Oh the Guilt

Ok, JB you guilted me into it.

Here I am with nothing much to say. All's pretty well with our clan. Maggie and Aidan are in school, 3rd and 1st grade and they seem to be doing really well. Maggie was recently cast as Goldilocks in a play that the school's putting on so that should be pretty fun.

Ike and Ian are still just hanging around. Ian's well into the one year old leaving a path of destruction behind him stage and I'm getting really sick of cleaning up his messes but the other day he came over and kissed me for no reason and suddenly all was forgiven. Ike's still stealing cars every chance he gets and there's a little part of me that's dreading summer because I have a very clear mental picture of the auto theft it's going to lead to (but if it keeps snowing I might just lose my mind so bring on the warm).

Shaun and I are the same as ever, working a lot, hanging on to our sanity a little and just y'know, getting along. the construction on the kitchen's done(ish) and for those interested you can find pictures here. Other than that, I was thinking about going back to school this summer but I think it's going to wait until fall at least, maybe the new year...

And that's all I've got. Adios.

The Ides of - or the End of March!

Here we are - almost at the end of March! I had some more surgery this morning - just a few new stitches and a couple of other spots scraped. Hopefully that is the end - I am sick of the whole thing. It's like the first quarter of the year is gone and I have done nothing except get cut - heal - get cut - heal!! It is getting old.

I sort of hoped Spring was really here then I woke up this morning to 6 inches of snow on the hood of my Jeep. Then the wind blew like crazy and it was stinking cold all day!!

I can't get very enthusiastic about writing very much because I guess if hardly anybody is writing here then hardly anyone is even reading here. I suppose you could prove me wrong but then you would have to write and the problem would be solved!!

I hope you are all doing better than I am.

J.B.

Sorry JB!

If you check my own blog, I never write on that one either.  I have a hard time with the cyber communication.  I never read my emails either.  That is probably why I have lost touch with most of my friends.  Things are okay in Boise.  We suffer from the same terrible weather everyone else seems to be.  It's nice in Phoenix!  I'm wondering why I ever left.  Winter has been long and rough here.  We seem to bring bad weather with us.  Boise is usually really nice this time of year and everyone here is baffled.  

It was so nice to go home a few weeks ago and see everyone, particularly Grandpa for his birthday.  Nate had some interviews... no news yet.  Lawyers are slow to respond.  We still feel like chances are good that we will be in Salt Lake this summer.  I have to make the hard decision between BYU and U of U.  I love BYU but the thought of that drive makes me crazy!  I don't know a thing about U of U.  Feel free to give advice!  We have a family full of Cougars and Utes.  

School is going great for me and Nate still likes his job, but now that we know we are moving on yet again, we are anxious to do so.  Bowie is getting big and he changes colors weekly.  He is now a pretty light gray and beige.  He is a smart dog and we like him more and more as he gets older.  If we could find a house to rent we would consider getting a pal for him.  Apparently we are going to fill our house with dogs instead of kids!  For now, anyway.

I hope spring hits for everyone soon!    

Rainy days and Mondays

There is a song with those words - maybe by the Carpenters? Anyway, it is Monday and it is rainy. Mom and Dad were up for the weekend - Saturday was Dad's 86th birthday - we had a little open house for a few people. I was a little late getting there - more on that later - so I missed Jer and Sarah and Peter. Uncle Ray and Aunt Veloy were there and Aunt ValGene and one of her daughters. It was fun to see them.

Dad wanted to play a game of Hearts so Mike, Stevie and I sat down and got whipped. I guess it was appropriate for Dad to win since it was his birthday!!

The reason I was late is I had spent the morning at Troy Garrett's. My seat in my Jeep has been busted for awhile so we finally got together to fix it and like most projects, it always takes a lot longer than we thought. I kind of overdid the lifting and I am still paying for it today, but it sure is nice to have the seat fixed. We also installed my spare tire carrier which mounts on the back bumper. It looks pretty good and I am thinking about taking the roof rack off the top for less wind resistance and better gas mileage.

Pretty much hardly anyone has been getting on the blog so I am hoping that will change and a few of you will not only read but also take the time to write.

Love to all - JB

February and time marches on...

I have 2 new holes in my back, so the recovery time is set back again. They wanted to go back to the spots they took off in December and enlarge them so they have good clean skin all around and get the stuff tested again. So I have 2 new sets of stitches and when I get them out in a couple of weeks, I will get some more new ones.

Our 4 wheel drive club spent President's Day weekend in Moab, but, of course we couldn't go. We are hoping we can do Black Dragon Canyon in March, but probably won't do Easter Jeep Safari in April for the 1st time in years.

I have been far more miserable and less tolerant with winter this year - at least partly because I haven't been able to do much - but I am praying hard for warmer weather!! Real estate is still very slow but I think it will pick up a little with the coming of Spring. We went to Realtor Day at the Legislature this past Friday and I had a chance to talk with my Senator who I know fairly well and my Representative who I have voted for but never met. We had about 1000 Realtors there and most of the Legislature was able to attend for at least an hour or two.

Hope all is well with all of you!! Love to all - J.B.

February Blahness

Hello from Vernal. Not much to report for us out here. We have a case of the blah's as well, getting really antsy for spring and the park and golfing (for Russell, Luke and Duane.) All of our jobs are going well, for now. We get a bit nervous from time to time about the slowing of the oil field, but so far so good. Luckily for me, there will always be people that have to come to the doctor! We had a fun time at Gavin's birthday party in January, we went ice-skating and had some great cake that Molly made. We had just gotten rid of almost all our snow here, thanks to a couple days of rain, and then we got over a foot of snow in one day!! That was a mess! Luke is getting so big and cute (and sassy!) He talks all the time, this is such a fun stage watching him learn new stuff all the time. Hope everyone is doing well!

Lots of love- Meg, Russell, and Luke

The January Blaaaahhhhsss

I'm looking out my office window at a foggy dreary day, but on the other hand I am in my office and I am still alive so that's good!! Went to the Huntsman Cancer Institute on the 9th of January and had a major excavation on my back and my right arm pit. It was a strange day. They had me on an IV for awhile but my feet were killing me that day so I kept getting up and walking around, but the IV would go backwards every time I walked and the tube would fill with blood.

So this guy comes in the room with 2 syringes and says he is going put them in the IV but I have to get on the bed first because when he puts them in I will be history!! I asked if there was any chance they would go straight to my feet because they really hurt but he said "No way!"

I remembered him putting them in and I was GONE!! Julie said I was awake for another 10 minutes talking a hundred miles an hour but I remembered NOTHING When I woke up I could see a clock way across the recovery room and thought "WOW! What happened to that 2 and 1/2 hours??"

I was so dehydrated from not drinking anything since the night before that I thought I would die!! I ate 3 cups of ice chips in about 5 minutes then way across the room I noticed this nurse drinking Coke from a can. I spoke loudly enough for her to hear me and said "Hey - that's not fair to drink that where I can see it!" She just smiled and put the can where I couldn't see it.

A couple of minutes later she was standing next to my bed with a cup full of ice and Coke in 1 hand and the can in the other hand. I think I drank 3 or 4 of them and 3 or 4 cranberry apple juices which I had to mix myself - they just had them separately - in the next couple of hours while I was waiting to see the Doctor.

He finally came - asked a few questions and gave us some instructions and said we could go. By then it was 1 or 2 PM and Julie was hungry and so was I so we stopped at Neil's in Draper and had fish and chips for lunch!! I was still pretty anesthetized so not too much pain, but by the time we ate and got home it was a different story.

It took us 1 and 1/2 hours from Thanksgiving Point to our house because of a wreck on the freeway that had happened at 9 AM that morning!!

By the time we went back to see the Doctor on Tuesday the 13th he had all the test results and said he got everything out of my back and the lymph node they took out of my armpit was clean so no chemo or radiation - just get healed. That drive to SLC and back was not very fun, but I survived and ended up driving myself and working a couple of hours on Thursday and Friday.

My back looked like Frankenstein with a long row of staples and these 2 big cross stiches, but I have all the staples out of my arm pit and about 1/2 of them out of my back now. I get the rest out in a week or so. Doctor Noyes said no racquetball of golf for at least 60 days from the surgery and no heavy lifting - but I am feeling pretty good.

I have this little window on my laptop that is called Google Sidebar and I can pick a city and watch the weather. So of course I set it up to see Moab and I would see sunshine and 7 degrees because of the inversion so I changed it to Tucson and it would be 75-80 and sunshine and that was even more depressing!! So I added Blanding, Las Vegas and Orem and I rotate between those 5 depending on my mood!!

Guess I will give it a rest for now - OH - Jer and Sarah had a baby boy on Monday named Peter David - mother and son are both doing OK.

Love to All - J.B.