Busy Week!

You might wonder why my blogging has slowed down a little this year...I think about posting all the cool things we do, but never seem to have the time. This past week is a good example. I threw a bridal shower for my good friend Andrea, had our quarterly Enrichment meeting, am teaching the lesson on Sunday in Relief Society and had to prepare for those three large events all this week. Andrea is a friend of mine from BYU. We lived on the same floor our freshman year, but we really didn't become too close that first year. That following year, she ended up living with Monica, Kerry, Laura and I as well as Katie Bowman. We all had a great sophomore year. During our Junior year, Andrea moved out and moved in with some other girls in our ward. She moved a flight of stairs away from us, so she was within 20 ft of our front door. During my Senior year, I moved to another apartment complex. Andrea also moved into the same complex, but lived in a different ward. I graduated that year, and Andrea stayed another year to finish up her program. I got a job teaching in Phoenix, moved down here and a year later Andrea got a job teaching music, band and strings in the same school district that I taught in. It was always fun to have Andrea so close. She has such a great personality and can really just make you laugh. She lived with me for a while in Phoenix after I bought my house and before I got married. We have had many times over the years and I was honored to throw Andrea a Bridal Shower. She is getting married in August and is moving to Virginia with her man. I do not plan on moving there, so I think this will end our 8 years of living so close to one another. We had fun at her bridal shower! Here are some pictures from it:

Andrea and I

Watch out Ken...She is ready!

Good luck Andrea on the new chapter in your life. Being married is the best...I am proud of you for taking the plung and tying the knot.

In addition to all the happenings going on, there has been a fire burring for the past 3-4 days way too close to my house! It is burning on the mountains behind our house about 1-2 miles away. I took some pictures after Andrea's bridal shower and you can see how red the sky way. I think it was a reflection of the flames on the smoke. It is still very smokey..and still burning!

Insulin Pump!

About three weeks ago I had a doctor's appointment with my Endocrinologist (my diabetic Dr.). I have a check up once every three months or so. During this visit, we talked about how I get frustrated when some mornings I wake up and my blood sugar is high. I told her that I usually test myself before I go to bed, and my blood sugar is fine, then when I wake up, it has gone up by 100-200 points. This frustrates me more than anything because I am obsessed with having good numbers.
My doctor told me something that no one has ever told me before, after having been diabetic for over 13 years. She said that sometimes your liver stores extra glucose and then releases it during the middle of the night (usually around 2 or 3 AM). She said that the pump can help with this because you can program it to give you extra insulin around that time. We started talking about the pump, and let's be honest, the only reason that I haven't ever gotten one, was because I didn't want to wear it and be labeled by people as being diabetic and I thought it would get in the way and it just looks ugly!
The doctor pulled out this sample pump and showed me it wasn't that big (let's be honest, I knew how big they were before, but I still thought it was too big to wear all the time) but the best thing she showed me, is that they have a continuous glucose monitor that you can wear in conjunction with the pump, that transmits your blood sugar to the pump every 5 minutes. I got really excited about this. The worst part of being diabetic is NOT the shots, it is testing your blood sugar 6-8 times a day, pricking your fingers and carrying around that big tester in your purse. I had to upgrade to a bigger purse in March because my last one wasn't big enough to carry my tester and ended up getting holes. The doctor said that the continuous glucose monitor is not covered by almost any insurances. I asked how much it would cost to pay cash for the system thinking that maybe we could pull enough money together and make the sacrifice to get it, and she said it would cost about $12,000/year. That was sad, because that is WAY too much money! She said she would have the pump lady, Angela, check to see if I qualified for any kind of coverage from my insurance and we'd go from there.
I talked with Angela a couple days later and she said that I am 100% covered for the pump (which costs $6,000) and that my insurance was the only insurance that will cover the continuous glucose system completely!!! I was so excited!!! The only thing I have to pay for is a $12 fee every 3 months, plus the cost of insulin (which I have to pay for anyway) .
This last Tuesday, I had an appointment to learn how to use the pump and to get it all hooked up! It has been 4 days and I have loved having the pump already. It is nice to know that I just push a few buttons and have insulin. It hasn't been too hard adjusting to wearing it...although I am still not too crazy about the way it looks, but I guess you have to sacrifice sometimes. I am really excited about how much control I will have. One of the coolest things is that when you exercise, you can program the pump to give you less insulin. With all other insulin, you have to eat extra and make sure your blood sugar is high enough before you exercise. That almost cancels out the exercising if you have to eat before you do it. I don't have the continuous glucose monitoring system yet, but should be getting that within the next couple of weeks...and I can't wait!

Here is what the continuous glucose monitor and pump look like in action. D is the continuous glucose monitor and then your glucose shows up on the pump every 5 minutes which is obviously A.

I am just really grateful for the advancements in medical technology. I know we are all blessed today because of the great medical technology we have. I will give you an update once I get the continuous glucose monitor!

New Toys

This year with our tax refund, Billy and I thought we would buys something for ourselves. I have been running more often, and am hoping to someday run a half marathon. One of my new years resolutions was to run at least a 10K this year. Since we don't live by a gym, YMCA or anything of the sort, and since it gets to be way too hot in the summer, Billy and I bought a treadmill and an elliptical! It is nice being able to work out in the comfort of my own home! After work, Billy and I exercise together on our new toys!

Grandpa Watts

As I mentioned in my previous post, my grandpa, Richard Kent Watts, passed away on April 6th. I have been very fortunate to have all four of my grandparents until now and I know that I am blessed since not many 26 year olds have all four. My grandpa was a great man with many talents. I would like to share just a few experiences that I treasure.

Everyone who knows Grandpa Watts, knows that he loved ice cream. He would always take us grand kids out to Baskin Robbins every time we went for a visit. He would say things like, "I bet you would like that!" He would be so happy as he shared his love for ice cream with the rest of us. Two weeks before Grandpa passed away on the weekend of March 22nd, 2008, I was able to take a trip to St. George to see him and to say goodbye. Grandma and I had stopped by the grocery store to pick up some ice cream bars for Grandpa on our way to see him. When we got there, Grandpa was out of it. He was sleeping, but Grandma woke him up so I could talk with him. He didn't talk much, but when he saw the ice cream, he whispered to Grandma and I and said, "I bet you'd like some!" His eyes lit up and was excited to share his ice cream with me. That was such a testimony to me that our spirits never age or change, but it's just our bodies. What a great example of the Plan of Salvation!

During that same trip, I was able to read to Grandpa. He didn't watch T.V. during his time in the care facility, so he liked to have people read to him. I loved the small comments he made about the Latter-Day Saint stories.

As kids, we would always go and feed the ducks at the duck pond that was close to Grandma and Grandpa's house. We would get the break from the freezer and be on our way. There was always time to play on the playground!

Something else that I will always remember is that my Grandpa loved to take pictures. He used an old fashioned camera that he had to wind in order to advance the film. He didn't ever get a new one either!

During most of my life, Grandma and Grandpa Watts served faithfully in the Oakland Temple. I remember taking youth temple trips on Fridays and seeing my Grandparents in the Temple. As I reflect on his passing, those experiences come to my mind. My Grandpa was so excited to see his granddaughter in the temple serving the Lord. I know that the next time I see him, it will be in a place like the temple.

Before the Family Prayer, prior to the funeral, we were waiting for the last of the family members to arrive. The member of the bishopric that was there made a comment that I really liked. He said something like, I am sure that we will be waiting for all our family members to make it to the Celestial Kingdom. We will be saying things like, we are missing Jim and Garrett and J. We will not want anyone to miss out. That comment just really struck me. I want to be one of those people that is there. There was the spirit in the room and I could feel the love that was there. I know that is how it will be after this life.

I am so grateful for my Grandpa Watts. I am grateful that I knew him and lived close to him growing up. As a kid I got in trouble for little things by Grandpa, but as I learned so much observing him. My mom said that she felt that hugging my Grandpa is how she imagines hugging the Savior. I can't agree with her more. I know my Grandpa loves me and I know he will be waiting for me in the next life!

Here is a picture of Grandpa, Grandma, Christi and my mom at the bowling alley. Grandpa was always up for a good time playing card games, feeding the ducks, ice cream, miniature golfing and more!

Billy sure loves his Sexy

Kati is my Sexy hot mama.

This is my first ever Blog and I want to make sure everyone understands that she is MY WOMAN. I love you babe. - Billy

(need anything else be said on these blogs) If I were everyone reading these blogs I would totally stock Kati. :)

Driving Range

A little over a month ago, Billy went golfing with some of our guy friends. Since then, he has had the urge to go golfing. We took a day off this week to go to St. George since my Grandpa Watts passed away last Sunday (pictures will be coming...) and we had to wait for my cousin Christian to get out of school before we could go. Since we had the morning to ourselves, I told Billy we could do anything he wanted. He wanted to go to the driving range. Keep in mind that I consider myself to be athletic, but I am not a golfer by any means. However, I know that Billy loves golf, and it is something we can do together that is active. We went to the driving range, and had a great time. Billy of course gave me some much needed pointers, since it's been over 4 years since I have done anything with golf. I told him that as soon as I can drive the ball somewhere close to my target, I will go golfing with him.


Check out that contact! My husband really is the greatest! We hadn't ever been "golfing" together before, so the driving range was a lot of fun.

New York!

This past week I was a very lucky girl. Billy travels for work, and he had a conference last weekend on Time Square in NYC. A few months ago, our friend Heidi suggested that I meet him out there and make a little vacation of it. That was the best idea ever! After working half a day last Friday, I hopped on a plan and went and met Billy in New York.

We had lots of fun. We saw Ground Zero and the memorial they were making for all the victims that died on 9/11. We saw the Statue of Liberty in the distance, but we didn't have time to take a boat out to it because we had tickets to see the musical, Wicked that night. We also spent lots of time on Time Square, in Little Italy and in China Town. Another highlight was having dinner with my friend Annalisa and her husband John. It was fun because we rode the subway over to their studio apartment that is about 30 blocks from Time Square (I think anyway....). After that experience, Billy is convinced that he wants to live in NYC and live downtown. I don't know...I told him he would have to get a really good paying job and we'll go from there. So Anna, maybe in a few years we'll be there too. I figure it can't hurt to dream right? We also walked up and down 5th Avenue. We spent the longest in Tiffany's just dreaming! My favorite piece of jewelry was a $45,500 ring. It had a yellow diamond, I think that was about a carrot and it had about .9 carrots of normal diamonds in the the band and around the yellow diamond. Billy is always asking me what piece of jewelry I want next, and I told him that one! We also took a carriage ride around Central Park. What an amazing park that is. It is so huge that it would have taken forever to walk through. I could just imagine how beautiful it would have been to be there in the later spring or fall when there are leaves on the trees!

Here we are on Time Square. I think we chose the coldest night to walk around until Midnight on Time Square. It was fun though to eat pizza (New Yorkers call it pie), be with Billy's co-workers, one who is absolutely crazy.

Billy decided that he wanted a new watch. Here he is bargaining with the street vender's and checking out his options! He decided his first Rolex is going to be a real one though! :)
Here we are in front of Ground Zero. It is horrible what happened there, and I got a picture of Billy with an absolute furious face as he was looking at the area and remembering what happened that day.
We took a tour of the city and saw many of the sites, like the empire state building, Ground Zero, the Statue of Liberty and everything. Look at how interested my husband was...he fell asleep on the bus!
Here we are on the bus together as we were touring the city!

Here we were together on the carriage! I have always wanted to go one one and it was the perfect ride!

I am very grateful for my husband and for all the fun times we have! We are so blessed and I am grateful that I was able to experience New York City. The only thing I would have changed about it would be to not rent a car, but to use only the subway! The drivers are horrible! They are ten times worse than Utah, Arizona and California drivers. I have experienced them all and New York is by far the worse!