Fifteen Minutes of Delusion

Last weekend, our oldest child became a teenager. The transition came without a lot of fanfare. There was, however, soup. Only the birthday girl could get a way with asking for soup when it's 100 degrees outside. There was cake, too. Lemon cake with lemon icing. Not quite the candle inferno her parents' birthdays cause, but she's getting there. And, of course, presents. Happy Birthday, Anna. We love you.

My blogging friend Crash is collecting fabric for a wonderful Magic Quilt project. The idea is to collect fabric that has a story attached, and make those magical swatches into a quilt. ( Click here to find out what the quilts are for and why they are magic. ) This is the shirt and the story I decided to send in: Given the circumstances, a trip to Hawaii seemed like a very selfish move. My wife was living half a continent away so she could get medical treatment, and my two young girls were finishing their last year of school in Utah before we were to sell the house and move away from our vital support network of family and friends. Yet given the circumstances, a touch of selfishness was just what I needed. And twentieth high school reunions only come once in a lifetime. So with assurances from both heaven and earth that my loved ones would be well taken care of in my absence, I boarded a plane for Honolulu. Near the top of my list was the task to find an Aloha shirt or two – a classy o...

We survived summer vacation. Woo! Actually, Anna had a pretty good summer. Alyssa, on the other hand, contracted a serious case of boredom. She also had the munchies like crazy, and grew over an inch since April. Woah! The girls both had end-of-summer swim parties for church, but I was only able to make it to the primary activity. I purposefully did not wear my swimsuit so as to encourage Alyssa to have some fun on her own, which she did - kind of. Actually, she just sweet talked other adults into helping her swim around. But I guess that's okay. In honor of Back To School, we bought Anna an early birthday present - a desk for her to do her homework on. She was almost happy-tears excited. This morning we had a pretty easy time of things. I've been getting up at 6:15 all summer so I can get in some outside chores and do some writing before I buckle down at the day job. Since the girls are both at schools that start on the same, later schedule, that was plenty early for Anna and ...

Alyssa turned eleven this past Monday. She wanted a "pink train" cake - but not just any pink train. She wanted Rosie, one of the Thomas engine friends. In the past, I've done some fancy run sugar cakes. This year I copped out an bought a Rosie toy and put it on top. I would hang my head in shame, but I'm over it now. Alyssa got an extra birthday toy, and I saved a couple hours of work. Plus, we made her frosting pink with guava. Yum! She got some more trains, and a some puzzles, and a Yathzee, Jr. game. It's pretty fun. Happy Birthday, Alyssa!

Sharon Rose, of WCSH TV station in Portland, Maine just did a 4 part series on chronic lyme. I must say I think it's the best news coverage I've ever seen on chronic lyme. It's accurate, informative and interesting. They interviewed 4 patients who told their stories. All sound familiar to me in one way or another. Even though each person with lyme experiences different symptoms, one lyme patient can nearly always identify another. I can identify with each of these patients in several ways. The 2nd lady they interviewed has lyme-induced chemical sensitivity. I think she did a superb job of clearly explaining how chemicals effect her. Here's the link to the stories. On the left is an article. On the right are the 4 stories. The 1st one is at the bottom. Watch from the bottom up. Each is 4-6 minutes, so not too long. http://www.wcsh6.com/news/health/story.aspx?storyid=119882&catid=273 Sam Donta, th...

Part of our busy summer is to have Alyssa take swimming lessons. Alyssa has a love/terror relationship with the water, and we'd like to try and fix that. A family across town offers lessons in their pool, and one of their options is five days of one-on-one instruction for a very good price. We signed up. Here's Alyssa with James after her first lesson. His main goal for the day was to get her to put her face in the water. Her main goal for the day was to keep her face out of the water. Same thing today. Maybe tomorrow. She is enjoying it, though, and I'm picking up some good games I can use with her to help her in the future as well.

Twenty years ago today, Kara and I were married in the LDS Temple in Laie, Hawaii. Happy Anniversary!

I grew up in La'ie, a small town on the island of O'ahu in Hawaii. La'ie is home to BYU-Hawaii, sister campus to BYU in Utah, and this is one reason the populations of the two places are very interconnected. In fact, I think there are more of my friends from Hawaii living in Utah than there are still in Hawaii. Whenever I visit family in Utah, I invariably run into people I knew in Hawaii, and we spend time catching up and talking about mutual friends. The conversation usually ends with, "We should try and get everyone together some time." Well, this trip I decided to make it 'some time' and organize a get-together. We planned for an evening at the park, but the weather was not in a cooperative state, so we moved to a nearby church building. My sisters and I, along with our families, got the cultural hall in the church set up by five, and then waited. Three other people showed up. I was a little disappointed in the turnout, as we had almost 100 people mark...

Each year, our school district does the Jumpin' Jamboree, a Special Olympics kind of event that Alyssa loves to attend. Here she is with her high school student mentor. And the big parade. Alyssa even had her own cheering section. These kids gave up a special activity at the school to come and cheer for Alyssa. She has a lot of fun every year.

Kara here -- attempting to fill in for Don and give a brief update on our family. It is has been very busy here the last few weeks. Don has been working extra hours on a new project of sorts. He is a "Census Man." So far, he seems to enjoy this new adventure. The people have been nice and to date, has only been bitten by one dog. Well, his pants were bitten, not him. Thank goodness! I have also been keeping busy this month teaching others about Lyme Disease. I think the one thing I'd like my family and friends to understand about lyme and tick borne infections is they are real. They can change a person's life almost overnight. It could just as easily happen to you as it did me. Everyone is at risk. Visit LearnAboutLyme.com and California Lyme Disease Association to learn about Lyme today. Anna had a band competition about two weeks ago. They got all 1's and runner-up to "Best in Class." Then, yesterday she performed a solo at the Solo and Ensemble Co...

With May being Lyme Disease Awareness Month, I want to share my “story” in hopes that someone will benefit from it – either by letting you know you are not alone or by helping you or someone you love receive a correct diagnosis. I have divided it into chapters so if you need to take a break, you can easily find where you left off. Truthfully, this is only a small snapshot of what I went through.    Chapter 1: The Beginning Up until 1999, I was an active, busy young woman. I was happily married and had a beautiful daughter and another baby on th e wa y. I loved being a mother. I also liked gardening, enjoyed nature and had fun inventing new recipes in the kitchen. Italian food was my favorite thing to make and, above all, eat! Well, that and sushi.   In December 1998 while I was pregnant with daughter #2, I caught some kind of virus or bacterial infection that was going around which turned into bronchitis. I went on antibiotics for it and afterward, never reall...