Reminiscing and Counting Life's Blessings

I was weeding through some old e-mail and came across this letter I had sent to my family last year after Nathan's near drowning accident last August. Re-reading it, made my tears flow again but for gratitude and humility for the Power of the Priesthood and for our Heavenly Father's love for each one of us. I am forever indebted to the many friends and skilled professionals who quickly came to our aid and helped us through this very scary and challenging time.

Hi Family, I am sorry I haven't been online in awhile. Sooo many things happening to keep me busy elsewhere! First off, let me update you on little Nathan and Georgia, I didn't get you called so this will be new news for you! Last Monday Megan, Jesse and I decided to take the kids swimming in our neighborhood pool. They had so much fun. We were the only ones in the pool. They all had floaties on and after quite a while, Nathan decided he was cold and wanted to get out. I helped him get his floatie off and wrapped him in a towel and he sat on a chair. I got back in with the others and Megan and I were talking about wrapping it up and getting the others out when Nathan decided he wanted back in. Our pool is a gradual entry (no steps just gets deeper as you walk into it) anyway, we let him back in for a couple of minutes. Before we knew what was happening, he had gotten behind me (where the water is deeper) and started to sink down! Luckily Jesse was in the deep end when this happen and saw him. He quickly grabbed him and handed him to me. He was trying to catch a breath! He couldn't even gasp for air because he had swallowed and inhaled water when he had gone down. I quickly started patting his back and jumped out while Megan called 911. It was so scary. To see this little guy struggling for some air. He then began to cough and cry which was music to my ears. He was crying very loudly as you can imagine and I thought he was going to be OK. A Sheriff arrived shortly after that and Megan was still on the line with 911. (all the other kids had been herded out of the pool by now and strapped in a stroller) anyway, I told Meg I thought he was going to be OK now, but the operator on 911 told her the ambulance was almost here so they would take a look at him anyway. Well within a few minutes, Nathan suddenly became very lethargic. He kept rolling his eyes back and trying to sleep! I kept trying to keep him awake. I was so relieved to see the medical people arrive. They brought their portable oxygen to the pool and immediately got him hooked up to move to the ambulance where they would be able to monitor his vitals etc. I asked the gathering crowd for someone who could give Nathan a Priesthood blessing. Megan had called Wes to come home but I knew he needed one right away. I went into the ambulance with Nathan and they got him hooked up to the monitors and a more concentrated oxygen unit. They started an IV and all this time, Nathan is very lethargic and I am trying to talk to him to make sure he is hearing me. He responded to me. Two neighbors came into the ambulance and administered to him and gave him a blessing. I had the most reassuring feeling of peace at that very moment. The medical people began an IV and told me that they had contacted Life Flight and were going to have him transferred to Primary Children's Medical Center. (sitting here writing this brings tears to my eyes all over again. I just can't believe all this happened!) Anyway, his vitals were good and he was receiving the oxygen he needed but still he was so lethargic. Life Flight arrived and told me that had to strap him into a stretcher which most children hate but that it is protocol for them. Nathan did hate it and started to cry loudly which the medical people said was good to get his lungs functioning. Anyway, saying good bye to him as they put him into the helicopter was sooo hard! Megan drove me up the street to my car and I ran in and through on some clothes and headed to the hospital. Megan had called Bryce at work and he was going to meet me there. Well, that was a long drive in rush hour! It was about 5:30 pm when I left my house. I felt so panicky on the way up to the hospital. I prayed out loud all the way and had to keep reminding myself of the feeling in the ambulance when I knew all would be OK. Bryce arrived first and called me. Nathan had arrived and they had him hooked up to all the monitors there. When I got there, my little boy was laying in bed with an oxygen mask on, several monitors on his chest and finger, IV, and a tube down his throat to get the water out of his stomach. They had taken a chest x-ray and ran some tests. Poor little guy. Luckily Bryce was right there. I hated him being without someone he knew for very long. He was on 10 liters of oxygen which is a lot. They ran some tests on him and they came back OK. They got him all stabilized and down to 6 liters of oxygen and then moved him to PICU. (pediatric intensive care unit) He was there for about 6 hours and they were able to get him down to 1 liter. His body was amazing. He was pretty out of it in the PICU. Once in a while he would wake for a few seconds and reach for the tube in his nose or oxygen monitor on his toe! Then we would get him to settle and back to sleep he would go. By around 1 am or 1:30 am they moved him out of PICU. Of course, they continues to monitor him the rest of the night very closely. We had Dr.'s coming in to talk to us etc. We were up pretty much all night. By morning, they had gotten him down to 1/2 liter oxygen. Tuesday, he didn't eat or drink much and he slept quite a bit. They removed the stomach tube. We took him down to the playroom and walked around a bit because the Dr's had told us it was good for his lungs to get him moving about. He was delighted with the pinwheel and bubbles they gave him to play with because they wanted to get him blowing air out and taking deep breaths also, good for his lungs. By afternoon, Megan and Melinda brought the other little kids up to see him. They have a darling play room at Primary's so we took the kids all down there and let them play and paint etc. They all had so much fun. By the time they left, Nathan was tired! He was doing well without any oxygen on during the day but still needed it to sleep. You breath differently when you sleep so his level would quickly drop. Nathan had a few more visitors Tuesday night, Chad & Surang and Lori and Dave came up. He was so excited to see them. Tuesday night, they did another chest x-ray because Nathan was breathing a bit noisily. It showed a bit of white clouding which they still called opaque. (They are always concerned after an incident like this of the threat of pneumonia) Tuesday night they tried to take his oxygen off but his level fell. Bryce gave him another blessing. A couple of hours before morning, Nathan woke up and pulled the tube off his nose and the nurses decided to see how he did. He did OK but they were still a bit concerned about his sleeping breathing. Wednesday, the Nathan we know came back! He played outside on their terrace awhile and in the toy room etc. They Dr's wanted to see him get a good nap without any oxygen before they felt comfortable letting him go home. He did and by 5 pm they gave him the OK to leave! They sent him home on an antibiotic mostly as a precaution just in case there was any bacteria developing in his lungs and I was very in favor of that. On Friday I took him to his pediatrician for a follow up to all of this and he didn't hear anything at all in Nathan's lungs. He gave him a clean bill of health! Our little Nathan is back. The neurological tests they ran at Primary all came back OK and Nathan is just fine! (Can you believe he had the nerve to ask me if we could go swimming already????!!!!! Nathan told us about going under the water and Jesse getting him and he tells about the helicopter ride all so matter of fact! Kids are the way they can just move on to the next thing. What a week! Whew! I'm worn out again just writing to you guys about this. I realize more than ever what a gift life is and how quickly things can change. Let me take this opportunity to tell you all how much I love you. Thanks for your thoughts and prayers. Sorry I didn't get a hold of everyone sooner. I just needed to focus and spend my time with Nathan. Megan and Melinda were amazing at home juggling the other kids and Jesse is a hero. I'm sure he saved Nathan's life.

We go together, like rama, lama, lama, kadingy, kading-a-dong!

Mommy/Daddy date with the twins....

We had a great time! We took the twins with us up to Ogden today and on the way home decided to stop for dinner. Jesse stayed home with the girls. (Basketball camp is now over and he was pretty worn out!) Anyway, we stopped at the Cheesecake Factory. It was so fun to have just the two little boys this time. It seemed like such a breeze not having to keep busy helping so many little bodies. Here are some pics of our wonderful evening.



Bryce with the boys outside waiting for a table to become available. You would not see girls waiting like this!



Last minute coaching on what IS good behavior in a restaurant!



They brought Joshua and Nathan their own bread/banana plate. The boys were completely thrilled as they unwrapped the napkins and discovered four pieces of silverware each (including their own butter knife which is a forbidden at home!)



Soda is a treat! Nathan loved all this independence.



Joshua especially loved the brown wheat bread and when they brought their order of chicken fingers complete with ranch dressing and celery, Josh discovered that he LOVES celery drenched in ranch dressing! It was finger lickin' good <-------the ranch dressing that he managed to get all over his fingers!


A few ladies a table over were completely entertained watching these little guys. They spoke to us when they got up to leave. The boys were talking about Halloween and gladly showed these
women their scary Halloween faces...




This is Josh's "Scary Spider man Face" and . . .



This is Nathan's "Scary Bat Face" (Most of the family have this one memorized as Nathan loves pretending often that he is a scary bat!)


We love our little sons!

Simple Pleasures

There is nothing quite like watching my children as they explore this world, to help me once again tune into the very precious, pleasures in life.

And then there was this "beautiful puddle" I mean, who could leave it alone?

Splashing in it was great fun but then they discovered the puddle's magic. They could actually see their reflection!

I've been a bit whiny today about all this rainy weather but now sitting here looking at these photos have made me thankful for even that. The kids don't mind, they've giggled as the thunder has crashed, they were amazed at the hail as we left Gardner Village and lighting is also a magical wonder and then there's the after math, these magnificent puddles, What else can you ask for that provides all this free, exciting, educational entertainment???

The sun shines......

and wow, it is beautiful. It has rained all day and then tonight as I'm getting the kids ready for bed, streams of beautiful sunlight suddenly come through each window and the sunsets here in Utah are gorgeous. I miss this beautiful sun. Don't get me wrong, I actually love a good thunderstorm or cloudy and overcast day here and there but this spring/summer we have had so much rain. In fact more rain thus far in June than we usually get the entire month! We long to be outside swimming, playing soaking in the summer in that way so....hopefully..... this is a sign that our warm sunny days are on their way!



Look at these very busy boys....



That sweet look of wonder and awe.....



Hallie was completely fascinated too.....



and these are the ducks that held our children captive!



We fed the ducks at Gardner Village a couple of days ago (of course it was in between rain and hail storms!)




Abby loved watching the ducks as well as the older children!

These kinds of times are by far my favorite!

Lately.....

Sometimes I am so busy from right in the morning until late at night! All day long, I run around helping each of my kids, trying to fit in all the different kinds of things I think are important, quality time with my kids, energy and focus on qualities in myself such as patience, persistence, leadership, motherhood, being a good wife, trying to balance it all with the the urgent and also important never ending housework, laundry, shopping, etc. I am never able to accomplish it all. As I scratch one thing off my list I'm always adding two more. I am good at telling my older children to "not sweat the small stuff", simplify, don't be too hard on yourself etc and yet I am the worse at doing exactly these same things to myself! It has been seriously almost 4 years since I have completely slept through the night and I'm tired! I have frequented fast foods, take outs and grocery shortcut foods so often these past years that I wonder if Jesse even remembers what a good cook I can be! Does Bryce? And sometimes I just long for peace. As I sit here typing, I hear the tears of one of the twins upstairs. They were put down this afternoon for a late nap. Did they ever go to sleep? Do they ever go to sleep? Right now, I wonder. When I'm not so weary, I chuckle when I hear their squeals of delight, eaves drop on their tender conversations, relish their behavior, etc but now, I am discouraged at their noise, their unwillingness to follow through with the few things I ask them to do. I mean what would it be like if I tucked them in at night or nap time and read the usual number of stories, sang a couple of songs, hugged and kissed them and quietly tiptoed out of the room? Instead, I follow those patterns until the part where I leave. It's then that someone has to go "potty" for the umpteenth time or needs a drink of water, or suddenly rediscovers the "owey" he got on his knee a few days ago and needs another band aid to make it feel better again. (sigh) I am in need of some time for myself to spend tweaking my daily schedule with no interruptions so that I can find a better flow to my day. I am writing that last thought down to hopefully hold myself accountable for following through with that idea.

It's actually quiet!

Hard to believe,I know. I'm sitting here at the table on my computer, eating a bowl of ice cream, ALL BY MYSELF! All four of the little kidlets are upstairs ASLEEP! I separated the twins for naptime today and put Nathan in my room. Jesse is doing a basketball camp at UVU all week so he is gone from early morning to evening. WOW! I actually had some time to work on a book I am making Bryce for Father's Day.

Summer has been great so far. We have spent several days up at our neighborhood pool, (inspite of Nates accident last year we are all enjoying swimming again!) We love the parks, zoo and today we are going to feed the ducks at Gardner Village when the kids wake up! We enjoyed the Ryan Shupe concert with all the older kids, spouses last Friday.



We had a great time!

It was a bit chilly but the weather was clear!

I think I will post a few pics and give a brief update of what has been happening lately.

Megan and I took the 4 little boys to a cute park in Highland. There was a stream that went through the park and the highlight for the kids was to drop sticks in the stream and run from bridge to bridge as the sticks went down the river through the tunnels underneith the bridges!

Of course the playground is always fun too!

Megan and I enjoy the park as much as our kids!

We went to Las Vegas over spring break in April. It was alot of fun. The kids especially loved the dolphins at the Mirage.

We also went to Mandalay Bay and the aquarium was awesome!

Of course the park is a hit no matter what city we are in. This park actually had a huge shaded area over the playground. It was really great!

Melinda and Jason enjoyed Jesse's orchestra spring concert with us. They were married in April and we are thrilled to have Jason in our family. (I need to get the pictures of their wedding off of Bryce's camera so I will post those later) Jesse played a wonderful solo in this concert! We are so amazed at how much he has learned this year on his violin! Ryan Shupe is his violin teacher and he is enjoying violin so much! I'm amazed at how quickly he learns. He's very talented!

Sunday after church on mother's day, this is what I came home to! The kids surprised me with this amazing and very delicious brunch! We had ham, bacon, cheesy potatoes, assorted salads, fruit trays with dips, cinnamon rolls, norwegian pancakes, veggies, cakes, cookies and even a chocolate fondue! YUM! I enjoyed it so much. Bryce gave me the most beautiful mothers ring. All seven little birth stones tucked in the a darling twisted band with diamonds. I'll have to post a picture. It was an amazing day having everyone together of course, was the very best part. THANK YOU AGAIN EVERYONE!

Jesse is on his 3rd basketball camp this summer. This week it is at UVU! He loves basketball which thrills Bryce since they both have that in common. Bryce coached his team this past spring. It was great and I love watching this sport. ;o)

Bryce and I went met my siblings and spouses (except for Nanci and John whom we missed!) in San Diego and we played, relaxed and visited all weekend! It was so much fun! We all enjoyed it so much I'm sure it will become a more regular occurrance! It was the first time Bryce and I have left the younger children since the twins were born 3 1/2 years ago! We loved having a few days together but did miss all the kids.

CHAOS BLISS <-------------Is that possible, YES!!

Man, here I am finally again! When I started this blog, my thoughts were that this would make a great way for me to journal on a regular basis! I never realized that it would be so hard to get to this! Hopefully as time continues to roll along, I will be able to blog more often. Soooo much has happened - it makes me feel behind on my writing when I think about it so instead of trying to "catch up" I will begin from here and hopefully at some point write about some of the past happenings of this year that I never blogged. So, for today I will keep this simple.

I just cleaned up my sweet 2 year old Hallie. She was crying in her room and when I opened the door she looked up at me with her beautiful deep blue eyes and said "It's wet" pointing to her pajama shirt in which she had just "thrown up" on! Of course, it was on the floor and I got her back in the tub (2nd time tonight) and cleaned up. She seemed ok when I tucked her in. Finally the twins are asleep. I swear they think that the word bedtime is really "slumber party" You would seriously think there are many more toddlers in that room than those two little boys. I'm so glad they enjoy each other so much however, I would enjoy a bit more peace at night after tucking them in. Meanwhile, Abby is easy! I snuggle her for a bit before laying her in her bed and she just looks up at me and smiles and then turns to her teddy and waits for me to tuck the blanket around her and turn on the mobile. What an angel. Jesse is easy too! He likes to play a game or two with me before bed or we crash in front of one of the old sitcoms currently "Hogan's Hereos" and then ready for some ZZZzzz's!

Life is busy and that is truly an understatement. Like this week, the days go from dawn to dusk so quickly and when I finally catch my breath at the end of the day, I wonder what I really got done??!! (The house is often under-cleaned/under-organized, we may have had another "fast food" dinner, the washer runs daily but I still turn around and find loads of laundry each night after the kids baths, and it seems that there is always something I missed picking up at the store in the grocery area (sigh) BUT I wouldn't change this part of my life with anybody. I absolutely love being a mom what an incredible blessing to be able to "mother" each of my seven children. I am so blessed. Someday I know the house will once again sparkle, my meals will be all homecooked and of course I will be completely organized but until then, you may have to step over some toy, or maybe something else, when you visit, but you will find a home that is filled with happiness, chaos and love! TOTAL BLISS!