Life in January

This January has been eventful in many ways. It started out with sending the family home after the holidays. Alex having a second "heart attack" during a his first wrestling match for 2009. Luckily, this time we had Coach Allran, the trainer from our high school there and he knew what to do. Coach Allran, along with our doctor, recommended that Alex have further testing at Sanger Clinic which is a cardiology clinic that only deals with heart related problems. I was able to call a get him an appointment set up for January 30th. I told the office clerk when I called that a person could die of a heart attack waiting for their appointment to come up. HA HA!!!

We did go on Friday and had a echo-stress test where Alex had to run on a tread mill for several minutes. The tech would increase the speed and the altitude of the treadmill every few minutes. The cardiologist told Alex to run until he could not run anymore. He explained that there are six levels to the test and no one had ever made it to level six. He said that a really good athlete would make it part way through level 5. Alex made it almost to level six. This kid is in good shape. The cardiologist then had an ultrasound of the heart performed and we are happy to report that his problem is definitely NOT heart related. It has been determined that is it probably a muscle spaism issue that can be caused by dehydration. That could be entirely possible since during wrestling season, wrestlers often don't eat or drink the day of a match to keep their weight down which could lend to the muscle problem. The joys of having athletic kids. The one other good thing is that Alex has had no further attacks since the second one that happened the first part of January.

He actually took 3rd place in our region tournament yesterday as a freshman. We are very proud of him and are getting ready for the next level.

I mentioned that Ashley had moved home and was looking for a job. We did have three interviews in one week that we were excited about and hoped would lead to a job. NO JOB!!! All three dentists explained that due to the failing economy---they would be cutting back and not hiring after all. I told her not to worry that President Obama would get her a job---HA HA

She did have some luck these week in getting a part-time job working at our local YMCA. She will be working with the director of the after-school program. It is only 20 hours a week but HEY right now---we will take the 20 hours and continue to look for another part-time job or full-time dental job. There is a new Marriott hotel opening up in March and they are starting to take applications this week so she will also be checking that out. I told her to use Emily and McKell as references since they were former Marriott employees. Should they call you two---give her a good one.

Ladd has been busy traveling to check on the Nucor mills he is responsible for. Times are tough for Nucor but they are keeping their guys working at reduced hours and no lay-offs. Nucor's CEO, Dan DiMicco is scheduled to be on CBS's 60 Minutes next Sunday night, February 8th, if anyone is interested in tuning in.

This month has been sad/happy one for our extended family. On January 22nd, we lost our Aunt Joanne Stein Johnson Rouse to complications from a massive stroke. Aunt Joanne had been living in Paradise, California with her second husband, Brent Rouse. We will miss her and are sad to lose her from our lives but happy for the reunion that took place in Heaven with the reuniting of her with our Uncle Blaine who died of cancer at age 40 many many years ago. She leaves behind six children, Cindie, Jeff, Jenny, Jana, Courtney and Chris and many grandchildren. Aunt Joanne will long be remembered for her kindness and sweet nature. She and Uncle Blaine moved to Paradise many years ago when Uncle Blaine started his medical practice there. We are excited for her to once again be reunited with her eternal sweetheart.

This month was also full of another surprise......SNOW in Charlotte. We got a whole 3 inches on the ground and school OF COURSE was cancelled. Our neighborhood was full of children, both young and old, playing in the white stuff. I know this is no big deal for our Utah family but it has been 10 years since my kids have seen snow of any accumation. They had a great time. It was fun to watch the world pause for just a moment for everyone to just PLAY. I think we need more SNOW DAYS in life.