Visitors

We had some lovely visitors yesterday--Teisha & Jacob! I was SO glad she called when they were in town. We were getting ready for a BBQ and swimming so we only visited for a little bit, but it was fun to catch up and see each other. Teisha--thanks for calling and stopping by! Please do it anytime! And for the rest of you--please call when you're in town! It'd be fun to see you!

Summer's Gone

Hi to Everyone, Becky and Chris are blessing their baby next Sunday (31st), so we are heading up to Idaho then. Grandma Larsen is going with us, so that will be fun. Dean is having his first surgery (cath through veins in groin) on Sept. 5th. They will check out all his arteries and put a stent in the one to his kidney and any others that need it. The next surgery (open heart) will then be scheduled. Graci goes in for her open heart surgery on Sept. 18th. We are back in school after a fun and busy summer and our kitchen and dining room are almost done. We were in Richfield the other day and WOW Don has been doing a lot of work at Grandma's house. Love to you all. LaRita

Grandma's Project

Hello family! Grandma Larsen is having a fun project done at her house, and I thought I would share some pictures. This is Preston "surfing" on the concrete that has been torn out of Grandma's driveway.
Here is a picture of the big pile. Don Adams is taking all the concrete out of Grandma's driveway and car port, and going to pour new concrete, and build a garage! (This is not even half of the concrete that will have to be taken out)

This is where the hill used to be that we would ride bikes down as kids. They are digging footings, because the garage will come out further than Grandma's carport did. Here is another picture of the pile with Chandler and Preston. I thought it would be fun for all of you to see this transformation, and I will post more pictures as more work gets done. Love you all!

Out of touch

I've been out of town for a week and haven't been able to check the blog. I'm sorry about everything for everybody. I had no idea. I'll keep ya'all in our prayers too.

What a Great Family!

Thanks so much to everyone for your thoughts and prayers! What a great family we have. So far I have been told that I have a heart murmor (or however you spell it!), and my heart is "moderatly enlarged" I have the same problem with my aortic valve that Dean has. Both of us have a valve with only two flaps when there should be three, so it leaks which makes the heart work harder. From the test I had run last week, they are recommending that I meet with a Cardiac surgeon to evaluate everything, so I don't know too much yet. They said they may just watch it for a while and make sure it doesn't get any worse. We will let you know when we know anything else. Like I said, thanks so much to our wonderful family! Dean and Gracie will be in our prayers! Love to all. Diane

Matters of the Hearts

LaRita writes: I thought I would let you all know what is going on in regards to Dean's and Graci's hearts. Graci had her heart catheter yesterday. They heard from their doctor tonight that he would prefer doing her next surgery within a month. She will need valves replaced and the hole in her heart repaired. This, of course, requires another open-heart surgery. It will be so good to get past this point. Then, hopefully, she will only need valve replacement every 8 years. Right now she is very healthy and so much better than she was prior to her first surgery.
As for Dean, we had his check-up with his cardiologist last Tuesday. He has some congenital malformed valves (murmurs) that they have been watching for many years. He has gone at least 5 years longer than they anticipated before they have to replace valves. They found this time that an artery to one of his kidneys is partially blocked with plaque. He needs to have that fixed soon, probably in September. They do this by going through the groin with a balloon and placing a stent inside the artery to keep it open. (At that time, they will also do a catheter to check out all the arteries, etc.) They also found blockage near the aorta valve, and the valve needs to be replaced along with part of the aorta. This will be done approximately 3 months after the stent is placed, so around December. He is now restricted as to activity. He can walk, but not jog. He is not supposed to exert himself by lifting heavy items or anything that requires hard labor. The doctor said he could probably mow lawns but to be careful and go easy. He will mind the doctor and I plan on having him as healthy as can be by the time he has his open-heart surgery.
So that's the basic lowdown on the hearts from our family. We appreciate your prayers and fasting and will do the same for Diane. Apparently, they haven't heard back on her tests. Let us know as soon as you hear.
Otherwise, we have been having a fun summer visiting our kids and grandkids, remodeling our kitchen and dining room and going to Richfield a lot, visiting Mom and trying to make up my mind at Ogden's Superstore. We've also been to Fishlake, Bryce Canyon and Park City. We especially enjoyed our second visit to Rexburg when Becky had her baby. Of course, I was in 7th heaven! We can't believe it is already August and school starts on the 19th. I'm in denial and maybe it will go away. Love to you all. LaRita