My pacer

It has been a year since I got my pacemaker. Which happens to be on of my favorite Christmas gifts I have ever received. I am so happy I got it and it has changed my life for the better. My heart was in such poor shape, and barely beating on its own.  My pacemaker is very hi tech and is able to tell my doctor all sorts of information.  My pacemaker is a "demand pacemaker", so if my heart decides to  work then my pacemaker does not fire.  When I had my first follow up appointment my heart was sending signals to beat less than 1% of the time.  At that appointment they turned my pacer off for a few seconds and I immediately almost passed out, until they turned it back on.  I was fully dependent on my pacemaker, and felt like we got it put in just in time.

3 months ago I had my last check up and I got the best news. My heart was "waking up" as my doctor put it. He said he has no medical explanation for why this is happening. My heart is beating on its own about 32% of the time.They even turned my pacemaker off for a little bit and I did not have that familiar passing out feeling.  I left the appointment crying tears of joy. I had to laugh because everyone I know would not be happy if their heart was beating on its own 32% of the time, but I sure was. By pacemaker battery will also last longer if my heart decides to work more.

One thing that my pacemaker has allowed me to do is get back to the gym.  I have not been able to run, and will probably never run again, but I can do the elliptical machine. I have even able to lose 20+ pounds, and I am feeling so good. It is amazing how this pacemaker has helped me feel normal.

Some days my heart does bad things and I will have palpitations, and some irregular rhythms, my doctor says that is still the stubborn arrhythmia coming through.  I am so grateful for your prayers.  I know that my doctor can't explain medically why my heart is waking up, but I know that prayers and faith are the reason to why it is waking up.

The Robertsons

Seth and Suzanne are expecting their first child. We are so very happy for them. Seth has this really cool newsboy cap that he wears.

While we were in Idaho Falls on Saturday doing some Christmas shopping, we spotted a father and his son both wearing a newsboy cap. I nudged Sarah and said, "Hey there is Seth in 6 years."

Congratulations you guys!!!

Turkey Day

We had a fabulous turkey day in Burley.  We started the day with a 5K turkey trot. I did not participate in the trot, but did my duty as the photographer. 

Attorney

Back in October we headed up again to Boise to have Joe sworn in as one of the newest attorneys in Idaho. I am so proud of him!

Joe is in that sea of new attorneys getting sworn in. 

Isn't he handsome?

Our place

I apologize fore being completely nonexistent from the blogging world. I have been super busy watching Gilmore Girls, finishing up by bachelors degree in nursing and working. Plus not much has happened up here, so I didn't want to bore you with our lives. 

We live in Chubbuck, which is right next to Pocatello. It's basically the same and is like explaining the relationship of Orem and Provo. We have a cute little 2 bedroom town home  For the first time in our marriage we are not basement dwellers. We have loved the other 2 places we have lived, but it is nice to live above ground finally. 

Our place, there are about 300 other town homes that look just like it. 

About a week after we moved in Joe drove up to the wrong apartment and tried to open the door. After a few minutes he realized he was at the wrong apartment. 

Our front room

This is what I look at on my days off :)

Our kitchen! I love our kitchen! Love, love, love, but we need to invest in bar stools.

Our guest bedroom. We like it best when we have guests that use it.  

Now you have a tour of most of our apartment. This cozy guest bed is just waiting for visitors :)

My husband...the attorney

Joseph T. Preston, Esquire

If you haven't heard the great news then I am excited to tell you that today we got the results from the Idaho State Bar exam and found out that Joe is now officially an attorney. Congratulations Joe!!!! I am so proud of you!
He gets sworn in on October 4th!!

Disneyland just got better

This post might be terribly reminiscent of the post from 3 months ago, but we went back to Disneyland with the Preston's and that deserves its own blog post. We got to spend 3 days at Disneyland, and we left completely exhausted. 

I have to tell you about the HIDDEN MICKEY'S if you have not heard of them. It is fun to keep entertained waiting in lines, or even to look for while you are on the ride. We bought a book and it gave us hints to where they were and I especially became obsessed with finding them. Some of the pictures of them are down below. 

Possibly one of my favorite memories is meeting Rapunzel. Tom also really wanted to meet her and was more than willing to wait in line with me for an hour.  Joe was excited deep down inside but tried not to show it. 

The only way to do the new CARS ride is by the fast passes. Other people were waiting in line for about 2 hours. The ride is good but not worthy of a 2 hour wait. 

We got a magic morning which is we got in an hour before the park officially opens. We rode about 6 rides in 1 hour.

One of the many hidden Mickeys

Another hidden Mickey, found while waiting in line at the Tower of terror. We rode it about 6 times each day, so we looked at this often. 

If you haven't done the animation station at California adventure then  you have not fully experienced Disneyland. It is also a great escape if you desperately need some air conditioning.  

Proud boys showing off their Mickey Mouse drawings they learned to do in 20 minutes at the animation station.  

We were stuck in the cars ride for about 20 minutes. It took the who excitement  out of the ride. 

Fast passes anyone? We built up quite the collection, which meant we hardly ever waited in line

Craftiness

I am sorry that I have not updated you guys on our exciting life here in Pocatello for a while.

 The truth is that not much is happening here. I work strange hours at the hospital, and Joe 

works 8-5 with the Judge. I have extra time on my hands to actually do things that I pin

 on pinterest!  My latest has been throw pillows. My mother would be so proud 

that I dusted off my sewing machine and I am actually using it. I have also taken on a

 quilt project, that could easily become the death of me.

We had this old desk that was painted green. I thought about dropping it off at the DI, 

but instead decided to take on a project and spend hour and hours and days

 and days getting the old paint off and staining it. 

Here is the finished project! Not perfect, and please don't look too close.

 I really like the way it turned out. 

Pocatello

We are getting all settled in here in Pocatello. For me it was really hard to leave Provo. I don't know why people bag on that town, because I think it is the greatest, and I am happy that I was able to live there for the last 10 years. All my friends are there, the best hospital ever is there, and I have so many memories there. I remember I was reluctant to go to BYU and went because my parents wanted me to try it out for 1 semester, I fell in love with it, and never wanted to move home again. 

 I am now learning that it is also great to live in Pocatello, and even though people talk about how terrible it is, it actually isn't that bad. So far I have learned:

1. A quiet town...unless the train is coming by, and then it is not so quiet.

2. No traffic...This has been a nice change

3. Everyone is very nice here

4. Life is good, as long as you have a Costco close, and we do!

5. Salt Lake City is only 2 hours away when I need to see my family and Provo is only an extra hour beyond that. 

Joe is busy working for Judge Nye.  He gets to travel all over southeastern Idaho and listen to all types of court cases. So far I think he has really enjoyed it.  He takes the Idaho bar in a few weeks! And then he will be a legit attorney. 

I got a job in the Emergency Room at the hospital up here. Some days I like my job and other days I loathe it. Which is different because at my old job I loved it, and it made me so happy to be a nurse. It has been really hard to see some of the things I have, and adjust to a new hospital, and a new unit. I kept my job in Orem so that I could go back and work every now and then because I seriously love that hospital and all the people I work with.  I only hope that I start to feel the same for my job up here. One thing I had to give up was my job at the GAP. 10 1/2 years of memories. I cried and cried as I left after my last shift. I loved that job. 

I will have to take some pictures of our place and put them on here. We love our new place and are adjusting to life not living in a basement. 

The Price is Right

We were able live out a dream while we were in California, and that was going to

 THE PRICE IS RIGHT!  

Joe: Has been obsessed with the show his whole life, and loves summers when he does not have school and can plan his day around watching the show. Believe it or not he is actually way good at this show, if they would have picked us we would have won for sure!

Me: I have loved the show my whole life thanks to my Nana, She would babysit me and the world stopped when this show turned on, and so I started to watch it with her. 

She would have loved to have been there with us! 

The confiscated our cameras and phones early on in the waiting in line process. I got this picture illegally right before I handed my phone in. I have waited my whole life to have my name written on this sticker.

4 years ago I wore my gown, now I'm waiting to hear  "Come on Down"

I'm studying 4 the bar, I'd love to win a new car!

Our adventure began with us outside the CBS studios at 5:30 in line, we had standby tickets, so we needed to get there early! The CBS people started letting people onto the property at 8:00 and so they came by to take the priority tickets.  The lady collecting the tickets passed us when we told her we had standby, but then she saw my shirt and said, "We need to let them in!" And gave us priority tickets along with our new friends we made in line.  It was so awesome to be at the taping of the show with other Price is Right enthusiasts!  We made some new facebook friends out of the whole ordeal! 

I know you are dying to the show if you missed it. It aired on June 7. 
Here is the link :
Check us out!
We are on the 3rd row and right behind the contestant on the left side of the TV screen!

and I am forgetting something...It was our 4 year wedding anniversary!And it was such a fun way to spend our anniversary!

Just because we love Disneyland so much

It is no secret that we LOVE Disneyland more than anyone else in the entire world! 

So while all of the Richards headed back to Salt Lake we stayed and did another day at Disneyland!

 We are so happy that the Gochnour's were able to come and spend the last part of the day with us. 

 They have the very cute toe head children!

 There was a line for the pineapple slush things, and I the wait was worth it!

 If my doctor knew how many times I rode The Tower of Terror he might freak out. 

Knott's Berry Farm

Have you ever been to Knott's Berry Farm? Most people haven't, but I came from a family who plans vacations around amusement parks and so I have definitely been. It is similar to Lagoon, but it has some more serious thrill rides. One of my favorites is wooden roller coasters because you feel like you could jump off the track at any moment. Anyway I would recommend a day here. This is where we went the day after we had been at Disneyland all day. I am surprised we had any energy left!

And since all of the Richards trips also have to involve good food we had our favorite meal in California.

 If you go you MUST go and eat chicken at the diner right outside of the park. At a Boysenberry pie! It is a rare berry that is a raspberry, blackberry, and loganberry.  MMmmm!

Jeff and Melissa

What is Snoopy doing with his right hand?

ATTORNEY AT LAW  AFFORDABLE RATES    I.M. GOODE

 One thing about this place is you have to do the train ride! It is the best train ride ever. They use real old passenger trains. And they have actors that play bandits come on and "stick you up" and stuff. I look forward to it every time we go!

Possibly my favorite picture of my parents yet!

Jane and Melissa

Us with my little niece Emily

some of us had more fun than others on the train