We Finally Have A Date!!!

Okay. I have told all of those attending already, but this is just a reminder in case you forget (Plus, I haven't told Kalina yet), but we are doing the 5:30 session at the Bountiful Temple on Saturday, September 4 for Chris to take out his endowments. They advise everyone to be dressed, in the chapel at 5:00. We may do a potluck after, or some type of get-together. I will let everyone know as soon as I know. Thanks in advance for coming.

Temple!!!

Well. Before I say anything, I just want to say how proud of Chris I am. We had to speak in church yesterday, and it was the first time for him to speak in sacrament ever, and he did AWESOME! He was so worried about it, but he got up there and captivated the audience with war stories, his re-conversion to the church, and about the Priesthood. He was swarmed with people asking him questions after. Dad said that it was the best talk he has ever heard in a really long time. Mine was pretty boring.
We met with the Bishop on Sunday, and he issued our recommends for the temple. We have an appointment with the Stake President on Wednesday night. We are trying to work with schedules. Since mom is going out of town on the 8th, and Chris didn't want to wait until the end of the month (and after getting into school more and being super busy), we are shooting for this weekend. I am telling everyone as soon as I heard the word from Chris when we got the interview with the Stake President. We are looking at Saturday. We have to call temples to see if that would be fine with them, but I am going to update as soon as I know. We are going to try to get things figured out tonight, and for sure tomorrow. We are going to shoot for the evening so people can make it for the most part. Sorry for such short notice. We wanted Mom and Kara to be there, so we are trying to work around that.

Moving Up In The World

We still don't know what is wrong with Chris's stomach, but it seems to be getting better.
Things that have been happening lately; Chris was ordained to be an Elder and receive the Melchezidek Priesthood last Sunday. We are grateful for all of those in attendance. We are meeting with the Bishop on Sunday about Chris being able to take out his endowments. We just went through the Temple Prep Course and Sunday is our last class. Everything is exciting and happening all at once. Soon, before we know it, we will be going to the Temple to be getting sealed. Until then, we are excited at the milestones for the moment.
Chris started school on Monday. He is taking 16 credit hours. He is not able to enroll into the Mechanical Engineering Program yet until next Fall, so he is doing all of his Urban Planning right now. There is 1 class that requires 5 different books! It was over $600 for just that one class of his! Luckily, we didn't pay that. We found a bunch of them for a discount.
I am still just plugging away at those awful man-sized women's boots. Logging them onto ebay. Life is pretty boring for me. I decided to turn down the offer to help Stephanie Greenwood at her boutique, because her man..... well, let's just say..... we don't get along right away. We have conflicting personalities. It's not exactly what I signed up to do. It's ok

The Hospital Is Becoming Our New Home

So.... on Monday, I get a concerned call from Chris that his stomach hurts so bad that it's hard to talk because it keeps taking his breath away, and is constantly hunched over in pain. He wondered whether or not he should try to keep working. I told him no. Just to recap..... he has been having debilitating stomach pains lately. They have been keeping him up at night and taking him down during the day. He can't do much of anything, including eat when they are there. They have seemed to be getting worse and worse. We decided to go to the VA Hospital ER. Another fact I want to throw out..... There is nothing "Emergency" about the VA. You go in, have to take a number, and the least amount of time you have to wait is 3 hours. I brought a bag with about as much food and things to do for 2 days! Well, Chris told them what was going on, and they got us right back. That is so rare. But we had to wait in the room just as long as we would have had to in the waiting room. They hooked him up to an IV, and kept administering morphine for the pain. It never worked on the stomachache, but Chris was able to make a lot of nonsense talk from it. They got a stool sample, and saw that there was blood (he bled almost a 1/3 cup the other day). They also made him drink a really nasty solution that looked like glue, preparing him for a CAT Scan. He received the scan, and they said they didn't see anything out of the ordinary. They ordered him an ultrasound the next day. We were only at the hospital for 6 hours. That is about average for us. He went in the next day for the ultrasound, and the lady doing it said that she thinks that she sees some swelling of his intestines and possibly some bleeding. She is not 100% sure, but says that he has all the symptoms and signs of Crohn's Disease. It's an auto-immune disease of the intestines. No cure and no treatment. Life expectancy is the same. It just gets worse over time and quality of life goes down. My Dad and Curtie came over last night and gave him a blessing. In the blessing, it was stated that he would heal over time and would not have to deal with this issue the rest of his life. It was a relief. I am so thankful and grateful for the Priesthood and cannot wait until Chris is able to hold the Melchezidek Priesthood.

It's Been Awhile!

I know, I know. It's been awhile. Chris and I are doing very well. We have so many things going on.

First, Chris is starting school on the 23rd of this month. He was going to take a math class this summer, but decided to rest from school for a semester. Well, because he didn't take that class (we found out), he cannot enter into the Mechanical Engineering program until next fall. He is only 47 credit hours away from a Bachelor's in Urban Planning, so he is going to cram as much school in before next fall as he can, so he will be finishing that Bachelor's up, when he starts into his Mechanical. He would like to have 2 Bachelor's, and possibly 2 minors. One in math, and one in business. We feel lucky that his GI Bill takes care of school for him.

Second, Chris and I are actively working towards getting sealed in the temple. We both have our recommends to do baptisms, and we went to the Draper Temple on saturday. It was so pretty up there. It was the first time since Chris was 12 or 13 that he had been to the temple to do baptisms. He was really excited. We went with his dad and stepmom. He will be getting sustained in his Priesthood meeting on Sunday, and will have to coordinate a time to be ordained an Elder anytime after that. I will let everyone know when we know. We are also taking a Temple Prep class. Last week was our first week, and it is a 6 week class. Chris will be able to take his endowments out right after the class ends. We are really excited for that. We were also told we are able to get sealed anytime after our year mark. We decided that we would probably get sealed in January as to avoid the holiday bustle. We will see though.
As for me. I do not work for NPS anymore. There were too many things that I did not agree with, and too many frustrations that have built up over the year and a half that I was there. Chris and I decided that it would be best to get rid of the items I have stocked right now. I have a spare room and the back of my dad's truck full of shoes that I am listing. Chris's dad is a wholesaler, and I am able to look through his catalog's and use the product sourcing he has to be able to get product. I am trying to get my business up full-force via Ebay. I am doing well with the things I have right now. In the Fall, Stephanie Greenwood said that she will need help with production and labeling of her product. That will keep me busy for some time. She would also like me to help at her store on Saturdays, and she has a bunch of items she would like me to sell for her on ebay. I will definitely stay busy into the new year of next year.

Other things I have been up to. I just started a workout program. P90X. It is extremely difficult. I did a couple of workouts here and there to see what it is like. I cannot believe how much harder it is than doing my traditional gym workouts with the free weights and equipment. It definitely kicks your bum. I am excited to see some results. I have also taken up roller blading. I go almost every day. I wanted some and remembered how fun they are, so I hopped on ebay and bought some for like $35. They are K2 brand. Not like those cheesy plastic things that we had when we were younger. I go down to Legacy Parkway, strap on my boy scout neon-colored fanny pack, and off I go. I suppose that not a lot of people have seen roller bladers in a long time, because everyone feels that they must comment everytime they see me, or since I have an ipod in, they will do a lot of pointing and grunting. It's so much more fun than running. The first time I went, I logged in 10 miles. I bought Chris and pair to come with me, and the binding was broken to tighten around the ankle. Chris felt bad, so he just went like that anyways. He rode on a loose skate for about 2 miles, and couldn't do it anymore. I bought him another pair (all off ebay) since I had a good experience with mine. We just went on saturday, and he was behind me the whole time. Really slow. I just figured he was rusty. Well, he had been trying to skate to me to tell me that his skates weren't working, and I kept thinking that he was just slow, and as soon as I saw him, I would skate way ahead again until I had to wait for him. Finally, after we had gone 2 miles out, he got me to stop. We turned back around. He said that when I was coasting, that he wasn't and wanted to know why. Well, we found out, for one, that his front wheels were not turning, then we saw that they were halfway off his skate. We took a closer look, and noticed that his wheels were literally like they were made of gum. They were so used and so old, that they were falling right off!!! Chris had to take them off, and walk in his socks for about a mile and a half back to the car. He was laughing and really frustrated at the same time. Hopefully round 3 will work out.