Quesy stomach's beware. But really- it's not that bad.

This is my little brother's leg. I talked about him a bit in the post just before this one. He has more of those incisions all over his leg. Pretty neat huh? Or gross. Whatever floats your boat. I'll be adding more awesomely gruesome pictures once I get them uploaded! But for now. This is what you get to see.

This is what strep A does to you people! Strep-freakin-A! And this isn't even the worst of it! My dad almost lost his arm. Little brother- who's not so little really- is anxious to get out of the dang hospital. Who wouldn't be after a few weeks of family only isolation. There's only so much of one's family that one can handle. haha

My kids at weddings

Sad news. It looks like I've finally filled up my quota of picture space on here. So until I rectify this annoying issue. There won't be pictures. Which hopefully won't last long, because I like pictures! Luckily, what I wanted to share this time didn't have any pictures to go with it anyway.

Aunt C just got married this last Thursday and it was a beautiful wedding. I love going to other couples' weddings and sealings. It reminds me of my own sealing and how special it was. For those of you wondering what a sealing is, it's a bond that as Latter Day Saints, we believe goes beyond this life. We believe that when we are married, that we are sealed to each other for time and all eternity and we get to do this in the temple. Of course, if you have more questions, please find your local LDS missionaries and I know they will love to explain it further to you! LDS.org is also useful for questions!

We had a very long day with the family and loved every minute of it. My kids of course were little studs. Everyone was raving about how cute they were and of course since they're my children, they just ate all the attention up!

After the sealing, the pictures, the little break in between and the luncheon, we finally made it to the reception! A couple things happened here that I won't and don't want to forget:

• As Aunt C and new Uncle J began their first dance of the night as the new married couple, my kids decided to get a bit of attention. E began by dancing along with them at the corner of the dance floor so no one really saw him. He wasn't exactly dancing properly to Beauty and the Beast- he was really breaking it down. As soon as he got tired, he flopped on the ground like a starfish and started to roll himself out closer to Aunt C and Uncle J. By this time people are beginning to notice the 2 year old splayed out on the floor at the happy couples feet. Luckily no one seemed too annoyed except of course Es brother. Are you even surprised? haha. A took his brotherly duties very seriously and went out to retrieve his starfish brother off the floor. A bent down, grabbed Es arm- E didn't move a muscle- and A proceeded to drag his little brother off the floor. I could hear people everywhere laughing at the spectacle my kids were making. Way to ruin the moment guys! You two are just lucky that C and J are good sports and didn't get ticked off at you! I mean, in reality, there's no way you could be mad. It was just too cute!
• Second thing I won't forget was E breaking it down after the slow dances were done and everyone was allowed to dance. He ran his two year old bum out there and started hopping around, throwing his arms everywhere and kicking his feet as fast as he could. The people who actually wanted to dance were so thrilled with their little dance partner that a circle actually formed around him and everyone clapped as he got his groove on! E was so encouraged by this that he maintained his awesomeness for the entire song. A was not to be beat though, he found the circle too and decided to break dance for us. I am not even kidding when I say break dance. He must have seen someone from other wedding busting some moves and he tried to copy them. He was better than me! .... which really isn't saying much.... but still! 

These were the things I won't forget about my kids, I know I also won't forget how beautiful Aunt C looked. There's just something about being a bride that makes you glow and she absolutely had that glow. She was stunning in her wedding dress, she was stunning in her luncheon dress- because I mean seriously, who wants to eat in their wedding dress and chance getting it dirty. Uncle J looked pretty happy too; these two were meant for each other and I don't say things like that lightly. 

It was a beautiful day, full of beautiful happy people, and it was wonderfully perfect! We'll just forget that my feet were crying by the end of the night, because genius here didn't bring flats and had to wear high heels from 9am-9pm. 

p.s. You'll have to forgive me for the crappy writing. It's 1am, I can't sleep and my writing skills are sub par this late or early in the day, whichever way you look at it. Oh yeah- one last thing! I can't forget that I had lots of compliments on how nice I looked too! I love getting compliments since believe it or not, I actually do have a fragile ego. 

Last update about Dad for at least a few weeks :) Unless there's surprises

Well, E and I have had a good stay in Oregon. I think E's trip here was drastically different than mine. He played with his Papa and Grammie quite a bit as well as with some family friends, while I enjoyed being with my family. I had the wonderful pleasure of spending time with my Dad OUT of the ICU yesterday! He was allowed to leave in the afternoon yesterday and he's doing so well that the doctor's think that he may be released today from the hospital. I am very sad that I don't get to stay the entire day, but I do have about 5 chemistry assignments due tomorrow, so it's probably for the best.

I just want to give yet another update on my dad. This will be a cumulative update. He is currently out of the hospital. They released him Sunday afternoon. Before he left, they undressed his arm and redressed it. He'll be at home for two weeks I believe. His arm will be healing with the cadaver skin on it, acting as the world's hugest and honestly, nastiest band aid. After the two weeks he'll have the cadaver skin removed and a graft of his own skin from his thigh taken and used to replace the cadaver skin. How pleasant.... now he can have a sore thigh and a sore arm.

The infection that caused so much trauma and grief was not anything intensely serious. We feel so blessed, because it could have been worse. The infection was strep and yes you can get that anywhere apparently. He could have lost his arm and he didn't; blessing #1. He could have lost muscle and didn't; blessing #2.It could have been an incredibly difficult disease to heal and it wasn't; blessing #3. He could have been in the hospital for a long time, but he was not; blessing #4. I didn't have school Friday and had a free plane ticket so I could be with my family; blessing #5. I know there have been hundreds of other blessings poured upon my Dad and our family, but there are just a few we have encountered.

The T-shirt project

First you get out the water you'll use to wash your hands.... and then you let the dog and the baby drink out of the water.

It makes the paint come off your hands easier when you have saliva in the water. Dog and E boy.

Next, you let E make his shirt.

Gigantic mess!

Skooter found the yellow paint and tried to eat it.

E just got in the way of his Aunt and Uncles, who gave him war paint. He loved it and wanted more.

So, Uncle Na gave him more on his head.

He wasn't happy as you can see him standing next to me crying. Aaannnd.... I decided not to listen. At least for a little while.

After you finish your T-shirt project you have to get clean!

It's optional to have the doggy wash you. But it sure makes things more fun.

And of course, once they're dry. You have to wear them.

"I love my Grampa!"

And Gramma loves my little tooshy.

Last day in the ICU!! *hopefully*

My apologies for continuing to write about the same thing these last few days. I like to keep people updated on what is happening with my Dad (grandpa). Real quick before I begin with his news.

A and Daddy are surviving quite nicely at home, I would say actually, they are thriving. Today they did their chores this morning and now they're out swimming! and then tonight they're going to have a BBQ. I think it is correct to say that we won't be missed very much. :)

Now onto the news I actually know more about. My dad should be out of the ICU tonight. He has one chest tube removed now. Which is good, because no water is collecting below his lungs on that side now! His feeding tube has been taken out and he's working on eating his own food. He's still on a massive amount of drugs. My mom says one of the drugs in his system is 100 times more powerful than morphine. :) Which means he may not ever remember us actually being here. I dropped off a picture that A drew for his Tappa, so at least he'll have a cute little picture in the room from A to look at and remind him that people have stopped by.

I am just so glad to see him getting better. If he's in a regular room by tonight, we'll get to actually stay with him longer than 1/2 hour tomorrow. If they try to make us leave, my mom, Aunt Sis and I might try to chain ourselves to his bed.

We made some "super fan" shirts for my dad. I'll have to get some pictures on here of what we did. E and my Mom's dog look the cutest in their shirts. I can't lie.

First Visit of my dad in the ICU

I am the luckiest person alive. I feel like the most blessed woman on earth-- or maybe apart of the most blessed family on earth. I know firsthand of the goodness and greatness of people's hearts. Does heaven exist here on earth? I think in little pieces it absolutely does. It exists in that purest of pure sections in our hearts. When people need care, our eternal spirits yearn to come free and love those that need loving. That little bit of our heart reminds us that great good exists in the world and especially, in all of us. There are spots all around the world where celestial love and calm can abound, and that is the temple. That is where that piece of our heart is able to expand. My family has been blessed with great love. I know I keep saying that, but I do not feel that saying it once, justifies how touched my heart has been.

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Today I flew to Oregon to be with my Dad. I arrived with my son E and nearly straightway drove to Legacy Emanuel Hospital to see my Daddy. I did not expect him to be awake. I was very certain he would still be in a drug induced coma. But as we rounded the corner, all the while my heart is nervously pounding, I see my Dad's eyes open as he looks at us. The nurse says, "He's been asking for you." How she knew that I do not know, since he still has a ventilator down his throat.

I've seen a lot of things in my life.... or at least I like to think I have seen a lot of things. Either from television shows like CSI, personal idiotic experiences, or family or friend idiot experiences. Seeing my Dad in the ICU was devastating to me, but not horrific or disgusting or tramatizing. It just made me very sad. He's my Superman. He never gets hurt. He's a brick wall... an atomic bomb. Nothing gets past him. And tonight I saw what a bacteria like Strep can do to my Superman, my brickwall and atomic bomb.

I came into the room and it felt like all of the air had been sucked out of me. It felt like my thoughts had been stolen from me, leaving my mind a blank. My Dad was lying in a bed with a tube in his nose to feed him. Cuts on his neck from various tubes that had been removed from him. A tube down his throat that was connected to two others. His eyes could not focus long. His hands and feet were swollen. He had two more tubes protruding from just below his lungs that were there to remove excess water build up. His ribs hurt him from the tubes, his throat hurt him from the tubes, and the only thing I could think was, "Get the tubes out! Can't you see they're hurting him! Get them out! Please! Please."

We stayed for a few hours; myself, my mother, and my father-in-law. We talked about what is going on and what thing is doing what for him. We tried to talk to him and I felt so hopeless as he signed to us and I did not know what the sign meant. I wanted so bad to make things easier for him and here I am unable to discern the ASL alphabet and only making it more difficult for him. I am determined to know it before I leave. After a bit, we ran out of conversational things to say, so I started to tell him about home. His eyes closed and he just listened. I told him about the little pug that E likes to play with. They're the same size and the little thing just lays E flat out on his back when he pounces on him. I told him about my Chemistry class that I am in right now and how my last test was a bust, but the teacher will just drop that completely off my grade. We talked about nothing and everything and anything being sure we did not require him to converse with us.

I love my Dad. I am grateful for a little thing like a credit card reward plan that made it possible to fly down to be with my family. I love the Lord. I love his gospel and I know more than ever now, the capacity the human heart has to love and serve.

We are going to make SuperFan shirts for our dad. All the kids will have one with our handprints on them. Kind of cheesy, but hopefully the sincerity of the idea will shine through if the shirts do not turn out so well. 

Dad update

This will be quick. But I wanted everyone to know that he's still in a drug induced coma. He's had a second surgery to be sure they've remove all of the bacteria which is now suspected to be a staph infection rather than necrotizing fascitis. So he won't lose his arm. He won't lose muscle. He's only just lost about a 14"x4" section of skin. Which is HUGE on one's arm, but better than the alternatives. He's still being intubated and on a ventilator. Since he's been on it for such a long time, it sounds like fluid has collected in around his lungs and they've added another tube to remove the fluid. I could be explaining that wrong. My dad still has no idea what is going on. We're all just so glad he is improving.

I feel so touched by everyone's love and concern for our family. My dad is a dentist and has obviously not been in the office all week. Some of the men in my parent's ward are dentists and have taken shifts at my dad's office. His practice has been able to remain open without a hiccup.

My heart has been touched by so many good and kind people. If there is anything to learn from this, it is the power of love that people are capable of.

Emergency

Everyone experiences pain. Everyone has secrets. Some more painful than others. Sometimes it is easy to forget that people carry these secrets, this pain, this weight on their shoulders. I know I have. Maybe that girl in the car next to me has a loved one with cancer. Maybe that man I passed on my way to class is suffering with an incurable disease.That girl I see every day doesn't want to show people that she is hurting inside.

This weekend I have been reminded that people do carry hidden weights to those that do not know them. I found out last night, just as I was going to bed, that my Dad is in the ICU at Legacy Emmanuel Hospital in Portland.

A few days ago he went hiking with my brothers. He was complaining about some discomfort on his elbow. he came home with a swollen elbow, so my mom put ice on it. He rested and hoped the swelling would go down. It didn't. They went to the doctor, who thought it could  be cellulitis, which I guess means your cells break apart and expand- I could be wrong- they gave him antibiotics for it and he rested all day Sunday. He seemed fine, aside from being a bit out of it from the meds. That evening just as my brothers left for a church event, he told my mom he felt like passing. Since he was laying down she just told him to pass out, he wouldn't get hurt. So he did. But then his body postrated or went rigid like a board. His eyes rolled into the back of his head and his face lost all its color. My mom called 911 and they were rushed to a local hospital. They then decided he needed more severe attention and they took another ambulance ride to Legacy Emanuel Hospital where he was rushed into their ICU. They intubated him, got him attached to a ventilator and told my mom he was septic or that all his organs were failing from a blood disease. . .

This is when my brother called to tell me what was going on. He wasn't entirely sure himself, so I called my mother. On the other line I could only hear her crying. I told her I loved her and she could call me back. A bit later she called and told me what happened. I was in shock. Am in shock. It still does not feel real to me.

He was rushed to surgery to remove what they believe is necrotizing fascitis, a flesh eating disease.

This morning my Dad is out of surgery but he is still in the ICU with an intubator. He will be there all day and then he will go back into surgery again tomorrow to remove the rest of the disease. Then he will go into surgery again for a skin graft on his elbow since there was a lot of flesh removed.

 I pray that he will be ok. I feel like he will and I hope that feeling is true.

This is my hidden pain to those around me that do not know me. . .
I need lots of nice smiles and patience from strangers. :) And friends of course too.

Catching up a Bit

Well, we have officially moved. Our house is a disaster. We have furniture all over the place, some at our place, some a a friends and some at Daddy's grandmother's place. I haven't quite had the time to take pictures of the inside of our place. But perhaps I can paint a little picture. You walk up the steps to our front door. Once you're inside you're standing in our living/dining room. You can see the stairs that lead up to the loft on your left side and the kitchen in the back. It has a bar! We'll for sure be getting stools! As you come up to the kitchen you'll take a right into a hallway with Daddy's and my bedroom first and then the boys' followed by the bathroom. It is not a large as the place we used to live in, but we really like it. I hope the feeling of 'like' lasts long enough to get us through school without having to move again!

Daddy and the boys have taken the weekend off, so I have been home alone for a few days now. A is at his A.n Family reunion having a crazy grand time with Grandma and Grandpa, Aunt Sis, Uncle Naf and Uncle Da! Daddy and E went up to Rigby for a baby blessing for his sister. Which leaves me. I am lonely a bit, but I've made up for it by renting 3 movies, eating ice cream and unpacking stuff uniterrupted. Our little place is coming together nicely, I just need to find places for random bits and pieces of stuff. I've also come to the realization that we desperately need a bookshelf. There are so many books that cannot be unpacked because we simply have no place for them! I am excited to put pictures on here. It will happen soon! I promise! We'll have to get internet first though. I'm not about to upload photos to a public computer. :)

Happy 4th of July! And Happy Birthday to my Love!! **We're the same age now**

New House!!!

There comes a time in a woman's life when she needs a yard to kick her kids into. That time came to me about 6 months ago when the full realization of the capacity of two very energetic boys came to it's climax and then went higher! Ayden is now 3 and Ethan is close to 18 months. They have more energy than I thought possible for a child! I knew I was busy as a kid, but it just seemed natural to do as much as I did when I was younger.

When it comes down to it, the getting under my feet so I trip over them, the crying because I closed the door to the laundry room, the nonstop questions until I answer them, and the screaming over who gets to hold the American flag was really starting to wear on my already thin Mommy patience. As a result, McKay and I began the hunt for a new place to live. This endeavor became a lot for complicated and stressful by our own 'livable' criteria. We had to have a dishwasher, we had to have a w/d hook-up, we needed a private backyard, and we wanted as much space as we could possibly afford. And so, the hunt began. And we saw crappy house after crappy house with terrible yards.... UNTIL, we found the place for us!

BEAUTIFUL YARD!! We have the front yard of the house, the backyard, another portion behind where I'm standing in this photo and then A GARDEN!! I'm absolutely thrilled!

If you can find the pots in each photo you should be able to somewhat follow the line the yard takes. On the other side of those two cars in this photo is the garden and more yard!!

(Other yard/garden in the back)

And the garden!! It had 3 large boxes that we will definitely need to weed first, but by this weekend we hope to have some already grown plants in our garden!

The only sacrifices we made were we do not have our own washer and dryer, but our downstairs tenant has one and if we schmooze her up enough, hopefully she'll share with us. And we also sacrificed the amount of space. BUT the inside of the house is nice. We have a loft, which is kind of fun and I'm a sucker for a sweet kitchen and as far as renting goes, this kitchen is sweet!! More pictures to come once we actually move in and take photos. I'm excited about this place. It has so many possibilities outside.

Clothes line, private yard, garden, patio, hammock, grill, patio chairs and table, garage, storage shed, private driveway for possible basketball hoops set up. All in all, it will help our family get away from electronics and enjoy the outdoors... and spare me my sanity while my kids get to release their energy outside instead of on me... and perhaps vice versa in some cases. :)