Happy birthday brigham. I hope your double- chocolate stuffed pancakes with strawberry cream were worth the calories. but hey, not every day is your birthday at IHOP right? We hope the rest of your day was just as sweet
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Where is Dad camping in case I want to go up there for a day or more? HERE . Saundra wanted to go back to our old camp spot this year and since she's lucky and is getting her ENTIRE FAMILY to come (Kert from Colorado, Steven is taking his vacation, etc. etc) I acquiesced. If you want to contact us while there, I'll try to drive to the edge of the hill where I get a cell signal each day and check my voicemail. 801-376-4419 is my cell number. I'm going up today, Mom is coming up Sunday or Monday. Be back on 7th or 8th (just before your mother's birthday). ATVs and sleeping quarters/foams/etc are waiting for those that come. I plan on killing a lot of bugs with my zapper!
So we thought it would be fun to squeeze in a little camping trip before Brigham started his residency on the 22nd. Monday we packed up and headed to Bandolier National Monument-- about 2 hours from our place. We enjoyed feeling very camperish as we arrived, set up our tent, and ate lunch. At nap time we started getting our first hints that maybe things were not going to be as pleasant as we'd planned. Jacob cried and cried and refused to nap, so we eventually gave up and decided to go for a hike to see the cool Indian ruins there. Jacob enjoyed the first 10 minutes or so in the backpack, and then decided that he hated it. He screamed bloody murder after that-- no matter what we did. Then Benjamin tripped on the path and scraped up his knee. So then we had two screaming kids and people looking at us like we were abusive. We eventually abandoned the hike and went to McDonalds in Los Alamos for ice-cream. That went well enough. We had fun roasting hot dogs for dinner, but ...
So I went to the doctor and the doctor said ......be like a monkey and stretch that shoulder by jumping on the bed. Got my stitches out this AM. Don't miss 'em. My Orthopedist (that sounds like I'm doing name dropping at a cocktail party) said that why someone gets adhesive capsulitis like mine is totally unknown. Now all the guck is cleaned out and he's ripped the adhesiveness all I can do is to excercise and stretch it......and it may still come back and I may still lose range of motion. I'm going to physical tortur....er...therapy three times a week, but our insurance will only pay for 20 visits/year (and I've already been 11 times). I have a pulley rigged up in my office I can reach up and pull my arm out multiple times a day. I use door frames and most anything else to stretch my arm. I still only have about 30% of rotation ability even after the surgery. At least now when I do something stupid (like try to spin a Bocci ball?) the pain of all the ...
I was just finishing making dinner when there was a knock on my door. I opened it to find a lady and her daughter on my doorstep looking confused: "I take it Ruth doesn't live here anymore." "No, sorry-- she doesn't" "that would explain why she hasn't answered her phone for months. I've been calling and calling her" "yes, we moved in here in march" [looking behind me at the picture of Christ on our piano]... "hey, are you LDS?" "yes, are you?" "yes. I was Ruth's visiting teacher and I've been trying to get ahold of her forever!" "....than.....you guys must be in my ward" "oh, well.......yes.......but we don't really go. We need to come back I know. I keep meaning to......" (speaking to her daugher) "ok, well I direct the music in primary so maybe I'll see you sometime k?" "ok" RANDOM! Why would someone be so persistant about doing their vis...
Anyone want to make $100.00 per day? So, Grandpa is going downhill. His physical therapist left off coming a week ago because he didn't feel it was needed anymore. We are still taking him on walks (it takes about 35 minutes to walk to our house, past about 6-7 other houses and back again because he has to stop and rest about every 5 minutes.) He says that he is still doing his physical therapy exercises (but do we trust him when he says he took his meds when we can see that he didn't?) At anyrate, we have figured out that we cannot take him up to reservation ridge with us, as there aren't any level places to take him walking, and if he doesn't go walking for a week, as quickly as he is loosing his strength, I don't think he would be able to regain his mobility. Yesterday, he fell. Luckily, he was inside at the time and he fell sideways on to his chair, so he was not hurt. I am trying to get his physical therapist to start coming again. There really isn't a rea...
Words of Wisdom from Pa time: Click THIS to learn why I don't change my ink cartridges when my printer tells me I'm out of ink. Oh...and why aren't you reading the reviews, wish list, or fun pages? Huh? Speaking of which...do you want to be able to know when stuff is posted to ANY of these blog pages without having to go look? It's easy. Use iGoogle as your home page (see the Groneman Reviews blog). Near the top right is an "Add stuff" link.....go there. Search for "reader" and you will find the Google reader. Click the "Add it now" button. Now go to your iGoogle page and find the reader gadget. At the top, in the colored section it says "Google Reader"...click on that. In the left columm, about in the middle, there's a BROWSE link (right next to the ADD SUBSCRIPTION link). Click on that BROWSE link. There is now a section called "Stay Close to Friends and Family". In the box next to "Username...
Happy summer solstice! It's a bit early (Wikipedia says it won't happen until 18:06 UTC [1:06 PM Mountain time for us'ns in that timezone]), but I'll probably be busy then. Rumor has it that as of that time, CK will be on the downhill side of her last year in her 20's. Wow. Speaking of Christa, I had wanted to spend my summer solstice with the Dastrups, but my work messed up so I wasn't able to. I was able to meet them for about 10 minutes at a mall. Benjamin had all sorts of new tricks he showed me, like how he could climb over the back of a bench. Jacob was preoccupied by one of the car-shaped strollers that malls tend to have. I informed CK that we need more video of the little guys. By the way, what's the proper way to type out "us'ns"? (That's redneck speak for "us ones", which in turn is redneck speak for "us"). I tried "us 'nes" and "us 'n's" but neither looked right... no...
We went to the beach again and this time Kiera had fun. Infact, she spent most of the time there squeeling with delight. She liked the waves and the noise, the people and the breeze. It was way cute. We went boogie boarding and the water was warm and the waves were great. It is so much fun!!! While I was getting in the water I looked behind Steve (who was already in the water )and saw fins sticking up out of the water about 40 yards away from him. I freaked out because it looked like a shark. However, it ended up being 5 dolphins who played for a while in the water really close by and then left. Pretty cool. I'm glad Steve wasn't eaten by a shark. Yes, Kiera is getting chunky. Food is her favorite pass-time.
HAPPY FATHER'S DAY, DAD!!! We want you to give yourself a big hug from all of us here in Albuquerque. We love you so much and are thankful that you are our dad! We hope you can enjoy that bocci ball set today! Also-- happy Father's Day to Brigham and Steve-- two other terrific (if somewhat less experienced) dads!
While I was out traveling this past week, I had a bathroom mirror that had a corner such that I could see myself from the side. Now, I know I've been able to see myself from the side before, because I've seen myself in cornered mirrors before. But I was shocked to find out I have ... a "Microsoft nose"! I'm a bit distressed by this. You see, a "Microsoft nose" is the type of nose had by most of the nerdy computer science people who can't work Linux, and spend most of their time playing computer games. They're the people who pretend they're computer experts, and spend enough time on them that they should be, but really don't know a whole lot. They can't use Macs or Linux, hence it's the Microsoft Nose. It's the nose where the snout angles up at the end. Most normal people don't have this type of nose. An abnormally high percentage of the group I just described do have this nose. And I have this nose!!! Aaa!!! Ho...
Greetings from California . I'm just here to write and tell you how much fun I am having here. In the group of friends I am currently in, there is certainly no lack of excitement. It seems like there is something going on every night of the week and the nights where there isn't anything planned, we usually change that. Since I've been here, i've been hiking, mini golfing (2ce), gone to a few singles dances, had a how to host a murder party, been to a bbq, been to a few parties at peoples houses that are in our ward, etc. etc. It's been really fun. In fact, it's been so fun and I love it here so much, I've decided to stay here to go to school. I've been doing some research and I've found out that in-state tuition in Ut is more expensive than out of state tuition here at most colleges. At one college I found, I could save about $1500 per semester by going there. So I've decided that since I don't have a scholarship anymore and since I ...
Two days ago I was running out in the wilderness (sagebrush for literally miles and miles and miles!) at the end of our street, and I saw lots of interesting things-- lizards, jack rabbits, an enormous caterpiller, shotgun shells, etc... But the thing that made me stop in my tracks was a different set of tracks-- some HUGE cat tracks in the sand. I put my hand down in them to see how big they were, and one track went from the bottom of my palm to my knuckle of my middle finger. I just about turned around and went back into civilization then, but I decided that they probably belonged to some huge great dane or something. Then yesterday we went back to the zoo (which is a fantastic zoo, by the way-- much better than Baltimore's) and went to this cat exhibit. It turns out that there are jaguars here in New Mexico, and that the last one was sighted in February. Yikes!
IT IS TIME FOR THE FAMILY TO VOTE!!!! So, there is a letter here from the UVSC Nursing Dept for Brett. I tried calling him, but his voice mail took the message! So HOW MANY OF YOU THINK THAT I SHOULD OPEN IT ANYWAY?????? :) :) :) I MEAN, IT IS TORTURE TO HAVE IT SITTING THERE, UNOPENED, JUST LOOKING AT ME!!!!!
I got a surprise in my email today from the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science! Look who it is! It's BENJAMIN! Wow. How fun. His picture came all the way from New Mexico to my computer in Utah! And now an update about my shoulder for anyone that cares. I went back to the surgeon and he showed me all the things he did. He said the surgery shows I have classic adhesive capsulitis (sp?) and that there was some thingy in my shoulder that was partially torn away from the bone but not all the way so was borderline needing to be fixed so he didn't as he thinks it will heal faster that way. I don't get my stitches out for another week :-( but start intensive physical therapy tomorrow.
I just got home from my first day at work. It's been a year and a half since I worked last and it was tough to go back and leave my little Kiera. Kiera did ok with her daddy though and I'm glad (prayers work). I am the charge nurse at a nursing home with 60+ patients which is a little crazy to me especially because I have complete charge of the facility when I work in the evenings but I'm sure I'll get the hang of it. I work in an ugly run-down nursing home next door to Steve's VA hospital that is 7th day adventist (therefore everyone is vegetarian). It should be an interesting job
A pic of me with my pain pump. Sorry to ruin your lunch. :-) Yer mom told most of the story. I found that if I put my keyboard just right on my lap I can type ok. I remember being taken into the operating room and having to move myself off the rolling bed onto the operating table. The next thing I remember is waking up to horrible pain in my shoulder! OweeeOweeeOwee! I guess I was quite a wimp. Once it started feeling a little better, they sent me home (dunno how long that was....my brain wasn't tracking time). Once home, I slept in the blue chair for the rest of the day/night. I just took another percoset and naproxin so if I doz.....zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
So, I am sure you are all wondering how Kim's procedure went with the shoulder . The Dr said that everything went well, but from Kim's point of view, it has been a rude awakening to the world of REAL PAIN. Yes, he got a tasting of that at Christmastime with his back injury, but this has been worse. And the thing is, before the surgery even started the anestheseologist gave him a block that was supposed to numb the entire shoulder area for 36 hours after the procedure. But it didn't work. And,during the surgery they inserted what is called a "pain pump" that is also supposed to really help with pain, but that didn't work either. Well, maybe it was helping some...cause maybe it would have been worse still without it, but Kim was in excruciating pain when he came to so they loaded him up with lots of different narcotics, which weren't working either. They finally gave him Perocet, which lessened it enough to get him dressed and take him home...so now I am su...
(pictutures have nothing to do with this comment-- they are just cute so I thought I'd share). We had a skunk wandering around our backyard last night. Steve went out and was chasing it with a flashlight (much to my dismay). Buff was still out with her friends so I called her to warn her about it for when she got home. She says she didn't see it, but she smelled it. I'm glad he sprayed in someone else's yard and not mine!!
Jacob has a new word!! "Cow!" It's really cute to hear him say it, but I don't know if it is actually a true word because I don't know that he knows what it means. But it sure is darling to hear him say it! And with Moo around, he probably hears it enough to have it be a real word! Today we went to our new ward for the first time. Jacob was thrilled to have new toys in nursery and had no problem adjusting. The great thing is that his nursery leader actually worked with children with special needs before having children of her own! Benjamin was very reluctant to go to his new class, but afterwards he said that the kids in his class were "super nice" and that he had made a new friend. He didn't know his name, but when Brigham asked if he could tell us what he looks like, he said, "Yes! He had on a really great shirt!" We will work on finding out his name next week... We were pleased with the overall experience-- people were very fr...
You'll all be relieved to know that we are 33% safer from spiders in the Nelson residence due to the fact that I, Cambrie, took moving tape to all of our screens. Yes, it may be a bit red-neck, but we have tape all around our poor-fitting screens so they are all taped to the windowsill so spiders cannot enter. At least I didn't use duct tape-- actually, I'm using duct tape as a remedy for the warts on my feet. Thought ya'll might like to know.
A SATURDAY TRIP TO FOREST LAKE - Today Marilyn, Chad, Saundra, Randy & Myself took our ATVs up to Forest Lake which is up American Fork Canyon.....just a hop, skip, and a jump from our house. We had fun. The road was rough getting up but it was worth it. While we were at the lake we saw a moose across the lake so we had to go investigate. The moose wasn't scared of us a bit. This was the inaugural run of my new baby...the Suzuki Eiger 400 4x4 and it performed flawlessly. I rode it up. Mom rode it down. You can click on THIS LINK to see some of our pictures. Marilyn said... It was a fun trip. There are alot more people up there than I thought there would be...unlike Marysvale..but the scenery was great, and the new 4 wheeler could spoil us in a hurry! We got it because Kim needs a bigger machine so he doesn't kill our 250's, but while he was at it we got an automatic transmission for me (on the same machine, guys!). Kim says that he lik...
Yer dad is going in for surgery on his shoulder Monday morning sometime. They are hoping to regain some of his mobility lost with his frozen shoulder, and maybe get a better idea of any problems that maybe be causing it... He will start physical therapy afterwards. If you can believe it, this will be his first trip to a surgical center for himself. ( LIES! LIES! I had my nose worked on once! ) In the past, they have all been for me. Not as good a record as Pres Hinckleys never being a patient in a hospital until he was 96...but still a record a whole lot better than mine!
Greetings to all from New Mexico! It's fun to be here, and we are looking forward to visits from all of you! Today we went to the zoo and got a membership there that also gets us into the aquarium and the botanical gardens. We added a guest membership to it, so when you come visit, someone can get in for free! (And the others only have to pay $7 each... everything is so much cheaper here!) We only explored about 1/3 of the zoo, but it was fun! I will post pictures of the house soon, and you can finally see Brigham's graduation pictures now with the link on the left. Enjoy!
So there I was a couple of days ago , getting home from work. I went into my bedroom and saw a little orange paper on my bed telling me that I had a package in the office. I picked up a box from the Nelson residence, filled with stickers, candy, a mostly empty bag of cookie crisp, a ziplock bag of trix (Not trix, but something similar), a 2003 BYU magnetic football schedule, a magnetic old institute schedule, a brand-new hand mixer, some mixes, two water guns, a water/air/oil spinny-wheel-toy-thing from our childhood, and many other various items that likely have been hanging around with Cambrie for who knows how long. To the party responsible, that was a lot of fun. Thanks for the trinkets and the laugh, and the use of two totally awesome new water pistols.
Here are some of our pictures we had taken today. Kiera was alot more cooperative this time. News: I got a part time job working at a nursing home. I start on tuesday. Kiera will have to get used to Buff or Steve putting her to bed. I did a CPR challenge course today where basically I pay the money to take the test to prove I know my stuff and don't have to take the class again. It was the silliest test though-- most of the answers were "call 911" but the funny thing is: I am 911. I kept pointing this out to the guy who was overseeing my test and trying to verify that I had the correct test and was going to get the correct certification but he assured me it was correct. So I guess if I'm ever working as a nurse in a hospital and my patient's heart stops, I'll just call 911 : )
I am having compassion for the Dastrups as they are traveling for 10 hours or so in the car with 2 little guys who will want to know if they are there yet after the first 10 minutes. Reminds me of the one day we did in Belgium to Garmish Germany ...11 hours of driving with 5 kids. Not fun. We should have a moment of silence and prayer for the Dastrups, who, in all of their busies of moving forgot to bring along the car adaptor for the DVD player, and thus, Baby Einstein can't help them either. Truely a day of mourning for the Dastrup clan. I thought we should lend our support in this time of need. We hope that the move on the N.Mexico end is smooth so that they can rejoin our conversations on the Blog and put on new pictures, for all of us to enjoy, of their new spacious place!
Hey! Who's Going? Check the Groneman Family Calendar (along with the reviews page, the joke page, and the wishlist page). Our annual Jack Groneman reunion will, again, be held at Reservation Ridge. This year, on Saundra's wish, we're going to our old camp (if it's available). We *WILL* have ATVs available to ride ..in fact, this year we should have 3 and we'll be trading off with Saundra/Randy so everyone will be able to ride. I'll be there over 2 weekends (including Brigham's Birthday....we'll have a moment of silence for you) and the full week in between so you can come up for a day, or for a few days or the entire time. Of course we'll have our electric fly swatters so there will never be a dull moment. Bring a friend if you want. You in?
You wouldn't think that you would have to worry about getting scammed at the grocery store, but you do. If it was not for the fact that Buff was with me today at the store, the checker would have scammed me out of $36.00 As the checker was scanning my items I made my cost prediction to Buff. Then, when she was done I paid with credit card Total: $103.00 (press yes or no) I pressed yes and as my big long receipt was printing Breanna said "whoa whoa whoa-- wait a second, how did it suddenly get to be $121? No kidding-sure-enough the checker had punched in that I bought 4 of my most expensive item (instead of 1) in the seconds after I had pressed the yes button and it had added it on in the time between yes and my receipt printing. I got a refund and came home upset about it and got on the blog to tell the world about it. I had written the first paragraph of this when I decided to consult my receipt for actual numbers to put on the blog. Upon further scrutiny of my rece...