Enough Already!

I hate hospitals, doctors, needles, blood, and pretty much anything in those general categories. My arm almost has to be hanging by a single tendon before I'll go in and see a doctor. Well yesterday, I had had enough. I got the most awful strep throat I had ever had the beginning of this month when we went to General Conference. It took me about a week and a half to get over that monster. About a week ago, I got this chest cold from some disgusting person in my Master's class who thinks it is fun to see how far he can shoot flying viruses out of his mouth when he coughs. Well, yesterday as I was fighting this chest cold the strep throat started up again, so I did what I swore I would never do and I went to urgent care.

The wait wasn't bad, and people were fairly nice, but I cannot begin to tell you how stressed I was. As the guy was taking my vitals, he looks at me and says, "Are you nervous or something?" to which I responded in the affirmative. He said, "Good, because if this was your real pulse, you would probably be dead in a few minutes."

Anyway, I saw a doctor, he looked in my ears and throat, and managed to write me a prescription for two types of pills. I have to admit, after taking only two doses, I already feel better. Katie says I'm too stuborn about going to the doctor, and she's right, but what are you gonna do, I'm old and stuck in my ways.

Just kidding! The Cheesecake Factory is ok!

Some of you may recall reading about the horrid experience we had at The Cheescake Factory in March. Well, I've been thinking about it, and I think I was too harsh. After looking back on it, they did the best they could under the circumstances, so I have decided to forgive and forget. Well that and the fact that I just got a $50 dollar gift card from them in the mail! Holy crap, were we surprised! I wrote a letter over a month and a half ago, and so I had given up hope. But yesterday, in the mail was a gift card and very sincere note written by the general manager. I'm still pissed on how we were treated, but at least we get a free meal out of the deal!
**a note from Katie**
If you pray, please keep my dad in them, if you don't please keep him in your thoughts. Thanks.

Pope Dewey III

Thank goodness for that! We have a new Pope! I was getting a little nervous there for a little while, but now everything will be ok. We don't know who it is yet, the news just got hold of it a few minutes ago, but I am sure I will await in eager anticipation to see who will lead the Roman Catholic Church, and who its members will selectively choose to listen to or ignore depending on whether they agree with him or not.

Most people are aware of the fact that Katie and I got a new pup named Dewey. He's a little sweetheart/monster, depending on what time of day you get to see him. He woke me up last night by knawing on my nose, hence the monster, but then turned into a sweetheart as he tried to hump Sapphire while she was sleeping. We'll try to post some pictures soon.

Sickness and Movies

Geesh, Katie and I can't just seem to get healthy. I was sick about 2 weeks ago with the worst strep/sore throat I've ever had. I'm still getting over that. Katie apparently got the same thing yesterday and is currently at home sucking up Z-packs. To top it off, about 4 days ago my left thumb started hurting, and then it started blistering, and now I can hardly put any pressure on it. I think i have an infected cuticle, but thankfully that is starting to get better (I think).

The other night we saw the movie Spanglish. I liked it, but it dragged a bit and certainly didn't end the way I would have liked. However, I heard a line that is worth repeating. In the movie, the wife is a space-case, and whenever anyone says anything negative to her, she tells them to stop because they are hurting her already low-self esteem. Sick of this, her mom finally tells her, "Lately, your low self-esteem is just good common sense." Ouch! I loved that! Low Self-estee is a very serious matter, but I cannot stand it when people use it to justify their bad or stupid actions.

We haven't been to the theater is ages. We have enough movies at home to get caught up on. However, starting later this month that might change. I'm way stoked to see the new Star Wars movie (hopefully it doesn't suck like the other two), "Kingdom of Heaven" which is about the Crusades, "War of the Worlds" with Tom Cruise, "The Corpse Bride" and "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" both by Tim Burton, "Mr. and Mrs. Smith", "Kicking and Screaming" with Will Farrell, and most of all, "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy." I am currently reading the book and LOVE IT! I don't think I've enjoyed a book this much in a long time. I just hope Disney doesn't screw it up! Do yourself a favor and go the webpage and watch the trailor....it is hilarious.

Anyway, that is it for now. I leave with a J. Golden Kimball quote I stumbed across the other day: "This city (Brigham City) looks like hell. You need to clean things up, mow the grass, paint your houses and barns. And you sisters, you could stand a little paint yourselves."

One of those days....

Typically, I do better when I am rushed, this includes getting ready in the morning. And this mornings events are the perfect example of why I should live my life in a rush. I was ready to leave by 7:15, I usually leave about 7:30 - 7:40 so I decided with the extra 15 minutes I had I would go into the backyard, play with Sapphire, water the lawn, my flowers and all the other good stuff that you can do in a backyard.
As I start to walk outside, Sapphire tries to run back inside so I shut the door a little bit so she wouldn't get it. Anyway, she runs into the door shutting it and then I hear it lock!!! The dang dog locked us in the backyard! I was all dressed for work and stuck back there! no phone, no hubby to let me in, no neighbors to yell for, I was trapped!
So after the panic had set in, I paced for a few minutes and weighed my options. Here's what I came up with:
*I got the blue rain tarp
*threw it over the top of the fence so it wouldn't hurt so bad when I had to sit on top of it
*took a pair of Billys work shoes, threw them on the other side of the fence so I could walk in those
*stood on top of Sapphie's dogloo, sat on top of the fence and jumped off (I feel the need to tell you the last time I climbed a fence I was probably 7 years old and 50 pounds, can you imagine my big old butt on top of the fence trying to jump off! If only I had a camera!)
When I got to the other side I threw over the sandals I was wearing, rolled up my pants and walked all the way around our complex.
All I have to say about this adventure is that it is all true, I have some small battle wounds to prove it.
And somehow I still managed to make it to work on time.

RIP Pope!

Despite what many of you may expect me to do, I'm not going to trash the Pope. I geninuely believe he was a good guy and that the world is a better place because he was here. With that said, all the funeral buisness has made me even more grateful to be a member of the church. Allow me to explain: I was watching CNN the other day and they were talking about possible successors to Pope John Paul II, and the commentator said that he expected the new Pope to be much more liberal, and as a consequence that Catholic Church would follow. I was struck by this. In essence, the doctrine of the church is determined by the Pope, and can change from Pope to Pope. How grateful we should be that the doctrine of our church is not dictated by any person, but by God. It doesn't matter who the prophet happens to be, the doctrine will remain the same unless God deems that it needs to be changed. I don't mean to be all philosophical or to offend anyone, but I am indeed grateful to be a member of the LDS church and know that even if the prophet or one of its leaders dies, the church will continue on its current course.

Anyway, changing topics, we had a fun time tonight. A neat couple in our ward with two young kids invited us over to their house for dinner and to play some games. When we got the invitation we were very surprised because hardly anyone invites strangers over for dinner for the purpose of getting to know them better. Let's face it, most people are more like....uh....well, US. Anyway, it was good to get out of our shell for a night and get to know some super neat people. However, the thing I always hate about these things is I wonder what people think about us as a couple. Are we normal, or great, or weird, or disfunctional? I guess I shouldn't care what people think, but I'm curious to know how others perceive us. I guess if they avoid us for the next 3 years, we have our answer, don't we?

General Conference

Katie and I had the wonderful opportunity to attend General Conference over the weekend. We headed up to Utah on Thursday night and drove down on Monday. I thought I would share a few of the highlights:

Lunch with Matt: When we arrived in Provo Friday afternoon, we took my brother Matt out to lunch at the Macoroni Grill where they have paper table covers and crayons you can color and write on. Well, we get there and we have the cutest waitress, and I started thinking, "Hmmm, I wouldn't mind having her as a sister-in-law." So, we started writing little messages on the table to try and hook these two up...things like: "His name is Matt" and "Yes, he's single". At first I think she thought it was kind of cute, but she soon got embarrassed because by the end of the meal she wouldn't even make eye contact with my brother....poor thing, it's not his fault he's so hideous.

Leighton and Mauri: We spent Friday and Saturday night with my old college roommate and his wife in their apartment. The only thing I can say about their apartment is that it was exquisite and made our already old, cruddy apartment look even worse. We had a great time visiting and just talking about old times. On Friday, we went to see the movie "Hitch". I went with absolutely no expectations, and left very impressed. It was a very good, funny movie that I highly recommend to everyone. Anyway, we had a blast staying with these two and it was very difficult to say goodbye.

General Conference: We went to the Saturday afternoon session and the Sunday morning sesson. I also went to the Priesthood session on Saturday night while Katie went shopping. Needless to say, it was a very special and memorable experience for us both. Katie had never been to General Conference and had only seen the prophet from far away once in Palm Springs about 8 years earlier. I don't think I will ever get tired of seeing the prophet. IT is amazing the spirit that is with him and the reverence church memebers show for him. The Conference Center is filled with conversation until he enters the room. Then everyone stands and not a sound can be heard. It is an incredible experience that I hope everyone gets to do at least once in their lives.

The Pendleton Family: Our last night was spent with Katie's sister Tam and her family. I also got to meet her brother Chris for the first time and most of his kids. It didn't even occur to me until I was up there that I am an uncle and that I have a buttload of nieces and nephews. We had a wonderful time visiting with the entire family and were also very sad that we had to leave as soon as we did.