Happy Birthday, Dad!

Happy Birthday, Dad!

It's hard to believe he's not here anymore. 

I miss his sense of humor and how he was always teasing, joking around

and good-natured ribbing.

Courtney is 29!

 Happy Birthday, Courtney!

Trying to decide if I trust these two amateurs to be in charge.

Since everyone already knows how delightful, kind, fun, thoughtful,

athletic, intelligent, organized, and motivated she is...

Are all those nice things you said about me?

...I'm going to share her work bio so you can get a glimpse of another part of her life

we know little to nothing about!

Mom, you're going to share what, now?

Dr. Petersen specializes in the characterization of soft tissue mechanics through both experimental testing and finite element analysis (FEA). Her expertise lies in the field of orthopedics with experience developing surgical techniques for osteoarthritis, designing custom surgical tools, and characterizing soft tissue fatigue failure and wear mechanics. She is experienced in a vast range of mechanical testing methods such as friction testing, dynamic loading, fatigue testing, and compressive and tensile testing to characterize both linear and non-linear material behavior and failure, including that of viscoelastic tissue. Her expertise in FEA includes the modeling of complex biologic materials such as those exhibiting tension-compression nonlinearity, biphasic properties, or viscoelasticity. She also specializes in 3D modeling, design, and rapid prototyping.

I'm a little uncomfortable right now...

Prior to joining Exponent, Dr. Petersen received her Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Columbia University. Her research at Columbia focused on the development and analysis of bendable osteochondral allografts as a treatment for knee osteoarthritis. This work included extensive finite element analysis, cadaveric testing, and the designing, patenting, and manufacturing of a custom surgical tool for clinical trials. Furthermore, she investigated the wear mechanisms of articular cartilage and designed mechanical tests to examine tissue fatigue failure.

Yea, it's over! 

All that followed by a CV of 8 publications, 6 conference abstracts and 3 presentation titles!

And now I'm done bragging about her!

But wait, just a couple more things...

Deep thoughts from preschool Courtney:

Check-Ups

Mammogram today.

A few months ago Dan and I made appointments for all our doctor check-ups

and I realized I hadn't been for my breast check since 2020! 

Weird how time gets away from you.

Next year I'm going to try to make my mammogram, dermatology check, blood work and ear cleaning all on the same day. Maybe even the dentist too. Just get all the health and wellness checks done at once.

Lots of rain and hail this afternoon as I was out running errands!

Anniversary By The Numbers

32 years, 4 incredible kids + 2 amazing additions, 

the most precious granddaughter and even a dog! 

We fell in love at 18, married at 21, 

lived in 7 different states, and moved 15 times—13 in our first 10 years of marriage. 

I’d choose you all over again. 

So happy to be living this beautiful adventure with you by my side. 

I had an 11:00 appointment to get my stitches out -- and man, did it hurt!

The skin still wasn't closed, so they glued it shut.

After lunch, Dan and I went to the Jordan River Temple to do sealings,

per our anniversary tradition.

We found several family names and really enjoyed the camaraderie within the sealing group.

Before getting dressed in my white clothes, I opened the locker stall door, 

and my bad finger lingered, is what I suppose happened, and the purse hook jammed right into my wound.

Man, it hurt and I wanted to cry a little, but I didn't.

But it did start bleeding, so after the temple, we went back to the doctor to have them take a look.

It had stopped bleeding and they cleaned it up and it looked like the glue had held.

Franck's for dinner which was delicious, except for the main course.

My meat tasted like meat, which I'm not super fond of--unless they're steaks Dan has cooked.

But like I said, the rest of the meal was delicious. It was my first time to Franck's,

and I wouldn't be opposed to going back. The ambiance is really beautiful.

I'll probably stick with appetizers.

Happy Anniversary, Dan! I love you!

A Buenos Aires Missionary

Dan and I drove down to Orem for Ethan's mission call opening...
and he'd going to Buenos Aires! 

He'll be in the east mission which is a different area than where Dan served, 

but we're so excited for him!

Good for the Soul

Girls day in Midway.

Came up Sunday night at 9:00 and left about 10:00 pm tonight.

Jenn calls it "family history" weekend and everyone works on scrapbooks or some sort of memory book.

Jenn is up to date with all her digital photo albums.

KT does the old fashioned way (but so colorful and fun to look at) with actual photographs,

Creative Memories albums, circular cutters and scrapbook paper.

Edie was working on her son's mission blog, uploading his letters and after the fact will print into a book.

I brought up my hard drive hoping to have access to all photos pre-2013, but no luck.

Instead I deleted years of duplicates, dark photos and videos that didn't need to be saved.

Lots of laughs alongside our productive work,

"mangy" deer that hung out in the yard all day long,

a long walk finding a new trail,

Jennie met us for dinner at our traditional venue, Back 40. 

She is so enthusiastic about her upcoming mission, it was infectious,

and a few Nate Bargatze videos and more story-swapping before I drove home.

Belly laughs with the ladies is good for the soul.

Photos of Blossoms Never Gets Old

Sunday morning walk with Dan.

Church with the kids and another long Sunday meal with fun conversation around the dinner table.