December happenings

1. Temp at Warners dental office every Tuesday- Love them. They are so nice!
2. Got my wisdom teeth extracted. Starved for three days, got two dry sockets, an infection so my entire right side of my head swelled up, TMJ pain and not being able to open my mouth too big, and now have a huge canker where my teeth naturally bite down on tissue in the back. :( We'll wait two weeks and see if it heals on its own before taking the next step to fix this.
3. Grandpa and Grandma Roush came to visit! I got to see them and my Dad and Nolan and lots of family.
4. Grandpa had to go to the hospital overnight for a mini stroke. He's okay now but I don't like him not feeling 100%!
5. Grandpa and Grandma Huckvale came to visit! They also brought Roger who is Grandpa's aid. We love him and are so grateful for his assistance and being so willing to help.
6. My little brother in law David is preparing to go on his mission to Jacksonville, Florida. He gave an awesome talk at church. Sister in law Jenny sang and sounded beautiful.
7. Robby came home from BYU for Christmas break... and surprised us by bringing our good friend Jeremy! They bought their tickets back in October and only told my Mother in Law, Susie. I can't believe they all kept the secret that long!
8. Going to the temple with David for the first time and being there with loved ones. We went with GRANDpa Huckvale to the room where he sealed Jonathon and me 4 years ago. The three of us just cried together as we told him THANK YOU for doing that for us. GRANDma said that was one of the things Grandpa was most excited for- to get to seal his grandchildren in the temple for time and all eternity.  He performed three of these before his stroke left him unable to speak. We feel so honored and privileged to be one of those couples. 
--We're grateful in general to be raised by great examples in our lives and for all the hard work and love of our ancestors in THEIR lives so we can be where we are today.
9. Eating soooooo many Christmas treats!! :D I LOVE candy and sweets.
10. The whole reason I even began writing this post...  I love Sugar Cookie Sleigh Ride tea! I am drinking it for the first time and it is yummy.
---Robby, Jeremy, Cosmo and I just walked Jonathon to walk this cold morning. The boys stayed to get a tour of the office and I planned to go out for a run so I left, but Cosmo is a pansy and can't run so I just came home. It was beautiful watching the sun rise and seeing the little sliver of the moon and that peaceful feeling of being outside walking. I love it. But i was just COLD! So tea hit the spot. :)
11. Rented a CAMERO (and got it for an awesome deal!!) for a day and drove out to Walla Walla to test drive cars with Alex and Talia. I love Talia! She's one of the cutest moms I know. She could start a "Cute Mom Club." We're still trying to make our final decision but I think we've narrowed it down to two.
--Getting a new car is such a tough decision. It is WAY more fun to do it when you can actually afford what you WANT and have been saving up for it!

Spending time with my FaMiLy!

Grandpa and Grandma Roush and Nancy

Breakfast at Shari's Restaurant

Grandpa and Grandma Roush and Aunt Marilyn drove up from Utah to Seattle to visit! I rented a car (gold Chevy Malibu) and drove up to join in on the fun.

------A couple weeks ago, I was talking to my grandma on the phone. Here was our conversation:

Nancy: "Grandma, I just am missing family so much right now. But Jonathon and I can't really afford to fly down to Utah. Do you think there is any chance you and Grandpa might be driving up to Washington to visit any time soon?"

Grandma: "Well, we're driving up in two weeks to see Susan (my aunt) direct her performance of Handel's Messiah."

Nancy: "WHAT??!!!! YESSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

I LOVE my grandparents so much and have missed them a lot since moving. I was thrilled to see them! I also got to see my dad, aunts, cousin, and brother. Yay for family!

Nancy and Dad

Here's my recap of this awesome weekend:

SATURDAY:

-get 4 hours of sleep then wake up and pick up my rental car

-drive 2 1/2 hours North to Federal Way to my dad's place

-Arrive. Say hi and hugs to Dad and his wife April.

-Nap-a-roo (I'd gotten my wisdom teeth removed the Wednesday before and was still recovering)

-Go to deaf party with Grandparents, Dad, and April in Edmonds with lots of cool nativities

-Ate SOLID, YUMMY food for the first time in DAYS. Literally, I was starving since I had been throwing everything up since Wednesday. The first taste of something that wasn't apple sauce, V8, or Jello- I couldn't stop stuffing my face!!

-Finally full, we drove home and I played card games with April's two daughters Mary and Olivia and my Dad. Fun! They are so cute. But I learned I am not a young buck anymore. I was sooo tired when we went to bed at 1:00!

-BED

SUNDAY:

-Wake up to a THROBBING face :( I overdid it eating the night before and got a DRY SOCKET

-Spent the morning icing my dang face with frozen bananas.

-Tried eating a pancake and regretted it instantly from the pain.

-Went to church at the American Sign Language branch where April gave a great lesson in Relief Society on the Final Judgement

-Left during the second hour of church in search of pain relief

-Ended up buying a "dental first aid kit" from Wal-Greens and placed Eugenol oil in my vacant holes in my head (wisdom teeth). And an oatmeal at McDonalds.

-Got back for the third hour of church and had a cool thought/experience involving a deaf/blind man who blessed the sacrament (I'll probably write about that in my other blog)

-Went to visit my little brother NOLAN!!!!!!

-Nolan is my half brother who is 7. He is also deaf. He the son of my dad and his second wife, Dina Marie. He lives with his mom up in Edmonds.

----I LOVE Nolan!! He is SO cute. I am amazed every time I see him how much he has grown up. He is so smart and loves math, even though he struggled with it at first. He has learned in the past year how to write, spell, add, subtract, and sign much better. He also knows the difference between someone who is "deaf" and who is "hearing" now.

---We went to the park and played tag. He is going to be a future athlete- he's so fast! Then walked home and had some dinner Dina Marie made. We played some computer games together and then finished with a game of Monopoly with the three of us. He was so cute adding up his money. And when Dina Marie would win something, he'd LIGHT UP and get so excited and jump up and give her a big hug. Haha. He's so cute!! I seriously can't get enough of that kid. Love him!

Caught him in the middle of signing.. I love his bright, happy eyes!

He said it was his turn to take a picture with his camera so he wouldn't let me take anymore of him. I just had to show how cute he is as a whole- his little pants and coat. Hehe!

-Met my family (lots of extended family including my Grandma's nieces Rebecca and others and my cousin) in Renton to watch Handel's Messiah being directed by my aunt Susan Jones.. she did SO GREAT and I loved being a part of that wonderful performance and message. Very powerful.

-Slept at Mike and Susan's house that night, exhausted again..

MONDAY:

-Went to breakfast at Sherri's with Grandpa and Grandma Roush, Dad, his wife April, my aunt Marilyn, and her daughter/my cousin Melanie.

-Said my goodbyes...

-Stopped by the Bath and Body Works outlet on my way home and picked up some sweet deals!

-Stopped by my dental office to have my two dry sockets fixed up

-----Dr. Brad packed the extraction sites with Clove oil gauze to help with the pain. The right one healed up and was great but the left gauze fell out that night and the next morning, the pain came back with a vengeance- worse than ever before! Ughh.. so ready for my mouth to be back to normal!

From left to right:

April, Grandma Roush, Dad, Grandpa Roush, Nancy, Melanie, Marilyn

April, Nancy, and Dad

-DROVE HOME TO MY LOVING JONNO AND WONDERFUL IN-LAWS!

I found out later that night that my Grandpa had a little mini stroke after I left. He is okay but it just makes you cherish these little moments. My grandpa and grandma are my little protectors always making sure I'm safe and happy and have anything and everything I need.

---I left during the Messiah to rest because my mouth was hurting. About ten minutes later, my grandma found me in a random room to check on me and make sure I was okay. She said Grandpa said "Don't you think you outta go check on our girl?" I love that I can feel their radiating, deep, genuine love. Not just for me, but for EVERYONE they come in contact with. Such great examples.

I LOVE my Grandparents. I love my dad. I love Nolan. I loved seeing my Aunt Marilyn. It was really fun being all together up there. I need to make it happen more often. :)

Farewell Wisdom Teeth

Welcome to my life the last 24 hours. The life of a wisdom tooth-less woman..

In the past 24 hours, I have eaten:

- 1 cup of apple sauce

- 1/2 a banana

- two bites of Susie's homemade chicken noodle soup

- four saltine crackers

- three sips of v8 fruit juice

In the past 24 hours. I have thrown up:

- some apple sauce

-two bites of chicken noodle soup

- a banana...

Okay, okay, you get the idea!!

My body is RARE in the way that for some reason, I can't metabolize medicine. The same percocet that will knock someone out or take away every ounce of pain, does not even affect me in the slightest. This has proved true for just about every type of pain killer and muscle relaxer I've ever tried the last few years.

SO, after having surgery done on your head, that can be a pretty painful thing. This same thing happened five years ago when I had my tonsils out and I ended up just throwing up every couple hours for a week until I healed. :( To try and get some effect, I need to take double, but by doing that, it makes for an upset stomach and I can't keep any food down. Sigh.

If I just don't move, I feel sick, but not enough to throw up. SOoo I am making a perma-mold on my couch of my body shape by only getting up when necessary! I've also discovered I'm really sensitive to lights and sounds right now so the TV doesn't sound good to watch, nor does typing this blog post!

THE PROCEDURE ITSELF WAS GREAT!

Dr. Greg Gillespie (who I work for) extracted my two bottom wisdom teeth yesterday morning. The procedure went great! I was totally knocked out and LaVonna is the sweetest assistant and was really cute and helped a lot too. I seriously love this office. (Cindy is kind of the 'office manager' and called me a few times yesterday to make sure I had someone to take care of me through out the day and make sure I'll be okay. Everyone in the office is just so incredibly nice. I LOVE them!!)

Susie, my mother-in-law, took me to and from the office, helped me get my prescriptions filled, has brought me down soup and food and ice packs and has done a great job taking care of me. She is genuinely a good-hearted woman through and through and I am grateful for her in my life.

Jonathon is the best husband and took an early lunch from work yesterday to make sure I was okay and has set all the timers so I don't miss taking my medicine so I won't be in pain. We had a sleep over in the living room on our couches so he could be close by to help. I love that man!

The sickly puke all bundled up! :)

Thoughts by Nancy

I had an experience just now that I felt I should share with someone. Then I wondered who would be proper to share it with and couldn't think of anyone and realized I was just having a simple ol' thought, which seems to happen a few times through out the day. You know the kind-- nothing important, but something happens and you feel like sharing it? Well, I have decided I'm going to start recording those little thoughts each day here. Just be happy this next one doesn't include a picture from today...

I just gotta tell you.......

I LOVE cleaning up dog poop. Especially diarrhea. Oh, and you better believe I love cleaning it even more when it has exploded all over Cosmo's cage because he whined early this morning and I thought he was just being a pansy. And I LOVE cleaning it when I left his cage outside all day so it freezes in the cage, and then I have to scrub it even harder to get it off. And the smell, oh, that lovely, foul, stinky, putrid smell.. LOVE when it enters each one of my big ol' nostrils delicately so I can't breath. YES!! Thank you Cosmo! And thank you Bob for feeding Cosmo human food during dinner last night so I could experience this glorious tender connecting moment between me and my little boy.

"Who, ME??"

-Cosmo, and his white cotton beard

Assume the best of others

"Treat a man as he is and

he will remain as he is.

Treat a man as he can and should be and

He will become as he can and should be."

-Goethe

A great reminder for everybody. If you treat someone poorly, they will respond and ACT the way you view them. --Think about someone you don't like being around. Whenever they are around, you've already labeled them to BE this certain way, therefore, you don't even allow them a chance to show their true greatness.

I would *hate* to know that I am limiting someone because of my own selfishness.

Oppositely, if you see their potential and encourage it, people will have courage to shine and be empowered because of YOUR FAITH in them to become so.