Our costume parade begins with Graham, Eden, Duncan and Jane ready for their evening of candy collecting! They were my first trick or treaters and since it's been dark for about an hour and no one has come yet--they may be my only ones! In spite of that I loved their costumes and their enthusiasm.
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| Dracula |
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| Little Bo Peep--Good news! She found her sheep! |
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| Kylo Ren |
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| Ninja |
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| My first trick or treaters! |
I know all of you are wondering what is happening with Lincoln. After months of testing a diagnosis has been made. The doctors (he has 4!) have diagnosed him with something called vasculitis I will share what it is from a description of it on the Mayo Clinic website.
Vasculitis is inflammation of your blood vessels. It causes changes in the blood vessel walls, including thickening, weakening, narrowing or scarring. These changes can restrict blood flow, resulting in organ and tissue damage. There are many types of vasculitis, and most of them are rare. Vasculitis might affect just one organ, or several. The condition can be short term (acute) or long lasting (chronic). Vasculitis can affect anyone, though some types are more common among certain groups. Depending on the type you have, you may improve without treatment. Some types require medications to control the inflammation and prevent flare-ups.
Leave it to Lincoln to have a rare disease! Because of this Lincoln will not be able to return to Colorado and his mission is complete. The doctor told him that he won't be able to go to BYU until at least the Spring session. He is going to take on-line classes from BYU starting in January. At this time he is now receiving chemotherapy once a week in a very low dosage. He takes four pills every Thursday for at least 3 months. Hopefully that will keep his hair on his head but they did give him an additional medication that will strengthen his hair cells. We are all glad that there is a diagnosis but needless to say, we are all nervous about how this will affect him. It is interesting as I look back on Lincolns various problems (like having his gall bladder out at 18) probably have indicated that he has had this for a while. The original concern when he came home was that his immune system was compromised and for his safety he needed to get his intestinal issues under control. That is still a concern so he has been cautioned to be vigilant is wearing a mask. He was also told by the doctor that it was important that he didn't fall or participate in any activity where he could be punched. That means going to the rock-climbing gym is out (hopefully for just a while) and no football or basketball, skiing, etc.
I hope that if you dressed up for Halloween that you remember to send me pictures for my blog!
Another Halloween dinner tonight. I have loved over the years having a chance to have the California Duncan's over to celebrate holidays. And now since our move here I get to do the same thing for the Whitney's. In keeping with the time of year I made Chili, Potato-Ham and Corn Chowder, and a Meatball soup. I also made cornbread muffins and Cheddar Bay Biscuits I finished off dinner with a Monster cake which wasn't as impressive as I thought it would be! It sure looked cute on Pinterest! The dinner was good but the company was he best!
This year Aunt Cathy took Will, Abby and Bruce on special vacations. Each one got to pick what they would like to do. Will and Aunt Cathy went to Bryce Canyon and did some rockhounding. Abby and Aunt Cathy went to Brian Head for their trip. Brian Head is in central Utah. While there they were able to drive to the top of the mountain to watch the sunset and also to Quail Creek Sate Park where they rented a paddle board and kayak. On their trip home they stopped in and explored just a bit of the lava tubes located nearby. Bruce chose a different location for his time with mom. He wanted to eat lunch every day in a restaurant. No pictures of that but I couldn't help but smile when I heard his choice!
Today Brigham signed on the dotted line to join the Marine Corp Reserves. He will be entering Boot Camp hopefully in January or February if a slot opens up. If not he will begin his training in March of 2021. I am proud of Brigham for his courage. He has trained well and I hope they realize early on that they have a very capable young man who will always give his all to serve his country. Brigham will be following his great Uncle David who loved the Marines and gave his all. I suspect when I tell him what Brigham has done he will shed a few tears!
Barb and I had a great time on our latest adventure! We had some ups and downs with some of our planned activities, but on the way home got a bonus when we drove through Yuma and found the Territorial Museum open. The trip was wonderful, my trip buddy was great, conversation was often inspiring, and when I got home last night I slept like a rock! Next adventure coming in the Spring!
We had a great drive over to California and were so excited to see the Queen Mary. We did see it, but only on the outside because again I believed the internet search! We did take some pictures and enjoyed that but it was disappointing to not be able to go inside. The guard at the Queen Mary told us that Google doesn't update their information and the only way to find out what is open is to go to the actual web site. Sadly, I had no idea it wasn't the actual site. From there we headed down the Pacific Coast Highway towards San Diego. We stopped and had lunch in Dana Point. I got a steak burrito that was worth the whole trip over! I found out something about having everyone sit outside to eat. It is like being at a picnic in the park but instead of dealing with ants you have to deal with flies!
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| I love Barb! She still liked me even when we found the Queen Mary closed! |
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| The Queen Mary |
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| My steak burrito--Yum! |
The time in San Diego was really nice. Barb found us a great hotel which probably had only about 10 rooms rented but it was clean and safe. It was in Old Town San Diego. We had a great time the first night we were there. We met Barb's nephew and his new wife for dinner by Seaport Village where we ate at Cheesecake Factory. When I am around young adults like them I always feel very encouraged! The next morning before we started the tour we went to the Donut Bar in downtown San Diego. Oh my goodness, it was amazing! I got a Samosa & a Nutella cream filled donut. Barb bought a Maple Bacon bar & an apple crumb donut. They were so good. From there we got on a tour bus and spent two hours driving around San Diego and over to Coronado Island. I loved hearing much of the history of that area. I learned that there is a area called "Little Italy" and I couldn't have counted on both hands the number of Italian restaurants there. When we finished the tour we headed to La Jolla to see the seal pool. I took pictures but had forgotten my regular camera so you can't really see the seals in the pictures I took--but there were loads of them! When we finished there we went back to the hotel for a rest and then drove over to Coronado Island and went to the beach I had gone to the week before with the Whitneys. We sat on the beach and watched the sun set! It was beautiful. And then when we were both totally worn out we headed back to Arizona!
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| The Donut Bar |
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| One of many unique houses on Coronado Island |
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| The Seal Pool in La Jolla |
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| Sunset |
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| On the Beach |
I am so glad we went back through Yuma. The first territorial prison was truly interesting and worth the time to stop in. They called it the "hell hole" and believe me even in October it was miserably hot. Can't imagine what it must have been like for those prisoners. A number of the convicts committed suicide while there. Apparently it was called the Alcatraz of the desert. I thought as we walked through the different building that even being a prison guard there must have been awful even if they got to go home at night! Here are some of the pictures I took.
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| This was the original prison |
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| Inside the Museum |
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| Prison Hospital |
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| This was a prison cell. 6 people per cell! |
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| There were 9 Mormon Polygamists who spent time in the Yuma Prison |
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| One of the Warden's put in a library and they also taught the prisoners how to read. |
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| This was the guard stand. Underneath it was the water well for the prison. |
