Also.....

Last night as I was boiling Olivia's pacifier I thought, Hmm, I forgot to put the best part of my child care experience in my blog entry; which was: as Eliana was going potty, Olivia tossed her binkie in the toilet. I'm thinking of sending the idea in to David Letterman for his segment, "Will it sink or will it float?"

A New Appreciation

Today I babysat 2 little girls, one was 3+ and the other was 15 months. They are VERY cute and I was looking forward to our day together, HOWEVER, in hindsight, I have to say I've forgotten a lot over the years. While the baby, Olivia, was eating dirt, the older one, Eliana, stripped to her princess panties and was doing a fairy dance in my (fortuantely clean) garment tops, yes, tops---plural. I had some baskets of laundry to fold and she found what appealed to her with glee. So for the next four hours she paraded around in flowy (not a real word, but, descriptive) whites watching Monsters Inc. and then Olivia, when she wasn't transferring dirt from the potted plant to a chair (she quit eating it after a few tastes) unfolded everything I folded SEVERAL times and said, "Look", like she had no idea how it happened. Good thing she is cute and they were both entertaining even if it was hard to get anything done.

Back with the Living

Where to start, I just don't know? I haven't posted since June 21st. HA! and that was done by Amelia. Actually, there hasn't been much in the past 5 months to share or to want to remember. Amanda has commandeered my camera, and making much better use of it, I must admit. That is my excuse for no pictures but really it's because there is no one here to show me how to do it. The whole summer I spent laying on an ice pack wondering if I was ever going to be able to more than hobble from point A to point B, but, now, I am happy to report that I am back with the living. I went to stay with my sister Lesa, in North Ogden, for the month of September. Her husband is a physical therapist and works in a clinic with every contraption imaginable to lengthen, strengthen, shorten, soften, relax, ice up, heat up, and rub down. I was able to have PT everyday doing exercises and then traction, electrical stimulation and ultrasound at the end. All the pain, numbness, tingling and weakness in my left leg that I had had all summer (caused by pressure from the bugle on a nerve) was gone within a week or so and then the rest of the time was healing and strengthening...... okay, and eating and movies and laughing and shopping. I had a great time while there. I really needed it. I didn't have to drive or cook or be any one's mom. When I didn't feel good I could get some ice and go lay down and not feel guilty because of everything else I should be doing. I was really happy to get home but enjoyed the time down there and am sooooo grateful to Don and Lesa for letting stay for so long, for all Don's help and his tolerance with having me mooch for so long. I am walking in the mornings with friend and doing yoga again. I can even sit through church. It feels wonderful to be able to move around again. The potential for back problems will always be there but as long as I am careful and keep exercising I will be able to do pretty much what I want. I am back working at Williams Sonoma and it is still fun. I really look forward to the holiday season. It get so crazy but I just love it.

The first of September the girls moved out and the first of October we had 2 young men move in. One was Aaron Anderson who is a med student from Las Vegas who was doing a radiology rotation at UW/Harbor View for 1 month. His wife is the daughter of Gary and Mandy Ottley in Quincy. She and their 2 little boys were at her parents for a couple weeks then went back to Las Vegas. Gary and Daurell grew up together in Quincy. The Ottley's called a week before to see if it would be possible for Aaron to stay with us or did we know any place where he could stay. It worked out great for us because, Stephen, who's lease was up and needed a place to live for 2 months until he gets married December 1st, was moving in the same weekend. He and his fiance' are friends of Amanda. Aaron left the end of October and we have really missed him. What's not to like, I thought, he helped me fold towels (among many other things)! He and Stephen saw each other about 4 times the whole month as they were both very busy, but, become fast friends in a short amount of time. Aaron is a AVID fly fisherman and was out on a stream every spare minute of day light possible. Turns out it can be quite an extreme sport. He and Daurell went over to Eastern Washington one Saturday to spend a leisure day on the Yakima River. As Aaron put it, it went from bad to worse. Daurell had invested in his very own pair of chest high waders (already had a rod from Christmas 8 years ago) and in waist high water slipped on a slimy rock. Bending over to catch his balance the moving water found it's way straight into the top of Daurell's waders. Gasping at the near freezing cold water filling his boots soaking his clothes, he realized his cell phone had probably seen it's last day. Fortunately Aaron has some extra jeans etc. that Daurell could change into. After that crisis was handled but no chance of reviving the cell phone, they moved to a shallower spot in the river. Nice and dry and ready to try it again, they get out in the river and start once more only to have Daurell slip again, only this time the water much more shallow. In trying to catch himself from falling into the water, Daurell somehow pulled his hamstring in his left leg. He was paralyzed with pain and couldn't move. Aaron had to hike up to the road and selectively flagged down a muddy looking pick-up truck and asked the drivier to help him get Daurell out of the river. Luckily it was a guy who had been duck hunting and said he didn't mind getting his feet wet. After a while in Urgent Care in Issaquah Aaron brought Daurell home loaded up on painkillers. David, excited Dad was home from fishing, ran out to the garage, took one look at Daurell , came back in and shrieked, "Dad's unconcious!" We had theater tickets that night, with one look at Daurell, I knew we would not be using them. The following week for poor Daurell was spent in agony. We kept it wrapped tightly and with regular doses of Advil and vicadin (sp) he still managed to mow the lawn and blow the leaves. A man does have his priorities. He is working at Expedia.com on a short term basis right now and enjoying the work. Pulled hamstrings make it difficult to sit so he had to work standing up for a few days. Awkward, but, one does what one has to do.

We had a fun celebration of Sharon/David birthday. The tradition of David's favorite tacos was carried forward. It was fun to laugh. David is now 13 and uses hair product. The Beehive girls one day told me they just love David, he is so fun to tease, he is so cute, I love how short he is, etc. etc. etc. When I told him what they said he said, "Ha! They hate me. They are so mean to me. They won't leave me alone. They always try to touch my hair and they say I'm short." Once I explained the girls to him, that that is their way of getting his attention, he has been a whole new boy. It was probably best to have left him thinking they didn't like him, but, he does look better with his hair clean, coiffed and styled. He has even gotten picky about his socks.

I will try to update my posts more often and maybe some Sunday Amanda can help me with a photo or two. CONGRATULATIONS to Nalani and Carrie! What fun for you both.

Gotta Love That Prune Juice

I have some sad news... after getting back from the cruise in Alaska my Mom was having some back aches. It ended up being so bad that she went to the doctor to see what was up... she was in too much pain to do any tests until yesterday. She had an MRI done and they found that her L3 disc in her back is out of place and I can't remember if she said it was shattered or not. So for the next 4-6 weeks she has to lay there in bed and can not move. If anybody has an extra cathader (spell check) laying around to please send it her way.

She is a lot of fun talking too because she is so heavily sedated... she wanted me to tell you that she is "getting tired of looking at the cealing... and so I close my eyes..." and then our phone call ended like that.

Her current drug cocktail contains the following...

Percocet
Oxycodone
2 antibiotics
Steroids
Antihistamine
Muscle Relaxer
Stool Softener ... which hasn't worked but the prune juice sure has!

So if you have a moment give my Mom a call, she will be the one to answer with the slowest and longest hello you will ever hear. She can't get down stairs to the computer so a phone call would be really nice. She appreciates that I call from here in Sweden because she tells me "Everybody has abandoned me Amelia!" So please, call my Mommy 425.392.2179! She said she'd appreciate it also.

- Amelia

Deer Poop, you stink!

Robin was driving home from Kerri's late the other night and as she crested coming up a hill there in the road was a deer. She hit it. When she got home she came stumbling in, groaning and wailing (it was 12:45 A.M.) "I HIT A DEER, WHERE'S DAD, I NEED DAD, I HIT A DEER AND KNOCKED IT'S BRAINS OUT!" I called 9-1-1 just so an officer could drive by to see if it was in the road and needed to be moved. Being too curious Robin and I got in the car and drove over to where it happened. No road kill of any kind. (Unusual around here) Robin was relieved she hadn't killed something that lived and breathed and ate the buds off my tulips and roses. Upon inspection for damage there was a sizable crack in the bumper with a big tuft of deer hair. Proof of impact. What we didn't noticed in the dark that night that was discovered in daylight 2 DAYS LATER was that Robin had not knocked it's brains out, she had knocked the crap out of him. On the passenger side you can see right where the Jeep and the deer's patoot met, smeared and sprayed. Daurell noticed it first as he was driving out of our driveway one day and called on his cell phone laughing so hard I couldn't understand him. I just love when real blog worthy things happen.

Why there are 2 of the same pix, I cannot explain.

WHUT TH.............

IT IS SO EXASPERATING TO NOT KNOW HOW TO DO WHAT I WANT TO DO. I JUST SPENT 2 HOURS TRYING TO DO A NEW POST WITH PICTURES. THE CURSOR WOULDN'T GO WHERE I WANTED IT TO, THE PICTURES TOOK ON A LIFE OF THEIR OWN AND WOULDN'T STAY WHERE I PUT THEM, SOMETIMES HIDING WAY UP AT THE TOP AND I EVEN CALLED AMELIA TWICE (with no sympathy I might add). IN THE END WHEN I WAS READY TO PUBLISH. NOTHING. GONE. DISAPPEARED! AARRRGGGHH! @#%&*#$"~{+!@^&$!!!! AND IT WAS SO BLOG WORTHY TOO!

Funeral Festivities (Oxy moron, I know)

Look at that BYU professor in action! Nothing like a good knowledgeable professor to teach the delicate details of how to drive a Deere. As the saying goes, "Nothing runs like a Deere" and this tractor proves it. Good thing Travis was hanging on nice and tight!

Grandpa Bell's funeral was an ironic one. As most funerals go they are usually sad, however, Grandpa's was a celebration of his life. Amanda felt badly that no one seemed to mourn his passing. I feel like because he had such a rich full life that to celebrate him was more appropriate. The mourning was for those of us living who feel the loss and the sadness is for those who loved him and won't be able to hold his hand, serve him and visit with him. That is where the good memories come in. The Indian H'ach Lebl'eck'um dialect he spoke so fluently, his practical jokes, his High Council nick name "5 Minute Phil", his love of ice cream and grandkids and always wanting updates on certain peoples love life's. Memories of him in his cowboy hat and big belt buckle, Louis Lamour novels, using Grandma's raspberry jam as a side dish not as a condiment, (but then who didn't?), being fully dressed in suit and tie 2 hours before church, his love of the gospel and his close friends and I speak from experience when I say that the memories only get sweeter and sweeter as the years go by until one day no one can ever remember one cross word or bad memory. It was a good funeral and Grandpa would be happy to know that most every one actually had fun in honor of him...ie tractor rides and introductions of possible new families members (Grandpa would have thoroughly enjoyed some Q and A there)

Daurell and I posed for an unusual moment...it has been years since we have had our picture taken together. We look just like we did on our wedding announcements........plus a little.(At least we can say our teeth are straighter. We've both worn braces since we got married.)

Thank you Robin for joining Nalani and I in our photo. It was going to be a definite delete until we saw you in it.

"Why did she post 2 of that picture?" you ask and I say "I don't know, it just happened and if I knew how all this worked I am sure it would be a lot easier."

Many pictures were taken and this one of Nalani and I did not come easily. It took many takes, angles and poses to get one that looked candid and without effort. We were looking for a "one-chin" look. Most of the fun family pictures are on Robin and Amanda's cameras so until then I use what I have. The one I wish I had was of David in his brand spanking new suit he got to wear to General Priesthood Meeting and General Conference. My next posting will be of Daurell and David in their suits and matching PINK ties.