Ankle update w/ pics

I got my cast off yesterday and was given a boot for the next 4 weeks. I've still got a long ways to go, but making progress. I can start putting weight on my foot a little bit at a time. I start physical therapy next week. I got to see my ankle for the first time in 2 weeks! It is a total cankle!! Here are a couple pics from my phone of my poor ankle.

This is my new boot.

One of the Scope spots.

Two ankles!! I haven't seen them in weeks!

Cankle/incision

Incision with another scope spot.

It felt so good to have that cast off! My leg was a hairy monster! It felt good to finally wash it and shave it. I now feel more human again :)

Surgery

I finally had my surgery on the 27th. It wasn't anything big, but it still sucks! I had a lateral ligament reconstruction (I think that's what its called) in my left ankle. Now I've got a big ol' purple cast on my leg! I've got to wear the cast for 2 weeks and then they are putting me in a boot hopefully and not back in a cast! I hate the cast! It itches and is so heavy! I had a week off work and now I'm back :S It was nice to have a break and be taken care of by my sweet family. Here are a couple pictures from the surgery.

Ready to go! Here is the after with my big ol' cast!

One fun thing about casts is that people sign it which is fun :)

On another note my face is slowly starting to get some movement into it!! The day of my surgery I could raise my eyebrow and shut my eye(if I really scrunched it)!! So the end is in site! Thanks to everyone who has visited me and giving me love the past while! It means so much to me!

Lagoon! Kyle's work party

One thing I love about Kyle's job is the summer work party! We get discounted tickets to Lagoon and they throw a big BBQ for everyone while you are there. We had so much fun! We took my sis in law Carlye. It even worked out so that my friends Taylor and Bethany got to go too :) They went on dates with a couple guys Kyle works with :) We all had a blast together!

The only thing that I had a hard time doing was the water part of it. I couldn't go on the slides and had to be really careful not to get water in my eye. But I got some good sun bathing in and went around the lazy river a few times, it was good just to be in the water.

We didn't get to do all the rides we wanted because this storm rolled in for about 30 min and shut all the big rides down. While that was going on we played a lot of games and had the boys win us lots of stuffed animals :)

After Lagoon we all headed down to Texas Road House in Orem for a late night dinner :) It was so yummy, but man I ate way to much that day!!

I would have taken more pictures, but I've been a little camera shy as of late. :) They all pulled a "Michy face" so I didn't look like the only weird one :) Loved hanging out with this group! Thanks for the great time guys!

Things that have become my friends

• Bendy straws - its really hard for me to keep liquid in my mouth right now, so bendy straws help me drink without all the mess



• Natural tears eye drops - keeps my eye moist and feeling good
  


• Nighttime eye lubricant



• Warm wash cloths - helps ease the pain in my face



• Blistex



• Glasses - I can't wear contacts right now, so they save my life



• Volume adjust on my phones - my right ear is really sensitive right now to loud noises



• My blog



• Webmd.com


• Pineapple



• Friendly smiles



• Eye contact

I'm also grateful for my sweet family and friends for all the love and support.

My friend Taylor came over last night and spent the evening with me making homemade pizza and it was dang good :) I'm going to try to get the recipe up on my food blog soon :) Here a couple pics of what we made, don't judge our odd shaped pizzas... ;)

Bell's Palsy and Learning Through Life's Trials

Bells Palsy. Ever heard of it? Cuz I got it! I woke up Saturday morning with it.

According to Webmd.com "Bell's palsy is a paralysis or weakness of the muscles on one side of your face. damage to the facial nerve that controls muscles on one side of the face causes that side of your face to droop. The nerve damage may also affect your sense of taste and how you make tears and saliva. This condition comes on suddenly, often overnight, and usually gets better on its own within a few weeks." For the rest of the article click here.

This can last a few weeks to a few months. Apparently life was going a bit to smoothly and God just had to throw us a few trails to help us grow. "The trials of this life will ultimately lead to joy if we patiently trust in God's plan and discover how to use adversity to grow stronger." ~Larry Richman~ I found that quote here if you would like to read the whole devotional given at BYU-I in 2007. Its good to know God will help you through anything. I know that this doesn't sound like a huge deal to a lot of people and compared to others trials I'd take this instead of a lot of things that could happen. I'm going to keep my head up and try to learn what I need to learn from this experience. I love the Lord and the gospel so much! If any one has any questions about what I believe and the teaching of the LDS faith you can check out http://www.lds.org/, http://www.mormonchannel.org/, or http://www.mormon.org/. Also you can always ask me, I'd be happy to answer questions :)

Here are some pics of me and all the funny faces I make now :P Straight face (you can hardly tell)

closed smile

Teeth smile

Pirate face

Pouty face

Trying to close my eyes

Eventful Day

Yesterday was really eventful.

I got an MRI on my ankle for my surgery

Our Escort broke down in Provo

The old apple tree in the back yard blew down

No big deal, hoping the car wont be to much to fix. Have a feeling this next month will be an expensive one for us. :S Thank heaven for savings! On the bright side Kyle got a promotion at work and a great raise! Oh and today he won a used computer, ya its older, but hey we could use a desktop for home. :)

Fathers Day Weekend

Fathers day weekend was so busy, but so much fun! We got to go to 2 different family reunions. One with Kyle's family up at Palisades and the other was with my family in Nephi Canyon where the old KOA is. We had a blast! We got to try out our new tent we just bought. The weather cooperated with us for most of the time. It rained a little at Palisades, but not much that it stopped us from having fun. We had a bit of trouble with our air mattress. We have 2 twin mattresses, one of which doesn't stay inflated very well. So we turned them sideways and slept on both. We had Kyle's parents pick us up a queen at Walmart in Ephraim on their way up and guess what happened!? It deflated that night too! Cursed defective mattress! The next day we packed up and headed to my families reunion stopping at Walmart to exchange the mattress. Luckily it worked great! It was fun to be at the old KOA again, it has been so long since we've camped there! It warmed up enough for us all to go swimming for a bit! It was fun to be outside with everyone having a blast! That night was awful sleeping conditions, well for me anyway! The mattress did stay up, so that's a plus. But it rained and blew so hard I couldn't hardly sleep all night!!! We'll just say it was a very sleep deprived weekend for me. Despite the sleepless nights we had a wonderful time with both families! I wish we had the chance to go camping with family more, I just love it!

I wish I had used my camera while we were up there, I hate going somewhere and not taking any pics. I would have used my phone, but it died early on. I think I got a pic of a pretty sunset the first night, but that's it.