Thanksgiving 2009

This year for Thanksgiving we shared it with Carrie's family the Westenhaver's at their house, they have a beautiful home in Val Vista Lakes. The weather was warmer than I like it, 81, above normal temperatures but once the sun went down it was very nice, the little kids were swimming and Richard even brought the fishing poles out and helped them catch a fish. There were a lot of people there and tons of amazing food. I love getting together with family, my favorite thing to do, I'm so thankful for my friends and family, here in AZ and those in Utah and have many things to be grateful for in my life.

Black Friday, the kids and I got up at 5:00 a.m. and did some shopping. About 10:30 the kids crashed in these chairs. We were very tired but had a lot of fun.

To all my Family and Friends, I hope

you have a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Im so Grateful for all of you.

Carticel/Biopsy & Implantation (oh my)

Definition: CARTICEL (autologous cultured chondrocytes) is the only treatment that uses your own cultured cells to repair damaged knee cartilage. CARTICEL is a biologically advanced treatment that can help you return to your prior level of daily activity.

When Josh had his surgery last week, they went in to fix a tear in his meniscus but there was a worse problem and that was with his cartilage. Since his knee injury that happened about 6 years ago, the cartilage has been deteriorating. Because of the size of the cartilage injury and because of his young age, he qualifies for a procedure called "Carticel". They took out some of his healthy cartilage about the size of two tic-tacs and sent it to a Genzyme Biosurgery in Boston. They will grow his cells in a laboratory for over a five week period. Once the cells have multiplied, the are sent back to his doctor for implantation into his knee. They will make an incision to expose the knee and remove the damaged cartilage. A small piece of tissue will be taken from his shin bone and sewn into place to cover the injury. His new cells will then be injected underneath the patch, and over time, can form cartilage similar to that of the original.

Its amazing what they can do these days, we are doing this in hopes that he can get his knee somewhat back to normal, reduce pain and improve movement and function. The bad thing about this surgery is the recovery process it is very long, for at least 6 weeks he cannot put any weight on his knee, he will have special exercises to increase his range of motion and strengthen his leg muscle. Then will continue with therapy in a 3-8 month period. Good thing he is going to school to be a Physical Therapist, this might give him plenty of experience. Hang in there Josh, I know this has been a long and hard road for you, but you will see a light at the end of the tunnel very soon.

New York - Day 5 & 6 (The End)

While Lynn was attending his BKR mtg.'s these two days, I went with the women and did some touring of NY. These Ladies were from all around the world, some of them spoke good English and others were very hard to talk to. I got to know this Lady from Germany her name is Sydette, it was very interesting hearing about her life and her children, she also found it interesting with some of the things I didn't do or things that I do. The first day they called it NY Noshing, our tour guide took us to the lower east side to some of the places he loved. We went to a place that makes Bialy's their like Bagels but the center is stuffed with onions everything is hand baked, we visited Little Italy and went to a bakery called "Ferrara's" they had amazing Italian/French desserts, we went to "The Pickle Guys" everything in the barrels were pickled, I had one of their sour pickles - very good, toured a market place in China Town. We visited some old parts of town and then went to lunch at a place called KATZ'S, this is where that scene from "When Harry Met Sally" was filmed. Then we went to a small Art Gallery, didn't take pictures there (pretty boring). The 6th day was spent at MoMA (Museum of Modern Art) didn't have a great experience there so not going to talk about that. We went to lunch at the Rockefeller Plaza Restaurant and it was sooo good. It was raining so they weren't ice skating so after lunch I left and went and picked up some last minute souvenirs. Thats it the next day we flew home all day. I loved my experience of New York, it is everything I thought it would be, can't wait to go back and see some more.

Kossar's Bialys

Ferrara's Italian Bakery and Cafe

They had all kinds of pickled food - very interesting

They had smoked fish, caviar and all kinds of specialty foods.

Thought this was interesting.

You were very lucky if you got to sit at the table where Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal sat. They have really good pastrami sandwiches, which I did taste, but I ended up having the turkey - very good.

Katz's Restaurant

Brooklyn Bridge

Rockefeller Plaza

Love the gold statue of Prometheus (a Greek God who brought fire to mankind) the nickname is "Leaping Louie"

Monday night Lynn and I attended the dinner and dance that BKR had at the Hotel, it was a great dinner but we snuck out (we still had more of NY to see) we went and changed our clothes and went to the "Top of the Rock". We were on the 70th floor at night looking over all of NY and it was amazing, cold but amazing.


Empire State Building lit up.

New York Lights

Time Square, they keep the ball that drops there all year round now.

I Love New York.

This was the dessert we had at a restaurant called Isabella's the night before we left, its called Dark Chocolate "Bag" filled with raspberry mousse, seasonal berries and topped with fresh whipped cream. It was so YUM-O

New York - Day 4

This was probably my favorite day, next to the concert at Rockefeller Plaza. We took a boat out to see the Statue of Liberty and then went to Ellis Island. I remember when we flew into New York we flew over the Statue, I was amazed how big and awesome it was and couldn't wait to get closer. Again this is something you see and read about your whole life and when I finally saw in person it was an overwhelming feeling, what a wonderful symbol of freedom and democracy. I also loved going to Ellis Island and being where 12 million immigrant passengers came by steamship to become US Citizens. It was amazing to see what took place and what these people went through and then some to be deported back to where they came from. The main building was restored after 30 years of abandonment and is now a museum. Today over 40 percent of Americans population can trace their ancestry through Ellis Island.


Inside Immigration Museum

Pictures and luggage of the Immigrants

I love the view of NY behind me.

Inside the Museum

View from the boat.

View of Empire State Building from the Boat.

The tall building amazed me. Yes all these people were smooshed on top of the boat - I was a little nervous.

Ellis Island

Statue of Liberty - awesome site.

My favorite picture of Lady Liberty.