It was good to go to church today. There was a good spirit there that helped me to feel more nourished than I have spiritually. Larry always says that it only takes three weeks of not going to start falling away. I don't know if that is true but I know it felt good to be back at church and feel the spirit. I have felt the spirit many times this week but it was not as nourishing as it was today.

I went off of my narcotic pain medications cold turkey last Saturday after a huge anxiety attack. I found out that I can develop anxiety with Lor-tab and I just went off of it. I also had only been off the oxycodone for only two days and was just taking lor-tab. I have survived but I would not recommend it. I went on aceteminiphen for Saturday but then I had to add ibuprofen every three hours on Sunday just to manage the pain. The doctor said on Sunday that I was half way through so I might as well finish it out but I couldn't eat anything except soda crackers and water for two days. Larry got me some caffeine free Dr. Pepper and I drank that for several days and then on Tuesday I did eat a piece of toast for lunch and Maren and Landon invited me for dinner and I ate a half of French dip sandwich. The next night Kirsten and Jon invited me for dinner and I was able to eat more than a cup of Pasta with chicken. But on my birthday, Thursday, was the first day that I actually had a hunger pain. I have been eating since then but only certain things look good to me still. I can't tell if this is still the effects of the narcotics or if it is just the effect of surgery still on my body.

I looked on line and they said that you should be able to walk with a cane by six weeks. I have been walking with no cane for almost two weeks now and my knee doesn't hurt except when I have to push it in Physical Therapy. So despite the set back with the pain medications I am doing very well. I have been trying to go to school at least half day, some days I have spent longer. My Master's classes at the U of U started on Thursday evening so it was a long day. My bed sure felt good that night. I also am sleeping better. Erick and Larry gave me a blessing promising that I will have the strength to do what I need to do so I am just trying to hang on and work on building up my strength until I feel less vulnerable.

Larry has been a jewel of a nurse. He takes such good care of me and listens to me complain daily. He keeps telling me I am okay and that he loves me so that has been helpful. He also is great on laundry, dishes, getting soda crackers and ice, and pain massage. The washing machine broke down on Thursday and he spent most of the morning trying to fix it but we finally had to call a repair man so we both got a working washing machine for our birthdays. I was really surprized that I found someone who could come on Saturday afternoon.

Larry is interviewing for a new job at Discover. If he wanted to keep the job he has had lately he would have had to move to Phoenix. We are wondering what will come from that but do not know for sure. Larry has also been busy with his classes at the University of Phoenix. He had to go to class on his birthday also this week on Tuesday night because of a final presentation so we ended up going to dinner on Friday for our birthdays.

Nathan called and said that Sara has been sick this week with something diarrehal. He has been learning how to load the helicopter for Medical evacuations so they were in class all week. David is enjoying school. Apparently they have full day kindergarten on the base so he goes all day. They are still calling Isaac, Ike-Ike and he is growing well. Samuel turned over onto his back this week and scared himself to screaming.

Michelle is busy being President of the Parent Organization for the school. The other night Daniel called and had the kids sing, Happy Birthday to me on my phone message and then they each said,"Happy Birthday" It was really cute.

Jake and Nikki have been busy working. Lexie is in school. Jake was up with the kids when we had the August birthday party. Maren said that Nikki came up to get her hair done but she had Landon tend Ashton because I had just had surgery. I was disappointed I didn't get to see them but it was probably for the best.

Jeff came by on Friday of last week and got somethings to take to Misty. He was able to talk to us for a few minutes and then he left to drive all night to try to get to Seattle that next day. I assume he made it. He said that they need to look for a house and get organized and then they will let us know on addresses.

Kirsten and Jon have been busy trying to find places for the kids while they work. I had Kyle and the girls over here with me three or four days. They actually were good help some days. The girls went back to their mother on Sunday of last week so things are a little less hectic. Kyle came over on Monday about noon and I took him and Jake swimming at the neighbor's pool. We have a neighbor that invites the whole neighborhood over on Monday afternoon all summer long to swim and then she doesn't have to take requests for people to come swimming. It was a good activity for me because I got out of the house and could talk to some people in the neighborhood and I just had to sit there while Kyle and Jake had fun swimming.

Erick started at the U of U this week also. He only has to go to the U on Monday, Wednesday and Friday for his classes this semester so he is excited about that. He let me use his truck on Tuesday to go to Physical Therapy and on Thursday he let me use it all day because I had to go to my class at the U and Larry could not help me get there. I figured that was a pretty good birthday present.

BJ has had an up and down week. He called on Wednesday saying it had been an awful day. He had failed two tests that he needed to pass, and had been dealing with some harrassment by another sailor. I tried to encourage him and listen. I finally told him to go to bed and hopefully tomorrow would be a better day. When he called the next day it was. He passed his gun test with 40 pts higher than the day before. He had been stressed about it because if he did not pass he would not be able to come home for two weeks later than planned. He is really putting alot of stress on himself trying to get home for the wedding.

Holly is going out to meet BJ next weekend so he has been working hard to plan that also. Hopefully it will work out to be a fun weekend for them. Holly has been really busy with School starting and she has a new job, plus she is planning a wedding with a groom 2000 miles away. She said that she has the envelopes for the invitations that she is bringing down this week so it is getting closer.

Maren is going to be working all this week because two girls in Super Cuts quit this week and it is the week before school so she will probably have to work on Monday and the other days this week. School starts on Wednesday. She came down on Wednesday and helped me put some numbers on my kitchen unit. She has really been helpful with the surgery also sometimes she has been here three days a week trying to help me. Especially in the beginning. Landon has been attending his flight school again and is working on getting more hours. He went on Saturday but came home sick. I had Brinlie for about 4 hours on Saturday and all I could do is watch Brinlie. Larry and Erick took her for about a hour when she first came.

Grandma Jenkins canceled her party for the 8th of September at the Chuck-a-Rama. She just wants people to come and visit her or write. She doesn't want presents. She would like some service help at the house if you are able.

My old roommate, Vicki Bishop,and her husband Dan came visit today. It was nice to visit with them. They are living in Northern California right now but had come up to visit with their kids. It was interesting talking to them. Vicki is doing better emotionally now she has some medications for Bi-polar disorder.

I am so excited. The physical therapist came today and we went through all the exercises that I have to do. He had me do the stairs without crutches. He thought I would not be able to do them leg over leg but I was able to. He said I was doing really good. I climbed the stairs and I was so excited because because climbing the stairs before my surgery meant that I would have to pull myself up. I also had a pain that went from my buttocks clear down my leg that pulled and hurt as I tried to go up the stairs. That pain is all gone. It was so exciting because I finally am seeing that this will eventually be better than it was before.

Maren was over today with Brinlie and helped me with some things. Kirsten's kids have been here. We watched a couple of movies, "Failure to launch" and "Two weeks notice". They were fun. We also watched President Faust's funeral on TV. I was excited because I did not need any pain pills for about 12 hours this morning.

Well it is Monday night and Larry will be at work until about 9:00 p.m., he said, and Erick went to his University Ward family home evening so I decided that the best thing I could do for Family Home Evening is to update the blog.

I am gradually feeling better. I can do exercises with ease that were really hard two weeks ago. The home health nurse came today and said that I could take the bandage off and get the wound wet now. It felt really good to get in the shower and wash all over. Especially since today was really hot. I also have a lot of episodes of being over heated that may have to do with the medication but it felt really good to take a shower this afternoon.

Larry is having to work late because he stays home each day and makes sure that everything is in order for me and set up so I can do the things I need to do to get well. Today he went to get some medications for me before he left so it was almost noon before he left. He has been working really hard to keep the house in order also. This would have been a much harder experience without his help. He spent alot of time last weekend also making sure the lawn was edged and the sprinklers were fixed. And he does all this despite the fact that he still has homework from his school. But he is often uptight because of all he has to do.

We had a party for the August birthdays last night. Jaron, Misty, Larry and myself have August birthdays. It also was going to be a goodbye party for Jeff but he couldn't make it so we had the birthdays. Larry cooked a ham and all the kids each brought a dish to go with it. We had a really nice dinner. Everyone seemed to enjoy the time they had together and I learned that I am not indispensible.

Jaron's birthday was on Tuesday and Michelle and Daniel had a party for him with his friends on that day. They had a pinata Jaron really liked. We bought Jaron a game and did not know that he liked it or anything but Michelle said when he opened it, that he always wanted to play that game and they had lost some of the pieces for it. Just before the party he had wanted Michelle to buy the game for him but she didn't want to because she was sure they would find the parts. Anyway we bought him the game and I felt like it was maybe inspiration on our part that got him the game he wanted to play.

Nathan called yesterday and said he was back from his three week training. He had just got in. Sara and the boys had to miss church to pick him up. He seemed tired but was excited to talk. He also called Landon and Jake to talk yesterday. He was trying to talk them into going into flying so they would have someone there with them in Alabama. He said that David had started school already and seemed to be liking it.

Nikki had to work last night so she could not come. Ashton took a while to warm up to us but then he seemed to have a good time. I had found a picture of Jake when he was about Ashton's age and showed it to him and ask him if he thought it looked like Ashton. He said yes. Landon thought that it looked like Brinlie so that was interesting. Lexie has also started school already so she is busy.

Jeff ended up working one more week here to satisfy is boss in Utah. He leaves this Thursday I think to go to Seattle and then he starts on Monday in Seattle. He will come by to get some things to pick up on his way and then he will head to Washington. We bought all the bridesmaids outfits so he has to take Misty's up to see if it fits. We were passing those out to others at the party.

Kirsten got BJ's car fixed from when we were in the accident. It looks good. She and Jon have been working hard to get caught up on their finances. Jon will finish up his journeyman internship by the first of the year and then he will be making the highest salary possible with UTA for a journeyman. I had their kids over here today to help me and to tend them while they both work. They brought lots of movies for us to watch. Maren was also here and they were good help with Brinlie.

Erick had Lynnette up on Friday for dinner and he made homemade Macaroni and cheese. We ended up also having Maren and Landon and Brinlie for dinner. Then Erick and Lynnette went shopping for me for Jaron's birthday present so they were the ones that were inspired. Erick spent a lot of time helping me with my exercises on Friday and Saturday and went for walks with me outdoors now they are requiring that for Physical Therapy.

BJ called a lot this week now he is at A school and can call more often. He has had a lot of things that he needed me to do for him to work towards the wedding plans and get some of his financial things worked out. We also spent Friday evening going over the ward list deciding who he wanted me to invite. He seems to have a lot more free time than he did in Basic training.

Holly came down on Thursday evening and we worked out some things for the wedding. Kirsten and Maren and Michelle worked out things for the final Brides maides outfit with her and they went shopping for those. She was showing me the announcement that they are going to use maybe. We went through old pictures of BJ for a wedding video and she got those in order so she could get them to Amanda. She brought her sister Lauren with her so we got to meet her.

Maren has spent everyday that she did not have to work over here helping me with things. She came again today and worked on things with Kirsten's kids. It has been fun to have her. She worked on revamping the photo wall in the kitchen and it looks better. She and Erick have been working at coming up with colors we could paint the various rooms in the house and She and Erick spent some time washing walls so they can begin painting.

Well I am getting tired. I go in and out of feeling weird with the medicines I am on for my knee. Right now I feel okay, just tired. Mom and Dad came up yesterday to visit and to bring a skirt they had bought for Misty for BJ's wedding reception. We got talking about the miner's that they are looking for in Emery county by Huntington and I mentioned that I thought they were probably dead because they had not heard any thing from them. Dad told us about a Miner that had survived a cave in for 9 days that he knew and the claustropobia that I got just thinking about that made me feel really ill. But I guess this will pass.

I went to sacrament meeting yesterday for the first time since I had the surgery. I did okay but I felt weird because of the pain medicine and I came home and slept for three hours after going which was unusual for me to sleep that long in the afternoon. But things will get better. They have already.