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A Loss Felt The World Over...

Tonight we lost someone whom I have grown to love over the years. Tonight we lost a Great man. Even thought we have never met, tonight we have lost a friend. Tonight we have lost our Prophet, President Gordon B. Hinkley.

For most of my life in this Church, I have been led and guided by one Prophet. I have come to respect and love him for so many reasons, reasons that I'm sure all of us share. I know that this isn't unexpected. He was 97 for goodness sakes. However, it doesn't make it any easier. I was hoping to make it to General Conference one last time before he passed. He was such a genuine man. You KNEW that he loved and cared for each member of the Church. He had a Spirit about him that was undeniable. I love him for the dignity and honor that he carried himself with. I love him for the Spirit that he brought to me in my life. I knew that we were in good hands under his leadership. He was called of God, and now he was called home by God. I can only imagine the reception that he received on the other side. I'm sure it was a sight to behold. And how about reuniting with his beautiful bride? Not a dry eye to be found I'm sure!

President Hinkley, I will miss you! We will ALL miss you! I pray that one day I will be worthy enough to enter into your presence and thank you for what you've meant to me and my life.

You will truly be missed!

P.S.--I apologize that the Lost background is still up for this post. A little worldly for such a non-worldly man. I think that President Hinkley will forgive me though....

I Heart Brian

Ok, so this was going to be a complaining post. I have had a pretty crappy week, especially Wednesday and Thursday. I was all set to get on line and complain about it, but then, I decided to take it another direction. Here goes:

I Heart Brian. I have the most wonderful husband in the world. I have proof to back it up:

* After 12 years of marriage, he still calls me 2-3 times a day to check on how I am doing.

* When I'm having a really lousy day, he brings me Olive Garden (or something fabulous) for lunch.

* He'll take Joe to a scout meeting for me when I can't deal with one more scout activity.

* He makes me take vitamin C every day so I won't get sick.

* He puts up with me keeping the house at 62 degrees because I like it cold, even though he has to bundle up to keep from freezing.

* He puts up with my multiple personalities.

* He cooks lunch and dinner practically every Sunday, so I don't have to.

* He does the last minute shopping at 11:00 on Saturday night so we have something to eat on Sunday. And, he always remembers to buy me Hershey's Truffles so I can get through Sunday.

* He still writes me sappy love notes that make me cry.

* He lets me control the radio in the car.

* He lets me drive the good car while he drives the crappy one to work every day.

* He watches Gilmore Girls with me, without complaining, when I need a laugh.

* He makes my doctor appointments for me because he knows I never will.

* He goes with me when I don't want to go alone.

* He remembers to pick up my perscriptions when I don't.

* He always drives because he knows I hate to.

* He patienly shows me how to load my pictures from my camera to the computer, even though he's shown me 20 times already.

* He lets me cry, and when I'm done, he wipes away my tears.

I could go on and on and on..........

Ashley's update

Hey everybody. I know it's been a while. Doesn't Brian's new nose look fabulous.

I just wanted to do a quick update on Brian. As you all know, Brian had surgery about a week and a half ago to repair his badly deviated septum. It has caused him to have at least 6 major sinus infections over the last year. Hopefully with the surgery there will be no more sinus infections.

A few days before the surgery, Jason started calling him Ashley. Apparently in hollywood, repairing your deviated septum is code for having a nose job. And as Ashley Tisdale was recently in the news for her "deviated septum" repair, the nickname seemed appropriate. So, I've started calling him Ashley as well. I pointed out to Brian that Ashley Simpson also had a nose job, so the "Ashley" nickname works on 2 levels. I have to say, he is being a good sport about the nickname.

Anyway, I took Brian to the hospital on January 9th. He was in surgery for about an hour and a half. He then was sent to recovery where he was supposed to stay for about 2 hours before I could take him home. We were there for about 3 1/2 hours. He was so nauseous after the surgery, that the nurse would not let us go. We finally got him home. I left him with my mom while I went to fill his perscriptions. As soon as I left, the vomiting started. He was sooooooo sick that first night. It was sad. The first 2 days he was told that he was not allowed to lie down. Also, he was bleeding through the nose that whole first night. It was the saddest thing I think I've ever seen. He was propped up in bed leaning his head forward and holding a tissue to his nose all night long. You try to sleep like that. I thought about taking a picture, but it was just too sad.

After that first day, the bleeding stopped and thankfully the pain medicine made him tired, so for the next 4 days he spent most of the time in bed sleeping. Tuesday he was still in a lot of pain, but went back to work for a few hours. He is not fully recovered yet, but has been able to go to work, and be up and about. He is still in a lot of pain though, mostly on the left side of his face. I just went in to check on him and he has an ice pack covering the left side of his face. Every time he says his face hurts, I reply "It's killing me!" Ha Ha. My dad used to say that to me when I was younger. I never thought it was funny. Maybe I should stop saying it.

Anyway, on the plus side, he didn't really have any swelling at all. And, his nose looks exactly the same as before. I now have proof for all of those Ashley's in hollywood that you can repair a deviated septum without changing the look of your nose.

We just wanted to thank all of you who have expressed your concern for Brian. He appreciates your prayers and support. And thanks Sheri for letting him use your headache bag. It was a big relief to him. Hopefully in a few days he wont need it anymore and we can return it to you.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELVIS & GOODBYE CHRISTMAS!

Yes, you read that correctly. Why is there a picture of my Christmas tree next to Elvis when we are 8 days into the new year and Christmas was 2 weeks ago?

What do these 2 things have in common?

I'm glad you asked.

My husband loves 2 things very much. Ok, he loves more than 2 things, but 2 things in particular we will be discussing today.

If any of you know Brian at all, you know he loves Christmas, and he also LOVES Elvis. The problem with this is that I'm not allowed to "take down" Christmas until Elvis has celebrated his birthday. That is the way Elvis did it, so that is the way we do it. I tried to remind my husband that he is not Elvis.

I've always had the tradition that we leave the Christmas decorations up until my birthday - New Years Eve. It's not that bad. it's only 6 days after Christmas and is still December. Marrying an Elvis freak means that we extend that by 8 days. January 8th, are you kidding me?

Don't get me wrong. I love Christmas. The day after Thanksgiving all the decorations come out. It's fun because I married a guy who loves Christmas and he helps with all the decorating.

He loves Christmas so much that one year, we started listening to Christmas music in July and went straight on through December (I kid you not.) But January 8th, COME ON! I agreed to the tree. It's bad enouh keeping it up till the 8th, but it's indoors. No one else can see our secret shame, but Brian insists on turning the outside lights on the house on every night. It's getting a little embarrassing. Last night we were one of 2 houses left in the entire neighborhood. It's a fight to see who can last the longest. I'm betting we win. I jokingly remarked to Brian, "why don't we just leave them up and turn them on every night of the year?" He was all for it. I need to keep my big mouth shut.

I guess I shouldn't fight him on it too much. He did spend most of the month of December sick, and didn't really get to enjoy it this year. Christmas Day was just sad for him. He looked half dead. Not to mention the fact that tomorrow he will be having surgery and will once again be bed-ridden. I should just let him enjoy his Christmas after Christmas. After all, we celebrate the season 2 weeks before Christmas, and nobody has a problem with that, why not 2 weeks after Christmas too? Shouldn't the spirit of Christmas last all year?

On that note, I wasn't going to blog about Christmas. I figured it was too late, but since we are still celebrating at our house, I'll do an overview. (I was going to say I'll do a brief overview, but as you can tell by now, I'm not good at "brief").

A couple of days before Christmas, Joe and I were outside and he made the comment: "It just doesn't feel like Christmas." He was referring to the fact that it was 70 degrees and sunny, but I was feeling like that for other reasons. I think mostly because Brian was so sick this year. It was hard to enjoy the season with him being miserable. That and the fact that it seemed a lot of my family was grinching and grouching about Christmas (you know who you are!) I think when people grinch and grouch about Christmas, it's because they are forgetting the true meaning of it. It's not about stressing yourself out by trying to do too much, or spending money you don't have on people who already have too much. You are missing the whole point! Ok, I'm off of my high horse now, and back to the subject. So, after Joe made the comment, I started to think back over the past month. There were a lot of moments where it DID feel like Christmas, so I decided to focus on those. I made a list:

IT FELT LIKE CHRISTMAS WHEN:

* It was rainy and cloudy for a week.

* When I went with Joe to Target and watched him pick out a present for a boy that he'd picked off the giving tree at school.

* When I got to go shopping with my mom, just the 2 of us. As much time as I spend at my mom's house, I hardly get to spend any real time with her. She is always babysitting, running errands or on the phone.

* When Rowan got SO excited about the lights and music at Organ Stop Pizza on Michael's birthday.

* When Joe and I delivered Christmas cookies together.

* When I went secret Santa shopping all by myself.

* When Joe & I went Christmas caroling with the Gonzo's to Grandma's house. She sent us over to carol for her neighbor. He was so happy.

*When I got to watch Joshua's reaction to the lights at the temple. Also watching him be completely mesmerized by the Christus Statue in the visitor's center.

* When we decorated gingerbread houses at Jared and Tricia's house.

* When my mom and I wrapped presents at Grandmother's house.

* When I got to hear Tricia sing "Where are you Christmas?"

* When I got to hear Adam sing "Silent Night" while Jared Ammon played the guitar.

* When Stacy, Sheri and my dad read Christmas stories at our annual, adults only dinner.

* When I listened to Josh Groban sing "Oh, come all ye faithful".

* When we would read our nightly Christmas story. Brian, Joe & I turn of all the lights in the house and plug in the tree and the Christmas village. Then we get cozy on the couch and read a Christmas story. This is one of my very favorite Christmas traditions. Sometimes we would add hot chocolate.


* When I sang Christmas hymns in church.

* When I read my Christmas card from Brian. He always makes me cry.

* When we packed lunces for the homeless. Especially watching Addy pack hers.

* When I watched my son and neices and nephews hand out lunches to homeless people on Christmas eve. One man Joe gave a lunch to was so happy he started laughing. I later overheard Joe telling his cousin about it. He said : "I have a soft spot in my heart for that guy."

* When I visited my Grandma on Christmas eve with my family (most of us made it over there together). She was so happy when Rowan gave her a big hug. He just seems to make people happy.

* Baking cookies for Santa with Joe on Christmas eve.

* Joe's excitement on Christmas eve. It was electric. I love kids!

* Watching White Christmas with Brian and Joe on Christmas eve.

* Listening to my dad read the Christmas story from the Bible on Christmas morning. All 27 of us crammed into the living room to listen.

* Watching James open his drum set on Christmas morning. I don't think I've seen anyone more excited.

* Watching Brian open a doormat at his mom's house on Christmas day. He had a huge grin on his face the minute he ripped open the paper and saw the box. It was nice to see him smile. He had been so sick, I think it was the first true smile I'd seen on his face in days. I know it's strange to be so happy about a doormat, but he'd seen it on QVC and really wanted it. Both he and his mom are addicted to QVC. It was funny that she knew just what to get him.

All in all, it was a great Christmas season. So, as the rest of the world has moved on to New Year's resolutions, we are quietly celebrating this, our last day of Christmas - and so we say: HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELVIS & GOODBYE CHRISTMAS!

sorry this was so long (if you're even still reading). I don't post much, so when I do, I guess I have a lot to say.

In Case You Haven't Heard, We Love Lost

Sorry, but in case you couldn't tell, Lost is one of, (Yeah, I spelled 'of' correctly) if not our favorite TV show, and it is back this month. Just a cheap plug. And for those of you who do not watch it (you know who you are), it is time to drop Big Brother (please) and catch up on Lost. Do it!

P.S. I wanted to be fair and post one picture for me and one for Kim. Mmmmmm.