Busy, busy, busy and all of it good

Last week end Paul enjoyed a trip to SL getting to spend time with Eden on the way up (he had an appointment with his arthritis doc in Provo on Monday). He brought her back home from Lou and Bryan's. They had a fun time visiting along the way. Then the up north gang got together to celebrate Bean's #22. Thanks to everyone who made that happen.


For our date on Wednesday we went to Sand Hollow and went snorkeling. It was really nice swimming in the cool water and we saw quite a few fish. Thursday evening we got to celebrate Tavin's #9 birthday. It was fun to go over and visit, eat cake and open presents with him and the family.

This week end we got to go up for a couple of reasons. We left Friday afternoon and early Saturday morning we headed to Utah Lake State Park where we got to watch Supe and friends participate in the Utah Half Iron Man, 1.2 miles of swimming in Utah Lake, 56 miles of FLAT biking, and 13.1 miles of shaded running along the Provo river. It was so fun. They started the swim right about 7 am and then biked and ran. It was pretty much perfect weather except for a sudden, but short, rainstorm during the first part of the bike ride. Supe did really well - he got first in his age group finishing in just over 5 hours and 24th over all in a fiield of about 350 people. Jamie, Leo and Robin got the job done too. Afterwards we took Jamie and Supe out for Pasta - we were all starving by then - about 3:30.

Later that evening we got together at the Weavers and had dinner with Jay and Brynn and Bean joining us too. We played the train game after taking Bean back to his house and putting the kids to bed - except Madi - she was having a lavender lotion tummy rub.


Sunday morning Paul, Supe and I picked Bean up and attended his sacrament meeting and during Sunday school we went up to the high council room and his bishop set him apart for his mission - he is called to serve one year at DT and the Salt Lake Temple. What a wonderful thing for him to have this finally take place. We stopped by Bean's and had lunch with him on the way home.

Yea! It's finally official after 7 months of getting ready!

Now it's back to business. We are once again empty nesters as Supe left after church to head up to school in Logan. We are looking forward to hearing about his next adventure - the Lotoja - a 206 mile bike ride from Logan to Jackson. He will be riding 80 miles of it for his Great Harvest Team if he can stand to get his fanny back onto that uncomfortable bike saddle again! It's coming up on the Saturday after Labor Day.

Ways we find to enjoy each day and get rid of stress

Some fun stuff we did last week to get rid of stress and put some fun into the day - Go to SLC for a load of stone and visit with Bean, get dinner with a gift card (spent no $), go snorkeling at Ivins Reservoir at dusk, take an evening walk at Snow Canyon to see all the water at Three Ponds, go camping at Pine Park, attend the Pine Valley Fire Department fund raising BBQ at the Pine Valley chapel. I can't believe how many fun things we did! Didn't have a camera along at Snow Canyon unfortunately. It was beautiful and there was more water in Three Ponds than I've ever seen - probably because of that night rainstorm the night before. Our camp out was great and we got to help a scout troop that was up there by giving their battery a jump. We were glad to help them out after we had suggested that one or the other of us should move to the upper campsite for a little more peace and quiet for each of us, and they did the moving. (We got there first. We knew both scout leaders so they were really nice about the suggestion.) I also started back to school this week and that is always a fun thing. Paul is doing well with his recovery. They told him he didn't really need to come to the rehab exercise program anymore since he was way ahead of anybody they work with. There is quite a bit a mental rehab that we are learning about. Going through something like this leaves you feeling quite a bit different. Moss and Supe gave Paul and I blessings this week to kind of help us deal with some of that a little better. So grateful to have sons who can do a thing like that for us.

Two-week check up and going strong

Paul went for his two-week check-up on Wednesday. He continues to go to rehab too. Both places say he is doing well. You know it's funny - in most places now, we are considered to be getting, well, old. But when he goes to rehab or to the doctor's, they think Paul is "young" to be there. Not the best thing in the world, but it is nice in some ways to hear someone speak of you as "young." With the doc's approval, we decided to head out and do the last camp before I get back into the school routine and for Paul to de-stress. After the doctor visit and rehab we packed it up in the big truck and took of to the Tuschar Mountains up above Beaver and spent a couple of days there away from the heat, the phone, the stress. It was so nice. We did have to make a little trip down to Richfield for a new airbed and some more hot chocolate. (Bed just wouldn't hold air and didn't know the hot chocolate can we packed had only two servings left.) We finished up some unfinished business in the process. We finally made it over the pass and down to Marysvale . We had been wanting to do that for several years, but either the snow and mud wouldn't allow it or we were too close on gas to be sure we would make it all the way. It was a beautiful drive. We stopped at the pass to see if we could see the mountain goats, but they were probably over the next mountain where we had seen them before and that wasn't the kind of hiking the doc approved for Paul as yet. We saw fat marmots on top and lots of beautiful wild flowers and greenness everywhere. We lunched on the tailgate by a pretty creek on the way down the other side. When we got to Marysvale we took the road up to Bouillon Canyon and then made the 2 mile plus hike up to Bouillon Falls. It was worth the hike. We did some pretty good 4-wheeling to drive up another little road to try to see the lower falls from the other side, but they are pretty hidden in all the trees and underbrush. Then we took care of more unfinished business by driving the Cottonwood Loop. It is a really rugged but beautiful drive, longer than we had imagined with old mining stuff here and there. We decided there aren't many good camp spots on any of these roads and will stick with our favorite in Round Flat meadow on the Beaver side of the pass. We slept in, walked morning and evening and just relaxed and enjoyed it all. On the way home on Friday we tried to take care of more unfinished business by going to the Meadow Hot Springs pools that we visited on the family camp a couple of years ago. We wanted to take a little swim. There happened to be people in two of the three pools and we opted not to join them. The third pool was a little too mossy for our taste, so we drove up Meadow Canyon road (to the very end) which is pretty rugged, where we were rewarded with a beautiful picnic spot by the creek. Someone had built a really interesting dam across the creek (it was not in too good shape now) to make a nice pool for chunky dunking. We decided it was a little too cold for our old blood and just had another tailgate lunch and took a nap in the bed of the truck and then headed for home. As soon as we got in range, the phone started ringing and we were back to reality, but very happy for the relaxing time we had enjoyed at our favorite camp spot and all the other beautiful places we got to visit during our little respite. (A dog joined us for a couple of meals up there. It was too tired to keep up with its 4-wheeling owners and just relaxed with the old people and hung out - didn't even beg for food.) Saturday we finished off the week with such a nice time with the local grand kids and joined by the rest of the gang later for a picnic and evening in Pine Valley. Ahhh...what a great combination...family and the mountains. The little boys, Zade, Koen and Brenden were so funny hanging around getting to know each other. Gaige kept me and Moss in stitches at dinner with his funny comments. He asked me something about when I was little like him and then I told him that was a very long time ago, when he was still in heaven. He asked, "What, was I dead?" (In his mind heaven is just where dead people are.) Another funny comment - I told him he'd better be finishing up his dinner if he wanted to roast marshmallows for dessert. He said something about how instead of finishing it couldn't he just "hide it" so that his mom would think he had finished it. What a funny kid. There were lots of funny faces eating the giant marshmallows for dessert. Today we relaxed yet again with Moss and Christie making Sunday dinner for us and Grandma K. and with Brenden providing the entertainment. What a great last fling before back to work. Thanks for the yummy dinner Moss and Christie. Thanks to all the family for joining us at Pine Valley and bringing most of the food! Looking forward to the family camp/sleep over in a month or so!

Recuperation & chauffeuring - my ramblings

Views on my walks at the Cliffs

Ivins Reservoir

More Ivins Reservoir

It has been an enjoyable and interesting week. It's been kind of like a "take your wife to work" week in some ways. Paul is not supposed to be driving for the two weeks following his heart attack, so I've been taking him where he needs to go. Most of the time I get a shower by noon! We go to the job sites first thing to check on things, set up getting materials there and to talk to contractors and owners, etc. In the process I have been to Pine Valley twice, New Harmony once and to the Cliffs of Entrada numerous times, and to our stone yard. In Pine Valley and New Harmony we made it into a business/pleasure trip by having picnic lunches once with Roy and once with Adam, Joie and Maximus and once with Red, a cute Australian Heeler who wanted to share our lunch. I have also ferried Paul to rehab appointments. a couple of times. When we are not working or taking care of paperwork for work, we have enjoyed our spare time by visiting the art gallery at DSC (not too good, but kind of interesting) and the exhibits at the St. George Art Museum (excellent, beautiful, need to see). We also took in a matinée movie, Inception, which is riveting (you need to see it twice to figure it out or ask Jay to see it and explain it to you). We also drove out to Ivins reservoir one evening and then took a walk in Anasazi Valley. We have also taken our neighborhood walks, but they are somewhat abbreviated and slower until Paul recovers more fully. I have tried to fit in my brisker walks too. While he's talking to folks on the job I have taken some really pretty walks up in the Cliffs neighborhood. We have also gone to the temple and watched a few videos and read some books. It has been relaxing and enjoyable to spend time together. But, it does make us want to go camping. We'll just have to be patient and do that when we know things are good for it. I did go and pick peaches at the church farm without Paul. I told him he had to stay in bed and sleep some more. We also stopped in at Ferf and Ryan's on our way home from New Harmony and had a nice visit with them one afternoon, and Ryan shared some "jail grown" cantaloupe with us that is very good! I have had to do a lot of my chauffeuring in the Toyota pick up while the VW was in the shop, so I have gotten better (Paul might not think so) at driving a standard shift along with everything else. It has been a relaxing, recuperating week. (Here are some pictures of job sites at Pine Valley and at New Harmony. Joie is just about to pop with another baby, a girl. Adam had to unload the truck with a little help from us. Paul is not supposed to be lifting anything over 10 lbs. for a while.) Another fun thing this week was having Brian Batt (nephew) come to church with us and have dinner. He shared his dvd of his experience last week at the Transplant Olympics that he competed in. It is so nice that he is no longer diabetic. He's down here doing some computer work for the hospital. He's a fun guy and we always enjoy visiting with him.

Put your back into it...

Maybe most of you got this video message from Bean. For some reason the sound doesn't seem to be working here...what did I do wrong? Anyway, he just wanted all of you to know that the truck isn't on...he was really pushing it with one of the other guys encouraging him to "put your back into it, Lillywhite!"

Turtles in the Vitgin

Last Monday night for our walk we ended up in the river down by Johnson's Farm. We decided that we were participating in one of those "wholesome family activities" that the Proclamation suggests. We walked the bike trail to the River Road bridge and then got in the river to walk back to the car. That was backwards/upstream, but that made for some good exercise. We were pretty startled to have these things rushing around in the water underfoot...turtles. It was getting pretty dark by the time we figured out what they were so we didn't get a real good look at them, but some time we are going to go back down and see if we can check them out in the daylight. (poor quality phone picture)

Recovery mode with family

Wow, it's been a busy good time of late...it's kind of a blur for me in fact. Paul got to come home on Thursday afternoon. We got to see Lou, Bryan and kids at the hospital and then at home. They furnished Cafe Rio for dinner. It was nice to see them and we appreciate them feeding us up that way. Next morning Jay, Brynn and Madi, & Moss, Christi and Brenden came to visit. Grandma dropped by too and got to meet Madi. Paul was taking it pretty easy and just enjoying hanging out with everyone. Later we headed over to M & C's for visiting, games, dinner (mmm good) and a movie. Saturday we slept in, got some business and shopping taken care of and then Supe came up with the plan...we should go out to Gunlock, cook dinner, canoe and swim. J & B and M & C came up with the food...we came up with the canoe. Paul didn't lift or carry anything and just enjoyed the beautiful place and fun company. The only thing that could have been better was if the whole gang was there. (We did get to visit via phone with all of you pretty regularly...much appreciated.) The food was great, the canoing fun and the swimming was done by Moss and Supe. Supe did an across the lake and back swim with Jay and Moss on support in the canoe too. He said it was easy...easy for him. We loaded up and headed home at sunset and Paul and I called it a day. M, C, J, B and Supe had another round of the train game and more food. Thanks everyone for spending time with the old parents and brightening what could have been some serious brooding time. Paul is doing really great (took off that uncomfortable groin bandage today) and will start up some rehab early next week. We are taking it easy and enjoying recovery mode. The crew is taking care of things at work and Paul is just doing work by phone for now. He did skip church today, but he and the scouts will be speaking next Sunday. I went and the congregation witnessed a miracle...me at the pulpit bearing my testimony. I told them they shouldn't expect to witness another such miracle for quite a long time.

Not the best (but definitely the most blessed) day this week

Paul, JJ, Supe and Moss went for a little mountain bike ride this morning. Moss and Supe had come from home and work to meet Paul and JJ there. After the ride (Paul and Moss thought it was quite a bit harder ride and Supe and JJ did) JJ and Paul headed home together. When they were about a block from home Paul started feeling like he had some really bad heartburn. It was so bad that when he got inside, he didn't bother heading upstairs, but just laid down on Supe's bed. Then it started feeling like a lot more than heartburn and he called for JJ to come back down and give him some help. (I had just returned from a walk up on the Red Hill.) Then he started feeling really bad and vomited and decided he was having a heart attack. We got some aspirin into him and JJ gave him a perfect, quick blessing and then we loaded him up in the car and headed to the ER. We ended up next to a police car on the Boulevard and JJ motioned to him and asked if he could give us an escort to the hospital, but he said they can't do that anymore...so I just started driving Italian (not quite that scary) and got by slowpoke drivers and through red lights without any problem. They got him right into the heart doctor and they went right to work taking him to the cath lab and determining he needed a stint and putting it in. He's feeling no chest pain, but does have a really sore leg where they fed the tube to insert the stint up through the femoral artery starting near the groin. They are taking really good care of that little incision because it's very dangerous if it opens up and he starts bleeding. He's on some meds to make the blood "slippery" so that it doesn't stick to the stint and clog things up again. He will be there a few days, hopefully moving from the ICU to the Cardio Unit and making contact with the cardio rehab people to see where we will go from there. The doctor who did the stint said that all of that was taken care of in record time which is very good as far as minimizing any damage to the heart and that Paul has a very strong heart and is in really good shape making recovery go much more smoothly in all probability. We feel so blessed that this didn't happen at Scout Camp out in the boonies last week, or on our hike in Zion the week before or at our family camp that was planned for this coming week end (with hiking and mountain biking on the agenda). Any of those locations would have spelled BAD NEWS in this situation. We have postponed the family camp for a little bit, at least until Paul can sit up and take a better picture than the one posted here! We had lots of good support from family at the hospital and also via telephone from the ward. The ward youth had planned a combined activity at the lake boating tonight, but they decided to cancel and the scout troop and leaders, in full uniform, came to visit Paul, two by two, at the hospital instead. Thanks everyone for your support and prayers. We love you all.

Week as a scout widow coming to an end

I had a pretty big "should do" list to take care of while Paul was gone to Scout Camp. Some of the list items got done and some got put off for later in lieu of doing something more fun. Today one of the best things on the list did get done. Supe and I went to Riley and Melissa's wedding. It was so nice to see most all of the Lewis gang there and to share in the joy of the occasion. Looks like Riley got a pretty sweet girl from a nice family. We went to the wedding and the reception. I felt kind of like a sore thumb there without Paul. I'm not used to going to stuff like that without him. In the afternoon, between wedding and reception, I invited myself to go to the lake with Supe and Jamie for their training swim. Leo would've come, but had to work. (This was one of those more fun things I did instead of staying home and doing the bank statements.) Supe and Jamie swam off like fish way out to the little rock and then around the island and back to the little rock and back to shore. I had plans to read and tan, but once I got into that cool blue water I just didn't want to get out. If was so pretty out there and felt like back in the days of heading to the beach in the summer. I have to get out there again some time with Paul and some of the rest of the family if Supe will lend us his state parks pass. It was an all around really nice day.

Genghis loads up to go to the vet

Today was the day for Genghis to go to the vet for his annual check up and to get his shots. When I got out his little travel house, he got right in and got comfortable...until we got in the car. He does not like riding for some reason and howls the whole time until the car stops. He was pretty nervous at the vet, but sat quietly, shedding lots of hair, and didn't growl at the vet like he does sometimes. He was pronounced healthy and very handsome, 13.7 lbs....and then howled all the way home again. We love you Genghis - and wish you a late happy birthday #3 on July 5th!