ZLC-November

Can they park any closer?

No, not really, that's pretty close.

We just got through with training meetings on Thursday

and Friday, then we kept the zone leaders in for ZLC on Saturday.

We call this little exercise,  "plank".

From the category of mind over matter.  

trying to see who can stay up on their fingertips in a pushup

position the longest. 

I was in charge of lunch, I had several elders ask me yesterday

at training meeting, what we were having.  :)

Today we are having soup, three different kinds.

Patti's beef stew, 

white bean chicken chili

and southwest pork chili.

With all the fixin's, cilantro, sour cream, cheese, cilantro sauce,

chips, crackers, cheese breadsticks and fresh bread.

And of course cake, delicious pumpkin cake.

A kitchen full of elders, who can ask for anything more.

Mail Call!

I got a package today, yeah!

I went to the mailbox, collected all our junk mail

and our three weeks of The Deseret News, and

a notice that there was a package waiting for us at the

post office at Sobey's.  I went right over.

I couldn't wait to get it home and open it up.

Except for the label on the side that listed the contents,

I had no idea what was inside.

There were Cougar and Wildcat t-shirts for both of us

and a couple of awesome food magazines for me.

Some boxes of tropical fusion Jell-O

and M & M's, lots and lots of fall colored M & M's, plain 

and peanut butter.

Oh how I love holiday colored M & M's,

they couldn't be a more perfect color match for my dishes 

I just put out this week.  Look, they're just the right colors.

There were more things in the package too, random things,

Halloween pencils and bracelets, but I'll take anything.

It's so nice to be remembered and have someone love you so much.

Thanks Brad and Heather, love you both.

Courtney's Journey

For those of you that don't know Courtney moved back to Utah for her Senior year. It has been a lot of fun having her here and even though she only lived with us for the first few weeks but we have been really involved with her. The first big event about a week after she got home was her surgery. She had planned on coming home to play for WHS soccer but about a month before coming home she tore her ACL in half playing on a team in Canada. It was sad news but great news that she was coming back to the states so she could have surgery.

We woke up early to get her into prep before surgery. She wasn't nervous at all but I sure was!

As we were sitting there waiting we had a surprise...Grandma and Auto Jo showed up!

I got a florescent yellow band to wear that matched Courtney's band showing that I could take her after surgery in case she wasn't conscious. Just kidding.

The nurse helping Court was amazing! She was so nice and so reassuring. She did puncture through Court's vein the first poke though which made me a little ill-but Courtney was totally fine!

Next step was her Dr. coming in to sign the correct leg and she got to put on her cute tights!

She is all ready to go! Next up... femoral block then surgery!

You can kind of tell that her hand is swollen from the vein puncture...it was much bigger in person.

I left for work after they took her into Surgery and Wendy took over her watch. She got this picture of Court post surgery all bundled up!

Then they got her home and all propped up with her ice pack and she is looking great!

I put together a "Get Well Soon" basket from Mom since she couldn't be here. It was loaded with some of Court's favorite treats and stuff to do in order to keep her occupied while she was couch ridden for awhile.

Beautiful red tipped yellow roses from Mom and Dad sending love from Canada!

Since she wasn't allowed to shower for a few days I braided her hair a few days after surgery.
So then the day came when Courtney got her okay to unwrap the bandage (warning the next few pictures are a little graphic if you don't like blood and stitches)

And each day the swelling went down and she was feeling great!
I loved taking care of my little sis why she is healing. I remember when my mom took care of me when I had my surgery so I loved trying to do the same for Courtney.
After some time she had a check up and things looked great!




Courtney holding the syringe of 'ick' from her leg...good thing I wasn't at this appointment. I don't think I would have done very well as they pulled that out of her incision.
Here are some of her awesome bruises.



Courtney is doing awesome! She recently got the okay to start jogging and the best news of all....she can snowboard after Christmas and she can play soccer in January! She is so excited and is dedicated to Physical Therapy so she can get it as strong as possible.

We Give Thanks

Today I spent the day putting Halloween away and welcoming

fall with my decorations, some old, some new.

This is a new table runner that I bought online

I found these plate chargers and the autumn colored ramekins

mini pumpkins

and falling leaves.