Surgery Recovery Continues; Abe's and Sarah's Families Come for Thanksgiving

Sarah is a runner. She gets talked into running half marathons with her friends. She's done it more than once. She's done it more than twice. She's done it more than thrice. She's done it four times (can we call it frice just so it rhymes??).

Rebecca and I don't get running. Sarah loves it. We just found out she is now in training for yet another one. Where did this girl come from?!?!???

 Sarah's family has enjoyed excursions to Red Rock Canyon.

It looks like every little boy's dream playground.

Sarah can never send enough photos of her boys with their hair freshly combed and wearing white shirts and ties--especially when one boy has his arm lovingly around his brother. So sweet!!

Abe had a date night with Klarissa at the Oakland Temple.

Looks like Newland is practicing his archery skills. Shows he's got the Ward family genes in him.

Magnus is the sweetest, calmest baby with the cutest smiles.

Dallas and Rebecca got in a trip to the Salt Lake Temple before it closes for renovation for 4 years.

They have been getting out a lot more since Brooke is now old enough to babysit her siblings--with a lot of help from Caroline.

Rebecca was commenting about how much they enjoy going to plays put on at the high schools. They are such great quality and have wonderful talent and it is a lot cheaper than going to professional theaters.

Ben and Haley had a fun date night at Boondocks.

Rebecca is always in charge of the book fairs held at the elementary school. This time the school children were supposed to bring a "grand" person in their life with them to the book fair. 

They invited their "grand"parents, but since it was when I had a fever all week, their "grand"father was the only one who joined them.

Jacob's family was involved in delivering food to needy people, playing games and putting leaves on their "Thankful Tree."

My birthday rolled around. 

Diane Stewart organized a friends' luncheon in honor of my special day. Thankfully I was feeling better that day and was able to walk across the street to her home.

I received various cards and birthday gifts.

One night I felt well enough to go to dinner at Texas Roadhouse for my birthday dinner.

Kim Cowley kept insisting on bringing us dinners. This time she brought a whole homemade Cafe Rio salad meal for our enjoyment, and cupcakes for dessert. Whenever people bring us food, the great thing is there is always leftovers for my lunch the next day or two.

After weeks of other people and Glen doing the cooking for us, I finally had enough strength to cook a whole meal myself. I was so proud of that first meal I made--with the help of Glen lifting the heavy pans.

I even made the jello myself. Such an accomplishment!!

I was very happy when I felt well enough to sit at the piano and found out I had enough movement in my right arm to be able to play the piano.

Playing the piano is soothing to my soul. Glen also enjoys it whenever I play. It's like he's getting his very own personal concert.

Glen has season tickets to the BYU basketball games. I had been too sick for us to be able to go to those. One day he urged me to go with him. We parked at an apartment complex and had to walk a ways, go up a huge flight of stairs, and shortly after that go up another huge flight of stairs to get to the Marriott Center.

Even though I was feeling well enough to go, my lungs were still filled with fluid and it was so hard for me to breathe. Glen was patient with me on the stairs.

I was so happy we didn't have to walk down too many stairs to get to our seats, because what goes down--must come up. I knew I could get down the stairs, but going back up was such a challenge.

One thing was certain--it felt so good to get out of the house after weeks of confinement. We met two of our former sister missionaries, Kailey Quist and Lexi Bradford, at Olive Garden after the game. They are so adorable and it was a joy to visit with them for a while.

I had a day here or there where I felt like maybe I was making a turn-around in feeling better and then I would go downhill again. I had the fever/tummy trouble sickness once again and the second time it lasted a full week. I was miserable!!

When Lynn Maughan, our mission nurse, heard about my surgery attempt and how sick I was and how my lungs were full of fluid and I was struggling so hard to breathe, she did what comes naturally to her--she got involved in trying to figure out a solution to help me.

She had just gone to an appointment with a missionary to a cardiologist in San Diego and had talked with him about my situation.

She texted this to Glen, "He said that she is in a very dangerous situation and the regional environment/hospital is not capable of taking care of her." The cardiologist gave Lynn the names of two electrophysiology cardiologists at University of Utah and said to use his name as a reference.

When we called to get an appointment, we were told we had to request all my records from my other doctors and hospitals and then my case would be reviewed and then the doctor would decide if he would take me on as a new patient. It felt like I was auditioning for something.

We got busy getting all the records sent and I wrote an email to the doctor explaining the timeline of what had been happening with me. It felt like I was falling apart and would never get better again. Perhaps this says it best:

One day during all these discouraging days, a florist made a delivery at our house. It was a beautiful bouquet of flowers sent by Bob and Robyn Davis. He was Glen's assistant general manager when they worked together at G&K. 

Robyn and I have kept in touch the past few years and it was so nice of her to think of sending flowers. I told her it felt like she was standing on the porch giving me a hug when I saw those flowers.

We got a call back within a few days with an appointment to see the new cardiologist the following week.

When we went to see Dr. Freedman at the University of Utah, I was feeling pretty poorly that day. It was during the week I had a fever and tummy troubles. My heart had been racing for days/weeks at up to 156 beats a minute. An x-ray showed my lungs were still full of fluid. I was still in pain at the incision site along with all the aches that accompany a fever. I was a mess!!! He saw me at my "best."

After hours there, the take-home was he felt like the flecainide heart medication I had been on during the previous two attempts at getting a pacemaker upper lead wire put it had been the cause of not being able to get good electrical readings from my heart.

He changed my heart medication and after two days, my heart was no longer in atrial fibrillation and was beating so much more regular. He increased my water pill dosage and in a few days I was not having so much difficulty with my breathing. The fever and tummy troubles stopped a couple of days later as well. Let's just say I was feeling so much better!! Finally!!

Thankfully, the few days before Thanksgiving I was feeling much more like my previous pre-surgery self. The surgery pain had subsided as well. I was no longer constantly putting hot and cold packs on my chest. I had been doing home physical therapy on my right arm to get it to have full range of motion once again. Things were looking up!!

It's a good thing because we were expecting company for Thanksgiving! Abe's family arrived from San Francisco and we picked them up at the airport. Dad and Mom were so kind to loan us a vehicle to use while they were here.

They absolutely LOVE Cafe Rio and so we stopped there for dinner on our way home.

Sarah's family arrived from Las Vegas and it was then a party house!! I was so happy Sarah took on the role of figuring out what to feed all those little people (along with us big people) the whole time they were here.

When we heard a big storm was coming and we would be snowbound, Sarah sent Jeff to Costco with a list of additional food to buy to last us through the snow days. It was an adventure!!

Of course when family comes to town, the local family members--Rebecca and Ben--have to come spend as much time here as they can. Rebecca had come over the day before Thanksgiving and had parked in front of our house.

A few snowflakes started to fall and we heard the doorbell ring. A policewoman was standing on our porch pointing to Rebecca's van and said she was giving us a friendly reminder that cars cannot be parked in the street during a snowstorm because the snow plows need to be able to clear the streets.

You can tell we were all getting a good chuckle over our police encounter, which Klarissa captured so well with this photo.

There certainly had to be popcorn time with the grandchildren. The littlest grandchildren love to watch the corn pop and hear their grandpa sing, "Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree" to them.

Baby cousin bonding time for Magnus and Kade playing with the Tupperware lids.

Glen was not quite as thrilled with the snowfall as the little grandchildren were with the cold, wet, white stuff.

It's always so beautiful after a snow storm--even more so when the driveway, sidewalk and roads are cleared off.

We have a herd of deer living in our backyard. One day I saw nine of them running through the yard.

Newland put himself in charge of clearing all the snow off the picnic table on our back deck. The youngsters were loving playing in the snow.

It was game time whenever the adults could find the time when their children were off playing happily together.

A big snowstorm hit on Thanksgiving morning. Newland, Carson, Eli and Wynne were very excited to get out in the snow to play and even help shovel.

Glen is always a nice guy and takes his snow blower to whichever neighbor hasn't cleared their driveway yet.

The crowning event of the morning  was Jeff, Newland, Carson and Glen building a snowman. Those boys were so proud of their creation.

We were so thankful the driveway and sidewalks were cleared by the time my parents, my siblings and their families were arriving for Thanksgiving dinner.

Since the street hadn't been plowed all the way, they couldn't park in the street, so Glen was shuttling them back and forth to and from the church. That parking lot had been plowed and so it worked out great for family members to park their cars there.

Mark and Michelle and their family had made the drive from Yakima with their college kids coming from Idaho. I was worried about them driving in the storm, but they made it safely.

We had over 50 people here that day. I was very thankful I was feeling much stronger that week so I could enjoy the day with everyone here.

When Mom asked if I would be feeling up to having the dinner at our home, she said we would just have to provide the house--everyone else would bring the food.

Well, I thought that was a very great arrangement!!!! Why sure!!!!

After all the people left and things calmed down, Kade was all tuckered out from the excitement.

We were hoping to see Magnus take off walking while everyone was assembled and he had an audience. He has such good balance, but no amount of bribing could get him to take off from his standing spot.

Wynne loved to put puzzles together. We were sad when she got sick the last part of the trip. She was still so sweet even though she wasn't feeling well.

Playing games and watching movies were what kept everyone entertained.

Jan Evans had brought over a beautiful bouquet of flowers right before she and Bill left to go out of town for Thanksgiving. She had already brought me flowers and here she was bringing me some more. What a friend!!

I loved those flowers so much because they lasted a full 2 weeks. I was impressed with how they held their beauty and thought of my sweet friend every time I looked at them. It was nice to have fresh flowers when our guests were here.

All good things must come to an end and that is what happened on Sunday. Sarah's family headed out early that morning so they could stop in Cedar City to see Jeff's parents for a little while.

Abe's family went to church with us and they headed out that evening. They flew to Las Vegas where they hooked up with Sarah's family at Sarah's house for a couple of days as an extension of their vacation. How fun for the little kids to have more cousin play time together.

Monday evening Jeff so kindly stayed home with Magnus and his four boys while Abe, Klarissa, Newland, Wynne and Sarah went to see the Cirque de Soleil production of KA. How fun for them. How kind of Jeff.

Sarah had set up Christmas before they left to come to our home so they would be all ready for Christmas upon their return home. 

I love this picture of her boys admiring the lights on their Christmas tree. 'Tis the season...

Kade Turns One; Halloween

We bought some strawberries for Rebecca's assignment at Mom's family birthday dinner. It was fun talking with Rebecca when we delivered the fruit to her.

Baby boy Kade was celebrating his first birthday and we were invited to his birthday party. 

Haley had the house all decorated festively. They had invited us, Rebecca's family and a few other friends to join in the celebration. Haley was prepared to play some fun games with the kids. It was a great party.

Ben showed us the shirts they had made at his work in his new job at Amazon. He is now managing a department that is printing designs on shirts and PopSockets (the round, collapsible buttons on the back of cell phones).

Caroline loves to take care of Kade. She eagerly took him outside to play on the playground nearby as the birthday party was winding down and the guests were leaving.

I had not been feeling well at all the days previous to this. I was still in constant pain at the surgery site, I was still struggling so hard to be able to breathe and my heart had been racing for several days.

Many weeks previous to this, Glen and I had been asked to speak in Dad and Mom's church that Sunday. I was worried I wouldn't be able to go. Of course I knew Glen could handle speaking for the length of time allotted to both of us, but I had prepared and I really wanted to go.

Thankfully, that particular Sabbath Day, I awoke feeling much better and off we went driving to Ogden in the first snowfall of the season.

Glen and I both really enjoyed that experience. I felt so very blessed to be feeling well enough to go. I'm sure Dad and Mom were relieved to see us both show up after knowing how miserable I had been feeling.

Nani is a fan of ours, so she decided to attend their ward that day to hear us speak.

After the meeting, a couple came up to introduce themselves. They are the parents of one of our missionaries who had arrived in California one transfer before we came home.

A friend of theirs was sitting in the congregation and when they realized we are the Burtons' daughter's former mission leaders, they texted the Burtons who immediately came over to the church to catch the tail end of Glen's talk and to meet us.

It felt good to be out and experiencing life once again. Once back home, my stomach really started feeling sick. I rested throughout the day as I had been doing for the previous 2 1/2 weeks in hopes I would feel better by that evening.

Mom and Dad were hosting one of their family birthday celebration dinners and I didn't want to miss it. Rachel got my phone and took a selfie to let me know she loves me.

It was nice to see the family members who were there, but as soon as the birthday songs were sung, we left. I was not feeling well at all.

I was feverish and had tummy troubles a good portion of that week. Rebecca was so kind to come up one day and make a double batch of lasagna--one big pan for her family and the two smaller pans for us. My right arm was pretty much useless, and I could not lift anything heavy, so I needed lots of help.

I bribed Rebecca and Madison with Costa Vida if they would come cook for us. This time it was take-out.

Glen gave his seal of approval of the delicious lasagna, commenting about how I hadn't made that dish in a long time. Try at least 3 years because I never made it while on our mission.

Halloween rolled around and Glen consented to be the one getting up and down to run back and forth to the door handing out Halloween candy. 

Our first tricksters were Kathy and Roger Jacketta--peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Roger was even carrying around a bag for treats. He was definitely in it for the candy haul!

At the end of the evening, the Golden family stopped by to show us their costumes and get some candy. 

In other parts of the country--San Francisco--Abe, Klarissa, Newland, Wynne and Magnus were getting into the spirit of Halloween and the autumn season. 

Jeff, Sarah, Eli, Carson, Lincoln and Jonah--in Las Vegas--were doing their Halloween thing.

Carson's Halloween artwork--very detailed and I love it!!

They had a very successful Come Follow Me lesson about putting on the whole armor of God. 

Eli makes the best scriptorian wearing a tie with his t-shirt.

There was lots of candy to keep the boys focused on what was being said during General Conference.

Sarah says she is happiest when she is busy and she likes to always have a little side business going on where she can earn money from home. 

I like to think I am keeping her in her book-selling business. I always send Sarah's Date Your Spouse From Your House books (available on Amazon--I'll put in this plug for her) as wedding gifts. 

I recently had a stack of them to send as it seems to be the wedding season.

Dallas, Rebecca, Ben and Haley had a Halloween adventure going to Lagoon's Frightmares.

Looks like they had a frightfully good time! Good thing they went when they did because the weather turned so bitterly cold that Lagoon ended Frightmares midway through October. I never remember that happening before.

Quotes of the Week

Belief is not so much like a painting we look at and admire and about which we discuss and theorize. It is more like a plow that we take into the fields and, by the sweat of our brow, create furrows in the earth that accept seeds and bear fruit that shall remain.
--Dieter F. Uchtdorf

We find true and enduring joy by coming to know and acting upon the truth about who we are, the meaning of mortal life, and where we are going when we die. Those truths cannot be learned by scientific or secular methods.
--Dallin H. Oaks

Hold fast to what you already know and stand strong until additional knowledge comes... In this Church, what we know will always trump what we do not know.
--Jeffrey R. Holland