Reno, The Fair, Swimming with Tiger and Surgery

October 6-8, Jay, Suzee and I went to Reno for an annual show we attend to buy inventory for the next year. A nice lady who said she's "been there before" took the camera from me and got a picture with all 3 of us.Suzee enjoying a bath at the hotel.

Jay deep in thought about the purchases he was making.

Suzee on one of our many trip to the hallway for a break and to eat.

Graham County Fair was big for us this year. It's the first year our company did a booth, and it was a lot of work. Not so much for me, but for Joe, Dustin and Jay who manned the booth and made countless batches of homemade ice cream and root beer. They had a good response to the products and information on display. Unfortunately, Jay being at the booth meant me alone with 8 kids, which is part of why I though I lost my camera. And I never got a picture of the booth. This one is Janna, Abbey and Emma riding the hang gliding ride.

James and Brook on a truck ride.

Brook, James and Lilly on a cute carriage ride.

Suzee in the infamous back pack, which is where I eventually found my camera. It was in the part where she sits, where Janna swore she'd already looked.

Just after "Starship 2000"- a gravity ride that glues you to the walls. Janna hates pictures right now.

Sam, Lia, Sean and Brook on the "Miracle Round" according to Brook.

And the bull ride, in order of how they actually rode. Uncle Sean first.

Then Lilly.

Janna

Emma

Abbey

Jay Jr.

Brook, who tried so hard not to cry. She wanted to ride, then didn't, then did, then didn't, and after the nice operator man let her pet it, she decided to ride. She didn't get bucked off.

Lia

Then I got the flu, and was in bed Sunday and Monday. Thank goodness for Jay and Cami. On Sunday we attended Dad and Patty's ward, then it hit me hard. I got the shakes and chills, and fever and Jay put me to bed. He took all the kids and was gone for over 6 hours. That might not seem like a big deal, but he had Suzee too. She hasn't gone more than 2 hours without me EVER! She and I are attached at the hip. Literally. She nurses all the time still, and rarely eats any solid food, and doesn't drink a bottle. Then Monday Cami came over while I did the "have to" stuff and work, then I went back to bed. Dad and Patty brought chicken over for dinner so I didn't have to cook. What a relief. Tuesday I felt like a new person. The pool is heated, so everyone came over for dinner and ice cream. We grilled 88 pieces of corn that Dad, Patty and some of the kids picked from the garden. We also had some fresh watermelon, and homemade apple pie ice cream. It was a fabulous night.

Papa and Dustin swimming with some of the kids.

Jay making the ice cream. Jay got Tiger in the pool, and he hopped on Jay's back and swam around like that several times. Later in the evening the kids were racing to see who could get the dive sticks the fastest. Jay took a turn, and swam hard enough into the bottom/side of the pool that he broke open the skin on the bridge of his nose. You can see it a little in the next picture. It's still swollen and painful.

Wednesday morning Jay had knee surgery for a bucket tear on his meniscus. Other than some complications with anesthesia, things went well. He took a day off to recover, and is back almost full speed. He was hesitant to have the spinal block for his surgery after hearing lots of horror stories. The anesthesiologist talked him into it, and what do you know? Somehow, nerves got blocked for way too long, and 2 days later he still had numb/tingling feeling in his lower half. He called the hospital and spoke with the anesthesiologist, who told him to take a high dose of motrin. The next morning he felt better, and has been doing fine since.

My parents and Rachel and Cole came on Saturday to visit, but I got no pictures. We had corn and watermelon, and grilled again. The kids swam of course. And now I'm caught up.