Carey Family

Scott and Sue Family

April updates from Elder Brian

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April 5, 2011
To get right to the chase…I am ill.  Very ill.  I have been sick for two weeks and the doctor came over a week and a half ago and said that it was a bacterial infection so I was on Augmentin but then I was getting worse.  It got to the point that I had absolutely no energy to do anything.  My throat is SO sore, and I have incredible headaches, I am really weak, and I have these big lumps on my neck.  So the doctor in our mission came over to the house yesterday and he is 99% sure that I have mono.  But the only way to for sure know is to get bloodwork done, so this morning we went up to Laguna Beach to the hospital to get the work done.  We hung around to get the results back for one of the tests and that is what it is looking to be, but the definitive one, we haven’t got results back from yet.  If it is mono, it is going to knock me out for 6 weeks – 3 months. Disclaimer:  None of this is definite. But a little more info about mono, it is unknown how it is contracted, and there is not a cure.  Basically, you just have to wait it out.  I have been taking like 2-3 hour naps every day because I am so exhausted, and I don’t have the energy to do anything.  If this all plays out the way it is looking like it is, I am not exactly sure what they are going to do with me, if they are going to leave me still as zone leader, or what, but it will be interesting to see.  So that is my life right now, I just sleep all the time and can’t swallow.  The lumps on my neck are all severely swollen lymph nodes that are trying to fight off the infection.

(A call home from the Mission President the next day confirmed that he has a severe case of mono with an enlarged spleen).

April 12, 2011
Well, this week has been…fun.  Haha, not really, it has sucked, but I am doing better.  So my week was pretty much just me sleeping in bed, and doing stuff and being in members houses. My throat is fine now, I can swallow and everything and I am doing good.  Kind of how I am is that I sleep and then I wake up and I have a ton of energy and then that energy wears off quick and then in 3-4 hours I am tired again.  But, each day I feel that I am improving, and so now I am trying to time my naps so that I can minimize the time that I am sleeping and maximize the time when I am awake.
Wednesday:  I get a call from President saying that he had left a message with you and that if I were to do ANY work, that he would send me home just because he did not want to play around with my health.  So that was kind of discouraging, especially the mandate to stay at home for an entire week!  BAH!  So that brings us to today. Today is the last day of my confinement, (I think).

April 19, 2011
OK, so I am continuing to do better.  I kind of plateaued, but I am doing well.  I still get tired, but now I can wake up and make it through most of the day.  I only have to take one nap at about 3-5.  That is when my energy really crashes.
Miercoles:  I went over to [a member home] and spent the afternoon  sleeping there, and then we went over to our President’s interviews.  We talked about things, and he feels VERY strong that I need to stay.  And so do I.  Apparently Mission Medical recommended that I go home a week or so ago, but he wanted to do everything so that I could stay, and so, here I am still here and doing better.  So the terms were that I could only go to appointments and then besides that I needed to be sleeping.  Thanks for everything, I am so grateful for all of your prayers/fasting/support.  I am happy that I am staying for now, and I hope I continue to do better.

April 25, 2011
For me, I am doing better each week.  This marks 5 weeks of being sick, and I am for sure getting tired of it.  Some days are better than others, and I am still just getting headaches and feeling really tired.  But I feel like I am making improvements and doing better. It has just been a REALLY slow process and I feel like I have been sick for sooo long.  But yeah, I am still taking it easy for the most part and trying to get better. I am trying to gain some weight back, because I lost some, so I have been drinking a lot of protein shakes to try and get some weight, and it seems to be working.

Wherein we become explorers…

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Scott uncharacteristically decided we should go on a spontaneous vacation.  On top of that, he decided to indulge me in the kind of vacation I’ve always wanted to take, where we just drive with no destination and stop whenever we want.  He got out a nickel, put it on the dashboard and said when we came to a crossroads we would flip it to decide.  We never actually did that, but it stayed there the whole vacation as a symbol of our freedom.  We set out and every time we saw something we wanted to stop and read or look at, I’d say, “Let’s stop…we’re explorers!”, or “Turn off here…we’re explorers!”

We left on a Friday morning and headed north to explore Idaho.  We made a stop at Smith & Edwards by Brigham City because it had good recommendations from friends and family.  We’ve seen it by the side of the road but we’re usually headed to a family thing and don’t have time to stop.  It is huge and has absolutely everything.  After our eyes stopped bugging out, we hit the road and drove on.  We passed through farming country and our first stop was the Minidoka National Historic Site where Japanese-Americans from Washington and Oregon were interned.  It only became part of the National Park Service a few years ago and only the entrance buildings are still there.  Most of the camp was divided up after the war and sold to farmers so it’s mostly all private land now. It was sobering to think of the people being interned there.  And it was very windy.

We had to traverse a lot of back roads in and out, and saw lots of interesting small towns.  We took off along the Snake River and found Shoshone Falls, which I’d never heard of but rang a bell with Scott.  So we headed towards that and it was totally awesome.  It’s called the Niagara of the West and is actually higher than Niagara Falls.  It was really amazing and we stood there watching it for a long time.  Why have I never heard of it?  We hiked around on the trail a little and got some other views and it was a nice day, although evidently the wind blows all the time in southern Idaho.  We stopped at several interpretative signs along the Snake River canyon, which is really deep and really wide, and there were several places where there were big farms at the bottom. We saw BASE jumpers on the Perrine Bridge which is really high up over the Snake River and people jump off the bridge and parachute down to the bottom, then climb up the rock face to the top.  That night we stayed in Twin Falls.

Saturday we went to Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument which had a fire in September so the trail was closed and we didn’t get to see the Oregon Trail wagon ruts up close.  Darn!  There are horse-like fossils that have been excavated there and we saw the famous Hagerman Horse skeleton at the Visitor Center, along with a display on Minidoka.  We left there and saw signs for the Hagerman National Fish Hatchery and since we’re explorers and it said “Scenic”, we decided to check it out.  They had a self-guided tour so we followed the blue painted fish on the ground and learned all about salmon and how they are fertilized, bred, and raised.  That fish hatchery was quite the operation, and it was interesting to see all the little salmon jumping around in the raceways. It was also my first trip to a fish hatchery.  We took a turn-off in Buhl to see Idaho’s famous Balanced Rock.  It was windy and rainy so I stayed in the car and saw it from there, but Scott jumped out and took a quick picture.  It looks like a couple of buff guys could push it right over.

It was cooler on Saturday and we headed to Craters of the Moon National Monument, which is high up in the mountains so there was still snow on the ground.  We saw lots of lava all over the place but a lot of it was covered with snow.  Even so, it was eerie and really awesome.  The road through the park was still closed due to snow, but they said we could walk in.  So we walked in on the road but the wind was blowing so hard and it was so cold that I got a bad headache from being blasted by the freezing wind.  It was a very interesting place and we need to go back sometime when it’s warmer.  We forged on to Pocatello and stayed there that night.  We saw lots of farms and ranches while we were driving.

Sunday we left Pocatello and drove on some really small back roads (think gravel) to find the Curlew National Grasslands which turned out to be a real adventure for explorers and also pretty disappointing.  There was no grass growing and even with Scott’s GPS on his phone we were driving out in the middle of nowhere.  I finally found an Idaho public lands site on my phone that helped us figure out where it was and it looked like all the terrain we’d been driving through for 3 days.  There was a reservoir and a pretty plain campground.  So we finally got back on the main road and all of a sudden we were in Box Elder County and realized we were back in Utah even though there was no sign on that little county road.  We made it to the freeway and headed back through a lot of snowstorms.  We stopped at the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge and drove the auto tour.  We saw lots of ducks, Canadian Geese, grebes, four white American pelicans up close, and lots of other birds that we had no idea what they were.  It was really cool but the auto tour goes on a little dirt road that is really bumpy.  Fortunately, Scott had brought the binoculars and it wasn’t actually snowing there so we got to see birds.

So…our exploring yielded lots of fun and some interesting facts about Idaho that I never knew.  For example:  Arco is the first city in the free world to have been totally powered by nuclear energy beginning July 17, 1955 which happens to be my Dad’s 16th birthday.  And there have been 50 nuclear reactors built since then in a 900 acre reserve belonging to Idaho National Laboratory.  Only 3 are still working.  And if it had been after Memorial Day we could have seen the world’s first breeder reactor which is now a National Historic Landmark.  Who knew?  The 1000 Springs area has waterfalls just pouring out of cliffs-all over the place.  So cool.

We’re up for another exploring adventure soon!!!

(Click on a photo to see them all larger in a gallery)

A Cozy Catch-Up

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As Harry Potter’s friends come to spirit him away from danger, Mad-Eye Moody tells them, “All right, all right, we’ll have time for a cozy catch-up later!” Mad-Eye ends up dead not long after and never has time for that chat. Which is really sad and brings to mind the old axiom, “Never put off until tomorrow that which can be done today”. While I don’t plan on dying anytime soon, I notice that I’ve been extremely derelict in my blogging duties lately, and perhaps it’s time for a cozy catch-up.

It’s been a month since the end of the Utah Legislative Session, that marathon of policy-making that lasts 45 calendar days and seems to last twice as long. My word for the year is balance and the first quarter of the year is always my most unbalanced portion of the year.  Not that I am unbalanced, as in crazy, although that’s been known to happen during session, but unbalanced in that it’s all I really do for that time period.  All in all, it was a difficult session as public education took a real beating and there was a fair amount of unpleasantness.  On the other hand, this was the first session in several years where I didn’t experience a lawmaker yelling or screaming in my face.  I’m not sure if that’s a sign of my effectiveness or non-effectiveness, but it was certainly more pleasant for me.  I tweet a lot and live-tweet meetings, and mostly I avoided twitter wars, which are really tempting.  The fallout from some controversial legislation has allowed us political junkies to already experience a special session and numerous extra public meetings to discuss open and transparent government which has been fun and entertaining.  It looks there will be a veto override session soon so it just goes on and on.

Now to my gardening news-feel free to skip this paragraph.  I have started seeds in shifts because I only have so much shelf room in the furnace room.  We have all the available space rigged with shelves and lights, but I can only start so many flats at first because when it’s time to transplant them into 4″ pots, they take up more room.  I transplanted some more yesterday and all my shelves are now full.  Soon it will be warm enough at night, (I hope), to start moving some out to the shelves and lights in the garage, freeing up more shelf space in the basement.  Oooh, I love to see my babies getting bigger and bigger!  It’s so fun to start from seed!  We’ve had nice days when I’ve been in Salt Lake City for meetings and rain or snow when I’ve been home so I haven’t been able to get going on the flower beds outside, but there are lots of early daffodils up and many mid-spring daffodils ready to bloom soon.

I signed up for a quilting class at my local quilt shop next week and am excited to learn some new techniques.  It was advertised as perfect for a confident beginner, so I’m ready to roll.  I’m still crocheting baby blankets and burp cloths and reading as much as I can.

Scott got a promotion at work and is now up a level and managing lots more people.  It just happened so he’s still trying to get it all figured out.  Mark has finals at BYU this week and then a break for a few days and it’s on to spring term.  He is a student manager in the Missionary Training Center media department and directs the Sunday and Tuesday night meetings, as well as training new hires on the equipment.

Brian is still on his mission in California and is currently in San Clemente.  He is struggling with mono and has been sick for over a month now.  He seems to be improving some but has been restricted in his activities for the last couple weeks and things are still touch and go with his future there.  It’s been really hard for the three of us here to worry and not know all the details, but we keep fasting and praying that he’ll improve and can finish out his mission.

So that’s the news.  Thanks for catching up with me!

Filed Under: Sue

March updates from Elder Brian

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March 1, 2011
Domingo: I LOVE SUNDAYS!!! They are the best day of the week. In church I performed. I played piano and sang. I had a boom mike set up and everything, it was pretty intense. I performed my arrangement of a Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief. You HAVE to hear it, when I get home. It was super spiritual and there were a lot of tears. So that went really well, and we had 4 investigators at church. It was great. Then these two priests took me up to Aliso Viejo to go to the singles ward. That was also awesome. We ended up teaching Gospel Principles. We taught this less active kid and then we gave a youth fireside. We were the speakers in the bishop’s fireside and it went way good. After the fireside, while everyone was eating I performed again. I had them pick a Disney song, a hymn, a primary song, and a pop song and I mashed it together. The kids LOVED it.

March 8, 2011
I am doing amazing. Can you believe that tomorrow will be my one year mark in the field? That is crazy.
Viernes: We had to drive up to Mission Viejo to drop something off and then we went down to Capistrano Beach to visit some less actives. After that we went to this rest home, and I played piano for the people living there, and we sang songs and it was really fun. We got to meet some neat people. Then after that we went and gave bread to the homeless which was also really fun.

March 15, 2011
But Japan! Wow, that was nuts. We got a call at 5:30 in the morning on Friday saying to stay away from the beach because there is a reported tsunami that was going to be hitting California. Luckily, nothing hit, I think it raised maybe like 4 feet and that was it. So that is good. Pretty nuts though. We haven’t heard very much of anything, just little bits and pieces and what we hear from members. It sounds pretty bad though.
Saturday: The BAPTISM!!!!! Everything went really good for the most part. So first, the hot water didn’t work, so we prayed really hard, and then it was warm!! Then, the drain wasn’t working, so all the water was slowly leaving so we had to find a way to stop the water, so we found this rubber disk randomly and just slapped it on, and it worked. Then the programs were all messed up, so we had to have someone fix them. Our ward mission leader was in Hawaii, so we had to get the programs fixed without him. All good though. The service was great, and the spirit was strong, and it was awesome.

March 22, 2011
Lunes: We had to drive up to Aliso Viejo to get our car fixed and while we were up there, we went out to eat at Cafe Rio. Yep, you heard it, Cafe Rio. The first Cafe Rio in California. I have pictures to prove it. We walked in, and the entire restaurant was full of Mormons. We saw people from our ward (we were very far away), and we had 3 offers from different people to pay for our meal. Yeah it rocked. Then the entire time people came up to us and said hi Elders! There are more Mormons at Cafe Rio than at church!!
Domingo: Then a huge miracle. We were going over to dinner at [a family], and we went and knocked their door without thinking twice. It wasn’t them. It was their next door neighbors which actually is a very small assisted living center. This man from the Philippines (one of the two workers), let us in and we started talking. He said “I have always seen you in Manila, but I have never gotten the chance to talk to you. I saw you in the peephole and something inside me told me to open the door. I know God sent you here for a reason and I know that what you are sharing is true.” YES IT IS TRUE!!!! We didn’t even share anything with him really. It was a miracle. He said to come over on Monday night.

March 29, 2011
Saturday: Not much happened until the evening. We FINALLY got a hold of our miracle man and we had a lesson in [a member’s] home!! Wow, it went AWESOME! He is SO in tune with the spirit, and he said that when he heard it, it sounded “familiar and like I was coming home”. Of the First Vision, “I feel warmth and like something inside of me, is telling me that is true.” When invited to be baptized, “I will walk 40 miles to have that”!! Wow, it was awesome. Then after him, we had another sweet lesson with [an investigator]. We talked about the Book of Mormon, and we got all of his questions answered about it.

February updates from Elder Brian

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February 1, 2011
Sabado: We went up to Dixon Lake, this park in North Escondido, and we were able to talk to some people up there. Then we drove up to Valley Center to do a baptismal interview for [elders there]. To finish off the evening, we went over to [a family] and we talked to them about Family Home Evening. We actually made a cute little assignment wheel out of cardboard and it looked pretty legit. Oh yes.
Lunes: We are trying to volunteer at Salvation Army so we went over there, and then we are also going to be performing at this retirement center so we got things set up for that too. To finish off the evening we taught these former investigators and it went really well.

February 8, 2011
So basically the news is….I am getting transferred. I am pretty bummed, because I have loved being with Elder Kidd and I love Escondido, but I was kind of expecting it. I have been in this ward for 9 months. It has been pretty crazy. It was pretty hard saying goodbye to everyone again, but that is ok. This ward has been my family and it was hard to say goodbye again. We took pictures and stuff. So even though I didn’t have any baptisms in this area, we saw so much success. It was pretty cool. I am excited to see where the Lord wants me to be next and what he wants me to do.
Miercoles: We went to district meeting and I sang a musical number, “Savior Redeemer of My Soul”. It is the hymn words, but to a tune that is absolutely beautiful. I will have to show it to you when I get home. We didn’t have music, but Elder Kidd and I just made it up (he played piano).

February 15, 2011
I got transferred to stay a Zone Leader in the San Clemente Zone. I am in English Work and I am serving in 2 wards. The San Clemente 4th Ward (family ward), and the San Clemente 5th YSA ward. I am living in San Juan Capistrano. Wow, this is the most beautiful place that I have ever been. We are right down on the ocean and there really isn’t a time where you don’t see the ocean. This is also the first time that I have served in Orange County, I have been in San Diego County for my whole mission thus far. It was kind of a surprise to be going into English work, but it is all good, I have a lot to learn. The style of work is completely different too. The members here are great and are giving us tons of referrals. Little known fact, our mission gives the most member referrals than any other mission in the U.S. and Canada.

February 22, 2011
Tuesday: So after we went emailing we went to the church and we spent all day doing this project. We got a map of the two stakes, cut it into 2″ squares and then blew it up 400% and then pieced it together. Then we took our entire wall in our apartment to hang up this map that we made. Then what we have been doing is putting pins in where all of the active/less active members of our ward live with a number so that we can know who lives there. It is pretty awesome. If anyone were to get whitewashed into this area, they would be really grateful.