Teton Chamber Orchestra

Last February, my sister Jill and i recieved a phone call from Eric Wenstrom, conductor of the Teton Chamber Orchestra in Idaho Falls. He was desperate for viola's, and since we played for him both in high school and with the Idaho Falls Youth Symphony, he asked if we were interested. I hadn't played in 10 years but jumped at the chance. We usually only reherse 1-2 times before a performance, so it's expected that we do our part before the rehersals. We played for Jim Brickman in February, Sara Hickman in October, and this week we are playing for Kurt Bestor. It's so awesome! Last night was our first Bestor concert and it was down in Pocatello. Considering how unprepared I felt and how lousy our sound check rehersal went in the afternoon, the concert went amazingly well. I only got completely lost a few times, but I'm really good at faking it and pretending i know exactly what I'm doing. My only minor catastrophe was that my black shirt fell off the hanger in our apartment, and i ended up in Idaho Falls with just an empty hanger. Luckily Jill had an extra black shirt that she let me use for the concert....it saved william from having to go shop for one in Pocatello while I was in rehersal. My favorite part is playing with Jill again. We were both in youth Symphony together for 1 or 2 years before she went off to college, so it makes me feel young again. I still idolize her and wish i could play as well as she does. We have two more christmas concerts this week - tonight and tomorrow night in Idaho Falls. I have to give great big kudos to William for last night. He took off from work early so that he could drive us to Pocatello (we had to be there by 4pm). He then hung around Pocatello and the performing arts center until after the concert (which ended a little after 10pm) so that he could drive us home. What a saint to do that for his wife who HATES to drive on winter roads. He was just sitting out in the lobby during the conert, and Wenstrom saw him during the intermission. Wenstrom took him over to the usher and said, "This is a friend of mine. Do you think there's an empty seat he could sit in and enjoy the show?" So William got in free to the concert and was able to enjoy it from inside.

My Soap Box

So I inherited this "soap box" from my dad, and once I get on the subject, I have a hard time quitting. But since it snowed yesterday, it's a good day for my annual rantings about....Rexburg Winter Road Maintenance.....or lack thereof. Yesterday it snowed and blew all day long, and of course, the roads were covered in snow and ice. But guess how many snow plows we saw ALL DAY LONG yesterday? Zero. And guess how many times they were out sanding or salting the roads? I never saw them. For amusement purposes last night William and I watched the cars getting stuck on 7th South as they tried to drive up the icy hill. There would be 2-3 at a time at a stand still or spinning their tires trying to drive up the ice. You would think that the city would be smart enough to plow the roads when there was first snow on them, before it gets packed down by the cars driving on it. You would also think that they would use a little sand or salt near the intersections or on roads where they ALWAYS have problems. Ok, ok. So I have to admit, they do use a LITTLE bit of sand....usually in the middle of the intersection. Heaven forbid if you should be able to stop before you're halfway through the intersection. Rexburg is scary in the winter, anyway, because of all the students who have never even seen snow, let alone learned how to drive in it. It's rediculous to have roads that look like they do. Like I said, it's a tirade I get on every year, and now I'm going to stop....good thing this is a blog, not a Rexburg road.

"Terrible" complex

So yesterday was my follow up visit with Dr. Adam's office, and I thought I was feeling quite a bit "better." (better being relative, of course. I felt better than Monday, at least, but not great.) Anyway, all three of the docs listened to me and each told me I sounded terrible. I'm beginning to get a complex of sorts.....maybe I always sound terrible! So they loaded me up with an IV, gave me an IV antibiotic, an IV steroid, and a breathing treatment. I'm happy to report that after all of that (granted it was 3 hours!) Dr. Harper came in and said "wow, you sound better!" So maybe I'm not terrible after all! We decided that Xopenex inhalers (which are supposed to work just as well as albuterol inhalers but without making your heart race) don't work for me at all. I was telling the Doctor that I'd take the xopenex and wouldn't notice any change. But they gave me albuterol yesterday, and I was amazed that it actually made a drastic improvement. Granted, my heart rate was sky high and i felt a little high after "smoking the peace pipe," but at least I can walk across the room without having to sit down and rest for 10 minutes after. I'm just thankful for the wonders of modern medicine and that last night I got a good night's sleep!

Christmas Letter, 2008

December, 2008

Dear Family and Friends –

Happy Holidays!! Can you believe another year has almost passed? We debated about sending a Christmas letter this year, but we've decided it's been such a wonderful, blessed year that we'd share some of the exciting and not so exciting things that have happened with our family this year.

William is almost done with classes (he'll finish classes in July) and is looking forward to being done with school. He has loved his internship this fall, and has been all over eastern Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana doing Land Surveying. Hard economic times have taken its toll on the construction industry, however, and his hours have been drastically reduced as the months have progressed. He loves it, though, and has considered certifying in land survey when he is done with school. Kylie is still working at the hospital and seems to be spending a majority of her shifts in the ICU. She likes being a nurse but gets frustrated with the politics of the hospital. She's probably told William at least once a month that she's going to quit and go work somewhere else. Seeing how she's usually all talk, though, she's still at Madison Memorial.

This summer we had the opportunity to spend a week camping at Star Hope Creek in the Copper Basin with Kylie's family. Perhaps Kylie's mom should have told us sooner that Star Hope Creek used to be called "Bear Creek" but no one would camp there so they changed the name to Star Hope. Perhaps had we known that we might not have been as surprised at our "adventure" on our first night. We can now say that we've survived a bear attack! We had the unique, terrifying opportunity to be sleeping in our tent when a bear came down to our camp and for some reason decided to take a swipe at our tent, ripping out the portion very near Kylie's head. No, we didn't have any food in our tent or in our camp for that matter – we'd been very careful to lock all food in our cars. We stayed in our tent for way too long before we dared get out and run to our car, where we had foolishly left our gun for the night. We woke up the rest of Kylie's family, explained what had happened, and for the next 3 nights each family took shifts "standing guard" and keeping a fire going just in case the bear came back. Needless to say, we didn't sleep in our tent anymore. Imagine, if you can, William trying to fold his 6'3" frame into the back of our little Ford Escape. We've never been so glad to see a sunrise as we were that first morning, nor have we ever been so glad to be home in our own bed again!

One of the best things to happen to us this year was the opportunity in October we had to start building our house. We are building in Rigby, Idaho, one mile east of the Loft on County Line Road. It's a little subdivision called Pepperwood crossing. We are putting the "sweat equity" into our home by doing all the work ourselves, with the exception of concrete, electrical, and plumbing. It has been a learning experience, but one that has been fun and exciting none the less. Our loan actually comes from USDA Rural Development as part of their Self Help Housing program. We are put into groups, (there are nine families in our group) and we build all nine houses together. It's a great program because we have had the unique opportunity to get to know all of our neighbors before we move in because we work side by side with them. Our group is the fastest group they've ever had, and in the last 2 months of working we are already a month ahead of schedule. Hopefully that pace continues and we're in our house early spring.

The very best part of our year happened at Thanksgiving, when we were able to announce to our families that we are expecting our first baby on June 8^th. It was so much fun to surprise and delight them in such a way. It is something that we have wanted for years and our prayers have been answered. For arguments sake, Kylie bet a ½ gallon of ice cream of her choosing that it's a girl, while William bet his ice cream flavor that it's a boy. Sure hope William likes something chocolate, because that's what Kylie's going to choose on January 15^th when they find out it IS a girl!

We hope this year has been as wonderful for your family as it has been for ours. We can see the hand of the Lord in our lives, and we hope that you can feel His love and compassion this holiday season. May the coming year be full of joy, love and laughter for all!

Love,

William and Kylie Mobley

New Mone Yuh

Well, it's official. I should listen to William more often. He's been saying since saturday "you really should go see Dr. Adams about your cough." So I called in sick to work today, after not sleeping ALL NIGHT LONG, (I even tried sleeping on the couch, to no avail." I was expecting Dr. Adams to say "congratulations kylie, you have a cold and your asthma is flaring up." What he said instead was "Ew, you sound awful, ever had pneumonia before?" I explaine that yes, I've had it a grand total of 4 times, and he told me to make this #5. Official diagnosis - Left Lower Lobe Pneumonia. I now feel like walking pharmacy after a shot of antibiotic in my backside, a prescription for Zithromax for an antibiotic, Prednisone (a steroid for my asthma which has definatly flared with this) and Phenergan with Codeine cough syrup so I can sleep at night. I am grateful for so many things this week - first and foremost a wonderful, sweet husband who does everything he can to help me feel better, including buying me "Puffs with Aloe Vera" tissues for my red, sore nose; cleaning the kitchen, and brining me drinks of water at night when i cough. I'm also thankful for Dr. Adams who doesn't treat me like an idiot or a hypochondriac. And I'm thankful for my mom who poured out the sympathy for me and offered to bring Will and I dinner tomorrow night. I am blessed by so many other people - I couldn't do it without them!