Over the Moon

Where does the time go?..... Moon Update

2010-09-17T14:06:00.004-06:00

I have been blessed with the two best children in the world. I know every mom says that and I think we are given certain children to try us but to bless each of us beyond measure. I have been thinking lately that 2 years ago I had to leave my little boy for months so I could spend some time with our little Ali in the hospital. I look at Ali now knowing Logan was around her age when I left him, and wonder how I was ever able to leave Logan for that long and at that age. I can't believe he was just barely 2 and we had to leave him. Yet the Lord does amazing things and comforted my little boy and provided him and his parents peace, funny thing is he does that in our time of need. Cause I look now and think there is no way I could leave Ali for 2 months at this age, how did I do it with Logan.... cause that is when it was needed! I can't believe my kids will be 4 and 2 in a couple of months and the blessing and the things they teach me on a daily basis. Logan is so protective of his little sister and will comfort her and always wants to play with her. I have not found a moment when he doesn't want his sister around.

Logan started preschool this year and loves it. He teacher says he loves learning and is doing great. He loves it so much he comes in and wakes me up at 7am to tell me he is ready for school! He loves playing outside and riding his bike. This past summer he asked us to take his training wheels off and has been going nonstop since.

Ali is learning tons of new words everyday and loves for me to do her hair. I have been making bows for her and everyday she pulls me in her room to show them off. She loves to try to dress herself and is our little scrounger of food and Grandma and Grandpa's on Sunday. She wants to do whatever her big brother is doing, especially outside.

Jeff just started his new job at INL as a High Performance Computing Consultant. I think he is slowly getting used to the commute for now. He was sad to leave some of the people he worked with at ON, but his excited for his new adventure. He hasn't been able to do much fishing this past year but hopefully can get out a couple of times before it too cold. He is the joy of my life and I can't wait to see him everyday.

I think I'm having more of a difficult time with his commute then he is. I can't wait to have our family move to Idaho Falls to be closer to his work and get settled in. I have been into making bows for Ali, doing homework with Logan, and trying to keep the house clean to sell. Sometimes I wonder how I got so blessed to have such a wonderful husband and two great kids.

Weather...

2010-04-29T22:53:00.003-06:00

Ok so I think I'm pretty sick of this weather and all these tumble weeds that are located all around our house now. Las Vegas sure is sounding better and better, just need a job for my husband down there.

Fun with the Kids!!

2010-03-20T09:23:00.004-06:00

Well one day I had 2 of my nephews over and 2 of the neighbor kids + some left over frosting = a very fun day!! The kids were very excited for me to paint there faces with frosting, Logan was pretty hesitant but after watching everyone do it he finally agreed on "braces". The kids had a blast and I actually had tons of fun putting it all over them. I'm sure this activity is a repeat for when I have left over frosting again.

Happy St. Patricks Day!!

2010-03-18T14:58:00.003-06:00

Well another year has come and gone and so did the Leprechaun. Logan and his Dad set out there trap but he was too speedy again. Logan loves to tell people left a mess in our house though, with chairs upside down, toys hanging off the wall, and green stuff everywhere. He left the kids some lucky charms for breakfast. That night we had green pancakes, green eggs, and sausage. Oh and the leprechaun left his drinking glass so Logan got a new milk jug!! Hope you enjoy the pics, the kids sure had fun!!

St. Patricks Day!

2010-02-26T20:29:00.002-07:00

Ok so March is just around the corner and I'm so excited for St. Patty's Day. I love this holiday! I've already been talking to Logan about the Leprechauns coming and how we have to try and catch them. He has been walking around the house today and when he hears a noise, he looks at me and says "it was a leprechaun" and then smiles. I love seeing my kids excited over little things. Will post if we catch one.

Sick, Sick, Sick

2010-02-02T22:06:00.003-07:00

Well, we haven't updated this blog in quite a while. I kind of hate that every time I end up writing an entry to this blog, it has basically the same content: somebody is sick. At least this time we can all stay home together during it. Ali and Logan are both very sick. Ali is on the recovering end, and Logan is just entering the worst of it. It's been very hard for the last little while because Ali has not been sleeping well during her illness, and thus Amber and I have been getting very little sleep as we take turns being the night owl.

It hasn't been all unproductive. I got to watch the entire Pro Bowl one night. I must say, that was the worst football game I have ever seen in my entire life. If it wasn't 3:00am, I would've screamed "Somebody hit somebody!".

Since the last blog entry, Ali has turned 1 year old. She's in that stage where she's halfway between baby and toddler, and you almost don't know which way to treat her sometimes. She's quite the "cruiser", but isn't quite walking yet. She's started to say a few words on occasion.

Logan continues to learn and progress. I think the winter is killing him. He can't stand to stay inside, even when it's freezing outside. He started primary, and is actually attending his classes. He gave a scripture on Sunday. I was very proud of him.

Amber is doing great too. Hopefully she'll forgive me for blogging about her. She's been doing a little bit of couponing again. I'm always amazed at the deals she gets. She's always got some project going on around the house, trying to make it look nice, and she does a great job of it. Lately, we should be calling her nurse Mom from all the temperature taking and medicine dosing she's been doing.

Holidays....

2009-11-28T15:57:00.002-07:00

Wow I'm sorry you have to hear the ramblings of me right now, but thought it was important I write this down. This afternoon I have been getting all the Christmas decorations out, oh how I love Christmas! I was about half way when I opened another box and then just broke down in tears. It was my little Ali's Christmas tree... her very own for her first Christmas. It sat by her bedside as she fought for her life. Logan and I had made homemade decorations for it last year. Floods of memories, fears, and gratitude flooding me, I couldn't help but stop and remember. Remember my every moment by her side, every beep of the monitors, every little test run, and yet I felt peace. I will never be able to describe it or give my feelings justice, but am so thankful for those feelings. Grateful for this year and that we are all together. My heart goes out to all of those I came in contact with at Primaries this time of year, but for those who are spending or going to spend Christmas there. It truly makes you know the reason for the season. Ali's tree is up in our living room and for those of you who stop by and come across it I hope you see the light that the tree brings to our family. May I always be able to pull that tree out and remember that oh so tearful but yet Christ centered Christmas!! May all of you have a wonderful holiday season and give thanks for those around you.

Island Park

2009-11-06T10:15:00.004-07:00

In September we were lucky enough to go to Island Park. One of Jeff's coworkers and friend let us use there cabin. It was a wonderful get away. The kids loved being outdoors and looking for animals. It was so nice for me not to have to worry about them getting cold in the middle of the night or me having to walk through the woods to go to the bathroom. It really made me want a cabin. I'm dreaming big!! The 2 highlights for me was first going through Yellowstone National Park, I haven't been through the park since I was a little girl and it's amazing how excited I still get finding an animal. Logan loved all the geysers, he kept seeing the "smoke" as he called it while we were driving. When we finally got there he kept pretending to vomit and repeated over and over how bad they smelt. I have to agree with the kid. 2nd: To watch my husband fish on Henry's Lake. It was so peaceful. Even though I had both kids playing around me. I loved hearing the wake of the water coming onto shore, looking around and being surrounded by such beauty and then to see my husband do what he loves. To this day when I'm very stressed I just close my eyes and picture me sitting by the lake watching him and for a small second I feel peace again. How grateful I am to a loving Heavenly Father who allows us to find that peace and beauty in things. It's just a matter of us taking the time out of our busy schedules to find it.

Trip to Bear World.

2009-11-04T11:09:00.000-07:00

Grandma and Grandpa Moon took us to Bear World this year. We loved it. Logan loved the rides and Ali loved the petting zoo. What a great time we had. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Moon.

My little boy is 3!

2009-10-31T09:21:00.002-06:00

I can't believe how time flies. It seems like yesterday I was in the hospital getting ready for my life to change drastically. What a joy he has been to us, Logan is so full of energy and has such a tender heart in that strong body of his. He has taught Jeff and I more and continues to teach us everyday. I'm so proud of you Logan and I love you!

2009-10-16T16:11:00.005-06:00

Happy Birthday Amber!

2009-08-31T10:10:00.001-06:00

Yesterday was Amber's birthday. I just wanted to take a moment and let her know what a wonderful woman she is. What a fantastic mother and wife! I'm so glad that she's there to keep our family running smoothly, and I hope she knows how much I and our children love her.

Update!

2009-08-11T16:44:00.002-06:00

Well I'm sorry I haven't updated our blog. No new pics for now. Still trying to figure out how to get our new family pics up on this, so that will come later.
Jeff is doing good, he has found a passion for fishing, but doesn't get the time he deserves to go. So he has found the love of tying his own flies. He has become quite good at it and is impressing me more and more. His job is going well besides the fact that one of his good friends just resigned.

Logan is growing up way to fast. He is the crazy kid on the bike in our neighborhood. He has taught himself how to ride his bike, stand up while riding, twist his handle bars around and still ride, ride with no hands, make skid marks, and has a turning radius that is unbelievable. He has gotten a great tan this summer and is enjoying his speech therapy. He has made great improvement and will probably get into the Lincoln center this fall. He loves to snuggle with me and gives the best hugs ever.

Ali is such a doll to have around. She has the brightest smile that just melts your heart. She has started talking a lot more. In church a couple of weeks ago there were 5 babies in a classroom. Ali was the only girl, all the boys were playing with their toys and Ali was just talking up a storm as loud as could be. I don't think the teacher thought that was such a good thing. But I have learned to be grateful for all the little milestones in her life. I was grateful for her voice, especially not hearing her little voice for over a month at the beginning of her life. She rolls all over the place, and has started taking Logan's toys, which he is not too fond of. Sibling rivalry starting already. She loves to be outside and is falling asleep on her own in her crib. Ali is doing great with her Physical Therapy. She is doing it twice a month to help her get caught up from her rough start.

Life for me is great. Have had a rough couple of months, but am so grateful for a wonderful husband who is there to help and support me. I am also very blessed to have a wonderful friend and neighbor to lean on. She has become a wonderful friend and it's great to have a girl's night out every now and then, even though it's mostly just to Albertsons! I love my children and they have given me great joy and inspiration. I'm blessed to be able to watch them grow and learn. Now if only motherhood guaranteed weight loss!

It's official!!

2009-07-28T14:22:00.002-06:00

I was able to go to court this morning and witness my sister and her husband adopt their little girl. Hailey Ray is now officially a Davenport. It was such a sweet experience to see them together. What a joyous day in our family to welcome that little girl. Ali was with me to see her best friend become her cousin. The best part was after all was said and done... Hailey started clapping. She is a very smart girl and knows already she has wonderful parents who will take good care of her. Love you Liz and Jeff! Congratulations!

Ali

2009-05-20T23:29:00.003-06:00

I started Ali on Cereal.... didn't go so well the first time. She was more into the spoon or her hand more than anything. She sure did good spitting it all out though!

Coupon Galore!

2009-05-19T11:47:00.002-06:00

Well I have gotten into this couponing thing a lot more and have had tons of fun. It is much better to do it with friends or family for sure. I went to Albertsons last night and got all this for $8.00. Savings of $43.50.

Free Digiorno Flatbread Melt

2009-05-17T23:28:00.003-06:00

Pretty excited... I was one of the 100,000 people to get our free Melt. They are giving them away today May 18th. You might be able to click on the link below and still get yours. Good Luck!

http://flatbreadmelts.digiorno.movies.msn.com/coupon.aspx

*Update* Coupons are all gone now.

Free Chocolate Fridays!!

2009-05-15T09:57:00.005-06:00

Every Friday through September Mars is giving away 250,000 coupons for free chocolate. The coupons will be mailed to you and they can be used for M&Ms, Snickers, Twix, 3 Musketeers, Milky Way or Dove. The coupons will be available starting at 9:oo am EST. Just go to realchocolate.com to sign up. Limit 4 coupons per household throughout the entire promotion.

This week they will be giving away 500,000 coupons because so many people had trouble entering the site last week. Be patient as the site will most likely be busy, and don’t worry if you don’t get one in time this week, you have the whole summer to get your free chocolate!

Update on Jeff

2009-05-12T22:06:00.002-06:00

Well, Amber's been keeping everybody updated on most stuff, which I appreciate. Just thought I'd send a quick update of what I've been up to. This past week I was off of work. I got a chance to go fishing to McTucker Ponds. It was a pretty windy day, so I didn't fish long. I tried a bunch of different things, but didn't get any bites. I'll definitely have to give it a shot when it's a little bit warmer, and not quite so windy. Also, we went and got some rock to go in the space between our sidewalk and the road where we have our drain, put in some rubber mulch, and planted a few grasses. It looks fantastic. I got the first chunk of our garden planted. I put in beets, carrots, yellow and red onions, and several rows of peas. Anyway, it's kept us pretty busy. Today was my first day back at work. It's going to take a few days to get back into the swing of things. Then I have another week off in a couple of weeks. It's kind of crazy.

Ali already 5 months old!

2009-05-11T10:39:00.003-06:00

I can't believe my little girl is 5 months old! What a blessing she has been to our family. It was a rough road in the beginning for this little girl, and most doctors and nurses didn't think she was going to make it in life... but look at her now. She is a fighter!! She is such an adorable little girl who is always smiling and wants to be apart of everything her family is doing. At her last doctor appointment she weighed 16 pounds. Length was 25 in. She is growing and doing amazingly well. This past weekend she rolled over for the first time and loves to make spit bubbles. She is a girl that has discovered her tongue and thinks it is the coolest thing ever.
Logan is very protective of his little sister. He always makes sure we don't leave her when we go places, and is very protective of who holds her and for how long. What a good big brother.
We love you Ali happy 5 month birthday!

More Pics

2009-04-16T10:32:00.002-06:00

Ali's Blessing and Easter Sunday!

2009-04-14T11:18:00.003-06:00

Well what a wonderful Easter Sunday! We were able to bless our little Ali in our home on Easter. What a special occasion for us as a family. It was such a beautiful day and I couldn't have asked for a better day. Jeff did such a good job and we were blessed to have most of our family here. Hope you enjoy the pictures... I think I have the cutest kids ever.

A Wonderful Easter Message!

2009-04-11T10:42:00.003-06:00

I found this link on a friends page and loved it. Hope you have the time to click on it and watch it. What a powerful Easter message. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpFhS0dAduc
Happy Easter!

Quite the Night

2009-04-08T21:37:00.002-06:00

Monday night I figured I'd try to make it a nice evening for my wife. I had some errands to run, and after I finished them up, I decided that I'd see if she needed anything at the last store I was at. She said she wanted some Doritos, so I got her some. As I often do, I got myself a bag of a new exotic flavor, thinking that she wouldn't be interested in them. I got "Last Call Jalapeno Poppers Doritos". After checking out, I decided to hit the RedBox and grab a movie. I got "I Am Legend". I get home, and everybody's happy. We start watching the movie, and part of the way through, Amber wanted some of her chips. I got myself a bowl of my flavor. She said that she wanted to try them. I gave her 3 chips to try. Within moments of handing her the chips, she is gagging uncontrollably, and I'm running to the kitchen to get a bowl. After that moment, we sit down and finish the movie, which is scaring Amber to death. When we finish the movie, I can tell it's one of her least favorite movies of all time.
Anyway, it caused quite the night. Try to bring home a snack and a movie, and end up causing vomit and hysteria.

Coupons

2009-04-05T15:17:00.004-06:00

Ok so I have gotten into this whole coupon saving thing. I have tried it in the past but can be very time consuming. Since I am pretty home bound unless I have a family member stay with my kids, I have found the time to explore the coupon world. Well here is a good find for those of you who like veggies. This week at Walmart they have there Green Giant Steamers frozen veggies on roll back for $1.00. Betty Crocker.com has a coupon for $0.60, therefore making your final price. $0.40. Regular Full Price is $1.25.

Cardiologist!

2009-03-20T14:57:00.004-06:00

I'm so excited, it's almost been 2 months since we were able to bring our sweet Ali home from the hospital. It has been such a joyous reunion with our family all together again. Logan continues to grow and impress me. Ali is gaining weight and looking so healthy. We took her outside for the first time yesterday because it was such nice weather. It was the highlight of my day, I found a reason to get ready for the day. As three months draws near of Ali being home, it was time to make her cardiologist appointment. We scheduled it for the first week in May and I am so excited to take her down to Primary Children's to see all of our friends we have made along the way. I'm very hopeful and excited to see if her 2nd hole in her heart has closed. They will be doing some tests to see if her Pulmonary Hypertension has resolved. I'm pretty confident it has by seeing the change and difference in her. She has a lot more stamina and can tolerant things a lot longer than she could 3 months ago. She is a fighter and such a joy to our family.

Happy St. Partrick's Day!

2009-03-17T10:10:00.004-06:00

Well we definitely lured the Leprechauns here and they made quite the mess. They did fall for Logan's trap, but somehow escaped and left Logan with Leprechaun Poop in the trap (they looked like pastel Reese's pieces.) They turned things over and left there footprints so we definitely knew they were here. Logan's milk was green, they left him Lucky Charms and a Sprite. It was sure a fun morning to see everything they had done to the house and the little surprises they left Logan.

Leprechaun Trap

2009-03-17T10:04:00.003-06:00

Well last night Jeff and Logan prepared their Leprechaun Trap to try to catch one. Here is what it looked like. We ended having a little fun with the paint too.

Frozen Meals

2009-03-13T11:36:00.003-06:00

Well my mom, sister, and I had a great idea as a get together. We each plan a meal, do all the prep work and then get together one day out of the month and assemble the meals together and prepare them for the freezer. We planned 3 months in advance and each of us took one month and added on a dessert too. We just had our first get together and it was a huge success, and now we each have 3 meals in the freezer plus one dessert. This month I prepared chicken enchiladas, my sister did chicken burritos, and my mom lasagna. My Mother was also in charge of dessert this month and did Mrs. Fields Oatmeal cookies. This is one of the best things ever, as I now have 3 meals already prepared for the month until next month. It was great cause I just had to buy all the ingredients for one meal x 3 families, so it made it quite easy and simple. Give you an update after next months get together.

Chain of Love...

2009-03-09T11:47:00.000-06:00

My friend posted this on her blog and I participated with the promise that I would keep the chain going. So Here it goes...

The first five people to comment on this post will get something in the mail from me. My friend promised something homemade but I can't make the same promise. It may be more semi-homemade...who knows? (I will do my best to make it cool, or yummy....I don't know which one!) It will be good though I can promise that.

Here's the catch....If you are one of the five commenters, you have to post a similar post on your blog. This keeps us all busy and thinking of others for a while. I know I sure need something to help me get out of my funk and think about someone else...Hope you can participate.

A wonderful husband!

2009-03-06T21:42:00.002-07:00

Wow a lot has gone on these past couple of days. I just can't believe how fast time has flown by. Lately Ali has not been sleeping through the night, she has her days and nights mixed up. Last night I was up all night except for maybe 2 hours total, after Jeff left for work this morning not only did I have Ali crying but Logan as well. I was going crazy, to the point I had Logan feeding Ali so I could get my composure. Shortly after that Jeff showed back up at home, had taken the day off of work so I was able to sleep and rejuvenate myself. I can't tell him how much that meant to me and how I fall more and more in love with him every day. What a wonderful husband!

Logan and Ali

2009-03-04T11:12:00.002-07:00

Logan sure does love his little sister. It is so fun to see them together and have our whole family together finally. Hope you enjoy the pics.

Fun with Hailey!

2009-03-02T10:32:00.003-07:00

Well I got the ok from the doctor to have Hailey over for a visit. Logan sure loves to help his sister Ali and cousin Hailey. They are two months apart but very close in size. It was very fun to see them together and to finally visit with my sister for more than 5 minutes. Can't wait to have many more play dates and princess parties with these two sweet girls.

My little helper!

2009-02-24T11:24:00.004-07:00

Well now that Logan is not sick anymore I can allow him to help out a little with Ali. He has to be the cutest boy, as every time he hears Ali cry he runs like a mad man to her to put her Binky in her mouth. When he is done he has the look on his face like he just saved the world. He has been such a ray of sunshine for Jeff and I, he still has his cloudy days that's for sure. He entertains us every night and always wants the best for his little sister. Logan is very good at taking out the diapers, giving Ali her bottle, getting her blankets, and putting on Ali's clothes. *Will post pictures of that later. All in all we are doing much better in our household, besides the fact I lost my hearing due to a very bad ear infection. I can handle that now that I have some pain pills. So life is good.

On a side note my niece and nephew Thomas and Tylee just had their 3rd Birthday. So Happy Birthday, we where unable to go due to being homebound, but wanted to wish them a happy birthday.

Can't take anymore of this!!

2009-02-16T19:40:00.002-07:00

Well believe it or not we are in the hospital again with Ali. We have been watching her pretty closely and by Sunday morning she was having to use a lot more effort to breath. Her retractions were pretty severe, so we called the Pediatrician and heading to the Emergency Room. Once there the nurses checked her oxygen saturation level and she was around 65-70. They immediately put her on oxygen and color started coming back to her. The Dr. admitted her and told us to plan on 3-4 days. Well today is day 2 now and I see us there for a week... she has stopped eating now and when she does it quickly comes back. She has since had a fever and is saving all her energy for each breath. Oh my little Ali is my hero, I can't believe how much she has to endure, and here I am wondering how much more of this can I take and about ready to break.

Happy Anniversary!

2009-02-10T10:21:00.002-07:00

Well a lot has happened in 3 years but so worth it. I just wanted to tell Jeff how much I love him and how grateful I am he picked me. Jeff you are the love of my life and I have had the best moments with you. You have given me two wonderful children who I adore. Thank you for being my best friend!

Another Round of Illness

2009-02-09T21:23:00.002-07:00

Well, today's been one of those days. We've all been feeling a little under the weather for most of the week, but today just kind of put things over the top. Amber had to take Logan in to see the doctor, and took Ali as well. Both of them were very congested, but Logan was absolutely miserable. He looked horrible. He had stuff caked on his face, was sniffling and coughing all day, and was running quite the fever. At the doctor, the told us there was nothing we could really do for him, so the poor little guy has to just let the illness run its course. After some Tylenol and ibuprofen this evening, he was a much happier camper. Hopefully we can keep control of his fever and keep him happy until he gets feeling better.

Today was my first day back at work since last week. It's been very interesting adjusting to things, since I had quite a while off with Ali, then back for a week, then off a week, then back a week, then off again for a whole week. It makes it very hard to focus when you've got so many things stacked up to do from being gone. It's very difficult to know where to start. Hopefully I can have a good productive week this week and get on top of things.

Ali's Song

2009-02-08T15:08:00.004-07:00

Well after many days and nights hanging out at the hospital you have to discover some kind of therapy for yourself. One night alone at the Ronald McDonald house I couldn't sleep so I wrote a song trying to incorporate the many things that Ali had encountered while being at Primary Childrens NICU. Here is the final product... much better with the music I must say.

The bed warmers at the NIC
They say are mighty fine
Mine got too warm and scolded my behind.

The nurses up at NIC
They say are mighty fine
They keep prodding me and poking all the time

Oh, I don't want no more of this life, Gee mom I wanna go,
Oh mom I wanna go H.O.M.E.

The canula up at NIC
They say is mighty fine
Mine stuck to my nose and dried up all the time.

The doctor's up at NIC
They say are mighty fine
I see them at rounds, oh what a time.

Oh, I don't want no more of this life, Gee mom I wanna go,
Oh mom I wanna go H.O.M.E.

The IV's up at NIC
They say are mighty fine
I got holes all over, I'm leaking all the time.

My primaries up at NIC
They say are mighty fine
They took care of me, I loved them all the time.

Oh, I don't want no more of this life, Gee mom I wanna go,
Oh mom I wanna go H.O.M.E.

The X-Rays up at NIC
They say are mighty fine
Laying on cold hard things, is no good time.

The vents up at NIC
They say are mighty fine
They kept me breathing, but was no fun time.

Oh, I don't want no more of this life, Gee mom I wanna go,
Oh mom I wanna go H.O.M.E.

The meds up at NIC
They say are mighty fine
Give me, Give me, Give me, I love mine.

The NP's up at NIC
They say are mighty fine
They keep changin on me, Oh which one this time?

Oh, I don't want no more of this life, Gee mom I wanna go,
Oh mom I wanna go H.O.M.E.

The Chest tubes up at NIC
They say are mighty fine
After having 9, I've had a stickin time.

Well up at the NIC
I've had a great time
You've all taken care of me all the time
So....
See you later, until next time
I will be walking, talking and laughing
I will be smilin... Thanks to you!

So there is the song I created at 2 am at the Ronald McDonald house, like I said much better with the tune that goes with it. But just as a visual of her chest tubes I decided to post a pic of one. This chest tube is actually the 9th one. She had 8 on her left side and one on the right. The most she had at once was 4. She is my hero and a trooper.

Adjusting To Life At Home

2009-02-05T22:05:00.002-07:00

Well, it's been an interesting week. Lots of changes. It's been so nice to have Ali and Amber home, but it's also been an adjustment. I've been off of work this week, so I've been able to help a little bit with Ali (If you want to know if that's really little or not, you'll have to ask Amber). Ali's starting to "get her lungs back", and is using them to full effect with her crying. I have to keep reminding myself that it was a very short while ago that I told myself I'd do anything just to be able to hear her sweet cry. I'm very happy to have Amber's help again with Logan, as well.

Great News For Our 100th Post

2009-01-29T22:06:00.003-07:00

Lots of great and wonderful milestones today. The biggest and best is that we got to bring Ali home today! It's been wonderful to have her here. Also, it's our 100th post. Pretty good timing, I must say. Anyway, I'll get down to what everyone is wanting, some pics and updates on Ali.

Before we left, Amber got to pick out an outfit for Ali to wear home. I hadn't seen her in over a week, and had never really seen her without any tubes into her nose and side, so she looked very beautiful.
After we got things all finished up at the hospital, I went and warmed up the car. Amber and a nurse brough Ali down to the car in her car seat, and we began our journey home.When we got home, we had a wonderful surprise for us. It was a fun way to pull into town.
Logan was so excited to see his little sister. He loved being around her. He's a very good big brother, and he will only get better. He wants to do anything to help out with her. It's wonderful to see them interact together. I think it will do them both a lot of good.

Logan always wants to see his little sister, sometimes even going to great lengths to catch a peek.

Well, enough with the pictures, now I'll put down some thoughts. I won't say we're "done" with this experience, because there's still a lot more of this story still to come, and there will be for a long time. However, it's kind of nice to be able to feel like we've been able to close this difficult chapter in our lives. Through this time there have been a multitude of both trials and blessings. We've seen much sadness, and much happiness. We've made lots of friends. Sitting at home tonight with my wife and my two children brought many thoughts to mind to both Amber and myself. Amber mentioned that she felt complete and whole. I felt as though all were right with the world. It was like, for a brief moment, I was able to forget all the difficulties of the economy, all the difficulties of having a child in the NICU for an extended period, and just focus on the here and now. It was a wonderful feeling. I'm sure in the coming months, more trials will come, and I'm sure I won't always have this feeling, but it was nice, for one brief moment, to feel like everything was right in the world.

On Our Way Home

2009-01-28T12:40:00.002-07:00

Right now I'm packing up to go down to Salt Lake for the night. In the morning, we plan on bringing Ali home. It still doesn't feel real. I'm not sure it will even sink in that it's happened until she's at home in her crib.

Into The Final Stretch

2009-01-25T21:38:00.002-07:00

Well, it's looking like Ali is heading into the final stretch. I'm not going to be so bold as to venture a guess on an exact date, but it's at least something that we're thinking about now. She didn't have any Adavan today, and they're cutting her morphine dose quite a bit. She should be off of it in the next few days. She spent much of today on room air with no nasal cannula and her saturations have been consistently impressive. Her feedings have been going amazingly well, so they were able to remove her NG tube from her nose. I'm still waiting on Amber to send me the first "tube free Ali" picture when she takes one with her phone. This is quite an amazing blessing, as a few weeks ago we were assuming that it would be several more weeks, and possibly even another entire month before we'd be able to get her home. Then, they thought that Valentine's Day would be a good goal. Now it is possible that we'll beat that goal by quite a bit.

As we get closer to this wonderful goal of bringing home our baby girl, I want to do two things. First, I want to thank all those of you who have been instrumental in enabling us to be with her and take care of things. I will not name names, for fear of leaving somebody out, and for the problem that I'm not even sure we know the names of all those who have helped us out. We've had several anonymous gifts from people we don't know who heard of our situation, and many from people that we know and love. I'm especially grateful for both Amber's family and my own family. Not only have they taken care of Logan, visited, given rides to and from Salt Lake and provided meals, but they have been a great general support group. It's been amazing to be able to feel the love from so many people.

The second thing that I would like to mention is that even though Ali will be coming home soon, she's still going to be very susceptible to respiratory illness. The doctors and nurses have given us lots of guidelines to help us keep Ali healthy. Everybody wants to take precautions to keep their children healthy, and in Ali's case, these issues are more of a life and death matter instead of a runny nose and slight fever problem, especially for the first 2 years. Know that Amber and I would love to be able to take Ali out and show her around to everybody, and we'd love to invite everybody over to our home to be able to come and see her, but this will not be possible. We don't want to offend anybody, but we need to protect our little girl while she's still in a fragile state. Please don't take offense if we don't invite you over to see Ali, or don't invite you back to see her if you come and visit. This will be a difficult process for us all, but Ali's health is the most important thing in making these decisions.

Well, that post was more difficult to write than I was anticipating. I hope that the message was clear and communicated what I wanted to let everybody know. We really appreciate all the friendships that we've had and also ones we've gained through this trial in our life.

More Progress

2009-01-23T22:06:00.003-07:00

Ali continues to do very well. Today she took two full feedings from a bottle. They also took her chest tube out. She's been quite the little trooper and we're anxious to get her home when the time comes.

Logan and Me

2009-01-22T14:11:00.004-07:00

In all this commotion, I think it's important to us to acknowledge both of our children. Even though Ali is getting most of the attention from us and everybody else, we have a wonderful little boy who is growing up right before our very eyes. I thought I'd just take a moment and post some pictures of him and tell a little bit about how he's doing.

Logan is doing very well on his personal hygiene. He asks to brush his teeth and does a very good job of it. Logan also helped me to install Amber's kitchen DVD player that we got her for Christmas. He was very good while I worked on it, and then we both enjoyed it with a bucket of popcorn.

He also helped us out when we made our gingerbread house before Christmas. We had a ball.

All You Can Eat Buffets For Everybody

2009-01-21T23:17:00.003-07:00

Well, I want to first share what Amber and I thought was a somewhat humorous story. We decided that it was time for me to come home again to be with Logan and take care of things here in Pocatello, so Amber and I decided to go out to dinner. She took me to Rodizzio Grill in Trolley Square. This is one of my favorite places to eat. The only problem is that it's fairly expensive, so you sometimes feel like you need to make it worth your while. The way to do this is to take one of everything that they bring around. As we're going through the course of the meal, both Amber and I begin to feel very full. Full to the point of being uncomfortable. We both agreed that it was time to call it quits and head out, but also agreed that if they brough out any more ham and pineapple then we would make one last hurrah. Needless to say, shortly after, our ham and pineapple arrived. The pineapple guy had almost nothing left, so he cut some very meager pieces off for us. I was a bit bummed, but then he said, "I'll be right back". He returned with a sword full of fresh pineapple. He proceeded to give me 3 huge, delicious pieces of pineapple, and a couple for Amber. We finally finish and pay the check. Once we get in the car, Amber's telling me how sick she feels. "I feel like throwing up. I would feel so much better if I threw up." I, on the other hand, am telling her, "I haven't thrown up in years. It takes quite a bit to make me throw up." Fast forward about five minutes and we're pulling into the parking lot at the hospital. We parked and were getting ready to go in to see Ali. My foot had barely hit the concrete when I coughed on something and threw up a little bit. Amber begins to laugh hysterically. I begin to walk quickly toward a garbage can, with cheeks bulging with vomit, trying not to throw up in front of anybody. After missing the can, I am walking quickly into the hospital, hoping to make it to the restroom. The whole time this is happening, I'm being tailed by my loving wife, who is laughing hysterically and walking very slowly trying to compose herself. I went into the bathroom and finished up and got myself cleaned up. Amber didn't stop laughing the whole night. She then proceeded to tell our nurse, and apparently word spreads fast around the NICU. Now I'm the throw-up guy. Won't that be fun to tell Ali when she's older.

Anyway, sorry if that grossed you out, but it was pretty humorous when it was happening. And to explain the title of my post, it's not just Amber and I who are eating well. Our wonderful little girl Ali is eating very well also. Today she ate over 40cc of her feeding from a bottle, which is well over half of her food. This is a great sign because one of the things that would keep her from coming home is not being able to eat from a bottle. She was also able to move off of the high flow nasal cannula to the regular one and is totally weaned off of the Nitric Oxide. She also got off of her lipids, so she no longer has an IV. The put her last chest tube on water seal, and if it doesn't bubble and she doesn't get any more air in her chest, they'll be able to remove the chest tube in a few days. The also changed out her OG tube for an NG tube, which just means that her feeding tube no longer goes through her mouth, it goes through her nose. This is a good thing because it makes it easier for her to make a good seal on the bottle when she's feeding. We're continuing to work on her physical therapy with her to get her some strength, and that's coming along nicely. When you sit her up and lean her forward to burp her, she looks around and is very alert and inquisitive about the world around her. It was a wonderful few days to be able to spend with Amber and Ali and to witness all the miraculous steps that she's been able to take.

Good Steady Progress

2009-01-20T13:34:00.002-07:00

Slow and steady wins the race. At least that's what we're hoping. Ali is doing very well. She got to take a bottle for the first time yesterday, and has had 3 bottles in total. She doesn't drink very much each time, less than one ounce each time, but it's definitely a good start. She seems to enjoy it quite a bit, and so did Amber and I. They have weaned her Nitric Oxide down to 1ppm. Hopefully that will be able to be weaned totally in the next few days and they'll be able to cut her flow down on her oxygen. They've also started to do some physical therapy with her and showing us some things to do with her. Even over the past few days, she's made great strides in her neck muscles, and her arm and leg movement. Her chest tube has not been bubbling, and there has been no re-accumulation of air, so they will probably clamp it tomorrow and if it is OK for a day or two, they'll be able to take that out. That would make it a whole lot easier to hold her. Anyway, she's doing well. Lots of little improvements. We're very happy with her and how well she's doing. What a beautiful little girl.

Happy Birthday to Me!

2009-01-17T15:33:00.002-07:00

Well, not sure when Amber snuck off to make that last post, but it was very nice. I will tell you all that holding my baby girl was the best present I've ever gotten. No offense to those who gave gifts, they were very nice too, but holding Ali was quite a thrill. It's been a long time coming. I got to hold her for several hours, and she fell asleep in my arms. She was so cuddly and beautiful, it's hard to describe. Every once in a while she'd look up at me with her big, dark eyes and smile. It's moments like that which make it all worth it.

I'm very grateful that Amber came to pick me up when she did, because Saturday morning, when I was planning on coming down, they had to put in another chest tube. Friday they had noticed a little air in her chest and they were monitoring it. This morning around 5 they did an X-Ray and there was tons of air, the long was almost completely collapsed. Chest tube number 9 was the result. So she has another chest tube in her left side. Although you never want to hear that your child has to have a chest tube, she is looking much better since she's had it inserted. She's been sleeping happily most of the day today. Other than that, she's doing great. She's up to 75% regular milk and 25% fat-free and hasn't had any fluid build-up in her lungs, so that's a very positive thing. She's on 3ppm Nitric Oxide, and they're weaning, so she should be totally off of that in the next 2-3 days. The last echo ultrasound that they did showed almost no backflow in her heart. It was so low that they couldn't give us a number to quantify it, so that's excellent news. This means that at this point it looks like she's got the pulmonary hypertension licked. The flow on her nasal cannula is down to 2L/min, which is as low as they can go until they get the Nitric Oxide completely weaned off. And she's up to almost 70cc feeds, which is almost a full feeding. So even though we just hit a bump in the road, and it's never fun, she's doing very well. I'm so pleased with her progress and what a blessing she's been for me and my family.

On some side notes, we made a short excursion for lunch today. I'm not sure if I've blogged about this previously, but we've found a place that we love to go to for lunch. It's called Moochies Meatballs. They have a delicious Philly Cheesesteak sandwich, and I tried the meatball sandwich today. Pretty tasty, but extremely messy. I would definitely say that I prefer the philly cheese over the meatball. If you're ever in the Salt Lake area, it's worth looking up. Also, we went to the Western Nut Company so that I could pick out some birthday goodies. Kind of a fun place with all kinds of candy and nuts.

Happy Birthday Jeff!

2009-01-16T08:34:00.003-07:00

Well I just had to take some time today to wish my husband Happy Birthday! He is the love of my life and am so excited to spend my life with him. I surprised him and drove home to see him and Logan, what a fun time I have had with them. Well for Jeff's birthday I will be taking him back to Salt Lake City to hold his precious daughter for the first time. I'm more excited for him to hold her than I can imagine. Nothing like a father and daughter together. So I pretty sure he will love his present. Happy Birthday Jeff... here are 10 things I love about you!

1. You are Hilarious and make me laugh all the time
2. The most compassionate and unselffish man I know
3. Handsome
4. The most wonderful father to our kids.
5. Always willing to help around the house
6. Very very Intelligent
7. Great listener
8. Snuggler
9. Always going the extra mile for our family
10. The most incredible husband I could have ever imagined possible.

Thank you for being so good to me and I hope we spend many more of your birthdays together and to see you turn grey, hee hee. I love you honey.

Holding a baby

2009-01-12T11:42:00.002-07:00

More good news. Ali has been off the ventilator for 3 days now, and is doing great. Last night they took out her last chest tube. Today's X-Ray was excellent so hopefully she won't re-accumulate any air. Today they will start feeding her milk with 25% of the normal amount of fat in it, so that will be a good test to see if her chylothorax has healed up. Since she had her chest tube removed, Amber got the chance to hold her. I must say I'm pretty jealous, and would love to be there, but I'm very happy to know that she's to a point where she can be held. She's looking very beautiful and we're very happy with the progress she's made.

Warning from a computer guy

2009-01-12T02:49:00.002-07:00

Everybody, I was planning on spending my evening composing some wonderful new posts about news in our family. Instead, I spent it doing things that were not quite so fun and enjoyable. As I sat down to compose some posts on our desktop that we do everything on, I noticed things were going very slowly. Then, things came to a halt. I tried to reboot, but could not get the machine to turn on. Upon further investigation, I came to find a fan that had quit working and had melted to the motherboard on top of the north bridge chip. If you don't understand that, suffice it to say that it's not good. I finally got the computer to boot up by fanning the computer with an open side with the side of the case. So for the last 3-4 hours, I've sat by the computer waving a large chunk of sheet metal at a computer while trying to get pictures that I consider priceless off of the machine. It probably wouldn't have been a big deal, but I had just downloaded all the pictures we have of Ali to that computer, and deleted them from the camera, so I had to get them back. I finally got the pictures and most of our files transferred to another computer on my network and to a USB drive, but it was a fairly tense couple of hours.

Just as a warning, here are some things to do:
* Don't run RAID 0 unless you're willing to lose some data. If you don't know what this is, you don't need to worry about it.
* BACKUP YOUR COMPUTER! Do this often.

I know you are all waiting on some news, so I promise that I will post with some exciting news in the morning, after I've had a chance to get some sleep and get some work done.

Off the Ventilator!

2009-01-10T10:41:00.000-07:00

Well, what a wonderful couple of days it has been. On Thursday morning Amber called and asked if I wanted to come down because they were planning on taking Ali off of the ventilator. I came down, and beat the storm. They didn't extubate on Thursday, but it was great to be able to come and see Amber. During rounds Friday morning, they said that they would extubate that day. Around 3:45 pm, we got to see Ali's lovely face without any heavy equipment on her. She's beautiful. It's amazing what removing a piece of tape and a tube will do for your looks! We've been watching some of Amber's home movies from when she was a baby, and it's been fun to compare her with Ali. (Both very cute babies, I must say.)

So, Ali's been off of the ventilator for almost a day now. She's been below 30% oxygen, and her blood gases have been great. They will probably take out her arterial line today, and possibly her PICC line, as well. She's been breathing really well, and has been much more alert. Some of this is probably due to being off the ventilator and being able to move her head around, and some of it is from being weaned somewhat off of her drugs.

Making Progress

2009-01-06T15:20:00.002-07:00

Well, I just got a call from Amber down in Salt Lake. Ali is doing great. She was able to lower her PIP again to 18. Her oxygen has been down to 29, and has been hovering in the 30's. They're planning on taking out a couple of her chest tubes in the next day or two. They are beginning to wean some of her pain and sedation drugs in preparation for being able to take out some chest tubes and moving from a ventilator to a high-flow nasal cannula. They are also thinking that she might not have a chylothorax because she's not getting much liquid out of her chest tube. That would be great news, so I'm hoping that's the case. That's about all for now. It's hard to be as detailed being in Pocatello, but it's always great to get some good news from Salt Lake.

I've been keeping busy in Pocatello working and taking care of Logan. He's actually been doing pretty well considering everything that's been going on. Amber's mom has been taking care of him in the morning, and my mom has been taking him in the afternoon's, and I pick him up after work and have him for the night. He cries a little bit when I have to go to work, as I think he doesn't quite understand that I won't be leaving for weeks at a time again, but seems to recover fairly quickly. From all reports, he's been a very good boy for both grandmother's. He's been very fun to be around and I've been grateful for him in the evenings. He's going to bed without much fuss. The best thing is that every once in a while he'll come over and just throw his arms around me and give me a big hug.

Time Apart

2009-01-04T00:19:00.002-07:00

Today was a difficult day. A few days ago we made the decision when told that our daughter would probably be in the hospital at least 6 more weeks that we would take turns staying in Salt Lake so that I could work and Logan would have at least one of his parent's with him. Amber will be down there for 2 weeks, then I'll go down for a week, and then we'll repeat, hopefully only once. It's weird, I think you don't realize how much you love or rely on someone until you can't have them there. I've always known that I've loved Amber, but it doesn't really hit home until she's gone. Tonight I had to run to the grocery store to get some things for Logan and I to eat, and it was so difficult to decide what to get because it's always been something that we've done together. The house seems big and lonely without her. I just want her to know what a huge part of my life she is and has been, and how important she is to me. I want her to know what a wonderful mother she is, and what an amazing person.

If there was anything that could make leaving my two lovely girls in Salt Lake for two weeks easier, it would be good news about Ali. Ali looks beautiful right now. Before, she had retained lots of fluid and looked very puffy. Now, she's back down to her birth weight and looks absolutely wonderful. The biggest milestone is that they've been able to wean her "PEEP" down to 5. Just as an FYI, the PEEP refers to the amount of pressure that keeps your lungs open when you breath out. They had tried twice before to lower her to 5, and each time she rapidly deteriorated. She's been there for a couple of days now, and seems to be doing great. They've also been able to lower the PIP number on her ventilator, which is the maximum pressure in your lungs when you breath in. She's also been able to stay at relatively low levels of oxygen and remain stable. She's ranged from between 35-50 for most of two days. We are very happy with her progress, but realize that there's still a long road in front of us.

As a light note, Amber would probably like me to inform you that I changed one of Ali's diapers before I left. Apparently, this was very funny as during the procedure, Amber and the nurse were laughing hysterically at me. I would like to report that it was a success. Ali survived and the nurse didn't even have to change the diaper again after I finished.

Ups and Downs

2008-12-31T13:28:00.004-07:00

The roller-coaster just seems to continue. On Monday we decided that we would go home for a night to be with our son and get some things done that we've needed to do. The roads both ways were perfect. We couldn't have asked for better weather. When we got home, our little boy ran to me with arms outstretched and gave me a huge hug. It was very gratifying to feel appreciated like that. After being in Ronald McDonald house and a hospital room for the past few weeks, we definitely have a new appreciation for our home. Amber walked in and said, "I feel like we're in a mansion", and indeed it did feel quite large and luxurious in comparison. We're so blessed with many things that I think for a long time we've somewhat taken for granted.

While we were there, we decided that we'd open some Christmas presents. It was fun to see Logan open some presents and play with them. I was very touched by some of the presents that Amber got me. She was so thoughtful. I was shocked and reminded of what a wonderful woman I am married to. We also went to both of our parents' homes and opened presents with them. It didn't quite feel like Christmas, but it was still a nice time. We enjoyed being with them.

While we were in Pocatello, there were many people who we would've loved to see. Unfortunately, we were very short on time and wanted to spend as much time as possible being with our son and playing with him.

That night we got to sleep in our own bed. We don't own a fancy mattress or anything, but man did it feel good! Our rest was not long before we got a phone call however. They had to put in another chest tube, so they called us early that morning. She was not doing very well and was on high levels of oxygen. What a horrible feeling to hear bad news about your infant daughter and not be able to do anything or even be there for her. That morning we got everything packed back up. We took a lot more changes of clothes and stuff, because it's going to be a longer stay than I was hoping for when I first packed up to come down.

That morning Amber's mom brought us some food so that we could cook a breakfast and eat together as a family. It was so nice to all sit down together and to watch Logan enjoy a nice breakfast. We finished up with the things we needed to get done and took Logan over to Amber's parent's house. We had a tearful goodbye. Amber's dad distracted Logan with his snowmobiles while we drove off. After we left him, we had to stop by the bank. Up until this point, I had been so frustrated with Logan's behavior that I thought I'd just be happy to have left. At the bank I broke down. It is so difficult to leave your child, even when you're hoping it's just for a short time. I considered staying with him, but decided that for now I will return to Salt Lake and be with Ali. Hopefully things will get better soon and we'll all be able to be together again.

It was good to get back to Salt Lake to see Ali. She's doing well on the Jet ventilator. She's gradually been able to tolerate lower levels of oxygen, and she's currently down to 40%. The last X-Ray was wonderful, and showed almost no air or liquid in the pleural cavity around her lungs. The night we got back, Ali spent over an hour very awake and alert. Amber and I were able to play with her by holding her hand and putting a mint flavored sponge in her mouth and letting her chomp and suck on it. It was so fun to see her eyes wide open and see her interacting with us. She loves to smile and frequently blesses us with a great big one.

Back in the Right Direction

2008-12-28T18:52:00.003-07:00

After a horrible day yesterday, it looks like today we're headed back in the right direction. Most of the cultures that they took yesterday haven't grown anything, which is a good sign, and those that did grow something are not too serious. They're treating her with antibiotics, so those should be taken care of. The biggest relief is that they're fairly certain that she doesn't have meningitis. They're treating her for a chylothorax, which means no milk for a while. All her nutrients will come to her through an IV. They're allowing her to come off of her paralysing drug, but she's still heavily sedated.

She started today doing really well. Her oxygen needs had dropped significantly. It seems she does really well until you have to move her or do any kind of procedure on her. At that point they have to turn up the oxygen to 80-100% and it takes her a couple of hours to calm down to the point where they can wean her oxygen back down to where it was. Her pneumothorax still seems to be accumulating air. This afternoon after she was having some low saturation numbers, the nurse pushed a bit on her chest and the chest tube had quite a bit of bubbling.

I know if doesn't sound that great, but she does seem to be doing a lot better, especially after yesterday. If she can keep going in the right direction, I'll be happy.

Crappy Day

2008-12-27T13:22:00.002-07:00

Well, today has not been great. In the morning, we got a call saying that her pneumo-thorax had re-accumulated some more air. Also, there was some whitish fluid that was draining from her chest tube. They did a culture on the fluid and found that it had some infection. Since she had an infection in her chest, they had to do blood draws from all of her lines and also urine and they performed a lumbar puncture (spinal tap) to collect a sample of her spinal fluid. If this comes back positive, it would signal meningitis, and mean a quite long and heavy course of antibiotics. We won't know for at least a day or two whether or not any of the cultures come back positive for infection. They started her on antibiotics in the meantime.
Also, the fluid that they got from her chest tube looked like something that could be symptomatic of a chylothorax. That's where lymphatic fluid is deposited into the pleural space around the lungs. The treatment for this would be stopping feedings, cutting down on IV fluids, and giving her diuretics to "dry her out". This could take a couple of weeks, so hopefully this isn't occurring for her, but it's definitely a strong possibility.

Also, they had to put in another chest tube, because the chest tube that she currently has in isn't evacuating enough air. Hopefully this second chest tube will get rid of the pneumothorax and allow her to breathe a little bit easier.

It's been a very hard day as she's looked fairly miserable all day, and with all the testing and problems she hasn't been able to get much rest. We probably won't know exactly what's going on for a couple of days, so we're hoping for the best, but planning on things not going as well as we'd hoped. Makes for a crappy day when you go into it thinking that they might be able to take out the breathing tube and end up keeping it in and adding more tubes and problems.

Post-Christmas Update with Pictures

2008-12-26T23:24:00.004-07:00

Well, I know everybody loves reading my ramblings, but what everybody really wants is some pictures. I finally got a cable that will work with my camera and so I can now show you that I'm equally untalented with the camera as I am with words. This first picture is one of the only pictures that we have of Ali with nothing in her nose or throat. I took it between putting the oxygen bag on her and taking her to sit with mom for a moment before heading to the NICU in Pocatello.
This next picture is not super recent, but it's what she's looked like for most of her life. You can see she has a line in her arm and a breathing and feeding tube. Also, you can just see the top of the bandages from her chest tubes.

This last picture Amber wanted me to show you all so that you could see her beautiful dark hair. It seems to get longer every time I see her. Not much on top of her head, but the hair on the back and sides of her head is very soft and beautiful. (Not that I'm biased or anything.)
Now for the update. Well, to be honest Christmas was really hard. It didn't feel like Christmas at all. It was strange, because on one hand we were astounded by the generosity of all the people down here. We've been treated wonderfully, had many free meals, and were given more presents than we ever dreamed we'd get from strangers, but being away from your children on Christmas just doesn't make it feel much like a Christmas at all. I can't wait to get them both home together and sit by the fire and sing Christmas Carols and read the Christmas story.

On Christmas Day, we thought we were going to get a wonderful Christmas present. They told us that they thought she might be ready to come off of the breathing tube. To test this, they turned the machine to CPAP mode. After a few seconds on CPAP mode, it became abundantly clear that she was not ready for this transition. Her oxygen saturations feel quickly and they changed the machine back into ventilator mode. She quickly recovered, but it was a disappointment after getting our hopes up.

Christmas night, the nurses decided that they would try to wean the PEEP setting on the ventilator. The PEEP is one of the settings that controls how much pressure the ventilator gives Ali to assist her breathing. It seems that she was already as low as she wanted to go, because she was not saturating as well on the new setting. We finally convinced the nurses to go back up and she spent the night on a little higher setting.

This morning, we went in and Ali was on about 60% oxygen, which was higher than she had needed in quite a while. Through the day, her saturations continued to be OK but not great. Her blood gases were fairly good, still, but something didn't seem quite right. They took an X-Ray at 8:00 PM and Amber and I went to dinner. During dinner, Amber called to see if they had the results from the X-Ray. It appears that air is re-accumulating in her pleural space (a sack that surrounds your lungs) and she had another pneumo-thorax. In order to clear this air, there's a good chance that they'll have to put in another chest tube. We feel so bad for our little girl. This would be her 5th chest tube in 2 weeks.

It's very frustrating to watch your child suffer and struggle. You wonder how much they can take, and what more you need to learn from this trial. It's definitely taken a toll on Amber and I, but we're persevering. We appreciate all your thoughts and prayers, and everything that everyone has done for us.

It's been a long couple of weeks. It feels like months. I know we've still got a long road ahead of us, but I'm so grateful every day that I get the opportunity to go and see and be with my beautiful baby daughter. Amber asked me to give her a father's blessing tonight, and I'm so thankful for the Priesthood, and the opportunity to bless my daughter. I can't wait to be able to sit at home in my recliner and hold my daughter. Even though this has been an extremely difficult and trying time, I can see the Lord's hand in things. We've been very blessed, and seen many miracles. We've met people that I'm very grateful for and seen things that I will never forget. I think the thing I'm most grateful for is the time I've had to be with Amber and to sit and talk with her. It's been a long time since we'd had this much time together, and it's been wonderful. I appreciate everything that she does for me and for my family. I know things will work out. Sometimes we just wish it were on our timetable....

Christmas Eve

2008-12-24T12:22:00.000-07:00

It's been quite an experience to be here at Primary Children's on Christmas Eve and staying at the Ronald McDonald house. The spirit of giving has never been so evident. Last night a co-worker and his extended family came to Ronald McDonald house and had prepared gift baskets for all the people who were staying there over Christmas. There are so many meals being brought in, and tons of candy. Every time we walk in or out of the hospital, there's another family that's dropping off toys and blankets and having their picture taken by the security guard. It has really opened my eyes to the goodness of people's hearts. I think this will probably change the way I view Christmas from this point on. It's been a wonderful experience, in spite of the reason for our being here.

Also, we're so grateful for parent's and family who are doing all they can to provide a wonderful Christmas for our little boy. It makes me happy to hear about him eating snow and watching snowplows with his grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins.

I guess another thing that makes it easier to see the good is that Ali has had a great couple of days. Her oxygen needs continue to go down. They're weaning her on several of her medications. She's been getting around 45% oxygen and has been doing fairly well. There's still lots of room for more improvement, but we're so happy to see our little girl make steps in the right direction.

More Good News

2008-12-23T12:26:00.002-07:00

I just wanted to share some more good news. This morning they were able to move Ali from an oscillatory ventilator to a new type of ventilator. This ventilator enables her to more easily take her own breaths and provides only the amount of assistance that Ali needs. They've been able to wean her oxygen down to 50% and her blood gases are still looking great. It's been a wonderful morning!

Also, I got to call and talk to Logan this morning. It's only been a couple of days, but he already sounds more grown up. It sounds like his pronunciation is getting better and everything. We sure miss him but are glad he's in Pocatello enjoying himself. With all the snow in Pocatello, there are lots of machines and tractors working in the snow, so he's in heaven watching everything go.

Great Day

2008-12-22T22:23:00.003-07:00

Well, after a traumatic day yesterday, today was a very great day. If there's anything that could compete with the trauma of sending your baby daughter to Salt Lake on LifeLight, it's sending your young son back to Pocatello to spend Christmas without you knowing that it's an option you chose. What a difficult decision! It has been such a blessing to be able to spend time with Ali and not have to worry about how Logan is being taken care of or if he's bored. We are so grateful for parents who are willing to help out in this difficult time. From all accounts, he's doing great and has been enjoying himself.

Today was very enjoyable. We had several firsts. This evening, our nurse had Amber and I help to change the bedding. I got the wonderful opportunity to hold my baby girl! It was wonderful. It wasn't quite the warm snuggly moment that you often associate with a father holding his daughter for the first time. I had to hold her with arms extended while trying to keep all the tubes and wires in the right place with the assistance of a nurse, but I got the chance to lift her and support her in my hands. She's quite the handful! Amber did a great job of changing the bedding, and was very quick (thankfully) as Ali got difficult to hold given the awkward positioning. Amber put some nice yellow sheets on Ali's bed, and gave her a nice yellow bow.

Shortly after changing her bed, our nurse had Amber put some powder on Ali and clean off her mouth. To clean her mouth, she used this little pink sponge on a stick that you dip into distilled water. Ali loved it! As Amber would put the sponge in and near her mouth, Ali would suck and smile. She opened her eyes and looked at Amber and I. It was quite a moment. She opened her eyes briefly yesterday, but this was the first prolonged moment betweeen daughter and mother and father. She was absolutely beautiful. Amber convinced me to try giving her some of the water, and it was amazing to be able to interact with her in any way after a week of not really getting much of a reaction to anything that we did.

As for her condition, she's been progressing like the turtle, slow and steady. Hopefully we have the outcome that she wins the race. Her oxygen setting has been bouncing around for the last couple of days, but today she spent most of the day between 65 and 70. She seems to be tolerating that very well. Her ventilator settings have been fairly consistent, and they will probably try to wean her Mean Airway Pressure by .5 tonight. Her amplitude settings also went down a few points today. What this means without getting too technical is that she's getting a LOT less support from the ventilator now than she was a week ago. Sometimes it's difficult if you look at her from day to day to see the changes, but if you look at several days or a week back, it's easier to see the progress. One of her chest tubes fell out today, but it didn't seem to affect her much. It was one of the older ones and hadn't been bubbling much, so we were able to just chuckle about it with the nurses. We got to look at some x-rays tonight. She still has a lot of junk in her lungs. When they cultured her, nothing grew, but they think she has pneumonia that she's fighting off, along with the pneumothoraxes and the pulmonary hypertension. She's a very sick girl, but it has been quite a blessing to see some progress.

Also, I forgot to mention, she got her PICC line in today. That's a line that runs through her arm, up through the vein and ends up near her heart. They use it for administering medication and nutrients. They tried last night on her left arm and couldn't get it to thread. If they hadn't been able to get it in her right arm, she would've needed to have surgery to have a line placed. We are very grateful that she was able to have it run through her arm, which is much less invasive.

The Things We Learn!

2008-12-21T14:50:00.003-07:00

Well it's finally Amber writing a post. I figured I needed a little break and some much needed therapy, and figured it would help to write some things down. So if I bore you I'm sorry. I have come to learn that Jeff is more of the optimistic one, and me the realistic one. As I have read his posts I'm very grateful he has been keeping you all updated and trying to look on the upside of things. He keeps me strong and helps me to have hope for a brighter day in these gloomy days that we are facing and continue to face. He is the medicine I need to keep holding on to hope. Our sweet little Ali is very very sick and I'm reminded of that on a daily basis by the doctors, nurse practioners, and nurses. She has pulmonary hypertension, numerous pneumothoraxes, and numerous problems resulting from those. To keep things simpler, she has 3 machines hooked up to her now(one of which is a oscillatory ventilator), 3 chest tubes trying to evacuate air from her lung cavities, iv lines, and tomorrow they are inserting a PICC line into her main artery. We are hoping they can get it in with no troubles otherwise she will undergo a surgery to place it. She is our little fighter, but as a mother you wonder how much your little one can take. She has been holding strong for a week now, but things have been at a stand still for the past couple of days. I wish I could do more for her but all I can do is sit at her bedside and watch, wait, pray, and hope. She is so beautiful and has brought so much joy into our lives already. Jeff and I have truly been awakened to the little things in life. How grateful I am for a loving Heavenly Father who hears us and comforts us in our times of need. A Father who has surrounded my little one with angels and helped her fight for her little life. It is a daily fight and I wake up each morning thanking my Father in Heaven for allowing my Ali to make it through another night. I will take it one day at a time and continue to give thanks to Him for giving me this precious little angel to watch over.

At this time of year we think of our Savior Jesus Christ and his birth. How grateful I am for his birth. That he came despite all the challenges he faced in the years ahead. I know he loves us and He knows what each of us are going through, despite our problems. I know I can rely on him and his love to carry me through this trial in my life. We sent our 2 year old son back home to be with family during the holidays and it was one of the toughest things to say goodbye to Logan knowing we would not see him for a little while. We know he is in good hands, and will enjoy being with cousins and grandparents. It has made it even harder that it is through this Christmas season. We love him and so miss him already, but this will allow us to focus on Ali for the time being. You never want to have to say goodbye to your child even if it is for a short time.

We pray for the day we get to bring Ali home and have our own little family Christmas, but that day seems and is far off at this time. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers for our family during this time in our lives. We love you all and think of you often.

Logan Loves Ali

2008-12-18T22:38:00.002-07:00

The first thing out of Logan's mouth today was "Hi Ali". He sure loves his little sister even though he hasn't seen her. It's hard for him, and us, but he's sure been a trooper. He gives hugs to the camera. I plugged the camera into a TV today and he loved looking at pictures of his baby sister. He's a great brother.

Ali is doing well. They've been able to wean several of the ventilator settings, and she's totally off of blood pressure medication. She's also on "as needed" for pain and sedation, so she's much more awake and responsive than she has been for quite a while. Her oxygen levels have been quite good, so the doctors and Amber and I are all very happy with her progress. She's down to 65% oxygen instead of 100%, so that's great too!

Again, I just want to thank everybody for all the prayers and thoughts. We appreciate it and definitely are seeing the blessings!

Mini-Miracles

2008-12-17T21:09:00.002-07:00

I just wanted to take a little bit of time tonight and write a little bit about some small miracles that have occurred during this difficult time in our lives.
The first thing is on Sunday morning when Amber called, I was very nervous about being able to get to the hospital. I am not a big fan of icy roads. I got into the truck and started my journey to the hospital. The truck handled amazingly. It felt like it was glued to the road. I was able to quickly and safely make my way from our house to the hospital to give my sick baby girl a blessing. I felt the hands of angels during that trip. I know that I was being watched over.

For those of you who know me well, directions are not my strong point. I've always been what people have called "directionally challenged". When I drove down on Sunday afternoon, I was extremely frazzled. I dropped Logan off at our friend's house and headed to the hospital. The only problem was that I had forgotten to bring my directions that they had given me in Pocatello. I called our friends sobbing and asked for directions. They gave me some good directions and I started following them. After a few roads, I found I wasn't as close as I thought I would be, and there weren't any signs. I pulled over and asked this strange looking lady with a mohawk if she could help me get to Primary Children's. She was very nice and gave me some more directions. She told me that she wanted to leave her blessing on whoever was in the house that day. She was very strange but very helpful. A while later, I found that I had taken a wrong turn. I again found someone, this time somebody who looked to be a student, smoking a very large Sherlock Holmes style pipe. He gave me directions for the last leg of the trip. This was a miracle to me for a couple of reasons. First, I was able to get to the hospital to see my baby girl in a fairly timely manner. Second, our Heavenly Father has lots of helpers. They don't always look conventional, or have the same beliefs as you, but he can use them to help his people. This experience has helped re-affirm my thoughts that humanity as a whole is good. This world is full of wonderful people who would do things to help their neighbor.

A third small miracle, along with an update on my beautiful baby girl, came this afternoon. Amber left me with Ali for a little while. I was singing to her and talking to her. Then I started really talking to her. I pleaded with her that if she could please get the air out of her chest for daddy that we would be able to take her home and be with her little brother and family. Literally within moments of asking her to help me do this, the chest tube that had been sitting silent for quite a while began to gurgle. A short while later, they came and did a chest x-ray and told Amber that the air from the pneumo-thorax had been removed. While I don't think we're quite out of the woods with some of the problems she's having, I know that this was a miracle and a gift from God that he would allow me to witness this.

As far as the rest of the update, she's been quite stable for a few days. She's on quite a few medications, including a blood pressure medicine, a pain killer, a sedative, along with Nitric Oxide, Oxygen and Flo-Lan (a medicine to help open up the vessels in her lungs). Since the oxygen levels in her blood have been fairly decent and stable, they've been starting to wean her Mean Airway Pressure. It started around 25, and has been dropped to 16.5, and we're hoping to drop to 16 at midnight tonight if all goes well. Just as a point of comparison, 12 is the number that they need to hit before they can even think about taking the ventilator out. Also, instead of 100% pure oxygen, they've dropped her to 88%. This is good because they told us that pure oxygen is caustic to the lungs, and it would be good to get her below 60% as soon as possible. So, in summary, she's still very sick, but she's making progress. Her mother and I are very pleased, and excited to have some good news to share with all of you.

Also, today we were able to attend a "Parent's Meeting". They had several "Graduate" parents come in and share their stories and served lunch. One of the graduate parent's had a daughter who had also suffered from pulmonary hypertension. She brought her daughter with her to the meeting. She's now about 6 years old. It brought tears to my eyes and joy to my heart to see a little girl who went through what our baby girl is going through who is now happy and healthy.

Thanks again to everyone for all the prayers, thoughts, emails and phone calls!

Life's Little Tests

2008-12-16T12:31:00.003-07:00

Well, a lot of you may have heard that things haven't gone so smoothly. We had our beautiful baby girl on Friday night. We named her Ali Amber. She weighed 7 pounds 8 ounces. When she came out, she started crying a little bit, and I thought everything was great, because it seemed like she was doing better than Logan at that point. They let Amber hold her for a short time, and then whisked her away to the NICU. I was used to this, since it had happened with Logan as well, so I accompanied her to the NICU. They put her on a CPAP because she wasn't breathing very well. She seemed to be doing OK for a little while. I went home to get some sleep and take care of Logan while Amber stayed at the hospital. Sunday morning at 1:30, I got a phone call from Amber. Our baby wasn't doing very well. They needed to fly her to Salt Lake City on LifeLight to Primary Children's so that she could be put on a special ventilator. I drove as quickly as I could to the hospital and gave her a blessing. Amber flew down on the plane with Ali. I was home trying to figure out what I could do with work to try and get down there. Around noon Amber called and told me that I needed to get down to Salt Lake as quick as possible. Ali was not doing well, and they were about to the point where they needed to start some very serious procedures. My mom was able to come with us to help take care of Logan for a few days, which was very helpful. Some friends in Bountiful let us use their house as a base. We really appreciate everyone who was so helpful to us. I hate to start naming names, because I'd feel horrible if I left anyone out. I got down here, and by the time I got here, things had started to sort of stabilize. She's on a ventilator with 100% oxygen. She got a 2 pneumo-thoraxes, which is where air escapes into the chest cavity, so she has 2 chest tubes in, one of which will match Logan almost identically. She's been fairly stable for the last day or two. She's a very sick little girl, but we have faith that with the skilled medical personnel here that we'll be able to get through this. I want to thank everyone for all your prayers, phone calls, thoughts, and wonderful gestures.

Not quite yet....

2008-12-05T08:11:00.002-07:00

Well this little girl sure does want to join the world early. This past week my contractions have come a lot harder and stronger. They were coming about every 4 minutes so I headed to have the doctor check me as I was barely 35 weeks. Sure enough I was dilated to a 3 and she was all in postion, so he sent me to Labor and Delivery to stop the contractions. They ended up giving me 2 doses of medication until they stopped. So after about 4 hours in the doctors office and hospital I was able to come home. After I arrived home the hospital called and they saw some concerning spikes on the babies heart rate so was told to come back in at 8 am for a non stress test to check on the baby. Well after a good 4-5 hours of sleep the contractions started up again, I decided to just hold out until I had to go in at 8am. My contractions had slowed by the time I went in much to my relief. After the NST they were concerned about the amniotic fluid around the baby, so I was sent for an ultrasound. Well, it's still a girl... thank goodness, since I already painted and have clothes. I wasn't about to paint again. After everything was said and done, the baby is just fine and no worries about the amniotic fluid. Right now I'm just trying not to have to many contractions to keep this baby in me for atleast one more week. I am very hopefull and thanks to wonderful mothers and a great husband who help out with Logan are making it easier to just relax.

Many Faces of Logan

2008-11-29T11:13:00.005-07:00

We have come to enjoy teaching Logan new things and watching him explore the world. He has many faces that he likes to use. He brings such entertainment to our household.

This is his smile face. (not the best picture of his smile face, but will do)

This is his Pirate face. He covers one eye and says "Argg." When we tell him to do a double pirate he will cover both eyes and yell "Argg."

This is his mad face.

This is his surprised face.

Thanksgiving Day Fun!

2008-11-29T10:52:00.003-07:00

Well this year we were able to spend time with both families. We first went over to Jeff's Grandma Ransoms to visit with Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins. We had a fun time visiting and hanging out over there. It's always nice to visit with Jeff's cousin Melissa and her husband Israel. Unfortunately we were there awhile before Jeff's parents and siblings came, so by the time they got there we had to head out to hit my families. Very grateful and fun to see the extended family though. We then headed to my parents where there was lots of food and a nice relaxed atmosphere. My brother Bud and sister Liz and their families were unable to make it, so it was a small but nice gathering. Logan got to go out and ride on the 4wheeler with Grandpa, which he loves. He also got to pretend to drive the riding lawn mower and then of course play with his favorite dog Sadie. He loves that dog and gives her hugs and kissed all the time. Unfortunately, for us he has learned to kiss like a dog with his tongue out so we are trying to teach him we don't kiss like that.

10 Things I'm Grateful For!

2008-11-26T11:41:00.003-07:00

My sister-in-law tagged me with 10 things that make me happy. I changed the wording a little to things I'm grateful for due to the Holiday season. So here it goes. (you can tell from the picture food is one of them, this was from my trip to Chicago with my mom and sister, man do I like Chicago style pizza!)

1. For a loving husband who always wants to make me happy. What a wonderful guy. I couldn't have asked for anyone better.

2. Logan. The joy of my life. He keeps me going and is so entertaining. I love teaching him and watching him learn new things everyday.

3. Our new little girl. She hasn't yet arrived, but I love her already. I'm excited to see her and to enjoy the good times with a baby again. (notice I said good times, not looking forward to waking up in the middle of the night again, but so worth it)

4. A house we have made our home. How grateful I am for a home to call ours that our children can grow up in and that we can make many memories together here.

5. Extended Family. How lucky and fortunate we are to live close by to both of our families. It's so nice to have our kids grow up with both Grandmas and Grandpas and to be able to rely on people when you need it.

6. Callings in church to help us grow and learn new things. I think the best benefit is you get to meet and learn from other people all the time.

7. Physical Health. I'm grateful that I have functions of all bodily parts at this time in my life. One day I might not be so lucky, but for now I'm just enjoying being able to do the things in life that I want.

8. Job. How grateful I am that Jeff has such a wonderful job, especially in our economic situation now days. We are still able to provide for our family and me stay home to raise our children.

9. Friends. I have had many friends in life. Some come and go but I always learn something from each one of them. How grateful I am that some of you call me your friend. I think it is definitely on of life's treasures to have friends.

10. I saved the best for last. My Savior! I am so grateful for a loving brother who gave his life for me. I know he lives and that he has provided a way for me to see him again and to be with my family forever. What a wonderful time of year to show our gratitude to him and his life.

Phoenix

2008-11-10T22:01:00.003-07:00

This past week I went to Phoenix for work. I flew down on Sunday night. It was a very nice flight. When I got into Phoenix, my boss picked me up and we went out to eat. We went to a Chinese place that was fantastic. I can't remember the name, but it was supposedly rated second in the city. It wasn't very posh or nice, but the food was great. We ordered 3 different entrees and all had some of everything. We also had Hot and Sour Seafood Soup, and Shark Fin Soup. Shark Fin Soup was much better than I anticipated, being very similar to Egg Drop soup. Monday I went into work. The facility was fantastic. Their cafeteria and office space was much nicer than the one I'm at now. However, it seems that not everything was fantastic, especially my luck. My luggage did not make the transition in Salt Lake, so I did not get it until Monday afternoon, so I spent all of Monday in the clothes I flew in. Also, the guy that I flew down to work with ended up being summoned for jury duty on Monday, so we had to squeeze most of the work in on Tuesday morning. What luck! We got a ton of work done, and I enjoyed myself immensely. Can't argue with 85 degrees. Then Tuesday evening I flew in to a thunderstorm. It was probably the most bumpy airplane ride of my life coming into Pocatello. Getting off the plane I was greeted with the wonderful cold weather that we enjoy here.

I got tagged!

2008-11-05T21:59:00.003-07:00

10 Years ago I was:
Had just finished my Medical Assistant Schooling and graduated. Moved back to Pocatello from Provo, UT.

5 things on my to do list:
Go through a whole bunch of hammy down girl clothes, do laundry, get ready for the day, go to an enrichment mtg, make dinner.

5 snacks I enjoy:
chips, butterfinger ice cream, swedish fish, tangy taffy, diet dr. pepper

5 things I would do if I was a millionaire:
Pay off our house, finish our yard and build a fence, take my family to Walt Disney World, buy Jeff and I both new vehicles, and save save save.

5 places I have lived:
Chubbuck, Pocatello, Provo, Somers Point New Jersey, and Princeton New Jersey.

5 Jobs I have had:
McKee's Pet Shop, Pocatello Family Medicine, American Fork Hospital Physical Therapy, Bingham Memorial Hospital, and my all time favorite place.... Portneuf Cancer Center.

I tag......
Liz Davenport, Sarah Cranor, Liz Renzello, and Melissa Gonzalez

Happy Birthday Logan!

2008-10-31T01:00:00.002-06:00

Logan is now 2 years old! He's been such a wonderful blessing in my life. I'm so grateful to have him. He's taught me so much in the past 2 years. Hopefully I'm learning patience, and some unconditional love. I'm learning to put my needs and wants in second (or third, or fourth) place. I love having somebody run yelling to the door to give me a giant bear hug when I walk in the door from work. I love hearing "Dad! Dad!" when he's supposed to be in bed and gets scared, even if I get a little tired of it sometimes. I love having somebody who wants to do everything I do, just because I'm doing it. I love getting out chips and dip when Amber is out and about, sitting on my chair with my boy on my lap, and sharing a good snack.
I am so grateful for Logan and everything he has brought to our family. He's going to be a great big brother. I can't wait for him to get old enough to fish. I just hope he turns out OK with a dad like me.
Logan, I Love You!

Halloween Party and Grandpa's Birthday!

2008-10-25T21:14:00.003-06:00

Wow I can't believe it's almost Halloween, which also means Logan is turning 2. He has definitely hit his terrible 2's. He also is the sweetest little boy imaginable as well. Funny how they can be both an angel and a devil. Well this year for Halloween Logan was Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh. Of all of the pooh characters for some reason he his very fond of Eeyore, so I just had to get it for him. He loved being in it, even though the costume is so hot. My mother had her annual Halloween party tonight which was so wonderful. The kids all came dressed up and my mother had her house decorated so lovely. We ate dinner then played Bingo with prizes (oh how I love prizes!) We then let the kids play there games, which consisted of a fishing pond with prizes and treats and then a cupcake walk. They sure did seem to love it and I appreciate all my mom's hard work in putting them together. The adults had a donut eating contest where the donuts where hanging off a string and we couldn't use our hands. It was pretty funny to see Chris, Jeff, and Big Todd. All going at it right next to each other and in the meantime of trying to eat their donut telling the other one not to touch him or get too close. It was a priceless moment. Wish I had the video camera for that one. We lit the pumpkins and there were some pretty fancy ones. Jeff did ours, which consisted of Mickey Mouse, the Dow Jones Fall, and a Log for Logan. All in all it was a very eventful evening full of fun, food, and of course the best of all Family.

Last but not least, it was also my father's birthday. He is the best Father anyone could have and I want him to know how much I love him and how grateful I am for all he does for our family. Thanks for playing with Logan outside and teaching him about the garden and how to climb the playset you built. Everytime he sees a 4-wheeler he is always yelling "Papa's". I hope you had a wonderful birthday and we can still share many more with you.

Meet Hailey Ray Davenport our new Niece!!

2008-10-14T22:50:00.006-06:00

Well I want to congratulate my little sister and her husband on bringing home such a beautiful little girl today. This has been a miracle in the making. They were blessed to be able to adopt this little girl and place her in the most wonderful home ever imaginable. The Lord truly does bless us on his own time table. I'm so honored to be apart of their lives and look forward to watching Hailey grow up and learn from such wonderful parents. I'm also very excited that Hailey will have a girl cousin as her best friend and that they can grow up together and share many memories. I'm so happy and excited for my sister.... even though she is younger she is an inspiration to me and I love her dearly. I would leave my kids in her hand any day, and this young mother who so courageously placed her with my sister and her husband, couldn't have chosen any better mother and father than Jeff and Liz. I love you Liz!!

Joy in the Journey..... Now.

2008-10-05T12:01:00.003-06:00

Well just finished with Sunday morning conference and how grateful I was for the talk given by our Prophet Thomas S. Monson. What wonderful advice to enjoy today and not wish for tomorrow. He talked about those with young children and the toys on the floor, and the messes they make. How we will miss that one day and to enjoy it today. He talked about giving thanks to a loving Heavenly Father for the things we have in life. How grateful I am this day for the things I have now. I love my husband and Logan dearly. I am so blessed to have a little girl on the way. Sometimes I wish away the pregnancy to just get her here, but how grateful I am to feel her inside of me kicking and to have that bond with her already. I'm grateful for the things I get to see each day, namely my little boy grow up right in front of me and enjoy all the little things he learns and copies from us. He has caught on that I call Jeff honey as well and has now started to call his Daddy... Honey! I get a kick out of it, Jeff doesn't appreciate it too much though. I hope I will be able to enjoy each day as it comes and goes and not wish for tomorrow or hold on to the past. How grateful I am for such wise counsel. Counsel I have heard before, but truly struck me this time.

Camera Died

2008-10-01T10:43:00.004-06:00

Well to much of my disappointment, when I went to take a picture of Logan yesterday I realized that our camera took a turn for the worse, as is no longer functional. It was the perfect picture of sweet little Logan too. I had recently bought him some new Sunday shoes and let him open the box yesterday. His face lit up like it was the best day ever. He had on a bright orange onesie and wanted his Sunday shoes on right then, so put on white socks and his black Sunday shoes, then he went and got his Elephant hat that he loves to wear. He was marching around our house in those shoes like he was in a parade and loving every minute of it. I would even tell him to smile and wave and he did just that. It was priceless.... How grateful I am for our memories and the little things in life that we get to cherish everyday, even without a camera!!

Island Park Trip this past Summer!

2008-09-23T08:26:00.003-06:00

We went to Island Park for our Annual Camping trip. We always camp at the Buffalo camp ground. We tent it and all. We were a little nervous with Logan would do, but he is an avid camper. He loved it. Especially if he had his shovel in hand. Within in the first 10 minutes of getting there he had already shoveled loads of dirt and dumped on him. He loves the dirt, bugs, and going on little walks. He is a true boy! We loved going camping with all of the Cranor family and the food was delicious. There is a picture in there of Jeff and I's dutch oven bread we made. It was actually really good. Well enjoy the pics finally!

Pics coming soon!

2008-09-07T00:01:00.001-06:00

I promise I will post pictures soon of all our summer adventures. Life has been crazy and I'm not too computer savvy.

And the Ultrasound said..........

2008-08-20T13:19:00.001-06:00

Well we went and had our ultrasound today and everything looks good, which is the most important part right. Ten little fingers and Ten little toes! Jeff and I are excited to be parents again and for Logan to have a Little Sister! Yep, that's right a little girl is on her way. I can't wait to decorate a little girls room. Jeff informs me he is not changing a girls diaper, we will see how long that lasts. The ultrasound has the date as of Dec. 31st. So we shall see if this is a 2008 or 2009 baby. I guess that will be the next surprise. Well I am very very excited and can't wait to introduce her to everyone. Half way through the pregnancy now.

Shout out to my Sister!!

2008-08-12T14:31:00.003-06:00

Today is my little sister's birthday. She's not real little anymore, she is one of the most mature and beautiful woman I have ever met. She is such an example to me of truly living the gospel. I sure do miss her living up here in Idaho, but I know she is needed in Las Vegas right now for many reasons. I know she deserves on of our Heavenly Father's most chosen children, and I think Heavenly Father is having a hard time finding the one that deserves her as a mother. What a wonderful mother she will be and in time that will happen. She has such a good heart and I have never heard her speak ill of others. Except maybe me and my brothers at times. I truly hope she has a wonderful birthday and savors all this time she has to be with her best friend, Jeff. Happy Birthday Liz, I love you!

Memory Tag

2008-07-17T12:46:00.002-06:00

I saw this "tag" game on my friend Jen's Blog and thought it sounded like fun.

1. Add a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you

Life...

2008-07-14T10:33:00.002-06:00

Sometimes it seems like life just goes by and you don't know what you have done or your list of things to do just keeps getting bigger, even though you have crossed some things off of it. Seems like there is always something to do in my life as a wife and mother and slowly you slip into the back seat. Well today I actually curled my hair and put on makeup and am going out to lunch with my family. Now don't get me wrong I have gone out to lunch with my family many times but my hair was usually just put in a pony tail and all I had on was mascara, but today is different I feel like a woman! I'm sure tomorrow I will slip back into the role of mother and have my hair back with no makeup and play with my son all day, and that is rewarding in and of itself. Occasionally I will slip back into having a woman moment and looking really good, but I will just enjoy this day and look forward to tomorrow when I can spend that 1-2 hours I spent on me today on Logan. I love my life and the opportunity I have to share it with Jeff and Logan and the little one on the way.

Fishing at Chesterfield

2008-06-29T15:34:00.002-06:00

Well, I had so much fun last time I went fishing that I decided I had to have my own Pontoon boat. I looked and looked and finally found a good deal on a boat that I liked, partly because I had been on one the last time I was out and it seemed to work well. Saturday afternoon after we got some things done around the house I decided it was time to test out the new boat. I loaded up the truck and headed South. After several detours, I finally got to the reservoir, and it was packed! There were people camping everywhere, and it was covered in boats and float tubes. I finally found a parking space quite a ways from the water and got my stuff ready. Then I packed all my gear across a parking lot and got ready to get in. At this point, I realized that my reel was acting a little bit weird so I started examining it. It finally occurs to me that I didn't thread the line through the reel right so that bail wasn't catching. I ended up having to cut off the lure I had just tied on, re-thread my line through the rod, and tie on another lure. This wouldn't be a problem for an experienced fisherman, but I'm still on the learning end so sometimes it takes a minute for me to get the knot just right. I finally get out on the water. The sun is scorching. Good thing my wife told me to put on some sunscreen and I had a wide brimmed hat. I kicked out a ways and started fishing. Nothing. Not one nibble. I went through several of the lures that my father-in-law had given me to try (Thanks, Glen) but nothing was biting. I didn't feel too bad, as I didn't see a single fish come out of the water the whole time I was there, so I wasn't the only one having problems. I think it had a lot to do with the amount of activity on the water. I think I learned my lesson about going on a weekend, especially this close to 4th of July weekend. It was a fun time, though, all in all, and I was very excited to get to try out my spinning rod that my wife got my last fall. Next goal is to see how well it can hold a fish....

Family of Four!!

2008-06-23T09:56:00.002-06:00

Well I guess it's about time I write and let people know our family is growing. We are excited to add another addition to our family. Don't know what we are having yet, but will be glad to complete our family. This little one is due January 6th, 2009. Jeff and I are hoping for Dec. 31st for taxes and deductible reasons. Logan came 3 weeks early so if that is any sign we should be pretty lucky. Thanks to my mom and mother-in-law for all there help in the first part of this pregnancy. I love living close to all of our family. It's nice to have them around during this time and actually any time for that matter. Well will keep you posted regarding Dr. visits.

Fishing

2008-06-20T22:50:00.002-06:00

Well, I finally got out for my first fishing trip of the year. I went with my father-in-law and one of his friends. We took 3 pontoon boats out to Chesterfield and did some fly fishing. This was my first experience with fly fishing, and it was a blast! It took a while for me to get to where I was comfortable with what I was doing, but once I got that under control, it was awesome! I only got 4 bites, 2 of which I got close enough to the boat to see, and one of which was briefly on my pontoon boat before he escaped with the third of the flies that I used. It was quite a rush fighting the fish on the fly-rod. They felt a lot bigger than they looked when they got out of the water. Anyway, I think that's my new hobby. I've spent a while looking on the internet for fly rods, reels, fly tying kits, and pontoon boats. Hopefully I'll get another chance to get out on the water soon.
Thanks, Glen!

Our family trip to Hoogle Zoo!

2008-05-29T16:28:00.002-06:00

Logan loved every minute of our trip and it was nice to get away just the 3 of us.

Nothings Better than Butter!!

2008-05-21T09:32:00.004-06:00

Well one morning I was on the phone with my mother when Logan was being pretty quite. I then realized Logan is tall enough to get stuff off our kitchen counters and I had left the butter out. This is what I found!! It took three baths to get him were he wasn't a water repellent kid any more.

Poor Head

2008-05-16T16:17:00.002-06:00

Logan was having so much fun playing today, but it came to an end when he hit his head on a iron statue and sliced his forehead open. He only cried for a little bit though, but was a deep enough cut to head to the doctors. They said he could use 2 stitches but because of his age and him not wanting to hold still very long, they just glued it shut. He looks like a pretty tough kid with the cut on his forehead, nothing like his friend Peytons cut though. I am sure we are in for many more of these cuts and bruises throughout his life. What an adventure!!

Oh how I love my two Boys!

2008-04-19T11:02:00.000-06:00

Smokin Liz.... how 'bout you?!

2008-04-16T22:08:00.000-06:00

125 words

Speedtest

Wii

2008-04-09T09:32:00.002-06:00

Well my husband bought me a Wii out of the blue. One day he just came home and surprised me. We have so much fun on that, it truly is a great family gaming system. Jeff and I are pros at tennis now, and Logan is so good at boxing he got a knock out. It is such a fun way to spend together as a family, especially in the winter months when it's too cold to go outside.

Snow, Snow, and more Snow.

2008-04-07T11:37:00.002-06:00

Ok, so Jeff and I have decided we hate the snow. We are so ready for summer. It seems like it snows every other day here, and we have had it. Las Vegas is looking more enticing on living there with the rest of our family. Liz and Jeff just left to go back, they have a home visit for their adoption tomorrow, hope all goes well for them.

No more Volvo; Hello Truck

2008-03-26T22:11:00.002-06:00

Well Jeff has been wanting a truck for awhile now and we finally did it. Got rid of that Volvo for a 95 GMC Sierra extended cab. He is so excited and said he should have bought a truck years ago. He has camping trips planned already. I think if he could he would go camping tomorrow with his new pride and joy. I haven't seen him this excited over something for awhile, so it's good to see him act like a kid again. He bought Logan his very own mini sleeping back for camping, it is so cute! He is ready to get his fishing license and head for lakes since he purchased his own fishing pole last summer. I think he is more excited and ready for camping now then me, boy that's strange. Well watch out for Jeff in his new truck! He looks pretty good in it, if you ask me. :)

DNCFR

2008-03-24T10:46:00.002-06:00

Well Jeff and I had a wonderful time. Wouldn't you know I forgot the camera, so sorry no pics to post. Our seats were amazing, 4 rows away from the arena. We of course loved the mutten busting with the little kids. After wards the announcer was taking to the 2nd place finisher and he asked her if her mommy told her not to say any bad words... she replied no, then he said does your mommy ever say any bads words... her reply was yes!. It was pretty cute. Jeff and I love the bull riding and there was some good rides that night. Well until next year, kiddie up cowboy!!

Going to the DNCFR

2008-03-21T12:09:00.003-06:00

My husband surprised me with tickets to the rodeo. Oh I love going the Dodge National Circuit Finals Rodeo. My husband had never been until he married me. It should make a great night out for us. Logan would love watching the horses and bulls, but don't think he would want to watch it for 3 hours straight. So he gets to play with Grandpa and Grandma Moon tonight, how thankful I am for them and all they do for us. Well will post more after the rodeo. Yee Haw

AMIS turns to ON

2008-03-17T12:43:00.003-06:00

Well today was a crazy day at Jeff's work. On Semiconductor purchased AMIS, Jeff's old employer. I'm very grateful for my amazing husband and all that he does for us as a family. We are one of the fortunate ones, as Jeff still has a job. I've discovered you are never safe at any job, no matter how long you have been there. One thing that is always constant in our lives is the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the love of our families. How grateful I am that we have a testimony of the Savior and no matter what comes our way, we will always find a way to work things out. I feel very lucky to be married to a wonderful intelligent man who will always support us as a family and the opportunity we have to live close to family.

Hide and Go Seek...

2008-03-06T19:09:00.003-07:00

So our niece Lauren and nephew Trevor came over to our house a couple of months ago and we decided to play hide and go seek. As you can see it was my turn to hide so I went into our closet and climbed up the shelves (Jeff assisted) and layed on one of the top shelves in our closet. Lauren and Trevor looked around for about 20 minutes until Jeff gave them clues. It was so funny to see them looking around. I watched them come in and out of the closet 3 or 4 times before they saw me. I think I had found the best hiding spot! It was a blast and I was amazed I fit up there.

Shout out to Jeff!

2008-02-28T16:09:00.004-07:00

Back in January, I had one of the worst Fridays. Jeff knew what an awful day it was for me and brought me home these flowers, pizza, diet dr. pepper, and some movies. It was the best surprise I could have ever asked for. How grateful I am for him and the love he shows towards me. I love him and couldn't have asked for anyone more perfect. I love you Jeff!

Logan

2008-02-22T10:16:00.003-07:00

Logan keeps me on my toes, he is such a boy and loves to discover new things. He always wants to help me put the clothes in the dryer, I guess he thought, if clothes can go in there than so can I. He had a good time just sitting in there. He is such a cutie and is always entertaining me.

Old Friends

2008-02-18T16:28:00.002-07:00

Today I had the opportunity to see an old friend. How nice it was to catch up and hear stories about her life. I think it is such a blessing to find and cherish friendships throughout our journey here on earth. How grateful I am today for the many friends I have gained throughout my life. Some have been for short times and others for years, but all have left an impression in my life and heart. How lucky I am to have found those friendships and grown and learned from them. The friendship I am most thankful for is that of my husband Jeff, how our friendship has grown and developed over the years. May we all cherish those friends we come across in our life.

It's working...

2008-02-18T16:27:00.001-07:00

Well the bike in the living room has turned out to be pretty nice. Jeff and I are able to use it more often and are seeing results. Logan likes to play on it too. I think this is a great start to changing our lives for the better.