Love

I love books. I love Spring. I love Jason. I love Herc. I love Harli. I love my friends. I love my work. I love that Birdie talks to me. I love UFC best knockouts- the one with the flying knee was awesome! I love coupons. I love Webb Hill. I love albuterol inhalers. I love music. I love Twilight. I love Fablehaven. I love a clean kitchen floor. I love Cinnamon Toast Crunch. I love Granny Smith apples. I love Jason's purple goatee. I love driving the VW. I love my perpetual calendar of affirmations. I love the Squatting Turkeys bowling 4 kids team. I love when operation repo takes a snooty rich guy's car! I love when Harli sleeps with her face on Jas neck. I love that Visa spotted a fraudulent charge and froze our credit card before the charge went through! I love when the scale says I am staying about the same, even though I bought the 5 lb bag of peanut m&ms! I love that Darb wants to have us over for dinner.
I am reminded of the song that goes something like this...
I love the mountains, I love the rolling hills, I love the fountains I love the daffodils I love the fireside when the lights are low, boom de ada boom de ada boom de ada boom de ya!
Infinite Love and Gratitude to all of you!

Fantastic weekend!
Friday afternoon we drove out to the Coral Pink Sand Dunes. What beautiful country! We went out with our Cousins Adam and Heidi, friends Glen and Sharlie and bunch of other fun folks. We had some excellent dutch oven chicken and potatoes on Friday night and then I got to drive home with Herc in the Dodge.
Saturday I got up early, went to help set up for Bowl For Kids Sake for Big Brothers Big Sisters, enjoyed every minute of it, great people, great bowling alley (Dixie Bowl).
Then I went over to Pine View High School to help get set up for the 2nd Annual March Mayhem in the Desert! The basketball coaches from the local high schools beat the Men from the Hood (Adult Tragedy Services team)...it is good to know that our kids are learning to play from coaches that can bring it!
Then we had a very close game between the Senior All Star Team (Rec N Crew)- Seniors from all of our local high school basketball teams playing together and TEAMRAW youth outreach's exposition team. The seniors won! It was a great event. It is exciting to me to see the kids from our local high schools coming together to benefit the youth in Washington County. I think it is great for those kids who have been competing for years and years to work together and cooperate! The dance team and cheer leaders working together was inspiring as well.
Once these two events were done I loaded up the truck and sped back to the Dunes...it only took me an hour and ten minutes to get there!
It was awesome...I love the dunes and the company couldn't have been better!

Back on the Horse...

Had to get back on the horse today...and called down Snow Canyon, in the wind, with my friend who has a new bike that weighs half mine....whine whine whine whine. But I rode almost 20 miles and had a terrific time and no ill effects from Jason's wreck. I still love to ride my bicycle! Thanks Sandra for motivating me to get back on the bike a whole lot more often! I am in training!

On another note, Harli now weighs 47 pounds! and she is no where near full grown. She was an excellent dog at the vet and Jas could handle her 1 handed, she even impressed them with her tricks.

One final awesome thing in our lives... we have booked a trip to Florida this summer!!!!! I am so excited. 4 days on the beach in Florida, never thought that would happen.

Today I am grateful for Spring! Green and growing, blue sky and sunshine, BBQing with Friends, hiking with the dogs, spraying the weeds, fertilizing the lawn, loving life.

Thanking Our Lucky Stars and Praying For Our Fellow Cyclist

Today we are extremely grateful. We learned this morning that our fellow cyclist Kim Johnson was in an accident last night on a ride that had alarming similarities to Jason's accident on Sunday. Kim did not fare as well as Jason. She was life flighted to a hospital up North and is being sedated to allow her brain to heal with as little stress on it as possible. She has bleeding on her brain as well as multiple fractures. Our thoughts, prayers and positive energy is flowing continually to Kim and Dave Johnson and their son, and to the doctors caring for Kim.

After receiving a phone call from a friend this morning describing that Kim went down at about 25 miles per hour and had a broken scapula (one of the least of her injuries) I immediately had an overwhelming sense of gratitude mixed with despair. I am so grateful that Jason is OK and also so devastated by what Kim and Dave are going through...there but for the grace of God go we. I had to go to Mega Pro and kiss and hug my Jas, and say prayers of gratitude for our blessings as well as prayers of hope, strength, healing and love for Kim.

The only thing I have to say is ALWAYS WEAR A HELMET!! DO NOT GET ON A BICYCLE WITHOUT ONE!!!!

Prayers of Infinite Love and Gratitude.

Jas saw the orthopedic surgeon today... in addition to breaking his shoulder blade almost completely in half he broke the top rib in the back on the left. The good thing is that he has excellent musculature in his back and should heal very well. He will be back to almost perfect in 3 months, and he will be doing his own physical therapy, if it hurts to do that, don't do that! The Doc did ask about the lack of bruising...Jas just doesn't bruise, complete opposite of me.

Very grateful today that my boss came down to share the budget issues with the staff and answer questions for them. It shows great commitment to staff and being open and honest, which is, after all the best policy.

I was able to take Herc and Harli for a walk tonight, it has been a while and I really enjoyed it and so did they! It was so nice last night to come home and have Harli so excited to see me that she couldn't contain herself, Dogs are the best!

I also went to "Healthy Utah" today and was able to see the physical progress I have made over the last 10 years...I am healthier today than I have been in years. I lost 5% body fat last year. My body fat, BMI and waist circumference were all in the normal range! I am a normal sized person (now when will I start to think of myself in that way?) Every day in every way I am getting healthier and healthier, stronger and stronger and fitter and fitter!

I also love that our niece Taylor called me to talk about handling a tough situation with a friend and it all worked out well today! It feels so great to be trusted, valued, and loved! Right back at you T!

Infinite Love and Gratitude.

I am so grateful that stomach flu comes in the 12 hour variety and that is all that I had, yesterday was plain awful! I was supposed to be taking care of Jas but I don't know which of us was more miserable...I hate throwing up!

I am also very grateful that I had a meeting in SLC cancelled today so that I was able to sleep in and rest before driving to Orem for more meetings in Orem and SLC tomorrow... I am grateful that the old van brought me safely to my destination and was very grateful to be out of the van when the drive was over, the whole right hand side of the drivers seat has disintegrated so there is a perpetual slope that does not do wonders for the back (or my front) while driving. Thank goodness for a binder that keeps me somewhat upright and supported or I think my stomach would not have held me up for the whole trip.

Jason was able to work for 9 hours today and even achieved 500 prints, albeit with help...his black sling is also nicely decorated with a rainbow of ink now, I think he may be onto a new fad with the look...

I LOVE that I caught Biggest Loser tonight, what is it with that show and crying? They ran 1/2 marathons in their hometowns to begin with and the finish brought tears to my eyes, then the weigh in brought more tears, then the elimination still more...I don't even know these people but I find myself cheering them on and feeling for their struggles, I think this show is one of the things that is right with our Country, it gives me hope!

OWWEE

Never a dull moment in life with Jason! I've got great pics from my Grandma's 90th Birthday party, it was a great time. Then I've got some fantastic pics from a Green party last night, GREAT pics! We had a riot.

But what is taking over today's blog is the latest accident in Jason world.

This doesn't really show the damage to Jason's helmet, thank goodness for helmets! Jas was coming down Snow Canyon and did a Superman over his handle bars at about 25 miles per hour. He landed on his head and shoulder in the dirt. His helmet had a rock stuck in one of the vents, the foam is cracked and there are dings and gouges all over the side of his helmet. I've already thrown the helmet away, it won't be worn again.

Here you can see the scrapes Jason has all over his left side...oh it would have been so much worse had he landed on the asphalt...

He also broke his scapula...in layman terms that is your shoulder blade. It is one of those bones there isn't much to do for it, he has a sling, mostly to keep him more comfortable, and he has some pain pills (and he needs them, it HURTS!)

Today I am grateful that Jas is OK. It really could have been so much worse, and while it isn't fun and doesn't feel good, at least he will be fine! He won't enjoy taking it easy for the next few weeks, but he will be just fine.

Thanks to Dave V. for coming to our rescue and picking us up so we could get to the instacare!

TGIF! A long week. We must take the good with the bad. Busy.Busy.Busy.

The Chamber presentation went well- there were a bunch of friendly faces, I was surprised how many people I knew! There was a guy who does Toastmasters there and he was kind enough to point out that I said um 118 times in the 20 minute presentation! UGH. I may have to join Toastmasters, I know about the UM problem, but have not been successful in fixing it, it is distracting and I want to be more at ease and professional in my public speaking.
Jason's toe is getting better. Thank goodness.
We had a riot at our friend's Kelli and Rob's home for a BBQ this week. Their friend Dr. Haas was there playing his guitars- he is awesome, he's self taught and can play almost any song you request. He also sings and has some hilarious songs. "Why Don't We Get Drunk and Screw" was my favorite though the one about Mr. Health during the day was funny as well, and Margaritaville is always a good one! Brax was able to play along a bit and had fun too. Dr. Haas was one of those people who you can just tell is always positive, upbeat and happy, no matter what life hands him, I so admire that! Those are traits to strive toward! It reminds me of one of my affirmations this week- I choose my thoughts and I choose JOY as often as possible.
Speaking of Joy, I am so thrilled to be going up to SLC to join my Grandma Joy in celebrating her 90th Birthday!! What a fantastic role model of strength, love, and keeping your priorities in line she has always been to me.

Taylor's Play and Jason's Toe

We went up to Cedar Hills to watch our niece Taylor in her Jr High Play on Saturday, she did an amazing job. It was a funny British humor play full of dialogue and the kids had memorized their lines flawlessly! It was a bit of a risque topic for Jr. High, but very funny! I don't even remember having a Jr. High play? Did we do that back then? Any way this is Taylor, she is not the 20 plus years old that she looks in the pic, that is a costume! (As a side note I discovered yet another thing I don't know how to do on the blog, flip the picture so sorry you'll have to kink your neck to look at it!) PS that is our little Faith-er next to her and their dad Mike behind them.

Then once we got home, when Jas was trying to get the Airstream unloaded he was jumping on the bumper trying to get it to release and his foot slipped onto the hitch, then the trailer moved forward and his toes got caught between the hitch and the trailer! It is never a good thing when you hear strange noises and ask "Jas are you OK?" and the answer is "No". The answer is never "No"! I did not remain as calm as I would have hoped in crisis. He said to put something under the trailer jack (as it was not touching anything, thus all the weight on his foot), but nothing around would fit!! So he told me to jump on the bumper, but that didn't help. So he told me to go get Darb. I got Darb--I'm sure my voice near hysteria got his attention quickly and he came out and stood on the bumper, while I found something in the garage to put under the jack and Jason was able to crank the jack up and get his foot free. He kind of fell over sideways into the rocks and rolled around for a minute. I was picturing his toes being cut off, but there wasn't even any blood on his shoe, that was a good sign. He came in the house and took the shoe off and it was pretty much the little piggy who had none and the wee wee wee all the way home piggy on his left foot. They looked pretty much smashed to bits to me and I said lets go to the ER. He said no, they are just toes, there is nothing they can do. So below are some pics of the toe tonight! Beware these pics are a bit graphic, viewer discretion is advised, these pictures may be disturbing to certain individuals...

Actually the pics don't do the colors of the actual toe justice. It is very dark purple and gross.

We must say a very sincere thank you to our friends in the medical profession for their expert advice both last night and tonight. Who knew that Doctors would still do housecalls? You know who you are and we so appreciated your time and concern!!

Today I am ever so grateful that this wasn't any worse and that it isn't my toe!