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!