Hi to all,

Dads recovery continues as we discussed on Sunday. I met with two of his therapists on Tuesday and tried to understand the criteria they use to evaluate his progress for Medicare’s participation. Essentially it is totally based on his physical capabilities to perform ADL’s (Activities of Daily Living.) These include his ability to do things like dress himself, move about his environment, use the bathroom, eat, etc. There is no evaluation of his mental progress used in their decision. It is obvious that Medicare rules with an iron fist and that the therapists must be able to document significant progress on a weekly basis. The pressure seems to be directly proportional to the length of time that he has been in rehabilitative therapy. The expectation is that he will either progress to the point that he no longer needs therapy or plateau and consequently no longer qualify on a very rapid trajectory. As of Tuesday, they thought he would be at that plateau and need to be released about the end of next week. I asked them to work to practice with Dad the specific skills he needs to see if he can qualify for a little longer. Time will tell if that happens.
An assistant admissions person at the center gave me the information that I conveyed on Sunday about choices there, and it now appears that I need to talk to the lead person. There may be some latitude in what the fees will be and the opportunity to stay in the same room. I will update that in my next message.
The occupational therapist is going to meet with Seth, Dad and I (and any of you who want to be there) at the Provo house to make recommendations of modifications needed at Dad’s home to accommodate his needs.
Seth has agreed to be available most week afternoons to stay longer (between 4:00 and 5:00 pm.) He needs you to let him know what your desires are so he can let his wife know when he will be home. Please call him at 801-696-3652 to tell him what schedule you would like to have him plan on for most of the nights you will be there. If there needs to be a change in this ‘normal’ schedule, call him for a specific day to modify your needs. I let him know who will be with Dad each evening, so from you long term plan he will know in advance what to plan on.

Hi Family,

The last three days have continued to be relatively good ones for Dad. He is still tired for extended periods of the day, but when he is awake he carries on good conversations. He doesn’t usually initiate new topics, but joins in the conversation. He obviously enjoys visits from the family and especially seems to respond to young ones. He doesn’t relish the walks to the dining room, but does fairly well. He remains quite weak.

Friday evening he was not willing to take his medicines again. Jason and the nurse tried several ways to convince him to take them to no avail. I suggested that he put Don’s CD on and let him relax for 10-15 minutes before he tried again, but as it turned out Mariasha and Quinton came to visit and Mariasha was able to convince him to take them.
On Friday night when I was with him for a while, he asked me to find his watch and ring. To the best of my knowledge that is the first time he has recognized that he doesn’t have them (as you know he was never without them other than when bathing or sleeping.) I explained that they were at my home waiting for him, and he didn’t ask again. Karlene told him that she would like to take him outside to look at the rose garden. Later when they were outside, he asked where the rose garden was without any promptings. He obviously has a very difficult time seeing anything most of the time. Even when he tries, he has difficulty recognizing things and even people. He has tried to see things occasionally when I have been there without promptings, and says something to the effect that he can’t get his eyes to work right.

He is not able to go for extended periods without oxygen, but is only on ½ unit of oxygen to bring his level up to 92-93. You will remember that we have an appointment with Dr. Watkins on Tuesday at 2:00 pm. None of you have indicated an intent to be there yet, but I would still welcome items that you would like to have discussed with the Doctor.

The schedule for the next couple of weeks as it stands now:
Monday morning and afternoon – Seth
Monday evening – Karl
Tuesday morning and afternoon – Seth
Tuesday evening – Sallie
Wednesday morning and afternoon – Seth
Wednesday evening – Marlene
Thursday morning and afternoon – Seth
Thursday evening – Randy
Friday morning and afternoon – Seth
Friday evening – Open
10/9 - Saturday morning – Open
Saturday afternoon – Open
Saturday evening – Open
Sunday morning – Open
Sunday afternoon – Open
Sunday evening – Open
Monday morning and afternoon – Seth
Monday evening – Open
Tuesday morning and afternoon – Seth
Tuesday evening – Open
Wednesday morning and afternoon – Seth
Wednesday evening – Open
Thursday morning and afternoon – Seth
Thursday evening – Open
Friday morning and afternoon – Seth
Friday evening – Open
10/16 - Saturday morning – Karlene
Saturday afternoon – Karlene
Saturday evening – Open
Sunday morning – Karlene
Sunday afternoon -- Karlene
Sunday evening – Open

Thanks for all you are doing to support Dad. I love you,
Martin

Hello to all of you,
I do not have very much to report today, but will try to let you know what I do. Dad seems to be relatively unchanged for the last week. He was extremely tired most of the day today. He ate a good breakfast, but then ate nothing for lunch. Jamie said he ate most of his supper. He was deeply asleep for most of the morning and afternoon. I tried numerous times to get him to wake up enough to talk, unsuccessfully. I read portions of the Sunday newspaper to him, but he would be asleep almost as soon as I started reading. He said he was looking forward to Church, but when the time came, Brooke and the aide were unable to wake him sufficiently.
He woke up when Don & Linda, Keith and family and Kevin and family came to see him late this afternoon and had a fairly good visit with them. He was awake when I was there around 7:00 pm this evening and we had a fairly good conversation.
He did fairly well yesterday with two of his therapies, but was too sleepy for the third.
They have apparently decided that the residents, including Dad, are using too much bottled oxygen. They wanted to take his oxygen concentrator to the lunch room this morning for breakfast. I went along with it, but later decided that the walk there should be with oxygen from the bottle. The nurse said that he was authorized to have an oxygen bottle when he walks to the therapy rooms, but not otherwise. I told Brooke when she came in to insist on having the oxygen bottle on him when he walked to the lunch room at noon and evening. Both of those meals were delivered to his room, so it was not an issue. I don’t have any problem with them transporting the concentrator to the lunch room when he is eating, but believe we need to be insistent that he have oxygen when he walks. Seth, you will have to deal with this in the morning. If you have any problem, let me know and I will come to help you. I don’t think they will resist the oxygen as he walks if we don’t object to having the concentrator while he is there.
As I talked about in my last email, I decided that we needed to consult with a local neurologist who could examine Dad and review all of the CAT scans and history. To that end, I called the office of Joseph Watkins, a neurologist that Charlotte and I worked with once before (and liked.) His staff informed me that in order for Medicare to pay for it, he had to have a referral from another physician. I called Dr. Dahl’s office and requested such a referral from him on Thursday. Dr Dahl called me on Saturday and indicated that his staff had sent the referral on Friday. I will call tomorrow to set up an appointment as soon as possible. I think that could be 2 – 3 weeks based on my conversation with the staff of Dr. Watkins, but we will try to get it as soon as possible. If any of you would like to participate in that meeting you are welcome to come along. If you have questions you would like to have addressed, please get them to me (preferably in an email) and I will attempt to have them addressed.
I have talked to Karlene, Karl and Don regarding the fast we had as a family. I would love to hear from any of you that have additional insights that we should all understand.
Here is the schedule for the next two weeks. You will see that we don’t have many signed up (my fault because I haven’t sent this out earlier.) I would appreciate it if you can let me know soon about the early days, especially tomorrow night.
9/27 Monday morning and afternoon – Seth
Monday evening – Open
Tuesday morning and afternoon – Seth
Tuesday evening – Sallie
Wednesday morning and afternoon – Seth
Wednesday evening – Open
Thursday morning and afternoon – Seth
Thursday evening – Open
Friday morning and afternoon – Seth
Friday evening – Open
10/2 - Saturday morning – Karlene
Saturday afternoon – Karlene
Saturday evening – Open
Sunday morning – Karlene
Sunday afternoon -- Karlene
Sunday evening – Open
Monday morning and afternoon – Seth
Monday evening – Open
Tuesday morning and afternoon – Seth
Tuesday evening – Open
Wednesday morning and afternoon – Seth
Wednesday evening – Open
Thursday morning and afternoon – Seth
Thursday evening – Open
Friday morning and afternoon – Seth
Friday evening – Open
10/9 - Saturday morning – Open
Saturday afternoon – Open
Saturday evening – Open
Sunday morning – Open
Sunday afternoon -- Open
Sunday evening – Open
Thanks for all you are doing to help Dad. I continue to be impressed by your commitment to Dad.
I love you,
Martin

Hi to all,

Dad had a fairly good day this morning and afternoon. Randy was with him evening and reports that he was in good spirits, but wanted to go to bed rather early. He ate about half of his dinner and then was insistent on going to bed. When the nurse brought in his medicine, Dad refused to take the medicine. Randy and the Nurse tried to convince him that it was important to take it, but he still refused. The nurse will try again in a little while. I am not aware of him not taking his medicine before. He has given us a bit of a hard time on occasion, but it think that we have always been able to get him to take it. Dad was significantly less sore from his injury today and was fairly alert during the morning therapies. Those of you who don’t know, Dad was extremely sore from the fall, to the point he couldn’t assist in his movement from bed to chair to auto, etc. I have not been able to get a report today from the therapists as to their feelings about his progress, but hope to do so tomorrow.
I spent about 40 minutes on the phone this evening with Matt Evans (Ken’s son) who you will remember is a neurologist back at the Cleveland Clinic. I received a fair amount of insight from talking with him that I will try to convey in this email. Matt tells me that the temporal lobe of the brain is the part responsible for receiving short term memories and converting them into long term memories. The temporal lobes on both sides of the brain are involved in this process, and in a young person one side can be sufficient to do the work fairly well. In an older person like Dad, when one temporal lobe is injured the other one has more difficulty taking up the entire job resulting in some of the memory challenges we are seeing in Dad. He further explained that when there was trauma elsewhere in the body (the TIA, the Congestive Heart Failure, the fall) that it further delays and slows down any recovery – especially in a 94 year-old. He said that it is impossible to know how long significant recovery can occur, but that he wouldn’t jump to the conclusion that Dad is near the end of his recovery. He said that the experience of being in another place in time could be a result of other problems in the body, such as infections. Obviously, Matt has not seen Dad and can only react to my verbal descriptions. All of this is handicapped by Dad’s age and decreased ability to recover from problems. We may want to take Dad to a neurologist here locally to get additional input into what we should expect. Do any of you have knowledge of one we should consider?
Charlotte suggested, and I agree that she and I have not involved Heavenly Father enough in our own considerations. We have determined that we are going to fast for Dad on Wednesday of this week and to ask for both insight and wisdom for us and for healing and recovery for Dad. We invite any of you who would like to to join us in this fast.

The schedule for the next few days follows:
Sunday morning – Karlene
Sunday afternoon -- Karlene
Sunday evening – Jamie
Monday morning and afternoon – Seth
Monday evening – Randy
Tuesday morning – Marlene
Tuesday afternoon – Richard
Tuesday evening – Sallie
Wednesday morning and afternoon – Seth
Wednesday evening – Open
Thursday morning and afternoon – Seth
Thursday evening – Open
Friday morning and afternoon – Seth
Friday evening – Open
9/25 - Saturday morning – Donna
Saturday afternoon – Donna
Saturday evening – Seth
Sunday morning – Open
Sunday afternoon -- Open
Sunday evening – Open
Monday morning and afternoon – Seth
Monday evening – Open
Tuesday morning and afternoon – Seth
Tuesday evening – Open
Wednesday morning and afternoon – Seth
Wednesday evening – Open
Thursday morning and afternoon – Seth
Thursday evening – Open
Friday morning and afternoon – Seth
Friday evening – Open

You will note that we need a lot of help beginning on Wednesday. I would appreciate any help you can give. Thank you for your efforts in the past.


On another note, Karlene has offered to coordinate family use of the St George condo. Any time you want to use the condo, please contact Karlene to schedule it. Thank you Karlene for offering to handle this.



Love,
Martin

Hi Family,
I think that most of you know that Dad had a relatively minor fall last Wednesday that has had a negative effect on his progress this week. Seth was with him and at noon, went to pick up his lunch. A nurse came in to check his vital signs and Dad was fine and sitting in his easy chair. A couple of minutes after she left someone saw Dad on the floor. No one knows what happened, but it appears that he either 1) leaned forward and lost his balance or 2) tried to stand up and fell. He seemed to be okay with only minor aches as a result of the fall, but overnight his muscles in his left hip/bottom became very stiff and sore. He felt significant pain whenever he tried to move much, especially trying to stand or to go into the bathroom. This has continued, but today it seems to be lessening. Karlene said that he was able to walk from the bathroom to his chair this morning without apparent significant pain after the aide suggested that he lean more heavily on the walker to take pressure off the hip.

Dad is not coughing much anymore, and his x-ray yesterday shows much less involvement in his lungs and chest. His health seems to be generally good.

I talked today to the head therapist about his progress. He said that Dad had been improving well prior to the fall, but has not done well since. I asked for a more complete report Monday after he talks individually with each of the one-on-one therapists.

I assume that you all remember that Don and Linda’s farewell for their mission is tomorrow at 9:00 am in their ward house. They are having an open house at their house after the meeting (10:30 or so) and it is my desire that we meet there sometime that doesn’t conflict with what Don and Linda are doing with as many of you as possible to discuss Dad’s situation and future plans. Let me know if you are not planning to be there so that we can talk prior to the meeting.

On another matter, Donna’s daughter Kim and Justin have previously been told by Dad that they could use the St George condo form 9/30 to 10/3 while they are there for the St George marathon. They would also like to stay there then nights of 10/9 and 10/16 if no one else is planning to use it. Are you aware of any conflicts with these dates? Would one of you be willing to act as the scheduling agent for the use of either of Dad’s condos to try to avoid duplicate expectations.

The schedule for the next couple of weeks follows. Please let me know when you can assist with any of the open dates. You will note that we need help on Tuesday during the day. Seth would like to have the day off to attend a funeral. I appreciate the way you volunteer without me having to call and ask.

9/18-Saturday morning – Karlene
Saturday afternoon – Tiffany
Saturday evening – Karlene
Sunday morning – Karlene
Sunday afternoon -- Karlene
Sunday evening – Jamie
Monday morning and afternoon – Seth
Monday evening – Randy
Tuesday morning – Open
Tuesday afternoon – Open
Tuesday evening – Sallie
Wednesday morning and afternoon – Seth
Wednesday evening – Open
Thursday morning and afternoon – Seth
Thursday evening – Open
Friday morning and afternoon – Seth
Friday evening – Open
9/25 - Saturday morning – Donna
Saturday afternoon – Donna
Saturday evening – Seth
Sunday morning – Open
Sunday afternoon -- Open
Sunday evening – Open
Monday morning and afternoon – Seth
Monday evening – Open
Tuesday morning and afternoon – Seth
Tuesday evening – Open
Wednesday morning and afternoon – Seth
Wednesday evening – Open
Thursday morning and afternoon – Seth
Thursday evening – Open
Friday morning and afternoon – Seth
Friday evening – Open
I love you all.
Martin

Hi Family,




I was surprised to see that it has been a week since I sent out my last update. It seems like time goes really fast. Dad’s last week has been somewhat less eventful that most of the last five weeks. He seems to be making regular progress – although sometimes it is frustratingly slow. The doctor saw him Friday and determined there was still Pneumonia in his lungs. He ordered another round of the antibiotic Cipro and he is still on oxygen at the rate of 2 liters. He continues with an occasional deep cough, although it still seems to be declining. When Marlene got there this morning, she found him without the oxygen on and assumed that he had progressed to not need it. When I got there about 9:30 am he was still not on oxygen because Marlene didn’t recognize the need. I put him on the oxygen and talked to the nurse. She was surprised that he had been left off the oxygen at least from the time then got him up, and agreed to talk with those that care for him to emphasize that that should not happen. When you are there, please check to be sure he is on oxygen until I let you know it is not necessary. If there is any question, talk to the nurse and ask when he was removed from oxygen.



There are times when Dad seems really to be making good progress. Sometimes the same day, he will take several steps back (especially when he is tired) and not seem so good. He was in good spirit and awake when I was with him today. I arranged for him to talk with Rex, Florence and Fern on the room phone. I talked with each of them first and gave them the room phone number and asked them to call dad back. He had a good conversation with each of them. I invited them to call anytime 8:00 am to 8:00 pm and told them that one of us would answer the phone if we were there and give the phone to Dad. I told them that he may be out of the room for meals or therapy, or be asleep and unable to talk at some times. Rex is still quite incapacitated by his heart problems, but seemed happy and otherwise well. Florence is recovering from a very bad infection that has her in a rehabilitation center regaining strength for a week or so before she goes back to Jeans. Fern seems to be well and happy.



There have been times this week when Dad seems to be in another place and is not cooperative with what he needs to do. As I inferred above, this seems to be worse when he is tired. It takes patience to help him back to the current situation and to accomplish what is needed. If you ever feel that you are not able to reach him, give me a call. Most of the time I am not very far away and I can come help. To date, the only thing he does is not follow requests (i.e. to get ready for bed, to leave the bathroom, to eat, etc.) Overall he seems to be getting adequate nutrition although sometime he will eat little at certain meals.



The Rehab doctor saw Dad on Friday (seemingly only to address the pneumonia) but after some pressing for answers from Seth and Randy who were both there he decided to prescribe “Aricept” which is used to help Alzheimer’s patients with their clarity of mind. I haven’t been able to discern any effect from this medication yet, but am hopeful that it will help. I have talked with Dr Val King, a physiatrist (rehabilitative care) about accepting Dad as a patient and advising us as to his needs. He was going to call the care center to inquire as to his current status and then would call me back (which he has not yet.) I will let you know further about any progress. It is obviously troubling to feel that his progress is so often so slow.



I mentioned the possibility of hiring other family members to take shifts with Dad when we are unable to cover them all. Please answer back to me about your feelings about this and also if you have anyone in your family who might be interested in being hired. It is conceivable that Jason’s two older boys might be possible hires, although I have not talked to either yet. I really appreciate the love and care that Seth provides for Dad in his time with him.



If any of you have other information to share, please do so with everyone.



The schedule for helping Dad for the next two weeks is pretty bare, because I waited so long to send this. If any of you are available this Tuesday through Friday, please so indicate soon. We need to quickly provide someone to be with him. Here is the schedule:

9/11- Saturday morning – Karl

Saturday afternoon – Tiffany

Saturday evening – Don

Sunday morning and afternoon – Marlene, Jason and Martin

Sunday evening – Karl

Monday morning and afternoon – Seth

Monday evening – Randy

Tuesday morning and afternoon – Seth

Tuesday evening – Open

Wednesday morning and afternoon – Seth

Wednesday evening – Open

Thursday morning and afternoon – Seth

Thursday evening – Open

Friday morning and afternoon – Seth

Friday evening – Open

9/18-Saturday morning – Open

Saturday afternoon – open

Saturday evening – open

Sunday morning – Open

Sunday afternoon -- Open

Sunday evening – open

Monday morning and afternoon – Seth

Monday evening – Open

Tuesday morning and afternoon – Seth

Tuesday evening – Open

Wednesday morning and afternoon – Seth

Wednesday evening – Open

Thursday morning and afternoon – Seth

Thursday evening – Open

Friday morning and afternoon – Seth

Friday evening – Open

Thanks for all you are doing to help Dad. My appreciation for my family has been strengthened even more than it already was through this difficult experience. I love you all.

Martin

Dad had a meaningful and coherent discussion with Karl this morning, with Don in the afternoon and Gary in the evening today regarding Mom’s passing. He had no memory of her stroke, death or funeral, and wanted to have a lot of information about especially the funeral. After talking extensively with Karl, Dad said he had a single memory of the Doctor telling him in the hospital that Mom would not make it. Don told him that we had a DVD of the funeral and pictures that Chris accumulated and he asked if he could view them. I took my copies of them to his room this evening but he was quite tired and said he wanted to see them tomorrow. He continues to show signs of better thought process and memory, but will then revert to less significant memories when he is tired.

I talked with Dr. Noble today about Dad’s eyes. We have an appointment on Friday morning (9:40 am) to have him evaluate Dad’s eyesight. Dr Noble cautioned me that he may or may not be able to get a definitive answer for us, depending on the ability Dad would have to assist in the exam. He was concerned that we keep Dad’s eyes moistened. He gave me the name of some gel to put in his eyes 3-4 times a day, and a different gel to put in his eyes at night as he went to bed. We need to follow through on this when we are with him.

Dad’s therapy schedule is expected to be: 9:00 am to 10:00 am for speech therapy; 11:00 am to 12:00 noon for occupational therapy; and 3:00 pm to 3:30 (or perhaps 4:00 pm ?) for physical therapy.

Well Grandpa seems to be adjusting to his new surroundings. He was sleeping and we couldn't wake him to take his meds. He kept clinching his mouth shut. He did not want to take them. Martin took his lounge chair into his room and he was resting in it. He seems to remember things more every day.

Today dad was moved to the Orem Rehab Center. The address is 575 East 1400 South, Orem,Room # 214. Phone # is 801-235-9303, it is just south of the University Mall one block. They do not have visiting hours. You can come anytime you want and leave when you want. He really enjoys seeing the younger kids. He perks right up and usually knows them by name.Thank you for your love and prayers.

Just a quick note to let everyone know what is up. Grandpa seems to be getting better with some of the memory things. He is recognizing sometimes. He will be moving to the Rehab center in Orem tomorrow for more therapy. He will have open visiting hours so don't hesitate to come and see him.

Just a quick update. Not much new to tell. Dad seems to have great improvements one hour and then the next time you see him within hours he is unresponsive. Everyone is giving it their all. All the hospital workers are very kind to him and everyone else. They have been good to work with us and keep us in on what is going on. They have been taping his eyes open during therapy and it seems to help him. He kept them open during dinner last night. ( just a slit) He would lift his head and try to see you. You have to be right in front of him for him to see you. He sometimes recognises voices. He loves to see and hear the little ones. He lights up every time one comes in.

Well yesterday Dad recognized Rogers voice and said Hi Roger on his own. The night before Brooke was reading from the family history book and he would finish some of the stories for her. This is the first of him starting any conversation. He had his glasses on and was trying to open his eyes. We have Don and Randy going to Alaska on Sunday and we need someone to be able to help cover the shifts. If any of the grandchildren are available for a 5 hr shift or you can split it between a couple of you that would really help out. The hours are 9-12, 12-5, 5-9 we have a sign up sheet at the hospital if you can help that would be great. Thanks for all your love and prayers in Dad's behalf.

Just to let everyone know, they removed the feeding tube yesterday. Dad is eating on his own. There have been no real improvements other than that. Thanks for your love and support.

Just returned from the hospital. Dad ate his first meal. He has had a feeding tub, which he does not like, he keeps trying to take it out. He ate pasta, peaches, squash, cookies and ice cream. He is still having memory issues. He was very tired when we got there. You can tell he is trying to remember things but just cant. They have asked us to bring pictures and try to get him to talk as much as possible. It looks like a long road.

As many of you know we are trying to keep everyone updated on Grandpa's progress. He has been moved to the Rehab Unit in the hospital. He is in room 2683, he seems to enjoy your visits. He sleeps a lot especially after his therapy. They work on him about 3 hours a day they take him for a walk and he comes back to his room and sleeps.Visiting hours are 6:00 pm Monday- Saturday and Sunday all day, we have a sign up sheet for people to be with him during the day and there is a nurse that stays with him during the night. Please check the schedule and see if there is a time you can stay with him. We appreciate all the prayers in his behalf. I am sure he feels your love for him.

Arvid's about the same

S. Arvid Dodge updates

HI-this is Karlene here, not Chris...:)
I decided with our rather LARGE family it would be a great idea to keep you posted on a blog. Chris will take over after I have to leave. For the sake of extended family that may not have heard any details, this is a sketchy version of what has transpired with dad so far.
On Sunday, Martin took Dad to ER because he was feeling poorly. His heart had liquid around it. It had been in a-fib for a while (the upper half) so they had turned that portion of the pace-maker off. They sent him home and Monday morning when Dad wasn't up and about, Martin found him still asleep. He woke him and in another short amount of time Martin went back in and found him half in and out of bed unable to do either, and pretty unresponsive. After taking him to ER where the liquid around his heart had increased severely, they admitted him.
He had a stroke in the lower R side in the back of the brain (occiptal) area. From the CAT scans, there were probably previous strokes there as well. He has lost the vision on his left side of both eyes. They indicate he will probably not recover from this. Besides his eyelids being very weak, he has no other indications of damage beside some Cognitive problems. I understand that being mixed up and not "all there" is usual for a brain injury. He is able to hear us and communicate a little bit. He is responsive to us and will talk and answer questions. He can squeeze your hand and adjust his body somewhat in bed himself.
Today (Wednesday Aug. 4) is the second day they have had him up and walking a bit with a walker. Today he took a pretty good hike half way around the block here on the 5th floor of UVRMC in Provo. He is currently in Rm 580.
Unfortunately, today he flunked his swallowing test and they are inserting a feeding tube right now. It's pretty miserable to listen to and watch. He coughed it up. They'll try again later.
I'll try to get this address into an email to everyone. Please forward that on to anyone you don't see on my list. I'm not sure of how many email addresses I have.
Love to all

We went on a Cruise in Jan with Bryce, Amanda, Don, Linda, Martin & Charlotte. Randy, Bryce, Amanda, Don and I went diving. It was the coldest Cruise we have ever been on. It rained and was record cold. But we still had fun. It was raining in Roatan when we dove.

We went to Dee's on Jan 27th to take Christmas to the kids. We had such a good time with them all. They are growing up so fast. Such a handful. Deanna is such a good mom . She is so good with her kids. They are good kids. Madison is so dependable and always there to help. Abby is so full of love for everyone and concerned. Gracie is so inquisitive . Rubie is so artistic. Zeke is full of life. Eli is running all over the place not wanting to be left out. When ever he is eating something he makes this funny mummm noise. He is way ahead of his time.
Abby made her first necklace and bracelet.
Kids opening their Christmas presents.

Clara and Marlee's Christmas dresses.








Clara Jan 2010.











On Jan 1 2010 Brett and Haylee blessed Marlee Ann Dodge. What a angel.