My Mom and Dementia

A few of you that I sent my blog address to have asked about my mom. Well, she is doing great! She's outlived two husbands, and is married to a third man named Wendell Chapman. He is a great man and we are all quite fond of him. Mom had some physical difficulties earlier this year, but she has overcome those and now her only struggle is her dementia. Some days she is perfectly lucid and other days I just have to laugh with her or I cry. Some of the things she comes up with are great. A few months ago when I went to visit her, I noticed that her hair wasn't quite up to par. I asked her if she'd combed her hair that day and she replied, "Yes." I asked if she'd curled it, or what and she answered, rather indignantly, "I did it in the microwave." This one caught me a little off guard, so I questioned her a little further, "How did you do that?" She replied, acting a little disgusted at my stupidity, "I pushed the buttons!" So, there you have it. Microwave hair do's. Who'd have known? Obviously, she did NOT do her hair in the microwave, but for that brief moment, she thought she did. Bless her heart. She's a sweetheart and I'm just glad she's close by so I can go see her 4-5 times a week. Here's a picture of her and another of her and Wendell. Not bad for 84 and 91 years old! Don't you just love that hat on Wendell?

Journey/Heart/Cheap Trick

On Friday night, we headed out to the Usana Amphitheather and saw three old groups in concert. Cheap Trick was first, followed by Heart, who was fabulous and then Journey. It was a gorgeous night--perfect weather. We had a great time. I couldn't believe that the Wilson sisters still had such great voices! Journey didn't have Steve Perry as their lead singer, but the guy that they did pick up was great. If you didn't look at him, the group SOUNDED just like the original Journey. But then to see this Philipino dude jumping all over the stage was a little different. He was great, don't get me wrong--and he had all the energy that Steve Perry used to have, but it was just different to see. But it was fabulous. The only bad thing was that some dudes behind us were smokin' some doobies and it was BAD! It made me sick! I'm sure I was second hand high and my body just can't handle that. That definitely brought back memories of growing up in California. Back then I used to think the state "flower" was marijuana! Those were the days. UGH!

"Steffy Luck" Temporarily Suspended

Any of you who know us well, know that the Steffys live with a cloud of bad luck hovering over their heads. If something bad is going to happen, it's going to happen to us. Keeping us humble, I guess. Anyway, here is one of the few times that we got lucky!

Over Memorial Day weekend, we went to Lake Powell with our friends, the Andys and the Ossies (okay, more code names--Andys are the Andersons--Geno, Meli, Roonie, Brando and Camperoonie, and Ossies are the Ostlers--Shtovey, BobaLou, Rach-A-Roonie, and TySone. There are more Ossies, but these are the ones that came on this trip). The place where we bought our boat, Wasatch Marine, hosts a big shin dig every year at this time called Boats and Bogeys. Well, on Friday, they had a two man scramble at the Lake Powell National Golf Course. Critty and I paired up, though Meli and I rode in the same cart--you know, girls just have more fun together, but since she and I usually don't take our golf seriously, we opted to not be partners. Anyway, somehow, I actually golfed well that day. I got the women's longest drive and the closest to the hole. Shock! With these little strokes of luck, and Critty's naturally good golfing, we managed to take 3rd place in the tournament! We couldn't believe it! Anyway, they presented us with a Visa card for $250 that Critty let me buy new clubs with to leave at our St. George house, a gift certificate for $1000 off our next boat (now that's good marketing!), and told us we could choose from an electric cooler or a wakeboard. Well, in my mind, I was thinking, "An electric cooler? Isn't that the same thing as a refrigerator?" Anyway, since we have two wakeboards, we decided on the cooler. What a great decision! The cooler turned out to be a Cruzin'Cooler which is an ice chest mounted on a three wheeled scooter. It is hysterical! It goes 15 MPH! We love it! So does everyone else! Check out the pictures! And come try it out! Too funny. For this time, the "Steffy Luck" was negated! Thanks Wasatch Marine!

Secret Codes

I just realized that some of you may get really confused reading our posts if I don't give you some "secret codes." Chris and I have a habit of nicknaming everyone that we really like. So, you'll probably run into a lot of names that don't make any sense to you. Here is a brief synopsis of some of the "code" names. Chris is also known as Critty, Christopher Robin, Philly, Cletus, and Clifford. Melanie is known as Mel, MelJano, Melbie, Meli, Cletus and Philly. As you've noticed, Philly and Cletus are shared names, and may also be used to refer to other friends as well! Our kids and grandkids are as follows: Tierney is T, Tier, Tenito, Teasler, or Princess. Skyleur is Sky, Scooby, SkyMan, Lubie (usually only referred to this by Bree) , or Handsome. Brianna is Bree, Breezy, Breebop, BreezyLou or Ghetto (usually only referred to this by Sky) and Princess. The grandkids: Jackson is Jack, Jacksoney, Zoney or Zoney Bamboney. Colton is Cole, Coley or Coley Oley. Laila is Laila Belle, Laila Bella, Yay-Ya, Baby or more commonly know as the "Cincess". Carson is Cars or Carsey. In laws: Tierney's husband, Brian, we know only as Vinny or Vin--though there is nothing in his given name hinting to this. It was a name he had long before we met him. Skyleur's wife is Andrea, who we call Andie. And Brianna's husband Andrew, we call Andy. Whew! That's the family. You'll just have to catch on the the friend's nicknames as we go on. Now I can "talk" normal....
P.S. Here's a few more...Jaci, one of my friends at work, is Jeter (cuz she's a Yankee fan, and she IS going to marry Derek Jeter), Jac-a-roonie, and as of just this week after a really crazy dream that Chris had about her and a Yankee game where she couldn't get a ticket so she just jumped on his back and they had to share a seat, she is now known as "spider monkey!" If you want a good laugh, you'll have to ask Critty about the dream!

Ready or Not, Here I Come!!!

Wow! I'm really not sure what I'm doing in this Blog world, but I'm trying to figure it all out and see if I can make any sense of it. I have so much fun reading everyone's blogs that I thought I'd give it a shot. I'm sure I'll be asking Tierney a million questions and she'll wish her mom hadn't ever tried to overcome her technological handicaps, but, hey, I've got to at least TRY to keep up with the times! What's that saying about an teaching an old dog new tricks? So, here's to a new experience...hang in there with me. I just might get good at this someday!