Friday, December 25, 2009

Jackson's Blessing

We had the chance from December 10th to the 14th to travel to Pittsburgh and visit with Zac and Joy and their family and participate in the blessing of our newest grandson Jackson. Brigg and Havalah came down Saturday afternoon to be with us as well - Megan and Jeremy really wanted to come also, but her doctor strongly suggested she not be 4.5 hours from home, being 8 months pregnant with twins! Though we missed her & family dearly, we are quite satisfied she made the right choice to obey her doctor!



While Zac was at work Friday, the rest of us went to a bakery that was most impressive - we had sandwiches and cookies and took some treats home for dinner that night!! The smells alone were enough to put pounds on! Yummmm!









Saturday morning we had a great time walking in downtown Pittsburgh - it was quite chilly but it was so fun to be with family! Anne and Andrew had a chance to visit with the jolly old elf himself.


Anne's face says to us: "Who are you REALLY?"







A section of downtown featured gingerbread houses made by children from local schools and other groups. We were very impressed with the creativity of some of the displays - and there were hundreds of them.









The star of the weekend - Jackson Howard Turner in his blessing outfit - the same one Zac, Brigg and Andrew were blessed in!












Brigg, Havalah and Dad T.












The 3 Turner kids - Anne and Andrew sure do love their little brother:)




The sweet Turner family - what wonderful hosts they were for the weekend - we sure do always love being with them.










Grandma Darlin and Grandpa Pickle with the 3 Pittsburgh grandkids.











Andrew and Anne got to open their big Christmas present while we were there - a new air hockey game!! They were quite excited and very intense as they played.



















Good thing President Kimball said napping was an appropriate Sabbath activity - looks like the 3 Turner boys took that advice!


Thanks Zac and Joy for hosting such a wonderful weekend!

New bathroom

We wanted to share a few photos about our remodel project - downstairs bathroom. We are not quite done yet - still need to install the shower door, paint the room, and get curtains for the window - it's substantially done enough to share. We quite enjoy the new look!
(This was going on during my recovery at home!)







Old fiberglass shower has been removed - and we discovered we had a large hole around the drain... (Mike our plumber)












which was built back up!








Old bathroom


















Prepping the walls of the shower to receive the tile - (Stuart our tile-guy. He's the one who found Scott out walking around the driveway with blood all over his head immediately after his fall)














and the tile now installed - notice the space we had to the right of the shower now has a nice cabinet installed.






New toilet and sink adorn our new room - notice how the tile comes part way up the walls.




















Cabinet to the right of the shower.




Aren't ladders for climbing?

On Veteran's Day, November 11, we were having a great morning - I didn't have to work and Marcie T didn't have to work until 2 pm. We'd been up early and had gotten 5 of our 6 roof sections cleaned off and the gutters as well. I was nearly done with the roof over the garage and driveway, Marcie went in to get ready for work - and then it's a blur. Somehow, we don't know for sure what happened but I fell off the roof - once Marcie found out, the ambulance was called and I was taken to the hospital with a head contusion, several broken ribs, and a shoulder that was quite compressed. Two priesthood holders from our stake where entering the hospital to see a member of their ward when Marcie saw them and asked them to give me a blessing.


I was in the hospital for 3 days and didn't get back to work until November 30. Marcie took care of me in a way that words can't describe - an angel of mercy and caring. It took a while before
I could do menial tasks for myself and Marcie was always there to help. I'm now back at work full time - the ribs are pretty much healed but the shoulder is still compressed with the collar bone not in it's proper place at all - but lukily it's not broken. I'm grateful Marcie was a constant reminder that I needed to be grateful that I wasn't hurt worse - and that's very true. I start physical therapy on the shoulder on Tuesday Dec. 29th and hoping for good success there. Thanks to all of you whose prayers and thoughts were offered in my behalf - I am truly grateful that I will fully recover. Here are a couple of photo's - too bad I don't have the movie of the actual fall, maybe some years from now I'll be able to watch it!






Not a very clear picture of the shoulder in question - a bit yellow from bruising.








I was accussed of rehearsing for a spot in a horror movie - not true! Just couldn't reach my right hand up far enough to shave and still didn't feel like smiling much.
(Marcie: The hardest part for me was that he no longer sang as he wandered the house. There was an eerie silence that has never been in our home before when Scott was home!! But now the singing is back!!)






After a big storm, Marcie went out to clean up the yard alone - soon friends from the ward were there and made quick work of what would have been a very long day.












My first walk after the fall - notice the little pillow given me at the hospital to hold against my ribs. Boy did it come in handy the first night in the hospital when I had a 14-minute episode of the hic-cups! (Marcie: Wow, he doesn't look like he feels very good, does he?!)









My first attempt at tying a tie - though difficult, the task was accomplished.


About 10 days after the fall, and after a big wind storm which left our yard strewn with branches, Marcie was again outside working by herself. A firetruck pulled to the front of the yard and 5 firemen got out - they told Marcie that they were responding to a false-alarm fire nearby, when one of the 5 (a paramedic who had assited me to the hospital) noticecd Marcie working outside and knowing the situation, suggested they take 20 minutes and help out. What a blessing they were to her - the whole yard was cleaned up in those 20 minutes - it would have taken Marcie several hours. We've been truly blessed!