Second year Day 134 - Friday April 26, 2013

Today we got up and visited with Tyler while he got the car loaded up to leave to drill.  They will drill in Helena again this month.  He borrowed Bridgett's car and she was very happy to have someone driving it!  I forgot to mention that she and I took it into town for some errands on Wednesday.  She asked me how fast from 0 to 60 her car goes. I don't know I said, but when I pulled out on the highway I punched it and held the pedal to the floor until we hit 70 (the speed limit on the highway).  She was SO EXCITED!  Of course, I know she remembers that feeling, and loves it.  She kept commenting on what a great car it was etc.  Then, on the way home she asked me if she could drive it down the driveway.  I said, well maybe dad ought to be with you the first time you drive since your wreck.  Just in the driveway, she said.  I remember how to drive you know!  Well, you call dad and ask him I said.  So, she called Mark and he said...I want to be with you the first time so you need to wait.  Bummer, she said!  But, she accepted it just fine (thank goodness!).   Oh, I forgot to mention this...it was so nice.....at conference on Sunday Stephany and I saw some people that we know and hadn't seen for quite a while and gave them hugs.  When we saw our old bishop, Steve Perrone, we gave him a hug and talked for a bit.  Then he said, you know we pray for Bridgett every day.  We pray for your family every day.  Oh thanks, I said.  We really need those prayers and we are thankful to everyone who prays for us!  And I want to say thanks to everyone reading this blog.  Thanks for your prayers in Bridgett's behalf and our behalf.  I know that the Lord is blessing her!  I really don't mean to whine about things, when I do.  I am so thankful for her life being spared!  I am so thankful that we can have her spirit around us! I do know that the Lord is blessing her and blessing us!  Life is always changing, many times the unexpected happens.  But, whatever happens, we just keep focused and keep going.  Endure to the end.  That's what we're trying to do.  And please....keep up the prayers and keep putting her name in the temple!!

Second year Day 133 - Thursday April 25, 2013

Mark left to Utah today to go pick up Arrianne.  Today is the last day of her finals.  Also, she has her last recital tonight--a Renaissance recital.  Whew!  Mark will get there in time to hear her sing. She passed her sophomore review (of course!) and I think has A's straight across (again).  She really works hard!  Bridgett and I are back full force on her program.  Every time we go on a trip, we get a little bit off program.  I mean, there are the core things that we never miss.  But there are a few things that go by the wayside for a few days.  Sometimes I get discouraged with the whole memory thing.  I mean, I still think that many of the things from her long term memory she has re-learned and not remembered.  So, from time to time she forgets them or I realize it.  Like this for example.  I was talking about something and I said where was dad born?  Total blank look.  So, I told her Whitefish.  Now she is remembering that, not because she remembers from long ago, but because I told her and she remembers now.  Also, where was I born?  Vague look--maybe in Utah?  OK, I was born in Salt Lake City.  There's a hint of a memory there.  And I realize that this is something that we have not talked about since the wreck, so she didn't re-learn it yet. I was talking about Conference and I said two of our relatives spoke.  BTW we had talked about it several times on Saturday and Sunday, even though she didn't hear them talk.  Anyway, she couldn't remember--that's OK because she didn't hear them.  But then I said, it was two of your relatives that live here in this stake.  Then I thought OH NO, we have LOTS of relatives here in the stake.  But, she was totally blank.  Can you think of any relatives we have that live around here I said--NOPE!  Wow!  So, anyway, I gave her other clues...who is one of my brothers that lives here?  Then she said, Oh, Chris, but, you know, he isn't here anymore (and she whispers that he died).  She remembered that, and we weren't here for the funeral.  Then I said his wife and son talked and she said Julie and Stratton or Austin?  So, that part is there.  We have spent hours going over all of my siblings and their families and all of Mark's siblings and their families, so she didn't remember that from long term memory either.  BUT, she does remember some random things from long term memory that we have never told her before.  So, it is coming back slowly. But, some days I do get discouraged about it.  Oh, I guess I'd better remember to discuss where everybody lives, etc.; something I haven't done yet with her.  And, I'd better get a page together about Mark and I with facts like I have for the kids and then record it along with her other pages that she listens to, one each day.  Oops!

Second year Day 132 - Wednesday April 24, 2013

I forgot to mention that this is finals week for Arrianne.  She's been SO swamped!  It's has been just a crazy week for her.  Luckily, it's almost over!! And...she still has her voice!  Yippee!  She has one more concert tomorrow night.  She had her sophomore review on Monday.  If you don't pass that, you get kicked out of the program.  She of course passed with flying colors.  She was very nervous about it and thank goodness that is over!  She also had a big audition on Monday night for a summer opera program.  Hopefully she gets into that as well.  It wouldn't be until July, so she'd still be home for two months first.  We'll see how that goes.  For another update on Bridgett's progress.  Some people see Bridgett and say to me afterwards, if it wasn't for her eyes looking so weird, she'd look lots more normal now.  That's true.  She still isn't back to normal yet, and in some ways is still young acting (or at least different acting), but overall she is doing better and looking much better.  The eyes.....they are a problem.  They are getting better than they were, for sure.  But, they are not normal at all and it's frustrating to be sure.  Often she asks me about them and if they look crossed or not.  She worries about them off and on.  She often comments that the left eye is the crazy one.  It for sure is worse than the right eye.  We keep doing the eye exercises every day.  The eyes do track together so much better.  The left eye often is looking forward, but it does bing back and forth at times.  Still neither eye will move outward past mid line.  Frustrating!  We will see what the ophthalmologist has to say at the Moran Eye Center in Salt Lake when we see him in July. 

Second year Day 131 - Tuesday April 23, 2013

Bridgett and I spent time repacking Jenn's boxes so that Mark can take them down on Thursday, when he heads down to move Arri home for the summer.  Bridgett and Stephany are SO excited for Arri to be home, as are the rest of us!  It's going to be GREAT!!  This is a funny thing.  So, just since we saw Faith the last time, all of the sudden Bridgett started saying two things that she used to say!  The first thing was "dang it, Jim."  She started saying that all of the time, like when she was playing cards and couldn't get the right card.  At first I couldn't figure out what she mean or anything.  I happened to mention it to Jenn and she asked if we had reminded her about that and I said no--how could we?  We don't even know what it means or why she is saying it.  Jenn got so excited about her saying it without us reminding her.  Why, I asked.  What does it mean??  Jenn said it is a quote from "The Office."  When Bridgett lived with Jenn and Tyler while she was a senior in high school, they all started watching the office.  So, anyway, Jenn and Bridgett apparently used to say it to each other all of the time.  So, Jenn was super happy to hear that Bridgett remembered it, and on her own.  Also, Bridgett started saying "terr-bad."  Like, when something happens, she would say, that's not "terr-bad."  I mentioned that to Arrianne and she said, oh my gosh, Bridgett always used to say that!  I guess it's a cross between terrible and bad..."terr-bad."  Bridgett did have lots of her own unique ways of communicating with people!!  It's so exciting to hear her personality coming back!! 

Second year Day 130 - Monday April 22, 2013

Today was a very busy day.  We all headed into town to get some things done.  Bridgett and Stephany came with me and Mark met us in town.  We did a little car shopping at Eisingers.  Bridgett and I went into the building to see if we could see President Busick, but we didn't see him.  Mark told me afterwards that we were looking in the wrong place and that's why we didn't see him.  Darn!  I should have asked.  Bridgett particularly wanted to say hi.  We were in town all afternoon, and came home tired and starving.  A typical day, when we have stuff to do in town!  It really does take quite a bit of time once you include driving in and out, etc.  The girls are doing good pain wise, right now.  Bridgett hasn't had to take hardly any pain medication lately; maybe once a day or some days not at all.  Stephany is doing better all the time too!  She isn't taking anything for pain, but still feels yucky some days. 

Second year Day 129 - Sunday April 21, 2013

This morning Stephany, Mark and I went to conference.  Tyler stayed home with Bridgett.  It was a good thing she didn't come with us.  It would have been very crowded and noisy for her, in addition to being uncomfortable on the folding chairs.  Conference was great, as usual.  Carl Clark was put in as the new stake president, which was so exciting for us!  He was Bridgett's branch president in the singles ward.  Anyway, everyone just loves him!!  He kept President Busick and Thorderson as well.  So, it was all exciting and super good news!  I sent a text right after the announcement, to tell Arri about it and I asked her to call Tyler and Bridgett and tell them.  I knew that they'd both be excited about it. Later on after conference I talked to Bridgett and she was just glowing about it.  She was really excited!!  I really enjoyed the talks.  Several of the speakers talked about trials in life and that everyone has them, or will at some point.  We all just do our best and have faith and we make it through the trials.  That's what we are doing....just doing the best that we can right now.  Some days it seems harder than others.  Some days it seems that we don't do as well.  But, overall I think we are all handling things.  Bridgett is progressing, just at a slower pace than we had all hoped.  But, she is progressing all of the time and that's the important thing.  The doctors told us not to be worried unless her progress stops.  I said to Mark, maybe we should ask our very own general authority, our old stake president, President Stanfill, to give her a blessing.  He smiled and said that the Lord is blessing Bridgett and things will happen in the Lord's time.  I know that, I just wish the Lord's time was faster sometimes.  That sounds bad, I'm sure, but I'm human.  Still, I wonder....doesn't it seem like it would be so powerful to have President Stanfill give her a blessing with President Clark, President Busick, President Thorderson and Mark standing in??  Hummm......

Second year Day 128 - Saturday April 20, 2013

Today was such a busy day!  And today I was just exhausted.  Every once in a while I just feel crashed, and today was that day.  I did get a lot done, although not near enough!  Sometimes I feel as if I am sinking in a hole faster than I can dig out!  Bridgett and I were out pretty early doing some shopping.  She used to hate shopping when she lived on her own.  Mostly it was because she was at the store alone.  Now, she almost always wants to go with me.  Partly I think because she wants to walk and she usually asks if we can walk up and down every isle.  Partly I think it's because she remembers that she hated shopping alone and she doesn't want me to go shopping alone.  She does worry about me often.  Tonight was the adult session of conference.  I wanted to go to it and meet Mark there (he was at earlier meetings), but realized that Bridgett would not be able to sit through either tonight or tomorrow.  Whatever session I went to, Tyler would have to be in charge here with Bridgett while I was gone.  So, I decided to go tomorrow to the session with Mark and Stephany, when they were announcing our next stake president.  It's good I decided that because by evening I was SHOT!  I couldn't have driven into town anyway, because I was so tired.  I did feel badly afterwards, as Julie and Austin both spoke in the evening meeting.  At least Mark was there to hear the talks and tell me about them.  Julie spoke about faith, not mentioning Chris per se but trials; those of us who know her know what she was talking about.  Austin spoke on being prepared for life.  He has turned in his mission papers and will be getting his call soon.