First Day of School

Here are the kids on their first day of school. Allison (9 1/2 years old) is starting 4th grade. Mr. Porter is her teacher. McKay (5 1/2 years old) is starting Kindergarten with Mrs. Reid. They switched schools this year, due to new boundary lines, and are attending Three Falls Elementary. Don't they look great? I have to thank my friend, Kara, for taking the picture since I was flat in bed (recovery from my knee surgery) and unable to fully get them ready for school on their first day of school. Mike and I are so proud of our kids! We just love them!

Oh the fun of surgery!

On August 7th, I went in for surgery to have my torn ACL and Meniscus repaired on my left knee. Dr. Scott Smith was my surgeon and he did a great job! He was so nice to let me WATCH the surgery. Instead of having general anesthesia, I opted for a Spinal with a Femoral Nerve Block so that I could be awake and remember the surgery. I loved it and I know that makes me sound so crazy! I wouldn't have changed a single thing in reguards to watching it. I must admit that it was a little weird feeling the bones in my pelvis vibrate when they were sawing the bone in my knee! The Spinal turned out to be a great thing because my legs were numb, so I didn't feel any pain for at least 10 hours! I have to admit that it was really good for me to be the PATIENT instead of the surgical NURSE--it gave me such a great perspective into how my patients must feel. I hope to be a better nurse as a result of my surgery.

This is me, looking my loveliest, right before they wheeled me back for surgery.

This is me right after surgery with my full-leg knee immobilizer which is locked at zero degrees. Let the fun begin!

After surgery, I was supposed to stay in bed for 2 weeks with my leg propped and iced. Laying in bed got extremely boring. However, I did enjoy reading books and watching approximately 250 decorating shows! Thank goodness for HGTV! Grant was my little buddy while I was home recovering. We spent a lot of time reading books in bed.

The incisions with all the brusing! It actually looks pretty good considering what some look like!

Yippee...I can get out of bed finally with the use of 2 crutches!

Here I am transitioning to 1 crutch and then...

...to NO crutches! Oh, what a wonderful feeling to finally be able to put weight on my foot.

It has been a couple of weeks since this picture, but I am now happy to report that I no longer have to wear my brace! I wore it for one month and it was a VERY HAPPY day when the doctor told me I could take it off! The progress is slow, but steady. I finally started Physical Therapy last week and my range of motion has improved, so I am excited. I do realize that I have about 3 1/2 more months until I am fully better! I hope when everything is all said and done, that I am glad that I chose to have this surgery done because I am dying to get back on the Basketball court!

And now for the Blad Reunion...

The Blad Reunion started off in Kanosh for the big Pioneer Day parade and celebration! We watched Grandma and Grandpa go by in the parade. They were so nice and even gave us a few extra pieces of candy! After the festivities at the park (most of the Blad grandkids won the races), we all caravaned to the Albrecht Lodge (yep--we were just there for the Dorius Reunion). We had a great time hanging out, making watch bands out of beads, swimming, dancing, horseback riding, 4-wheeling, celebrating birthdays, eating yummy meals from Throw-down Food competitions, and listening to Mom & Dad's life stories.


Pioneer Woman: Grandma Blad in the Parade

All the Blad Sisters

The Minivan Caravan of cars to the Lodge (I think there were 11 cars)

Making watch bands & bracelets & necklaces (Colleen was the Queen Jewelry Maker)

Grant having fun!

The other kids had fun too!

The Birthday people (Kerry, Grant & Cami)

All the sisters dancing with DAD!

Stephen & Kenneth dancing with MOM! (We missed you Kirk!)

We love you Mom & Dad!

Dorius Reunion at the Lodge

We had a wonderful time at the Albrecht Lodge outside of Minersville, UT. It is a very large cabin that can accomodate a large family so it worked out perfectly! Each family had their own room with a queen bed! We rode horses, went 4-wheeling, played tennis, shot clay-pigeons, played games (mostly Wackee Six), and ate a lot of food!

After the time at the lodge, we all came back to St. George/Hurricane and had fun at the lake! Some of the family didn't have as much fun after the lake since they got swimmers itch, but oh well--it is the price you pay for summer fun!

The small picture is of me attempting to skimboard. I guess I should have known better, but I ended up falling right after the picture was taken and injured my knee again! This injury has put me over the edge in my decision to get surgery or not. I am scheduled to have my ACL repaired in August! Yuck! Overall, it was a great weekend with the one exception of injuring my knee again!

Optometry conference in Midway

While Mike attended his Optometry conference in Midway, the kids and I had a great time around the resort. We stayed at the Zermatt Resort and they had quite a few things for the kids to do. My niece, Ashley, came with us and played with us too! The kids went on a carousel ride, swimming, got their face painted, fed goats, minature golfed and then we went over to Mike's brother's house in Heber. We had a wonderful time. Allison

McKay


Grant and Ashley

Hanging out in the Master bedroom of the suite! It was quite fancy!

Grant feeding the goats

Grant's favorite: TRAINS!

McKay had a really neat FLAME painted on his arm!

Allison had a gorgeous flower painted on her face!

Sharon visits Hurricane!

My dear friend, Sharon, came to visit me on her way to New Mexico from Washington! What a special treat it was to have her in my home! I have always told her that she is my kindred sister! We met at Tuality Community Hospital in Hillsboro, Oregon where we were both nurses in the Operating Room. She is the nurse who trained me and taught me how to become an O.R. nurse! When we lived in Oregon, we found ourselves forming an amazing bond and creating a friendship that I will cherish forever! I find it interesting that our age difference has never been an issue--over 30 years difference! Sharon and I are alike in so many ways. Here are just a few examples of how we are alike:

1)We think alike--often times we finish each other's sentences

2)We have the same work ethic as nurses

3)We both share an undying love for HONEY MUSTARD

4)We even had some of the same pictures hanging in our homes in Oregon without even knowing

Kerry and Sharon

Grant and Sharon--Grant's first time meeting Sharon and he warmed up to her quickly!

John (Sharon's husband), Grant and Sharon at our home in Hurricane!

Amazing time in Hawaii!

We just got back from Hawaii yesterday and I must admit that it was the best vacation that I have ever taken. It was such a great combination of relaxation, sight-seeing, amazing food and adventure! I realize that I am posting a lot of pictures, but I took over 200 of them so I think I narrowed it down pretty well! We went with my twin brother, Kirk, and his wife, Andrea! Andrea was such a trooper because she was 31 weeks pregnant. In addition to all of the fun activites that we were able to do, we also had a great time playing card games and eating out. The food was incredible because we tried a wide variety of foods such as Indian, Thai, Greek, Italian, and Island food and everything was so yummy!All of us at the Hawaii Temple on Oahu. It was closed for remodeling so the best we could do was take a picture in front of it.


Kerry and Mike at the Polynesian Culture Center ready for the big LUAU!

I could not get enough of those amazing leis--they smelled great too!

Andrea kept telling us about these amazing Sno Cones from Matsumoto's Sno Cones and she was right! They even have ice cream at the bottom of the cone.

Mike and Kerry at the Pearl Harbor Memorial above the ship. Since it was close to Memorial Day, we took apart our Leis and threw the individual flowers into the water as a way to remember all the soldiers!

After a couple of days on Oahu, we flew to Maui. This is a picture of the sunrise at the top of Haleakala Mountain/Crater (10,000 feet). It was really beautiful (my camera didn't do justice to the beauty). We had to get up at 2:55 a.m. in order to make it to the top in time for the sunrise.

We decided to go out for an evening stroll at Kamaole Beach. We were lucky because our resort was across the street from this beach--we found out that it was one of the better beaches on Maui.

Mike and I decided to drive and brave the extremely winding and narrow road to Hana. Fortunately, I was driving so it distracted me enough that I didn't get very car sick. I really wanted to go so I could see some waterfalls and lush tropical plants and flowers.

Mike with huge waves crashing behind him!

Mike jumping off the ledge at a waterfall! I think that it was one of the highlights of his trip!

This is my absolute favorite tropical flower that I came across!

Oh so beautiful!!!!! A snapshot taken while on the road to Hana.

We decided to take a dip at this waterfall. The water was nice and refreshing!

Here we are doing our favorite thing...EATING!

Here we are doing our 2nd most favorite thing...PLAYING GAMES! Can I just say that Mike & I made the most amazing comeback in the game of Canasta against Kirk & Andrea?!

We are having fun!

We decided to do some Ziplines while we were there. Along with the package that we bought, came a challenge course. This is Mike after he just jumped off the 30 foot pole which is known as the "Leap of Faith." Mike is the only one in our group that actually was successful at grabbing the trapeze bar.

Here I am, relieved that I was able to stand up on top of the pole without falling off. I was successful at jumping out, but not successful at grabbing the trapeze bar. I will admit that I was terrified to do this, but it ended up being a great experience that empowered me immensely.

Mike and Kerry standing at one of the ziplines we were able to go down! It was an absolute blast with an amazing view!

Mike, Kirk, and Kerry on a boat ride heading out to do some snorkeling at Molokini island. As we snorkeled, we saw 3 SHARKS (they were small, nice ones), tons of FISH and at least 10 huge SEA TURTLES. While we were riding in our boat, a DOLPHIN decided to swim and jump next to us!

Mike and Kerry at the Iao Needle. This was our last pit stop before heading for the airport. We were sad to see our trip come to an end, but we were ready to see our kids. THANK YOU to all the many people that helped watch them for us while we were gone. We owe you big time!