Doran & Jody

Soup
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Yeah! My dad was moved yesterday closer to home. He is now in town at a rehab center. I will be able to see him more now. I hope this encourages him to work harder so he can go home. Keep him in your prayers and your fingers crossed. Thanks for the concern you all have shown!

This is the first e-mail I got this morning. It must be the beginning of a great day!!

BTW. The girls at the ice cream shop didn't seem too thrilled we were there.......AND when we asked them to take our picture (because I am always behind the camera and wasn't going to be this time)......hmm. It's hard to find good fun help.

Saturday we went to help Camri move to a different apt. Look what followed us home. Mom, can we keep it? Now, if only we could find a toy to go inside.

Sunday visit to the hospital. We went in a different door on Sunday and we walked past this. We thought it was so cool. The Banners are in our old ward. We love this family. They are so neat. They have a daughter in our new ward. And we love them just as much.

We tried really hard not to spend any money on Sunday. Confession Time. We were not too prepared so we had to stop for gas. We were too busy yesterday with the other vehicle that we didn't get the car filled up. Does it count if we went to the "Pay at the Pump"? Then we went to the vending machine at the hospital to get a drink. We put two one dollar bills in and it spit out a drink and these. We didn't know if we were being blessed or if we received these so we could feel the guilt. What do you think??

**WARNING - Long post - may cause drowsiness. Do not operate heavy machinery during the reading of this post**
I know I have a hard time reading someones long post but this will be for me and my family I spose. But feel free to read. Grab some popcorn and kick up your feet.

It was truly a Great AND Dreadful weekend. Let me begin..........

As you know if you have been following the Anniversary Ticker, we just celebrated our 24th Anniversary. And as you know ALSO that you voted. Well, not many of you. But you voted on how we should celebrate our anniversary. The "Go north and get snowed in won". And as for you Jason, who voted that we should tend the grandkids, I'll talk to you later. Where was I? Oh ya... voting. We DID go north. And we sort of got snowed in. Actually where we stayed, when you go downstairs to the pool and spa there is an outside entrance. However, right now the snow is so deep that it covered the whole door and window so you couldn't use that entrance. I kick myself because I didn't take my camera down there. It truly was a wall of snow.

Wait. Let me back up a bit.

We planned on leaving about 2:00 pm on Friday but.........Doran has been having some chest pains the past week and got to the point that he gave us both anxiety so we were able to get him in to the Dr at 2:30 pm. After a few tests at last he was pronouced Okie Dokie. Whew! I kept telling him it was because it was our anniversary and he was stressing because he didn't get me anything. All is well with his health. As for my gift???

We enjoyed a wonderful evening beginning with dinner and a couples massage and ohh the steam room. (Also recommended by a commenter) The room was gorgeous! I should have got better pictures but because we were short on time and by the time we got done with dinner, a massage and drenching hair from the steam room, I wasn't thinking about pictures.

Saturday - We got ready and drove all over town looking for a dumb Arby's to have a breakfast burrito. By the time we found one they informed us they don't do breakfast anymore. Oh Man!! We could have gone to Village Inn or somewhere. Well we got something quick to eat and headed for the temple. It was great!! We did some sealings. I love to do that! We stopped off at a bank to cash a check and lo and behold my Driver's License expired last month on my birthday. Oops. Someone better take better care of me. Then we went to eat at Costa Vida! Yum. Then off to get our anniversary presents........what was it you ask?? We bought us some backpacks for 72 hour/car kits. Then we bought goodies to go in them. We didn't quite get done when we got a phone call telling us that my dad has had a stroke and he is in the hospital. Well the rest of our plans changed and we headed for the hospital. We got home that night about 10:30.

Sunday - I was too upset to go to my 7:30 am meeting but I did make it to the 9:00 meeting, then home during Sunday School to call about dad, then back to YW. I was a mess. We hurried home and ate and went back to the hospital. Stayed there until 9:00 pm. Jason & Chelsea came down with the kids. Doran & Jason gave dad a blessing.

Monday - Happy Anniversary!! We began the morning off with breakfast........guess where....?? Your right! Arby's (grab and go). I didn't pitch a fit for not eating at Bert's because I knew we were going to dinner later. We stopped at Smith & Edwards for more goodies to put in the kits. Then went and drooled over a couple of cars on our way to the hospital. We stayed until about 6:30 then headed to Texas Road House. MM Good. Thus ended our Great AND Dreadful Weekend. I'm not sure I want to have one just like it any time soon.

Oh and I went and "ordered" my new license today. I had to do another picture. Can you say double chin?

How cool is this??? Doin' a dance!! I don't ever win anything. My first award and I didn't even have to pay for it. Er, well, I don't think I have to pay. Randi, do you charge for these things?

Ever have one of those days or a few days, matter of fact weeks.......where you just can't seem to climb up on top and grab hold of your attitude? That's where I am. I didn't go to work last Friday or yesterday. I just wanted to stay in my jammies and stay in bed. My heart races and my eyes leak. I even skipped my spin class and my volleyball game. And for me to miss a volleyball game there must be something wrong. I haven't had this feeling/attitude in a long, long time. Well no more.I have got to do something about it. While reading another blog I found the following site and decided to try my name. Do you believe in these tests? Well for now I will believe mine because I needed to hear the good things that I am. I debated whether to write this or not because I didn't want everyone else to read what I was feeling but I needed to remember later when I re-read it. I think we all try to put on a front but my front fell. Funny how most of this really sounded like me.

What Jody Means

You are fair, honest, and logical. You are a natural leader, and people respect you.You never give up, and you will succeed... even if it takes you a hundred tries.You are rational enough to see every part of a problem. You are great at giving other people advice. You are well rounded, with a complete perspective on life.You are solid and dependable. You are loyal, and people can count on you.At times, you can be a bit too serious. You tend to put too much pressure on yourself. You are balanced, orderly, and organized. You like your ducks in a row.You are powerful and competent, especially in the workplace.People can see you as stubborn and headstrong. You definitely have a dominant personality. You are a free spirit, and you resent anyone who tries to fence you in.You are unpredictable, adventurous, and always a little surprising.You may miss out by not settling down, but you're too busy having fun to care.

Checking in with Tales From the Scales.......Ok. If you notice my 'Ticker' I changed it. Last week my goal was to run/walk 6 miles. I WAY exceeded that. Ok maybe by only .3 miles. Then on Monday I started a 'Spin' class so I changed my 'Ticker' to hours. My next class is tonight. Go ME!

THE FINISHED PRODUCT

And for all of those that are not on a diet here is the recipe: (This is actually my mom's recipe)

Carmel Fresh Apple Cake

• 2 C sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 1/3 C oil
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 3 C flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 3 C finely chopped apple
• nuts

Put sugar, eggs, oil, and lemon juice in large mixing bowl and beat well. Add dry ingredients alternately with apples. Mix in nuts. Batter will be quite thick. Bake 60-75 min. at 350 degrees. Just before cake is done, mix topping. As soon as removing from oven, spoon topping over cake and top with nuts. (If you are making it for me leave off the nuts or make them Almonds) Topping: (Doran likes to double this part) Combine 1 C brown sugar, 1/4 C milk, 1 cube margarine, and 2 tsp vanilla. Boil ingredients in small pan for just 2 1/2 min. Topping will be quite thin. ENJOY!

Ok. I started my 'Spin' class yesterday. How did I do you ask? Oh my. About half an hour into it I got to the point I almost lost my lunch. I had to go downstairs and put my head between my knees for a few minutes. I thought I was gonna lose it. I then went back up there and got back on the bike and finished. I don't know how these instructors do it. They just talk and work like it is nothing to them. When I grow up I want to be just like them. I was able to finish the class and then she had us do some abs. Burn baby burn. I really felt the ab workout when I tried to roll out of bed this morning.
Because I started this class and knew I had to go straight there from work, I put a roast in the crockpot in the morning When Doran got home he made enchiladas with it. Soooo when I got home I enjoyed a half of ench. (Remember, I was not feeling the greatest) I would have went home and showered and went straight to bed but I had a volleyball game in Tremonton too. The game didn't go well either. But hey!!! I was moving. Hopefully I will do better in the class. Once again......PRAY for me.

This morning I decided I was going to play church basketball. What was I thinking? Actually I did pretty good except the fact that I needed oxygen after the first minute of playing. Not to mention I was wishing for one of those hats that had a straw for some H2O. Next time....bring the gum. So I can choke on it? We'll see. We only had enough to play four on four. One of the girls on the other team was MUCH younger and a little firecracker. When that team plays they need to make sure they have officials that will actually call fouls. Get this.......when we both went for a free ball (that she tried to steal from me) she ended up flying across the floor. No foul? I darn near walked off the court the last quarter. She was getting a little rough. So what do I do intead of walk off? I do the same and she didn't like it. Why is it that good players like her get defensive when people don't just let them walk over them? Hmm. Well that's church sports. I thought I was going to have another 'black eye' picture for you but it was just a broken nose. Just kidding. But next time I'm going to wear a helmet. Then while I was "warmed up" I thought I would meet Doran at the gym. I only lasted about 10 minutes so I went home.
By time I got out of the shower President Hinckley's funeral was about to start. It was a wonderful service. What a wonderful man. If we could all have the same unconditional love that he had this would be a better world. And church sports would be a lot more loving.

While watching a bit of news this morning, they reported on a place called Coral Castle in Homestead, Florida. Now....if I get enough donations I can go visit this place. It looks pretty cool. Has anyone been there?