Important Family Update

 Today, July 25th was an eventful day for our family.

We are happy to hear of the birth of Brittney and Matt's baby girl born on July 25th, weighing 8 lbs. 12 oz and 20 1/2 inches long.  This was Brittney's 6th C-Section delivery.  

Hanna Isabelle Ure

Born at 5:39 a.m. on 7/25/2022

8 lb. 12 oz., 20 1/2 inches long

We are grateful Hanna has arrived safely, and we look forward to meeting this darling little granddaughter.

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Shannon called this afternoon not long after we got home from the parade to let us know that she had taken Doug to the ER.  

Here are details:

Doug went into Afib during the night.  They hoped it would regulate itself by morning, but when it didn't she took him to the ER where they gave him a couple of doses of meds to see if that would fix it.  Unfortunately, it didn't; so they "stopped and then restarted his heart."  This sounded pretty scary to us; but we are grateful that shortly after hearing this, Shannon called back to let us know it had been successful.  Doug was not awake for the procedure and so doesn't have any memory of it.  The doctor told Shannon there wasn't much risk to this procedure, and we are grateful it is over. 

Ryan can relate to this, as he had this procedure done on him in 2002 and shared in a message that the doctors had told him "AFIB is pretty common."  They told Ryan to avoid bananas or Gatorade or anything else like that unless "he is hiking." The good thing was that as soon as Ryan woke up after the procedure he could tell it was working right.  Doug seems to feel the same way.

Shannon shared they did blood work also; and Doug's electrolytes, thyroid, and "everything else looked fine."

In the back and forth messages with Doug's siblings after the comment was made "I'm not sure about these Ireland genes," Beth shared this about her own experience when she wore a heart monitor for 24-hours a couple of years ago and was diagnosed with PVCs.  Her doctor told her it wasn't something she needed to worry about "unless her heart doesn't reset on its own when it starts beating crazy."  She said some weeks it happens a lot but so far it has always reset to beating normal.  

We hope to keep hearing positive updates regarding Doug.  Before this happened today, Doug and Shannon had made plans to come stay with us Wednesday through Saturday, while Brynlee is at a volleyball camp at BYU this week.  We hope their plans remain the same for them to come.  (Joshua is also at BYU this week for a tennis camp.) 

Here is an update from Doug added this evening after he was released and returned home:

"Had an interesting day. Woke up about 1:30 am and could feel my heart beating irregularly. I checked with my Apple Watch and sure enough I was in afib. By morning I was still in afib and so I went to the ER. Unfortunately the medicine didn’t help like it did six years ago when I had a similar episode. This time they had to stop my heart and use a defibrillator to restart it. Glad they put me under before doing that. Anyway, I’m back home and feeling much better. Appreciate all the prayers on my behalf. Also super grateful for my wonderful wife for taking care of me."

Grateful for this good update!

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Another upcoming important family event is Corban's baptism on August 6th at noon in Layton.

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Shannon came this evening (July 25) with some friends to enjoy the pool and a little celebration of the one-year anniversary of the baptism for one of the girls.

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Looking ahead:  August 16, 17, 18 and 19 we are going with Brian Judd Tours along with Hal and Christy Smith to Tuacahn & Utah Shakespeare Festival.

Wednesday, August 17th:  The Sound of Music - afternoon in Cedar City.

Wednesday, August 17th:  Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamboat starring David Archuleta - evening at Tuacahn

Thursday, August 18th:  Wonderland - evening at Tuacahn 

We also go to Zion's Canyon the morning of August 18 and to Cedar Breaks National Monument in Southern Utah on August 19 with a stop at the Beaver Ice-cream factory.  

Fiesta Days Parade, Quilts, and Heritage Park - July 25

Monday, July 25 - Spanish Fork's Fiesta Days 

Parade

After parking by Zions Bank, we found places in the shade to view the parade as we slowly worked our way toward the city park where there were booths set up to sell crafts and other merchandise, a variety of food vendors, and the carnival.  We might have stopped to buy a special "Big Papa's BBQ" sandwich from a booth run by the Catmulls from our former ward, but the line was too long; so we just came home. 

Here are some of the pictures I took while watching the parade.

"Turning Point Dance Studio" is Pam Bingham's studio next door.

One of the several nationalities of World Folkfest dancers in the parade, which are performing each evening this week in Springville.

Another nationality of dancers from the World Folkfest.

In the afternoon I enjoyed looking at the quilts and then joined Sam to look at the historic buildings and machinery nearby at the Jones-Hughes Pioneer Park. 

Quilt Show

This is the quilt I voted for at the outdoor quilt show.  It was pieced by Beth Whitaker, who is on the same shift with me at the Payson Temple on Tuesdays; and it was quilted by Amity Golding.

 None of the displayed quilts were hand quilted, but rather were machine quilted.  I thought this quilt had an interesting design.

This smaller wall hanging had a lot of quilting stitches.

Jones-Hughes Heritage Park - Spanish Fork

National Costumes of Iceland

Between 1855 and 1860, the arrival of pioneers from Iceland made Spanish Fork into the first permanent Icelandic settlement in the United States. 

 

Archibald Gardner Log Cabin

The Spanish Fork rodeo was on July 20-23 & 25 and is always a big part of the Fiesta Days celebration.

Although we have enjoyed going to the rodeo other years, we didn't go this year; but our granddaughter Shannon went and enjoyed it.

Fiesta Days in Spanish Fork

We have been given a new church assignment to be in charge of cleaning the church building when it is our ward's turn.  This morning we left for the church about 8:15 so we could get acquainted with things before 9:00 when those arrived to help.  This week the members with names starting with M through R were on the list to help.  Since this week there are events each day scheduled for Spanish Fork's Fiesta Days, we wondered who might show up to help us; and we were grateful for those who came:  Rex & Emily Moffitt, Daniel Olsen, Jeff Richardson & children, and Bishop Davies. 

When we finished at the church shortly before 11:00, we went to see the car show at Sports Park West here in Spanish Fork.  Last year, Jared had entered his "Thing." He didn't choose to enter it this year, but somebody else entered one.

1974 "Thing" entered this year by Angel Enoc.

Last year Jared entered his 1974 "Thing." 

There were even more cars shown this year than last, and we enjoyed seeing the cars in spite of the warm temperature.

I took a few pictures to share here.

1959 "Nash"

1935 Plymouth - "P J Coupe"

1923 "Model T" Ford

1976 Ford - "Granada Ghia"

1932 Ford -"Vic"

1957 Studebaker - "Transtar"

1929 "Model A" Ford owned by Roger & Geena Davis

who used to be in our ward.

We have a good view from our backyard of Mapleton's fireworks show, "Firestorm Pyrotechnics;" and we invited Hal and Christy Smith to come watch this with us Saturday evening.  Here is part of the description for this pyrotechnics show:  "Each shell that goes into the sky has been hand selected and meticulously placed to a custom selection of music."

On July 16th, we enjoyed watching with Todd & Beth and Rebecca and her friend a similar fireworks "PyroMusical" display in Spanish Fork. 

Pioneer Day, celebrated on July 24 each year in Utah, 

is a state holiday commemorating 

the entry of Brigham Young and the first group of Mormon pioneers into Utah's Salt Lake Valley in 1847.  

This year the 24th was on a Sunday, 

and appropriate celebrations were before and after the 24th. 

On July 21st, we went with Hal & Christy to the play in Orem, "The Drowsy Chaperone," at the Hale Theater, part of our season's tickets.

 

Celebration, Covid, Cataract Surgery - and Dash!

Celebrating with family my dad's 123rd birthday was a memorable start for the month of July, which was followed by celebrating our country's Independence Day on the Fourth of July.  Scott and Kristine were here from Denver, and they went with us to Orem on the Fourth where we enjoyed seeing the various booths at the "Colonial Heritage Festival" ending with the "Cries of Freedom" musical production in the Sera Center for the Arts. 

Enactment of the Continental Army.  Smoke rose after shooting their muskets.  Earlier, the very loud cannon was fired.  

Among his interesting collection was a strong chain with links too small to see without a magnifying glass. 

Sam and Scott listening to a vendor tout his wares.

These special brooms caught our attention; and after trying out a couple of different ones, we bought the one I liked.

We enjoyed seeing "Cries of Freedom," the 63-minute musical production, which was free of charge, and shown in the Scera Center for the Arts.

This was part of the impressive musical finale.

A Civil War base drum, 1863, was part of the patriotic display in the Scera Center for the Arts.

This shell is like the World War I shell Vuk's parents gave us,         only ours also has decoration added.

My patriotic display at our front door.

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The Fourth of July was on a Monday; and on Wednesday Sam started feeling bad with a sore throat, headache, and cough.  I was experiencing similar symptoms on Thursday.  The home test Sam took showed positive for Covid.  I didn't take the test but knew I also had Covid.  We self quarantined and took the prescription of Paxlovid pills our doctor phoned in to Costco, three pills in the morning and three different pills in the evening for five days.  We feel fortunate that our symptoms weren't too severe, more like having a miserable case of the flu or a bad cold; and by the 5th day, we felt much better.  

I was fortunate to have recovered from Covid and tested negative so I could go ahead with the scheduled cataract surgery with Dr. Griffin in Orem on July 14 on my left eye.  The surgery for the right eye is scheduled for July 28.

The week of July 18 - July 25 is Fiesta Days in Spanish Fork.

Now for the wonderful news, saving the best for last:

Kyle and Koryn went to Lincoln, Nebraska, to meet our newest great-grandchild whom they are lovingly adopting as their son.

Dash Matthew Ireland

with his happy mom and dad, Kyle and Koryn.

With his proud Grandpa Ryan and Grandma Tani

We are grateful and happy to welcome Dash,

our newest great-grandchild!