The Pulse Reader

Last week, I went to a Pulse Doctor. I know how weird it sounds but it was actually really interesting! A pulse reader is a medical doctor trained in Traditional Chinese Medicine. Specifically, this type of doctor has been taught to feel your pulse and instruct you on how to become healthier by this information. I thought this would be worth a shot because I have been trying to get pregnant since June with no result, and while I can certainly attest to the value of Modern Medicine, I know that there is credibility in a the wide range of natural or homeopathic healing also.
The consultation itself has a sort of "fortune telling" air about it because of the broken English of the Doctor and the fact that you don't offer any information before the Doctor reads your pulse. As he is reading your pulse, he jots down "notes" which look like scribblings and pictures because he is writing in Chinese. You put your wrist on a pillow and the Doctor feels your pulse and then you switch to the other wrist.
After feeling my pulse, the Doctor began by telling me that my menstrual cycles are not regular because of hormonal irregularities and sleep disturbances. At this point, I told him that I was having difficulty getting pregnant and was not sure why, as I didn't even have to try with my first baby. He also said that there is something wrong with my Eggs. ( I still don't know what, because I couldn't understand what he was trying to say.)
After this, he asked me if I had any lower back pain. I thought he was asking about some kind of back injury, which, I don't have. He drew a picture of a kidney bean, which I interpreted to be a picture of an Egg? and he said I was missing Yang there. (I sort of laughed at this because I knew I had lost some Yang somewhere along the line. I wonder where I put it?) I didn't really understand what he was talking about until after the consultation when I was looking again at the picture he had drawn and "Kidney" flashed through my head. (I don't know how I could have forgotten the kidney stone I had last year, but if I need to have some more Yang in my Kidney to not have that experience again, sign me up.)
Another reason that this is so interesting is because everyone that I have talked to has been amazed at how accurate and actually personal his interpretations are. It made me really think how closed my mind is about a lot of these remedies. Chinese medicine has been around for so much longer than what we call Modern Medicine and it seems likely that if it was completely unaffective, it would have been discarded long ago.
So now I am taking some herbs to see if they will restore my Yang, and help me get pregnant. Wish me luck!

Gentlemens Tea Party

I'm very sad that I have no pictures of a recent "Men's Tea Party" that I attended, but that's life, I guess. I guess it wasn't technically a tea party, but I think it was close enough to qualify.
Last Sunday, we invited David's old missionary companion over for dinner. The night ended up being a Chilean night where we had "Once", meaning we ate Chilean food and drank Cafe. (I believe that this drink can be made by burning toast as black as you can get it, and then putting this piece of char into a blender, hitting frappe, and then adding hot water to the mixture. You can buy it at the store under the name of Pero or Postum.) We ate Completos also which are like hot dogs, but you add tomatoes and crushed avocados, ketchup and the special Chilean Mayo. I felt like I needed to go tracting after eating such a monster sized hot dog. It was really yummy though.
The night was filled with David and Curtis recalling memories of their time in Chile. It was so much fun to be able to hear some stories about this turning point time in Davids life. I'm excited for the next time.

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There's nothing like June in January!

We had such a fun time visiting some family members in Arizona over New Years. Last summer David's parents moved to Gilbert, Arizona and we hadn't been able to visit them until now. It was really fun to pack up our stuff and head South to enjoy warm weather and fun in the January sun. As we were driving down, we stopped in Vegas, took a wrong turn and ended up in Cocaine town. Seriously we were scared. I debated whether I should jot down my last will and testament just in case we got shot. So after we bought some paraphernalia, we got the heck outta there and ended up on the strip, which was fun for like five minutes. They close down almost every road because of the famous First Night celebration there. So we had to ask for directions for the best way out. When David asked a gas station attendant how to get to Phoenix, he just looked at him in shock and said, "you want to go to Phoenix when you are in Las Vegas, on New Years Eve?" We held to the rod in spite of the peer pressure,(everyone is your friend in Vegas on New Years Eve.) and got back on track. We took the Scenic route and actually drove on the old Route 66 for a while into California. It was dark, but sweet nonetheless.
We rung in the New Year right as we got to Kae and Brad's house and David jumped into the pool to celebrate. (Kae and Brad's pool wasn't heated at all, so the temperature of the pool was 58 degrees. But he did it anyway.) The next day we spent almost the whole day in the swimming pool and hot tub at Grandma and Grandpas. (Theirs was heated.) A highlight of the trip was that we got sunburned in January. For dinner, we had Hamburgers and hot dogs on the grill. I love eating dinner in my swimming suit.
Mckinley was so excited to get to play with Mica while she was there. They had so much fun together and Mckinley wanted to be with Mica and Isaak the whole time we were there.

We also had the fun opportunity to pick oranges and lemons while we were there. I had never done this before and it was so neat to me to see them on the trees. I loaded my handbag up with oranges hoping that my bag would smell like them forever. Such a fabulously fresh smell.

The next day, we had some more fun swimming in the morning. David and his sisters played horse off the diving board. In this picture David is a "HO." hahaha. Kae played too and I was so worried about her the whole time because she is four months pregnant. But she didn't let that stop her from showing her skills.

At some point during the diving challenge, David felt the need to prove that he is a real man by doing a bellyflop on purpose. It was a ten as far as bellyflops go, it even sounded painful. Afterwards, he had a big red welt on his chest.
Later in the afternoon, we went to Isaak's baptism. Way to go Isaak. It was a very special day for him. After the baptism we went back to Kae and Brads and ate Uruguayan? food and played rock band, and yes I did participate. I can't deny that I did actually play. There are pictures to prove it. David is convinced that these aviator glasses are the secret sauce to playing the guitar, and I actually have to agree. I'm a groupie now. I even have his autograph.
It was such a fun trip. We were really glad to be able to go visit. It always feels a little lonely when you don't get to see all of your family at Christmas, and I know that David was especially feeling a little bummed about not being able to be with them, but this trip was the next best thing. Thanks for a fun time, everyone!

New Years Resolutions

A little late, I know. But my New Years Resolutions are written down and I am working on keeping them. I think that 2009 is going to be a pretty good year.
So here is my list:

1) Floss my teeth daily.( I always have this as a resolution and I always inevitably realize I didn't keep my resolve when I'm sitting in the dentists chair regretting every soda pop and sour patch kid I've eaten for the past six months....But not this year!)
2) Prepare a nice Sunday dinner every sunday, with the table set. (The Chicken Pot Pie dinner we had last
Sunday doesn't count.)
3)Ration sugar to one treat per day. (This is practically going to be an identity change for me.)
4)Have a Baby!!!! We will see, but I'm really hoping.
5) Go to the Temple monthly.(Check out some new Temples this year.)
6)Read Scriptures daily.
7)Get my house decorated and keep it clean.
8)Pay off at least one Debt.
9)More quality time with McKinley.
10) Read at least one Book per month.

That's the list! Pretty typical for me, as I like to incorporate healthy living, religion and family goals into my resolutions.

something new that we also did this year, David and I both wrote down 5 fun things that we wanted to do this year, and then we drew out of a cup six winners. Some of them may not happen, but this time of year is about setting goals, not being too caught up in reality, right?
The six winners were:
1) Go to Arizona to visit Davids Parents for New Years: Check.
2) Go to a Ballet: Guess who picked this one?
3) Go on a shopping spree. (It may be a 20 dollar shopping spree, but it will be fun, fun, fun!)
4) Lake trip, with SKINNY DIPPING! Yup,we really are going to do it!
5) Hike the Narrows. (This may conflict with my plans for being pregnant.) If it does, maybe we will go to Mexico!
6) Go to Disneyland. This is Mckinley drawing out a paper. She drew out the shopping spree one.

I always love this time of year because there are so many things to look forward to in the upcoming year.

Sledding!

The day after Christmas, we went sledding with my sister Sunni and her husband Shawn. It was fun to see how much Mckinley liked it. She actually started going down by herself! We brought a snow skate with us and she went down sitting on that too. It was so funny because she wanted to go faster so she kept pushing with her hands. She fell off a few times but never cried until it was time to go home. She wanted to keep playing.
Sunni and Shawn are "luge style" sledders. Take note of Shawn's sweet hat. My dad brought that hat back from Bolivia.