Broken Arm

Yes, you read that right, I have managed to break my arm.  It is my right arm and I am technically left handed and so you would think not so bad.  Right?  Wrong!  This world is REALLY made for right handed people and I also do a lot of things with my right hand.  I am having a fair amount of pain, I need to get back to work someday and I can't type worth anything so I will explain all of this when I can type better.  Let me just say, I must be the clumsiest person alive!

First Cruise!

Brooks and I went on our first cruise a few weeks ago.  We cruised to the Caribbean and visited five islands.  We had the best time!  We traveled with some friends from Lewiston and another couple from the Ogden area.  I have posted tons of pictures that won't mean much to anyone but me but that's okay since this is really my journal.

This is our ship.  We went on Royal Caribbean and loved it!  I would definitely recommend this cruise line.  The food was amazing, the ship was very clean and everyone was friendly and helpful.

This is kind of the main gathering area.  There were refreshment/bars on each level and almost always a live band playing.

There were three pools on our ship.  This is the main outside pool.  There was a kids pool with a tube slide in another area and also an inside pool through the doors that you can see straight ahead.

These are pictures of the buffet areas where we had breakfast and lunch most days. Almost everything imaginable was offered there to eat.

This is that main area again, I thought it looked pretty from an upper floor.

These two men standing were our main and assistant waiters.  They were very impressive.

I took some pictures of our stateroom.  We didn't have a window and I was quite worried about it before we left, but it didn't bother me at all.  The bed was really comfy and there was a place for everything we took with us.  If we ever go again, I'd like to splurge and get a room with a balcony just to sit out on and watch everything on the cruise days.

I actually loved the shower!

The elevators.

Our maid did these for us and left them in our room.  He also did a swan but Brooks pulled it apart before I had a chance to get a picture.

We had just a little beach time but not much.  The beaches were beautiful with tons of white sand.

Dinner with friends.

Mark and Shanna

Ron and Maggie

I think Brooks looks thrilled or maybe just too full.  It was insane, how much we ate and then our waiter would just bring us more.  It was so good and very hard to resist.

We went snorkeling for one of our excursions.  I also put this picture in because of how blue the water was.

 On the island of Grenada we saw a poinsettia tree and we also found a church!

 

 Fancy dinner night. 

I hope someday we get to take another cruise.  This is a good way to vacation, especially when the weather is perfect!

Happy Baptism!

Jaxon turned 8 on December ninth and he was baptized on January 7th.  It was a very special day for him.  I can't believe I am old enough to have an 8 year old grandchild!

Here are a few pictures of the day.

I bought the #8 from my friend Melissa at hollyhocks-honeybees.blogspot.com

Jaxon asked me to give a talk about the Holy Ghost that day.  I talked about how the Holy Ghost can be a comforter and gave him this quilt.  A good family friend made it for me and Jax loved it!  Of course it came in a Bronco bag for him.

Suzette played the music for the program.

I didn't get a very good selection of pictures but here are the few I took.

What a pose!

 Bo thinks he is ready to play with the big boys.

It was a really wonderful day and Kara and Phil had great family support.

Tarbets' Top 11 for 2011

I kind of stole this idea from another blog but I thought it was a good one and wanted to try it.

I had to look at my 2011 posts to remember what we had done during the year.  Our year was fairly uneventful but not a bad year at all.

11.  The mammogram learning experience and finding out there wasn't any cancer.

10.  We put up another sprinkler/pivot on the farm.  Why is this a big deal?  It makes life much easier for Brooks and the others and as a result it makes my life a little nicer.

9.  The opportunity to watch our niece Lindsay be featured and play with the Salt Lake Symphony.  This girl has talent!

8.  Brooks and I went to St George last Spring, played some golf and just relaxed.  It's always good to get away once in a while.

7.  Another Lewiston 4th of July in the record books.  This is a huge tradition for our family and we love it!

6.  Hutchison girls sleep over.  This was really fun and we need to do it again!

5.  Lots of soccer games with Bryn and Jax.  This was Bryns first year and before we know it the other grand kids will be playing also.

4.  Bryns dance review.  I was impressed with the whole production.  Bryn was amazing!

3.  Family trip to Jackson Hole.  We try to do this every year.  We all stay together, float the river, do the Alpine slide and just hang out.

2.  Spending quality time with our grandchildren.  We are so blessed to have them all close by and we love it!

1.  My i Phone!  Have I said how much I love my phone?  I even convinced Kara and Jessica to get one.  I'll never go back to the other phones!

Christmas 2011

We had a really nice Christmas this past December.  I kind of enjoyed having it on a Sunday.  It really helps you think about the true meaning and maybe even become a little more grateful for what we have, and truly enjoy it ALL.  Our children all came to our house after their churches were out.  Ours was at 9:00 AM in Logan so we were done early and back at home ready for everyone to arrive.  We opened gifts first then ate our Christmas dinner.  Brooks and I tried a different menu this year.  Ribs, fresh rolls, cheesy potatoes, salad, plus lots of treats and pick-up food.  For the most part it was a success.  We need to tweak the ribs a little for the next time.

Here are some pics that I took that day.

Molly and Jessica after our dinner.

Kara, Phil and Jaxon.

Molly, looking at the other kids new toys.

Kara and Jax putting together Bo's new toy.

Grandpa Brooks enjoying his new book.

I think this new bag was one of Brynly's favorites.

Kelsey and Brady, nice pose.

Kade and Jax.  I can't ever get a decent picture of Kade and I'm sure he didn't think that I would post this picture.

These two little guys had way too much fun together.

Bo and Baine.  Very cute!

I hope everyone had a nice day.  My dad was and still is in the hospital but my Mom was able to come to our house and celebrate with us.  We really enjoyed having her and I hope that she had a good day as well.

Catching up

It's late but I can't seem to find the time to post at a reasonable hour so I'm doing this now.  We've had so much going and I'm just trying to catch up a little. I have no pictures.  I've been really bad using my wonderful camera lately but I will get better.

My dad is in the hospital right now.  He's been there for two weeks and not going home anytime soon.  He fell at home and dislocated one hip and broke the other.  We were told that it was a pretty traumatic fracture.  He had surgery a few days later and that's when everything went South.  He didn't make it through the anesthesia well.  After three hours in the recovery room, (average is 45 minutes) he was transferred to ICU.  I had gone home and when he made it to ICU, my mom called me and turned the phone over to the physician.  The MD told me that my dad was in cardiogenic shock, hypovolemic shock, and septic shock.  Any one of these three is potentially deadly.  In layman's terms it meant that he had lost a lot of blood, they suspected he may have had a heart attack, and he also had contracted a serious infection.  The MD didn't give us much hope.  To make a long story short, Dad pulled out of the worst of it but as a result he is now very weak.  Catching up from the loss of blood has been very challenging and as a result the recovery is literally baby steps.  He understands how challenging this all is going to be for him to be able to return home and so he has some good days and some really crappy days.  We all get a little down in the dumps about it. 

Getting old really isn't fair at all!  My dad has significant hearing loss, very little eye sight, and now he's stuck in bed with nothing to do.  My mom is spending most of her days with him and I know it really helps him.  Our family has really appreciated the good thoughts and prayers from everyone.  Please keep them coming, we need them all!

We had our Ward party last week.  It was exhausting and fun at the same time.  The kids are always so appreciative and helpful.  We are loving this calling. 

We had our Hutchison family Christmas this weekend at our house.  Another exhausting but also fun party.  My own kids are always amazing with the help they give me. 

I'm not yet ready for Christmas.  I have a fair amount of shopping left to do and I haven't wrapped anything.  Every year I swear I'm going to be more organized and it doesn't happen.  Maybe if I start in January it will happen. 

Jaxon turned eight on December 9.  I will post more about that another time.

A lot to say:

Brooks and I flew to Denver on Wednesday to catch the Bronco football game on Thursday.  It was a quick trip but a well needed getaway for both of us. 

Flying, the last few years, has become very frustrating to me.  No one wants to check a bag anymore because of the cost, myself included, but there are some things that I can't take onto a plane inside of a carry on so we always have to check one bag.  It just really bugs me when EVERYONE tries to bring their HUGE bags onto the plane and fill up all of the overhead bins and leave no room for those of us that have a small bag or coat that we'd like to place overhead. 

We flew on a smaller plane and so before we boarded we were informed that most carry on's would be too large and would have to be placed in the cargo deck.  Most of the passengers were compliant with this except for one.....This man was a former pilot and for some reason he thought that the rules didn't apply to him.  When Brooks and I were trying to get to our seats, this man was busy trying to shove his carry on into the overhead.  It required strength and some extra help to get it in.  It filled the entire bin and so Brooks and I had to find another one to put our small things into.  I wanted to say something to this man but I restrained myself.  When we were getting ready to land, we were ALL told to turn off our electrical devices.  We all did except for this same man.  He was busy doing things on his phone!  Finally the flight attendant saw him and asked him again to turn it off and then he did.  I didn't wait to watch him get his bag out of the overhead.  They probably had to dismantle it for him to get it out!

That evening Brooks and I took our hotel shuttle into downtown Denver to the 16th street mall and had dinner and looked around for a while.  It was really cold so we didn't stay very long.  We did see this building and I just had to take a picture.  I really needed some of this for the game the next day.

I took this picture of Brooks and I before the game started.  I told Brooks to smile because he usually doesn't.  He looks pretty darn happy!

 A few pictures of the game.  You can get a better idea of how good our seats are from the bottom picture.

I had to get a picture of this fat butt and no its not mine.  This man was on the front row and still kept standing up right in front of me!  It was a little nippy and as soon as I'd get all tucked in this guy would stand up again!  Of course he was drunk and didn't know half of what he was doing.  The guys behind us were completely wasted and kept bumping our heads and stuff.  I told Brooks that I could handle it as long and the guy didn't spill beer onto my hair!

When I go to a game, I really go to watch it and I really look forward to it because I REALLY LOVE football!  I don't understand why so many people pay a bunch of money to go and pay even more money for alcohol to get totally wasted and not even remember most of what they were seeing or doing!  Just doesn't make sense to me.

We flew home on Friday and just before we landed I realized that I didn't know where I had put our car keys!  I drove us to the airport because Brooks had been up early so I thought I'd be nice and drive.  On the plane I looked through my purse, carry on and all of my pockets.  Brooks didn't have them either.  I couldn't remember doing anything with them after I parked the car and we got out of it.  When we got off the shuttle and found our car in the lot, we looked inside and there were the keys still in the ignition!  The doors were also unlocked!  I was so worried about writing down where we were parked that I totally forgot to get the keys out and lock the doors.  I did pull the key far enough out of the ignition to stop the alarm.  Yea, another senior moment.  They are becoming more frequent.

When we got to Bountiful, on our way home, Kara called and told us that she had been in a car accident!  We are so very grateful that she wasn't hurt!  They are pretty sure that their car is totaled.  None of the kids were with her. (another blessing) She is a tough girl, a little sore, but going along as if nothing has happened.  She was protected!

So I guess this will be my thankful post.  We are a blessed family.  Even though the Fall months are hard for me I still feel very blessed.  I get a little melancholy and maybe even a bit on the ornery side.  I feel a little stress that I used to never feel.  I think it's mostly because of what seems to happen to our family during this time of year.  We have experienced major and minor accidents, death, illness, and health scares.  I know that we are not the only ones but it still hits me every year around October and lasts for a while.  In spite of this, I still know that I am a very blessed person.  I also know that it's from our Father in Heaven.  That knowledge is what gets me through it all and everything else.