Week in Review 8/28/16

Whew!  What a whirlwind week!  It was fun, exciting, entertaining, horrifying, and thought provoking all mixed up together!

The week started with a trip to St.George to see three plays at Tuacahn with Kim's sister, Jody, and her daughters, Mickel and Kristiann.

Luckily I woke Monday morning with no stomach issues and just a little residual tired and weakness.  I made the entire car ride to St. George without incident - well at least no sickness incident.  I realized when we had traveled about 40 miles that I had forgotten my cell phone.  I seriously contemplated just leaving it and being phone-free for the trip, but decided that I couldn't make it, so we turned around and picked it up.  Great start, right?

Actually the car trip was quite pleasant.  We put old musicals in the DVD and Jody and Mickel listened from the front seat while Kristiann and I watched in the back seat.  We watched Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, My Fair Lady, and Annie Get your Gun.  The three of them had planned to stop at several quilt shops on the way down to pick up "Row By Row" kits.  Since I am not a quilter I had no idea what a "Row By Row" is so I did a little research.  Apparently quilt shops all over the world get together and create rows of a quilt all with the same theme, this year's theme is "Home Sweet Home".  Each quilt shop creates something unique to their shop and they are available only by traveling to that shop and getting it in person.  People who create "Row by Row" quilts travel to many cities to pick up kits and then create their own unique quilts from the kits they have picked up.  Jody, Mickel, and Kristiann have traveled all over the mountain states getting kits.  On the way to St. George we stopped in Salem, Mona, and Delta.  They also went to Hurricane and two shops in St. George.  I can't wait to see their final creations!

We stayed in the St. George Worldmark condos which were fabulous, as usual.  After checking in we headed to out to grab some dinner before heading to Tuacahn.  We found a fabulous placed called The Crepery and got crepes for dinner.  They were marvelous!  I had forgotten how much I enjoy crepes.

Obviously this is a lousy picture, but I wanted to remember how good the crepes were.

After dinner headed out to Tuacahn.  I am in such awe of the venue!  The way they have built the theater into the red rock scenery is absolutely breathtaking.

We had tickets for all three shows:

The first night we got to see Tarzan.    It was SO GOOD!  The music was performed to perfection.  The aerial moves were fabulous.

Mickel and I excited for the play to start.

The next morning was a very relaxing one.  Jody, Mickel, & Kristiann left to do some more quilt shopping and I just stayed in the condo to relax.  I did spend some time helping Shandra write a paper long distance, but other than that I just relaxed.  It was HEAVEN!  That afternoon we gorged ourselves on past from the Brick Oven and went shoe shopping.  A Cold Stone ice cream treat was perfect to round off the afternoon.  We then spent the next couple of hours playing games.  Kim insisted that I bring the "Mustache Game" and it was a definite hit!  We spent hours trying to guess the name of people, characters, or even cartoons who sported specific mustaches. It was hilarious!

 After the games we headed back to Tuacahn.  This night's show was The Hunchback of Notre Dame.  I'll be honest, this was the show that I was the least excited to see.  A storm headed in just in time for the show to start.  Luckily we were prepared with poncho's and umbrellas.

The wind, thunder, and lightening made the wait entertaining.  Lightening struck somewhere near at one point and the thunder that accompanied it was deafening.  Then, the rain started.  It was coming down pretty heavy but they started the show anyway.  It was amazing to see the actors on stage singing and dancing all of the while knowing that they were getting drenched.  They never missed a beat and performed as if nothing was happening.  Luckily the rain didn't last too long and the show continued without a hitch.

I have to say that I was very impressed by the Hunchback.  The music was amazing.  I was mesmerized throughout the entire performance.  The backdrop was HUGE!  I'll bet it was at least 3 stories high!  And the man who played the Hunchback was absolutely incredible!  How he performed with his face contorted I'll never know, and his voice was amazing!  He also spent the entire show with his leg bent as if he were crippled.  At first I didn't know if I would like it, but it turned out to be my favorite show!

I stole this pic from her FB page

 Wednesday Mickel and Kristiann took off early to go hiking in Zion's.  I attended an owner education meeting and Jody slept.  When the girls got back I borrowed the car and drove to Ivans to
visit with Loraine and Kevin who had moved there last year.  Unfortunately we didn't have long to visit, but it was so fun to see them again!  Their house is absolutely gorgeous, it literally could be featured in a fashion magazine!  I with I had taken pictures, but I was so excited to talk with them I totally forgot to bring out the camera.  Their daughter is attending Tuacahn High School.  Hopefully we will see her in some of the productions in the future!




I rushed back to the condo to pick up the Woodlands to head back to Tuacahn.  This night we had scheduled to eat dinner at the theater.  It was fun.  In honor of Peter Pan they served "island" food complete with kalua pork and grilled pineapple.  It was yummy!  The decor was fun - there was even a crocodile peaking out from under a serving table!

The weather for Peter Pan was nice, perhaps just a little too hot, but they had great big overhead fans and misters high over the entire audience.

 Peter Pan has always been a favorite play of mine, but I was blown away at this production!  The actor playing Peter Pan was phenomenal!  His voice and flying ability were incredible.  All of the music was performed beautifully and I could have literally stayed and enjoyed it all night!

I had SUCH a great trip!  I felt honored that the Woodlands had invited me to take Craig's place.  It was so fun to hang out and enjoy time with them!  It was a fantastic trip.  There was only one thing that stopped it from being perfect.

Late Wednesday afternoon my sister, Robin, called and said that she was really worried because she had a bad headache and all of the sudden she was having trouble reading.  At first I assumed that she had a bad migraine, but she clarified by saying that she could see to read the letters, but that she couldn't interpret the words.  She had just recently made some major changes in medication and we assumed that those changes could have affected her reading.  I instructed her to call the doctor, and his office suggested that she rest to see if it got better.

The next morning the Woodlands took off early in the morning and I caught an Uber ride to the airport.  Kim picked me up and we stopped by my office to talk to the staff about clinical scheduling issues, and then we had a lunch date at Crown Burger.  We stopped at Hobby Lobby for just a minute, but I started feeling anxious to get home to check on Robin.

It's a good thing I stopped by Robin's house.  She still couldn't read and was having some vision and confusion issues.  She didn't want to call the doctor again, so I called for her and he told us that he felt she should go to the ER.  We left Cory in charge of the kids and I drove her to the hospital and helped her check in.  By this time I was getting even more concerned because she REALLY couldn't read and was having trouble remembering things like her address.  They took us right back and told her that they were worried about things like a hemorrhagic aneurysm and things like that.  After two CT scans the doctor came back and reported that Robin had had a STROKE!  WHOA!  She is only 48 years old, certainly not old enough to have stroke!  The stroke was in the temporal and occipital lobes of her brain.  The temporal part of the brain is over vision and the occipital part interprets what is seen.

They admitted her into the hospital with all kinds of monitors and we were told that the risk of a repeat stroke was greatest in the first 48-72 hours.  Lots of questions were asked to try to determine the cause of the stroke, but there were no definitive answers.  There is no question that her smoking put her at more risk, so she was told to quit, but they couldn't find anything else.

They kept her in the hospital for 2 days and then sent her home with some reading type exercises.  It is really scary to think how much her life changed in just a matter of seconds.  Before the stroke she was an avid reader and now she can't even enjoy television because there are so many words flashed up on the screen.  She recently was laid off her job and now can't even apply for new jobs because she can't read.  She can recognize the letters but can't understand what the letters say when put together into words.  However, she found that if she writes the word she can understand it.  It is just a very, very long process to read anything.  The doctors think that she will probably recover most of her reading ability, but it will take time.  She is also still having a little confusion and having trouble being able to see clearly.  She is also feeling extreme anxiety and some depression.  All of these could be attributed to the stroke.  Poor Robin!

Saturday night Roxane and Jeff had an open house for their son, Jaxon, who is leaving soon for a mission in Armenia.  It was great to visit with family and friends.  Jaxon is really excited to serve in Armenia - I didn't even know where it was!  I found that it is near Georgia, Turkey, and Iran.

Jaxon is really smart and has a firm testimony of the gospel. I believe he will make a great missionary.  Although, I must say that I was surprised to find that he had not cut his hair since March and is not planning to cut it until the day before he leaves!

His missionary farewell talk was fabulous.  He obviously has inherited an ability to speak in public from his dad.  He talked about the history of Christianity and the good that has come from it.  He went on to say that Christians in the world all have provided much good in the world, but that they have all been missing one key and that is the Priesthood of Jesus Christ which allows men to act with the power of Jesus Christ.  It was a fantastic talk.

Ash, Rox and I in Rox's beautiful kitchen

Sunday night we made Chimichungas and Chocolate (Fattening) Deseret to celebrate Shandra's birthday.  Kim even took the night off work to help us celebrate!  He insisted that we have a minion theme, so all of the plates and napkins were minions.

We even had minion glasses and hats!

It was fun to celebrate her birthday.  For her gift we fixed her garage door (she hasn't been able to use it for over a year).  Kalel gave her a new travel mug and a cute shirt.  HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHANDRA!  I hope this next year is very good to you!

THIS WEEK I AM GRATEFUL FOR: My sisters.  It is so scary it is to think how close we came to losing Robin.  I'm grateful for Ashley, Robin, and Roxane.  I am very blessed to have such great sisters.  I pray that Robin's recovery will bring her to a place that she can have a productive and happy life.