A day at Temple Square

Derek and I had an adventure one day while Hannah went to Homecoming and had all day long activities.  We decided to go downtown to Temple Square.  This was a terrific day together.
Here we are in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building.

 

 

 

Just outside of the Beehive house where we took a tour.

 

We went on a tour of the Beehive House.  This was a lot of fun and I'm glad we did.  I have never done this.  Some times it seems like we don't take advantage of great things to do right here in our own city and state.  This was a great day and we didn't even have to pack one suitcase.

  Derek was so easy going we just had a delightful day together.

This was President Brigham Young's wife's bedroom and this is her actual shawl

This is Brigham Young's room and his actual hat and cane.

The white china in the middle is actual china from Brigham Young.  Amazing that the family does not have this.  I sure would want this, but I'm glad that it has been preserved.

Ahh, the huge bathtub to relax in after a days work farming . . .

This is their formal dining room.  This would be great to have this much room with such a huge table.

Their sewing room, and from what the missionary tour guides said, Brigham Yong learned how to sew!

 

Just a pretty area for a picture together.

 

Inside the Tabernacle.  This was the whole reason why we came.  We were watching General Conference and we were talking about the Tabernacle and Derek couldn't remember what it looked like.  I could not find a good picture of it on the internet so I said that we should go spend a day there. 

 

 

Although I am not a great singer, I have always thought it would be amazing to be able to be in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.  They used to travel a lot (which I LOVE) and sing amazing songs and have tremendous spiritual experiences and be with so many people to hear all their great stories.  What a great little community.

What a marvelous picture.  I think this would be a great image to remember and imagine each time we go to bed.

Great picture to end on for this post.

 

Meeting Chloe Jane Ferrin

This is our first experience with our friends, the Ferrin's new baby daughter, Chloe Jane.  This couple are phenomenal.  They are so strong in Christlike attributes.  I am so grateful they have adopted us.  They are so young but already reach out and have such a firm foundation. 

Hannah thoroughly loved holding this precious baby.  She is SO pretty.  Her mother is Katie and her dad is Stuart.  They have invited us over for dinner and games several times and the kids really connect with this couple.  I am so grateful for all the righteous fun influences that we can get! 

I just had to get in this shot of Derek and Stuart.  They love to play their games together.  It is great to see them have good wholesome fun.  Stuart is such a good example and mentor for Derek.

My sweet Hannah

Well, an update on Hannah and her health.  She had a problem with her heart 2 summers ago.  She fainted.  We took her into the doctors and we found our her heart rate was in the low 40's.  Her pediatrician, Dr. Wirkus, did an echocardiogram and sent her to a heart specialist, Dr. Jerry Jou at the Primary Children's Hospital.  She also just a couple months later (in December 2 years ago) developed Raynoud's Syndrome.  During Christmas vacation, Hannah showed me her toes and they were very swollen and blackish purple.  We went to her pediatrician, a podiatrist, a vascular surgeon, and a Rheumatologist to try to get her toes taken care of. 

During this time of seeing so many doctors the Rheumatologist ordered a TON of labs for Hannah.  This was a blessing.  We found out that she has Hashimoto's Syndrome.  This has to do with her thyroid.  During all this time it was being very stressful on Hannah.  I felt so bad and I was nervous for my poor little girl as well.  I was grateful to be in a big city with the best doctors close by.  We were already spending so much time going to appointment after appointment, I can only imagine how much more difficult it would have been if we would have had to travel distance to a big city for care several times a week. 

We did find out that her heart was beating normal, that her sinus

End of the year flowers, I sure did enjoy you guys!

This was pretty much the end of the season for my flowers.  I just wanted to take a picture at the end of the season to see how much they had grown.  I think they grew quite a bit.  I REALLY enjoyed having them.  They were like little rays of sunshine or little friends that grew up over the 4 to 5 months I got to enjoy them.  I just loved every time I drove to or from the house to look at them.  They represent such beauty to me.  I was grateful for the smiles they gave me. 

I had more pictures but unfortunately I deleted them from my phone forgetting that I had not downloaded them yet.  I'm so thankful I got these pictures.

It will be fun to compare these with next years.  Hopefully I can add even more.  I'm going to see if the hostas will come back and even just cut off the tops of all the other plants to see if by some slim chance they will come back as well.  It would sure save a lot of time and money.

The Fix

Well, Derek got a few stitches.  Hopefully this will heal quickly.  You sure are brave son!  I love you and I'm impressed with how you are handling this. 

Derek's leg

 not sure what this is, but we are going to the urgent care tomorrow

Well.  We went to the urgent care Sunday morning.  The doctor there thought it was a "pyogenic granuloma".   I looked it up on line and it looked like the pictures there.  But he didn't think it was infected . . .

He wanted us to go see a dermatologist.  We went and she took 3 layers of biopsy.  We were so grateful for anesthesia!  She said it was DEFINITELY infected.  (I thought so)  She put him on an antibiotic called Minocyline 1 pill 2 times a day and  to apply 1 time a day and a vinegar soak of 1 C warm water, 2 T white vinegar compress daily.  She had to put in 3 or 4 stitches.  It looked like he should have had a lot more (to cut down on scaring) but she didn't know if she would have to open him up again to take out more infection when we saw her on the follow up. 

We got the biopsy pathology report back really quick.  The doctor called and said that she had good news.  She said that it was not cancer. (I was concerned that it could have been, but was not overly so)  The doctor said that it was a Molluscum Contagosum.  Yes, I have never heard of that either.  She said that it was ulcerated, and a virus, staff infection.

I am so grateful for health insurance.  I am also grateful once again for a job that gives me such extreme flexibility to take my kids to the doctors (which seem to be frequently lately - I will update Hannah's health on this family history/journal/blog as well in another post)  I am SO grateful that Derek did not have cancer. 

I love Derek so much and am glad that I can still be a part of taking care of this amazing young man.  He is growing up so fast.  I see so much good in him.  I love to be a part of his life.  He is a brave, kind, dedicated, spiritual, hard working young man who has a strong sense of right and wrong and a strong moral compass and enjoys doing good even when it is not cool or popular.  I am grateful for him and his early convictions to not only do good, but to be good. 

I love you Derek.

Just a fun day with the boys

 As you can tell, Derek LOVES pictures! (Not! :)  Derek is with his besties, Nick, Sam, Koda and Hannah is in front of the truck.

Getting ready for a "Nerd night".  They love these night.  Dungeon and Dragons :) So grateful for Derek's awesome friends.