Time With Emmi

 When Emmi comes to town there seems to be something going on every day that she is here.  She does her best to plug in every thing she wants to see, do and/or buy while she is home for a couple weeks.  Friday was just one of those days.  Mallory told me that spending time with Gam was at the top of her list.  She invited me along with Mallory, Andrew and Hayley to go out to Sheels and shop a bit.  Apparently Abby wanted some particular shoes that she got there last year and loved them.  It was fun to wander around Sheels and then we headed back to have lunch at the house.  Neal came downstairs to join us and we had Costa Vida.  Then the games began.  We played games non-stop until 6 at which time everyone decided they were hungry.  We had dinner, cleaned up and then played more games until 10:30.  It so reminded me of our days at Bear Lake when we would play 6-handed Rook until the wee hours of the morning.  We played, Reds, Farkle, Mormon Bridge, and Fruit Salad!  I feel like I'm missing a game we played but can't come up with it right now.  We had such a fun time and I hated to see the evening come to a close.  

You can see our trusty Game Book on the corner of the table.  A couple of the games we haven't played for a long time and had to refresh our minds on the rules and the counting.  Such an amazing day!  Such a fun group!! So nice to have Emmi in town for a couple of weeks.  She and Mallory are at a concert tonight so Sprout and I are tending Brinkley.

Emmi Arrives

 After a long flight from Hawaii with a three hour layover in LA, Emmi arrived her last night at about 9:30.  Mallory and I along with Brinkley and Sprout met her at the airport.  She didn't know I was coming so it was exciting to see her happy smile when she spotted Mallory and I.  Hugs and love extended all around.  She is here for the next two weeks and we hope to take advantage of every minute we can spend with her.  Jeff and Annie are still on their trip and will be back Sunday night so I've invited the girls and Andrew to come for dinner and games any time they want.  So excited to have Emmi with us.  She is greatly missed when she isn't here.  

Maren's Birthday

 Maren wasn't here on her actual birthday.  She and Boston along with Brock and Taylor, drove to Colorado for a baseball tournament - which I will add here that Boston and his team won the championship!  I had asked Maren if she could stop by some time when she was in our neck of the woods and she said that she had an appointment in Sandy on Tuesday after she got back from Colorado.  Neal and I were excited to see her and give her our gift.  

We drove to Firehouse Subs and got lunch and then had a nice long visit with her.  It was so nice to just sit and visit - just the three of us.  She had mentioned months ago that she wanted a ceramic watermelon dish like mine.  I told her that Annie made it and I have never seen another one like it.  But it gave me an idea for something special for her birthday.  We found one on Etsy and I had Annie order it for me.  Maren was surprised and I think very happy.  It was fun to surprise her with it.

Happy birthday, Maren.  You certainly deserve to have an amazing birthday and a year full of happiness.  Love you so very much!

More News

 I took Neal to see Dr. Jeff Jackson this morning and the doctor is sure that Neal is going to have to have surgery on his shoulder.  I just about broke down and cried.  In my mind I added yet another 5 to 6 weeks for recovery from that.  Pile that on with the 4 weeks still ahead of us for recovery from his hip and that is a long summer.  I'm thinking it is going to be nearly the end of summer by the time he is completely healed from his fall off the ladder.  Dang good thing we cancelled Brian Head!!  He is scheduled for an MRI on his shoulder next Monday, July 1st and then we meet with Dr. Jackson again to determine whether surgery will be required.  From the way Dr. Jackson talked it sounds like 90% possibility.  

Play Day with Brinkley

 Mallory's apartment was without air conditioning so she and Brinkley came up to Gam and Pa's to get some relief from the heat in their apartment.  Sprout loves having Mallory and Brinkley come to play they did.  Mallory also told me that the guide dogs have named one of their new puppies Sprout.  What a fun day for Sprout and Brinkley.  Love these dogs!!!

Quack Quack

 Thought I should introduce you to Quack Quack, as I've named her.  She comes around every morning and evening for dinner.  All I have to say to Sprout is, "Let's go feed the duck" and off he runs outside.  He doesn't bark, he just waits for his little bites of bread every now and then.  I've actually been able to get Quack Quack to eat out of my hand.  Yup she is very tentative but will actually come up and take the little piece of bread from my hand.  

I love my little farm of birds, squirrels and ducks!

Tucker's Idea

 When Tucker was here he suggested that we get a bidet.  He said that dad would love it and that people who have them wonder why they never had them before.  So I followed his advice, called Annie, and had her order one for us.  (There is a funny story here of how I pronounced bidet but couldn't possible type out what I called it so you will all just have to remember and have a good laugh over and over!)

We called on Greg to come and install it for us.  He came this morning and we now have a bidet on our toilet.  Funny thing happened.  When Greg had it installed he turned it on and it shot straight up and hit the picture on the wall!!  Yup, it works!!  I will not report any more about it except to say thanks to Greg for taking care of installing it for us.  He also treated Neal to a smoothie.  What a thoughtful son-in-law!  

I'm not going to update anything on this new item except to say that, Tucker, you were right.  :-) and a big thanks to Greg for installing it for us.  

Father's Day

Interesting Father's Day this year.  Jeff and Annie were on a European Cruise and Maren was back East with Brock for a La cross tournament and Tucker, Derek and Spencer are all far away.  So, I invited the Sister Missionaries, Mallory and Brinkley, Marie and Andrew and Hayley and Alex and Lyndsy over for dinner at 4:00.  I fixed a delicious dinner that everyone seem to enjoy.  Neal was able to scoot down the stairs on his bum and enjoy the festivities in his honor.  After dinner we played What Were You Thinking.  Then we had dessert which consisted of chocolate cream pie, lemon meringue and apple pie.  Alex and Hayley headed home taking the Sister Missionaries to their 7:30 appointment and that left Neal, me, Mallory, Andrew and Marie so we played a game of Shanghi.  I will add here that Mallory won that game.  It was fun to have Maria, Jeff's sister, to get more acquainted with her.  I think Neal really enjoyed the day in his honor.  Lynda Ann called from Europe and sent a present with Mallory.  Tucker and Maren both called him as well.  He also got a text from Derek who was in Italy.  Too bad he and Annie couldn't have connected somewhere in Europe.  

Andrew, Maria and Mallory along with Brinks

Sprout wanted his time to shine with the group!  

Never underestimate the space a dog can get into.  Brinkley was told to get in the kennel and he did!  Even thought it is for a Sprout size dog.  I think Sprout was trying to figure out where he could fit in there with Brinks and why Brinks was in his kennel.

 

Friday Night Disaster (kind of)

 Neal and Tucker went with Greg down to Spanish Fork to get Tucker's new car.  Annie and I drove up to the outlets just for fun.  We had decided that it would be fun to go out to dinner so we decided to meet at the Rio Grand on 2nd South and 1300 East.  Little did we know that there was a country western concert that night at the U.  OMGOSH the traffic was horrendous.  Coming from all directions.  But we were able to find parking and have a nice dinner.  Jeff and I parked illegally but were lucky not to get a ticket.  I guess someone was looking out for us.  Annie was in her car and found a parking spot out front but had a miserable time trying to get the meter to do what it was supposed to so she could park legally.  She came in fuming but soon settled down.  Maren and Greg weren't able to join us.  It was kind of a last minute decision to meet for dinner and there was just too many things going on. 

Baseball and Lacross

 We have two grandsons playing two very different sports.  Boston loves baseball and Brock is conquering the game of La Cross.  Tucker flew in Thursday evening.  We picked him up at the airport at 7:30 and drove straight to Boston's baseball game.  Fun to watch Boston and especially nice to have Tucker able to see one of his games.  

We surprised Brock at his game on Friday morning.  I have to be honest and say that I barely, if at all, understand the game of La Cross but it was fun to watch and especially fun to see Brock in action running up and down the field.

Yup, Sprout got to watch the game!  He was really good.  First time I've ever taken him to an event.  

Proud of both of these grandsons and what they are accomplishing in school and in sports.  

A Weekend Not Planned

 Saturday morning, June 8, 2024, was a pretty normal Saturday morning.  Neal is doing a few projects around the house, Tucker is downstairs (oh yes, I forgot to mention that Tucker was here this weekend to purchase a new car from Greg) working on some bids.  I'm busy making platters of meats, cheeses, lettuce, tomatoes and all the sandwich trimmings and cutting up water melon.  We are planning on having people over Saturday afternoon about 5:00 to play games.  Tucker always wants the family to come and play games when he comes in to town.  Everything was quietly going on a good schedule when I get a call from Neal, who is out in the garage.  I go out there and he is up on a ladder getting papers down from the loft.  He hands me a handful of folders and papers.  As I turn around to head back in the house I hear this awful sound of "oh no" to turn around, see the ladder swaying, tipping over and Neal falling to the garage floor.  He lands hard and hits his shoulder, hip and head.  He is in serious pain and not able to move his left leg and arm without crying out.  I quickly text Tucker and tell him that dad has taken a serious fall and will he come up and help me get him in the car and to the ER.  This is the ladder that will be going to DI first thing Monday morning.  It is an old flimsy ladder and Neal has refused to get rid of it.  

We get him to the ER and because it is consider a trauma case he is immediately taken back and the trauma team immediately starts asking him all kinds of questions, taking blood, temperature, heart, etc.  They then do x-rays and CAT Scans to check for breaks.  The results are that he has an acetabular fracture, also known as a hip socket fracture.  It is a break in the socket part of the hip joint's ball and socket structure.  The socket, called the acetabulum, is lined with cartilage and is part of the pelvis.  The doctors determine that he should stay over night in the hospital and make a determination in the morning whether they will do surgery or not.  

In the mean time, Tucker is texting the whole family about the fall, the hospital stay and that there will be no family gathering that evening.  Tucker and I head home about 9:30 to find Maren and Greg sitting on the patio.  the four of us sit out on the patio until after Midnight talking about everything from Nuts to bolts.  Seriously a wonderful time for me to kind of forget the trauma of the day we've just spent.  I think Tucker needed the break as much as I did.  

The next morning, Lynda Ann stopped by from work and we drove down to the hospital to see Neal.  We hadn't been in the room more than 10 or 15 minutes when the surgeon walked in gave us the good news that we wouldn't have to deal with surgery!  I was so relieved that I nearly fell into tears - but held my emotions in tact.  As the day progressed Neal was told that there was to be no weight put on his leg for 6 weeks!  The fractures would heal but he had to stay off the leg.  Therapists came and taught him how to use the walker, how to get up and down and made sure that he would have the care he needed when he got home, etc.  Tucker and I were able to bring him home around 2:30 p.m.  Ken and Mindy, our dear friends, met us at the house and Ken and Tucker were able to get Neal carefully and slowly up the stairs.  He went up backwards on his butt.  He is now resting comfortable in his chair.  So glad that we didn't have to have surgery and that he was able to come home.

Tucker, bless his heart, hung around the whole day instead of heading back to California early this morning like he had planned.  He said he wasn't leaving until he knew that dad was safely at home.  He left here a little after 4.  As always, the tears flowed as I saw him drive away.  Sad to see him go but feeling that I was so comforted having Tucker here for the weekend.  I couldn't help but feel how blessed I was to be the mom of these wonderful children,  Maren, Lynda Ann and Tucker.  All three were such a blessing and so very, very helpful to me - all in different ways.  

Small World.  I had to post this picture.  This is Dr. Dave Morris who we found out went to school with Jeff Jackson.  

Happy to be going home!

I do have to add here how very much I love my children for their love and support for me and for their dad.  I loved the one on one talks that I had with Tucker and pray for his happiness and peace.  Hang in there my boy, it will come. I promise you.