... the end of our trip story and exciting news ...

We began our trip home from California the morning after the baptism, but had a stop to make first.  Before we left home to begin this trip we filled the car with things belonging to Chase and Rebekah, so we stopped in Provo to deliver those things.

We got to see their apartment and help them move things into it.  We didn't stay long, but we did enjoy every minute of being with them.

We had not been able to get pizza in our motel on this trip, so we enjoyed some pizza (delivery) in their apartment for dinner.  Then we headed down the road to get a bit closer to home, so the next day's drive wouldn't take us so long.


We got to pass by my favorite little house on the way home.  It is getting a little worse for wear every time I see it.   I love seeing this site and would love to know the history behind it.

We made it early enough to add one more stop to our trip.  This was closer to home - only a couple miles away.  ;)   One might say we saved the best for last, but each of our family members are our best, so it doesn't actually work to say that.  But, it's still exciting and awesome!

We got to see our babies - Twins, born to Michael and Tawnee ...,  Elsie is a sister ...,  she has a brother and a sister now.  Good Times!


They are soooo tiny!   This makes our count jump to 13 grandchildren.  ;)

They were born while we were away.

Naomi Jane and Ritter James

If I have my story straight (and that is a big if, because I think I have shared it wrong before), Naomi Jane was born first, weighing in at 6 lbs 1 oz, and Ritter James was born about three minutes later weighing in at 6 lbs 5 oz.    But, you'll have to ask those that really know to be sure.

I know this is old news because they are about 2 weeks old now, but I did need to share this excitement here.

They are beautiful!
We enjoyed that short visit too.  Happy to live close enough to see them often. Wish we all could live so close, but happy to have my children happy wherever they are.



So, we got back in the car for a few more minutes and got home shortly after 7:30pm.


It felt good to be home again.  It is always nice to visit our children and grandchildren, and I did enjoy the visits on this trip, but it really was a long time to be away.  It was the longest time I have ever spent away from home (except for when we lived in Seattle, but I felt somewhat at home then because I was with Terry and he is where my heart is).

And, there was much to be done at home, so I was getting a bit anxious to begin those tasks.

Since we've been home from the wedding trip we've been preparing for

Chase and Rebekah's open house 

Saturday, 6:30 - 8:30 pm, at our house. 

 Hope to see you here!

I've also been preparing for Seminary - it starts the 31st.  

Oh!  Almost forgot this - the evening after we got home we went to a birthday party and  had an enjoyable night with dinner and a movie in the tent.  Sometimes it's just as fun to watch the kids watching the movie as it is to watch the movie.  ;)

Okay, back to work.  I just had to take a break and finish these posts before I got any more behind-er.  ;)  

I have been feeling very "behind" but after today I feel like maybe I'm going to be okay.  I am so grateful for BJo's help - couldn't do it without her.  And we have some great friends that have blessed us with their service.  There have been angels in our outfield (or yard) this past week.  May the Lord rain blessings upon them.   

Hey!  The blog is caught up for the minute.  Feels good!

...now on to more prepping....

T88 and Apartment 301

Today's clinic visit was for a CT scan with the not-so-lovely dye drink for an hour previous to the scan.  No news from that until next week's team appointment.

Terry is resting and hydrating.  He still feels nauseated, but he is hopeful that the BK virus is lessoning a bit.  We thought that before, but it worsened again, so we hope it trends downward from here.

We had a few hours this morning to do some more organizing and box emptying.  The boxes are now completely empty and the organizing is as done as it's going to get for now.  Maybe I'll do some re-organizing throughout the next few days as I use things, but for now, this is what we get.

Here are some photos of the apartment ... #301:

Our door to apartment 301 -
You can see that this is a tiny hall if you notice the corners at the floor of the photo - there is a door to the very left that goes to the stairs.  I'm going to go up and down those stairs sometime to see where they go, because I know they don't go to the lobby.  I think it goes to the roof and then probably the garage that we cannot use, so these stairs might be useless to us, but we'll see.  There is also a door to the very right of our door, facing the stairs door, and it is an apartment.

 We step inside the apartment and find this look.  The closet to the left is the coat closet and the closet to the right is the laundry closet.

The next door on the right is the extra bedroom -

 

We take a few more steps into the apartment, standing almost at the extra bedroom door, and find this look -    

 

 

To the left we find the main bath and the master bedroom -

 



 

 

Here is an inside look at the master bedroom -

 

 

and master bathroom -

 



 

 Here is a closer look at the kitchen -

 

and a closer look at the family room -

Everything is all scrunched together in this room, but at least I was able to keep my scrapbooking stuff here to work on -

 

 Lastly is a look back at the apartment, as I was standing by the TV -

 

There you have it!

Our New Place

Well, last night was a hard night ..., hard to sleep.  Terry had been given medication to help get rid of the hives during his infusion and it does the opposite of what Benadryl does - it keeps him awake. That makes for a tough night.  He came out and watched TV and didn't get back to bed until 3:00am.

I started unpacking and putting things away this morning, so things are pretty much where they will stay, unless I change my mind later (and I reserve the right to do that).

Terry made a Spanish Tortilla for us for breakfast, but it was pretty tricky without the right pan and no salt, but he made it work and it was delicious.  We're so glad to have a kitchen and plan to get it supplied with things we will be using often.

Our first appointment for the day was at 2:15 for blood draw and then we had a 3:00 appointment with our team, which includes a nurse and two different doctors.  It was quite informative and we were happy to learn the new plan, though the timing is not really what we were hoping for.

Terry will have an Ofatumumab infusion at least once a week to help control the disease and not let it get too bad since we are taking awhile before transplant.  This week he will get two - he had one Monday and gets another (much larger dose) Thursday.  They will start right out with the hydrocortisone to begin with so that he doesn't get hives and they can pump it faster to get the right dose.  I hope it doesn't keep him awake all night again, I don't know how many sleepless nights one can handle when health is already an issue.

Transplant is now scheduled for November 22nd.  They tell us that is the best timing for the donor.  Whatever the reason we are on their terms and timing, so what can we say?  I guess one thing we did say was "please put the Hickman Line in now!" because he is tired of getting poked like a pin cushion.  He has had too many blood draws and infusions lately and they have to poke him each time (twice a day many times).  They agreed to put it in early, but will have to check with our insurance to make sure. Hopefully it can be done soon.

We're just taking it one day at a time, but this timing thing is pretty tricky.  Speaking of time - I think it's time to show some pictures. We'll start with SCCA House, room 313, so this is the place we left behind.

This was our bedroom (sorry, I was moving out at the time I took this photo so the bed is not made).

This was our kitchen and hallway to the bedroom and bathroom (view is shown from standing at the front door).

Did you see the fridge?  It's under the counter under the microwave.

Here is the living room and dining room and office space, just past the kitchen and right in the bedroom.

Here is the bathroom.  It was a good size room with nice drawers and counter space.

Oh, here is the closet in the bedroom.  Great drawers!

Now that was nice huh!  We were definitely happy to have it available for us. 

Now let me show you where we moved into.  Pete Gross House Apt. 312 -

Our bedroom.

 



With a bathroom.

 Our kitchen.

A second bedroom.

Our dining room, that I changed into a scrapbooking area.

 

Here is the dining room and the living room, as seen from the scrapbooking area.  ;)

 



 

And look at my laundry room.  ;)

 

 

Oh, here is our main bath.

 

Here is the look from our front door (main bath to the left, laundry in the closet at right, two bedrooms straight back, and the office desk).

 

 Another view of the desk (from the hall leading to the living area.

 

Here is a closet in the hall.



 This view is in the entrance at the desk, looking down the hall toward the kitchen and living areas.
(The hall closet can be seen at the right of the photo and the bedroom doors can be seen on the left of the photo.)

 

Well, that ought to have been confusing enough.  But, we are loving the larger space with a real bedroom and a real kitchen and a real living room area and dining room area, and a washer and dryer and ....  We know it's not perfect, but it's great!  We are happy to have it.  It's a bit more homey.