Tuesday Update

Hola! I am still only half awake all day...shucks. Yesterday the hospital called and told me that I am scheduled for an updatake scan...on Thursday I have to go to the hospital at 8am and take some radioactive iodine capsules, then come back at 1pm for the first scan, and then return Friday morning at 8am for the uptake scan. Good times! I LOVE eating things that are radioactive!

On a brighter note, look how fun my kids are...

(We didn't let James play outside because Rich fertilized the lawn and we just know he'd eat the fertilizer. Surprisingly, Heidi didn't eat it either.)

Sunflower

Last year at the end of the school year, Addie brought home a sunflower seed in a cup from Headstart. It sprouted in the window sill and in July, we transplanted it to the backyard. Now look! This might be the first thing we've grown from seed that didn't die prematurely! Addie with her 4-foot-tall sunflower
flower & Addie
Silly girl wants "a flower in her hair."
James Ole watching from the lawn

On The Mend

I really need a nap. I'll make this update short.

Two weeks ago I talked to my Stake President about how I have been really anxious and tired and sick and moody-swing-ish. He gave me a blessing and counseled me to seek some medical attention. So 10 days ago I saw one of my OBGYN's who is also family practice and she ordered a bunch of tests and gave me 2 months worth of anxiety medication (Lexapro). I started the Lexapro the day we left for Yellowstone, knowing it would make me super drowsy (and boy, did it!). It also made me shaky and nauseated (PS: "nauseated" means you feel sick; "nauseous" means you make people feel sick--just a little grammatical peeve of mine).

On Monday morning I went in and had a whole bunch of blood drawn. On Thursday they called and told me I had to come again because the orders got messed up. On Saturday morning my doctor called because the tests showed I have hyperthyroidism, which means my thyroid makes too many hormones and sends my system into overdrive (which usually means your appetite increases, but you still lose weight--my body only caught the first half of that!). So I had to go get more blood drawn so the could figure out if I have Grave's disease (click) or just a nodule (goiter) that's gone wild producing the extra hormone.

At any rate, we have nailed down a problem, and I am so glad it's mostly medical and not psychiatric because I really thought I was headed for crazy town. I'll update you as I hear more, and I will blog more regularly when my body gets used to this Lexapro and I stop falling asleep at the drop of a hat (and sweating BUCKETS).

Happy Sabbath, y'all!

Yellowstone: Day One

We didn't take a photo, but here is a picture of the North Entrance where we came in to Yellowstone Park, just 54 miles south of our house.Yellowstone North--
"For the benefit and enjoyment of the people"
Addie in Mammoth with the elk

Addie, Peter, Zuzana, and Heidi tour the terraces and hold their noses to avoid the sulfur-y steam blowing toward them
Mammoth Terraces
More Mammoth Terraces
This was my favorite place in Yellowstone when I was a little girl. Sadly, a lot of the beautiful waterfall-like areas of the terrace are dried up now.

Oops--I think this picture is from the Lower Geuser Basin on Day 2 (Sunday)--

it's Heidi , Zuzana, and Addie checking out the geysers.

We stopped near Tower Falls for a picnic.
Me, Heidi, & Zuzana at the picnic table.
We packed up and it was on to the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone!

The falls and the canyon never stop taking my breath away!
James and I walk along the path to the lookout at the Canyon
Daddy and Heidi overlooking the canyon...yikes!

Heidi and Addie at the Lower Falls of the canyon.
The girls dancing with Zuzana at the canyon
Elk in a serene field along the Madison on the way to West Yellowstone, where we spent the night at the Yellowstone Lodge.

Yellowstone: Day Two

We woke up Sunday Morning and walked in downtown West Yellowstone.

There are painted buffalo all over town--this one was in front of the Yellowstone Museum.
Addie and Heidi climbed on a bear statue...
check out Heidi's pose! She's a kook!

Sweet Adeline...
We stopped at the big gas station there on the corner by the Park entrance.
It has a big old soda fountain and the girls found these tiny forest animal figurines there.
Heidi (at the tiny soda shop table) shows off her buffalo and deer
Fun with Bambi and Bison

Later we saw this REAL bison by the Madison River
(most of those little trees in the background are the re-growth from the 1988 fire)
...and here we are taking a walk toward Old Faithful geyser
(Heidi, Addie, James, and Me)
James was excited to see the geyser! (Zuzana took this picture)
Here we are on the upper deck of the Old Faithful Inn. Addie is showing me the pictures she took (and if YOU want to see them , go to her blog).
One of the benches on the deck of the Inn
Addie took this picture of the geyser starting to go off again

Here we are eating our picnic lunch inside the Old Faithful Lodge (it was getting cold outside). We were right by the big fireplace and it was so comfy!
Later we stopped to see the Grand Prismatic spring at midway & lower geyser basin, and then to the Fountain Paint Pots (which have really shrunk since I last stopped there in 1980--I know, I have been here 6 or 7 times since then and haven't stopped). this is a picture of Addie in front of a pool near the paint pots.
And what trip to the Park would be complete without a Bison traffic jam?

We took this picture as we headed home.

We got home around 9pm on Sunday night. We all had a great time and Zuzana and Peter will have lots of great pictures adn memories to share when they go home in a few weeks!

James Ole's First Birthday

To celebrate James' actual birthday on 9/5, we had a simple dinner at our house with Cowboy beans and Cornbread, followed by an ice cream cake that Zuzi and Peter made for James. Here's James finishing off his cowboy dinner
Grandma Rosalie helps him open his new Brainy Baby books (he loves them!)
Here is the cute cake that Zuzana and Peter made for James (it was in the freezer for a couple of days, and then it started to melt when we thawed it, so some of the decorations smeared, but it was a very cute cowboy cake).
The Grays gave james cute new cars
Grandma gave James lots of diapers and some cute outfits
We gave James a little stackable wooden lighthouse from Ikea
He likes to chew the rings---I also got him a REAL cowboy hat to wear to the ranch when he gets bigger.
Happy Birthday to our Little Buckaroo!

Guess where we'll be for the next 48 hours?...

see ya later!

ON THIS DATE IN HISTORY...

...Tuesday, September 5, 2006,

our Sweet Baby James

(aka Roly Poly Ole or Bubby) was born!

Here's a little photographic walk down memory lane:

Look at that big healthy boy weighing in at 9 lb-11 oz!


Sleepy little sweetheart on 9/7/06
Snuggling with Dad on 9/6/06
Big Yawn Oct. 2006
Sweet Smile November 2006

*****

James, you have been the sunshine of our lives this past year! You are sweet and snuggly and you love to do all your baby jobs: eat and sleep and play. Your sisters adore you and your parents are grateful you came to bless our family and carry on the Melin name. Today you are crawling, pulling yourself up on things tentatively; you can climb the first stair but you don't dare go further yet. You just cut your fifth and sixth teeth this week, so you have that cute snaggly one-year-old grin with the two teeth on bottom and 4 across the top. Your favorite toys are the See-n-Say Farm and the Farm Animal cards Aunt Lisa bought for you. You are still most interested in people and love to play pat-a-cake, peek-a-boo, and almost any silly, giggly game your sisters make up. You are very snuggly except when you're tired--I always want to rock you, but you want to lay in your bed and watch your fishies (Fisher Price Aquarium) and drift off to sleep to their music with no one bothering you. Today, though, you gave ME the birthday present when you fell asleep for your morning nap on my chest while I was consoling you after you pulled the trash can over on yourself. Awww, poor Ole Boy! Bubby, we love you and wish you many more happy healthy years like this one!

Love, Mom

HOORAY!

I am at work and wishing so much that I could be in Missouri--JUST for TODAY--to welcome my little brother Michael home from his mission!

CONGRATULATIONS, MIKEY!!!! We are SOOOO proud of you and wish we were there to show you how much we love and miss you!

Michael has served for two years in the Washington Tacoma Mission and has done such an excellent job (50-something baptisms or something like that, and lots of personal growth, too)! I am so excited that he will be going to school at BYU Provo so we can go terrorize him periodically, restock his cupboards and home office at Costco once in a while, and be the Good College Fairies I always wished I'd had!

I am so calling you when I get home, Elder Drews! Hope you had a great trip home (TRIP--yeah, it is a trip, huh?). LOVE YA!!!!