Today has been a big day! Jacob and Tally came for breakfast this morning at 7:00am. We had roll up pancakes and hash browns with cheese on top. It was really good. After breakfast we played games. We played Clue - 24, Whatzit, and golf. We played until lunch time. We had sandwiches and for dessert we had smores!!!

We had alot of fun with Jacob and Tally. Oh and Maggie came too! It was fun having her here, and Buster and Maggie played their doggie games. :)

After Jacob & Tally and Maggie left I went in for a nap. Grandpa said he had to get the lawn mowed and edged so he went outside to get that done. We had just bought a battery operated edger from Walmart. The edger ran out after Grandpa had maybe about a 1/4 of what needed to be done. So he brought it back to Walmart, since it wasn't going to work for our yard.

This evening we had a special potluck for a family in our Ward who are moving. It was fun and there was alot of good food.

As we were coming home from the potluck, Grandpa got a call from his home teaching companion asking if he could go help someone in the Ward. So he dropped me off and changed his clothes and left again!

I can't believe what time it is already! It is 9:30pm. Wow. I just realized with everything, Buster has not been fed yet! I need to feed him! What a good puppy he is!

Yesterday ended up being a very full day! We started out the day with getting things done around the house which included shaving Buster. I also accidentally knocked of a big mug, about 2 quarts of Gatorade off of Grandpa's night stand and it spilled on the the carpet and also down a return vent in the floor. Dad got our carpet cleaner attachment for the vacuum and hooked it up. He got all my mess cleaned up and also cleaned the area in the dining room by the door that was looking pretty bad. We started shaving Buster in the hallway by the bathroom and I realized that it just was really hard for me to shave him there. So I had the idea of setting up the ironing board so that it was high enough for me to shave him while I am sitting on the couch. That really worked great! Buster was so good while we shaved him. Muffie would have been crying so loud, even when we weren't even touching her! Well we were just over 1/2 way done and we realized it was almost time to leave for the funeral.

We made it to the funeral with our 5 in 1 salad with a few minutes to spare. The funeral went really well. Then we went home finished up Buster. Then Grandpa gave him a bath. Grandpa cleaned up all the mess from shaving Buster and vacuumed the house. Grandpa also did the wash! Then we went shopping.

Our shopping took a little longer than we planned and we were a little bit late to Great Grandpa and Grandma Pierce's for dinner. Jacob & Tally were there and so were Great Grandpa and Grandma's neighbors the Moon's. Great Grandma had fixed a really yummy chicken and broccoli casserole. We also had cooked baby carrots, and salad.

When we finished we went to the outdoor stage and watched the end of Sunset by the Mississippi. Then we watched the Hugh Brothers, and family perform. They usually perform in Branson.

It was a great day, and today I was only able to go to Sacrament meeting because my body was very tired, and my pain level had really gone up. So after Sacrament meeting I came home with a couple in the Ward who also needed to come home after Sacrament meeting.

Today we were going to watch a movie that we rented, but just watching it for about 10 minutes we realized that it was not what we thought it was going to be, so we turned it off. Grandpa is napping now and I am finishing up the blog for the day.

Yesterday was a fun day. "Girls Day Out" Lisa and I just did the water aerobics at the Y. So we did about 40 minutes there. Just kind of pulled back and just did a mild workout. After the Y it was time for our hair cuts. I normally go into the Nauvoo Salon to have my hair done by Robert Saint. He is in our Ward and he always does a great job. Lisa had her hair cut recently, the cut was great, but was just a little too edgy for her. Robert just shaped it up a bit and gave her a bunch of tips on how to work with her hair. Then it was my turn. I have been growing out my hair and I wasn't sure if it was an ok length for me. I knew if I kept the long hair I definitely needed some layering done with it. So that is what Robert did. It was funny that after both cuts there was hardly any hair on the floor. But the cuts made alot of difference with us. So then we headed to the new sandwich shop in Nauvoo. I still can't remember the name. We had the "Porter Rockwell". We had them add guacamole to it. It was wonderful. We decided to get ice cream. They make your serving of ice cream right in front of you. They put the cream in a metal bowl and put the flavoring in then they go to a big tank of liquid nitrogen and spray it for bit, and then they stir it up and you have ice cream. It is really good. So it was a very fun girls day out. Lisa and I's next adventure will be Wednesday when we go to Quincy and we have our mammograms done. That might not be so fun, but it is something that we both need to get done. It is nice that Lisa likes to do this, because now Grandpa doesn't have to take the time off work to take me.

When we had finished our lunch, Lisa dropped me off at NRI to meet Grandpa. The Young Performing Missionaries did a special production of "High Hopes and River Boats" for NRI. Grandpa and I went over to Great Grandpa & Grandma's house to change and to pick them up to come with us. The play was good and this year's group are very talented. I was just disappointed 'cause I kept falling to sleep!

We needed to get the movies back that we had rented and of course we had to rent some more. We watched a movie, but the DVD had issues and it kept getting stuck. We finally got it working and got to about the last two minutes of the movie and it stuck again. We tried everything even changing to see if it was our DVD player, it wasn't it was the disk. It probably took us about a half hour to finally make it thru the last two minutes. So silly, but we had to see how it ended!

Today we are going to the funeral a friend and member of our ward. Grandpa was his home teacher. He had been sick for quite awhile. He was on the list to receive a new heart, but he was just too sick and passed away. I need to make a 5 in 1 salad to bring to the funeral today.

Grandpa just left for a planning mtg for the concessions for the pageant. I told Grandpa when he left that he will probably be home before I get everything done I need to today. We will see.

It is Friday! Today is going to be a full day. I am going to go to the pool an hour later than normal. That is so when we are finished at the pool we can go right to our appt to have our hair cut. Both Lisa and I have appts to have our hair cut at 1:00. Then we are going to get a sandwich at the new sandwich place in Nauvoo. I wanted to do something for Lisa for taking me to get my haircut. After we have our sandwiches I am going to have her drop me off at Great Grandpa & Grandma Pierce's to wait for Grandpa. The Young Performing Missionaries and Brass Band are doing a special thank you performance for NRI at 5:00 pm at the Visitor's Center in Nauvoo.

Yesterday my VT's came to visit. I had forgotten all about them coming. I had a rough day yesterday and was just beginning to feel better. I hadn't even gotten dressed for the day and was in my nightgown. I was a little embarrassed. They said that I was fine, but I still like to be dressed when people come. It was nice for them to come. I always enjoy their visits

Grandpa didn't have any appt's for the evening so we just spent the evening relaxing and watching a movie.

Today is going to be sunny and nice. It is already 63 degrees and it it supposed to get up to 80.

Grandpa is still working on the Wilford Woodruff house. It is amazing the work that has to be done on each window with all the dry rot that takes place. It takes 2 days just to complete 1 window!

Today there is a 20% chance of thunderstorms. It is supposed to get up to 81 degrees. I wonder if we will get rain now that the chance of rain is so low we will actually get some. Lately we have had the thunder and lightening, but no rain.

So far today I have no plans for today. I think I will work on typing up Jacob's birth story. I can't believe that I have not done this yet! I have done each of the others but haven't completed Jacobs. I got a good start the other day, but still have much of it left to type. So hopefully I will be able to get his typed up and saved.

Grandpa and I started watching the movie Avatar. We didn't get very far in the movie last night, so tonight we will finish it.

This morning as I was looking over the blog, I realized I didn't change the month for the birthday and events. I can't believe I didn't do that, how embarrassing! I apologize. I will try to watch that in the future!

Grandpa is still working on the windows in the Wilford Woodruff house. There are alot of windows, and many that need quite amount of work done on them.

It is almost time for me to be going to the pool. I am really glad that I can go. Yesterday I had some things happen that made me wonder. My throat felt like it was swollen and closing off, and I had some wheezing, but it was all in my throat and nothing in my chest. I took benedryl and put on my oxygen and it all really helped and I am doing better today.

Great Grandma Lemon is not doing very well. Last night she was given a blessing. Her time on earth is drawing to a close. She feels so miserable that we hope that she can go soon. This weekend for Memorial day, she is going to go stay with Aunt LuJean. I am so glad that she will not be alone.

We didn't get any rain here. But during the night we ended up having alot of thunder and lightening. Buster ended up in bed with us again last night. He is such a silly little puppy. We still don't know what we are going to do with him when we come to Utah.

Well, I had better end for now. I need to go out and wait for my ride.

Well, I am in slo mo today. I am not sure why my schedule is off today. It is after 10:00 and I am just starting my blog. And it is even a weekday!

Yesterday after Grandpa got off work we decided to have a date night. We got a pizza and some movies and we both just relaxed. We were both exhausted. Grandpa from working out in the hot sun all day and me, I overdid at the YMCA. We watched Flicka and Flicka 2. They were really good. We also got Monsters verses Aliens, and Avatar. I just watched Monsters Verses Aliens. Grandpa and I are going to probably watch Avatar either Wednesday or Thursday.

We were supposed to get rain today, but so far it is hot and sunny out! Sunday we had to break down and turn our air conditioning on. It was 90 degrees on Sunday!

Buster is sleeping by my side here. We are waiting for some potential dogsitters to come by. I say potential because we want to see how Buster responds to them. Some friends of ours has a daughter who loves animals, and her brother are coming. If things go well they will be taking care of Buster while we are gone.

Today I am feeling like I could just lay down and sleep all day. I did get the dishes done! Oh, and I did pick up Buster's toys, and straighten things up. But now I just feel like I need a nap. I may just have to do that.
Hope you all have a great day.

I feel like I just finished writing in my blog! Well, not much to write.... went to sleep and woke up....

Except with me, I can always talk! There is never a quiet moment around me. Anyone who knows me well, knows that!

Today is the start of another week! It is supposed to be sunny all week. It was funny, when I went to look at the weather report for the week, it was blank! Someone must have been tired! Yesterday it said sunshine, so I will go with that. My friends who brought me home from Church yesterday said that they heard it was going to rain all week. Maybe that is why it is blank, they don't know what to put!

I am looking forward to working out with the weights and exercising in the pool. It really sounds nice this morning.

Oh, Buster stayed in his kennel all night. I had a long talk with him. We sent him to bed last night and he went in, but within a few minutes he was out sleeping on the floor. So I went and laid down on the floor in front of his kennel. As soon as he saw me coming he got right back in his kennel. When I laid down, I had him come out so I could talk with him. I talked to him for a little while and then I put my hand on his bed, when I did he jumped in and stayed. I am not sure if he understood or just wanted me to stop talking, and let him go to sleep!!!

Grandpa is still working on the Wilford Woodruff house. Because of the rain, and other projects that have taken away him from the time he could've spent there, has made it so that he is still working there, and will be for quite awhile yet!

Today was a beautiful day. It did get really hot. Right now it is 86 degrees outside.

It was really nice to be able to go to Sacrament Meeting today, but I was really feeling off balance and needed to go home afterwards.

Yesterday Grandpa washed and vacuumed out our car. It looks really nice. While he washed the car, we put Buster on his chain, and attached it to a branch of our tree so that he could be out there. I went out too and sat on a chair and enjoyed the evening breeze, and being with Grandpa.

Quite awhile ago I loaned out the "Angels Don't Knock" series and forgot to write down who I loaned it to. Well we found them! I should be getting them back soon. I had almost given up hope of getting them back, and just decided not to worry about it anymore. Then when a friend of mine came to borrow a book, I felt impressed to ask her if she knew anything about the books. She knew exactly where they were! I am glad I listened to the prompting!

I get my schedule so mixed up on Saturday. Here it it late afternoon and I am just starting my blog. Right now Grandpa has gone to get gas for the lawn mower. Buster went with him. Today is Buster's birthday. Jacob and Tally got him a little hippopotamus squeak toy, we got him a doggy bed and a little sheep squeak toy. We also got him some treats and a new kind of dog food to try. We aren't sure if he is going to eat it or not, we will have to see. So with the toys, the bed, the treats, and the ride in the car, I think he had a fun birthday.

Earlier today Grandpa and I went to the Temple. We so enjoy the privilege of being able to go. There is no place on earth where the Spirit is more beautiful than in the Temple.

After the Temple we went to Great Grandpa & Grandma Pierce's. They were just planning on going to a fund raiser for Breast Cancer. Great Aunt Jackie is a Survivor of Breast cancer and she was on the committee here for the fund raiser. Grandpa and Grandma Pierce invited us to go with them. Aunt Jackie was at the cash register taking money for the food, and donations people might make. It was nice spending time with them and we enjoyed the food. I had a brats, and Grandpa had a sirloin tip sandwich. We cut each of our sandwiches in half and so we had a taste of each. When we finished we had to just drop Great Grandpa and Grandma Pierce back off at there house when we were done because Grandpa told a sister in the ward that he would pick up something for her.

We went to the Dollar General store after that. I was really surprised at the changes they had made in their store. That is where we got Buster's things.

Grandpa is back now and is starting to mow the lawn. With all the rain we have been getting it grows so fast! Our garden is growing too. We have 2 pepper plants, some zucchini plants, and a couple of tomato plants. I hope our little garden produces lots this year!

I finished watching those movies we rented. Well, out of the four Grandpa and I enjoyed The Spy Next Door. I watched the other 3 by myself. Arsenic and Old Lace was a Classic and I did enjoy that one. Julie and Julia, wasn't what I thought it would be and was ok, and Dog Days of Summer was not what I thought it was supposed to be at all, and was one of those depressing movies.

I got a call from Dr Ozment's office yesterday. The nurse told me that my labs had all come back normal. I was at a loss! I felt like a total hypochondriac! Most of all I was completely confused. I asked her if that meant that I should just stop all the medications I was on. That was exactly the first thought I had after her
call was to stop all my medications and just forget about being sick and just get on with my life. Well, the Spirit ruled out and I began to pray. I felt that I just had to be patient. A little bit later I got a call back from the nurse and she said that the doctor wanted me to continue with my medications just the way they are, because my tests were normal because the medications are working! How grateful I am for Priesthood blessings and prayer that will lead us in correct paths.

It is raining again today. It is really weird how some storms I can't stay awake and my pain level is not too bad. Other storms my pain level sky rockets! It is really strange and I don't know what makes the difference. Last night's storm was the latter. My pain level was quite high and I even took a pain pill during the night. I feel bad when I have nights like that because I know when I have a bad night then Grandpa has a bad nights sleep too, and he still has to get up the next day and go to work.

Yesterday Grandpa said that as he was working on the windows and he knew that the rain was coming, that he prayed that he would be able to get the caulking and glazing, and then taping them all done before it began raining. He said that he was just finishing up this when the rain began! It is wonderful the answer to prayers we receive each day!

Because of the rain Grandpa said that he will just be working on a bunch of little projects that need to be done. I guess you can say that the rain is good, because it gives them the opportunity to get all these little projects done too! :)

I was able to get to the YMCA. I did the weights and also did 3 miles on the stationary bike, afterwords did a half hour in the pool. I always enjoy going. I feel like I really accomplish something every time I go.

When I got home I did the cheese. It is not my most favorite thing to do but it needed to be done soon so it didn't go moldy. We buy a big bag of shredded cheese. We divide it by putting 2 cups in a baggie and then put the baggies in freezer bags.

I also did ironing. It has been quite awhile since I did ironing. I got most of it done. I have just three more shirts to do.

When Grandpa got home we ate dinner and went and got some videos. One of the videos we got was "The Spy Next Door". It was a cute movie. We got 3 other videos too. One is a fairly recent movie, "Julie & Julia", the other are oldies, "Arsenic and Old Lace", with Cary Grant, and "Dog Days of Summer" that I don't know anything about. We got all four movies for under $3.00!

This morning when Grandpa was out making breakfast, there was some birds chirping, and then it got louder and I thought that Grandpa was imitating the birds and talking back. It was pretty loud. When he came in he said that it was just the birds. And here I was thinking how fantastic Grandpa was doing mimicking the birds.

Yesterday Jacob and Tally and Maggie came over. Jacob installed a new modem on my computer. For some reason the one that was on my computer just started doing strange things. Jacob has me up and running once again. After he was done, of course we had to eat lunch so we got Subway. We also made some "fee fies" to go with them.

Yesterday I started typing up Jacob's birth story. Tally wants a copy of it. I was surprised that I couldn't find a typed up copy. So I started working on it. It took me over an hour just to make the stationary to type it on. Now that I have that part done I can get to typing it up.

Grandpa made it to the Temple on time. After the Baptisms he had a Scout committee meeting. He didn't get home last night until after 9:00.

It looks like it is going to be a very pretty day out. I am also feeling fairly good, so it looks like I am going to be able to go to the YMCA. I also need to get my VT cards done. It is amazing that it is already the 19th of the month already!!!About 21 more days until we will be in Utah! We can hardly wait!!

Grandpa and I watched a movie yesterday that was based on a true story. The name of the movie was "Mermaid". It was on the Hallmark station. We really enjoyed it. It was about a little girl who was about 4 yrs old whose daddy died, and some of the events that took place afterwards.

The food from "First Wok" was good just like always.

Grandpa is going to be working on the Wilford Woodruff home today. He hasn't been able to get much done on it because of all the rain. Yep, he is still working on those windows! Today it is going to be clear and sunny and get up to about 72 degrees.

This morning while we are eating breakfast we are listen to the talk by Julie B Beck. Since her talk is only 11 minutes, we will listen to Bishop Keith McMullin. It is so neat that it is so easy for us to listen to these talks!

The YM & YW are going to be doing baptisms at the Temple today, so I need to have things ready for Grandpa so that he can be to the Temple on time. He has to be at the Temple at 6:00. He gets home at about 4:30. It takes about a half hour to get back to Nauvoo, so he will only have about and hour to eat and get ready to go. I always enjoyed doing baptisms when I was a youth. It is a beautiful experience.

Yesterday turned out to be a very good day for me. I was able to stay for all my meetings, and I even was able to go to the SED and listen to Sister Black! It was a great Fireside.

When the SED was over we noticed that Roland was in the hall with all his little kids. They were waiting for the Seminary Graduation. We asked if we could take them home with us. So we brought them home with us. Roland had Hanna come home with us to help us. It was a fun evening.

Today I didn't get to go to the pool. Again there were things going on in my body that made it so I couldn't go.

Grandpa picked up Chinese for dinner tonight.

It has been drizzly all day, and now the sun is finally poking out from behind the clouds.

Grandpa just left for his meetings. He left, and then came back because he had forgotten the refreshments for the SED (Sunday Evening Discussion, with a member of the Bishopric. Except today Sister Susan Black who is a professor of Church History and Doctrine and an author of several books related to Joseph Smith, Jr. and the early history of the Church. (She is also Grandpa and Grandma Pierce's neighbor) is the one who will be speaking. The SED is right after our block of meetings. Later this evening at 7:00 pm is Seminary Graduation.

When Grandpa came back to pick up the refreshments, Buster darted out of the house and jumped in the car. Grandpa had a hard time getting him out. He really wanted to go for a ride!

It is overcast outside again today. There is a 50% chance of rain for the day. I am feeling pretty good despite my late night last night. It was pretty late before I finally go to sleep. It is a good thing I don't do that very often! By staying up last night I got to talk to one of my friends on facebook. She sent me a link for a beautiful talk by Elder F Enzio Bushe http:///www.youtube.com/watch?v=snAjZ8mfoYw

I just called to confirm my ride to church. I am so grateful that Sister Biesk is so willing to pick me up. I call her when I am able to make it to church. If she doesn't get a call she knows that I won't be needing a ride because I am not feeling well.

I am excited to be able to go to church today. I love to be able to go and see and feel the Spirit there! I am so thankful for the opportunity to partake of the Sacrament. Sunday is truly a special day!

This morning Grandpa and I slept in. It was very nice. Then we decided to finish our book we were reading before we got up. We didn't have much left. It took us longer than expected because it seemed that we got one phone call after another! But that was ok. We didn't mind. We just thought it was funny that it happened that way! :)

Yesterday evening I couldn't connect to the Internet! Everything was fine one minute then it just wouldn't connect. I figured I would wait until this morning and see if it was working again. This morning it still didn't work so I called our phone company that our DSL is thru. She tested things and said that according to her we could connect and that it had probably something to do with our antivirus program. I ran a scan on both computers and all was ok there. Then I reset the virus program back to it's default settings and that did the trick. When I was working with the tech she had me disconnect our wireless connection thing. When I went to hook it back up I couldn't seem to get it right, so I talked to Tally and she said that her and Jacob would come by when Jacob woke up.

It seemed that the stress of the morning caught up with me and I had some unpleasant things like the severe weakness and burning muscles and pain in my joints. When I get this severe tiredness it almost seems that I am too tired to breathe so I put my oxygen on. I laid down in bed and found a movie that I wanted to watch. I saw part of it, but fell asleep. I was doing much better after my nap.

Jacob and Tally came by this afternoon and it didn't take Jacob long to figure what needed to be done with the wireless connection thingy. I was very grateful to be able to get online again with my laptop!!!

Jacob and Tally brought Maggie with them today. Buster and Maggie had a fun play date.

We got hamburgers from Dairy Queen, (It is funny that the bacon cheeseburgers we had and the picture of the bacon cheeseburger that I got from the site, really didn't resemble each other much. Well, maybe it is because we didn't get the onions!) When Jacob and Grandpa came home from picking up the hamburgers we made our "fee fies" to go with our dinner.

After dinner Grandpa and Jacob gave me a Priesthood blessing. I feel a lot calmer about the labs that are being done and just about everything. I am so thankful for Priesthood blessings!

Jacob and Tally left just after 8:00 pm. They needed to get home so Jacob could get some sleep before he had to go to work at 1:00am in the morning!

Grandpa worked on our little caller ID machine and got it working again, and then he hooked it up so it could sit on my nightstand. (Which meant that I had to clean it off so that he would have a place to put it.)

Grandpa is sleeping, and I am just finishing up the blog for the day. I sure am blessed!

Just before Grandpa got home to take me to my appt with Dr Ozment yesterday, I got a call from the sleep center. They said that the results showed that I didn't show my episodes during my sleep study and because of that I do not need to see the sleep study doctor and that my tests will just be sent to my primary care doctor and I could follow thru with him. I ask the nurse who called if that meant that I didn't need to use my concentrator at night anymore. She was confused and didn't know what to tell me. I brought it up with Dr Ozment. In discussing things with him it was brought up that the day before the sleep study I had a Kenolog shot, which would make my breathing much better. So I guess in a way the study was not accurate. So we should rely more on the oximetery test that was done previously. So silly.

In talking with Dr Ozment he decided that before putting me on a medication like methotrexate, he wants to do a complete Lupus panel and other blood work to determine what is going on right now. These results will take about 10 days to get back.

After we were done with the appts. we decided to go to eat at a restaurant in Quincy. We went to "Tiramisu". It is an Italian restaurant. We had steak and salmon. The food was great and we enjoyed being together. On the way home we stopped off at Sam's Club and got the groceries there we needed. We found out that you can buy stamps at Sam's Club! We have been trying to get to the Post Office, but just never seem to make it. It was nice to finally have the stamps I needed!

It is raining again this morning. It really came down during the night. It thundered and there was alot of lightening. Buster ended up in our bed again. It sure seems strange, we never let any of our children come into bed with us, but now we have a puppy that sleeps with us when the storms get bad. So silly.

This morning we listened to the last talk in Conference. We are so blessed to have these talks available so easy to listen to whenever we want! It really works for us to start our day out with one of the talks. We listen while we eat breakfast and then when we finish we have our scripture time. After we finish reading the scriptures, we read from "Preach My Gospel". Our stake has chosen chapter 4 as our theme this year. So we read a little from that each morning. By doing this, I feel that we are putting on the armor of God. The world is so full of things that can destroy us and push us farther and farther away from being like our Savior. I feel that when we do this each morning, we are prepared for the things that come and we can stand fast in righteousness!

Grandpa is really concerned about all the windows he has been working on at the Wilford Woodruff house, and the Lucy Mack Smith house. He ran out of tape and was not able to tape up all the windows before it started raining. All this rain has probably caused some problems. He will see when he gets there. Hopefully the rain is coming the right direction so that it isn't causing problems. We can always hope!

Today is my appt with Dr Ozment. Grandpa will be picking me up at about 2:45 this afternoon.

We woke up to rain this morning. Grandpa said that he was really glad that he had taped up around the windows that he had prepped for painting!

Grandpa is out fixing breakfast. I feel like I am starving this morning! I think that it has something to do with the prednisone, and the unpleasant digestive issues started up again last night :(

That was a very fast rain. The birds are already out there chirping! Hmmmm..... I just looked at the weather report and we are going to be getting rain off and on throughout the day.

About 2:30 yesterday I started getting the dinner ready for the Sister Missionaries. I put chicken in a covered casserole dish. I poured soy sauce over the chicken and then put it in the microwave to defrost. After the chicken was defrosted I put it in a fry pan with olive oil and minced garlic to cook. After it was done I diced it up so it was ready to go on top of the salad. While the chicken was defrosting and cooking, I cut up veggies for a salad. I cut up squash, both zucchini and yellow squash, and I cut up carrots. When Grandpa got home he cut up tomatoes, and olives. We had mushroom that we bought that were already sliced. We had a bag of Italian salad to have all the veggies and chicken on. We had ranch, bleu cheese and Italian dressings. We also had Texas garlic toast to go with the salad. For dessert we had the roasted fruit (the one done with frozen fruit mixed with butter and sprinkled with brown sugar, put on a cookie sheet and cooked for about 30 minutes at 425 degrees) on top of ice cream. The Sisters really seemed to enjoy the dinner and I was really glad for that!

After dinner the Sisters challenged us to think of some names of those we could invite to pageant. They gave us a card to write the names on to give back to them so that they could pray for them with us.

Grandpa had YM & YW's yesterday. They YW made french omelets. Grandpa said that they were big, fluffy french omelets. He said that he had a taste and they were really good!

Grandpa just left for work. Buster just finished his peanut butter (We were told that giving him peanut butter will help so that he won't have dry flakey skin). A hummingbird just came to the feeder.

With all the rain we are having it kind of hinders the work Grandpa does. He is getting a lot of the prep work done so when things dry out a little he will have alot of things ready to paint.

Grandpa was just telling me that there is a tree that fell across the river road, that they have moved out of the way.

Yesterday I went in to find out the results of my labs. They were all pretty good. After that Grandpa and I went to do our grocery shopping. We brought Buster with us. He does a whole lot better in the car now. After shopping we came home and ate dinner. We picked up dinner at Burger King. That made things nice since we are really tired after grocery shopping, and then coming home and putting them away. When we finished dinner we read more from our book. We are still ready "Murder by the Book".

This evening the Sister Missionaries are coming to dinner. We always enjoy having them come.

I just want to start the blog today by thanking you all for my mother's day wishes! It made my day!

Also, I want to apologize for not writing in the blog yesterday.

One of the things that I have been wanting to do for a long time is making smors. Well yesterday, Grandpa and I made each of us a smor. We put our marshmellows on meat forks and roasted them over the burner on our gas stove. They really didn't roast as well as over a fire, but it worked. The smors were very yummy!

I seem to be doing a little better this morning. I am just really weak and wrung out. I will have to stay home today and recoup. This afternoon I have an appt to talk about all my labs from last week.

It is really beautiful outside again today, but the forcast says it is supposed to rain this afternoon! With how pretty it is right now that is hard to believe. When it rains it really doesn't help with Grandpa's schedule at work. Hopefully the rain will hold off so he will be able to complete some of the project on his list. This week it shows rain off and on almost all week long. The visitors start coming around Memorial day. Grandpa is trying to get as much done as he can by then.

Whew! I thought that I had better hurry and write or the day would be over and I will have missed out. Last night Grandpa and I went to the video store. We rented four movies! It has been quite awhile since we have done that. We even watched three of them last night. The movies we watched last night were: The Tooth Fairy, The Prince and Me, an Elephant Adventure, and Leap Year. Today we went with Great Grandpa and Grandma Pierce to lunch at a Sandwich shop in Nauvoo. The sandwiches were really good! Grandpa had a sandwich which is called, Porter Rockwell. It is a grilled turkey and ham and cheese. Grandpa asked for guacamole on the side, we shared his sandwich and mine so that we can get variety. I ordered a Mullholland. It is a pork bbq sandwich. Great Grandma Pierce had a veggie sandwich, she really enjoyed it. Great Grandpa Pierce had a Porter Rockwell like Grandpa. They have ice cream there. It is done a really fun way. They put the cream and the flavorings in a bowl, then they spray nitrogen in the bowl and then stir it all up. We got a sample of it while we were there. We were too full to order any ice cream. After we finished at the sandwich shop we went back to Great Grandpa and Grandma's to watch the last video that we had rented which was, The Blind Side. We really enjoyed all the videos. When we finished, Grandpa had to go to a meeting at the Church that was for all the Bishoprics and Branch Presidencies in the Stake. While Grandpa was at his meeting, Great Grandpa and Grandma Pierce and I watched the video, The Prince and Me, an Elephant Adventure. It was fun watching it again but I was tired and fell asleep, I think I even snored at one point, (how embarrassing). At least Great Grandpa and Grandma didn't say anything. At one point their neighbor, who is Susan Easton Black came over to ask for their help to help her husband find where a beeping sound was coming from that has been really annoying her. They found it was a smoke detector in the crawl space that the batteries had gone dead in. They put a new battery in and everything was good, and there was now more beeping.

I really love living here, and all the opportunities we have of being here with so many good people we have to associate with. I love watching people and learning from them. I am learning so much about loving people and looking past the petty things the world judges us so harshly by. Here those things don't matter as much.

The one thing that makes it hard to be here is that I miss you all so very much. You all bring me so much happiness! I am truly blessed to be your Grandma.

Grandpa had the opportunity to clean the Temple last evening. He didn't get home until after 10:30pm. So we didn't get to bed until about 11:00pm. Then during the night a fierce thunder and lightening storm hit. Buster who doesn't normally have a problem, had a problem and decided to come and sleep with us. It took him a little bit to figure out where he would feel safe. He finally decided to snuggle in the pillows above my head. The storm isn't as loud now and the lightening doesn't seem as bright, but it is still going on. Every once in a while we get some really loud thunder and Buster comes and cuddles up to my side.

Well Grandpa has left for work. I hope the river road is okay for him this morning. Sometimes when it has really been raining the water can cover the road in spots and can really cause problems getting thru these huge spots. Hey, all of a sudden it is quiet and the rain has stopped for now! I wonder if this is going to be the end of the storm for the day? It would be nice if it is, because I would like to go to the pool today without worrying about how Buster is doing. I am really hoping to get to the pool again today. I know I that I shouldn't push to much while I am there, but I think if I am careful I will be okay to go.

With so many things happening in our family, I was wondering if we could remember those who may be going thru so much at this time in our prayers. We have such a wonderful family. I am grateful for the love we share, and am grateful we can give strength to each other when needed! You are in Grandpa & I's thoughts and prayers continually! Love you all!

Today is Thursday. It is already the 6th of May! The weather here is beautiful. Yesterday Grandpa worked on the yard as soon as he got home from work. He wanted to get it mowed before he had to leave to go to an appt with the missionaries to an investigators house here in Hamilton. Grandpa had to come in before he had everything done so he could get cleaned up and be ready on time. Just as he was coming out to eat dinner that I had ready for him, the Missionaries called and said the meeting had been cancelled. So Grandpa ate dinner with me and then went and changed again and went out and finished outside. Things look pretty good outside. It is sad this last winter we lost some of our pretty bushes.

Today is payday, well actually tomorrow is payday, but we have automatic deposit so it comes a day early. Grandpa and I started our new budget plan this month, and we are going to be very strict and keep a close watch on all our purchases so we stay in our budget.

We are getting hummingbirds at our feeder now! I love to watch the humming birds. They fly in really fast, and then they are gone, just that fast. One just came as I was typing this!

I think that I am starting to feel a little better from the flare I was having. In fact I am going to go to the YMCA to work out tomorrow.

I am going to have to give Buster a bath today. Grandpa said that he would do it this weekend, but I don't think that I can wait that long. He just doesn't smell good at all!

Yesterday ended up being very interesting. When Grandpa was on his way home, we found out that Jacob and Tally were on there way out our way to go shopping. We decided to see if before they went grocery shopping, they would like to go out to dinner for Mother's day, with us. We decided to go to the restaurant in Keokuk called, "Beef, Bread & Brew". We all had prime rib au juis sandwiches. We had ordered our food when Grandpa got a call on his cell phone. It was Cheryl Hunt. Cheryl's husband, Dale was in the emergency room at the Ft. Madison Hospital about 20 minutes away from where we were. Cheryl and Dale are very good friends of ours. They wanted Grandpa to come to the emergency room to give Dale a Priesthood blessing. We hurried and ate our food, went back home so that Grandpa and Jacob could change into white shirts and ties. Then we all headed to Ft Madison. Dale had been on his way to his and Cheryl's cabin in Dallas City. He had taken some old ibuprofen earlier. On his way to the cabin he had got really sick. He stopped to use a restroom and when he came out he had to sit down he was so weak. He asked some people to help him, and they called an ambulance! When he got to the emergency room his blood pressure was only 40/30! Grandpa and Jacob gave him a blessing and I was so happy and relieved when Dale was told that he had alot to do here and that this would be but a small bump along the way! Priesthood blessings are so wonderful!

By the time we got home it was time for us to get things together really fast and head to the Blessing Sleep Center in Quincy for my sleep study. (We go back in 3 weeks to find out the results of the sleep study).

This morning when we called to see how Dale was doing he was home and doing better. It was decided that he must have had a reaction to the out dated ibuprofen.

Since it was so late when we got back from Ft Madison, Jacob and Tally decided that they would go shopping today. They are going to stop here on there way shopping to drop of Maggie so that she and Buster can have a play date.

I decided that I should get back on track, and get the blog done in the morning.

Today is my sleep study. I am not supposed to sleep during the day. I will have to try really hard to stay awake! I am so glad that they will have a bed for Grandpa to sleep in while I am doing my study!

Grandpa just finished his exercising. Buster and I didn't go out with him this morning. I am still having quite a bit of pain this morning, so I decided to just stay and work on the blog.

Grandpa started working on the stage for Sunset on the Mississippi. They put some stuff in the paint to help so the surface won't be so slippery. It was sprinkling outside and threatened the project, but didn't make too much difference so they were able to continue with the project.

Grandpa said that he will be checking the stage today to see how things are with it, then Elder Trotter will be finishing it up. Grandpa is going to finish up the Wilford Woodruff home and then fix a window in the Stone house. The stone house is a home where the the young performing missionaries stay.

I can hear the whistle for a barge on the Mississippi. It is in the lock and the whistle blows to let the barge know that it is safe for it to move on. It is now 4:55 am, they must've gotten up pretty early to be clear down hear going thru the lock already!

Again another day the blog is seriously late. I am sorry, but today started out to be a very painful day. I knew that things were out of control and so Grandpa gave me a blessing, and I was instructed to call Dr Joe and he would be inspired to know what to do. I called Dr Joe and he said to make an appt to see him today. Grandpa stayed with me this morning until we had the appt set. Grandpa went back to work until about 45 minutes before my appt. On his way home he got stopped on the river road because they were putting in new guardrails. He finally got home and we had just under 10 mins to get to Dr Joe's office. Well on the way there we got stopped by the train. I think by the time we got there it was exactly 11:00 am, time for my appt. I was given a Kenalog shot, which is a cortisone shot, and a prescription for prednisone. They also took blood to make sure everything is working normal. After we got back home Grandpa made us lunch. We had salmon and hash browns and green beans. It was really yummy!

When Grandpa got home he planted our garden. Right now he is at the Hamilton FHE potluck that is at the Hamilton city park. Sister Thurman who is one of the sweet widow ladies that Grandpa home teaches called and asked for a ride, so I told him to go ahead and go.

I am hoping to start feeling a little better tomorrow.

Whew! What a day! Our big goal for the day was to go grocery shopping. We started out on a project here at home. We didn't realize that it would take me until about 3:00 to finish the little project! I was working on a page for a wonderful book that Great Grandpa and Grandma Pierce gave us for Christmas. It is a 12x12 scrapbook. The pages that they gave us were like a photocopy of a scrapbook page. These are pages for ancestors going back 6 generations from Grandpa. The page I did today is a collage of pictures. They are of all our family. I just realized that I am not finished yet! I didn't put any name labels!!! I guess I will have to finish another day.

We finally made it grocery shopping. While shopping we kept seeing ward members and missionaries and so we had to stop and talk. From the time we left home until the time we got home it was almost 3 hours!

Well, I finally was able to get the pictures for the Coolidge house that Grandpa was painting, more especially the lettering that he had repaint. First Grandpa had to make his own stencil. He did this by putting wax paper over the old letters and tracing them. He then had to fix all the holes. After the wall was ready he painted over the old lettering because alot of it was falling off and he needed to just start from scratch. Then he painted the lettering back on. So I have 4 pictures of the lettering, and then I am just going to throw in a picture of Buster.