He's FINALLY here!

After 40 plus weeks of waiting, Branson Andrew McFarland finally made his appearance on this earth this morning. He was born May 31st, 2009 at 1:15 AM in the morning. He weighs 7 lbs.15 oz. and was 20 and 1/2 inches long. He has tons of dark brown hair and is beautiful! Congratulations Bree and Andy!

Fun Weekend!

So, we had a great weekend again! Sky and family were in town for a family baby shower we had for Bree and a birthday party we had for Andrea. It was a real laid back weekend, but lots of fun. Here's some pictures...

Bree--who looks more like she swallowed a volleyball than that she's prenant! Laila and Cole taking the "car" for a spin, and Cole and Carson trying out the four wheelers. Good times!

Gotta Love the Easter Bunny!

We love this season! Spring and the budding of the trees and flowers. The celebration of the resurrection of our Savior, and from the grandkids point of view, the Easter Bunny! We love the annual Easter Egg Hunt at my mom's retirement center, Legacy Retirement. Those guys really do a great job...there must be literally thousands of eggs "hidden". The grandkids love it! Jackson even tried to work it out that he could spend the night at Grandma's house so he would be sure to be there on time and not miss out on any of the festivities. He had baseball practice so that didn't work out, but Mom and Dad got he and Laila there in plenty of time, and though it was a little brisk outside, they still had a great time. Here's Jack with the Easter Bunny. Laila wasn't nearly as "brave" to sit on his lap! So this other picture is of her after the hunt at our house on Sunday!

Arghhhh...Knee Surgery!

Well, I found out the hard way that just believing something would get better over time is not always right. Several months again, we were playing wallyball and I slid across the floor on my knees trying to save a hit. With kneepads, you can get a little extra speed and get to the ball faster. However, in my haste to save a point, I neglected to factor in the reality that I've gained some weight and that compressing all that weight onto my poor knees was just a little more than they could handle...and my right knee took the brunt of it. Well, even though it hurt, I tried to tell myself it would go away soon. Fallacy #1 when it comes to knees. Then, in January, we went to eat at Market Street Grill. I stepped out of the driver's seat and my left foot hit a patch of ice, sending me sailing. Unfortunately, my right leg was still in the car and got tangled between the seat and the running boards in a weird twist. Strike two on the knee. Well, I didn't need a strike three to get me into the doctor's office....the pain was convincing enough. I checked our insurance and found a knee specialist, but he had moved his office to Park City, Utah. Since that's only a half hour or so from Salt Lake City (and they have a pletheura of Factory Stores up there always worthy of perusing!) I made the trek. I really liked the doctor, Thomas Rosenberg, and after a ton of xrays and even an MRI, it was determined that I had indeed torn my meniscus. And, because I had waited so long since the initial injury, I had developed something called lateral compression with chondrosis. This meant my lateral muscle had tried to compensate for the meniscus and was pulling my knee cap over to the right. Even with the MRI it wasn't conclusive that I would have to have this surgery, so yesterday when I went in for surgery we still didn't know if I was going to have just the meniscus surgery (a two week rehab) or meniscus and lateral release (a four month rehab). Chris says the first thing I said when I was coming out of the anesthesia was, "How many things did they do to my knee?" I tried to see for myself, but my leg is so wrapped up it looks like a tree trunk! When Chris said they only had to do the meniscus, I was elated! I had had visions of my whole summer of waterskiing, wakeboarding, air chairing and kneeboarding being shot, but now I'll be able to do all that...and train for the Little Red Riding Hood bike ride in June. Yahoo! P.S. I found out later what good hands I was in...Dr. Rosenberg is the top knee surgeon in the NATION! He did Tiger Woods knees!!! Thanks, Dr. R! And thanks to all my friends and family for your prayers and well wishes. I love you all--and that's not the Percocet speaking!! P.S.S. For those of you that understand medical pictures, here's some of the inside of my knee!

Wow! What an Experience! 31 years later....

So, most of you know that there is a new LDS temple in corner canyon in Draper. It is absolutely beautiful and literally glows at night sitting up on the mountain. Well, there is an open house that is held for everyone before they dedicate the temple and it ran from the middle of January until the 14th of March. Over 680,000 people went through the open house in that time. It was the third largest attended open house out of 129 temples throughout the world. Chris and I were lucky enough to be able to volunteer to "work" the open house. It was a great experience and though my feet were killing me after standing on them for eight hours in high heels, I wouldn't have traded that experience for anything. It absolutely amazed me that so many people came through to see this wonderful landmark. After the open house, they closed the temple for a week, removed all the carpet runners and cleaned it spotlessly in preparation for the Dedication ceremonies. Well, lucky for me, one of the women in our ward that had volunteered to work the Dedication had something come up that prevented her from volunteering, so I was able to work the Dedication on Friday--for the Cornerstone ceremony and the 2nd Dedication session. I was stationed upstairs in one of the ordinance rooms next to the celestial room where the First Presidency presided. It was a very humbling experience to spend six hours in the presence of our latter day Prophet Thomas S. Monson and his apostles. I felt honored to work with the people that were invited to attend that day, as well as with those with whom I served. At one point I looked down the hall and saw T, Vinny and Jackson seated in one of the sealing rooms. Jackson was so sweet and reverent. It is so hard to sit that long, but they were some of the few that were lucky enough to see President Monson in person. Needless to say, I loved every minute of it! The temple glows inside as beautifully as it grows outside! This morning, it was our ward's turn to be at the 9th (out of 12) Dedication ceremony. We had to be on the busses at 7:00 AM and then be in the temple ready for our session at 9:00 AM. That left a lot of time to sit and ponder. It hit me during that time that 31 years ago today I was in the Oakland temple with my Mom and Dad--on their wedding anniversary--preparing myself for my temple wedding on the 31st of March! Wow! How great is that? The Oakland temple on March 22, 1978 for my first time and the Draper Temple on March 22, 2009--and this time with the Prophet! I felt very blessed and humbled today. I wish I had this feeling every day!

Danger! Do Not Succomb!

Well, as a result of a dare by my son at Christmas, and a strong push by an old friend that we ran into when we were working at the Draper Temple Open House, I finally buckled and joined Facebook! Here's how it happened: Last weekend, I went down to St. George with some friends and just had them drop me off at our house, so I had no vehicle. I rode my bike anywhere I needed to go, but soon found that was getting old. (Why didn't I remember our neighborhood having so many hills?). Anyway, I suddenly remembered that Skyleur had tried to talk me into joining Facebook when he was here and I used the excuse I never had time. Well, here I was with time on my hands, so I succombed. BIG MISTAKE! I love it just a little too much. I think I could put it in the addiction column. I'm seriously hoping that it's just a passing phase and I won't be checking it every couple of hours to see who my new friends are. The interfacing on that program is incredible! People from my childhood, school days, etceteras are finding me and we are reconnecting. It's so fun. But, I need to start restricting myself. Today Chris left for work and I was at the computer...hours later he came home and I was still at the computer. Really, I had done several other things in between, but to him it appeared that I was still in the same place for all that time. I think he may try to ground me from Facebook. Yikes! Until then, I'm loving every minute of it! Give it a try!

Dang! I've Been "8" Tagged! Here goes....

Thanks, Bob a Lou--see if I log onto your blog again! Just kidding. So, here's my series of 8's...

8 Shows I Watch...

24
The Bachelor
Lost
Prison Break
The Biggest Loser
The Office
Everybody Loves Raymond
The Price is Right

8 Things I Did Yesterday...

Rode my bike on it's trainer in the house
Declined a Job Offer
Played on Facebook
Had lunch w/Critty at Sweet Tomatoes
Visited my Mom
Picked up a prescription
Had friends over for a Pizza Parth
Watched 24/The Bachelor w/friends & Family

8 Things I Look Forward To...

Spring/Summer and it's outdoor activities
Bree's Baby coming
Starting a new job/making new friends
Going to our house in St. George
Going to eat Crab in Mesquite
Draper Temple Dedication
Bi-Annual Vacation with my sister
Next Episode of my favorite shows

8 Things on my Wish List...

Going to Greece, England, Scotland, Ireland
Losing Weight
Drywall Industry to Pick Up again
Bree to have healthy baby
T/Vinny to find jobs they love
Me to find a job that I love
Find my temple recommend
My Mom's memory to get better

8 Places I Like To Eat...

Zupas
Eureka Buffet
Sam's Town
Red Lobster
Melting Pot
Cheesecake Factory
Market Street Broiler
Magelby's

8 Things I'm Grateful For...

The Plan of Salvation
My Family
My Friends
My Home
My Health
Food/Water
Clothing
Happiness

8 People I Tag...

Tierney
Breezy
Jenn B.
Heather
Jen M
Jessica
Jaci
Anyone and everyone who reads this!!!

Australia 2009

We finally made it to Australia!!

I can't believe it finally happened, but we actually made it to Australia! Chris drywalled a guy's cabin up in the Uintas in exchange for airline tickets and hotel accommodations in Sydney, Australia and we actually got to go! For awhile there, it looked as if the fellow wasn't going to make good on the trade, but we finally got it all arranged and it all worked out! Our buds, Geno and Meli Anderson went with us (Geno traded the heating on the cabin) and we had a blast! We left here on the 1st of February, but didn't get to Sydney until the 3rd of February because you cross the International Date Line. (Chris crossed this line once the day before his birthday and didn't arrive in Japan until the day after his birthday, so he is still trying to convince us that he is a year younger than he really is since he never had that birthday!). Then we had two fabulous weeks there in Sydney. It was incredible! The first week the weather was scorching hot--over 110 degrees--in some places over 120 and we slathered on the sunscreen. Then the next week we had a 40 degree swing and we found ourselves in rain--warm rain, but still rain. Crazy! That didn't stop us from having fun. Nor did the fires south of us in Victoria, the floods north of us in Queensland, or the shark maulings right where we were! We felt horrible for all the people involved in these tragedies, and fortunate that we weren't involved. The Aussies thought that we were a good luck charm bringing all the rain to an area that has had a drought for 12 years. Somehow, we didn't feel lucky. But we had tons and tons for fun, and that's all that counts! Here are just a few of the 550+ pictures we have of the trip! Hope you enjoy! Australia is beautiful and the people are fantastic!

Breezy's having a BOY!

On January 9th, Bree and Andy went in for an ultrasound on their unborn baby and found out it's a BOY! That'll make four boys and one girl for us as grandparents! Little Laila remains the only "cincess". There are lots of Princes' to watch out for her! Maybe her Mommy and Daddy will decided to add another baby to their family and it will be another girl, or maybe Aunt Andrea and Uncle Sky will have another baby that'll be a girl! We don't care one way or the other--we just love having more grandkids to spoil!

We LOVE Sledding !!

This was our year to have all the kids home for Christmas--yahoo! It is so fun to have all the grandkids together, as well as the kids--our kids! Santa brought us a new sled and so a few days after Christmas, we went sledding. The kids loved it! But the adults loved it just as much! Tierney and Andrea jumped on one of the sleds and took off and they could have set a new recreational sledding speed record! They were flying! It was so funny to hear them scream like little kids. The little ones couldn't get enough of it, but after an hour or so, they were almost icicles, so we called it a day. Carson was more interested in eating the snow off his gloves than sledding, but he still had a great time. I hope we are still sledding down the hills with our grandkids when we're 70! This was too much fun!

Santa Came to OUR House?

"Twas the night before the night before Christmas and we were all just hanging out around the house. Suddenly, there arose such a clatter--bells ringing and some "Ho, Ho, Ho's" that Jackson and Cole bolted to the door. Somehow in all the excitement, Cole got tangled up with an iron candle holder and really hurt his cheek (we were surprised it didn't split it open!) and what was supposed to be sheer delight started with tears. Poor Santa didn't know what to do! Though I'm sure he's experienced some tears with children on his lap who are afraid of him, this was a totally unexpected welcome. Hurt as he was, Cole toughed it out and soon the surprise visit was joyful! Jackson had his usual round of questions for the Jolly Old Man, but Santa knew all the answers and once again this year, WE BELIEVE ! Santa had us sing some songs with him and he told us stories about how all the reindeer are doing--and what kind of jokes they like to play on Santa. Carson wasn't so sure about the whole thing, but Laila overcame her fear of Santa and she, Jackson and Cole cuddled right up to him for this picture. Thanks, Santa! Oh, and tell our friend, Ping, that he's the best!