Halloween 2015

On Halloween we went to the Garth Brooks concert.  It was beyond amazing!  We had so much fun and enjoyed every minute of it!  The concert started at 7pm, and didn't get over till about 11:15pm.  Garth Brooks is one amazing performer!  Josh and I both knew all but 2 songs that he did.  Even after the main show was over, Garth came out and did song requests from the fans.  It was definitely worth the money, and we will be going again when he comes back to Salt Lake!

Time Flies....

Wow!  I can't believe it's been so long since I have posted anything.  Just when I think that our life is pretty uneventful, I think about all that has happened since I blogged last.  I'll do my best to go back and think about all of the events that have taken place in the past few months.

The first event that happened since my last post, was one that we both shed a lot of tears over, and still do.  We received news that one of our close friends son, had passed away on June 22, 2015.  We felt especially close to Ray, because we had lived with him and his family for the first 5 months when we lived in Roosevelt.  Josh called me and told me the news that Monday morning at work.  I was in complete shock, and just broke down crying at work.  All day, I just kept thinking that this can't be happening.  I could only imagine how Chris and Leslee (Ray's mom and dad) and the rest of the family, were feeling.  I knew there was nothing we could say or do for them, that would help at all, but we did send flowers to let them know we were thinking of them.  Feeling completely helpless in situations like this, is one of the worst feelings in the world.  

We went to the funeral that Saturday, and said goodbye to our friend Ray.  I have thought of Ray quite often since all of this has happened.  The only thing that really gives me peace about the whole situation, is hoping that he is isn't in pain anymore, and that he is happy.  My heart still hurts for him and how he must of felt.  

I finally had my first surgery since the diagnoses from the MRI, on July 23.  I did my left hip first.  My surgery was scheduled for 7:30am, and we had to be there at 5:45am.  The doctors removed all of the torn cartilage, and shaved it down smooth again.  They also shaved down part of my bone, to help with the way my hip glides.  Everything went great with the surgery.  I felt really good afterwards.  I was fortunate enough to be able to only take one day off of work, and then work from home for a few days before going back to work.  Doctors orders were to be on crutches for 3 weeks.  In my x-ray I had after the first week, the doctor showed me the shaved part of the bone.  That was seriously the longest 3 weeks of my life.  I felt so free after I was able to ditch the crutches.  Once the pain and soreness from having surgery was gone, I was so happy not to be in constant pain. 

On July 31, Josh got to experience "The Famous Preston Night Rodeo".  Growing up, we went to the rodeo every year.  It was something we always looked forward to, and it also meant that summer was just about over.  I was still on crutches at this time, so my dad and brother basically had to carry me up the bleachers to our seats.  I'm sure that was quite a sight!  We had a good time with the family!  

I had my second surgery on September 3, exactly 6 weeks since my first surgery.  This one was on my right hip.  As much as I didn't want to do this, I was ready to get it over with.  In my heart, I really didn't want to do this one, but I knew I had to.  According to the MRI, this hip was worse than the other one, even though I wasn't in constant pain like I was with the left one.  

Coming out of surgery was difficult this time.  I couldn't wake up, and I felt completely drugged.  Total opposite from the first surgery.  I was also really swollen this time.  The nurse had the doctor check the swelling before I left, and he told Josh just to watch it and make sure it didn't get worse.  I really felt sick once I got home.  My stomach was really upset for about a week.  I'm not really sure why, because I only took pain medicine for the first day.  After the first week, I noticed that the left side of my thigh was still numb down to my knee.  When I asked the doctor about this, he said it was probably because I was more swollen this time.  He said he's had some patients numb for 6 weeks after the surgery.  I'm 3 weeks post surgery now, so hopefully it's gone by the time I hit 6 weeks!  

One huge benefit to finally getting this surgery to fix my hips, so not being in constant pain. The first time that I realized that I could sneeze, and not want to cry afterwords, it was amazing!  Before, I would have to try and stabilize myself before a hard sneeze.  The jolt to my hips from sneezing, would cause so much pain.  

My doctor has also suggested that I find a new hobby.  As much as I know I should listen to my doctor, I'm not really sure I can on this one.  Running has really been my escape from everything for the last 5 years or so.  To be told not to do that anymore, I feel lost.  I have 3 more weeks of "no activity", so I guess we'll see what I can come up with in that time, that doesn't involve running.  I make no guarantees that you won't see a blog about a race I've ran, in the near future ;-) 

On Saturday, September 26, we spent the afternoon with my side of the family at the circus!!  I don't remember ever going to a circus before, but according to my parents, they did take us to one when we were kids.  It was a fun time, and I always have fun spending time with my family.  It's hard getting us all together in one place, since we don't live close to each other.  

In the evening, we went to the drag car races with Josh's dad and nephew.  It was a good time, and we didn't get poured on like the last time we went.  The races are really fun to go to, but extremely loud at times. 

I really hate feeling like the summer is coming to an end.  I love summer and being outside!  This is a picture I took of myself, with flowers I grew from seeds this summer, in the background.  I love summer and sun!  I'm not ready for it to be fall quite yet!

Weekend FuN!!

Josh and I both have different favorite hobbies.  Mine is running and doing races, Josh's in golfing.  So this weekend we both got to enjoy both!

Josh was able to play in two golf tournaments this weekend.  One was Friday, and the other was Saturday.  He loves to golf!  Josh is not a morning person.  But he has no problem getting up at 4:45am if it includes golfing.  Friday he played in a tournament at Hill Air Force base and loved it!

On Saturday his tournament was at a golf course right by our house.  The "C" on the mountain is the same "C" you can see when you look out our front windows of our house.

On Saturday, I had to be up at 2am for my Utah Valley Half Marathon.  I had to be to the bus pick up by 4am, and had to drive an hour to get there.  They drove us up to the start of the race, and then we had to sit there in the dark and cold for an hour and a half.  Luckily they had these fires going about every so often that helped keep us warm.  They were so smokey though.  I smelled campfire the whole race and the whole drive home.

Shanon and Shane, did the 10K of the Utah Valley race, and then waited for me until I finished the half.  I knew I'd be slower at this race because of my hip injury's.  I finished 13.1 miles in 2:00:25!

 I've decided that running is really what keeps me sane.  While I'm running it's my time away from the demands and judgements of the world.

 Happy Weekend everyone!

I love SuMmEr!

Summer is my most favorite time of year!  I wish I lived somewhere where it was summer all year long!  

Our Saturday started out with me running an 8K race!  I love races!  I love having something to look forward to, and to push myself to be better.  This run was down Millcreek Canyon in Salt Lake.  It was perfect!  The weather was perfect.  Not hot, not cold, and no wind.  Josh was a trooper and went to this race with me.  I love it when he goes to races with me and is there waiting for me at the finish line.  I'm a lucky girl to have such a supportive husband!

After my race we came home and did some yard work.  That seems to be part of our routine every weekend lately.  Hopefully it will all be done soon so we have time to do other fun things.  After that we went to the drag races at Rocky Mountain Raceways.  We took Josh's dad with us because he loves going as much as we do.  We only got to watch the races for a bout two and a half hours before it started raining.  We had a blast!

Hogle Zoo 2015

Yesterday was Josh's works day at the zoo.  Since we thought it was a little weird for just the two of us to go to the zoo, we borrowed one of our niece's!  What a great reason to spend some time with her!  Jaida is Josh's brothers little girl.  She is 2 1/2 years old.  She is full of attitude, but is so nice and polite to everyone.  She came to our house on Friday night.  This is how the first night of our sleepover went. No I did not get much sleep!

She had to be right next to Josh or I the entire night.  We have a king size bed so there should be plenty of room for the three of us.  The second night we were much smarter and put blankets down on the floor and had her sleep there.  That was a much better arrangement.
The zoo was tons of fun!  Josh and I have gone to the zoo before by ourselves, but it wasn't as much fun as it was with Jaida.  Josh's work provided breakfast for everyone, and then we got to walk around and see the animals at the zoo.  Jaida got so excited to see all of the animals.  She wasn't a big fan of the dinosaurs.

Today should of been the day.

Today should have been the day. 

Today should have been the day that our lives were changed forever in a positive and exciting way.  Our future should of begun to include our new baby starting today.  We should have been looking forward to all of the new and exciting things that new parents get to enjoy. 

While we’ll never know why this happened to us, all we can try to keep telling ourselves is what is meant to be will be.  We believe that we have our own special guardian angel looking out for us in heaven.  We are unsure if another baby is in our future, but we will never forget the one that should have been.  I can't help but think how different our lives would be right now, if things had happened as we had planned and been preparing for.  

Birthdays, MRI, and a new job!

It's been an eventful week for us!  So I thought I'd better blog about it before I forget all about it because of how busy I'm about to be!
My birthday was last Tuesday.  The older I get, the more I really dislike birthdays.  I miss the days when birthdays meant lots of surprises and cake and ice cream!  I still remember when I was a kid, birthdays were so much fun because all the cousins would come over to celebrate!  Since Josh and I have been together, we try to do something extra fun around our birthdays.  Our birthdays are only two days apart, for those of you who don't know.  We usually go on vacation or something fun like that!  This year we couldn't really do anything because of moving and Josh's new job.  So instead of doing something super fun for my birthday, I decided to have an MRI!  
Since about August, I've had a lot of pain in both hips.  The most painful time is every night when I'm trying to sleep.  No matter how I try to sleep, I can't because my hips hurt so bad.  I've been wanting to see a doctor about it for a long time, but with living in Roosevelt, that made it extra difficult.  There's no Sports Medicine doctors in Roosevelt.  I had been to a really good doctor in West Jordan, before we moved.  She helped me so much when I had a knee surgery, and when I had a tear in my achilles.  So I knew I definitely wanted to go to her.  Part of the issue with being so far away when we were living in Roosevelt, is that any doctors appointment in Salt Lake, meant taking a whole day off of work.  It was a 5 hour round trip drive, plus the time spent at the doctors office.  I knew that in order to get anything figured out with my hips, I'd have to have an initial doctors appointment and probably have X-Rays done.  I felt like my hip issues were pretty serious, so after that I'd probably have to have an MRI scheduled, and then of course a follow up doctors appointment.  That's three days off work and the probably still wouldn't be fixed.  So when Josh and I decided to move back to Salt Lake, I called and made an appointment with the Sports Medicine doctor.  
Everything went just like I thought it would.  I met with the doctor and told her all about my pain.  I explained to her that no amount of ibuprofen or laying off on the running, seemed to help with the pain I was in all day every day.  So then next came X-Rays.  From the X-Rays should could see that my right hip did have some type of trauma to it.  So then of course the next step was an MRI.  This was scheduled for my birthday.  I wasn't going to complain because I knew that it needed to be done.  
I've had an MRI done one time before on my knee, but this MRI was something completely different.  Because of what the doctor thought was wrong with my hips, I had to have dye injected down into the joint of both sides of my hips.  Holy moly!  They did numb it before they did the injection, but it was still pretty painful.  Then after that I was stuck in the MRI machine for atleast an hour.  They had to get images of both hips which seemed to take forever!  I had the MRI follow up with the doctor the next day.  The doctor explained to be that I had a labral tear in both hips.  Not exactly what I wanted to hear, but atleast I finally had an answer!!  My doctor explained to me that the best way to "fix" this, was to have surgery to reattach the tear that is causing me the pain.  She said that I can also try cortisone shots, but they aren't a long term fix, and if they aren't injected right into the joint where the injury is, they can be ineffective.  So looks like another surgery is somewhere in the future, but not anytime soon.  The doctor said that I can keep running, but she would suggest that I don't do any activity like yoga that puts more pressure on the joints.  So I'll just keep running, and not being able to sleep at night!
Josh's birthday was last Thursday.  Josh absolutely loves his birthday!  I'm not exactly sure why, because I'm not that great magnificent wife that is creative and goes crazy on his birthday.  He was pretty bummed that we weren't able to go on a trip this year.  Luckily Josh has some really great co-works that surprised him at work!  That night we went to Josh's parents for dinner.  His parents always spoil us with their yummy cooking!

To top off the last week, I was offered a job at Overstock.com!! I am an Executive Assistant to one of the Senior Vice Presidents.  I am super excited about this job!  My first day is tomorrow.  I'm not too good with being the new person, but I'm hoping I pick up on things pretty quickly.  I've heard nothing but good things about this company and how well they treat their employees.  Today a pretty awesome gift basket was delivered to my house with a nice note welcoming me to the company.  

I didn't know this until I did some research on the company, but Overstock.com is based right here in Salt Lake.  I'm excited to be working for this company for hopefully a very long time!

Over the last 5 1/2 years that Josh and I have been together, we have never had the same work schedule.  We are used to hardly ever seeing each other, and very rarely having days off together.  This will be a whole new experience for us!  We will get to enjoy weekends and holidays together.  I'm so thankful that this has finally happened for us!