Stressful Couple of Weeks

It has been a very stressful couple weeks for me (not so much for everyone else!!). First of all, my Uncle Fred passed away on Sunday, September 14th. This was very unexpected and a huge shock to me. He is actually my dad's uncle but was a link I had to my grandfather. My grandpa died when I was 10 (my grandma had passed away when I was 9). This left my dad and his sisters without parents--Fred stepped in. He was always at everything--weddings, missionary farewells, reunions, etc. and made sure that our families (ours and my dad's sisters' families) were recognized and felt important. Fred was such a fun person--always smiling and teasing. I will miss seeing him at reunions and feeling his love for us. He always made it a point to say hello, give a hug and a smile--one of those smiles that let you know that he really loved you. I will also miss that link to my grandparents. Now, Dad is the oldest male member of the family. I feel so lucky to have been at our family reunion in August where we were able to spend some time with Fred for the last time. Here is a picture of Fred (left) with Dad (right)--sharing a laugh and having a good time.

I was able to go down to the funeral in Cedar Hills with Mom and Dad on Friday, September 19th. I didn't think I'd be able to go because I had class, but my professor was very understanding and excused me from class. We sang "You are my Sunshine" as a family at the funeral! The song will have a whole new meaning to me now--and you have to know our family--there is NEVER a reunion--or funeral without music! Butlers know how to have fun! Dad played a few numbers in the funeral as well--he did a great job, as always! I am so grateful--it was a beautiful funeral and I enjoyed the opportunity to be with family for a day.

The other stressful things...I have the HUGEST project due in my Parenting class this Friday. I seriously don't remember having a project/paper that has stressed me out this bad before. I have already spent over 12 hours on it. Maybe I'm just getting old--or maybe being a mom just magnifies the stress because it's not like I just have a paper to write and presentation to prepare. I really struggle with this class--and the funny thing is, I took it because I WANTED to (what was I thinking??). My teacher is really hard and the students in my class are either doc students or masters students--but they are 10 times smarter than I am. I am afraid I'm going to look like a fool on Friday when I do my presentation.

Next stressful thing--I have also been teaching a child care provider training class this month. I do this about 4 months out of the year. Why I chose September I do not know!! I've had class on Wednesday nights, teach on Thursday nights and then class on Friday afternoon. It has been such a challenge balancing all that I have to do. It will be nice when the class on Thursday is over--maybe things will settle down next month? (oh but then I have ANOTHER paper/presentation to do at the end of October!). sigh

I don't want this to be such a negative post--I am stressed beyond my normal stress level, but I do have something to look forward to! Greg and I are celebrating our 16th Wedding Anniversary (only 5 months late) this weekend. We finally have the time to go away to SL for the night. The three younger kids will be going to Greg's parent's house and Zach will be staying here to play in his baseball games on Saturday. I can not wait until 1:30 pm on Friday when my class is over and I'm walking back to my car--I'll be so excited to pack the car and get out of town!!

Back to working on my presentation--I'll update with more fun things soon (everyone else is doing great--they are getting used to a messy house and mom planted in front of the computer all day/night!)