Colton's Birthday

We celebrated the first anniversary of Colton Craig Jones' birth on Saturday 27 Mar!!!

Boy was he tired!

Now the blending of these two families (the Jones' and the Evans') has produced a group that really likes to PARTY!!!

Carson had plenty of fun..................

I took a few pictures (I know, what a surprise), so what better place to post them than on my blog? It's the whole reason I created a blog, so I could share pictures with my family.

Tyler and Kristen. And they didn't even have to hold the camera themselves!

Jeremy's brother's little girl. "Hello hug".

He wasn't very interested in opening the presents but he didn't mind playing with them after they were opened.

Colton hadn't been feeling well so he was a little subdued even when it came time for eating 'the cake'. He was so tired by the time he got done that when he rubbed his eyes he got cake in them which made him cry. He was DONE! Just before that as he was eating his cupcake, face first, it was going up his nose which made him sneeze.

You have to feel bad for these kids that we make eat stuff they're not used to and delight in the mess that they make!

All cleaned and ready to play!

It was a fun day and it was great to see them. I don't think I had seen them since Christmas and he was just pulling himself up and walking around things. Now he's very mobile.

I have some video from that day and as soon as I figure out how to upload it I'll post it as well. Bye for now.........

Softball road trips.

Wow, I can't believe it's been 2 months already since I posted to the blog. I guess I lead a boring life.

We've been on 3 softball trips already and we had so much fun. I rented portable oxygen units so we could take a longer than five hour road trip without the concentrator that sits in my house.

Our first trip was to Phoenix, we drove straight through and we were beat by the time we got there. We went through Vegas so we could see if the new road over Hoover dam was finished. It's getting close and we got some amazing pictures of the bridge that will go over the gorge.

But we got our first glimpse of the 2010 Aggies. What a fun team. They are going places for sure. Got to spend an afternoon with Jo and went to lunch. Took our traditional AZ picture. It's a little dark and eventually I'll lighten it up but for now you get what you get.

Next we went to Palm Springs and the weather was pretty good. We had snow on the way down, just North of Beaver through Cedar City. The rest of the way wasn't too bad. We drove to Helendale which is on old Route 66 between Barstow and Victorville so Ann could spend some time with her Aunt Betty. Ann's cousin Connie got us rooms at the Silver Lake Inn right on the golf course. We had dinner with them and a little visit then the folks and I went back to the Inn and Ann stayed and visited longer. Really pretty area in the middle of the desert. You would never know this place was there if you weren't going to it. I thought I took some pictures but maybe they are on a different card........I'll have to look. We found a new gas-bathroom stop off the Lenwood street exit in Barstow at Love's. Perfect time to get out, stretch your legs and visit the clean restrooms. We got up the next morning and had breakfast at Molly's. Really great food, wish it wasn't so far off the path. On to Palm Springs. Checked into our Extended Hotel (nicest one we've ever stayed in) and then on to the ballpark in Cathedral City for 2 games.

We had terrible weather on the way back though. It started raining almost as soon as we left the park in Cathedral City and rained HARD almost to Vegas. It had rained so much in the Riverside area that they had closed the freeway and were diverting all the traffic off and back on at the next entrance. There was deep standing water under an overpass so they closed the freeway just before you got to it. Glad we didn't go through it to discover it for them. We had sleeting slushy rain that turned to hail over one mountain pass in the desert in California.

We got through Vegas and there was lots of traffic from the Nascar event. We came to a complete stop about 10 miles west of Mesquite. There was a camp trailer that wrecked and was all over the road. We were stopped for about an hour and a half.

But have no fear we had food and books so we just relaxed and ate. Dad walked up a ways and found out why we were stopped. Mom had bought the most scrumptous carrot cake at Sherman's deli in Palm Springs and since it was really big we still had some to snack on. Ann loved it as you can see. Once we got going we had a short drive to St. George where we stopped on the way back so we could return the portable oxygen unit. My cousin Joy lives in St. George and she helped us out. She returned the unit for me on Monday since we were coming through on Saturday and leaving Sunday to come home. It's great to have family in different stopping off spots. It was nice to break up the trip.

The last trip we took was to San Diego. The weather was gorgeous!!! We drove as far as Vegas and stayed at a Westgate resort both going and coming home.

We went to Old Town San Diego for mexican food and visited the Mormon Batallion visitors center. What a neat place. The church has really done a great job with that center. Lots of interactive displays and movies to tell the story of the march.

The facilities in San Diego are amazing. The only picture I got at the University of San Diego was the unusual cob web on the backstop that caught my eye.

I always take a picture or two of Jo during warm ups. Just habit I guess.

And of course there's post-game as well.

The field at SDSU has some beautiful landscaping around it. Bird of Paradise all around. Hard not to take pictures of that.

Our trip home from there was interesting. Pretty uneventful to Vegas. We stopped to eat dinner at Marie Calendar's in Vegas before we checked in to the hotel since we knew we wouldn't want to go out after we got in..........well when we came out of the restaurant we had a flat tire. We drove over to a gas station and put some more air in it and Ann noticed that the air was blowing on her chest as she was putting it in........there was a hole, maybe a slash, just below the steel belts/tread. So we chewed some gum and put it on the hole, added some more air and limped to the hotel. In the morning Ann and I went out and started getting the tire off and dad helped get the toy tire on and we went to Discount Tire and bought a new one. Thank heaven for our tire guy here in town Paul from Bargain Tire who we trust........he helped us through the transaction.

So, a stop in St. George at the Cracker Barrel for lunch and a stop in Beaver for ice cream and curds and we were on our way home. It was the latest we've ever gotten home from one of these road trips. around 7pm.

But it was a fun trip and the softball was great. The aggies won all their games including 2 that went 9 innings and gave us all a heart attack. Mom had a hard time since there weren't a lot of pacing places. But she gets up and wanders and then they win..............fun fun times.

Christmas 2009!!

Wow, I have a few minutes so I'll try to put some pictures up from Christmas. As usual we had a blast. Jo came in a little earlier this year and we met her for dinner at Little America coffee shop the Saturday before Christmas. I was just newly (sort of) on oxygen and it was amazing how many people we saw there at the hotel that were also on oxygen.........have I just been blind before now? I see them everywhere now. It's like I have another 'family' out there.

Christmas afternoon at Craig's with all but Vicki's family. Funny this time last year Tracy was pregnant and really loving the foot massager/warmer that Vicki sent. Now Colton is 9 months old and pulling himself up and walking around the furniture. The boys are so adorable. Carson is getting to be so big and grownup. Talks a mile a minute. Colton had a little nap and when he got up he was all squishy so Tracy took advantage of a little cuddle. I got some cute pictures.......

Carson LOVES his grandpa............and why wouldn't he? He looks like a young, healthy Santa! Wow, sometimes it is just more fun playing in the box than with the gift that came in it!!

Dontcha just wanna kiss those cheeks?
Tyler was a real sport. As usual we all requested he play the piano for us.........I never get tired of hearing him play.

Jeremy is such a good dad.............and yes, I was closer than 5 feet from an open flame with my oxygen...........didn't dawn on me until dinner was almost over that those candles probably shouldn't have been lit.

Terry, Tyler and Kristen. It's so great that Tyler and Kristen can come up for the holidays. I know that might not always be the case.

I think maybe the bubblewrap was more popular than the gifts but we did all have a good time.

And when it's over, it's over...........

Well, that's all for now...............thanks to all of you for your well-wishes. You're the best.

The Saga continues

Blog update

Needle biopsy 24 Dec only 2 needles needed.

Ann dropped me off at mom’s complete with concentrator and gifts. She picked me up on Christmas afternoon on the way to Craig’s. Fun time at Craig’s. The boys were adorable and Colton was more pleasant than usual. He’s pulling himself up and walking along things. Big ole blue eyes. I'll post pictures from Christmas tomorrow.......

Got a call from Dr Bank about a week after the biopsy, the results of the ultrasound biopsy showed a 1.4 cm mass on the left lobe of the thyroid and the biopsy results were iffy enough that she thinks we should go in and remove the nodule. The pathologists’ suggestion was to wait 3-6 months and test again. She said “I don’t want to wait 6 months and then wish we would have taken care of that 6 months ago". So her office set up a consultation with Dr Voorhees a thyroid specialist for consultation before surgery. My folks went with me on Tuesday the 12th of January to meet with Dr V. They set up surgery for the following Monday 18 Jan. Scheduled as outpatient surgery to remove the left lobe of the thyroid. They do a freeze section and test. Went in for pre-op labs on Thursday, blood and ekg. The nurse taking my blood was so quick she was done before I hardly knew she'd poked me with the needle. The nurse doing the EKG said heart rate and rhythms were good.

Snowy slick roads on Monday morning so it was a little slow going to the hospital. Checked in at the hospital Monday morning at 9am. At 10:30 the pre-op nurse was telling me that I’ll need to make sure I'm centered on the operating table. The next thing I knew it was 12:01 and the nurse was asking me if I was waking up. The Dr. came and told me that everything went perfect and the mass was benign. I was back in my room by about 12:30 where mom and dad were waiting. A little pain medication and put my clothes back on and I was released and being wheeled out the door by nurse Shirley, with a scrip for oxycodone and an appt with the Dr for 2 Feb. Ann left work about the same time and met us at home when we got there. I was a little groggy/woozy. Took pain meds that night but I was a little nauseous and light headed the nest morning so I decided that I wouldn’t take anymore. My pain wasn’t that bad and didn’t warrant it. It took until late Tuesday afternoon before I felt like the pain meds and anesthesia were out of my system. I had scheduled to be off Tuesday and Wednesday so I just laid around for a couple of days resting up. I told Jo that I looked like I'd been hit with a line drive. (covering for a bunt)This is day after surgery.

Day 2 after surgery.

Mom and dad brought me dinner on Tuesday night on their way to the bball game at Utah. I was craving ham sandwich on Grandma Sycamore bread. Craig came and took me to lunch at Ab’s on Wednesday afternoon after he got off work.

Went back to work on Thursday. I worked for about 6 hrs and then went home a little tired. Stayed home on Friday just resting up.