No Allergies in Heaven

July 16th was the day in my life I did something to address my high cholesterol, my high blood pressure, my pre-diabetic state, and my elevated chance of getting cancer - I had lap-band surgery at St. Mark's hospital.  I must say that all went well and I was well taken care of.  My sweet family brought & sent magnificent flowers to brighten my spirits.  Some of them came to visit me and watch "So You Think You Can Dance" which was fun.  All was well with me and the world until . . .  I was sent home. 

Despite the fact that I had filled out several forms noting my allergy to codeine, I was prescribed a pain-killer that contained that ingredient.  I had been running a low-grade fever in the hospital that was left untreated when I was sent home.  These two items spelled a recipe for disaster.  Once home, I immediately started to go downhill.  Eventually I was so sick, nauseous, and light-headed that I could not even drink water.  Nor could I get myself up off the bed.  By Monday afternoon my temperature had climbed to 104.8 degrees.  I was one sick cookie.  Of course my doctor was on vacation and an inept nurse was trying to get his colleagues to help this patient they didn't know from Adam.  It was a living nightmare.  I got some antibiotics to treat the fever Tuesday after spending two days with a bag of ice on my head in agony.  Tuesday afternoon my body decided to try to expel the offending codeine by giving me bouts of diarrhea about every 2 hours for the next three days.  

I wound up back in the hospital getting fluids because by body was so depleted from the nausea, fever and aforesaid diarrhea.  Thanks to Jeff for staying by my side through this and to Clark for getting me home from the hospital the second time.  

Since I am no longer being poisoned by medicine to which I an allergic and with antibiotics having treated whatever infection was causing my fever, I am feeling good.  However, I can tell that my stamina has taken a severe hit.  I need to rest after doing almost nothing.  And almost any task seems too rigorous for me.  Let's just hope that given time, the promised benefits of this surgery make it all worth the ordeal.  

Tagged like an endangered animal - grrrrr

As soon as I recover from this tranquilizer dart I'm taking this metal clip out of my ear! I was tickled and felt very smart when my RSS subscription feed showed a new blog entry from Carole. It was entitled - taggage. Taggage? Is that a word??? Who knew? So for what it's worth . . .

What are the last 3 things you purchased?

• Liquid Tylenol
• Liquid vitamins
• Pedialyte & a thermometer – I’ve been sick.
• I actually kept Dad running to the store to do the purchasing – I can manage to buy lots of stuff even when I’m too sick to get to the store. That’s buying power. Carole is taking after me but she still has a ways to go

What are the last 3 songs you downloaded?

• Midnight Blue – Melissa Manchester
• Smokey Mountain Memories – David Archuleta
• You Made Me So Very Happy – Blood Sweat & Tears (for Dad’s ringtone)

What were the last 3 places you visited?

• Cedar City Shakespearean Festival & Cedar Breaks National Monument
• St. George Bloomington Heavenly getaway
• DisneyWorld Orlando, Florida

What are your 3 favorite movies?

• Pride & Prejudice – Greer Garson, Lawrence Olivier version, the funny version - the ultimate female fantasy - a fabulous, handsome Sir Gallahad marries a poor girl for love (I have not found this to be realistic)
• Young Frankenstein – best slapstick ever
• Gone With the Wind – I was obsessed with this movie in college
• Random Harvest - self sacrifice, enduring love, How could I not mention this one?! I can't be limited to only 3 - there are many more, Maybe we should have categories . . .

What are your 3 favorite possessions?

• My Macbook
• My iphone/ipod
• My holiday decorations

What are 3 things you can’t live without?

• Jeffrey
• My children & sweet grandbaby, Corbin
• A testimony

What are your 3 wishes?

• To have my children & their spouses/friends always near me.
• To be healthy
• To live, to learn, to love, to leave a legacy

What are 3 things you haven’t done yet?

• My family geneology
• Clean out Rick’s basement
• Finish remodeling the living room

What are your 3 favorite dishes?

• My Italian dishes from Piza
• My handpainted chicken dishes
• Beleek dishes - Wait, did you mean food dishes?????

What 3 celebs do you want to hang out with?

• Weird Al Yankovic – he’s brilliant
• Pierce Brosnan – he’s hunky
• Jesus Christ – he’s da man

Name 3 things that freak you out.

• Cancer
• Re-election or not
• “Old” body - don't even think about it

Name 3 thing you are good at:

• Keeping the house locked and secure at all times. You’re not getting’ in here! Dad comments on my talent everytime he's working in the yard and can't get back in the house.
• Picking up and cleaning up as I go along, and along and along. . .
• Having “a plan” – I love to have “a plan”. Planning is a good thing. What is life without a plan?

Name 3 things you are currently coveting:

• An early morning walk with Barkley through Murray Park
• A new printer.scanner that works with heavy cardstock
• Going out to eat

3 bloggers I tag:

• Aaron – back at ya!
• Nicole – get bloggin
• Mitzi = you’re good at this

Dad Converts

It was a long wait from birthday/Father's Day but iphone day finally arrived July 11th.  More than 100 people were waiting at the door when the Apple store opened at 8am.  Nicole promised to call us when the line died down - it never did.  She spent most of the day giving out bottled water, suncreen and snowcones to iphone buyers waiting in line.  When she got off at 8pm she called us to come down.  We made it about 8:30pm and the line was still huge.  Nicole had to get us past the giant security guard at the door - you don't push or shove your way into the Apple store - no way.  

She spent her time off getting Dad all set up with a new super duper iphone and we've rarely seen him since.  Or when we see him, he's playing with his iphone just like Nicole and Clark are.  Time for an AT&T  family plan.

Cedar breaks into wildflowers

Dad & I got bitten by the adventure bug and on the way home from meetings in Cedar City we stopped to see Cedar Breaks National Monument.  We enjoyed a wonderful evening Thursday at the Shakespearean Festival where we saw "Fiddler on the Roof".  It made us cry which only means that we are getting old and sentimental.

The drive to Cedar Breaks was scenically spectacular with the roadside covered in wildflowers.  When we arrived in Cedar Breaks we found out that this was the week of the Wildflower festival and they were at their peak.   

Sadly I did not bring my camera, but happily I had my iphone.  Sadly, my iphone takes some pictures in real color and some pictures are super green.  Nice contrast, don't you think?

4th of July Reunion, Wii Qui

There's nothing like a vacation where the goal is to do nothing.  Nothing is a sweet thing to do.  

We found ourselves again in that heavenly home in Bloomington relaxing and enjoying one another's company - some of us hadn't been together in a year and a half!

Baby Corbin was a highlight.  He sang to us every morning and all day long taking pauses every few hours for one of his many daily naps.

We had daily adventures in the swimming pool where the highlights were floatie races compliments of Miss Mandy.  Another highlight ended up in my hair.  Brett, the  caretaker apparently put blue dye in the pool at the end of the week.  Our suits and ears and perhaps other unmentionable things turned blue including the ends of my blonde hair. My only hope is that blue hair is in style and people think I'm a hip old person.  

It was especially fun to get Aaron there with us for a little R &R.  Of course Barkley was thrilled and Aaron won all the floatie races.

Dad was a champ and acted as chief babysitter for Corbin while we took in a movie - Hancock which if you   didn't have any sense of appropriate language did have a great plot twist.  

Scott & Clark beat everyone else at the Wii games which went non-stop throughout the week.  Mitzi got in several nights of spit and a round of cartoon captions had us all laughing.

Laura and Austin came and visited with us a time or two and Baby Corbin was enchanted by her.  

I just hated to have to come home.

Saying goodbye to Carole and Aaron was hard.  

Pics with Carole

Yes, I've fallen behind in my posting but I just downloaded these photos from my camera today and it reminded me of what a great time we had when Carole was here. It was especially special for Dad. He got to take his girls back to the scene of his high school days, the former South High, when we went to see "Big River" there at the Grand Theatre. He showed them his classrooms and recalled his favorite teachers. Friday morning, Carole got up at the crack of dawn and they went to the temple together and strolled through tulips and gardens on Temple Square later that morning. He was so impressed that Carole went with him. It seems he was very excited to have her here, enough to inspire him to cook!  He's rarely cooked in the 36 + years I've known him, but he pulled off a spectacular crepe breakfast without a hitch.  We all enjoyed a wonderful morning on the deck - the most beautiful place you could ever have breakfast in the treetops.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Oh somebody's had a BIRTHDAY, our little friend so dear. May Father in Heaven bless him, throughout the coming year!

Happy Birthday to my sweetheart of a Dad! We have the coolest Dad. I am convinced. Here are just a couple quick things that come to mind when I think about him, and reasons why he is so totally awesome.

• Going with him to early morning temple sessions
• Him making me crepes to eat out on the deck since I missed Mother's Day
• He & mom coming down to SD to help us move and working non-stop the whole time!
• He stayed up into the wee hours of the night repairing all our cabinets, etc. in our new place
• Making a midnight trip with Mom to Walmart to buy us lightbulbs
• Always treating us to dinners/lunches/movies, etc.
• Letting me use his car while I'm at home - while he rode his scooter (in his suit!) to the Stake Center!
• He keeps me updated on how much snow Alta got in the last storm. I love that!
• He ate gelato for lunch one day. And another gelato for dessert. Is this where I get it from?

I am so lucky to have such a wonderful example in my life who I look up to so much. You are a great example of complete selflessness. Thank you for being such an awesome Grumps. I hope you have a very happy birthday!!! Love you, love you! Carole

Carole's Coming

Barkley was so thrilled when we brought Carole home from the airport, that he kept letting out little whelping cries over and over again. And oh has she made his dreams come true. She's taken him to Millcreek Canyon and running and to the Dog Park and down to Cottonwood Creek. What fun we've had while she's been here. There is nothing quite like having family together again. We've watched and screamed through 2 Jazz playoff games and eaten and eaten and eaten all kinds of yummy goodness. Thank you for coming, Carole. You've made us all so very happy!

Happy Mother's Day

Mandy Graduates amid moustaches

May Day 2008!  One of the great moments in a mother's life.  I got to present a bachelor's degree to my Baby Manda!  What a thrill!  She did it and she did it well.  As her dean said, "Welcome to the fellowship of educated people."   Scott & Mitzi made the trek to our house from Boise to help us celebrate the occasion, with sweet baby Corbin in tow.  PF Chang's was the setting for our post-grad victuals.  It brought back memories of Carole's graduation day.  Saturday morning was the convocation for all the colleges.  We heard from the U of U's Nobel Laureate, Dr. Mario Cappechhi.  Post grad brunch was at The Garden Room in Hotel Utah bringing memories of Nicole's graduation.  It was a spectacular morning in contrast to the snow we had the day before.  We walked through glorious spring flowers on temple square before gearing up for the nighttime activity. Yes, Clark resurrected his annual "Moustache Party Saturday night.  People had been growing facial hair for about three weeks.  Top honors went to Monsieur Corbean for his French-flair moustache. Scott was sporting a mirror-image moustache shave.  And Uncle Rick was not about to be left out of the fun.  Barkley, too, joined the party at Nicole's house and had a name tag attached to his chest-hair identifying him as "The Beast".  He made quick work of the every mini-powdered sugar donut he could nuzzle anyone in to feeding him and would have eaten the entire platter-full if allowed.  All in all, it was a great, memorable weekend until Scott and Mitzi insisted on taking Corbin home with them which brought tears to my eyes.