A Blessing in Disguise

Back pain has been a daily part of my life for many, many years. Much of it stems from degenerative disc damage, bulging discs, scoliosis, spinal stenosis, and arthritis in my lower back. However, I have suffered much pain on the right side of my back below my rib cage as well. 

A couple of years ago, I went to a chiropractor for relief. I had been to him a few times before and got some relief. On this particular visit, he was massaging the area on the right side of my back under my rib cage fairly aggressively and I heard a loud pop and felt an immense amount of pain. He immediately stopped massaging me. I couldn't see his face, but I could almost picture seeing him go all white. He cleared his throat and said "That's going to hurt for a while. I think I might have just broken your rib."

Well, as you can imagine, I was not very happy about the situation but I didn't express that to him. I knew that he hadn't intentionally injured me. He told me to take it easy and not lift anything heavy for a few weeks. He also mentioned that there's nothing a doctor can do for a broken rib. Time does the healing.

I was in a lot of pain for several days. Even though I knew there was nothing that could be done if it was broken, I wanted to know for sure whether it was broken or not so I went to my primary doctor. An x-ray was ordered and I was given the good news that it wasn't broken after all.

Over time, the pain went away and I started to realize that the previous pain that I always had on my right side below the rib cage was gone. I came to the conclusion that the chiropractor had done me a great service instead of great harm. I believe that his vigorous massage had maybe loosened some kind of tissue that shouldn't have been attached to my rib cage relieving me of that constant pain. I don't know for sure that that's what happened, but I'm just glad that I no longer have that pain.

What I thought was a big mistake on my chiropractor's part turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Things are not always as they seem. There could be a silver lining hidden in every challenge. Sometimes we have to wait to see how things turn out before we can cast judgment on a situation. I was initially critical of my chiropractor, but now I'm grateful that it happened as it did. I remain pain free in that area to this day, for which I am very grateful. I count that experience as a great blessing in my life and a good learning experience. 

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Date With Kessler

Whenever I have had a grandchild who is entering Kindergarten, I have made a point of purchasing them new clothing to wear to school. Most of the time, I have had to do it long distance, but since Kessler currently lives with us, going shopping with him was an easy task, so we made a date of it yesterday.

I took him to Old Navy to pick out his clothes. I had forgotten what it's like to shop with young children. I was quickly reminded that 5 year old's don't necessarily care what they wear, but they do want to purchase everything else in the store that has nothing to do with why we are there. 

We ended up getting him some pants and a long sleeved shirt that will be for colder weather here in Utah. School starts in just three days. Hard to believe.

He will be attending a charter school that has a dress code for every day of the week except Wednesday when they can pick anything they want to wear.

After shopping at Old Navy and Costco, we went to lunch at Burger King - his choice. He enjoyed chicken nuggets and fries while I ate a Whopper Junior. We enjoyed wearing our BK Crowns. A very memorable moment for sure.

This guy is so fun to be around. He is always the life of the party and loves attention. It was fun to have some one-on-one time with him. After I explained to him that I did this for each of my grandchildren and that when Wesley turned five and started kindergarten I would be having a date with her, he said "and you need to invite me." Ha ha. What a character.

I asked Kessler what he thought of our date and he said it was great, that he liked doing stuff with me, and that he loves me. Well Kessler, I thought it was great, I like doing stuff with you, and I love you, too! You are the best kindergartener around. You will be such a good student and I know your new teacher will love you.

An Arizona Wedding

Alan and I boarded an airplane last Friday morning, August 9th, and flew to Arizona in order to attend the evening wedding of Jared and Catherine. They have been dating for 1.5 years and decided to get married right away so they can get going on her immigration papers.

The night before, on August 8th, Jared proposed to her at a park near his home. Thankfully, a co-worker helped him out and made the spot very beautiful and special.

Catherine loved the proposal and the ring. Jared was amazed at the wonderful setting his co-worker supplied for the two of them. Leave it to a woman to make things beautiful and special. Jared was lucky to have her help.

When Alan and I arrived in Arizona, we rented a car and then went to Kyle & Jared's house to pick Catherine up so she could get a manicure before the wedding. Once we arrived at the spa, I decided to get a manicure as well. We were at different tables where we couldn't see each other. Imagine my surprise to see that we both chose to have French tip nails. 

It was fun to be able to spend the morning with Catherine before the wedding ceremony. Alan felt like a fish out of water when we were getting our nails done. He had never been to a spa like that before. 

After resting up and changing into more appropriate wedding attire, we headed to the Mesa Courthouse.

With their Marriage Certificate in hand, Jared and Catherine showed up at the Courthouse.

It is fun to see them so in love and ready to make a lifetime commitment to each other.

After checking in, they signed the marriage certificate and Alan and I signed as well since we were the witnesses.

Thankfully, Kyle, Milo, and Clara arrived at the courthouse in time to be able to join the wedding party. Milo and Clara had never witnessed a wedding ceremony before so that was special for them.

The marriage took place inside one of the courtrooms. The Judge who performed the ceremony was very friendly and welcoming. It turned out that he knew Spanish because he served a mission in Spain so he could talk to them in Spanish. However, the ceremony was in English.

I liked what he had to say even though it was short and sweet. Since we got it all on video, I can quote him here to share the message he had for Jared and Catherine. He said "marriage is an institution where you get as much out of it as you are willing to put into it and today Jared and Catherine come here willing to put all that they have into making it a success. Jared, do you take Catherine to be your wife and promise to love her, honor her, comfort her, cherish her, respect her and remain faithful to her as long as you both shall live?" He said "yes, I do." The Judge continues with "Catherine, do you take Jared to be your husband, do you promise to love him, honor him, comfort him, cherish him, respect him, and remain faithful to him as long as you both shall live? She said "yes, I do." 

Jared and Catherine were then each allowed some time to say something to each other. It was a very emotional moment as they spoke of their love for each other. Catherine spoke in Spanish, so I couldn't understand much of what she said, but they both looked lovingly into each others eyes and spoke from the heart. It was a very beautiful and moving moment.

After that, the Judge pronounced them husband and wife and we all cheered as they hugged each other and celebrated the beauty of this new union.

Here is a picture of our group just outside the courthouse.

I'm so happy to be able to welcome a new daughter-in-law into our family, and soon a new grandchild.

To celebrate their marriage, we all went out to dinner. We had a reservation at Rodizio Grill, an amazing Brazilian restaurant with several different kinds of meat served straight off the spit. So delicious and a fun way to celebrate the happy union of Jared and Catherine.

Jared is 43 years old. I think Catherine is about 38 years old. I mentioned to them in a card that I had waited a long time for Jared to get married and now I knew the reason why. It's because he had to wait so long in order to meet Catherine. They seemed to hit it off right from the start. Although their dating and courtship was hampered by distance, they stuck together and saw each other as much as they could. Having a baby on the way made it necessary to speed up the marriage, but we are happy that they are happy and that they have chosen to become husband and wife and have created their own little family. I certainly wish them well as they journey through this life together. Love is a very beautiful thing.

Burton Family Olympics

 Jane and I were in charge of the Burton Reunion last Saturday. It was held at Canyon View Park in Spanish Fork, just like it has been for the past several years. Gayle and Phil will be in charge next year. There is talk of next year being the last year that we put one together, so I will never have to do the planning again.  It was a ton of work, but it was a labor of love to put it all together. Thank goodness I had Jane's help. She took care of planning the food end of things, and I planned the activity. Alan helped so much in preparing all of the game paraphernalia. 

Since the Paris Olympics are currently taking place, we decided to have an Olympic themed event. I made the banner. It was a bear for Ryan to put up, but I think it turned out well.

I loved the table cloths Jane picked out, reminding us to cheer on the American athletes. So patriotic.

As far as food goes, we had a pasta bar with both red sauce and alfredo sauce, bread sticks, tossed salad, fruits, and cookies for dessert. So yummy!

After eating, it was time for the Olympic games. The youth in attendance were jumping at the bit to give them a try. Some teenage boys even "stole" the axes for the axe throw that Ryan had placed high in a tree. Boys!

We had six events - Shotput, Javelin, Archery, Axe throw, Discus throw, and Balance Beam.  

In order to track their progress through the events, they each received an Event Tracker on a lanyard and a pencil to keep track of their score and they received a star sticker inside the other square. 

Once they finished all six events, they came to the "Reward center" where they received their participation reward - a gold medal and a Creamie Ice Cream Bar or Popsicle of their choice.

The kids really enjoyed all of the games, but I think that the Axe Throw was the all-around favorite. We had two stations at each event - one for the real young kids and one for the older kids.

Many of the kids returned to try the axe throw over and over again long after the games had ended and people were leaving.

For the Discus throw, they had to try to toss a frisbee into the Olympic Rings made out of pool noodles.

For Archery,  the younger kids shot the arrows at a target not far from their starting line, and the older kids tried to shoot the arrow through a ring suspended between two step ladders several feet away. It worked out well.

For the Balance beam, the kids needed to walk 3 sections of a 2" X 4" board while balancing a wooden egg on a wooden spoon while also stepping over Kleenex boxes in their path. This created more of a challenge that simply balancing while walking.

The Javelin throw was done with pool noodles weighted down with wooden dowels inside. They didn't travel far, but they were safe to throw.

The shot put was done by the littlest kids launching a baseball from their shoulder and the bigger kids launching a Bocce Ball from their shoulder. Evidently, some were able to  launch the Bocce Ball farther than we anticipated. I'm glad everyone kept safe during the games.

After all was said and done, we got rave reviews for the activities. With the help of Kent & Ann, my children and grandchildren, and Jane's children and grandchildren, we were able to man each event. We appreciated how everyone pitched in to help make things move smoothly and make it fun for all. Those who didn't want to participate in the games were able to sit and chat with other relatives and catch up on each other's lives. I'm estimating that we had about 75 individuals in attendance. So fun! I love my extended family.