November 22, 2015

Last weekend we went to San Francisco.  I found $40 flights so we took our whole family from Friday to Monday.  My parents met us there, which made it even more exciting.  We had a wonderful time.  We stayed a few blocks away from Pier 39 and Fisherman's Wharf.  We rode Bart and buses. We crammed 6 of us in the back seat of a Ford Explorer taxi. My Dad drove 9 of us to church and across the Golden Gate bridge in my mom's 5-seater BMW. We played uno and skipbo and chinese jump rope. And we marveled at how awesome it was to not even need a stroller for our 5 fairly self-sufficient, fun kids.

Saturday we went to Pier 39. We got there right when everything was opening, which was awesome because it wasn't crowded yet.  We did the 7D experience game and laser maze, watched the seals play king of the hill, did the mirror maze, watched a magic show and looked in lots of shops.  We ate lunch and then walked over to Ghiradeli Square for dessert.  Then we took a bus over to China town.  We saw fortune cookies being made and the kids loved to point out weird vegetables and look at all the cheap china toys.

Sunday we went to church. We drove down Lombard street on the way back to the hotel.  Then we drove over the Golden Gate Bridge and walked out on it a little ways.  We came back to the hotel and walked some of the big San Francisco hills to the street car museum by Chinatown.

Monday we went on a tour of Alcataz.  Everyone loved that, except it was so cold out there! We came back and did the Musee Mechanique by Fisherman's Wharf.  It was an arcade with all kinds of old and newish coin-operated games.  The kids had a lot of fun there. We went back to Pier 39 and the Cal State marching band was just setting up so we watched that for a while and then looked through a few more shops and had dinner.

Today we got called to be Ma's and Pa's for our stake's Youth Trek this summer.  I found out our stake was doing it Tuesday at a YW meeting. Since then I've been really wanting to go.  Today it kept coming to my mind and I prayed a few times that we'd be asked to do it.  Then after church, Brother Ewing came over and as soon as he sat down I knew he was from the Trek committee.  It's going to be so great.  The only bummer is that it's 14 and up so Rachel won't be able to go.

I went to Sports physical therapy to try to get help with my tingling hands.  Scott Pensivy didn't have any openings for a month so I went to Anthony, which worked out better because he takes insurance.  They both checked me out and thought I had Thoracic Outlet Syndrome.  I went to therapy twice a week for 3 1/2 weeks. They did lots of massage, nerve stretches and traction.  It seemed to help a little, but it didn't fix it and it should have if that was the correct diagnosis.   So he referred me to a neurologist.  I just saw him last week.  He seems very good.  Much better than the one I went to when I was having bad headaches. He wants to do an MRI of my brain to see if something is wrong there. It really seems like that's not it, though.  It seems like I have a nerve that gets pinched somewhere in my neck.  It gets worse as soon as I lay down.  That seems like it's more a physical problem than MS or something in my brain. It still isn't a horrible problem during the day. But it always starts at night.  The last week or two have been nice because it hasn't been as strong for some reason and hasn't really woken me up.  But last night it did again.  I go for the MRI after Thanksgiving. If I do have something wrong with me, then I wonder if that's part of the reason I've felt impressed to live the Word of Wisdom better.