Traces of Time . . . February 25 to March 3, 2019

Traces of Time . . .

(To see last week's blog post--scroll down to the end of this week, then the Week of Feb. 18-Feb. 24, 2019 will be there. If it's not, hit "Older Posts.")
THIS WEEK- FEBRUARY 25-
march 3, 2019

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2018 

Family is Everything…

 Happy Birthday to our darling granddaughter,

TAYLOR  PETERSEN

We hope you have a wonderful

birthday in Tennesssee.

That's quite a look for a Monday morning.

We went to our foot doctor today.
We can go every 66 days to have our thick,
snarly toe nails clipped.
In Idaho, Medicare only allowed every 90 days.
Wonder why the difference?

 We're lucky this foot and ankle man comes
to Saratoga Springs from his main office
in ?American Fork or Pleasant Grove.

 It's a rare Monday that Julie and Maddie
get to have supper with us.
Julie teaches Maddie's youth BYU Ballroom
Team in Provo every Monday and Wednesday.

 Rigdon is a delight to be with.

I tried a selfie....not so great.

I get to sit by Jackson at the table.
He is a great teenager.

Darling Jacee had her sweet friend, Lucy, over.

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2019 

Family is Everything…

 Happy Birthday to our wonderful grandson,

  SAM PETERSEN

We hope you have a wonderful

birthday in Utah.
We love you!
Left to right: Will, David, SAM, Grampa Petersen.

Institute today: Moses 7

Michael Wilcox, in an Education Week 

class in Burley, Idaho, on June 21, 1988

said:

"Moses 7 is the greatest chapter of
scripture ever written."

 Sue Spencer taught with enthusiasm.

We have a lot of great discussion in class.

 God's answer in Moses 7:32-37

We'd never heard this:
"There is always free cheese
in a mousetrap."

  "Don't fall for it."
"Don't give up what you most want
in life for what you think
you want now."

 "Should not the heavens weep,
seeing these shall suffer?"

Enoch wept...

Here are some quotes from the lesson:

Just skip past them if you are not interested.

Sorry, I can't get them spaced very well.

Moses 7:13. “Great Was the Faith of Enoch”

Enoch was told at the beginning of his ministry that he would do great things (see Moses 6:34). Enoch’s faith in Jesus Christ enabled him to do those things. Elder Bruce R. McConkie (1915–85) of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles said: “Faith is power; by faith the worlds were made; nothing is impossible to those who have faith. If the earth itself came rolling into existence by faith, surely a mere mountain can be removed by that same power” (The Mortal Messiah: From Bethlehem to Calvary [1980], 3:73; see also Jacob 4:6; Ether 12:13–22).

Moses 7:19. “City of Holiness”

Enoch’s city had two names, Zion and City of Holiness. The second name becomes more meaningful when we remember that Heavenly Father’s name in the language of Adam is Man of Holiness (see Moses 6:57).

Eileen's note: For me Moses 7 clearly shows that Jesus Christ and His Atonement make The Plan of Salvation operational, and why we need to Come Unto Christ to be saved.

*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***

 We had to leave Institute a little early

to drive to the UofU Endocrinology and 

Diabetes Center 

for my 3-month follow up

with Dr. Wahl. 

My AIC was 10.4 which is down

from 11.3 in September, but

still not what it should be.

Dr. Wahl said they like it to
be below 8.0.
However, to get the new high-powered
insulins like Victoza, Lantus, or Humalog,
it costs from $400 to $900 per month.
And I'm not going to pay that!

We then drove back home, had lunch,
a nap, then went to the club house
and bicycled for 40 minutes.
We watched a little of the Oscars
which were recorded. 
We had only seen "Mary Poppins - The Return"
of all the movies nominated or mentioned.
It used to be exciting when we had seen
most of the movies and knew about
the actors/actresses getting awards.
Oh, for the good old days.

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2019 

Family is Everything…
The beginning of a long day

of pain for Walt
Walt woke me up at 3:50 a.m. and said

he had been woken up two hours

before with a sharp, shooting pain

on the left side of his left ankle.
He had tried many different positions
to try to get it to go away but nothing
was helping and he was to a point he
couldn't stand it.
He ranked it as an 8-9 on the
pain scale of 0-10.
It would hit for 2-3 seconds, then
go away for 3 to 25 seconds, the recur.
He was quite beside himself and asked
if I could drive him to the Urgen Care Center,
which is just 3 miles away by the
Saratoga Springs Walmart.
He thought they were open 24 hours.
He then decided that I shouldn't be
driving in the dark.
When he said I should wake Julie up to
have her drive him, I knew that his
pain was excruciating.
I got dressed, helped Walt get dressed.
By then it was almost 4:30 when I
opened our door and turned the front
entrance light on to go wake up Julie.
She had come out in the family room
and asked "What's wrong?" as
she was putting her bathrobe on.
She immediately dressed and drove
us to the Mountain Point Hospital E.R.
because she knew that the Urgent Care
was only opened 8am to 11pm.

Walt had lots of pain.

 They ordered an x-ray of his foot.
Nothing broken.

 They gave him a morphine shot.
No relief from the pain.
They gave him Tordol. No relief.

They did an ultra sound to check
for a blood clot in his leg. No blood clot.

By 7:30 they sent him home with an Rx
for Oxycodon--generic for Percecet.
It did not relieve his pain.
They also gave him the name of a
neurosurgeon and an orthopedic surgeon
to see if a cause of this pain 
could be determined.

Max must have sensed that something
was wrong with Walt.

 We were able to get him in that afternoon

to see the neurosurgeon in downtown

Salt Lake City.

He said what Brian had told us that morning:

Sometimes a pinched nerve in the back

can cause this type of pain in the ankle.

He gave Walt a sample of Lyrica for

nerve pain, plus a Rx for some cream to

rub on the knee.  He said it could

be a bruised knee causing the pain.

Gary--bless his heart--had left

his work early to drive us to SLC.

We went to Trolly Square after the appointment

because it was within a few blocks.
This window display gave me 
hope of S P R I N G.

We had not had lunch, so we went
to "the old spaghetti factory."

 They had us sit out in the patio.

...so many choices on the menu...

Fun that it's their 50th anniversary
of the first "old spaghetti factory"
which opened in Portland, Oregon.

Our waiter told us this "old spaghetti factory"
opened in 1972 or 1973 when Trolley Square
opened as a mall.
The original Trolley Square had opened
in the late 1800's. There is a museum
there in the mall but it's only opened
Thursday and Friday.
...our course started with salads
and this yummy fresh-baked bread.

In addition to lemonade and root beer,
we ordered one Italian Cream Soda--a
vanilla-raspberry one--to share,
(see the three straws).

I got lasagne, which was enough to
take half home to have for supper on Saturday.

 Gary got Chicken parmesan and spaghetti...

Walt got spaghetti...
oh, and I ordered one 
Italian meatball, which I cut
into thirds to share with my
two escorts.
When we finished Walt said:
"I really enjoyed that!"
(Even tho he was still having those
shooting pains in his ankle throughout
the time we were there.)

...and Spumoni ice cream came with the order.
(Gary got vanilla to see if it was good ice cream.
It was.)

Here's a googled pix that shows
the three colors...pink, green, chocolate.
I can't quite describe what the flavor is for each.

On the way out, another window display
gave more hope that Spring and Easter
--along with warmer weather--are coming.

Walt and Gary posed for a photo 
by the Trolley Square tower.

Here's a better photo of the tower
that says: "Trolley Square" on it.

Fun lights on the trees around
the perimeter. The mall was
"user friendly" for our walkers.

 When Gary got us home, it was just in time
for our Wednesday Movie Night with him.

We watched the last of our love story 
movies for February with Gary tonight.
"Funny Girl"
Part of the life story of Fanny Brice,
starring Barbara Streisand and Omar Shariff

Made in 1968...
At the end, Gary said: 
"That was another sad ending..."

For March we are trying to think'
of basketball movies for "March Madness."
We've come up with Hoosiers and Glory Road.
Do any of you know any other basketball movies
to suggest for us?  Thanks.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2019 

Family is Everything…

  Marci from home health came to help Walt.

Walt is holding out his hand
for his morning pills.

We didn't know if Walt would be able to
sleep during the previous night with that pain,
but he did.  Then after his shower,
he went back to bed and virtually
slept most all day.

  Karen Hanson, Walt's home health
nurse came a while later and we woke him up.

We are so thankful for home health
and this wonderful nurse who helps
follow his wellness and progress. 

 Walt slept the rest of the afternoon.

I guess all those pain pills kicked in and

zapped him.

Before he knew it, it was time for supper.

We are so blessed to have Julie and John

prepare delicious and nutricious meals for us.

They are taking very good care of us!

We would never have been able to

survive this winter alone in our big home

in Burley. Our kids knew it was the

time we needed to move.

And now: Goodbye February...
and hopefully goodbye to winter...
as we welcome March tomorrow.

FRIDAY, MARCH 1, 2019 

Family is Everything…

Horray! It's March!

Winter is about over. Yahoo

 The sun didn't shine much today,
but it still seemed kinda like
spring was coming.

 Walt is pretty much pain free today
as he caught up on the Times News.

 Scott, his home health physical therapist
came today.

 He printed out some exercises for Walt.

 Cam, a physical therapist student from
San Diego, helped Walt today.

 This afternoon we got in to see
the Orthopedic Surgeon recommended
for him to see.

 Dr. Hoffman checked Walt's x-ray of his ankle.
He explained some other things that it showed.

 There was also a medical student doing
a rotation 

John, Jackson, and Maddie had gone
night skiing when we got back,
but Julie, Jacee, and Rigdon were home.
I got to bring a Jdwag home, and
Walt brought a Costa Vida taco.
We went to bed early.
SATURDAY, MARCH 2, 2019 

Family is Everything…

Marci came from home health to help Walt.

We had cereal and bananas and o.j.
for breakfast.

While we did some computer work
and other things--like washing/drying
clothes around our cozy cottage today,
we kinda watched what was billed as
"the best monster movie ever made:
'Them!' " (from 1954)

We're not in to Sci-Fi stuff, but it
was interesting to see how the atomic bomb
testing could have radiation mutated ants
to 9 feet in length and cause havoc on earth.

The one Sci-Fi movie I did like was
"Close Encounters of the Third Kind"
which came on Turner Classic Movies,
which I had on while going back and 
forth to the laundry room and doing
other things.



Julie heading again to Provo for her
girls' youth BYU Ballroom practices.
Earlier she drove Jacee to her morning
carpool before six o'clock this morning.

 Cold and rainy today...

I was glad I didn't have to go out today...
that was until Walt said he needed a haircut.
Luckily, Super Cuts is just 2 miles away
at The Crossing Mall.

Just looked outside as I finished 
downloading photos for
today's blog post.
Lots of snow on front lawn,
compared to the photo of that
lawn above from this afternoon.

So it looks like maybe March is
coming in more like 
a lamb than a lion this year.
Well, a white lamb...

SUNDAY, MARCH 3, 2019 

Family is Everything…
Down memory lane...
December 1965 after we drove from Oklahoma
to California for Dale and Vicki's wedding,
then back to Idaho to spend Christmas
with my parents in Gooding, 
and Walt's parents in Wendell.

A better view...

We woke up to a winter wonder land 

Even though it's beautiful -

it is MARCH!

I predicted it would be melted by tomorrow.

I was wrong it was melted by this afternoon.

I took a photo of the family at Sunday

dinner -- but it didn't "take."

The table was festive with green goblets and 

green bubbly cups for March.

It was another delicious Mormon Roast-beef 

Sunday dinner cooked by John.

Thanks, John!

We had ten testimonies shared during

our Saratoga Springs 3rd ward Fast and Testimony Meeting.

About three of them were 8-9 minutes long,
with about three young children taking 1 minute.
Most testified of the Savior, Jesus Christ,
which is the heart of our testimony.
In Sunday School the discussion was on
Matthew 5-6-7 and Luke 6.
The Sermon on the Mount is timeless
and we would do well to learn from it,
and live it fully.
We do love our Savior, Jesus Christ!
We can never thank Him sufficiently for
all He has done for us.

At the end of this March 3rd,

we pray you have had a

restful , peaceful, and spiritual

Sabbath Day...

We share these truths as our testimony to you...

Heavenly Father lives and knows us each by name. He loves us and wants us to return to Him and Heavenly Mother when we leave this mortal existence.  

*** *** ***

Jesus Christ came to earth as The Only Begotten of the Father and fulfilled the Atonement. He is the Redeemer of all. 

*** *** ***

Joseph Smith was foreordained to be the Prophet of the Restoration.  He is the Restorer of all.

*** *** ***

President Russell M. Nelson is the Living Prophet today for all the world.  He was foreordained to this high and holy calling.

*** *** ***

The Bible is "the Word of God as far as it is translated correctly" and is a Testament of the Divinity of Jesus Christ.

*** *** ***

The Book of Mormon is the Word of God and is Another Testament of Jesus Christ.  It came from  and is "the most correct book ever written."

*** *** ***

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the True Church on the earth today.  We know many good people in many other churches that have good in them. As a Prophet said, paraphrasing: Come and let us add to what you have.

*** *** ***

Of these truths we testify in the Name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Walt and Eileen Petersen

Saratoga Springs, Utah, U.S.A.

March 3, 2019