Monday, May 30, 2011

Memorial Day Part 1-Treehouse Museum


We ended up spliting our Memorial Day activities. Part 1 was tons of fun and one we'd been planning for awhile. We went to the Treehouse Children's Museum with Sarah. We keep trying to go with her but due to work scheduals, it's never worked out. Well finally found a day and we ceased it. Here is some pictures of the SNOW on the way down to the valley. Yeap, we woke up to snow on Memorial Day, and the whole rest of the morning it rained and hailed. Perfect Mourning weather-but not go outside weather.

We dediced to go right when it opened to avoid the crowds as much as possiable. The rain brought in a quite a few other people at 10:00 am. It was a ton of fun! The have different sections and activies, perfect for all ages, and there are books to read at each "gallery" and suggested reading as well for different ages, interactive activies, and an art garden. We didn't even do all the exhbits, there is just so much, and it's a bit cheaper then the Children's Museum in SLC. So if your in the Valley area and wanted to do the 2 hour drive to SLC--I would suggest the Tree House http://www.treehousemuseum.org/ (There, just saved you some driving time and a little money= overall a litt bit of your sanity still intact-You're Welcome)
One of Heidi Anne's favorites right off the bat was the Fire Truck. 





  
Another favorite of hers was the "Around the World" where the kids play in playhouses and experience different popular books, or what counties their favorite fairy tales came from. Her favorite houses were Great Britain (we had Quite the tea party in England), Mongolia, and a Teepee. They also had Mexico, Germany, China, and a little bit for Japan.

There was a Pioneer school house-where Heidi Anne played with some other little girls for a bit. It was pretty cute.
Another section she liked was the Wild West. She got to ride Bucking Broncho's and wild bulls. She then got a story from Sarah by a campfire. Then went back to playing with barn animals. We couldn't get her to go into the barn exhibit. (She was terrified of the animals-they moved).


Speaking of terrified-Sarah spooked Heidi Anne on the bridge with a turtle puppet. Now that was funny!! Even Heidi Anne laughed after she realized it was a puppet. But she still wouldn't go near it.

Then we went upstairs-and she dashed to the Music section. She heard music and left me in the dust. Daddy was able to keep up with her. Sarah and I lost them for a bit, found them. Then I was left. Meh-Downside of being slow and having a fast toddler with ADD-Hence, we were glad Sarah came. She would do the interactive displays with Heidi Anne and was able to keep up at the Speed of Heidi Anne without complaint.

When I found them again we did the doctor display. Kids get to care for baby dolls, look through microscopes, play with doctor gear, and other displays.

 
Next was the immigration station-I thought it was cute. They had a display that could double as a wagon / boat-to simulate both ways people immigrated. It was pretty cool.

Then came the Heros-What makes a hero-It was more geared towards slightly older kids. But you could dress up. Lots of good book suggtions too.
Then came the fairy tale land. It had huge cheese peices, a thrown, a stage, a fun castle for kids to play, lots of dress up. Lots of interactive displays. A whole wing of pretty dolls (the Mamde Alexander Fairy Tale and Around the world dolls-lots of ofther litiary charter dolls too). Sadly, at this point Heidi Anne was getting hungery. Thus the thing she would have loved third most-she slightly blew off. (First music, second was "England").

Afterwards we went to Sarah's for lunch. She makes a great Chicken Salad sandwhich, best one I've ever had. She made it just for me and it was great. She also made carrot salad and mango-coconut almost ice cream. (It's almost ice cream-but not 100%). It's like those frozen fruit cream bars.

Hi Ho Silver!!!

As you know, I am slightly stubborn. Okay-slightly maybe an understatement. Many of my doctors know this little fact about me, thus they have given up on Doctor's Orders and now give me Advise (normally associated with "I really mean it" glares-but heads are shaken in futility).

I was "Advised" a few months back to get a cane-and Strongly Advised once the bone scans came back. I had to think about it-hard-and even came up with a pros and cons list of getting a cane. I know I need it, because I am a "fall risk" and how I haven't broken any bones is anyone's guess. It also helps because well, my mobility isn't what it was just a few weeks ago. I will share my pro and con list I made.

My Con's: Side Note- I realized as I did this it was just me justifying to myself
  • "I'm not that bad"
  • People will stare-or think I am overreacting (Like gee, she didn't have a cane before and Now she does)--Yes, the personal fable-we never out grow the high school people are staring at me thought
  • I can't find a pretty one >^..^<
  • Canes clank, so I can't sneak up on people anymore
My Pro's:
  • I can look like House-If a cane is good enough for a pretend Dr-why not?
  • Speaking of doctors, the doctors Strongly Advised it, and they did go to like 15 years of Med school-so they might be right about this.
  • I can now do one of those "I've Been HEALED" and toss away the cane and walk at a revival (list of churches and cults I've been banned from will be coming shortly). (>..)>
  • I can go on longer walks that don't have handrails-thus allowing me to achieve my Moving Forward Goals and Little Moments.
  • I can now learn how to walk quietly WHILE using a big stick. I will be sneaky and quite when walking again.
  • If it gives everyone else around me piece of mind, why not? It just helps gives me support in case I were to fall, and helps my arthritis, so I can stay more mobile. Not as much as I was-but more then I would be.
  • If you stomp your cane-it's more effective then stomping your foot.
  • I just use it like I'm a turn of the century gentle-person, just a nice walking stick, that is there in case I fall. I think my posture has even gotten better and a hint of a British accident has developed.
  • I freak out people when I can talk perfectly normal and provide parents with Excellent learning opportunities. Example:
I was outside with Heidi Anne, there was a family handing out fliers. A little girl (about 5) came close to me to hand me the flier, saw the cane, and just stared at me. I said "Hi sweetie". She RAN back to her dad. "Dad-That woman is special. What do I do??" He looked back at me, I smiled and waved. He said "Just go give her the flier". "But Daaaadddddd, she's special...". He whispered something. She timidly came back, stared at the cane, gave me the flier, I said Thank-you. She looked at me again and then BOOKED it back to her dad and clinged to him for dear life.
I was proud of myself, I didn't giggle until I got back in the house. "Dad, she's special....." I am sure I was their dinner table discussion that night. <(^_^)>

Heidi Anne also found some pro's for the cane. When I don't use it, It's her horsey, (she rides around yelling "Faster Horsey, faster!") it can be a wand, or her rifle, or her own cane like Momma. The uses are limitless.

Monday, May 23, 2011

Today's the Day The We Had a Family Picknick

 
Saturday was tons of fun. We did a mini-family reunion / celebrate Bekah's birthday. We have some pictures here, however, tons more will be on facebook and even some videos. 

Oh heavens it was fun. Heidi Anne spent all morning asking "When is Kailah coming?" Or "We go see Wrykken?" When we got the call that they were only 20 mintues away Heidi Anne ran around yelling "Yeah, they're coming! We're going on an Adventure!!"
 
When we meet them at the park and released Heidi Anne from her car seat she RAN right for Kailah bug yelling "Kailah!!" and gave her the biggest hug ever. They then went off for Rykken-once they were sure an adult had him-off they skipped. 


My sister and I have this knack for dressing the girls in coordinating outfits, we don't plan it, yet 8 out of 10 times we just do. It could be since they look so similar, and we think so alike, that it's natural that they would be dressed like sisters.

We had a great picnic at the best local park that has something for everyone.  The picnic was a blast, we had 4 generations at once. From my grandparents (which are now great-grandparents), our uncle, his family, and then our families. The food was great, my sister made pasta salad (and a special meat free version for me), some homemade Rumbi's salad, tons of veggies, fruit and dip, chips, sandwich fixings. Really good stuff. My grandma even did a surprise birthday cake for Bekah-and yes, we surprised her.
 
 






I have mentioned Cache Valley weather, if you don't like it, wait five minutes. When we first got there, it was a little to warm. Then we had a few sprinkles but then it went away. Later just as we were about to cut the cake-it poured! Once we got everything under a pavilion it became a drizzle, as soon as we finished eating the cake, the rain stopped, it was sunny, and the kids all went to play again. See-Just wait out the storm.

The day was spent watching kids play, laughing, catching up, nibbling, getting a little wet and sunburned, and just getting lost in the moments. 
 
So enjoy some of the pictures, more will be on facebook along with some videos as well. We had; 3 adorable little toddlers, lots of family, well over 2 and half hours at the park, which turned into 2 cameras filled with photos and 1 flip video with 90 mins of footage (I am sure there was a partridge in a pear tree as well-but I didn't get photos). Hello editing software.... 

Sunday, May 22, 2011

The Experiences of a Guinea Pig


(I was thinking of calling this the Lab Rat Saga-but I didn't know where to insert the werewolf love triangle).

I had some testing done on Friday-I got a Capsule Endoscopy-(side note, I have now had every form of tummy scopy that can be done-in less the 7 months. Yeah ME!!)

It starts the day before, where you are on a clear liquid diet right at noon. You can't even drink Coke-the horror!! So Char made me a lovely "last meal" of real barbecued chicken, green beans, and great potatoes and a special brownie--not Hippie special, we just don't get treats that often. After that-no coke, no few foods that I can eat, no nothing. So Gatorade and sprite for me. Until 10:00pm, then not even water was allowed. Ever notice how you can go days and days without even feeling thirsty, but when you can't have something-it's ALL you want. I normally HATE water-I need it chilled, filtered, sometimes flavored-goodness-I thought of nothing but Water. I'm pretty sure I got a little ornery
.
So the next morning, we go at 8:00 am to get set up. I go in and they hook you up to a lot of sensors-which should detect how everything from tummy on down are (or aren't) working. Then you have a 10 lb. weight that doubles as a video recorder, data collector, and capsule tracker strapped to you. You then take a pill that is the size of a vitamin-yet is the most expense, coolest piece of technology, you will ever sallow on purpose.
Two hours later I was able to finally drink my Gatorade-32 ozs in about 90 mins-(I had to pace myself).

So you're not supposed to move much when your being monitored. You used to just lay in the hospital bed for 8 hours. But now apparently they send you home and tell you to come back right away if something happens-otherwise, come back in 8 hours or if the blue light stops blinking.
1 hour into the test-something happened. All my sensors came off. I put them back on as well as I remembered the nurse putting them (A sensor went over liver, C over stomach, B & D--Darn they look like the same color-who makes Orange and Tan sensors for the 2 letters that look similar??)
Back we went, apparently I did pretty good on the sensor match up. They put them on the exact spots where they belonged (I even got B and D right) and we added extra tape to hold them in place.

Back to resting. My friend Val and her twins came and rescued me from the boredom and those nagging thoughts of,  "Freak what is this thing finding?" Please find something treatable. Wonder what the picture / video quality is like? Boy this has got to be a super boring video to watch-8 hours of 360 degree view of everything of my tummy, plus all the data--(I bet you got board just reading it (^_^) ) It was wonderful to see her and her family. It was the pick me up I totally needed. Heidi Anne had a blast with her twins. It's just fun to see friends, it makes me all the more stubborn to fight this. Hello-I soo want to see those girls be just like their parents-MacGyver juniors.

Then off to another Dr. His news wasn't so fun. My treatments have induced type 2 diabetes--bright side is I'm only super close. Yes, there is a bright side. Since I don't 100% have it yet (by 5 points) we'll just treat me like I do-so that way we can prevent me from having it permanently once this is all over. We'll that's the plan. If it doesn't work, we'll all be on a healthier diet.

We also discovered that I pretty much have NO bone density at all. It's so bad, they couldn't compare it to anyone or anything-no studies or stats exist. I have to be super careful-somehow my body just won't take in calcium or vitamin D. He wanted to do massive doses via IV to try to start some bone protection, however, my body just won't take it in. So I just have to be super careful. He suggested I do a capsule endoscopy sometime to see if we can see what this malabsorption issue is. Hahaha-Check.
We also ruled out what isn't the cause of my liver issues & pancreas issues. Which is good-because it helps us to look in the right direction. A negative test isn't always bad, it's an elimination game-like mind sweeper or bingo.

After that I was able to have my first bite of food in 24 hours-I had my favorite non-sushi treat, Banana Nut Muffin. I love those. Sooo good. I went and took a nap-I was exhausted. I have been a bit tired-but Friday took the cake-I got the muffin-hahahah.
While I slept Nana, Char, and Heidi Anne went on a shopping trip and got Heidi Anne some much needed new clothes. She has decided Now is the perfect time for a growth spurt. She went from 24 months/ 2T (since like this time last year) to 3T over night-2 weeks ago. Now she is already in 4T. I think all the rain has some effect on her... She loved to show me her shirts and dresses and outfits. She wore an outfit today and barrettes.

At 4:30 the study was finally over. I went and got all unhooked. We then had a fun Chinese dinner with Char's folks and sister Laura (Rapunzel Hair). Then home again-now we wait for test results to come back.

So things I've learned so far:
1) Other people are truly Angels in disguise-and sometimes they are the answer to your prayers
2) We can't be a person of steel all the time-We normally carry our burdens all alone (others have it worse I would say, or others need the help more, or we can handle it why bug others), but this one is just to much.
3) I absolutely love where I work-My friends, co-workers, everyone, it's really a second family, and after 4 1/2 years how can it not be? Even my friend Val still refers to it as "Our work" and she's been away for a year.
4) I have a lack of bone density, nearly diabetic, malabsorption issue, with liver failure. But the doctor has a hunch, we just did a great test for the malabsorption issue, and all I need is 10% of my liver to survive, everyone should eat healthy anyways, and it just puts my secret BMXing while Skydiving dreams on hold for awhile until my bones get-well get bones.
5) Just because you're a Guinea Pig, it doesn't mean you can't have fun. It makes it a little harder I will admit-the whole no opposable thumbs and all-but you can still have fun.

 

Keep Moving Forward Goals!!

Around here, however, we don’t look backwards for very long. We Keep Moving Forward, opening up new doors and doing new things… and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.” –Walt Disney

Again I bring up one of our favorite movies, Meet the Robinsons. It celebrates 3 very important things in our family. Family,  it teaches you to not give up and just keep trying (hence Keep Moving Forward), and enjoying the moments here and now. So we've created our Keep Moving Forward goals. These are the things we're looking forward too:

Keep Moving Foward-Our "Long" term Goals, Plans, Events

  • May 21-Family Reunion Fun
  • May 30th-Memorial Day
  • June 16-18-Logan Summerfest
  • June 19th-Father's Day-See My Dad 
  • July 3-4- AT long last, go and see the Grand Tetons and YellowStone with Char's Family-First Family Vacation!
  • July 7th-Heidi Anne's 3rd Birthday
  • July 24-Go to Bear Lake with my sisters' family!!
  • Aug 9th-Char's B-Day!!
  • Aug 12th-Meter Showers-It's an attempt
  • Sept 1st- Our 5 Year Wedding Anniversary
  • Sept 5th-Labor Day
  • Sept ??-New Synergy Building Opens
  • Oct ??--Pumpkin Walk & Pick Your own pumpkin
  • Oct 21-22 Boo Fest At the Western Center
  • Nov 3rd-Make New Keep Moving Forward Goals

In addtion to our Keep Moving Forward goals we also have our "Little Moments" highlights as well. Again it's a song from Meet the Robinson's. These are the everyday or weekly things that we look forward to doing.

These Small Hours-These Are My Little Moments


• Watch our garden grow and harvest it (: :)<
• Take Heidi Anne to the park at least 1 time a week-( Bonus points: If we rotate the parks or go then twice
   twice a week).
• Go to the Farmer's Market every Saturday (well at least as often as possiable)
• Eat more fresh fruit & veggies--I think the Farmer's Market will help with that...
• Plan out dinners better again-it made life so easy back when we had a system-but lately...So new goal.
• Daddy works out 2-3 times a week for 30 mins a session
• Momma and Heidi Anne will get total 1 on 1 time for 30 mins 2-3 times a week. We will play, read books, sing silly songs, do crafts.
• Momma needs to find more games for ages 3 and Up and a few other craft ideas...
• Keep Reading; Currently on the nightstand-The Counsel of Dads, Letters from a Birmingham Jail, and Book of Virtues to Heidi Anne.



Little Wonders

Let it go, Let it roll right off your shoulder
Don't you know The hardest part is over
Let it in, Let your clarity define you
In the end We will only just remember how it feels

Our lives are made In these small hours
These little wonders, These twists & turns of fate
Time falls away, But these small hours,
These small hours still remain

Let it slide Let your troubles fall behind you
Let it shine Until you feel it all around you
And i don't mind If it's me you need to turn to
We'll get by, It's the heart that really matters in the end


Our lives are made In these small hours
These little wonders, These twists & turns of fate
Time falls away, But these small hours,
These small hours still remain

All of my regret Will wash away some how
But I can not forget The way I feel right now

In these small hours These little wonders
These twists & turns of fate These twists & turns of fate
Time falls away but these small hours These small hours, still remain,
These little wonders These twists & turns of fate
Time falls away But these small hours
These little wonders still remain

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Feeding the Duckies and Watching the Floods

We've been watching the flood waters rise at work. Everyday I say, "It can't get any higher." Well every night the river is just as stubborn as I am and proves me wrong. For 3 days in a row, it's gotten higher, and will continue to do so. 


 
 The river was too rapid for us to feed the ducks, something I was looking forward to doing with Heidi Anne all week. Feeding the ducks is easy all you need is < (") :

1) Some old bread, 
2) Find some hungry ducks-which proved rather hard, since all the rivers were flooded-but its normally easy
3) Find a willing child with energy
4) Special for me--Find some shade and a nice bench.
5) Release said child with energy with the bread after the hungry ducks. 
6) Sit back and enjoy the weird game of chase with a hint of fetch and enjoy EVERY second of it.
In the mist of all this my little girl is trying to make duckies share. "No duckie!! You already got some! Come On, play nice. Do you want time out? Momma, they won't share!"  
Here duckie, I have bread for you...(chasing after the goose)..come here I'm sharing...(goose yells "HONK").
Fine, (hands on hips) I'll give it to someone else if you won't play nice.


Oh..P.S



Oh and on Sunday Chars' sisters came up for a visit. We had a lot of fun-and had the best Chicken Salad Sandwiches ever. Heidi Anne now thinks Laura is Rapunzel from Tangled because she has Rapunzel hair (anyone with long hair is currently Rapunzel). She just adored her Sarah time. I forget how nice it is to have people come up to visit. I just felt bad we didn't get many pics, but it was fun. 

Saturday, May 14, 2011

Funny Bunnies (=^_^=) and Apples

So Heidi Anne told me a cute joke yesterday, only I didn’t know it was a joke at first. As we were setting the table for dinner she asked me, “Momma, what does a Bunny say?”

So I did the Momma thing and responded with "I don’t know Princess, what does a Bunny say?”
She jumped up and down and said “A Bunny says Hop, Hop, Hop.” She then got a little impish smile on her face and asked “Do you know what a Funny Bunny says?”
This caught my attention-I wasn’t sure where this was going, nonetheless, I was curious and asked her, “Nooo, what does a Funny Bunny say?”
“Ribbit, Ribbit, Ribbit!!!” Between fits of giggles she said, “See he’s a Funny Bunny”.

I love to see her develop her own little personality (Well, others might think of it as sarcasm with a dash of stubborn, I see it as an adorable sense of humor with a hint of independence).  For example, a few days ago Char got me some apples. I asked him "Oh, are those Gala or Fuji?" Heidi Anne came up to me in a very slow and sweet voice said "Momma, those are apples."
Thanks sweetie, I needed a good laugh. Honestly-Where would we be without her? 

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Riding the Waves

Consider the SEALs (Since they've been in the news so much lately I will use them as an example--and honestly lilies are not in season right now.) They go through in depth and hard training. The final test is loving called "Hell Week". For a week they go out in the ocean swim / paddle a boat, run, and do it all over-24 hours non stop with out sleep. They don't know for how long they've already endured it, how much longer is left-they just have to keep going. 

And that's when the Bell rings. When the Bell rings-a Cadet is dropping out-he's hit his point. His brothers call to him, they beg him to stay, encourage him to fight on. 

But still the Bell tolls.

I have a Hero named Marcus Luttrell--but he would never call himself a hero. He was the soul survivor of Seal team 10. He pretty much summed up how men even survive Hell Week.  You don't think about it as 7 whole days of misery or when will this end, you just focus on this next wave. Once it passes, you focus on the next wave, then you focus on the next.  You rally your brothers and keep their spirits up as well, because Hell is easier when you're in good company.

When you need too, you can look back and see how far you've come and think "I can't give up now, look at all I've done." Or when you want to quit you think "What if I'm almost there, I don't want to ring the bell-just to find out 5 minutes later the week was over." 
You need Endurance to survive Hell Week physically, but you need Hope to get though it. 

I will be honest-Friday I came close to ringing the Bell. I was weak, I was tried, I couldn't breath, the pain was overwhelming, for the first time I lost focus of the next wave and I saw the whole ocean. I was overwhelmed with the thought of, "Why fight it, you only have 6 months-why fight? You don't know how long this will last, you could be in this much pain for all of it. What if they never solve this mystery?" 

Well I have good company in Hell. My little girl cuddled up on my lap and Char held the both of us. My focus came back,  I have to fight or die trying; she has to know we didn't give up, we tried everything, and we LOVED every minute of it. I don't want to ring the Bell and be the last Cadet before the week ends. I have my Hope, I am just riding the wave, one at a time-no more looking at the ocean. I love all of those who are rallying and cheering and praying for me and our family. 


If you're going through Hell keep on going--and why not enjoy the scenery-I hear it's lovely this time of year.

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Say You Get Some News That Blows

You're in the doctors office, they have just received your lab results, and the news-well-it pretty much blows.
Do you:

A) Crawl Into a Ball on the Nearest Comfy Thing and Cry Until the Tears are All Gone
B) Curse the World, The Universe, and Everything In It
C) Go Outside After Work-(Because Naturally You Still Went To Work that Day) and Played with Bubbles for 1/2 an Hour With Your kids and had a Sandwiches for Dinner Date with Your Family.

I don't know about you, but I did C. And I think that's time well spent. I really don't know what tomorrow brings, and I really got some sad news today. However, I did blow bubbles with Heidi Anne and get to hear her giggles. That made it a good day.

Sunday, May 1, 2011

Momma's Goal # 390-To Keep Having Momma Goals

Now this may seem like a perplexing goal-but bear with me....
Roughly 6 weeks ago I was given a scary diagnoses-to sum up 6 weeks and tons of lab work-basiclly, what they've been doing to help treat my hospital scare in August from reoccurring has had some adverse side effects. About 3 weeks ago, I was told that I seemed to be on the mends. Talk about a sigh of relife. Then a few days later I was told, "Sorry, you're not improving". Talk about popping someone's bubble.
Currently, everything is still up in the air. The doctors aren't sure what is the cause for the issues, but they are testing me for everything under the sun (which makes me wonder-after how many opinions is it no longer a second opinion?) When I say they are testing me for everything I mean everything-from scorpion poisoning (I am pretty sure I would remember THAT-but who knows) to lab work the hospital in the Valley had never even heard of. They had to look it up to find it out. (It was some weird genetic test).
All I can say is I'm blessed, I love my life. We were talking about this over the last few days, if there are any regrets, anything I would change or redo. And you know what-I love my life, and I am going to keep living it.  I refuse to put my life on hold because of a little detour. 
I love where I work and what I do-to me it's fun! I know it may sound dull to people when I explain what I do-but I rather enjoy it. I love the time I spend with my family, especially when I get together with my sisters' family-and we do activities together that the girls will have fun with and hopefully remember and cherish as they get older. (If nothing else-it makes for cute stories and pretty pictures).
I love my time with Heidi Anne or my lunch dates with Char. Or just our evenings at home. I know we don't do "big" advetures per se, but I love it! Ever since my August scare I've really loved each day, because it's been a second chance, I think when all of this is said and done, I'll love it even more-because I already am.
So why write down a goal? You're more likely to accomplish it if it's written. And if I'm not my normal perky self once and awhile-you know why. It's not you, it's me. ;D (Who hasn't heard that before?)


PS. I got my hair cut-do to some of the meds, it caused me to have a lovely mullet that I've been hiding with a ponytail and bobby pins. Anyways, After I got it cut the first thing Heidi Anne said as soon as she saw me was "Silly Momma, Your hair is a boy!!" She kept muttering to herself  "Silly Momma, got boy hair."