Glenn's Big 4-0

I threw Glenn a great surprise party for his 40th birthday last week! Things could not have gone more perfectly. It was tricky to plan because we were gone the weekend before so I had to figure out the logistics and get the invitations out before we left. Luckily the boys still had baseball games so I was able to go out at night and deliver stuff. I also broke into Glenn's computer and went through his e-mail lists so I could e-mail invitations to those I couldn't get to personally. Then we left town which helped so no one could accidentally spill the beans.
His birthday was a Tuesday and the most perfect aspect was that a Court of Honor was scheduled for the same night. That made it so we could not make any plans (he was stuck doing the right thing) and also that he wouldn't be going to the baseball game that night. It also helped set expectations for the most disappointing birthday ever. To top things off, my family was in town so I told him that I had invited them over for cake and ice cream after the Court of Honor. You should have seen the let down in his face! (He likes to point out that it wasn't just the fact that it was my family, he would have felt the same with his family. He really wanted to go out and do something fun to celebrate.) He went off to work Tues. morning and all day he complained and sulked about how it was his 40th birthday and he got to go to work, go to a court of honor and then have cake and ice cream with his in-laws!
I spent the day picking up all the supplies and preparing food and also I tried to make a decent dinner so that it looked like we were at least trying to give him a good day. He sulked through dinner and then we had to leave for the Court of Honor. His foul mood made it really hard for me because I was bursting inside at how good this was going to be!
It was a perfect story to have my family come early to stay home with Abby (because of her tonsillectomy) and the younger kids. When we left for the Court of Honor the family flew into action to get the party set up out in the park. I had all of the balloons, food, and supplies hiding in the basement. I ordered one cake from the Orem Costco so my parents brought that one and I had another cake at the Pitcher's which they brought.
After the Court of Honor Glenn said "let's go!" I didn't know it at the time but he admitted that he planned to go home, get the family party over with and then go out to a late movie. He was going to take things into his own hands at that point. That worked out too because he didn't want to stay and talk to people. Even if I would have had to hurry him I had the excuse that the family party was waiting.
When we pulled into the park the first thing he noticed was Nathan Pitcher's truck and he said "Hey Nathan's here." Then he said "someone's having a party." I thought for sure he knew it was for him but I guess he didn't. I said "pull over." As he came to a stop he noticed the black balloons and the familiar faces and knew it was for him. He got out and everyone was yelling "Surprise", and "Happy Birthday!" He just raised his hand and said "Hi Everyone". He was pretty quiet which is rare for Glenn. Then I jumped in and let everyone know how he had sulked all day about his birthday and I quoted exactly what he had been saying about work, the court of honor and the in laws! It was great! We got him soooo good. There were only a few families there for the surprise and some of the baseball team. I was really glad the boys came, that meant a lot to him. More and more people trickled in through the night, most coming from the Court of Honor. He was really surprised at how many people there were and how I managed to pull it off. At one point my mom pulled him over and said "Glenn, don't think of us as the in-laws, think of us as the caterers!" I was really glad for their help and how everything turned out. As we went to bed that night he said "I really felt loved" and that was the whole point. Mission Accomplished!

Note: The following story may contain graphic images not suitable for all audiences.
Ok now that I got that out of the way, I'll tell you about Abby's tonsillectomy. Last year Abby had strep throat 4 times! After the 2nd time the Dr. wanted her to take the round of antibiotics, then wait 2 weeks then take a swab for an overnight culture to see if see was her own carrier. We took the antibiotics, waited almost two weeks then had strep again. The same thing happened again after the 3rd time where the strep would be back before we had a chance to swab her. The doc still wanted to do the culture but I took matters into my own hands and went straight to the ear, nose and throat Dr. instead. She (Dr. Heras) took one look and said, "ok we're gonna take the tonsils and the adenoids...". She didn't even hesitate. Her tonsils were so big and dense that she said the antibiotics really can't get into the depths of the tonsils and wipe out the strep completely. When Abby would get strep her tonsils would get so big that they would intertwine and she could hardly breathe. I always felt so bad for the her.
So we scheduled surgery but because she had already missed so much school we waited til summer to do the deed. That day was Monday July 21st.
We were told to be at the hospital at 8:15 am which was a great time. Not too early but also not too late for Abby because she had to be fasting. Abby was nothing but excited about getting these things out, she would tell everyone that she was getting her tonsils out in July, but in the hospital she was finally a little bit nervous. (I was nervous too but I didn't tell her that.) When it was our turn she changed into some cute little pajamas, no hospital robe for the kids I guess, and they brought her a little package that a youth group had made which had a notepad, some markers and a little stuffed dog. That was nice and helped her nerves. The Dr. and the anesthesiologist talked to her and then they took her away.


Glenn and I went to wait in the recovery room. It was two patients per room so there was a little boy behind the curtain who had had his done earlier. I was surprised to hear him up and talking just fine. I kind of thought it would hurt to talk.
I think only 20 minutes or so passed before Dr. Heras came in to tell us how it went. As she walked in the room she said "Those things were huge!" Then she started into the medical jargon and I was lost after that. From what I could gather one of the tonsils was fused to somewhere, and she had to do a different technique on that one. It sounded like it was leaving the top on the tonsils rather that getting the whole thing. She said that some Doctors do them that way anyway so it wasn't a big deal but that it might look bumpier than the other side. Also she did not end up taking the adenoids, again because of...(lots of medical jargon here) something to do with the way her palette came together...something about a clef... and the bottom line was that they weren't big or giving her trouble so she left them in. (What the heck is an adenoid anyway?)
I asked the Dr. if there were any pictures because they do that now days in surgery but she said no. She did mention that the tonsils were on her chart so we could probably see them if we wanted.
After the Dr. left Glenn said that we should get a picture of the tonsils and send it to Ben because while he was here he would constantly ask Abby if she was going to save them in a jar after they were out. She would say no but he would tease her about it over and over. I of course thought sending him a picture would be great so I went to the desk just across the hall from our room and asked the lady about getting them. She had to call back to the surgery room so she picked up the phone and said "Abby Taylor's mom wants a picture of her tonsils...." They weren't there so she made another call and again said "Abby Taylor's mom wants a picture of her tonsils..." She got off the phone and told me they were going to see if they could find them so I went back into the room with Glenn. When I sat down my phone beeped and I had a text message that said "Abby Taylor's mom is weird!" It was from Glenn and he totally cracked me up! I got him back though because I then left the room to call my sister and the tonsils showed up! Guess who got to take the picture? He was totally grossed out but was a good sport and took the picture for me. I was disappointed that I missed seeing them. He didn't get the greatest picture but I have to let him off the hook on this one.
Here they are:


Abby arrived soon after for her recovery. She slept a little, ate a Popsicle slushy, and complained about a bad smell that she thought was coming from the humidifier. She was up and talking too and did really really well through it all. I was so proud of her and relieved to have this much over. She was a little impatient to come home but right before our time was up she got an upset stomach, I think from the codeine. We weathered it through and she did not throw up. Then they let us go.


We are now three days removed and she has not had any trouble at all. I can't believe how good she is doing, knock on wood. We've been told that 3-5 days in she'll have a bad sore throat day because of the scabbing process but so far so good.
I am so relieved to have this over and to have Abby not go through anything like what she went through last year. It was not fun and I'm hoping she'll be healthy and happy for a long time to come.

Twin Falls Temple

While in Idaho we were able to go through the temple open house. It was so great!
The temple is beautiful of course but it's so much more than outer beauty.
When they announced in conference that they were building a temple in Twin Falls I cried, and the tears were there again to see it completed. I am just so happy for all the people there that I know and love.

Well, they tell me it's been 20 years.

My 20th High School reunion was last weekend. I really can't beleive it's been that long until I actually look at old pictures. It's not that I'm old now it's that I was so young then.
The picture posted is of Lisa, Me, Lorraine, and Rachael, 4 of the six girls from our ward that graduated together. Rachael and Lorraine and I have been friends since lst grade so it was fun to see all the people that we went to elementary school with. To be honest it was those people that I have the best memory of because High School was too short and too much of a blur. Also my group of friends became really diverse throughout High School, I had friends in the grade ahead of me, in the grade behind me and friends from Kimberly so I feel like I didn't know a lot of the people in my class well. But anyway it turned out to be really fun. There were more people there than at the 10 year, and it wasn't so cliquey. It seems like we've grown up a lot. Still a lot of drinking but I guess that's to be expected. There were definiteley a few who came to party but also those who had put those days behind them and that was good to see.

Books

I have finished reading "Behold the Man" which was the final book in the "Kingdom and the Crown" series by Gerald Lund. The series was fictional but in a historical setting much like his "Work and the Glory" series. The setting for this series was the time of Christ's ministry.

I really loved the books because I learned so much about the history, all of the cultures and customs involved and the overall climate of the time. I really had no idea about everything leading up the the crucifiction and how connected yet complex it all was. I feel like these books brought me to a whole new level of understanding of something that is the core of my beliefs. This is something I should have studied long ago but never did. (Or I should say never succeeded in doing because there have been a few attempts.)

I have to admit that once I finished the book I've been feeling a little bit a pressure to start something else because I have the "What I'm reading" thing posted on this blog. Since Glenn took all the kids to Idaho for the night I ventured out to Walmart hoping to find a paperback version of anything that I've heard people recommend. Paperbacks are cheaper by the way, and yes I am usually several years behind popular culture. What I came up with was "Eragon". This book was recommended to me a long time ago and I thought it might be a good one to have in the house for Dylan and Garrett, and probably Glenn. Dylan and Garrett don't go out of their way to read but they will read when they find things they like. Glenn is a reader but doesn't read books a lot mainly because of time and he does get impatient with my reading but that's one that he just gets to deal with.

Here are a couple more books that I have read recently:

Ultramarathon Man by Dean Karnazes

I loved this book. It was a really fun read. Apparently anything over a marathon (26.2 miles) is considered an ultramarathon and this book is about a guy who is basically addicted to running and he runs these totally crazy distances. He details his first 100 mile run and then his first 200 mile run. The later was supposed to be a relay for a team of 12 runners but he did it by himself. He (and most ultramarathoners) is constantly questioning how far he can push himself and what can the human body handle and accomplish. The book was written in a light hearted way with stories of ordering pizza and having it delivered to him out on the road, or dashing into convenience stores for goodies,and so on. But the whole thing was totally amazing to me mainly because I didn't know people did that kind of thing. Like I said, CRAZY!

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

This book was fascinating to me. It is a true story written by a woman who grew up in a dysfunctional situation of neglect and poverty but her parents were both brilliant. She, and her siblings, grew up learing art, literature, physics, geology from their parents but slowly alcholism and mental illness crept in and the family just deteriorated. I was hesitant to read this book at first because I thought it might be dark and depressing but I found myself just plowing through it wanting to know how she got out. I knew from the dust jacket that she was an educated and successful woman and I wanted to know how (and when) she did it. I was constantly calculating her age throughout the book and thinking "ok she's 11 now so she's got at least 7 more years...", and so on. Like I said, I thought it was fascinating and as I'm writing this I can see a common thread between the two books and that is that as human beings we are amazingly strong.

Movies

Over the last two weekends we did something we haven't done for a long time, we watched movies.

Last Sunday it was "Nacho Libre". I know this movie has been out for a while but I had never seen it. Additionally I did not have any desire to see it. It looked pretty stupid and although I am not against stupid comedies this one really didn't appeal to me. What changed my mind was that my parents saw it recently and liked it a lot. Well not being one to have my parents more in the loop than me I decided to watch it. I even bought it for Glenn for Father's Day so that we'd have a copy. (I knew the kids liked it too.) My opinion was that it was pretty funny and not anything like I thought it would be. I thought it had a good message which was presented in a sweet and quirky way. (I know that sounds odd but it was.)

I may very well adopt the line "They are just ninos trying to release their wiggles." The heavy spanish accent helps too.

The week before last we watched "Supersize Me". This one was old too but I've been wanting to see it for quite some time. We watched a clip in our "True Health" nutrition class and I've seen references to it in other things I've read.

This was a great show that I would highly recommend to everyone. I was glad that Dylan watched the whole thing with Glenn and I. Being a teenager he really needed to see it. He is the one that I have the least control over when it comes to eating so hopefully he will think more about his choices.

The show is a documentary where a guy eats only McDonald's for 30 days. Before he does it he does a complete health assessment with 3 different doctors and he works with a nutritionist before and during the experiment. Of course during the 30 days his health deteriorates rapidly. His weight, cholesterol, triglycerides etc. are all up. The most surprising result was the effect that it had on his liver. By 21 days in, his liver was in trouble and all of the doctors were telling him to stop. One likened it to what happens to an alcoholics liver. Wow!

The movie was educational, funny and just very well done. We were laughing so hard when he was talking about the McStomachache. I have since ordered this movie because I thought it was an important one to have on hand.

Emily's Bee Sting

Emily got a bee sting yesterday on her ring finger and it got pretty swollen. Later in the night it started itching and she started scratching which made half of her hand puff up and welts started popping out. I decided to run to the store for some Benedryl. Also Glenn had recently received an email about treating bee stings by taping a penny on it so we did that as well since it was an easy thing to try. I don't know if it was the penny or just time but when I got home things were looking better. I gave her the antihistamine just to stay on the safe side. My friend said that if she is allergic every time she gets stung the reaction will get worse. I guess we'll have to keep a close eye on her and watch bee stings closely. The suprising thing to me was that she did not cry when it happened. What a tough girl!

The 5th of July

William is sick. On the 4th the kids slept out on the tramp but William came in about at 4:00 am coughing and crying. I gave him a big drink of water and mentioned that he probably had a sore throat from the smoke from the fireworks. He fell asleep on the couch but by 7:00 he was running a fever and must have picked up a bug. Later in the day when his fever was pretty high again Dylan came over and felt him and said "You're burning up, you're on fire". To which William replied "Yeah, it's because I ate smoke". I wondered if he really thought that he had some kind of fire inside because he ate smoke.... You never know what's going on inside those little brains.

The 4th of July

Glenn and Dylan had 2 baseball games on the 4th of July and the younger kids voted against going. They did not want to drive to Salt Lake and sit through 5 hours of baseball and then drive home. Instead they wanted to invite Grandma and Grandpa and Lynn and Debbie and have our own little party, so that's what we did. Luckily both families were able to come.

We had hamburger wraps instead of traditional grilled hamburgers. I brown and season the hamburger in a pan then we eat it in a tortilla wrap (whole wheat or multi-grain) with the normal hamburger toppings inside. It's pretty good and hopefully a little more on the healthy side. I made a big potato salad too but forgot to serve it. I think I'm getting old. Mom brought chips, beans and a relish tray, and Deb brought jello so we had plenty to eat. Mmmmm.

We did some daytime fireworks and played outside for a little while then came in for dessert.

William had a brownie and two scoops of ice cream on his plate. Grandpa was helping him clean his plate by getting every last drop with the spoon. When William asked if it was clean Grandpa said "yes, unless you want to pick it up and lick it". So he did! Grandpa had a good laugh at that. Then as soon as he finished licking his plate he put it down and saw the root beer at the end of the table and said, "Hey, get that over here." (Motioning with his hand in the "come here" fashion.)

At this point all elements of healthiness were out the window and it was a regular free for all. I won't mention how much dessert I ate.

Grandma and Grandpa left after dessert so they wouldn't have to drive in the dark. Abby and Garrett were our designated "lighters" this year so they started the show. Glenn and Dylan arrived in time to see some of it and to help with the sparklers. I asked Glenn if he wanted to save anything for the 24th and he said no so we burned through everything as fast as we could.

Most of the pictures are self explanatory except the one with William looking up at the sky. That one was cool because our neighbor was doing a big illegal firework and I couldn't see William in the camera at all I just pointed it and clicked. The flash filled in the rest and I couldn't believe what a great picture it was. Right after that a police car pulled up next door and the show was over. Luckily they got away with a warning.