Update on Christmas

This is up at Hardware Ranch - did I capture the essence of Steve or what?

Hi everyone! Sorry I have been silent for so long. I have just been so grateful to have a normal life, I didn't want to miss out on anything!

So.....I'll tell you about Christmas. It was wonderful. Santa went overboard. I think the kids were happy with their treasures. We however, did not get a Wii. Wendy did and I played it and I love it soooo much. And so Randy, I'm there brother. I will Wii with you anytime!!! =)

Anyway, back to Christmas. We did our homemade gifts this year and the kids did better at there gifts then Steve and I did. So Trenton made Steve a wreath with a bunch of miniature fishing things on it like a vest, boots, a pole, fish, a net, and some bobbers. It is really cute. Britney made me a candy dish. It is metal and she painted different saying on the for sides and on 2 of the sides she attached photo frames so I can put pictures in them. And of course she filled it with candy. It is perfect. Steve made Britney a puppet show thing out of PVC pipe and material. Basically it is a 6 foot tall, 4 foot wide curtain that she can hide behind and open the curtain when she is ready to do her show. It turned out pretty good, but is kind of wobbley and he has to brace it somehow. I made Trenton a tent. Well I'm still not done with it. It is huge! And it is also wobbley- PVC pipe as well. I'll finish it this week. I think it looks pretty cool.

Steve got a tree stand for Christmas. A huge thanks goes out to Jake and Deb for driving an hour out of their way to pick that up for me. Here are some pictures of him climbing the power pole accross the street from us. He loves it!!! I'm the best wife! =)

Anyway, we had a great Christmas. We spent Christmas Eve with my family and went to Steve's mom's on Christmas Day. They made me sew. Actually, it was fine. Adrian had a quilt that she had been working on for a while and so we all jumped in and helped her out. Even Britney did some sewing on it - we're talking quilting here folks, not just tying it. Anyway, believe it or not it was relaxing, and nice to just sit and talk. That doesn't mean I want to do it every day, just so you guys don't get the wrong idea about me.

We had fun over Christmas break too. I was able to get the entire 2 weeks off work, so I just got to play with the kids. We went sledding one day with Wendy and her kids and also Kellie. That was fun. We also went and saw Bolt and Bedtime Stories. They were both excellent movies. We spent New Year's Eve with our good friends the Robinson's, I was not much fun. I was very tired, but the kids had a great time and their baby is so cute and fun to watch.

Just this last Saturday we got to go to the open house of the Draper Temple. It is a beautiful temple. Brett Robinson put in all of the locks on the temple, so he was invited to go and they invited us. Anyway, we went into the chapel at the church next door first and saw a video, which made me cry - no big deal, everything makes me cry lately. Then we went on tour. It was so funny. I was remembering when I was 10 and got to go to the Jordan River Temple open house and everything mom and dad tried to tell me and make sure that I knew, and I found myself doing the same thing to my kids. It was so important to me that they understood how special everything was. But everytime I opened my mouth, all I heard was mom. Thanks for helping me out there mom.

Well, that's us in a nut shell!

Trenton's foot

Okay, here's what we know. The name of this friekish disease is called Henoch-Schonlein Purpura. The written description that they gave me is this. HSP is an immune system reaction. It causes damage to small blood vessels int he skin. This causes a rash in the lower part of the body. It may also affect blood vessels of the joints, intestines, kidneys and other organs.

The exact cause is unknown. A recent viral or bacterial infection, certain food or drugs may be a factor. Improvement occures in 4-6 weeks. However, the illness may recur during the next six months. This is not a contagious disease and it cannot be spread to others.

What the doctor told us is that basically is blood vessels are bursting. What you see going on on the outside of his body is most likely going on on the inside of his body as well, that is why he is in so much pain. They basically don't know anything about this disease. There is no real cure, they just treat it kind of like a cold and treat the symptoms. So he is on a steroid and motrin to help with the pain.

So this is what happened. A week ago today Trenton started complaining of stomach pain. Our kids have constipation issues, so that is what we were sure was going on. Wednesday afternoon, I took the kids in to get their flu shots. While we were there, I had the doctor take a look at Trenton, just in case. The Doc couldn't find anything wrong with him, even said his stomach was soft, but from his "potty" habits that week, thought that I was probably right and to keep pushing the fruit and juice to get this through him. He also warned that there was a horrible stomach virus going around so not to get over zealous just in case this goes the other way. So..... take him home, that night he is sitting on the arm of the couch and so his pant leg is riding up and he says, "And what the heck is that on my leg?" So me and Steve take a look and I instantly thought he had bed bugs. But at closer examination, you could tell that whatever it was, it was coming from underneath his skin. The top of his skin was basically smooth and there were no marks. (Of course we still checked out his bed really good) At this point there was no bruising, it was just small dots on both of his legs below the knee. He had about 8 on each leg and they were about triple the size of a chiken pock. So we gave him some benedryl, in case it was an allergic reaction to the flu shot. Trenton said, "Google it, mom." So I did, what I came up with was phlebitis of the skin, which causes tiny blood clots under the skin (I am genious). Anyway, I took Trenton to work with me the next morning and got him in with the first available doc. She was certain it was a rash, but could not pin point it since it did not blanch. She brought in the master Dr. Amann, he took a look and said it looked like and infection. He rattled off a few different things it could be, but the one I understood was "staff infection". They gave us a script for and anti-biotic and said he could go to school. Said it was contagious with skin on skin contact, but he is of course wearing pants. So he goes to school Thurs and Fri. I gave him 2 doses of med. on Thurs and on Friday gave him a dose when he got home from school. His stomach was still hurting and basically killing him Friday afternoon. He threw-up an hour after I gave him the meds and kept on that roller coaster all night. Again, severe stomach pain. Tonja calls that night and said I could give him some of my phengren, which I did. It stopped the vomitting, but not the pain. Saturday, more pain, and now he is starting with a fever. I read all the instructions for the meds and they say: "may cause vomitting and diarrhea". Oh great, so now we are not sure what to do, and the spots on his legs are climbing. We decide to wait until Sunday, maybe his cramps will stop and we can try the meds again. At that point, we were really thinking that he had the flu and the leg infection. So Sunday I go to church and when I get home he says, "My foot really hurts." We take a look. Oh yeah, the top of his foot was swollen bad, and his ankle was really swollen, and now it hurt to touch. So I take him up to the clinic. We get there, there is an hour wait. While we are in the waiting room, his stomach cramping comes back with a vengence. I am trying really hard not to cry, very hard when your baby is in so much pain. Finally they get him back there. I gave the doc the complete history. She didn't want to give him anything in case what was going on was effecting vital organs, because we could shut them down. They do labs and multiple x-rays. He is writhing in pain. I tried to take his mind off of it by reading books and we talked about emergency precautions like if there was and earthquake or something - just to keep him thinking - that actually helped quite a bit. So then the doctor came up with the DX above, but said they couldn't do anything more and had to send us to the hospital.

So we go to the E.R., they concur that it is a vascular problem and tell me that whatever is going on outside is most likely going on inside, so they need to make sure there is no internal bleeding. CT scan. So then Steve and Britney finally get there - they were in Salt Lake, helpling Steve's dad. So my psyche can relax a little bit and Steve takes over keeping Trenton calm. They have him drink the contrast and an hour later we are going for the CT. Everything looked good. All his organs and his labs say that nothing crucial is effected by this. Basically it is a waiting game. The doc at the E.R. said he could be back to normal with in a few days. As soon as he feels up to it, he can go back to school. Basically what they really worry about are the bowels and the kidneys. If there is any severe abdominal pain that does not go away to get him back in to make sure those things aren't shutting down.

This morning however, I am pleased to announce he has had no abdominal pain and he even walked on his foot for a minute. His spirits are up and this is the best I have seen him in 3 days. So.....I think the steroids are working and he will be back to school as soon as we can fit a shoe on his fat foot.

Thanks for the phone calls, prayers and the love. We have let him know that you all care. He will be fine. Just a really friek thing!

Love ya!

Christmas is here!!!

Ben and Steve at our Family get together

wrapping Jenna's gift

reciting the cub scout oath

how do you like that chin? man it was a pain!

Well, we are in the Christmas spirit at our house. The tree is up and all the decorations are out! We just need to put the lights on the outside of the house, but we are getting there! We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with Tonja and her kids. It was very relaxing and nice to have them over. My kids were so glad that Sean came and they all had a really good time with each other. Then of course my sisters and I went shopping the next day! YEAH!!! I was able to get a lot done. I still have the kids main gifts to get and a few other things for them, but I'm done with Steve and he went shopping with Scott that day and now he is done with me! What a great day!

I am feeling a lot better. Thanks so much for all the prayers and concerns on my behalf. Right now I am trying to wean myself off the pain meds, so I am kind of nausiated, but I need to do it. My family has been great and have helped me with everything.

Britney has been working hard today on a book report. UGH! She had to draw 4 pictures of souveniers that partained to this book and then write a paragraph about each picture. For example: one of her souveniers was a snow globe with 3 horses in it and then she told about how the horses were significant to the story. She really did a great job on everything, I am impressed with her imigination. But man, it took her 4 hours. Maybe if we hadn't procrastinated.

Trenton had his first Pack meeting last week and earned the Bobcat award. He just loves scouts and is excited to earn all of the hunting and fishing merit badges. Steve and him are in the living room right now working on a ghillie suit for Trenton.

I'm going to include a picture of me as a witch for Halloween as I failed to add that to my October report. We hope all of you are well. We were happy to visit with all of my family on the Sunday before Thanksgiving. That was a lot of fun and I think I was even able to visit with just about everyone. Steve however, is going to make sure to bring ear plugs next time we all get together. =)

Well, have a great holiday season everyone!

October is fun!

Crazy hair day

Okay, so I had my birthday and I got my first grey hair and also something else very horrible that I do not wish to discuss in this open forum. But apparently 38 does not like me very much!

Steve and the kids spoiled me. I got the exercise ball that I was wanting - haven't been able to use it yet, but I am still very excited about it. I also got a radio that I can wear on my arm for when I go walking or running. Very excited about that as well. We got to go to Sean's football game on my birthday. It was the most beautiful day and it was so nice to just relax with the family and enjoy the outdoors. Sean is such a cute football player and you can tell he has skills. It was a very enjoyable afternoon.

Well, onward to Trenton's birthday and the baptism. We were cleaning house for 3 weeks to get ready. Trenton asked me if it had to be perfect, of course I just answered, "yes". I just want to say thanks to everyone that came to support Trenton for his big day. He really was excited to see so many people there just for him. He was so excited all week for that day to come around that he was up extra early every morning - that's how I know he's excited. I thought Yvonne and Kellie did exceptionally well on their talks, it was nice that you guys knew him so well that you able to talk to him. Also, kudo's to Deb for playing piano - bless you for having talent! And thanks to all for bringing food and helping with dinner. I really had a great time and hope everyone else did too! Trenton ended up with $100.00 when all was said and done. He was really excited to be able to pay $10.00 tithing - he's such a cute kid! Then he took all his money and invested it in an $88.00 Indiana Jones lego set. Him and Britney have been dilligently putting it together for the last 2 days. They love it - Thanks! He liked all his other gifts too, and has played with everything, and also worn the clothes.

This last week at school has been their red ribbon week. So every day they wear something different. Today was crazy hair day. We had fun with that. I will put in some pictures of it. They also went to a Halloween carnival last friday and so they got to wear their Halloween costumes. Very exciting. They are Luke and Leah. They looked good. We are excited to go trick or treating tomorrow night and I am going to dress up like a witch.

Well, Happy Halloween everyone! Be safe and have a great time!!!

Flaming Gorge is still beautiful!

Well, we took our annual hunting trip to Flaming Gorge. It is still one of the most beautiful places on earth. It was gorgeous weather the entire time we were up there. We got there late Friday night the 26th of Sept and came back late the following Friday Night, the 3rd of October. Although it is beautiful, we believe all of the deer have migrated to another territory. There just weren't any deer, well....none with antlers. Trenton went hunting with Steve 3 of the mornings that we were there. Steve said he really kept up great and they had some good talks together - you know, man stuff - burping and farting and stuff like that - that's good stuff. I always take crafts up to do and one of them was we went down by a pond and took some plaster paris and got some great tracks of a lot of different animals. We got a huge elk print, a couple of baby deer, a raccoon (excellent condition), a bobcat, a fox, a coyote (we think, it could just be someone's pet dog), and a bird. The kids were really excited and they painted them all and they really look great! We also made some candy dishes that we can use at Trenton's baptism. This did not turn out as well as I had planned - still thinking I might have to tweek them. They also painted some T-shirts for themselves. Now this was a regular fiasco. The idea was to have them cut designs out of contact paper and stick that to the shirt, then they take a spray bottle of paint and spray the shirt, then we take the contact paper off and whala - a beautiful shirt - WRONG! First, Trenton can't do anything easy. So he has to have a shirt that has flames on the bottom and the top is black with orange sparks - UGH! So I cut the flames. We stick it to the bottom. He sprays the top of the shirt black. Well, it looks kind of like smoke. I told him he would have to wait until the next day to paint the flames. So then I decide to mix some other color of paint in with the black for Britney's shirt. She cut a bunch of stars out and stuck to her shirt. Okay.....black paint just eats other colors. So finally after I had poured 3 entire bottle's (well...they were pretty much empty) of paint into the spray bottle, I get this genious idea - hey idiot, pour out some of the black. So I do and finally mix it with purple and it made a really pretty color. But the problem was, I used up all the red, so Trenton's shirt is still awaiting flames. Anyway, Britney goes out to spray her shirt and after about 4 squirts, the spray bottle just completly dies. UGH! So I pour all the paint into a bowl, give her a paint brush and have her THROW the paint onto the shirt. That shirt turned out awsome. Here's the problem, the paint dried stiff, not very comfortable shirts to wear - live and learn.

We took a three wheeler up with us and that actually ended up being the kids favorite toy. Their uncle Worm had brought up two helmets, so they wore those and just took turns riding each other around camp. It was a daily ritual and they loved it. The smiles on their faces made it so worth it.

Oh, and our fridge caught on fire. Yep, that's right. Okay, it was on Sunday morning. Steve said he doesn't hunt on Sunday, so he stayed home that morning. Well, he told me he would "take care" of the floor that day. So when I got done with the dishes, it was his turn to clean the floor. Well he was in there sweeping and for no reason at all decided to open the fridge and low and behold, flames were coming out. He slammed it shut, turned off the gas, grabbed the fire extinguisher and flew around the back of the trailer to give it a good soaking. All the while me and the kids were reading the Children's Friend on the other side of camp and new nothing about it until it was completly over. Lesson: what are the odds that that just happened on Sunday when he decided not to hunt, he was in the trailer, and he knew where the fire extinguisher was? I had no idea where that thing was. Keep the Sabath Day holy - as best as you can. Any other day, any other time and the entire trailer would have gone up in smoke. CRAZY! So here's another lesson. After that great blessing, what does my hubby do? That's right, he went out hunting that evening. Did he get a deer? At all? No he did not.....hmmmmmmmm. Blessings come when we earn them - hello.

Also on that Sunday we took a drive and looked at the beautiful leaves. It really was so pretty. I am going to try to do a slide show. If it doesn't work, then I guess I will just post a bunch of pictures.

We are back to the grind now. However.....I just had my first part-time day of work today. It was awsome. Unfortunately I did not accomplish much at home. Oh well....Rome wasn't conquered in a day.

They love school!

Doesn't it help to have great teachers? Both my kid ended up with really good teachers. The first day of school Trenton just kept saying, "I really like my teacher." Britney was just a buzz of information about her teacher and is trying so hard to do her best. Here's a picture of their first day, kind of colorful, might need sunglasses. =)

Just this last weekend Trenton and Steve went on the father/son campout and Britney and I had girls night together. Well....let me back up, Britney's day started early as it was grandparents day on Friday and so her Grammy (Steve's mom) came up and went to school with her and then took her to lunch. I called home at about 2:30 (Yvonne stayed with the kids after school until Steve and I got home), Britney answered and she was so happy. That was the happiest I have heard her sound in a long time. It was so nice to hear. She would tell me about her day and then her and Yvonne would giggle together like little school girls. It was really cute. You just made her day Grammy. Anyway, after everyone left, it was just me and Britney. Boy did we have fun. First we had to go get Britney some new make-up. Not that she is old enough to wear it, but when she plays dress up with her friends I am tired of having her look like a lady of the evening. Then we came home and I gave her a make-over, we are in trouble. Take a look.

Then....we scrapbooked while we watched Hairspray. I have seen it before, but Britney hasn't. She couldn't take her eyes off the screen and so only got one page done. We also ate a lot of cookies. When the show got over at 11pm, we turned on the music and danced for an hour. What a work out, it felt good. Then I told her she needed to do my hair so she could take a picture of me, this is what we got:

I look a might bit older than that cute blonde above. And can you see up my nose?

We had a really good time. When the boys came home in the morning, they said they had a good time too, but I don't really think they know how without us fun loving girls.

They watched a movie outside by the fire and roasted Twinkies - Trenton's first time for roasted twinkies - he liked them of course. They did shoot Steve's pistol while they were out - now that's bonding. =)

I forgot to mention on my last entry that we had to put Sambo down in July. What an emotional day for all of us. We were all bawling. We took him to Animal Control. It took less than 5 minutes and they let us bring his body home to bury. We made a headstone for him -black and white- Britney's idea. Buried him in the garden, put the headstone on his grave and Steve's mom bought a plant for us to plant on top of him. It's weird not having him around and the more attached I get to Ralph.....well, there is a twinge of saddness there too, because he can't live forever either. We took a family picture before Sambo went to heaven. Here it is. Goodbye.

Summer's almost gone, WHAAAA

Hi all,

It has been a while, but we are well. Steve had shoulder surgery in June and it has been quite the ordeal for all of us. I think the kids enjoyed it though because the got their dad all to themselves for a month. They were great too. They would make their lunches and clean up and help Steve with whatever he needed. When I would get home from work Steve would say, "These kids get whatever they want tonight, they have been wonderful." We honestly don't know how we got so lucky to get the great kids that we have.

Well, enough of the sappy stuff. Trenton and Britney both played ball this summer. Trenton's game improved 200%. He was excellent at hitting this year and did everything right out in the field. The last 3-4 games he started playing catcher and really liked it. He was really good at it, Steve and I were so proud.

This was Britney's first year doing Softball, her and Allyssa were on the same team. They started out practing together as pitcher and catcher. Britney at pitcher and Allyssa as catcher. Both of them have genuine talent for those positions. Britney however injured her shoulder practicing and Steve talked to his Orthopedic doctor and he said to not let her pitch anymore this year. The age that she is at is a very crucial growing age and she could permanently damage her growth plate. She was very disappointed about that but the coach played her at 1st and 3rd base for the most part for the rest of the season and she did great (of coarse). She really loves ball and we love to see her play. Softball was a big adjustment, but she really did like being on a team with all girls this year. Katie we really wish you were around more to help us train her better, since Steve and I know nothing about softball. Hurry back!

Well, we went to Lava Hot Springs last week. We had a blast. I think tubing down the river was the favorite for all of us. The very first time we went down we didn't know what we were doing, so we put in kind of high up the river. So after I got in, I heard a guy across the river yell to another guy that you have to stay to the left or the waterfall will get you. So I yell those instruction to Steve, he of course was able to get to the left, but me and Trenton did not manuver as well. Trenton and I were in a two man tube together and Steve and Britney were together. Anyway, so me and Trenton get sucked down this 4 feet waterfall, the tube jumps out from underneath us and lands on our heads. I was tall enough to find some footing as the river is not very deep. Thankfully Trenton was wearing his life jacket. Man....he played it like a pro. He just came up out of that water and was looking for the rope that was around the outside edge of the tube. He never panicked, was just working the problem. Thankfully some guy grabbed a hold of our tube so we could get our footing long enough to get back on. It was totally fun. It was good to see Trenton in action. Now I know that in a tense situation he will use his head. Totally proud mama here.

So we went tubing Wed. and Friday. Played at the pool all day on Thursday - awsome pool - really fun to even stay all day. Friday we also went exploring and found an ice cave and went to the fish hatchery. Then friday night we went on a wagon ride up the canyon and they served us dinner when we got the the stopping point. It was really cute and a nice change of pace. They also let the kids drive the wagons.....or horses....or whatever. Anyway, they actually held the reigns in their hands and everything. Our kids of course thought that was awsome. We also made sure everyone at the dinner sang Happy Birthday to Steve. He was not happy with me about that, but I was quite please with myself.

So I'll put some pictures in of our trip now. I am just sad that the summer is coming to an end. It just feels like it went way to fast. Usually I am glad for the kids to get back to school, but not this year. I miss them greatly when I go to work. Why don't we have a lottery in Utah?

Britney burned her eyes at the pool.

Trenton and dad eating crawfish.

Spulunking at the ice cave.

Britney, Michele, and Trenton, with Reno and Vegas.