Lexi-Lou's 23rd birthday

 This is undoubtedly the birthday Alexa will never forget. She had a neck adjustment at the chiropractor and subsequently suffered a stroke!

This has been a most terrifying few days.

Lexi turned 23 on Monday, April 27, Mike and I sent her a birthday greeting/song in the morning and in the afternoon we received word from Tandy that this had happened.

It's been days of fasting and much sincere prayer, a LOT texting back and forth, much worry and concern. And  gratitude.

Today is Wednesday the 29th, we've received word that she is showing signs of improvement.

We never even knew such a thing was possible, but she is getting the best of care, she has been and will continue staying in the ICU with checks every 15 minutes. She's  receiving drugs to limit the chances of more strokes. It has mostly affected her arms and eyes, causing much dizziness and nausea. She is awake and aware of what is happening .  She has a positive attitude, is faithful and we are ALL hoping and praying for a full recovery. 

Star Wars

 For no particular reason, Mike and I decided to watch all of the Star Wars movies--in Chronological order. 

You may find us in the basement on many nights, up late, though we only do one movie at a time. We just tend to start later than we should. 

I'm sure there are better uses of our time, especially this week since we have to speak in church on Sunday.

I think we are about half way through. Almost. We are NOT including the various Series or any animated versions, just feature films, though I may include "The Mandalorian" when we've finished the films. I watched that series and rather enjoyed it.

May the Force Be With You.

Oh. Dang. I should have posted/published this entry in a couple of weeks on May 4. Doh!

April freeze

 

In all my years (69 of them!) I do not recall ever seeing iris flowers frozen so badly that they just bend right over in the stem/stalk! We had about 2 inches of snow this morning/last night and temperatures in the 20's. It was enough, apparently! My poor flower bed. 

On a brighter note, Donna gave me some of Dad's amaryllis seeds from plants that he'd propagated thru the years in his green house. I thought I'd waited too long to plant and that they were no longer viable. But they sprouted! Finally! About 6 weeks after planting, they finally sprouted . . .I just hope I can keep them alive!! These are the candy cane red and white striped ones. 

April Showers/Vernal/Herriman trip

 We WISH! 

 However, today is the 13th, and there actually some raindrops falling in Cedar.

Mike and I have done garden prep, and I've cleaned out some flowerbeds and Mike tilled some steer manure into our backyard garden spot.  Our front lawn has been fertilized and watered well with ditch water. My kitchen seedlings are doing well ( too many tomatoes!!!)

Mike and I just spent a quick weekend up north.

 We left Cedar City on Saturday afternoon after a 10 am to 2 pm Temple Office Shift, drove north  and spent Saturday night in Herriman with Nick's family.  Enjoyed dinner and games before bedtime.

Sunday morning we attended Church with them. Right after church, Nick and Mike and I drove to Vernal. We saw and visited Joe Maestas. Then we dropped by Muke's sister Sally's house, but she was just on her way out to have dinner with grandkids. And she is moving to Farmington, New Mexico later this month!!!  

Mike bought us Chinese food for dinner ( at a totally devoid of patrons at 5 pm  Chinese buffet. Made us kind of nervous. . .but we were fine, thankfully!) Then we had a nice visit with Lynna and Gary Kendall. Both Mike and I tested out their very fancy massage chair. Mike liked it. Me, not so much. I could see how Gary would enjoy it, however. It's pretty intense and he has some severe back problems.

We went there ( to Vernal) to attend an Addiction Recovery Program (ARP) Fireside that Scott and Theresa were speaking at. It was a regional one, there were a few hundred people in attendance and we were able to visit with all their kids, many of their siblings. They shared their stories and it was moving , quite touching and one could really feel the Spirit. As the title suggests: 

Healing is taking place in their lives, and sharing has been part of their healing process. I'm glad we went. They were, too.  After their presentation, we had time for some very brief family visits, then Nick drove us back to Herriman and we arrived just after midnight.

He drove through snow across the Strawberry Reservoir flats! 

Granted, it's just a snow flurry, and nothing was sticking. It still had the "Warp Speed" star wars effect in the headlights. And then there was rain the rest of the way to his home.

I didn't think to take photos of the many folks we saw. Silly me. It felt like a funeral, but without a body. Ha. Only because that is usually the only occasion that we meet with family in such large amounts at our ages.  Except that we ARE returning to Vernal in two weeks for Joe's 90th birthday celebration on May 2nd. His girls are putting on a big party at the park for him. We miss Mike's  sister Jannae. But Joe misses her more. 

Here are some selfies with me in my jammies, catching all the kids before they ran off to school. We ( Mike and I) also enjoyed a little gymnastics performance by Emily before we headed home about 10 am. 

To rain! In Cedar!  Yay!!!!

Nick at work in his home office.

Kaylee at work in HER home office. One of many. Rachel made French Toast for breakfast and it was really good.

Logan is hard to catch on camera! 

Jane wit her Kanoodle toy. 

Rachel pausing just long enough to catch a quick pix

Half of Emily's face. I'm not very good at taking selfies. Still. After all these years.

And Roz the dog, too! He's a Maltese, totally mauled by all the kids who love him a bit too much. Nick is Roz's person. (Note Logan peeking over the sofa back 😉)

Eating my way across campus

 For Founders Day! It's "Lunch on the Main" and we ate almost everything they had to offer. Note the big, full tummy.

Besides that, my allergies have been the WORST. 

I rode my bike to campus, however, so that's an improvement of sorts

 Still kind of hurts my hip joint, however.

Friday morning after working in the Temple office, I wanted to take pictures of pretty flowers, but we had OUR picture taken instead.

Some seeds are sprouting in trays on my kitchen floor. Tomatoes and some zennias. Maybe later will be herbs, peppers and onions