Spring Break Staycation

Fortunately or unfortunately, however you want to look at it, our nice, long Spring Break - Friday March 10th - Monday, March 21st  - is going to be a stay at home gig due to skyrocketing gas prices that rip off oil companies are claiming is because of the war going on between Russia and Ukraine.  (We barely get any oil from Russia.)  And also because of our not so abundant financial situation because of some rock that we couldn't get a price for until way after we already had to give the bid for it...and it was way more than expected.  So I have a list of home projects to work on and I hope to find something fun to do every day or at least find some time to relax and take it easy.  I'm sort of cranky and bummed, but hoping to make the best of it. (We had thought about going the Palm Springs Tram/Joshua Tree NP or Carlsbad NP and White Sands NP, but the Tram was already booked up and Carlsbad isn't quite all of the way open yet because of Covid.  And it's a long ways with expensive food/lodging.) 

Friday - I had the whole day to clean the house in an unrushed fashion, do the laundry and the grocery shopping.  That's actually a pretty nice thing and I was glad I could get it all finished and done.  We also got to watch the new trailer for Top Gun 2 and afterwards they had a video about the secret building of some amazing war planes that we watched.  Dinner was planned ahead and good and easy.  We watched an interesting movie that night about a possible pandemic scenario.  So glad our actual pandemic was not so bad.  So, it was a good day!

Saturday - we got up at the regular time, took our walk while listening to a good talk and BOM and then went to clean the church.  It was nice to hang out and do some good.  Then Supe and Jem invited us to go on a nice little hike in the hills behind the house.  It's always fun to hang out with them.  Jem is growing up to be a cute, fun little kid.  We had their dog and Jasmine's 2 dogs along and they had a really good time getting out and getting worn out in the process.  Jem can say all of their names now.  He's getting to be a good little talker, jumper and rock thrower! In the afternoon we went miniature golfing with Bean.  I got one hole in one and one that took so many shots I just gave myself the max score! (Saw a lady bug there.)  Afterwards we stopped and looked at camp trailers.  With gas prices what they are I'm not sure that dream is going to be possible anymore.  Looks like we'll be camping in a tent forever. (I'm just a little bit discouraged right now.  Pretty tired of eating the costs for other people's frustrating ways.  Going to have to be much more careful working with that supplier in the future.  They've done us like this before.) 

Sunday was a great day with a walk, home study, church, nap, more home study and then a fantastic St. Pat's dinner of corned beef and cabbage!  It was cooked just perfectly and so yummy.  Only bad thing was the time change and not too great a night's sleep.

Monday - today's list got done!  Morning walk, breakfast, got an appointment for our reverse mortgage counseling, exercise, study and then errands.  Got some paint for the kitchen sink drawers and bark for the flowerbeds (and an amazing white Calla Lily for the front porch - it was an impulse item) and picked up payroll after lunch and also paid some business bills.  Then it was time to wash the windows inside/outside and dust the blinds - finished!!!  So, I got my list done all but going to the play (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels) tonight for today's fun thing.  Of course, the Calla Lily was a fun thing too. I had the perfect pot to repot it to and it looks so beautiful and makes me think of my mom and my home in California all those years ago.  (PS - I also got distracted by the google screen pic of Mt. St. Helens and looked up some videos of what there is to do at Mr. St. Helen's NM and decided that would be a great summer trip to take!)

Tuesday - We had a reverse mortgage counseling appointment by phone this morning that I worked hard to get set up since last Friday.  Then I worked in the yard - weeded, raked, put bark down, trimmed the hedge, blew the back patio, side yard, garage and driveway.  Cleaned up too and got all the trash out.  That took me until about 1:00.  After lunch I got cleaned up and went out to do some grocery shopping and my fun thing was to buy a few things for Easter at Seagull Book and a few things - Essie's bday scriptures and a thing for Kaebri's upcoming birthday.  Dinner was planned - Taco Tuesday - we had flautas.  

Wednesday - painted front door (where the new lock made it necessary) and some of the trim around the window next to the door.  Had a nice little visit with Tony and Paul Brooks when they just stopped by.  Worked on Easter stuff, Essie's birthday stuff and Ministering stuff.  Also worked on Reverse Mortgage stuff.  Did some sanding on the kitchen sink drawers and washed rugs.  To finish out the day we went on a date to Mo' Bettah's and then to a really good little movie - Coda - about a hearing girl from a deaf family.  It was funny and sweet.  On our way home we stopped by Dorothy McMullin's and visited with her for quite a while.  (Paul is her minister).  She's in a sad situation with her 90+ year old husband just getting to the point of having to go into a care facility.  So sad.  They are both such great people.  Then we had a wonderful night's sleep!!! The time change has been playing havoc with our sleep since Sunday.  

Thursday - painted inside of front door where the new lock doesn't cover and some of the scraped corner edges.  More work on the Reverse Mortgage and some good scripture study time.  That evening we watched and old Cary Grant/Alfred Hitchcock movie - North By Northwest.  It was really good!

Friday - We went on the Fossil Canyon hike with Ferf, Gaige, Koen and Torin.  It was as amazing as last time and more...we got clear the the ending point we didn't make last time.  We had a couple of sketching places where you had to do some scrambling, but it then we got past them and saw all the parts we didn't see last time.  We took lunches and ate a picnic in a sunny spot.  Afterwards Paul fixed some sprinklers at Ferf's and then we went out for hamburgers and then went mini golfing.  We came back and had fresh baked cookies and milk.  We got some of the overflow company that's down for a special Brooks event - the statue dedication of Juanita Brooks.  Some of Janet and Tony's grandkids - Kriston's kids - Aaron, Kelton and Katy's boyfriend Jacob drove in from Provo/Rexburg and spent the night.  Nice kids.  Very reminiscent of our YSA glory days.

Saturday - We got up and after our walk and showers made a great pancake, bacon and egg breakfast for everyone.  Then we went down for the statue dedication of the Juanita Brooks  that was really nicely done.  She was "an excellent woman" and as they said, her example is still very relevant for today's world.  She was the catalyst to the church to becoming transparent about the Mountain Meadow Massacre incident and bringing both parties involved to the table to talk and heal wounds.  Tony spoke about her being generous and close to the spirit - things people might not have known about her.  Dick Whitehead's talk about her bearing her the trials that came to her because of her work was masterful.  And Dana Moody's was as well.  We spent the rest of the day visiting the kids around the house and just doing around the house stuff.  It was a good end to the Spring Break week.  (We do get Monday off for teacher prep day.)

Sunday - Just a great Sunday.  Got the kids fed and on the road in the morning, great church and then a nap, ministers, personal study throughout the day, a great grilled salmon dinner and I got the Easter decorations up and we watched a Chosen segment that evening.  Very nice, restful and good sabbath.

Monday - took our walk, got yummy French toast from Kneaders for breakfast.  Did house stuff, went ministering and had some good visits and then took the Smith kids miniature golfing and for DQ afterwards.  And we got to talk to Kaebri for just a few minutes when we picked them up!  She looked great!  Fun times with the kids and Bean.  A great finish for the break.  And back to work tomorrow.  This is the time of year that I start being glad that school is winding down. I love my job, mostly, but I'm always glad for the break in the summer!

 

February Birthdays - Kennis, Weed & Anna Lou

We don't have very many birthdays to celebrate in this month, especially with Weed taking leave of earthly birthdays.  But this year Kennis and Anna Lou both have milestone birthdays.  Kennis turned 18 and Anna Lou turned 90!  Those are both pretty BIG birthdays!

Kennis is looking a little nose beaten in this birthday picture as a result of a wrestling match injury.  But even with that, she still a cutie!  She's an amazing young woman and we love her so much!  Gaige and Indy (the dog) photo bombed this picture!  

Today would be Weed's 42nd birthday if she was here to celebrate it with us.  Derek has invited whoever wants to come to get together at Pizza Factory.  She worked there and loved their pizza.  I don't really know what to say except that I wish she were here to celebrate with us.  It would be a much better party then.  We've had 6 birthdays without her now.  Her kids are growing up into wonderful people.  Kaebri is on a mission, Tasia has taken over as the head cook, Zade it looking like a young man and Trigg is not that lost little 4 year old looking for a mom.  He's a handsome boy and growing up like all the others.  We've had a hard time staying as connected as we should be with all of the Covid restrictions making hash of family dinners and Derek is very busy as a single, but engaged dad.  Life keeps us all going our busy, separate ways.  A few weeks ago we had the kids over for homemade chocolate chip cookies and ice cream and games.  It was a really fun evening.  We need to do it more often.  I guess that's the commitment I need to make...to stay connected.  I'm going to try harder on that.  Love you Weed. Miss you Weed. You made some awesome babies before you had to go.  

Those who could gathered at the Pizza Factory for a little family time in remembrance of Weed's #42!

It was very nice.  She would have enjoyed it with us.  For now, we'll just leave her in Jesus' hands.  

We celebrated Anna Lou's 90th the day before (since it was on Sunday) by getting her together with all of her kids.  Everyone came!  We visited, ate lunch, had pie, opened presents, and then visited and ate dinner and visited some more at our house.  It was a nice day for her.  She had talked about wanting a BIG party, but it is so impossible for her to be around a big crowd that we came up with this plan which seemed to please her.  

And that's all for February!  

Actually, there was another important birthday that happened in February this year.  Julius Neils Poulsen was born on February 19th in Puyallup, Washington to my brother Dennis' son Christian Neils Poulsen and his girlfriend Maddie.  He weighed 5.15 and was 18.2 inches long.  I will probably never meet him, but Dennis is so happy to have a grandchild that he may actually get to know.  His others were basically lost to him through his divorce from Sharon.  Christian is his adopted son with his second wife, Sandee.  They also adopted Christian's twin brother William and their half sister, Ariel.  I think I have met the boys a couple of times over the years.  They live in Washington and we just don't see them very often.  I hope Denny's health holds up long enough for him to enjoy this little one for a while.  

Amazing Kennis...the wrestler!

I was so surprised when Kennis decided to do girl's wrestling this season! She has always done cross country and track.  She decided to try this and what a great job of learning a whole new sport she did!  She's a senior and was in great shape from her running already, but this is a pretty crazy sport to come into in your last year of school, but she was not deterred.  She had super supportive coaches and worked so hard!  And she learned how to do it!  And last Saturday at the the UHSAA 4A Boys and Girls State Wrestling tournament she took 3rd place in her weight division...can you believe that!  Wow!  Paul and I went up on Saturday (the 2nd/last day) and she won 3 matches by points...she had to work hard.  The last girl had quite the personal record, but she beat her anyway!  It was "fun" to be there to see her succeed, but mostly I felt relieved when it was over for her.  It's a pretty brutal sport and some people get hurt and everyone feels the hurt I believe.  But she stayed strong to the end and did GREAT!  

Cedar Pocket Wash Overlook & Canyon

 Supe told us about this great little desert/winter hike too! We did the overlook trail - very easy and beautiful views of desert landscape and Joshua trees.  Then we took the very steep hike down to the little slot canyon.  I'm not a fan of steep, gravely, high, narrow places like this, but it was worth the stress to enjoy the canyon.  After the canyon we continued walking down the riverbed to the Virgin River.  We had to walk through a giant culvert under the highway to get over to the river, but it was fun and we were glad we did.  Coming back out going up that steep, narrow trail was actually much better!  So it was all good.  After that we drove out a different way through the Beaver Dam Wilderness area.  It's full of great desert scenery and it was a great day with the weather perfect for this hike/drive.

  

Fossil Canyon - AZ Strip Trip

 This was another great desert/winter hike.  Supe sent us a pin for it and we were able to find it without too much trouble.  And it was really cool...so cool in fact that there came a time when we could go no further because of water (with ice on top) was blocking the way.  But, as far as we went was really enjoyable!  We need to go back again when the water isn't so cold and go further!

January Birthdays!

 Eden turned 15 on the 6th and is so excited because now she can get her Learner's Permit and start practicing driving!  We couldn't be there the day of so it sort of got smashed into Zion and Joel's baptism.  I just took her present to her there and gave it to her.  She's really growing up to be a talented, beautiful young lady.  Love you Eden!  Happy #15!

Yesterday we made it a 3 birthday dinner party at the Randalls.  Bryan #46, Afton #11 and Brady #17.  They save us the driving up over and over and we bring everyone's presents at once!  It was actually closest to Afton's so she got to blow out the candles!  Love this bunch!

Brenden was our last January birthday!  He turned 13!  He's an amazing guy and we love him so much!  He's now an extraordinary teenager...the last one of that group of grandsons (except that Noah has "changed" his birthday to April 2nd now, so he's going to "wait" to be a teenager until then instead of last December 2nd, so he will be the "last" one.  

Joel and Zion get baptized!

January 8, 2022, was a Great To Be 8 day for these two boys.  Zion would have been baptized earlier, but then the family got sick, so it needed to be put off...and then it was time for Joel to be baptized, so they made it easy and did it together!  And that's kind of nice since they are pretty close cousins.  Zion lives in Cedar and Joel in Enoch.  Their dads did the baptizing and the confirming.  We had a big crowd since we had the Lillywhites, the Randalls, the Weavers and the Sheffields there to support the boys.  It was a really nice baptism.  The siblings helped out with the music.  Sweet Sarai led the music, Ellie, Eden and Noah played a trio of I am a Child of God on piano, viola and cello!  Bro. Randall and Paul gave nice baptism and Holy Ghost talks.  Ellie and Brady were Joel's witnesses and Dorothy and Juge were Zion's witnesses.  Juge gave the opening prayer at Joel's request and I gave the closing prayer at Zion's.  Lou and Juge planned and executed a wonderfully tasty lunch afterwards (the baptism was at 11 am). We had many kinds of delicious soup, Great To Be 8 pretzels, rolls, salads and desserts aplenty.  It was all very tasty!  It was nice to relax and visit.  We missed Supe and Beacher because they were out of town and the Smiths got sick at the last minute and couldn't come.  But we had everyone else.  Jay and Brynn came down and we got to have them stay with us.  

Dutchman's Draw and cancer update!

 Friday morning, January 14th, should go down in my history as being one of the BEST DAY'S EVER!  It was my follow-up appointment for my PET scan following my 6th and final chemo of this series of Bendamustine/Rituxin and Eudynica shots. I started this series in July 2021 and did a once a month Thursday/Friday chemo at the Cancer Center and then got the Eudynica shot on Saturday mornings at the hospital infusion center.  The first one was pretty bad, 2nd, 3rd and 4th not as bad.  The 5th one I had a cold to go with it and lots of other stress going on besides and it was the worst in some ways and the 6th was hard because of the cumulative effects, but good because it was last!  Overall, it wasn't too bad compared to what I see other people going through.  I had some nausea, but it was pretty well controlled by the meds for it.  I didn't lose my hair.  I was tired, depressed, maybe some chemo brain not being able to concentrate, and sometimes it was hard to eat or nothing tasted very good. And I was very tired. The worst part was the constipation caused by other drugs for nausea, allergic reactions, etc.  I didn't have allergic reactions either.  So, really, I can't complain and don't feel like I really had the terrible experience that most people seem to have, but I'm still very glad it's over with!  And I'm very thankful!!!  After the PET scan I read the on-line report and was pretty bummed when I read that there was still some cancer going on.  The above the diaphragm stuff was zapped gone by the chemo, but there was still some activity below the diaphragm.  And that made me think I'd be doing more full chemo or at least some maintenance with Rituxin.  Paul went with me to the appointment and I let the doctor know I'd read the written report.  He said we should just take a look at the scans.  And it was so amazing to see the before and after scans.  The before scan was really covered in active cancer areas!  It was actually pretty scary to see how much there was.  And then the after scan had just this tiny bit!  So he said I didn't have to do any more chemo now!!! He said this was great and just what they wanted to have happen and that I can go back to the watch and wait status.  He said maintenance was kind of a yes/no option since they don't have really great data to show how effective/helpful it really is.  He said I could have a remission of who knows how long.  So I will just go in every 3 months now and have a CT scan at 6 to see how things are going and try to just keep track of how I'm feeling.  (I kind of worry about that since I didn't really feel bad before because it just kind of crept up on me slowly without me noticing.) So, it's not a NED (no evidence of disease) outcome, but it is the next best thing and I am so thankful and relieved at this point!  

We just kind of went around feeling elated that day and taking it easy.  We didn't really do anything to celebrate too much.  Tried to take G'ma to lunch, but she wasn't up to it.  We just relaxed and enjoyed the day together. Then on Saturday we went out and hiked an old favorite - Dutchman's Draw!  It was a perfect winter hike in the desert.  It is such an amazing place.  Then we relaxed for the afternoon and had G'ma come and eat our Ham and Bean soup for dinner.  

Ziplining at Moe's Valley!

 Supe called the other day just as I was on my way to work and invited us to go ziplining at Moe's Valley with him, Leo and Dash and Beacher and Jem.  At first I thought I should say no and just stay at my first day back at work a long day.  But then I thought again and had Paul call back.  I took off work about 20 minutes early to have a maybe once in a lifetime free zipline ride with some of my favorite people!  And it was great!  I'm always pretty scared on high exposed places, but once I was on the rope and on my way, it was fine and so fun!  Glad I thought again and said yes to a grand adventure!  And so thankful that Supe and Leo did all the work to put together such a fun thing for us...and for free!  (Dash is probably 7 and he went first...brave kid!

Kolob Fingers, Cave Valley and our own Red Hill...in winter!

 Last week we finally found a day after the holiday break...to take our own break.  Paul's back was finally feeling good enough to take a ride to see the snow.  We went up to Kolob Fingers and it was beautiful and very uncrowded.  Then we drove over to Cave Valley and it was beautiful dressed in snow too.  And in the last week or so I have also enjoyed walks on the Red Hill while Paul was out of town.  So much beauty all around us to enjoy!  It felt so good to get out!