Shoshone Falls

Monday, May 30, 2011 (Memorial Day observed)

Apparently there’s this waterfall about a half hour from our house called Shoshone Falls. I have for sure seen the “historical site” sign a billion times for it, but obviously didn’t pay any attention. Well yesterday, I was educated. Jesse’s brother invited us to check it out so we left mid-afternoon and enjoyed a couple hours hiking around the area. There were a ton of people, I’m sure due to the fact that it was a holiday and also because there’s more water in it than usual. The wind was blowing the water off the falls so hard and so much that we were nearly drenched. You can imagine how becoming I looked with the triple frizz. (Just picture a soggy poodle.)The girls (Kloe and her 2 cousins) had a blast climbing around and rolling down the grassy hills. Mitch was perfect, like usual, just chillin’ in the stroller. After hiking and exploring for a while, we drove into Twin Falls and had dinner. And of course it wouldn’t be right if we headed home without a little Coldstone. A good day with good weather, good people and good food. Beat that.

Spring has sprung!

I love this time of year. Idaho winters sometimes seem like they will never end. But they always do, eventually. And every year I am more grateful for buds on the trees, flowers popping up, green grass, chirping birds, and everything else that spring brings (like the urge to deep clean the house). One of my favorite things to do when the sun comes out and temperatures reach 50+ is open the windows and turn some music on, particularly oldies. Like Mr. Bojangles and American Pie. There's just something about this time of year that brings a little hip and a hop into my step, accompanied by a little sunshine in my soul. I also love spring because it reminds me of new life. I can't get enough of it. The fields are green again, people wear bright colors to church (except me-I am a little too fond of the color gray), and everyone just seems happier.

My spring babies

Here's a little of what I enjoyed today thanks to a hard working husband.

East side of the front yard ^^^
Front yard looking west (below)

Backyard & Trampoline ^^^
Melons and 12' sunflowers (hopefully)
Blackberry bushes between fence and cement

Raspberries and apricot tree (Jesse installed that broken cement)

Onions, cabbage, spinach, carrots & corn

Bird feeder & bird bath

Corn barely coming up!^^^
Peas and potatoes (below)

Asparagus

Sandbox and strawberries

Yumminess! (Corn)

Our backyard

My new favorite place! ^^^

Jesse has lined the entire yard with rocks he got from the desert. It was a LOT of HARD work. I think it looks professional.

A pretty sweet view of the mountains south of us.

And, if you haven't heard this, you ought to. It's one of my favorites, especially this rendition. Happy Spring!

Loyal

This is how dictionary.com defines it:

loy·al

1. faithful to one's sovereign, government, or state: a loyal subject.

2. faithful to one's oath, commitments, or obligations: to be loyal to a vow.

3. faithful to any leader, party, or cause, or to any person or thing conceived as deserving fidelity: a loyal friend.

This is how I define it:
shei·laIf any of you knew this gal (yes, she's definitely a gal), you would most certainly agree.
She will do anything and everything for a friend. Now that's loyalty.
-Thanks, Sheila for being with my mom when I couldn't be. You're such a stud! (Troy is pretty cool, too!)

Ok, so first of all...I found these on a craft blog and thought a. These are so cute b. Mine wouldn't turn out that cute c. These remind me of something Janessa Hardinger would like (black and white) and I know she could make them look just as professional as they do in the pictures. (Janessa- if you see this, I hope you aren't weirded out.) BTW-They're chocolate covered Oreos. Aren't they beauties?

Anyway.
Speaking of beauties...

This is my mom. Otherwise known as Em K or Bergenheim. She's pretty pretty. Actually really pretty. (Thank goodness because everyone tells me I look just like her!) And I'm not just talking about the outside; she's pretty on the inside, too. Mostly, anyway. All except this not so little thing known as a tumor they found attached to her uterus. (is that word appropriate for a blog?) I hope she doesn't mind me sharing with who knows who about her personal health issues. For the past few years she has been in a lot of pain and her dr., who was obviously super lame sent her home crying more than once because she said there was nothing that could be done. Not only was she in pain, but she was dealing with severe bleeding, all the while being anemic. Not cool. At all. So...finally her dr. retired and she was able to get into a younger lady who was more than willing to fix the problem(s). First on the agenda was an ultrasound in which they found the aforementioned tumor and an enlarged uterus. She didn't seem too concerned about it, as they are fairly common. She went as far to say that it wasn't cancerous, but merely a fibroid and that it could be removed. But before that could be done, she wanted to look over the ultrasound photos and do a biopsy to make sure she didn't get any surprises when she opened her up. So everything is fine? Right? Wrong. At 9:30 PM the night before her 50th birthday, her doctor calls and tells her that she has looked over the photos and she could not rule out cancer. She was to come in first thing Monday and get a biopsy done. Ok. Happy Birthday. Or not. I left to go home Monday morning a wreck. All I could think about was the possibility of my mom having cancer. I kept waiting and waiting for my phone to beep with the news that they had found a horrible disease in my mom. The beep finally came, about an hour away from home. She said the dr. ruled out cancer again but wanted to do the biopsy just in case. So she did the biopsy and wa-la, once again the dr. told her because of the size of the cells she could not rule out the possibility of cancer. UGH. I get off the phone. And this is what I see.
A rainbow (I could actually see the full rainbow, which I've never seen before). I thought, hmm. this is really cool. And then I was reminded of the meaning of rainbows and how they symbolize promises. Promises from Heavenly Father. And then I thought about the promises and covenants my mom had made. Promises I knew she had kept. And I immediately was overwhelmed with peace.
Fortunately after going through multiple tests and an MRI, they found NO cancer. Hallelujah! This morning they removed the fibroid tumor as well as her uterus and some scar tissue that had adhered to her insides from previous c-sections. The surgery went well. We're hoping for a quick recovery. Prayers are answered. Heavenly Father loves us and does keep His promises.