Hip, Hip, NECK, Hooray!! Another Surgery for Glen; Escape Boredom One-Year Anniversary

Rebecca's family decided to go to the zoo together on Labor Day. I love how the only pictures I saw were of them with statue animals and no real animals in sight.

Each year their family takes advantage of North Salt Lake providing canoes for a Jordan River run. 

Brooke has started her second semester of college at Utah Valley University. She absolutely loves college. She has been lamenting to me about how she needs to get some decorations for her apartment. 

One thing she has been interested in is goose decorations--in particular a goose cookie jar. We used to have one many years ago when we lived in Georgia. When Brooke found out Nani wanted to give her her cookie jar, Brooke was absolutely elated. So nice of Nani!

Natalie was recruited to go to Nebraska to watch Logan and Claire while Jacob and Laurie took Luke to Georgia to get him settled at the Savannah College of Art and Design.

Eli is now a dating man. Or should I say a dancing man. Except for the fact his least favorite part of the school dance was the actual dance. Nevertheless, he and his date were very nicely color coordinated.

Caroline got asked to her school's homecoming dance.

The Bountiful Temple was scheduled for a two-week closing for cleaning the last two weeks in September. That is usually when we take a vacation. 

We had our Southern California week-long condo rental paid for the first week. The second week we were going to St. George to see three different plays at Tuacahn. 

WELL...someone put a cramp in our style! One would think after having two hip replacement surgeries and going through all that pain and recovery, he would be good to go. Not so!!

As Glen was going through recovery for his second hip, his neck started hurting. He thought he slept on it funny. Well, after days and then weeks and eventually months of it hurting, it definitely was not funny.

After two trips to the emergency room, seeing three different doctors, getting a CT scan and an MRI, having a neck injection, doing physical therapy, and icing it a lot each day, his insurance finally consented to him having surgery. 

Nothing had helped and he was miserable.

So, instead of waiting until the end of the month to have surgery after we returned home from our vacation, Glen decided he was in way too much pain and moved it up two weeks. That meant no vacation for us. Boo hoo!!

But, happy the Stewarts decided to use our condo week to have a SoCal vacation themselves, and happy the Lewises decided to use our season tickets to go see the plays at Tuacahn. 

I decided to put Glen to work before his surgery helping me get all the carpets and stairs cleaned. There were other things he got done around the house and yard knowing he would be down and out for a while.

The day before his scheduled surgery, we decided to go to the Layton Temple. 

It was upon leaving that temple when Glen got the unfortunate news that his surgery had been postponed for two days due to the surgeon needing to do an emergency surgery the next day. UGH!!!! That did NOT make our day!! 

So we decided to make the best of the situation and went to the Syracuse Temple the next day. 

We invited Nani to join us and we picked Hug Hes for our after-temple meal. Gotta love the size of their cookies!!

The following day we met up with Nani at the Ogden Temple.

Afterward we hooked up with Dad and Mom so we could all go to lunch together. Nani and Dad were sporting the same green color and looked so good in their side-by-side photo.

FINALLY, the anticipated surgery day arrived!!!! Glen was so tired of having nerve pain for months and was anxious to get that resolved.

In looking at the 1-10 pain scale on the chart, Glen said that day he was at a 5. We could say that was a big improvement because he had reported to two different doctors early on in his ordeal to find relief from the pain that his pain was at a 20.

Well, be careful what you wish for. He traded one pain in his neck for another pain in his neck.

He was encouraged as he got up, went for a walk, and ate a smooth diet that he felt the nerve pain had ceased. His throat was very sore from the tube they stuck down his throat. His voice was very raspy from the doctor moving things inside his neck to get to the spine. 

But how happy he was to learn he had a voice and could speak. The raspy weird sound of his voice has been improving with time.

We had been told there would be many needle probes stuck into him after he was put to sleep for monitoring of his nerves. But it was still a little shocking to see his bloody pillow and see all the marks on the top of his head.

There was a big needle hole on the back of his neck. We found some behind his ears, on his arms, ankles, feet, and lots more. Thankful for whatever that was all about to make sure he didn't lose function of any part of his body.

I liked the ceiling sign for a reminder to the patient lying in the bed to "Call, Don't Fall." That reminded us of a conference talk given by Elder Taylor G. Godoy in the April, 2024 general conference with the same title.

There was some wild weather going on which we watched from the window of Glen's hospital room. There was a torrential rain storm. I was so glad I was not out driving in it. We spotted a rainbow in the sky which is always special. At one point we could see a double rainbow.

Glen was required to stay overnight which did not make him very happy. I was happy the storm had let up when I decided to drive home for the night. I was going to stay there, but Glen warned me there was a ball game on that evening and he would just ignore me, so I might as well go home.

We learned later that there had been a tornado that touched down in Kaysville. Sarah's family lives in Kaysville, and she was very unnerved when she received a tornado warning on her phone. Thankfully, her family was safe, and they sustained no damage from the storm.

Other people were not that lucky. Hail the size of ping pong balls did a lot of damage to cars and homes in the area. This windshield got hammered by hail. WOW!!

Let's just say I got a much better night's sleep than my husband. They were coming in all night long checking on him. He was anxious to get out of there.

I was interested in noticing it looked like Glen was growing a goiter at the wound site. Glen was able to eat regular food and said he enjoyed his breakfast. He just wanted to get out of the hospital and back to the comfort of his recliner at home.

Unfortunately, it took all morning and halfway into the afternoon for him to be released. We both enjoyed the picture Brooke had drawn and left for him on our kitchen cabinet.

She did a great job getting in all the details of how Glen looks reclining in the basement watching football games with his BYU blanket, BYU cup, Whoppers candy, computer by his side, and the new addition of stitches on his neck. So funny!! So true to life!!

Here's me in nurse mode taking meals to Glen in the basement. This meal was courtesy of Jan Evans. What a gal!! The soup tasted so good to Glen as it could easily slide down his sore throat.

Actually, Glen has surprised us both by how mobile he has been since this surgery. The rest of his meals he has eaten in the kitchen. When he had his previous neck fusion, he was so miserable for so long. 

Had to document I fed him shrimp. That was one thing he requested during his first fusion surgery recovery.

Glen continues to improve. He wishes his throat didn't still hurt and looks forward to the time when he can swallow food easier. He ventured out to church on Sunday, he did one sealing session yesterday, and he did our full temple shift today. Can't hold this man down!

Escape Boredom just celebrated its one-year anniversary.

It was a real treat to see Brittany Isaksen Nethercott stopped by Escape Boredom when she was in town. She and Ben were the best of buddies in their pre-school years when we lived in Georgia. Love this girl!

Natalie and Emma were deposited at the airport for their flight to New York where they were meeting up with the rest of their family. 

Natalie had been anxiously waiting for the big event of attending the Harry Styles' concert at Madison Square Garden. 

Jacob was such a good sport to get himself all decked out to match Natalie in their concert apparel. 

The big event that trip for Laurie, Emma, Logan, and Claire was going to see the play Hamilton on Broadway.

It had been a short trip, but both girls had a great time. Upon arriving back here from the airport, they quickly ran inside to pick up their usual packages of toilet paper. Sarah gave them the idea to get their TP stash from us so they don't have to use their money on the stuff. Great tip, Sarah!!

We were able to pick up Maverick after preschool and watch him for a couple of days. One of the days he went with us to our monthly lunch date with Dave Ziemski at El Matador. Maverick hungrily ate his quesadilla and was such a good little boy patiently waiting for the rest of us to finish our meals. 

The other day I took him with me to get my allergy injections. He was so cute following the black lines to the building and then from the building back to the car. I love to watch kids play. 

That day was Levi's 6th birthday. He was very excited about getting a new bike. 

HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Levi!!

Quotes of the Week

 I declare my devotion to God our Eternal Father, and to His Son, Jesus Christ, I know them, love them and pledge to serve them -- and you -- with every remaining breath of my life.

--Russell M. Nelson

When we consecrate our meager but best effort, God magnifies it. When we sacrifice for Jesus Christ, He sanctifies us. This is the transformative power of God's grace. As we serve, we grow in grace until we are prepared to be lifted up by the Father, to stand before Jesus Christ.

-- Steven D. Shumway

Yes! We embrace the words of the Savior peace I leave with you. My peace I give unto you peacemaking begins in the most basic place. In our hearts.

-- Gary E. Stevenson

Park City for Jeff and Sarah, Mark's Family In Town, School Starts, Fall Dinner With Friends

Sarah and Jeff wanted to have a little 24-hour getaway to Park City, so they asked us to watch their boys. Turns out Eli is now old enough to be able to stay by himself because he had an early bike race the following morning. Popping a wheelie at the finish line at one of his races.

We were sad Eli missed out on some fun activities we had planned with Carson, Lincoln, and Jonah. Starting off with their request of going to dinner at Texas Roadhouse. YUM!

The three boys happily went along with our idea of attending a concert in the Brigham Young Memorial Park. 

The singers played various instruments, and the entertainment was upbeat and not too boring, so we think the boys had fun participating in that activity. I saw Lincoln tapping his finger to the beat, so he appeared to be enjoying the music.

Sitting outside in the park listening to music for an hour is very calming and peaceful for the soul.

Meanwhile, Jeff and Sarah were fitting in as much fun as they could in the short time they had together.

Not only was Jeff so thoughtful in taking Sarah on a getaway, but one day he picked some flowers for her from their yard. I was impressed with how well he did arranging the flowers in the vase. Impressive!

We all declared Our Town to be our least favorite play we have ever seen at Hale. We asked a random man to take our photo, and I was sure he wasn't aware of including the paraphernalia that was artfully arranged off to the side of the backdrop.  

So I have included it. I just love how much decorating Hale does for each and every play. 

Now on to reporting about one of our most favorite plays, The Scarlet Pimpernel, at the new Ruth Theater with Dallas, Rebecca, and Caroline. Fabulous!!

Another absolutely fabulous play was Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. It was so colorful and so fun and the songs are very catchy. We all loved it a lot!

Caleb and Natalia, who have been living in Vanuatu, were in town for Natalia's sister's wedding, so Mark and Michelle decided to make the trip down from Yakima so they could spend some time with their son and daughter-in-law. 

It was fun to see all of them at the Ward family dinner in Andy and Amanda's lovely backyard.

Rachel was put in charge of taking a family photo of us since all the brothers and sisters were there. I had to laugh when I saw the individual photos she took as we were all trying to get ourselves standing in the right birth order while waiting for Mom to make her way over to us.

We can see Rachel caught me in a not-so-picture-worthy moment. 

Saved the best for last. I love this photo of Sam! 

Finally, we were all assembled in the correct birth order: Sam, Kim, Mike, Nani, Andy, and Mark. I am continually thankful and amazed with our parents who get even more beautiful with age. Love this Ward family of mine!!

When the rest of Mark's family arrived in town for their own family reunion, they took the opportunity to try out the Minecraft room at Escape Boredom. Looks like they enjoyed themselves.

Claire was certainly happy when football season started up once again. Very impressed with all the time it must have taken her to make this stadium out of paper.

Sarah's family got the chance to use the family tickets to attend a BYU football game. They said it was a lot of fun. 

Caroline does an awesome job organizing trips to the temple to do baptisms for the dead. This time her siblings and Eli were able to go with her along with her grandpa and her dad. 

Why am I there one might wonder? And the only one not in my Sunday best? They so kindly included me in their after-temple breakfast. It was a joy to be in the presence of such fine people eating a delicious meal together!!

Barbara is good about getting her temple-going family members to join her at the Bountiful Temple for a sealing session with Glen as the sealer. 

Barbara recruited her sister, her daughter, and her granddaughter, along with their husbands. It was a sweet experience.

Time for back-to-school photos of the grandchildren. Caroline, Spencer, and Madison.

Eli, Carson, Lincoln, and Jonah.

Newland earning high praise at his basketball camp.

Wynne, Magnus, and Montgomery.

Kade, Levi, and Maverick.

We have discovered a nasty problem in our yard. Three problems to be exact. Three large mole holes. UGH!!! So annoying!!!!!! After putting out mole killer and smashing down the large mounds, we had our fingers crossed.

Then, much to our horror and dismay--we found a fourth gigantic mound had appeared. All in the front yard. Why couldn't these have been in the backyard at least where they would be a lot less conspicuous? Making guesses on how many more manifestations we will have before we get this under control.

Now a much more pleasant subject--dinner at Jan's. Hurrah for all of us who are able to once again enjoy her entertaining hospitality now that she has recovered from her accidents. 

Her fall decorations remind us a change of season is upon us. Not only did she set a gorgeous table and fix us yummy salmon, potatoes, and vegetables, but she also made each couple a huge caramel apple take home treat. This woman goes all out and we love it!!!

We have such wonderful friends. Happy fall to all!!