In Tribute: President Gordon B. Hinckley 1910-2008

It's a sad day for members and friends of the LDS faith. Our beloved prophet, President Hinckley passed away last evening.

I don't know what I can add to the tributes that have been and will be paid to him in the next few days and weeks. He was an amazing man who led the LDS church through unprecedented growth and helped it shine bright in the spotlight. Whether he was touring the world dedicating one of the numerous temples he oversaw the construction of, or on Larry King Live or 60 Minutes, you could feel his love for the Savior, for the Gospel and for all it's members, as well as his love and concern for all humankind. He will be greatly missed.

I guess I shouldn't have been surprised by his passing. After all, he was 97 years old. But in some ways I thought he would live for several years to come. His strength seemed to continue into his final days and weeks. Just three weeks ago, he offered the dedicatory prayer for the newly remodeled State Capitol building. While he carried a cane, he was also known to wave it to crowds instead of actually using it to walk.

He will be greatly missed, but it is comforting to know he is with his wife and other family members who passed before him. And it is comforting to know that the great work of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will continue under a new prophet as it always does.

Really not trying to turn this into a medical blog. . .

Seems like doctors and hospitals continue to dominate our lives these days. But maybe we are getting to the end here soon.

A.J. had his ear surgery yesterday. It only took an hour in the operating room and there were no surprises so it shouldn't have been a big deal at all. Except, try telling that to a four year old who had major surgery six months ago.

He did NOT want to go yesterday morning. He started crying before we left the house and the only way we were able to get him in the car is to bribe him with any DVD he wanted to watch on the way up. He didn't want anything to do with anyone once we got to the University of Utah Medical Center either.

When the anesthesiologist came in to see us, he definitely agreed he was a prime candidate for Versed. But it was an hour and a half before they came to give that to him because they were running a little late on the surgery start time. We tried to pass the time with TV but he kept asking why he had to be there and why he had to have another surgery.

But once the Versed kicked in, it was a little comical. We asked him how he was feeling and before he always said scared. But with the Versed talking, he said, "Happy!" I asked if he was still scared and he said yes, but that he was still happy.

After, he was very out of sorts. When they brought me back to recovery, I could hear him crying as soon as I entered the room. He had no idea that the surgery had already happened, but he was very mad. It took about an hour for him to get completely calmed down and that was only after they took the IV out and he put his own clothes back on and he was convinced we were really going home. I think that is when he finally decided that it wasn't that bad after all.

But he's been a complete trooper with the pain too. He says he isn't in any at all. He had one dose of Loritab before we left the hospital, but nothing but his antibiotic since we've been home. I kept him home from preschool today, but not sure I'll be able to keep him down much longer.

We won't know for sure how much hearing this will restore because we have to wait for the swelling to go down and that could be months. But we are very happy to have this behind us and we are really glad we did it now before he starts school.

Strep Again

A.J. and I just got back from the doctor's office. We both have strep throat. Again!

A.J. never complains about pain. He's has had a yucky nose for almost three weeks and a cough for almost two. The PA we saw took one look at his ears and said they were infected. He actually didn't do a throat culture on him because he kept saying he didn't want that swab down his throat. Who can blame him, it is yucky!

But my quick strep test came back positive. And since I have it, and A.J.'s tonsils are inflamed and his glands are swollen, they are treating him too.

I actually didn't want to go to the doc because I was sure it wasn't strep. I had strep the week of Thanksgiving. I was in way more pain, and I had that achy fever thing going then too. I knew that was strep. None of that this time, just a sore throat, congestion and fatigue. But James suggested I go and then my mom convinced me. After all, it is Friday and did I really want it to go all weekend? And it turns out I was wrong!

The good news is, within eight hours of being on the antibiotic last time I started feeling better. I am counting on that this time too.

Family Health Woes

Last year was just not a good health year for James' family. First there was everything we went through with A.J. with more specialist than anyone should ever have to see in a life time.

In April, James' mom had a cancer scare. Thank goodness it turned out to JUST be a grapefruit-sized ovarian cyst but it was removed on the same day it was discovered in emergency surgery just to be sure. She was off of work for about six weeks afterwards.

James' dad had all kinds of medical issues that while none of them were too severe, he ended up missing lots of work including the last two weeks of the year with a mysterious foot infection.

Then James grandmother had a stroke in October that took away her independence. Then she started getting UTI's that were very difficult to control. She past away the Friday before Christmas.

And it spread a bit to my family too. My grandfather has had two strokes in the past three months.

We kind of thought that with the New Year, the worst was behind us and that 2008 would be a better year health wise for everyone. But yesterday, James' dad had a heart attack. Tomorrow he will have quadruple bypass surgery.

Maybe 2009 will be better.

Time for some changes. . .

I don't exactly know why we feel compelled to make new years resolutions. How many of them have you made AND actually kept through the years?

I can think of only one that I have made AND kept. I gave up chocolate as a new years resolution in 1990. Seventeen years later, I still don't eat chocolate because to me, I didn't just eat chocolate, I lived for chocolate. I couldn't buy gas without buying a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup. And I couldn't eat just one piece of chocolate ever, I had to eat until there was just no more left anywhere.

The funny thing about it is, even though I don't eat chocolate, I still have the same destructive eating habits. I just substitute everything else for chocolate. Especially caramel, peanut butter and well, pretty much anything sweet that doesn't involve chocolate. I cannot open a bag of red licorice without eating the entire bag in pretty much one sitting. And I've learned to eat around chocolate in lots of things too.

Anyway, I digress, this was suppose to be a post about new years resolutions, not about chocolate or my destructive eating habits.

The new year is several days old now, but with all the chaos of travel, etc, I didn't take the time to commit myself to some resolutions. Heaven knows I will likely break them in a few days time, but if I commit to it here, maybe it will actually happen:

1) Gain control of my destructive eating habits. All that weight I lost 3 years ago is coming back fast. I think our trip was really bad for me this way. There was a lot of sitting around and eating and I have no one to blame but myself. I am not setting a goal to shed 10 lbs, but rather to stop all the never ending snacking. If I did that, the 10 lbs would take care of itself.

2) Kill the clutter that has taken over my home. In the past few months as I have focused on my businesses, the clutter has moved in and overwhelmed me. I find myself moving piles around instead of addressing the stuff that is in the pile. Gotta do something about it before you see me on one of those Oprah shows about hoarding.

3) Build up my spiritual self. In my adult life, I have mostly had callings where I teach gospel principles, causing me to focus on them. But now I've been called to work in Cub Scouts. (Another topic for another post I am sure). Not much spiritual about that. So I am setting a goal now to read the Book of Mormon each week for gospel doctrine class (even though we just finished it a few weeks ago as a family) and read and study the Teachings of Joseph Smith.

4) Continue cultivating my talents but not let myself get burned out. I have a tendency to do something (like paper crafting) very intensely for short periods of time and then get burned out and lose interest or stop doing it because my space gets to cluttered. Gonna try and fight that burn out and organize my space so it in conducive to creativity!

5) Be a better mom. Oh wait, I already blew that one by ignoring my son while I write this post. I guess I'd better leave that one for another day and go see what he wants.

Cheers!

Spoil Fest '07-08!

Geesh. I said in our family Christmas letter that one of my new years resolutions would be to blog more often. And it has taken me five days into the new year to actually do something about it.

But I do have an excuse. Probably not a good one, but one nevertheless. Thursday night we returned from our two week "A.J. Spoil Fest 07-08." We left in the very wee hours of Saturday December 22 and drove to Reno to meet Grandma Lori and Grandpa Richard for breakfast. LET THE SPOILING BEGIN!

Grandma Lori is my very good friend Tara's mother. She has always treated me like another daughter and has always treated A.J. like one of her grandchildren. We love Grandma Lori -- especially when her and Grandpa Richard treat us to breakfast at the Black Bear AND get A.J. a much desired Optimus Prime Transformer for Christmas. Whoo Hoo!

Then we drove three more hours to Grandma's and Grandpa's in Yuba City. Time for some more spoiling! James' mom has A.J.'s favorite treats and there in even a fun cousin (Danielle) to play with! And Grandma even camped out with the kids on the living room floor. We spent Christmas eve and Christmas morning there too. Did I mention that Grandma bought an 18 lbs ham for us to eat? A.J. was thoroughly spoiled Christmas morning from Santa, mom and dad and of course Grandma and Grandpa. More transformers, lots of movies, a new Leapster and lots of other stuff.

On to the other Grandparents on Christmas day for more presents and more treats. Christmas day also found us going to my Aunt Mary's and Uncle Mark's in San Francisco where they and my brother Eric and his family join in on the spoiling. Mary and Mark's daughter Carol is also one of A.J.'s favorite people and he had been talking about seeing her again for weeks. I tell you what, A.J. is well loved and well gifted.

My parents also spoiled A.J. over the next several days with lots of stories and indulged his endless desire to play Sorry! over and over again. (Can't believe how fast he picked up on that game.) Grandpa even took him to a really cool park to play in Concord.

We finally came home on late Thursday night. But not before another stop by Grandma Lori's and Grandpa Richard's for a little more spoiling. She let A.J. watch whatever he wanted to even when he changed his mind about five hundred times. And let him have all the treats he wanted.

Fortunately for us, A.J. is finally starting to understand that things are different at Grandmas' houses then they are at home. Last time we indulged him like this for several days, he was impossible to deal with when it was over. This time he seems to be taking it in stride. We do appreciate all the spoiling that was done by everyone. Thanks Grandmas and Grandpas.

But the trip wasn't all about spoiling. James' grandmother passed away the day before we left to go out there. She had been very ill for the past couple of months and had gone down hill fast in the last week. She was such a wonderful woman who was so generous with her time, resources and talents. We miss her tons and our trip wasn't the same without Grandma Great there too. But it was a blessing that we were able to be there for the services without having to plan a special trip from Utah.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and that your kids were just as spoiled as mine. And I hope your 2008 is off to a great start!