Time goes on...

And on and on, and usually the on and on part is great. I've decided the reason blogging is a pain is the picture part, so none this time.

So I took out the calender and will try and catch up.

Jessica had her annual Davis 5k and most of the family participated, even Hyrum did the mud race.

Kim and I took a road trip to Mt. Rushmore and visited Martins Cove twice, . We had a great time just the 2 of us.

The girls had our annual Swiss days trip. The shopping, visiting, eating was as great as usual, but what we thought would be a great condo. only turned out to be an OK one. I'll have to ask more questions next time.

Grandma Hardcastle did her annual Jackson Hole trip. Our family got our own rental home. It was huge, 5 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms, laundry room, 3 different sitting rooms, a great big kitchen with a dinning room table, a great view patio, hot tub, indoor sauna. It wasn't the best year for hearing the Elk bugling, but we did see bears, and other wild life. We can't really spend a lot of time as the whole big family, and there may be trauma now and then, but we love each other and our time together. Grandma is so sweet to do this each year and we all appreciate her so much for it.

We recently had our Stake /Regional Conference. Our visiting authority was Pres. Monson, Elder Jensen, Elder Anderson, & Sis. Wixom. Kim was able to get floor tickets, because of his bishop position, so we got to sit center seat, 4 rows back. But being that close did not guarantee good hearing. Some how the sound system was not so great, but it was still a great experience.

You'll have to go to Mels blog and see the cute Halloween costumes that the kids wore. Hyrum was a Train engineer, with a cute costume made train by his dad, and Kate was a pink fairy, who just was adorable being Kate. I have been working on a Witches costume for a few years and I finally had a year I could wear it, so we had fun at the ward party.

Now how to feel 90 at 54. My back or more specific my right leg has been hurting since April. After tolerating it for a few months, I finally got an MRI and found I had a ruptured S5 disc. I then had 4 spinal, cortisol injections over a 6 week period. With absolute so improvement and new and different problems resulting from it, I then waited 6 weeks to get into a neurosurgeon. He ordered a new MRI and called me at home on a Sat night and said "we have a problem", these are not good words to hear from your Dr., at home, on a Sat night. We meet on Tues, he showed me the MRI and that now there are 2 ruptured discs, S5 & L1 with a bunch of fragments scattered through out. Then another thing you don't want to hear is "I don't know how to fix this until I open you up, which needs to be as soon as possible, so that it doesn't get worse".

So I feel old. I had to use a walker for a few days due to a numb left leg and foot, (feel old) for a few days I needed help getting off the edge of the bed or chair (feel old), I walk with a limp, and put both feet on each step (OLD), I am grateful I have a high rise toilet and a bar on the wall, courtesy of having mom live here, (feel very old). So the topper is...my very sweet visiting teacher who has young children, came by with 3 of them and they had made me GET WELL colored pictures with nice sayings. I wanted to cry because of the thoughtfulness and sweetness, but now I really really feel OLD.

All of this is hard, but a lesson at the same time, I need to be more thoughtful, sensitive, helpful and listen to the promptings that we receive every moment of every day, and serve those around us.