I must continue on our story, as I have yet to explain and expand briefly on some very important moments in our lives to get us to where we are today. We, of course, had our fourth boy, Kaleb, and many more deeply affecting life junctures around the same time.
We spent the next year in Sandy, and we put in an offer on the house. During this time we were able to sell our homes in Stansbury Park and Tooele. Our offer was not accepted though, and so, we were on the hunt for a new home. It wasn’t as easy as the first time and we looked at countless homes but nothing felt right.
Then one day, I got a call from a friend of ours who was also a general contractor. He needed me to meet him at the home of a well known celebrity who had just moved to Utah. The
We were finally home and everything felt right. The home was beautiful and perfect. There was a fully finished basement with a second kitchen and laundry room for my parents. Plus, business was going better than expected and we felt on top of the world.
At that time came the financial crisis of 2008. This indeed affected the renovation and building industries, quite badly, in fact. As many as 200,000 small businesses closed during and after the financial recession. Rhett and I worried nightly as we talked to many of our clients and builders, whom we had worked with for years, who decided to close their doors and could not pay us for the work we had completed. As our competition started to close up shop we thought for sure we were next. But this was not an option for us and we were not going to give up. Our whole family, on both mine and Rhett’s side, and a couple of our good friends were so supportive during these times, that I can only be thankful to have such wonderful people surrounding me in this world and will forever be eternally grateful.
But even harder than the financial crisis we were facing came the news that my father had been diagnosed with Leukemia. Once again, I felt like I was living under a black cloud. I couldn’t sleep at night and I couldn’t take all the pressure and pain I was feeling. I needed my daddy and couldn’t imagine my life without him in it. He has always been a strong and independent man whom others had looked up to. I could tell he didn’t want anyone to worry, but as a family, we were totally distraught. He pushed forward with the grace and strenth that only a soldier could muster. Our family always remembers him saying, “Once a marine, always a marine!” He was a Vietnam veteran, and he also served in the Gulf War as a civilian contractor. He had so much love for our country and would have given his life for it.
We kept a blog of his struggle and the 18 months of fighting Leukemia that took over our lives. Trust me, I can’t write this without tearing up, and I don’t think many people can read our blog for him without doing so as well. You can see the blog here.
This was the most trying time of my life. I was working harder
Because he was a patriot, and I mean what the word used to mean there and not trying to be political, he always had an American flag flying at home. When he lived with us, I had been meaning to put up a large flag as he requested, but never got around to doing it. Now, however, our farm has a massive flag flying on a large flagpole. I think of him every time I look at it and remember him and who he was: my father, my mother’s prince charming, a loving, wonderful man, large in stature with the kindest heart, the patriot.
Thankfully my beautiful mother still lives with us and is a huge part of our lives. I am very blessed and can only be thankful for the precious time I had with my dad and the example he was to my wonderful husband and our band of boys. I love you daddy!!
