I was so surprised when I came to check on my blog today and realized that I have not written since early in November! So much has happened. The biggest change that has taken place is that Great Grandma Lemon passed away on the 10th of November. Our trip to Utah began on the 15th of the month. We drove down to St Louis and stay over night at the Comfort Inn that is about 1 mile away from the airport. We took the shuttle to the airport and flew straight into the Salt Lake Airport. We rented a car so that we would be able to go where ever we needed. The day we arrived in Utah was the day scheduled for Uncle Dennis to go thru the Salt Lake Temple to receive his endowments. I used my new wheel chair that night. We had a tender mercy concerning my wheelchair. We had been trying for months to get the wheelchair and every time we tried to get it arranged we found that they needed more info or the paperwork was messed up. Well just before we were leaving to go to St Louis they called and told us that everything went thru and that we could pick up the wheelchair! So we picked up after we dropped Buster of at the Vet's where he was staying while we were gone. It was great to have my chair for the trip! What a blessing! Ok, now back to what I was saying. We went to the Temple that night to be with Dennis. It was so wonderful to be in the Celestial room with Dennis and the others in the family who could be there. On Wednesday we went to the Temple once again, this time it was to be there for the sealing of Uncle Dennis to Aunt Kim. And also they had Alex sealed to them. It was so beautiful. Another thing that was so special about these events is that we could feel the presence of Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Lemon! After the wedding we all went over to the Roof restaurant in the Joseph Smith Memorial Bldg. I don't think we will ever be able to afford going there again! It was $40 a person!
On the 22nd of November was Great Grandma's funeral. The spirit there was beautiful.
We had 3 Thanksgiving dinners while we were there! One was with Aunt Karen's family. Another one was with Grandpa's family, and the last one was with our family. They were all very tasty and it was great getting together with everyone. While we were in Utah we stayed at Matt and Karen's. We are so glad that they will let us stay with them. It really works out well for us. We had so much fun spending time eating and visiting and playing games with everyone. It was really hard to leave on December 1st. Our trip home was quite the trip that is for sure! We had quite a struggle getting us and all our luggage to where we needed to get our bags checked in. It was really quite comical! We finally got on our plane and made it to Denver where we were supposed to have an hour layover. Well when we got there we found out that our connecting flight that was supposed to take us to St Louis was canceled! When we asked what we were supposed to do, they told us that we had already been booked on another flight that was leaving in just a little bit. The plane we were scheduled to fly out on was clear across the airport! Grandpa pushed me in my wheelchair all the way there! By the time we got there the plane was already boarding! But we made it. Instead of this plane flying straight to St Louis like our other flight was supposed to, it took up to Chicago! When we got off the plane in Chicago, they couldn't find my wheelchair. We waited a long time and finally they found it. By that time we were going to be late for our next flight. The plane once again was clear across the airport, but this airport was gigantic!!! One of our flight attendants went with us and we also got help from some of the airports employees. We made it but just barely, thanks to a lot of prayers, and a lot of people who were prompted to help! We didn't make it home until almost midnight! Originally we should have made it home by about 7:00 that evening!

Here it is Thursday already. My week has been kindof different. I have not been feeling well and so I haven't been doing much. Monday I was supposed to go in for an appt with Dr Dunn. I didn't make that appt so we rescheduled for Wednesday. Still yesterday I was feeling pretty yucky by the afternoon. Hopefully I will get to feeling better so that I can go get my back adjusted soon!

Monday was Jerry's birthday. So we made him some brownies and a card and Grandpa dropped it off to him. Grandpa also dropped off some pop that Jerry had asked for. I hope he had a good birthday. It is so sad to see someone who is that grumpy and cantankerous all the time.

Yesterday I made another batch of brownie pudding to use up the rest of the brownies left from what I made on Monday. This time it would have been perfect but I didn't get the cream cheese, creamed up well enough before mixing in the other stuff. So needless to say there are lumps of cream cheese in the pudding. Anyway, here is the recipe.
Brownie Pudding
1/2 pan of brownies broken up into pieces
1 8 oz package of cream cheese
1 box of instant vanilla pudding
1 1/2 cups milk
1 container of coolwhip

In a bowl cream the cream cheese. In another bowl mix pudding mix with milk. Slowly add to cream cheese. Mix in cool whip. Add brownie pieces and mix until well blended (when it starts to look like chocolate pudding instead of vanilla). Chill in refrigerator.

So after it is all said and done, it is quite the simple recipe for something that has evolved from trying to salvage a messed up dessert plan.

Yesterday I also finally finished getting the address labels done for the Ward's bday cards. We ended up changing the picture for the front of the card. The Bishop liked the new picture and wants me to go ahead and make up and send out the cards this year. It will be a big project, but then we only are sending one per family.
But that is still probably over 100 families. Like I said, a big project. That is like doing 4 months worth of birthday cards all at once. With Grandpa's help, I think we will be able to do it.

Yesterday Grandpa and I were planning on going down to Quincy to see if we could get a key made. But then we got a call and our plans changed and we didn't make it to Quincy. The call that we got was to let us know that Jerry the man that used to live here in Hamilton and would come and ask for food all the time was needing to go back to the Montabello care center here in Hamilton. The thing is Jerry was just brought home from the care center to his apt in Dallis City about 45 minutes from our house. So Grandpa and I changed our plans and brought him back here to the care center. I am not sure what is going to happen now. We will have to go visit him in a few days to see what is happening.

Last evening we picked up the Sister missionaries and went into Nauvoo to the Annual Pumpkin Walk. There were about 300 carved pumpkins! The street was packed! It was really alot of fun.

Thursday afternoon/evening, Grandpa and I went over to Dr Dunn's office to get the trim put up. We ran into a little snag with the corner trim. There is already a chair rail trim in place and wainscot that Grandpa has to work around and it is proving to be a real challenge. I had brought our book to read but that didn't work either. For one thing there was the air compressor that Grandpa had to have to use the nail gun. When it would go off it was pretty loud. But that wasn't very often. Then there was Grandpa's chop saw that he used to cut the right lengths of the trim. We were working around that and doing well, then Dr Dunn came and told us that he had a patient that called and needed a treatment. So while they were there we couldn't read. Then in the other half of the building the Nauvoo community choir came in so they could practice. We would have been able to read, but when they came there ware chairs and tables and such all over so they called one of the owners because it wasn't set up for their choir to practice. The owner came and helped direct them where to move things so that they could be set up for the choir. When she heard the saw in the back she came to see what we were doing. She was happy to see the progress in the office, and that is what stopped the reading then. She stayed and we talked. The owner is a member of our ward. I had seen her at church but have never talked to her. It was nice to get to know her a little better. She loves books too, but her taste in books is very different than mine. She doesn't even like Besty Brannon Green novels!

Yesterday I found out that Lisa Miller was coming home from the hospital. I offered to bring dinner in to her and her family. There is just her and her husband and son who is a Junior in high school and on the football team. I made chicken soup, and rolls. That sounds simple enough, but of course I made a major project out of it. Since Lisa just had gallbladder surgery I went online to see what she could eat. I actually found people who had blogs about what worked best to eat. I gained from that, that I should make something that wasn't too spicy and fatty, and if I was going to use onions and garlic to spice it with I needed to make sure that I drain them out of the broth. I also read not to use anything with seeds. That is all fine and good. But here is where I made my mistake. I decided to cook my vegetables in with the onion and garlic. Now if I was making a regular soup that wouldn't have presented a problem. But as it was after I strained the broth from the vegetables, I then had to pick out the potatoes and carrots from the onion and garlic. Silly me. Next time if I need to make a soup like this I will know not to do it this way! Oh, and the rolls. I decided to use a recipe I hadn't used before. The dough didn't seem to be rising so I wasn't sure if they were going to work. Also I was making the rolls at the same time I was making the chicken soup. I almost felt like I was in an "I Love Lucy" episode! The recipe that I was using made 3 dozen rolls so I decided to cut the recipe in half. Then as I was almost thu putting the ingredients together, I realized that I had not cut it in half!! So in the end I ended up with 3 dozen rolls and 2 small loaves of bread. I was just wondering what I was going to do with all these rolls. I needed to put Buster out and as I did so, there were the sister missionaries! So I asked them to come in and apologized that of course I was still in my night gown. Grandpa came home about then and brought Buster back into the house. We found a basket and put 6 rolls in for the missionaries. Also since it was almost Halloween we fixed them each a treat bag. They left a prayer in our home and started on there way again. While Grandpa took the last of the rolls from the oven, I finally got dressed for the day. We then loaded up the car and took the soup, a dozen rolls, and trick or treat bag full of candy in for the Millers. I sure hoped they liked it. So in the end we are left with 2 small loaves of bread, and 1 1/2 dozen rolls. I am going to send 1/2 dozen rolls to Great Grandpa and Grandma Pierce. We are going to drop the dozen rolls off to the Evans family on our way out to Quincy this morning. The two small loaves we will keep. So everything came together in the end, except if I use this recipe again I will have to allow more time for the dough to rise, because the rolls were a little heavy. :(

Earlier in the day, I worked on the Christmas card for the ward. I got it pretty much done. It just needs a few more things tweaked on it. This is just a sample to see if this is what the Bishop wants for this year. He had asked Grandpa to see if I could do something. So Grandpa is going to bring what I put together in and see if it works.

By the time we were on our way home from the Millers, I realized I was exhausted. When we got home Grandpa warmed up some leftovers, while I was getting my computer ready for a project that we are doing. We took care of one step needed in our project and then we went to our room and put a movie in and ate dinner. We barely made it thru the movie and both Grandpa and I were falling asleep. I really wanted to stay up late, after all it was a Friday night! We must be getting old, if we can't even stay up past 10:00 one day in the week!

It was cold in our home when we got up this morning. I guess it is time to change over to the heater in the house. I am not sure I am ready for the cold to come. We have been really spoiled to have such warm weather up to now.

I got my VT message done. It took quite a few hours to do the cards this month. There was no formal message this month. There was a special Ensign sent out all about Temples. So that is what we were to do our message on. I scanned and copied pictures of your parents as they came out of the Temple on the day that they were married and put them in the card. I also put a picture of Grandpa and I too. Anyway it took a lot more time than I thought it would. I now just have to get it in the mail. I also need to print up the Ward birthday cards for the month.

When Grandpa gets home from work today then we will be loading the car up with his tools and supplies and heading back into Nauvoo so that Grandpa can install the trim work in Dr Dunn's office. The next step after that will be to install carpet if there is enough of what we have to do his office.

It is hard to believe that it is the end of October already.

Today is supposed to be a game day. I don't think that anyone will be coming. Which is okay.

Good morning everyone. Yesterday was a full day, and I didn't even get done all I needed to. I started out thinking that I would put together the chicken dish we would be eating for dinner that evening with the Sister Missionaries, and get it in the fridge to have it already to just pop in the oven when it was time. It really helps me to do this since I usually run out of steam in the afternoon. I knew that I may not have enough ham to finish, but thought I would do what I could. Jacob and Tally were going grocery shopping and while they were out they were going pick up more of the meat I needed to wrap my chicken in. I put what I was able to get done in the fridge. Next I went into the office to make a call on a statement I had received in the mail. It said that if you paid the balance within the next 30 days you could take 10% off of the balance on the statement. Well, what I thought would be a simple phone call turned into a day long project. Our hospital has a separate billing company that they use, and that is where some of the confusion takes place. When I called to see if I could take the discount, the person that I was talking to couldn't even find that amount on my account. She then told me that I owed all these other amounts! She asked if I would like to have an itemized statement. I let her know that would be really a good idea. So then I went thru all my statements that I had received thru the year and all my check copies made to the hospital. I also went online to make sure that all the checks had cleared the bank. After I had checked everything on my end I called the billing service back. This time the person that I talked, understood better my account. She was able to explain most of the totals. The balances still outstanding are from my July hospital stay. In the mail that afternoon I actually got that statement with that balance. The billing company was still confused about some of the payments and some of the totals that were showing up. I was able to decipher what those amounts were. So anyway, what should have taken about 10 minutes at the tops, took most of my day. Another thing that added to the "fun" of the day was when Jacob and Tally went to pick up the meat for what I was making for dinner and they found out that Walmart was completely out of it! So I told them what they could replace it with. Well, they were all out of that too! Finally we settled on something that would work. Whew! What a day.
So by the end of the day I had all my medical records, and all payments thru the year highlighted and organized, and we had a successful dinner with the Sister Missionaries. For dinner last night we had what I call "mock chicken cordan bleu", rolls, vegetables and mashed potatoes. For dessert we had the brownie pudding that I had made on Sunday. I had Jacob and Tally pick up more coolwhip for me while they were out shopping. I mixed a little more coolwhip in the brownie pudding to make it more fluffy, and not quite so heavy. It worked great. It seems that when we feed the missionaries everything comes together in the end.

Yesterday I spent the day resting. I just wasn't feeling well. In the afternoon after Grandpa had finished some of the things around the house that he wanted to get done, we went out to the garage so that Grandpa could finish putting the stain on all the trim that goes in Dr Dunn's office. I came out to the garage so that I could read to Grandpa while he was doing the staining. Grandpa brought our recliner chair out to the garage so that I could be comfortable while we were out there. When Grandpa finished up the staining we decided to go to Dairy Queen and pick up dinner. I had the salad with the grilled chicken on it. Grandpa had the chicken basket. When we finished eating we watched a show on the Hallmark station that was pretty cute, and then we finished the book we were reading. Time to begin a new one!

Today again I wasn't feeling real well so I stayed home from church. This evening Jacob and Tally came over for dinner. We had spaghetti and string beans. Jacob and Tally brought the garlic toast, and for dessert we had brownie pudding. It was really great having them over. I wish that we could do it more often

These late nights, or early mornings are getting to be a habit. Yesterday, I wasn't feeling well most of the day so I spent the day just pretty much resting. Grandpa and I have decided to get out more and do things within our own town and get to know it a bit better, and let the people of the community know us a little better. We went to the VFW for dinner tonight. They have a restaurant/bar that is open from 5:00pm to 8:00pm Tuesday thru Friday. Each of these nights they have a special for $6.00 a plate. Tonight was all you can eat catfish. You get all you can eat fried catfish with two sides. It was really good. We plan to go back again. After we ate we went over to Montebello nursing home to see Jerry Mueggi. He will be there for a couple of weeks getting care, then he will be sent back to the care facility he has been at. He was surprised to see us and was grateful for our visit. Then we headed back down to Quincy to get the rest of the supplies Grandpa needed to finish staining for the trim work at Dr Dunn's office. He plans to start installing it next week. So it ended up being a big evening for us. I actually had been asleep, but my body isn't cooperating and after using the bathroom, I am unable to sleep. Well looking on the bright side, I did remember that I hadn't written in the blog yet!

I didn't get my post done last night like I wanted to. Sorry. This morning I did finish the poster of the pictures we took of Buster and I posted back on the original blog. Oh, and I know that these are not the cards we use for Hand and foot, but it is the closest I could come. :)

Yesterday I was pretty sore from the previous day's activities! Wow, talk about sore! I still went to the pool and did the weights and rode 2 miles on the exercise bike, and we did our swimming. I made a kidney bean soup and put it in the crockpot for dinner last night. The Jarvis' picked me up just after 2:30 to go work on my family history. Grandpa picked me up from there to go to Dr Dunn's office for an adjustment. My back felt much better after, but I was so tired and other things were hurting. While we were there Grandpa hung a sign for Dr Dunn out in front of the building where his offices are. The door to go into his offices are on the side of the building. When we got home we ate dinner. After which I went to bed, and Grandpa went to do his Home Teaching. So now you can see why I didn't make my entry.

Today is going to be an interesting day. I am preparing for game day, but I don't think anyone is coming. I heated up the soup from last night. I made a big batch. This afternoon I am supposed to go with Grandpa into Nauvoo. He is going to be putting a finishing coat of paint on the walls at Dr Dunn's office. We are doing this work to barter for some visits with Dr Dunn. I am going to need a lot of visits! The interesting thing is going to be whether or not Tracey Grow comes to game day. If she comes to game day then I am going to see if I can hitch a ride into Nauvoo so I will be there when Grandpa gets off work. Then while he paints I can read from the Clair Poulsen novel "Coverup". If I can't get a ride into Nauvoo, Grandpa is going to get off work early so that I can still be in there and keep him company while he works.

Again here it is very late. I just barely got the picture of Buster added to last nights post. I have several that I am going to put together. Today Grandpa, Jacob and I all helped in getting some fun pictures of Buster. Hopefully I will have them put together tomorrow and then I will post them. I wanted to get something tonight since I said I would have something.

As I just said I spent some time taking pictures today. I also spent time putting together some cards for weddings. I like to make them personal, and that means spending some time on them. I know that they will be thrown away soon after the card is read, but still it is part of their gift. As I was at the computer I fell asleep! I was asleep for almost and hour! When I woke up my arms hurt from laying on them like that. Then the phone rang and it was Grandpa calling and said that I was invited to the Youth activity that he was going to that evening. It was the combined activity. The plans were to go to "Kathy's Pumpkin Patch" and go thru the corn maze there. So I went with Grandpa to the corn maze. Everyone who participated had a good time. Grandpa, Judy Mills and I ended up finding one of the early outs about halfway thru and took it and ended being the first ones back to the wagons. I was feeling bad until later when alot of the others also came out of some of the early outs and didn't complete the maze. Well we can feel good that we got about halfway thru! After everyone was out of the maze we went to where there was a fire pit and we roasted hotdogs and those king size marshmallows. I am so glad I was invited and was able to go! It was a lot of fun!

I had better close before I fall asleep again. I would have been done sooner, but I already fell asleep for awhile while I was getting this post done. Silly me. :)

It is very late, but I wanted to at least make a post. Grandpa has been trying to get me back to writing in my blog every day. It was so easy to get out of the habit. Now I need to work hard at getting back into the habit again.

A day doesn't go by that I don't think about every member of our family. We have such a wonderful family. I thank each of you for making it such a wonderful family. When we are together we have so much fun. Grandpa and I love to go online and see pictures of all your activities that you are involved in.

Last Friday I shaved Buster. I know it will be winter soon, but he was still scratching so much Grandpa and I decided it would help keep the fleas away. When I shaved him I found no traces of the fleas, but he had horribly dry skin! We will finish giving him the rest of his pills, but now we will add peanut butter for a treat each day so we can help him with his dry skin. I don't have a picture yet of Buster with his new haircut. I will get one and add it to this post tomorrow sometime.

This weekend was our Stake Conference. It actually started Friday night. Grandpa and I went to the Temple and attended an endowment session there. After we completed the session we went out to the Adventure Zone. It was just opened for a little get together for those in our Ward who went to the Temple to come enjoy some pizza and also enjoy sometime visiting with each other. We really enjoyed the whole evening.

Saturday morning Grandpa went to the Temple again. He went to help a man who was deaf.

In the afternoon Grandpa had Priesthood Leadership meetings. At 6:00 that evening was the adult session of Stake Conference. I got a ride with my friend Cheryl who was going in by herself since her husband was already in there for meetings too. The session was very good. The talks and the music were very uplifting. Loved it all.

The Sunday session began at 10:00. It also was very good. It is great to be Spiritually fed like that. In fact our stake theme this year is to do things that will bring you close to the Spirit. And to learn about the Holy Ghost and listening to promptings.

Today I went to the YMCA with Lisa. We started out in the exercise room. I rode 3 miles on the exercise bike today. I was telling Lisa about fry sauce. She has never had it before! I had made some and told her that she had to come try it. So we stopped and got a large order of fries on the way home so we could have some of the fry sauce I had made. She also had to make a stop at Walgreen's. While we were there I decided to buy Grandpa a package of those Coconut flavored M&M's that remind me of a mounds bar. I decided that I should buy a package for Lisa and I too. So after we had our fries, we had our dessert of M&M's. Well this definitely was not a nutritious lunch and I don't recommend it for a healthy diet, but sometimes it is just the way things happen. Grandpa ate his M&M's when he came home from work. After Grandpa got home we went back into Nauvoo for our Chiropractor visits. Dr Dunn is really doing a great job with both of us. My back hasn't felt this good in years!!!

Well, it is almost 1:00am. I really need to get some sleep. It feels good to write again. I will have to keep it up!

It is now a little before 10 o'clock. Grandpa is snoring by my side and Buster is in his kennel sleeping. So I am the only on here that is still awake. I just decided to take a few minutes and write in my blog.

Today was a good day. Grandpa went to work, as usual. He is working on the missionary housing. He is working at getting them ready for when the new missionaries come out. Lisa came by earlier today than normal for the pool. It was nice because we had more time on the machines and I was even able to ride on the exercise bike today. I did over 2 and a half miles. It was really nice to get in the pool and work out after that.

On our way home we stopped of at Walmart. I needed to pick up a gift for a friend that is moving and Lisa had some grocery shopping to do.

After I got home I fixed some lunch. Buster helped me eat my lunch and then I was so tired that I took a short nap.

Grandpa came home and picked me up at about 10 minutes to 3:00 for our appointments with our doctor. Everything seems good. We just are going to tweak some prescriptions and both need to come in for follow-ups for labs. Grandpa in about 3 months and me in 4 months.

We had leftovers for dinner tonight and ate and watched TV. I actually fell asleep for awhile, when I woke up Grandpa had fallen asleep too. We must be getting old or something. One thing we watched tonight is America's Got Talent. I really enjoy this show. This year they have some very talented people on. I love watching all the different acts they have. Tonight show was to see who didn't get enough votes to continue on in the competition. Next is the semi-finals. It is exciting to watch.

It is just after 5:00am, Grandpa is in fixing breakfast. Buster is not sure what he is doing. He was in with me but then ran out with Grandpa. Now Buster is back with me, curled up on one of Grandpa's pillows.

Yesterday Grandpa and I had a funny and embarrassing experience. We both have appointments at the same time with Dr Joe. Our appointments are at 3:00 so Grandpa has to take 2 hours off of work. Well Grandpa comes and picks me up. I am all ready and we head out. We walk into the doctor's office and the receptionist welcomes us. The receptionists all know us very well there. After she has welcomed us she then askes us if she could help us. It dawns on us then that we have the wrong day! Our appointments are on Wednesday, not Monday!!!!

Today is Young Men's. Grandpa will be discussing the new Duty to God booklets that have come out. These books are the program that is equivalent to the Young Women's personal progress program. He has been trying to decide how to go about it. We were discussing all the food ideas that might be good, because if it is something to do with Young Men, you really need to have food to get there attention. We talked about pizza, but Grandpa decided it was too messy and he didn't want to take a chance of anyone messing up their book with pizza sauce. He is thinking on having cookies. One of the things that he is going to do is; there is a space for a picture so he is going to take a picture of each of the boys on our camera. Then later I will print up all the pictures from the disk on photo paper and we will give all the Young Men their pictures to go in their books.

I am not feeling the best today. I am coming down with something. I have an earache and sore throat and tight chest. So instead of exercising, I rested. I did lift the weights for a few minutes.

Today has been a full day. I still haven't gotten done everything I wanted to, but still it has been a good day. Grandpa and I went to the Temple this morning. I was really nervous about going because of the way I am right now. I prayed for help and I was truly blessed! It was a great session. After the session we had lunch at McKees and heard some sad news, they are going to close down. After lunch we went to Latter-day Harvest so that Grandpa could get a journal. Then we had to pick up something from the Fudge Factory. We then went into Keokuk to get gas for the car. While we were getting gas for the car I could see the movie marquee at the mall. I noticed that Knight and Day was playing and thought it would be fun to go and see that movie. When we got home we worked on some lists that Grandpa needed for the Bishopric. We finished with the lists just in time to go to the movie. We enjoyed the movie.

Well, I am going to have to end for now. I am so tired I am falling asleep even as I am talking. So silly

Yesterday Grandpa and I went to Quincy. Grandpa had labs that he needed to get and I had an appt. with Dr Ozment, my Rheumatologist. We checked in at Qunicy Medical. Grandpa went up to the second floor and I waited on the first floor to be called in for my appointment. I got called in for my appointment and Grandpa still hadn't come back. I thought they probably must be busy up there. Dr Ozment came in noticed that I got a haircut, and asked where Grandpa was. I thought this was really something because he has so many patients and I only see him every 3 months and sometimes my appts are even just every 6 months. I think that I started going to him in 2007. So it has been about 3 years, which means at the most he has seen me about 12 times. I don't even notice when Grandpa cuts his hair sometimes. So I thought it was interesting that he noticed that my hair had been cut, and that Grandpa wasn't with me, because Grandpa always comes to my appts with Dr Ozment. Anyway, Grandpa finally made it in. When he told Dr Joe's nurse that he would be down in Quincy because I had an appt with Dr Ozment and could he have his labs there, she said that wouldn't be a problem she would set it up. Well the problem came about that when Grandpa said that he would be in Quincy because I would be having my appt with Dr Ozment he thought that they would call and set up the labs there at Quincy medical. Well, Dr Joe is with Blessing Hospital which is just down the street a little ways. So when Grandpa said that he was going to be in Quincy, they naturally thought of Blessing Hospital. So when Grandpa went to have his labs done, there was no order for them. After quite awhile had passed, they finally called Dr Joe. He told them what he wanted done and Grandpa was able to get his labs! Whew, that was confusing. I hope you can understand it!

My appt went well with Dr Ozment. He encouraged me to follow thru with the cardiologist. He impressed in me how important it was to have things watched closely because heart disease is one of the biggest killers in people with Lupus. He said that it would be good for me to use the cane. He also gave me a prescription for a wheelchair. The wheelchair will be a manual one that I can use when there would be a lot of walking. He told me to set my next appt for 3 months.

After we were finished at Quincy Medical, we went to eat. Grandpa hadn't eaten all day because he had to fast for his labs. We went to Taramisu's to eat. They have wonderful food, but it is a bit pricey. We can't go there very often.

On the way down to the visit I read out loud to Grandpa, and I read on the way home too. We are reading the book "Digging up the Past". It is a good book and we are enjoying it.

Another thing that I did yesterday was to take a walk to the Library. I used my cane and that helped alot. I walked to the Library, and found that they didn't open for a half hour, so I sat on a bench outside the Library for a few minutes and then I walked back home. Today Lisa Miller is coming and we are going to go for a walk. I want to take Buster, so if we walk to the Library we would have the same problem as I had yesterday, I wouldn't be able to go in. I really want to see if the Library has the books that Aunt LuJean reads. I know that they probably won't carry any of the LDS authors I like to read, if they do it would really shock me. But if I take Buster, I won't be able to find out today.

I just asked Buster if he wanted to go for a walk. He looked at me for a few seconds turned his head away from me and went to sleep. So much for thinking he would be excited about going for a walk.

Oh, I forgot to mention, I took the step and cut my hair. Lisa Miller made appts for her and I do get our hair done on Wednesday. It seems silly that such a thing as a haircut is so important. But it really does make a big difference in things. This style really feels good, and I think this is what I am going to keep.

This morning Grandpa and I listened to the Conference talk given by Elder D Todd Christofferson. It made me think about how much I love the scriptures and what a void my life would have, if I had them taken from me. They are truly the word of God. They give me strength, and courage. I am grateful that they are a part of my life and that at any time I need to, I can go to the scriptures and learn from them. I feel the importance of reading from the scriptures daily, so that I can live close to the spirit and be in tune to receive promptings in my life.

Where to start, where to start! We are having so much fun with Tim & LuJean and Allison! On Wednesday Tim worked with Grandpa at the Newell K Whitney home. Before that we all met at the McKee sandwich shop in Nauvoo. Grandpa had gone to work that morning so he came from work, and I rode in with the Hofheins. Great Grandpa and Grandma Pierce also met us there, but they had already eaten. We all really enjoyed the time we had to visit. As we were finishing up our meal, Great Grandpa Pierce slyly walked up to the cash register and paid for all of our meals! We were all very surprised and very thankful for his and Great Grandma Pierce's kindness. While Grandpa and Uncle Tim went to work, LuJean, Allison and I, went to Great Grandpa & Grandma Pierce's home so they could take a tour of their home. Then we went to Jacob and Tally's so we could have a tour of their home/apt too. Also while we were at Jacob & Tally's, Jacob copied off a disk of pictures of the temple and things that he had taken, and also a friends pictures were on it too. After we left Jacob & Tally's we hurried to go grocery shopping so that we would be home before the "guy" made it home. We did it too. They got home just after us. So then we were deciding what to do with the evening. We saw that SALT was playing at the theater so we went and saw it. It was very suspenseful!

Thursday we went into Nauvoo and saw the Women statues and saw the play Just Plain Anna Amanda. After the play we went on a carriage ride. We all enjoyed it alot! Then we stopped in at Annie's frozen custard shop and all got some frozen custard! As always it was yummy! Then we had to hurry home so we wouldn't be late getting there because Jacob & Tally were coming at 4:00. We ordered pizza from the Casey's in Hamilton before we left Annie's frozen custard so that it would be ready to pick up on our way home. Well they were slow with the pizza and Jacob & Tally beat us home! We ate dinner and played games! It was GREAT!

Yesterday, Friday, Grandpa & I got up early to go into Nauvoo for the farewell breakfast they were having for the missionaries that were going home in August, which was being held at the outdoor theatre. There were alot of missionaries going home when you include all the YPM's (Young too. Also the Carthage Jail site Sister missionaries were leaving too. The breakfast was set up with three rows of tables, with each row being three tables long. Each row of tables was set up with food from one end to the other end with food! And the food was YUMMY! After we ate we sat and watched the a program. The YPM's, which made up the missionaries who were in the plays and those who were in the brass band did a musical number from what the puppets do just before Just Plain Anna Amanda. On of the Couples that were leave had wrote a song and performed that. All of the Senior missionaries did a really funny musical number. The Sister Missionaries did a spoof on one of the comedy routines from Sunset by the Mississippi that was hilarious! The reason that we went to this was that one of the Senior missionary that is leaving is one of the painters that work with Grandpa. Grandpa is really sad to see him leave because he is such a good painter and worker!

When we got home we all planned to have a low key game day and it started that way and it finished that way, but we took a detour in the middle. Uncle Tim really wanted to get some pictures of him standing at the Joseph and Hyrum statues that are across the street from the Temple, so we all decided it would be fun to go in with him. We worked it out to be in Nauvoo when Jacob woke up. ( He works nights so his schedule is all weird, most of you can relate to that!) It was nice and Jacob did a great job! Then we all went back to our house, including Jacob and Tally, and played games. We taught Tim & LuJean how to play, Hand and Foot. They loved it. Well at least LuJean loved it, Tim, had fun just being there. He is not the biggest fan of playing games.

Today we slept in. It is now just after 11:00 and I haven't even gotten dressed for the day. When we're all ready, we are going to go into Nauvoo to see some sites, go down the Trail of Hope, and to go to the Fudge Factory. Then we're hoping that when we get home there will still be enough time to play Hand and Foot, LuJean is addicted.

It is after 11:00 pm. Grandpa is at my side snoring away. I was sleeping a little bit ago, but woke up in pain. Since I am awake, I decided that it was a good time to write in my blog.

On Monday we had Jacob and Tally and three others come to dinner. The three who came were Heather and her son, and I can't think of his name right now, and Dorthy. Grandpa is one of their home teachers. Grandpa and I made "Fiesta Spaghetti". We had that and garlic toast and green beans. For dessert we had peaches that had come off of Dale and Cheryl Hunts tree. We served the fresh peaches sliced with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Everyone seemed to enjoy dinner, so we sent them all home with left overs. I always get really nervous to have people eat my cooking, especially when I have made up the recipe!

Jacob and Tally stayed after everyone else left so that we could play a new game. It is called "Curses". It is a pretty fun game. Grandpa has a hard time playing games like that, but he did pretty good trying.

Grandpa and I ordered a new bedspread for our bed. The one we had was wearing out. A catalog came in the mail. When we looked thru it we found one on sale that matched the wallpaper in our room! So we broke down and ordered it. That was on Friday and today I heard a doorbell and went to the door to see who it was. Nobody was at the side door where most people come. Then I looked at the front door and there was a huge box! The door was stuck! I had tried in the past to open it and couldn't. I called Grandpa to see if there was something I could do to open it. He said it was just the lock that was hard to open. Well, I wanted my package. I knew that there was no way that I would be able to walk around outside and climb the steps and then get that huge box and go back down those steps and walk back to the side door with it, especially with my foot the way it is. Since it was just the lock I decided that I was going to get it open! I did it! It was hard, but finally it clicked open. (It is a very old lock that uses an old skeleton key) I rolled the box in, opened it and sure enough it was our new bedspread set. The set came with the bedspread, and matching trow quilt, 2 pillow shams, a bed skirt, and two decorative pillows! Now since I had the package I wasn't about not to put them on the bed! So I got a new set of sheets out of the closet. The only ones we had that were clean are our pink set, but I used them anyway. Our new bedspread is blue and yellow. But we only have two sets of sheets that fit our bed and the one set is pink. Anyway I had to take the mattress off the bed too so that I could put the bed skirt on. I know this is really a two person job, especially when one of the people is me, but I really wanted to get this all done before Grandpa got home. Well I finally got the bed skirt on and the mattress back on the bed and the bed all made. It all matched the wallpaper so well. It was like we planned it. And the colors are bright and cheery!

I also worked at hanging pictures in my office. I hung all my family pictures I had growing up, and one some of Great Grandpa and Grandma Lemon. I also hung one up of the Layton family taken just before we moved back to Utah, and I hung one up of Great Grandpa & Grandma Pierce.

Grandpa got off work early today so he could take me to my Dr appt with Dr Joe. He went over my dexa scan. It didn't even look at my feet. It measured the bones in my spine, hip and arm. The results showed a little thinning in the spine. Everything else was ok. When I last had my labs it showed that my calcium levels were in the normal range, but at the bottom of normal. I was told to start taking a calcium with vitamin D supplement. So after my appt. we went to Walmart to pick it up and do some shopping.

I am so excited. Tim & LuJean, and Allison are coming! They arrive on Tuesday afternoon which is the 3rd and stay until the 10th!

Today has truly been a wonderful day. It started out with me waking up and looking at the clock and seeing that it was just before 6:00am. I woke up Grandpa and asked if he had forgotten to set his alarm, because normally he would be leaving for work in just 15 minutes from that time. He smiled and told me he had the day off because of the 24th of July holiday! I was so excited! He got me good. He was originally going to come home early because I had a eye doctor appt. in Quincy that he was going to take me to. I had totally forgotten about the holiday! So Grandpa made us breakfast and I rested still. Then Grandpa got his lawn mowing and edging done. Buster went out with him. Grandpa put a bowl of water out for Buster. It was so hot and humid! By the time Grandpa had finished, he was wet from head to two, and had to come in and shower and change before we could go.

We left home just after 1:00pm for my appt. On the way to Quincy I read to Grandpa from the book we are reading, "Digging up the Past" We are about halfway thru the book and just trying to figure out who the real murderer is.

My eye appt went really well and the dr said that things look really good. Because my eyes were dilated during my appt they were extremely sensitive to light so I had to wear my sunglasses. It was even to light while I was still in the building and I had to wear the sunglasses, in the building, and when I was outside I had to close my eyes even with the sunglasses on or I would start to feel sick.

After my appt. Grandpa and I were both really hungry so we went to The Maya, Mexican restaurant. We enjoyed our meal and then we decided to go see "Despicable Me" I knew it was playing at the Mall there in Quincy, but I didn't know what time the movie started. We got there at 20 minutes to 5:00pm and found out the movie started at 5:00pm! We couldn't have done any better if we had actually planned it!

The movie was really fun. We loved the 3D effects. Yes really, Grandpa even enjoyed it! I know that there is a thing there to put your glasses in as you are leaving the theater so that they can be recycled, but I told Grandpa that I wanted to keep them and then if we go again to a 3D movie we would have them. I am not sure but if they work for TV, but if we rented a movie that was 3D we could try and see if they work for that! By the time the movie was over, my eyes were doing much better and I could keep my eyes open while I was outside,as long as I was wearing my sunglasses, and I still needed to wear them indoors too.

After the movie as we were walking out of the theater I noticed one of those picture booths were you can take silly pictures. I coaxed Grandpa and he finally gave in and went and got a five changed to ones so we could have our pictures taken. It was fun and after we finished it showed a video of us while we were in the booth getting our pictures done. I have always wanted to do that, but we could never find one of these booths. Now we have the pictures to prove we sat in a picture booth and had our pictures taken.

Alot has happened since my last entry. Just the very next day I was having alot of pain in my chest. It was on the right side and not my left, so I was thinking that it might be a blood clot, or even another pleural effusion. But then I thought maybe it was nothing and I should just forget about it. The pain had actually started during the night and I wasn't able to sleep very well. So since it was even worse in the morning I decided that I had better tell Grandpa. We decided that it would be a good idea to get a Priesthood blessing. In the blessing I was counseled that I should call the doctor. So after the blessing we called Dr Joe (Tally's Dad) and asked him what I should do. He instructed me to go to the hospital. He said that sometimes women have pains on the right side when they have heart attacks. He also instructed us to go to Keokuk Area Hospital because it is closer. So we did what he asked us to do. At the hospital they took my blood pressure. It was higher than I had ever seen it! It was 168/112! They wanted to give me some baby aspirin, and I had to tell them that I couldn't take it. So then they gave me a nitroglycerin tablet. It started to bring my blood pressure down. Then they gave me a patch with a nitroglycerin paste on it. Then they told me that they needed to send me down to Blessing Hospital because they were better equipped if something were to happen. I told them that I would go and that Grandpa could drive me, but they said that I needed to go in an ambulance! Well now I can say I have ridden in an ambulance. It is not something that I want to do again. I did fine and all my tests after the nitroglycerin were normal. I got to go home after 24 hours. It was very nice to be home!

The next day Grandpa called from work and said that there was a couple that needed a place to stay while they were here in Nauvoo. Of course we were happy to have them come stay here. I started to get things ready for them. When I was in the guest room I noticed a box that had some of my wall hangings in it. There was one that I really wanted to hang. I found a spot and got a chair. I had to stand on my tip toes to get it hung. Finally after dropping nails and lots of praying to be able to finish this project, my prayer was answered and I finally got it hung.

Our guests came that afternoon. I just barely had things ready. They stayed that night and the next. The morning that they were leaving when I got up my right foot by my big toe was hurting. I was thinking like in that play that we saw "Just plain Anna Amanda", I could say, "Right toe, right toe". :) Grandpa and I thought that I might have sprained something when I was standing on my tip toes. That night I was in severe pain! It was still really bad in the morning! So since it was Friday morning I needed to call Lisa and let her know that I wouldn't be able to go to the YMCA. Lisa offered to take me to the doctor's office. When I called Dr Joe's office they said that I should just go to the ER. At the ER they took x-rays. They didn't see a break on the x-ray but they thought that I might still have a hairline fracture. The x-ray also showed that I have osteoporosis in my foot. I was given a prescription for a walker. I was also instructed to stay of my foot as much as possible, then after 3 days if it is not better, I need to have it checked again. Well tomorrow is my follow up for last Sunday's stuffs, it has also been 3 days on the foot, and it is not any better. So I will just go in and get both things checked out.

Oh, something else..... When the doctor came in to talk to me about my foot, I realized that he was the same doctor that had taken care of me last Sunday! I was really embarassed! What were the odds in that?

I just got a call from Great Grandpa & Grandma Pierce. They are going to bring me lunch in a little while. That is really such a nice thing for them to do.

Thursday Tally, Lisa, and I drove the hour to Quincy. We treat ourselves with lunch
then Lisa & I had our mammograms.Tally came as support. Originally she was coming, but then we found out that unless there is a family history you don't have to have one done until you are 35. We heard that Quincy had a machine that is better and less painful. I was really skeptical. But it was much better. After the mammograms we stopped at Dairy Queen for ice cream. We all had a nice time. The weather was great, the food was good, the company was great, and even the mammogram wasn't too bad. When Lisa dropped Tally and I off at Grandpa and I's house I got a phone call from Great Grandma asking if I would like to come in to play games. So Jacob, who had been sleeping (or trying to sleep) at the house dropped me off at Great Grandpa and Grandma's house on his & Tally's way home to their house. Great Grandpa Pierce and Nickolas went to the Temple to do baptisms for the dead. The rest of us played a round of Phase 10. When we finished that we went in to watch Touched By An Angel. I don't remember much after sitting down to watch the show. I feel promptly asleep. I woke up when Grandpa came to pick me up to take me home at about 10:00 after he was finished with the concessions.

Last night Layne and Marlisa, Nickolas, Sydney, Grandpa and I went to see "Eclipse" Aunt Marlisa had made T shirts for herself, Sydney and I. We all wore them to the show. We really enjoy the show. I was disappointed it ended when it did. After the movie we all went back to Great Grandpa & Great Grandma Pierce's for dinner. We had Spaqhetti, salad, and garlic bread. Then we all played the card game golf, using Rook cards. After playing a few rounds Grandpa and I realized we were completely worn out, and my pain level was way out of control, so we decided we better head home.

Buster was very happy to see us. We have now decided the best place to put Buster when we have to leave, is in our bathroom. We put a bowl of water for him to drink, his doggy bed, and we put down one of those pad thingys that you use on hospital beds (So in case he has to go potty while we are gone). Well we found out he knows what the pad thingy is for. Buster seemed in much better spirits when we got home.

Today we are driving down to Quincy again. We are going to see the movie "Karate Kid". Great Grandpa & Grandma Pierce, Layne & Marlisa, Nickolas, Sydney, Grandpa and I are all going. After the movie we are going to the Adventure Zone. It should be a fun day.

Great Grandpa's birthday dinner went really well. It was nice to spend some time with them, Jacob and Tally, and Jay came to Great Grandpa's dinner too.

Saturday Grandpa and I went over to Jacob and Tally's. We had Buster with us. Maggie and Buster were very happy to be able to have a play date. Grandpa, Jacob and Tally and I went to eat at the sandwich place in Nauvoo. While we were gone Maggie stayed in her kennel, and Buster stayed in the bathroom in Jacob and Tally's bathroom. We enjoyed dinner and went back to Jacob and Tally's to watch a movie.

On our way home we noticed people lined up along the Mississippi. We realized that they must be doing fireworks that night so we found a good place to stop and we watched the fireworks. We learned that Buster doesn't have a problem with fireworks. I think it is funny that he doesn't mind fireworks but thunderstorms really upset him.

Sunday was Testimony meeting and I took the opportunity to bare my testimony. It took everything out of me. As I was going to my seat I got to the stairs and was concerned about going down them because I felt unsteady. Well all of a sudden I felt as though I had people helping me down to my seat. I felt very blessed.

Monday was the day that Grandpa got off work to celebrate the 4th of July. Jacob and Tally came by after Jacob's appt at the dentist. Jacob had to have a tooth pulled. The dentist office is just up the street from where we live, in fact in one of the rooms there you can see our house while you are in one of the chairs to have dental work done. After Jacob and Tally left to run errands, we also went to run errands. By the time we got back, I was totally exhausted. I really wasn't feeling well so I laied down until it was time to go to the bbq at Uncle Kent and Aunt Jane's. When I got up I was feeling much better. We went to the bbq and found our way without much problems. The funny thing we found was that we were under the impression that the bbq started at 6:00pm but actually started at 4:00pm. We found the reason for the confusion was that Great Grandpa & Great Grandma weren't able to be there until 6:00 because they were serving in the Temple. But it all worked out. It was nice to see Great Grandpa Pierce's side of the family.

Today is the first day of the pageant. Grandpa is there at the concessions. There has been alot of rain today. I hope that it clears up and dries out in time for the pageant to begin!

Here it is Thursday and I haven't posted since Monday. It is sad how if you miss one day, it can stretch into another day, then another. I started on the blog right after Grandpa left for work. I decided to make some changes on the setup. Oh, what a project. I would make a change and then it would mess up other things. So here it is after 11:00am and I am just finish up!

On Tuesday I got a call from Bonnie Trapp. She asked if I could help her with her apricots. I had the time and so she came and picked me up at about 2:00. Grandpa called just after we got started and I told him we could really used some help. He said that he would be there as soon as he could. Grandpa came right after work, he was a lifesaver! He really helped out alot! We stayed until about 9:30. Bonnie sent us home with some of the apricots that we bottled and some jam she had canned before. It was a fun project. It was really nice to talk to Bonnie and to be able to put up the apricots, of course. The picture that I am using for this blog entry are some of the apricots that we canned!

I didn't go to the pool yesterday. I was thinking that Grandpa and I's appts with the dermatologist was at 1:00. I found out that it wasn't until 3:45, but I had so many little projects around the house that I didn't change things. Our appointments went really well. We like this Dr. and will follow thru and make appts in the future if we need too.

Today is Great Grandpa Pierce's birthday. Great Grandpa & Grandma are going to pick me up at around 1:30 to bring me to their house. Great Grandpa Pierce is going to go help Grandpa as soon as he gets off work. They need to hook up the lights and the fans at the concessions trailer. After they are done we will be eating dinner at Great Grandpa & Grandma Pierce's house.

Monday, Monday, ba da, da da da. Well, I don't remember anymore of the song, I just woke up with that song in my head. So silly. Anyway it is another Monday morning. It is supposed to be a sunny day. Right now it is 70 degrees and it is only just after 6:00 am! Jacob, Tally and Maggie are coming this afternoon. I am looking forward to that. Also today I will be going to the YMCA. We have to go later because the schedule changed because of all the summer classes. So we won't be leaving until 11:00.

Yesterday I went to all my meetings. It was very nice. I enjoyed being there and participating. It is always nice when I can attend. I was very tired and short of breath when I got home. I really need to get myself built back up!

Yesterday at church Sister Trapp came up and asked me if I was really serious about helping put up fruit. She knows my needs; that someone has to come get me and bring me home, that I have to be sitting. But if I am sitting I can get alot done after instruction! I need to get some pint jars to bring!

I just looked up that song that I was thinking of. It is a Beatles song, it was also sung by the Mommas and the Papas!

It is very late Saturday night but I decided that I really need to get back into the habit of writing in my blog.

Today has been a fun day. Grandpa & I were able to spend most of it together. In the morning we went to Hamilton City Park and watched the Vocal Point group from BYU perform. They really did a great job. We took Buster with us to the park. It was his debut being out amongst the crowds to see how he would do. He did really well. We were so happy. One funny thing happened. Vocal Point was singing a song and were acting like Zombies in at at one point they were trying to be very scary and as if on cue, Buster barked!

After the park we stopped at Subway and got a sandwich. We drove out to Carthage and parked in the shade of a big tree by the Carthage jail. We ate our sandwich there. After we ate our sandwich, Grandpa got out to take pictures of all the fence that had been painted. The paint was supposed to make the fence so it wouldn't rust, and was supposed to last 15 years. Well it has only been a year and the fence is rusting all over. Really sad.

We came back home and dropped Buster off because we wanted to go see the new Dollar General store that just opened here in Hamilton and it was way to hot to leave Buster in the car. It was in the 90's. They said with the heat index it was like 100 degrees outside! The Dollar General is like a little grocery store. We picked up a few things, and will probably use it as a quick stop, for when we just need something when we are in a hurry.

Next we went into Keokuk to see if we could find some photo albums like the ones I have all the kids wedding pictures in. I don't have any to put Jacob and Tally's wedding pictures in. The store actually has one and they said that they would order another one in for me. It was alot more expensive then what I got the other ones for so I told them I would get back with them. Grandpa and I checked online when we got home but couldn't find any as cheap as at that store so we will have to go back and get them there.

When we got done at the store we went to get gas in the car. While I was sitting in the car waiting for Grandpa to get the gas, I noticed that "The Karate Kid" was playing at the Theatre. We decided to go check it out. When we got there we found that the show started a half hour earlier. So we decided we would catch it another time.

Since we were in Keokuk and right close to "The First Wok", we decided to stop and eat. I can't remember what the dish was called that we had, but like always, the food was good.

Our day was full, and very enjoyable.

Oh, I wanted to mention something exciting that I finally can do. Uncle Dennis walked me thru the process in Utah, and when I came home I was able to get the printer in the office to work from my laptop! I had tried, and tried before, but it just wouldn't work, but now it works!

I am home now. Yesterday when I got off the plane and they wheeled me up the ramp, I had a very nice surprise! Grandpa got permission to meet me down at the gate! It was so good to see him!!!

The day after Grandpa left for home Great Grandma and I went over to Aunt LuJean's for a slumber party. We went over before noon to play games with all her girls. We had a really fun day. That evening Uncle Tim and Aunt LuJean, Anna and her little ones, Allison, and Great Grandma and I were all that were left at the house. We went down to the family room and watched the movie "Double Jeopardy", it was an edited edition. During the day I just wasn't feeling really well. Then as we watched the movie I started chilling really bad. If that wasn't bad enough, I then had to run to the bathroom because things were wanted to come from both ends! :( I got horribly sick and was in so much pain. Great Grandma started getting sick during the night too. :( It was decided the we just go back to Great Grandma's place. We were sooooo sick! On Friday I was beginning to feel a little better. I had something stuck in my tooth, or at least that is what I thought. I used floss to try and get it out, but had no luck. Well on Saturday when I woke up it felt like I had a horrible toothache, and my cheek was swollen. I did some rinses with hydrogen peroxide to help. By Sunday my cheek was really swollen and I had an abscess. I could feel it affecting my eye! By that time I new I needed help, so, I called Dr Joe and he called in an antibiotic for me! Uncle Robert took me over to Walmart to pick it up. I hate going on Sunday, but for something like this I know it is alright to do. Anyway I was very thankful for the antibiotic. It worked great! By the next day the abscess was almost gone.

Great Grandma wasn't getting well. Uncle Robert gave her a shot of phenergan to help with the nausea. The day I left he gave her another shot of phenergan, and started an IV. The IV wasn't in for long. Today when I called she was very tired.

Back to the day I came home. Grandpa wanted to change the way we went home from St Louis. He wanted to go to Keokuk to pick some things up we needed. Well on the way home we got caught in a horrible rain storm! Grandpa could hardly see out the windshield. Thunder and lightening was coming so strong that we felt the car shake. After awhile the storm finally let up. We were getting close to Keokuk when we noticed water going over the road. It wasn't too bad so we went further on the road. Then it got higher and alot swifter and we knew we couldn't go any further. We backed up until it was safe to turn around then we went back and went up further and caught another road that led to Keokuk. Well after we had traveled for awhile we realized we were back to the same flooded road we were just on. Sooooo we turned around and went back and up even further. This time we ended up on a really winding road that seemed to go on forever! Finally the road ended and we were just 3 miles outside of Keokuk! We picked up the things we needed and went home. It was great being home!

When we got home I went into the living room and sat on a chair. I was really quiet so that Buster wouldn't know I was there. Grandpa went in our bedroom and opened the door to his kennel. He ran out of the bedroom and straight for the dining room. Just before he got to the dining room he stopped and turned and ran right to where I was! He was very glad to have me home. He kept licking my face, and licking it!

I loved my trip to Utah, I already miss everyone!, but I am glad to be home.

I don't know where to begin!

On my birthday, Grandpa and I went on a double date with Uncle Tim and Aunt LuJean. First Grandpa and I picked up Aunt LuJean and then we went over to visit with Great Grandma. While there of course Great Grandma told us to get some candy bars out of the box she has that is full of all different kinds of candy bars. So we each took some for the movie. Then we went to McDonald's and bought some snack roll-ups to eat for lunch and LuJean and I put them in our purses along side the candy bars in our purses to eat during the movie. Uncle Tim met us at the movie Theater. We saw the movie, "Letters to Juliet". We all loved it! Tim and LuJean had already seen the movie, but they still really enjoyed seeing it again. We all enjoyed our lunch and candy bars we brought to eat during the movie too.

For my birthday, and to celebrate Father's day for Grandpa, Matt and Karen made a really great dinner. We had a roast that Matt had been marinating and then grilled on the barbeque. Karen did roasted vegetables and fee fries. We also had salad and five in one salad. It was a great meal. Then for dessert we had a birthday cake that Karen had made. It was really good too. After dinner we watched a movie, I think it was "The Princess and the Frog", but of course I fell asleep. When I went online I was surprised by all the birthday wishes. It was fun to end the day seeing those.

Friday afternoon we went out to spend time with Josh, Brenda, Daylan, Breanna, Rachael, Emilie and Clara. We went to see Josh & Brenda's new place. It is really a cute apt. They have it fixed up nice and it feels cozy and welcoming. Then we all headed over to Jason & Rachael's house. On the way Grandpa and I stopped at a Taco Time to pick up lunch. We all enjoyed lunch. We were all pretty full. We even had enough to put in the fridge for Jason to eat when he got home later that night. After dinner we taught Josh & Brenda, and Rachael how to play "hand and foot". The kids had fun playing while we played. We only were able to play one round and it was time to go.

Saturday Grandpa had some projects to with Matt. While they were doing their projects I went with Great Grandma Lemon and Aunt LuJean to do a little grocery shopping for the get together that was for later in the evening. After grocery shopping we went to Great Grandma's and we played dominoes. Later on Grandpa came over and Great Grandma, Grandpa and I watched the movie "Bedtime Stories". Well once again I feel asleep. What I saw of the movie was cute. Then it was time to go over for the get together at Laron and Ann's. We had a BBQ. Everyone brought their own meat, and something to go with the meal. Great Grandma bought the meat I chose while we were shopping. She also paid for the grapes and the cinnamon taffy that I decided to bring for the get together too. The get together was great. We got meet Kim for the first time. She is really a great person. After we ate and talked we were able to watch our old family movies. Uncle Robert had all the old movies and was noticing that they were becoming very brittle so he had taken them to someone who could transfer them all on disks. Robert then made copies for each of us siblings. It was a very special gift from him that I will sure cherish. We had a ball watching the movies and reminiscing and laughing. It was a great evening!

Sunday Grandpa and I went to Sacrament meeting with Matt and Karen, McKenzie and Maddisynn. It was really nice to be able to be there with them. After their Sacrament meeting Grandpa, Matt, and I went over to the Sacrament meeting that Robert, Kris, Dennis, Mel, Holly, and Great Grandma usually attend. Great Grandma Lemon didn't feel good and wasn't able to go yesterday, but everyone else was there, and Tim and LuJean came and then there was Grandpa, Matt and I. It was very touching for me to be there with everyone!

That evening we scheduled a family get together at Jason and Rachael's house. On our way there Grandpa and I stopped off to see Uncle Jody and Aunt Trinda. We had a great visit there. We saw everyone except for Tanner who is one his mission. We were a little late getting to Jason & Rachael's house, because on the way to Jody & Trinda's, Grandpa took the long scenic route. But we really enjoyed the drive and we weren't to late. At the get together we started out by giving out the little gifts we brought everyone. And we gave Brenda the gifts Jacob and Tally had sent for Caitlynn, and for Daylan and Breanna. We also gave her gifts for Caitlynn. Racheal had spent a lot of time on a banner that said "Happy Birthday Grandma" It was really neat that she went the trouble to do that. She also did a birthday cake for me and actually put 50 candles on it! We ate some tortilla chips which some homemade salsa dips that Jason and Rachael had made. I am not really sure what the names of them were, but they were really good. For dinner we had pizza. Jason made the pizzas. The pizzas were really tasty. All of it was really great and we all had more than we should've eaten, and there was still 2 pizzas left. While the kids played we adults played "hand and foot". We had a lot of fun and it was sad that the evening had to end.

Today we are planning to go to a little indoor amusement park. We are going to meet there at 3:00 pm and sometime during the evening we will be getting dinner. Everyone is really looking forward to being there.

Oops! I was so tired last night that I couldn't even think straight. So as you can see, I didn't write in my blog. I guess writing while on my vacation is going to harder than I thought.Yesterday we found out that grandpa had forgotten to plug in his cell phone. When we got to Utah and we were going to call we found that his phone was almost completely dead! So we couldn't call anyone. We went to the distribution center and bought us some new garments. By then we felt like we were starving! Since we had gotten up that morning we had only eaten about 5 cherries apiece and had a ginger ale on the plane! Anyway we decided to stop and get a quick bite so we stopped at a Burger King. But before we ordered we realized it was the time we said that we were going to be at Great Grandma Lemon's and we knew be had better find a pay phone so that she wouldn't worry. When Grandpa ask where he might find a pay phone the man told him he could just use his cell phone. When we talked to Great Grandma Lemon she said that she wanted to take us out to eat. So we went and picked her and Aunt LuJean up and we went to Jim's Restaurant. The food was really good.
After we ate we went back to Great Grandma Lemon's house to pay Chicken Foot dominoes!

By the time we got to Matt & Karen's it was 6:00 in the evening. We ate dinner with them. We had meatloaf, potatoes, and salad. It was very yummy. Then we watched "Planet 51". I am sorry to say I can't say much about it because I was so extremely tired that I fell asleep right from the start. Grandpa kept telling me that we should go to bed, but I wanted to be with everyone.

This morning I woke up and Grandpa gave me a card and wished me happy birthday! Oh yeah it is my birthday! I am 50!

Today we left on our trip!!!! We did alot of the packing the night before. It is a good thing because when I woke up I wasn't feeling very good at all. I had the cards made up on the computer for my VT but I still needed to transfer the file to my desktop computer and print them up. I also had to print the address labels for them and put them in the envelopes and mail them off.

We took Buster over to where we are kenneling him. Dr Robinson did an evaluation of him and he gave him a pill for fleas and tics, he said they give that to any animal they are going to kennel. Then they had to put him in one of those small cages for a couple of hours to make sure he didn't react funny to the pill. We called a few hours ago and they said that Buster was doing really good. One of the workers there had just been back to play with him.

Halfway to St Louis is the town Hannibal. In Hannibal there is a Golden Corral. I was so excited thinking it would be like the one we eat at in West Valley City. It was only half the size and then they still had a smoking section. The saddest thing was that the Desserts were over in the smoking section. But the food was pretty good and the service was great.

When we were checking in we could see behind the check in counter that my oxygen concentrator had been delivered. We were happy to see that. We found out that the free continental breakfast that we were planning on doesn't start until 6:00! So we won't get any breakfast. But they have a little place with vending machines, so we are hoping to be able to find something there. The first shuttle doesn't start until 4:30. Since we are only a short distance from the airport I think we will be alright, since we got our boarding passes online already. So for now I will end and tomorrow will be an awesome day!

I can't believe it, I missed another day doing the blog! I feel bad. I will have to just catch up where I left off.

Sunday as you can well imagine, even for as much fun and how much I enjoyed Saturday, I did pay for it on Sunday. I came home again after Sacrament Mtg. I really wanted to stay but knew this is what I should do. I came home and mostly slept until Grandpa got home. Just after he got home, our home teachers, Bob and Pauline came by. I love their visits!

After Bob and Pauline left we realized we hadn't done the programs for the next 2 weeks for Sacrament Mtg. We got them done the best we could and the info we didn't have they will type in, or announce it over the pulpit.

We didn't get to bed until about 10:30, and Grandpa had to go to work this morning. Grandpa likes to listen to music to go to sleep, but for me, what relaxes me more than anything is to be able to put a good movie in. Last night I was so tired and wound up, I knew I needed to put a good movie in or at least watch TV. Well those things would keep Grandpa awake and it was late already. Sooooo.... I turned the music on. (We put a cd in our dvd player that Grandpa can listen to at night.) Then I came up with an idea for me. I knew that I could put a dvd into my laptop to watch, but I was to tired to hold anything. Then I thought that I could use the little bench by the side of my bed and watch one! It took me more time to set things up, than for the time I actually watched the movie before I fell asleep!!! Silly, silly me!

This morning when I woke up it seemed too light outside for what it should be when we normally get up. Well it was!!! Grandpa forgot to set the alarm!!! So Grandpa had to rush to get ready for work and eat breakfast. We had to even cut our scripture time down to just doing a favorite scripture.

Well, it was interesting yesterday morning, about the time I was to leave for the pool, instead of Lisa pulling up in the driveway, Lori had pulled up. She brought back my Angels Don't Knock series for me! She also checked out more books. As she was walking out, I noticed that she was limping. She was having problems with her heel. I still had one of my heel guards so I loaned it to her. I sure hope that it helps. Which reminds me, I should see if the one I loaned Lisa has helped her.

Just a little after Lori left, Lisa came. On our way to the pool, she mentioned that she needed to do some shopping. She wanted to know if I wanted to go before or after. I asked if she had alot of shopping to do. She said that she had a bit to do. I asked if she wanted to shop instead of go to the pool. She was happy with that, so we went to Hyvee's. I decided to get a few things too. I got cherries, some apricots, and a cantaloupe. As I walked past the meat counter I decided to pick something up for dinner. I spent time looking and asking questions. I finally made my decision, I bought some brats for dinner.

After we finished at Hyvee, I asked Lisa if I could go to Walmart to see if they had a tee-shirt for Buster. Well they had one that just matched his collar. He looks really cute.