Mother Henning

Shay is like a mother hen to AJ. She is such a helper

Of course my mother is a mother hen!

And this goose is also a mother who is trying to heard her babies.

I hit the jackpot today. I left work after 3 hours. It was 9:30 am and I was walking home feeling like a whiny baby since I opted to get a temp and have my shift covered. I also gave my Friday shift up. I am sad. I hate being sick. I hate not fulfilling my job. I hate spreading strep. I hate doing a half hearted job.

As I was walking home it was so nice. The sun was out and the geese let me get so close. It made me smile. One good thing from feeling so horrible.

I also saw baby ducks. The ducks were far away. I hope you can see how sweet and cute they are.

I have needed some mother henning this week. I ache and hurt and cannot get my fever down. My dr was concerned also. I got a good lidocaine mouthwash and some antibiotics and she offered pain pills but I do not want narcotics. I cannot wait to feel better. I am sick of drooling because I don't want to swallow my own saliva. I want to quit being a baby.

David did take me to Alberstons to pick up my meds and get a few-ok a lot of liquid type stuff. Yogurt, ice cream, chocolate milk, Gatorade. Now I am all ready to get better!

2x2

I am feeling a bit sick. OK so a lot sick. I ache everywhere-even my hair. I have had max doses of Tylenol and Advil. I am whiny. So I decided to blog about comforting. I really want to be held tonight. This pic is of Andrea and Jo Ann. Jo has her ice cream cone! I was standing in the cotton candy line and had the camera.

I look possessed. But Shay looks amazing! She is totally cute

Awwwww. Daniel and little AJ who is one today.

Jo Ann and Andrea again-with me in the background. I love leaving my camera laying around. I have random pics of Jo's foot and the fountain drinks we had all over the table plus silly pics like this!

My brother Brent and his wife Jenni. Brent was balancing his water bottle on Jenni's head. Jenni is expecting their first child-a girl in July. I am quite excited. And honestly quite sad. It has been the hardest pregnancy I have watched. I am so jealous. Good thing I get to be the aunt though!!!!

So that is my cuddly post. Now off to veg on the couch and drink drink drink. . . fluids not alcohol ha ha ah

UTAH

This story is going to be told in phases. Today it starts with COTTON CANDY. My mother loves cotton candy. As part of the Easter/anniversary celebration Quality Thriftway (where I worked as a teen) sells hot dogs, ice cream cones, cotton candy etc. I stood in line for 2 pink cotton candies. David stood in line for 2 blue ones. My sister stood in line with her children. My mom quickly devoured her puffy fresh spun sugar!

My niece loved the blue. It did have great dying capabilities.

My mother pointing to her blue blue blue mouth. About 5 hours after purchasing said cotton candy she found a bag with one in it. She quietly asked if it was anyone's and proceeded to devour it. It cracked me up how such a simple thing as sugar made her so happy!

This is Lori and Jo Ann-my sisters and Ty my nephew coloring eggs. We had so many. It was a blast.

Shay-my niece was all into this party!

These blessed eggs were carefully colored and stickered and hid and found and hid and found and cracked and hid and found and hid and found.

We decorated sugar cookies. Shay had every single topping on her cookie! It was an engineering feat!

Ty was simply yet lovely

My dear friend Andrea came to play with us! She is like another sister

Shay was speedy and made another cookie--note my mother showing David pics of me. . .

Daniel-my brother and his egg

My family was so fun and very wonderful. I had a great time and I know y'all are not into seeing every person and every sugar cookie but I had to share them. They are my most precious thing. I am so glad I have them. And I love that we have simple fun. Hiding eggs, eating sugar. It is the best!

Magic Shoes

Have you ever had a pair of shoes you loved dearly? Have you ever had a pair of shoes that you fell in love with the second your toes flexed and heels boucned? Did you every think you ran faster when you had a new pair of shoes? Have you ever known the magic of a pair of shoes?

These are my magic shoes. I call them that because they are the first pair of shoes I spend over $60 for. I bought them shortly after graduating from dental hygiene school. I was wearing crocs at work-changing my shoes at work like a good hygienist. I developed plantar faciitis in my left ankle. It was quite painful. I did not know what was going on. Then one of my patients was suffering from this as well. She told me what her symptoms were and her treatment. I self diagnosed myself and bought these Ascis shoes when visiting my dear friend Andrea. They saved my foot! Slowly with stretches and wearing these shoes I corrected the damage I had done to my tendons.

Not only did these magic shoes heal me but they took me on many adventures! I hiked Yellowstone and the Tetons with my wonderful siblings, I hiked Kolob, Zions, and Bryce. I walked around my favorite spot on earth (that I have seen so far) Cedar Breaks. I walked with the spectacular Lewis girls all around Three Peaks. Camped at Panguitch Lake, saw many many many firework shows and walked many Sundays to Sally Melling's house for dinner. These tired, broken down, holes for my pinky toe shoes have been through so many good times and so many wonderful places and talked with so many people. They are purely magic shoes.

Introducing the new magic shoes. I have high hopes for these new shiny white shoes. They have a good start. They are a magical birthday gift from David to me. It was quite painful allowing him to purchase the shoes. I almost vomited the delicious dinner from Famous Daves that he had just taken me to. I did not make a scene in the store but really wanted him to take them back after we left. I am not accustomed being spoiled.

I kind of like it-yet still not comfortable with it.

The girls at work think it is about time I was treated like this. They also think David needs to buy me a right hand ring and other extravagant gifts.

For me, I look forward to the magic these new shoes will give me!

A Goose A Gander and some Goslings

I decided to go do something today. Billy Elliot was the winning event. It beat out Saturday Market and the prospect of flowers-yes I am still on that mission.

Billy Elliot was wonderful. The children in this musical were charming, wonderful, strong, adorable, and completely captivating! I enjoyed the music and the flamboyancy. Coal miners are very attractive all clean and singing and dancing!

I went to this event solo. It is so hard to do this. I debated for days about seeing this play. I wanted to go but did not want to be downtown late at night alone. There are many things I do alone-church being the most painful to sleeping which I am used to again and am fine with it. I cannot miss out on seeing and doing and experiencing something when the only excuse I have is being alone. I go and enjoy the event but also notice the loneliness is magnified.

I know how to be alone. It is easier than being in a relationship sometimes. Where the quandary comes in is the fact I seek companionship. I do not want to be alone. It is just what I know.

My grocery laden walk home was pleasantly sidetracked by geese! As you know I have many opportunities to see Canadian Geese. They are almost always in pairs. I love their monogamous hearts!

Today I saw babies for the first time!!! They were so fuzzy and so new. As I got closer the pair herded them away to safety without a fuss. It was so sweet and tender. My heart is so happy for the goose family.

Let's not even think about how jealous I am.

ODC-Oregon Dental Conference

I love Portland for all the blossoming trees they have. Many trees start blooming in March and continue on for a couple months-or until a hard rain comes and knocks them off.

This line of trees lines the sidewalk near David's house. I was walking over one day all grumpy and I looked up and the beauty worked to cheer me up. I had to stop and try to capture the smell and color of these lovely cheery blossoms.

Oregon Dental Conference was Thursday-Saturday this week. I attended all 3 days. Really really good classes! Saturday I had a 2 hour lunch. I decided to go over to the Saturday Market. I was so happy to see the lines and lines of trees along the waterfront were in full bloom.

Even though there was no rain it was still chilly. My cheeks look really cold and chubby.

This is the bridge slightly under the other big bridge. This one is for bikes and walkers and runners etc. This is the first time I walked over the Willamette River! It was amazing! I cannot believe I have not walked over a bridge in Portland yet.

The line of blossoming trees from the walking bridge. How pretty is this sky line? Maybe it is the river and the trees and then the sky line.

I found this bag at Sat Market. It is red corduroy and a canvas type of polka dot. For me this bag is perfect for work. I can take my book, my lunch, my purse etc all in there and the straps are strong and not too long. The bag is washable so I can set it down on the floor of train and know I can wash off the crud. I have been looking for such a bag for months. I am thrilled with my purchase.

This is the other side. It is a reversible bag. The polka dots are sewn to make pockets. So now the pockets are inside the bag. I loved it. There were so many other colors. There was a brown/green on I really wanted also. The young lady working the booth said that they would not be there on Sundays but every Sat. I had the suspicion that this lady and her mom who make the bags are LDS. So I willingly paid the $40 for this great bag that I could have made myself for cheaper but gotta support the troops right?

I almost always purchase flowers from Sat Market. But I did not want to hold the large bouquet during my last class. My plan was to get out of class at the scheduled 4:30 and get over to the market and purchase the flowers before they closed at 5. Well at 4:45 my speaker was still talking. I did not hear a thing he said after 4:30. So why did I stay? Well in Oregon to claim your CE you need a code. They do not give it to you until the end. I was staring down the woman with the code and willing her to just flash the code and then I could leave. Finally I got the code and walked over the bridge and made it to the flower stand at 4:59. They were long gone. I was crushed. Luckily I had the fragrance of the blossoms and the great walk over to take my mind off the pain of loosing the flowers.

All in all the ODC was wonderful. The Forensic Odontology class was gross and shocking and totally good. The posture class was the best ever! He had really really good info regarding posture for everyone. The CPR class was the same group who did it 2 years ago when I needed to certify. They are funny and make the long class fun. The speaker who went over was from Boston and specialized in children and adults with disabilities. He was amazing but long winded due to his passion for helping. I also took a class from the board of dentistry regarding record keeping. That was informative and useful to keep myself from being sued. I also attended a Oregon required class called Medical Emergencies. Two local oral surgeons presented that class. It was good and useful and a good reminder how to treat complications in the dental chair. All in all it was a wonderful conference and while I did not go peddling for a toothbrush I still feel like I got the maximum out of the conference.

PS. I did meet up with Natalie Carrigan from WSU. She has been dating a man since Jan. He recently went to SLC to meet her fam over General Conference. I am thrilled for her. She is working in Salem OR. Jessee Figura (WSU-curly curly curly hair) also works in Salem. It is a small world.