Fortune: The Good, The Bad, and The Familial

So much has happened since I was last able to post anything. Let me explain, no wait, that will take too long, let me sum up:

Summer = sun/heat (unless you live in Utah), fishing, tennis, racquetball and school, school school... eventually we'll be able to add Seven Peaks water park to the list too - unless it get's shoved aside by more school for me.

I'm taking Physiology this first block of summer classes and Human Anatomy the second block. Yep, all the fun and excitement of learning about everything you never wanted to know about the human body in a fraction (7 weeks instead of 16) of the time. We'll see if I survive. Hope so, if I'm to keep on schedule for PT school by next summer!

The last few weeks we've gotten to spend a lot of time with the Walls (Jacob and Cari). Jacob and I have done some tennis (I'm not very good) and racquetball (I'm very good), and we've done quite a few fishing "trips;" mostly to the Provo river and mostly resulting in only one fish, Wall's catch, not mine. I was getting pretty sick of not even getting nibbles from those finicky fishes, so when we all decided to go camping and fishing in a "hot spot" I was pretty excited.

This last weekend we went camping at Box Creek in Fish Lake National Park. It was a lot of fun! I'll keep the details at a minimum and save them for another post... maybe. We stayed Thursday night, Friday, Saturday and came back Sunday morning. The fishing was great! We pulled out a number of eight inch trout (perfect for roasting on the fire with a stick) from the creek running through the camp and several more fillet size from the lake (Box Creek Reservoir). The only unfortunate event of the trip (in my book) was my tooth started to REALLY hurt Friday. It felt like an infection and I was doubtful it was a cavity since it was such a sudden, consistent and intense pain. By Friday night Millie was urging me to have Wall drive me back into town (three hours away) to go to the ER. No way I was going to do that, especially at three in the morning as she was suggesting. I survived, barely. Sunday night the pain was so bad I kept vomiting. Millie and the Walls said I was a lovely shade of green... good for broccoli, bad for a Jacob.

I didn't get much sleep last night (as I hadn't the past few nights), up with pain. Even the percocet and IBuprophen wasn't helping. I called the dentist at 7:30 this morning in hopes of getting an emergency opening - no dice. The only opening they had was at 9:30 and I was in Physiology lab till ten and then lecture till noon. Halfway through the lecture the pain was getting so bad again (it was coming in waves) I couldn't even sit up in my chair. The girl next to me thought I was crazy for even coming to class, and suggested I call my dentist back and see if they had any cancellations for the day. I took the advice and called. *Insert Hallelujah Chorus Here* There was a cancellation which gave me the 3:50pm slot! By three o'clock I wanted to pull the thing out myself and have it done with. I went in at 3:30 and they actually got me in and had started the assessment/x-rays by 3:35!!! How often do you see that in a dentist's office?! The problem was as I suspected. Infection. The infection occurred around some nerve endings that survived a previous root canal - a root canal performed by the same dentist's office four years earlier. Because it was their mistake that caused it they offered to redo it at no charge.

Right into it the dentist said, "no wonder you were in so much pain," then had to take a 20 min break to let all the puss and blood/fluids drain from the infection site. Yeah, it was pretty disgusting. However, they did use a little latex collecting umbrella (for lack of a better word) that went around my tooth and over/into my mouth so nothing ever drained into my mouth. It was nice. By the end of the procedure (three hours later) the anesthetics were wearing off and I could feel EVERYTHING again. He gave me another shot but it never did kick in... just made half of my face numb and left the tooth/jaw pain fully intact. It's now been three more hours and the pain has finally subsided, but my cheek is still numb.

Tomorrow is my birthday, 29 years, they've gone by fast! It's been a good birthday month so far as it has summed up a lot of how life goes: I've had some good fortune and some bad fortune, and I've been blessed with some great family (and friends) to share all that fortune with along the way.

Desert Trip - My Take On It.

The desert trip really was so much fun! It was great to see Bret and the boys (sadness Tevs and Ennie couldn't make it) and Don and Karen Wall (Jacob and Bret's parents). It was also fun to spend time camping with Jacob and Cari (Wall) and Alex and Nicole (Sevey). Despite the wind that Millie wrote about (which I absolutely loath) being with friends and family made it all worth while.

The various excursions we took away from camp were definitely much better than any time spent at camp. Other than being able to control the weather, the only thing I think I would have changed about camp would have been to do more "real" camp cooking... get more use out of the dutch ovens. Jacob Wall and I would have done EVERY meal in dutch ovens if it were entirely up to us, and next year, it may be. :) However, it was good to have a few of the "easier" meals we ended up having, like chili dogs and sandwiches, because of the wind and weather around camp.

This camping trip was my first time to the Moab/Arches area and the hikes were just as fun as I had anticipated. There really is more to do (even if you don't have a four-wheeler, dirt bike, or four wheel drive) in one trip than is really possible, so Millie and I look forward to next year's!


My petrified toilet.







The unorganized group photo.



Bret's idea of staking down the canopy... No, this was not the reason it got destroyed, that stake was quickly replaced after the picture.



I'm pretty sure that 90 degree angle Hazel's head is making out of the back of Jacob can't be good... but you can't argue with results - she was sleeping, and sleep is good!



Ellery enjoying the wind/dust at camp.

Desert Trip

We went with the Walls to their annual Desert Trip this year to Moab and Arches. The wind blew the entire time we were down there! Wind + Desert = Dirt Everywhere! I know we were camping, but this was dirtier than the average camping trip. We ended up leaving a day early because the wind had gotten so bad and it was starting to rain. We had borrowed my parents big canopy for the 'kitchen' and the wind destroyed it. Yes, it is now broken to pieces. Despite all that, it ended up being really fun.

The first day we went down to where the only water was. It was this little trickling creek. We had fun walking around in the water. We found sink holes in the mud and started loosening them up and sinking up to our knees, some to the thighs. I thought sinking in the mud would be scary but it ended up being one of my favorite parts of the trip. Hazel also had the time of her life playing in the mud and water completely naked!! Unfortunately we didn't bring any cameras down that day.

The next 2 days we hiked through the Fiery Furnace and the Eye of the Whale. Both were pretty cool hikes. I would have liked to stay down there more and go on more hikes.

Here's some pictures....

This was Ellery's favorite part of the trip...riding goats!Family Pose!Malik and Ellery bonding during the trip.Climbing on rocks!