To Grandmother's House We Go

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I am taking care of my grandparents while my parents are in Mexico. It has definitely been an interesting experience so far. When I got here Friday night, I could hear my grandpa in the other room asking my grandma if they were too old to have children. She had to keep explaining to him that they were too old fifty years ago. My grandpa gets pretty forgetful & confused.
Later that night . . . actually, right in the middle of it, I woke up to my grandpa in my bedroom. He was shuffling in on his walker (when I say shuffle, I mean going 0.25 mi/hr - if that). I sat up in bed and said, "Grandpa?"
He sounded totally scared and asked, "Who's there?"
"Elizabeth."
His voice changed to one of absolute adoration. "Oh, Hi there!"
"Grandpa. You need to turn around and go back to bed."
"Oh, ok. Thank you." He then shuffled back to his bedroom across the hall.
It is so sad to see him lose his mind. He is still so sweet and loving, but he just gets confused and disoriented all the time. He's always asking me who I am, and then smiling with remembrance when I tell him, only to ask my grandma who I am a few minutes later. It's heartbreaking to hear him talk. He doesn't even remember his wife part of the time. I never realized how scary it can be to get old.

HSG

Scott and I have started the fertility process. On Friday, I went in for an HSG. They started out by putting a metal clamp up my China, and then swabbed my cervix clean. It was so uncomfortable. The student nurse stood by me and told me I could squeeze her hand if I needed to. So, I laid there with my knees spread apart and bent up to my chest, trying not to cry . . . not from pain, but from the whole emotional aspect of going through these tests, so we can get pregnant. After the doctor cleaned me out, he stuck a balloon catheter up me. From there, he injected iodine into the catheter and showed me X-rays on a monitor of the dye flowing up my fallopian tubes and out again. They were making sure that my tubes were clear. Thank goodness they are. It was such a relief to know that sperm and eggs can travel through my tubes.

San Francisco

Yesterday, Scott and I took a day trip to San Francisco. As soon as he got off of work, we drove into the city. Our first stop was Mama's - an amazing breakfast/lunch cafe (I mentioned it in an earlier post).

Scott got this huge omelet.


I got a Monte Cristo. It's three slices of bread with a slice of turkey, a slice of ham, and Swiss cheese. The outside of the sandwich is dipped in an egg batter (like for french toast) and then grilled, so the inside is warm, and the cheese is melted. Then you dip it in raspberry jam. It is the most amazing thing.

We then drove around San Francisco, looking at all of the older homes there. After that, we went to the Palace of Fine Arts and walked around. It is such a beautiful sanctuary in the city, except of course when a bunch of 15-year-olds are there for Quinceanera pictures, and they start crowding around you when you're trying to relax on a bench. Yes, we were fortunate enough to experience that . . . girls in trashy skin-colored dresses, boys in zoot suits, and the main girl wearing a peach frilly dress and a tiara while holding a wand and a bouquet of glass flowers (which she was waving right in front of our faces while talking to her friends). It looked like Disneyland on crack. (Mind you, there were other Quinceanera parties there that looked very classy and put-together.)
After resting a while, we went to Ghirardelli for ice cream. On our way there, we drove past people flying these HUGE kites. They were bigger than our car!

We then got ready to go see Mamma Mia. It was one of my favorite Broadways in high school, but seeing it this time, I was shocked at how risqu'e it was . . . and even though the leading ladies were amazing, the main guys sounded like they would have been the understudies.

Anyway, that was our exciting day in the city.

Why am I doing this?

I want to learn to write, but I am intimidated by the challenge. I have always felt inadequate at many things, but will never improve if I don't push myself to try new things. I pray for help in making my life worthwhile. I want to explore my Patriarchal Blessing's promise of joy that will come to me as I become a writer. Perhaps I am to become a writer for my own personal benefit, or perhaps my writing will eventually reach and touch others' lives. Please, God, help me fulfill my life's mission and to know what thou wouldst have me do. Help me to improve myself and to have courage in attempting new things.

"I'm wicked through and through!"

Last night, Scott and I drove down to L.A. to go see "Wicked" on Broadway. We started out Saturday by going to the temple for a session in Spanish. I was worried the whole time that my headphones were too loud, so I turned the volume down so much that I had a hard time hearing what was going on. After the temple, we drove to Hollywood to see the 2:00 o'clock showing of "Wicked" at the Pantages theater. Now, when people talk about how amazing something is (a book, a movie . . .) I usually ignore what they have to say, so that I don't get my hopes up and end up disappointed with it. I did the same thing with "Wicked" . . . I didn't get my hopes up (even though I was still excited to see it). After the first song, I was hooked, and the play just kept getting better and better. This is in my top-three favorites. It may even be my favorite (It's hard to compare it to something like Les Miserables. It has a category of its own.) After the show was over, we drove back to L.A. to meet Scott's parents for dinner. We kept talking about how amazing the play was, and half-way joked that if it were possible, we would see it again that night. Dennis got so excited about eventually seeing the play too, that all of us drove back down to the theater, so he could purchase tickets for a later date. With about ten minutes left until the 8:00 o'clock play started, Scott noticed a man scalping tickets on the sidewalk. He had four tickets for that night in the fourth row. Scott and Dennis bought the tickets and called Gail and me while we were waiting in the car. They told us to run to the theater because the play was starting in two minutes. So, Scott and I saw the play twice in one day, and are already talking about the next time we can see it . . . it was that good!


This is obviously a picture of William (Bill) Holden's star. I couldn't resist taking a picture of it. My favorite movie with him is "Sabrina" with Audrey Hepburn. I also really love the "I Love Lucy" episode that he's in. It's hilarious (even Scott laughed).

Remodeling Progress

We have slowly been able to put our home back together after Scott's floor demolishing party last week (this party I speak of included . . . just him). Let me start from the last place we left off.

Scott finished taking the tile out of the entry and the guest bathroom. The nightmare wasn't in taking the tile out, but in chiseling off the thin set from the concrete floor. Yes, that is the toilet in the shower behind Scott.

This is me attempting to scrape up the rest of the carpet pad that was glued down to the floor. Apparently I didn't do a good enough job, so when Scott's parents got here on Monday, Gail got down on her hands and knees and redid what I tried to do. It looked much better when she was finished. (Pardon the scandalous tank top.)

Scott's dad, Dennis, spread this bubblegum-pink stuff on our floor that's supposed to keep the tile from cracking with the foundation as the house settles. It dried a rancid red . . . Pretty.

These are the tools that we used to get the thin set off. There were four of us working on it (Gail, our friends Tiffani and Andrew Morgan, and me) for a total of about three hours (That doesn't include the time that Gail and I worked on it earlier). We still didn't finish after all that time, and it wasn't even a very big space. Gail hit her hand so many times with the hammer that it was swollen and black and blue. She's such a trooper!

After the above mentioned amount of time we spent getting the thin set up, our neighbor from two doors down came by with this tool. He plugged it in, and within five minutes, the thin set in the entry was all up. We were shocked, wanting to cry in pain at having spent so much time at a task that ended up being pointless, as well as for joy at not having to chisel away chunks of mud from the floor anymore.

Andrew, Tiffani, and Scott taking turns with the relief party

Laying tile in the living room.

Laying tile in the dining room. The rag is hanging from the chandelier, so they won't stand up underneath it and hit their heads.

The living room: All that's left are the edges of the room. Dennis has to do all the cuts for that while Scott lays the tile.

The hallway and dining room.

The entryway - connected to the dining room.

Gail sweeping so Scott can lay tile. She's such a hard worker and always has a smile on her face.

Dennis cutting tile. Cool apron, huh? It's a trash bag that keeps the water from the tile saw off of him. It looks like an obscure kilt.

Wakeboarding

Earlier today, my brother Brad came up to Folsom Lake to take a youth group out on his boat. He arrived a few hours before any of the kids or other leaders got there, so he invited Scott and me to go wakeboarding with him. Note: I haven't been wakeboarding in eight years. This is partly from not having many opportunities, but mostly from a hurt back.

Scott getting ready to get in the water. He came straight from work, so he was pretty tired. It's so nice that he has the type of job where he can go out on the boat on a Friday morning.

My brother, Brad

No jumping for me. I was just glad to get up. I'm actually surprised there are any pictures of me standing, since I was in the water most of the time. I could only get up with my left foot leading, but once I was up, I wanted the right foot in front. It was confusing trying to sort out my ambi-foot thing. One time after falling, I got stuck on my stomach and couldn't flip the board over. I felt like a crab when it's stuck on its back. I was laughing so hard and trying desperately to keep my head above the water so I didn't drown. I looked like a complete idiot . . . but a funny one.

The water, by the way, was so warm! The thermometer on the boat said it was 80 degrees both in the water and outside.

Scott attempting to barefoot-ski. It's been a long time since he's tried.

This is Scott after he failed at barefoot-skiing. You can somewhat see his feet through the spray, and his sandals are flying in the air. He did a full flip before landing in the water.