Chris Millard's World

Today, on behalf of WSU, Shelley and I attended the ribbon cutting ceremony for Ogden Regional Hospital's new emergency room. This is the hospital where Sophie, Ellie, Jill, and Reed were born, so it is a special place for me and I was happy to go.

Ogden Regional ribbon cutting

A Trauma II Center, the new emergency room has all the newest and finest technology. Shelley and I hope this is the only time we are ever guests at this facilty!

Emergency room

We met some EMT's who work with Air Med out of University of Utah. Turns out one of them was faculty for WSU's Paramed training program.

Our little Emily spent the night at our house last night. We took her with us to McDonalds for breakfast. It was so fun to have her along. She is going to the orthodontist's office and then coming back to Weber State University to hang out with me.

Grandma and Emily

In the fall Emily is going to Utah State University in Logan. It isn't very far away. We can drive it in an hour from our house.

Dave and Marilee are adding a room to their house. It is going to be spectacular. Dave and Marilee own Furniture in a Box, and we recommend that you get furniture there!

Dave

Here is Dave learning to use a nail gun.

Dave and the nail gun

Rick took a little time out from his real job of building Dennis' house, to go to the Movies to see Shreck. We are at the Cinemark Theater in Layton.

Me, Megan, Abby, at the movies

On the way home we sang along with Patsy Cline. Amazingly, Abby knew all the words to "Crazy," and so we just belted out the lyrics like we were doing karaoke.

Today is Memorial Day and I'm glad I got to go to my Father's grave last week. I always wonder if I will ever get back to that little town in Pennsylvania again. I typically don't have a reason to go. I'm also glad to have seen Uncle John's grave in the Veteran's section of the Washington County Cemetery.

We had a few of the grandchildren at our house last night. Connor is becoming a typical two-year-old. He wants to play outside on the swings constantly, and someone has to push! He likes to go down the sliding board on his tummy, face first as fast as he can. The problem is that he is too little to climb the ladder so someone has to put him at the top everytime. He exhausted the supply of adults willing to spend time lifting him and it made him mad. Late in the evening he dragged Rick to the back door to go back outside. When he saw it was dark, he was disappointed and exclaimed, "All gone!" These were his only words to describe the absence of sunlight and his view of the swing set.

Connor playing with his train set

Abby had a permanent tooth coming in and a baby tooth that wouldn't move. This required a trip to Dr. Liston (our favorite) who did the surgery. Abby remembers the little needle in her arm and then nothing else! Amazing! I know the feeling well.

Abby and her now missing tooth

Rachel was measured on the door and we saw that she had grown one inch in the last six months. She is not a little girl anymore.

Rachel

Emily had to work and we missed her. Clara didn't have to work so we got to have her for the day.

Clara

Megan immediately put on her Belle costume as usual. She graduated from Pre-School this week, and will go to kindergarden this fall.

Megan

This is the picture that Kristin used on her baby announcements.

Jill, Reed, Sophie, Ellie

We love the baby's dimple in the chin. This trait shows up in the Haddow family as well as Kristin's family. Reed was bound to show it. We think it is so cute!

Had a few minutes with 2 of my little girlies today. I can't resist snapping a photo of their sweet little faces every chance I get.

Ellie

Jill

Okay, so I wasn't going to put this picture on the blog, but they really like this one the best. They insisted it be shown. I'm going to save this for a couple of weddings in the distant future.

Funny Faces

The Syracuse Stake had their Seminary Graduation last night. Emily was the pianist (making us very proud!).

Emily at the piano

One of the speakers was a Seminary Teacher who suggested 4 questions to ask:
1. Do you get it?
2. Do you feel it?
3. Do you love it?
4. Are you willing to live it?
These are good questions for LDS people to ask themselves. Living it is the hard part. Some days I just don't want to!

Grandma, Emily, Grandpa

There is a huge rock near a gravel pit on Hwy.25 in rural Iowa. For generations, kids have painted slogans, names, and obscenities on this rock, changing its character many times. A few months back, the rock received its latest paint job, and since then it has been left completely undisturbed. It's quite an impressive sight. The flag is actually painted on the rock too.

Artist of the rock: Ray Sorenson

The patriotism is evident. I am caught in the quagmire of the war. I was not sorry to see Sadam go, but now I wonder if he wasn't good and keeping worse enemies at bay. Perhaps we were right to go into Iraq, I don't know. This I do know: I am not willing to send my sons. We will get a new President and I am guessing that person will pull us out of Iraq. Then what? Will the terrorists become stronger and attack America's soil and American interests abroad? Then what will we do?

I am staying at Mac and Alice's house. There is plenty of room!

Tonight we went to dinner at the restaurant where Kate is a waitress. She is also having some interesting experiences driving her new car, but I'm not telling about that right now.

Here I am with Ashley, my sweetie pie! Who is cuter than Ashley? No one!

Mac and Alice tipped this waitress very well. She was a very fine waitress. She will need many great tips for car repairs.

Today I took Mom to see the Cardiologist. We ended up seeing Dr. Nada, whose name doesn't even appear on the door. We called him Dr. Nada personality. He did a sonogram which looked painful, and Mom said it did hurt.

She goes back tomorrow for another test. The doctor will have results of all the tests on next Monday, and she will be in Utah by then. We will see what the doctor has to say then.

Yesterday we went to Washington Cemetery. This is my Uncle John's grave. He was my father's brother, who enlisted in the Marine Corp, and was killed in Shanghai in 1930. A Marine guard came back with the body and stood guard over it until he was buried. My grandparents could never discover the cause of death. It is something about which I am very curious, so I've decided to petition the office of military records in Denver to see what I can find.

My Aunt Jean (father's sister) and Uncle Joe are buried there too.

Aunt Jean and Uncle Joe were my favorite relatives. I used to visit at their house and see my cousins, Chichi, Dolly, and Adele, all of whom now live in Cleveland. When we got to the cemetery we found flowers at all the graves. When we called Adele, we learned that we just missed them by hours. They were in Washington too!

My Uncle Colin (father's brother) is burined next to Aunt Jean. Uncle Colin was very good to me when I was a child.

On the way back to Virginia we stopped at Barbara Fritchie's restaurant in Frederick, Maryland. When Rick and I moved to Frederick in 1970 we and our children made a habit of eating at this restaurant. Mom is in the picture. She recalls traveling to Frederick with her father when she was about 7 years old. They got candy at the original Barbara Fritchie candy store on Patrick Street.

First thing when we got to Pittsburgh, we went to visit my cousin, Jackie Alexander and his wife Bernie. I was thrilled to see them!

Their son, Duncan Haddow Alexander and his wife, Robin, came to visit while we were there. Duncan was named for my father, whom Jackie loved. Our visit was filled with memories by Jackie and Bernie. They recalled my father and things that happened when he was young. Jackie remembers Uncle Buddy as well. I was most taken with Jackie's memories of his parents (my Aunt Annie and Uncle John). He told things to me that I had never heard. I am looking forward to corresponding more with their daughter, Kathy. While at their house I talked with Kathy on the phone. Here is a picture of Duncan and Robin.

Mom and I drove to Claysville, Pennsylvania. Here is the Montgomery house where my mother (and my Uncle John and Aunt Esther) were born.

We went to the home where my Grandfather and Grandmother Haddow lived in Washington, PA. Duncan and Christina Haddow lived in very humble circumstances.

We went to the Claysville, Pennsylvania Cemetery. This is my father's grave.

Here is Mom in front of her parents' grave: John Nelson Montgomery Jr., and Grace McClain Clarke Montogmery.

Mom at the Claysville Cemetery

This is my Great Aunt Sarah's house, where my Grandmother, Grace McClain Clarke Montgomery was born. My mother spent several weeks every summer here visiting her grandparents. I came here as a child to play. Rick and I came here to visit Aunt Sarah and Uncle Harry Kelly after we were married.

We are back on the road. I was supposed to keep the bandage on my skin cancer site until Wednesday, but I decided to ditch it today. I can't stand that thing! It itches too much. I decided that I look like Harry Potter.

Note the sign coming into Pennsylvania. Apparently there are enough of these that we must be on the watch.

This morning Shelley and I got a car, picked up Grandma Green, and went to Leesburg outlet mall. We hit Coldwater Creek and Chico's and did some serious damaage. After dropping Shelley at the airport, Mom and I went to dinner with James (Joe and Holly's oldest son), Vanessa, and Vanessa's family. This was a celebration because Vanessa just graduated from George Mason with a Master's Degree in Confict Resolution (that should come in handy in our family!). Here I am with James and Vanessa.

Here is Vanessa's family here from Arizona for the graduation. We loved meeting them.

Later, Mom and I decided to go to Pittsburgh to look up some family members. We are going to see my cousin, Jackie and his wife, Bernie. Jackie is son of my Aunt Annie and her husband, John Alexander. I'm excited because I have not seen them since I was 6 years old. We got as far as Hagerstown, Maryland, where we are staying at the Country Inn. We will head to Pittsburgh tomorrow.

Here we are with Amber from Senator Bennett's office. We talked about the plans for WSU's School of Health Professions.

Amber has been a friend to WSU for 12 years.
Later we went to Senator Hatch's office. Here I am with Juliann Andreen, Legislative Director. Senator Hatch went to Iraq today.

We met with Patty DeLoatche, the Heath Policy Director for Hatch's office. We talked about Title IX, and funding issues for health professions.

We arrived at National Airport at 4:30 PM. After dinner at Les Halles we went to our rooms at the Marriott. Tomorrow it is off to work.

Rick and I were back at McDonalds for breakfast this morning. Today I look more like a person and less like a corpse! Every day gets a little better. Tomorrow I am headed to Washington DC, arriving at National at 4:25 PM. I will be staying at the JW Marriott, 1331 Pennsylvania Ave. (202) 393-2000. This info is for those my family who want to find me for the next couple of days. :) Of course I always answer my cell or reply to email on my Blackberry.

Dr. Summers says I have to keep the bandage on the surgery site until the stitches start dissolving. That shouldn't take more than another week. Then, there will be a very ugly scar for about a year until it fades. Fortunately, I have given up any vanity!

Now I think I am better. It was a good thing to be very still for a while. Maybe tomorrow I will be completely well.

I want to go to work and have my life back to normal!

Instead of getting better, all of a sudden I am worse. I have a massive headache and both my eyes are swollen. Go figure. It looks like I have been socked in both eyes. At first I decided to call the doctor and complain, but since I haven't exactly done what he told me to do, I thought better of that. Never mind.

Mother's Day is great today because here I am with 9 out of the 10 grandchildren.

Abby, Jill, Emily, me (holding baby Reed), Clara, Ellie, Rachel, (on the floor) Megan, Sophie
I feel so very lucky to have 8 girls and 2 boys. I never imagined that we would have this many grandchildren, each with their own special personalities. If we would have known how wonderful grandchildren were going to be, we would have been nicer to their parents years ago!

Three days after surgery and I'm feeling pretty good. And, everytime the doorbell rings, it's something new! Flowers came from my crazy friends at Academic Affairs. I'll do something memorable for that gang!

Then there is the "medicine" from my buddy, Kathleen, who knows that all good medicine comes from Mrs. Cavanaugh's Chocolate store. Note that both eyes are open and I can pretty much see with just a little blurring on the right side.

Of course I'll be at work on Monday, bandage and all, because I will continue to get lots of sympathy and attention there, as opposed to staying home and watching Jerry Springer and Judge Judy. One can only stand so much of that! Mostly I'm following doctor's orders, and the place on my forehead that was cut doesn't hurt as much as the generalized headache. It's sort of like being hit in the forehead with a two-by-four. I'll keep taking my "medicine" for that. Hmmmmmmm.

These are self portraits. I decided to try this with my digital camera. I won't say how many I had to delete.

Our friends, Jim and Rosemary, surprised me with lunch from Kurt's Drive In, with my favorite fish and chips. This was great!

Now that half my face is hashed, Jim brought the perfect fashion accessory: the Phantom of the Opera mask! Jim can find anything on the internet. He is hilarious!

Jim and Rosemary come to our house to watch our favorite TV show, 24. It is our favorite because we like action. And, we can say the lines one second before the actors.

Dr. Brad said there would be swelling. Only thing is, I cannot open my right eye. Yikes! Okay, I'm glad the cancer is gone, but I hope this doesn't last long.

A couple of months ago I noticed a dry patch of skin above my right eyebrow. Dr. Allen did a biopsy and said, "There is good news and bad news. The good news is that it is not melanoma, the skin cancer that gets into the bloodstream and goes to other organs. However, the bad news is that it is an invasive form of carcinoma that just consumes everything in its path." So, we scheduled a procedure called "Moh's Surgery," named for the doctor who invented it. The process took 6 hours. It didn't end up the best case scenario as I had hoped, but it wasn't the worst case scenario either. The procedure was done by Dr. Summers, only one of two doctors in Utah certified for this kind of surgery. I explained about my blog and he was more than enthusiastic to take photos!

This looks pretty scarey!

Here I am flying high on Valium and plugged into Abba with my iPod.

Dr. Summers and his friends tell me that they are actually having a lot of fun here. I, on the other hand, am definitely not having fun.

About 30 stitches later I'm hanging in there. My eyes are covered so I can't see a thing, and the Valium is doing the job.

The incision is just shy of 2 inches and reaches down into my eyelid. The little spider legs were making their way to my eye and could have blinded me. Right now I'm thinking quite a lot of Dr. Summers! For the rest of my life I will have a very strange right eyebrow. Small price to pay.

Here I am all bandaged up. I'm supposed to stay in bed for 2 days. Too much moving around could result in bleeding and that would be a problem. I think I sort of resemble Phantom of the Opera.

This is probably a legacy from living on the Equator for a couple of years back in the 1970's. Our life in Guinea, West Africa, was quite an adventure for us and our children. We didn't think a thing about sun screen in those days, and certainly didn't think much about skin cancer. I'm lucky to live in a place where modern medicine can fix this kind of a problem. Dr. Summers recommends that I watch very carefully for more patches because this seldom appears in only one spot. If I have to go through this again I want a full face lift; I'm talking the whole nine yards. Wouldn't that be grand?

Here is our Precious Jill who is three years old today. We think she is the most spectacular 3 year old in the world. Everything about her is precious.

Sophie found a bird's nest in a tree beside their garage. The nest had hole in the bottom where the baby birds fell out. Sophie says this is partly a sad story because some of the baby birds died, but it is a happy story too because Sophie saved one baby bird's life. It was very cold so she put it on the driveway in the sun and when it warmed up, she put it back into the nest. The mother bird came back to take care of the baby bird.

Sometimes Sophie helps feed the bird worms and bugs. She uses a stick.

Here is Sophie's friend, Michael. He helps take care of the baby bird.

Here are Sophie and Jill with Michael and his little brother, A.J.

NOTE: Our Amazing Ellie is sick with a sore throat and that is why she is not in these pictures. We are hoping our Ellie is better tomorrow.

Here I am at work today. Note that I am learning to use the Mac. I bought "Mac for Dummies," and everyday I try to learn something new. I have a Macbook Pro coming so I will be on a Mac for a laptop too. Our IT folks insist that Mac is the way to go now, so I am just believing them.

We went to hear Emily play in Davis High School's Band Wind Ensemble competition. Emily plays the bassoon.

It was special because Emily played a piano solo introducing the second number.

We are so very proud of Emily, who is graduating from Davis High School in a couple of weeks. She will work at Lagoon for the summer, and then start at Utah State University in the fall.

Rick and I took the day off work to come to the Family History Center. Rick is working on the Sutton line. His sister, Joan, has made this assignment to him and he is taking it seriously. I am working on the Haddow line, who were coal miners in Ayrshire, Scotland. If we find anything really good we will post it. In the meantime, here we are working.

On May 3, 1974, we lived in Cleveland, Ohio, completely unaware that baby Kristin was being born that day and someday she would be part of our family. How lucky we are that she married Jeff!

Kristin, and her mother, Martha.

Here are Jill, Sophie, Baby Reed, and Ellie.

Precious Jill likes to have her toes kissed. Who kisses tiny, grubby, little toes other than your grandmother?!!

Baby Reed is growing and we are so happy that he has come to our family.

Baby Reed: note the binky holder--it says, "Wildcats." This was a gift from Kristin's friend, Trina (who also just had Baby Rachel).

Here is Perfect Sophie. I always say everything about her is perfect.

Catch this quickly: a rare photo of Jeff!

It is no secret that I love Commencement at WSU. It's kind of like playing dress up and having fun with your friends. At the same time it is a great celebration of the students and the fact that they are graduating. As ususal, there were some students from my English classes graduating, which makes it all the better.

Here is President Ann Millner (we think she is quite possibly the best university president in America).

This is Richard Sadler, Dean of the school of Social and Behavioral Sciences, the college from which Jeff graduated, so that makes Dean Sadler important to the Millard family. He wrote a book entitled, The History of Weber State College. He has done some amazing things.

This is Shelley Conroy, Dean of the School of Health Professions. Shelly is my buddy. We have gone many places together and had lots of fun.

This is Warren Hill, Dean of the College of Applied Science and Technology. Warren and I have lunch together every Tuesday at Exchange Club.

This is Barry Gomberg, Attorney and EEO Officer. He taught one of Kristin's brothers in a class once, and remembers all of her family. His office is beside mine and he knows all my secrets.

Here is Bob Walker, Chair of the Radiology Department. Because he is the nicest guy on the planet, I stand by Bob every chance I get. In the background is Pam who is alway trying to steal Bob away from me! See? She is coming now!

This is Brad Mortensen, VP for Community Relations, and Dale Ostlie, Dean of College of Science. Brad moved out of the Miller Administration Building and I miss seeing him all the time. I guess I just need to hang out at Promentory more often. Dale just wrote a physics textbook that is full of words that I cannot pronounce, let alone understand. It is my turn to buy lunch for Dale (I'm not forgetting).

This is Lewis Gale, Dean of the School of Business. When you graduate from his college, you become very rich. That's what I am told. Hey, look at the evidence!

This is Kathryn Lindquist from our Board of Trustees. Kathryn always says nice things about the Office of Sponsored Projects, so we appreciate her very much.

Tom Davidson is the Chair of the Board of Trustees. I see him at Exchange Club on Tuesdays. Once Tom brought a corsage to me and I wore it all day. He is truly a gentleman!

Here I am with Mike Vaughan, Provost, and Vernon M. Buehler. Dr. Buehler has degrees from USU, Harvard, and George Washington University. He was a Colonel in the Army and taught at USU. He is a great friend to WSU. We were proud to have him as an honorary recipient of doctor of humanities.

Another recipient of an honorary doctorate was Robert P. Dotson, President and CEO of T-Mobile. Now we call him Dr. Dotson! He is in the middle. On the left is Provost Mike Vaughan. I wonder who his cell phone carrier is? I am happy to report that my cell phone carrier is T-Mobile!

This is Lewis, me, and the newly named Dr. Dotson. By the way, Dr. Dotson has been very generous to his alma mater, WSU, sharing time and wealth. He gave an amazing commencement speech. I'm going to write down as much as I can remember and repeat it to my family.

Tonight this is my wish: that I live long enough to see every one of my 10 grandchildren graduate from a university (preferably WSU). Go Wildcats!

At Posters on the Hill in Washington DC, our WSU student, Kristena, presented a poster and Congressman Rob Bishop came by. If he were asked to be the Bishop of the ward, we would have to call him Bishop Bishop. I think that would be fun.

Note to myself: on my computer at work the pictures on this blog look very fine. On my computer at home the pictures are really dark. Maybe the computer at home has a lousy monitor and I need a new one. If I get a new monitor, I would certainly have to get a new computer too. Hmmmmmm. I feel an urge to go shopping!

Today President Millner named three individuals to receive the Distinguished Professor Awards for 2007. Just happens that these are three of the most memorable people in my life at WSU! First is Yas Simonian, Chair of the Clinical Lab Sciences Department. Yas has given her entire life to WSU and her students are all her children. I count Yas as one of my very best friends on campus. We have had lots of fun together! If I had to be stranded on a desert island with only one person it would have to be Yas because we would laugh until we died.

Next is Michael Wutz, a professor in the English Department (certainly the most important department on campus). When my grandchildren come to WSU, they must be in Dr. Wutz's class. My own students tell me he is the best professor they ever had in any class. When I have been on committees with Michael I have seen brilliance at work.

The third is Eric Amsel, Chair of the Psychology Department. Eric's research focuses on understanding why children do the things they do. Mostly I want him to figure out why I do the evil things I do! Once we went to a writing conference together in Pueblo, Colorado, and one night we went to the "Do Drop In" on Santa Fe Avenue, and stuffed ourselves with pizza and root beer. Eric was at the workshop to write a proposal and I was there to have fun.

Provost Mike Vaughan (my boss) quoted Winston Churchill as saying, "I always loved to learn, but I did not always love being taught." All three of my friends from my WSU family have taught me much, and I have loved every minute.

Rick and I have developed a very bad habit of going to McDonalds for breakfast every morning. We are just too lazy to dump some cereal into a bowl. Never mind the minimal nutritional value of an Egg McMuffin and a very large Diet Coke. Here I am in our favorite booth. And, I get really cranky if we get there and someone is sitting in my spot. We have learned that if we get there before 7:00 AM they are scrubbing the floor and that is very annoying. So, we have to arrive after 7:00. This morning their Debit machine didn't work and we had to have cash. All this is very stressful. You can see how complicated our lives are.

What in the world are we thinking???!!!