Pre-Surgery Measurements

Here are some pictures that will serve as official "Before" shots. We had a little trouble with the camera. A couple of notes are warranted. I measured on the morning of November 2 before my feet and ankles swelled up. This was 2 weeks before my surgery date. And now... Onward!

Surgery

I am going to have a gastric bypass surgery and I will be documenting my big adventure here. My children have offered to pay for this procedure for me to help me get healthy. A once-in-a-lifetime gift that blows you away. Some of this is going to be embarrassing because I'm going to be exposing my life through pictures and stories that will bring you into my private world. I'm happy to do this to share with my family and friends, past, present, and future my journey. I don't know that it will wind up being amazing. I expect that many of the days will seem boring and plain, just like everyone else's lives, but I plan to share the joyous, fun, and exciting moments as well as the mundane, hard, and "I can't believe she did that" times. I'm going to have a gastric sleeve done at Blossom Bariatrics by Dr. Tom Umbach. I found out about his practice through my doctor, May Bullecer. I thought she made a mistake because it's in Nevada, but his pricing is REALLY affordable, and his staff is AMAZING! They are the NICEST people you will ever visit with. Their desire to help people just comes across in every conversation. I cannot wait to meet them in person!! My surgery is going to be on November 16 and I will be flying with my daughter Amie and my daughter-in-law Amy to Las Vegas the day before. We'll meet my other daughter-in-law Caetie there for a pre-surgery meeting. I hope to do something fun that night to enjoy the city with them before I have to take it easy to recoup.

35 years!!!!

So I'm not even going to comment about the fact that I haven't blogged in FOREVER. I just want to say that I have been a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints for 35 years as of May 6, 2012! It was fast and testimony day and I got to hear Cailey's testimony. She talked about how her mom and her Granny Robin can do anything and she talked about families. I also bore my testimony that because we are God's hands, we help each other to accomplish things here. He offers tender mercies and opens the windows of heaven in our behalf and gives us amazing families and friends to help strengthen us during this earth life. I know that through God nothing is impossible. I feel the Lord's hand in all that I do and I need his guidance every day. I haven't been perfect in the last 35 years, but I know my Savior more now and I have learned a lot. I have the most amazing children in the world and they all have the most awesome partners! I have 14 grandchildren and number 15 is on the way!!! Lucky! I wish I could find Ralph Nicholson to thank him again for telling me about the church. He gets an A+ for member missionary work.

New Calling and Taxes

Well, I definitely need to get better at keeping people posted about what's happening with me.

I got realeased from Primary today as the Sunbeam teacher. I was just getting to know my 4th class, and I'm really going to miss Primary, but I'm actually pretty excited about getting to know more of the sisters in the ward. I was feeling inadequate but certainly willing. Getting set apart always makes a huge difference.

I've been helping people with their taxes at Jackson Hewitt. Finished up the classes and passed everything I needed to pass, so I'm helping out in a couple of the stores. I love the face time I get with people!

I haven't been seeing a lot of the family, but I spent the night at Bryce's and then I got to see Megamind with Amie and the girls on Saturday night.

Six weeks till our family vacation to Destin!!!

Tax classes and Roaches

I'm taking tax classes through Jackson Hewitt on Monday and Wednesday nights from 6:00 to 9:00. I am always the last one to finish my tests and I'm not leaving until 9:30. We haven't had books to take home and study, so it's been a challenge. I'm diggin the fact that I'll have a second income in January. I'm hoping to put together enough to get a car.

I'll be getting some shopping tips from Bryce on the car. He just traded in his truck and bought a different truck for his new side business AND a car that he can drive to work. Not sure what he paid for the truck but the car was under $3,000. Sweet!

So everybody knows that I have a paralyzing fear of roaches. You also know that I have seen the big ones that look like Transformer bugs with unnaturally large bodies that seem like tanks because you seriously can't kill them with less than a very powerful swat with the heaviest shoe you can find. Wimpy fly swatters from the Dollar Store are ineffective.


I found one of these still alive but upside-down and flailing its ugly legs on an over-turned pot I had left out to dry. I FREAKED OUT! I grabbed some bug spray that has the attached pump sprayer and left the mutant to die in a pool of poison. Yeah! It WAS STILL MOVING after all that spraying! Well, Amie and Clay came over the next day while I was at work and got rid of that one, a dead one under my bed, and another I had left by the downstairs bathroom as an example to his mutant friends of how THEY would be crushed if they showed their ugly faces.

They put some killing powder around the walls and put out roach traps. The next day Bryce told me he laid down 3 gallons of spray. I sleep snug as a bug in a rug now! Especially on Monday and Wednesday nights.

I moved!

Well, I finally moved out of Amie's basement! Yay for Amie and Clay regaining their privacy! Holy smokes, I lived there for a lot longer than anybody EVER expected. I REALLY appreciate having a place to stay and I am even more thankful for this new home.

I miss the noise! I've been to dinner and home evening and I had some time to play with Lia on Sunday before we went to a farewell break-the-fast for some people moving from the ward.

Clay and Bryce were over here on Saturday helping to set up things like the washer and dryer, stove, and tv. Bryce looked like Ghostbusters over here spraying for bugs. The roaches are the HUGE flying kind. I found a dead one Sunday morning and didn't see another one until tonight. It's dead and is in the downstairs bathroom. I have to work up the courage to go get it and throw it away. I envision it coming back to life and crawling on me or flying in my face. I may have to make friends with a neighbor and see if I can convince someone else to come in here to dispose of it. OR... I can put on my Big Girl pants and just take care of it. Yeah. That's what I'll do. Tomorrow.

Tonight I'm going to watch the rest of America's Got Talent.

Tyler and Andrea's Wedding

I haven't posted a thing in forever and decided that despite the lateness of the hour, I wanted to get some pictures of the wedding posted for everyone to enjoy. I think I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.