Our stay in the Nueroscience/trauma unit.

This is Jane Anne, I have been given the assignment to blog about Josh's surgery.
This past week has been a rough one. Josh went into surgery for his scoliosis on Wednesday, and 5 hours and 11 fused vertebrae later his back was fixed. It is a pretty major surgery and so he stayed from wednesday to sunday at Primary Childrens hospital in salt lake. Friday was his 17th birthday, and the hospital was nice enough to celebrate . He is doing well now and is on the (long) road to recovery.We are very thankful for all the prayers and support that we were given.

Oh, and he would like everyone to know that he is now an inch taller! Coming in at a whopping 6'2 3/4 "before the surgerySitting up for the first time. What an incision!
Up and walking!Giving the birthday boy some love :)
Finally coming home!!!!

Bob's Birthday WEEK!!!

Having a birthday is especially nice when you can celebrate for a whole week! We did just that for Bob's birthday this year. We started out the week by flying to LA to stay at the Ritz for two nights. Then on Thursday night, Bob and I went out to the Grill Room in Sundance for dinner (the Tree Room was closed). Friday night we went out to dinner and a movie with our married kids while Josh went to a party with his friends.

On Saturday night, we went to Outback Steak House and then the play, "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" with all the kids at the Hale Center Theater. Bob and I had already seen the play once, but it was so delightful and funny that Bob wanted to see it again with the kids! Our toughest play critic, Josh, loved it!

Sunday we had our traditional birthday dinner complete with the chocolate cake! It was quite a week!

Golfing prize!!!

The view from the back of the Ritz! We loved the warm weather, the ocean and flowers!


From our balcony, we watched this amazing kite surfer! It was awesome how he jumped in the air and criss-crossed along the waves!

The view out of our balcony. The hotel sits on a cliff overlooking the ocean!


Having a husband who is passionate about golf sometimes has it's perks. Last year, while playing in his favorite, most sacred of all tournaments, the Riverside Country Club Mulligan, Bob scored closest to the hole on #11. The prize was a two night stay at the Ritz Carleton Laguna Nigel Hotel in California with $250 to boot! Well, through all of our long snowy cold months, Bob has been dreaming of warm weather and going to Laguna to stay at the Ritz. This month, for Spring Break, that's what we did! We flew with Josh to LA and then stayed for two glorious days. We ate some wonderful meals, went to Disney's California Adventure Theme Park and relaxed by the pool all the while it was a blizzard here in Provo! Can't wait for this year's tourney... I won't even mind all the "practice" rounds of golf leading up to it!

Relief Society General Board Meetings

One of the perks of being in a Stake calling is attending the training meetings held by the auxiliary's General Board the week before General Conference. Our presidency went to Salt Lake yesterday (in the blizzard) to the tabernacle where our meeting was held. It was fun to be together and to also see the General Relief Society Presidency in action. They are wonderful women with such spiritual insight, strength and humor, too!

THE STARS ALIGN !!!!

The newest member of the Timpview JV tennis team, just after winning his first match!!

This is the cool (or should I say HOT?) logo for the team's sweatshirt. Don't you just love the flaming tennis ball?


(I could only get a picture of him through the chain link fence!)

Sometimes the stars align and dreams really do come true. For the last several years, Josh has taken tennis lessons in hopes of being able to play on the Timpview tennis team. He tried out as a freshman and didn't make it. He tried out this year and made the first and second cuts but, sadly, not the last. The coach told him that he wanted him to try out again next year and that his sons, the assistant coaches, had wanted to keep him. Josh took all this well and when I asked if he wanted to continue taking lessons he said "Yes" and that he wanted to try again next year. Well, this week-end, there was a message left on our message machine from the Timpview tennis coach, Rob Sperry. He had seen Josh last week-end at Matt Jackson's farewell. Josh talked with him and didn't think much about it. But, the next Saturday, there was a message from Rob. He told Josh that he had made a mistake and wanted to invite Josh to join the tennis team!!! We were thrilled and shocked! We had never heard of anything like this happening! Well, today Josh played his first match and won!!! 8 to 6! Afterwards, we went out to dinner to celebrate and Ryan and Becca joined us. We are so excited for Josh! Lots of exciting times ahead!

Grandma Jackson's 89th Birthday!

Grandma Jackson just turned 29 for the 61st time on Friday, March 26th! We had a wonderful dinner for her at her daughter Susie's home with just her children and spouses. It was amazing with all the doctors in the family, that everyone was able to come! Then, Friday, her actual birthday, Jamestown, where she lives had a little party for her. Instead of the grandchildren talent show that we have had in the past, we had a great video that Stefanie Jackson had put together. The high light was seeing pictures of her and Bud on their wedding day! What a treasure to have! We love you, Mary Ellen!

Disney vouchers!!!

Wow!! Our Disney vouchers have come. We got the much anticipated email this week end! We are hoping to use them at Walt Disney World over Thanksgiving break!

Women's Conference

On Friday of this week, our stake Relief Society Presidency met at our Stake Center to get ready for our BIG event of the year: Women's Conference!!! We had planned for the better part of a year for this event and we were so excited!! We got tables set for approximately four hundred and made "snacks" of trail mix and pretzels so our sisters wouldn't get too hungry while they were at class! Our theme for the conference was "Enjoy the Journey".
Our luncheon, which took place after the classes, was prepared by Donna Kelly from my ward. She made a fabulous oriental chicken salad that was served in a "Chinese take-out" box. We even had specially made fortune cookies that had Pres. Monson's quote inside about "enjoying the journey"!We had a humanitarian project going on where women could come and tie quilts if they wanted during class time. Three twin bed size quilts were done and six baby quilts completed!
My favorite class, the one I had been waiting for, was on the joy of being a grandmother. Sister Connie Boshard, grandma and woman extraordinaire taught the class. She had so many fun themes and ideas for family reunions, activities, and gifts for your grandchildren!!! You can see her enthusiasm and spirit in the picture below! In all, nine different classes were taught, and everyone was wonderful! We felt so blessed and so happy that the conference went so well!

Give a day, Get a free Disney Day!

My favorite one!

Ryan and Becca told us about a program that Disney was doing where they were offering one million free tickets into Disneyland or Walt Disney World to people who signed up to do a service project in their community! After hearing about their experience and how easy it was, I decided to sign me, Bob, Josh, Janie and Colby up. I was able to choose from 10-12 pages of service projects and chose the United Way's "Welcome Baby" program. For each ticket we had to either buy 10 receiving blankets or make 3. Well, we bought thirty at 6/$10 and so spent $50. Then I had quite a bit of baby flannel that I decided to make into blankets. I figure we will get $450 worth of tickets for about $75! That's $15 a ticket! The only problem...I got carried away and instead of making six blankets, I made fourteen! I just really enjoyed sewing again and found I could make a blanket in about 20 minutes. (I figure I can use the extra blankets for gifts.) I took our finished project to United Way today and they said to watch for our ticket voucher within the next two weeks. We are really excited!

Bob's perfect day!

If you are a busy orthopedic doctor who goes to work before the sun is up and comes home many nights after the sun has set, you dream of being outside doing something you love that is not related to work. Well, our son James, who lives in Boston came this week-end for a visit! He really wanted to ski and so Bob took off yesterday ( a rarity) and they went to Deer Valley early in the morning. They skiied HARD (doing all the mogels and double black diamond runs) and then came home about 2:00 p.m. At 3:00 p.m. they had a Tee-time at Riverside to go GOLFING with Ryan and Josh! Skiing and golfing in the same day---only in Utah in the spring!!!

After nine holes, we all piled in the trusty suburban and drove to Salt Lake where James wanted to go to Hires Big "H" restaurant (a drive-in hamburger place that I used to go to when I was a young girl). We met Janie and Colby and the whole family threw cholesterol worries to the wind and had onion rings, cheese fries, and hamburgers. It was a heart attack waiting to happen! Afterwards, we went to a fantastic gelato place and had scrumptious gelato like you would find in Europe. I had Nutella chocolate and Cookies and Cream and it was SO GOOD! I tasted Becca's strawberry and I am dreaming of that right now. Seriously, I will seek out this place the next trip to Salt Lake and try some of the other flavors. It was to die for!

Timpview Basketball State Champs!!!!

Josh, Jacob, and Cindy

Ahh! Those lovely Weber State Wildcat PURPLE seats!

Last weekend, we went for a trip down memory lane...we went to Weber State University in Ogden to the High School 4A Basketball finals! We have been to Weber State many times in the past when our basketball playing children were also in state games. We love the excitement and thrill of the games!! This year, Timpview won the championship again!!! The last time they won was when Ryan's team won in 2002. We took Josh and two of his friends (this made for a very loud car ride) and then met Janie who had come down from Logan. After the game we went to Wingers for some dinner. (We opted for a separate table from Josh and friends as we wanted some quiet!!!) It was great fun.

The friends that came to play!

Friends come in all shapes and sizes! How wonderful that we can be friends with anyone and how enriching they are to our lives. Last Tuesday, my dear friend, Tiffany, who lives across the street, needed someone to watch her two youngest children, Mark and Katie. When they arrived, I got out our large bin of duplos. We set up a zoo and, of course, a long train! Now, knowing Mark a little bit, I knew Mark was a train man and understood EVERY aspect of trains, particularly anything Thomas. What I didn't know was that his vocabulary extends way beyond the train yard. I was "blown away" when Mark asked me, "Hey, Sister Jackson, how do work this hydraulic wench, anyway?"
The "Hydraulic wench!"


Mark ready to lift a tiger from the train with his hydraulic wench in hand!

Grandma Mimi turns 29 again!

Last Saturday night, we celebrated my mom turning 29 again! (She is timeless!) She and Jane Anne share the same birthday, Feb. 24th! A very good day as far as I am concerned! We got together at my brother's home where we had a tasty dinner and enjoyed visiting with each other. For birthday cake we had apple torte with lemon sauce. Yum! Happy Birthday, Mom!

My baby girl is 21!

Jane Anne's birthday celebrating lasted a whole week!! I guess that's what happens when your birthday falls on a Wed. and you can only get together with the rest of your family on the week-ends. Last Saturday night, Feb. 20th, we went to Chef's Table for dinner. We had a wonderful time and wonderful food!


Then the following day, we had our traditional Sunday birthday dinner. Janie chose fried chicken with country cream gravy and mashed potatoes for her menu. We finished with our traditional yummy homemade chocolate cake. It's similar to Magleby's chocolate cake but way, way better!
Then this last week-end she got all her presents. I think one of the favorites is this print of
Timpanogos with the leaves and snow. Janie knows that she and Colby will be leaving these
beloved mountains and Utah in the not too distant future to pursue his medical school career.
She wants to take a little of our spectacular scenery with her!


I can't believe my baby girl is 21! I am so grateful that the Lord in his goodness (and should I say mercy?) saw fit to bless me with at least one daughter! She is my dear friend and someone that I love and admire! Happy Birthday, Jane Anne!

The Circle of Life

Back row: Diane and Carolyn, Lael's daughters
Front row: Monica, Lael and me

I went to visit my great aunt, Lael Creer, today and on Tuesday. She is 93 and has decided that maybe she would like to relocate to Heaven. She has been a widow for 37 years now and thinks its time to see her sweetheart, Paul, again. Her family has been very dear to my family. Her grand daughter, Monica, worked for me for many years as my "right-hand" gal. She helped me in a thousand different ways when I had six children at home and life was crazy. Her mom, Carolyn, was a favorite cousin of my dad and she used to tend me and my siblings when my parents went on trips. Her mom, Lael, my great aunt, was mother to my dad when he went to live with them on their dairy farm in Spanish Fork. He lived with them for a year when he was in Jr. High. He helped out with milking the cows because all the other young men just older than he was had gone off to fight in WWII. As I sat visiting with all of them, all these different ways that we are tied together came to my mind. I am the privileged one to watch as Diane, Carolyn and Monica get ready to say "Good-bye" to their mom and grandma. My heart aches as I see Lael hoping the end will come soon---and it rejoices in the reunion that is to be on the "other side of the veil". My dad will be there and I know after she greets her husband, and siblings that he will be in line to give her a great big "Welcome Home" hug. "God be with you til we meet again" Aunt Lael, we love you.

Special Valentine's Dinner

Still Valentine's after 34 years!
The Tree Room graciously substituted fries for mashed potatoes for Josh. They had to go to the restaurant next door, the Foundry Grill, to get them for him---the Tree Room is a little "too stuffy" to have fries on their menu!
Umm!!! Filet Mignon covered in Mango Chutney...

Thursday night, Bob, Josh and I went to the Tree Room at Sundance for a Valentine's Dinner Date. (We had a fantastic gift certificate that Bob had won in a golf contest at his summer office party.) We celebrated Valentine's Day early because Bob flew to Phoenix Friday morning for a knee lab and got home late Saturday night. (He really just wanted to get out of the cold and play golf---the fact that the implant company paid for his flights and for his hotel room sealed the deal! ) One of our very favorite meals is the Pepper Steak with Mango Chutney and Buttermilk Mashed Potatoes. It is Divine!!! (Being the youngest child and the only child at home, really has its perks sometimes!)

Be my Valentine!

This is the Valentine I am giving to my Visiting Teaching Ladies today. I found the cute mail box in the dollar isle at Target. My children who live here, and don't need their Valentines mailed, are also getting one. Inside they are filled with English Toffee, homemade caramels, Dove chocolate hearts, Reese's peanut butter hearts, and Hershey Cherry Cordial Kisses. Yum!



To celebrate this special day, I love to make cards to send to my loved ones. Here are some of this years creations. Inside, I included a gift certificate to Cold Stone for a family home evening treat. I was pretty happy to find an ice cream store that has franchises in Ypsilanti, MI; Boston, MA; and Coralville, IA! Not to mention Provo, Utah!

A BIG, HUGELY SATISFYING DAY!!!

Ready to pack up the quilts to take to Primary Chilren's Medical Center.
Josh with Marie, the director of Charitable Donations at Primary Children's.

Being the mother of FIVE sons has it's priviledges. One of the first thoughts I had when we had the ultrasound almost 17 years ago, and found out that we were having another boy, was "Another Eagle Scout....". Now, I must admit, this was not an overly joyful thought---I had helped two sons by this time achieve their Eagle. I knew what the scouting program entailed. I knew the years of cub scouts and pack meetings,of boy scouts and merit badges and Eagle projects! Even thinking about it now, makes me tired. But today, Josh dropped off his four twin-bed size quilts to Primary Children's Medical Center in Salt Lake. The last Eagle project is done...finished...complete! If you listen carefully, you may here my huge satisfying sigh of relief! Now on to the Eagle Scout paper work...