Happy 36th!

Lisa turned 36 today. As mentioned, I've delegated a lot of the household duties. Adria is now in charge of entertainment. Raya is her assistant. They put together the Princess/Rapunzel-themed party for Lisa's birthday.

 We bought the hat, streamers, and balloons at the dollar store. Lisa is the princess. Raya is the haggy witch. Kanyon made the castle out of blocks.

Another princess-themed game: Pin the lips on the frog. 

3 candles x 12 cookies = 36

Airplanes and space things

We took a quick trip to a museum that we had never been to today. They had all kinds of famous airplanes and space ships on display (Sorry Brant, no Spruce Goose). Here's a few of the highlights.

The SR-71 Blackbird. This one flew from LA to DC in just over 1 hr on its last flight.

Space Shuttle Discovery

The heat-dissipating tiles on the bottom/sides of the shuttle

I thought these directions painted on the side were pretty great

The famous Enola Gay. Most people stood around looking at it kind of somberly and a few discussed the history and memories associated with it.

The Enola Gay again.

Kelly and I thought the styling on several of the oldest planes reminded us of the front ends of tractors.  

Brain Surgery

Many of you are already aware of all this but I wanted to put it on the blog for Kimbre's sake, so that Lisa's story would be included in our family history.

On October 15, 2015 Lisa had a seizure, which led to an MRI, which revealed that she had a brain tumor. We were referred to a brain surgeon, David Newell, who works at Swedish Medical Center in Seattle. On November 5, she had a craniotomy to remove the tumor.

Lisa's personal theme was "Brave," taken from the girl's camp theme. This is a picture of her in the operation prep area.

 Clothes changed. Lisa was not nervous. Just waiting on hospital time for the surgery to start. It was scheduled for 1:00, but didn't start until 3:45 pm.

This is what Dad and I did while we were waiting during Lisa's surgery. The Dr. called just after 6:00 pm to say the surgery went well, but we didn't get to see her until 11:00 that night. I got a little impatient toward the end.

Lisa's stat board in her recovery room. Many people prayed and fasted for us. Thank you!

She was blessed with a successful surgery and rapid recovery. No impairment of motor functions, speech, or sensory. Just extremely fatigued. We were discharged from the hospital on Monday, November 9.

A picture of her taking a short walk on Thursday, November 12, with her dad. I asked her if I could take a picture of the staples in her scalp (45 of them) but she said no.

Thanks to all those who prayed, watched kids, provided food and housing, traveled, and assisted with Lisa's recovery. We've been very blessed.

Some Pictures

 Now that we are home I thought I'd post a couple of pictures from my stay in Seattle.  I didn't feel it would be appropriate to post pictures from the operating room (they wouldn't let me anyway) so here are a few from my accommodations in the hospital.  They have set up one floor (5th) as sort of a hotel for families of the patients.  It is very clean, quiet, inexpensive and very close to all activities.  First floor is the cafeteria, third floor is patient rooms (Lisa was there), fifth floor was my room.  There was room for two but Kevin stayed in Lisa's room.  Swedish Hospital has several locations in Seattle but this campus deals only with head and heart surgery.  It is a busy, busy place. 

 This is what they call the James Tower.  Sort of the old original structure.  This was taken at night from the hallway on the way to my room.

 Here it is in daylight.  I was intrigued by the architecture, particularly the wrought iron balconies.

 This is the hallway just outside my room.  That is my room on the right.

 And inside - as Kevin put it, a dorm room without the posters.  Two beds, TV, bathroom, and chair.  All the essentials.

Also out the hallway window, CenturyLink Field (where the Seahawks play).  You can just see the top arches of the stadium and beyond them, the derricks of the harbor.

Temple Walk

On Saturday, Nov. 7th. The Young Women, accompanied by leaders, ventured out on a temple walk!  It was an idea spearheaded by one of our Laurels who wanted to achieve her Honor Bee.  For those of you who don't know, that's an additional achievement of 40 hrs of service that you receive after your Young Women in Recognition (Personal Progress). The goal was to walk from our church building to the Spokane Temple, a little over 16 miles.  We originally had it planned in August but the smoke from forest fires forced us to postpone. We were concerned about doing it so late in the year but the Lord was with us because we couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day. By late morning we had blue skies and plentiful sunshine.  

 We began bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at 7:30am.  This is our group just starting out.  You can see the church building in the background.  We had 19 young women and 12 adults.

 There was lots of energy the whole way. The young woman behind it (Hailey) had many planned stops for bathroom breaks and water refills.  At one stop we were even brought some hot chocolate which was much needed since the early morning was a little chilly.  She even planned stops for spiritual thoughts which was kind of the whole point of the temple walk.

 Part of our route was on the Centennial trail which follows the freeway for a while.  The YW had fun getting the semi's to honk for them.

 Our group at the bridge over the Spokane river.

The last part of the walk was by far the most challenging.  There's a steep hill about a mile before you get to the temple. And of course by then we were blistered, sore and tired.  Knowing that this last push would be difficult, Hailey planned for the girls' parents and families to walk with them for the last mile.  They were all standing on a corner cheering us on and it was just the motivation we needed.  Even Matt and the kids came and I got to walk with Riley to the temple.  Of course she tripped and skinned her knee so I had to give her a piggy-back for part of the time...something I had plenty of energy to do!...

It was very rewarding to finally make it to the temple! Hopefully its something our YW will never forget.

Ward Variety Show Skit

I couldn't upload the actual video to the blog because of it's size so here's the link.  Enjoy :)

YW Leader Skit

Fun Activities

We came up to Post Falls to spend the weekend and then stay with Kevin and Lisa's family while they travel to Seattle.  We had a busy Saturday: soccer game, party, shooting, blowing out sprinklers, dinner, and Trick-or-Treating.

 The whole gang deep in the carving stage.

 To celebrate Braxton's birthday he invited a friend and his dad to go target shooting at a public range that Matt and friends use for practice.  It is east about 45 miles in Kellogg, Idaho

 We started with 22's

 We all took a turn.

 This is a very nice range.  It is self-policing so everyone takes good care of it.  The targets are 50, 100, 150, and 200 yards out there.  About a third of the way up the far hill was an old burned stump.  It sits at about 400 yards.   Matt put on a demonstration with this AR15 and nailed it several times.

 Braxton with Grandpa Zirker's old bolt action 22.

 We had to check and replace targets every once-in-a-while.

 Braxton with Matt's AR15.

 Kevin with the AR15.

 Some good shooting with the 22's

 This is Matt's target with this AR15 at 100 yards (I think).  Not bad, Huh?

 The group.  The ones in the middle are the Sorensens.  They are in the same ward as Kevin and Lisa.

 Braxton with a little "up close" shooting.

 Cole in his Halloween costume.

The rest of the crew.  I used the other one of Cole because you can't see his face in this one.

Kevin and Lisa are in Seattle staying with Seth and Lacey for now.  They are seeing doctors, having MRI's and making plans.  I plan to drive over tomorrow if everything works out for surgery on Thursday.  Keep them in your prayers.  Grandma and I are having a good time here in Post Falls.  Reminds us of the good ol' days.