Surgery, Applesauce, and the Temple
My mother-in-law, Coy, had her heart ablation surgery on Tuesday morning, and it was an overall success. They did have to jumpstart her heart during the surgery, however, but thankfully all turned out well! :)
I was surprised that they would discharge her only a few hours after jumpstarting her heart during the surgery, but they told her she would be safer (health-wise) at home rather than at the hospital.
The next day, however, she was back in the emergency room because she was filling up with several pounds of fluid and it was causing a lot of discomfort around her heart. They did some tests, prescribed some medications, and again, sent her home after a few hours. She is feeling quite a bit better by the end of the week, thankfully.
Dad hung out with us at our house while she was being cared for in the ER. It is such a convenience that we live so close to the hospital! We fed him dinner, let him rest for a while, then we watched some T.V. together while we waited.
Monday: I had the day off from the Election Office (because it was Columbus Day), so I loaded it up with as many things as I could pack into one day, ha ha. I started off at 8:00 a.m. getting my blood drawn. My doctor wanted an updated A1C and Thyroid panel. From there, I drove straight over to get my annual mammogram and bone density test.
Here I am holding a little gift bag that they gave me during Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Sorry, I hadn't showered yet when I took this photo.
I will know the results of those tests soon. I already have a diagnosis of osteopenia, so I just hope that things haven't gotten worse.
When Scott got home from school, we made an assembly line with Abby (and Gwen, briefly) to make applesauce. Our friends, Jennifer and Scott Anderson, gave us several bags of apples from their trees. We tried a new method of making applesauce this year. I was a little nervous, though, because nothing was familiar to me.
First, I washed the apples and plopped them into the next sink over. Abby would grab them out of the water and place them neatly in rows on the towels to dry. Scott would cut them into quarters and place them into our giant pot on the stove. (He was happily watching the Chargers football game on his laptop while he worked)
Click here for two very short videos of what he did:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/McE4Xd4iJG44fce26
I asked this girl, "Who is Ruth?" She answered, "Ruth Bader Ginsburg." (The Supreme Court Justice that just died recently, and who was a champion of women's rights and equality for all people, no matter their gender or race) I thought it was really cool that they had these t-shirts and then wore them to come vote.
When I got home from Rigby, Amber was helping the girls to paint some sticks for Gwen's birthday party. They walked over to the "pit" nearby - a water drainage field nearby - and found several sticks to haul home. Amber decided that the best theme for Gwen's party was "Young, Wild and Three". (more on that in a minute)
Then, all the Whitworths arrived, along with Amber's friend and running buddy, Lyndsey Rasmussen. Gwen chose to dress up in her mermaid outfit for the party, ha ha.
Gwen's favorite gift, that she kept coming back to after opening each new one, was this: a set of 3 fairy tale princess puzzles that my mom sent to her! She was so excited to put those puzzles together!
Her Grandma Kathy Whitworth bought her a Princess Tiana dress (from Princess and the Frog), which she quickly changed into. Then back to those puzzles!
Here are all 3 puzzles fully assembled, with the model pictures alongside each one.
Vernetta had prepared chicken cordon bleu with a tasty gravy, asparagus, roasted vegetables, palusami (native Samoan dish with spinach and coconut milk roasted in foil), taro (similar to a potato but bluish-purple in color), roasted banana, sapasui (native Samoan dish with long clear noodles, soy sauce, pork and vegetables), and I made a crock pot full of mashed potatoes.
Here is a better view of the sapasui. (pronounced soppa-sooey)
My super carbolicious plate of food. :)
The food was great. The company was great! However, I didn't even have room for any of the beautiful fruit platter that Vernetta had prepared. And I was so full by the time we had cake that I suggested to Scott on the way home that we should fast today (Sunday). My tummy feels better tonight, but last night it was not liking me a whole lot.
Weston and Amber kept changing their green screen to different backgrounds. Abby thought it was pretty entertaining.
Scott was on his laptop, and I was on my laptop.
I scooped the applesauce into the jars and prepped them for steaming. Then it was back out to the garage to steam the jars. That's where we ran into problems. The jars would not seal.
We tried 3 different times over 2 days to get the lids to seal, but only 3/4 of them sealed properly. Someone told us that maybe our jar lids were bad and that we should get new lids. We gave up after trying 3 times, having given it our best. The remaining few jars that didn't seal will just be used right away in a variety of recipes.
I like to use unsweetened applesauce instead of oil, butter, margarine, or shortening in a recipe. And because it's naturally sweet, it allows me to cut down the sugar in the recipe, too, by about a third. If the applesauce is too runny or watery, I add in a small mashed banana. The mixture of the applesauce and mashed banana easily take the place of fat and sugar in a recipe (cookies, breads, cakes, brownies, etc.).
Tuesday: Mom had her surgery, as I already shared above. We are thankful that she is still here with us!
At work, there were two ladies that came in together wearing this shirt:
Wednesday: At work that afternoon, a guy came in wearing a Trump 2020 protective mask. We asked him to please turn it around. He was a little miffed, but when his wife nudged him to comply, he turned it around. By the time he got around the corner and up to the front desk to get a ballot, he had turned it around again, showing Trump 2020. They asked him to turn it inside out, explaining that it was electioneering to wear anything with a candidate's name on it while in a voting area. He wanted proof of it being a law, which was then shown to him.
When I saw him sit down in the voting booth, he was wearing his mask turned inside out as he was asked to do. But moments later when he brought his ballot over to my area to deposit it into the ballot box, he had turned it back around again showing Trump 2020. He didn't even want to state his name at the ballot box, but instead hurried out to his vehicle.
He had also gone outside just prior to voting, but we didn't know why he stepped out to his truck. We all thought it was very odd. We were all of the same mind, and watched closely out the window to make sure he wasn't grabbing a gun or something like that to bring back in. We checked him closely again when he came inside, looking for any sort of bulge in his clothing. He hustled past so quickly that he didn't know we were quietly inspecting him. No sign of trouble, thank goodness.
As he left, we tried to see what his license plate number was, but the one lady who was closest could not read it without her glasses. I couldn't leave my ballots alone without supervision, so he ended up driving off - much to our relief and frustration. THEN, he CALLED the office to complain just a few minutes later. He said some of us weren't covering up our noses as well as our mouths with our masks, and he was still grumpy about not being able to wear his beloved Trump mask. Our supervisor, Brenda, explained once again that it was the law, plain and simple. He didn't believe her! He hung up by saying, "I'll be back down there in 5 minutes."
Yikes! Brenda called the police and had them hurry over, just in case. It continued to escalate as the officer took statements from several of us, even asking for identifying information about the man's truck. The officer even reviewed surveillance camera footage to watch the whole thing! We had his name, though, because he had to produce ID and sign for his ballot. But the phone numbers on file for him were all disconnected. We were all very nervous at the thought of him coming back in his anger.
But he never showed up. He may have seen the police car out front. But his wife may have also convinced him to calm down and just stay home. The officer eventually tracked down a working phone number and was able to make contact with him. I am not sure what happened during that conversation, but it seemed to be somewhat resolved by the time they were done. I understand that the officer told him explicitly that what he did was wrong. He broke the law, he was rude, and he threatened our supervisor.
The ladies up front told us that the man's wife was just so embarrassed and mortified by his behavior. I feel bad for her.
We were instructed later that if we ever felt threatened up front, all we had to do was indicate for the ladies to push the panic button. We have a relay system to get the message up to the front if needed.
Too bad some people act that way. How sad. Just follow the rules! Be decent and respectful. Don't be obnoxious and prickly. We are there to help you vote! We don't make the rules. But we most certainly will facilitate keeping the rules that are in place in the state of Idaho. So don't be a jerk. We are not your enemy.
On a happier note, my mom met my Grandma Doris (99 years old) at her doctor's appointment in Ukiah, CA during the afternoon. Because of COVID-19, there is very limited contact with Grandma at the nursing home where she is staying. It's times like these, though, when they can laugh and hug and visit together, even if it's just for a brief period of time.
Thursday: After leaving work early because it was so slow, I drove up to Rigby to surprise my mother-in-law by cleaning her bathrooms and mopping her kitchen floor. She is similar to me in wanting my house to be clean and sparkly, but I knew she wasn't up for it this week with her surgery and slow recovery.
I didn't want to give her any heads up because I knew she would try to talk me out of coming altogether, ha ha. So when I came in with my bucket of cleaning supplies, I announced, "Surprise! I'm here to clean!"
She said, "But I don't want to clean!"
I said, "Great!"
She said, "But I don't even want to think about cleaning!"
I said, "Good! Because you don't need to!"
She laughed and then let me get to work. :)
Friday: After work, Scott and I had the beautiful opportunity and honor and privilege to attend the temple with our dear friends, the Vances. Their son, Samuel, is heading out on a mission in two weeks. He was assigned to a foreign country originally, but has since been reassigned to Kentucky because of COVID-19. He will still learn Spanish, and may potentially still get to serve outside the U.S. Anyway, Sam was able to receive his endowment at the temple with a small group of family and friends. We were lucky to be able to be part of the group of 12.
Saturday: After cleaning and tidying and prepping the house, we celebrated Gwen's 3rd birthday in the afternoon. Her birthday is technically Monday, Oct. 19th, but since Weston is gone down to Utah during the week, they wanted to celebrate when he could be here, too.
Here's a closer view of what Amber wrote on the chalkboard . . .
We were told to arrive by 6:45 and to be at the door of the temple. The door was locked until someone came out to let us in, and then once we were all inside, the door was locked again. We waited briefly inside the lobby for a few minutes. Then someone came to give us a few instructions and to take our temperature.
The ladies (6 of us) followed our female temple worker to the women's dressing room. We had one row of lockers assigned to our group, and there we changed into our white temple clothing. We assembled together at every transitional point of the evening. When it was time to go up to the Creation room, we all went up together. We sat socially distanced apart, in every other row, and were invited to sit quietly to think and ponder and pray until the session began. (About 20-30 minutes in our case)
As I settled into my seat and began to explore what I could think and ponder about, I very quickly felt like there were two spiritual presences on my right and on my left. I knew instantly that they were my two children that I was not able to raise in this life because of my miscarriages. They filled me with feelings of love from head to toe, and then whispered to me that they are trying to help my son Benson. I'm sure they are reaching out to him in ways that I don't even know about or understand. I felt my eyes stinging with tears, and I let them know how grateful I am for their love and concern and guidance in my son's life as he is on the other side of the world.
We were invited to use hand sanitizer multiple times throughout our session, and we wore masks the entire time. It felt so wonderful to be in the temple once again! For me, it had been a long 8 months. The last time I was able to go to the temple was when I was in South Carolina back in February. But for Scott, it had been a long 14 months! The last time he was able to go was last August, right before he left for training and then service in Saudi Arabia.
We will cherish that sacred experience forever. We don't know how long it will be until temples will be open so that we can all attend as often as possible again, but we will try to be patient until that day comes.
Before the party began, the girls had fun playing with some homemade play-doh that my mom sent in a package from CA. I sent her a video of each of the girls explaining what they were making.
Here is the darling video of everyone singing Happy Birthday to her, while she stood still like a statue, soaking it all in - and then getting a little help to blow out her candles:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/HZRATVgh6UzAgpzx8
After cake and ice cream, we moved into the living room to open gifts. Lyndsey was happy to help Gwen open things up and be her assistant. Abby read all the birthday cards out loud to her sister. She is such a good reader!!
The panoramic photo of everyone there (except for me, the photographer):
clockwise starting with Gwen -
Gwen, Lyndsey Rasmussen, Mike & Kathy Whitworth, Crystal Whitworth (holding her daughter Bella), Caleb Whitworth (partially hidden behind Amber), Amber, holding Abby up for the picture, little Parker & Emma Whitworth, Lydia and Tyler Whitworth, Addison Whitworth, Kaylee Whitworth, Melody Whitworth, Weston, and Scott.
After Gwen's party, Scott and I drove up to Rigby again to celebrate a second time - with different family members - his father's birthday. Today, October 18th, is Phil's 89th birthday.
Their adopted daughter, Vernetta and her husband Isaac, drove up from Orem, Utah with enough food to feed an army! They are from Samoa, and food is central to every family or community gathering in their culture. This occasion was no different. :)
Abby and Gwen were pretty well partied out from the afternoon, so Amber and Weston opted to keep them home. Clockwise from the bottom left: Assan, Vernetta, Isaac, Coy, Phil, Scott, Marissa, and little Azure.
Speaking of cake, here is the video of us singing Happy Birthday once again to Phil:
He is so cute and handsome in his stylish black turtleneck. :)
Sunday: We got a new bishopric at church today. It was a sad day to see Bishop Larson released from his service, but our new bishop, Aaron McCracken, is a wonderful man and will do a wonderful job.
After church, and after my young women's class presidency meeting, we did a Zoom meeting with our kids. We're not sure what happened to Benson and Kylie, but maybe they fell asleep early because we could not get ahold of them.
Jacob chose a family photo to use as his background with Hannah.
This was our first Zoom meeting with our kids, but we want to start having a little get-together every Sunday for a few minutes to just catch up on what everyone is doing, as well as having a chance to see everyone's faces. It's important to chat, to laugh, and to connect regularly, and I feel like we are just too spread out.
After we visited for a while, Jacob had a fun game lined up for us to play. And then it was farewell - until next weekend. :)
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