The Men in My New Family

I found this old post in my drafts. I'm not sure what I wanted to say when I put the pictures up, but I'll go ahead and publish it now. 

Ken's Dad, Ralph Lee Carlson, is the same age as my Grandma. He just turned 87 and she'll be 87 in September. We won't have either of them for much longer in the big scheme of things. even if we get another decade, which would be AWESOME!!!! Ken's Dad had a stroke before Christmas, but didn't really know what was going on and didn't tell anyone. Ken's brother Gary noticed that his handwriting was a little shakier than usual on his Christmas card, and that's when it was figured out. Ralph is very independent. He has a car and does his own thing.  Ken's brother Steven does live with him, so that's good. Well, anyway, he was out shoveling snow one day after the holidays, and had another stroke. He fell and had to crawl up to the back porch to get Steven. He ended up in the VA hospital for a couple weeks, where some of his paralysis did resolve and he was able to go home with a walker and the promise of help from Steven. These are photos from the time we spent in the hospital visiting Ralph. 

My baby. I love him:) 

I had met all of the brothers at our wedding, but it was a crazy day and I didn't really get to know any of them. I hadn't seen any of them since, until we met up with Gary and Donald at the hospital, now 16 months after our wedding. They're intimidating. They have very strong opinions and we don't see eye to eye on everything, but I love them, and I feel safe when I'm in a room with the Carlson men. It's amazing to me how much alike they all are, even though they live scattered across the state and don't see each other that often. If  I closed my eyes, I wouldn't really know who was speaking at any one time, they sound so much alike and use the same phrases. 

It had been a really busy  weekend. I hadn't even had time to do my nails. lol. So Ken took care of my pedicure for me. I'm spoiled. I know. :) 

We got a late start Friday because every time Ken wants to leave town, some cable TV problem comes up and he gets stuck at work. Yup, that's the life of being married to the cable guy. So we finally got to Salt Lake to see Ralph for a little while, then headed to Bountiful where we got a room for the night because we were going to the temple the following morning with Dave and Tami. My Uncle Buzz and Aunt Dorothy work in the Bountiful temple on Saturdays, and we go to have the AMAZING experience of having Buzz being a veil worker on our session. This has only happened once before for me, when my Uncle Matt was working at the veil in Salt Lake, and this time was just as awesome as that one. LOVED IT:) 

After the temple, it was back to Salt Lake to visit some more with Ralph, Donald and Gary at the hospital, then back to Bountiful to have lunch with Ken's daughter, Mallory. It was crazy, but super great. I love having a great big family!!!!