Mom Screaming At the Cake

Went out to see mom for her birthday. Wendy and I put together a party for her, and it all went off pretty well. Wendy did a great job decorating with balloons and a banner, and there was more than enough food there for everyone who came. We got a picture cake for mom, where the bakery was able to turn a "glamour shot" of her taken at 16 and somehow print it in edible food coloring onto the cake itself. Wendy wanted to do it because when mom is surprised, she lets out a squeel. This time, though, she let out a scream. She seemed to appreciate the cake, but I think she was taken a little too off-guard by it. Wendy, too, said it was surprisingly difficult to cut into an image of her mother-in-law.

Yesterday we went for a drive to Lake Mead. We bought a Golden Eagle pass, which will let us into any National Park for a year. We'll have to be sure to use it this summer.

Mom's health isn't doing well, though. She seems to have hit a point where, like dad, her medical conditions are complicating each other. Her feet and legs hurt, so she can't stand or do too much walking. The doctor wants her to wear support hose to ease the vascular problems in her legs, but she doesn't want to wear them because they hurt her legs even more. Vertebrae in her back are fractured, so she isn't comfortable sitting or laying down too often.