Is It a Pirate?

Teaching seminary has been interesting while recovering from foot surgery. I took a couple of days off while recovering, but tried to manage a week after surgery on my crutches. I think the crutches were a distraction.

Perhaps the crutches offered a different type of lesson however. As Kristen and I drove up to the Checketts home (the place where we have seminary) on my second day back to seminary, two young men walked outside and Kristen and I both commented, "What the heck are they doing?" It wasn't long before another young man came out as I maneuvered out of the car with my crutches and boot. The concrete was pretty slippery and they had come to help me inside.

I progressed from crutches and my boot to just walking—if you can call it that—with the boot. I clomped down the stairs one step at a time and my team teacher, Sister Ainsworth, commented from the basement, "Either it's a pirate or Sister Kline."

Adventures in a Wheelchair

I had my crutches with me last night to go out to dinner, but when Chris, Kristen, and I stopped to shop at Kohls, I was happy to relinquish the crutches to a wheelchair. Kristen was happy to push me in the wheelchair, but I found that it was kind of like... "Squirrel!" A piece of clothing caught her eye, and she stopped to look. She simply stopped pushing the wheelchair and I ended up in the corner of the clothing section. I can imagine it must be what it is like for little kids in a stroller. The view is limited. That and I became her pile of clothes holder.

I finally took over my driving and got along pretty well.

Mom Jeans

My girls used to mock "Mom" jeans. I think it is funny that not only are "mom" jeans a thing now but they are also advertised as "mom" jeans. Girls WANT to wear them. It all comes full circle people.

A New Job

Amy got a new job. When Amy returned to Logan after Christmas break, she found that her hours as a receptionist at a car wash had been drastically reduced. She needed to find a new job and fast. But, applying for a job is never really fast and it took until today for her to receive an offer. She will be working at a brand new juice bar (dairy free) in Logan and seemed to hit it off really well with the owners. She is grateful to have some money that will be deposited to her bank account once again.

MIsha's Job

When Misha arrived back at BYU for the Winter Semester, she was thrilled to announce that she was getting a 40 cent raise. Then, a couple of days later, she was promoted to student lead and received an additional 40 cent raise.

Misha's Illustrations

Misha is taking an illustration class this semester and hopes to apply to the Illustration program this semester. Until she is in the program, Misha is limited on the classes that she can take.

Here is some of her latest artwork and homework.

Contacts for Kristen

With tennis comes contacts. Kristen had an eye appointment and requested contacts. They gave her a few contacts to try out in the next week and then we will get some ordered. She will only wear them while playing tennis. Apparently there is a learning curve to putting them in and getting the technique down to do it quickly. Dr. Berger put them in the first time for Kristen and then one of the opticians worked with Kristen and taught her how to put the contacts in herself.

Pre Season Tennis

Kristen has started pre season tennis practice. She attends training sessions on Tuesday and Thursday at the Longmont Athletic Club where they are able to reserve one of the tennis courts to begin working on technique and some conditioning. She realizes that as a Freshman, she has a lot to learn but is excited to be a part of the team and progress in her skills.

Kristen's friend, Sophie, is also joining the tennis team (Sophie's dad is big into tennis), so it will be nice for the two of them to progress together.

No Fun Being Sick

Misha has had a head cold since last weekend and Amy suffered from a stomach bug last week. Both girls have noted that it is no fun being sick when you are away from home. It isn't fun at all. I sent them both some meds though I'm not sure they will arrive in time to help this go around, but I'm sure the meds will be useful next time. One more moment to add to the list of why adulting isn't fun.

Manuscript Submitted

Momentous day. I submitted my manuscript to Deseret Book. In my brother's words, "another baby has left the nest." Now I wait. It takes about 4-5 months before they will even get to my manuscript. Fingers crossed!

Alexa!

I was trying to have Alexa set an alarm for me. "Alexa, set an alarm for an hour and thirty minutes." She wanted me to be more precise and responded with, "What time would you like me to set that for?" I had to think for a bit and replied, "Umm, just give me a minute." Alexa is very literal, "OK, setting an alarm for one minute."

A Foot Update

Being 52 has started out to be awfully snappy thus far. A couple of days post-"surgery" and I am doing pretty well. I took my drugs every four hours from Thursday evening until Saturday evening. Since then, the pain has been fairly manageable.

I try to follow the directions given by my doctor as much as possible. He has me taking collagen to help with healing, and if you look at the ingredients, you might understand while it grosses me out and disgusts me every time I take it.

I might have had a little snafu whilst trying to close some bedroom curtains this morning and landed on the floor. Crutches are not always easy to manage.

If you look at the picture of my foot, you will probably think, "That's not a big deal." I'm glad it is healing well thus far. My arm and my ability to bruise with great finesse look the worst.

Breakfast with Dad

Kristen and Chris got up early on Saturday morning to clean the church. Kristen usually sleeps in on the weekend and needed to have a little incentive to go with her dad. A breakfast date with Dad seemed to be just the thing.

BYU Ballet

Misha and her coworker, Emma, went to see Swan Lake at BYU. Misha said that it was beautiful, but a little hard to follow at times.

Sister Missionaries

The Sister Missionaries showed up at my door the day after my foot surgery with beautiful flowers. I love how they are so thoughtful.

Foot Surgery

I met with Dr. Timothy Mazzola back in December. I was supposed to meet with him in October and November but both dates were interrupted with snow storms. After a consult on December 23, he recommended two procedures called Tenex and PRP (Platelet Rich Plasma) injections. Tenex involved using ultrasound to break up the tendon in my heal. It had degenerated over the past year since my car accident to the point where I was in constant pain, walking hurt, and my range of motion was decreasing. I had tendonitis in both heals, but my left heal was about three times worse than the right foot. Dr. Mazzola recommended doing the procedures on my left foot first and then only the PRP on my right foot in the future.

My left foot procedure was scheduled for January 23rd at 3:30 pm. Chris was able to plan his schedule to be home and drove me to Boulder for the appointment. I was fairly nervous. I'm not a big fan of needles. I don't freak out over them, but I don't like them much either.

As we arrived at the office, the receptionist, Courtney fitted me for a boot that I would get to wear for the next couple of weeks. We had crutches from previous leg issues with the girls that were just barely short enough for me to use, and a friend loaned me her knee scooter. Chris retrieved the crutches from the car as I would need them after the "surgery".

I may have been smiling in the picture below, but we hadn't really begun yet. To get started, Dr. Mazzola drew 25-50 cc's of blood and then put that blood into a centrifuge to spin for 15 minutes. It separated into Platelet Rich Plasma, a concentration that is 4-6 times more rich than the platelets in regular blood. This was saved to be used at the end of the procedure.

I transferred to another room where the Tenex machine was set up. A representative from Tenex came with the machine to help with set up and part of the procedure. I did not find him to be friendly whatsoever. I asked "Greg" to hand me my cell phone before the procedure and he seemed put out. I was not fully sedated, only local. Dr. Mazzola injected anesthetic to create a nerve block in the back of my calf. I didn't like the heavy, tingly feeling it gave. It was like having your foot fall asleep and never stop tingling. (That tingly feeling didn't go away until after 9 pm).

The last needle prick I felt was from the first injection into my heal. Apparently there were a number of these injections to make sure my foot was fully numbed. So grateful, I didn't feel them any more. As Dr. Mazzola was talking about the procedure to Greg (with his assistant Pascal acting as scribe for the entire procedure), he mentioned that he needed a certain blade to make a 4 cm incision into my foot!

I was playing a word game on my phone trying to stay relaxed. "What?" popped out of my mouth. I don't know exactly what I thought, but had been under the impression that this procedure did not involve any cutting.

After finishing his conversation with Greg, Dr. Mazzola nonchalantly comes back to me and asked, "Was that 'What?' in response to the incision?" Well, yeah. I thought all this time they would be using an ultrasound on my heal on the OUTSIDE of my foot to break up the tendon. No. The small ultrasound wand which looked kind of like a itsy bitsy light saber would be inserted inside the incision and the tendon and then would be used to "aerate" the tendon by poking holes in it.  MAN!!!!!

I was calling this a procedure up until this point. Now, when you cut me open, it became a surgery.

The light saber treatment only took four minutes, after which Greg packed up his Tenex machine and left. Dr. Mazzola then used a syringe and inserted the PRP back into my foot. He said a number of times, "Just like butter" as he was able to smoothly insert and then remove the needle throughout my tendon.

Every so often I tried to take pictures by holding my phone up over my head, but I didn't get many that actually showed anything. That's Pascal the scribe in the background which makes for an awesome seminary-related experience to share about Joseph Smith translating the plates.

As we finished up, Dr. Mazzola closed my incision with steri-strips, a bandaid, and then a clear plastic covering over the incision. He said to me, "Thanks for being such a good patient." and I asked if that was not normal. He said, "You would be surprised."

Chris returned to the office and Dr. Mazzola gave some instructions and helped me figure out how to walk with my crutches. We left his office shortly after, but Chris left me sitting by the front entrance as he ran back to get the paperwork for a handicap parking pass.

We stopped at King Soopers to drop off a pain prescription. Chris dropped me at home and settled me on to the couch while he drove in to Longmont to take Kristen from her tennis practice to the church for Young Women. I was happy to take the meds as soon as Chris arrived home about an hour later.

When Kristen arrived home from Young Women, she was quick to add a couple of stickers to my boot for decoration.

She was also quick to add this warning to the handy dandy knee scooter with its handy dandy basket.

Happy Birthday to Me!

According to Kristen, we were celebrating my 25th birthday (but she might be dyslexic). I awoke early in the morning before seminary to find that Kristen had decorated the kitchen before going to bed. So grateful for my thoughtful girl and her sweet surprise.

Kristen filled this box with "Just a few reasons I, KK, love my Momma Jo!

Kristen proceeded to tell all of the kids at Seminary that it was my birthday; "Happy Birthday" was sung and a birthday card circulated among the students. I love these kids. I love that they come to seminary every day. I love teaching them. I love their kind words.

Since I knew I would be off my feet for a number of days after Thursday, I spent much of the morning cleaning, doing laundry, and cooking.

Chris and Kristen took me out to dinner at Caprese Trattoria in Longmont. And my birthday treat? Cookie Dough.

My gift this year is a new desk for my office (installed in the next month or so).

Drama and Kristen

Kristen mentioned that the high school was changing its policy on students being in plays. Now, students are no longer required to be in a drama class to participate. Chris commented, "I'm pretty sure you could have tested out of the class anyway."

Deep Thoughts with Kristen

Chris and I were driving with Kristen the other night listening to the radio when The Police's "Every Breath You Take" came on. Kristen commented, "The Police are bipolar. First they have this song, 'Every Breath You Take' and then they have 'Don't Stand So Close to Me'".

Chutes and Ladders and Seminary

As a means to incentivize the seminary students to be consistent in their reading, I took a copy of a Book of Mormon Chutes and Ladders file to Staples to have it printed on poster paper. I attached the print to a piece of cardboard. Each of the students were given a small sticky note to write their name on, and each day as they come to seminary AND have finished their reading, they get to roll the die and move forward. There will be a prize for the first person to reach the end of the game.

I also had this map of the Book of Mormon lands printed (not representative of any specific place per se). It provides a good frame a reference when we begin to study the arrival of Lehi's family in the promised land.

MLK Long Weekend in Utah

Misha and Amy spent the long weekend with Patrick and Julie in Layton. They babysat Kelsey one evening so that Patrick and Julie could celebrate their wedding anniversary.

It was a fairly relaxing weekend: church on Sunday and a movie on Monday with Julie. Alas, they did not take any pictures.

MLK Long Weekend

Chris and Kristen both had Monday off. We took the morning slow, leaving for Colorado Springs and Garden of the Gods a little after 10 am. We made a quick stop at Deseret Book in Highland Ranch to exchange some clothing for Chris.

The weather was fairly nice, not abundantly warm, but nice enough for January to enjoy the beauty of the Garden of the Gods. Our first stop was Chick-fil-A. Check out the covered drive-thru! They certainly don't suffer from choosing to close on Sundays.

Kristen was quite a bit younger the last time we took her to the Garden of the Gods. I do believe there was a lot of nose plugging from her then. We had an enjoyable day hiking on different trails. First four photos are courtesy of Chris.

The OUR Center

Due to Chris' desires to become involved in the community, he started volunteering with the OUR Center and set up opportunities for our family to plan and prepare a meal for the homeless and less fortunate people in the area. It started out with providing a meal at Thanksgiving and asking friends and ward members if they wanted to help by donating food, helping to cook, serving, and cleaning up. From that experience in 2018, the effort has blossomed so that our ward (first the Saddleback Ward and then the Highland Lake Ward) provided meals at Christmas and Thanksgiving.

And just this year, our stake has taken over the service of providing a meal once a month at the OUR Center with different wards in the stake being assigned a month. A couple was called to be in charge of coordinating the effort (taking over from Chris). He hopes to be able to stay involved in different ways with the OUR Center as he has forged a great relationship with the center's director. It is amazing to see how his efforts to serve have blossomed and in turn resulted in a positive relationship between The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the OUR Center.

January was assigned to the members of the High Council to provide food, cook, and clean up. The meals will be in capable hands from here on out and Chris is happy to pass it on.

Grandpa Len's Legacy

I think it is amazing that Chris, Kevin, Grandpa Kline and Grandpa's half brother, Terry, came together this past weekend to work on cleaning out Grandpa Len's house. While Grandpa Len was not the kindest to his family, he has left behind a legacy of great men. It was an emotionally and physically draining day for all of them, but they found ways to bring laughter and joy to the day.

Chris was able to meet his Uncle Terry for the first time this weekend and found him to be a charming and delightful person.

After finishing up with the house on Saturday, Larry had rented a boat to take Grandpa Len's ashes out to spread them in the ocean on Sunday afternoon. Turns out the boat's steering conked and steering back to the marina was managed with an almost completely rusted tiller.

Chris and Kevin spent the rest of the day exploring the beaches close to Grandpa Len's house.