Places from the Past--Dead Horse Point

Nibley Stake Cultural Arts Fireside

"Our Firm Foundation,"

The Legacy of Emma Smith's 1835 Hymnbook

Sunday night we had a big stake production. Choirs from each ward in the Nibley Stake participated along with the 'Restoration Choir,' 'Restoration Orchestra,' and the 'Willow Valley Singers.' There were readings, history of the selected hymns, a violin solo and an organ solo. The program was very professional and very well-attended. It just seemed odd not to be able to clap following the numbers. The Sunflower Camp of Daughters of Utah Pioneers (of which I am a member) assisted in gathering church music memorabilia. I dressed in pioneer clothing and stood guard over one of the displays.

Geocaching

The VanWagenens came up from West Jordan to have Brandon do some dental work. In the afternoon Grandpa stayed with Brooklyn while she was napping so the rest of us went geocaching. We found five caches quite close to our house. The weather was great and it was good to get out.






Jory is unemployed and we hope he finds a good job soon.

Later Saturday evening we went to a house warming party at Holly and BJ's new home in Providence. We had a nice visit with Marilyn, Gary, Ron and Jodie.

Congratulations to Kacie and Sam who had a son, Finn Isaac, this week. Both mother and baby had complications and we wish them a speedy recovery.

Treatment plans...

Andrew has now had 6 rounds of chemo. Some weeks he has really been down and out and other times he has felt reasonably well. He had issues with the port and had to have it removed. Starting next Thursday, and daily Monday through Friday, he will be having radiation treatments for 5 weeks. During that time he will also be given oral chemo with the possibility of one other drug via IV. Radiation will take place at the American Fork Hospital, which is just around the corner and down the street from the Burkhardt home. (two minutes from their home to the hospital parking lot) Andrew is hoping he will be able to work during this time. So far they seem to think the chemo has had a good response. It doesn't appear that the cancer is growing. There is some kind of cancer marker in the blood that was very high to begin with and went way down to a normal level shortly after he started chemo. This new round of treatment will last until just before Christmas. Andrew will then have 4 weeks off as he gains his strength back. Sometime towards the end of January Andrew will have surgery to remove his colon. It is not known whether or not he will have surgery on his liver at the same time or later. Andrew will be having 3 more months of chemo following surgery. Please keep him in your prayers.

A Utah woman who has had cancer four times tries to find the humor in her situation so she comes up with sayings and puts them on T-shirts. The Huntsman Cancer Hospital sells a lot of them. I think many of them are bizarre and others are embarrassing. Anyway, one that refers to colon cancer says: "I LOST MY COLON BUT I'M STILL FULL OF CRAP."

Family history, I am doing it, my family history

There is nothing exciting right now but I thought I would report to all the Prigmore family descendants that I have made a new blog. It contains some histories and a few pictures. Once in a while I will try to add to it. I am rather technologically handicapped, so cut me a little slack. I hope others in the family will be able to add posts as well. Some of you might recognize the histories as I gave some out on CD two years ago. The address is: www.myprigmorefamily.blogspot.com.

Past Two Weeks

Updated Saturday, October 17th:

Robin called early the morning after we returned from Richfield. She was sick, the baby had kept them up two nights in a row, and Andrew was having a really rough time with his round of chemo. I showered and headed out in a storm...snow in the canyon and torrential rain on the freeway. It was 111 miles of white-knuckled driving. Andrew ended up in the hospital for three and a half days. He had surgery to remove the port due to clots and complications. I stayed to help out for six days. In the meantime, Jill and Brandon flew to Hawaii, and Reed stayed in Providence to take care of their four kids. I brought Katelyn back with me and we have all been staying at the Schvaneveldt's home. We have been going home while the kids are in school to take care of things such as yard and garden. We bottled spaghetti sauce with the last of our tomatoes. It has been cold...upper 20's or low 30's at night with highs in the mid-50's.

Here's some random pictures from the last week or two:

Ashlyn was invited to a birthday party for a girl across the street. The party-goers were to dress as princesses. It was fun to see the five-year olds all decked out in their outfits. Ashlyn came home with a princess crown, wand and mirror.

When Ashlyn was dressing for the party, Katelyn hurried to dress as a princess too. She was devastated that she was not able to go with Ashlyn. Poor Katelyn. Being a middle child with an older sister who gets to go to school every day, attend parties and go to the homes of friends is tough. Then there is a difficult baby sister who demands lots of attention and a daddy who is not feeling well. It is hard on a three year old. We have been giving her lots of attention.

At 4 1/2 months, Aubrey is growing despite puking all day long. She goes through a minimum of about five outfits, eight bibs, four receiving blankets and about six cloth diapers/burp rags each day. She still screams a lot but doesn't have to be held constantly. She doesn't sleep well so mom and dad are sleep-deprived. Thankfully, her happy times are more frequent and last a little longer. The items below help entertain Aubrey. I really like the bumbo.

Andrew's badge

Preview of Halloween costumes:

Ashlyn as 'Little Bo Peep'

Katelyn as 'Tinker Bell'

Aubrey, the cute little cow

Ashley as a hippie? peace-nik?

Morning views from the Schvaneveldt deck:

We took Katelyn back to American Fork on Monday afternoon (Oct. 12th) after I attended DUP. We stayed two nights. Andrew had his 5th round of chemo through a pic line. He seemed to do much better. As I write this on Saturday night, he is staying in a cabin and hunting with a co-worker. While we were in AF we went to Orem to visit Conway and Pauleen Clayton, some of our missionary friends. The summary of my life the past while is this: 2 nights in Richfield, 1 night home, 6 nights at Robin's, 5 nights at Jill's, 1 night home and 2 nights at Robin's. Hopefully we are home for a while now. We had Courtney here last night and tonight while the rest of her family is in American Falls. We have been harvesting the rest of the garden, (digging probably a hundred pounds of carrots, making more pickled beets, chopping up and freezing green peppers for later use, putting the pumpkins on the porch etc.) edging and mowing the lawn, pulling up flowers, raking leaves, tilling the garden, storing the grill, planter pots etc. The weather has been nice for the past couple of days. We know it won't last forever so we went for a drive up Cub River Canyon.

Piute ATV Trail Rides

Gary Felter, a former, fellow-missionary friend, invited us to go 4-wheeling for a couple of days with him, his wife Suzanne, and other former, fellow-missionary friends, Morris and Sharlene Mower. We stayed two nights in Richfield. The trip was planned to take advantage of the peak of the spectacular fall foliage and beat the colder weather and storms which will be arriving shortly. Mother Nature has really been busy with her paintbrush and a palette of vivid and varying shades of red, orange, yellow, and green. WOW! We saw a deer, elk, wild turkeys and mountain goats.

Gary and Suzanne rode in their new "Screamin' Demon" Polaris RZR.

Morris and Shar had their "Silver Bullet."

I know they're hard to see, but in the little clearing near the bottom center of the picture there are three elk. One had a very nice rack. After I spotted them and stopped, I yanked off my gloves, got my camera out and snapped the picture. The big buck was out in the sunshine near the road when I first saw him. I had my little camera with poor zooming capabilities and was shooting blind with the sun in my eyes and dusty goggles. I felt fortunate to even get them in the picture. Click on picture to enlarge. It was 'raining' yellow aspen leaves.


Here is another really long shot. Look around the dark crescent shape just to the right of the highest peak. Trust me, there are lots of mountain goats there. To the naked eye they appear as little white dots. Using binoculars really helped. Click on picture to enlarge.

It seems that pictures never do justice to the breathtaking beauty of nature. Nevertheless, enjoy these fall mountain scenes and bold colored leaves:

Thanks to Gary, our expert trail ride guide for inviting us and also for keeping our goggles cleaned!

What a difference a day makes...it was about 87 degrees on Tuesday when some of these pictures were taken. We returned home Tuesday in the late afternoon. We woke up on Wednesday to rain and a rain/snow mix with temperatures in the low 30's. I had a white knuckled 111 mile drive to American Fork in the storm.