MINDY turns 21

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MINDY!!

I meant to call you today, but I am a big fat loser and didn't. I won't give you all my excuses. I once heard that one shouldn't give excuses because your friends don't need them and your enemies won't believe them.
Anyway, I hope you had a super day!
By the way everyone, Mindy (my husband's sister) didn't really turn 21, but somewhere close to that number.

Working 9 to 5

Just look at our provider - isn't he cool! Here is Matt yesterday on his way out to go find a buck. It is the bow hunt and Matt loves to shoot his bow, he is getting pretty dang good. He has 2 more weekends to hunt, wish him luck!

We are headed south in about 1/2 hour, so I am just posting to tell you all to get excited for the upcoming pictures of our Western Dress Up Night at our Family Reunion. Okay, get your imaginations ready for Rachel as Dolly Parton, Matt as Pat Garret (the guy who supposedly killed Billy the Kid), Jared as Doc Holladay, Tori as his shady 'girlfriend' whose name was Bignose Kate, Dad as Matt Dillon (from Gunsmoke), and my mom as his Mistress. Yeah, that's right, lots of fun.
Oh, and hello to Joe in Oregon. Thanks for reading!

Kelsey started Kindergarten today

My little goose had her first day of school today. She attends in the afternoon. She was so excited to go today. She wore her favorite new clothes, because I told her that is what I used to do - wear your favorite new ones on the first day of school. She loves these little stretchy black capris I bought for $3.50!! She says they make her feel like excercising. I wish she learned that from me!
Matt traded his day off so he could go with her today. The whole fam damily went to take her to school today. After we walked her to the classroom, the bell rang and the teacher said "Goodbye mothers!" We walked back to the car, and in a choked voice I said to Matt, "I think I feel like crying." And began crying, just a few tears. Matt turned to look at me and said, 'Oh Rach" in a teasing voice, but I saw his eyes with just a little too much liquid in them too and we smiled at eachother. Oh my, how they grow!

High on 750 East

We had a little excitement this afternoon on 750 East. This picture was taken out of my laundry room window, not bad for only washing it once in 5 years don't ya think? Some high as a kite numb skull forgot he was driving a car, and went right into my neighbor's rocks. This happened at 4:30, if it had happened 45 minutes earlier, MANY children walking home from school would be dead. The kicker is, the cops let him go!!!! They released him to his momma because he was a minor. Does it not matter that he was high?? My neighborhood is in an uproar about that!
I mowed most of my lawn last night but ran out of time, it is getting dark WAY too early! So tonight I finished mowing and locked Kendal on the deck. This is what I found 1/2 hour later!
That is a diaper to the right, shorts and Big Bird book dead center, and our kitty named Shrek on the left. She loves kitties. Shrek used to be Princess Fiona until we figured things out. My veterinarian husband just about died laughing at me making the gender call.

granolasdodallas.blogspot.com

Okay, I have just read one of the funniest blogs ever. Check it out:
granolasdodallas.blogspot.com
I just peed my pants, gotta go!

Labor of Love

I love to grow a vegetable garden. There is something wonderful about having to go out at night in the spring and cover up your baby plants so they won't freeze that night. I love watching the rows of vegetables go from little tiny plants to getting so big they cover up the furrow I dug especially for them to get water. I love the whole process. What I hate is taking care of all those wonderful veggies I nurtured all summer. At this moment I have carrots, beets, a few more peas, tomatoes, and a few more green beans that need to be picked and taken care of. Dang it. I noticed a few days ago that my green beans were ready. So I picked them and last night I processed them. Like the word? Me too, I sound so home ec-ish when I say 'processed.' So here is Kelsey helping me snap the green beans yesterday (yes, on the Sabbath). She loved it, thankfully. Here is me today, putting a few jars onto my very needy food storage shelves. I did 20 pints of green beans last night. That is what my pressure cooker I got the Christmas last year will hold. There were still beans left over, they got blanched and thrown in the freezer. For those of you who have never 'processed' before, it is a time consuming ordeal. Last night I started around 10:30. They beans were already snapped and ready to go. I talked Matt into helping me get the beans in the jars. It was pure torture for him, but he still did it. So by the time I got the beans in the pressure cooker, got them to 'blow steam' for 10 minutes, got them up to 13 pounds of pressure for 20 minutes, let them cool off and depressurize enough so I could get them out, it was 2 o'clock in the morning. Can you believe that? I crawled into bed at 2:19 am. 6:00 came pretty soon this morning! So, the next time you see bottled whatever fresh from the garden, know that it took your grandma, aunt, mom, whoever, ALOT of time!! You better savor the taste, because it is the taste of love!

Little Al

I made this the other day trying to figure out stuff for our family reunion. I just thought it was cute. My dad nicknamed her 'Little Al' as in Al- Qaeda because she is a little terrorist.

Comment Please!

Okay folks, I have discovered over the weekend through a few emails and a couple of phone calls that quite a few of you are visiting me and I don't know about it. I did invite you to come and have a look at my 1/2 acre, but I would love it if you said "Hello" while you are here. It is REALLY easy, click on the comment link at the bottom of each post of the day. It takes you to a screen where you can type in hello and tell me who you are. You don't have to have a google account, you can be anonymous, but just say who you are in your comment so I can think about you and smile.
Thanks, it will make me happy to see your name and that you came to visit me.

another Kendal day

Another Kendal Day!

We went to The State Health Dept in SLC today to have Kendal's hearing tested. I know she can hear perfectly, but the Early Intervention folks don't. It went great and guess what? She can hear perfectly!! So, that is no longer an excuse! After we got home, the occupational therapist that works with Early Intervention (EI) had an appointment with us. I love the term Occupational Therapist for toddlers. I have a good friend who is an OT and he teaches people how to shave again after an accident, helps brain injury patients deal with life, etc. (At least I think that is what he does!) So, Kendal gets to learn how to shave again. That is what I tell people anyway. Today was the OT's 2nd visit. The 1st one was very enlightening, I learned more from her in 1/2 hour than I did in a couple of quarters of psychology at USU!!
Anyway, today was no different. She blew me away with her knowledge and explanations that made PERFECT sense for Kendal and her issues. Matt and I have talked about alot of Kendal's behaviors, but we never knew WHY or WHEN or WHAT to do about it. So after an hour and 1/2, this is my assignment for the next 2 weeks until she comes again:
Every morning give Kendal the choice of 1 soft toy that she can chew on all day(sounds like a puppy, I know) and hold her to it. I can't let her mangle anything other than what she picked for that day. Currently she mouths and chews EVERYTHING in site, and sometimes out of site. I learned from the last OT visit that she is an 'oral sensory seeker.' During this visit I learned even more, she is also a vestibular, proprioceptive and tactile sensory seeker. Sounds impressive huh? Big words for WILD AND CRAZY!! Just kidding.
Okay, I also get to play in the mirror twice a day with her touching our face parts and rubbing different textured fabrics and such on our faces. When she gets onery, the OT called it 'over stimulated and disorganized' we take a few minutes and dance, play 'row row row your boat' , or go downstairs and swing. Yes, we installed a swing downstairs from the ceiling/floor beams this summer for her since she couldn't go outside during the day when she was on ACTH. Very handy. These actions fulfill the vestibular sensory seeking. We get to play 'put it in the box' game a few times a day. She is a CHUCKER also, a very technical term I made up to describe how she throws everything! Okay what else, to deal with the proprioception sensory seeking, I get to play pillow squash and actually squash her with pillows, give 'riggors' hugs, and give her deep pressure massages everyday because for some strange reason, that is what makes her feel good and not so frustrated. All of these activities that I am supposed to do are supposed to help her channel all of these sensory seeking behaviors into socially acceptable behaviors. When she goes to preschool hopefully she will only chew on one chosen kids' shoe instead of all of them (geez I'm kidding), be happy to swing her body by dancing instead of banging her head into the bean bag to get the same effect, be content with a texture board book instead of feeling all the different textures of all the toys along with everyone's clothing, and feel good when the teacher gives her a tight squeeze instead of running into the wall to get the same feeling.
I am sure there is more, I would have to go look at my objectives paper. But that is what I get to go with now. I think just keeping her little pirana jaws off of every stuffed animal, blanket, and article of clothing in the house will be a big job. When will dinner get made?
I really did learn alot today that makes complete and total sense to me. I hope I can do what I need to do to help her become the person she is supposed to become. She is a little sweet heart and has lost most of the puffiness and is really becoming her old spitfire self.
The speech thing is gradually getting better. She said 'ought oh' today and looked out the window at Derek's house and said "Dada.' Not too bad since she used to call him 'Dedak.' She used to scream that name all through church while he was passing the sacrament! I look forward to that day again! But by then Derek might be blessing it instead.
I was thinking today that I am also an oral sensory seeker. I seek out all the chocolate, ice cream, etc in my house to arouse my oral senses!
Every kid, the for sake of their parents, should have a few hours with an Early Intervention Occupational Therapist - there is a reason and excuse for every behavior, good or bad! Although she did tell me not to get terrible 2 year old behavior with sensory seeking behavior mixed up. How do I do that?

oink oink oink

I have been online for an hour or so (Kendal is asleep!) looking for 'make your own Wanted poster' sites. I got the munchies so I went in the kitchen and got out the smores leftovers and started munching. I didn't mean to eat the entire huge sized Butterfinger, it just happened!! As I finished off the last square, I noticed the board book that Kendal destroyed on the table. It is a library book about animal sounds that I have to repair before I return it (yeah, I am one of those moms, take back damaged goods). Anyway, there it sat - OINK OINK OINK. I laughed and got my camera out.
I guess I am doing double crunches tonight!

Goodbye Summer?

I can feel summer coming to an end. Here are the indications: It is no longer too hot to sit by the fire at 6:30 and roast a hot dog for dinner like we did last night, I have 3 pumpkins the size of basketballs and around 20 smaller ones, one of my fall blooming mums has opened 3 orange/brownish blooms and the other plants are LOADED with buds, I got a bag of corn mysteriously dropped on my front porch yesterday, there was ice in my lawn hose two mornings ago, my little girl goes to school next week, the oak brush is starting to change on the hills above Midway, and I am finally tired of gardening.
I am not to sure I am ready for summer to be over though. So these things make me feel better: The pumpkins are still green and not orange yet, it is still a little too warm to play outside at noon, and I still have to drag my hoses all over to get my lawn watered!

Labor Day Weekend, here I come!

I have been sewing today and yesterday. Today I almost finished my mom's 'Marshal Dillon's Mistress' costume for our Western themed family reunion. All I need to do is sew on the pink buttons, but the problem is I can't find them!! My mom is going to look so cool wearing this with her black fishnet stockings, black lace gloves, big black choker necklace, and black ostrich plume hairclip!! I'll post pictures of us all dressed up! I also made Kelsey's Annie Oakley costume today - so stinking cute!

Speaking of my family reunion, I took this quilt top I finished to my friend KayeDawn yesterday. She has a really nice Gammill quilting machine and she is going to quilt it for me. I really wanted to quilt it on my own, I even got my neighbor Debbie's quilting machine in my basement last week, but alas, I have run out of time. I would like to think I am not a procrastinator, but I am. It needs to be finished by Aug 30th because that is the day I head south for our Labor Day Reunion. I just couldn't do it that quickly and do it well. Oh well, tell me it will be all right.

I AM NOT A CITY SLICKER!

While we were at my parents' house over the weekend, Matt got old Biscuit ready and let the girls ride him. Kelsey actually rode him by herself, she has herded cows with Matt a few times and rides a horse on her own pretty well. At my parents' house, Matt would lead Biscuit down the road then give Kelsey the reins. Biscuit's girlfriend Miss Kate would get herself in such a diller with him gone and cause such a scene!! Run the fence line, whinney, stomp, try to get over the fence, etc. That made old Biscuit feel good, so he would turn around after Matt stopped leading him and run back to his Katie. Kelsey would pull on the reins and make him walk back instead of run. Matt would walk back up the road and find the 2 horses reunited with a fence between them, with Kelsey still in the saddle, then they would do it all again!

I took a few pictures of the girls on Biscuit together. I told my dad I felt like such a city slicker because I was taking pictures of them on a horse. My mom reminded me that she took pictures of us on our horses, and then I reminded her that if she were to take pictures of us every time we got on a horse at my house she would have been taking pictures a few times a week!! If only my kids could have the childhood I did.

3rd Weekend of August

The 3rd weekend of August we always head south to the Wayne County Fair. We had a super time this year. Among other festivities, we went to the parade Saturday morning. Here is my Matty, Kendal, and Kelsey getting ready to gather all the candy and catch the ping pong balls that get dropped from an airplane going over main street.
Kendal loved all the big trucks and sirens that made noise. Here she is on my dad's shoulders greeting another noisy truck. And yes, that is a horse trailer in the Wayne County parade you can see in the background!! A cute girl from my hometown of Lyman won the breakaway roping at the Utah State Finals this year and just went to Nationals. She was in the parade with all the saddles and good things she has won rodeoing. (That really is a word, rodeoing.)

Rachel, Amanda, and Brittany getting a little silly

We were getting a little silly the other night while finishing Amanda's I Spy Quilt. We had great conversation that night, including demonstrations on good crunches. I have been practicing. We also ate some delicious treats that I finished off single-handedly the past few days. I am trying to even out all the crunches I have been doing.

Long Day at Primary's

We had an appointment with our neurologist at Primary Children's Hospital today at noon. I got home at 4:45!! He said all is well with Kendal and is glad the seizures have not come back again. She is supposed to continue with the Topamax as usual. That is what we sprinkle in her food. She is starting to not like it anymore and it is getting harder and harder to get her to take it. She has learned all my tricks - the banana sandwich with topamx inside, the bread bomb with topamax inside, the cheese and cracker sticks with topamax mixed in the cheese, and even the chocolate pudding laced with topamax. So last night Matt came up with such a veterinarian remedy. He got a syringe, put maple syrup in it, then the topamax, then more syrup. She didn't even know what hit her!!! She sucked it right down! Vets do that technique with horses and molasses!
Anyway, today at the appointment I asked him what she really has, a name for it. He told my infantile spasms. I told him I was hoping for just plain ol' epilepsy because infantile spasms doesn't have that great of a prognosis. He said her EEG patterns are much more like IS than epilepsy. DANG IT!! Oh well. He also said the effect the topamax is having on her speech is out weighed by the good chance of the seizures coming back without it. I guess I get to be patient. While we were waiting in the room for the doctor to come in, I noticed Kelsey had all kinds of little red dots on her face and arms. I saw the ones on her arms the other day and figured they were mosquito bites. Kendal it seemed had broken out with acne lately, and then I noticed bumps on her arms also. Great, chicken pox! I was told in June when we started the ACTH that it was a major immunosuppresant and chicken pox could actually be fatal. Great. I pointed the bumps out to the neurologist and he went a little neurotic!! He sent us down to the ER and called 'Infectious Disease' division to see if it was really chicken pox. After 2 hours, 10 minutes, and being able to watch the entire Ant Bully movie, we were released with a clean bill of health. THANK GOODNESS!! Kelsey watched the movie, Kendal and I wrestled with me trying to keep all the medical equipment in Exam Room 1 out of her mouth. I hope the doc doesn't miss the roll of tape and the few tongue depressors we went through!
So, we are home with an ugly rash that is not chicken pox. Now we get to go to 'Back to School Night' even though we have never been there to actually go back. Oh, and dinner will be served at the Utah State University Alumni BBQ at 6:30. No cooking again - SCORE!
Oh yeah, when I went back to the neurology dept to give Dr. Thompson my report, I saw life-size stop sign signs that read "Stop, if your child has chicken pox or has been exposed to chicken pox in the last week, do not enter this waiting room." I sure didn't notice them the first time I went in!

Making up for all the missed camping trips

We had great plans for some great camping trips this summer, but taking Kendal's blood pressure every night and morning, morning and evening shots of refridgerated expensive drugs (A 5 ml vial is $2400.00. We used 5 of them!), and an extraordinarily onery child, cut those plans short. Now, we are trying to make up for it I guess. This is my crew sleeping out on the deck a few nights ago. Kelsey is quite the astronomer and Kendal just absolutely loved it.

Something Fun Today

We took a page from Amanda's book and actually did something fun today. We went to Cascade Springs and played around for a little while today. Matt has most Tuesdays off and I have been wanted to go up there all summer, so we finally did it. Kendal LOVED seeing and hearing the water. Twice she tried to climb over the little board walkways to get in! Kelsey loved seeing the all the fish.













This picture shows where the fire went through a few years ago. My brother was on that fire. He is a bad-A fire fighter and a good one too. Honk and wave if you ever see Engine 841, or is it 842 Glen? Anyway, a big one (called a heavy) with a good looking guy wearing sunglasses driving it and probably smiling if he is on his way to a fire!






On our way home, we went down American Fork Canyon and stopped to play in the river. Kelsey waded pretty darn deep in hope of catching one of the many fishes we saw. It was a really fun day to get out of the house and play for the afternoon.

Kendal's new woobie

Kendal has had a rough time going to sleep for the last month. I miss the days of kissing her goodnight, closing the door, and not hearing another peep for at least 10 hours. Those days are gone! Last week I still tried just laying her down and leaving, hoping it would work. Oh no, as soon as the door closed she started crying like her leg was broken. So loud and so intense!! I let her cry for less than 5 minutes and decided it wasn't worth it. All the things I wanted to get done that night was out of the question. I would have to go lay down by her. So I went to open the door and she was there at the door crying and screaming in anger at me I am sure. So I tried to open the door and it was locked. She had locked it from inside while she was crying and trying to get out. How do you tell a screaming 2 year old that doesn't speak at all or listen all that well to "turn the little knob on the door knob to the right?" So I holler at Matt to come and help and by this time she is really ticked off that we are right out in the hall and not opening the door. We tried to unlock the door, just like I can unlock any other door in the house, but it wouldn't unlock. No way, no how, no matter what we tried. So through Kendal screaming and head banging and I am pretty sure kicking, Matt took the entire door knob off with a screwdriver to get it open. That little booger!! As soon as the door cracked open, she got up off the floor and smiled at me!

So last week Kendal woke up when Matt was getting ready for work at 6:10 am. I was so tired from staying up late getting the things done that I needed to, that I was no way ready to stay awake for the entire day. So after Matt left for work, I went into her room with her, took off my clothes, and laid down with her. She wanted to play of course, so I just closed her door, figuring all would be well and safe. She could play while I got at least another 1/2 hour of sleep. You know that awake but really asleep state you get in? That is how I was. Then I realized that she had climbed up on the bed and laid down by me. She went to sleep. Ta-da!! After an hour and 1/2 I woke up. I wanted her to stay asleep so I climbed out of bed as quiet and possible. Then I saw her, with my bra around her neck totally konked out. She looked so sweet and funny I went to get the camera. When I got back she was awake but not really. The camera flashed and then she was really awake. She is such a silly sweety.

5 Faves

Last night as I crawled into bed with clean sheets, I started thinking to myself, "Clean sheets, all crisp and straight is definately one of my most favorite things." The only thing that would have made that better, is if my legs would have been freshly shaved, but they were not. I started to think of my other favorite things and these came into mind, anything with peanut butter and hearing my girls laugh. It was then that I realized that those 3 favorites used different senses. I then started to think about the other 2 senses and tried to pick something out that was a favorite. I thought of smelling fresh shelled peas from the garden, but it also tied with smelling my husband when he decides to wear yummy smelling cologne. That isn't very often unfortunately so I have to be happy with good smelling deodorant or shaving cream. The other favorite I could think of is seeing my lawn mowed and weed wacked. Man does it look good!
So there are my five favorites for the five senses.
Touch- clean, perfectly flat and straight sheets
Taste- anything with peanut butter in it
Sound- my girls giggling and laughing
Smell- fresh green peas in my hand on the way to my mouth, or my Matty
Sight- recently mowed lawn

If you feel like commenting on your favorite 5, please do. I would love to hear them. Just click on the comment button.

Have a super Sabbath!

Dancing Queen

Dancing Queen, only Seventeen

On August 1st my mom, my sister Tori, and I went to SLC to watch Mamma Mia at the Capitol Theater. This is a silly musical rated PG10 (that is my own rating system.) that uses 22 ABBA songs. ABBA was really hot from 1974-1984. Great music really. Anyway, we had a super good time. We went to the Gateway (my first trip!) and ate before the show. My mom is a very punctual person, if something starts at 5:00 she will be there and ready at 4:45. Dinner went a little long and so we left the Gateway at 7:15. The show started at 7:30 and mom told us a few days earlier that we would be in our seats at 7:15.

So the three of us started walking very fast up 200 South to make it there on time. We all had either dresses or skirts on and Tori had on some killer black high heel shoes. We were making pretty good time until I realized that one city block in downtown SLC is huge!!! At around 7:25 with 2 1/2 blocks to go, I told the girls that we were going to have to make a run for it. I thought Capitol Theater wouldn't let us in if we were late. So the 3 of us start running with extremely full little tum tums. My mom's comments were something like this as we were running "I think I am going to have a heart attack. Tell Marion I love him." My sister's were "This is very unbecoming of me in this dress and these shoes to be running like this. I hope nobody knows us! These shoes are killing me!"
My comments were "Hurry up ladies the light is still green, we can make it!" Although I was really thinking, "I am ready to wet my pants and I will if we don't stop soon." So after we made it through the green light and Tori spotted the theater with about 60 people outside of it at exactly 7:30, we stopped. That gave us about 3/4 of a block to gather ourselves. Now, all of our comments were about how sweaty we were and that we all needed to visit the ladies room!
So, we go into the theater and my mom got us good seats, we just didn't know where. We didn't have time for a stop off at the restroom dang it! Since about everyone else was seated, all we had to look for was 3 empty seats together. We spotted them and went to have a sit down when the lady seated near by told us we were in the wrong spot. We finally found an usher, she pointed us up to the very top of the balcony. Tori said, "No, these are $60 tickets, we are not sitting up there." She looked again at our tickets and then directed us downward, to 3 empty seats. The minute our sweaty bottoms hit the seat cushions the music started. Hallelulah!! We made it.
The show was great and it was a great time with my mom and sister. About 5 days after the show, UPS brought me a package from Amazon.com with the Greatest Hits of ABBA CD in it. Thanks MOM!! So, we have been listening to ABBA at a very high volume at our house. This is pics of Kendal and I dancing to the song called 'Dancing Queen.' She loves to dance with me!! Kelsey was coloring yesterday and I heard her singing to herself "Gimme gimme gimme a man after midnight" and I giggled. Today I heard her in the bathroom singing "knowing you, knowing me, there is nothing we can do, knowing me, knowing you." So there you go mom, we are all addicted!!

My sweet Kendal

Kendal's 2nd EEG







Kendal's puffiest, I think

Kendal loves bike rides so we went often at night in June and July when it cooled off.

Apparently I have generated some concern and interest in my little Kendal. I will try to remember it all. Here is the story: Late March of this year Kendal started doing this weird jerky thing. It started out just once in a week or so, but it increased in frequency and intensity. I got her on our video camera doing it a few times and took it to my doc here in Heber. He had no idea and sent me to Primary Children's. We got into a neurologist there after about 2 weeks from when the jerks started. He saw the video and we did an EEG that day to measure her brain patterns. They came back as definately seizure patterns, although a couple of different kinds combined. Kendal was put on a drug we sprinkle in her food called Topamax that is just an anti-convulsant. By this time, she was having around 12 seizures a day. We slowly increased the Topamax because a full dose at 22 months old has some bad side effects. After a few weeks the seizures went down to about 3 or 4 a day. At this time, I realized that her speech was slowly regressing. She wasn't saying words that she used to. She never was a great talker, about 30 words or so. She turned 2 in May and I kept telling the nuerologist that her speech was going away. They did another EEG, oh yeah, she had an MRI in April that ruled out anything anatomically wrong with her brain. The 2nd EEG showed crazy brain activity still, even though the seizures were decreasing to a few a day. The neurologist finally decided after that EEG and having Kendal not say ANYTHING for a week to do something more aggresive. On June 8th we started a drug therapy called ACTH, it is a corticotropin drug. Matt and I had to give her injections every night and every morning. It was supposed to be a 5 week therapy if she responded to the ACTH. We had to increase the amount of ACTH we gave her a few times because she was still having seizures every few days. The ACTH has nasty side effects also. Kendal's blood pressure had to be monitored, because if it was too high we couldn't give her the injections for that day. So we made trips to the ER here in Heber every night and every morning for about 7 weeks. We had to totally cut ANY sodium out of her diet and keep her out of the heat because that made her blood pressure rocket. Her highest BP was 149/98. ACTH is also an immunosuppresant so we couldn't take her anywhere.


On June 29th we upped her ACTH again and July 2nd was her last seizure so far. I hope they stay way forever. Kendal was on the ACTH for 7 weeks. She had her last shot on July 27th. She still takes the Topamax and still isn't talking. She is babbling like a 1 year old though and the docs think when the ACTH gets out of her system she will start talking again. We will see! During the ACTH therapy other stuff in her body was happening. She passed a bunch of small kidney stones, and her Potassium levels in her body are all messed up. We have been giving her oral Pot because it is a critical element in our bodies that runs sodium/pot pumps that work every cell in our bodies. We have been monitoring her pot levels every week with blood draws.


The ACTH is also an appetite stimulant and it acts like a steriod and makes you puff up and retain water, which of course, messes up your blood pressure. It is a vicious circle. Anyway, Kendal only gained 5 pounds during all this, which doesn't seem like alot, but that is like me gaining 32 pounds in 5 weeks. Her clothes didn't fit for a while, she had to wear Kelsey's. Her feet were too fat for any shoes (it was a good thing we couldn't go outside!), and she balloned up. She is on her way back down now, although some of it is just plain chubbiness from wanting to eat constantly. During the peak of the ACTH, she would sleep, cry, or stand by her high chair waiting for food!


Kelsey has been great through the whole thing. She was my tech every morning with alcohol wipes and syringes for Kendal's shots. She is such a good big sister. Anyway, maybe that will answer some of your questions. We get to go to Primary's again on Aug 16th and the speech therapist comes again that day. Hopefully we will have good news.

Neighborhood Marshmellow Roast

Tonight we had a

neighborhood marshmellow roast at our house. It was a great time. The kids jumped on the tramp, played in the sand box, played on the swing set, played ball, and ate ALOT of smores. I had a great time just chatting with the ladies. The guys hung around the fire pit talking jeeps and other guys stuff. The ladies talked about important things like baby names, our children, weight gain, sexual offenders that live on our side of town, you know just girl stuff!!! I really did have a great time and did hold myself to only 2 smores. I COMPLETELY over bought supplies though, I will be eating marshmellows, CHOCOLATE, and chocolate covered shortbread cookies for a few months. I'll let the girls eat the graham crackers. Maybe I better invite more people over soon! Here are few pics of our evening. I hope everyone enjoyed it as much as I did. I even got tiki torches!!

I have to go to bed soon so I can get up early. Someone is coming to see the house tomorrow at 11:00 and I have a LITTLE bit of cleaning to do.

One more thing, Kendal had to have her blood drawn again today, we usually do it once a week. She gave those lab techs a run for their money today! In the past she has been so drugged up and lethargic that there isn't usually a fight. Well, today it took two of them and me and we still barely had a good hold of her! She kicked the one nice lady named Heather right in the gut. Tannon, the other tech just about sent the needle up to her shoulder from the jerk she gave as he inserted it into her elbow pit. (Yes, that is what it is REALLY called!) Anyway, Kendal is back!! We can resume calling her Little Al.

Lagoon, July 2007

Since this blog is read by family, I just have to include these pictures from our Crane Lagoon Adventure in July. I am resorting to old news because all I have been doing today is shopping at Park City Walmart for 3 hours and sewing my sister Tori's new 'shady lady' dress costume for our Wild West themed family reunion on Labor Day. The skirt is done, I will post pics when it is all finished!!
Anyway, our Lagoon Day. Enjoy the pics, especially the one of Mindy, Amanda, and assorted children on the Tidal Wave. They were on one end and Arly, myself, and other assorted childen were on the other side. I was so busy taking pics I didn't get scared or sick until I was finished concentrating on zooming in to the other side of the ship. Mindy, your face just cracks me up! Thanks for a good time ladies, Mike, and Larry. Larry stayed in Heber and took care of my little Kendal so I could go. Thanks!

Thank you Amanda Jones

Today, August 7th 2007 is my first ever post on my new blog. I have spent the last 45 minutes reading and laughing at my friend Amanda Jones' blog. It was so good I had to go get an extra large bowl of Bunny Tracks ice cream to enjoy while I read it! So, she has inspired me. I hope everyone that visits here in the future will be happy they did and feel the happiness and craziness from this 1/2 acre! Thanks Amanda Jones!!