital.

Anna’s not so sure about this whole little sister thing.

They’re coming home today! Hooray!

2) The new carpet is going in my bedroom tomorrow. Yayness! This means I have to move the remainder of my stuff (my bed, computer desk, bedside bookshelf, and deskside bookshelf) out of my room tonight, and will be sleeping on the futon. Boo. And then I get to put my room back together. More boo. It’ll be nice to have all my books available and on my bookshelves again, though. I’ve been living off only those I could fit on my bedside shelf, which is only about 25/30 books. Eek! At least this included all my Austens.

3) My dad has gout. Seriously. It seems to be somewhat of a side effect of his kidney disease (as it’s caused by uric acid, which is of course found in higher levels when the kidney isn’t functioning properly) rather than because he drinks a lot of wine and eats a lot of red meat (because he doesn’t :P), and it hurts. A lot. But we’ve all been joking about going to Bath to take the waters and having great big white bandages and needing crutches from the missionary barrels but getting a doll instead (who recognizes THAT convoluted movie reference, huh?). My niece also had a very mild case of the croup over the weekend, so my family’s all up with Victorian diseases recently. What’s next, I wonder? Cholera? Ague? Consumption? Or maybe we can get away with just an attack of the vapours.

4) Due to the painting and general room renovation, work on the thesis has slowed rather. I expect it to pick up shortly.

Yup. That’s me, Tracy Turnblad. I figured, hey, I haven’t lost the weight I wanted to, so why not use it to my advantage?

I think I did pretty well for my time limitations, don’t you?

Well, enough of me. Look at my cute nephew and niece!

Thomas as Peter Pan. He also had a little yellow puffball with wings that was his Tinkerbell, but he wouldn’t keep a hold of it.

Thomas and Anna together, with Anna in her BYU Cheerleading outfit. Aren’t they the cutest things?