Boys and the Mud

Kurt had to work in the rain today.

Had to use the Bobcat and everything.

Poor Guy!

Oh, wait, except he LOVED every minute of it!

Here is the fruit of his labor:

He made his own personal quad track in our company's storage yard.

Ya, it was a rough day for Kurt!

Can't you tell by his huge smile?

The difference of a few hours

What a change!

I can't believe what a great day my mom had. I took her a Jamba Juice this morning and she drank it down pretty quick. Then she had a Mighty Shake. We were so glad to see her "eat" something. She had hardly eaten anything the last 8 days. Then she took a huge 5.5 hour nap in a really deep sleep. When she woke up she wanted another Jamba Juice (which we got for her) and ate a muffin, applesauce and drank an Ensure. WOW! We were thrilled!

Then because she slept all day (9am - 2:30) she didn't have 2 of her pain meds since the morning and she wasn't hurting when she woke up. YIPPEE! She still had a patch on that was giving her some relief but no pills or morphine. She started asking when she could go home - a good sign. I told her that it probably wouldn't be until tomorrow (Thursday) but when her dr. came in at 4 pm she talked to my mom about her pain level and they decided that she could go home!

THAT'S RIGHT -

MY MOM IS HOME TONIGHT!!!!!!!!!

I am so relieved! I am so thankful!

Thank you to all our friends who brought us meals, picked up kids, watched kids, ran kids around. It was so helpful! I can't even tell you how much it meant!

I am especially thankful for my amazing husband who was by my side the last few days in the hospital and also at home doing all the household chores. That's right folks - Kurt did laundry!!! His all time most disliked chore. (He used to claim he couldn't figure out how to work the washing machine but now I know better!)

I am going to bed one very happy, thankful, blessed, at peace person.

Good Night!

Still at the hospital

My poor mom has had quite the week.

Last Monday (7th) she had a procedure called chemo-embolization performed on her liver. Her insurance declined Stanford's radio-embolization procedure so this was plan B. They are basically the same thing - they go into her liver and inject either chemo (for chemo-embolization) or radiation (for radio-embolization). The dr. said that the first 6 hours would be the worst and then she should improve after that. Usually the hospital stay is 1 night.

Tuesday she was still in a lot of pain so they kept her a second night.

Wednesday she seemed to be getting better so they sent her home with pain pills.

Thursday the pain increased probably due to all the hospital drugs wearing off and of course, her dr. was on vacation so my dad talked to the dr. on call and he changed the medicine.

Friday she was still in a lot of pain so they increased the dosage. They kept telling us that pain was to be expected and it should start decreasing.

Saturday we continued with the increased pain meds to see if we could get it under control.

Sunday my dad and I got her to the infusion center for her magnesium transfusions. She gets these everyday and hadn't had any since the hospital on Wednesday so we thought this might be contributing to her pain, weakness, etc. The nurses were really concerned about her because her blood pressure was on 68/54 (remember normal is 120/80) and her heart rate was up. They gave her some fluids and her blood pressure came up but still not normal.

Monday I took her in for another mag infusion. Again her blood pressure was way down and the nurses were really concerned because of the amount of pain she was in and how weak she was. She hadn't eaten all week due to the pain. We had managed to get a little bit of sherbert, oatmeal and chocolate shake in her during the week but not enough to keep her strong. They immediately called her dr. who said that if she wanted to, they could admit her into the hospital and give her stronger meds to help with the pain. She agreed, which only showed me how much she was truly hurting because my mom doesn't like the hospital. So Monday she was admitted.

She is on 3 different pain meds now which have her all loopy but at least she isn't in pain. I have been with her everyday in the hospital to make sure she gets what she needs. She doesn't like to be a "trouble" to anyone so she sometimes won't ask for what she needs plus she is so loopy she doesn't know what she needs at this point.

When the liver is healed enough she should be able to manage the pain with pills and not need to be in the hospital so we are on a wait and see basis. It could be tomorrow when she goes home, or it could be another couple of days.

The "normal" time for the pain is 2-3 days after treatment - we are on day 9! Yikes!

I hope it changes soon! Please keep her in your prayers. She is such a sweetie! She is in pain and all loopy from her meds but she is still so sweet and the nurses just love her.

A wonderful way to celebrate!

To celebrate our anniversary, we took a drive with the kids AND Cody. Kurt wanted to go explore a campsite he found on the internet so off we went. We never did make it to the campsite but we did drive til the snow got too deep and we couldn't drive anymore. Here are some views along the way:

The drive was absolutely beautiful!

The kids had a GREAT time - and so did Cody!

What a wonderful way to celebrate the beginning of our family. We call it our "family's birthday". Tomorrow Kurt and I get to go on a date! I can't wait!

10 WONDERFUL YEARS!

Today is our 10 year anniversary!

Wow!

10 years!

Man does time fly!

I am so blessed to be married to this amazing man.

I love you Kurt!

Happy Anniversary!

Watch out Tony Hawk!

On Halloween day, something "clicked" for Evan and he figured out how to REALLY ride his skate board. It was like the balance/coordination/skills just all lined up and he took off pushing with one foot and then riding on it. He is doing so good and LOVING it!

Now everyday he asks "can we go to the skate park?"

Here are some videos I took of him today.

Remember - he just turned 4!

I can't even stand on the darn thing without hurting myself!

Oh, and sorry for the grainy shots - I didn't have our video camera, only our regular camera with the video feature!

Way to go EVAN!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HAILEY!

Today my baby girl turns 7!!

Wow!

I can't believe how big she is!

And she started it off first thing this morning - up at 5 am - she didn't want to miss a minute!

Hailey is an amazing child. She has always been so happy. As a baby, her nickname became "Smiley" because everytime she met someone new (even strangers in a store), she would just smile and they all called her Smiley, so it stuck.

To this day, she is still so happy.

Hailey is always friendly to everyone and can make friends where ever we go. She is definitely our most social and outgoing child.

Hailey can fall asleep anywhere! When 8 pm hits, she is on count down until she passes out. She just can't help it - consequently, she can fall asleep at the funniest places - at the kitchen table, on the stairs, under beds, anywhere.

Hailey has eyes that are 2 different colors. Sometimes they are very noticable and sometimes it is harder to tell. One is more greeny/blue and the other is more hazel with brown in it. I think it is very cool.

Hailey used to have ringlet curls in her hair. I loved it but over the years it has grown out - so sad!

Hailey is also our best decision maker - she can make a decision very quickly and be content with it; while other children spend 1/2 an hour trying to make a decision.

Hailey is also very smart - she started kindergarten at the young age of 4 and has excelled all through school. I was worried about her starting so young but she has proven that she can do it!

Happy Birthday Hailey!

We love you so much!!

Hailey's 1st birthday

Hailey's 2nd birthday

Age 3 - Thanksgiving in Washington

Age 4 - Christmas
(Notice the ornaments are only 1/2 way down the tree - NICE! Evan was a toddler)

Age 5 - Camping in Hope Valley

Age 6 - Soccer game

We hope you have a super, special day Hailey!

Parental Updates

Man, what a week! Here are the updates on my parents.

My Mom

Sunday, my mom, my dad and I drove to Stanford so that we could meet with a doctor on Monday morning to discuss a possible treatment for my mom's liver cancer, called radio embolization. We really liked the doctor and the proceedure sounds very promising. On average, it wipes out 80% of the tumors on the liver. That would be amazing!

Long explaination short, they go directly into the liver and inject what they said looks like dust. Each "dust" particle is a sphere and the spheres block the blood supply to the tumors and then inside each sphere is radiation so the radiation is delivered directly to the tumors. That is my lay-mans understanding of what happens. It is a 2 day proceedure - day 1 being 12 hours of testing and day 2 being 6 hours of the actual treatment.

The next step is trying to get the insurance company to cover it. The doctors said they usually do get them to cover it but it may take time to get it approved. So we are on hold until we hear that it has been approved. Then back to Stanford we go!

It was a lot of fun traveling with just my mom and dad and having that time to spend with just them.

Oh, and Kurt survived getting the kids all to school Monday morning. Although he did tell me when I got home that "it is a lot of work getting everyone ready in the morning. I'm not sure if you are aware of that or not!" Nope, I had no idea!!

My Dad

So 12 years ago my dad had a stint put in his heart to keep an artery open that was closing. They said that it should last him 5-7 years so we have been incredibly blessed that it lasted this long. He has been having chest pains and went in for tests on Tuesday. They did an angiogram (spelling???) where they go into the heart through a vein in the groin. It turns out that he needs 2 more stints so next week he goes in for that proceedure. At first they were thinking by-pass surgery so we are so grateful that they decided the stints would work and he didn't need a by-pass. So keep him in your prayers that everything goes good next week for him.

Totally random ramblings

Once again, me, time and the laptop have not gotten together. So, sorry, no pics on this post. Instead you get totally random thoughts by me.

Enjoy!!

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So, first I just have to say that I LOVE MY BODY! It totally ROCKS! It kicked some serious flu bug tush a few weeks ago. (We don't use the b-u-t-t word in our house although it would make that sound way more impressive- ha ha). The kids all missed a full week of school and Kurt was in bed for 7 days, had to take antibiodics and then was weak for several more days and is still not 100% but not me. I fought hard and the bug didn't get me. Oh sure, there were times that I thought "Oh, man, I am going down. It got me" but this body would fight right back and didn't get sick. I am so grateful for my flu-bug-fighting immune system. Want to know my secret? Carmel dip. Yep, I would eat an apple everyday totally covered with carmel dip. I am sure that is what did it!

* * * * * * * * * *

I "heart" my iphone. I didn't want to get one because I don't need "all that". I just wanted a simple phone but not Kurt. He loves "all that" so he got one. Long story short, after we got rid of a sales guy that we bought an iphone for, I got his and I LOVE IT!!! How did I function without it? I have no idea. I am totally addicted to it! Kurt and I have a joint itunes account so we buy a song once and it goes on both phones - sweet! We have gotten a collection of our favorite songs now and I love having them at my disposal. I have been known to have the music playing while shopping in a store. So if you see me and the kids boogeyin' down an aisle, feel free to either join us or run the other direction - whatever you are comfortable with!

* * * * * * * * * *

Cody is awesome! We love him so much! If I had to list what the perfect puppy would be like, Cody would be it! He is amazing. Oh, don't get me wrong - he has his puppy moments like chewing, eating toys, etc. but all-in-all, he is the perfect puppy - we are so blessed! Oh, and for any of you who may be curious, Polly Pocket clothes pass right through a puppy with no problem and in one piece! Cody has tested several pieces! So gross!!!

* * * * * * * * * *

We have had a roller coaster ride with our rental property these last few weeks. We got notice that our renters were moving out and we about had a heart attack. 2 mortgage payments!!! Ahhhhhh!!!! Not good. We were freaking out! We did the final walkthru with the renters and were pleasantly surprised that the house was still in really good shape; it just had the normal wall scuffs, etc from normal wear-and-tear so that was good. Then we found out that the rental company had another renter that wanted to move in! SWEET! So in October, we only had 13 days without a renter in it so we will at least get a 1/2 months of rent. Not so bad - we can breathe again. So the new renters move in on Friday. Can you say "blessing"?

* * * * * * * * * *

Does anyone else have this problem: my dishes are self multiplying in my sink! I can't get ahead of the dishes. I don't know what is going on. I unload the dishwasher, load it back up but before I can unload it again, the sink is full. Where are they all coming from???

Oh, and don't even get me started on laundry!

* * * * * * * * * *

Has anyone realized what a work out grocery shopping is? Seriously, think about it. I was at Costco a few weeks ago and I was thinking about the shopping process. It goes like this:

- pick the item up and put it in the cart

- repeat a million times to get everything

- push an increasingly heavy cart through the store

- unload everything onto the check-stand-counter-thing

- load everything back into the cart

- push the cart to the car

- load everything into the car

- drive home (by the way - this is your break)

- unload the car

- put all the stuff away

By the time everything is put away you have either loaded it or unloaded it 5 or 6 times and pushed it who-knows-how-far, I'm sure it is miles :)

So who needs a gym membership? Just go grocery shopping!

Ha ha ha ha!

* * * * * * * * * *

Ugh, lunches.

Does anyone else struggle with what to pack for school lunches? I just don't know any more. And of course, all my kids have to like and dislike different things so packing lunches in the morning is like a puzzle trying to remember who likes what and who doesn't like what and trying to make sure everyone gets a somewhat balanced meal. I think I may go crazy. What are some things you pack in your kids lunches? Any favorites? Healthy ideas? I am totally open for suggestions here people! Help!

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I have officially joined the 21st century - yes, folks, I signed up for online banking! Whew! I avoided it for years for fear of security issues but after realizing how much I was spending on stamps, I thought this would be one way to help save money. So far I am liking it. It has only been 2 weeks so I am still learning but I think I am going to love it when I get it all figured out!

* * * * * * * * * *

Well, that is about it for now. Hope you enjoyed my random-crazy thoughts.

Maybe, just maybe, I will get my hands on the laptop one of these days!

I REFUSE to get sick!

I don't know what we have but we have a bug. The kids have missed school all week and Kurt has been in bed on his "death bed" (as he would call it) for 2 days. Up til yesterday, I have been able to avoid it but then the head ache started, the tingly throat started and then last night the joint aches started.

But who is there to fill in for mom? No one. Will I get to spend 2 days just laying in bed? Nope.

Dad has to go back to work ASAP as the guys have been running without him for 2 days and they have been setting up for a home show this weekend. Kurt is always very stressed out during home show set up and being sick in the middle of it hasn't helped.

And being that there is a home show this weekend, that means that I am going to be a "single" parent for the next 4 days. So . . .

I refuse to get sick.

I CAN'T GET SICK.

I WON'T GET SICK!!!!!

Happy Birthday to MY MAN!

Today is Kurt's birthday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HONEY!!

Every year his birthday falls during a Fall Home Show and he has to work on his birthday; but not this year! FINALLY his birthday fell before the show so he could celebrate. YES!

But unfortunately, the poor guy woke up sick this morning! Man, what a bummer! The kids have had a cold since Sunday and he got it on his birthday - what a birthday present! He has already asked for a rain check on his birthday - Hmmmm - I wonder if he may be trying to milk an extra day? Ha ha! Usually he claims the whole month of September as "It is my birth month, you know"!

Kurt is an amazing person! I am so blessed to be married to him! He is always happy, funny, confident, positive and ready to have fun! He is a dreamer - he never stops thinking of the next thing; whether it is work or play. He likes to wakeboard, mountain bike, jet ski, snow ski, pretty much anything athletic (this is where Evan gets his skills from - he didn't get one lick from me!)

Kurt's dream gift this year would be a rhino. No not an animal but a 4 wheel drive, supped up golf cart looking thing for trails. He would love to have one of those and cruise all over the mountains with his family. If anyone has one of those just laying around, let me know!

So in honor of Kurt, here are some pics of my other birthday boy:

Boating

Wakeboarding

Tubin' with his girls

Jet Skiing

(or wave running - what ever it's called)

Oh, ya, Costa Vida, Baby!

Oh man, a case of the sillies:

Happy Birthday to the most amazing man!

I love you and thank you for our wonderful family!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY EVAN!!!

Man, I can't believe my "baby" is 4 today! Where has the time gone? It seems like yesterday we were bringing him home from the hospital!

Evan is the sweetest boy! He is so thoughtful, caring, gentle, obedient and helpful. He is definitely ALL BOY! He loves to: ride his scooter and bikes, go to the skate park, play with monster trucks, fire trucks, dump trucks, bull dozers, anything that will go in the dirt!

I love this boy more than words can describe.

He is absolutely a blessing to our family!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY BOY!

Kayla (4 1/2) at the hospital

Hailey (almost 3) at the hospital

Evan and Dad snoozin' on the couch (6 weeks)

Evan kickin' it at Marine World (9 months)

Evan and Dad snoozin' (again) in Mexico (10 months)

Evan's 1st birthday!!

Evan's first quad

(Dad thinks he needs a real one this birthday ha, ya right!)

Just adorable (14 months)

Playing on a turtle in Hawaii (2 years)

3rd birthday!

Playing soccer at the park (3 years)

Funny boy!

4 wheelin' in Hollister

San Diego Beach

Camping in Tahoe

Cutie!

Evan, you ROCK!

Plan D wins again!

Saturday started off like every other day.

I had plans - A, B and C, to be exact.

A) Rearrange and organize the office

B) Pay bills

C) Laundry

However when our friends called to see if we wanted to take the kids to the lake for a little bit, plan D quickly came in and took over! Kurt will not pass up any opportunity to take the boat out and does not like to go to the lake without it so a boating trip was VERY QUICKLY put together.

As Kurt would say - it is all about balance - let's see - we worked for 2 hours in the morning in the office and then spent about 8 on the lake - ya, that is about balanced to me!! Ha ha ha!

We had an amazing time!

The kids got to play in the sand:

Avery is just like our Kayla, can't get enough of the mud!

Neither could the dads!

See, mud-mermaid Kayla

Hailey

Me and my kiddos

And the adults got to play on the water:

My man on the wakeboard!

I don't know what came over me but I decided to try wakeboarding again. I haven't tried it in YEARS, like 9 or 10, but I had the sudden urge to try again. And look, I DID IT!!

I am so proud of myself! I usually don't enjoy anything like this but I think I may be hooked. And I don't think I will have any trouble convincing Kurt to take the boat out and go again.

Rebecca knee-boarding

It was a great day - the water was great, the weather was great, the lake was great, the food was great. We need to do spontaneous boat trips more often!