Big Changes!

When we moved into the house we knew we had to make some changes. In the home teaching room we have a big arched window. Above the arch the previous owner had painted some vines and flowers that looked like hydrangeas. And in the family room above the fireplace there were vines, birdhouses, and birds painted on the wall. That is so not me (us). So we contacted Dave Biddison (Emily Sharp's husband) about painting the house. Now this was back in May or June. We knew he was busy and that it would take a while for him to get back to us. But it is finally happening! They started last week. They are painting the laundry room today. All that is left is the entry way from the garage, the kitchen/family room and they will be done. We are so pleased with how it looks now. When they are totally done I will post some before and after pics.
We hope all our family are having a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday. We are in a bit of a mess, but that's ok, for now. My mother will be coming over, and because the painters asked if they could work today, we also invited them for dinner. It should be really interesting because they speak very little English. It will be a quiet dinner for sure. Aaron and Heidi are planning on coming over later too.
We want you to know how thankful we are for all of you and for our beautiful grandchildren. We love you all and miss you so much. We are thankful for many blessings that enrich our lives and those of our kids. Knowing that you are all happy in your marriages and that you and the kids have been blessed with good health, employment, beautiful homes, active Church involvement, and testimonies of the Savior is a huge blessing in our lives as well as yours. Thank you so much for being a wonderful part of our lives!

Conference Weekend

We received a wonderful invitation to join Scott and Lindsey and family to watch the Sunday afternoon session of conference. We drove all -the -way to Santaquin. Did you know that it is 61 miles and 62 minutes from the Anderson home in Santaquin to the Sharp home in West Jordan? Well, it is. We were a little late arriving and they were all downstairs watching conference when we arrived. We missed the music and the opening prayer. I think the kids were a little more excited about having company than they were about watching conference. I was really impressed with what Lindsey did towards the end. She had the kids sit on the couch and told them that the Prophet was going to speak. She asked them to listen to what the Prophet was telling them, that was important for them to know. She would stop the program and ask them questions about the things that President Monson said and she commented about their answers. I thoroughly enjoyed that teaching moment!







Lindsey had dinner in the crockpot that was ready after conference was finished. It was wonderful! She put Lipton onion soup mix combined with cream of chicken soup over a roast with potatoes and carrots on top. It smelled so good during conference and I wondered if everyone's stomach was growling like mine was. The kids couldn't wait for dinner to be ready, they said they were starving. Lindsey put out some carrots, celery and tomatoes and the kids began dipping. That is what Crew is doing in the picture. Dipping carrots or celery into ranch dressing. Um-yum! Their little tummies were full before they could enjoy the wonderful dinner.

After dinner we all enjoyed mini-muffins and peaches and ice cream. The picture of Cade is after he had stuffed an entire muffin in his mouth and then he laughed about it. The peaches were delish! I so want Brad to stop at Mitchell's tomorrow on his way to his class to see if they have any peaches left.

It was wonderful to see the Anderson's again. Scott is doing well with his new job. Lindsey is looking great for eight months pregnant. The kids are all happy and energetic and fun to watch. It was a very enjoyable evening. Thanks Scott and Lindsey!

Mission Accomplished!

Megan's Dad goes to the Reno Air Races every year. He won this plane and brought it home for Griffin. Megan searched the internet and found a Red Baron costume for him for Halloween this year to go with the plane. Griffin came over Saturday to have his Halloween pictures taken. I knew from the get-go it wasn't going to work. He was in a snit about changing into his costume and was not about to do it and told us so in no uncertain terms. We tried but he wouldn't cooperate. Oh, the mind of a two year old. We cajoled, we played, we bribed with jelly beans to no avail. He would not let us get a picture. Megan brought him over today and we tried again. I thought we were going to be in trouble again, because he still was not thrilled to put on his costume. Off to the basement we went to Brad's photo studio. We tried again, cajoling, playing and bribing. This time he didn't cry as much but was content to run around anywhere and everywhere except by his little plane. Brad did get some pictures, I got a couple. But we considered it Mission Accomplished!

I have a new toy!

I bought a camera! Can you believe it? I bet you can't begin to guess what brand. Living with Brad, of course, it's a Canon. It's a little mini camera and I'm still not used to how tiny it is. I have taken a few pics just to get used to it, but it has so many options I have yet to figure out. It is just a point and shoot, but that's all I need. I will leave the ISO, shutter speed, aperture, field of focus stuff to Brad. I just want some pictures that I can put on our blog to show you what we are doing. This was my first picture! Lucky Brad will probably be in alot of my pictures.

This is my good friend Shirley. We lived in West Valley together before Brad and I got married. She was the RS President when she asked for me as a counselor. We had some great times together and she and her husband were wonderfully supportive friends when I got divorced. When I was dissatisfied at American Fork with my job, I looked on the IHC job line and saw a job was available where Shirley worked. So I called her and said tell me the good, the bad, and the ugly about the job. Now I have the opportunity to work with Shirley again and many more great people at the dialysis center.

This is Marcia. She is the dietitian that works at our center and also at the downtown center. Every month we do lab work on all the patients. The patients have to be careful with their diets and fluid intake or it will really mess up their lab values, with messed up lab values, it effects the other systems in the body. After the monthly lab results come in, Marcia and Phyllis, our nurse practitioner, meet with the patients and let them know what the lab values are and consult with them if needed about their diets to keep them as healthy as possible. Marcia also writes the monthly newsletter for the two dialysis centers.

These are our social workers, Kim and Jason. They are the morale boosters for our centers. Kim works at our center, Jason also works at Tooele and once a month goes to Richfield. Ron who is not pictured, works at the downtown center. They help our patients with billing questions, family issues, personal problems, they make arrangements for the patients when they go out of town on vacation so that they can still obtain their treatments, and much, much more. They also help the staff deal with difficult patients. They are a valuable asset and help to our center.

This is Elga one of our technicians. She is from Columbia and we love having her translate for our Spanish speaking patients. We also have a tech that is from Romania, one from Pakistan, one from Thailand, and a return missionary that also speaks Spanish. They are great workers and a big help with our patients. Our technicians work really hard and they can make or break our day. They are responsible for setting up the machines, getting the patients on the machines, monitoring the patients through their treatments and charting, and taking the patients off the machines. They do all the stocking of supplies and equipment.

These are just a few of the wonderful people that I work with. I enjoy my job a lot. Of course we have our days that don't run as smoothly as we would like, but everyone who works, have days that don't run well. We may be changing the schedule that the techs have to help make our days even smoother. Right now we have two RNs that start at 6 am every day. But on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays we have an RN that comes in at 11 am and stays until the last patient goes home(about 9:30 pm), and a RN that comes in at 4 pm and stays until about 8 pm. We are changing the tech schedule to four pods, we now have 3 (they have 4-5 patients) and they start their day at 5 or 5:30 am. Then at 10:30 we have four more techs come in and they stay until the last patient goes home. They work as a team putting and taking patients off. They all have assignments that they are responsible for during the day besides taking care of patients. On Tues, Thur, and Saturdays we have just two RNs all day and I don't know how the tech schedule is going to go. This is the schedule that they had just before I started working there. They switched to the three pod schedule with a floater tech while I was orienting to the job. I will be going to work tomorrow and then I will have the next two weeks off. Whooppeee!

I have a few things planned that I would like to get done during my time off from work. Cleaning carpets, washing windows, cleaning the stove and refrigerator (my least favorite job) are just a few of the things that are bugging me. I also intend to watch all four sessions of conference, read a book or two, sleep in, get a hair cut and color. I have invited the women that served with me in YW's for lunch and getting caught up with our lives and what has been happening. And of course, spending time with Brad!

Getting Started!

We have jumped on the bandwagon! Our kid’s blog, my nieces blog, so I thought we would blog too. It has been lots of fun to see the photos of our grandkids and learn about the happenings in their families. Our lives are not as exciting as the kids, but we hope they check on the old folks once in a while to see what we are doing.


We have a new grandbaby that was born in August~~Chase Cameron. That brings a total of 18 grandchildren and one more due in November. We get so excited about these new little ones and wish that we lived closer to see the growth and changes in their lives. That's why I am so excited about sharing our families' blogs.


Brad has started teaching again for this semester. He has picked up a new class for this semester and that makes three. In January he will have four classes. He really enjoys teaching! The classes are photography related~~beginning photography, intermediate photography, and new this semester is natural lighting. It is through the continuing education program sponsored by Utah Valley University and he teaches at American Fork Jr. High. His classes are full each semester. He has written his own syllabus for each class, and the critiques at the end of his classes are very favorable.


He has been entering some photos on a web site, the link is www.dgrin.com. They have a new contest every two weeks. The theme for this time is rusty or polished. Last time it was communication, he used a picture of Sadie and Molly. He enjoys the challenge and creativity of these contests; he takes what seems like a hundred pictures to get just the right one.