Recent Photos

0919: James is cutting down to one long nap these days, so sometimes he falls asleep around dinner time, poor guy!
0919: Addie is a ham!
0920: We borrowed RICH'S old walker to see if it would encourage James to stand and walk. Tha walker is so cool--it collapses flat and they bought it for Rich in Germany back in 1971! (Too bad James doesn't really like the walker and he's WAY too big for it...)
Here is what James' days are like--his sisters are always in his way!
Rich snapped some fall colors while he was out running errands on Saturday...it's getting really beautiful around here!

Thyroid Thursday

This morning I left the house at 8am with Heidi and James. I took them to my MIL, then headed down the block to the hospital to eat some yummy iodine capsules (no injections or drinks for me) and meet the Nuclear Medicine person who would do the scan 4 hours later.
I saw Dr. Reid in the waiting area and she came by and asked if I was getting my scan and I said yes. She said, "Good! I'm anxious to get those results because you are going to feel so much better when we treat you! Your count was really high."
"Really high?" I asked.
"Yeah, it really surprised me you haven't had heart problems or other complications yet. So we'll get you well..." she said as she patted my shoulder and walked away. Hm.

Well, if all that is true, then I can't wait, either!

So I went back to my MIL's where we sewed 7 new curtains for the kindergarten reading area and played with James and Heidi. I felt fine (except for the profuse sweating, still!). Rich came there for lunch and I went back to the hospital for the scan. I layed down on this skinny cot thing with a rolled up towel under my neck to tilt my head back. Then I was slid into this big halo thing with a cone-shaped lens thing pointing at my throat and I had to hold still for 7 minutes, three times (different angles), and then for a few minutes for some other images. I was there for a total of an hour and 15 minutes. I have to go back at 8am for a scan that will take about 5 minutes. I hope it goes that fast!

So I feel fine, but everyone was acting all shocked about how much iodine my thyroid had absorbed already. I am excited to get it all straightened out, but I am praying for NO SURGERY! I HATE surgery and even going to the hospital, so I hope it can be medicated!

Anyway, I am just still a little drowsy from the other meds and I have some underlying anxiety about having a disease, but it's all good. I ran into a good friend last night at the grocery store and we talked for a while. She has a BS in Family Health so she was familiar with the illness and was so empathetic about ALL my problems (she's a really cool Mom-friend--you know, the kind you TOTALLY relate to, but never get to really hang with because you both have lots of kids and church callings? I love her, and I really feel like God sent her here for me 2 years ago!). Anyway, this afternoon right as I was leaving to pick up Addie, she came by with flowers, and bag of dinner, and the following sweet note with the flowers:

That last line is SOOOO awesome! I am going to remember it forever! I cried when she left because I was so touched and I felt my Heavenly Father's loving care through her actions. The following words came to mind as I drove over to get Addie, still thinking about this kind act:

Each life that touches ours for good

Reflects thine own great mercy, Lord

Thou sendest blessings from above

Through words and deeds of those who love



For worthy friends whose lives proclaim

Devotion to the Savior's name

Who bless our days with peace and love

We praise thy goodness, Lord above.

***
If you read this, BROWN LEG, thanks so much for your kindness! My family (and I ) really loved the dinner and the flowers make me happy each time I see them!

(PS: Jennifer, thank you for looking out for me, too! I appreciate your thoughtful messages on the phone today--as you've read, I was gone until about 3:30, then knee-deep in kids ever since, but I felt your love and thank you for being such a good and loyal friend!)

So farewell until later, y'all...

PS: Speaking of Family Health issues, my nephew TJay was diagnosed with Kohler's Disease in his foot and has a cast on it...poor guy. TJay, we hope your foot gets better soon!

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!