Mother's Day

~~Today was a very nice, but low-key day.
~~I'd been up during the night with Darla.  If she could just keep some food down.  She is so hungry.  We make her something, she licks her chops while she smells it cooking, and as soon as we take it to her she sniffs it so eager and then looks up at you and turns her head.  It is the most frustrating feeling.
~~Josh and Meredith came over and made breakfast for me.  Scrumptious belgian waffles with strawberries and whipped cream.  It is their turn this year to spend it with her family, and it meant a lot that they wanted to come and do breakfast for me in the morning.
~~The family made a delicious steak and baked potato dinner with some brocolli.  Mike did his bacon wrapped scallops and shrimp.
~~It was a quiet day.  I went to Sacrament Meeting with the kids while Duff stayed home with the dog, and then I came home so he could go over, but he didn't after all.  We sat and got to talk and visit alone which we don't get to do very often with our full house.  He brought me some pretty flowers yesterday and they look really pretty on the kitchen table.
~~Josh and Mere and Mike and Adrianne gave me the cutest framed saying.  I love this 'subway' art.
~~I am finally almost completely over this bad cold, and it's nice to have some energy back and feel better.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO ALL THE WOMEN IN MY LIFE.  Married, single, mother or not, you have shaped my life in every way and I love you!

Baptism and Eagle Court

Darla Is VERY Sick.

I have spent the whole day yesterday trying to get to the bottom of why.

First of all, I should say she is almost 12 years old.  Her birthday is June 2nd.

My heart sank when I looked up on google that her life expectancy is between 12 and 15 years.  For some reason I have had in the back of my mind that little doggies live much longer.

 She has gradually lost a lot of weight over the last several months.

I've been in denial, I think.

The kids have all said to me, "Mom.  Don't you think Darla is getting skinny?"  I mistakenly thought not being over-weight like so many older dogs become was a good thing and that we were doing something 'right'.

I have noticed that she doesn't scarf down her kibble like she used to and that has been gradual as well.  So I started putting some beef or chicken broth with it and that got her to eat it right away.  Then about a month ago, that wasn't really working either, and I started mixing some Little Champions wet food with her kibble.  That did the trick too until the last ten days.

I took her to the vet yesterday morning.

I had to leave her for blood and urine testing.  For an IV to rehyrdrate her so her kidneys don't have to work so hard over the weekend.  Dr. Seat is pretty sure it is her kidneys.  They are 1/2 the size they should be.  Her heart, lungs,stomach, liver, spleen are all great.  No tumors or anything out of the ordinary in those areas.  Kidney disease makes them have a stomach ache so they won't eat because then they will be sick.  And she has had issues with vomiting lately too.  Kidney disease also makes them have bladder and urinary infections and that makes them prone to accidents as well.  She has been having way too many accidents lately too.  That is out of character for her.

There is a weight chart on the wall of the exam room.  It goes from obese-over weight-normal-underweight-dangerously thin.  She is now considered dangerously thin.  She has lost a lot of muscle mass.  It was very gradual and then the last ten days, drastic.

I picked her up in the afternoon.  She was wiped out.  She had been poked and prodded and had no energy left, except when they brought her out to me she wiggled with all her might and put her legs and paws to reach to me.  Grab my heart!

She has a medicine to coat her stomach to help fight the nausea so she can hopefully feel confident to eat again.  She is very hungry, but will debate with herself whether or not to eat.  You can watch her do it.  She has an antibiotic after a whopping big shot of it at the office.  She still isn't eating very well at all.  She won't touch any dog food, but she will eat some hamburger.  That could be because she is protein deficient.  The kidneys aren't putting the proteins back into her system.  They are being flushed out.

Dr. Norm will have all the test results back on Monday.  Then we will know a better direction to go.  He said if we can get her stabilized and able to gain some weight and muscle back we should have many more good years with her.  She would need to take a med once a day to help the kidneys function at their best.  But if we can't, then.........well, we would need to consider putting her down.

How Do You Avoid Glare When You Take A Picture?

QUESTION:   How do you take a good picture without getting glare?  I've been trying to take pictures of things that are framed with glass on them, and can't figure out how to do that without either seeing myself in the picture or having to use such a weird angle that I don't really capture the look I want.

I'm hoping for some good tips/pointers from you photographers out there!

Camelot

Isn't this the coolest?

Mike and Adrinanne and Josh and Meredith gave this to us for our Anniversary the other day.

The album is inside and the cover is in very good condition.

Do you know what the significance of Camelot is?

It was the first movie Duff and I ever went to together when we were dating.  I had never seen it, and the dollar theater in Provo was showing it.  We went at night and had to leave really fast so he could drop me off and go throw freight at Macy's grocery store where he worked.  Towards the end, I started getting teary and carefully glanced over (you know, early dating and all), and to my surprise he was trying to keep his emotions in check.  OK.  So he's tender.  Liked that.

Thanks kids for the present.  We LOVE it!



Marry Me!

Today is our Anniversary.

Thirty-four years!

He got up early this morning with Christine for seminary and put the dog out.

I watched as he came sleepily back to bed.

I'd marry him all over again.

Having a 16 year old keeps me kind of current with my music.  I like a lot of what she listens to.  Right now, I'm really liking the song Marry Me by Train.  It seems like a good song for today.

Forever can never be long enough for me,

To feel like I've had long enough with you.

Forget the world now, we won't let them see

But there's one thing left to do.

Marry me

Today and Everyday

Marry me

Say you will

Say you will.

Together can never be close enough for me

To feel like I am close enough to you

You wear white and I'll wear out the words "I Love You"

and "You're Beautiful"

Marry Me

Today and Everyday

Marry Me

Say you will

Say you will.

Promise me you'll always

 Be happy by my side

I promise to sing to you

When all the music dies

Marry Me.
Today and everyday.

Say you will, say you will.

Marry Me.

MAY-- PROVIDENT LIVING!

FAM-I-LY!  New sidebar information for this month's Provident Living.  We are focusing on Staple Items for the pantry.  Things we should already have and use regularly.  Now we need to 'beef it up' and have a good rotating storage to draw from. 

Dad and I completely understand that all of us are in very different places of emergency preparedness.  With all the events that have happened in the last 2 months alone it is easy to comprehend that we must be prepared in every thing.

Make a place--somewhere--and add to what you have.  Not to be a doomsdayer, but the economy is still bad and there have been many news programs and articles warning us about the great jump in food prices any day now.  And then there is gas for our cars.  Don't even get me started on that one!  Each time I fill up now it costs $100 for a tank.  CRAZY!

We've heard it a million times, but it is still true:  If we are prepared, we will not fear.

Love, Mom

New Friends: Neti-Pot and Mucinex D

These are currently my new best friends.

I was in so much pain today I was miserable.  The whole left side of my face along and under my cheekbone to my ear and my temple were pulsing with tenderness.  Sinuses for sure.  I was so desperate, I got a Neti-Pot!  My sister, Lisa, uses one all the time.  She swears by it, but I just couldn't bring myself to try it.

Well, let me tell you:  I am CONVERTED!  It was amazing.  All that pain and pressure gone!!!  Then Adrianne got me some Mucinex D (she is a big believer in Mucinex), and I finally slept.  My voice even sounds more normal.  I don't think I'll use Dayquil again.  This is much better and is time released for 12 hours.

Christine's School Books

I gathered all of Christine's school books for this semester and put them in one place while she was gone at Youth Conference this weekend.

I knew she had a heavy schedule this year, but once everything was in the same place I was shocked to see just how much there is.

Amazing amount.  Glad she doesn't have to carry it all on the same day.  And this doesn't count what's in her locker at school!

Youth Conference 2011

Christine had Youth Conference this weekend.  It started at 5:30am on Friday with a Seminary Morningside.  Then the kids went to school and met up in the early evening for registration, dinner, and Flash Mob practice.  Yes, they went to the Kalidescope Center and all the youth in our stake did a Flash Mob dance.  They were all on different floors too.  I didn't get to see it, but heard that it was pretty good and LOTS of fun.  Meredith was one of the dance instructors for it. They tell me it's posted on Youtube.  I'll try and find it and post it here.

Josh works with the Teachers Quorum in his ward, so he borrowed our car to transport his group all over for the weekend.  He and Mere were also the host home for the boys which translates into lots of food and no sleep!  Haha!

They had great workshops, speakers, service projects, dances, and fun.  Sunday was a fast and testimony meeting followed by a break the fast meal.

The theme was WE SEEK, after the 13th Article of Faith.  Cute tshirts, information packet, and handout made to look like google page.  Very clever!

Osama Bin Laden Is DEAD

NEWSFLASH!

Mike just called down stairs to us to turn on Fox News.  That Osama bin Laden was just killed by a special Navy SEAL team in a well calculated strike.  The US has his body and confirmed through facial recognition and dna that it is indeed him.

He was a very, very evil man.

He was the leader of the largest terrorist group in the world.

He was responsible for the 9/11 attacks, among so many more all over the world.  I have often wondered how a person can become so evil.

I am admittedly not a fan of our current president, but I will give credit where it is due, and he gets it for this.  This is a long awaited day.  I am uneasy about what the future holds.  His supporters and the rest of al-qaeda will want revenge and that will most likely mean a large scale retaliation probably on American soil.  It has been 10 years of hunting him down.

What a week!

Tornadoes, a Royal Wedding, a Birthday, Youth Conference, and now Bin Laden is dead.

We might as well include the earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

The tally = the last days and signs of the times for sure!  Depending on the day, that makes me a little excited and a little nervous.

Today is Sunday and Here's What We Did

I can tell I'm starting to get better, but it is slow.  I missed church today and I don't like that.  I need my 'dose' of  'meeting together oft'.

All the kids were over to celebrate Shaun's birthday.  He chose a pork chop dinner with rice and asparagus and corn.  I had made some rolls a couple days ago.  I forget how easy they are and I should do them more often.  15 minutes to make the dough.  15 minutes to roll them out and put them in the freezer.  Take them out the day of a few hours before dinnertime, let them rise, bake, and no worries.

Everyone pitched in to help clean up since I wasn't feeling very chipper.  Then we gals sat down to watch the royal wedding highlights and oohed and ahhed.  The boys got tired of it and went upstairs to watch some basketball playoff game.

It is really hot and I'm not ready for this heat yet.  Although it has made my yard look good.  My new iceberg rose bushes are popping out all over with sweet pale pink and white blooms.  They have so far survived the Santa Anas.