"Oh The Price Family Tree is a Mighty One..."

Those are the only words to our "Price Family Tree" song that I can remember. =) Today I am so grateful for family and answers to prayers. I'm grateful for my Price family as well as my Rice family. This post will be extremely long so beware. =)He's a pretty handsome guy, huh? I love the picture below of my dad and Brady. Love, love, love it. He might get mad at me for putting this picture below on my blog but I couldn't help myself. He is so much fun and this picture totally captures that. =)As most of you already know my dad was recently diagnosed with a liver disease (PSC...look it up online. I'm horrible at explaining exactly what it is). There is not a known cure for this disease, and in the long run it will eventually lead to liver failure. Once the disease progresses far enough a liver transplant may be necessary. He is in stage 3 of 4 stages. If you want all the details send me your email address and I can pass along his emails about it all. I don't want to write about all the sad details regarding this disease. What I really want to focus on are all of the blessings my family and I have received because of all of your prayers and fasting for my dad. I am so grateful for all of you and your support. It means a lot to me.

When I got off the phone with my dad after getting the news about his disease I spoke with my Aunt, Chris, who told me to call her son, Jamey, and talk to him about it. Jamey made friends with Doctor Wallis Marsh while on his mission in Italy. He has been back East to visit Dr. Marsh and even got to work on a surgery with him. Anyway, I text messaged Jamey to see if I could get some info and he immediately called Dr. Marsh. Dr. Marsh did not even hesitate at all to help. He told Jamey to give my dad his email and phone number and to call/email any time. He also told Jamey to tell me that he has a good friend who is a liver specialist at the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale. I passed the information along to my dad. My dad emailed Dr. Marsh that night and received an email back from him the very next morning. When I read the email from Dr. Marsh I cried my eyes out. What a huge, huge blessing and answer to prayer he has been to my family. He addressed my dad as "Brother Price," and signed his emailed as "Wallis Marsh" not "Doctor Marsh." I love that. I love that he is so humble. He was so very, very respectful and gave my dad some extremely helpful information. He is so willing to share his talents and knowledge with others. I am so grateful for him and so impressed with his willingness and desire to serve others. Since that email he has set my dad up with Dr. Rakela (the liver specialist at Mayo in Scottsdale). Normally it would take about a month or so to get in to see Dr. Rakela, but Dr. Marsh arranged for my dad to see him within two weeks. When my parents went in to see Dr. Rakela, he spent about two hours with them explaining the whole disease and what to expect. Two hours is a really long time to take with one patient...especially for a doctor as busy as he is. He never once made it seem like he was in a hurry during their meeting. He said my dad most likely has had this disease for 15 years. 15 years!! That is a little discouraging, and my dad made the comment that he wishes we would've known about it sooner. I actually am grateful we didn't know about it sooner. Can you imagine going to the doctor every so often in the span of 15 years and wondering/worrying about what news they're going to have for you? There really isn't a cure for this disease. 15 years ago there wouldn't have been much that could be done. Basically we would be in a constant state of apprehension and worry for 15 years. I think we found out about the disease at exactly the right time. I really believe the Lord had something to do with the fact that we didn't find anything out until now. I know we needed to find out about the disease at this time because it has progressed enough to the point where the doctors need to start monitering it very closely so that we can know whether or not my dad needs to get in line for a liver transplant...or live liver transplant. How cool is it that they can do live liver transplants?? I love doctors. Dr. Rakela said stage 3 can last about 3-5 years before it progresses into stage 4, which is liver failure. We don't know how long my dad has been in stage 3.

This post is already way too long, and like I said earlier, if anyone wants an update I can email them over some of the emails. My dad has received a very sweet blessing from my Grandad. He has felt so much peace when he has gone to the temple. I know there are many friends/family members who have been fasting and/or praying for my dad. I'm grateful to all of you for that. I am one very lucky girl to have a dad as awesome as mine. He has always done what the Lord would have him do. He is such a good example to me. I'm grateful for all my family (Rices and Prices) who have been supportive and offered up prayers and support to my family. I'm grateful that Jamey put us in contact with such a neat doctor who, in turn, put my dad in contact with a doctor right in Scottsdale. My eyes have been opened to all of the blessings the Lord is willing to give to me and my family.

Mormon Ads

This post is for my friend, Mitchell. So, so funny. For any of you who remember the Mormon Ads you can appreciate this. =)

"I am attracted to pie. It doesn't mean I feel the need to date pie." - Lorelai Gilmore

I feel the need to date pie. Especially this pie. =)


I talked about all of the free peaches I got in an earlier blog entry and mentioned the fact that I was baking peach cobbler. I also mentioned the fact that it might be a disaster. It was. Lately, for whatever reason, I've been really wanting to learn how to cook. After my cobbler disaster I decided to hang up the apron. Then, Saturday night I watched the General Relief Society broadcast. President Uchtdorf talked about being creative and compassionate. He talked about turning some unorganized matter into something beautiful/organized. I almost thought he was going to look into the camera and say "Emily, that means you need to unload your car and hang up your clothes," but he didn't. Phew. That would've been embarrassing. He also talked about how we shouldn't let the fear of failure discourage us, and how whatever we choose to create does not have to be perfect. So, I decided to give the baking another shot. This time I just went with a good old fashioned pie. Forget the cobbler. Who likes cobbler, anyway? I'll be the first to admit that my pie is not pretty to look at. I didn't crimp the edges. I didn't add nutmeg. I didn't make the slits in the top look like a smiley face or something equally as cute. I didn't cook it so that it was a perfect golden-brown color because I had to take it out of the oven because I was going to be late for church if I didn't. I made the crust from scratch so it was uneven and not artistic at all. In fact, truth be told, my cobbler looked a whole lot better than this pie. The cobbler tasted horrible, though. I brought this pie to dinner at my aunt's cabin and nobody threw up. Actually, I almost threw up this morning while making it because I was fasting today and accidentally licked a spatula with pie filling I had just made on it. I realized my mistake and spit it all out in the sink. Don't even try to pretend like that hasn't happened to you too. It actually tasted pretty darn good if I do say so myself. No cooking on fast Sunday morning for me, though. Lesson learned.

Long story short, I'm so grateful that I have the leaders of my church to guide me and encourage me to do new things and develop new talents even when I fail and even when whatever I work hard at doesn't turn out exactly how I want it to. Another thing he said in his talk was "In the end, the number of prayers we say may contribute to our happiness, but the number of prayers we answer may be of even greater importance." How cool is it that we can be the answer to another person's prayer? I really felt so humbled when I thought about the fact that the Lord trusts us and expects us to love and serve those around us. In doing so we will be an answer to their prayers. All we have to do is have a willing heart. I thoroughly enjoyed the broadcast and am so grateful and lucky to be a part of Relief Society.

=)

Clever. I took this picture really quick yesterday while I was going through the home of the guy who had the garden. It struck me as hilarious for some reason.

"Mary, Mary, quite contrary, How does your garden grow?"

I went to a dead guys (that isn't meant to be insensitive. He was about 90. He lived a good, long life. I bet he's up in heaven baking peach pie for everyone right now) garden today to pick peaches so that I can eat them...and make pie...and give them away since they were FREE! =) I love free stuff. I have a peach cobbler baking in the oven right now. It's my first attempt at making cobbler so we'll see what happens. I used a pan that was too small and I have a bad feeling it's going to be disastrous, but I had fun with it. Don't you just love the picture below??

Peaches are great. I was also able to pick some red peppers and a ginormous onion. Fun stuff. I want a garden. It really was a beautiful garden with peaches, corn, peppers, SWEET POTATOES (I got really excited about that), tomatoes, plums, etc.Yummy. I'm going to eat that whole onion. Nobody will ever kiss me again. The house is for sale. I walked through it just to see what it looked like inside, and it's definitely a fixer-upper. It has potential, though, and lots and lots of storage space...and a really cute garden. There were lots of bees, though. I hate bees. I know we've got a shortage of them right now, and it's probably because I do my very best to kill every one that I see...when I'm not running away from them, that is. My crazy, fun aunt! She got up on the ladder to pick the peaches and everything. It really was a blast. The man that allowed us into the home to look at it and to pick the peaches was so sweet. He lives just a few houses down from the home where I picked peaches. He's got a garden of his own which is where I got the huge onion that I love so much. He told Chris (my aunt) and I about how several years ago he had a stroke and had to relearn everything. When I say everything, I mean EVERYTHING. He didn't know who his kids were. He had to learn what 1 plus 1 equals. Really sad stuff but he really pulled through and has developed his talents ever since. His garden really was amazing...especially for someone who had to learn how to do everything all over again. I wanted to get a picture with him but forgot. I'm so grateful that he took the time to show us his garden and allow us to look through his neighbors home and pick stuff out of his neighbors garden. I had so much fun and learned a lot! I had no idea all the things you could grow in your backyard. That's probably because I'm from Arizona where the heat kills everything.

Kill Me Now

I. Hate. Mornings.

"The moral of Snow White is never eat apples." - Lemony Snicket

I am so grateful for answers to prayer. I know with all of my heart that the Lord is mindful of me. He has shown me over and over and over again this week that he will not leave me alone. My prayers have been much more meaningful lately and I'm becoming much more sensitive and in tune with the whisperings of The Spirit. I was worried last Sunday about how I was going to move from one apartment to another apartment. I'm not very good at asking people for help-especially when it comes to things like moving because I just don't want to burden anyone (The real reason is that I'm a little too prideful...I should work on that). The Lord knew I was worried. I prayed for help to know how to accomplish this move in the best (and most cost effective) way. After church on Sunday the Elders Quorum president found out I was moving and said he'd have four guys ready to help me. He asked if I had a truck and I told him I was planning on renting a uhaul. That's when another guy in my ward chimed in and said that he works for uhaul and can get me a pretty good discount. Long story short, I'm officially all moved in (ok, ok, so I still need to hang up my clothes and buy food) to my new apartment and it only took a few hours thanks to all the help I got from my super cool aunt and some very generous friends.

On to less important things. There are some things in this world that I will never begin to understand. Like, for instance, the cost of ottomans. Seriously. Why do they cost so much? We put our feet on them. That's it. Feet. I don't get it. Rugs are expensive, too, and I'm in desparate need of one. I spill things frequently. Anyways, what I really meant to talk about was my trip to walmart. I love the prices at walmart, but I hate actually going there. I ALWAYS end up waiting an insane amount of time in the checkout lane. All because some lady is complaining about the price of her apples and weren't they on sale? Can we have someone check? I went to walmart today and didn't make a list. I'm not allowed to go grocery shopping without a list. Not allowed...ever. Why? Because I went in to walmart thinking "toilet paper, excedrin (to relieve the headache I knew I'd get from the check out lane), and mac and cheese." I came out of walmart with cup-a-noodles, excedrin, a couple of frozen dinners that looked good (I'm a sucker for those), chapstick, and gum. I really just needed the toilet paper. Doh. Good thing I have paper towels at home, right?

One more thing. There are certain words that I love and hate. I hate the word "moist." I think women in general can agree with me there. I also hate the words "busy," "ointment," and I really hate the phrase "just joshin' ya" whatever that means. I hate the word "busy" because it irritates me when I ask someone how they are doing and their response is "I'm so busy." That response tells me absolutely nothing about HOW you're actually doing. Sometimes I get the feeling people like to use the word "busy" because they think it makes them sound important, when really it just makes it sound like they don't have their priorities where they ought to be. That's only sometimes, though. Other times people really, truly do have a good reason to be "busy." There are certain smells that I love and hate as well. My apartment has a smell that I hate. I love the new book smell, though. Maybe I'll buy a myriad of new books and put them all over my apartment. Scotch tape smells really good, too. Hmm...scotch tape and books all over my apartment. Perfect. I'm sure some of you are thinking "febreeze" right now. I'm here to teach you that febreeze smells like crap. You're welcome for the tip. If any of you have any good scent suggestions send them my way. =)

A first time for everything

Technically this isn't my first experience with the "blogging" world. When I went to BYU-Idaho I had a blog for about 2 seconds and then lost interest. Plus, the fact that it was public made me feel like I couldn't really "tell-all," for lack of a better term. I made a promise to myself that instead of a public online journal I would keep a private journal with all the good, bad, and ugly details of my life. That never happened. So here goes my second attempt at journal keeping.

I'm not what anyone would call an open book. In fact, if you were going to compare me to a book I'd be one of those diary's (diaries??) with a lock on it. I had several of those when I was a little girl. I loved those diary's but I always seemed to lose the stupid key that opened the diary up so I would have to figure out a way to break the lock. That's all beside the point, though. Sorry. So, for those of you who were hoping for more detail about my life on this blog I'm going to apologize right now. However, there is one part of my life that is open for anyone who cares to listen (or read, in this case). My testimony of the gospel is something that I am more than willing to share. I figured if I'm going to have a public blog I might as well write about what is most important to me in my life, and that way if anyone stumbles upon my blog I know they will be reading what is nearest and dearest to my heart. I'll write a little bit about my boring day to day activities once in a while as well.

I've been thinking a lot lately about how I'm one very lucky girl. I'm the kind of person that gets the good parking spot and doesn't have to wait in an hour long line to buy her school books even though everyone else does. I have exeperiences like that all the time. I've been assuming that it's mere coincidence and that I'm just luckier than others. Not so. Most of you know that I'm not a huge fan of living in Utah. Sorry, sorry, sorry to any of you die-hard Utah fans, but I'm an Arizona girl through and through. Since I've moved to Utah I've had a series of good things happen to me. I'm not talking about life altering things. It seems like every day I have several small things happen that, had I been living in Arizona still, I probably never would have noticed. I was taken out of my comfort zone when I moved to Utah, but in the process it has made me realize all of the little things the Lord blesses me with every day. Moving to Utah has definitely been a humbling experience for me. I did not want to move here and leave my life in Arizona behind. I'm so grateful, however, that I listened to the promptings of The Spirit and what the Lord wanted me to do. C.S. Lewis said "There are two kinds of people: those who say to God 'Thy will be done,' and those to whom God says 'all right, then, have it your way." How very happy I am that I chose to do this the Lord's way. I've definitely been in the position where I've tried to do things my way and gained nothing but heartache. I'm so grateful to have a loving Heavenly Father who is always right there ready and willing to bless me.