Tires and hospital visit

So, yesterday morning, Brandon put the spare tire on one side, then pumped up the other tire, and drove to Sam's Club as quick as he could. They were not damaged enough to have to get new tires, so they were fixed for free since we're members of Sam's Club. How awesome is that? Pretty awesome!

Anyway, while he was off getting the tires fixed, my sister called me asking for my help. My nine-month old nephew, for the past 2 1/2 weeks, has had these episodes where he'll stop breathing and turn blue. The first time, my sister was with him, and literally saved his life. It has happened a few times since then, and yesterday it happened four times.

They had him scheduled to be seen at Primary Children's this week, but when he stopped breathing four times yesterday, they life-flighted him out. Since I'm closer to Primary than my sister is, she asked if I'd go and meet Dallin when he was flown in and stay with him until they got to the hospital.

So, I did. Brandon packed me up some snacks and water, and I was out the door about 20 minutes after they called. I got to the hospital around 3:30, and Dallin's helicopter landed about 10 minutes later. The flight EMT called me back, and the poor boy was just frantic. They were trying to get a urine sample to do cultures, so had to put a new catheter in. That sure made him mad. But, once they got the sample and diapered him back up, I was able to hold him. He calmed right down, although was still fussy because they were still poking and prodding.

One of the nurses got him some toys and a binky with some sugar water to dip the binky in, and once he had that binky, he laid down on my shoulder and went right to sleep.

Not too long after the nurses left us alone

I reclined on the bed with him in my arms for the next two hours. He'd shift position occasionally, and semi-woke up once when another nurse came in to do an EKG to check for a heart arythmia.

This was after the EKG was done. He had to lay flat while they measured his heart rate, and after it was done, he sat up for a second, and then plopped (sitting up) right down onto my chest

But, otherwise, he slept the whole time. I kept putting my hand on his tummy, and his chest to make sure he was still breathing. He had been so upset that for a while his breath was irregular (you know when you cry hard, and then kind of "sob" afterwards? That's what he was doing). I felt so bad for him.

And, I love my kids to no end, but can I just tell you how nice it was to hold a little person, and have his little body just melt into mine - and NOT squirm?? Plus, he smelled so good. I just kept kissing his little head and inhaling him!


I had to take a picture of his cute pouty face!

His mom and dad got there a little after 6:00, and I told Anne Marie all that had happened. We switched positions, and she just laid there and cuddled with Dallin. The floor dr. (vs. the ER triage dr.) came in and got his history and then did an exam. He woke up during that, and was happy and smiling and playing. I even got a big grin and a hug from him. (His brother just older than him would have nothing to do with me for a while, so I keep telling Dallin, "You're going to love me!" And, I think he does!)


My awesome sister, and a cute, but very out-of-it, Dallin

I left the hospital an hour or so later, stopped to get some dinner and some munchies, and made it home around 9:30. They're going to meet with a neurologist today and do some more scans and tests to see if they can figure out what the problem is. The whole family is praying for them and helping where they can, but any extra prayers would be awesome!

We love you Dallin, and pray that you get better soon!

How did he come up with this?

How does a four year old get the idea in his head to put nails under the tires of the van? I mean, really?

Two of our tires are completely flat, and one is slowly losing air. The fourth (so far) seems to be fine. Hopefully we can just get them patched instead of buying brand new tires. *sigh*

Nesting - kinda' early??

I'm pooped! *sigh* Yesterday, I spent the day unloading our bathroom closet and our linen closet, then rearranging and organizing (getting rid of old medicine, doubles . . .), and putting everything back in. Then, I started in on the computer room closet, because the computer room will become the nursery. And, there's absolutely no room (currently) for a crib in here, or a dresser, or a rocking chair, or even anywhere to put a bag of diapers. So, we're rearranging.

Then, today, while Brandon sheetrocked the garage with his brother's help (pictures will be coming next week when it is completed), I tackled our "school box." That's the box where the boys school papers have been put throughout the year(s) and it's been sitting in the computer room for the last couple of months. So, I dug through all of that, and have been buried in paper for most of the day.

But, I got it done, and even reorganized my music boxes that have a way of emptying as I pull out music that I want to play or sing. More often than not, they get put in a pile until it bugs me enough to put them back in the boxes. So, I have a lot of clean closets/activity boxes/music boxes today.

However, if you come to visit, be warned - the rest of the house is NOT clean. As we pull out things from the computer room, stacks are made - keep, throw away, file . . . you get the idea. (I will be taking the day tomorrow while Scott & Brandon are at day camp to catch up on laundry, sweeping, vacuuming . . .) On the upside of today, though, my mother-in-law came over today (I asked her to come, despite the horrid mess), and helped me choose colors for the baby's room! I got the bedding the other day, and now that we have colors picked out, and carpet (most likely) picked out, I'm getting very antsy to get this baby's room done! Soon!

So, I'm pooped, but despite feeling saddle sore (I carry all of my babies VERY low), and despite still having messes around the house, I feel good. It feels good to organize, throw things away, and get my house in order. And, it's nice to have the boys playing with friends, riding bikes, and not having to worry about homework getting done so that I can concentrate on my projects and this nesting phase. And, when Brandon get the garage walls done, he'll be building shelves for in there that will house our camping stuff, decoration boxes, Christmas tree, which will give me more closets to organize to make room for this little babe.

Isn't it too early to nest? Not for me! This is my usual time. By the time I'm 7, 8, 9 months along and most women are nesting, I'm too sore because the baby is so low and I feel like I've been riding a horse for the previous 4 months! Oh, and then the baby has to drop even lower, so anything like sitting, standing, laying down, or just plain moving hurts. :)

But, I'm not complaining - just rambling. I've had a busy day, and Brandon's off buying bread so that he and Scott can have sandwiches for their Cub Scout day camp tomorrow, the boys are in bed, and I'm just relaxing and unwinding as I write.

Ignore this post if you want, or read it. Whatever. I'm happy, unwound and ready to watch a quick episode of NCIS. Then bed. :)

Scott's bike race

Yesterday, Scott decided that he wanted to have a bike race. So, he wrote out invitations to all the kids in the neighborhood stating that there would be a bike race on June 23rd at 3:00 pm. Today, he cut them out and handed them out to the kids.

All morning long there have been bikes zipping past our house, going off a ramp that Brandon built for the kids, and turning around to zip past again. We've never had so many bikes in the neighborhood all at the same time. It was pretty fun.

So, at 3:00, they all lined up at the designated starting point. Brandon explained the rules (as explained to him by Scott), then he was off to clear the way and make sure no cars hit the kids. The younger kids started first, then the older kids took off. They all had a blast! Apparantely, Scott wanted to do two laps, and he and one other boy were the only ones to do both laps, so according to him, he came in second, even though a few kids had already been done for a minute or two.

Lined up at the starting line

The younger kids are off!!

The older kids are off!!

Coming into the finish line

All the kids having an otter pop after the race

I'm proud of Scott for taking the lead and doing this. He's not typically your leader - he's happy to follow (for the most part), or just stay to himself, so for him to put himself out like this and initiate this race is awesome! Good job Scott!!!

Tulum Xtreme slideshow

Tulum Xtreme (Thursday in Mexico)

It's been a LONG time since a Mexico trip update. Gavin's in the tub, celebrating his birthday, the other boys are outside playing with friends, so I have a few minutes to finish this post. Enjoy!

So, on Thursday, Wayne & LaRean decided to stay at the resort, get a massage, kick back, relax . . . Brandon & I decided to head off for some "Xtreme" fun! We saw a brochure for a zip line that was called Tulum Xtreme. We thought that it was included in the Tulum tour (the ruins), but it wasn't. So, we decided to try that.

Our guide, Carlos, picked us up in a van at 7:30 in the morning. I dozed on and off, and wasn't really awake to see where they were taking us. Apparantely, Brandon was quite concerned, although he didn't let me know, because they got off the main road at one point and were taking us farther and farther away from civilization. As we looked around, we saw more and more rundown houses, mangy dogs running around, and lots of jungle. Finally, though, they got us back on the main road (I guess that way was shorter), and went around to pick up the others who were participating that day.

We drove through the jungle for a while over bumpy roads, and finally arrived. Carlos checked our group in, and we were told that we got to do the zip line first, the rappeling second, and the underwater cave last. So, the workers got us all hooked up with our equipment, Carlos demonstrated the proper way to sit while doing the zip line, and then we climbed!

I don't know how high the towers were, but they were pretty high. I was first in line, and as we all got to the top, Carlos hooked us all up to safety lines so that if, by chance, we went over the edge of the tower, we wouldn't fall far. Then, he hooked me up, showed me how to sit with the line behind one of my shoulders, and shoved me off the tower!

Oh, how exhilerating! There were some in our group that were nervous, or kept saying they couldn't do it (there was actually one girl that decided not to do it and climbed back down the tower), but not me! I've been on zip lines before (thanks Snow College) and I loved it! This was awesome to be zooming through the jungle with the trees on either side of me, and just flying! The ride was over all too soon, but we had two more lines to go. Brandon soon joined me, and then we watched as the rest of our group zipped down.

Once we were done with the zip line, we were instructed to go up one platform and wait for the rest of the group and our guide. Once Carlos was with us again, we hiked up a couple more platforms to the next zip line. Brandon went first this time, but Carlos had a challenge for us. He wanted us to run off the platform instead of having him push us off. This sent the rest of the group into frantic mutterings and titterings (yes that's a real word), but Brandon & I just looked at each other and grinned. Carlos unhooked him from the safety line, and I watched my husband of 9+ years run off the platform into nothingness! He LOVED it!!

Carlos wasn't sure if I wanted to run, and when I replied that I did, his eyes got big, and he clapped for me. Off I ran - it was a BLAST!! How awesome! We again waited for the rest of our group, and then climbed the rest of the way up the tower. This one went all the way to the ground, so it was by far the longest line since it started even higher than the other two. This time, Carlos shoved us off, and then bounced on the line for some extra fun! Some people didn't want that, but man, for me, bring it on!!

As we got to the ground, the workers helped us unhook the couple of hooks that are only used for the zip line, but left the rest of the gear on so that we could rappel. We waited for Carlos, and then off we went. He again gave us a demonstration of how to rappel, "Knees straight, butt out." He told us that we couldn't be all lady-like with our legs together and our knees bent, but we had to stick our butt out. Someone yelled out, "We gotta' be sexy!" From then on, whenever someone forgot to stick their behind out, Carlos told us to "Get your sexy on!" It was really funny, and our group was great!

Brandon & I were the last ones in our group to go, and to be honest, I was more nervous than Brandon was. I've been rock climbing and rappelling before, and I loved it. But, when I went then, I had a rock face to push off of and slide down. This time, other than the first three boards to help us get our bodies straight out, we had nothing. It was kind of unnerving for me, but I did it!

After this, we went back to the base and were able to change into our swimsuits for our underground cave snorkeling. Since it was in the water, and underground, we didn't take our camera, but I'll put some pictures of the cave in the slideshow. It was incredible! It was shorter than what we were expecting and wanting, but all the same . . . Awesome! Stalagtites hanging from the ceiling and dipping into the water; stalagmites jutting up from the ground and just appearing out of nowhere. It wouldn't have been smart to just go swimming there - you couldn't tell where you were going or when you might hit a rock. We had very strict instructions, though, not to touch any of the rock as it would ruin its growth. Kind of hard to do with a bunch of people all clustered together stirring up the water, but we managed, with only a few touches to rock!

Once we were done with our adventure, they served us lunch in one of the huts there. I couldn't stand the thought of sitting for another 2 - 3 hours in my wet swimming suit, so Brandon & I changed clothes before eating. Lunch was yummy - grilled steak strips, rice, tortillas and beans, Sprite! Then we loaded up in our van, and left, not realizing that we had left Brandon's new Skechers shoes on top of our locker. They're long gone by now. *sigh*

When we got back to the hotel, we headed to our room for a quick check-in with Wayne & LaRean, and then on to a nap. When we got to our room, we saw that our housekeeper had seen our new turtle that we bought in Playa, and made a turtle out of one of our towels! It was pretty cool! Just goes to show that it really does pay to tip! We woke up in time to get ready for dinner - this time at El Ranchito (which means the ranch.) You can imagine what they had for dinner here - salad, beef broth, and a type of steak. SO good, and SO much better than the previous nights' liver.

As we left dinner, we noticed that they had a mini-market set up in the plaza area of the hotel. Everything from jewelry, clothing, paintings, hats . . . So, we wandered. We stood and watched one guy paint for about 30 minutes. He was using spray paints, and his paintings were incredible. I don't even know to describe how he was painting, but it was cool!

We thought about getting one of the paintings, and then remembered the hotel's jewelry store. Brandon & I went in and asked about their rings. The woman there started pulling out rings for us to look at. Unfortunately, they didn't have the one that I had fallen in love with at Playa del Carment (and I don't even have a picture of that one), but I didn't find one that I did like. We ended up getting that one, and I'm happy we did. It's still a little big for my ring finger, but as the summer wears on (if it ever stops raining), I imagine that I'll start to swell up more and it'll fit. If not, it's easy to get it sized-down.

After our wanderings, we headed back to our rooms. We had decided to call the boys again that night since internet access was really expensive, and we weren't able to keep in touch with them. So, we called, and talked with Scott for a minute (he was not talkative at all), then with B. B asked Brandon, "Dad, did you get me a . . . well what you said you'd get me?" (A souvenir.) Brandon answered that we had, then B asked, "Well, what is it?" Of course, we had to tell him it was a surprise, to which he responded, "Well, is it a little toy horse?" (No idea where that came from!!)

After we laughed with B for a bit, we got Gavin on the phone. Apparantely, he had wanted to talk to us alone, but B was still on the phone, so he broke down, sobbing. "I wa-a-a-ant-t-t mm-y-y-y-y m-o-o-o-m-m-m-m." He was just sobbing for all he was worth, so of course, I had to cry, too. I missed him so much (even though he's so super-energetic that I can't keep up with him some days.) We told him we loved him, then hung up. I cried for a bit, missing my boys. (Apparantely, after we hung up, Scott stood next to Anne Marie, who was comforting Gavin, and said, "I don't know why I can't cry. I want to, but I can't." He's such a cute kid!)

Then, the hotel hosted a local group that puts on musicals. We thought it would be interesting, so we went and checked it out. They re-did Grease, sort of. They just did the major scenes, and sang the songs. Well, that's an overstatement. They lip-sinked (or tried to) the songs. "Danny" did pretty good. "Sandy" was awful. She was so concerned about doing her dance moves right, that more often than not she forgot to sing. Oh, and they were Mexicans, trying to lip-sink in English. Anyway, Brandon & I ended up leaving early.

After sitting through that painful rendition of Grease, Wayne, Brandon & I decided to head to the beach for a bit, while LaRean headed to bed. Brandon & I played in the water (no swimsuits, so just our feet and legs), got some pictures, and decided to come back first thing in the morning to watch the sunrise. It's still the coolest thing to me that we were swimming and playing in the Caribbean! There's almost nothing better in the world than listening to the sound of the waves on the shore, feeling the warm water on your feet, and enjoying the beauty that God made.

Friday's next! Hopefully sometime soon!

18+ week picture

This will have to count as my 18 week picture.

During our little mini-vacation this past week, I ran down to Amber's house and met her and Val for lunch. We let the kids run around like crazy (with only one getting hurt - how is Lincoln, Val?), and had a VERY delicious lunch of chicken salad sandwiches with plenty of fruit and veggies. Yummy!

I'll write more about our mini-vacation later, but for now, here's my 18+ week picture! I'm almost halfway there!

We're having a . . .

BABY!!! Well, of course, you all knew that! I had my ultrasound today, and everything looks great! The head is measuring perfectly, the femur, the tummy, the spine - it all looks great. The problem? The baby wouldn't move for ANYTHING!!! The tech. was bouncing the doppler up and down on my stomach (can we say ouch??), and the most the baby did was squirm a little and put one hand up in front of the face. So, no profile shots either.

But, we did find the gender, and the tech. can say it's a girl . . . at least until November when the baby is born, and then it's positively a boy! So, no girl for us this time. Braden & Gavin are off the wall with excitement, and Scott's a little disappointed. I asked him if he was sad that the baby was a boy, and he said, "Well, I'm a little disappointed, but we'll still have fun!" So cute!

Anyway, we're off on our mini-vacation, so I'll have to post u/s pictures when I get back! Thanks for the girl wishes, though! I guess we're just meant to have a houseful of boys!

Braden's moves

Just a clarification: B is really not violent like this movie portrays! He's just a little boy who has some super cool, superhero moves, with an incredible imagination to boot!

Enjoy the video! :)