Verna Pint

A few weeks ago, Izzy and I went walking to say hi to Brandon while he was working up on campus. On our way past the cemetery, I met this wonderful woman. Her name is Verna Pint. She is 76 years old. She has become my inspiration.

Verna goes walking every day. She has yoga and pilates twice a week and water aerobics regularly. Wrinkles she has, but absolutely no flab. This woman is pure muscle. She loves walking all around town. In just a few months, she has walked over 250 miles. She gets prizes for every 100 miles she walks for one of the classes she is in. She last told me that she has almost reached her 3rd 100 miles.

Verna is my inspiration. When she was 16, she was ran over by a hay-bailing tractor. It crushed her hips, pelvic bone, and part of her legs. The doctor told her she would never walk again. Her mom worried every time she tried to hobble on crutches that she was going to hurt herself. Verna was stubborn, though, and kept at it. She snuck away everyday while her family was gone. She would hobble as best she could to the park on her crutches, then completely out of breath and in pain, hobble back home. After a few weeks, she managed to pull some park benches together. She used the backs of them like parallel bars. Before they had come up with physical therapy, she came up with her own.

She said she never let anyone know. She used her crutches and hobbled whenever her family and friends were around. Then, months after the accident, Verna's mom took her back into the doctor for a routine check-up. She hobbled in, sat down, and waited. When the nurse called her name, Verna stood up, threw down her crutches, and walked happily into the exam room. Of course, everyone went crazy. She told me, "I just couldn't imagine my life never walking again. Could you believe me? not walking? They must have been crazy."

We walked together a long time. I told her that I have wheat stored here and I needed to learn how to make it into bread. She said she ground all of her own wheat. So she came over today and we made the best wheat bread ever! She hopes we still live here next summer when she comes back so we can do more together. I will be ecstatic!

Sitting on the Couch

At 10 1/2 weeks old, this is Isabela sitting on the couch. She can't sit up without back support by herself yet, but she is doing pretty well. She seems to have fun sitting up by us when we are all together. I think she likes to look around and see more things.

Misty & Christina come to visit!

Misty and Christina dropped by to visit before they went dancing... and what
a crazy dance party at the Fun Park they had!

This is Izzy talking.
She and I went to pick raspberries with Kala.
Izzy sat in her carseat on the grass, talking away the whole time.
She loved it when Kala started to play her music.

Bear Lake

We went to Bear Lake with the Spanish Branch. We had a blast!
We lathered sunscreen all over her. She was very efficient at using her hands to rub the lotion off of her arms and eating it up.
She just kept licking and smiling.
Then she slept for about 5 hours that we were there.
She woke up for about 1 1/2 hours at the end to put her feet in the water.

Immunizations

It's Izzy's 2 month check-up and she had her immunizations. She was great! until they poked her leg with the first needle. She let out a scream, paused to think about it...then they stuck her with the second one and she really let the nurse have it. They stuck her one more time while she was crying. But then they gave her an oral immunization and she stopped crying and smiled while she ate. She did really well over all.

We didn't get any pictures of the actual shots, because like great first-time parents,
both Brandon and I were holding her hands and talking to her.

She was all smiles by the time we left the office. We went to a work party for Brandon and she was a little ham with all of that attention. But after, she took a nap and seemed to be fussy the whole rest of the day. I think the shots had some side effects that made her feel pretty crappy.

G&G Chantland

Izzy went to see Grandpa and Grandma Chantland. We had a lot of fun and grandma says she looks just like me when I was a baby. Most people say she looks just like Brandon.