Christmas 2012

We had a wonderful Christmas.  A few days before Christmas, Greg’s mom sent us her electric player piano plus two boxes of piano rolls.  Besides being a player piano, it is a regular piano with a lovely soft touch.

We drove to Alex’s house on Friday and were blessed with dry roads the whole way.  Alex and Lanette treated us to sushi!  We had never had it before.  It consisted of rice (always required for sushi), fish (thankfully cooked), and vegetables, and seaweed rolled into rolls then sliced. 

On another day she made pies - apple, pumpkin, and key lime.  YUMMY!

Alex and Greg enjoyed working on a project to add 12 new recessed lights to the ceiling around the edges on three sides in the family room.  The result was very nice.

On Saturday, I taught Aedin and Winrey to make snowflakes.  They caught on so fast, and can both fold and cut their own without any help.  They even figured out by themselves how to cut stars and hearts in the snowflakes!  We had a great time making them, and almost completely covered the back sliding glass door and upstairs playroom window with our creations.  On Sunday we could look over the fence from the church parking lot and see the snowflakes in the windows. 

On Friday we drove into Salt Lake City to see the Christmas Lights and manger scene at Temple Square.  It was really crowded!  Everyone had the same idea!  It was beautiful thought, and not too cold.

On Christmas Eve it began to snow, and eventually piled up 2 or 3 inches.  I made a paper doll with clothes for Winrey.  She really liked it and carried her new doll around wherever she went.  On Christmas Eve we sang carols and watched the Luke 2 movie about the nativity.  That night we went to bed with the anticipation of a beautiful, white Christmas.

Alex and Lanette had stretched a large piece of wrapping paper across the hall so that the kids would not forget and go downstairs before everyone was ready.  On Christmas morning Alex slipped downstairs to turn on the Christmas lights and start the Christmas music.  On cue, the kids ripped through the paper and went downstairs.  There was a large pile of gifts under the tree.    Aedin had been talking about how much he was dreaming of getting a motor scooter.  He was wondering if he had been good enough for Santa to deem him worthy of the scooter. 




To his complete joy and excitement, there next to the Christmas tree was his scooter, and another one for Winrey. 





He literally jumped up and down he was so excited.  Everyone opened their stockings, which were neatly laid out on the couch.  Cedar was very happy with the 3 or 4 small toy cars in his stocking. If the cars had been his only gifts he would have been perfectly happy. 

We began opening the gifts one at a time. 

Some of the gifts were part of a pirate treasure hunt!  One present had clues about which gift to look for next, and so forth.  The treasure hunt ended with a large pirate treasure chest full of “gold” coins, which they will use for playing with as well as decorating on Pirate day.  Lanette also had gifts with clues for Alex that resulted in more gold coins and “jewels.”   They both had the same idea! 

 Winrey got a ballet outfit and ballet doll.

  

                                                                                                     

 

 Lanette got box after box of beautiful clothes.   Alex had found a Chinese site online that sold cute clothing for ridiculously cheap prices.  The clothes are very small sizes, which worked beautifully for Lanette.   Later she tried on the different outfits and Alex took pictures of her outside as she had fun modeling the clothes.

 

The kids had fun trying out their new motor scooters.  This is Alex helping Winrey on her first try on the scooter.

 

That evening, one of the neighbors decorated the whole street with "luminaries."   They are paper bags with candles inside.  It was beautiful.

We had planned returning home the evening of December 26th.  However, the weather forecast was warning of a blizzard that would start very late that night.  Out of concern for our safety on the road, we resignedly decided to go home on Christmas evening.  Alex and Lanette prepared a wonderful dinner for us, and then we drove home.  We had dry roads all the way home.  The next day it snowed all day, and over the next couple of days piled up about 6 inches of fluffy sparkling snow.

Alex and Lanette went snowshoeing and sent us a picture.

Saturday night we watched “It’s a wonderful Life.”  We didn’t think it was too late to watch a Christmas movie. 

It's been snowing the last few days.  We have 6 or 8  inches and it is piled up everywhere and is very pretty.  It's cold too, about 15 degrees at noon.  Tonight Greg and I are going to chaperone at the church youth New Year's Eve Dance.  It's for kids 14 to 17 years old.  We've helped before and they are great kids.  We never have any problems.  So we'll be dancing to their music LOL!

Backpacking in the Sawtooths Aug 2012

Alex, Lanette, Aedin, Eric, and I went backpacking! It was my first time backpacking, and it was great! We camped three nights. Thank-you to Alex and Eric who carried some of my stuff!

We arrived pretty late at night, so we camped the first night near the trailhead.

The next day, we left my Buick near Petite Lake, then we drove up the rocky road to the upper trailhead for Hell Roaring Lake. We all hiked up to a junction. Alex left his pack there. Then he had to hike back down, over a mile - drive the car to the lower trailhead where the Buick could later meet it - then hike up from the lower trailhead to meet us again. He hiked several miles in the process so save the rest of us from the longer hike. Thanks Alex!



Aedin was a great little hiker and carried some of his own gear. Other hikers were amazed to see this little guy deep in the back country!




















Lanette









Aedin at Hell Roaring Lake.






















Eric and Alex






























Aedin at Imogene Lake. We camped here the second night. We all went swimming - well, Eric, Alex, and Lanette swam, and Aedin and I got wet!

























We went up over 20 switchback, then down more switchbacks, then up another 20 switchback, then down again. That was a challenging day! We saw some beautiful mountains, streams and ponds. I should have taken more pictures!

























Lanette relaxing at Toxaway Lake. We camped here the 3rd night.







































Eric, Lanette, Alex, and Aedin






























At the top of Snowyside Pass.

We hiked up a bunch of switchbacks, turned a corner, and wow! There was Twin Lake!

Eric, Alex, Lanette, ME! and Aedin.
I never thought I'd actually be here!






Lanette looking cute above Twin Lakes on top of Snowyside Pass.









Alex made us amazing food. One evening we had pasta with broccoli, chicken, peppers, and Alfredo sauce.

Another night we had yummy burritos with Spanish rice, refried beans, chicken, peppers, and salsa on flour tortillas!














Alice Lake






























This wood trail felt so good under our feet after hiking down over rocks for several hours!

What causes Heart Disease?

What Causes Heart Disease

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 21:58 CST

Dr. Dwight Lundell

We physicians often acquire a rather large ego that tends to make it difficult to admit we are wrong. So, here it is. I freely admit to being wrong. As a heart surgeon with 25 years experience, having performed over 5,000 open-heart surgeries, today is my day to right the wrong with medical and scientific fact.

Bombarded with scientific literature, continually attending education seminars, we opinion makers insisted heart disease resulted from the simple fact of elevated blood cholesterol.

The only accepted therapy was prescribing medications to lower cholesterol and a diet that severely restricted fat intake. The latter of course we insisted would lower cholesterol and heart disease.

It Is Not Working!

These recommendations are no longer scientifically or morally defensible. The discovery a few years ago that inflammation in the artery wall is the real cause of heart disease is slowly leading to a paradigm shift in how heart disease and other chronic ailments will be treated.

The long-established dietary recommendations have created epidemics of obesity and diabetes, the consequences of which dwarf any historical plague in terms of mortality, human suffering and dire economic consequences.

Statistics from the American Heart Association show that 75 million Americans currently suffer from heart disease, 20 million have diabetes and 57 million have pre-diabetes. These disorders are affecting younger and younger people in greater numbers every year.

Simply stated, without inflammation being present in the body, there is no way that cholesterol would accumulate in the wall of the blood vessel and cause heart disease and strokes. Without inflammation, cholesterol would move freely throughout the body as nature intended. It is inflammation that causes cholesterol to become trapped.

Inflammation is your body's natural defense to a foreign invader such as a bacteria, toxin or virus. The cycle of inflammation protects your body from these bacterial and viral invaders. However, if we chronically expose the body to injury by toxins or foods the human body was never designed to process, a condition occurs called chronic inflammation. Chronic inflammation is just as harmful as acute inflammation is beneficial.

What are the biggest culprits of chronic inflammation? They are the overload of simple, highly processed carbohydrates (sugar, flour and all the products made from them) and the excess consumption of omega-6 vegetable oils like soybean, corn and sunflower that are found in many processed foods.

Take a moment to visualize rubbing a stiff brush repeatedly over soft skin until it becomes quite red and nearly bleeding. If you could tolerate this painful brushing, you would have a bleeding, swollen infected area that became worse with each repeated injury. This is a good way to visualize the inflammatory process that could be going on in your body right now.

I have peered inside thousands upon thousands of arteries. A diseased artery looks as if someone took a brush and scrubbed repeatedly against its wall. Several times a day, every day, the foods we eat create small injuries compounding into more injuries, causing the body to respond with inflammation.

Foods loaded with sugars and simple carbohydrates, or processed with omega-6 oils for long shelf life have been the mainstay of the American diet for six decades. These foods have been slowly poisoning everyone.

When we consume simple carbohydrates such as sugar, blood sugar rises rapidly. In response, your pancreas secretes insulin whose primary purpose is to drive sugar into each cell where it is stored for energy. If the cell is full and does not need glucose, it is rejected to avoid extra sugar gumming up the works.

When your full cells reject the extra glucose, blood sugar rises producing more insulin and the glucose converts to stored fat.

Blood sugar is controlled in a very narrow range. Extra sugar molecules attach to a variety of proteins that in turn injure the blood vessel wall. This repeated injury to the blood vessel wall sets off inflammation. When you spike your blood sugar level several times a day, every day, it is exactly like taking sandpaper to the inside of your delicate blood vessels.

While you may not be able to see it, rest assured it is there. I saw it in over 5,000 surgical patients spanning 25 years who all shared one common denominator -- inflammation in their arteries.

Chips and fries are soaked in soybean oil, and processed foods are manufactured with omega-6 oils for longer shelf life. While omega-6's are essential -they are part of every cell membrane controlling what goes in and out of the cell -- they must be in the correct balance with omega-3's.

If the balance shifts by consuming excessive omega-6, the cell membrane produces chemicals called cytokines that directly cause inflammation.

Today's mainstream American diet has produced an extreme imbalance of these two fats. The ratio of imbalance ranges from 15:1 to as high as 30:1 in favor of omega-6. That's a tremendous amount of cytokines causing inflammation. In today's food environment, a 3:1 ratio would be optimal and healthy.

To make matters worse, the excess weight you are carrying from eating these foods creates overloaded fat cells that pour out large quantities of pro-inflammatory chemicals that add to the injury caused by having high blood sugar. The process that began with a sweet roll turns into a vicious cycle over time that creates heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes and finally, Alzheimer's disease, as the inflammatory process continues unabated.

The human body cannot process, nor was it designed to consume, foods packed with sugars and soaked in omega-6 oils.

There is but one answer to quieting inflammation, and that is returning to foods closer to their natural state. Eat more protein. Choose carbohydrates that are very complex such as colorful fruits and vegetables. Cut down on or eliminate inflammation- causing omega-6 fats like corn and soybean oil and the processed foods that are made from them.

One tablespoon of corn oil contains 7,280 mg of omega-6; soybean contains 6,940 mg. Instead, use olive oil or butter from grass-fed beef.

Animal fats contain less than 20% omega-6 and are much less likely to cause inflammation than the supposedly healthy oils labeled polyunsaturated.

Forget the "science" that has been drummed into your head for decades. The science that saturated fat alone causes heart disease is non-existent. The science that saturated fat raises blood cholesterol is also very weak. Since we now know that cholesterol is not the cause of heart disease, the concern about saturated fat is even more absurd today.

What you can do is choose whole foods your grandmother served and not those your mom turned to as grocery store aisles filled with manufactured foods. By eliminating inflammatory foods and adding essential nutrients from fresh unprocessed food, you will reverse years of damage in your arteries and throughout your body from consuming the typical American diet.

Visiting Alex

We had a great visit with Alex and his family this weekend. It was fun to see how he has enlarged his patio and added beautiful stone steps down to his Japanese Garden. He also showed us the Rosetta Stone program he us using to learn Japanese. We would like to visit Japan and perhaps live their for a while.



On Saturday, we went for a drive into the mountains to see the beautiful fall color. At the summit we looked down over the mountain into the huge Kennecott Copper mine. We also stopped in the woods to take pictures of the kids in the leaves. They tried to catch the leaves as they fell. Lanette loved running through the crunchy leaves. They all collected handfuls of bright leaves in all colors to take home.

Alex and Lanette made us many delicious healthy meals. It 's always fun to eat at their house! I should have taken picture of the food because it always looks so beautiful.

We played some games, danced a little DDR, and watched a movie. On Sunday we went to church with them. This kids showed off their reading skills. Aedin is reading, "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe." A pretty thick book for a 7 yr-old. Little 4 yr-old Windrey was sounding out beginner books, and she can also sound out almost any word in the scriptures! Aedin told me that she recently sounded out the work, "covenant." He was quite proud of her. They are both very good readers.

Lanette said that recently Aedin has been sizing girls up as future wives. Lanette was telling one parent about it, and he said, "No, Aedin needs to marry one of my girls." A pretty nice compliment.

Sun Valley and Stanley

Greg and I went to Sun Valley last week for his Optometry convention. I hiked while he went to classes as usual! :) After a false start on a trail I found uninteresting, I discovered a nice trail through the pine trees along a rushing stream in a narrow valley. I hiked several miles until the trail became very steep and very narrow along a steep drop off. At several points the stream went through tunnels of ice! The snow from last year was still there, covered with branches and pine needles from a landslide.

After Greg's last class, we drove to Stanley, which is just north of Red Fish Lake. We lodged there right on the river. We ate our dinner on the balcony just a few feet from the river and with a majestic view of the Sawtooth Mountains. SO relaxing! We watched Canada geese swimming and eating the marsh grass along the river. We also watched a hawk as it spent quite a while hovering over the river then diving to try to catch fish. There was also a cowboy on the distant hillside riding a horse to check on his cows. We had good binoculars so it was fun to watch all the different things going on!

The next day we went to Red Fish Lake and Greg was able to get into a motor boat from the dock. The water was almost like glass it was so calm. We went slowly all around the lake enjoying the water, the wonderful views of the craggy mountains, and the fresh piney smelly air. At the end of the lake are two little waterfalls. I got out of the boat and climbed up the bank to the waterfalls. I just sat on a log right in the middle of the falls and enjoyed the spray and just felt happy. It was wonderful. It was huckleberry season and I ate a few berries. Then I collected a handful of them and brought them to Greg, who stayed in the boat. The sun was very hot, but the breeze from the water make it very pleasant. It was a heavenly day. I will remember it during the cold days of winter.

It was good to have a few days to relax. Usually, I feel like I am in a hamster wheel - running like crazy all the time! LOL! Someday things will slow down I suppose.

Greg will go in for surgery to get his permanent hip on Thursday. He is doing great and we hope he will recover quickly. He has a really good doctor.

I have been researching a healthy diet for Greg since he came home from the hospital. We both agreed that we don't want him back on the drugs he was taking for his arthritis, since they were the cause of his infection. So I studied what foods to eat to manage inflammation. We are eating a lot of vegetables and fruits, lots of fish, nuts, and lean meats, and avoiding starchy foods and sugar. We have both noticed a difference in how we feel. Greg no long feels sleepy in the afternoons, and we have lots of energy. His arthritis is manageable and my allergies are better too!