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Here they are at Red Rock Canyon, the M&M store, and the Wynn Hotel.

They got to see the House of Blues and Hofbrauhaus. Greg loved Madam Tusaud’s rendition of Pavarotti! I love the new Serendipity (mmmmm…frozen hot chocolate).

Thanks to Joe’s connections, they were able to go on a PRIVATE tour of the Hoover Dam! One off these pictures is from the bottom of the dam which isn’t open to the public. Afterward they stopped in Boulder City and ate a the Coffee Cup…a cute little café that was featured on Diners Drive-ins and Dives.

I LOVE MY IN-LAWS!

We were even able to swing by the gym I use to work at on our way to my mom’s house.

I got to see all my old gym buddies and even threw a couple of moves while I was there. Then we went to my mom’s and, wouldn’t you know it, I got sick. We made it out to dinner with Crystal, but after that and until we came back home I was SICK. Running a fever, coughing my head off SICK. Joe took me to the urgent care in Savannah and I got some good antibiotics to try to kick this thing. It didn’t work but I still sucked it up and made the most out of the time we had there. We went out in Statesboro with Maggie, the Coles, and Katie.

We then headed to Augusta and spent a few days with the Gobles. We got to meet the newest addition to the family…an adorable pit bull that his grandma adopted.

Chuck and Rick came to Augusta to see us too. Joe got his Mellow Mushroom fix!!!

We stopped by Molly’s new job on the way to Atlanta.

We were able to see my sister and her husband, Caitlyn, and Chris B. before we flew home. I had to go back to the doctor when we got back at which point I was put on antibiotics that worked just in time for…
…school. This was my first of two 3-week intensives where we have 3 semester long classes crammed into 3 weeks of pure hell. It ended with me giving a large presentation and then having a nervous breakdown.

Until…
…Maggie came to visit!

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Holly crap we had a blast!!! We went to all the awesome Vegas places I could think of. Some of the high lights include Going to the VooDoo Lounge at the Rio.

We met some…um…interesting people including a band of air traffic control men in town for a convention.

Word to the wise…don’t fly in to Dallas or Columbus Ohio. Trust me. We also got to go out with Josh and Nicky to see our friend Andy’s band play at the Hard Rock.

We also got to enjoy the glory that is Steel Panther. Look them up on You Tube. They are ridiculously awesome.

We went to Freemont Street, Hoffbrauhaus, the strip including the Bellagio Gardens, Red Rock Canyon, Sam’s Town, Casa Di Amore, and the “World Largest Souvenir Shop.”

So after a week of running around she flew home today and I have to go back to school for yet another 3 week intensive.

Next up…the Gobles are coming in to town in April!

We went to concerts. This was Andy McKee and Don Ross.

We had a ton of friends come to visit us!

We spent some time out at the park with classmates from the OT class.

We also went out to Blush, a club at the Wynn. My first time at a true club on the strip!

I wasn’t able to be there for Maggie’s senior art show, but she made sure I wasn’t forgotten!

My mom came to visit. We had a blast!

The year wasn’t all fun and games. Early in the year we dealt with Joe’s company going under, my knee blowing out, and the infamous fire all within a few weeks of each other. It was not a very good time but things have a way of working themselves out.

But in all of the mess we found friends who went above and beyond to help us and we are forever grateful!

And in the midst of moving and trying to put our lives back together, my wonderful husband threw together an impromptu surprise party!

We attended the San Genaro festival and enjoyed some amazing food!

We got to take a day trip to Mt. Charleston and enjoyed some snow.

My daddy and step mom came to visit! We got to tour all of the non-strip things to do in Vegas and had a blast!

One word…..CAMERON!

Our friend Lacee, along with a bunch of other girls in my class, got married and had a very fun bachelorette party.

Joe and I took a weekend trip to San Diego and got to see our first sunset over the water.

We finally got to go on our vacation…Disney World!

We got to see Neil Gaiman speak at the Las Vegas Book Festival.

And, although we weren’t able to make it back east for Drunktoberfest, Maggie made sure I was there!

Merry Christmas everyone and have a happy new year!

Well, because I like to try and keep our installation of WordPress current, I attempted to upgrade to the latest version (2.6.3) today.  I am still not certain at what point something went wrong, but the upgrade did not go nearly as smoothly as I would have liked.  In the maelstrom, the our WordPress installation was completely corrupted and I had to reinstall everything.  Fortunately, we did not lose the database that houses the content of all of our posts.  However, the site’s theme stopped working and is currently beyond my desire to repair.  That being said, the theme you see currently is temporary until we find another that we like (or until I am able to figure out why the old theme doesn’t work).  Also, if the site is behaving strangely, it’s most likely a result of 2.6.3 and I am probably working on it.

Anyway, be sure not to miss Anna’s great post about recent happenings in our lives, it’s a lot more interesting than this post. ;-)

Update: Through some research, forum posting, and basic trial and error, I have been able to get our theme running again.  We will have try to restore our images, but everything from this point on should be fine.

Disney Honeymoon!

-A few days after we got back from our honeymoon I started my first of two 3-month internships at Desert Canyon Rehabilitation Center. I work from 5:30 to 2pm (most days) Sunday through Thursday (most weeks.) It is exhausting but I am learning a lot so I suppose I’ll deal. It is pretty nice to not have much traffic to deal with!
-Halloween was pretty lame. I was so freakin’ tired from fieldwork we went to bed early. Because our complex is next to a neighborhood all of the kids go there for candy so we don’t have any trick-or-treaters. We were asked to dress up at fieldwork so all of the therapists, nurses, and administrative folks were dolled up and had a costume contest as decided by the patients. Because most of my work includes bending, squatting, helping people shower and exercise, I didn’t dress up too much. Thank you target for such an easy mummy costume!

From stuff

-Our friend Antuan came into town for the SEMA car show. He writes for CNET as a reviewer. I had to get to bed by 9 so Joe was able to go out and catch up with him. Hi Antuan!

From stuff

-We have a new president! GO OBAMA!!! I have to say that although both candidates gave extremely good speeches, Joe and I have decided that we are going to hire Obama’s speech writers to write everything we say. Until then we will be answering everything with “Yes we can.” Do you want to go out to eat? “Yes we can.” Can you smell that? “Yes we can.” Can you write a blog post so that your family doesn’t think you fell off the face of the earth? “Yes we can.”
-My mom had a big surprise party for her big fat 60th birthday! We were not able to be there because of school/work (and the $2000 each trip back east costs us.) Here’s hoping I got those genes! I can only hope to look that smokin’ when I turn 60!

From 2008 Mom visit

-This weekend was the Vegas Valley Book Festival. The keynote speaker was Neil Gaiman of literary fame as The Sandman, Coraline, Stardust, and American Gods. We went to see him and it was an awesome speech! For someone who writes such dark things he is an absolutely hysterical guy. It’s that wonderfully dry British humor. Anyway, we had a great time and it has made both of us want to read more of his stuff. He has a new book named The Graveyard Book. As he put it, he was thinking about the Jungle Book and how it is about a young boy raised by the creatures in the jungle, so why not write a book about a young boy raised by the dead people in a graveyard? He read some select passages and it sounds wonderfully dark and funny.

From 2008 Neil Gaiman

From 2008 Neil Gaiman

From 2008 Neil Gaiman

So here is my question to you all. Any suggestions for wine that won’t make me choke?

From 2008 San Diego Beaches

I had looked up San Diego on the Food Network website and saw that the Studio Diner had been featured on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives so it had to be a winner! It was a really cool joint located next to a tv studio that has houses such award winning shows as Silk Stalkings and Veronica Mars! It was very tasty and Joe got to take pictures with the Lava monsters from some horror movie. Not a bad start!

From 2008 San Diego Beaches

Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the trip. All of them can be seen on my Picasa page. Enjoy!

Since then a myriad of sports have been added to the roster:

Alpine Skiing
Athletics
Biathlon
Cross-Country Skiing
Ice Sledge Hockey
Powerlifting
Shooting
Swimming
Boccia
Football 7-a-side
Football 5-a-side
Goalball
Judo
Archery
Equestiran
Cycling
Rowing
Sailing
Table Tennis
Tennis
Basketball
Curling
Fencing
Rugby
The athletes consist of people with visual impairments, amputations, spinal cord injuries, cerebral palsy, and other physical disabilities. There are people from all over the world that compete, even those from countries with little to no services for people with disabilities. Some of these athletes have been given wheelchairs and sports equipment through international outreach programs. Some have gone from having nothing and living their lives in nursing homes and hospitals with no way to get around, to having wheelchairs and sports equipment. It’s hard to remember sometimes that not all countries are as accessible as the US is and that some people aren’t able to go down the street because their wheelchair cannot make it.

Also, this Paralympics is important because there are SO many soldiers returning from Iraq with amputations and spinal cord injuries. We hear all the time about the number of people who have died, but the number of those with other injuries is exponentially greater. These were young, healthy young men and women who were very physically active prior to going to war who come back with severe physical disabilities. Being able to see that their lives are not over…just different, and that they can continue to be very physically active and perhaps even go to a competition on such a level is inspiring and motivating for so many. Athletics have become such an important part of rehabilitation after such an injury that the Brooke Army Medical Center just built an awesome sports complex for soldiers with disabilities to train and for research on sports in rehabilitation.

If you have a minute check out either of those websites and watch a little bit. There are some great stories that are shared during the opening ceremonies and some amazing feats of athleticism during the games. GO TEAM USA!!!

From stuff

I bring this up because before you know it we will all be dealing with aging parents (and grandparents) who begin to lose balance, vision, strength, and reflexes even if they don’t want to admit it. We had a guest lecturer at my school today who is a Certified Aging in Place Specialist which is a designation by the National Association of Home Builders and AARP. It immediately got me thinking about how I can help adapt my parents homes to make it easier for them to live their as they get older. I really enjoy home modification and this may be an avenue I would like to pursue. My job would be to perform the evaluation and make recommendations for changes, then a contractor would do the work. I know some of you have very young parents and, if that’s the case, more power to you. But I know that eventually my parents’ homes will need a few adjustments so that they can live independently as long as possible. Here are a few of the suggestions I heard that I liked:

Replace a bathroom sink with cabinets underneath with a pedestal sink or a vanity with room to pull a chair up to provide room for a wheelchair or allow someone to sit down to conserve energy.

Replace a normal toilet with a taller toilet (readily available at Lowes) which makes getting up off the can much easier.

Put a lazy susan in shelves to make access to items easier. There are also these cool pull down shelves that, let’s face it, we all could use. I get tired of having to climb on to the counter to get stuff out of the top cabinet!

Replace regular door hinges with offset door hinges to give a few extra inches to the doorway. More room means not only could a wheelchair fit through there better, but there is more room and less of a chance of running into the door. This costs only a little over $10.

Replace standard shower heads with adjustable hand held ones. There may be a time when balance or strength means they may need a shower bench and a standard shower head won’t work. Also installing an anti-scald shower valve will prevent accidental burns which, I hate to say, is all to common in the aging population.

Use the closed hand rule for any kind of handles (i.e. faucet knobs, door knobs, cabinet pulls, etc). If you can open it with a closed hand then it is a universal design. This one is very important because arthritis in the hands is ridiculously common and makes opening even a door very difficult.

Change landscaping and elevations to replace steps outside. You can make a cement or brick sloped walkway to the front door. Stairs are a huge cause of falls and falls are the number one reason people end up in nursing homes. You may want to do a ramp but #1 they are really tacky, and #2 they are a huge sign to criminals that says “Hey! This person might not be able to defend themselves! Come on in!” This picture shows a good one however they still need to make a driveway that is flush with the sidewalk.

The coolest thing I saw was a universally designed shower. The big thing to look for is no lip or curb to step over while getting in the shower. They have some really cool walk in showers that have a floor drain, non-slip tile and nice bench seats that look amazing. They even have designer grab bars that look more decorative than tacky-hospital.

Make sure there is a good deal of lighting in the house. Also, run a light switch next to the bed so that they can wait to turn off the light until they get to bed and then can turn it on at night if they have to get up.

If nothing else just try to make the flooring even. Flush thresholds, flush transitions from hard wood to tile to carpet, and no lip to the shower. Those tiny little changes cause an amazing number of falls and I know we all want our parents and grandparents living as independent and happy as long as possible. You can check out www.accessibilityservices.net for info on the company I heard from today.

-We went out to a pretty cool local brewery for our friend Tony’s birthday. It is always fun to hang out with my classmates outside of school!

-So is anyone else annoyed by all the Budweiser commercials? It’s like they are trying SOOOOO hard to say “no, really, we are still a good ol’ boy beer even though we sold ourselves to a bunch of Europeans.” They have a stinkin’ commercial every 15 minutes showing cowboys and trucks and American flags. It’s really annoying.

-My cat likes to curl up with me on the couch. She flips over on her back and sticks her little mouth up to my nose. She purrs like crazy! This just started over the past year and I find it absolutely adorable.

-After reading that Josh and Mel got a Furminator we got one too. HOLY CRAP!!! Who know our dog had so much hair!!! Good call you guys!

-Joe and I have a strange obsession with the DIY network. It’s sad though because all it does is make me want to buy a house so I can spruce it up. I want to saw, hammer, paint and tile!

-Lastly, IT’S FREAKIN’ HOT!!! June, July, and August are the worst months here. The highs are 110ish and our lows are only in the 80’s. It’s impossible to get the apartment cool enough because our new place has southern facing windows. We even have insulated curtains on all of the windows. I am praying September hurries up and gets here. It’s odd to say, but I love a day in the 90’s.

-Oh yeah, and Joe got me to play rock band. Now I like it. Damn it.

-My knee has healed up for the most part. I apparently have patellofemoral syndrome which is a fancy word for saying that when my knee cap goes up and down it pulls a little to the side. Because it rubs on a part of the bone that it isn’t supposed to, it hurts. So now I get to do these super fun exercises that work to pull the knee cap back into place.

-Joe got a rowdy round of applause at the Touro University quarterly convocation. He is considered such a superhero to the entire faculty and staff of the university that when they called his names people didn’t just clap, they woohoo-ed and yay-ed and I even heard a few whistles! I am so ridiculously proud of him and all he has done for that school. He really is a superhero!

-School has started back and hopefully during the one week break I get in October, Joe and I can finally take our honeymoon to Disney World!

-I hate insurance companies. I spent hours and hours over several weeks on the phone with various insurance people and medical offices trying to get everything working right. I faxed and I sent and I called and called and called. I was about to lose my mind when Joe took over and, after 10 minutes on the phone with a representative of the insurance company, got it all fixed. Figures.

-I am now the last of the Willson girls in the states. My sister Debbie has lived in Japan for what seems like a lifetime, and my sister Sara just left to work in London for a few months. I haven’t even gotten a passport yet! I hope she is having fun and enjoying her first trip to Europe!

That’s it for now. Hope everyone is doing well!

“Check me out!  I made the Vegas news!  This is just the website that posted the news feed.  I was actually interviewed for a couple of local news stations as well as a few newspapers.  I’ll send you all that when I get a hold of it.  FYI, Joe and I made a switch based mp3 player.  That means that you can use whatever device you may need (larger buttons, a sip and puff switch, etc) to essentially push the buttons on an mp3 player.  I’M SO EXCITED!!!  Thanks again to Kevin for the great idea! (That’s my project and my hand in the still picture!)”

Anna should be writing a more in-depth post about the project soon, so stay tuned!