Funny Moment

We currently have the 9:00 church schedule, which I've really been liking because it allows time for all of us to take good Sunday naps! Well, I've been missing choir practice lately because of these fabulous naps, until I started feeling really guilty about it this past Sunday and decided to stay after Church for it. When I got home an hour and a half later, the house was unusually quiet and I found this...

Apparently Ty was on the bed with Greg and Gavin when both of them fell asleep, but I guess he decided the chair would be more comfortable! :) What a funny kid! He cracks me up! -Ash

Goodbye, Summer...

Goodbye, Summer and all the fun things that are leaving with you...

Goodbye, Splash Pad...

Thank you for providing free entertainment nearly every week!

Goodbye, Holidays and Family Get-Togethers...

Thank you for the chance to get away from home, enjoy great company, and eat awesome food!

(4th of July in Provo)

(24th of July in Logan)

(Labor Day at Mike and Lindsay's)

(Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open House)

Goodbye, Lagoon...

Thanks for a fun day out with our cousins - though, next time, please let the temperature be under 100. :)

Goodbye, School Lunch...

Though I have no pictures of you, thanks for all the fond memories of eating lunch a few times a week for free! And thank you, Weber School District, for making my children want to eat lunch. :)

Goodbye Accidental Head Wounds...

Thanks for an exciting trip to the E.R. with one brave 4-year-old!

We are extremely sad to have you go Summer. Please, PLEASE, come back soon! -Ash

Counting Blessings

The past week has been another roller coaster similar to the one we faced last January, though I would dare say this was about 10 times worse. While I definitely don't want to re-live it, it was such a strengthening experience for me that I thought I should share it - probably more for my sake than anybody else's.

Last weekend, we went up and visited Greg's parents. We stayed overnight on Saturday night and went to Church with them Sunday morning. Sheila (Greg's mom) had finished up a round of chemotherapy that morning and seemed to be feeling great - she came to Church and even taught a YW lesson. Shortly after we got home from Church though, she started to feel really tired and feverish, so she went and got in bed. We didn't think much of it - I think most of us just thought she was overly tired and that maybe it was a side effect of the chemo. Well, a few hours later, she was only feeling worse and when Alan (Greg's dad) tried to help her out of bed, she collapsed on the floor. Greg's brother Jeff (who is a doctor) had come over at this point and said that they needed to take her to the Emergency Room, so all the guys rushed her over to the hospital. When they got there, both Jeff and another doctor were sure she had an infection, but felt like they couldn't handle it at the Rupert hospital, so they transported her by ambulance to Pocatello. As Greg and I headed home that night, we were definitely concerned about his mom, but where she had had a staph infection back in the winter and the doctors were able to take care of that just fine, we weren't overly worried.

We went about our day on Monday as normal, not hearing much about Sheila, so we figured everything was okay. Greg went to work in the garage that night and I was about to put the boys down to bed when Greg saw that he had 3 missed calls from Jeff, all in a span of 15 minutes. That is rare, so Greg hurried and called him back. Jeff told Greg that his mom wasn't doing well - they had done almost every test possible on her and couldn't find where the infection was. And by this point, it was starting to take over all of her vital organs. He thought we needed to come up because he wasn't sure if she would make it - she might, but he just didn't know. This was really rough to hear where we weren't prepared for it at all - we just naively believed that whatever the infection was, the hospital could cure it just like they did last time. So we rushed up to Pocatello, getting there at 11:30 PM, and ran in to see her. While we had been driving, they had done a CT scan and fortunately, had found the infection - it was huge and located in her back - but they still were extremely worried about her. They didn't know if body her body was strong enough to fight the infection at that point. Seeing her that night was definitely a sore sight because she looked nothing like herself - it was so bizarre that just 36 hours earlier, she had been up and about, acting completely like herself, and now she was completely down and out in a hospital bed, swollen from retaining fluids and having such a hard time breathing. We sat with her for a bit and talked to her. Frankly, I was amazed at her optimism and strength. She told us that Alan had given her a blessing saying she would recover, so that must mean she would be fine. We left that night worried, just hoping that things would be okay.

The next morning we headed over to see her and at this point, they had her on a breathing machine so she couldn't talk. She looked so miserable and I just felt so badly for her. The doctors said she was slightly improved from the night before and they felt if she could make it through the next two days, she would be able to pull through. We headed home that night because Greg had to get back to work, but his brothers were really great about calling us and keeping us updated. As the days went on, she progressively got better and was able to go off a lot of her medications. We went up on Saturday night to visit and saw a totally different person. Granted, she still doesn't look quite like herself and it still makes me so sad to think of all that she's been through, but it was so nice to see her off that horrible breathing machine and see her blood pressure normal again.

We stayed late that night talking to Greg's brother Mike, and he told us that things were definitely a lot more grave earlier that week than even we had realized. On Monday night, the doctor gave her no chance of making it through the night, and Jeff gave her a 10% chance. Based on what Jeff had said, we thought the odds were more 50/50, but apparently they weren't. As I think back to that night, with death right there on the doorstep, I am amazed at Sheila's strength and the miracle that happened. Medically, she should have died, but miraculously, she pulled through and I'm just so grateful to my Heavenly Father for blessing her in that way. I've really been struggling with my testimony lately and I can't pinpoint one exact reason why, but it's definitely been a struggle to say my prayers, read my scriptures, go to church, and even do my calling. I have just had no desire to do any of it, and have really been losing faith in the gospel. Even Monday night when Sheila was so optimistic and had so much faith, I sat there and questioned her strength. I didn't have the faith to know that Heavenly Father would heal her. Now, as I look back at the last week, I feel like my strength in the gospel has really been restored, especially after hearing what a miracle it was that she survived. It definitely showed me that Heavenly Father loves and cares for each of us, and just because life isn't always great sometimes and we feel like the Lord doesn't care, he does. I'm just so grateful for the Priesthood and for what happened last week, and I feel so fortunate to have her still here.

A week after being admitted to the hospital, she was finally able to leave the ICU today which was a great feeling. I'm so glad to know she is out of the woods. Apparently, her colon was leaking from the surgery she had when they removed her cancer, so this infection has been building up in her body for close to 6 months now. She is truly a strong woman and I admire her faith and strength through everything that has happened to her. And while I have NO desire to see her (or Alan or my parents, for that matter) go through that again, I am grateful it happened so that my faith could be strengthened. We truly are blessed to be members of this Church. -Ash

Disneyland!

No drawn out apologies or excuses this time - I know I suck at blogging. :)

For the first time in a couple years now, finances actually allowed us to go on a vacation! Yay! We had originally planned to go to Disneyland in June with my parents and Lindsay's family, but with Greg switching jobs, he didn't have enough PTO saved up to go then. So we planned our own little trip for the beginning of this month, and my parents were even kind enough to come and go to Disneyland a second time! :) We had a great time, and the kids still tell me on a daily basis how much they miss Disneyland. In fact, Gavin tells me he can't wait to go back when he's "five or eight or six." :)

Here are some highlights from our trip:

The 10-Hour Drive

I stressed about this for at least the entire two weeks before the trip. To make matters worse, I stressed about it so bad the night before we left that I didn't sleep AT ALL. Fortunately, the kids did so much better than I ever expected! I took a whole backpack full of things for them to do, and I wrapped twelve little cheap presents - 3 for each kid for the car ride there, and 3 for each on the ride back. I still can't believe what a life-saver they ended up being. The anticipation of getting a "new toy" every few hours really helped them stay calm and patient through the whole thing.

Disneyland!

Yes, I know I'm 26, but I still absolutely adore Disneyland. I feel like such a little kid when I'm there - the atmosphere just totally takes away all my worries. The kids really loved it too. Anytime we would leave Disneyland (either for naps or just because we were done for the day), they would both be asking when we would be going back. In fact, on the ride home when we were around St. George, Ty started asking if we were going to Disneyland that night! He was pretty disappointed when we told him no. :(

The only real problem we had with Disneyland was the amount of rides that scared Gavin! It really surprised me since he is such a little daredevil at Lagoon. He cried on Splash Mountain, Thunder Mountain Railroad, Star Tours, and Grizzly River Rapids, and got extremely scared on Snow White, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, Alice in Wonderland, and Monsters Inc. In fact, I'm sure I even missed a few in there! :) (Even the characters scared him!) He did really like Pirates of the Caribbean and the Matterhorn though - go figure! Ty, on the other hand, loved everything. He never complained about getting scared on a ride, except Peter Pan when we got stopped in the middle of the ride and it took about fifteen minutes to get us off. His favorites were Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters and the Tea Cups. Here are some more highlights from the park:

(The electric light parade at California Adventure - LOVE IT!)

(One of the snails came over and bowed to the boys - they loved it!)

Swimming at the Hotel Pool

Gavin took swimming lessons a couple weeks before we left and loved them, so he was really excited to have the chance to get back in the water again! Ty, on the other hand, was really hesitant at first and didn't want to get in past his waist. However, after a little coaxing, he loved it and started jumping in just like Gavin! Seriously, I have two fish on my hands...

The Beach

We decided to take a break from Disneyland one day and head down to the beach in Carlsbad. We had such a great time! Seriously, the weather was PERFECT (low to mid-80's) and the water felt great. Gavin loved swimming in the water with Greg, and though Ty didn't love the water quite as much, he loved searching for seashells and running away when the tide came up.

The L.A. Temple

The last night of our vacation, we were seriously Disneyland-ed out. So we decided to head up to L.A. and check out the temple and some other sights up there. However, after sitting in traffic for 1 hour and 45 minutes, we only had time to see the temple and Rodeo Drive. It was still a fun night though, and the kids really enjoyed walking around the temple grounds.

Well, there you have it - our trip in a nutshell. We seriously had such a good time, and really appreciate my mom and dad tagging along. They were a lot of fun and a great help with the kids! Hopefully we will be able to do it all over again in the not too distant future. -Ash