No more Hospitals PLEASE!

So when we returned from our trip to Arizona Maddy started complaining that her Belly hurt. At first I was just thinking that she was tired as we all were since we had just returned home from our trip. It kept persisting and then I started to think that she was either gassy or constipated. She started complaining of pain on Sunday afternoon. The pain was very sporadic. She would be complaining one minute and the next minute she was fine and running around and playing. I knew something wasn't right when she woke up on thursday morning and wouldn't eat or drink anything. I started by just taking her to urgent care. They could tell that she was in pain but was not running a fever or anything. They sent us to the ER for a "Full work up". After blood test, Urine test, and an x-ray. They concluded that she was dehydrated. They started her on and IV and then told me they were going to do more investigating because they could tell something just wasn't right. ( I later found out that the original xray showed a small bowel obstruction.) They then proceeded to do a ct scan. What they thought they saw in the ct scan in that her small intestine was "malrotated" They then ordered an upper GI test. After the upper GI test they admitted her to the Peds. floor and the next morning they did a lower GI test. After the lower GI test they concluded she had something called "Intussusception". Which is where your intestines act like a telescope and they fold inside itself like a telescope. They then moved quickly and transported her to another hospital in Reno and had her in surgery very quickly to repair the intussusception. She was in PICU for a night to monitor her and moved her to the Peds floor when she was stable. She was released from the hospital on a monday. But the next day we took her right back to the ER because she spiked a fever that initially read 107.2. The ER sent her home once they got her fever down and did more blood tests. Everything came back n0rmal.



Once Maddy was feeling better she wanted to get out of bed and take a walk around the halls. But the IV came everywhere with her.

The only other thing she liked to do while in the hospital was watch movies. They brought in a tv with a vcr and dvd and she watched movies.

She is doing much better now and her incission looks great. She still complains of pain sometimes so we are watching that and if it doesn't go away we have been instructed to call the surgeon again. Her doc said worst case scenario is that it has folded in on itself again. The chance of this happening again is less than 5% chance. But I've learned that Worst case scenario is very possible. We're just praying that its not.

Summer Happenings!

I know it has been over a year but I am now finally getting around to updating our blog! We luckily got a new/used computer so I can now update our blog. The only pictures I have on this computer is what I've taken very recently that were on our camera. Our other computer locked me out and won't let me in to do anything. So there aren't to many pictures to show for this post.

To start off our summer the day the kids got out of school in June the kids and I took a trip to California to help out my sister Terie who had just had her baby. The baby was 3 months pre-mature. His name is Samuel. He is now almost 7 oz. and is getting ready to come home from the NICU in a week or so.

Our next trip was as a family to Utah for the 4th of July. We had fun hanging with my family and had the amazing opportunity to go to BYU's Stadium of Fire. The whole show was amazing. Brad Paisley, and David Archiletta performed. The fireworks gave me goose bumps.

Next we took a trip to Arizona the first week in August. Yes it was Hot but we had such a good time. Jason is currently working on his Masters Degree in Human Movement. He is doing it all online through AT Still University. They are located in Mesa AZ. Luckily my sister Emilie and her family lives their so when Jason had to attend on campus lectures for one week we were able to stay with them. The kids had a blast playing with their cousins and of course swimming. Granted the water was probably about 85 degrees but it was still fun.



Brianna started to learn to swim without a life jacket or water wings and did quite well.

Mya also learned to swim without any floaties. She is quite the fish. By the end of the week she was diving in and swimming so well. Without assistance.

Maddy started off the week by being terrified of being in the water without anyone holding her. She learned that with water wings she can float and have a great time. By the end of the week we could hardly keep her out of the pool she loved her new found freedom in the pool.
Adam made amazing strides as well. He started off by just sitting on the side putting his feet in the water he was so afraid of being in the water even with someone holding him. So I did what my nephews swim instructor did and just threw him in. Yes it was scary but it got him in and he also realized that he can float with the water wings and have a great time. He was swimming and floating all over the place by the end of the week.

I was so proud of my kids and all that they learned and accomplished.

Ongoing projects

We constantly have some sort of project that we are working on. Recently Jason has felt the urge to work outside. So here is the most recent outside project.

When we bought the house there was a sort of rock garden in front of our house. Jason got sick of looking at the rocks and decided to take them out. It really wasnt to bad until we got to this rock. It took about 2 hours just to get this big granite rock out. It was much bigger than we had ancticipated. Jason eventually hooked it with rope and towed it across the driveway with the van.

Here's Adam trying to help daddy get the rock out.

Here are some finished pictures of the landscape outside. It looks so much nicer.

Here is the latest inside project. The 2nd full bath in the house was the worst by far. Covered with wall paper that was water stained and halfway peeling off the wall. The floor was laminate tile that was laid poorly and was coming up at almost every seam. We decided to gut the bathroom and retile. We retiled the floor and half the wall with Porcelain tile. It still isn't quite done but looks so much nicer than before. These pictures are backwards but you get the picture.

A few more from Zions

Here are a few more picutres from our Zions Adventure. Here's the group that went on the zip line. It really isn't the most flattering picture. But it was sure fun.

From left to right. Dad, me, mom, Kareena, Chris, Ben, and Mya .

Maddy sure loved spending time with Kareena.

Poor Maddy was just to tired to make it up the stairs so she just crashed.

We're finally posting something!

After many long months we are finally posting something. In June we had the wonderful opportunity to make a much to quick of a trip to Zions National Park in Southern Utah to be with my moms family for the Keddington family reunion. It had been atleast 20 years since we had been together for the Keddington reunion. We got to see family we hadn't seen in years and we got to hear my grandmother talk about my grandfather that many of us did not have the opportunity to know because he passed away 30 years ago. It was so fun to be there. And to be with all my siblings but one who is still on his mission. (We miss you Mike.)


We enjoyed some very beautiful scenery in Zions. We hiked and played in the ranch where we were staying.

Adam playing in the water on our hike.

Mya and Brianna on the pony ride.

Mya is our dare devil and did the zip line. She loved it.

Miss Madelyn playing in the water.

Mya and Brianna our posers.

More beautiful scenery.

Adam sporting his new sunglasses.

The whole gang, except Mike.

Winter Storm

Here's the latest storm to come through. It dropped about 18 inches and then continued to snow all day today but it was too warm to have more stick. Church was cancelled due to the massive amounts of snow on the roads. We usually will only get a few inches at a time, not almost two feet in less than 24 hours.



I used our retaining wall to make a nice little snow slide for the kids. They had a blast. Here's some video and pics of them having fun on the slide.

My Montage 1/24/10 at OneTrueMedia.com

Here's our goings on for the last three months! Sorry!

This is for Chris. Thanks for all your nagging.

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

So after being scolded from my brother for not updating our blog for 3 months here is a quick post of what we have been up too. Most recently we celebrated Mya's 6th birthday. Mya is growing up so fast. She is big into to makeup thing and was so excited that she got play makeup for her birthday. She puts in on every day, and is even nice enough to share and put some on Brianna as well. This picture below is Mya's kindergarten picture. She loved picture day, we tied her hair in socks the night before to give it the curly look. She doesn't have the curly hair like she used to.

We are currently in the process of buying our first home. Yay. We are so excited. We should close before Thanksgiving. There is still alot that needs to be done in the home; it needs alot of updating but we are excited to make it our own. Here is a little glimpse of what it looks like from the front. We are looking forward to having more space for the kids to run around and play in. We will have almost double the space that we have in our apartment.

Besides the house thing not to much else is happening. We are still waiting for Madelyn to walk. Hopefully soon. she will be a year old on Sunday the 22nd. Adam is in speech therapy and is doing so much better with his talking. He still has a long way to go but its better than it was before. Brianna is... Brianna thats all I can really say about her. She drives me nuts most of the time but I still love her.

Fun little bike ride

I took a couple of hours after work on Saturday and went up the Whites Creek Trail and Dry Pond Trail. It was all together probably an hour ride up and down. It was a blast. I think I found a new hobby. Al though I will probably break my bike since it is coming up on 10 years old.


It was a nice workout going up and suprisingly down as well. My feet were tensing up at the bottom of the ride. I'll have to see how far it was but I'm guesing a couple of miles up and then a couple down. I probably topped out at near 8000 feet or so. There were some pretty good climbs in there.


It was certainly beautiful. The lower half of the trail was all covered and shaded by pine trees. When I broke off to the Dry Pond Trail it goes up the more barren south face. Up top is a cool looking meadow that is I guess a pond or was (hence "Dry" pond). It was fun.


I'm looking forward to checking out all the other trails that link together. We have the Thomas Creek Trail, Whites Creek Trail, Galena Creek Trail and some other connecting trails. All this is 10 minutes away and in the pretty Sierras.


I got some pics with my phone. Here they are.

Here's a little section of the trail on Dry Pond Trail. Fun single track on the south face of the mountain.

This is Dry Pond with Mt. Rose ski resort in the back.

When you reach the top this is what you see.

Here's a look back at the Sierras.

Our Family Vacation!

We had the opportunity to take a much needed family Vacation. We went to Utah for the "Watkins Family Renuinion" and to Celebrate my Grandfathers 93 Birthday. We had a blast. Here are the highlights of our trip.

The reunion was an Indian theme.

My cousins put together a parade for all the

young children. Mya is too shy to participate

in things like this but not Brianna. If you can't

tell she is the one in the Bright pink swimsuit.

As long as there is water or dirt involved

Adam is happy. Directly below is Adam

playing in water during the program portion

of the reunion. To the right Adam was playing

in the dirt outside of the cabin after church in

his Sunday clothes.

We were fortunate to be able to stay at the Watkins Family cabin just past Sundance up

in the Provo Canyon. The cabin is atleast 50 years old and still has the original "Kelvinator"

refridgerator. That still works. I absolutely love this place.

My parents took us shopping to the Provo Mall and bought the girls new dresses.

Here they are sporting there new dresses. Notice "Grandpa" behind the screen.

"SILLY GRANDPA"

We were able to do some target shooting. Jason had to buy a BB gun for us to use.

Mya and Brianna got a kick out of shooting the gun. Jason tried to help Adam but he

didn't really like that idea.

Brianna and Mya sure love their Uncle Morgan. He was so nice to take them fishing one

morning and Mya even caught a fish. But it wiggled its way off the hook before they

could get a picture of it. They don't get to see family very often so when they do

they would much rather be with them than with us.

Thanks Morgan for playing with the kids and taking them fishing.

Grandpa trying to teach Brianna how to fish.

She's good for about 2 minutes then she's done.
Me with Madelyn.




Mya caught another fish with Grandma's help. She sure loved this and surprisingly didn't

mind touching the fish. Brianna would rather climb and play than stand and fish.

Grandpa's trademark. Holding kids in the air, and Madelyn loves it.

Jason and Morgan decided to make a good fishing hole just behind our cabin by building a dam. Here is a before and after shot. Jason decided to get in the river which is probably about 32 degree's Morgan couldn't let Jason show him up so Morgan had to get in as well. Boys will be boys.



Adam loved relaxing with Uncle Chris. Chris eventually put Adam to sleep doing this.

BRIDAL VEIL FALLS

We hiked up Bridal Veil Falls and cooled off a little. The kids did surprisingly well hiking.

They just didn't care much for getting sprayed by the cold water.

Madelyn loved it up there and didn't mind the spray as much as the other kids.

Hence Briannas pouty face.

It had been years since I had hiked the falls and I loved the opportunity to be

able to do it again.

ROCK CLIMBING

We were able to spend some time with Megan and Ben Jason's sister and her husband.

They took us rock climbing at Rock Canyon. Everyone got to try even Adam.

Before we left we met by brother at a park near his work for a picnic and to say goodbye. The kids loved playing with their uncle Chris and showing off there tricks.




Since Mya hs started school she has taught

herself how to do the monkey bars. Look at that concentration.

We've decided to call Madelyn "Bright eyes" or Blue eyes whichever comes out first.

Thanks Chris for taking time out of your day to spend time with us. We love you.

OUR ADVENTURE GOING HOME.

Its really hard to tell by this picture above but every

one of the cars down there is a police car besides one Truck.

We counted about 28 police cars. He're a quick story; On our drive home we hit traffic. Thinking it was just an accident and that we'd be moving soon we turned the radio to KSL 1160 am which informed us that there was a shooting on the freeway which closed east and west bound lanes. What started as a routine traffic stop ended with a police officer shooting someone. Two hours later they turned us around on the freeway.

Then there was a horrible fire burning up in Tooele canyon. It didn't stop us but it was sure smokey though.

Sorry this is so long but we had quite the trip. Now its back to reality.