Glaucoma Surgery

I've been having trouble with my left eye for over three years now.  In January 2012, I went for a normal yearly visit to the optometrist and he found that I had inflammation in my left eye.  He put me on a regimen on Pred Forte drops (which is a steroid) for several weeks and then said the inflammation was gone and he weaned me off the drops.  In May 2012, we went to see our regular doctor for our six month checkups and I was telling him about the problems with the eye because some of my tests from him had came back showing I had some type of inflammation.  I asked could the eye have been the cause of the reading in the tests he ran.  He suggested I see an opthamalogist to check on my eyes.  The long and short of that visit is the inflammation was back with a vengeance and I was back on the steroid drop.  Each time the doctor tried to wean me off the drop the inflammation would come back.  One of the side effects of the steroid drop is that it increases pressure in the eye and also it gives you cataracts.  So three years down the road, guess who has glaucoma and a cataract in her left eye?  I'm lucky to live in the day and age that I do, several years ago if you got glaucoma you went blind.  Today, they can do surgery and fix it.  So, on January 19, 2015 I had glaucoma surgery done by Dr. David Brodstein at the Mount Ogden Surgery Center in Ogden.  The surgery itself was not bad.  I didn't have hardly any pain.  The worst part of the whole thing was the recovery time.  I couldn't lift anything heavier than a milk jug for over a month and also I couldn't bend over and have my head lower than my heart.  Brian took the whole week of that I had surgery and took care of me.  Now I just need to recover from the glaucoma surgery so I can have the cataract removed from my left eye and then I just might be able to see clearly again.  He is telling me that could take 3-6 months to recover before I am ready for the other surgery.

A Name and a father's blessing

Brian and I and Grandpa Jack traveled to Middleton this past weekend so we could be attend Sacrament meeting and witness Rowdy's baby blessing.  It was a beautiful day.  Rowdy looked so handsome in the little outfit that both his grandfather Brian and his father Rory had also been blessed in.  Rory blessed Rowdy and did a wonderful job.  He blessed Rowdy that he would continue to grow strong, that he would have a mind that wants to learn and be educated.  He also blessed him that he would chose to serve a mission for his Heavenly Father and also to find a wife and take her to the temple to be sealed for eternity.  We enjoyed lunch at Rory and Abby's after the meeting.  This is my favorite picture from the day.

Abby's parents, as well as her brother and some of Rory and Abby's friends also attended the blessing.  It was nice to have so many people come out and support the new little addition to our family.

Three Generations of R's......Rodney, Rory and Rowdy

When we found out that Rory and Abby were expecting another baby I prayed that they would be blessed with a little boy.  When we found out from the ultrasound that it was supposed to be a boy I was thrilled.  Rory, of course, wouldn't get excited until the baby was actually born and he saw it was a boy.
Rory and Abby aren't very forthcoming with names and have made us wait until the baby is born until they tell us the name.  Rory hinted to me that he wanted to name the baby something with the initials RBB so it would match his and his dad's name as they share those initials as well.
October 3, 2014 and our little bundle of joy finally makes his entrance into the world.  He's beautiful (yes boys can be beautiful at least to Grandma's) and when we ask about a name we are told that they haven't decided yet.  Finally, on the afternoon of the next day we find out that our little bundle of joy will be named Rowdy Brian Bell.  So here you have the three R's.........hmm maybe we are going to have to start calling Brian by his first name of Rodney.

Rodney Brian, Rowdy Brian and Rory Brian (taken December 7, 2014)

Life and Death

Today we said goodbye for now to one of the most beautiful human beings I've ever known....Doreen Grace Wilde.

I met Doreen for the first time years ago when I first started dating Brian.  Doreen is actually the daughter of JoAnn's aunt Pauline but Doreen always referred to her as Aunt JoAnn and she had a special bond with her.  Doreen loved her family and would always great you with a big smile and say my cousin.  She loved to tease.  I remember when I first met her she asked me if Brian was my boyfriend and when I said yes she said kiss him.  She was always after us to kiss so it was only fitting that we shared a kiss in front of her casket on Monday.  Doreen was a great example of enduring to the end and preparing to meet our Heavenly Father again.  Doreen was born with Down's Syndrome but she didn't let it slow her down.  She graduated from high school and participated in Special Olympics and lived life to the fullest. She made friends everywhere she went as was evident at her viewing.  I'm sure that her reunion with her family members that have passed away before her was joyous.  We will miss you and your beautiful smile Doreen.

Eviction Notice!!!!!!!

Imagine our surprise when we received this photo from our little granddaughter!!!!

We couldn't be happier to be grandparents again.  

Do you wanna build a snowman?

Boise, Idaho isn't known for the great amounts of snow that it receives, so a snow storm that drops 5-6 inches is quite rare.  Rory and Abby were able to take Harper outside and help her build her first snowman.  The pictures they sent us were adorable and I had to put them on here.

Harper in Onederland!!!!

Happy Birthday Harper!!!  It's hard to believe that our little angel is already one.  Harper had an Alice in Wonderland themed party.  Abby did a really great job planning it.  Some people dressed in costumes (and others like us who are party poppers did not....my excuse was I had been on vacation all week and couldn't take a costume camping with us.)   The decorations were darling.  I had to make two different collages to show the pictures for this event.  One of the decorations and one of the people who shared this special day with Harper.