Ellie & Mama

My Jeep!

I bought a Jeep and I'm so excited! It was a long task sorting through everything that's for sale out there but Brady helped me. . . It needs a little work, but not a ton. I'll need to buy a hard top for it before winter but other than that, just new seat cushions, petty stuff. I love it!

The Mayan - Ellie's Favorite Restaurant

We took Ellie to The Mayan restaurant on Friday for our date. It's her favorite place on earth!

7th Wedding Anniversary

Brady and I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary Sunday and Monday. He took me to The Homesteads Bed & Breakfast in Midway. We stayed in The Cottage Room. We ate dinner Sunday night in Park City at La Casita. We went back to Midway and sat in the hot tub while the rain sprinkled. Then we went back to our room and settled in to watch Must Love Dogs. What a darling movie!

The next morning, we ate breakfast at Fanny's Grill and put on our swimsuits to go for a scuba diving experience in the crater. The Crater began forming about 10,000 years ago. Water from snow melting on the Wasatch Mountains seeped deep within the earth. Two miles below the surface, the earth's interior heated the water and sent it skyward. As it percolated upward, it picked up minerals and they eventually formed the beehive shaped limestone deposit called the Homestead Crater.

The hole at the top of the dome lets in sunlight and fresh air while the interior stays heated by the mineral water. Below the surface divers can descend 55 feet into the hour glass shaped depths.

I DID IT!
I DID IT!
I DID IT!
I DID IT!
I DID IT!

I dared to get into the water, put on all this garbage and allowed myself to sink down 20 feet holding on to a rope. What an experience!

Dry Socket

I thought everything was going great with my wisdom tooth being pulled. . . boy, was I wrong!

I developed dry socket almost immediately, and I've been suffering for nine days now. The doctor has packed it with clove oil gauze (which he removed yesterday), numbed my mouth, put me on an antibiotic, numbed half of my face for half the day so it wasn't so painful, put me on Lortab (hydrocodone) and 800 mg of ibuprofen three times a day. This is a nightmare. Last night was the worst night, so far. I took one of Brady's super strength Percocet (oxycodone) and it only kinda pushed the pain to the background, somewhat, but it never fully subsided. I took four iboprofen and two Tylenol PM's after flushing my socket and waited for the pain to go away so I could sleep. I woke up pain free, but it has returned, as expected. I wish this week of pain was over.

I had my wisdom tooth pulled yesterday. It was very random . . . I was getting two old silver fillings replaced and Steve asked if I wanted anything else done while my mouth was numb. Then he kinda suggested it would be a good time to go ahead an pull that bothersome wisdom tooth. I texted Brady who said I should do it, and I did! Today is the day after, and

I feel fine.
No swelling.
No pain.

I've been trying to find a picture online of how my wisdom tooth was kinda wedged in by my other molar. This wasn't a traditional impaction of a wisdom tooth. It was actually wedged under my other tooth like it came from the front instead of the back. Crazy!

My teeth now look gorgeous. I need one implant tooth and need one more silver filling changed to white. It's a good day. I'd been dreading losing my wisdom teeth, but only have one to go and I know I can do it. I know I'll be fine!

Also, I just thought I'd let everyone know that the tooth fairy exists! He sent me to get my hair done after I had my tooth pulled! I had been a brunette for about four months and was going through endless misery, but going blond again has really lifted my spirits! :)

THANK YOU, BRADY *!@*!- I mean TOOTH FAIRY!

Silver City, Utah

A couple of weeks ago we were hanging around the house . . . being bored . . . so we decided to take a drive. On our way to the old mining town, Eureka, I looked up other ghost towns in the area. We kept travelling through Eureka and found a little place called Silver City. There was a massive foundation there that I later discovered was once a power plant. It was so very interesting, and only about an hour's drive from where we live. It was fun getting out of the house and wandering around a place that once thrived.

Please see the links I've attached. They show pictures of the place we visited. I wish I would have gotten more pictures of our family running around the old power plant foundation - scratching our heads trying to figure out what it used to be!

Brady & Melinda

Brady's appointment with his surgeon is this Wednesday. He will be scheduled to have the plate on the bottom of his wrist removed the following Tuesday, January 27th. Yes . . . more surgery. I'm hopeful that his recovery will not be as traumatic this time.

Happy 11th Birthday, Sandy!

Brady is at home today recovering from his second surgery. Dr. MacArthur performed the surgery yesderday, December 4th, which lasted about one hour. He attached a plate with two screws to the top of Brady's radius and relieved the carpal tunnel with another incision. He didn't have a block this time, and was instead given general anesthesia. Recovery is not as pleasant this time, even though last week was hell!

Brady went to his doctor for his first follow-up appointment since surgery last Tuesday (November 25th). The doctor loved how his foot looked . . . it's healing beautifully. His wrist, however, was another story. He immediately scheduled Brady for a second surgery this Thursday, December 4th at 7:00 a.m. We'll need to be at the hospital by 6:00 a.m. for surgery prep and he'll have the bottom side of his wrist operated on. The operation will be similar to the first - a plate with pins on the bottom side to match the plate and pins on the top. Poor guy. He was hoping he was on his way to recovery and this'll further delay him. He's not one to lie down and give up but these things have a way of tetting you down even if you don't want to.

BROKEN BRADY

Brady fell yesterday from a main floor into a basement shattering his wrist and breaking his ankle. He's in surgery this morning getting a metal plate and pins in his wrist. I'll keep this updated. Yikes. Scary times. :(

I went to Hee Haw's with Sandy's class today and was a chaperone over this group of kids. It was a lot of fun.

My kids were so proud this Sunday. They built crazy towers. They thought they invented towers! Ha ha! I didn't have the heart to tell 'em they've been around forever!

Abscessed Tooth!

Ellie has an abscessed tooth. She has an appointment to have it pulled on October 24th. It looks like she will be getting her first visit from the tooth fairy.

@ first I thought she had a bad tooth from my bad parenting. But the dentist said it was a cavity under a filling she had done May 21st at "Mr. Flick's." He explained that medium sized fillings are risky because they may be fine with a large filling, but more often need a root canal. He said, unfortunately, that sometimes dentists fill hoping that's all it'll need.

She's going to need lots of other work, too. She'll have a couple of crowns and more fillings. She has some cavities on her front teeth from drinking a bottle for so long, but he's just going to leave them alone. She'll be losing those teeth soon enough and he thought it would be a waste of our money to cap them.

MY PRETTY BABY HAS MY WEAK TEETH! :( Grrrrrr!

WORK, WORK, WORK (And a sick 4-year old)

I'm at work every morning this week at 8 AM! That was not an exclamation for excitement. . . I'm upset. Ellie was awake all night last night crying about her tooth. I kept Sandy home from school today to stay with Ellie because I didn't want to freak out her teacher @ preschool. Sandy called me and said Ellie woke up in a great mood with a big smile on her face. What a relief! I'm off today at 12:30 and then I'll be home. I'll be taking Sandy to pick up her homework assignments for the week so we can get started.

Our family drove up Provo Canyon last night to Nunn's Park. We walked on the beautiful trail up past the upper falls and back down again. I love it up there. The weather was crisp and cool. We watched a mountain goat roam around by the falls disappearing in and out of the trees seen a little more than half way up in the picture. I'd like to go walking up there often until its too cold.

Women friends can be one of the most valuable assets another woman can have because they help us cope with gravity, other relationships and our world when it seems to be falling apart at the seams. Women do lunch, the Macarena and the impossible. Women friends help women lower blood pressure, cholesterol and heart rates.

Women friends are like hitting all green lights on the way to work, being in the fastest line in the grocery store, or seeing an old rival who doesn't look half as good as you do and jeans that really fit. Because women friends are tailor made for our lives.

Women friends help us laugh at being dysfunctional, obsessive compulsive, and neurotic, because, basically, they are too.

Women friends being us joy, happiness and laughter. Friends soothe, calm and help us find peace. Friends help make us happy, strong, humble, human, glowing, growing and live a wonderful life.

Friends help make long days seem shorter, put a smile on our face in the most grave situations, and help us believe almost anything is possible. We get by with a little help from our friends. They are both silver and gold. Good friends are here today and here tomorrow.

There is nothing better than a good friend - unless it is a good friend with chocolate. There is wonder and jou in having and being a friend!

K. So I bawled and complained about having another PAYMENT, but our payment's only gonna be $300 and I LOVE THIS TRUCK! I'm not a dude, but I love this truck. Wow. . .

Its a Chevy Silverado 3/4 Ton Crew Cab Diesel. SPOTLESS!

Did I say wow?