Craig Update

It's been a long time since I've posted about my good neighbor and friend, Craig. You can click here if you want to read about the whole acccident. There was an interesting comment that was left by "anonymous" near the bottom of the post. I'm thinking it was left by one of their relatives who didn't want to be known. Anyway, Craig has made great leaps and bounds. I'm so excited! It's been a long haul since his accident back in the beginning of July.
He used to be over at Harborview Trauma Center in Seattle, but has since moved over to Northwoods Lodge in Silverdale for speech therapy, physical therapy and to teach him how to eat again. He'll go back over to Harborview as soon as he's progressed enough here. He has a stomach feeding tube until he's able to eat enough to sustain himself. Right now they're taking him to the dining room and feeding him one meal a day which is a very thin consistency. In the beginning when they first started trying he would take the food in but then aspirate because he wouldn't think to swallow until it was already going down. He's doing a lot better now though.
Just this week Joanie (Craigs sweet wife and my good friend) filled me in that he had taken eight steps!!! Without a walker! Yay!!!!!! And also he's starting to feel tingling and pins and needles on his left side which is great because he hasn't really been able to feel much or move much on his left side. When he fell he landed on his left side which created lots of nerve damage. The good news is that those nerves can heal. We're hoping that's exactly what's happening with the pins and needles.
It's so nice to be able to pop in and visit him whenever I'm in Silverdale, which is quite a bit. He's always smiling and happy to have visitors. Each time I go he seems to be speaking more clearly and making more sense. I took in a small poster of the picture posted up above and he asked me if I had used Photoshop to create it. Having him say little things like that are exciting because he's showing progress with brain function. He is having issues with his "short term" memory though. I asked him about it and he said it was very frustrating. I bet he'll get it back in due time. He's such a trooper! Joanie came home one day this week saying that Craig had remembered me and baby Apollo visiting the night before. Yay!! He really likes Apollo. Every time I take him in he likes to stroke Apollo's legs and hands and smiles a lot at him. It's very cute. It's also great how lovey he and Joanie are. She said that he hadn't been like that before the accident. She's not complaining one bit about all the kisses and loves.
I'm so thrilled of Craig's progress. He's one of the best men I know. Sometimes you wonder why things like this have to happen to such good people? I know that God has a purpose in everything and one day we'll know why. I'm so blessed to have him and Joanie as neighbors. Please keep them in your prayers. They're working!
Also, if you'd like to send a little note to Craig here's the site:

Meeting Apolo Anton Ohno

I'm not kidding! There was a meeting up with the famous Olympic Gold Medalist in Speedskaing, Apolo Anton Ohno! Too bad it wasn't I who got to meet him. It was my sis, Dolly. Lucky!!! Apolo is also famous for winning the last season (I think it was the 4th) of Dancing with the Stars! He was incredible to watch. Purely a natural. Might I add that about a month before he won the contest, I gave birth to my son, Apollo. It was perfect how that all happened. Anyway, they were doing a training session/barbecue meet and greet in Surrey, BC, where my sister lives. That's where they got to meet him.

So my sister was able to tell Apolo that her sister (me) named her son after him. He said, "No Way! That is soooo cool!" Oh I wish I could have been there. Oh well. She did get his signed autograph for my son Apollo. Here's some great pics of my sis and her kids with Apolo.
I'm soooo jealous!!!

Interviewing the Governer of Washington

My handsome husband interviewing our Governer, Christine Gregoire:



Do You See the Resemblance?

I'm sorry but I couldn't resist! I saw this adorable pic of my niece and had to pair it with one I remember seeing from the movie, Labyrinth with David Bowie. What do you think?


Greatest Olympic Video Ever!

I decided to add the link here on my blog instead of the actual video . It would start up automatically every time I opened my blog, which I found rather annoying. So here's the link if you'd like to enjoy. It's from an old SNL skit with Martin Short. Christopher Guest plays the trainer:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4122944961711350389&hl=en

With Family There's Always Food

Here we all are at Sunny Teriyaki in Bremerton. They have veddy yummy Bento Box!





And our wonderful back deck provides many a feast (which I might add is on the third story. Veddy, veddy high up!):













My Guests

Just had to show some more fun pics of my recent guests:

This is myself with my younger bro' Dallin and his wife Emilee. Out of ten kids, I'm number seven and Dallin's number eight.


Ungle Deeb and McKenna


Aunt Em holding Apollo and McKenna


Aunt Geet and Aunt Em


What a great family pic on our front deck:

The famous Pal Dal concave bed head:

You gotta love it!


One of my favorite pics of McKenna:


Grandma Sandra put in some quality time with Apollo:


Ungle Deeb is always a hit with the littlen's:


Grandma was the built in maid the whole three weeks she was here. She treated me like a queen! Thank you Momma!!!

Roof Repair... Yay!!!

July 31st.

So, I was very lucky to have been in the right place, whining about the right thing at the right time. In so doing, my brother, Dallin, who was visiting with his wife Emilee and daughter McKenna was willing to sacrifice one of his fun vacation days to SOS, or rather, SOR (Save Our Roof). The roof shown is that of our gazebo which houses our hot tub. The various wind storms over the past year has taken a toll on the roof. Thus, the picture:

We were also able to wrangle in Duncan until he had to be to work around 3:30, and also Christian who stayed to help through thick and thin. Don't be fooled by Steve being in the picture. He was only there for moral support. He had to take off and go to work.



Me bro' was ready for the challenge sportin' that good ol' concave bed head. Might I add that in preparation, he even went to Value Village and picked up some sweet duds, including shoes all for $7!!!









Of course it had to rain just as they were getting near the end. I had checked the weather report seeing that there would be no rain on that particular day. You can never trust the weather reports. Hey, if you don't like the weather here, just wait a minute it'll change. That's a famous saying here up in the Northwest.


They were good sports. Dallin was supposed to hang out with Emilee and Kaitlyn and the roof project ended up taking a lot longer than supposed. It always does, doesn't it?



Yay! And laying the final piece! Thanks for all your hard work boys!!! Dallin should come visit more often. he he he.

Seattle with Momma

On July 23rd my Momma, Sarah, Apollo and I took a ferry over to Seattle with our first stop being Harborview Trauma Center to visit my good neighbor and friend, Craig Brown who was injured from an accident falling off of his 2nd story deck around the first part of July. It was good to see him even though it was hard to see him in the condition he was in with tubes hooked up everywhere and he being so immobile and having a hard time communicating. He did smile a lot and sqeezed my hand. He would lift his eyebrows up for "yes" and barely shake his head side to side for "no." I read him several cards that I brought from his house that people had sent in the mail. I also read some e mails people had sent to the hospital. It was so good to be with him again. When I left he waved goodbye and smiled. As of today he's been moved over to Northwoods in Silverdale for some therapy probably for about a month and then he'll be back over to Seattle again for more treatment.
Momma was able to be with Sarah and Apollo while I visited longer with Craig. Harborview is shown in the background.

After Apollo got out of his stroller we noticed he'd been hiding something:

Oh no! Run away!!!!
Our next stop was Kerry Park which is right on Queen Anne Hill. The homes up there are beautiful mansions. Apollo loved the playground:
After that I showed Momma "Troll Under the Bridge." which is under the Aurora bridge in Freemont.


Afterwards we went to SuperMall in Auburn and then drove back home. It was a very full day. I loved every minute of it!