I Have Been Changed for Good ....

Of course the biggest change of all, and definitely for good, was the changing out of my arthritic hip for a shiny and new titanium hip.

Pretty, don't you think?  I was in surgery for 4 hours, an hour longer than expected.  They had a bit of trouble waking me up .... but I did all the tricks necessary to go home by around 7 P.M., closing down the party as usual. These are the tricks, I got up, walked with a walker, went to the bathroom, and stepped up and down from a 'step' block. 

So here I go ....

sooo ready to go home.  Dad had left during my surgery with Spencer and Parks and they went to Casa Linda, for some good Mexican Food.  Thank you, Spencer and Parks.

Because we left for home so late, Dad knew that we wouldn't make it to the pharmacy in time to get my meds, so he called in the calvary.  Davin and Adi saved the day by arriving with the pain pills just as I was beginning to understand that I wanted them, very, very much.  Thanks, you two.

Tuesday was pretty low key.  I dozed in and out after being installed in the library recliner for the duration.  Our neighbors Shirley and Steven Watkins, who live a couple of blocks up 200 North brought us a lovely dinner and stayed to visit for almost an hour.  We loved that.

Wednesday was much the same except that we headed out to PG to see Wicked for Good, the second part of the Wicked movie.  We saw the first half around this time last year.  It may have seemed a bit ambitious, given my recent surgery, but really, I just traded a recliner at home for one at the theater, right? And popcorn!!

And here are my Movie compatriots

Eleanor, Dad, me, Nell, Eva, J Scott, Trevor, Uncle Bobby and Penny. 

After the movie it was back to the chair ... along with the cute cozy blanket that Brittany sent.  Thanks sweetie.  Our Relief Society President came by with dinner.  We'd asked not to have people come, since we are so hard to make food for.  But as it turned out, Jill is also pescetarian, so she felt the right of refusing my request.  We had a lovely veggie/kale topping for quinoa which was delicious.

Jill is an interesting gal.  Born to a never active LDS mother, and an alcoholic father, she (according to her own account) was living the dream in the world.  She was pretty, slim, popular and smart.  When her father took his own life, it turned her mother's life on its head.  Cristie, remembering going to primary with friends as a child, started to investigate the church. She soon started learning more and felt peace in learning about eternal marriage.  She moved her life in that direction and found even greater peace.  Not long after her mother's conversion, Jill was diagnosed with MS.  Not sure what happened to her marriage, but her life fell apart.  With her mother's encouragement she started living gospel standards.  Her story was much like her mothers', generally speaking, and she and her new husband moved into a house they had built next to her mom in Payson.  She is wonderful and lovely.  We had a great visit when she brought dinner.

Then in church, today, she was in charge of the 5th Sunday meeting and shared the difference between her life of success in the world, and her later life of success living the gospel.  She said when she was in the world, she thought that "Mormons", were a bunch of people who did what they were told.  She saw their lives as narrow and boring.  Now she says this life is better than she could have even imagined.  She now works for the church in the Temple Building department and travels too. 

Other people were having other kinds of fun.  I loved this one. Is Brady's mustache the best ever?

And now Becca thinks it would be fun to recreate this old family picture at our first home in Orem.  She's suggesting that Spencer and Dave bleach their hair.  Of course, getting Emily to come would be a trick, but maybe we can get someone else to stand in and just photo shop in her head ... I've already found the ruffled denim blouse on line ....    hahahaha  We even still have the house in the family.

And here is my home improvement/decorating project of the week.  I had moved out the normal sized books that used to sit between these large statue/bookends because they look out of proportion.  Sitting here in the library and sitting here in the library I was starting to notice stuff that needed tweaking, no surprise there.  But I noticed I had these oversized books on a shelf and had Dad move them for me. I'm rather pleased with how they look. 

Then it happened.... Thanksgiving at our house compliments of my ever amazing children.  We seated 18, including four of our children, Darby, Davin, Becca and Spencer and we enjoyed them and their families tremendously.  Of course we missed the others, but we are grownups and we know how to share.

Here is the beautiful turkey that Spencer and Brittney brought.

Here's the view from the other end of the table.

Then we moved into the parlor where Cam amazed us with her mighty strength.

and we had a chance to visit.

The three headed creature from Spanish.

Traditional Aunt Darby hug.

Look Dad!

Elias' amazing technicolor snowflake.

A three generation not traditional happiness portrait.

Mingling

Perfectly color coordinated portrait

Cousin time.

Darby and Elias

Daughter Daddy moment.

More cousin time....

The happy guy with the pie.

a family moment

Good bye time, note Darby's bag of turkey for sandwiches!!

On Friday Dad and I headed to Salt Lake to meet up with Becca to go through a house that was being sold with its contents.  The family wanted to make sure they didn't send off anything of great value in by accident, so I got to check it out.

I will be inserting a picture of the goods that I found for resale later, and all for under $1,000 after I get to it this coming week. 

Since I had managed to stand up for nearly 3 hours as I picked the estate the day before, I decided I was up to handling Tracey Brough's funeral on Saturday morning.  This is Tracy at about the age of 20.  She lived to be 55, far exceeding anyone's hopes or expectations.

Marshal Brough, the father of this family called Scott to be his counselor not long after we moved to Cottonwood Heights in 1977.  Dad was 26.

The Broughs had adopted Tracey, who had Cerebral Palsy, when she was 5. 

Another picture of Tracey before I knew her.

Here is the family when Tracey was sealed to them in the temple back in 1978

So, Tracey eventually had surgery and learned to walk, but as a young child she always wore a helmet because she was somewhat unsteady.  She already knew how to sign, and the family all learned how to sign so they could communicate.  Tracey was famous for the smile she always wore.  She attended special needs school, and later Special Needs Mutual, which she loved.  She kept a calendar and journal.  As an adult she served a mission with her parents to do family history work in Australia.  Over her life she submitted a third of a million names for indexing, ensuring that they would receive their temple blessings.  The funeral was so sweet as many of her siblings spoke of her constancy to their family and the gospel. at one time a family member told Tracey about another sister who had passed away before Tracey's adoption, Tracey insisted that she already knew Tiffany, that Tiffany had come to her over the years when she was frightened or confused. Then near the end of her life she shared that her mother, Janet, who passed away in June, and Tiffany had come to prepare her to come home with them to Heaven.  

Then her sister Andrea and her nephew, Esther's son sang "Because I knew you, I have been changed for good."  Yes, the song from Wicked, but when it was sung by the sister and nephew of a handicapped girl who I am sure was able to meet her full potential here on earth, and who had positively influenced the lives of those around her, it seemed to have additional meaning.  Of course I didn't remember to grab a tissue, but that did not stop my face from streaming, almost continuously during the service. Tracey's Mom Janet definitely qualifies as one who changed my life for the better.  We were visiting teaching companions for years, and she taught me so much.  She is possibly the best example of living the life of a disciple of Christ that I have ever known.  I was so thrilled to see her progeny, evidently following her example. 

Both Janet and Jill Wilson, (With whom I had a heart felt talk last week) managed to adopt damaged children and they both did, in very different ways, an amazing job raising them.  The spirit spoke peace to my soul when I was very troubled about how our story with Belinda has gone along, in comparison, but I am grateful for all that I learned from our experience, and hope that in some way we were able to change the outcome of Belinda's life for good in some way, as well. 

There was only one other couple from the old ward who had come out, which surprised us.  We had a nice visit with the Cheneys who still live in the old neighborhood.

And here we are with Marshall.

And in other family news, Brooke married her sweetheart David Black, in St. George on Friday.  We are so happy for both of them.

Then since the funeral was in Tooele, Dad picked up Cafe Rio for us so we could go and visit Joyce.  However, when we got to her house, we found that she had passed out and fallen twice in the previous half an hour.  So, we took her to the local Instacare, who didn't have the machinery to test her for what they thought ailed her, and they sent up to St Marks in SLC to get some more tests. Here she is in the waiting room with a cute orderly who is there to take her up for exams.  We left then, having been in touch with Clark who had agreed to come when needed and drive her home. 

 The miracle was that when we arrived at her house, she was in her bedroom, with no way to get to the living room to get her phone to call Clark to come and get her to take her to the hospital.  She was praying for a way to get help, and I walked into her house.  As it turned out Clark and Jo were driving back to SLC from Brooke's wedding the day before at the time she would have called them.  By the time we were done with the Instacare place, two hours had passed and Clark was back in SLC.  We all feel that our parents, both Heavenly and Earthly are looking out for her.  Bless her heart, please keep her in your prayers. 

Here's the beautiful sunset we all got to see on the way to St. Marks.

Dad had given up his BYU final game ticket to go and support Marshall at Tracey's funeral.  I guess that meant that Penny got to go to the game ...

Where she got to see a couple of her favorite cousins, Van and Parks.

Oh, how beloved is this baby boy.

go Cougs ...

and they did, the only one that caught the Cougar's tail was Van, as they finished their season with another win.

So that was our week.  We enjoyed phone calls and visits from so many, but the most important thing was the prayers, for which we'd like to thank you.  Things went as smoothly as possible.  

Getting Ready for Thanksgiving, Christmas and Surgery.

Good Monday morning, y'all.  Doing a project in this guest room, and was loving the light across the bed, and shining through one of the little cotton dresses in my Edwardian clothes collection.

But it gets better ... we met up with Dave at Applebee's for lunch and that's a straight up recipe for yummy fun!  Dad had barbershop that night.

I worked on Tuesday, and got to help a lady buy this green cradle to store her quilts in, how adorable is that?  She's also a friend on Insta, after she had Jenn Reed's husband build a garden house for her and was shopping Treasures for architectural pieces. 

On Wednesday one of my favorite dealers came in, and I laughed my head off at her shirt.  It so reminded me of Texas, where they wear they love of Jesus on their sleeve, so to speak, or as in this case on their chest.  She says her husband has a mustard one that has a similar theme. 

Dad had Monthly Stake Council that night.

I took this cool original French print that I bought at the Antique Show last week with my cousin Debbie into the shop,  It looks different though because when I was loading it into the trunk on Tuesday, I shut the trunk and the hinge busted the glass over the matted picture, which I didn't like that much anyway.  So that night I found this frame and painted it, then on Wednesday I framed it, and on Thursday, it made it into the mall and was hung.  Yeah.

After work I headed to my bookclub meeting, while Dad had a Presidency Stake Training with our Area President, Elder Mills.

That was also the day we got to celebrate our Mac.  The baby that was born when we were in Finland, and we got to vicariously enjoy his birth as his folks sent us Marco Polos of the big event right up to his birth.  So far away but so connected.

On Friday the world must celebrate this amazing young woman who slipped quietly into the world some 12 years ago.  We are so blessed to have her.

That night Dad and I drove up to Highland to my friend Shirley's house as we were going to an Art Show with her and George.  Their daughter-in-law was exhibiting at the Capitol, and I was game.

Shirley's decorating is always breath taking, I just love it.  And yes, this is the Shirley who passes along her previously loved decor to me, which I sell and then donate to wonderful charities in her behalf.

So charming,

I just never get over this 'junk' wreath with soooo many hours and hours of work in it.

Then it was off to the Strap Tank Diner at Traverse Mountain.  It was the guys first time to meet.

Dinner was great and since I love their decor, we thought we take this bit home with us.

This takes us back. Then it was off to the State Capitol for the show.

When I saw this painting by Heather's Grahm in her booth, I said, "Oh, my gosh, I thought you were a guy!"  Oh yea, sometimes my mouth just takes over.  She looked at me like I was crazy, and I said.  "I'm sorry, I saw this picture online and loved it.  I screen shotted it, and ended up doing a two inch print, that I put on a small gallery wall. But I thought the artist was a man, and didn't even realize the artist was local.  I just love this depiction of Christ.  I thought I was OK to confess, as I was, after all, buying this smaller version.  She agreed she had done it herself but was intrigued with how much I loved the painting.  As it turns out she lives in Elk Ridge, and now she is going to come, with her daughter, to my Jane Austen Birthday Party next month.  How fun is that?

And it gets better and better, as it turns out she is friends with Shirley's daughter-in-law, Lori.

So here it is at home.  It's in the arrangement around the desk and cupboard in the south-west corner of the parlor that includes all of my paintings and Teichert prints of Jesus.

The other painting we bought was from Courtney Lunt.  It's between the two windows in the kitchen and is perfect for my geranium theme in there.

On our way up we took some pictures of mountains that we thought might be the one that Great Uncle William had painted for his wife and name Springville Mountain.  We think the one in the middle could be it. 

What do you think?

On Saturday Day morning, Dad put some more Fun in his Funeral obsession by attending the said event for Spence Bracken, with who he worked at Associated.  Here are a few of the pictures in the display for Spence.

He was disappointed not to see more Associated friends but did get a chance to catch up with Jan Christenson who did resets with him back in the day.

When he got home, he helped me decorate the Carriage House tree.  He had already spent an entire day earlier in the week stripping of the old lights and restringing new lights, so he was a super good sport about it.  The theme is once more, Plaid and the 12 days of Christmas. 

After getting the tree done, Dad headed out to Trevor's house to join these hooligans in watching the BYU - Cincinnati football game.  They were thrilled with the outcome, as you see here.

On the way home from Church, I checked out the oyster mushrooms around the tree we cut down last year.  I've been harvesting and freezing them, but I think this new crop comes too late, especially since I have my hip replacement surgery tomorrow.

Doesn't this look like a perfect fairy condominium, especially when you know that those three big ones are the size of dinner plates.

Just for fun, here is our family room, with its fun Scandinavian decor.  The painting of the little blonde girl next to the blue cupboard is one of Courtney Lunt's paintings.

Here is the art on the main wall above the couch.  The colorful long one with the black frame is a Swedish Sheerin snit. I found it at a secondhand store years and years ago... one of my favorites.

And after years of collecting Scandinavian ornaments, here is the tree.

Then Trevor and Spencer came to give me a Priesthood blessing before my surgery tomorrow.  Spencer's and Brittney's kids had already had a long day ...

But they mostly woke up and joined us in the house for a bit of romping with cousins.  Penny had come with her Dad and was so tickled to get to see them.

Trevor loved how Dad had added the bubble lights to the spandrel by clipping them to the oval metal piece inside the design.  He even put them on a timer, so we see them bubbling away in the evening.

Spencer with his youngest

So serious.

And Brittney with their oldest.

Girl cousins are best.

another cute one.

Sitting on the mushroom tree stump.

Me with the boys.

It was a lovely blessing, thank you all. 

And then it's time for my convalescing chair.  I bought it a couple of weeks ago, its sturdy and from the 1800's and is my favorite antique style, Eastlake.  The nice thing is that its comfortable, and as I've been reading up on what I should sit on after surgery, I found to my sorrow, that recliners are not recommended.  YIKES ... they suggest high back armchairs, and since this will eventually be in the library, I took advantage of our visitors, to get it upstairs.  

There they go up the stairs.

Van told his Uncle Trevor, when he was at his house last week, that several months ago he had accidentally left some small pokemon toys at his house.  Had Trevor seen them?  No, he hadn't.  But then this past week Trevor had noticed that some tiny toys had been pushed into a larger toy ... and voila!

Because he knew Van was coming down with his family, the boy and his toys were reunited.  It was pretty fun.

After our guests left we got busy setting the Thanksgiving table.  It will be covered with sheets until the big day.  I am just not sure I'll be up for it by then.

So that was our week.  We loved meeting new people, hanging out with friends, and especially time spent with our sons.  We love you guys! and your wives and cute kids are just a sweet bonus.

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