School stuff

Boyd seems to be liking school a bit more the last few days. He says his teacher Miss Smith is so nice and pretty. Boyd doesn't like to do writing worksheets very much, so we've been working on it at home some more. Hopefully he'll get the hang of it soon. Boyd said his favorite subject in school is music and then reading time because he's a good reader.

Lucy was so excited to have homework. The first thing she did was make a gingerbread girl that looks like her. I think she did a good job and she was proud of it. She's loving every minute of Kindergarten, she's so happy to get ready and ride the bus. It's fantastic!

Lucy's First Day!

My big girl is in Kindergarten! She has been so excited all last week and especially today. Lucy woke up at 6am asking if it was time for school and then every 5 minutes until we walked out the door. What a long morning it was!

We got to the bus stop nice and early just to make sure we wouldn't miss it.

Lucy is so happy to ride the bus with some of her friends.

There she goes on that big school bus! She was so brave, not even a little bit nervous!

A little late

Here's my cute boy on his first day of First grade! I was so sad I couldn't be there for him, but his wonderful dad got him all set and ready to go! He got off the bus pretty happy and just said "School was too long!" and "Not fun!" Well, that's not too horrible, no major fits or breakdowns, so I say it was a success. His teacher seems like a really nice, good teacher and all of our neighbors who knew her say the same thing. She told me he did very well the first day. Boyd drew a picture of how he felt the first day of school and he wrote "Nrves" (nervous) and drew an army battle to go with it. It always takes Boyd a little bit longer than most kids to adjust to new things, but I am still very proud of him and we think he will do well this year!
Lucy is going crazy this week that she hasn't started her class yet! She is so ready and excited to go to Kindergarten! Lucy had her kindergarten testing yesterday and she loved it and did really great! Her teacher was just so pleased at how much she knows and is already reading. What a smart girl!

Did ya miss me?

*This blog post may contain too much information

Well, I am back home from the hospital as of last night and it is so great to be with my family and it was amazing to actually sleep in my own bed! I'm feeling much better- no pain or fever or life-threatening doom, just pretty tired and a little nauseated here and there.

So, everyone's been awesome with all their concerns and all the offers for help. Thank you, friends and neighbors, you are all amazing! (I feel like I'm writing an awards speech now) Thanks Amber for the long day you put in watching my girls! Thanks Jen for taking them today! Thanks to the awesome fam for bending over backwards to take care of our kids all weekend. And, of course, my SUPER AMAZING HUSBAND for everything he did to take care of me and our family and all the horrors he had to endure for me (hospitals, needles and blood are his worst phobia in case you were wondering). I really could go on and on, but you get the idea... I love you Ken!

Do you wanna know how I ended up in the freaking ICU? It's still really weird to me and totally unexpected, I don't really get it myself. Anyway, here's what happened: Last weekend I started getting a regular, dumb cold and just didn't feel good, but I was able to get by. I even went swimming last Wed and went to Cub scouts Pack night, but when I got home I started feeling worse- couldn't eat the dinner I made, headache, fever, horrible body aches. I went to bed and just had a terrible night thrashing, waking up Ken (he's usually the most solid sleeper ever). In the morning I told him I think I better go in to Instacare (and as a side note I thought I might have a bladder infection). We went in and they were all "Yep, bad UTI (urinary tract infection), here's an antibiotic and take some advil for pain." I took all my pills (nothing helped my headache and back pain), and a couple hours later I started vomiting and still felt horrible. I called the Instacare that afternoon to see if I needed to go back and they told me to go into the Emergency room for an IV if I couldn't keep my antibiotics down. I really didn't want to go the ER, super lame, right, so I got worse and worse all night puking, high fever, horrible pain. I couldn't keep down a sip of Sprite, a bite of cracker, or a piece of ice, Dangit!

So, there we went to the ER- I was puking in a bag the whole way there, I was in my stained jammies, my hair was in a rat's nest, and I was just shaking from fever. I was so glad I got in to the ER right away, so they could start poking me with needles and I got an arm IV. They did all sorts of tests and a CAT scan of my kidneys, and I peed in a cup (it looked like apple cider- I know you wanted to know that). After a while of all this my blood pressure dropped to like half of what it should be. I got rushed to somewhere and had to get this IV thing in my neck (it was horrible!). The doctor said I'm going to numb it now and then it felt like he jabbed a pencil into my neck (sorry for the visual). Ken said there was lots of blood squirting and the doctor fished a wire down to my heart and at that point he stumbled backward 4 feet down into a chair and put his head down. "We got a fainter!" someone said. Poor Ken, he scooted over and held my hand again.

I got moved over to ICU because my blood pressure was so low, my kidneys were infected, and I got blood sepsis. I was hooked up to a bunch of monitors all over my body and got a pee-pee catheter and I was pretty much stuck in bed unable to move at all, especially not my neck, cause it hurt! The blood pressure cuff stayed on and measured every 15 minutes around the clock- that was really annoying because I pretty much could only sleep 15 minutes at a time in the night, plus all the beeping monitors, people checking in constantly... it was super. I was in that room Friday, Saturday and then moved to a different floor the last day and got to get rid of most of the stuff on me. On Saturday I got to finally get up to walk around the ICU floor. It was really sad, every patient was all hooked up in tubes and no one even looked conscious, many of the visitors were crying it was awful! There I was walking around talking to the staff and all jolly. I was really, really out of place and everyone said something like "You're about 50 years too young to be here" or "You look too healthy to be here." Yeah, I got it, and it's weird.

Well, anyhow, that's a bit of a long story. I'm getting all better now and I am so thankful for our modern medicine that got me out of that crazy ordeal and back on my feet. That was a really a fast, horrible weekend I hope to never have again.

Payson Hike

We took a little hike up Payson canyon to the Grotto. We haven't been before and it was beautiful!

It was a pretty fun, short hike (only 0.6 miles round trip) and it had some neat things like logs to walk across and tiny waterfalls.

Daisy kept saying "Wook! It's Wonderful!"

Lucy was a good coach for helping Daisy cross the logs. She's so sweet! "Come on, Daisy! I'll catch ya!"

It was so fun to arrive to the Grotto with a little waterfall and water to play in. What a neat place!

The kids got soaked and muddy! I didn't think to bring them in their suits or sandals because I was expecting more of a hike. Oh well, lesson learned, but we'll go back there again soon with the right gear.

Ken climbed up a steep part to the top of the waterfall. I was so nervous when he was up there! But, of course he was fine and said it was fun. I'm too much of a chicken these days!

We sure love living in Payson! There are a bunch of other places we need to explore up the canyon, I had no idea!

Rantings

About blogging and facebook.

I like to follow people's blogs and check statuses on fb and sometimes I feel like a weird stalker especially with the people I don't know very well in person (which are most of them because I'm so incredibly shy). I love the honest posts and ones that make me think and relate to my own life and show what kind of people they are and the image they display. Most everyone only seem to say what is positive and fun and cool in their lives, others are boring, others I think "Aaah, too much information!"

One problem is thinking about who is reading what I am writing here. So many times I've gone to write a status update or blog and then delete it thinking "nobody cares what I have to say" or "Some of these friends won't get it or take this the wrong way." Which, unfortunately I have put my foot in my mouth a few times and feel like a jerk still. It kind of sucks sometimes to not be able to connect to the people I want, not being able to share my opinions or feelings, not having the tone of a sentence conveyed over the screen (that's probably a big one), worrying about the amount of positivity, negativity, sincerity, honesty, boring content, repetition, etc.

One person's blog I read recently talked about the pressure she feels from our culture, particularly the Mormon moms who seem to do everything well from cooking, organizing, gardening, crafting, sewing, cleaning, homeschooling, canning, teaching, reading, and are always stylish and gorgeous, patient and loving with a bunch of obedient, happy and perfectly dressed children. Phew! What a list... and there's even more that I can't think of at the moment, but it is incredible and overwhelming. Crazy, I know I feel that pressure sometimes, too, and it's ridiculous really.

It is hard to know how much feelings to put into posts. I love my husband and kids, but I hate to sound too mushy or insincere when I say so.

Alright, I think I'll just end now...

What a Day!

This morning, bright and early Ken and I got up to put together this...

Woohoo a Trampoline!
We got up so early to have it ready before the kids woke up. Normally they sleep in until 9 or 10 am, but today they were all up before 7! Oh well, it was like Christmas morning and they were so excited!

Boyd said "I love it the same as Age of Mythology!' (his favorite game ever).

Lucy said "I love it as much as I love Mom!"
And Daisy just cried within about the first 10 seconds of getting on it.

We got to have my sister's kids over for most of the day because she was still in the hospital and we also had a little birthday party for Lucy.

She had a Strawberry shortcake theme and wanted a big cake instead of cupcakes (which I would rather have). Almost all of the kids asked "Why did you make an APPLE cake?" Really? Doesn't it look like a strawberry at all? I tried, I swear!

We got to visit with Baby David for a minute when Kelly and Jake were coming home. Lucy was so excited to hold him. We love babies!
Tonight, we went to another birthday party for some friends of ours. I wish I would have brought the camera, she made this rainbow cake with 6 separate layers of frosting in between and there were these cute fruit kabobs- watermelon, oranges, pineapple, kiwi, blueberries and purple grapes- rainbow food! I love cute food!

I got a new nephew!

I'm so excited! I just got to meet my new little nephew, his name is David William Sigafus! He's such a cute little thing, I'm glad I got to hold him.

My sister did a natural birth and she said it went very quickly and she feels great! What a super mom!

Awww... look at that cute little face! I think he looks a lot like his big brother Daniel. Babies are so amazing! Congrats Jake and Kelly!

Cousin Time

Lucy thinks her cousin is the coolest person now- she said Tricia's my new BFF!

The kids have been having the best time just hanging out with the cousins in Papa and Gramma's yard. Lucy did lots of summer-saults and swinging and running around.

I love to see them all run! I'm so glad it was a little cooler outside so they could enjoy it.

Boyd literally ran his pants off! He's so funny!

We thought our day was ruined with the rain in the afternoon, but we were so glad to get over to the pool in the evening. There was nobody there and it was awesome!

Lucy is ready for a pose in a split second!

We loved having a nearly empty pool all to ourselves!

Little Miss Ally was not super excited to be there.

I was so proud of Lucy going down the big slides! I knew she would love it if she gave it a try. I told her she could go on the slides with us or stay with Uncle Danny Ha haa!

Boyd just started swimming all on his own and he did great! I had no idea he could. He amazes me all the time!

 

Happy Birthday Lucy!

I can't believe my baby girl is a big 5 year old!

Lucy was the most beautiful baby I have ever seen. Strangers would come up to tell me the same thing. She had a full head of dark, curly hair and perfect peachy skin even as a newborn (she was only a few days old in this picture).

She grew into a kid so fast! She was walking by 10 months and talking up a storm!

She was a funny, sassy little thing!

Now, she's a great big sister...

A sweet, happy girl...

And a smart, beautiful Princess! We sure love our Lucy Pearl! Happy Birthday big girl!