Backyard Beauty

Over the past few years we've completely rebuilt our backyard. This is Kathleen's creation. She has designed the whole thing, getting ideas and advice from literally hundreds of magazines, blogs and professionals.

Here's the before...

During the patio construction...

During the deck reconstruction...

And after...

Bret's Broken Neck - The Long Story

If you're interested in the long story, here it is...

Back in 1994 I bought a GT Trek mountain bike. The bike has been well used. It's visited 7 countries and has been ridden a few thousand miles. In 2004 the bike received a major tune-up. The handlebars were bent from being packed on a train, so I replaced them with a nicely-priced used set (mistake number one). Since that time it has been a fairly reliable commuter bike. I did break a pedal hopping over a curb in 2009, but otherwise, I haven't had any trouble.

Two weeks ago, while pulling up on my handlebars to hop over the same curb I've hopped for 7 years (the same one I broke my pedal on, interestingly), the handlebars broke in half at the neck.

I think I got my front wheel off the ground, maybe even both wheels, but when I landed, the front wheel turned suddenly, and my head hit the grass. Because my body was moving forward and my helmet was stuck in the grass, my head broke out of the back side of the helmet while my body flew forward and I landed on my back.

As far as I know, I didn't black out, but I was confused and in pain. I was sure my left arm was broken in multiple places. I've never felt pain that intense before. A small spot of blood was on my palm, but I couldn't see any other blood and my palm wasn't cut. I called Kathleen, asking her to pick me up. She asked whether I had a flat tire. When I said no, she bolted out the door.

A commuter van drove slowly around the hill I was laying on. The two guys inside were wondering, I'm sure, whether some guy was resting on the grass or unconscious. I was neither. Ken got out of the passenger seat (the driver stayed in) and stayed with me until Kathleen showed up.

After a few hours at the hospital, an X-ray and a CT scan, the ER doctor saw that I broke my neck in two places. The bottom two vertebrae of the neck, C6 and C7, where slightly crushed and cracked respectively.

The pain in my arm was caused by pressure on nerves in my neck. My arm is unhurt.

After an MRI and CT Angiogram, it turned out that one of the arteries in my neck was injured during the accident. My left vertebral artery, which brings blood to the brain, was damaged when the vertebrae it runs through twisted unnaturally.

When the artery was damaged, a blood clot formed to prevent internal bleeding. That blood clot blocked nearly the entire artery. Thankfully, as you can see above, the right and left vertebral arteries are redundant - they connect just above the neck, so if one fails you don't die.

The biggest risk now is that the clot in the vertebral artery could break loose, and cause a stroke. If that doesn't happen, the inside wall of the artery will gradually grow over the top of the clot, and the risk of stroke will dramatically decrease. Until that time, I'm on blood thinner to prevent further clotting.

Oh yeah, and here's what I look like in the cone of shame, with some minor scrapes on my head.

Speed Demon - First Half Marathon!

Everyone was cold and nervous before the Salt Lake City Half Marathon...

Kathleen's goal was to average under 10 minutes per mile.

As you can see, she wasn't slowing down at the end.

She destroyed her goal - averaging under 9 minute miles, placing 7th in her age group!

Isn't she incredible!?!!

Believe it or not, this picture was taken after running all 13 miles.

Last Day of School

Today is the last day of school. The kids had fantastic teachers this year and loved going to school.

Truman & Senora Muntzing

Eve & Senora Tavares

Dexter & Ms. Petty

This shot was taken the first day of school. The kids have really grown up this year, especially my pre-teen Truman.

One down, one to go.

My running goals for the summer are to do a 10K and half marathon. I did my 10K last Saturday. This IS me sprinting across the finish line. Can you tell I run for fun not speed? Notice the shoes, Bret and I switched to "bare foot" running and LOVE it.

Bret's Birthday or Showing Off the Back Yard?

As many of you know we have been working VERY hard on our back yard. We are almost done. I really wanted to have our families over to show off all our hard work--and to celebrate Bret's birthday. Happy Birthday to the best husband and dad (and to a pretty amazing handy man; Bret did the patio, fire pit, benches and the deck)!!

Tree Hugger

Last fall I put flyers on our neighbors doors telling them if they selected and paid for trees Bret (and another neighbor) would pick up the trees and plant them. Bret planted 19 trees last fall. This is tree #20 he just planted this week for our neighbor accross the street.