Cancer strikes again

Last year Neal had some cancer removed from his ear.  This year he had to have some removed from his nose.  We were at the hospital at 8:30.  Huntsman Cancer Hospital and Dr. Bowan performed the surgery.  Annie met us up at the hospital and spent some time with us before having to go to work.  Here are some before and after pictures.  He wanted me to take a picture of his nose before the surger so that is what these next two are:

 This is a picture of his doctor drawing out pictures of what he was going to do.  He was an interesting man and loved to talk.  Neal said he talked all through the surgery about the church brethren that he knew and experiences with them.  Very interesting character.  I didn't stay in the room.  I was out in the waiting room.  I don't do well with needles and knives.

 This is a picture just as I was leaving the room where the procedure would take place.

 This picture is immediately following the surgery.  We had to wait around for a couple hours while the lab did the biopsy to make sure that they got all the cancer.  This is when Neal, Lynda Ann and I went to the cafeteria on the 6th floor for some breakfast.

 Looking at the windows of the cafeteria we could see down on the building where Annie worked and we could see the helicopters where they come in and leave.  Annie works with the pilots and the doctors getting everything coordinated for the incoming patient.

 The biopsy came back clear so now they went back in and had to cover the open would with skin and stitch it all in place.  The doctor told us that there were three layers of stitches and over 100 of them.  Amazing.

 This picture was taken after all the stitching was done and before the bandaged him all up.

This last picture is of him all bandaged up and ready to go home.

He went to school and taught the next day.  Interesting thing is that a member of our Bishopric, Craig Cannon, showed up in church the week prior to Neal's surgery with the same bandage!  He has some cancer removed from the bridge of his nose.  So both Neal and Craig were were in church today with their noses all covered.

Joyce and McKay Phippen

Neal was in Bountiful to a Scout Awards Banquet and ran into our dear friends, Joyce and McKay Phippen.  Joyce and McKay lived just up the street from us and they were the ones who introduced me to Neal.  McKay is Judy Sealey's uncle.  I served in the relief society presidency with Joyce.  We loved the Phippens!  Lots and lots of good memories with them in the ward, serving with them, singing with them and spending time with them at Bear Lake.  Love these people.

Jamiek and the Eiffel Tower

I don't know anyone, personally,  who has been commissioned to build the Eiffel Tower.  I was amazed and surprised when Jamie sent me this picture of her and a friend building the Eiffel Tower prop for a dance recital.  She said it took her 40 hours of labor and a sore body!  I can only imagine.  What an incredible accomplishment.  It is amazing.

How would one even know where to begin.  Jamie should have been around when we were in charge of road shows!!  Most of you won't even know what that is.  Back when I was a teen, every stake was given a theme and each ward had to build a musical around that theme.  All the youth were involved.  The productions were all done on one night.  We traveled in cars to each ward in the stake hauling all the people and the scenery.  Usually took someone with a pick up truck to haul everything.  Every ward was judged and then we all gathered together at one assigned ward and awards were handed out for best road show, best scenery, best adherence to theme, etc.  Those were fun time.

Emmi's birthday

Lynda Ann sent me this darling picture of Emmi on her birthday.  She is official 22 and has a brand new car (well to her it is new) and will be graduation from BYU in April.  Lots of changes coming in her life.  She is planning on working at Dugway this summer and contracting a full time job with them before the summer is over.  In the mean time she is filling out applications for full time positions in her field of expertise.  Good luck, Emmi, on the job hunting, the new car and on beginning a new journey in your life.  That is total independence :-)

Pretty fancy wheels.  Of course her dream car is a new Jeep but that is down the road a year or two.

Stitching Project

Time to report on my progress for a month on my new stitching project.  I made some good progress but have hours and hours left to go.  I actually ran out of thread for the roof and when I went to the Craft Center they had just run out and my needed thread was on order.  So, I have to leave the roof half done and start on something else.  It takes about two weeks for the thread to come in.  Here is my progress for the month of February.

This is definitely going to be entered in the fair this year if I can get it done in time.  It is going to be one of my favorites along with being one of the more difficult ones I've done.  I shall keep you posted as I progress on this.

Andrew's Band Concert

Andrew had his second band concert for the school year.  I wasn't able to go out but Annie sent me these two pictures and I loved them.  Nice to see Andrew's funny side.

Moving from February to March

Goodness, March certainly came in like a lion.  We had one storm after another.  No complaints because we need the moisture desperately.  Seemed like I had just barely put the Valentine wreath up on the front door and it was time to change it to St. Patrick's Day.

Hair day with Annie

It was time to have hair colored so Annie and I met at Dave's to get our hair done.  I was there at 8:30 and Lynda Ann came in at 9:30.  Once Dave has my hair processing then he can get Annie's colored and processing.  It is always a fun time.  After the hair appointment was done we went to Coasta Vida for lunch.  I was hoping that we could do some shopping but Annie had to pick up Emmi and go hunting for cars.  So Annie dropped me off at the house.  Neal had the Jeep and was doing his own car shopping.

When Neal got home, I had already decided that I didn't want to go back to work so we looked up what was playing and went to see The Darkest Hour.  Such a great movie.  We both enjoyed it immensely and would recommend it.  Winston Churchill was quite a different personality but certainly gets credit for saving England.

The view out the window

Every now and again when I glance up at the window in the front room I will get an absolutely gorgeous view of the moon.  It has to be the right time of year for it to happen.  The other night I glanced up and saw the moon trying to peek through the clouds.  It was so gorgeous that I had to take a picture.  Of course, pictures never do the justice of real life but it does give us the idea.

A quick bite to eat

Neal and I were out running errands and decided that pizza sounded good to us.  One of his students brought some Pier 49 Pizza to one of his classes and he suggested we go there.  We found that there was one right by us on State and 5300.  We enjoyed the pizza and the time together.  Great smile, my dear!

Oh, The Weather Outside is Frightful!

This is what we woke up to this morning.  The long awaited snow storm!  It is supposed to snow until about 3 this afternoon so Neal and I will be out a couple more times clearing the driveway.  It was kind of fun this morning.  While we were out, our next door neighbor came out and we helped her with her driveway and the Wayne, our neighbor on the West side came out so we had a neighborhood chat with everyone.  Made me smile.  We don't often see either of these neighbors so it was fun to have a 'catch up' chat with them while working.

This picture was taken through the screen door.

 Neal snapped this one.  Notice Emmi's Jeep in the garage.  It officially died on 33rd South and State Street.  She was barely able to hobble it to our house.  Kars for Kidneys is coming to tow it away this week.  Sad time for Emmi.  She loved this Jeep.  She mentioned that it held a lot of childhood memories when I owned it and many more since she has owned it.

Neal's scouting projects!

Neal's scouting projects usually involve having stuff all over the house.  Well, that is what it feels like.  He decided that he needed to seal and wrap the ends of all the ropes in this huge bucket and the measure them and label them.  So for the last TWO weeks I've had this mess in my bedroom.  Those of you who know me, know this would be driving me insane!!!

Finally last night the last rope was sealed at both ends, measured, marked and coiled up and put in the bucket.  Now I just have to get him to put the card table and everything on it away along with hauling the bucket down to the garage.  I notice that he has scout stuff on the kitchen table that somehow got there yesterday afternoon.  I CAN'T STAND MESSES!!!  I don't know how people live with them.
So my project and goal for today is to get Neal focused on getting everything back where it belongs so I can vacuum, dust and get my bedroom back to normal!  We'll see how that goes!

Valentine's

Neal always remembers Valentine's Day.  He never forgets to get me something.  This year we decided that going out on the actual day was rather stupid because every place is totally crowded.  So we opted to go out Tuesday night.  We went to the movie The Greatest Showman (which was excellent) and then to Market Street for dinner.  We walked in about 8:00 and the place was only about half full.  Plenty of seating and time to just relax and eat and visit.  We had a delicious dinner.  It is always fun to go out to dinner, just the two of us, and have a chance to be a bit carefree and forget about serious life issues.  Neal also gave me a fancy ( personally selected and packed) box of chocolates.

Actually, this picture made me hungry.  I'm off to eat one :-)
I hope my son and son's in law are just as romantic and remember this day.

Mallory

Mallory sent these two pictures of her and her companions having dinner at one of the members homes or at the Mission President's home.  Not sure which.  Doesn't matter.  Just wanted to post them because I thought they were so cute of her.  She has officially been out three months and she mentioned in her letter that they celebrated the landmark.  She is also very happy that one of her companions is being transferred.  Nothing easy about getting thrown together with a total stranger and then having everything be perfect.  Apparently this one companion didn't like anything Mallory did or tried to do.  Goodness.  Hard to understand when she was supposed to be mentoring and helping Mallory adjust to missionary life.  Good thing Mallory is strong and determined and loves the gospel and doesn't give up.  Hang in there Mallory.  Everyone I've talked to that has served a mission has had the same experience.

Another Car Accident!!!!!

Neal was on his way home from UVU and called me and said that he would be delayed a little bit because he was in an accident.  He didn't give me all the detail until later.  He did fall asleep and hit a car in front of him who swerved and hit another car.  Neal's car and the one he hit had to be towed.  I'll be surprised if the insurance company keeps him insured.  Two accidents in a year!  We don't know for sure but I'm betting that they will total this car as well.  So that will be two totaled cars in one year.  Neal now (hopefully) taking the train every day.  He just cannot drive without falling asleep.  Thank goodness, no one was hurt.  Huge blessing there.  I took this picture of Neal's car through the Jeep window when I went to the towing yard to pick him up that night.  I would love to take his keys and never let him drive again!!!!

Mallory enjoying her mission

Mallory sent some cute pictures of her and her companions.  They got to spend one day in Nashville at the temple.

Cutest missionary out there.  

 Fun that they found a lane name Mallory and they took a picture of it.

 Love you Mallory!  Be happy!  The Church is TRUE!!!

New members of Tucker's ward

Tucker sent me this picture of a missionary couple who just moved in their ward.  It is a small world, that is for sure.  This couple is Brother and Sister LuAnn Brant and their niece Andrea Ward lived next to Lila Mae in Midway.  What a small world.  Tucker said the Brother Brant said that Lila Mae made the most amazing bread.  Brother Brant said the he saw Lila Mae get in her car accident.  I was glad tucker took a picture and sent it to me.  Good looking picture of my son!!

A shirt for Neal

I was at Macey's the other day and saw this t-shirt and yes it is a Tommy Bahama.  I told Neal about it and told him he should go buy it.  No way I was going to buy it.  You all know how picky Neal is.  But he never went down to get it.  Too bad.  totally reminded me of his singing group 4 of a Kind.  He should have bought one for him and the other guys.  Even though it has cards on it, it would have been fun.

Cutlers in Hawaii

I was happy to get these pictures of the Cutlers in Hawaii.  Nice that they can fly for free and even better that Greg had a friend who gave them free lodging and even better than that - the family has a week of just playing - especially Maren.  I'm sure she needed a week of just relaxing and having fun.  Here are some of the pictures she sent to us.  The place they stayed had all the extras needed for Taylor to spend a fun week on the beach and in the water.  Here are some great pictures that Maren sent us.  Never seen a beach wheelchair.  How great is that.

 Maren sent some videos of Taylor in the water doing summersaults and totally enjoying the ocean.

Mallory's pictures

Mallory posted a couple pictures on her blog.  This picture of Lynda Ann and Jeff, I've never seen.  What a cute picture of a brother and sister.  It made me tear up just looking at it.

Mallory also posted a couple pictures from her mission that I thought were darling and wanted to put on my blog.  Mallory is loving her mission but feeling the pangs of home sickness.  Both of her companions are going home at the end of this month and apparently that is all they can talk about and it is making Mallory think a lot more of home than usual.  She talked to the mission counselor and was told to call home and see if that would settle her heart.  Annie got a call at 6:45 yesterday morning and she and Mallory were able to have a nice long talk.  There is nothing more soothing than having a conversation with your mom.  I think that is what I miss the most about having mother gone is that I can't just pick up the phone or drive to Provo and visit with her.  Glad that Mallory was able to call her mom.  Annie said there were some tears when they said 'goodbye' but having that talk will help Mallory keep going.  We love you Mallory!

Another Eagle Scout

Neal had another young man get his Eagle Scout Award.  He found out that the boy loves climbing and so it was suggested to Neal that he make a rope neckerchief slide.  This is what he came up with and it is amazing.  This apparently was a pretty easy one because he started it and finished it within a couple days.  The young man was thrilled with it.

Some snap shots to share

Lynda Ann sent me this picture of Andrew with his flour sack baby.  I guess they are doing the responsibility adventure of being totally in charge of a "baby".  I've seen this project done with eggs, sugar sacks, flour sacks and rubber dolls.  It is an interesting project.  Not sure how much it really teaches them but it is a cute picture of Andrew and his 'baby'.

Another project finish and another one started

This saying totally takes me back to my youth.  Perry Como sang this song "Catch a Falling Star" and I always loved it.  When I saw that someone had created a counted cross stitch I had to have it.  It has now been blocked and pressed and is waiting for Neal to take it to the framers and get it framed.  I will post a picture of it when we get it back from the framers.  I had mentioned to Mallory, in one of her letters that I didn't know what I was going to do with all this needle work and she wrote right back and said, "Oh I'm sure I can take a few of them off your hands when I get home from my mission!  Maybe some of my grandchildren will want one to remember me by.  So I'll just keep stitching away!

This is my next project.  I'm not going to put the saying that is on there on mine.  Mine will say "With Life Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness".

 As you can see, I've just barely started it and what you are seeing is the brick in the middle of the house.  Yup, I've a long way to go, but I shall keep you posted each month on my progress.  I started this February 1st.

Ward Conference

Our ward conference is coming up next week and Neal was asked if he would put a quartet together for the Priesthood Meeting.  He asked three brethren and they came over to our home after church and practiced.  They are singing Secret Prayer.  It is going to be beautiful. I snapped a picture of them while they were practicing.

From left to right:  Brad Richins (who is Bobby Mack's grandson), Neal, Werner Heidenthaler (who worked with Raymond at the attorney general's office) and Sherol Elder (who has the most gorgeous tenor voice).  They sounded great together.

Another puzzle finished

Love doing puzzles.  I usually only put puzzles on during the holidays because they consume me and my time.  It's that once more piece syndrome!  Neal has the same problem.  We both know that we have other and more important things to do, but the puzzle keeps drawing us in and the time whizzes by.  I was cleaning out the spare bedroom closet and came across this puzzle that I've had for a long time and decided to just get it put together.  When Neal and I are finished with them, I hand them on to Jeff or sometimes to a friend at work who also loves puzzles.  Like books, they should be shared.  Like a stitching project, they should only be done once.