"Well, that's how life is." -Sadie

Sunday, January 18, 2015

Sleeping babies and Christmas

Barely touching in bed. I love how Anna's hand is reaching out to make sure they are at least touching a little bit.

Science class by Nate. They girls were sooooooo interested in Nate's lesson on bearded dragons! I'm afraid they seem especially amused by animals. I'm totally outnumbered!

Nate was such a cute helper at their doctor appointment. I loved how the doctor asked if Nate wanted to be the one to hold them while she did the exam.

Is that comfortable?

Having our "angel cake" to celebrate our December 22 Angel, Amber from 2005.

Ginger bread house cookies. Mom used to always do gingerbread houses with us. Every year that I can remember! Since we've had a few rough Decembers, I switched to making a giant gingerbread cookie in the shape of a house. It's easier and they still have a ton of fun.

We had a few families over for dinner and the kids all acted out the Nativity. I had to document this picture. Nate used to have a little crush on this cute girl. He claims that is a thing of the past, but whenever the girls say her name, he does get a cute smile. Either way, Ash and Sadie are voting for him to marry Kaitlyn because they really like her and think she would make a great sis in law. She was the only girl who wanted to play Mary and Nate was gonna play Joseph...they made a cute couple!

Sadie and Nate worked hard on our veggie tray for our Christmas Eve dinner.

Anna and Audrey LOVE bath time.

I love the little hands helping Nate play his song.

Christmas morning.

Those eyes just make me melt.

Going for a fun sledding afternoon with some fresh snow.

Ash had a big science project to do for the science fair. With Dave involved, of course it had to do with guns. It just makes me laugh to see this sweet girl with a massive, powerful gun.

Tuesday, December 23, 2014

The Mayo Clinic

It's not every day that you hop over to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota in the winter!

After over a year's battle with eosinophil pneumonia, wacky blood tests that had my eosinophils charted at 10 times their normal production, 3 different specialists doing tests and more tests (including a bone marrow biopsy with all negative results except high eosinophils), it was highly recommended that I go to the Mayo Clinic for some answers. I was devastated to hear this news. The thought of leaving my family, my babies, heading to a freezing cold state in the middle of winter all by myself to do miserable tests for my health that has been so frustrating...it just sounded like too much. But we felt like I needed to go. We spent days stewing over what to do and how to do it. Me go alone? Dave come with me and leave the kids with Grandma? Friends? Bring the family? No options seemed right. Shannon and Scott had already so generously offered for Shannon to come help me in Colorado just because I had been so sick in general (she even had a ticket to CO already for the very week I would be scheduled at the Mayo Clinic). Dave thought Shannon coming would be a great option because of how she would cheer me up. He knows how she makes me laugh. I just felt so bad asking her to coming along so I wouldn't be lonely. I kept thinking I could just be tough and do it. Well, one day it just all clicked and we asked if Shannon would come to Minnesota with me and Dave could stay with the kids.

It still makes me cry thinking about it. When I called and asked her, she told me that had I not asked her to come, she was planning to surprise me in Minnesota to be with me. Wow, wow, wow!! I feel forever in-debt to her for coming (and Scott for holding down the fort at home with 4 kids). She made ALL the difference.

I felt such a heavy weight leaving my family and going to such a serious place for health issues we couldn't resolve. But having Shannon there to make me laugh 100 times over again and to keep a positive attitude and just be at my side was the best medicine I could have asked for.

She couldn't even come to my first appointment with me because we were worried we would get the giggles and the doctors wouldn't take me seriously. Instead she sat right outside and was there the second I came out.

Here we are on our first morning at the Mayo Clinic. I have come to have very fond feelings of this place. There is a special spirit there of love and warmth and kindness. The doctors and staff were amazing and truly care.

One of the many buddies we made while at Mayo. So many people sit for hours at this place waiting, waiting, waiting for appointments. We talked to so many people, heard their life stories, shared, and just passed the time as we all waited and waited! It's amazing how many struggles are going on in people's lives that you just can't know until you sit down and have a conversation. I love people and I loved getting to meet so many wonderful people in Minnesota!

A picture I texted to Mom to let her know I was taking good care of Shannon.

There was this beautiful grand piano and there was almost always someone playing Christmas music on it. These two old men were playing and were so cute! It brought so much cheer to the whole place!

With my wonderful Dr. Patel! He was amazing. One of the days he spent 90 minutes with us. Who does that anymore? The next morning he spent about an hour. We had some good talks about life and it was so neat to get to know him and see his love for his patients and take such great care in his life's work.

There were many times I had to fast for different tests. I was holding a can of my favorite almonds to just get in the smell since I couldn't eat.

I was on the phone and Shannon wandered into a small museum at Mayo. It made me smile to see her sitting on the ground reading away! We had some time to burn while there. :)

This place was beautiful. They made such great efforts to make it a welcoming, lovely place. It really does cheer you up to be somewhere so beautiful.

Just one example of this place. This was waiting to get blood drawn. I think we counted 77 people. You show up, meet with a doctor, and then are given an itinerary of all your appointments and tests. It's quite a production they have going on. It's so orderly and well executed. The waiting is usually because you are trying to get a test done early so you just wait for an open spot. But for the normal tests and appointments on the itinerary, I was always seen on time.

We had good and bad news. The good news was that after an echo, CT scans, and a million other tests, they couldn't find anything wrong or that was causing my elevated eosinophils. Especially after all my lungs have been through, I was thankful that my lungs were not damaged in any way. I was so thankful for a healthy heart and other organs. The frustrating part is that they deemed my case "idiopathic" and explained that sometimes they just can't find the cause. So they will treat the eosinophils with medication and the hope is that before long my body will re-boot and stop making extras.

With our answers, we packed up and headed out for a little fun before our flight the next morning.

The first stop was the Mall of America. When Dave told the kids we might all go to Minnesota, he told them about this mall with a roller coaster. Nate was set on going. He was bummed he couldn't go so I assured them I would ride on the roller coaster for them. We also stopped at the huge Lego store. It was fun to have a chance to shop up and down a mall like that - I don't think we've done that together since high school.

That night we had a wonderful visit to the LDS Minnesota temple. It was a perfect end to our trip together.

The video Dave posted was my welcome home present that they made for me. Dave worked half days and Ash and Sadie held down the fort while he was gone. Ash had a big week of school work so it wasn't easy but she managed to get a lot done when Dave got home each day. They were all such a huge help. Ashlyn was extra thankful for me to get home and said "Mom, I can't believe how much you do!" I guess it's good for them to get a taste of motherhood once in a while!

Getting ready for the in-mall roller coaster!

Thanksgiving

Dave took the kids out on a Thanksgiving morning run/roller blade.

It was great to have the Kimball's join us for a low key Thanksgiving dinner. Kelly was 8 months pregnant and doing a simple meal and I wasn't up for doing much so we agreed to get together and keep it simple. My kids made lots of pies and Ash was insistent on making crusts from scratch.

The "newness" of having babies has not worn off and I'm so thankful. Our older three adore these babies and LOVE spending time with them. They are such a big help to me.

Sadie made pecan and pumpkin, Ash made berry and a lemon cream, Nate made chocolate cream.

I had to snap a shot of this. They both wanted up when I was doing dishes. Life can be so hard!

Our wonderful friend, Blanche, broke 7 ribs during a recent fall. We have been so sad for her. She got moved to a rehab center and when I suggested maybe we bring her a few Christmas decorations, Ash volunteered their tree that they have upstairs every year and love. What a sweet sacrifice. So we brought their tree and plugged it in and she loves it.

This picture is for you, Tyler! Ashlyn's cousin is known to have a book with him in some funny times (like practicing the piano, doing dishes, etc). Ash making peppermint bark and reading a good book while stirring.

They have discovered the dishwasher.

The kids made a Christmas chain and some ornaments for Blanche's tree. Blanche's attitude about life inspires me to be better. We always leave feeling so uplifted and wanting to be more optimistic about life. She is 95!

Ash working on her berry pie.

Me working on snuggling my babies. A favorite pastime.

Grandma comes AGAIN!

My poor mom is going to need to pencil our family into her November calendar each year for a visit to help. She was with us last November to help (two separate trips over a month's time) when I had my terrible bout with pneumonia that took over our my health for a couple months. I was on the mend just in time to welcome Anna and Audrey into our family (phew!). It's been a year of the pneumonia coming back every couple months to try and take over again. I could type 10 pages of a health history which would be way too boring. But in summary, it's been a long road to say the least.

It's interesting to look back at pictures and even though I'm smiling, many of the times I wasn't feeling well at all. Some of them (like trick or treating), I was so thankful just to make it out and be with my family. I wasn't sure I could walk all the way in to the hockey game without my lungs getting bad...stuff like that. Boy, pictures sure don't tell the whole story!

When I was getting pretty sick again, Mom came to the rescue. She is such a great help and everyone loves having her here. Nate was cute as he kept saying how awful that Grandma had to go in "5 days" or whatever the countdown was. The bonus is that we get extra time with Grandma!

I love watching them dig in for toys together.

Grandma and the girls before church!

Audrey

Story time with Grandma!

I can just picture Sadie down the road with her own baby tugging at her apron while she cooks.

Nate makes all sorts of contraptions for the babies to have rides around the house.

Love their sleeping poses. They are 10 months and are going strong sleeping together!

Halloween

It was a year for "find your own costume around the house". I found these matching "two peas in a pod" at our consignment store for Anna and Audrey. They were cute and warm. Ash hung out with a friend and felt too old to dress up. The funny thing was how many, many teenagers were out trick or treating! Ash would have fit right in!

Audrey and Anna

Nate spent all day working on a magic show for us. He found some great tricks that had us wondering his secrets! The best part was watching him get so into it. He made himself a hat and the girls helped with all sorts of props.

We took the family to a hockey game with a big group of dentists in the area. I should have brought ear protection for the babies - it was so loud! Everyone had fun.

Ash and Sadie are in a shakespeare class at school and they each made a model of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. Sadie took 1st place and Ashlyn took 3rd. The prize was two tickets to a modern day theatre! Sadie was nice and shared a ticket with Ash.