Recently

Just wanted to post about some of the things we've done recently. One night Chis and I went to his Grandma and Grandpa's and went swimming in their pool. It was so nice, we hadn't been able to do that in awhile. On the way there we stopped and took this picture of Shoshone Falls. Usually we see them from a different place, but they were really pretty from this view. 

 Last weekend Chris went camping with my dad and brothers and they had tinfoil dinners, and ever since then, Chris wanted them again. So Monday night we went to his dad's to cook them (with the dogs and llamas) :)

 They turned out delicious!

 Sunday we had dinner at my sister's house and played a good game of Boccee Ball.

 Halli loves to pose for the camera and this was her new pose. I don't know where she learned that.

Kelsi graduated from Seminary-we are so proud of her!

 Chris' sister Courtney is a senior as well and we thought that we were going to both of their graduations, but when we got there realized that they were separated by stakes. So we didn't get to see Courtney but we are proud of her too!

 Lately I have had more energy and last week I made a good meal for the first time in a long time: chicken pot pie! It is one of Chris' favorites. We have really appreciated all the meals that have been brought to us but it was nice to eat something we are used to. I have cooked a couple times since then and love that I am getting my energy back!

 I also made a bunch of thank you cards (we had a lot of people to thank). It was fun but I'm glad they are all done now!

Last week was a little rough. First off, on Tuesday I went out to our mailbox to mail the thank you cards, and on the way back I tried to take a big step/hop over a line of ants (I wasn't wearing any shoes). Well turns out my legs still aren't as strong as I thought they were and so my knees were bent and I didn't have the strength to straighten them, so I stumbled and fell and hit my jaw on the cement front porch and bruised it, and scraped my wrist pretty good. I also ended up with a pretty good bruise on the side of my hip and a couple on my leg. It hurt pretty bad. I sat on the ground for a minute or so and then scooted myself onto the steps and stood up and went inside....then I cried. :) Mostly just from emotions I think, it kind of scared me and frustrated me. But I was ok and I got over it.

Wednesday afternoon we went to watch our nephews play baseball (my nephew Kalan was playing Chris' nephew Calvry). I was kind of not feeling well and was really tired but I wanted to go anyway. I only last about 20-30 minutes before I had to leave. When I got home I had really bad body aches and I had a fever. I took tylenol but it took the rest of the night for the fever to go away. I went to bed and the the next day I woke up and felt fine. Friday I went to a pizza party they had at work (to celebrate being fully staffed again since I was coming back, the girl who had been on maternity leave was coming back, and we hired someone new). Afterwards I drove to Burley to stay at my mom's while Chris went camping with my dad and brothers. About the time I got there I started not feeling well again and had really really bad body aches and chills. My brothers Kyler and Kelby gave me a blessing before they left to go camping and I felt a little better the rest of the night but I didn't feel like going and doing anything so my mom picked up some food from Taco Bandido and a Redbox movie for us and we stayed home and watched that. During the night I had a pretty upset stomach and was nauseated. The next day I had a fever most of the day and stayed in my pajamas and slept. Chris drove to Burley and got me because I didn't think I would be able to drive home. I think it must have just been a touch of the flu, but it was kind of weird. Saturday night I started to feel better and Sunday was much better. I was mad because my mom and I didn't get to do any of the things we had planned and we had planned to go to Chris' dad's and play games with his siblings Saturday night but had to stay home. I guess my immune system isn't quite up to snuff.

This week has been much better-I was able to go back to work! Good thing too because my FMLA ran out and I had used all the paid hours I was allowed from the Employees Helping Employees. I worked for about 4 hours Monday (mostly just checking 3 months worth of emails), 5 hours Tuesday, and 3 hours Thursday. I was afraid that I was not going to remember how to do anything, but it was just like riding a bike. :) Hopefully this next week I can work a few more hours. Wednesday my mom came to do some shopping and errands so I went with her and that was fun. Friday my cousin Jeff on my dad's side got married and I was able to go to the sealing. It was nice to see a few of my cousins who I hadn't seen in awhile. Friday night we went swimming again at Chris' grandparents' with Chris' cousin Paul and his wife Jess. That was really fun. I am just so thankful that I am doing so much better and able to get out and do things now. And I don't feel completely exhausted afterwards. I still have a ways to go but things are definitely much better now and I like it!

Mother's Day

Mother's Day weekend Chris had his 10 year high school reunion (I know he's so old!) haha. Friday night we dressed up and went to a place downtown called the Historic Ballroom and had appetizers and desserts and visited with his classmates. They had a slideshow with pictures and stuff too. The next day we went to a BBQ in Hansen. I think Chris enjoyed seeing everyone. There were on like 25 people in his class, and I think about 17 people showed up. That night we had a BBQ at my Aunt Bev's house because my cousin Danielle and her husband Brandt were home, and we hadn't seen them in awhile. It was really fun visiting with them. The next day we visited Chris' mom and stepmom, and then went to Burley and had dinner at my mom's. Here is a card I made on my Cricut:

This is what I woke up to on Mother's Day. I told Chris I'm not a mother, and he replied, "But you will be someday." (No this is not an announcement). I thought that was sweet. I guess that means I should do something for him on Father's Day. :)

It was a good weekend and I'm glad we were able to get out and do things. I was getting really tired and being home all the time!

And of course I have to say that I am so thankful for my mom! She is nothing short of amazing and I love her so much. I wish I could do as much for her as she does for me. I am also so lucky to have amazing mothers-in-law who are always there for us and who have raised such a wonderful man that I get to call my husband. I am truly blessed with wonderful mothers in my life!

Boise and Baptism

A couple of weeks ago my nephew Nathan was baptized and we went to Boise for it. We left Friday night and stayed the night at my brother Chad's house. We had fun with my nephews, and my mom and brother Kyler and his girlfriend Stephanie got there Friday too. The next day we just hung out and played games and such before the baptism. Later my sister Tysi and her family and my brother Kelby and his family came. The baptism was at 4 pm, and we had a delicious dinner afterwards. We stayed till about 9:00 that night and then drove home. It was fun spending time with family and I'm so glad that I was feeling well enough to go and see Nathan's baptism.

Here are some pictures of our fun times:

Here is all my family who were there. I love them!

                                       
Nathan and I after he was baptized. Isn't he so cute?

Chris and I after the baptism

 We're crazy. :) 

U of U Hospital Stay

Well I wanted to post a few pics from when I was in the hospital. There are still a few things I wanted to write down as well, just so I don't forget them. This post might be kind of random, with just certain experiences that I want to remember, not in any particular order. The first few days I was in Salt Lake we basically did a lot of waiting. They kept saying that I had a blockage, or strictures, or narrowing in my intestines. I was in tons of pain. They were trying to avoid surgery if at all possible so they were trying a lot of other things first. I saw several teams of doctors-GI doctors, GI surgeons, internal medicine doctors, general surgeons, etc. It was a little frustrating at first, because they would all want to do different things (start TPN, not start TPN, etc). Finally after a few days the GI surgeons decided they would pretty much take charge and had me moved to the surgical floor. The GI doctors also continued to follow along. 

After a few days they decided to do a sigmoidoscopy, with the purpose of trying to open up some of the narrowing and strictures. I hoped and expected to wake up feeling better, with some of the problem fixed. That did not happen. I pretty much woke up screaming in pain. I had never been in so much pain-even worse than the car ride from Logan, and remember I said that that was the worst pain I'd ever been in. The nurses in recovery obviously didn't know anything about my situation because they just kept telling me I'd feel better if I passed some of the air that was put into me during the procedure (they pump you full of air to help them see things better). I tried to tell them that I hadn't been able to pass anything, even air, in a week. My mom and Chris were in the waiting room and they wouldn't go get them-they were going to just take me back to my room. When they wheeled me past the waiting room I saw Chris and told them again them my husband was waiting for me so they went and got them. I was mad because I had been told they would be brought back and be with me when I woke up. We went back to my room and the next few hours were the most miserable I had ever experienced in my life. I just cried and cried. Chris and my mom just stood by my bed for like 3 hours. I kept saying that I couldn't handle it any more, and I really thought that I couldn't handle the pain for another minute, and then of course another minute would go by. Doctors came in and gave me pain medicine, but it didn't help a ton. I think they were afraid of giving me too much. Eventually I threw up a bunch and they gave me some medicine for nausea which eventually put me to sleep. It was a horrible experience that I never want to relive again. It was awful.

Anyway, that was one experience I wanted to write about. Here are a few pics:

Sometimes I would come back from the bathroom to find Chris in my bed.

We went on lots of walks and sometimes we would go outside, which I really liked.

This picture was taken right before I had another sigmoidoscopy, only they called it "exam under anesthesia" because they actually used general anesthesia to put me completely under, instead of just sedation. They were hoping to really find the problem and be able to clear some of the strictures (that they thought were there at the time). This time instead of using air, they used CO2, which just gets absorbed into your body and you don't have to let out, so it's a lot less painful afterwards. I was very clear that I did not want to experience what I had a couple days before, and they assured me that the CO2 would be just fine, and it was. However, they could hardly accomplish anything because of how narrowed everything was, so I still didn't have the relief from the pain that I was hoping for when I woke up.

Another day I had another sigmoidoscopy, (and they used CO2 again), which still didn't really help. Later that day I had to have a test called a barium enema x-ray. Yeah, it's as much fun as it sounds. I cried through the whole thing. Chris and my mom had to wait in a waiting room down the hall. When I was being taken back to my room the transport guy made me so upset. He was going so fast, over bumps, around corners. I had just had these two horrible procedures and was in so much pain and he was clueless. One time he seriously almost ran someone over going around a corner. My mom and Chris thought he was crazy too. In Twin the transport people slow down and warn you when there's a bump, and are really careful. I was not a happy camper.
This pic below is in the surgical ICU the day after surgery. These pictures are out of order, but oh well. I was in the ICU for 2 days. It was great fun.  I had an NG tube down my nose and all kinds of things hooked to me. I was in terrible pain the first night but they finally got it under control. I was happy to leave the ICU though.

This picture was before I had surgery, on a day when I had just showered, so I don't look too bad.

This is getting off the plane when they life flighted me to Salt Lake. That was a fun little experience. I was in a lot of pain and I remember that first night in Salt Lake it took a long time to get a nurse in my room and to get any pain medicine. I was pretty miserable.

This is one of the first days in Salt Lake. All in all I was there for 17 days. It seemed like forever. Poor Chris and my mom had to sleep on a pull out couch and a cot. Luckily though Chris' dad brought his camping trailer and parked it in the parking lot after we had been there for a few days. Then Chris and my mom took turns sleeping in the trailer. They would trade off every other night. My mom was actually just telling that she really liked that because she could sleep in a bed and get a good nights sleep, and catch up from not sleeping as well the night before, and it really helped her not get worn out or exhausted. I also was glad that I was able to have someone with me every night.

Speaking of having someone with me during the night, there was one night that I woke up and realized that my ileostomy bag was leaking. I pushed the call button and then called for Chris loud enough that he woke up. At this point my incision from my surgery was still open and they did not want it to get infected. I didn't either. In fact I was terrified that now that everything was leaking everywhere, that it was going to get infected. The nurse came and cleaned everything. When she first got there, she said, "You need to tell us when it gets full so this doesn't happen." I was mad that she said that. I was sleeping and didn't know....Anyway, I was crying, and I was so glad Chris was there. She assured me that she cleaned everything really well. It took a long time to take care of it though, it was kind of a traumatic experience. By the time we were done it was like 5 in the morning and I called my mom and wanted her to come then. I felt bad for waking her up, and even though Chris was there, I guess I needed someone else to tell me it was going to be ok too. And of course she was happy to  come. 

Well those are the main things I wanted to write down before I forgot them. I may think of more things later and add another post, but this is good for now. The University of Utah is a great hospital and I had great doctors and nurses there, even though the things I wrote didn't sound like that. I was glad that I was there and thankful for the help that I finally got. 

Big Announcement

We are moving to Spokane! I guess it's not that big of an announcement but I thought if I titled this post that, then it would make everyone read this, haha just kidding. I actually really thought I already posted this, but lots of people kept telling me they hadn't heard, and I realized that I only said that Chris had been accepted to two different graduate schools, and we hadn't decided which one we were going to go to yet. Well, after MUCH prayer, discussion, thought, etc, we decided to go to Washington State instead of Penn State. It's much closer to home, and with my health we thought that was a good reason to stay close. It's also cheaper. :) Anyway, he starts August 20, so we still have awhile, but it will be here before we know it! We will be sad to go, but also excited to have this adventure on our own.
With that, I leave you with this lovely picture of us, just for fun.