What have we done?

We purchased a simpler home on nearly an acre because we thought it would be good for the kids. Today while preparing a few things at the house I had serious doubts about our decision. First of all the boys refuse to go outside unless they are pulling me by the pant leg. Why? Because our neighbor has a cat, and they are terrified, I mean horrifically terrified of a harmless old cat. To make matters worse, I was sitting under a tree with Aaron on the grass and all of the sudden he let out this piercing scream. "AHHHHHHH! There's a worm on my leg!!! Get it off! Get if off! AHHHHHHHHH!"

Later we passed the the brand new big house with a smaller yard that we almost bought. Aaron started crying hysterically telling me that that was the house he wanted to live in. He didn't want to live in the house with the big yard because it had cats and worms! He cried real tears and I started thinking, "What in the world did we do to ourselves? We've turned him into a city slicker!" All day I started having doubts and thought, "Wow, all this yard to maintain and the kids don't really want to play in it? I gave up a big new house for the screaming and the tears?"

Then, the girls came home from school and went straight to the backyard to swing on the swings, later the boys were out adventuring with them. Aaron went to play with his new neighbor friend, and came home with huge eyes telling me that he got to see his new friend's cow and his chickens. (Apparently he's not afraid of those types of animals). By the time tonight came, he didn't say anything about not liking the place, he'd forgotten about the cat and the worm, but he had a perma-grin from playing with his new next-door-neighbor friend. He LOVES friends.

In Oceanside, we had a beautiful house that we loved, but it was on a death trap of a steep hill. The kids were threatened with their lives not to go into the front yard. It feels good to be in a place where the kids can ride bikes around the neighborhood, they can roam and adventure in the backyard and when the front door beeps because a child has exited, I no longer worry for their lives. I hope it will be a great "kid" house. Even with all of it's oddities, it feels good and right at this time in our lives. I'll let you know a year from now, after all of the yard work, if my sentiments are still the same ;)

ER Graduation!

This picture was taken on the worst day of Joseph's infection. Yesterday while we was getting his IV at the ER, the doctor told him that he believed it wasn't just cellulitis, but that he had the bacteria in his bloodstream as well. This was scary! I had just been with my friends a few nights ago and we were talking about bacterial infections that get to the heart and cause death. We talked of the flu-like symptoms that accompanied the death of these individuals. Joseph had the same feverish, achey symptoms as the infection spread.

This was a scary infection. You can barely see Joseph's foot, the part that's bright red, but that's where the infection started and then overnight moved up his leg. His lymph nodes were extremely sore and swollen, so I imagine they did a good job at stopping the infection from spreading, but the rate at which the infection spread from his foot to his groin was really rapid. The thing that scared me the most was that it was twice the distance from his hip to his heart. I thought that if it traveled that distance, that rapidly, we didn't have much time. Luckily it didn't move any further. The first couple of days were stressful and worrisome, then I realized things were going to be okay and that it was just going to take time and patience for him to heal. It was actually calming for me to go to the ER with him so that I could ask questions and be re-assured that things looked like they were going to be okay. I can't wait to see what the hospital bills are. Seriously, should be interesting. Thank heaven for great insurance, but I'm just curious what all of those fancy cocktails he received will cost. :)

Today Joseph received his last IV, he's now taking two oral antibiotics that will hopefully continue to speed healing. I am so grateful that he as responded well to treatment and we pray that a full recovery is just around the corner. But he graduated from the ER!

I've said before that the ER is a great place to people-watch. Well I missed a great session of people-watching today according to Joseph. A gangsta and his lady came in for a pregnancy test....I loved hearing Joseph's rendition of it. Too bad we won't be regulars there anymore. ;)

Busy Day!

Wow! Today was a happy, busy day. It started early this morning I woke up to take a quick run and then got myself and the boys ready so we could go pick up the girls, who had slept at Aunt Emily's house. We were all heading to the Salt Lake Airport to greet Joseph's brother, Gabriel, who was returning home from Japan for his two year mission for our church where he was preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the Japanese people.

I picked up the girls in Provo and then raced to the airport. I received a message en route that his flight was arriving early! Ahhhh! We were already running late. I arrived at the airport and Joseph was trying to give me directions to get to the International Terminal, I misunderstood those instructions and had to exit the parking garage and re-enter. I was so frustrated. I finally made it in again, and hurried to pull all the kids out of the car. We ran inside Terminal 2 and then down the escalator and out the doors to get to the International Terminal. We made it and with time to spare. We even had a few minutes to visit and catch our breath before Gabe came off the plane.

It was so great to see him! Our hearts were filled with gratitude to see his beautiful face and to hug him. Two years is a long time and an even longer time for a mother, I am sure. We are proud of Gabe and his service to our Heavenly Father and the people of Japan.

After we picked Gabe up everyone went to eat at The Cheesecake Factory. We headed there too, but when we realized how long it would take, we opted for Chick-fil-A because we had an appointment to close on the home that we are purchasing. We were running a little late there too! I had to have Emily meet me at the title company to watch the kids because there was no way I was going to make it to her house and the title company by 2:00. Emily met me there just in the nick of time. We signed all of the papers and just had one little glitch. The mortgage company told us we could either do a wire transfer or a cashier's check to pay. Joseph asked the loan officer which was the easiest. He told him that a cashier's check would be. Joseph went and picked up the cashier's check and when we reached the title office the title person told us that there was a new law that you had to wire the transfer if it was more than $10,000. Ugggghhh! Otherwise you have to wait 7-10 days for the check to clear. Are you kidding me?! So we had to go back to the bank and give the check back and then ask them to do the wire transfer. The bank then told him that it was too late in the day to do a wire transfer (it was around 3:00) because back east where it was processed, it was the end of the business day. Because it was Friday we have to wait until Monday. That was the frustrating part. We have cleaning people coordinated for Monday, we have carpet cleaning on Tuesday. The way it's looking for the funds transfer, we may not get keys until late Monday or Tuesday. At first I was livid! Then I realized that we could probably just get permission from the sellers to have the cleaning people enter the home. I have the movers scheduled to come remove everything from our storage unit on Wednesday, so that should still work fine.

After that fiasco, Emily took the boys to her house and I took the girls to their school to find out what classes they were in. They don't know the teacher, nor do they know any of the students in their class, but I think it helped a little to know that they weren't forgotten and that they actually have a place in a class. We found out that Aaron is in the same class as one of my friend's twin daughters. They happened to move back to Utah just recently as well. The girls lamented a bit on they way home about having to move so much. It's hard on all of us, but we hope to stay here a while. I just said to them, "I know it's hard, I'm not going to pretend it's going to be easy, but I also know that you can do it, just like you've done it before!" They kept whining and after the day we'd had, I finally looked at them and said, "Okay what do you want to do? Move back to Oceanside? Stay with Grandma? Is that what you want?" At that point I think they realized the necessity of this step. I also hope they know that I realize and empathize that being the new kid isn't always a piece of cake (being the new adult isn't always either), but I figure they're getting lots of life experience in that only thing that is constant in all of life.....and that is change. Hopefully they are gaining tools to help them help others who are in the same situation, and struggling with similar feelings of adaptation.

After that I headed back to Provo to get the boys. We headed to the grocery store and picked up a few things, went home and made dinner and then my mom came in and told me that we had to go to the Mod-Bod parking lot sale where you could stuff everything you can into a bag and pay $15 for it. Now we're home and ready to hit the hay! We're excited for a fun-filled day with the Lee's tomorrow. Lots of fun games, a swimming party, a bbq and great family time with cousins to celebrate the return of Gabe. It should be a great end-of-summer party. The kids love being with their cousins. Whew! What a day! But a good one at that!

Little Pirates

The costumes my kids come up with always amaze me. Even when we pack everything up, they still manage to find something to turn into a costume. In this picture, the boys had come out telling us that they were pirates and grandma's boots were their wooden legs. :) I love these kids!

Again...?!?

Joseph received his 7th day of intravenous antibiotics at the ER. Oh my!!! And guess what? He's back for more tomorrow. Today there was a new doctor at the ER and he feels like the infection was in Joseph's blood and that's why he had streak up his leg.

I've been trying to give him space to take it easy after he gets back from getting his IV. We went swimming for 4 hours today and I think our sun-kissed skin is feeling it.

Tonight I took the kids to the Utah County Fair to give them a little taste of country life. I should say a little "smell" of country life. We didn't do much as far as tasting, but it was fun to look at the animals. Our favorite animal was the pig.

What kind of cocktail do you get after lunch?

Joseph has been a regular an Intermountain Healthcare regular for 6 days now and he'll be back there tomorrow for more. It's funny, they see him coming in every day around 2:00 p.m. and know exactly why is there and exactly what he needs. He heads in with his ipad, and some bike magazines, pays his $100 copay, gets his IV cocktails and then leaves. Wowza! We keep thinking, how much longer is this going to take?!? But we are glad that the infection seems to be responding well to treatment. Crazy illness!

Joe's Leg

Joe slept upstairs last night so he could get a good uninterrupted sleep. Turns out he was so hot he couldn't sleep at all. Lucky for him we rented the movies "Inception" and "I Am Number Four." He enjoyed both, but I think he really enjoyed "Inception." He did sleep most of the morning and then I took the kids to be with Emily while I took him to the ER for another round of IV's. I missed being in the ER today with him, but he tells me it wasn't as busy so it wouldn't have been as fun for me. This time I didn't stay with him, because he needed a few medicines. All of the fevers have given him 4 cold sores so I had to stock up on the Abreva as well as some antibiotics. I also needed to get more mosquito repellent. I learned that bug/mosquito bites can result in this infection that he has. I am so paranoid right now about infection, particularly around the feet. I wore socks and shoes today because I didn't want to wear sandals to the hospital. It also has me rethinking pedicures. I'll bet they are havens for getting cellulitis. There has to be fair amount of bacteria at those places and with all the scraping of the dead skin they do, not so sure how healthy that is, not to mention if you have a cut on your foot.

Anyway, back to the foot. He's in pain! The doctor said that it could take a few more days of IV's or it could take a couple of weeks. It's hard to be patient. Joseph asked if he could run in a few more days if it starts feeling better. The doctor told him no because he could have a flare-up and be back to square one. I am glad he said something. I explained to Joseph that your body has to dig deep into it's reserves to complete the marathon. I honestly think it hits to near survival mode to go through something like that. I'm glad I didn't have to be the bad guy. Well we'll see what tomorrow brings. We're learning patience and also gratitude for those around us who have been so helpful and for the health that we do enjoy. Having to go to the ER for these treatments makes me think about all those who have to do through cancer treatment and spend day after day at the hospital. You do it because you want to get better, but wow what patience it would take to have to do that for such a long period, not knowing where, when or how the treatments will end.

Joe's Leg

We were back at the ER today for Joseph to receive more IV treatments. It looks like the redness up his leg may be fading a little but it's still all the way up his leg and his foot is still swollen and bright red. Today was really busy in the ER. They say Sundays are. Always interesting to people-watch in those places. I come home with stories each time. I'm a great eavesdropper, I'm far enough away to keep HIPPA laws, but I can't help it if I have good hearing. :) He's been really achey and feverish. He feels a little better than yesterday in that regard, but still flu-like symptoms. We asked for an ultrasound today, per recommendation by Paul to rule out an abscess or DVT (blood clot). The ultrasound showed that the lymph nodes are still pretty swollen or as Aaron would say "ginormous" but there were no signs of DVT or an abscess. We were grateful for that. We'll be back again tomorrow for him to receive another IV.

Joe's Update

We went to the ER this afternoon for Joseph to receive another dose of antibiotics. We thought they were going to put him on the stronger antibiotic vancomycin, but the doctor was worried about him developing Clostridium difficile (aka c.difficile, cdff), which is basically severe diarrhea because all of the good gut bacteria have been wiped out by the antibiotics. He's been on extremely strong stuff, so they decided to wait to see how his body responds to all of this.

They decided to draw more blood to get a white blood count check. His while blood cells were high yesterday and in the normal range today, so that is good news.

They are still treating him with the bactrim orally for MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus). I think it's because he works in a healthcare center and this type of bacteria is often found in those types of environments. Maybe just to rule it out? I don't know? I can't remember if a blood test can reveal that type of info. While we were in the ER they gave him another IV drip, this time of the antibiotic Rocephin. This is the first antibiotic he started on when he initially went in yesterday. Tomorrow he will go back to the ER to get a combo treatment of Rocephin and Invanz. He'll be in bed for the next few days, going in for IV's every 24 hours. The doctor said once he finishes the IV's he should be able to stand and walk around and will be able to go back to work. I've had a hard time pinning him down the last couple of days, even though he's been sick. He's been going to watch the races for The Tour of Utah bike race, but he doesn't feel good at all now. The doctor made it clear that he needed to be in bed. At this point, I don't think he's going to fight it. He has major flu-like symptoms, achiness, pain, no appetite. As awful as he feels, it's kind of a blessing that he doesn't feel good because atleast it's keeping him down. I hate being the bad guy, so I haven't nagged him about staying down, but the doctor made it clear, so I encourage it. He of course he remains in good spirits. The treatment is aggressive, so hopefully it will be knocked out soon and life will be back to normal for him.

Update on Joe

Joseph did not sleep well at all last night. His body ached and his foot and leg were in a lot of pain. The doctor had marked where the infection line was with pen at the time he left the instacare. With the IV that he had he should it should have decreased, but when we checked this morning he had red streaks all up his leg, which was a sign that the infection had spread. He was going to take Aaron to a soccer practice and then head to get more of the IV treatment, but we felt like he needed to go immediately to the doctor. The doctors were baffled that it had spread, and they were also baffled that he felt as good as he did considering how bad the infection was. They decided to give him a stronger antibiotic called invanz. He had his good friend, Paul, who is an ER doctor do a conference call with him and the other doctor and they all agreed that he would need more antibiotic and possibly a stronger dose of an antibiotic called vancomycin via IV every 12 hours. They didn't have it there, so they agreed to have him do the invanz and see how his body responded to that and then decided later in the afternoon if he should go to the ER to get the stronger antibiotic.

After receiving the IV he headed to the state capital to watch the Tour of Utah Criterium races. I can't pin that guy down. We were all supposed to go as a family, but I had a few baby showers today that I wanted to attend, so the plan was for him to take the kids. When we found out he had to stop to get the IV we decided to have the kids stay with me today. He's in heaven watching the races, and I feel okay about it because he's taking it easy and Paul is there with him monitoring the lines of the infection. I'll find out soon if he has to do the IV of vancomycin or if the previous treatments seem to have taken care of it. Crazy the weird things that can happen to our bodies. He says it gives him empathy for all of the patients that come to his building. Many come with these same types of illnesses and infection. Now he can have REAL empathy pain. I hope he gets better soon.

These Mortal Bodies

Well it looks like the St. George Marathon won't be in Joseph's plans after all. He finished his Saints to Sinners bike race and then started to hit it hard training for the marathon. After a few days of training, he started to complain of tenderness in his foot. I've had a pain in my foot for quite a few months and haven't done anything about it. I haven't gone in to get it checked out, but I figured it was a pulled muscle, tendonitis, maybe a hairline fracture. Anyway, we figured he was suffering from something similar and that he would just have to suffer through it.

The difference with his foot injury is that it is swollen, a little red, and warm to the touch. Today when he woke up and showed me, I told him he should go and get it checked out. He told me he would if he had time. Well I received a text that he was at insta-care hooked up to an IV. After a few more texts and a phone call I learned that he was at work when he felt an extreme burning pain in his groin area. He felt a lump in the area as well. He knew that he needed to get help soon. He never takes medication and hasn't been to a doctor in years. He's had physicals from the doctors at his facilities, but I don't think he's been to a doctor for illness since we've been married. So this was momentous that he even went, and a sure sign of the type of pain he was in.

The doctor felt his inguinal lymph nodes and put pressure on them. They hurt! Then she took a look at his foot and told him he had cellulitis and that it had spread to his inguinal lymph nodes. She also told him that if he had let it go any further, it could have spread to his blood stream and caused sepsis. Yikes! They took x-rays and put him on an IV of Rocephin. He'll go back to receive treatments via IV and he is taking Bactrim oral antibiotics. They've given him a boot to wear in case it was caused by a fracture in the foot.

Needless to say, he won't be running for a while. With the marathon being 7 weeks away. He won't be participating as a runner, maybe as a spectator, but he needs to heal. I'm grateful he got it checked and I'm also grateful it isn't something more serious. I love that guy! Life has a way of reminding us of how mortal our bodies are.

Soccer Boy

Our life has been so tentative this summer that we haven't known whether we were coming or going. When I first arrived, I spent the first few days in a stupor. I had no idea what I was doing here. I felt like I had no direction, but as time went on and we became busy with summer activities and as we dove into house-searching, things became more clear. Now that we've made an offer and are under contract for a house, we've taken the steps to move forward in life. I've registered the kids for school, and Aaron was anxious to play soccer. Highland doesn't have their own soccer recreation program, so we joined with American Fork. Games are about 5 minutes away from our soon-to-be home. Aaron was so excited for his first game that immediately after swimming lessons he got into his uniform with shin guards, cleats, backpack with water bottle and soccer ball to boot. Unfortunately I had to break it to him that his game wasn't for another 6 hours. I told him to go take a rest and then watch a movie to be rested for his game. He was too excited to rest. He walked around the house asking every 15 minutes if it was time yet. We decided to leave at 5, even though his game wasn't for 2 more hours. We picked up Aunt Emily and Baby Stephen and went to Cafe Rio for dinner. I noticed as we were driving that his eyes were becoming heavy. It had been a long day of waiting for him. We ended up rushing out from dinner to make it to the game on time. We were all delighted to watch him play. He was so happy to be there. Joseph met us there after work and was recruited to be the assistant coach. Aaron was very well received by the coach and other boys. We're excited for a great season!

Swimming Lessons

Our final session of swimming lessons ends tomorrow. It's been a great summer of swimming, but I am excited to be done. Because we do the lessons at a private pool, I can't get them all back to back, so much of our summer has revolved around the lessons. This session I was able to plead with her to put Brynn and Abby in at the same time so we had to go at 9 a.m. for them, 11 a.m. for Isaac (with me) and 12 p.m. for Aaron. It literally takes up half of our day, but the kids have improved a ton. Brynn already has a very pretty stroke, but Abby has really improved her stroke and breathing and has become a beautiful swimmer. Aaron has become so much more comfortable in the water. I can see him gaining confidence and I LOVE it! We'll still have to work with him to get him safe in the water, but it's coming. He is a totally different boy than he was at the beginning of the summer. I am so proud of him. It's been great watching him grow in this way. To think that the boy who started our screaming as I dropped him off board, would move to jumping by himself (but nearly on top of the teacher), to now jumping as far off as he can (and almost make it to the side alone), has been pretty amazing! I've never signed up for "Mommy and Me" with any of my kids. I am WSI certified and so I've always thought it was a waste of money to pay to have someone teach me how to teach my child, and I've also always had a smaller baby to take care of, but this year I couldn't make Isaac watch the kids and not get in, so I signed up for a "Mommy and Me" with him. I have had so much fun and I've really learned alot. Debbie does a different program than American Red Cross and I think it's really effective. She even had all of the moms brush up on CPR with her dummies. It was a great reminder. I'm really glad we did it.

Deer Valley

Fish and Vest Family Barbecue

We came down from Deer Valley to attend what I hope becomes the annual Fish and Vest Family Barbecue. Our family grew up going on almost every family vacation with the Fish's and spending so much time during our childhood years at their house or them at our house. We shopped together, played together, went to church together. I thought they were family; when I found out they weren't my cousins, I remember thinking, "If they're not my cousins, then What are they?" They have since moved to Provo and now to Lindon, so we don't see them as often, but Amber, their daughter who lives in Prague, organized a barbecue for all of our families. It was so much fun to see everyone and to see how much our two families have grown. The Fish's have 6 kids and 16 grandchildren and our family has 5 kids and 12 grandchildren. We didn't get a whole group picture, but we were able to snap a few shots here and there. It was a great night!

Deer Valley

I've mentioned before that my parents have been saints to let us stay with them while we've looked for a home. We've found a home and are waiting to close at the end of the month. Mom and Dad have been great, but my kids are not easy on a home. They are loud, messy and they don't really respect other's privacy. We decided to give mom and dad a break and take the kids on a "last hurrah" before school starts. They've been begging to go to Priest Lake to the Lee Family cabin, but with all of the paperwork and deadlines with closing, we knew the 12 hours between us and our mortgage broker wouldn't be the best idea, so we decided on something closer. It was hard finding a room in Park City because of the Arts Festival going on, but Stein Eriksen Lodge in Deer Valley had a deal for a deluxe bedroom (which is like a normal sized hotel room, only nicer furnishings). I booked it and we were set. Joseph has stayed here before so he knew what the property was like and when he went to check us in, he worked an even sweeter deal for a luxury suite. It was so much fun. We had a really nice kitchen, dining area, family room with 2 built-in beds for the kids and a master suite for us. The favorite part for the kids was the deck with a hot tub. Between the lodge's swimming pool and hot tub and our deck hot tub, the kids were pretty water-logged. We had plans to shop and go to the Park City Mountain Resort for activities, but we had so much fun at the hotel that we only shopped for about 30 minutes and spent the rest of the time at Stein Eriksen. We did take a few hours to go to Lindon for a Vest/Fish family barbecue. It was great to get away and I'm sure my parents enjoyed their peace and quiet as well. Hopefully only 2-3 more weeks and we'll be in our house.

Swimming Lessons~Aaron and Boston

During Aaron's third session of swimming lessons, he and his cousin Boston got to swim together. This was definitely the easiest session to get Aaron to go to because Boston was there.

Aaron has come along way since the beginning of swimming lessons. I had to drop him off the board at the beginning, and now he jumps off alone. He still has a little more to learn before he can swim, but he's made so much progress and we are very proud of him.

Park City with the Fisher's and Johnson's

We joined up with the Fisher's again and this time the Johnson twins, Alexus and Jordan were there with their mom. We spent the whole day at Park City Mountain Resort playing on the Alpine Slide, Coaster, miniature golfing and doing all of the fun activities there. When the activities closed at 8 p.m. we took the bus to main street to have pizza at the Red Banjo. Afterward, we went out for ice cream and missed the last bus back to the resort. We had to find taxi's for 14 of us. It made for a late night getting home, but the kids loved being with their friends again.

Isaac loved the slide, Aaron was pretty cautious about it, and kept telling Lisa to go slower, but Isaac kept telling me, "Go faster! Go faster!"

Saints to Sinners

Great job Joseph, Brent, Paul, Jared and Jonathan on the 500+ miles of racing from the heavenly heights of Utah to the infernal heat of Las Vegas! Their team took 2nd place in the five man division and third place over all. Well done!

Thanksgiving Point with the Fisher's and Gibson's

Some of our neighborhood friends from Arrowood come to Park City for 2 weeks every summer. We met up with them on a few days of their trip. On the first day we met at Thanksgiving Point. We started out at the Children's Gardens, then headed to Farm Country, had lunch at the deli, hit the Dinosaur Museum and then finished off the day with ice cream. It was a fun-filled day for everyone. We had 11 kids, 2 dads, 3 moms and 1 nanny to help keep track of all of them. Everyone was constantly counting to make sure we had everyone. It was great to be with everyone.