I Did It!!!

I turned 65 last week and retired from the hospital. It was a pretty hard decision to make, but once I made it, it was really hard to go to work. The last two weeks were busy with meetings and training my replacement. The corporation has re-structured the educator model, and all of the reports I was doing will still be the responsibility of the new educator, but other people will be doing them. The corporation also changed our "leveling" advancement, so some big changes came with that. Those level 15 (the highest level) will be responsible for many of the reports and meetings I used to attend. The educator will focus more on individual nurses and their needs, as well as the education for the department. She will have a specialist from the region who will help with the department education, which will be a good thing. All of the EDs in the region will have the same training. That will be a really good thing, but really different. You see, it was the perfect time to move out.On Dec. 3, the hospital sponsored an open house for me. It was scheduled for an hour, but we had folks coming in for another 45 minutes. I am posting a few of the pictures to show some of those who came.

Marian, Dora with Maclay, Evan with Jackson, Jaime, Kylie, Ryan, Jennie, Tamara (my niece) and Susan, my sister-in-law. All of my Utah children and grandchildren were there.
Evan and Jaime brought balloons, but the boys wanted to play with them.

The boys get the balloons. Grandpa is a pushover

Marla Frampton, ER Nurse and Bonnie Bateman, Financial Counselor

Dr Dean Shelton, ED MD. We have worked together since I started in the ED 25 years ago.

Left to right: Randi Abraham, risk management, Lori Bertelsen, Hospital Chief Nursing officer, former manager, and good Friend. Then Margaret and Kirk Mittelman. Dr Dean Shelton.

Jeannette and Jean, from UVRMC ED Margaret and Kirk Mittelman. (They teach EMT and Paramedic classes. He works as a Paramedic for Eagle Mountain FD and she is an RN. I have known them for many years also. ) In the middle is Daphne Thomas, my manager. Chief Marc Sanderson and Deputy Chief Dave Thomas (no relationship) from Pleasant Grove FD

Pat Roberts. She has retired, but continues to work 1 shift a week and covers for others frequently. She and I go back to the beginning of the ED. She was my manager several years ago. In fact, she gets called Ann and I get called Pat on a regular basis.

Stan Andreason, from Pleasant Grove Fire Department, Gary and Shirlee Best, former neighbors, as well as running ambulance with Shirlee for several years and in the ED for a few years. Dr. Lenard Brunsdale, ED physician. We have worked closely with ED and Scout activities.

Kristi Leaver, from Intermountain University. She is over all of the American Heart BLS and ACLS programs. I will continue to teach for her a few times in the next year (longer if she has her way!)

Wayne Watson adn Kathleen Merkley. They are from the corporate office, but I have known them and worked with them for many years.

My friend Ruth Caldwell. We went through nursing school together and worked together for several years. She is now the manager of the ED at Intermountain Medical Center in Murray.

The Hospital Administrator, Mike Olsen & Tami McDaniel from the business office. In the background is my replacement, Wynel Newman.

Here it is, the end of November already. The month has flown by, and not without some fun and some not so fun stuff.
The not-so-fun: besides injuring my knee, two of our sons-in-law have lost family members. Jeff's uncle died from the H1N1 virus (aka Swine Flu), and Paul's aunt died unexpectedly also. Both funerals were the same week. It has been a really hard year for the Skeens. First the loss of Paul's Grandfather, then his dad's stroke, which ended eventually in his death, now the aunt. They did not come for Thanksgiving. They spent the holiday with the Skeen family (a needed time alone to heal and move on). Besides that, Dora has been sick with strept throat and Maclay has had an ear infection. All are doing much better now.
The Fun Stuff: Kelsey has been practicing and now has had 3 performances with Ballet West in the Nutcracker. She is a soldier, and for those of you who have seen the Nutcracker - she is the soldier that lights the cannon. She is enjoying it, and has 3 more performances this weekend. They will be performing Friday night, Saturday afternoon, and Saturday night at the Capital Theater in Salt Lake. (We could not take pictures, but hopefully will get a professional copy).
Jennie and Jeff and Evan and Jaime came for Thanksgiving. We all ate too much and enjoyed the afternoon together.
We are working on potty training the boys. Yesterday they were both dry after nursery at church and went to the bathroom between nursery and Sacrament meeting. Yay for them!!! Both say "Good Job" and we do High 5s and put stickers on their potty charts.
December, as always, looks to be a very busy month. We start with our ward party tomorrow night, then Thursday is my retirement openhouse. Tomorrow and Wednesday I teach my last ACLS class as the coordinator (I may help some next year, but won't be leading). Next week I have meetings nearly every day, it's my birthday, then Friday (11) will be my last day at work. I will take the rest of the month to use up vacation time and be on call for my manager, who is having surgery. I hope to get some house cleaning done and finish my quilt top before the end of the year. We will see how that goes. With Christmas in there, my quilt may not quite make it.
Well, it is time to go to work, and I am training my replacement today, so I better be on time.

Don't Mess with the Wheelbarrow or Big Rocks.

A couple of weeks ago I was trying to move a big rock for my flower bed. I had dug up all the grass and thinned the iris and day lily plants. I wanted to move around some rocks, so I got the rock into the wheelbarrow and as I went to move it, the rock rolled and tipped over the wheelbarrow. In the process, I twisted my knee, fell down, and hit my head on another rock. Up I got, hoping no one had seen me, and replaced the rock into the wheelbarrow. Again, it rolled and flipped me back to the ground. So the rock stays where it was. My next door neighbor actually saw it happen and came to help me put the rock back in it's original spot and we left it alone.
I ended up in the ER with an injury to my knee. I was on crutches for a couple of days, but the swelling caused more pain when I wore the brace, so I gave that up for an ace wrap. On Saturday I spent too much time on my feet, and the swelling and brusing followed gravity and my foot and ankle swelled up, and the bruising showed up there too. (A normal phenomenon). I can't get the computer to post my pictures. But the bruising is pretty well healed.
I am now walking without ace or crutches, but I am wearing support knee-high stockings. The place that hurt the most was the puncture wound on my head. It was too small to staple or stitch, but it did bruise. I now feel more pain where my muscles attach, both above and below the knee. Probably from trying to protect the injury.
Jennie's babysitter has sick kids, so we have had Hayden at our house for a couple of days. He is getting so big. Yesterday Grandpa took all 3 boys out for a ride in the wagon. They loved it.
Will try later to post pictures. Weird how that works sometimes.

Peek-a-Boo

A note from Jennie:
We've been playing "Peek a Boo" with Hayden quite a bit lately. He usually laughs, and some times gets a look of anticipation on his face just before we cover his face or hide from him. But other than that, he's pretty passive about it.This morning at about 5:45 I heard him fussing just a little in his crib. I couldn't tell if he was awake or not. He doesn't normally wake up quite that early, even with the time change, but he went to sleep earlier than usual last night. So, I walked in his room as quiet as I could and peeked over the crib. He was super still, and the way he was laying there was a shadow over his eyes, so I couldn't tell if they were open or not. Just about the time I decided he was still asleep, he said "Ba!" And grinned his little two tooth grin! He was so proud of himself. He is just SO CUTE!! I LOVE HIM SO MUCH!!!

Trick or Treat

October is over and it is already November. Time just flies by.

My retirement is set for December 15. Yeah, I have Christmas off!
The boys really got into Trick or Treating this year. They are old enough to understand, and both were so cute about it. Ryan would say "Trick or Treat", then Jackson would echo it. They were both very polite and told everyone Thank You". We only went to our next door neighbors, because they had a Trunk or Treat at the park in the afternoon, where the local businesses were lined up with treats for the kids. Then we had Trunk or Treat at the church, where they really loaded up their buckets. Both had gallon ziplock bags full of treats.

Jackson is a skunk, and Ryan is a tiger.

The first few stops, Jackson thought he should eat everything right there. He soon learned that he could not get that much in his mouth at once.

Here they are in front of the rear of the new fire truck. They call it a "Tiller" it is on a 5th wheel and the rear end can be turned by an operator in the cab of the end.

At the Church, ready to Trunk or Treat

Jackson had a great time.

Ryan did too.

Goings on.

No pictures today. Just words and updates.
Updates on the posterity!
The Washington kids are busy with sports and school. Cody has been playing football. At first he was not sure he liked it, but now loves the sport. He loves baseball and rodeo also, and soon he will be back to wrestling. Good well rounded sports. It is hard to believe that Austin is a senior this year, and will be an official adult on his next birthday. It does not seem that long ago that he was born, then a toddler with a rope and stick horse. He started out as a cowboy REALLY young. He was mutton busting at 3 and now is a champion on rough stock. He finished 2nd in bulls and bareback broncs for the 2009 season of Jr Rodeo. He has participated in bulls only at High School Rodeo this fall. (3 rodeos, 1 bull covered). The girls are young ladies. They are beautiful girls, and busy with music and school. Melissa did some barrel racing this year in the Jr Rodeo. She seemed to really like it.
Jennie and Jeff's big news is a new (to them) house. The end of September they sold the townhouse and moved into a single family dwelling. It is only a couple of blocks from the townhouse, in the same ward, and it has a big back yard. They are still trying to get unpacked and settled. With both of them working full time and other activities they don't have a lot of time to get the boxes emptied. Jeff also spent a week in Denver for school. He has to go over to the campus for a week out of every semester for practicals. The rest he is doing on-line. Hayden is growing like a weed. He weighs about 20 lbs, and is crawling and pulling himself up to furniture and in his crib. He is a happy baby, but is still not too sure about those rowdy boy cousins. The 2 & 3-year-olds are a bit much for him. They are pretty gentle with him, but want him to play with them.
Dora and Paul are as busy as ever. With the kids and all their activities, and running races, we don't get to see them much. Kelsey is performing in the Ballet West's "Nutcracker Suite" in Nov & Dec. She is VERY excited about that. Dora and Paul did a Relay Marathon a couple of weeks ago. It was a 24 hour race, and Dora said they had the worst terrain.
Evan and Jaime are on the go constantly. With their regular jobs, the horses and their Xango business, they have very little down time. Marian and I will be going to convention with them this weekend.
Marian and the boys are doing fine. Marian is still the night manager at Hart's and that keeps her busy. With her gone at night, we have the boys to feed and get to bed. They are getting better most days. Yesterday we got a new refrigerator, so they have had to explore and see what they can get into. BUSY, BUSY!! They are both talking a lot. Ryan is finally using complete sentences, and most of the time we can understand most of what he is saying. He trills his Rs and Ls, so it is funny trying to figure out what he is saying then. Jackson uses 2-3 words together. Ryan has learned all of the letters and numbers to 9, so Jackson is learning them too. He recognizes a lot of them, but sometimes I think it is mimick.
The year is almost over, which means only about 6 weeks until I retire from the hospital. That will be a BIG adjustment, but I have LOTS of projects waiting to be done.
Well, got to get ready for a meeting, so better sign off.
Until next time.......

Trips and kids and grandkids

The end of September, Marie, Dorine, and I planned a trip to Nauvoo, to take our Mom. When we got the dates decided, it was the same time 2 of Marie's daughters and families were going too. Virgil asked if he could go too, and so we said he could and invited Paul also. Then Dorine got married, and so we invited Gary to go along. What was planned for 4 of us turned into 19. We had such a good time.

We flew into Kansas City, Missouri and went to Independence and Liberty Jail. Dorine and Gary drove, and we met them at the Visitors Center in Independence.

Sorry some of the pictures are turned sideways. I have not figured out how to rotate them so they look correct.

Liberty Jail

We went to Far West, just at dusk. It was too late to go on to Adam-ondi-ohman. Kristen and Phil went there instead of Far West.
Monument at Far West

We spent the night somewhere in the middle of MO. We drove on to Nauvoo on Thurs. morning. We had a condo that was big enough for the 7 of us, and the kids stayed in a house in old Nauvoo. This condo complex is owned by members of the church, and we had access to KBYU, so we could watch conference as if we were home. The condos are 2 miles east of Nauvoo.
Gary, Virgil, and Paul at the Villa

Thursday evening we went to the presentation "Rendezvous in Old Nauvoo" It is a presentation put on by the missionaries. A couple from Bluebell and some other people Mom knew from the temple were in the production. Another couple and his sister-in-law from out home were there also, but not in the production that night. We saw the sister-in-law on Sunday, but Mom called the couple on the phone to tell them Hi.
Parley P Pratt home, store, and tithing office
The building is owned by the Catholic Church right now (thus the cross on the top of the west end), but it is the original structure.

Friday morning we took in a session at the temple. It is beautiful. The teenagers did baptisms for the dead. We then took the rest of the day to see what we could of the homes and businesses in old Nauvoo. The missionaries have presentations that tell about the building and some have demonstrations of the crafts. We all got a brick and a "prairie diamond ring" (a horseshoe nail bent to make a ring). Friday evening we went to a lecture about Joseph Smith and how George Albert Smith was able to obtain the Palmyra/Manchester property in New York. Very interesting material. The lady doing the lecture was Susan Black. She is a very learned historian of Church History.
Paul & I by a Sunstone

Paul and I in front of the Nauvoo Temple

The mighty Mississippi River!

Saturday morning we drove to Carthage and went through the jail. Most of the original jail is intact. Even the door to the room where the Prophet Joseph and Hyrum Smith were shot.

Carthage Jail.

Virgil, Marie, Mom, Paul, Me, Gary, & Dorine

Mom, Me, Marie, Dorine

We went back into Nauvoo in the afternoon, and saw some more sights. We went to the Land and Records office and found our ancestors who had been there. We found where the property they owned was located, and took a tour to find the spots. We signed our names in the log of desecendant to the 70's in the 70's Hall.

The stories are incredible. I am glad I live in this time. I am not sure I would be able to deal with the challenges they had then.

Marie's kids did not have TV, so the guys went in to the visitor's center to watch the Priesthood session with the rest of the guys. The opening song was "Praise To The Man" and since we had been at Carthage that morning, it was really touching to them.

Sunday we went in to the visitor's center for the morning session of conference, to be with the kids again. Paul, Dorine, and Gary stayed at the condo and watched it there.

We had a wonderful time, but did not get to see everything we would have liked to see. I guess that means we will have to go back again. Longer in Missouri would have given us a chance to spend more time in Independence and go to Adam-ondi-ohman. We did not get to see much of the Joseph Smith properties, as they are owned by the Community of Christ church (RLDS) and have different visiting hours.

We left early Monday morning and drove to St Louis. Here is a side-ways picture of the arch, taken from inside the car. They were working on the freeway and we had to re-route our pathway to the airport. Phil and Kristen took a wrong turn and crossed over the river into Illinois. They barely made it to catch the flight. We were glad we were on Delta, so their seats were saved. We flew into Kansas City on Southwest.
The arch at St Louis

Home Again

Dora and Paul ran a 24 hour relay marathon in St George this weekend, so have not talked to them since we got back.

Jennie and Jeff sold their townhouse and bought a single family home. They got moved in on Thursday. They have a fenced in back yard, so that will be really nice next summer, when Hayden is old enough to play outside.

Hayden is 7 months old now. He has learned to crawl and pull himself up in his crib this past week. He wants to be big, like the other boys.
Maclay wants him to wrestle, but he does not get that concept yet.

The boys birthdays this week. Jackson turned 2 on Wednesday and Ryan is 3 today. They got bikes for their birthdays. They were so cute and happy!!

Time Marches On

My how time flies. So much has happened since I last posted. Summer is over and the kids are back in school. The days are getting shorter, and the nights are cooler. Can't say the same for the days, though. We have been above average all month long.
I have started the process for my retirement. There is a lot to do, and it takes a while to get it all done. I found out that I have about 6 months of long term sick leave built up and can cash it in or roll it over to a 401K account. Taxes would take 1/2 of it if I cashed it in, so by putting it into the retirement account, I only pay the tax on what I withdraw. That made me happy to know that.
I will be eligible for Social Security on Dec. 1, so will probably have my retirement around the middle of December.
The Washington kids have Rodeo Finals this weekend, and we sure wish we could be there. It is hard having them so far away. We have missed all of the rodeos this year. They are growing up so fast. We are glad we got to spend time with them in April.

Last week Paul Skeen, Sr passed away and his funeral was last Friday. It was a nice funeral and all 4 of their children spoke. It is a blessing, as he has been in poor health for a long time, and had a stroke in January. He has been a nursing home since being released from the hospital. Jackson and Maclay at the cemetary.
The Skeen kids at the cemetary.
Also, last Friday, my sister Dorine was married. She spent 3 nights at our house the week before that, here to meet her new family. She was welcomed with open arms. Gary's wife had Lou Gehrigs disease and had a pretty tough few months. They are happy to see their dad be happy again.

Ryan is working on and off with potty training. He mostly likes to flush the toilet and fill it with toilet paper. Jackson is not interested at all. But then he is not quite 2 yet. Can't expect much from him at this point. He is starting to talk a lot. He and Ryan have their own language, though.

Hayden is 6 months old now. They are starting him on solid food, and he is not so sure about it.
He is such a happy baby. Hardly cries, and just smiles and laughs a lot.
He weighs nearly 19 pounds, so is definitely growing fast. He has been sitting alone for a couple of weeks now, and thinks he is so big. He still is not very happy when the other boys try to play with him. I think he is overwhelmed.

Over Labor Day, Jennie and Jeff went to Las Vegas to see friends. Here are Hayden and Jennie in the pool. He liked the water.

Hayden, sitting alone. The boys left him alone only long enough for the picture.

The Goings On in Pleasant Grove

No more injuries for a while. Everyone seems to be healing and doing well.

Hayden's teeth

Kambree in her cast.

Maclay and Ryan in the toy box, playing with cars.

Before Stephanie went back home, we all got together for dinner and then the kids painted T-Shirts (for nightshirts) for themselves and each other.
They had such a good time.

Stephanie went back home on Aug 21, on Vonda's birthday.

Kelsey's Shirt

Jennie and Ryan working on a shirt.

Here are Ryan and Jackson in their nightshirts