More Thanksgiving...

Thanksgiving...

Merry Christmas to all!

All the presents are opened and scattered through the house. The wrapping paper is picked up and the boxes are in a pile waiting to go out to the trash. The kids got iTouch's for Christmas and Greg has been trying to get iTunes working on the computer for several hours. We think he may have been successful! I got 2 pecan and 2 pumpkin pies made. Yum, yum. Were going to a friends for dinner. Will post pictures soon...

Happy Thanksgiving...

We loaded up the car with the kids and dogs and went to Montana for the holiday! The weather was great and we didn't hit any snow on the way up or back. It was great to visit with my parents and my sister and her family. While we were up there I got some Christmas shopping done. Greg went to the GRIZ game with Dan and Eric. THEY WON!! Go Griz! The "girls" went to the movies. Most importantly we had a fabulous Turkey dinner with all the trimmings. Yum, Yum. I will have to get to the gym soon and work off some of that stuffing, turkey and pecan pie!

Taste of Salt Lake, 2009

Few more halloween pixs...

Kellie Mowing the lawn....

After my first surgery, I couldn't mow the lawn for awhile. Greg didn't get to it, so I thought it would be a good time for Kellie to mow. She did great overall. There was a few times when the mower almost got away from her. All in all, the lawn looked great and Kellie thought it wasn't to bad a job after all!

Happy Halloween!

Hope everyone had a great Halloween! Here's a picture of Kellie and Jessica. The other is Jessica's friend, Abby. We had about 130 Trick or treaters! I sat outside with my foot propped up and gave out candy for a while. It was fun!
The group picture is Kellie and friends, they went to the Halloween Dance.

More Bunko!

Halloween Bunko!

Here's some pictures from bunko! We had a great time! The witches were so much fun!

Foot Surgery Update...

Went to the Doctor yesterday, got a foot bath and re-wrap. Dr. said it's looking great and showing very promising. I sure hope so... Stitches will likely come out in 2 more weeks and start physical therapy in 3 weeks. I'm getting better and better with the wheelchair and crutches. She still doesn't want me to put any pressure on it. Also, to start massaging it and stretching it out.

Foot Surgery/Recovery

Almost a week has past since my foot surgery. The surgery went well. It was out patient surgery. It was different having my friend who I did girlscouts with and have known a long time, do the surgery. She is an awesome podiatrist! Anyone have foot problems, let me know! She treated both the girls with their broken feet too! They go in and cut the plantar facia which connects to your heal. Then all I have to do is wear a boot and stay off it for 3 weeks. Uh yah... I thought ok... this won't be a problem. The girls can help me. Greg had his long time hunting trip planned, so told him to go. The surgery should be easy. It wasn't bad, but harder because I couldn't get around and was stir crazy. I had a drain in my foot that was rubbing on the boot. It was getting painful. I mostly stayed off it and kept my boot off when laying down. But we made it through.... I didn't need pain pills after Sunday night!
I am mastering the wheel chair on the main floor. I use the crutches upstairs. I drag the crutches with me in the car (need a little assistance getting them in the car) I wash my hair on the main floor. My main bathroom is on the main floor to get ready for bed, brush teeth, wash face, etc. I put our blowup bed on the main floor so I lay with foot propped up when watching TV or movies... doing a lot of that! Getting better around the kitchen... cooking a little, but still hard to get in the fridge. Little tight over in that section.
On Monday, I had a follow up with Dr. She took out the drain (thank goodness), cleaned and dressed it again, complete with a hot pink wrap! Hardly no pain after leaving the office that day. Still need to stay off it to heal. I go back next Tuesday, hoping she will take out the stitches then. I feel some rubbing, which is probably a little dried, residual drainage. I can wait til Tuesday, I hope.
In three weeks, I'm supose to start physical therapy. Who hoooo!
That's all for now...

Some pages I created digitally...

Enjoy!

It looking like fall is on the way....

The weather is cooling off, we got some rain over the last week, and the mountains are starting to show signs of orange, yellow and reds.... A sure sign that fall is on the way.
I'm getting ready for Halloween Bunko on Thursday! It's so fun to dress up for the event and plan a fun menu! Halloween is my favorite holiday!
I had my 5+ week post op appt today. Got the go ahead to start exercising again! Still on antiobiotics for infection until next Monday. Hope this gets rid of it this time!
Jessica did all the Halloween decorations this year! I'm so glad she is such a great help! I took her to the pumpkin patch and we got some pumpkins yesterday. Hope they stay on the porch until Halloween!

Digital Scrapbook - GIRLS NIGHT OUT!

I wanted to invite everyone to attend the Digital Scrapbook Girls Night Out from 6-9pm tonight! It is at the Miller Complex in Sandy. There will be advanced and beginner workshops. Plus, you can print a free 12x12 page from Canon and try out the Wacom Pen Tablets, plus lots more fun! More info can be found at digitalscrapbookmemories.com

More from the GSL...

Photo Shoot at Great Salt Lake

September has flown by...

As the last day of September approaches, I find myself saying... "where did the month go? What did I do all month?"
The girls will have completed a full month of school! They are both doing very well! Kellie had parent/teacher conf. already last week. I got nothing but good to EXCELLENT reports on her. She is even doing better with missing assignments. But I am the most proud of how she gets up everyday at 6:30AM to get ready for school. She eats breakfast, gets ready and is out the door for school by 7:05am! Jessica gets all her work turned in on time and is doing very well too! I just wish I could talk her into making her own lunch every day. :)
I had my surgery the 28th of Aug. So on Friday it will be 5 weeks since surgery. I'm healing well and started doing some longer walks. I can't wait to get back to the gym and resume my normal life. I did have a couple set backs that weren't planned. I got a bacterial infection in my bowels. This made me very sick! Could drink only liquid foods/drinks, lots of back pain and abdominal pain! I got on antiobiotics for 2 weeks and was feeling great! Then got the infection back after a week. So started 2nd series of 2 weeks yesterday. I'm sure I will start feeling better in a couple of days. Otherwise, I'm doing well and hope this gets the infection this time!!!
I took Kellie to a couple of photo shoots this last month. One was with some sports cars and one out by the Great Salt Lake. I will post a few of the pictures on here seperately. Most of the shoots are for the photographers to get practice and the models to get practice. This has been a great experience for Kellie!! She is getting better and better at posing. She is learning what works and what doesn't. The photographers are all very nice and helpful. So is a great environment for her. Plus, we are getting lots of great pictures for her portfolio for acting/modeling.
The girls are out of school for Thurs, Fri and Monday. Some education thing in Utah. We will be home. Kellie may have some friends over to watch her on Brainsurge this weekend. (We will TiVo) We will be watching tomorrow!! This will be great fun! It will be a kick to see her on TV!
Kellie has had a couple of auditions here in Utah. She did get a callback from one of them. I'm not sure if we would have heard something by now or not. You just never know.
Greg is in NC on business this week. He went early to attend his 30 yr HS reunion.
Wow... has time flown! He will return on Thursday of this week, only to pack up and leave for hunting on Friday. October is hunting season and I am left for the deer and elk. :) It is good! Greg loves it and looks forward to it each year.
Well that's all for now... hope to write more soon....

Healing more and more...

Doing much better this week. Starting to feel more like myself. The antiobiotics have kicked in and hopefully I won't have any more problems with the infection.
Not much else happening....
I started to drive again last week. On Thursday, I go out to run a few errands and I get in the garage and have a flat tire!!! Guess it just wasn't my day. I called our Allstate Road service and they were out and fixed the tire from initial call to me being on my way. Thats pretty great service! Luckily I was at home and not out stranded somewhere on the side of the road. Thank you for watching over me!
The kids are plugging away at school. Jessica likes her teacher alot. Kellie seems to like all of her teachers too! They both are doing well in school.
Our family is planning to go up to the property one last time before it gets to cold to camp. I'm excited because the leaves should be changing and it should be beautiful! I will take lots of pictures and post some if they are good. Were going up Friday and coming home Sunday.
That's about all for now...

Home from the hospital...

After being in the hospital for 4 days, I was ready to go home. I will miss having everything at my fingertips and nice nurse's and assistances that continuously took care of me. Intermountain is a great hospital.
I am healing well from the surgery. I can get around pretty good, but still am taking pain pills some of the time.
The biggest issue is that my stomach is hurting sooo bad about 75% of the time. It's not from the surgical site. I've been taking over the counter stuff to help subside the pain. I called the doctor and they want me to get a lab test to make sure I don't have some kind of infection. So my friend Charlene was nice enough to take me to the hospital to get the "kit" to take home. Once I get the results back from that, and if they are normal, I will just have to watch my diet and eat mild foods.
In the meantime, I stay close to the house and take an easy. Which is hard to do for me... but working on it!
Thanks for all your well wishes from all my family and friends!

Check out the show...

http://www.facebook.com/ext/share.php?sid=257196380500&h=Ad9Rz&u=ck73Q

Copy and paste this link into your browser. When the facebook page comes up, click ok. It will direct you to a different site called Animoto. Then click "Play".

Let me know what you think....

Montana Fun!

Check out the slide show from some of the pictures we took in Montana. We had a great time! It seems that no matter how long we stay, the time just flys by. There is never enough time to visit and catch up with everyone. Even though we stayed the longest we ever have, the time went by quickly. This trip was great because the whole family was together. We were busy, busy, busy. We went to Seely Lake for a day picnic. Dan & Crystal were kind enough to bring their boat up too! Everyone got a chance to ride the tube and/or ski that wanted to! Others got a fun ride in the boat! Most liked the tube and going as fast as Dan could drive, then send them over the wake bumps. I tried skiing a few times (haven't skied in 25 years), didn't get up. I was afraid I would fall on my face and get hurt. lol
The girls and I went over to Coeur d'Alene, ID to see my friend Betsy and her family. We spent the night with them. It was great catching up and meeting their new family member Sophie, a fawn pug.
The weather cleared enough for the day so we went to Splash Montana. It was fun cooling off in the pool and riding the slides.
Then we went to the fair several days and watched Eric and Summer show their sheep. Summer got 2 purple ribbons and Eric got 2 blue! Great job! It was fun to learn about the sheep and 4-H while we were there. Kellie got to see her black and white cow too! She loves the cows! Saturday the kids all went on rides! Michelle and I went on rides too! Lots of fun memories. Everyone went to the rodeo on Friday night. It was a first for Kellie and Jessica. They have never been to a rodeo before. It was a great experience for both of them.
On Sunday, we did family pictures. It started out raining, but it managed to clear and we got all of our pictures done. I was so glad because this was the first time we have all been together in several years.
Over all, the weather was very cool, rainy and wet! I'm glad to be home in the 80's and see some sun. It was great to see all the family! Lots of great memories... hope you have some looking at the slide show.

Summertime is so busy...

We all enjoyed our 10 day camping trip up the Unita Mountains. Kellie's friend Karley went with us for 4 nights. She caught her first fish ever! They went out on the canoe a bunch, fished, swam and hiked.
We all went on various hikes. Mostly 4-5 miles round trip. We went on a new hike this year called Lofty Lake Loop. It was the most beautiful hike I've ever been on! The picture at the top of my blog is from the top of this hike. Plus, Kamas Lake is the most beautiful lake I've seen. It has great rocks for sitting, wading in and fishing from.
Greg, our friend Larry, and his son, Mike went back a few days later and hiked in and spent the night at the lake. The girls hiked in the next morning to meet them. They had a great time and want to do it again next year! Greg is already looking for hiking gear! Watch out Cabelas and REI, here he comes!
My friend Shannon came up for a night. We had a fun 'girls night' with the guys gone. Then she hiked in to Kamas Lake with us.
As all good things go... the trip came to an end. We have our great photos to look back on and reflect what a great trip it was! I posted a few from the week in the slideshow below... enjoy!

Fourth of July

The girls ended up not dancing at the Stadium of Fire. Their dance studio didn't go at all because of a personal emergency of the owners. So we went up camping to the property for Friday night. We went on a 4 wheeler ride, played lots of games, had a nice camp fire w/smores, and watched a movie in the trailer. It looked like rain, so the girls and I came back on Saturday, the 4th. Kellie went to Riverton days with her friends & their family. Jessica and I went to Kate & Omar's for a celebration. They had a bounce house with a slide into a pool of water for the kids. Lots of food and great friends for the adults. I got to meet lots of new friends and had a great time. Greg stayed up at the trailer at his kingdom. :) Happy 4th to all!

The Grand Strand...

Had a great time at Myrtle Beach...

We had a great time at Myrtle Beach. It was great to see all of Greg's Family. All of the cousins have grown up so fast! We also got to see our some of our friends... the Williamson's and the Bush's. Great to see everyone! We spent most of our time at the beach or the pool. Hmmmm.... it was a hard decision. We played some mini golf, shopped and went out to eat a few times! The weather was perfect! Oh so hot, with the humidity. I had forgotten how brutal it could be. One day we had a late afternoon storm... the wind came up fast. It blew alot of the chairs in our pool, beach umbrellas down the beach and into the ocean, and lots of other stuff out on the beach. It was wild to watch. Here is a picture from the beach... L to R.. Caleb, Cassidy, Kellie, Jessica, Ashley, Blake, Cody.

Beautiful Iris's this year...

These are my iris's in the back yard. Wanted to share my pixs...