New Niece

Yesterday we became aunt and uncle for the 10th time. Chris's sister had a baby girl yesterday. She was due on July 4th, but started having pains last week. We knew she would have it early. Alana May Gaultney weighed 6 lbs 14 oz and was 19 inches long. She was born on Chris's mother's birthday, exactly one minute after his mother. We do not have a picture yet, but will hopefully post one when we recieve one.
Besides Chris's mom's birthday, it was also his brother's, and Aunt Judy's, who passed away in October. Yesterday was a bittersweet day for Katina who kept thinking about Aunt Judy. She is really missed and we know she is looking down on us and watching over us. We love you Aunt Judy!

Our first overnight visitor

Chris and Katina have had a long couple of days. On Wednesday, Katina woke up with a horrible sinus headache and spent the whole day in bed. She is feeling better now, except for a horrible cough that sounds like a dying dog. Thursday was supposed to be a short day of work for her, but she ended up staying all day. Her mom wanted Katina to meet her in Layton so she could find our house, but her mom ended up being delayed. Katina spent about 90 minutes reading in her hot car before her mom came to follow her into Salt Lake. After an hour of relaxing and visiting, Chris, Katina, and her mom went to the stake enrichment night (couples were invited). Sandra Phillips and Don Aslett, famous cleaners and declutterers, gave a wonderful presentation on how to make do with less. Everybody there got a free book. Anybody reading this who wants some tips, just let me know. Afterwards, we went out to eat some great Mexican food at the Red Iguana.

Friday morning, Katina and her mom went shopping. They then met Chris and his work and ate at the Church Office Building. Afterwards, Katina and her mom did iniatories in the SL temple. It was such a beautiful day for weddings. Good thing too as they saw at least 15 different couples outside the temple. When Chris got home, Katina's mom enjoyed the wonderful experience of shopping at IKEA. Later that night, Chris and Katina battled it out while redecorating their condo. My mom is a great decorator and helped us change our look a little bit.

Saturday morning, the weather was not nearly as nice, but we still prevailed. We slept in a bit before we made breakfast. Then we went to the Oquirrh Mountain temple open house. South Jordan is the only city in the world with two temples in its boundaries. This temple was gorgeous and the open house was very well organized. After that, it really started raining hard. We went home and changed before Katina's mom left. We are so thankful that she came to spend some time with us. We already miss her, but will see her at least two more times this summer. We are a little sad my dad couldn't come down to see the temple, but it was nice to have that time with my mom.

Here are a few pictures of the temple.

last week the Angel Moroni

got struck by lightning. Notice

the dark arm and trumpet.

Rain, Rain, and more Rain

I am so sick of rain. Today is June 13th, and it has rained in Utah the last 10 days. It is crazy. I am not talking about a light drizzle; it just pours here. I really hope it stops soon.
Yesterday, it did not rain. It was actually quite a nice day. Kenworth Trucking Company is a business partner with my school. They did a really good fundraiser just for our school yesterday. It was a car show with all the proceeds going to our school. They had some pretty neat cars there. I volunteered in the popcorn stand. It was a great event for our school.
Last night, our stake had a softball game, and Chris played in it. He did pretty good, but Katina's back started hurting really bad from sitting on the bleachers.
Not too much else has happened. I still have school until July 2nd. Chris started his new class on Wednesday. My mom is coming next weekend, so that will be fun.
Keep you updated. (Hopefully)

The verdict

Katina got xrays on her back on Saturday. Luckily, she has no fractures. It is most likely two pinched nerves from her back being out of place. They are going to be doing some decompression every Saturday. If she continues to do well on that, it means no disc problems. If no improvement, then most likely disc damage. She is able to get up and move around. Sitting really aggravates it. She is going to have to get used to the pain, since she will probably have this problem for the rest of her life. She is going back to work tomorrow. Wish her luck. CRTs start on Wednesday, which means a lot of sitting.

Video of Sam trying to get the bird

This video was taken Saturday night as Sam wanted to get this bird really bad. Poor cat!

Video is a little dark. I was taking it laying on the couch not being able to move.

Pictures and Video of Sam

The following are some pictures of Sam when Katina was sweeping and mopping the kitchen. She put the chairs out in the living room and Sam was playing on them.

this one looks like he is in jail

Here is a video of Sam playing on the chairs.

On Saturday night, a little bird flew down and perched on our window well. Chris woke Sam to let him see. That bird tormented Sam all night. Sam would tap on the window and hit the window trying to get the bird. Finally after about an hour, Sam gave up. That bird was still sleeping there when we went to bed around 1 am. Poor Sam! Of all the times to be an indoor, declawed cat!

Some news about Katina's back. She went to the chiropractor yesterday. He believes that she might have a ruptured disc. He recommended heat and ice to take down the swelling and another adjustment on Thursday. He is also going to do some decompression on Saturday morning. She can't go to work until next week and can do very little besides rest and go to the bathroom. Thank heavens for her laptop. She has been watching a lot of movies the last few days.

Update

Katina went to the acupuncturist yesterday. Unfortunately, it did nothing for her. Thankfully, they did not charge her. Today she is going to the chiropractor. Hopefully, he can help her. It will be painful, but worth. She is still on bed rest. This drives her crazy as she gets so bored and wants to be up moving around. Chris has been great. He checks on her every few hours and has done a great job of keeping the house together. I love you honey!