Memphis TN

BB Kings Blue's club on Beale Street The View from our hotel - the Autozone Ball park....watched fireworks one night from there after a game.

Another view from our room, The Fed Ex forum....the plaza below was filled with vendors on the weekend. It had been raining that day so they all packed up and went home.

The infamous Hooters was our main view out our hotel room....not the best thing to see.

Alice and I climbing aboard the Lisa Marie Airplane at Graceland

Laney & I enjoying a ride on the Trolley, that was our daily transportation back and forth from our hotel to the Convention Center

More of my Utah PTA friends standing in front of the balcony where Dr. Martin Luther King was killed. The wreath signifies the place of his death.

Our first night in Memphis on Beale street, the banner in the back welcomes National PTA to Memphis

My friend Laney and I in Memphis TN

Some of my friends from Utah PTA at our favorite restaurant in Memphis-The Arcade

My roomies and good friends at Graceland

In just one of the rooms that holds all of Elvis' gold records at Graceland

My friend Alice and I on Beale Street in Memphis, ready to hear some Blue's Music

June 9th-14th I was in Memphis, TN for the National PTA Convention. We stayed one block off of Beale street, so we could hear the night life into the wee hours of the morning. We went to Beale street almost every night to check out the shops, see all the people and even went to a Blue's Club to hear the music. Everyday we rode their trolley back and forth to our convention, it was the cheapest transportation, each trolley was different and unique. We went to Graceland for an afternoon, we spent a few hours going through the Civil Rights Museum. I didn't know that Dr. Martin Luther King was killed there. After going through the museum I was embarrassed of how cruel African Americans were treated back then.

The weather was rainy the first couple of days and then it was very hot and humid. I am so glad I live in the Desert where it's a dry heat. I had a lot of fun hanging with my PTA friends and just having some girl time. Spending 5 nights in a hotel didn't hurt either, having breakfast cooked for me and eating out....although towards the end I really just wanted a home cooked meal. The food in the south is very heavy, I was sick of smelling Barbecue by the time I came home. I haven't been called Mam so many times in my life, they are very polite and friendly in the South.

Vacation in St. George

The playground at the Condo

The view of St. George from the Condo

Another view of St. George, makes me sad to think it could be the last from the condo's.

May 16th-22nd we went to St. George, Utah. We stayed in my parents condo, there was just Scott, Robert & I along with my parents in their 2 bedroom condo. It was only the 2nd time that none of my siblings were able to join us, so it made for a very quite week.

Scott and I spent every morning but 1 hanging out by the pool, that was even quite as there weren't that many people staying at that condo's that week, at least they weren't at the pool the same times we were. Robert went golfing on 2 different mornings with my Dad, his last golf game was by himself. My Dad was busy with business and Scott & I didn't want to go....sorry we hauled my clubs all the way there and I didn't use them. We had the traditional Monday night dinner at the "Pizza Factory", can't go to St. George without eating there.

The weather was perfect for us, since the best day for cooler temps in Las Vegas was Tuesday that was the day we headed South. We all rode in our car since it was a little bigger and could hold the 5 of us more comfortably. We had fun in Vegas, saw our favorite sites, The Mirage, Caesar's Palace, the M&M store, the Coke Factory. Ate lunch at the buffet cafe' at the Belagio, and enjoyed the beautiful flower garden. The day went by so fast and we wanted to get back to St. George before it got too dark. We did make a side trip to see the Hoover Dam, we had never been there before, we only spent long enough there to snap a few pictures and then we were off.

Jeana got to go to lunch one day with a friend from her childhood days that she still keeps in touch with, we enjoyed lunch at In & Out Burger, I had never eaten there before. It was a good lunch, and enjoyed the time I spent with my friend.

The week as always went by way to fast, sadly we found out towards the end of the week that this may be one of our last time to stay at the condo's. They were bought by new owner's who have done away with Bonus weeks, which is how we always got a condo. So the last few days became more sentimental to me, we have been going to St. George for about 13 years, it makes me sad to think that it's come to an end. I have many fond memories over the years going with our family, my siblings and their families, time spent at the pool, shopping the outlets, early morning excerise walks with my sisters, big dinner parties at the Pizza Factory. Great memories for myself, Robert and our children. Hopefully we will be able to still share a few more over the coming years.

Trip to Virginia/DC

The Washington DC Temple, this picture doesn't do it justice. It is the most beautiful Temples that I have seen.

Scott awaiting our flight to Virgina, this was his 1st time flying. He looks to excited.

Took marshmallows for a snack, he found these bunched together and decided to be funny. Look no window next to him, his 1st flight so I request a window seat, and this is what he gets, a wall.

This was one of those breath taking moments of the trip, to see the Lincoln Monument, it gave me the chills to be so close to this.

The White House

The Smithosian Museum of Art, this is a Picasso painting.

Another Picasso, Scott looks so thrilled to be in this museum.

This is the Smithosian Museum of Natural History, the Gems, Stone and Minerals section

The whole necklace is covered in diamonds, I think the blue stone is a diamond as well.

A view from the second floor

Standing on the Mall looking at the Capitol, it was almost surreal.

Washington Monument

The Concord at the Air and Space Museum at Dulles Airport.

The space Shuttle -Enterprise

The Pepsi plane I captured for Pepsi lovin' husband.

The back of the shuttle, those are huge

Standing down looking up at the Space Shuttle

The nose of the Shuttle

This is one huge aircraft

Scott and his military helipcopter

Scott and I had the chance to spend 9 full days in Virgina tending my 2 nieces and 2 nephews while my sister and her husband went on a Carribean Cruise. Their home is about 30 minutes from DC. We went into DC 3 days on the Metro, the first day was less then memorable, the experience of driving in a city I've never been, trying to figure out the Metro...and getting help from people in the East....not so great. They aren't the warm and fuzzy kind of people we have in the West. I had the 2 youngest children with us each time we went into DC. My niece is 3, I pushed her in her umberella stroller around DC. I for sure got my excerise each day with that task. We saw many sights, mainly focused on the Smithosian Museums, and sites around the Mall, we saw the Capitol from a distance. The Mall is longer than one would think, not a hop, skip and a jump. On Friday I forgot my camera, I left it in my purse back at my sister's...of course that is the day I needed it. We went to see the Lincoln Monument which was another surreal experience, I stood with reverence and awe looking at President Lincoln. It gave me goose bumps to see this part of history. We walked around from the Lincoln Monument to get a closer look of the White House, I didn't think we had gone far enough East. So we turned around and started heading South to the main side walk. As we were almost to the street I saw a militaryhelicopter flying toward us, flying right in front of the Washington Monument. I told Scott that President Obama was in the helicopter, it proceeded North to land on the White House lawn. There was a crowd of people surrounding a fence that was still a distance from the White House, we had the video camera and where able to capture all this excitement on Video. We didn't get to see President Obama exit the helicopter, but we knew he was in there, we saw plenty of Secret Service guarding the entrance of the White House. That pretty much was the icing on the cake for the week, I don't like President Obama, but respect the office which he holds. It was way cool to be able to be there for that. On Saturday I took all 5 kids and drove to the Washington DC Temple which is actually in Maryland. The GPS in my sister's van became my new best friend while I was there. What beautiful country in the East, the drive to the Temple had me going through a park, but it was more like driving through a forest than anything The Temple was so breath takingly beautiful, we went to the Visitor's Center and then walked around the Temple grounds. The Temple is nestled in forest area, tall trees everywhere. On the way back to Virginia I was heading the wrong direction on the Interstate, so when I was able to turn around and head back the right direction the Temple was in front of me, the view undescribable. The story is told that many car accidents happen in that area as people get distracted by the beauty of the Temple, it looks as if it is suspended in air. It was a trip that was exhausting, sometimes frustrating. full of adventure... but well worth it. Thanks to my sister and her husband for making this possible, it is and experience that Scott & I won't soon forget.

Update at the Stockdale's

We have been married for 26 1/2 years and we have never had as much goings on with health and other issues as we have these last 3 months. Robert's heart is still not fixed so to speak, after our big snow storm last week and shoveling 7.5" of snow his heart started with an irregular heart beat again. Since his eposide with his heart he got a stethoscope to check his heart morning and night, that is how he knew his heart was out of whack again. After a couple of days of this he called his cardiologist and was scheduled for an E.K.G. That also showed his heart beat was irregular, so he was started on yet another pill.....count so far 4 different medicines he is on since the eposide on March 3rd. For someone who has always been healthy and the only pills he has taken to this point are vitamins...this is a big deal. He will go back this coming Monday for another E.K.G. to see if the lastest pill is doing what it is suppose to do and that is send his heart back into a normal beat. He is scheduled for a big test in May where he will have dye put through his body and a test to see if he has any blockage anywhere that could be the cause of all this. I hope the cardiologist can finally figure out what the problem is and soon.

The middle of March I went downstairs one day and discovered that our 19 year old water heater and finallly decided to give up the ghost....a small drop at a time. We knew that it was time to put this very reliable yet old very old water heater to bed. Thank goodness we have connections at R.C. Willey :) where we can get a good deal on a water heater, our friend installed it for us. Works like a charm and the water is definietly hotter than our old one due to a lot more insulation in the new heater. There is nothing that Scott loves more than a hot shower. But things always seem to come in 3's right? Last Monday, after doing laundry all day and my last load was in the dryer, I realized that my dryer had dryed the towels for ever 3 hours. :( UGH!! That is not a good sign for any dryer....it was also dying...after drying many a loads for 13 years. Robert is trying to see if he can fix it before we go and invest in a new one.....it is not convenient to be without a dryer. You don't realize as with any appliance how much you depend on it until you don't have it.

During March our family all got sick, it started with me getting a cold from Whitney, this wasn't just your average cold, it also came with a cough, laryingitis, sore throat and a few days later a sinus infection. I got on a antibotic and it took about 2 weeks to get my voice back, still have a slight cough and nose issues. Next came Robert, he got it in the form of a cough, a very deep baritone voice and stuffiness. He was actually home in bed for few days, and with the past 3 months he has taken many a sick days off....which by the way he had plenty of since he has been fairly healthy over his last 12+ years at R.C. Willey. Then came Scott, he started the week before Spring break with a sore throat that went very quickly to a very bad case of strep, the 2nd day of his missing school and sounding like a complete stranger when he talked....I took him to the Dr. and he took one look at his throat and said,"Oh my", lets get a culture done. Scott's throat was so sore and the nurse was not gentle when she swabbed his throat it brought him to tears. The test was positive and he was put on a Z-pak for 3 days to fight the infection. He ended missing the 4 of 5 days a school that week, had to get a Dr. note to excuse him from school, plus pick up all his homework that he missed.

The following week was Spring break, no thanks to the bad weather we had for the weekend and first 2 days of the week. We stayed home since there was no place to go with such icky weather, we went on Wednesday to spend the day with my friend in Utah County. One of her boys is 13 and he and Scott and his older brothers loved playing on the Xbox all day. My friend and I enjoyed lunch and shopping at some cute boutiques, just hanging and talking and then pizza for dinner. It was a fairly quite Spring break, minus the trip to the Dr. and the broken dryer. I am looking forward to less stressful times...if there is such a thing.

St. George vacation

From left to right, Jana, Alice, Chrisi, Laney and me. My PTA friends, enjoying lunch at "Brick Oven" in St. George

Can't have a vacation without pampering yourself, what pretty toes after our pedicures.

Sporting those lovely flip flops you get after your pedicure.

The Thursday after Robert got out of the hospital "I left him" as he sadly told everyone, to go on a much needed vacation with my PTA BFF's to St. George, Utah. We had this trip planned since January, I was so sad when I thought I might not be able to go with them. Robert was blessed to come through his heart scare with flying colors, I felt he would be ok for me to leave. He was planning on returning to work the next day. I had a State PTA Board meeting all day Thursday, the plan was to leave when the meeting was over. My sweet Dad came and picked me and my friend Chrisi up Thursday morning and took us to the State PTA office where our meeting was. My friend Laney was driving a Suburan so we would have enough room for all our luggage and us. The condo we stayed also belonged to Laney's parents. The weather that Thursday started off sunny and no clouds, but as the day progressed we watched a storm blow in. It was coming from Southern Utah, the same direction we were heading. We kept checking the weather and road conditions to see if we were going to be able to make the 4 hour trip without problems. We even considered driving as far south as possible and then staying in a hotel. We were blessed and made it all the way, we stopped in Cedar City and had dinner, Jana lives in Cedar. We were in a caravan with Alice and Jana, after dinner Jana left for home as the 4 of us continued the 1 hour drive to St. George. We pulled into town at 9:30, after hitting the local Wal-Mart to get the essentials we continued the short journey to the condo. We had so much fun, there was only 3 of us staying at the condo, my friend Alice lives in St. George. We spent 4 days just pampering ourselves, no responsibilities, no children to get to school, homework to worry about. No one to worry about but ourselves....ahhhh. We stayed up late, some slept in ( I didn't do so well in that area, dang body clock). We got the pedicures, went shopping, lounged in our pj's, watched movies, T.V. ate lots of yummy food, ate out a few times. We even talked Chrisi into getting her ears pierced, (I didn't post the pictures Chrisi, promised I wouldn't). The weather wasn't as warm for Southern Utah as we had hoped, we did manage a couple of days of somewhat warm weather. My friend Chrisi flew home Monday, she had family obligations to attend to, so it was just me & Laney the last day. We went shopping, laughed alot and on Monday night our friend Alice joined us for a few hours of our last night. The drive home Tuesday wasn't any better than driving down if not worse. There are a few mtn. passes to go over and with it snowing it can make for a scary drive. Saw a few cars slide off the road, saw one car on its top. We were glad when we finally made it back safe.

Thanks to all my friends for the wonderful vacation, especially to Laney for organizing it all, and to her parents for sharing their wonderful home with us. Thanks to PTA for bringing these wonderful women into my life, they will be life long friends.

Happy Birthday Sweet Pea

Just a few weeks old

1 years old

1 year + old

2 years old

Almost 3 years old

Friday March 5th, my sweet and beautiful granddaughter will be 3 years old. I can't believe how quickly those years have gone by. She is so smart, loves to talk, to have you read her a story. She loves to watch movies at Grandma's house, "Stuart Little 2" and " Alvin and the Chimunks" are her favorites. She loves to play with our dog Buddy, and when Uncle Scott will pay attention to her she loves to be his Buddy. She loves to play outside in the summer, follow her Grandpa around the house and outside. She is a loving "Big Sister" to her brother, sometimes to loving. She loves her Mommy and Daddy very much, she loves to give kisses and hugs. Have a wonderful birthday my "Sweet Pea", your Grandma and Grandpa love you lots.

Gratitude

It has been a long five weeks, it will be five weeks ago tomorrow that Robert went in for Rotator Cuff surgery. Two weeks following his surgery he got a flu like bug with all the symptons, except it wasn't the flu. He was sick almost a week before he completely recovered and could feel somewhat normal. Fast forward to Monday of this week, Robert was sitting at his desk and all the sudden his heart started to race, his face got hot and he could feel the blood drain from his face, he felt like he could pass out. He laid his head down on his desk until the feeling passed. That happened again a couple of hours later, this time one of his co-workers got Robert's boss to come to his office, he told Robert he was going home and his boss would drive him. Sadly he couldn't reach me, somehow my cell phone was on silent. His boss strongly encouraged me to get him an appt. with the Dr. Tuesday morning we went to our Dr. and he checked Robert's heart beat, he was a little concerned and ordered an EKG right there at the office. After Reading the EKG, he told Robert that he needed to go to the ER. We spent the entire day yesterday in the ER while Robert was hooked up to a heart monitor. He had an irregular irregular heart beat, the top of his heart was in A-fib, not getting a complete beat, but just fibulating, so the bottom of his heart was beating alone. He had no signs of a heart attack, no tight chest or pain or anything. The ER Dr. was baffled as to how this started, thinking it may have had something to do with his illness after the surgery. The Cardiologist on call became involved, she wanted to admit Robert for overnight. He had another EKG done as well as a C-Scan, X-Ray and an Ultrasound. The Dr. said the best option was to run a scope down his throat ruling out any blood clots around or behind the heart, then the cardiologist would shock his heart into a regular beat. After a long restless night for him not getting much sleep with the nurses checking his vitals and drawing his blood he was pretty sleepy. This morning he had the procedure done, no blood clots and the shocking of his heart put it back to a normal rythmn. He has to take it easy for a couple of days, as well as being under the care of the cardiologist for a few months.... he says he's going to live. It was a scary experience that I don't want to have anytime again soon. Don't take being healthy, having a regular heart beat and being alive for granted, I know I won't.