JardineJournals

It's been too long!!

2011-04-14T22:56:00.005-06:00

Well, I guess it's about time to do some updating again! Hopefully it won't be too random, but I am out of practice and it IS late... Bear with me. But what to say? We have just been crazy in love with our little Ivy, and busy as can be with the boys (Josh included) and their school and other activities!

Josh is stretched just as thin as possible these days what with working full-time, taking school classes, homework, and even taking a non-credit CNA class (which takes a lot of time!). Even with all the demands that are on him though, he finds time to be a loving daddy and sweet husband. He takes it all and still has a pleasant demeanor and sense of humor. Thankfully there is beginning to be a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel. It just can't get here soon enough.

Paul is doing really well in school, pulling all A's. He is involved in a lot of athletics and is really enjoying shootin' hoops and playing his guitar. (He's got a natural ability in the music department.) He's growing like a weed, and is such a great help to me and Josh. It's funny how busy a 9 year old can be, too... School, scouts, sports, music, homework, lots of eating(!!)... It adds up! For sure, Paul fills my heart with such love and joy for what a good and sweet boy he is!

Nick is still doing amazingly well. We have gradually been decreasing his heart meds, and at the end of January actually took him OFF the meds! He had a bit of trouble that week, but to our knowledge hasn't had trouble since! SUCH A BLESSING!! His appetite has grown immensely, he's becoming sturdier in his stature, his color looks soooo good, and he's just a living, breathing, daily reminder of the Lord's tender mercies and miracles. My heart just swells and makes me feel like my chest can't possibly contain it when I think of the miracle we are experiencing. Nick is smart as a whip, and has a really great sense of humor... always saying something funny.

Andrew is becoming a great reader and trying to keep up with Paul in the sports department. He's loving bike riding, basketball, and baseball. He seems to be really liking building things too. Andrew, like Paul and Nick, is totally smitten with Ivy and is very protective of her. All 3 boys fight over whose turn it is to sit be her in the car, EVERY TIME. (It's really cute. lol) Andrew is growing up so fast and it kind of breaks my heart to have my littlest man be so big. He's such a tender heart and so sweet to me. What a lucky mom I am to have such wonderful boys in my life!!

Ivy is 3 month old... today. WOW. The time goes by so quickly once the babies are born! It seems like while you're pregnant time practically stands still, but once they get here, *BAM* -- there goes the days, weeks, and months in just a blink of an eye! Ivy is smiling, cooing, and giggling, and pretty much wrapping us all around her tiny little fingers. =) She's as beautiful as they come, and just melts my heart. I don't know how we ever got along without her!

So let's see here... Pretty much I have a full, joyous, swollen, broken, melted heart... Just LOOK at what these kids do to me! lol

I've been busy but when I go to tell doing WHAT I've been busy doing, it somehow escapes me! All I can seem to come up with are one word spurts... kids, house, baby, cooking, washing, FHE... But my life is so good!! I'm in heaven with this new baby, my boys are all so great and amazing, my husband is working hard for our future, We're just GOOD! ... Hmmmmm, what else? I've gone to a couple of ZUMBA classes lately (Fun, but I gotta admit I'm pretty much the epitome of the "white people can't dance" stereotype. No joke.) But maybe with more practice... =) I also have been having a lot of fun finding new favorite recipes online and out of cookbooks! What can I say? I just really love making good food! Sometimes I just wish I had a bakery or something so I would at least have an excuse for baking so much!

I think that's about it for now. Like I mentioned at the beginning, it's late and I am out of practice. I'll work on it. =)

Miss Ivy Jane

2011-01-20T15:14:00.004-07:00

(Oops... how did I not notice that this hadn't posted but had only been saved as a draft? Oh well. Better late than never, right?)

We are so happy to welcome our newest addition-- Miss Ivy Jane Jardine! She was born on January 14, weighed in at 7lb 12oz, and was 20 1/2 inches long. All of us here at the Jardine house are just taken with her! It's so amazing the amout of love these tiny spirits draw from us!!

2010-07-16T19:43:00.002-06:00

***SIGH*** =) We're home again. Adjusting to life again. Nick is healing well after his surgery in MN. We feel so thankful to have been blessed with this miracle!

We're finding ways to stay busy around here. Paul and Andrew are happy little bike riders (Nick is doing a lot of video games until he is healed all up); I am busy with child rearing, housework, and yard work; besides work, Josh is reorganizing the garage and also preparing to take the T.E.A.S. test so that he can apply for the nursing component of his schooling. We've also been steadily trying to reorganize our house in preparation for another baby due to arrive in January. =) We're about 14weeks along at this point! It's been a pretty eventful year for our family.

Quick rundown of some of the events for our family this year are:
Paul turned 8 and was baptized!

Nick had his 3rd heart surgery- this time at the MAYO clinic in MN and they were actually able to REMOVE the huge mass from inside his heart!

Josh pretty much finished earning all his pre-req's for the nursing program (which is basically the bachelors degree portion -- so now all he needs is the nursing component!)

Josh and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary in June. (Has it really been that long??)

We have learned we're having another baby!

And upcoming events are:

Josh will be turning 35 in August... (hehehe)

I will be leaving my 20's behind me in September... Not sure if I should be happy or BOO??

ALL 3 kids will be in school this August. Exciting but a little heart wrenching.

We are so happy. TIRED? ABSOLUTELY. But happy and feeling greatly blessed.

2010-06-18T08:49:00.002-06:00

I know I should be posting on here, but I am a little otherwise occupied... If you would like to know more of what's happening in our family, please go to www.nicksheartstory.blogspot.com

2010-04-17T15:39:00.004-06:00

A picture of my cute little guys on Easter Sunday

The weather was beautiful, and the kids were dying to ride bikes for a few minutes before our company arrived. I love that look-- collared dress shirt, rolled sleeves, and blue jeans. One of my fav's.

Mom, Dad, and Zack came over to share Easter Dinner with us. Here Mom is afterward, helping to make sure the colored eggs get put to good use. Gotta love Moms.

Just a cute shot.

After several days, I offered to give the boys some money if they would part with some of their Easter candy. They happily agreed, and I was proud of them, thinking that they were gonna put the $$ in their banks and save it for something they wanted. Um, No. I opened our door to the garage and LO! And Behold! There are 2 little culprits, spending their $ on candy from our little vending machine. Look at those faces. LOL

The egg hunts...

2010-04-17T15:13:00.006-06:00

On the morning of the Easter egg hunt, it was snowy, VERY windy, and VERY cold. But, it was one of the 1st times that Josh was home and could go with us to do a hunt, and the boys really wanted to.... so.... we bundled everyone up in all their winter clothing from their hats and gloves to their snowsuits, boots, and scarves, and we made a go of it.

I was very surprised at all the LOOT they got from the city egg hunt! WOW. Who even needs an Easter basket after something like that??

We froze. My hands had no feeling for a good 1/2 hour after we came in. The boys had a great time though, and it helped get 'em psyched to hunt their colored eggs the next morning.

After the kids found the eggs that the Easter Bunny had hidden, they decided to hide them for each other and keep the fun going. These next pictures are ones that Josh took of the place Nick hid some eggs... We wondered how he had hidden them so fast. lol

Thank goodness for the innocence and sweet joys of youth! =)

Egg decorating

2010-04-17T15:01:00.003-06:00

Here we are decorating Easter eggs at the Jardine household... It was much more fun than I had remembered in the past! Possibly due to the fact that this year everyone could do it unassisted. =) We had a great time and ended up with quite a few beautiful eggs for the E.B. to hide!

2010-03-31T23:39:00.002-06:00

"Every obstacle presents an opportunity to improve our condition."

My good looking boys~

2010-03-12T22:45:00.006-07:00

Paul on his baptism day

Son and Father pic

Just before the big moment!

Josh teaching the boys how to play Battleship

Nick and Andrew playing their own game

Andrew "just checking" Nick's board

Nick "just checking" Andrwe's board

Making a "monster-mask" for a school activity

Nick and Andrew modeling their masks

Just making sure who's behind each mask... those 2 are pretty hard to tell apart sometimes.

2010-03-12T22:38:00.002-07:00

Just some pics with a couple of our fav's at PCMC.

Nick and Dr. Cowley

A goofy shot

The awesome lady who does a lot of the work with the ICD (but who I've temporarily forgotten her name), Nick, and Dr. Saarel.

Newest Nick News

2010-03-10T23:17:00.005-07:00

Today I took Nick to see the cardiologists at Primary Children's Medical Center. For the first couple hours of the appointment things were pretty routine, and it looked as though we would be sent home and asked to come back in a few more months. It ended up, however, with the doctors and us deciding that another open-heart surgery will probably be the next step for Nicholas. This is probably going to be done in Rochester, Minnesota at the Mayo Clinic, and probably fairly soon-- like May/June-ish. This will be another attempt to remove (if not all, then most of) the fibroma inside of his heart. I keep saying "probably" because it's mostly discussion today, and our cardiologist will start working on pulling things together for us soon.

Hopefully this will be a good thing. There is a risk by not doing anything, and a risk by doing something. We have gone a long while not doing too much interference (other than some cath labs, medicine, etc.)and Nick has done well, but this may be the time to try another approach. He has been having some very serious heart rhythms, ones that would prove fatal if not for the implanted defibrillator, and the ICD has had to shock him more than once each time recently to get the desired results.

There are still several questions, many of which cannot be answered yet, but sometimes life is a step-by-step process, so we will put one foot in front of the other and pray to be led through the right course.

There are a few things that I do know though.

*God is a kind and loving Father who loves us.
*He wants good things for us.
*We have been blessed, and He will continue to bless us with what HE knows we need.
*Things are ultimately up to Him. Always.

So. We're preparing to hold on tight and get ready for this next ride. Hang on baby, here we come! =)

Februarys post

2010-02-28T21:59:00.003-07:00

In an attempt to keep current on stuff, here's a February update for the Jardine Fam.

On February 5, the morning before Paul was to get baptized, the boys and I were in an car accident in Idaho Falls. It actually totalled the van, but THANKFULLY none of us were seriously hurt. Paul managed to get a bump and bruise on his head, Nick just a little red spot on his head, Andrew a sore neck (from the seat belt I think), and I just got a bruise on my knee and a little bit of a sore back. I feel VERY blessed that everyone was OK. The passengers of the other vehicle were also fine and they were able to drive away from the accident.

That was big news in our household for a few weeks. The kids were very shaken by the whole thing. They're doing fine now, but still find plenty of opportunities to bring it up. =)

Well, since the van was totalled, Josh and I had to go out and find another car. Luckily, we found another van, same make but 1 year newer. It seems like a good car. Again, blessed.

Other stuff:
Paul is liking scouts. He made a cool "BAKUGAN" cake for the Blue and Gold Banquet last week and that was fun. Also, Paul is doing really well with his reading, which is awesome. Right now he's enjoying the likes of "The chocolate Touch" and "The Call of the Wild". I love to have readers at my house! And I'm so thankful to have such a great little boy to help me and to set a good example for the little boys.

Nick is doing some great reading these days too. And writing and drawing. He's pretty phonetically accurate with his spelling which is fun to try to read. =) Also, he seems to have a current obsession with numbers. He wants to carry a calculator everywhere and is always asking me what certain numbers added together equal. He is a very inquisitive little guy!

Andrew has been practicing his coloring a lot and is really improving. He's also been WAY more mellow since I've been able to be home with him a little more (now that my school classes are over for a while). He keeps saying at different times "Now THIS is what I call a PARTY!" Fun, fun, fun little boy!

Josh is getting ready to apply for the professional component of the nursing program at ISU! He can apply sometime in March! He's such a great husband and daddy-- just working his heart out for us and he still stays happy and loving and great.

I am trying to plan a get-away for Josh and my 10 year wedding anniversary this coming June... It's not as easy as I thought. I'm not sure where to go or how to get the best prices. Maybe it's just because its February and I'm cold, but right now, I'm thinking somewhere WARM. =) Although, come June, I may be singing a different tune. LOL

That's pretty much it. We're just staying busy with work, kids, and school. But we know that we have angels tending to us for sure!

2010-01-31T15:21:00.001-07:00

PAUL IS GETTING BAPTIZED!

Anyone who would like to come is invited!

2010-01-21T22:28:00.006-07:00

Ok. So I have been neglecting the blogging world for WAY too long. Time to do some updating.
I'm gonna do a quick summary of the last months and then I'll try to keep up on things more currently. =)
August and September were gone in a flash. Chelsea got engaged and married and we (Mom and I) tried our best to help her pull it all together. It was beautiful and fun and amazing.
Also I celebrated starting the last year of my 20's. Good times.
October was a blur. We headed to SLC for an appointment at PCMC and things looked stable. =) Nick was, as usual, very happy to see Dr. Cowley. And Halloween was fun. Josh took the boys out and about and we also went to a pumpkin walk which was cool.

November I began a CNA class to get re certified. (I was a CNA in high school) The class was non-credit and only 2 months. I expected it to be a lot easier than it actually was (like in high school) BUT it was a lot of work and required a LOT of time. It probably took at least 15 hours a week not counting drive time and clinicals. I know it doesn't sound like much, but with the kids and their school, working p/t, Josh's school and work (both full time), church and callings, and regular old stuff, it was actually pretty tricky. I did get re certified this month though and so now I work not just at Broulims, but at The Gables of Shelley (assisted living).
Oh yeah, also it was Thanksgiving. We headed to the Johnson's for a cozy little dinner with Matt and his family, and Mom and Dad. As always the food was Delish! AND we also got together with the Jardine's for a family picture and some hanging out. The family is getting big!

December was crazy. I could barely keep up with things. We had a nice couple of get-togethers with family and a hilarious UGLY SWEATER party with friends. SO much fun. Josh wouldn't go get the camera for me though (yeah, that's right, I'm giving him the blame), so I dont have pics of it. The boys had their school Christmas program and did awesome. But for as much singing as they did at home, I still can't figure out why they didn't sing on stage... It's not like they're shy. =S

January has still been busy. I keep making this joke about how I only know that Josh and I still live in the same house because we do each others laundry and hand the kids off to each other as we race out the door. Josh is working SO diligently on his schoolwork and will be able to apply for the nursing program in March. I'm very proud of him.

Paul turned 8 last Sunday and is excited for his upcoming baptism... It should be the first Saturday in February. Anyone who would like to come is welcome! He's doing awesome in school. He works so hard to be perfect at everything that we have to remind him that it's OK not to be "perfect". He's my little sweetheart and a great helper.

Nick is doing great, being fun and funny, and causing mischief. I wish I could remember to write down the stuff this kid does and says because I would have a BEST SELLER. He's also coming along wonderfully in his reading!

We did have a bit of a scare on the 19th though. We had spent the long weekend in SLC at Paulines house, and Andrew, Nick, and I were sleeping on a mattress together when at about 4 AM Nick jolted and I woke up to see him jolt and then sit upright and begin screaming and crying. I tried to soothe him, but he hurt. He did fall back to sleep quickly and slept soundly till 7. I suspected he had been defibrillated. I sent in a medtronics report when we got home that night and my suspicions were confirmed when the cardiologist, Dr. Saarel called the next morning. He had actually been defibrillated 2 times, the first time not stopping the V-FIB. He had poor profusion, and possible ischemia she said. Now, we evaluate and watch, and keep doing what we are doing. He's such a unique situation that there really is not much else to do.
I cannot say enough how thankful and blessed we are and feel to have such wonderful doctors, technology, and the Gospel.

Andrew is growing like a weed. He's almost overtaking Nick in height and definitely has a solid stature. He's very much looking forward to going to school next year and wants to sign up right away. He gives the BEST hugs and loves to do chores to earn coins. I'm trying to figure out the best ways to help his moods though... because when he's happy he is very very happy and when he is not, WATCH OUT. LOL

That's about it for now. Our goals for this year are to pretty much just try to keep our heads above water.... oh, and to find a cheap good mileage car for Josh to drive to and from classes. The truck is killer on the wallet for gas fill-ups. =S LOL

Todays secret

2009-09-27T22:04:00.005-06:00

Tonight while I was making dinner, Nick approached me and announced that he had a secret. I leaned in with interest and said, "Okay... What is it?" He tilted his head up and said in his "duh mom" voice: "I can't TELL you... It's a secret!...... But maybe if I just say it soft so no one hears me..."
I say "OK." And then he says so sweetly to me "Ok. My secret is-- why do you cook food SO GOOD?!"
I laugh and smile down at him and say "'Cause I'm AWESOME!"
Nick looks up at me, tilts his head, kind of squints his eyes and says "Um.... I think cause of Grandma."

LOL

True story dude. Grandma (my mom) totally taught me how to cook. Can't slip one by him, can I?

Pictures

2009-07-13T15:43:00.024-06:00

I know. This doesn't exactly qualify as "soon", and I'm not journaling in depth, but here are some pics anyway!(They're a little out of order... sorry!)

The boys playing Missionaries. They love their little missionary tags!

Andrew showing me what missionaries do.

Nicks version of how it's done.

Paul loves being a missionary. He played this EVERY day for like a week. He kept begging me to let him go out around the neighborhood and "teach".

Couldn't resist a shot like this! =)
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Every time we go to Primary's we pay a special visit to Spiderman! Currently he resides on the 3rd floor.

And here the brothers FINALLY meet Dr. Cowley. They were so excited to meet the man that we talk so much about, that "helps Nick's heart, and is "better than Santa Clause!" It couldn't have gone better either. He was engaging and kind and totally lived up to their expectations. Thanks Dr. Cowley! We love you!

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Playing at a park in Soda Springs one Sunday-- SO FUN. My favorite pic is Josh playing with the scooper thingy. Forgive the terminology... =)

And below, we are checking out the Man-made geyser in soda. It's cool. It goes off every hour and stays up for about 5 minutes!

This is another park -- at Hoopers Spring-- Cool toys. The kids loved those HUGE tires! We were going to get some water from the spring and try using it with kool-aid, but some other people had used it as a wishing well, and so we opted out for that idea. Still kinda cool though.

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Fathers Day

These boys sure love their daddy!

Happy Fathers Day Josh!
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Nine years of marriage and on to the 10th! Happy Anniversary!
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Two little men conked out and collapsed on one another... so tired from all the playing this summer!
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Andrew a little unsure about riding his bike in the rain, but he did it anyway.

Rain Rain Rain can't stop us!

In fact, we CELEBRATE! .... With S'mores!

Oh the sticky, gooey, sweetness!

What do YOU do on a Rainy day?We run around outside and get soaking wet! After all, our skin IS waterproof... =D
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Some Family time weeding the garden.
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Our version of Blackjack-- using dinner mints and M&Ms as $$. Good fun!

My "girls weekend in Vegas. Late nights, good comapany, a much needed break and lots of fun. Wish it could happen more often!

Updates are coming! Soon! =)

2009-06-22T17:39:00.001-06:00

OK- So, I hope I got everyone who wanted an invite to the new "PRIVATE BLOG" lol.
I'll be posting some updates super soon. Thanks for the patience! =)

Changin' it up

2009-06-02T21:40:00.004-06:00

Hey All! We've decided to go private on here. We love y'all, and anyone who's interested in still keeping up with us, please email us at joshndarla@hotmail.com or leave a comment on here with your email address so that I can send you an "invite".

Ta da!

2009-05-20T21:53:00.005-06:00

Today Nick graduated from preschool! (And since I'm planning on NOT sending Andrew again next year-- just want to spend more time with the little guy-- I put him in Nick's gown and cap and took pictures of him too and told him he had graduated too! LOL) It's hard to believe that Nick is going into kindergarten already, I only have 1 more year at home with Andrew before he goes to kindergarten, and that in about 8 or so months Paul will be getting baptized! Time slips through my fingers like sand!

We've been letting Paul make some decisions on how he wants to wear his hair the last few months... he has been choosing to grow it out which has been cute on him-- although I think it's made him look older. Tonight he decided that he wanted me to cut it.... INTO A MOHAWK. So, I did! He looks so stinkin' cute. We're in the last 2 weeks of school and I figure there's plenty of time for it to grow back into a regular old hairstyle by the time school starts up again in the fall so why not?
He's such a little stud! Take a look!

As you can see, I wanted a picture with each of my little men today. I just know I will be thankful later that we have these! =)

Put in place and getting called out

2009-05-18T22:40:00.004-06:00

I was having a nice little conversation with Andrew about cool StarWars stuff. I tell him that he sure knows A LOT about StarWars. He says "Yes! I do!" followed by a short pause, and then ever so sweetly and matter-of-factly says "And YOU don't!"

Ok... Well, I guess we're clear on that one.

We had this crazy fun day today with a field trip to the sand dunes, then friends over for playing in the sprinklers, borrowed some movies from the library, and since it was cookin' hot, I decide I don't wanna turn on the oven so we head to Craigo's (inside Broulims)for a fast pizza pick up. While at the store waiting for the pizza to get done, Paul finds one of my bosses and says "Do you know why we're having pizza tonight?? .... Because my mom doesn't feel like cooking dinner for us."

Thanks Paul. Way to call me out.

Then before leaving we run into a lady from Paul's school. He pounces on the opportuninty to once again point out my lack of parenting today and blurts out to her "My mom didn't make me read today!" and then giggles.

Yes. I am the mom today that took the EASY road and made someone else make my family dinner, and wasn't diligent about ensuring that my kids got their reading in today. On the bright side, we DID have fun in the sun today and the boys DID get a bath and brush their teeth! Not to mention the other number of chores that I accomplished today including laundry, dishes, watering 50+ outside plants, paying bills, cleaning rooms, etc. Why won't Paul tell people stuff like that? LOL

YIPEE!!

2009-05-14T21:16:00.005-06:00

Nick turned 5 today! We had a lot of fun.
First there was preschool, at which they just happened to be celebrating all the Summer birthdays, and with today being Nick's ACTUAL b-day, he got to "be the leader". He was WAY happy about that.
Then after preschool, Josh and I picked Paul up early from school and took the boys to lunch in Blackfoot with Grandma and Grandpa Johnson. Following lunch we all headed down to Pocatello to go to McKees petting zoo!
McKees was SO MUCH FUN. And FREE!! We saw all kinds of creatures, from bunnies and chicks to a monkey and HUGE tortoises.

I still shudder when I think about the tarantulas they had!

One of the fun things was feeding the little mini goats.(can't remember the correct name, sorry.) When the little goats ate from our hands it tickled alot and made Andrew giggle and squeal.

They also have a little mini town set-up and each of the kids took a turn behind the pretend jail bars.

There were little horse rides for a quarter, and even a playground to use up any extra energy. AWESOME. Just right for a young family!
After McKees we stopped by a dollar store to pick up a Birthday Balloon for the Birthday kid, and then headed back home to get ready for the "party".
At 5:00 tonight we had Grandparents from both sides, and Jason and Chelle and their family come over for presents, cake, and ice cream! There were 10 kids for most of the time running around having a ball. For a short while we had a couple of neighbor friends stop by, which upped the kid # to 12, but after 10, who's counting?? LOL

Nick had so much fun. I had so much fun. I think we all did.

We are so blessed to have this boy, and we know it. I don't think a day goes by without us giving thought to how precious our time with our children really is. All our boys are such good, fun, smart, kind and AMAZING kids! They are the light in our life! I know every parent feels this overwhelming love and appreciation for their own little ones, but I can't help but feel just a little extra thankful that Nick's doing so well and that we've been able to celebrate FIVE birthdays with this mischief maker. Looking forward to 100 more!
Happy Birthday Little Man!

Pauls first song

2009-04-09T18:54:00.002-06:00

This is Paul's 1st song. It's called "I'll Say Goodbye". He wrote it and came up with the music completely by himself! =)
(If you want to listen, remember to either mute or pause the music player at the bottome of the page.)

Trix

2009-04-01T12:44:00.008-06:00

April fools day jokes at the Jardine house this morning included:

*The "Put a rubber band around the sprayer on the sink and just watch when someone goes to get a drink of water joke..." (Don't judge me by the dirty sink) =)

*The write on a piece of toiled paper with permanent marker and lay it in the toilet joke... " (I'll spare you the pic, but it was kind of funny. There was 'Hap-pee April Fools Day', 'The joke's on POO', and 'Who goes there?'

* The "Have some Kool-aid for breakfast" joke...

Did I say Kool-aid??? I meant Jello. =P

*The "Switch the Cereal joke"--

And since the day is not yet over, I can't share the next ones... You understand. =)

And if you need ideas~ A couple of routine easy joke--

*Sugar in the salt shaker (and vice versa)

*Short sheet someones bed

*Magical banana (where you slice a banana by puncturing it several placecs with a needle and moving the needle back and forth. When the "victim" peels the banana the slices are already done!)

*If you're daring you could put some koolaid in someone's shampoo-- Personally, I don't get THAT brave!

*food coloring on the bottom of your kids cups... when they pour their milk or water it turns colors!

*Sponge cake. (Frost a big sponge-- You can get a BIG car washing type at most stores for about $1 or $2.)

*Toothpaste filled Oreos (YUCK!)

*Hard boil the eggs in the egg carton in the fridge.

Boys Band

2009-04-01T12:39:00.006-06:00

The kids love "playing in the band". Here are some pictures of a pretty common game they play. It's a little noisey, but so much fun to watch them JAM together and get along!

St. Patricks Day continued...

2009-04-01T12:25:00.006-06:00

I never shared the pics of our St. Paticks day morning feast, so here they are.

There's also a shot of our "Leprechaun Hotel". Paul insisted that we not CATCH the leprechaun, but be its friend. It paid off too. "Lucky the Leprechaun" left us a bag of gold (candy), and a toy puppy for each of the boys to care for.

The visit

2009-03-17T19:46:00.006-06:00

We did good. Here's how our day went at Primary's:

I took Nick straight into cardiology and explained why we were there and while we waited for them to figure out who we were supposed to see, who should appear in the hallway but Dr. Cowley himself! He snuck up on Nick (who had his back turned) and once he had Nicks attention he loved on him a little with some big hugs and kind words. It was a good way to start the day.
Once we had some plans for our next steps, we went to register. Dr. Cowley walked with us and asked us to page him later if we ended up being sent home.=)
Next we took Nick into be examined by the EP team and to have his ICD interrogated. It turns out he had 2 "events" on Saturday. In the bigger one his heart rate was about 353 beats per minute which continued for 18 seconds.(Yikes!) They did a quick EKG and some other routine exam stuff, and soon we were sent to go have an echocardiogram done.
The echo took a while, which bugged Nick. The tech would leave for a minute to see if she needed any other pics, come back and take more and then leave again to see if there needed to be MORE pics. Nick got really frustrated with that and told me that when HE's the Doctor then HE'LL be the BOSS and he'll say "Don't take ANY MORE PICTURES!" =)
After the echo was another small exam. (it seemed a little redundant, but hey, do what you need to! Lets just take care of this kid.)
Then we were sent up to Same Day Surgery to check in. They decided to take Nick into the Cath Lab for a Defibrillator Function Test (DFT). It's not a procedure where they open him up. He had an IV and in the procedure they cause his heart to fibrillate while he is under anesthesia and they are there to supervise. They use a computer to kind of "program" the ICD and check it's perimeters and "energy" output. I don't know (and don't really want to know) how many times they did it, but I know that they had to make Nick's ICD shock him to set these perimeters and see at what levels it worked. The whole procedure took about an hour.
Then there was recovery, and a quick page to Dr. Cowley. Just as we were about to be discharged Dr. Cowley came in with his sweet secretary Barbara to say goodbye. He brought Nick a cute Elmo balloon and 2 of his favorite candy bars. I was so surprised. I thought it was such an "above and beyond" gesture. We are so blessed.
Nick was kind of a twerp~ he was still a little groggy from the anesthesia, but he hardly said a word to the doc and just sat there changing channels on the TV, kind of ignoring everyone. As the doctor was leaving though Nick yelled out "I LOVE YA."

So, to sum it up, the results are kind of like this:

We're not changing anything. We're going to try to keep going the way we have been and pray that he doesn't have more "events", but if he does, try to be thankful that the ICD is doing its job and remember that it is saving his life.
He's doing pretty good for the most part-- even though we still have concerns and some issues. He's a walking miracle and living proof that God can do things that man says are impossible.

What's the deal with holidays?

2009-03-15T16:43:00.004-06:00

Nick has been at the hospital or had weird things happen with his heart on holidays a lot. We've spent 2 Thanksgivings, Easter, Valentines Day, Halloween, and we just BARELY missed spending Christmas at Primary Childrens Medical Center. He has also had his defibrillator shock him on Leap day and on St. Patricks day. Something is weird.

We may get to spend THIS St.Patricks at PCMC too.

We're headed back to SLC tonight and are going be taking Nick to PCMC tomorrow to be seen. Yesterday morning his heart fibrillated enough to need a "therapy" shock from his ICD. Luckily when he passed out he didn't get hurt too badly. He just hit his eye (on the floor?)but it isn't too bad.
When we spoke with the cardiologists at the hospital they instructed us to bring him back down Monday. They weren't able to schedule an appointment, but they want him there and they said they WILL work him in. So. We'll see. He's really done a great job for the last year. The last known shock he received was March 17th of last year! His heart fibrillates ALL the time. Several times a day, but it has generally been able to correct itself before the device is needed to correct the problem. We've been very fortunate. Hopefully this trip won't be a BIG deal.

I'm beginning to think that subconciously Nick likes to be at the hospital for
holidays!

Wish us luck!

This weeks Little Guy Quotes:

2009-03-12T14:47:00.004-06:00

"You're always trying to tease me with bacon!"

"Are we rounded? Not like on Star Wars the Clone Wars when Annikin is surrounded, but are we rounded?"

"Mom's always know if you do bad things, like eat your goobers."

"Do those missionaries know that WE know that Jesus is good?"

"I don't want to catch the leprechaun, 'cause he's a good leprechaun... maybe he can just give us his gold..."

"You're rich if you get to eat dinner."

Very happily says the following
"Fine. I wont have that pudding."
(Then stomps away and says over his shoulder) "That makes me SO mad!"

Messy fun!

2009-02-19T18:48:00.007-07:00

Here are some pics of a few of our recent fun little messes! More to come I'm sure! I just borrowed a book from the library on all these cool things for your kids to make and do, so hopefully we'll get even messier! And believe me, we're gonna have fun doing it too!

This is Paul's Class "pet" -- Little Bear. He gets to go home with one student each night and they are to write a paper on all the things they did with Little Bear. We decided that it would be fun to share some popcorn with Little Bear.
You should've seen all the popcorn on the floor! .. Well, I take that back. You definitely should NOT have seen that.

This is Nick's "buddy" from Primary Children's. It's his FAVORITE stuffed toy. Since Paul was getting to share popcorn with his friend, it was only fair that Nick could do the same!

And of course, if the older 2 were having a party, Andrew wanted IN! So, he brought Ernie out to play too!

Here's some play dough fun...

I was really surprised at how long the little guys stayed interested in it!

Ah. Markers. And a piece of bread. I should know better by now than to leave them alone for more than as many minutes as they are old!

"Oops-y."
(Yeah RIGHT Silly Smurf. Like THAT was an accident!)

And then there's Drew, who just started laughing... which made Nick laugh. You can see Nick laughing in the reflection of the mirror. *sigh* Those 2 little mischief makers!

The GOOD son. LOL He's so great to help me. He was putting the markers away for me while I tried to clean up smurf fingers.

This is the Banana-Face snack we made today,

He totally got his head bit off! LOL

Is it bad I had to trick Andrew into eating a banana by gluing M&Ms to it with Peanut Butter...?

A Laugh

2009-02-03T14:54:00.004-07:00

Saw this and had to save it. Picture Nick as the litte boy on the examination table.

Be kind of cool if it did though.... =) That is exactly the kind of thing Nick would ask too. He is always trying to figure out how much he can get away with!

(For anyone who doesn't already know, Nick has a defibrillator/pacemaker, and has quite an "imaginative" sense of honesty. Granted, he is only 4 and is probably on schedule for the fibbing, but he can sure tell some whoppers!)

Projects

2009-01-28T13:29:00.008-07:00

It's been SO cold and snowy that I've really been trying to keep the boys busy inside... so here's a few of the things (that I have pictures of) that we've come up with:

We made GAK~

Good thing: It's great stuff, and a lot of fun. It lasts a while too, also is not as messy as you might think.
Bad thing: It crumbles a little easier than silly putty.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

We made (painted and assembled) a model airplane~

Good thing:It's fun to do, takes up a lot of time, and you have a cool finished product.
Bad thing: The painting got a little boring because it did take so much time.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I've had the kids helping with chores~

Good thing: Uh, Hello? Kids doing the chores! This should be fairly self explanatory!
Bad thing: Well besides having to guide them a little bit, I don't really see the downside! =)

Hot Rod!

2009-01-28T13:14:00.004-07:00

Paul had his 1st Pinewood Derby this last Monday! He did great. He got 3rd place for Tigers/Wolfs, 1st place in Tigers, and a certificate for having the Cubscout Colors Original car!

Next time though we are definitely gonna find the graphite or buy it before EVERY STORE IN SHELLEY IS OUT. Seriously. LOL Then maybe next time the wheels will go just a little faster...

Anyway, Paul did awesome and had a lot of fun. There were some A-mazing cars there! WOW. Good to see! Nick and Drew had fun watching all the racing too. Josh is such a great Dad. I love seeing him and Paul do stuff like this together.

Here's Paul introducing his car: "Hot Rod"

This is Simon and Paul-- they're showing off their amazing masterpieces.

Lucky # 7!

2009-01-18T07:27:00.004-07:00

Paul turned 7 a week ago Saturday! Man how the time goes by! We had a busy weekend celebrating too, because of the 4 day weekend that week. There was no school on Friday for the end of the quarter, Saturday and Sunday of course, and then no school Monday for Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Paul really wanted to go bowling, so we took the kids up to Idaho Falls for their 1st experience. We discovered not long into the game that they've already been spoiled from playing Grandmas Wii... Apparently they are skilled experts at the wii, but in real life, bowling doesn't come as easy, so when they didn't get all strikes it was a little disturbing to them. Still we had a good time, and at least they've all been REAL bowling now.
The next day was his birthday party with some friends. We ate pizza, played games, and in a chaotic blur it was over. One of the fun games was having the kids compete to eat a small doughnut from a string with their hands behind their backs. It was my niece Heidi's idea, and since she was visiting for the weekend (and it was her idea to play that game),I made sure she played too!

Sunday was dinner with the Grandparents here at home. Brandon and Jessie were both there and so was Heidi and Zack.It was very nice and laid back. A good way to wrap the celebrating up.

Who is Amanda??

2009-01-15T14:59:00.009-07:00

A couple of nights ago, we were going through the regular bed-time routine with the boys... you know- where you put them in bed all nice and sweet, and they proceed to make noise, call out for drinks and extra kisses. Well, almost 2 hours later Paul finally dozed off but Nick and Drew were still going strong. The two little ones proceeded to come out into the hallway and eventually crept into the front room where Josh and I were. They were sent back to bed several times and finally got threatened with getting their bottoms swatted.

Not too many minutes later Nick snuck back out into the front room and so Josh exaggeratedly started moving toward him like he was going to follow through on the threat to swat him.

Nick began shrieking "NO Daddy! NO! Mom! Wait! MOM!!!"

I say "WHAT Nick? What is it?"

And he says "Um.... I'm not very tired yet...."

So Josh moves toward him faster.

Nick squeals even louder, this time the urgency in his voice is unbelieveably fierce "NOOO! DADDY! Wait! I know what!! I know what!! I know what!! I have to tell you something!!!"

Again, we ask him "WHAT?"

And he says ever so calmly "Um... Is Amanda a good guy name or a bad guy name?"

LOL

At this point Josh chases him back to bed and uses his sternest voice on him, whilst I bury my face in my blanket & try to muffle my laughing.

(SIGH)That kid.

*Just so you know, Nick doesn't even KNOW an Amanda. Where does he come up with this stuff?!

Shayla Designs

2009-01-14T17:04:00.002-07:00

The Internet is awesome. It's so fun to see and catch up with people from "way back when"! I just found out that my friend Bryce's mom is selling her handmade (and beautiful) items online. The link is on the left hand side of the blog under "sites we like to visit" and is called Shayla Designs. You should check out her Beautiful work. I know from personally having the chance to work for her briefly as a teenager that she puts a lot of care into her items!
Yay Internet! And Good Luck Shanon, with your online adventure!

What's that taste in my mouth?

2009-01-14T11:31:00.005-07:00

Josh likes to bid for stuff on ebay. Not seriously though. What I mean is, Josh will bid like a dollar on big ticket items, such as a truck or guitars. Well the other day he tells me:
"So I bid $1 on a violin on ebay."
I reply something lame, like "Mmmm hmmm."
He says, "I got it."
I tell him he's nuts-o if he thinks someone will send him the never-been-used, new violin, with a case and bow and such~ all for $1.
He tells me that they will or they'll risk getting a bad review on ebay.
I of course tell him again that he must have held his breath under water a little too long the last time we went swimming, cause it's NOT happening.

Guess who's eating her words.

Seriously. UPS came yesterday, and the violin is in great shape.

A very Blessed Christmas!

2008-12-30T19:28:00.012-07:00

Wow. This month has flown by. What a whirlwind! I headed back to work part-time at Broulims, and between all the regular family activity and holiday cheer, have hardly had a moment to even get online at all! That said, brace yourself. This could be a long post. =)

We had a wonderful Christmas. We truly experienced the "miracle of giving" from so many people. Our family has been so blessed to feel the generosity and Christ-like love of others. I long for the day to do for others that which has been done for my family. In hopes that our anonymous friends might read our blog(...and to our friends and family who I know read this blog), might I offer to you our most heartfelt thanks and gratitude!

On Christmas Eve after making cookies for Santa,
we went to my parents home for a lovely dinner and then we all participated in the traditional Nativity, in which my dad tells the story of our Saviors birth from the Bible while some of us act the story out silently. This year, Paul was Joseph, Nick and Andrew opted to be Sheppard's, Josh was the Angel, and Chelsea was Mary. It was really nice. Following the story Josh treated us all by singing several Christmas songs. He is so amazing. I wish I could express how beautiful the spirit was that was there with us.

Before heading home, I chose to let Paul have his Christmas gift from me. He had really been wanting a professional "Big set" of drums, but that was just out of the question. I decided to see what I could come up with. Using old buckets and tins, some spray paint and ribbon, and with the help of my parents, I created a substitute... of sorts.

Thankfully, Paul LOVED it.

That night Mr Paul was so excited that he hardly slept a wink. I woke up at 4:30 to catch him in the front room checking things out, as well as at 5:30, and 6:30! By 7:00 when we decided that it was time to get up, we had to send Nick in to wake Paul up!
The boys were so good. So kind, and patient, and sweet. We couldn't have asked for better behavior! They were so delighted with every gift too!

That afternoon we headed out to Josh's brother's house for the Jardine gathering. We had a great dinner and the children all played together happily. We were able to meet a friend of Jodi's, (also named Nick), and have some good laughs all together.

This is such a beautiful time of year. There is so much to reflect on, and to be thankful for. So many blessings~ both spiritual and tangible. And so much hope for the future. Light and good deeds shine forth from others and love abounds!

Fun fun fun!

2008-11-30T18:17:00.021-07:00

This last week or so, has been a lot of fun for us. The weather is still pretty dang nice and so Andrew, Paul, and his friend Aubree decided they needed to picnic in the backyard--

And we made some Apple Turkeys with our friends Ella and Isaac. It's kind of a tradition at my house to do the apple turkeys. The fun thing is that they vary in how they look from year to year depending on what "decorations" I have on hand.

Josh and Paul were able to participate with the scouts in assembling food boxes for Thanksgiving too. Paul so loves going to scouts. I'm so happy he's enjoying it.

Most of my family was able to get together (all except for Chris & Sharon and their A-mazing children) at Mom & Dads place for T-Day and it was total and complete fun CHAOS. Love love love it! It's a funny thing about seeing people that you don't get to see often... It seems like I miss everyone even more once I've been with them! I guess I just realize how MUCH I love them and how much I'm missing out on!
A couple of fun things from this week:

I made these crazy cupcakes for all the squirts:

"PEAS & CARROTS"

"MASHED POTATOES & GRAVY"

"CORN ON THE COB"

And of course, for dessert~

"CHOCOLATE PUDDING"

That was fun. They loved them, and believe it or not, they actually ATE them! I thought maybe they wouldn't get eaten, since they were so weird!

Later I brought 2 of my nieces back to my place and gave them another cupcake project:

Did you guess yet? Now look.

"SPAGHETTI & MEATBALLS!!"

Crazy, huh? But so much fun.

Oh Yeah! One other fun thing that I did! Well, ok, that I made my sister do. ;)
See for yourself.

VOILA!

Yeah. It's been a fun week or so... :D

More about us...

2008-11-20T12:26:00.013-07:00

And if you haven't heard enough about us already, here's some more! :D

Tagged again:

1. How many people are in your family? 5

2. When did you get married? June 15, 2000

3. Are your children boys or girls? Boys!

4. What do you do for fun as a family? Go for drives (usually to the mountains), watch movies, ride bikes, go on walks, hit the park, make cookies, get together with more family, camp... whatever. Just hang out.

5. Is your family complete, or are you planning on having more children? No. We're not done yet, but we don't have plans for when the next addition will be either...

I LOVE the things kids say.

2008-11-14T12:06:00.004-07:00

This morning while in the car with Nick, I told him about a cute girl we were going to go see... Nick responds like this:

"None of girls look cute to me.... just you. You're the only one that looks cute to me..." (pause) "...even Dad. Both of you guys are cute to me."

LOL It made me laugh out loud. I told him "Well, Thank you Nick. That's very nice of you." and then I pulled to a stop sign and quickly jotted down what he had said because it was so sweet!

I Guess I'm "IT"

2008-11-08T21:12:00.004-07:00

Ok, so I got tagged... a couple of times... so... Here ya go:

SIX unspectacular/quirky things about me:

*I love stocking up on preparedness items because it makes me feel safe! If I had the money for it I would totally go to town on my storage. I LOVE being prepared. Some of my relatives have started comparing me to the boy scouts-- ALWAYS PREPARED!

*This one really is wierd. I have a thing about clean ears. I LOVE Q-tips! It's like a mini-massage or scratching the un-reachable itch.

*I HATE leaving my house ANYTIME if it isn't clean. I mean, I'll do it, but I hate it. And it makes no difference if no one is coming over, I like it clean for me. A tidy house makes me feel like I have some control.

*I am an awesome Gleek-er. Josh hates it, but seriously, I could win contests.

*I ALWAYS rinse my glass before I fill it with water to drink... even glasses straight out of the dishwasher...(Sometimes I even rinse plastic cups!) I have even rubbed of on Josh with this one. I'll be the first to admit that this one doesn't make any sense.

*When I sing along with songs, half the time I dont know all the words or the correct ones, so I kind of fill in the blanks with what I think they should be... Josh always gives me funny looks and laughs when I do this because of course HE knows all the words.

And I was also tagged for Crazy Eights:

8 things I'm obsessed with right now:
1- re-organizing/cleaning
2- getting ready for the holidays
3- Christmas gifts
4- trying to learn new skills
5- thinking of ways to bring in more income
6- planning
7- cooking
8- writing lists

8 words or phrases I use often:
1- Are you kidding me?
2- Whatever.
3- Seriously!
4- I love you!
5- Go tell Dad.
6- Uh huh...
7- Awesome!
8- Oh! Doggone it!

8 TV shows I love to watch:
(half of these aren't even on anymore)
1- The Office
2- According to Jim
3- Home Improvement
4- Almost any cooking show...
5- M*A*S*H
6- Bewitched
7- I love Lucy
8- Andy Griffith Show

8 Things I Did Yesterday:
1- Took a kid to preschool
2- Went shopping
3- Made a salad
4- Wrapped a gift
5- Went to a family gathering
6- Laughed
7- Froze some homemade jam
8- Gave heart medicine

8 Favorite Places to Eat:
1- Mom's house
2- My house
3- Sizzler
4- Olive Garden
5- Puerto Vallerta
6- Texas Roadhouse
7- Craigos
8- Johnny Carinos

8 Things I am Looking Forward to:
1- Being Healthier
2- Josh finishing school!
3- Becoming financially free... someday!
4- Thanksgiving
5- Christmas
6- Seeing family for the holidays
7- Making my yard more "finished"
8- Next years garden

8 Things on My Wish List:
1- I could give more to others.
2- Family lived a little closer.
3- Josh could get that record deal he dreams of...
4- I knew more.
5- VACATION!
6- Fewer bills/ more income!
7- They didn't put that house right behind mine.
8- It was time for another mom/daughter weekend...

8 people I tag:
1- Jodi
2- Mindy J.
3- Carolyn
4- Bonnie
5- Amie
6- Melissa L.
7- Angela
8- Natalie

(Do whichever one you want :D )

Batty

2008-11-04T18:22:00.011-07:00

Well, For Halloween we headed down to Primary Children's for an appointment and since Josh had school, and a band gig, we talked my mom into coming with us and staying for a couple of days! It was a pretty good weekend.

I learned that Nick is using his pacemaker about 15% of the time; that his battery still has a good charge to it; that he is having VT (ventricular tachycardia) several times a day~ but that it's lasting only about 2 seconds or so at a time; and that we'll need to schedule a time to go back for another heart catheterization so that they can administer some adrenaline to his heart while he is sedated and put his heart into fibrillation on purpose to check whether or not the defibrillator is functioning properly, and if it isn't they will be there to rescue him from the fibrillation and correct any problems. The reason that this would be necessary is because as he grows, the leads that are screwed into his heart are being moved around a bit and in order for the ICD to work, the leads need to be in just the right spot. And now we're back, and if all goes well, we wont need to go back for SIX MONTHS!! That is only the 2nd time in 4 1/2 years that we have been scheduled that far out! YAY!

Nick was delighted to get to see Dr. Cowley. He was concerned that Dr. Cowley wouldn't have a "trick-or-treat" so he made sure that we brought him something good... Nick wore his Batman pajamas as his costume and gave the doc a rubber bat, a York Peppermint Bat, & a hand drawn card in a bag with bats on it.
I thought it was really cute. I can't express enough how much Nick adores Dr. Cowley. We are just so fortunate to have such an amazing cardiologist!

Here are some pics of the day at the hospital.

THE ECHOCARDIOGRAM

THE X-RAY

THE EKG

DR. COWLEY & NICK

DR. COWLEY & BATMAN

Pancakes

2008-10-30T08:05:00.003-06:00

We had some fun the other night with "Breakfast for Dinner". We decided to make words with our pancakes.... well, names anyway. We've done shapes and faces and stuff before, but I thought it'd be fun to write the boys' names for them. They had fun with it and ate so many pancakes that I had to make another batch. These days in childhood can be so fun~ It requires just a little effort to make something boring a memorable occasion!

Scouts!

2008-10-20T19:00:00.004-06:00

Paul is a Tiger scout now! I didn't know that he could be a scout at only 6 years old, but it's true! He'll have to meet with a group of scouts at the Methodist Church until he's 8, because the LDS church doesn't sponsor/participate in the scouting program until that point-- but it's only 15 months away and just $10 a year. He only signed up about a month ago, but it's been a big success and A LOT of fun!
On this night there was an "Ice Cream Social" and BOTTLE ROCKETS! (Sorry about the sound on the video... not really sure what the deal is...) Anyway, his bottle rocket ended up going the highest out of everyones, which couldn't have made him any more proud!

Pumpkins for Sale!

2008-10-20T09:13:00.012-06:00

Grandpa Keith grew some pumpkins this year and thought that the boys might like to try to sell them (it's something we used to do when I was growing up and we thought it was a lot of fun), so we made a sign and put some pumpkins on the lawn. I was gonna just leave it at that, but Paul had different ideas... I came outside only to see him standing by the pumpkins waving at passers-by and neighbors and calling them over. He had this ball park kind of yell-- "PUMPKINS! PUMPKINS! ONE DOLLAR! GET YOUR PUMPKIN! HAPPY HALLOWEEN!"

He did pretty good! He sold 17 out of 18 pumpkins! (I decided tonight that we're gonna use the last one for pumpkin seeds and cookies! Yum!)

The Case Lot Sale

2008-10-04T08:33:00.003-06:00

I am a bargain shopper. I love coupons, free things, and just getting more BANG for my buck. This week and next, a lot of stores in our area are having their semi-annual case lot sales. I love when they do this because it gives me an opportunity to try to load up on our family food storage. Well, last night as I was transferring some items into storage containers, an idea struck, and the boys were more than willing to take part.... Just take a look.

A 50lb bag of oats...

A 25lb bag of sugar...

And a 25lb bag of bread flour...

I think I got quite the bargain.

I was hoping to convince them that these would be great Halloween costumes~ unfortunately for me, they are stuck on the idea of being stuff like BATMAN, SPIDER MAN, SUPERMAN, DARTH VADER, and so on. Too bad too. This would've been way cheaper. Oh well...LOL

Happy Birthday Darla

2008-09-28T22:14:00.012-06:00

So, I know that Darla posted a blog already today about her birthday, but I thought I would too. I was asked to not blurt out her age, so let's just say that she's twenty one again. But even though she's only twenty one, I would like to tell you all twenty eight things about her.
1. Darla loves to shop.
2. She loves to do craft stuff.
3. She also loves to cook, and she's pretty dang good at it.
4. Darla likes to learn new things.
5. Nobody, and I mean nobody likes massages more.
6. She can do fifty things at once. I, on the other hand, can only do about mmmmm say one. (Hey, I'm still just a guy)
7. Darla is a huge fan of the song "I'm gonna miss her" by Brad Paisley.It's probably her favorite song in the world.(Complete LIE)
8. Darla is a great mom and I know that she loves her children very, very much.
9. There are four songs written specifically for her. (not just 2 like she said in the blog about my birthday.)
10. She likes poetry and has written quite a few very good poems.
11. She is a big Office fan. She's especially fond of Kevin and Dwight.
12. Darla likes things to be super clean and organized all the time. In fact she likes things to be so organized that sometimes I accuse her of being obsessive-compulsive about it.
14. Darla was born in 1980. (See, I didn't say an age :)
15. She doesn't like the way that roads are set up in Idaho. She prefers the "grid- system" like in Utah.
16. Darla likes the spring and autumn seasons the best.
17. Darla owns a gun.
18. Recently she bought some large maps so she can learn more about geography.
19. Darla loves to read. She reads where ever we are, in the car, in the house, in the hospital, where ever. (This accounts for her not being very well acquainted with geography, she reads while I drive and then she never knows where we are.)
20. Darla likes the ocean, or any bodies of water for that matter,too bad we live in a desert, huh.
21. Darla is the best wife. Sorry guys, she's mine. I know that she cares for me and takes care of me better than anybody else could ever try to do.
22. Darla has an awesome sense of humor.Even if/when other people don't get her, I do and it's really fun to laugh and play with her.
23. She likes to blog.
24. Darla is jealous of elk.
25. Even though She owns a gun, she doesn't really want to hunt that much.
26. Darla is extremely patient. If you don't believe that, just look at who she's married to.
27. Darla has leaky eyes a lot. In fact, one time she cried because she couldn't remember what she wanted for lunch (she was pregnant at the time).
28. Darla has one heck of a year ahead of her. I've learned to always expect change, but I think this will be a great year (one of the last before she turns 30)

Darla, you are the most wonderful person on the planet. Happy Birthday and I'll try to do my best to make it a great year for you and our family.
Love,
Josh

Warm River

2008-09-28T21:14:00.004-06:00

Today was my birthday and I am now (mmmmpppppfffffhhhh) years old. :D
For my birthday my wonderful Mom graciously offered to keep my boys and let Josh and I have the day together. It has been a really LONG time since we've been able to spend several hours un-interrupted together.... especially since Nick was put on his current medicine which has to be administered every 8 hours. It's one of those things that you don't ask someone else (like a baby-sitter) to do because it involves dividing the pill, crushing, adding exact amounts of water and flavoring and only giving him a portion of the mixture. Therefore, there's not a lot of room for error- so only Josh and I have ever given him his medicine,
Anyway, it was a nice opportunity to spend some time together. We headed into town and had our wedding rings cleaned while we window shopped at the mall, and then had a nice lunch, and decided to drive up just past Ashton to Warm River. It's a beautiful drive and the colors on the trees were magnificent. Once we got to Warm River we stood and admired it's beauty for a while and fed the MANY fish that live there. It's something we've done before, but was nice to do again.
A little bit later we headed back down to Mom's to pick up the boys and visit for a short time. My sweet little ones hated to leave Grandma's and delayed getting into the car as long as possible. I don't blame them one bit either-- hanging out with Mom ROCKS!
I also received many calls and birthday wishes from so MANY of my friends and family.Not to mention a couple of fun surprises in the mail earlier this week! It was such a wonderful day!

Just put 'em in a pumpkin shell...

2008-09-20T22:15:00.013-06:00

Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater,
Had a wife and couldn't keep her~
Put her in a pumpkin shell,
And there he kept her very well!

This was the song that Nick came home singing the other day from preschool. He sang it all day. That evening as I was putting the boys to bed I sang "Families can be Together Forever" to them. After I had finished, the following exchange happened between Nick and myself:

Nick: What's the name of that song?

Me: Families can be together forever.

Nick: (kind of squints his eyes and pauses for a second) Yeah, but if you can't keep 'em--- you just put 'em in a pumpkin shell. (then he nods at me knowingly.) That's what Peter Peter did.

That's not a bad idea. :D I'll remember that.
Such a funny kid. Who says preschool isn't paying off?!
I wonder if this is what he is picturing.....?

School Days!

2008-09-10T20:42:00.008-06:00

So I finally have all my boys in school! It's great, and they're all happy to be a part of something "new". The preschool thing works out nicely because Nick is in the 4 year old class and goes 3 days a week,and Andrew is in the 3 year old class and goes the other 2 days. This way I get to have some one on one time with each of the little ones while the other is at school. It's not a lot of time, but it has always been so rare for me to get any one on one with Andrew that I am really enjoying it. He's growing up so quickly right before my very eyes.

Here are some pictures of my little stud-muffins on their first days of school.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

2008-08-29T13:27:00.007-06:00

Monday was Andrew's 3rd Birthday! He's growing so much. He is only about 1/2 an inch shorter and weighs just 2 pounds less than Nick! Drew has changed a lot recently too... Saying so many smart things and really watching his surroundings. He and Nick will start preschool here in about a week and a half-- *sigh*-- my baby's growin' up!

And in other SPECIAL news, TODAY is Josh's birthday!! He is 33 years old!
In recognition of this FINE man, I thought it would be fun to list 33 facts about him...

1- Josh was born in Germany

2- He is 6'4" tall and still the shortest brother in his family

3- When Josh was younger, he named his dog "Dammit"

4- He LOVE LOVE LOVES powdered doughnuts with raspberry filling

5- Josh makes a wierd noise with his thumb and pointer finger (like a bug), and scares people with the noise all the time

6- Josh plays music mostly by ear and not sight

7- He has a special recipe for his very own oatmeal cookies which he only revealed to me after we were engaged

8- He can make a Tarzan yell better than ANYONE

9- He has NINE (9) pairs of shoes. (hehehe)

10- Josh can't help but correct family when they use improper English so his family nicknamed him "The Professor"

11- He LOVES to use puns. Intentionally. All the time. Seriously. ALL THE TIME. Also, he HATES it when I call him "Funny's cousin, Unfunny." :D

12- Josh thoroughly enjoys learning about history and would watch the History Channel on TV for hours on end if he could- (& if we had cable lol)

13- He also loves watching episodes of The Office-- the practical jokes that Jim plays on Dwight crack him up.

14- Josh has written me, personally, 2 songs-- & both are beautiful!

15- He always sings in the shower-- and not just like the humming soft singing that most people do... he BELTS those songs out.... and when he mows the lawn.... and when he changes the oil.... and ... hmmmmm... about everywhere.

16- He has TONS of hobbies- he plays guitar and sings, writes his own music, fishes, hunts (both bow & arrow and rifle), golfs, plays basketball, pans for gold, uses a metal detector, motorcycles, hikes, and more.

17- Scooby Doo was one of his FAVORITE cartoons as a young'n-- then Johnny Bravo (even as an adult)

18- One of his favorite CD's/ soundtracks is George Frederick Handle's "The Messiah"

19- He gives GREAT shoulder/neck and back massages! And is the BEST Hugger!

20- Josh smells good. :)

21- He loves to travel to new places, and wants to travel the world.

22- Josh always pulls the sheets and blankets off the bed and into tangled knots, and then blames me.

23- Josh built our house and did a dang good job.

24- He bottles the green beans out of our garden each year, all I have to do is help him snap the ends off.

25- As a 24 year old guy, Josh used to get free ice cream cones from a friend we worked with if he gave her a puppy dog face with his lip sticking out. LINDA-- You know what I'm talking about, so don't deny it! :)

26- Josh is a good dancer! (we don't usually get to dance together cause he's ALWAYS playing in the band, but he can bust a move!)

27- Josh is an uncle to 29 nieces and nephews

28- He hates the dollar stores.

29- Josh wants to serve a couples mission with me when we're old and gray.

30- Josh is pretty non-confrontational, but that doesn't mean he wont get you back... he's like a Giant St. Bernard who will pounce up on you with his paws on your chest licking your face and panting while he pees on you. LOL

31- Josh has only shaved his face completely of any goatee or mustache 2 times in the 9 years we have been together-- both times NOT telling me first that he was going to so I was surprised each time!

32- Josh is a romantic. He loves surprises, gifts, giving flowers, smooching, stuff like that. Yes ladies, I know... I AM LUCKY!

33- Josh refuses to own his age until the VERY DAY of his birthday. If you asked him last night at 11:59 how old he was he would still say thirty-two. He hates getting older.

I love you Josh! You make my world. We are so blessed to have the great love that we do in our home! I thank Heaven every day for you! You bless my life in more ways than I could tell you!

Naughty words?

2008-08-20T08:40:00.014-06:00

The other night we took the kids out to eat at A&W and were having a nice and cozy little dinner with everyone in good spirits. No one was being naughty. No one was saying anything they shouldn't. Out of the blue and in between bites Nick inquired:

"Mom, why do you always say naughty words? You always say that you won't... but you do." (bite) "You always try not to, but you do." (swallow) ""WHY do you say naughty words all the time?"

Meanwhile, I sat there with my mouth open in shock. Josh leaned back and smirked at me and then laughingly asked "What words are you saying all day while I'm at work?" And the girl at the next table almost choked on her hamburger laughing.

OK. It's not as if I have NEVER said a bad word. I will confess to my imperfections, BUT I DO NOT make it a habit of saying naughty words! Especially around my kids. So I'm thinking of the words he could be referring to and they are: (and prepare yourself for these doozies) stupid, and Duh.

It was funny. But the way he was talking, anyone passing by would've thought that I had the mouth of a sailor!

But it doesn't end there. Life is fair in some aspects. The kids are generally fair in picking on both Josh and I. Soon after Nicks comments, Paul asked if I remembered when he was a "little kid" and used to say that "Daddy toots like a stinky cow!" And as he giggled at his own memory of it, Nick and Andrew began repeating "Daddy toots like a stinky cow!"

Then it was MY turn to look at Josh and smirk. "Yep Paul. I do remember that." I said as I smiled broadly at Josh and in return got a dirty look.

The Bash

2008-08-11T09:31:00.005-06:00

Every year, the first weekend in August is the "Barzee Bash". It's Josh's mom's side of the family reunion. They hold it up in Birch Creek where Josh's Grandpa's old homestead and cabin still stands. TONS of people come for it. The Friday night of the Bash is the band/dance night. Everyone heads on down to the Lone Pine Cafe and then Josh, along with his Uncle Bryant, his mom, aunt, and cousins (& pretty much anyone who can play) will play music for several hours and everyone dances and catches up with one another. It's fun. There's usually a lot of smoking and alcohol though, so good natured as folks are, I keep the boys on a pretty short leash while we're up there. There's also alot of motorcycling. This year Josh has a bike again, (thank you Donnie!)so we took it up with us to break it in! Our friend Donnie and his friend Jared came up on Friday to do some biking too. They were great sports to drive up that far for so short a time to play. They even helped Josh set up our tent so that he could have more time to play. The little boys were excited to get to ride with Josh a little bit & Josh was really happy to get to motorbike on his own bike again. He injured his shoulder pretty badly the last time he did much motorbiking. Here are some pics.

No slowing down...

2008-07-29T21:19:00.007-06:00

BOYS are EXHAUSTING. They're wonderful, and fun, and silly, and adorable, and sweet, and hilarious, BUT BOYS ARE EXHAUSTING.
Yesterday was a long day. We're still working on the potty training thing at our house and one of my little darlings decided to try the couch out as a possible substitute for the toilet. We've a had a few incidents this week with trying out the carpet, but the couch? Great. I mean, I can understand the reasoning... who in their right toddler mind wants to miss out on even a second of Sesame Street?But it sure doesn't make my day!

And there's the regular sibling quarrels over things like who gets what sippy cup, and who gets to sit where and so on. Those are always pleasant. Except for when they end up with a hit or a name call. We had a little bit of that yesterday too which caused me to turn in to "Mean Mom" and put them in separate rooms while I made dinner.
But the straw on the camels weakened back yesterday was when they finally were all back to being buds and were outside playing just before bed and Paul accidentally pushed my bicycle over and it landed on Nick's head. It gave him a couple of little cuts, and as we all know, big or small-- head wounds are famous for bleeding. So Mr. Nick let out a terrible scream and when I came running I saw a bloody mess all over his blond curls. The cut really wasn't too bad once it was cleaned up, but to see the blood you would think it was worse.
We got through that all OK, and the boy-ness hasn't let up at all. Tonight Andrew came and got me after they had all been put to bed, and squealed on Nick for making a mess.

I came. I saw. Nick had pulled everything from his closet- the hangers, shirts, blankets, pull ups, etc. and spread them around the room. Then he took the metal bar (that you hang the clothes on)down too. It must have taken a lot of effort to create his masterpiece of a mess because of the 3 boys, he was the only one conked out asleep! At least we know his head wound isn't slowing him down, right?
All of these little experiences are funny to look back on.... at least I'm hoping they will be! LOL

Funnies

2008-07-17T13:32:00.012-06:00

Today while I was making lunch for the boys, Paul and Nick decided to get on each others nerves. The next thing I know, I hear Nick tattling to me (he was fine by the way) that Paul just punched him in the face.

I said "What?! Paul! Did you punch Nick in the FACE?"

and Paul responds kind of quietly, "Well, it wasn't very hard...."
I had to turn my head to hide my chuckle. BOYS. SHEESH.

Just for the record, it's not like Nick is this innocent bystander. He teases Paul incessantly. For example, this week he has managed to convince him that Josh and I killed Scooby Doo,

and that Woody (from Toy Story) was coming to our house at 2 AM last night while Paul would be asleep.

As Andrew takes all this in, I'm wondering where I'm headed in this house full of boys. Speaking of Andrew,I have another little story:

Josh and I have gotten into the habit of watching M*A*S*H episodes on DVD at night as we try to relax and while we wait for 11:00 to roll around so we can give Nick his medicine. Well, the other night the boys were still awake and sitting with us. In the episode we were watching, Col. Potter steps in some Horse manure and Frank Burns says "That's Disgusting!"
Col Potter grins and says "Son, to me that's a tiptoe through the tulips!"
I had to tell Paul what Col. Potter had stepped in and that he didn't mind because he loves horses so much. At that point, Andrew grins and sweetly says, "I love horses!"
I said "You do?" Andrew answers back, "Yes!" and then turning to Josh finishes with "And Daddy! I love horse poop."

Nice. Thank you.

And now, for what I hope will be the Final excitement for this installment of "My 3 sons", as I have been typing this, Andrew snuck into my bathroom (he was supposed to be having a nap)and decided to try mascara.
Paul ratted him out and so I told Andrew to come here.When I saw this face, I asked him to bring me what he used-- thinking it would only be this:
He returned with these:
SO, I sent him back to bed, only to have him return moments later with a cut on his lower lip from trying to scale up the side of Paul's bunk bed.
Some Days!

It's a Hot Hot Summer.....

2008-07-13T20:58:00.015-06:00

It's been a busy last few weeks. I think it's because it's summer. There's just so much to squeeze in before it's over, not to mention the regular stuff that always has to be done! :D
Mom hosted a "Girls weekend" at her house the last weekend in June. It was a great time to catch up with my sweet mom, sisters, aunts, cousins, & nieces! Unfortunately, not everyone was able to make it, and we missed those who couldn't terribly! However for those of us who were able to come I think it was a great success. Also unfortunately, I forgot to bring MY camera, so I'll need to get some copies of the pic's that others took! My poor sister Amie was attacked in water wars and I know Mandie and Heidi had some fun in a food fight. (Whoever said girls are not rambuncious did NOT meet my family!) And of course when there's that much estrogen in one house the water works are bound to surge... and they did a couple of times, LOL, but I think mainly because we all felt how much we each care for each other and want to support each other. It was a good fun weekend! Thanks to Josh for letting me have the get-away!
And then, to bring in July with a big welcome, the boys and I spent one day in the HOT, HOT sun trying to cool way, way down in the water. It was a lot of fun. We set up the inflatable pool, put on our bathing suits and whipped out the water guns and the hose.

Later that same day, Joyce-- my mother in law, called me and invited me to go see the play "Brigadoon" with her and my 2 sister's in law, Jodi and Michelle. It was a lot of fun! I LOVE plays. And it was such a treat to have another "girls" outing! I had never seen Brigadoon before and so I'm really glad to have had the chance!

Ah, yes. And then it was the Independence Day. My, how time goes by! My father in law Roy invited us to join the rest of the Jardine's in Idaho Falls to watch the "Freedom Celebration" and to have a BBQ at Freeman Park.

Here's Andrew and Jodi's little one, Maddie

And here's Andrew after pouring the chips onto the lawn returning them to the bag. (Sorry, by the way, to anyone who might have got some grass in with their chips :P)

Nick, giving me a face for who knows what reason...?

One of the few pic's I was able to get of Paul because he was so busy running around!

Josh and Me.

Grandpa Roy and Grandma Joyce playing cards with the boys... The kids were THRILLED to be included in their game!

Jason and Josh singing and playing while we waited for the fireworks to begin.

Here's Brandon.... NOT sleeping (wink wink)

Jodi just Chillin'.

Robert groovin' to his music.

Jessie trying to steal Bege's chair... (as you can imagine, that didn't work out well for her. :D)

And Michelle, FINALLY getting to sit down! :D

So that catches me up for the most part until this last weekend. We checked out our schedules and it looked like it was going to be about our only chance to go camping this summer, and since we wanted to squeeze that in, we just up and went. We took off to Pleasant Valley, ID. It's just past Spencer and West of Kilgore. It's kind of a drive, (a windy one too-- check out my hair on the way there) but a very beautiful area. The kids had a good time. We made "Snores" (not S'mores-- I couldn't get Nick to say it the right way, so we left it as snores)we drove to the top of the mountain (where we could still see some snow), played near the creek and did some fishing, gathered rocks and sticks, made some campfires, cooked some hot dogs, got filthy dirty, slept in the cold night air, and got a few bites from some hungry mosquitos! It was great!

WHEW!!

And we're back!

2008-06-21T22:58:00.014-06:00

Whew! That was a whirlwind of a trip to Salt Lake if we ever had one! In one day there was an echo cardiogram, then a break for a few hours at which point we headed over to Temple Square for a while

then a heart cath lab, (surgery)
a CT scan, and an angiogram! Afterwards was 6 hours of recovery, a quick chat with the doctor, and we were on our way! Our heads are STILL spinning! In a good way-- you can't beat being at your own HOME. I, for sure, was not expecting to really be home today. I mean, we can hope, but it almost never happens that way!
Dr. Cowley said that things are looking pretty good right now for Nick. As I mentioned previously, this trip was mainly for information gathering and to see if we need to pursue another open heart surgery/ tumor resection in the near future. It appears that Nick's amazing little heart is working miracles and somehow compensating for this "larger than a golf ball, 5 cm tumor" inside of it. We (and they) don't know how, but it is. And as far as I'm concerned, "ours is not to question why".
The Dr. is going to review things some more, but for now the plan is to not rock the boat, as long as we're not experiencing troubles with the ICD or other things, and as long as Nick remains stable (of sorts).
YAY!!!YAY!!YAY!! I'm just SO THRILLED that it isn't BAD news. And so THANKFUL to Heavenly Father for his mercy and blessings!!

Nick did awesome for his surgery and his recovery was one of the best I have seen. He slept for quite a while and I think it really helped. He was much more pleasant coming out of it than usual.

Funny:
Someone gave Nick this stuffed dinosaur-- which we later named Dave. And we put a pair of Nicks spiderman underwear on Dave the Dinosaur. Nick then proceeded to sing a little chant from the recently released movie "Alvin and the Chipmunks" where the chipmunks sing "Dave likes to wear-- DIRTY UNDERWEAR!!" He got the giggles over that. It was pretty cute. And funny. Therefore a picture and a story so I will remember it. :D

PCMC

2008-06-20T14:50:00.003-06:00

We're back at Primary Children's Medical Center again today. Nick had his echocardiogram at 9 this morning and is currently in surgery having his heart cath done. I can't even tell you how WELL he did going into the operating room. No tears. No worries. No holding back or clinging to Josh or me. He ROCKED! The team was dumbfounded. Nick was hamming it up for them too. He does this thing sometimes where he pounds his chest twice with his right fist and then throws the peace sign (I think)and says "Word." He did that several times for them. LOL. And gave knuckles, and even the I love you sign. He was happy that he got to choose what flavor gas to smell to go to sleep-- it changed a few times, but I think we landed on Watermelon.

It's so weird sometimes being here. Today they are just kind of trying to gather more information and see how things are looking, and we really haven't much of a problem since the the last time we were here in March, so today even though this is considered a major surgery and they are using general anesthesia and all, Josh and I are SOOOOOO much more mellow than usual. I'm really kind of surprised by the (comparitively) non stress we seem to be feeling right now. I think that maybe it's because we know that Dr. Cowley is the one operating (this is his specialty) and we know how dedicated he is to taking good care of Nick, and maybe also because compared to other surgeries we've gone through with Nick this IS NOT as major. It's no tonsilectomy, but it's not OPEN HEART either.

Nick was fun on the way down here yesterday. He "missed Paul" about 20 minutes after we got on the interstate, and at the same time was so excited because he was going to get to have a sleepover at "the Ronald McDonald" (house). We stopped once on the drive to stretch our legs
and he gathered a whole handful of rocks and one "special" one for Dr. Cowley (of course, And he made sure Dr. Cowley had it in his hands before the surgery!)
The other rocks are for everyone else he ever met. Seriously. I made him put a TON back. :) He bounced all over the place last night and didn't go to sleep until after midnight. (Lucky for him 'cause he had to eat his last food at midnight too!-- only clears until 11 this morning and then nothing until after surgery). He's been crazy happy about riding elevators this time and ALWAYS wants to push the button. While we miss Paul and Drew, it's always interesting and kind of fun to see one of the kids all on their own. They act so... differently!

If all goes well, we may get to come home tomorrow! Otherwise, we'll keep this journal updated! Much Love!!

8 YEARS!

2008-06-16T21:53:00.005-06:00

Yesterday, June 15, Josh and I celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary! (And Fathers Day!) It's amazing how the time can fly by! On the one hand it feels like we've been together FOREVER, and on the other hand I can hardly believe it's already been 8 years!! I know that I am very blessed to be married to such a wonderful man. He's so good to me and our children! When I was about 17 I wrote a list of all the qualities that I would want in a husband. (Go ahead... think of all the qualities that you would want in a husband) from dimples to sense of humor, child rearing capabilities and a testimony of the Gospel, strength and character, romantic, funny, a love of traveling, musical talent....! The list I made was MUCH LONGER and believe it or not, years later when I stumbled upon the list it made my breath catch and my heart stop to realize that he truly is everything that I ever wanted! He has EVERY quality that I had dreamed of and even the ones that I had noted would be nice but not a necessity! EVERY ONE.
One of my favorite things about our marriage is that we have so much fun. NO ONE makes me laugh or understands my sense of humor like he does. I love you Josh!! I can't wait to spend eternity with you-- in fact it may not be long enough!

Grandma's Birthday

2008-06-11T11:22:00.004-06:00

Tuesday was my Grandma Elva's, Birthday. She passed away from cancer when I was 2 months old. Even though I never knew her, this day always stands out to me. It's a special day. After all, it was on this day that the woman was born who would give me one of my greatest gifts-- my own wonderful mom. The boys and I took the opportunity to go visit Mom. I would imagine it's a special day to her too.

While we visited Mom, she did all those wonderful things that mom's do. She made some food, she talked with me, she read a story to the 2 little ones, and she even participated in the "doctor" game that Andrew and Nick chose to play.

I watched as Nick informed her of the procedures he was performing on her:

*An EKG where her heart would "draw a picture if she sat real still-- and don't worry 'cause the stickers won't hurt you"
*Taking her blood pressure and listening to her heart with a stethoscope
*Putting a mask on her and asking her what flavor she wanted to smell to go to sleep [for anesthesia] She chose bubble gum for anyone who might want to know :D and telling her to count to 10. (I had forgotten about that one because Josh & I are usually out of the room at that point.)

Andrew is picking up on the tricks of the trade too. He examined her ears, listened to her heart and enjoyed taking her blood pressure. He also reassured her repeatedly that HE was the doctor. LOL

She is such a great sport! She even took her turn as the doctor and did an echocardiogram on Nick!

We love you Mom. SO much. And we love Grandma too, for giving you to us!

Catchin' up.

2008-06-11T09:55:00.012-06:00

I decided I should do some updating since it's been nearly a month since I've posted anything. Here are some of the things that have taken place in the last few weeks:

*There was a father/son overnighter at Dawnatta Hot Springs that Josh took the boys to, and then decided to finish the trip off by visiting with Stan and Aubrey and their kids (and make a pit stop at the Pepperidge Farms factory for some Mint Milano's-- since it IS on the way!) The boys had a fun time camping and have been after me ever since to go camping again! Nick made fast friends with the ward clerk and apparently wouldn't leave his side, but come the next few Sunday's he acts like he doesn't even know the poor man. He's such a tease. Here's some pics of me sending them off.

*Paul finished up Kindergarten and is now going to be a FIRST GRADER!! That means a FULL day, two recesses, and LUNCH at a new school! He's very excited about it. This is him and his bus stop buddies coming home on the last day of school. As you can see by the winter coats, it wasn't a very warm day!

*I had a movie night with the rascals while Josh was playing in the band one night. We made "homemade" air popped popcorn and rented Snowbuddies from the Redbox. I thought they'd fall asleep early cause we'd had a big day, but they surprised me by staying VERY awake! We had a fun time.

*We had the usual mischeiveousness -- such as this:

I think I'm still finding KIX cereal in and under the couches! LOL

*And we just got Nick and Andrew signed up and registered for Pre-school for this next year. They got to go and meet the teacher yesterday and are very excited. Nick will go 3 days a week and Andrew will go the other 2.

*OH! We woke up to SNOW today. Seriously. It was more than a heavy frost and it did melt fairly quickly, but SNOW in MID-JUNE. So, I feel justified in turning the thermostat up a couple of degrees, even if it is "Summer". Craziness!

Fun "4" Nick's Birthday!

2008-05-15T14:46:00.005-06:00

Yesterday we celebrated Nick's 4th birthday! It was a lot of fun. The whole day he told EVERYONE we saw that it was his birthday and he is 4 now, and then after his "party" and at bed time he came whimpering to me and Josh that he just wanted to be 3 again. LOL Maybe so he could have another birthday party?

Anyway, it was a nice day. We had a house full of family, and some friends who might as well be family! Nick couldn't have been happier.
Thanks to everyone for coming out and making this occasion so special!

A time to relax... we hope

2008-05-12T18:53:00.008-06:00

After a few weeks of some large amounts of anxiety, I think we will be able to relax a little-- at least mentally. It would be nice to be able to catch up on some ZZZZZ's like the 2 little ones are doing in the picture above, but not too likely. :)

I had a good conversation with Dr. Cowley tonight. He called to give us the latest test results on Nick. He said that back in November when they did the holter test Nick was having about 26,000 beats in a day and April's test showed him having about 9,500! That is a MUCH BETTER number. So, we think the medicine is doing a good job. Optimally we would like to see it a even a little lower, but when we were trying different dosages at the hospital, both higher and lower doses gave nick more beats, so we'll stay at this current dose for a while.
Dr. Cowley is going to try to schedule us to go back down at the end of June to do another heart cath and get some pictures of the coronary arteries and the left and right ventricles (and something else I think, but I wasn't writing fast enough) and he may also have a CT scan done as well since Nick will already be under general anesthesia. As usual, if anything happens with Nick in the meantime, or something changes then our plans are subject to change. :) But for now, we might get a little break from the next scheduled chaos. LOL

Earlier tonight when we got the mail there was a birthday package for Nick from the Richardson's. He was SO excited and didn't want to wait until Wednesday to open it so I let him have at it. They had sent him this cool M&M tee shirt, a dollar, a pink piggy, and a pop-up b-day card with 4 candles on it. Nick was SO happy. I took some pictures. You can see how in the 3rd one he's trying to look the same as the face on his shirt, LOL.

While we were admiring his gift and talking about his birthday and people who love him, I mentioned to him that I was expecting a call from Dr. Cowley tonight. Nick said "Dr. Cowley is my cardiologist." I said, "I know." Then Nick said "Yeah, and Dr. Cowley is my BEST friend!" I said "Really? He is your BEST friend?" Nick replied "Yep. He loves me."
Pretty nice, I think, that he loves Dr. Cowley so much and knows that Dr. Cowley loves him too. We are so thankful for this wonderful man and the time, knowledge, effort, and love that he gives to Nick!

One for good measure

2008-05-01T14:22:00.003-06:00

I was just looking at the blog and realized that I should put another picture or two of Andrew up... He's growing so fast these days...

Riding his bike

Having the too-often-had but love-it-anyway PB&J sandwich with Nick

You can see how they are about the same size! Sometimes I think Drew is even bigger!

Josh and Paul's newest toys!

2008-05-01T12:05:00.004-06:00

I can't believe I haven't mentioned the two biggest boys newest toys! Josh found a steal of a deal on a '92 Ford Truck that met my criteria for him getting a truck (which was: it had to fit all of the family and it had to be automatic because I don't want to drive a stick...and [sheepishly] I don't know how to drive a stick). Anyway, he found this truck in really good condition for SUPER cheap. Other than the fact it's a Ford, Josh is pretty pleased with the whole thing. He's missed having a truck the last few years.

And Paul finally bought himself (with some help from Josh) his own guitar! He's been saving up for over a year and has been really diligent about it. After the tooth fairy came by last time with the whopping $5 bucks for the 4 teeth he had pulled, it put him at over $53! [Remember, my kids don't get allowance or anything yet, so it was really hard to save that much!] Anyway, his determination for saving was beginning to fade and so we decided it was time to go guitar shopping. We chose to purchase a quality guitar since we intend on really using it, so we went to Mike's Music (where Josh is a frequent customer) and Mike gave us the "good guy discount" and a super deal on this beautiful instrument. He even threw in a soft case and a handful of picks for the aspiring musician! The guitar has mother of pearl on the front and is in such good condition that I think Josh is the teensiest bit jealous! LOL

So, now Paul takes lessons every Sunday afternoon from Josh, and has to play with the guitar EVERY day. He's so excited. He already has it in his mind that the next thing he'll save for is a set of drums to help him build his own band. Yeah right. Mommy doesn't think so, Bud. LOL At least not until we have a sound-proof room for you to practice! :D

Tricycling in the house...

2008-05-01T11:41:00.003-06:00

Nick finally got his holter pack in the mail. They sent one several days ago, but it was faulty, so we had to send it back and have them send us another one. Anyway, we put it on yesterday after lunch and so now we're counting down 'till he can take it off. He really REALLY hates having the stickers (leads) on. They shouldn't hurt him at all,but he insists that they do and he becomes a completely different child. His voice goes up an octave and he talks all squeaky and soft, his body tenses and he clenches nearly every muscle, he wont play or do ANYTHING like he normally does. He continually cries that it hurts. He wont walk, sit, stand, lay, go potty, or even eat without help. I really think this is a mind issue, partly because I can distract him a tiny bit once in a while. Today, I even moved all the furniture around in the front room so that he could ride Andrew's tricycle around in the house.(It snowed last night, so outside isn't a good option). Here's a shot of that. You can see how he forgot momentarily that he "can't" do anything.

We'll send the pack back this afternoon and then he'll be back to his normal wild-man self. It does worry me a little bit that he wont play the way he usually does, because they want to see what his heart is doing under normal conditions, and him sitting around not doing anything is NOT normal. Oh, well. We don't really know what else to do! Lil' Turkey.

Newest Nick News

2008-04-25T15:47:00.002-06:00

We heard back from Dr. Cowley yesterday. It's still nothing definitive. The cardiologists and surgeons are not opposed, per say, to doing another operation, but Dr. Cowley and the surgeon Dr. Hawkins, want to be doubly sure that that is their best option before going ahead with it. Dr. Cowley is going to fed-ex us a holter monitor (a 24 hour EKG) and have us send it right back for them to read and see how bad the arrhythmia's are right now and we'll continue on from there. It sounds like they will try as many alternate possibilities (such as different drugs) before going back into surgery IF possible, but they WILL go back in if it looks like nothing else will work. We're just going to take this slow because we're not SURE that an operation will actually HELP the arrhythmia issues.
So... we're still kind of waiting for further direction, but at least we know that if we end up doing another surgery, we wont have to go to the Mayo Clinic in MN. That actually relieves me a little. I mean, we know the doctors and surgeons here. We are familiar with the hospital (inside out), and we have family and friends much closer than in MN. So, even though the news isn't really conclusive as to what we will do, at least we know we can stay close.

Dr. Cowley Called

2008-04-19T08:53:00.006-06:00

So...
Dr. Cowley called yesterday and said that he had heard back from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. His colleague and the surgeon there have looked at Nick's information and images and things and that they think a repeat surgery would be worth doing. They still would not try to remove the entire tumor (because they can't due to it's location) but, they would try to resect it some more.
Dr. Cowley said that he will discuss the situation again with the entire team of cardiologists and the cardio-thoracic surgeons this coming Wednesday and also present the 2nd opinion shared by the Mayo clinic, and then he'll call us back. He said that if we choose to do another surgery and for some reason the surgeon at PCMC does not want to do it or feels like he would not be able to be helpful through surgery, that we will have the option of going to the Mayo clinic to have the surgery done.
It's scary to me. Heart surgery is very serious. We've made it through one open heart surgery and then the cath and the implant of the ICD, and countless other smaller things, but the thought of doing another surgery just makes me all knotted up. It's so hard to see your child after OHS. You do what you have to - especially if you think it may help your child or even save their life, but to have to see a little one with the machines and drainage tubes and stitches and blood and IV's and so on, and NOT be able to hold them or do anything to help is ... indescribable. Not to mention all of the risks that are involved.
On the other hand, if the doctors and surgeons think that this could help him, then I suppose we'll have a lot to consider and pray about.

Here is a photo of our FAVORITE cardiologist and Nick about 1 year ago. Any prayers offered up for this wonderful man that he might be inspired and have the knowledge to do what is in Nick's best interest are GREATLY appreciated! :) Thanks everyone. We love you.

2008-04-16T09:53:00.001-06:00

Just a few more pics.

The Shire's

The shadow of the carriage ride...

Josh and Me with 2 tired kids. :)

The wedding gig this last weekend...

2008-04-16T09:30:00.003-06:00

Josh performed for a wedding for a friend of his this last weekend-- it was a lot of fun. They have this really nice big red barn so they used it to their advantage and had a Barn Dance. The kids had a blast. They also have Shire horses (they look like Clydesdale's), so there were carriage rides too! Here are just a few pics of the night.

My Cowboys

Balancing act

Fixing the belt

Josh

The Band

Toothless!

2008-04-14T17:59:00.004-06:00

Paul had such a big day today! In order to make room for those permanent teeth trying to come in, we had to have the dentist pull out 4 (that's right, count them FOUR) of Pauls bottom teeth! Paul did AWESOME!!! He was as brave as could be, walked right on back to the chair and told me I could stay in the waiting room. The dentist told me that Paul was happy and pleasant and talked the whole time. (He loves going to the dentist... His dentist is super nice and has the same name as him so he thinks that rocks.) Anyway, he went through it with flying colors. The only problem we've had is the numbing stuff~ his bottom lip is all floppy and he bit it once. Here are some "Before" and "After" pictures.

As you can see, he already has one permanent tooth coming in. And the ones they pulled were LONG! 2 of them measured at about 3/4 of an inch!

It's funny. He was a little worried (after having it all done) that someone would think he looked ugly. I told him it looks awesome with all those teeth gone, and he kind of rolled his eyes and was like, "No mom, not the teeth! What if they think my LIP is ugly?" (Because it was all numb. DUH, mom) LOL. Funny kid.

Sad

2008-04-05T18:24:00.002-06:00

Sadly, I just learned that a super nice young man that I worked with at the store took his own life 2 days ago. It turns out he was suffering from depression and had just come home from school (BYU I think) due to the depression. It is so TRAGIC. It just breaks my heart that he felt so desperate & helpless that he saw suicide as his only option. This kid was bright, and kind, and I think had plans to serve a mission soon. Satan just never rests, does he? We must not let him take control! It is very saddening to me that he grabs a hold of so many and causes such feelings of desperation and helplessness. I'm very thankful for the opportunity to listen to our Prophet and those who serve with him this weekend to gather some strength and enlightenment and to help build up in a world where so often we are being torn down and torn apart.

Good things...

2008-04-05T17:42:00.005-06:00

I took the boys to the park the other day (while someone came to look at the house)and we decided that the weather was just perfect for kite-flying! I was so impressed with how well all of the boys did! I only had to get Paul's kite UP and he took it from there with no mishaps or down falls! Drew and Nick's kites fell a few times but as soon as I got them back up the boys took complete control! In fact, a few times the little ones even got their OWN kites up with no help! It was a lot of fun. I wish I had taken pictures, but I forgot to bring the camera, and Josh has been out of town this week with work, so I didn't have that extra set of hands to help anyway. Thankfully he will be home late tonight. We miss him!

Yesterday we tried making snow cones. See, Nick's "flavor" for his medicine is just snow cone syrup, and the other day at the store I picked up a few more bottles since it's cheaper than at the pharmacy. Well, they had some inexpensive snow cone machines right there too, and I thought 'Hey, why not have some fun?', and bought one of those too. The kids had some friends over and we decided to give it a shot. The machine didn't work all that well, but enough to get some snow. They thought it was amazing. I remember in my childhood having a snow cone machine that you had to kind of hand-churn to get the ice chips, but this one was a plug-it-in and press-this-down kind of machine. I remember thinking how cool it was when I was little and am pleased to know that the thrill is still there. Watch out Josh, I also remember easy-bake ovens.... and even though we don't have any girls..... I may need to enlighten the boys on the fun of cooking with a light bulb. LOL

Also, Dr. Cowley called yesterday and asked if he could have our permission to send Nick's information and images to a colleague that he has at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. (there are other Mayo clinics in AZ and FL but the one in MN specializes more in pediatric cardiology than the other ones) He said it occurred to him that this colleague might have some perspective that could be helpful. This other doctor has apparently written a large number of articles or has done studies on cardiac fibroma's, which is the type of tumor that Nick has. So we are praying that some more insight on what to do will come about.

So much to do, so little time!

2008-04-01T22:40:00.005-06:00

It's so hard to keep up on all the stuff I want to!

We haven't had any serious problems with Nick since we came home. (That we know of.) Andrew has been taking a while to get over a bad cough, but I think I see the end of it coming. Thankfully! As a side note, may I recommend the cough suppressant Delsym to anyone who has children!
Paul also has been sick -- to his stomach a couple of times this week- randomly. In fact I kind of think it's nerves. He internalizes so much and is such a deep thinker. He's really concerned about "What if we move?". And all the stuff with Nick too probably. I think he gives himself reflux. We're always trying to reassure him that everything is OK, but I think that he's just a worrier.

Josh set up a myspace page for himself to let people hear his music. The link is : http://www.myspace.com/uncommonsensetheband It's a work in progress, but for only being up about 3 days he has TONS of views and plays. If you have the time you should take a listen. And remember this stuff is 'demo-done'-- when he gets a record deal it will be even better!

I have taken a step back from working at Broulims. Josh and I decided that it would be in our family's best interest if I stayed home more. And work is getting busier for Josh, so that will help. I'm really excited to be back at home more. In my heart of hearts this is where I know I should be and want to be. Of course, different times in life call for different steps, and if we feel that I should go back to work to help Josh when he's back in school, then we'll do what is necessary. For the meantime though, the kids are thrilled and I am too.

We've had a lot of interest in our home, but no offers yet. We haven't had any negative feedback though either, so that's good. The right family just hasn't come around yet. If there is anything that we know (but seem to always be reminded of) is that EVERYTHING is on the Lord's time. When it is right it will happen.

That sums up the most recent happenings here. We are still just SO GLAD to be home. I feel like Dorothy in 'The Wizard of OZ'-- all I want to do is say over and over "There's no place like home, there's no place like home!"

Love y'all!

On the Brighter Side

2008-03-28T21:20:00.004-06:00

Nick is doing pretty well. We think. He hasn't complained of any problems, and so far we haven't seen anything too different. We expect he's still having stuff happen, but at least it isn't slowing him down.
I wanted to write down a couple of bright spots from this past week that I will want to remember later on, so...
Paul learned to tie his own shoes this week-- Thanks to Grandma Cathy! He is so pleased with himself. I love to see him feel confident and watch his self-esteem grow. He also is working on jump roping. And he is excited to learn that he will be getting some big bucks from the Tooth Fairy again because the dentist has just informed him that we need to pull 4 bottom teeth to make room for those bigger teeth that are on their way in. It's been a big week for Paul too!
Nick is picking up on Paul's enthusiasm for spelling. The two of them constantly go around the house spelling any words they know and asking me how to spell things. Pretty soon I'm gonna throw a big word at them like pumpernickel or supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. LOL
I have to share this funny story of something Nick did while at the hospital. On Easter Sunday we were walking to visit another congenital heart defect (CHD) child patient when Nick's male nurse asked if he was going to visit his girlfriend. Nick said no, that he doesn't have a girlfriend. The nurse said "Oh, are girls gross?" and Nick said; "No..... girls aren't gross, ..... poop is gross. We don't eat poop."
I was stunned at first and then had to just laugh. Yes it's true. We have actually had to have that conversation. Poop is gross. And we don't eat it. Or paint with it. Or play with it. ETC. We were like:"Nice, Nick. Lets go for that walk."
Andrew is talking more and more and in really good sentences. And he is doing a lot of comparing. At Mom's last week he told her all the time things like: "We have a phone at my house," and "I have a sandwich at my house." Etc. He is learning so many new things each day, and is ever increasing his copycat abilities. Today Josh told me something exasperating (I can't remember now what it was) but I exclaimed "My heck." and in a tiny little echo not 2 seconds later Andrew said in the same tone "My heck." We both started to laugh. Nothing like a 2 year old for instant replays.
It's fun to watch them grow. It's also fun to be able to involve everyone in an activity.
We're still exhausted, but it is SO GOOD to be home. I just want to sit in my own little cozy hollow and ignore reality and life for a while, basking in the sunshine of my life-- my little family.

Home

2008-03-27T08:45:00.003-06:00

After 8 days at PCMC we are finally home. They released Nick yesterday from the hospital. There's just not much that they can do for him there. They approached the idea of a heart transplant (again) but we still don't want to do that, so that's out. They are also thinking about another possible surgery, but they need to talk with Nick's regular cardiologist, Dr. Cowley, first and get his input and he is un-reachable for about another week.
Nick seems fine for the most part. Surprisingly fine for what his heart is doing. He is still having low ventricular tachycardia and bradycardia and arrhythmia's, however, we think that this new medicine has slowed the V-tach enough to cause him to NOT receive shocks from his ICD. We think.
What this means is that Nick will continue to have these strains on his heart from the crazy beating, but hopefully will not get as many shocks. Our unknown is WHICH IS BETTER? We're concerned that the irregular beating will wear on his heart a lot - and we're not sure how damaging that will be, but we are also very concerned about him continuing to receive shocks while he is conscious because it is traumatizing and we don't want him to have psychological problems due to this. (Like being afraid to ever do anything because he might get a shock). It's a tough call.
Everyone is kind of at a loss as to what to do.
We are so LUCKY that he is doing so well. Repeatedly the nurses would hurry in to the room while watching his monitors and ask him how he was feeling and if he was OK, and 98% he was cool as a cucumber and doing really well. A couple of times he felt sick to his stomach (probably due to the heart rate), but for the majority of the time he was good.

The Lord is good to us. And for now, we will continue to just take things a day at a time.

Happy Easter!

2008-03-23T16:47:00.003-06:00

OK, so we are looking at being here for a little while longer. A couple of nights ago Nick had some strange arrhythmia's, and then last night he was in a low V-Tach for 10 hours. (V-tach is not good) ... so this morning they informed us that they will probably have us stay here at least until Wednesday and there is a possibility that they will do another surgery. I'm not sure on the details yet. We are trying a different dosage of the medicine again to see if it helps, but so far it hasn't. With it being a holiday AND a weekend, there aren't as many faces around to ask questions to.

Nick is in good spirits today for the most part. The Easter Bunny made a special delivery for the children at the hospital, and that has brightened his day. Also, yesterday Aunt Bonnie stopped by with a bag of activities for him, which was very thoughtful and fun! Today we also were able to visit with Pauline and all her kids, and Dad (Grandpa Keith) and Zack. They all came over together and we had some lunch. It was good for us to be able to interact with some family for the short while that they were here. It starts feeling a little claustrophobic after a while, ya know?

I understand that Paul and Andrew are thoroughly enjoying Grandma Cathy's attention and love. (Thank you mom!) and being REALLY GOOD BOYS. It was even pointed out to me in ever so gently a way by my sister that "they don't even miss you". LOL! I'm glad. But I DO miss them. I am a little jealous too! I'm hearing about Easter egg hunts, picnics, movies, reading, playing with all Grandma's cool toys, etc., and I wish I could be there too!

We are so deeply grateful for all of you, our family and friends, for all that you have done, do and continue to do for us and our family. We are continually blessed by your love.

May you all have a Beautiful Easter Sunday!

Corrections

2008-03-20T13:24:00.004-06:00

OK. Corrections:
1) Nicks new medicine is a THREE times a day med.
2) His therapy shock is 35 joules, not 25.
3) The sotalol (medicine) has the capability to stop arrhythmia's or worsen them. Depends on the person.

We met with a cardiologist this morning. They are extremely surprised that Nick didn't pass out before he received that last shock. They are having us try the medicine instead of adjusting the ICD any further right now because if they set the ICD to wait longer for his heart rhythm to make him pass out, it could be damaging to his heart. Also, it may take more than one shock to get the heart back into a steady rhythm, which will wear down the ICD battery faster. We need to pray that he doesn't continue to be shocked while he is conscious though because it is traumatizing-- and then we're looking at the psychological damages. It feels like we're between a rock and a hard spot. Gotta take things just a day at a time.

Nick is sad today. He wants to go home. Usually he is such a good sport about being here. We wish we could do something... there's just nothing that can be done.

Thanks to all of you for your prayers. All our love!

We're here... now what?

2008-03-19T16:52:00.008-06:00

OK. So here we are at Primary Children's Hospital. So far so good. We haven't been able to meet with the doctors yet, but they've gone ahead and started Nick on the new medicine. This one is called Sotalol. If it works, it's supposed to be great. If not, it sounds like the danger lies in causing frequent SVT. (supraventricular tachycardia-- a super fast beating of the heart) ... Which can last seconds or days. This can cause a myriad of other problems: difficulty breathing, dizziness, weakness, etc. (sounds a little like the fibrillation's he's had so often-- but until I speak to the cardiologist I wont really know the details) We'll just have to see.
This medicine is a "twice a day medicine". Once in the morning and once in the afternoon, which means I'll have to be very diligent with keeping on top of that. That's about it. Right now we are just hanging out in the hospital room watching episodes of Sesame Street, and keeping an eye on Mr. Nickster, waiting to meet with some specialists.
On a fun note, it turns out that Nick's nurse today is a grade-school friend of mine's mother! Her name is Julie Perry. It was really nice to get to chat with her and find out how her son Donovan is. I mentioned to Mom that it was a bright spot in the day and maybe one of the Lord's tender mercies for me. She agreed that it was a "nice touch". It seems so rare these days that I ever get to talk to someone from my early childhood, and I haven't heard from Donovan in about 8 or 9 years! Anyway, it was a fun surprise :)
We'll post any news that we get or that happens. Thank you all SO MUCH for your prayers and support. It means so much to us, and we KNOW that prayer works. We love you all!!

Another holiday, another shock.

2008-03-18T10:45:00.002-06:00

I guess we'll have an easy way of remembering what day's Nick has shocks from his ICD.. Holidays. He received another shock yesterday (St. Patricks Day). This time he was awake again, and felt it. NOT GOOD.We called the cardiologist at Primary Childrens Hospital, and it looks like we'll be there for the next few days, starting tomorrow, to try to change heart medicines and see if it makes a difference. The new medicine they want to try is apparently a stronger medicine, but also more dangerous, so they need him to be in the hospital while they put him on it.He seems ok now, but he for sure is aware of what happened. That stinks. Nobody, especially a tiny little 3 year old should feel 25 joules of electircity slammed into his heart. He continually amazes us. We are so blessed to have him!!!

Say what?

2008-02-27T18:22:00.003-07:00

As parents, we are always looking to make our kids say what we say. Iex.; "Say ' I'm sorry. ' " "Honey, Say ' Hi Grandma! How are you?' ", "Say 'I love you' ", and so on.

In the last couple of days we've had some funny ones. I asked Nick to sing me the special hug song that we sing at bed time. The first line is "You're my Honey -bunch, Sugar-plum, Pumpy-umpy-upkin". Nicks version was "You're my Honey-bunch Sugar-PUNK, pumpy-umpy-umpkin".. To be honest, his version might be a little more accurate. LOL

Another example: today while Nick was saying the lunchtime blessing on the food I tried to insert a sentence for him to say. I said "Please bless everyone to feel better." (because the boys are currently sick). Nick took my cue, but instead said "Please bless ONE OF US to feel better."

Ah, kids. What's that saying? Kid's say the darndest things? True dat.

My Josh Video

2008-02-22T20:09:00.004-07:00

Today, I was feeling a little romantic-ish and thinking of how much I love my husband. (Blame it on February~ All those hearts and mushy poems and stuff). Anyway, I stumbled upon a cute way to show him (and everyone else) how I love him and made a little slide show. It's at the top of the blog on the left side and says Josh~ and all you have to do to watch it is click on the picture. It was a fun thing to do, and I think it was a nice little surprise for him after work. And, just so no one gets the wrong idea, I'm not "memorializing" him... just appreciating him. LOL!

Ohhhh.... Doggone it, baby.

2008-02-05T10:43:00.000-07:00

Andrew is currently infatuated with babies. He wants to hold toy "babies" all the time. Since the sibling rule is that "if they have it I want it", Paul and Nick have had enough of sharing their toy babies and informed me that Andrew needed his OWN doll. So the other day we went to the store and picked out a doll for his very own. Andrew was thrilled, but seeing Andrew get his new doll made Nick want a new doll. (vicious circle) So, feeling generous, Josh and I splurged on an additional 2 tiny baby dolls for about $1 each. LOL. Of course we let Nick and Drew choose their own dolls and the darling thing is that they both picked out little black babies. I commented that "they sure were cute little black babies", and was immediately corrected by Nick that they were "NOT black... they were cute little BROWN babies with cute little BROWN eyes." So we came away with 3 dolls. 1 big one and 1 little one for Andrew, and one little one for Nick. Whew.
Anyway, these dolls have been in their hands at all times. It's really cute. Nick named his after himself -so Nick's doll is Nick-- & Andrew's doll is Nick too. LOL.

I like to see how they parent these little dolls. It's a good insight as to how they think they are being parented I think. The other day Andrew told me his baby was sad and hurt. I said something like "Uh oh. Tell him it's ok." I then heard him say to his little baby just as softly and sweetly as he could- "Ohhhhh.. Doggone it Baby..... it's OK."
Josh and I looked at each other and I swear our hearts about broke. It was so sweet.
All their little parenting moments are not as sweet, but the ones that are, are worth writing about. The ones that are not as sweet are for me to keep to myself and work on in my own parenting skills. (giggle)

Rudolf the red-nosed..... Paul?

2008-01-27T23:53:00.000-07:00

So funny to me. The other day while riding in the car Paul suddenly shouts "I DON'T WANT TO BE CALLED RUDOLF THE RED-NOSED PAUL!"

It caught me (and Heidi who was up visiting me) completely off guard and so we burst into laughter. And then we realized what was happening. As quietly as he could without being heard by myself or Heidi, and kind of ducking his head behind the seat in front of him, Nick was teasing Paul and kind of chanting the song using Paul's name in place of reindeer. He was being as sly as a 3 1/2 year old can be and enjoying every minute of torturing Paul. I, of course had to tell him to stop teasing, but inside I giggled all the way home at the little twerp. HOW do kids learn to be such stinkers?

Another funny thing that happened was the night that Paul left his tooth under the pillow for the tooth fairy, Nick came out into the front room and worriedly informed me that if he pretended to go to sleep (explanation on the pretended part-- on nights they tell me they're not tired I tell them to pretend to go to sleep... usually does the trick), anyway he told me that if he pretended to go to sleep that the tooth fairy WOULD come.

I assured him that was a good thing... and kind of the idea. He then asked me in a kind of worried/hesitating way... "But Mommy?.... Will the tooth fairy give ME a loose tooth?"
I again assured him things would be fine and he would awake the next morning with all of his teeth firmly in place. He scurried off to bed (again), and I had to chuckle at his interpretations of what the night was going to bring. LOL.

Ahhhhhhhhh....... the laughter and memories these small ones bring.

2008-01-24T20:33:00.000-07:00

We reached another monumental moment in our family's history today... Paul not only discovered his 1st loose tooth, but later BEGGED me to pull it out for him! So, tonight he is one tooth less than he was this morning! He's really pleased about it too. He called as many people as he could to tell them about his exciting news before the phone police ordered him off the telephone. LOL. When Paul ran to show Nick and Andrew his treasured plucked out tooth and new straw hole in his mouth they were so excited for him! Nick shouted "That's SO COOL!" and Andrew said "That's AWESOME Paul!" It was pretty dang cute to watch.
.....
In other news today, we were able to attend the open house at the Rexburg Temple this morning. The temple was so beautiful. Of course you can't go all the places in the temple that you do normally, and so it appears kind of small, but WOW. It was very nice. The tile was shipped in from Jerusalem, and the wood from Africa. No nails, only glue. (at least in the entrance, I guess I don't know the specifics). LOTS of staircases to go up and down. Beautiful artwork!!! Beautiful murals!!! What an experience. The boys really enjoyed it. I learned another interesting thing about the building of temples too... While under construction there is a cleaning crew assigned to keep EVERYTHING clean (such as behind stud walls, no dust piles or stray nails or screws, etc.), while others are building, because there is to be no unclean thing in the house of the Lord. I thought that was so interesting and neat!
.....
Nick had his follow-up at Primary Childrens Hospital on Tuesday and he is amazing, as usual. ;) The picture posted is of him and the cardiologist who put in the ICD, Dr. David Bradley. We didn't get to see Dr. Cowley this time. His heart is so incredible. They were checking the reports on the last 2 months of having the ICD in and noticing how often his heart is fibrillating! Just last week it fibrillated 5 times in a matter of 2 days. LUCKILY, he was able to somehow pull himself back into a better rhythm before the ICD needed to shock him, and Josh and I are completely unaware of anything even happening, but just knowing how often his heart is acting up really makes us glad that they put the pacemaker/defibrillator in him. Just in case he isn't able to pull out of it by himself sometime.

.....

The kids recently tried another one of Grandpa Keith's favorite things-- melted cheese on bread. I know. It's not as unusual a food as he usually concocts, but the kids were a little leery of it anyway. However, they tried it and WOW! What a success. They love a lot of Dad's favorites. For instance the Famous Macaroni and Tomato Juice and Cheese is a HUGE hit at our house. I think that the boys ask for it at least 2 times a week. And just the other day we did peanut butter and banana sandwiches like Dad used to make for me when I was little, and that did pretty good here too. When Paul and Nick were a little younger they would pretend to be grandpa Keith and say in a LOW voice "I'm Grandpa Keith... I NEED SOME CHEESE!" LOL
.....
That's about it. We had someone look at our place last week and that's a good thing. We're keeping our fingers crossed and saying our prayers that things will work out smoothly and soon! We're wanting to get out to Tennessee and get set up and get Josh going back in school soon.
But for now we are also cherishing each moment we have here because we don't know how long we have to be in this wonderful place with all our loved ones and friends. We're going to miss everyone so much!

2008-01-18T08:06:00.000-07:00

PAUL TURNED 6 YEARS OLD YESTERDAY! Wow! He's getting so old! he told everyone in school and all of his friends that he was having a birthday party, he just forgot to tell me and Josh. He was so disappointed when we let him know that he wasn't going to have a big shindig. I tried to pull together something for him with a bunch of friends, but couldn't quite make it work, so instead we had a tiny party with just a couple of his pals. I think he still had fun, but I know he wished that ALL his friends could have come.

We had some pizza and cake and ice cream, and then we took the kids to the dollar theatre to see Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium. Luckily, Mom volunteered her services and stayed with Nick and Andrew so that we would only have to take one vehicle and kids that are old enough to SIT through a movie. She's so AWESOME. We love you mom!

Hey, so just in case we missed telling anyone, the house is officially for sale as of about a week ago. If anyone wants to see pics of it online you can go to http://www.realtor.com/ or http://www.realtyonsunnyside.com/ our mls# is 148188.

Josh is taking this semester off from ISU for us to try to make the move, so hopefully we will be out there by May for him to get enrolled in Middle Tennessee State University for the summer term. He's still going to get his nursing degree while he pursues the music career.

Josh is going to sell some of his songs out there, get some band gigs, meet with some record companies and become a famous country star (who happens to have a nursing degree!).

If anyone has any friends or contacts out in the Nashville area, please tell us!LOL! It'll help speed things up for us!

We are taking Nick back to Primary Children's Hospital on Tuesday morning for a check up on the ICD they recently put in. He's excited to go back and see his doctors. That's such a nice thing. I really believe that if you make positive comments and have a positive attitude about something (even something that is scary or dreadful- like surgeries and procedures) , you can teach your children to see the good things in the bad. I'm so glad that this has worked with Nick. Otherwise, these trips could be a really traumatic thing instead of something he looks forward to.

That's the latest! We love you all!

Don't Blink.....

2007-12-29T21:54:00.000-07:00

Sheesh! Does time fly by or what!?! You blink and SHAZAM! A whole month goes by! Lol.

The boys have been really funny in the last few weeks. They have discovered the joy of the copycat game. Yea. Even Andrew has caught on. And their vocabulary amazes me sometimes. Just today Paul asked me what matrimony is. Lol. He's such a good helper to me. Sometimes I forget that he's so young. He'll be 6 in a couple of weeks and I'm sure that I treat him like a 12 year old much too often. Andrew is trying his darndest grow up fast and to keep up with whatever the other 2 are doing and is always by their sides. Nick is a little spitfire and acts much too old for a 3 year old. He loves pushing things to the maximum limit. He seems to still be doing well recovering and that's awesome. The boys are constantly teasing each other and making sure that there is never a dull moment at our house. They really are so much fun though. I don't know how people get along in life without boys like these at their house. They light up our lives with their tender moments and funny things that they do.

For example, they say the cutest things in their prayers:

"Please bless that it isn't 8:00 and we don't have to go to bed." ~Nick

"Please bless that I can stay home from school and watch Sesame Street tomorrow because I really DO like that show." ~Paul

"Please bless Nick and Andrew to be quiet and not talk so that I can go to sleep tonight and they will be QUIET." ~Paul

"Please bless Daddy to come home safely"~Andrew (says this every night whether or not Josh is even gone)

"Thank you that I can stay up late and not go to bed and I am not even tired and I'm holding my buddy and I had macaroni and cheese for dinner but I'm still hungry and I need more water in my sippy cup because I'm thirsty and I need to play with Paul's cars and I am not tired yet...." (and on and on he will go until you stop him) ~Nick

And of course the ever TRIUMPHANT shout after each prayer he says: "I DID IT!!!" ~Drew

See? Now who couldn't be thankful for THAT?

You're WHAT?

2007-11-28T19:50:00.000-07:00

Today was a fun day. We're talking a keep-you-busy-barely-catch-your-breath kind of a day. There was school for Paul, and morning routine things with the little ones, then there was lunch and a little friend came to play, we made kool-aid playdough, then of course played with it, we printed out Christmas coloring pages and made books and then colored them, we made rice krispie treats and cut them out into Christmas shapes, played "tickle" and "cookie" monsters, watched Frosty the Snowman on TV, had a nap, made and ate dinner, read, and watched another nighttime Christmas movie on TV. Throw in the regular things like laundry, and dishes, picking up toys right and left, making beds, errands in town, and STILL somehow.... through all of this there was time to utter the words "I'm bored."

You've got to be kidding. LOL. Well, I tried.

A Quiet Thanksgiving

2007-11-24T15:08:00.001-07:00

We had a nice little and for the most part quiet Thanksgiving. (it's never completely quiet here, LOL) Since we couldn't be with others this year we just took things easy. Josh slept in late and then worked in the garage for an hour or so, the kids and I made some apple-turkeys (see picture) and we kind of lazed about watching Christmas movies throughout the day. I made us a typical T-day dinner (although the kids didn't eat much of it-- they were still full from grilled cheese sandwiches they had for lunch). The boys showed us their best turkey noises... what good gobblers we have here at our house! We also got out the Christmas tree and decorations. All in all, it was a pretty nice day.

The Wounds

2007-11-19T17:37:00.000-07:00

Tonight I had a chance to change Nicks bandages and kind of examine the wounds a bit. They are looking really good. You can see in the first picture how the device kind of protrudes from his belly. The swelling has gone down a ways, and as it goes down all the way the device will be more noticeable. But it looks good. And just the fact that he let me touch him was HUGE.

Thankfully, Paul and Andrew are not being too rambunctious yet. It's so nice to be all together again. They are being sweet and gentle and worried about him.

Paul is counting the days to Thanksgiving and Christmas! He's doing really well at reading the calendar and also the clock. He's such a quick learner. He's also become very defensive of the little ones. If I ever use my exasperated tone of voice with the babies he comes right up to me and tells me to not be mad, they're just babies and they just wanted _______(whatever).

Andrew is learning a lot of new words and has turned into a BIG tease. And a bit of a food thief. If there is anything he wants (cube of butter, cheese, gallon of milk, cookies) he just finds a way to snag some while we're not looking. Funny boy.

Despite all the craziness that seems to always happen this time of year, I really enjoy harvest time and the holidays. They have a cozy-ness and way of reminding me how much we have to be thankful for.

Home Sweet Home

2007-11-17T21:26:00.000-07:00

Well, we did it... we made it home tonight! They discharged Nick from the hospital just before 5 pm tonight. Kind of a funny thing though, Nick didn't want to go home. He was too afraid he would hurt and so he begged to just lay there in his hospital bed. We finally convinced him and he seems to be feeling a lot better. He still can't move much at all, and is VERY sensitive to the touch, but hopefully it's nothing a few weeks won't heal. And in a day or so he can even shower. (no baths for a while, but it'll be nice to get him all washed off). We're only using Ibuprofen and Tylenol now too, which is also good. We're glad to have him off the narcotics.
We hope that the kinks have been worked through on the ICD. The other night (after Nick had received a shock earlier in the day) he was falling asleep and I was sitting next to him. You know how when you fall asleep sometimes your body does those uncontrollable twitches? Well his did and I caught it out of the corner of my eye and my heart about leapt out of my chest fearing he had just received another shock. It's kind of funny now, and NOT, at the same time.
We're just so glad to be home. Even though it's nice to be so close to so many specialists who care so much about him, it's just nice to be HOME again- even with the fatigue from the last week setting in!
We can't thank everyone enough for all your prayers. Heavenly Father has been so good to us. What a wonderful time of year to remember it.

A Glimmer

2007-11-16T22:42:00.000-07:00

We got a glimmer of our little Nick tonight. He started to talk a little and is beginning to move around a tiny bit. And, he is making us laugh. He decided to press the call button for the nurse to come in, REPEATEDLY. A few times the nurse came in (tonight it's a man) and Nick would just kind of scowl at him. Finally he confessed to what he wanted to have happen when he called for the nurse... it was this:
"I want a GIRL to come in!" The little twerp.

He's doing ok tonight. He's still in pain and not really moving much, but as I mentioned is beginning to show his personality again. Thank goodness. He's still keeping everyone on their toes though, his heart is just continuing to misbehave and alarm the nurses and in effect, us. Thankfully it hasn't required another "therapy" (shock) from the ICD.

Some excitement this morning

2007-11-16T11:23:00.000-07:00

So, this morning we were trying to get Nick ready to go for a walk, I was changing his pull-up while Darla held him up, he got a jolt from the defibrilator which Darla felt too. Poor little guy didn't like that at all. I know it must have hurt pretty bad. It looked like he just latched on to a live wire in a wall or something the way he got all tight for just a second.
The doctor and his assistants came in soon after that to try to figure out what made it go off and decided that it was just doing it's job. His heart went into a really fast rate and stayed at that rate for fourteen seconds so the ICD hit him with the shock. His heart responded the way that it should and decreased it's rate. So, even though Nick seemed ok before the thing happened, the tachycardia may have made him pass out anyway, but it seemed to be an unnecessary shock because he was still very coherent. Now the doctors are going to try to adjust the ICD to hit him a little later I think, I know they are re-setting it, I'm just not sure how long they dare let the rythms go before having the ICD charge up and hit him. I'm not the expert here so I'm leaving that to them.
Anyway, I feel bad that it happened and I know that it hurt, I just hope that they can get something figured out to compromise enough so that he doesn't have to feel the shocks.
Thanks for all your prayers and support through this.

Another Night Here

2007-11-15T17:47:00.000-07:00

We will be staying tonight here at Primary's... Nick just isn't seeming like himself at all yet and is in a lot of pain. They've added some Lortab and will decrease the morphine he's taking to help with the hurt. We'll see what tonight and tomorrow bring. He has hardly moved a single muscle. We're going to try to force him to take a few steps walking around tonight and see if we can't get some circulation and things moving.
Really, with Nick, all we can do is to take things one tiny step at a time. He is such a unique situation!

Two sweet little things Nick did yesterday:

First, I was talking to him and told him to make sure and tell us if he needed to go potty and to try not to go in his pull up. He looked at me all serious and said; "Don't talk down to me Mom." LOL

Second, after being in surgery all day, while in the recovery room he looked at me and got kind of teary eyed. I asked him what was the matter and he said "But I didn't get to see Dr. Cowley yet! You said I can see Dr. Cowley, and I didn't."
(I had to then explain that Dr. Cowley had come to see Nick while he was sleeping and that he would get to see him the next day too... But how sweet is that? He's just been through the ringer and all he's thinking about is how he didn't get to see his beloved cardiologist).

Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator

2007-11-15T11:59:00.000-07:00

Last night just after 6:00 pm they still hadn't finished working on Nick. The cardiologists called us in and told us that Nick had fibrillated 2 times in the time they had been working on him and that he had been having a lot of ventricular tachycardia. They felt very strongly that the best option would be to implant a cardioverter defibrilator. (the intercardiac device I mentioned in the previous blog). Apparently there is a way to do it without breaking open his chest, and so they did it. He was in surgery until 10:00pm but they wanted to do it while he was already under anesthesia and also because of the fibrillations he had had while they were in there-- they didn't want to risk waiting and Nick needing the machine. The device is located in his abdomen wall on the left side just above his waistline. He has a new scar there now to show off (about 3 or so inches long) and also a new scar under his left arm kind of up in the armpit about an inch long. (They needed to run one on the leads from up there.) Hopefully this is not something that he will have to use a lot. Hopefully this is just a safeguard and a safety net in case his little heart acts up too much.
We saw it work this morning. His heart rate was running pretty fast for a few minutes when the pacer jumped into action and slowed it down to a better rate. There is a lot of work involved in getting the device programmed for his body because as we all know children are excitable and feisty sometimes, and the difficulty lies in programming the device just right so that it doesn't shock him unnecessarily. His excitement could trick the device into thinking he is fibrillating when he is not. If he receives a shock unnecessarily it could be painful to him and so we are praying that they can program things to just the right point. Too little of voltage and it wont help, too much and it could be painful. We think that they have got a good idea of where things should be so far. They are very careful.The device should last about 4 years before needing to replace it or its battery.
Right now we are kind of taking things a few minutes at a time. His pain is pretty high and he is on morphine and motrin. They also have him on some routine post-surgery antibiotics, and have decided to change heart medicines. He is being AMAZING through all of this. You can tell for sure that he doesn't feel good and is pain-- he is breathing in grunts, not moving almost at all, has very little appetite, isn't talking, and cries out if he is moved at all. But through it all, he tries to give us a weak little half smiles and nod his answers to our questions. He is being REALLY tough about all the poking and prodding and bandages and wires and stuff all over him.... hardly even a whimper when they have to do things to him. It's very impressive.
It's possible that we could leave this afternoon if all seems well, but it's more likely that Josh and I will try to have them keep us another night. After they sent us home so soon when he had the open-heart surgery and we ended up back at the E.R. that night, we are a little gun-shy.
One cool thing I didn't mention-- the ICD has wireless capability and incredible recording features. So anytime it picks up an irregularity it will record it and store it for the cardiologists! Also, it has the ability to send transmissions to PCMC wirelessly, so that even if we don't know he has had something happen the machine does and will notify the doctors here. Nick will have a monitor that will be kept in his room at night and as long as he is within like 30ft of this monitor it will record any odd happenings. I think that is awesome.
Nick will have a few restrictions for a while.. he'll need to try to not roughhouse or be too excited especially in the next month while the device settles in.
He needs to try to avoid some electromagnetic fields like anti-theft columns they have at movie rental places and libraries (meaning he shouldn't linger near them. as long as he just walks normally through then it should be fine). At the airport he will have to notify security and provide them with his medical identification to show he has a ICD and they will not be able to run the wand over his heart more that once every 30 seconds. And many regular household items he will just need to keep at least 6 inches away from his device-- such as an electric mixer, hair dryer, plug-in shaver, electric or ultrasonic toothbrush, magnetic bracelet or clasps, sewing machines, back massagers, magnetic chair pads... etc...
Things like microwaves, blenders, toasters, washer or dryers,curling irons, cordless shavers, and electric blankets are low-risk.
This ICD isn't 100% and neither is medicine, but hopefully this is a better alternative to having nothing.
That's the latest, we'll let you know more as we do. LOVE YOU ALL!

Still waiting

2007-11-14T14:53:00.000-07:00

We're here at PCMC waiting today. Nick has been in the cath lab under anesthesia for 3 hours now. They allotted 4 hours for him, but the specialist said it could take up to 5. We just got an update and it sounds like Nick's heart is acting up a little in there (which is good, because they want to see WHY it's beating irregularly) -- so, they are investigating right now trying to figure out what is causing him to have tachycardia (irregular rhythms). The nurse we spoke with said that he is doing really well. We will be staying the night here and we'll have to see what they find and what steps they take today while he's already here and in surgery.
There is a possibility that they will put in a small heart rhythm monitor which can record several minutes of heart rhythms if we need to (like if Nick faints again- I could use a remote control and tell the device to save the previous 7 minutes of rhythms, and then when we see the cardiologist he could get a print out of the readings and know just what Nick's heart had been doing before he passed out and maybe see what the problem was). There is also a little talk today about the possibility of putting in an InterCardiac Device (ICD) which is like a heart defibrillator and a pacemaker. That COULD happen today if they feel like it is REALLY REALLY necessary, but more than likely it would happen on a different day IF they decide he needs one, because of the time involved and the need to re-open the chest. (Remember, today they are just using catheters going up through the veins in his groin all the way to his heart to manipulate the electrical system).
Anyway. That's the latest. So far, so good. We'll keep the info coming as we get it. Love Y'all.

A little delay

2007-11-13T16:36:00.000-07:00

Well, we are here in SLC, but due to miscommunication, Nick won't be seen today at PCMC. Instead he will be seen tomorrow. We will check in at same-day surgery in the morning and from there we will just take it one moment at a time. We're still not completely sure what the plan is and what they will try to accomplish tomorrow, we're just sure in the knowledge that we are working with the best of the best down here, and that's good to know.
Paul and Andrew are happy to have a few days at Grandma's and to be loved on and treated like little princes. Sometimes we feel so bad for those two... it feels like they get pushed behind the shadows quite often - with all the spotlight that Nick gets. It's so good for them to get some extra attention once in a while. Thank goodness for grandparents!
We'll keep you updated as much as we can. Thank you all for your love and concern and prayers. We really feel your support.

New news on Nick

2007-11-09T23:35:00.001-07:00

We received news from Nicholas' cardiologist at Primary Childrens Medical Center tonight that the results from the 24 hour heart moniter test are very concerning and not so good. Apparently Nick is having very irregular and sporatic heart rates which could be the cause of him "not feeling good" , "feeling tired", and the one passing out incident.

Dr. Cowley wants us back down to the hospital immediately (he's bumped someone else to get us in on Tuesday) to do a cath lab (we're not entirely sure what this involves yet) on Nick and then he will have us meet with another cardiologist whose specialty is in the electrical system of the heart, and we'll do more tests.

The doctors at Primary Children's are phenomenal and we have a lot of faith in their capabilities. And as for Dr. Cowley, next to family, there might be no one who loves Nicholas more than him. That knowledge is very comforting. And we know that Heavenly Father is with us. With Him on our side, all is well. Thank you all for any prayers in Nicks behalf.

Inspired...

2007-11-05T11:00:00.000-07:00

OK! I have been inspired by many of you to try to do the blogging thing. So, here goes!

Paul is a reader!! He can read a lot of things, and right now I think his favorite thing to read is Dr. Seusse's Green Eggs and Ham. It's awesome to see your 5 year old dive into reading! He read his own talk in Primary a couple of months ago, and just this weekend in SLC (at Paulines house) he read the wall words in Jessicas room "Did you think to pray?" . On our way home yesterday he kept asking everyone that question. It made us chuckle.
He has also discovered the joy of knock-knock jokes... sort of. Except he doesn't quite understand the punchline trick. He and Nick were giggling like crazy at each others attempt to tell knock knocks yesterday. (Andrew just laughed because the other 2 were laughing.)
Prime example: "Knock, knock"
"Who's there?"
"Don't you get it? I'm a banana!"
We had to laugh. We tried to explain but I'm thinking it's gonna take a little while. Lol.

We just got back from a visit to Primary Childrens Medical Center to see Nick's cardiologist and things are looking pretty much the same with his heart - so far. We are waiting for results to get back from a 24 hour test he had, but generally things look about the same. No change is definately a good thing! We want that tumor to stay the same size (shrinking would be nice, but not likely), and for his heart to keep growing. And speaking of inspiration earlier, I think we saw the work of the Lord in how we scheduled this last visit. It was supposed to have been a month earlier, but we were unable to get in. We've had some scares in that month with Nick being extremely tired and one time even passing out... so it was good to see the doctor AFTER those things had happened and discuss things. Nick absolutley LOVES his cardiologist. He hugs & loves on him, sings him songs, tells him stories, draws him pictures, spells the doctors name, tells all the nurses that Dr. Cowley is "better than Santa Claus" and looks forward for MONTHS to seeing him. Nick asked me for a few days what he could bring to Dr. Cowley - because he wanted to give him a gift.

I guess the most interesting thing to share with everyone is that we are contemplating a move to the East... And hoping that we're being inspired in this endeavor too! We're thinking that we would like to move to Tennessee-- more specifically the Nashville area. It's been a dream of Josh's for a good 15 years and it's feeling like the time might just be right. Nothing has really happened yet in starting the wheels turning, and there are a lot of details to cover, but we think this could be a real possibility for us soon. (You know they say that the humidity out there keeps everyone looking younger, so that's a plus! We could use some anti-aging & anti-stress help! LOL)