Been a little "KNEE"-dy lately...

Sorry it's been so long between posts... but I have a GREAT excuse! I just had surgery on BOTH knees! AAGGHHH!!! Friday, Sept. 17 I had bilateral arthroscopic knee surgery to repair a torn meniscus on both knees! The right knee also had to have some extra work done, since it was in worse shape.

Since I would have both knees wrapped & they would be swollen & huge, Roger & Lindsay bought me these lovely 2 XL scrub pants so they would fit over the bandaging! SHEESH! So, I was like the dry cleaning- - in by 7 am out by noon. Everything went very well. Roger could not resist snapping a photo while in the surgery center... (and my family thinks I am the worst one for always taking pictures!! )

The Dr. sent me home with no crutches, no nothing... just the advice to start walking on those knees! So, I did. (However, I did alot of sitting in my lounging love seat too!- snuggling with Colby made it much more bearable!)

Misty flew out & helped Lindsay & Roger be great nurses for me. She brought a wonderful little machine that her roommate Shelli had used after her knee surgery! (THANKS SOOOOO MUCH SHELLI ). It's like a small cooler that you put ice & water in, then the tube connects from the cooler to a wrap that goes around your knee & gives your knee constant cold water circulating around it. The next day we found out that Roger's sister Rhonda had one too so we got it & the rest of the time I had both knees surrounded in ice water! FANTASTIC!

So, I'm doing great now. I've been shopping at JC Penneys and even got on the stationary bike this morning to start more rehabing. Thanks to Lindsay, Colby, Misty & Roger for great nursing! Thanks to Aaron, Layne, Mason, Zach & Arie for great get-well treats! Thanks to Debbie Davis for outing me on Facebook - thus giving me LOTS more get-well wishes than I might normally have had. And thanks to my RS Pres. Deanna Hildebrandt - for the homemade Wheat bread to help in my recouperating!

GO COUGARS!!!

Parking- $10.00, Bottled Water- $3.00, 3 hot dogs & 3 rootbeers- $23.00, getting to go to BYU football games all season..... PRICELESS !!!

Today was a wonderful day!!! The first BYU football game of the 2010 season! All of our children

and I went together to buy season tickets for Roger's birthday present. (great present since I get to

tag along too! ) BYU played Washington in the opening game at home. We had great seats -(even though we got them so late in the year!) We sit on the "Alumni" side (which is the same side as the press box - the kids would call it the "Old People Side"... but, whatever!) It was great because it was a late afternoon game & our side was already in the shade! WAHOO! that was especially good since it was in the high 90's all day!) Our seats are right on the goal line... but, hey... we're not in the endzone... and not in front of the band.... and didn't have to pay a gazillion dollars to join Cougar Club & get the seats right across the aisle from us! ha! And, as the kids next to us said...

"We have a great view of the entire field from here!" ha! There's a glass half-full attitude. We are on the 22nd row (and there are only 36 !) Since Lindsay & Colby are here visiting, Lindsay came too!

We loved watching the marching band form the "Y" (while they played the Alma Mater song which I don't think I've ever heard in all my years of either attending BYU or coming to visit! sheesh!)

Then they spell out the word COUGARS - which is hard to make out because of our angle.- But at least we knew the song they played this time... It was the Cougar fight song ! (or, as my kids know it - the get out of bed song mom always sang to us in the mornings... "Rise & Shout..... )

And see the band & everyone line up for the team to run onto the field thru the pathway they make.

Since this first game was one where they were honoring past All-American Quarterbacks and

LaVell Edwards as their coach - Jim McMahon ran out the big white BYU flag in front of the team.

At half time (not HAFF TIME.... hee-hee) the 8 all-american quarterbacks (Virgil Carter, Marc Wilson, Robbie Bosco, Jim McMahon, Steve Young, Gifford Nielsen, Ty Detmer, and Steve Sarkisian - (the coach of Washington - but he was in the locker room with his team) were all presented , along with their Coach -LaVell Edwards & told us that they, along with other donors,

were starting the Y Quarterback Endowment Fund & they had raised $1 million dollars this weekend to start it off.

Of course we HAD to insert a picture of us driving to the game with our BYU window-flag - given to us by Layne & Aaron & family for our anniversary! And the best part.....???????

BYU WON !!! 23-17 . Thanks again to all the family for the present of season tickets! We love it!

Happy 39 years !!!

I woke up this morning to a pleasant surprise... This vase of red roses (my favorite) on the counter wishing me a Happy Anniversary. This is surprising...not because I'm amazed that Roger would give me flowers... because he does that all the time & I LOVE IT ! But I was surprised because he is in New Jersey and I am here in Utah. I'm guessing he enlisted the help of an elf named Lindsay to go & purchase them for me & have them here when I woke up. During the move I bent one of the prongs on my ring pretty badly - so we went to where our nephew Todd Benning works - Morgan Jewelers - & he fixed it for me. In the mean time he also re-did the black antique-ing (is that a word?) on both of our rings and re-did the florentine on both. They look almost as good as they did when we took a similar picture 39 years ago.

I am married to the most wonderful man in the world. He does everything - works, serves in his calling righteously, uses his priesthood to bless me and the whole family, cooks, helps me clean & do any amount of housework, tells me he loves me, dances in the kitchen with me... (and sometimes alone!) and makes me constantly wonder what I did to deserve such a wonderful man! Thank you for 39 wonderful years of marriage! I love you forever, Roger !

Fancy Salad

We had a Relief Society "Summer Salad Social" last night. Everyone was supposed to bring

a salad. They had decorated the back yard of one sister's home really cute with the tables having a red & white checked tablecloth and xeroxed black ants on top. The serving table had ants on it made from black styrofoam balls and pipe cleaner legs... I had signed up to do a fruit salad. So, I thought I'd give a try to something fun & decorative:

I filled the watermelon basket with green grapes, blueberries, watermelon balls, & orange-flesh melon. (no, not cantaloupe -- it looks like a honeydew melon on the outside, but has orange flesh like a cantaloupe - who knew? ) It was a fun, different way to take a fruit salad.

Road Trip !

With Lindsay & Colby here visiting for a couple of months while Cameron is away on business, we decided to take a road trip. (Actually, it was my chance to get away from unpacking boxes!)
We drove up to see Debbie Davis at her cabin in Island Park, ID - near West Yellowstone. We love it there! It is so beautiful - and Debbie spoils us rotten - What's not to love? We love the hammock-time !

And...Debbie feeds us well... well, she feeds SOME of us...

(she's gonna kill me for using this, but it's so dang cute! )

Colby absolutely LOVED being outside:

We rode on ATV's (we sandwiched Colby in between Lindsay & I & went for a short ride)

then Lindsay and Debbie dropped Colby & I off & they donned all the equipment & took off for more fun.

We went to Howard Springs - a place where fresh spring water comes right out of the mountain!

Then we went to the Mountain Man Rendevous... (think Shakespeare Festival only all the men are dressed as mountain men & there's alot of weapons & pelts etc.) A man named Rabbit made a gun for Colby & Debbie learned to play the jaw harp.

Of course, no visit would be complete without going to Playmill Theater in West Yellowstone. It's a small little theater, owned by members of the church, that have BYU and BYUI students come to do 3 musicals each summer. It is great fun! We saw Beauty & the Beast. Colby loved the music and dancing scenes.... the talking ... not so much.

We had a wonderful 4 days ! Colby had tons of new experiences - like... getting stuck under the tables...

or... swinging with nana...

Hearing the sound of the gravel from the driveway crunch under his feet - or better yet, picking up the rocks and throwing them! (such a boy!)

learning about pinecones.... and don't you know where they went after looking at them....


And... feeling Debbie's vibrating tooth brush!

Colby pretty much expressed how we all felt for several days. It's wonderful to see things again through the eyes of a child. They are so thrilled with every little thing. It reminded me to be more grateful for the beauties of this world!

(MD + DD = Mark Davis + Debbie Davis)

Thanks Deb for a wonderful get-away!!!

No visit is complete...

You can't visit Utah and NOT go to Temple Square in Salt Lake City. We started our day at the conference center just across the street.

The inside looks like this. It can seat 20,000 people. They hold conference there each April and October, Music & the Spoken Word each Sunday morning during the summer months when there are so many tourists, and various holiday concerts & plays during the year.

We toured the whole building, including a special room showing the artwork of Arnold Frieberg who had just passed away. Then we went to the roof. There is a whole acre of area up there with gardens and etched mirror walls and a beautiful overlook of the Salt Lake City Temple - if you don't mind seeing all the construction cranes. The temple used to be the tallest thing around, now it's dwarfed by all the high-rise buildings being built.

The next stop was across the street to see Temple Square. We saw inside the Tabernacle where they used to hold conferences. They still do special concerts there and Music & The Spoken Word is broadcast from there during the year except the summer months.

The grounds here are beautiful and, of course, the Salt Lake City Temple is spectacular as always!
We followed the tour next door to the Joseph Smith Memorial Building where we saw the movie, Joseph Smith, Prophet of the Restoration. There wasn't a dry eye in the house, including the two oldest grandsons, Mason & Tanner sitting on each side of me ! It was very moving.
When we got out of the movie, even though it was almost 9pm, it was still light out. You exit the building at a beautiful place where you can see a huge reflecting pool and beautiful vista of the temple.

I love to see the temple...