Brother to Brother

My oldest son gave quite a surprise to my youngest son on Chritmas morning. Wrapped in boxes from huge to smaller than ring size was a plane ticket to Georgia for the BSU/Georgia game.  Rich got them both from accumulated airline miles. 

 To say the least, Scott was thrilled!  James will be joining them too. 

Brotherly love....ya gotta love it.

Bird Christmas Party

Jess, Gordon, Scott and I made an impromptu visit to Idaho Falls on Monday for the Bird Family Christmas Party.  What a great time it was.  Grandma Bird had all 5 of her children there and it was Grandpa Bird's 81st birthday.  They are both awesome. 

Grandpa played guitar (and Scott, a little) and we sang Christmas songs.  Then he had Bishop Gordon give a message.  It was a highlight of this Christmas.

And then we came home - 24 hours later.  Two shopping days until Christmas Eve.  Wow.  Christmas is close.

But it was worth it.

Pictures to follow; for some reason it won't let me load them right now.

Bad Shoe Day?

I had a great belly laugh this morning; for that matter, the whole Dr.'s office had a belly laugh.

I had a yearly checkup today.  I wasn't in a hurry.  I wore my brown pants with a really nice brown/black/green top. 

I got to the Dr.'s office and after the nurse called me back, the first thing she did was have me get on the scales.  Of course, you take your shoes off because that can add two extra pounds.

She finished weighing me and I turned to put my shoes back on.

This is what I had worn:

They are both brown even though the one on the left looks black in the photo.  I tried both pair on when I got dressed and decided on the ones on the right. 

These wacky things seem to happen to me.  Why?  I don't know. 

But it's sure good for a laugh.

Second time around

 The Christmas village I put up every year is especially vulnerable this year......thanks to:

 This little sweetie!  She is a goer and a doer this one.  But I have to say that she is obedient too.

 We reached a compromise with her and her brothers; everything that doesn't have a light under it can be played with, including the nativity set. 

My own kids will groan at how flexible I've become with the grandchildren.  But I look at being a grandma as trying to do all of the things you should have done the first time around.

Gingerbread houses - eat them or view them?

Sunday night the family that is in town got together to do Gingerbread Houses for Christmas.  Everyone loves to make them, regardless of age. 

But the question is this:  do you eat yours or have it for a decoration?

I'm pretty sure ours make it one day, if that.

A lot depends on the freshness of the gingerbread and what kinds of candy (at least for me personally).

Both?  No way because by the time you view it as a decoration for a couple of weeks, it can't be fit for consumption.  But hey - thats just me.

Thanksgiving 2010

 Gordon got into the spirit early, donning his Pampered Chef apron and favorite ski hat.

 Notice the trees out the kitchen window.  What a beautiful sight.

 Ben getting some carving tips

 The day before Thanksgiving, I was getting three pies out of the oven; two pecan and a cherry.  The pecan pies needed another 5 minutes, so I pulled the rack out as far as I could and lifted the cherry pie. 
As I was setting it on the counter I heard a bang.  Turning around, I saw that both pecan pies had slid off the rack backwards when I lifted the cherry.  Luckily and to my amazement, they landed upright and only slightly jumbled, spilling just a little filling into the bottom of the oven.  I was very THANKFUL.
I love making pies, but find that I only make them at Thanksgiving.  I should make them more often.

 Laura doing our place settings for the table.

Happy Thanksgiving from the Birdhouse!

Baby Sister Home for the Holidays!

 Last Friday, Gordon and I had to go to Idaho Falls and so we went up to "the burg", as Jessica calls it, and picked her up for the holiday week off.  Here are a couple of pictures of her apartment.  Her roommate, Haley came for the weekend and taught us how to make pumpkin rolls.  College is making baby sister more domestic, some how.

We'll be doing great by tomorrow late afternoon when Scott gets home.  He is scheduled to travel home in a blizzard, so say a prayer for him.
Happy Thanksgiving to all.

Gotta Love Fall

There is nothing like Fall.  The crispness in the air, the beautiful colors, football season and on and on.  Our maple tree in the front yard is huge and leaves a bounty of leaves each year. 

Cam, Eli, Miriam and I made good use of them,

And Baby Makes Three

Now that they're telling everyone, I can say that JAMES AND SUZANNE ARE PREGNANT!
Due June 21st.

28 big ones!

Today is Benjamin Ray Bird's 28th birthday!  His birth actually happened between 11:59 on the 4th and 12:01 on the 5th. 

Where does the time go?  He's a big boy now; owns his own home, has a great job & is leading an exemplary life with Laura.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BEN!

Ben is in the brown.  (With Rich at Island Park Reservoir).             

I'm Impressed

What to be on Halloween at BYU-I on a budget? 

Jessica and her roommates dressed in black and used glow sticks for their shape. Then they went to a dance where it was dark and this is their result.

Jessica is the one in the blue.

I am so impressed with this fabulous idea.  College kids these days......

Halloween Brings Out The Best

Saturday evening we opened the door to find these three little spooks on our doorstep.  Two pirates and a

horsey (or was it a cow?  I can't tell for sure).

WARNING:  Lots of pictures:

What a cute family!  Have I mentioned that #4 is on the way? 

Beauty Maintenance Night

Actually, it was Beauty Maintenance Day, since Jessica was only home for the weekend.  We have these regularly to do the things that hairy, dark haired women do; waxing, mani pedis, and of course, hair color. 
It is so much more fun to do it together than by yourself.  Especially when you goof. 

I won't explain exactly how it happened, but I ended up with Grandma Nola red hair for Saturday afternoon.  And I'm not talking subtle either.  Don't get me wrong, I love my Grandma Nola and her memory, but when Jessica tells me that the red hair makes me look like her, I picture an 84 year old!

Thankfully, by the end of the day I had mostly fixed it.  I was just glad that I could and that I didn't end up with something permanent. 

Jessica's turned out beautifully.

Chi-le'

I've been watching as some of the 33 trapped miners came up to safety and tonight I saw the man on the left come up; the last one.  He was the one who reportedly organized the other 32 into groups for food rationing and survival.  He used lights of the vehicles to simulate the daytime so they could still sleep.  He organized  eating, sleeping, exercise and other areas and instituted a 12 hour "work day". 

I always wonder if I were in a life threatening emergency such as this, would I be so brave? 

Most touching to me though, was the whole group of rescuers, the president of Chile' and the last survivor singing,

"Chi, Chi, Chi - Le', Le' Le'  Chile' Chile' Chile" and then the whole national anthem of Chile'.  Look at the gusto on the face of the president.

It's a wonderful day for Chile' and for the whole world.

Background

My cute little fall background has disappeared from the blog and I'm not sure why.  I have deleted it and re-installed it with no luck.

Any ideas how I can fix this?

Three Precious Gems

What could be better than these three precious gems? 

Four precious gems, that's what. 

A baby brother or sister is joining them around the first of April. 

Woohoo!!!!

Julie's version of "Crap Dang-It"

I love my blog.  I do.  It is theraputic to write about things, share stories and sometimes just vent.  I read alot of other's blogs, too.  I like to comment on them sometimes.  I guess its our narcissistic side that wants others to validate us.  But, hey - I would blog if no one ever read it because I think it's an incredible personal and family history.  But somedays I wonder......

What the crap?????  Where are your comments?

Embracing Life

As part of my new "Embracing the Empty Nest" approach, Gordon and I now use these cool glasses for Sunday dinner, as opposed to the clear glasses we traditionally use.  My friend Kristi gave them to me several years ago; she got them at a Casino in Reno.
They are also really good for a nice, icy drink but they get the most use on Sunday now.

I am doing surprisingly well at the Empty Nest thing; when I am asked about it and tell people I am, I can tell they are skeptical. 

There is simply so much going on in life that you put on the back burner while raising your children.

Oh,  Jessica and Scott came home last weekend and James spent most of it with us because Suz was out of town. That may have something to do with it :)

Correction

In my last post, I made it sound like my Freshman in college doesn't know how to alphabetize.  She does!  As a matter of fact, she scored a 98% on her very first college test.

Way to go Jess!

How do I find that?

Twice in the last few months, I have had this conversation with my two youngest children, both actually adults now.

Me: :"You'll need to find the Dr.'s phone number so we can ask them about that."

Me:  Find out the number of the pharmacy in that city so we can have your prescription called in."

Them:  "How would I do that?" 

Me:  "A Phonebook"

Them:  "A Phonebook?  What's that?"

Them:  "How do you find it in this?  Alphabetical order?  What?"

Do my kids really not know what a phonebook is?  Or how to find something alphabetically?
Could they be the victim of the ever ready text/phone/information age?

Or am I just a victim of the Generation Gap?

I heard on the news today that over 80% of younger people have no idea who Colonel Sanders is. 

I know Jessica doesn't because she asked me who the "really lame dude" was on the tee-shirt she saw.

I love technology - I do.  But am I strong enough to watch the cliches', the ways and the methods of my generation pass by?

I swear, these kids nowadays........

Operation Co-ed

It's about time I wrote about the emptying of the nest.  First let me say that I cried beforehand for about a week straight.  I would tear up while merely talking; didn't matter what we were talking about or who I was talking to.  I was really worried how the "drop off" would go.  I had seen the mothers of daughters when we took Richard to college and thought then that it looked like it could be a touchy situation. 

We left the house in late afternoon on Friday, Sept. 3rd and drove straight to the Family Cabin in Island Park.  There is no other place to go that could be as theraputic as Island Park.  We had a great time.  On Saturday we went through Yellowstone Park (James and Suz were with us).  We had a picnic lunch and did a little hiking & a lot of munching along the way. 

That night we went into West Yellowstone because we had tickets to the Playmill Theatre for "Beauty and the Beast".  When the movie first came out, Jessica was two years old and we watched it nearly every day, with her on my lap.  "Beast" is what she called it; so how fitting was it that we went to "Beast"  before she went away to school.  It was a fabulous show and made me yearn for the days of doing musicals, singing and acting.  Jessica loved it too.  She and I had front row seats.

On Sunday, we went to church, went to visit my brother Greg and had a nice big dinner.  Of course there were many games of "Oh, Heck" played. 

Then came Monday morning.  Our departure time was 8:00 a.m. because Jess wanted to get there first and get the big bedroom, but the two Seniors in the apartment had gotten them and rightfully so.  We took all her stuff in, made the bed, put stuff away, met her room mates and all of that.  Her roomie, Erin got there at about the same time.  We left James & Suz car with Jess & Erin and headed to Idaho Falls to watch BSU vs. Virginia Tech.  Was that a great game or what?  Jess and Erin joined us and we had football food and a fun time together.  We then took them back up to Rexburg for the final goodbye.  I was nervous about it.  But when the time came, I was overcome with excitement for her and all of the new experiences that she's going to have.  No tears or anything!  Wow.  I was so impressed with myself.

In the middle of the night I get this phone call, "Mom, I'm throwing up every 1/2 hour or so and I'v enever been so sick".  So instead of hitting the road for Boise first thing in the morning, we hit the road for Rexburg.  "Great", I thought.  "A do-over is just didn't want to do.  She was sick, pale, feverish.  How do you leave that?  We got her fixed up with soup & hydrating drinks and various medicines and then left for Boise.  No tears this time either, but it was harder than the night before.

As we drove into Boise, the tears began to fall..  I became very interested in the scenery out my window so Gordon wouldn't see; I don't know why.  By the time I was in control, we were home.  Empty house.  Empty big house.  Empty teenage girl's bedroom.  Another round of tears.  And then...

Five days of my favorite little kiddies.  No kidding - Rich and Jo had gone back East to the game and it was our turn to have them.  Talk about a great transition!  By the time we were done with that, I was good to go.

Jessica is happy, so happy in her apartment, in school, and with all the new people she is meeting.  It is exciting.  I am ready to embrace all of the new experiences being an Empty Nester will bring.

The Bear

On Labor Day weekend we went up to Island Park before we moved Jessica into her new apartment in Rexburg.  On our first morning there, I retrieved our big white cooler from the back porch and noticed a great big print/swipe of mud on it.  Then I saw one of the coolers dumped out.  We went out and cleaned it up and when we came in, this is what we saw outside the back door.

This was about 6 or 7 yards from the back door of the cabin.

We also visited Yellowstone Park.  No Bears there that we saw, but beautiful views of nature.

More to come on "Operation Co-ed".

Introducing....

Harrison Ford

We took him on our first road trip this weekend and he did not disappoint.  He goes fast and rides well.  There is a comfy little spot for my feet right next to the dash and lots of good cup holders.  I think he will fit in very well with the family.

FORD

For many years, cars and trucks of this brand have been called various things by our family; namely,
"Found On Road Dead" or "Fix Or Repair Daily". 

We are trying to come up with new ones (with the help of Jessica, Ashlee and Lauren) now that we own one.  So far:

For Our Road Destinations
For Our Rad Dad
Finally Our Revenue Retained
For Our Road Diortas (Diorta is a family word)

I just don't know yet.  FYI - Di-or-ta (Dee-or-da):  A laughing sound that is the cross between a chortle and a guffaw.

Guffaw:  A loud, unrestrained burst of laughter
Chortle:  To chuckle gleefully

Bye Bye Big Red

Big Red was about as tough a truck as you could get.  One of those trucks that just names itself.  I was in love with Big Red.  She (Gordon may say "He") made this cool sound when you would start her up and she had the biggest tires.  There was no cooler truck around. 

Big Red took us on some of our grandest adventures; to the cabin in Island Park, to Larry and Janie's cabin in Donnelly regularly during snowmobile season.  On fishing trips, horse trips, to the MTC, to Grandma and Grandpa's, to the Grandchildren's house, where they raved about how cool Big Red was.  She was so comfortable to ride in and when I drove her, I saw Manly Men looking me over enviously. 

My only complaint ever about her was that if you stepped on it while turning and had Big Gulps in the cup holders, then the Big Gulps went flying. 

So who would get rid of her?  And why?

Gordon, that's who.  He wanted a diesel truck for better power going up those big hills.  I talked and talked to try and talk him out of it but to no avail.  At one point, he was going to sell her to a good friend and neighbor.  Can you imagine having to see someone else driving her all around the neighborhood?  Luckily, that didn't happen. 

But, he did strike a deal and Big Red is no more.  It's been about 3-4 weeks now and I still miss her.  I dread the day when I'm driving down the road and there she goes with someone else driving the coolest truck around.

The Windy City

I went to the Windy City this week.  Every couple of years, Gordon's company takes the spouses along on a retreat/meeting.  This year it was in Chicago.  As a matter of fact, it was the second time it was in Chicago.  The last time, when I opened up my high rise hotel window, there was Lake Michigan in all her splendor and the famous Navy Pier right outside my window.  We were taken on a magnificent midnight cruise with dinner and fireworks.  It was spectacular. 

This time, I opened my hotel window in anticipation only to find another high rise hotel about 10 feet away (or so it seemed).  Seems we got the short straw on rooms with a view this time.  Oh well.  We still had wonderfully catered dinners and plenty of opportunity for shopping on Michigan Ave.

I struggled with a little claustrophobia.  I clamored for fresh air.  I felt like such a western girl.  The water tasted like Utah lake.  I was having somewhat of an Eyore experience, which is not typical for me. 
Until....the double decker bus tour.  I love those.  From that bus, Chicago came alive to me and I learned all about the great architecture there and saw it represented in all of the different buildings.  I learned that the shore of the beautiful Lake Michigan used to come up past what is now Lakeshore Ave.  After the great fire of the 18??'s, they put all of the left over debris in the lake and it created a great big landfill and pushed the shore out some 1/2 mile or more.  I saw a McDonalds that can serve 600 people.  I rubbed shoulders with the jury pool that basically let their former Govenor Rob Blagoyovich??? walk free after a hung jury.

The guide told me that a lightening bolt hit and caused the great fire that burned Chicago to the ground.  "Wait", I almost yelled, "that was Mrs. O'Leary's cow that knocked the lantern over and started the fire!".  Then I remembered that Gordon likes to tell me stories and pull my leg and so I thought better of it.  When we got home we googled it and it seems like there is a lot of debate about the subject. 

The color of Lake Michigan to me, looked like Topaz. 
Just beautiful. 

I was reminded how much my husband loves me.  Who else would carry this Zebra print bag with a pink laptop holder sticking out of it all around the airport for me?  Without complaint. 

I love him too.

If you are thinking of getting one of these.....

Think again before you buy.  I'm talking about Front Loader washers here.  I got mine about two years ago and was so excited about the larger capacity and how easy it would be to use. 

Around the same time, I noticed something happening.  My towels were getting smelly.  No matter how many times I washed them or how much downey I used, or how much vinegar I rinsed them in, they still stunk, stinked, stank. 

They would come out of the dryer and I would think, "Oh yea, these smell sweet!"  And then I would use a dishcloth at the kitchen sink and here came the smell again.  You know how I am about smells.  It was driving me crazy. 

Then - the levis started to smell funny.  I was going out of my mind! 

Then for some reason, I Googled front loaders.  There, right before my eyes were about 1500 complaints of how people's front loaders made their clothes stink.

After a bunch more research, here is what I found:

Because of the way they are designed, something in the front band traps water inside and causes this.....are you ready?   Mold.  Yes, mold.  Stinky mold. 

You mean I have been drying my body and wiping my counters with a moldy towel?  My levis were moldy?
What kind of wife and mother am I to have my family's clothes be full of mold spores that stink?

So, here are the various remedies, all of which I have tried. 
*Run the washer on hot water with bleach in the rinse cycle.  (Every week)
*Use vinegar in the rinse cycle.
*Use the "sanitation" button if there is one.  We are programmed to save energy and conserve hot water when doing laundry, but that can't be the case with my front loader.  I now use hot on everything but darks and levis.  I use warm on them.  If I select a white load, it allows me to use the "sanitize" option, which I usually do.  Mine also had a "speed wash" selection.  I frequently used it because the regular loads were 1hour and 20 minutes long.  I have to use the longer loads to thoroughly wash things and allow the bleach/vinegar/fabric softener to work.
*I take a rag and run it around the exterior and interior of the black band and anywhere where water wants to pool up.
*I now use Downey and dryer sheets both.
The levis finally smelled fresh after a couple weeks of these efforts.  But the towels were another matter.  I threw most of them out and got new.  Now, when I smell the towels after I pull them out and then use them, they smell great.

So....ask about it if you are considering buying one of these because I probably wouldn't get one if I had it to do over again.  From my reading, it seemed like common knowledge that the front loaders have this problem but you don't hear about it from the salesmen, so pin them down!  Ask the hard questions!  See what they have to say.
Me, I'm just keeping the power company and all the products mentioned above in business with my constant and incessant use.

But it's worth it.

My Happy Place

The only thing that would make this better is if little Lady Miriam were on my lap too.  This is my happy place; the place where I am totally and completely content.  (See picture below) I am so grateful for this because it helps ease life when things are stressful, worrisome or unpleasant. 

 I have one of those coming up.  For my daughter, it is the beginning of the next chapter in her life - independence, living on her own, accounting to no one for a schedule, meeting new people.  It is a great time in life and I am so excited for her.

On the other hand, it is one of those stressful, worrisome and unpleasant times for me.  The Unknown.  The house will be totally void of children.  When Gordon travels, I will be home - Alone.  Will I become out of touch, start to dress funny?  Start to smell funny?  It seems so sudden.

Many have told me there are great things for me at this time of life too.  When I get through the process of saying goodbye on drop-off day, I will be compiling a list and will post it.  Until then, once again (ala Mission drop-offs) I find myself at the edge of a cliff, looking down, waiting for the final signal to jump.  We still have two weeks left. 

Thank goodness for my happy place.

Part II

Too bad I don't have a picture to post, because I'm sure it was a sight to behold, me with 28 wires glued to my head.  They thought it was cute enough with Rich to take a picture, but I guess there's nothing too cute about a 50 year old in a snarky mood with wires glued on. 

So, on test day I went downtown to St. Lukes and checked in.  There is some sort of privacy law that you are supposed to sign something for. 

She said, "Here, sign this form and if you want to know more about it, you can read these three brochures." 

I said, "What is the privacy law?  That you have to keep my information private?"  Can you give me the summary version?

"Well it's more complicated than that - just sign it." 

"I don't feel like I have time to read the brochures right now and would sure like a basic understanding of what I am signing." 

It was then that I realized that she wasn't giving me the summary version because she didn't know it.  I was super un-impressed.  I signed it.

Once I got back to the EEG area, a person came out that I thought must be an aide or tech.  She was quite a bit older than me (or looked it) and had hair standing on end.  It finally became clear to me that she was the one administering the test.  Scarey.  Wierd kind of scarey.  She started gluing the nodes in and asking me very private questions in front of my friend, Sandy who had volunteered to keep me company for the day.  When it was time to go back, she had invited Sandy to come along.  I'm thinking I should have read those brochures because nothing about this seemed private. 

Once everything was on, she said, "I'm going to turn off the lights, so just sit back and relax."  She went out of the room.  That was when a bright  light was put an inch from my nose and began flashing like a strobe light.  This went on for about five minutes.  Relax?  Right.  Next, she told me to relax again and start blowing, like I am blowing out birthday candles.  I know what this was for and I wasn't about to have another siezure.  About the time that my hands were getting numb, I kept telling myself, "You will NOT have a siezure", over and over again.  Finally, we were done and she pulled the nodes off of my head with a good portion of my hair attached to each one.  She then announce that she was needed somewhere else and would give my glue spots a surface wash.  By now my hair was a mixture of dry, straight, wet, gluey.  The glue parts were like super-duper gel. 

The worst part?  I had a 3 hour wait until the next test!  And this is after they tell you to take off all your clothes and put on these ginormous scrubs.  Then they say, "feel free to run and get some lunch.  It's going to be a while."  So out of extreme hunger, we finally went and grabbed something to eat, me with my head down hoping that I would see no one I knew.  (I did, but I think I evaded them successfully.)

Then back to the MRI waiting room.  Here, people waiting for the tests and their family and friends gather.  I'm sorry, but I have a problem hanging around naked in scrubs with just anyone, particularly men.  It is wrong.  Finally, my name was called and the test was fast and comfortable.  And, when I left, she gave me a gift card to a restaurant.  "Wow", I thought.  "EEG lady could learn a lot from her".

The tests turned out fine and show a healthy brain, proof that it is really there.  I guess 6 or 7 hours of one's life is just a little to pay to get reassurance.  I hope I never have to get another EEG again.  Never.

EEG, Part I

One of the results of having a random siezure is the necessity of having multiple tests run on you.  The CAT scan - no biggie; the blood tests - no biggie.  The EEG.....

I remember when Richard was 6 years old and had one to determine that he had "petite mal" siezures, or "absence" siezures as they are called today.  They glued little nodes to his head and I got to watch the report print out right in front of my eyes and the technician pointed out right where the problem was and that it was random, and not a damaged spot in his brain. They even took a sweet little picture of Richard that I have in a photo album (not really, it's in a box somewhere). 

One thing I learned is that many, many children have these kinds of siezures.  Most of them stem from some sort of oxygen deprevation at birth or a difficult birth.  Most parents think their kids are just spacing off.  We would move our hands in front of Richard's face and try to get him to pay attention and finally, he would say, "What?", like he had no idea what was going on -- because he didn't.  Speculation is that many kids deaths and injuries have been because of this undiagnosed condition; kids in swimming pools, riding bikes, etc; 

I had read about it and had my suspicions but research showed kids had a hard time in school keeping focus and their grades suffered.  I checked with his teachers and they hadn't noticed anything.  His grades were great too.  Finally, one day we were at his baseball game; Rich was at first base and the pitcher scooped up the ball and threw it to him.  It hit him right in the chest and fell to the ground.  I "happened" to be sitting next to a nurse and she confirmed my fears and told me to get to the Dr. immediately.  The next day, we were there.  He pulled out a handkerchief and had Rich start blowing on it, like blowing out candles.  It was successful in inducing a siezure.  This led to the EEG, just that afternoon and then the medication, which controlled it.  The medication that was almost worse than his condition. He had to have blood tests every three months to make sure his liver was handling it and he had a host of other side effects that he bravely fought through.  Three years later when we were moving to Sandy, the Dr. suggested we take him off the medication, since most children outgrow these.  Sure enough, he had and we were home free. 

A few times in my life I have been grateful for medical technology and the ability Dr.'s have to treat us with positive results.  This was one of them.

Now that you know our first experience with an EEG, I will have to let you know about the second; my EEG last week.  But this post is long enough and so it must wait.  Until then, watch and pay attention to your children, especially if they seem a little spacey.  It could save their life.

I'm an anomoly

First, I'm normal!  Well....as normal as someone like me can be.  I'm also as healthy as a cow (as I mentioned to Laura this morning), but now it occurs to me that it's "healthy as a horse".  Oh well,  I never get those things right.

I am also an anomaly.  You may not know that two weeks ago I suffered a siezure; a big one, like grand mal.  It was not pleasant, not in any way, shape or form.  But worse, to me, is that Scott and Jessica had to see it.  (Gordon was gone up to Scout camp). But this was the blessing, too.  Because of that, they were there to care for me and to call the paramedics.  Can you imagine the stir it created to see the firetruck and ambulance go to our house?

The last thing I remember, I was sitting in the big chair watching "River Monsters" with Scott.  We had been anxiously awaiting the time when we could watch it together.  The next thing I know, some guy is in my face saying, "Juuu-lll-iii-eeee, youuu'vvve haddd aaaa sssiiieeezzzuuurrreee."  Every feature in his face seemed overly animated and huge.  He kept asking me questions, none of which I knew the answer to.  He asked me if I knew Scott or Jess or Ben or Laura (who had gotten there by now).  I knew that I should know them but I didn't know anything.  Finally Laura came and knealt down by me on the floor and I looked up and waived to her.  It was so good to see a friendly face. 

I was then informed that I would have to go to the hospital.  It still hadn't sunk in that something serious had happened here.  Apparently, I had not been a very good patient when coming out of things, like pulling out oxygen and slapping the paramedics hands away when they tried to take vital signs. I gave a surprised look at the paramedics and shook my head, like, "no way I need to go to the hospital".  But I was with it enough to know that my sons could drive me and I did NOT need to ride in the ambulance.

So now that you have the basic idea from my perspective on how things went down, let me explain some really great things that happened.  Ben and Laura were able to get here within 10 minutes of it happening.  They were a great support to Scott and Jessica. By the time we got to the emergency room, all of the kids were there with the exception of Jo, who had to be home with the kids.  Scott had called our home teacher, Kyle, who just retured home from the Spain Barcelona mission and asked him to bring some consecrated oil to the hospital. 

Then, in a private room, all of my sons, Kyle and Gordon annointed and blessed me.  This is the only time in this whole experience that I felt warm and secure and safe and that all would be well.  The other great thing that happened is that Gordon happened to walk to his truck to check his phone and call Scott to see if he got the MTC job.  There is only patchy coverage up in the mountains and Scott had been unable to get through.  As soon as he dialed, Scott answered and told him what had happened.    After they hung up, Gordon had more questions and, without moving, called Scott back.  He couldn't get through.  No coverage.

So that is how, within the hour, Gordon was with me at the hospital.  When he got there, he said, "you should have told me you didn't want me to go to Scout camp and I would've stayed home."  Apparently, I laughed.

Some amount of time later, I finally got back to see the Dr. and had a CT scan and some blood tests.  Everything turned up great on these and they ordered me to get some further testing; an EEG and an MRI and then see a neurologist to rule out anything else.  This all seemed to go really fast for me, but for my family, I'm sure it seemed like an eternity as it was 2:30 a.m. before we got home.

The past two weeks have been a roller coaster.  I couldn't remember things that happened a couple of days before or sometimes a day before. They have described having a siezure of this magnitude as if your brain were a computer re-booting.  It takes a while to come back and each program loads on it's own time.  I finally feel, after two weeks, that I am totally re-booted. 

Today I went to the neurologist.  You can imagine everything I had convinced myself I have after two weeks.  I feel like I have been walking around with two 50 lb. potato sacks on my back.  He doesn't know what caused the siezure and that is a good thing.  My brain is actually quite healthy and we know for sure that I have one.  If he knew what caused them, then that would mean there is something really wrong with my brain.  As it is, I am an anomoly; a statistic of  the random, one time siezure.

I left the two bags of potatoes in the Dr.'s office and walked out to a sunshiny day full of all the hope of the future and appreciation for my blessings.  And they are many.

Last of Lucky Peak

I skied and wasn't even very sore later in the week!!!

One of my favorite boat drivers.  Scott has left for the summer; back down to Provo to teach Laotian at the MTC.

Scott and Jess while they were still on the tubes.  they spent a great deal of time in the water.

Rich cliff jumping.

The brothers commented how "cool" Jessica was for being brave enough to jump.

All good things must come to an end.  This is one of many loads that took all of our camping gear out.
I can't wait until next year.