The Miracle Tape

Yes here it is the magic tape that saved me from steroid injections and/or Nerve deadening! After being showed how to use it and how to apply it and a great belief that it worked, we purchased 15 feet of this tape to keep my nerve from spasming! Love the stuff! Kinesio Tape! Well worth it!

Milestone

Tonight I hit a milestone.... I was able to walk 1 mile on the treadmill since my surgery. Now that might seem like a minimal thing to most, but for me it was a true milestone. Now, I know I have a long way to go to get back to my normal workout routine that I am so used to...waking up at 5 in the morn to go to the gym at 5:30 to lift weights and walk the track. But for now, sleeping till 6:30 until it is time for me to get the kids up and get us all ready for school and work will have to do. But on the sleeping note, I am getting more sleep thanks to an old neighbor who works at the hospital as a physical therapist. As far as my surgery, things are progressing great! Its one incision out of the six on my stomach that has caused me to be in constant pain and loose sleep over due to intense spasms that happen between 1 - 4 in he morning, and also causing spasms after eating a meal of regular people food instead of baby food, jello and pudding. But this therapist after telling him my situation wanted me to try something out. Now he didn't now if it would work or not being that I would be the first post surgery patient to try it out. It was just a self adhesive tape that is a self heating (and his words kind of voodoish) that you put on the area of trouble. He said most patients swear by it but to try it out on my situation. Well do I owe him a big thank you!!!!!! I have been spasm free for three days now. That area is still a tender area, but now maybe it too will have a chance to heal. I am not holding my stomach as much every time I walk, and I am standing up straighter and taller. I have to admit, I was not prepared for what this surgery entailed! Between and extra day in the hospital and a trip to the emergency room, there was no way I was going back to work a week and a half later like I had planned. But I am so thankful for my co-worker who jumped in and worked my days for me until I could get better and get back to work. I did make it back eventually, but going back too was harder than I thought. Through all this I have had my moments of frustration and breakdowns, but I am at a point where day by day things are getting better. And through it all, I made my new best friend....The Heating Pad! But, I am thankful for each little milestone I hit and look forward to getting back to all my normal routines.

Veterans Memorial

Me and Kurtis had the opportunity to put on the Veterans Memorial for the Lions Club this year on November 11th (Veterans Day). We were able to do two sessions for the Nebo View School where they were able just to walk down the street to the Juab Veterans Memorial Park. What an awesome experience it was to put this together. I have so much respect for anyone who has served. Some of those Veterans you can't even begin to imagine what they have been through!! We were also able to put on a program later that day for the community. Here are a few of the things that took place.

What an awesome sight to see the Kindergarten - 3rd grade making their way down the street to participate in this wonderful program. Parents and grandparents were there waiting to see their children preform in this program. Some of the grandparents were even Veterans themselves. This was such an honor to them!


Mr. Paulsen, Principal of Nebo View Elementary talked with the children to get them ready for the program.

Art Woodbury, current President of the Lions Club conducted all three sessions of the program.


Mayor Jones talked at all three sessions on the History of Veterans Day. He also talked of his experiences at Arlington and the spirit you feel there when you visit. He also related Arlington to our own Veterans Memorial how we can come here to feel that same spirit and feeling you get remembering those who have served.


The kids had the opportunity to sing "GOD BLESS THE USA". Oh my goodness did this bring tears to every ones eyes! What a special song and the kids sang it with so much respect. I was so proud of them.

Then we had our speaker. Master Sargent Gerald Stenz who gave a wonderful talk about Veterans day and his service.

After the program we were able to hand out everyone that was there a small American Flag. It was so neat to watch the kids proudly wave them around.
Me and Kurtis took a moment and located his grandpas name who is now part of the pavement at the Park.

It was then time for the 2nd session to come. This group was the PM Kindergarten and 4th grade through 6th grade. Another awesome sight to see!
Steph was in with this group. She was excited because she knew we had been working hard on this.
The kids are seated and ready for the program
Once again the kids had the opportunity to sing "GOD BLESS THE USA". Another tear jerker for everyone!They all listened with family and friends around to Master Sargent Gerald Stenz talk. once again he gave a wonderful talk.
After the program the kids received their flags with the help of the Lions Club passing them out.



Steph got her flag.

Mr. Nielsen, one of the 6th grade teachers with his son was gearing up because he would be back for the community program to sing.
The community session was such a wonderful program also. It is amazing how everyone can come together for this and do their part to make a wonderful program! To start this program out we blessed to have an opening prayer given by President Hitchcock. Then we were graced with the wonderful signings of Kinley Olpin with the star spangled banner. Towards the end of her song We had a wonderful surprise of 30 doves let loose and flew across the sky. What an awesome sight and feeling. I didn't get pics of any of this because I was being respectful with my hand over my heart. Art Woodbury lead us in the pledge of allegiance.
Robert Painter a member of the Lions Club gave us some brief remarks on how the Juab Veterans Memorial Park came to be. Then once again we got to hear from the some of the Nebo View kids singing God Bless the USA. These were the kids that came back with their parents for the community program.
Then once again we had Mayor Jones give us the History of Veterans day. And then we had a wonderful speaker, Barres Jenkins talk on his experiences while he served. He is also a member of the American Legion.
We then had a moment of silence to ponder and remember all the Veterans who have served our country. After our Silence we had Troy Rinlisbacker play Taps for us who is also a member of the American Legion. That song always brings tears to my eyes.Then was the gun salute given by the American Legion Nephi Post 1. I didn't get picture of their actual gun salute because I was so caught up in the moment, but I did capture these pictures of them when they first arrived.

And as I mention before Raymond Nielsen came back to this session to sing "GOD BLESS AMERICA" He did a great job.
We then had a closing prayer by Judge Eyre who is a member of the Lions Club.

What a wonderful experience that was. I am so grateful that the Lions Club asked us to put this together. I have so much respect for Veterans and the sacrifices they have made for our freedoms. We at times take for granted the freedoms we have and forget to honor those who served for us. This was a time we could all come together and honor them. It was a wonderful day!

Sams Honor Choir

Sam got the oppourtunity to sing a duet in the Honors Choir Halloween program. Unfortuantly I didn't get to go because I had to teach my night class. I could have got someone to sub for me, but it was a new quarter and I had new students coming so I needed to be there. I sure did miss a good program though. Kurtis taped the important things for me to see and when I seen them I really felt bad that I missed it. She did a great job and I am so proud that she got up there and did it! Great job Sam!

Mikes Drill Photos

The top picture is the whole drill team. The second is the Sophmores.

Fire Department

The Fire Department had another successful Open House. Here are a few pics from this event.

Everyone roaming around checking out all the events


Richard giving lessons on the safe house
Visits with Smokey the Bear
The Crew

Thriller

Me and Mike got a chance to go see Thriller at the Kingsbury Hall with the Drill Team. It was a lot of fun. McKenzie and her mom Melissa rode up with us. We left about 10:00 in the morn, rode to Sandy, then rode trax to the Gateway Mall. We had lunch there at Panda Express, did a bit of bumming around, then headed back on trax where we were totally surrounded by Utes fans! Their game started the same time as the play and got off at the same place. So we rode trax up by Kingsbury Hall and walked a bid to get there. We met up with the Drill team outside the building. While we were waiting, the Thriller characters kept creepily coming up and and scaring everyone. It was fun! There were weird parts to the program, but the dancing was great. Here our a few pics of our day.

McKenzie and Mike Riding Trax from Sandy Station
Eating at Panda Express
Gateway Mall
Waiting for Trax to take us to Kingsbury Hall

Kingsbury Hall
Meeting the "creeps" of Thriller
The Drill Team Group having the "CREEPS"

In the Balcony seats
Still getting the CREEPS inside!

It was a lot of fun! Hope we get to do it again!

Vegas Trip

Ok, I know I am late with this, but I am late with everything lately so I am trying to catch up on a few things that need to be posted. The post is about our Vegas trip. We were a little worried if we were going to make it down there or not, Mike was on the tail end of Strep but she was feeling well enough to go so we kept our reservations. We had plans to leave on Thursday morning around 5 0r 6 am to get down there in time to have some fun, but....things changed. Sam ended up with food poising around 12:00 midnight, and was throwing up all through the night. By about 5 or 6 in the morn, she finally stopped throwing up we debated rather to go or not. At 10:00 in the morn, we decided to put her in the back of the van and just let her sleep all the way down. I think all the sleep did her well. She still wasn't feeling back to normal, but she was being a trooper. I on the other hand was having some issues with my reflux issues and my throat lining was very irritated which was causing me to do some serious aspirating. But we got there and our first stop was finding the PAWN STAR pawn shop. Yay...I was so excited to see it. We have been watching that show on the History Channel lately. It's quite an interesting show. Sam stayed in the van because she was still in her pj's and still not feeling quite right, so we hurried in to check it all, saw all the stars of the show, then left cuz Sam was getting nervous. We decided we would stop back on our way home from Vegas. So we got settled into our Hotel room at Circus Circus. We went to a couple of Circus acts that night. They had a lot of good acts this year. They added a few new ones.
So...Here we are hanging around our Hotel room

Then the next day we spent the day at the Adventure Dome in Circus Circus. It's is one of the largest indoor amusement parks. Our first ride was the hot air balloon to see if Sam could handle the rides ok. That one worked.

Then we tried the Merry go round. Sam said no! No round and round for her!

Then we hit our favorite ride...The bumper cars. We had a blast on these and probably spent the majority of our day here.

We also rode there 3d movie rides. The movie this year was a weird one. Cork neck hill. I like it when the do the haunted castle ride. We also rode the Pirate Ship, but after so many times on this, I started feeling woozy..that's not normal for me. (I must be getting old) I love these rides! So we took a break from that.

Then of course we have to ride over and over the ride that gives you a major headache...The canyon blaster. This is an awesome roller coaster ride, but also beats your head to death with all the jerkiness. But hey we endured it, and by the end of the day, Sam even rode it a few times. Sam's coming back to normal. Other than now I was really starting into some coughing that was really messing with my lungs. I was struggling, but we were having a great time.


That night we hit some more circus acts and this one below was awesome. They were from Nigeria and boy could they put any cheerleaders to shame! (No offence anyone!) But they were amazing. These pics don't even do them justice!
The last day of our trip after we checked out we ran up to MGM and checked out Some of our favorite things there. They have the new CSI Experience now at the MGM. We were really considering going to it which opened up that weekend, but we didn't get to leave a day early to do it because Mike had drill. So we decided we would catch it next trip.
This is one of our favorite souvenir shops in MGM. We spend a lot of time here! Of course Mike is loving all of the Elvis Magnets. She wishes she could buy them all.

Sam had a great time checking out the sunglasses.

We then took a stop at the Lions, but as always it was to crowded to see anything. This was the best pic Mike could get.
We then headed over to New York New York. Kurtis finally bought him a souvenir from there. A New York Fire Department shirt. Surprise surprise.


Me and Sam found us a new friend.

Then we stopped at the pawn shop again. Yay all of us got to go in. We even got a singed picture.


But instead of heading on home, we stopped in St. George and stayed at Moms. I had a great trip, but it is always nice to get out of Vegas and back to reality. I was thankful to stop at Moms, because by then I was not feeling well at all. I think I was on the starting point of Pneumonia. Luckily the doctor had given us some antibiotics in case in of us started feeling like we were getting strep so I had been taking those. So we stayed the night at moms, then the next day we headed home with me in the back seat this time sleeping all the way home. But even with all the sickness, we had a fun time.