Neal's Surgery

 Remember that Neal fell off the ladder back in June.  Cracked his hip and hurt his shoulder.  All summer has been concentrated on getting the hip to heal and not having to do surgery.  After his hip was healed then they took a good look at the his shoulder and found that there was enough damage that they would have to go in and replace the rotator cuff.  So last Thursday was the operating day.  Jeff Jackson was his surgeon.  We went to St. Marks early on Thursday morning and I had him home by the early afternoon.  Amazing that most surgery are in and out kind of procedures.  As long as the patient has someone at home that can care for them, they let them go home.  This picture is him just getting ready to go home.  I talked with Jeff right after the surgery and he said that there was a lot of damage and a lot of arthritis.

Home and in his comfy recliner where he slept the day away.

Three days after surgery we could take the big padded bandages off and he could shower.  Neal is doing great and has very little pain or discomfort.  Hasn't had to take any pain pills so far.  He has only taken Tylenol and Ibuprofen.  

He begins therapy on his shoulder in two weeks.  I'm sure there will be a little pain at that point.

My Glasses

 Sprout has an affinity to my sewing glasses and my sun glasses.  I've done my best to keep them up where he can't get them but so far have failed at protecting them.  The first pair he got his little teeth on were my glasses that I only use when I'm stitching on linen.  While I was running some errands, he carefully took them off the foot stool where I keep my stitching.  When I got home he was under the bed feeling pretty proud of himself.  I had to grab my phone and get a picture.  I was laughing at him so hard I wasn't sure I could hold the camera steady.

When I came home from church today he was on the carpet with my sun glasses in his mouth!  Again, I started laughing and had to quickly get my phone and take a picture of him.  The little stinker.  But how can I get mad.  I can't.  I'm the one who leaves them where he can get them.  And his face is so innocent looking.  And yes, both glasses were ruined.  

We've also discovered that glasses are the only thing he loves to chew on.  I opened the back door the other day and there he was sitting by the door with one of Neal's flowers in his mouth.  Again, so cute and so innocent!  For some reason he loves this particular flower and has bitten all but three of them off at the stem.  He doesn't eat the flower, just the chews on the stem.  Funny puppy!  You can't help but love that face and those great big black eyes.  Just isn't possible to get mad at him.  

Swiss Days

 I just check back on my blog and I don't see that I wrote anything about Swiss Days.  This is an annual event that Lynda Ann and I have done for as long as I can remember.  We always went to Midway and spent the day with Lila Mae and going over to all the booths set up for Swiss Days.  Lila Mae would make cookies and bread to sell.  She sold her bread faster than she could possibly make it.  When her age made it impossible for her to go over to the park, Annie and I would continue the tradition of going each year.  Now it has grown to Annie and I and Annie's girls.  We always shop for a couple hours and then meet Susan in Heber for lunch.  Susan hates crowds so never goes over to wander the booths.  We always find stuff to buy.  Lynda Ann always gets wrapping paper first and then we wander up and down all the aisles looking for that treasure that we just can't live without.  I bought the sweatshirt that I have on.  The girls always look for the knitted or crocheted chickens.  Hayley has one in her hand and there is one at the top of Mallory's bag.  It was such a fun day with perfect weather.  As tradition calls, we met Susan for lunch in Heber.  Great times, but we sure miss our Lila Mae!

More Birthday Celebrations

 When I was serving as the stake Relief Society President, one of my counselors was Vicki Parry.  We found out that we shared the same birthday month so every August we get together for lunch.  It is a great time to catch up on each other lives, children and church stuff.  We usually give each other a little something.  This year I have her a ceramic pumpkin and had Lynda Ann make Vicki a bag with a pumpkin on it.  Sadly, I forgot to take a picture of either one of them.  Vicki and I went to lunch at Zuppas and chatted for a couple of hours.  She gave me these two darling bowls that can be used for any number of things.  I've chosen to use them for mine and Neal's midnight ice cream snack.  Well, maybe midnight is pushing it a bit but it is usually well in to the evening.  They are the perfect size and I love them.

A couple days later I met Maren for lunch out at Gourmandise.  It is a European cuisine type.  The food was delicious and we brought home some desserts.  It was so good to spend some 'just the two of us' time together.  We talked about many things.  Some trivial and some very personal.  Those mother/daughter times are always precious to me.  Maren also gave me my birthday gift.  I've already used it for a couple things and find that it is a very useful kitchen tool.  Thanks Maren for lunch, the visit, the present and especially your love.

The Fabulous Four

I have officially become a member of the Fabulous Four Group.  This is a bridge playing foursome that was started a couple years ago.  Just a few months ago one of the member past away suddenly.  I had been substituting for the group off and on and when Ellie died, they asked me to join the group.  When I told Annie about the group, she came up with a bag with our name on it "The Fabulous Four".  The bag is great because we meet at a restaurant, order lunch and then play bridge for 3 or 4 hours.  The person who is in charge that day has to bring the boards and the bidding boxes and so Annie made these bags so we can carry our bridge stuff.  The ladies love the bags and were so excited for them.  Thanks to my creative daughter who spent her time making these.  From left to right:  Yvonne, Kerma, Judy and me.

We meet about every other week and usually at The Olive Garden or the Spaghetti Factory.  I love being a part of the group.  Not sure I like knowing that I replaced someone who died!!  C'est la vie.

 

Catching Up

I haven't been as consistent at blogging as I should be.  It isn't for a lack of events or happenings in my life, it is just getting myself to sit down and do it.  I remember a motto that went around for a couple years that I think was started in the Mormon culture by President Spencer W. Kimball.  It is a good motto to have and I need to get my self in gear and "Do It"!  So here we go.

I'm pretty sure I already talked about Swiss Days.  But I will check back later and make sure that I did because that was a very fun day spent with Annie, Mallory and Hayley and then having lunch with Susan.

My next adventure was being invited up to Judy and Ron's cabin in Scofield for three days.  First time Neal has been up there because of his fall and hip healing.  We had a good time and relaxing.  Judy and Ron introduced us to a new game call Play Nine.  It is a silly game but a fun one and doesn't require a lot of head scratching trying to figure it out.  We played in a number of times and I decided to get Mallory to order it for me on Amazon.  Thinking I may give one to each family.  It is a great family game.

We usually just play bridge and nothing else because Judy does not like other games but she was willing to play this one a couple times and we had a great time with it.

We were in Scofield until Tuesday morning after Labor Day and then headed home to drop Neal off at the temple and then I picked up Sprout from the Pet Hotel.  He was and always is very happy to see his 'mommy' and be home again.

The next day, Neal and I went to St. Mark's and had a Calcium Scan of our arteries just to see how things looked and if there was any thing we need to be concerned or worried about.  We don't have the results back yet.  They should come this week.  They only let us in the room one at a time but I was able to sneak a picture of Neal just before the procedure.  

This is a picture of Sprout cuddled up next to Neal the morning we got back from Scofield.  He certainly misses us when we are gone.

And we certainly miss this little guy.  He has become such a huge part of our lives.  He can be a pill as most puppies can, but we sure love him.