Uvulopalatopharyngoplasty

Uvulopalatopharyngoplasty, aka UPPP (UP3) is a very big word for one of the three surgical procedures I just had done.  In addition to the UP3 procedure, I had a tonsillectomy and a reduction of my inferior turbinates (membranes in my nose).  Three pretty painful procedures all at the same time.

Why did I have all these procedures you might ask?  Well...I don't sleep well.  I never have. Ever since I can remember I have had trouble falling asleep and staying asleep.  Once I do fall asleep I have crazy, sometimes very scary, but always exhausting vivid dreams.  Very rarely do I remember many times where I didn't have these dreams.  The worst though was sleeping on my back.  I can never fall asleep if I am laying on my back.  I will just lay there all night.  If I accidentally rolled on to my back while I was sleeping I would have night terrors and would be scared to go back to sleep for a long time.  Because of this, I am always tired.  However, because this has been going on my whole life I just took it to be normal.  I was just tired because that is how life is.

In addition to the crazy sleep, I also get sick a lot.  Not knock down, can't get out of bed for a week sick, but a sore throat, loss of energy, general ickiness kind of sick.  Often it would get so bad that it developed into tonsillitis and then I would be very sick.  Again, just thought that was the way life is.

Then there was the occasional swelling of my uvula (the dangly thing in the back of the throat.)  When that happened it was scary and very inconvenient because the swollen uvula would choke me if I moved my head in any direction number one and number two I couldn't talk AT ALL, not even a whisper, because that would also trigger the choking, so there were days that I was totally unable to do anything.  The swelling would last anywhere from 3 to 12 hours.  That I knew wasn't normal but when I talked to my doctor about it he said that it was just a freak thing but nothing to worry about and there was nothing he could do.

About 6 months ago I got sick and tired of being sick and tired.  I talked to my doctor (not the same one I mentioned before as he moved) and asked him what I could do.  He did two things that got all this in motion.  First, he ordered a sleep test.  It is where you wear an oxygen sensor on your finger while you sleep for one night.  The second thing he did was refer me to an ENT for chronic tonsillitis.

The ENT looked in my throat and said without a doubt I would need my tonsils removed because they were so large.  He also noticed that the tonsil tissue we all have on the back of our tounges for me was very large and might also need to be removed.  I asked him if that is why sometimes my food felt like it was just sitting on a table in the back of my throat and wouldn't go down.  He said that would be very possible.  Then he looked in my nose and said that the turbinates were also larger than normal and that I probably wasn't getting enough air when I breathe through my nose and that is why I am a mouth breather.  He said that he wanted to reduce the turbinates as well.  Then I asked him about the swollen uvula.  He asked me if I snore and the answer is yes.  He said that because I have so much extra tissue in my throat that occasionally when I snore my poor uvula just gets pummeled all night long causing it to swell.  He asked me if I had done a sleep study for sleep apnea.  I told him that I had just done the overnight sleep test and had been referred to a sleep doctor but hadn't met with him yet.  He said to come back and see him after I had talked to the sleep doctor because I would likely need more than just a tonsillectomy.

A week later I met with the sleep doctor.  He said that the oxygen test came back with some concerning results.  It looked like I have sleep apnea (where you stop breathing when you sleep) but that it might be severe.  I was to take an overnight sleep study asap to determine the severity.  The study would also see why I had trouble falling and staying asleep.  I went to that sleep study and wondered how in the world they got any information at all.  The hooked me up to so many wires that I wondered if there was a spot on my body that wasn't being monitored.  I had 20 electrodes on my skull, one on my temple, above each eye, on my chin, below my chin, 6 on my chest, one on each leg, two sensor bands around my lungs, and an oxygen tube in my nose with a little tube that went down over my mouth.  They took all the lead wires from these sensors and zipped them into a pouch behind my back and then told me to go to sleep.  Did they forget that I was there because I had trouble falling and staying asleep?!  I did my best to go to sleep.  I tossed and turned (as best as I could with all the wires hooked up to me) for hours.  After I had finally fallen asleep they turned on the lights and the nurse and doctor asked me some questions through the little speaker by the bed.  I told them I was trying to sleep and they apologized but then proceeded to continue talking to each other while the speaker to my room was on.  I was so frustrated and getting so angry because I was so tired and this was miserable.  Finally, at what felt like 4am the lights turn off and the nurse comes in to tell me that the test is all over and it is time to go home.  I was so confused.  It hit me that the time I spent being frustrated with the intrusions and my lack of sleep was just another one of my vivid dreams.  Imagine that...I actually did fall asleep with all those wires on me.  Too bad that I felt like I was awake the whole time and was more tired now then when I started. Of course, that is nothing new.  I often wake up more tired than when I go to sleep because of my exhausting vivid dreams.  I also wondered why they were telling me to go home at 4 in the morning.  I was so very tired and didn't feel rested at all.  Turns out that what felt like a very paltry 2, maybe 3 hours of sleep was really all night long.  It was actually 7:30am which made me feel so disoriented. Needless to say, as soon as I got home I took a long nap.

The results of the sleep study showed that I was not going into REM cycles regularly when I sleep.  Normally a person will cycle in and out of REM 4 to 5 times a night.  The only time I hit REM sleep was just before I had to get up in the morning.  During that cycle, my oxygen levels dropped over 70 times (it was about a 1 hour period of time) and my oxygen level got down to 71.  Anything below 90 is a concern, anything below 80 is dangerous.  My mom was told that an oxygen level of 71 was in the danger area of causing a stroke.  That made me nervous. I was ordered a C-PAP machine that was supposed to push oxygen down my lungs while I sleep and keep me from having a stroke in the middle of the night.

The fitting for the mask was very odd.  I began to panic when he placed the mask over my face thinking that I was going to suffocate.  I survived and found that if I relax it was very easy to breathe and started using the machine every night.  It didn't last long though.  Sometime during the night, I would take the mask off while I was asleep.  That defeated the whole purpose.  Seeing that the mask was not going to work for me my ENT suggested that I have the UP3 surgery in addition to the other procedures designed to make breathing at night easier for me.  The date was set and even though I was scared, I was looking forward to breathing and sleeping normally.

Surgery went well and I was sent home the next day.  The first thing I wanted when I woke up was a big juicy hamburger but that wasn't going to happen for a long time. I no longer had any tonsils or the dangly thing in the back of my throat, just a lot of stitches so solid food was out of the question.  It was a very painful and LONG recovery.  Every single swallow (you don't know how many times you swallow your own spit until each and every time is excruciating) was dreaded for 2 1/2 weeks.  I slept sitting up (or at least tried to) for the first week afraid to lay down because I felt like I would suffocate if I did.  My homework from the doctor was to keep hydrated knowing that I would most likely refuse any liquids for a few weeks.  I was super hungry and food smelled so good but the thought of swallowing anything thicker than water was terrifying so a good side effect was that I lost a lot of weight after the surgery...lol

After 2 1/2 weeks, the doctor cut the stitches out of my throat (another freaky experience) and life began to return to normal.  It was a slow recovery but well worth it.  Not only do I finally get restful sleep but I can breathe through my nose.  I had no idea how clogged my nose was and how hard it was to get enough air until it wasn't hard anymore.  I tell my doctor that he is a miracle worker and I will literally take in long slow breaths of air through my nose each and every day now just because I can.  I feel such gratitude towards the doctor with each breath.  I am no longer able to make fake snoring sounds when teasing my little ones and I have to be careful when drinking water in a drinking fountain so that the water doesn't go up my nose instead, but it was all so worth it.  I would do it all again in a heartbeat knowing how much better my quality of life is now.  How grateful I am for modern medicine.  Sleep well my friends...I know I will be. : )

Count your tender mercies, name them one by one.

Two weeks ago my van began to overheat.  It has sounded a little funny and there was no heat blowing out of the heater so I meant to take it in to have it looked at but put it off.  That day I had no choice but to take it in.  I was told that the radiator had a leak and that it was almost empty.  That would explain the weird noises and the lack of heat.  I went back home and talked to CJ about it.  He said that we didn't have the money to get the radiator fixed until January so we should try to patch it with some StopLeak first and hope that it would last a few more weeks.

I put the StopLeak in and hoped for the best.  Yesterday I was driving one of the girl's friends home in the van to test the radiator now that it was full again and the patch should have been in place.  I got to the girl's house just east of the High School and my battery light came on.  I dropped my head and silently asked myself what else could go wrong.  I turned off all power draining devices and drove down the street to the Auto Zone that is close to my house.  I asked the worker to test my battery.  He hooked up the tester and while it was testing he looked to the area where a lot of steam was coming off the engine and said, "You have a pretty good leak going on there."  I was so frustrated because that meant that the patch didn't work and now we would have to find a way to get the radiator fixed or be without a van for a month.  He then told me the results of the test were that my battery passed.  Thank goodness for tender mercies.  However...my alternator failed.  Ugh!!!  Now I definitely couldn't drive the van even if the radiator patch had worked.

To top the day off, when I got home Dakota was sitting on the couch in tears.  This was a day that she had been looking forward to all week.  Her friend was taking her horseback riding.  Seeing her tears I thought, maybe she didn't get to ride a horse.  That wasn't it, she did in fact ride a horse.  The problem was that her horse got spooked and while it was running she fell off.  Poor girl.  Her arm she used to break the fall was hurting really bad and so was her head.  I took her to Urgent Care to be checked out.  Thank goodness for tender mercies again.  Her arm was not broken, it only had a bad sprain and she did not have a concussion only a stress headache from the fall.  She was ordered to take it easy for a few days but given a clean bill of health.

When CJ got home from work I told him I had good news and bad news.  I started with the bad news and said, "The bad news is...there is no good news."  Then proceeded to tell him about my day.  He just shook his head and said, what now.  Knowing that there wasn't much we could do right now, we just went about our day trying not to worry about it until Friday when he didn't have to work and we could talk about our options while the kids were at school.

Later that night the most tender mercy of all came with a phone call.  My dad was calling to tell me that he was sending some Christmas money for us to get the kids and CJ and I some presents since he knew that with all of our troubles lately we would be struggling to get the kids anything.  I tried very hard not to cry because the kids were sitting right there listening to my every word.  Then he said that he knew we were having troubles with the car and that he wanted me to find out what it would cost to have it fixed and he would help us to be able to get if fixed asap so that we weren't without a vehicle, especially since it is winter time.  This time I couldn't hold back the tears.

With all that was going wrong I knew that everything would be okay because I am loved very much by two fathers, my wonderful father here on earth and my Father in heaven.  I am so grateful for both of them and for my wonderful mothers too.

Lest you think that I am complaining, I promise you I am not.  This is frustrating and sometimes just venting your frustrations can help to put them in perspective and release the stress, which it has done in this case. : )  We have been having good times too, going on fun activities, spending time together as a family, decorating the house and so much more.  My kids are happy and healthy and we are so very blessed.  I know that the Lord blesses us with tender mercies every day and I pray everyday in gratitude for the mercies that I don't feel like I deserve but the Lord loves me and sends to me anyway.  I love my family and friends so much both near and far.  I am so blessed and I can't say thank you enough.

Island Party

One of CJ's friends at his work invited out family to her daughter's 5th birthday party.  Our Saturday was pretty busy so we weren't sure who would be able to go to this party.  CJ was hoping we all could make it because his friend has spent a lot of money on the party and was worried that no one would show up.

The party was up in West Valley City which is an hour drive north of here.  When I looked up the address to find out where the party was it turned out to be at the Hale Center Theater.  That night was opening night for their annual performance of "A Christmas Carol" and I wasn't sure if that is what we were going to do for the party.  It would be really nice though since I love that play.

The night worked out well (except for bad traffic and a lack of parking spots that made us 25 minutes late, ugh) and our whole family was able to make it to the party.  Yea!  I forgot to bring my camera so I'm sorry there are no pictures, especially since it was so beautiful.  When we got to the theater we went to a room on the side that they rent out for parties (I didn't know they did that).  The theme was from the Disney movie "Frozen" and the decorations were wonderful.  We sat down at a table in the front and looked at the food tables.  WOW!!  There was a ton of food, everything from a whole roasted pig to tons of candy and a chocolate fountain for desert.

The little girl's mom is Samoan and her dad is Tongan so it was full of all the traditional island foods.  The person who blessed the food spoke the prayer in Tongan and it was so neat to hear.  Then after everyone had their food they had some island dance companies (also family members) perform several traditional island dances for entertainment.  We all enjoyed their dances so very much.  During one of the performances a 70ish year old lady got up and started dancing with the dancers.  You could see the happy memories of dancing as a young girl on her face while she danced.  She was just as graceful and beautiful to watch as the young girls dancing.  While eating desert the birthday girl and her 3 year old cousin dressed in island costumes and performed the sweetest little island dance for us.  It was so cute.  Lizzie took some video of the dances with her ipod.  We all enjoyed the evening so much.

For me the best part was Alexander.  He was in his usual funny, but serious, mood.  First he asked me where Melanie was (I didn't know who she was at first) and I asked him why he needed to see her.  He very seriously told me that she was his friend and she was going to marry him when she got older.  Trying not to laugh I asked him if he had told her this news and he said, "I don't think so but we will be married."  It turns out that Melanie is the daughter of another person that CJ works with and Alex had been to her house many times for parties and get togethers and Megan had gone over to her table to sit and talk to her.  Then the DJ started playing music for everyone to dance to.  A rap song came on, music that I do not listen to because I am not fond of it, and Alexander couldn't help but start to bust a move.  He just started dancing to the music moving his whole body and occasionally going into slow-mo for a minute and then back to his crazy dancing.  Everyone was cheering him on.  It took me back to my childhood and reminded me so much of my brother Matt who would always start break dancing at parties while the crowd cheered him on.  It was so fun to watch.

The evening was so much fun and everyone enjoyed themselves.  I can't help but wonder how many more of these fun parties we will be able to go to as a whole family.  The girls are getting older and their schedules are so busy that many times we are not able to go as a whole family.  Plus Lizzie will soon graduate and will be off doing her own things and Rebecca is not far behind her.  I am cherishing each and every time we get to spend together as a whole family.  I love my family more than they will ever know.

Alex-isms

Alexander is such a funny little boy.  All of our kids did and said funny things when they were small but the girls love the things that he does so much they wanted me to blog about them so here they are.

Alexander's language:
Fire Place Man (fireman)
Glubs (gloves)
Treasure Hunt Pack Pack (any back pack he puts on his back)
Back Pack Man (Pac Man)
Ssmarshmellows (marshmallows)
"Ouchya go" ball (Out Ya Go)  It's a bowling ball he rolls out the door saying, ouchya go.
"Ouchie" ball  (A pool table ball.) We think he gave the ball that name because he smashed his fingers between two of the balls not realizing how solid and heavy they were.  Now when he talks about those balls the look on his face when he says the word ouchie is too cute.
"And that's the truth of my rules."
"You broke my secret."
"I love my birthdays.  I take them VERY seriously."

Names we call Alexander:
Alexander
Alex
Lex
Xander
Xander Man
and the ones that he likes us to call him:
Sportacus (from Lazy Town)
The Guy (from Spy Kids 3)  when ever I call his name he reminds me that he is "THE guy".

Water Bath or Pressure?

Something I have always wanted to do but am totally terrified to try is canning.  I'm not so scared about water bath canning as I am pressure canning but still I am afraid I will do it wrong and make my family sick because of it.  I knew that I would try it one day so I have attended many classes on caning and I have been buying the proper supplies little by little.  For the last few years I would buy a box of jars and some extra lids when I could (and when they were not completely sold out).  Last year I took the plunge and bought a pressure caner and this year I finally got the proper water bath caner.  I had plans to use these items but for the most part they just sit collecting dust because of my fear of using them and the excuses I told myself to keep from actually taking the plunge in to caning.

Well, the time to take the plunge has finally arrived.  On Monday I found 20 pounds of ground beef at a fantastic price and bought it with the intention of canning it.  I couldn't let this meat go to waste so I watched some videos about how to cook ground beef, dusted off the pressure caner and took out a box of jars.  I had to brown all the meat first and that took forever.  I followed the instructions as best as I could, praying that I was doing everything right and especially that my caner didn't blow up on me.  I was a nervous wreck the entire time.  After 5 hours of work I finally took the jars out of the caner and set them on the towel to cool for the next 12 to 24 hours.  It was 2:30am at that point.  I looked at the mineral covered jars (we have uber-extreme hard water and the little vinegar I added to the water did nothing) with disappointment for what looked like a bust of a first canning job and went to bed.  I could hear each jar pop with a loud sound that I figured could only be a sign I had done it wrong.  I had bad dreams about my canning job all night.  When I went to check on them the next day and test the seals, to my surprise only one jar did not hold a proper seal and all the other jars looked exactly like they were supposed to.  I did it!!  I left those jars out all day so that I could admire my handiwork.  That 19 pounds of ground beef (we ate one for dinner) yielded 12 pints of about 1.5 lb. of meat each.  Satisfied with a job well done, and completely exhausted from the experience, I then packed up the pressure caner and moved it downstairs to the storage room, to be rested for a good long while.  We left the one jar that didn't seal in the fridge so that we could eat it for dinner in a few days.  The texture was not as I had hoped but with spices it tasted just fine.  I am proud of myself for putting up some meat in our food storage.  We have plenty of wheat but no meat so this will be a nice addition.

I thought my canning days were done for the season but tonight I was given a bag full of ripe apricots.  Although I was still exhausted from the last canning experience I couldn't let this opportunity to can some apricot jam go to waste.  I again got out my Ball canning book and looked up apricot jam.  To my relief, this is one that only needed the water bath method of canning.  That should be a snap after what I went through with the meat.  I started preparing the apricots and then stopped to cook dinner.  After dinner I began the canning process again.  This one may have had a shorter cooking time but the set up took just as long.  This time it was only 3.5 hours until I was taking the jars out of the caner to cool.  I was totally nervous.  I got 5 full 1.5 pint jars of jam done and had about 3/4 cup of jam left over that I put into a spare jar and let cool for immediate use.  Again I was not sure of my success.  It didn't take long for the small amount of jam to cool enough to try.  I dipped my spoon in for a tiny taste.  I couldn't believe it...it was perfect!!  It was the perfect consistency, and the perfect balance of sweet and tart.  It tasted great!  All the kids had a taste and they love it too.  I am so proud of myself!

This time the caners are going away until the next season but with my new found excitement I am going to look in to buying a dehydrator.  I can still put up food with it but without all the fear.  Here's to building our food supply.

Funny Little Man

Alexander has always had a very good vocabulary and been very good at communicating.  I don't think he ever did "baby talk".  I love talking to him because the way he talks to me is so mature that it is hard to believe such a little boy is speaking to me.  If I say a word to him and he doesn't know what it means he will ask me what the word means and then try to use it in a sentence.  It is amazing to watch.

I just have to share my most favorite thing he said recently.  It isn't so much what he said but the way he said it that just makes me laugh every time.

Alexander and Megan had some friends over and the friends wanted to go play in the snow out in the back yard.  Megan quickly got her coat, boots, and gloves on so that she could play in the snow.  Alexander didn't want to take the time to put any of those good winter items on.  He didn't think he needed them.  I let him know that without shoes and a coat he would get very cold, very fast and it wouldn't be fun.  He again assured me that he was a big boy and he would be just fine.  His older sisters tried to plead with him too because they know that I speak the truth.  He insisted on playing the way he is and went out the door with a smile and a, "see you later Mom."  His sisters looked at me with a dumbfounded look and I just said to them that he would find out soon enough what we were talking about.  They just shrugged and resigned to wait.

Two minutes later the back door opens.  Alex steps just inside the door and stands there with this serious look on his face and doesn't move a muscle.  He looked at me and matter of factly said, "Well, THAT was a bad idea."  He told me that it was cold and that it was not a good idea to go outside without a coat and shoes.  Without another word he walked into his room to get the right winter items on and then went back out to play.  I laugh every time I think about it and now when someone makes a mistake and they feel silly we just look at each other and say, "Well, THAT was a bad idea."

I love that little man sooooo much!!!

BRAVE new hair style for Megan

Lizzie LOVES doing fun hair styles on Megan.  This has to be one of my favorite.  Lizzie takes drinking straws and ties Megan's hair to them.  She puts a scarf on Megan's head to keep them safe while she sleeps (this is an overnight hair style) which Megan loves wearing.

In the morning she takes the straws out and then separates the curls one by one until Megan has a full head of spirally hair.

Fresh out of the straws.

She calls it Merida hair, after the princess character in the Disney movie BRAVE.

Color her hair red and she would look a lot like the character Merida.

Before                                                      After
This style shortens her long hair up a ton.

As you can see Megan just loves this hair and it looks so cute on her.

Roller Derby Opener

Rebecca is in full swing with her Color Guard team this year.  They have been in a few parades but tonight they took their parade routine and made it a lot longer so that they could perform for the pre-show entertainment at the local roller derby.  I went with them and watched and man are they good! It was so fun to see Rebecca smile the whole performance.  She really loves what she does.

Rebecca and a few of her Color Guard team
dressed crazy for the roller derby performance.

Rebecca rockin' the show!

Tiny Tim Salad

CJ has been experimenting for a while now with hydroponics.  He loves to grow all kinds of plants from seed and has had some great successes and some unfortunate not successes.  He says he learns from every growing experience whether it turns out good or not.  About a year ago he bought a hydroponic grow kit on the internet and started growing food indoors.  The goal is to be able to eat fresh vegetables year round.  For a long time he hasn't had much success because hydroponics has a huge learning curve.  

Tiny Tim Tomatoes

This week however was different.  In a small hydroponic unit that CJ built that we have in our upstairs living room window he is growing some Tiny Tim tomatoes.  They are supposed to be the world's smallest tomatoes.  As you can see by the fully grown ripe tomatoes in my hand I would have to agree with that claim.  The cool thing is that these tiny little tomatoes pack a BIG punch.  They are very flavorful and its hard to believe how small they are.  We all love tomatoes so much that CJ has many different varieties growing or waiting to be grown and I can't wait to try them all.

Home grown lettuce.

We also got to eat of the different varieties of lettuce that he has growing in his larger hydroponic unit in the basement.  These are the first plants to produce food from that unit and it was really fun to ask the girls to go down stairs and get some lettuce for dinner.  We ate the lettuce for dinner for a whole week in the form of lettuce wraps, salads, on hamburgers, and BLT sandwiches.  He has a melon growing in the unit now and I hope it fruits as well because I really love the idea of fresh fruits and veggies year round.

Drivers BE WARE!

This year Lizzie turned the big 16!  She could not be more excited to be 16.  The first thing we did on her birthday was to go to the DMV and get her learner's permit.  Technically you can get them when you turn 15 in Utah but we didn't learn that until a few months ago and she wanted to earn the money for the fee herself and then she had to wait for slow poke mom to take her to the DMV.

Anyway...here she is...Utah's newest driver.  She has been driving the neighbor kids around in our go-kart for a while so she feels very confident in her driving abilities.

Bitter-sweet day.

She didn't wast time getting behind the wheel.

She quickly found out though that driving a real car is much different than driving a toy one.  She is hoping to get in to the same drivers ed class as all her friends.  I don't mind teaching her but drivers ed is required here in Utah.  Just don't say that I didn't warn you about her being on the road now.  lol

Sweet Megan

CJ came home from work today and was talking to Megan and Alexander about their day.  He was headed down stairs to check on his plants when the kids got excited about being able to play downstairs (they aren't allowed down there alone because they tend to make rather large messes with everything BUT their toys.)  CJ was trying to tell them that he was only going to be a few minutes down there but Alex kept jumping and singing in excitement that CJ had a hard time getting his attention and had to raise his voice.  Sweet little Megan pipes in and takes Alex by the hand.  She looks at him and calmly tells Xander, "Daddy just got home from work and he's tired.  Let's wait until he's rested and then he'll play with us, okay Alex?"  It was just so out of the blue because normally she whines right along with Alex when she doesn't get what she wants and this time she was just so grown up about it.  It was a melt your heart moment for me.

Anatomy and Physiology

   I was at the home school store the other day to buy a reading program for the two little ones.  Just before checking out Alex spots a book on the human body that has very detailed pictures and a simple explanation for every part of the body and just goes crazy for it.  I was looking through the pages with him answering his MANY questions of, "what's this...what's that" and could see the excitement in his eyes.  I thought the book was well done with the detailed yet simple pictures so I got him the book.
   He is so funny to watch!  He has gone through every page of the book numerous times now and has learned what each picture is and where it is on his body so he is telling me now what the body parts are and what their function is.  He will just randomly walk up to me and point to a part of his body and tell me what it and it's function is.  For example, today he was in the middle of the room moving his arm up and down.  I asked him what he was doing and he told me that the little nerve in his brain was working because it was telling him to lift his arm up and down (we had just looked at the nervous system last night and he learned what the neurons in the brain do.)  It is so fun to see him so excited and eager to put his new found knowledge to work.
   I began by just telling him the basic parts like brain, arm, muscles, bones, etc.  Now he wants to know the individual bone names, the difference between the large and small intestine (he likes to tell me at meal times that his food is going to take it's long trip now in his intestines...lol) the different parts of the face and inner ear, etc.  He is just devouring that book and I am so amazed at how quickly he is actually learning the info that is in that book and not just being interested in our "guts" like most little boys would be.  I don't know that he will be a doctor when he grows up but I can safely say I really think that what ever career he chooses it will involve knowing the inner workings of the body.
   Of course, he could end up as a professional golfer too.  He is just as obsessed with golf as he is the inside of the body.  We'll see...only time will tell.

Easter 2013

Easter this year was pretty low key.  I am on the HOA board so I was asked to help with the neighborhood Easter egg hunt.  CJ helped Alex in his age group area and Rebecca helped Megan in her age group area.  As you know, public Easter egg hunts are NOT my favorite.  They never go well for the kind, considerate kids and only the rude kids who knock over the good kids get any eggs (because they usually take all the eggs.)  This year there was a new low in the neighborhood hunt.  Lizzie and Dakota were helping me announce the rules to all the kids and parents.  We asked all the parents to stay behind the lines and let the kids hunt for eggs by themselves.  Lizzie was telling one group these rules when a dad got angry with her and told her he was going to help his kid and she couldn't stop him.  She asked him politely to go back behind the line.  He got so angry with her that he took out his cell phone and threatened to call the police.  She was so good.  She just looked at him and told him to go ahead and call.  He hung up the phone, gave her dirty looks and just walked away (back to his kid no less) so she let it drop.

SERIOUSLY??!!! A grown man was asked to follow the rules by a 15 year old and he gets so mad he threatens her with the police.  I still can't believe it.

Megan and Alex looking at all those colorful eggs.

CJ waiting with Alex.

Anyway, the Easter bunny left a basket for the family.  They had fun eating the candy.  We did our traditional Resurrection rolls.  After church CJ and I hid plastic eggs in the back yard for all the kids to find, even the older girls.  Each kid had one golden egg to find along with their other eggs.  They had to look hard but it was worth it.  The golden eggs had $5 in them.  The kids each took turns after that re-hiding the eggs for everyone else.  That is one of their favorite Easter traditions.

General Young Women Meeting

This year our stake received tickets to attend the General Young Women's Meeting in the Conference Center in Salt Lake.  I jumped at the chance to take my girls to this meeting.  Watching it at home is a blessing but watching it in person is indescribable.

 Unfortunately Rebecca had a Winter Guard performance so she couldn't go with us.  She really wanted to be there.  Dakota and Lizzie had a really good time.

After the conference I took the girls to the City Creek Center Mall for a little chocolate by the fountains.

A rare selfie on the way home in the parking garage elevator.

Royalty

Just for fun we took the kids out for a treat.  We took them to Burger King for dinner.  I don't think we have gotten the crowns for a long time so tonight we all got crowns and ate dinner as the royal family.  Some of the family are paparazzi shy but here are some pics of our fun evening.

Spring is in Bloom

Even though there is still snow outside spring is blooming inside.  We have started many plants for the garden and they are doing great.  Even CJ's Desert Rose plant is blooming.  It just looks so happy in here.

My favorite spring bloom though is our new apple tree.  We have always wanted to grow fruit trees so this year we picked up our first fruit tree...an apple tree.  Not just any apple tree though.  We have always said that if we got an apple tree we wanted to get a multi-apple tree so that we can have more than one variety of apple.  Our beautiful new apple tree has honeycrip, granysmith, and gala apples on it.  There were a few grafts that were not labeled so there is a chance of one or two more varieties on our tree.  I can just taste the apple pie now.  Mmmm mmmm, can't wait for the harvest.

Against our blue walls the tree looks like it is outside already.  For right now its blooms are safe and warm inside.

Sea Pearch

Dakota has been working hard after school twice a month all year long on her underwater robot.  She has been excited for the chance to build and compete with her robot and today we got to see the competition.  It was during school so only Megan, Alex, and I were able to go.  Her team did well.  It was very exciting and BYU TV was there filming the competition and taking interviews of the event.  Dakota's group from the Jr. High was the largest group there by far.

Megan looking down from the balcony where we watched the competition from the best position.

Dakota modeling her Sea Perch (under water robot).

After the competition the kids were treated to some displays by companies that specialize in the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) fields which is what this competition is supposed to be cultivating a love for.  We saw demonstrations of fire power from torches, aeronautics, a 3-D printer (my favorite), medical advances and more.  I don't know who was more excited and interested in all of the displays, the kids or me.  I wish they did things like this when I was in school.

Fun at the Park

Just a beautiful day today.  Couldn't resist taking the little ones to the park.

Very Hard Decision

This will come as a shock.  It happened so quickly but it is done.

As of today, we no longer own Twice Blessed Thrift Store.

I don't want to go into a lot of detail because it still hurts and there are a lot of questions I am trying to sort out.  The store is a lot of work but I love it.  Unfortunately that means that I am there more then I am at home.  I knew that would be the case going into this and I thought I could make it work.  The kids don't really want to be there after the store closes when there is still so much work to be done so we hardly ever see each other.  I promised my kids that as much as I love the store I love them more and if it ever came between us I would choose them and sell the store.

After 6 months of hard work the store is really taking off.  The client base grows everyday.  The daily profit is on the rise.  The store is loved by so many.  I know that by the end of the first year we will be well established and looking to move to a bigger building.  However, I am loosing my children.  As the store gets more successful my family falls farther apart.  They have to fight the store for my attention and that isn't fair to them.  I know they were willing to help in the beginning but I think that they weren't ready for the amount of work that it takes to run a thrift store and they may even feel that I love the store more then them because that is where I spend all of my time.  Without going in to specifics, I fear that it has indeed come to the decision I hoped I would never have to make but promised my kids I would.  I had to put the store up for sale.

It only took 2 weeks to sell because it was doing so well.  Today I turned the keys over to the new owners and came home to put my family back together.  In time I hope to understand all the "why's" I am asking.  For now, I will hug my family and focus on them.

New Store Additions

I have had the supplies to make an A-frame sign for the store for months.  I finally took a day that the whole family was here working and went in the back room to make the sign.  I think it turned out colorful and fun.  I used bright duct tape and some letter cutouts then covered it all with packing tape to make it weather proof.  It is sure to bring in new customers.

I also bought a candy dispenser for the front to hopefully supplement the store.  I LOVE it and think it looks great.  Let's hope it does as well as I hope it does.