Who is this boy....

And why is he calling my 12 year old daughter!!! And his voice is REALLY deep. He called her tonight so she could him with math. He called her last night to say hi. He called her the night before to... well, you get the picture. Who is he and WHY is he calling??? I'm so not ready for a 12 year old to have to deal with boys! There is a no dating till 16 rule and then it is double dating. She gets really bugged that he calls all of the time and will ask to please not answer the phone because he bugs her all of the time. She's not the fickle girl that says it but secretly loves it. She considers him a friend and she knows the rules. But it is very weird to answer the phone and have what sounds like a grown man (don't worry, he's not.... he's a real middle school age kid that lives not far from us) ask for my 12 year old daughter! Talk about making me feel older by the minute!

Oh to be young and crazy again!

Garrett and Jace went to California on a road trip with their two best friends Adam and Stetson. Oh to have no worries in the world but which beach you can sleep a couple of hours! They figure this may be the last time they all get to run away before having to be grown ups! They got in a car and drove. Left Thursday night and got home Monday morning. If you have to send your boys on a road trip (as if I had a choice in letting them, haha) Adam and Stetson are good choices. These boys seem like my boys too! I always get a hug from Stetson. He and Jace look more like brothers than Garrett and Jace do! They are crazy. But they are sure good boys and find lots of ways to have fun! They did get the car impounded one morning because they didn't know that they couldn't leave the car after they left the store. They had gone to take a few pictures... were gone 40 minutes and came back to no car! Cost them $200 to learn THAT lesson!!! :) But it's just another memory in a very long list of memories that they will be able to tell their kids about!

I have watched all of these boys grow up in front of my eyes. I can't believe that before we can even blink they will be starting families of their own and moving beyond the crazy pranks of their youth!!! (And NO, I refuse to encourage them with stories of, oh, say ivory soap in the fountain in town!!! At least it wasn't Kool-Aid!)

Stetson, Jace, Garrett and Adam

Stetson.... I don't even want to know... all I heard was something about Hollywood, moons.... um... something I totally stopped listening!

Just Jace being Jace

Jace and Stetson! I'm not sure they have ever taken a 'normal' picture together!

Garrett, Adam, Stetson and Jace.... let loose on the city.... watch out!

Stetson and the seals!

See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil... oh NO Jace, he read the sign too late that no pictures were allowed!!!

And we should be grateful that those silly boys didn't end up HERE.....

Nate is sick AGAIN!!!

Was this child sent to me to try me at every turn? He is absolutely adorable so that helps, but my heart can't seem to handle the stress he brings and I had a full blown panic attack in the middle of the night worried about him.

Yesterday he started acting miserable and later developed a fever. Low grade for a while but the closer to bedtime the higher the fever got. I started doing the motrin/tylenol thing trying to keep it under control but his heart rate was up high all night and he was burning up. I got up at 1:30am to give him his medicine and I guess, when it's dark and you are alone your mind starts playing tricks and the more I thought, the more stressed I became. The panic attack was so bad I thought I was going to be sick, was shaking, couldn't breathe. It was insane! I knew that I wasn't thinking rationally. I KNEW it didn't make sense and that I should go to the doctor before I figured the worst was going to happen! I told Thayne at about 4am that I was having a panic attack. He didn't seem to recognize how bad it was. He kissed me and told me to get some sleep and have faith. Yes, men can be so dense sometimes. Sure... faith and fear can't co-exist but fear was winning out and I was losing it!

I finally got through to the clinic and didn't ask IF I could come in... I asked them when Dr H was going to be there and I would be in. They told me to be there at 9:30am and were quick to get us in. They were worried sick.... and we were all GRATEFUL to find out that he has a double ear infection! Can you imagine being grateful for that??? At least there was a 'real' reason for him being so sick. His lungs are moving air great though she could hear the 'gurgle' the reflux always causes. But she thought it would be best to give him a shot and then follow up with some heavy duty antibiotics for 10 days. The bad thing is that he just finished up antibiotics a couple of days ago!!! If we have one more ear infection he is going to get tubes!!!

He is also still anemic so we have to work on building up his iron too!!! UGH. This is insane!

Just wondering...

Why is it that to some people the road is longer one way than it is another? How does that work? I can drive into town at least once a day and it always takes the same amount of time driving in, as it does to drive back home. However for some people, they can't possibly come out my way because apparently the road is much longer for them coming this way. And if they do make it this way, they watch the clock, worry and complain about the oh so long trip out here and it's apparent they wonder how quickly they can leave for that horrible trip back to their home! I'm pretty sure 12 miles is 12 miles no matter if you are going North, South, East or West!

Oh well... just one of those things I wonder about!

HUH????

For the life of me I will just never be able to figure out some people... managing the video store has been fun and I always love meeting new people. But I will never get over how interesting some people are. For real, I just don't understand.

A movie was returned by a woman who was furious that she had rented an LDS film. Her demand for her money back left us all shaking her head. She said that she would never knowingly rent a pornographic or religious DVD and that we should clearly mark them as such! Okay, first of all we do not rent pornographic movies in the store. Second, and it wasn't just me... it blew us away that she actually lumped PORN and RELIGION in the same sentance!!! And well... it CLEARLY stated on the front of the movie (The Dance) that it was the best LDS film since The Work and The Glory. I am not sure how much more clear the words LDS FILM could have been. And then to read the back, it pretty much made it clear that it was a religious film. How do most people pick a movie? I read what it is about, read the rating, and decide from there. Maybe some people just pick a cute cover and take it home hoping it is good too???!! I don't know! Seriously... what is wrong with people??? And I am not giving her money back either! (Add this to the fact that this lady is ALWAYS trying to get her money back!!! lol)

Million Dollar Baby....

I have been going through insurance statements and matching them up to the bills received for Nate's hospital stays. Thayne was teasing Nate last night that he was the million dollar baby. Technically not quite... but maybe half that! But he is such a joy to our family. There isn't a person in our home that isn't completely taken by this little boy. Nobody is watched over more closely then Nathaniel. They fight to let him go with them to town, to stay with them when I leave, Jace frequently takes him to Caitlyn's with him. They don't buy themselves stuff as often as they buy Nate something. Jace came home with an authentic football jersey and his first Jazz t-shirt. Caitlyn made him a Build-a-Bear, the girls buy him outfits all of the time. They come home with shoes for him or tell me about whatever it was that they happened to see! Each baby is so precious in this home. The kids beg for more babies. But after almost losing this sweet little man, not once, but twice... it seems that the world revolves around him. He got loose the other day from Wyatt's arms and bumped his head. The kids just cried that he was crying. I kind of laughed that they were so protective of him. I told them he really needs to be able to be down alone so he can learn important things like crawling, pulling himself up, and heaven forbid we ever get to the point that he starts walking. He will have an army following him around with pillows to cushion any falls! Oh to be the youngest of 15 kids!!!

Silly Girls....

Kassi and Kailee went to Twin Falls with a group of girls from church recently. They went for the open house of the Temple there and they had a blast. Their leader is the most awesome lady. She was my secretary in the RS presidency when I served and she is just the neatest lady so the girls were so excited to go. They hit the DI while they were there and had a great time trying on shoes and clothes.... Kassi is our drama girl and had a blast showing off. It ended up being a great trip for them!

Strep and Vax Reactions!

Hyrum told me he was itching this morning. I thought he was pulling his normal morning routine when it's time for school and told him he needed to get ready for school. When I picked him up he showed me his arm that had a rash that looked like they always look when they have strep. Then I saw his chest, back and upper arms. Yep... definately strep. But also a weird rash that was hot. And then I noticed a very swollen gland on the left side of his neck.

Called the doctor and told them he needed to be seen. Nate is done with his antibiotics on Thursday and we can't afford to have him get sick again and seeing Hyrum like that is no fun either.

Two doctors later they decided that yes, it is strep, and he also has a bad reaction to the SIX vaccinations he had to have in order to go to school. I really did not want to give him all of them at once. We had it scheduled to do them over 2 or 3 visits but Nate ended up in the hospital and our ridiculously obnoxious school district is not allowing anyone in school without them! I didn't have a medical reason to not do them then... and the only other option was religious. I guess I could prove that with scripture but technically it isn't true... so we had to do it! And I am furious!!! I believe that vaccinations are important and good in many cases. Most of my kids I never even batted an eye and did them all on schedule. But with some of the kids, I had a really strong feeling to not do them as scheduled, but to delay. By school they are caught up, but I am frustrated about the fact that they dump 6 different vaccinations into these little bodies and think that it is okay!!!

So, my poor little man gets his way tomorrow... he won't be going to school. He has to be on antibiotics another day before they let him go back. ARGH! And now I am even more frustrated with vaccinations. I get sick to my stomach everytime I think about Nate getting them and I just don't know what to do. Usually when I have a gut feeling that strong there is a good reason.... like I felt when I KNEW he needed antibiotic and almost died because they didn't listen to me! Nate is also doing breathing treatments right now to finish clearing up his lungs. Kami is on antibiotics and it looks like I will be calling on Willie tomorrow too. This is not normal August stuff... what in the world is going on????

Here's Hyrum's swollen glands!

Kalli Shai

Our beautiful Kalli Shai is 7 years old today! We are busy baking cupcakes to take to her class. She is so excited to be 7. Only one more year until her baptism and she can't wait!

I can't believe this sweet little girl is 7 years old. I am always a little amazed at how quickly our kids grow. Where did the time go? 7 years ago yesterday I was sitting at Buffy's with a group of mom's planning our preschool year. I started having contractions but was trying to ignore them since we had her c-section scheduled for the following week. Buffy had been watching me and finally asked how close the pains were. We started timing and obviously they were too close to ignore. But she would be my 7th c-section so there wasn't a chance of doing it natural and my doctor was 4 1/2 hours away. Thayne had been on his long change, 7 days off... and was supposed to go back on night shift. The doctor wanted me to come over and get things checked out. We got the kids situated, some were staying, some were going, school would be starting on the 27th. We got to the hospital at about 9pm on the 24th. The doctor's were both busy with emergancies so they got me set up in a room to be monitored and the pains just kept coming. At about 2:30am Dr. S came in and decided to give me morphine to stop the pain and let me sleep. It was a nice thought, but didn't really work out! Just after 9am he came back in and said that we were having a baby! Ron immediately came in to give me the epidural and I had instant relief! I couldn't keep my eyes open. I remember Thayne looked concerned and asked if I was okay. I told him I just felt sooooooo good and drifted in and out of sleep. The surgery went perfectly. Kalli Shai was born on Saturday August 25th, 2001 at 11:17am, 7lbs 12oz and 20 inches long and perfect! She had a head full of jet black hair and gorgeous! I remember being so happy and at peace and content with the world with her in my arms. My c-section was a breeze and recovery was wonderful. We got home Tuesday and stopped to get the mail. I leaned forward and told Thayne if it wasn't for being engorged I wouldn't even feel like I had just had a baby! It's a good thing too since I was up and running, taking kids to school the next day and going shopping.

Kalli has been a complete joy, with moments of complete craziness thrown in. She can be the most happy, amazing child and turn to melt down in 2.3 seconds. But she is so wonderful and amazing and such a blessing to our lives.

Good news!

His doctor totally called it wrong yesterday when she said she thought Nate would need to keep the PICC line in! We got to the doctor today and were told that his blood work came back great and that the line was coming out! The Infectious Disease people see many, many, many cases just like Nate's and they said his blood work did exactly what it was supposed to do and another week of oral antibiotics and he is good to go! They were NOT impressed with the amount of blood the home health nurse was taking for his blood draws every week. But this nightmare seems to be coming to an end and I am soooooo happy to have that thing out of his arm!!! Here he is saying: "Get this thing OUT of my arm!!!"