The Nest...

We are in our new place! It's a small one-bedroom apartment in Alpine, Utah, but it is home sweet home to us. The big move happened yesterday, and the only glitch was that RC Willey lost our bed. So we spent our first night in sleeping bags. Kinda exciting. The bed came this morning, so I'll spend the next few weeks trying to make room for all of our stuff. I won't post any pictures until then, because right now it looks like a warehouse with boxes everywhere.

Happy Lap Appy!

So, I'm a nurse, right? Well, yesterday I realized how much I hate being at a hospital when I'm not working there. Especially when my husband is the patient. Monday was quite the eventful day, but before I go into details, I'll give a brief history:

For the last three years, Caleb has suffered from some really intense abdominal pain. We nurses like to objectify our pain by using the "pain scale." 0 is no pain, 10 is the worst pain you have ever felt in your life. (Which, according to Brian Regan, is getting your femur cracked in half. In fact, you should really watch this video if you haven't seen it. It is hilarious, and strangely similar to our ER experience.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-JRQXYy9wk

Caleb's pain would get up to 8 and 9 about every month or so. Anyway, he's seen every specialist and had every test done, but nobody could find anything wrong. He's been to the ER a few times, and the same things always happens. They think it's his appendix, so they do a CT Scan, and find out it's not the appendix, then send him home again with diddly squat. Super frustrating. So that's been going on for the last 3 years, and it's been really hard for me to see Caleb in so much pain. Plus it messes with his life. He won't sleep or eat because his body hurts so much.

Anyway, so back to Monday: Caleb had been in excruciating pain since Saturday night. By Monday morning the pain was still just as bad. So I woke up at 6am to find him writhing in bed. I made him get up and I took him to the ER. Same thing: they think appendix, so they do a CT Scan. This time the appendix shows "borderline" inflammation. It was enough for us. We told that doctor to take it out. Doing something was better than nothing. By 11am Caleb is in surgery for a "laparascopic appendectomy" (hence the title of this post). I sit in the waiting room--a nervous wreck of a wife--wondering a) how the surgery was going, and b) how big the hospital bill would be. Merry Christmas, Caleb! They took your appendix and your money, AND any time off you had acquired at work.

Soon enough, the doc comes in to update me: Surgery went well, except for they found a little something extra when they opened him up. He then shows me this picture of Caleb's insides:

So, um, that swollen rope-like thing? Not his appendix. Not supposed to be there. In fact, neither the doctor nor the pathologist have any idea what it is. It is some 4-inch long anomalous tissue that started right behind the belly button and connected back behind his intestines somewhere. The doc thinks that Caleb's intestines were getting wrapped around it, causing all the pain and inflammation. So they took that out along with his appendix.

This may sound strange, but I am SO GLAD! Not glad about Caleb's surgery and potentially-malignant-alien-looking-appendage, but that the doctors were finally able to figure out what was causing him all that pain! Dr. Francis has restored our faith in modern medicine.

I am filled with gratitude this holiday season as I reflect on all the blessings that God has given me, especially this year. He is in control. He knows us, loves us, and wants us to trust him. When we do, things have a way of working out.

Flotsam and Jetsam and Holiday Cheer

A few things lately...

1. This week Caleb and I accompanied the youth of our ward on a Temple Square trip. I love going up to Salt Lake during Christmas time. It's so beautiful and bustling with excitement. I will say, however, that I don't know what I will do if I ever have sons. Caleb is much more patient with the young men than I am. Teenage boys never sit still, they are always hitting someone or climbing on something, and all they talk about is Nintendo DS/Wii. I have a feeling that any future teenage sons I have will find themselves in a perpetual state of being grounded.

2. We spent Thanksgiving in Kaysville, Ut with G & G Snell. We enjoyed spending time up there, but I only took one photo from the day. It's a pic of my grandma with my adopted cousin Timmy and his other grandma. I post this photo because I am pretty sure Timmy is THE CUTEST CHILD in the world. Go ahead and try to disprove me.

3. I get bored a lot these days. So one day I decided to sew some stockings. I don't know how to use a sewing machine, so I did it by hand. I'm embarrassed at how simple they are, but hey, you have to start somewhere, right?

4. Caleb and I celebrated our 6 month anniversary in November. We went on a really fun hike/run up Hobble Creek Canyon--at least it was fun until we heard a noise that I'm pretty sure was a mountain lion. I made Caleb take me back to the car because I got scared.

5. I love Thai food. Our favorite place is Spicy Thai on University Ave in Provo. But I recently went to Thai Mango over by Cafe Rio, and I loved it too. Guess what their special was that day? PUMPKIN CHICKEN CURRY. Now if you know me at all, you know my adoration for pumpkin. Combine that with my passion for Thai curry, and you have the happiest girl in Utah county. It was divine. The only thing is that Caleb told me whenever I eat Thai food, I smell like it for the next few days. It kinda grosses him out. I hear that happens with most Asian foods. Still worth it, though.

Thoughts from the BYU-Utah game

1. Brandon Bradley's knee was DOWN, Ref. Curse the Mountain for it's insufficient replay capabilities. What can you expect with only 2 cameras?

2. True freshman Jake Heaps: Props on doing so well in your first rivalry game. You smoked both of Utah's quarterbacks. Way to withstand the pressure. Too bad for Robert Anai's incompetent play-calling. (Too harsh? Sorry, I've just never really been a fan) How many times do you try to run the ball up the middle for NO gain before you realize that it doesn't work?!? Heaps was completing passes! Let him throw, Coach!

3. Mitch Paine: Excellent season, and impressive game. The blocked field goal was not your fault. You had two other great kicks, and it wasn't fair for everyone to leave the game up to you with a 40 yard field goal. Bummer man.

4. U Players. Enough with the juvenile taunting tactics after the game. You won already. Go celebrate with your team instead of harassing Mitch Paine. I love how your own coach had to pry you off of him. Classy, real classy.

5. Brandon Bradley's knee is STILL down.

6. The Deseret First Credit Union Commercials were tacky. I was embarrassed for them.

7. Ute Fans: Go ahead and celebrate all the way to the PAC 10, but just wait until next year. We'll be back.

Sherry Sharing

I haven't blogged much about our living situation here in Springville. I took as a job as a caregiver for an elderly woman named Sherry. We live with her, and I have been taking care of her for about 5 months, and will be until the new year. Sherry is one of the most lively women I have ever met. We have really enjoyed getting to know her. Over the past few months we have had some really funny experiences, which I have been meaning to write down for a while. Here are a few for your enjoyment...

Sherry only eats one kind of ice cream: Heavenly Hash. We spend about $40 a month on this "nectar from the Gods," as she calls it. She will usually have two bowls every day--one after dinner, and another at about three in the morning when she can't sleep. Apparently one night she wanted her usual fix, but only found unopened cartons in the freezer. She couldn't figure out how to open one, but she really wanted to satisfy her craving. Here is what the box looked like before:

And this is the aftermath. Apparently she ended up using her teeth to rip one whole side of the box off.

Sherry also LOVES her cats. She has three: Ching Li, Charlie, and Katie. One night Sherry came right up to me and started yelling at my feet. She was saying, "Charlie get away from her and come to bed!" She kept on shouting the same thing, and I couldn't figure out why, until I looked down at my feet. Then I realized why.

I was wearing these.

I guess they bear some resemblance...

Speaking of cats, these are the others, Katie and Ching.

You could say she loves her cats a little too much. For instance, after having the following conversation with Sherry, Caleb decided that we needed to set some serious ground rules about her feline friends:

Caleb: "Sherry, tonight we are going to talk about fire safety. What will you do if there is a fire in the house?"

Sherry: "Well, first I will find all of my cats to make sure they are safe, and then I will take them out of the house."

We spent the next few hours trying to convince her that her life means more to us than her three "kids." I just hope we never have a fire.

It's Autumn Time...

Caleb and Grandpa Larry have been spending some time together lately. My husband seems to have inherited more of my grandpa's blood than I have. They go fishing a lot together, and just recently went pheasant hunting in Provo. Caleb brought his younger brother Tyler along too.

Meanwhile, I stayed home to work on my domestic skills... (Guns aren't my fave. I'm scared of them.)

As I said previously, I've had some time on my hands. And, as I also mentioned before, I LOVE pumpkin. Hence, I made pumpkin pie from scratch. Now I'm talking as scratchy as scratch can get: homemade pie crust, pumpkin straight-out-of-a-pumpkin... the works. It was a blast. Caleb actually helped too when he got home. We made two pies, and both were gone much quicker than I'd like to admit.

"There is no pit so deep that He is not deeper still."

Just finished another book. You know, sometimes I think life is hard, and then something like this book comes along to remind me how truly blessed I am. The Hiding Place is one of those fascinating true stories of one of the most courageous and faithful women ever born. My little sister was named after her, and I finally got around to reading why. I highly recommend it.

Blender Blunder

It's been a few weeks, so I can laugh about it now. Such was not the case when it happened. Caleb's birthday was Sunday, Sept. 26, and I wanted to make him a special breakfast. He really likes "eggs in a nest" (when you cut a hole in the bread and fry an egg in the hole), and smoothies. So I got to work.

It is a sad day when one realizes that she has never actually made a smoothie in nearly 23 years of existence. I guess my mom always made them for us, and I never had a craving for them in college. So Caleb's birthday was as good day to learn. I put in frozen fruit, honey, and apparently not enough milk. This is the before shot... Little does the girl in the picture realize how quickly that smile will turn to a frown...

I put the lid on and pushed blend. Nothing blended. So I have the ingenious idea to stick a wooden spoon down there and mix things up a bit.

You know, they always tell you, "Don't stick your finger in a light socket," or "Don't stick a knife in the toaster," (actually, I figured that one out on my own too,) but nobody ever says, "Don't stick a spoon in an activated blender!" They should. It should be right up there with "Look both ways before crossing the street," and "Don't get into cars with strangers." Anyway, I digress...

My spoon hit the revolving blade and, well, you can just see for yourself:

Fruit smoothie everywhere. Compare the volume of smoothie in this picture with the previous one. The discrepancy all ended up on me and on the floor. It was a birthday disaster. Caleb started laughing and snapping photos, and I burst into tears, ashamed of my own incompetence. What married girl doesn't know how to make a smoothie?

If it was any consolation, what smoothie we managed to salvage from the wreckage actually tasted excellent.

Life's Simple Pleasures

You know when you are eating a bowl of your favorite cereal (in my case, Cinnamon Toast Crunch) and you have extra milk left when it's gone? That's one of my favorite things. Because then you say to yourself, "Self, you should pour more cereal so you don't waste any milk!" That way you get seconds without feeling so guilty. I love that.

I also love singing in the shower. Not just the soft humming type. I'm talking the belt-out-loud, pretending-you're-on-Broadway type singing. My voice always sounds better in there.

And then there's the entire Thanksgiving season in general that I adore. The great "Thanksgiving F's," as I call them: Fall, Family, Food, and of course, FOOTBALL. Bring on the Bowl games. You could say I'm one of those Holiday nazis that gets really upset when Christmas lovers overstep their given celebratory time allotment. What, four weeks of Christmas music isn't enough? Thanksgiving is the red-headed stepchild of holidays--always overlooked by it's big brother Christmas. And no, reader. You're thinking I'm some evil eggnog-hating, reindeer-poaching, Scrooge-like villain who wants to extinguish the Yuletide spirit. Nay. I love Christmas. I just love Thanksgiving too. I think a holiday dedicated to gratitude merits at least a full week of our attention. So yes, I get rather vexed when people skip right to the "get-presents" holiday. Ok. Off the soapbox, Linds.

Next, I love sleeping. Caleb always laughs at me because every night when I crawl in bed I always give a big sigh, and say, "This is my favorite part of the day!" Speaking of sleep... I also really like flat pillows. None of that fluffy stuff. It hurts my neck.

And lastly, I love pumpkin. (Which I guess should have been grouped with Thanksgiving.) You could say that my favorite vegetable is pumpkin, even though I have never actually eaten just pumpkin. But it is included in so many delicious desserts, and therefore wins the favorite veggie award. Pumpkin Pie, of course, Pumpkin Chocolate Chip cookies, Pumpkin Crunch (a Snell family dessert with pumpkin and this divine cake mix/butter/nut topping.) Pumpkin bread from Great Harvest... Oh, and once my roommates and I ate an entire pumpkin sheet cake by ourselves in one night. Then there was last year when Caleb and I went to every place in Provo that served pumpkin pie milkshakes. AND you can carve them! Last year I won a pumpkin carving contest. I carved a BYU Football Helmet. Like I said, obsessed.

CB

Am I allowed to have a favorite sibling? Well, I do, and I think it's OK because she's everybody's favorite. Corrie Beth Snell is just about the biggest blessing my family has ever had. We all love her so much, and wouldn't change her for anything. It's heartbreaking for me to hear that somewhere around 90% of babies with Down Syndrome are aborted. These special spirits teach us so much about what it means to truly love others, just as Corrie has taught me.

Here are a few photos of "CB," as I like to call her:

Corrie has a special attachment to Caleb. She frequently calls him the "best brother I ever had!" (She tells my sister's husband that too.)

Here they are together on the Oceanside Pier.

Corrie loves being in the limelight. Don't even try to take a picture without her in it. On several occasions she has wiggled her way between Caleb and I.

Take our wedding day, for example. I stood up to say a few words, and Corrie had slipped into my chair before I could sit back down.

Here she is again. She has to be the closest one to the bride and groom.

This is Caleb and I after we exited the temple. I don't think we have one picture of us without Corrie in it.

And here she is again, jumping right in front of the camera.

And Again...

And again...

I sure love this girl!!!

Summa Cum What?

I like bragging about my husband, so this will be a bragging post. Caleb graduated a few weeks ago with his Chemical Engineering Degree from BYU. He graduated Summa Cum Laude, meaning he was in the top 1% of BYU’s graduating class. What was the GPA requirement to earn such an honor you ask? 3.99. But Caleb doesn’t like odd numbers. He graduated from BYU’s most difficult major with a 4.0! Nobody else even came close to that in his college. Caleb was also asked to speak at graduation. We got front row seats for that of course.

And, my mom even surprised us and drove through the night from California to see Caleb graduate. My aunt DeeDee came, along with my grandparents. Interestingly, Caleb had more of my family members at his graduation than I did. I've accepted the fact that everyone likes him more than me. It’s ok. I do too.

Caleb and his very proud parents.

Right before he received his diploma. The bib-looking thing is a "stole" signifying Caleb's membership in some elite academic society. (Thau Beta Pi? Can't remember.)

This is us outside the Smith Fieldhouse, where Convocation was held.

This is Caleb in front of the building he practically lived in for the past five years.

This is a personal favorite… reenacting many of our date nights while we were engaged and dating: Caleb doing homework while I was zonked out next to him in the ChemE computer lab. It must be love.

We also had a lot of fun with Caleb’s family while they were here. One memorable trip was fishing in the Provo river.

Here we all are with the fish we caught. Caleb didn’t catch one at first because he was helping everyone else. Don’t worry, though. He put on his new waders and hat, and caught a real winner!

Aw, isn't he cute?

Time Goes By...So Slowly

Well, it’s been far too long since I’ve posted. Firstly, I am rather vexed that I can’t get my blog background to show up anymore. Caleb and I both followed the instructions to fix the problem, but to no avail. So I chose a simple replacement background. Oh well, no biggie.

Anyhoo… Lots has changed in the past few months. Caleb and I are now living in Springville, Utah with an elderly woman named Sherry. I took a job as her live-in nurse, and we’ll be here until January. Sherry is great, but the job isn’t quite what we’d hoped. Sherry has to have someone with her at all times (per request of her daughters), and she never likes to go anywhere. Hence, I never go anywhere. Cabin Fever anyone? I am always aching to get away, but the only break I get is from 12-2pm every day, and sometimes my relief doesn’t show up (like today. Grr.) But we made a commitment to stay here, and that’s what we’ll do. And I will try to have a positive attitude in the meantime.

In all of my spare time around the house I have taken up a few hobbies (I say hobbies, not talents. There is apparently a big difference; one implies a certain level of skill, of which I have none.) Nonetheless, I have enjoyed doing new things. Some of them are…

Baking. My favorite find so far is a chocolate zucchini bread recipe. To Die For. But I’ve also had fun creating other fun desserts. The only downside: someone has to eat the desserts, meaning I get fat.

Reading for FUN. Gosh, I haven’t done that in like ten years. So far I’ve read A Farwell to Arms (not so great. Good perspective on war, though), Sense and Sensibility (enjoyable, and very similar to the movie), Jane Eyre (Love love love. There are few books I've enjoyed more), and The Lost Symbol (from the guy who wrote the DaVinci Code. Dark, but intriguing). I am now moving on to Ivanhoe, the book that Robin Hood is based on. I’m only on chapter 2, but so far there’s no hint of robbing the rich to feed the poor. We’ll see.

Piano. Well, this isn’t really a new interest. I’ve been playing since forever. But now I spend my time learning every hymn in the hymn book. Why? Because I’m the unofficial Relief Society Pianist. For the eight weeks I’ve been in the ward, the real pianist has been MIA. So they call on me to fill in. The chorister has a strange attraction to obscure songs that I’ve never heard before. So I have to prepare.

Still, I get rather lonely here, so if anyone in the Springville area want to come by, I’d LOVE to see you!

Wedding Pics

We finally got our wedding photos! Here are a few of my favorites...

Getting used to the camera.

Whispering sweet nothings...

Outside the reception venue. Wish I had this one in color.

This is what the temple looked like on my wedding day.

Thank you, Photo Shop.

The classic "wedding bands in bouquet" shot

Me and my "flower girl" Corrie Beth. I sure love her.

The Girls

The Silly boys

Groomsmen and Bridesmaids

Caleb pointed out that I like all the shots where his face is covered. I promise that is a coincidence.

He makes me work for it.

The lovely La Jolla shore

Dunno what to say about this one, except for I like it.

And we're still just as happy today.