The Leon Family Blog

My Little Helper

2010-03-28T13:27:00.000-07:00

Sydney and I made brownies today...isn't she cute in her apron?
This might be her favorite part!

MY NEW WEIGHT LOSS PLAN!

2010-03-27T18:18:00.000-07:00

I am so excited about something I just came up with on my own! I've really been struggling with the weight loss challenge. I did really good last year and lost 20 lbs, and then I've slipped back struggling with it. After some soul searching I realized that I think I struggle because to get results you have to make several good decisions, and then you're not even guaranteed a reward. So I need immediate rewards or at least I need to know that if I make a good decision, or do something good for my health that I'm getting closer to that reward. I just wanted to share this with everyone and if you're interested you can adapt it to your own situation (even if it has nothing to do with weight loss).

By making good decisions or doing something good...I get rewarded with points.
Exercise = 2 points

Refusing some kind of bad food = 1 point (for instance if I refuse a dessert at a church function, or ice cream when we take the kids out, or if I make cookies for the family - and I don't eat any of them.)

Drinking 6 glasses of water in a day = 1 point

Counting points perfectly all day = 2 points (I'm still following the weight watchers plan)

Lose 1 pound = 3 points

Then I came up with some rewards to work toward, where I can spend my points:

Trip to Portland, $25.00 for fabric depot = 100 points

Pedicure = 50 points

New Clothing Item = 50 points

New Make-Up Item = 25 points

I'm really excited about this...it reminds me of trying to get the kids to do stuff at home. But hey, whatever works. I figure I'm not perfect, but doing a few good things to work on my health is better than doing nothing at all and just being discouraged.

Katie's 7th Birthday

2010-02-19T21:35:00.000-08:00

Today was Katie's 7th birthday. I can't believe she is this old. It seems like yesterday the doctor handed her to me and I thought this had to be the most beautiful little girl I'd ever seen!!! Tonight David and I took her and her friend Mya to Marie Callendar's for dinner and then she gets to have her spend the night! I think Katie just might be in heaven!

This morning Audrey, Sydney and I took treats to Katie's class. We had to leave before they ate them, but at least I got a picture of her at her desk. The festivities will continue tomorrow!

Halloween Night

2009-11-14T17:08:00.000-08:00

Halloween night was a blast...usually we try to fit in too much, but this Halloween we just went trick-or-treating!

We had a Hippie Flower Power Girl!

Velma from Scooby Doo!

A Ninja!

I can't believe I didn't get a picture of Audrey alone, but she was a ballerina!

Here are all the cousins at Emily's house...

We are so excited to have a little cousin!

Pumpkin Carving Party!!

2009-11-09T13:05:00.000-08:00

The week before Halloween we went to a pumpkin carving party at a friends house. They have this party every year. This below is a picture of the winners of the three categories ... kids, stenciled, and free hand. I think it's safe to say that our family took this competition by storm!!!Sydney is cleaning out her pumpkin. Her and Charlie were actually gagging!!

Charlie won first place and the girls were runners up. (They happened to be the only kids at the party). When they announced their names I said, "Katie and Sydney you won!!!" When we got home that night as I was carrying Sydney upstairs to bed she looked at me with a funny face and said, "I don't know how I won." I asked her what she meant and she said, "my pumpkin was not good." We walked a few more steps and she said, "I mean, it really wasn't good!" Our family laughed about that for a couple of days.

This is Katie's pumpkin. Pretty good for letting her design and cut, huh?

Charlie did not enjoy cleaning out his pumpkin....again, he was gagging the whole time.

Katie really didn't mind the yucky stuff, she just a great actress!

Babysitting

2009-10-28T07:30:00.000-07:00

We get to babysit Rory every other Friday while Amanda goes to school. Katie is our best babysitter and Rory LOVES her....here's our perfect example! We visited Grandma's after we went to the pumpkin constest and she taught all the kids to knit (well she taught the older kids, Audrey just sticks the needs in and out of the yarn).

This must have been after one particular hard day. A lot of people may say they've never seen Sydney sleep. This is such a rare occasion that we had to capture it on the camera.

Massive Pumpkins!!!

2009-10-26T21:34:00.000-07:00

I'm a little behind, so there should be a few posts in the next couple of days. In the beginning of October we went to a massive pumpkin growning contest in Gervais, Oregon. David's friend Brian participates and so we decided to go see what it was all about! They had these swings that we made out of old tires, shaped like a horse. Audrey thought they were pretty cool!

Scary Spider!

I loved this sign...

This was Brian's pumpkin. It was huge. He got 3rd place and

I think it ended up weighing about 1350 lbs.

All the huge pumpkins lined up to be weighed.

First Day of Preschool

2009-09-24T12:07:00.000-07:00

Sydney and Audrey had their first day of Preschool on Tuesday. This is the day I've been waiting for (I get to be alone for a couple of hours a day!!!). They were really excited...although Audrey seemed a little overwhelmed and looked like a deer in headlights. Audrey insisted on bringing her Strawberry Shortcake backpack! Sydney was really ready to be the big sister and help Audrey out.

Quilt Class

2009-09-24T12:04:00.000-07:00

This post is mainly for my mom...I took a quilt class yesterday, it was a series on what to do with your scraps. Two of the blocks I made in the class and then I made 2 more this morning. Here's how it turned out....

Napping

2009-09-17T14:57:00.000-07:00

This looks like it's going to be a GREAT afternoon!!!

1st Day of School....Finally!

2009-09-09T09:05:00.000-07:00

I just returned from dropping the kids off at their first day of school. Katie started 1st grade at her new school and Charlie started 3rd grade. This morning Katie told me that her stomach hurt because she was a little scared! Both kids are going to Buena Vista (the Spanish Immersion School) and are excited to be at the same school. It sure felt wierd walking two BIG kids into their classes today. They grow up too fast, don't they?

What Have We Been Up To???

2009-09-02T16:54:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we went on a little day trip to Roseburg. We hiked Susan Creek Falls. Notice the 2-year old had to carry everbody's water....she insisted, I swear! Aunt Emily spent the enjoyable day with us....she needed a serious nap when we returned!

The cuties!

Then we went to Wildlife Safari. It was a great day!

We've also been canning pickles. I loved this picture of the pickles soaking in my sink!

Sliced and ready to go in the jar. Up next....pears, then salsa!

Camera Found!!!

2009-08-22T17:09:00.000-07:00

I finally found our camera that has been missing for a few weeks. I also just finished a quilt that I made for Audrey. I am really proud of this quilt and let me tell you why...

1. I made it completely from scraps that I had ... except for the border on the front (David insisted that we put monkeys on it).

2 . I pieced the back with random things and sizes of fabric. 3. Each block is different.

4. This is all made of things that Audrey loves.... ie. Princesses, Dora, Care Bears, Ballerinas, Teddy Bears, Monkeys...etc.

5. I machine quilted it in the ditch (quilters will know what I'm talking about).

I am so proud of this quilt and Audrey loves it!!! She lays on it and points to things and tells us all what they are. The only problem now is that Sydney and Katie want one.

Next project.... a quilt for Sydney with appliqued little dresses. It may be awhile before that one is done!!!

Rory Alexis Mason

2009-07-22T19:18:00.000-07:00

A New Baby!!!

2009-07-21T11:36:00.001-07:00

Amanda had her beautiful, healthy baby girl this morning at 5:33 am. She weighed 6 lbs 2 oz and is absolutely gorgeous!!! We are all so excited about the new addition to the family. We think the name is Rory Alexis Mason (Amanda and Jed say they are trying it out). Congratulations Amanda and Jed, we are so proud of you....and Happy Birthday Rory!!! Isn't she beautiful??? More pictures to come later today!

Trip to Gold Beach

2009-07-20T08:07:00.000-07:00

On our way to Gold Beach we had a little car sickness issue (this may just be because of the clip that our driver was taking the curves, but of course he blames it on Dairy Queen). We've never had this problem and let me just say from now on we will be traveling with buckets! About 10pm on Thursday night we were driving south on the winding Highway 101. Charlie said he felt a little sick and within 10 seconds was throwing up all over the back of the car. David pulled into the first parking lot he saw and we all jumped out and immediately started cleaning up Charlie, the car, and the poor little girls that were in the vicinity at the time of all the action. Keep in mind it is completely dark, except for the little lights coming from inside the car. All of a sudden we heard a huge "ROOOOOOAR!" It sounded like two cougars fighting. David and I looked up at each other and quickly said, "What was that?" About 2 seconds later, David said, "Look where we are!" As I looked up we were at the West Coast Game Park Safari. There was a huge painting of a leopard. And behind the fence we were just in front of there actually were lions, leopards, and tigers. Moral of the story....be careful where you pull over in the dark!

We had a wonderful weekend in Gold Beach with our friends, the Elder's. They know just what places to take us for a great time. We hiked up to a cool little tree for this family picture. Here's one of our only pictures of all the kids. It's quite difficult to have 8 kids happy and smiling all at the same time.

And rarely do I get a picture of Charlie. This is only because our friend Travis took the picture.

We played at the beach!

We got a little wet!

We had a blast and can't wait to go back. The kids were very upset that it was time to leave!

Pie Crust....Not One of My Talents!

2009-06-26T09:13:00.001-07:00

Dramatic Audrey!

2009-06-21T08:18:00.000-07:00

Last night we went to dinner for Brett's birthday. We took Audrey with us but left the other kids with a babysitter. The restaurant only had Coke products so I ordered her a sprite. When they brought it out, it was in a clear container and Audrey was very upset because she thought I had ordered her just water. She was pouting with her head down on the table and wouldn't even try the soda. We got just a short video of her dramatic fit! Watch closely, after she looks at the camera with her pout, she reaches over and grabs her binky and then goes back to pouting!

Piano Recitals

2009-06-15T21:14:00.000-07:00

It's that time of year! End of the year recitals! Charlie played Spring by Vivaldi. His teacher said he thought he's going to be a great performer. Charlie was very excited to be wearing his grandpa Sam's $45.00 tie!

Katie played Happy Birthday and Springtime Symphony. She happened to be playing Happy Birthday on Grandpa Wayne's birthday...and he was there. It was totally just a coincidence!

Charlie's recital lasted 2 hours. Needless to say he was a little restless. All I can say is good thing we didn't have the girls with us. Also....thanks to the wonderful relatives for coming to support Charlie and enduring the 2 hour recital. Afterwards they asked if I like that sort of thing because of the music background. Of course I do! I sure don't get enough of it and I love soaking it in. Here's a little video of Charlie having a rough time sitting through the recital!

Fishing Trip

2009-06-06T19:24:00.000-07:00

David, his dad and brothers took Charlie and Katie on a fishing trip today (free fishing weekend)! They both said they had a blast! Katie commented that fishing is "one of the dirtiest things I've ever done!" When they got back Sydney was very interested in Uncle Joey cleaning the fish.
It sure looks like Charlie didn't want to touch his fish... he says the sun was in his eyes!

She caught the biggest fish of the day....with her Barbie fishing pole!

What a cutie! David said it's so much fun to take Katie places because she's so enthusiastic.

Congratulations Brett!!!

2009-06-04T10:37:00.000-07:00

Our little baby brother graduated from high school last night. We went on a road trip up to Portland to attend his graduation. We're so proud of him and know that he'll be very successfull in whatever he chooses to do!!! Just the siblings! I was really upset to discover as we were taking this picture that as the oldest sibling, I am also the shortest.

Brett's proud parents!!

80's Prom

2009-05-31T10:21:00.002-07:00

My cousin and his wife just built a full size gym on their property. Last night they hosted an 80's prom. It was histerical!!! Everybody was dressed in 80's costumes, it was truly a blast from the past! Emily, Amanda and Jed, David and I went together. You can't really see it, but David's sports coat is blue suede. It was perfect!I don't know if you can see Amanda's belly, but she looked so cute in her prom dress! My cousin says that every prom needs a "pregnant girl." Can you believe that Jed found that suit? Amanda said that he called her from Goodwill about 6 months ago and said he had to buy it because both the jacket and the pants fit! He knew it would come in handy some day!

We listened to 80's music, drank strawberry fanta, they had a photographer with the whole prom set-up. It was really a great party! I sure hope they do it again!

Food Storage, Food Storage, Food Storage

2009-05-10T09:49:00.001-07:00

We've been working on setting up a piano studio for when I teach piano lessons. I finally finished the curtains and almost have it completely set up! Take a look!

We've also been working on food storage. Here are some homemade fruit snacks the Eve, Kristen and I made! Notice the one in the shape of a snake!

Last week we canned chicken noodle soup (without the noodle)! I'm finally feeling more comfortable with the pressure canner...maybe this week I'll try it all by myself.

Charlie's Fiesta Cultural

2009-05-08T22:51:00.000-07:00

Charlie's school had a special program tonight. They call it the Fiesta Cultural. Every class does a dance from a different cultural. Charlie's class did a Hawaiian dance and he did a wonderful job! He's in the back, right behind the big S on the gym floor. We were all quite impressed with how well he actually danced. We had no idea he has this talent. He was very excited about this performance (he even insisted on taking a shower before he went!). I think he also liked going to ice cream afterwards and being able to order anything he wanted. Great job Charlie!!!

Sydney's Hair

2009-04-19T09:38:00.000-07:00

We love Sydney's hair! It has always been so long and beautiful. This was a picture of her a couple of weeks ago when we went hiking. A few days before we went hiking her hair was all the way down her back.

I trimmed it just to be even all the way around and it was looking really good!

Until she decided she was mad at me and trimmed her hair some more. I had a hard time getting pictures of the hair cut she did herself, and I am too upset to post a picture of what it looks like now. Maybe in a couple of weeks!

She had two pony tails on the top of her head...which she cut completely off! She cut the very front of her hair to the scalp! And then proceeded to cut all over the back. Needless to say....I cried a lot! I am really getting tired of her mass amounts of mischief...cayenne pepper in my closet, lotion all over the bathroom and carpet, soap rubbed all over the maroon walls, not to mention my last post was all her! We love her, but maybe we need to keep a better eye on her!

Three Steps Forward, One Step Back

2009-03-25T08:23:00.000-07:00

When the kids asked what we were going to do during Spring Break, I told them we were going to clean. That's exactly what we've been doing. Just when I think things are getting better around here, we have a little setback. One of our children is a night owl....here is the crime she committed last night.

Charlie's poor shoe!

If you can believe it...about two days I woke up to a whole stick of butter smeared on three of our stairs. What could she possibly think of next? She's sleeping peacefully right now, but when she wakes up I'll have a few tools for her to use to clean this up!!!

Try to guess which child! Here's a big hint...

David calls her munchkin, and she's not the littlest one!

Never a Dull Moment

2009-03-18T11:46:00.000-07:00

I found this in the kitchen today. Apparently we have a Leprecahn that Katie is trying to catch. I thought it was a pretty clever trap. She even told me that she thinks he's afraid of us and that's why she hasn't caught him yet!

Daylight Savings Time

2009-03-10T15:11:00.000-07:00

Here's what daylight savings time does to our family! This is just on the way home from school!

Sydney and Hannah

2009-03-01T09:16:00.001-08:00

Happy Birthday Katie!

2009-02-28T06:06:00.000-08:00

Katie turned 6 last week. We're a little behind! But here is phase 1 of the celebration! Katie's new hair cut!
She always needs help opening presents...at least she always get help!

The always awaited dress from Aunt Emily!

On Katie's birthday her class went on a field trip to Alberstons. Her and Maya made wraps with lunch meat and cheese to show how easy it is to eat healthy. They came home with a bag full of food and coupons to get more food.

Katie in her "birthday crown" that she got to wear while the class sang to her.

More to come...she's having another party today. Lucky girl, huh?

Surprise!

2009-02-13T13:15:00.000-08:00

Look what came to my door!

Thanks David, I love you too!

Happy 32nd Birthday David!

2009-02-09T20:59:00.000-08:00

My blogger brain still can't work backwards, so here are the pictures....not in the order intended!

Party Guests

We had a wonderful birthday dinner for David and the ever anticipated ice cream cake. It might not be beautiful, but it tastes heavenly!

I got him a new wedding band....finally. He lost his original one about 3 1/2 years ago. A replacement was way overdue.

Audrey using her wipe containers as shoes!

Birthday Boy!

One last thing... Congratulations to Rex and Aleece on the birth of their triplets this morning! Alex, Riley, and Zachary are doing great. And they get to share their birthday with Davd!!!

We can't wait to see them!

Finally...A New Camera

2009-02-07T18:30:00.000-08:00

I apologize for the long time between posts. Our camera has not been working and how interesting is a post without pictures? Well, I finally went and bought a new camera since Circuit City was having their going out of business sale. It is charging as we speak, so we should have pictures soon.

A lot has happened since I last posted. Charlie was baptized, Sydney turned 4, and Audrey turned 2. January and February are busy months in our house. David's birthday is Monday and then Katie's is the next week.

David said I had to write this funny story...

Last weekend we were coming home from Portland and David dropped me off at a baby shower in Salem. He took the kids to McDonalds for lunch and it made him very ill! When they got home he told the kids that he needed to lay down for awhile. Sydney asked him if he was going to go to sleep. He said, "No, I'm just going to lay down." Then she asked him, "Do you need some peace and quiet?" He answered, "Yeah, will you give me some peace and quiet?" Sydney responded, "We're kids, we don't do peace and quiet!" She's definitely the philosopher in the family.

Keep checking back...I promise to do better with the posts!

Katie's Piano Recital

2008-12-16T10:37:00.000-08:00

Katie did such a great job at her piano recital on Sunday. She loves to play the piano and practiced her Christmas songs for weeks. We were so proud of her and she was so excited to play in her recital. Here's a short clip of her performance.

Christmas Activities

2008-12-13T14:08:00.000-08:00

This year I decided that I wanted to do something fun with the kids every day for the month of December. I haven't done as much as I wanted to, but definitely more that I ever have before. Here is a quick sampling of what we've been up to. We started with Christmas trees made out of popsicle sticks and sequins. It definitely turned into a project that took more than 1 day and we're still finishing up, but we got a few done. The one below was done by Sydney.

We strung popcorn and cranberries (actually little wooden beads). The kids only did it for about 5 minutes and I had to finish.

The finished project!

This morning we made and decorated sugar cookies. Audrey preferred licking the frosting and at one point I caught her painted frosting on her legs and feet!

Charlie displaying his cookie that he titled "Audrey."

Here are the finished cookies. It was a huge mess but they turned out pretty cute!

Random Christmas Season Updates

2008-12-12T09:40:00.000-08:00

After 3 hours of bathing, primping, curling hair and talking Charlie into getting dressed, here are a couple of examples of our sad attempt at trying to get a Christmas card picture.

They are going to make Audrey look at the camera rather she likes it or not!

Audrey is crying in about 90% of the pictures.

We kept trying to get Sydney to smile a little less intensely, and Charlie to look a little more involved. Ah, the joys of four children!

I had book club at my house last night and I made lemon water to drink with our dessert. Since Sydney discovered lemon water that's all she want to drink. Here's our sophisticated 3 year old enjoying her lemon water this morning.

2008-12-05T12:06:00.001-08:00

I found this picture of the Elder's and our kids from 2003. What a difference a few years makes, it's fun to look back.

Thanksgiving

2008-12-05T04:21:00.001-08:00

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We've been saying that we were going to visit our friend's the Elder's for four years and we finally got to go and spend the weekend with them. They live in the beautiful Gold Beach, Oregon, and had many wonderful sights to show us! It was a ton of fun. This was our family at Otter Point. The view was spectacular, although a little nerve racking with the kids and all the cliffsAnnaka did a gingerbread train with the kids. They loved it! I'm not so good with doing these kinds of things because I'm afraid of the mess, but after watching how much they enjoyed it, I vow to try and let go and do some more fun activities.

Here are six of our eight kids. Charlie, Anya, Katie, Isaac, Sydney, and Ellie.

We're off on our hike. Boy, we are a crowd!

David, enjoying the view with the little kids. Notice how tight he's holding on to Sydney, she was insisting on walking on her own. Sorry, Sydney...not gonna happen!

Here are all eight kids. From left to right. Audrey, Charlie, Anya, Sydney, Tyler, Katie, Ellie and Isaac.

Last we got to go to a farm that does a little petting zoo. This is Audrey petting the rabbit. She LOVED IT!!! This rabbit was 30lbs. and his feet are as big as a dog's paw. It was amazing!

We had a wonderful time... Thanks Annaka and Travis for letting us come and visit and for the wonderful Thanksgiving Dinner!!!

Laughed So Hard I Cried

2008-11-21T15:09:00.000-08:00

Last night as I was getting the kids dressed to take Charlie to piano lessons, Sydney was making my task extremely difficult. After an all-out wrestling match she told me she was just going to take her clothes off anyways. I then said, "If you you do that, then the rest of the family is going to get a treat at the store and you won't get anything." She then looked down at the floor, walked away and said that she wouldn't take off her clothes. About 5 minutes later I saw her "streaking" through the kitchen in only her underwear. When confronted with what she had done and reminded of her punishment she started to get worried that I would actually follow through (which I usually don't) and responded with this.."I went in the other room and cried a little bit and they fell off!" She then rushed off and put the clothes back on herself quite quickly. When repeating the story later that night I couldn't even get the punchline out because I was laughing so hard. David later asked Sydney, "So did you go cry a little more and then they just floated back on you?"

Charlie Through the Years!

2008-11-10T10:08:00.001-08:00

We have soooo many pictures of Charlie. I was looking through them and reminiscing about how sweet of a baby he was and how I can't rock him in my arms anymore. They grow up way to fast. So here's a little journey of Charlie through his first 8 years! At the hospital. I was convinced he was the most beautiful newborn ever! 6 Months

1 Year

2 Years

3 Years

Charlie on his first baseball team. 5 years old

1st grade. I think there is a picture of me making this exact face when I was little.

Happy Birthday Charlie!

2008-11-09T07:58:00.001-08:00

Yesterday was Charlie's 8th birthday. He is growing up so fast! In our family 8 years old means he gets baptized and he get to join cub scouts. He was very excited to hit this landmark. We had a party for him at Papa's Pizza. Grandma and Grandpa Leon got him his scout uniform. He even asked them for it and went on Monday to pick it out with Grandma. She sewed all the patches on for him.

David and I got him the a game for his XBox that he'd been asking for. He's told us about this game every day for the last three months. David was messin' with him yesterday and told him that he hadn't had time to get his present yet, so would it be ok if we just waited until Monday to get it. Charlie even volunteered to bathe the girls so that Dad would have time to get him his present. We even had Charlie in tears at one point. So, he was VERY excited to show off his new game!

Aunt Emily got Charlie a radio controlled car. I guess Brett thought she may have spent too much money, notice the surpised look on his face.

All of Charlie's friends at the party. It's nice that Charlie has so many great friends!

Charlie trying to conceal a smile as he choses something to wish for!

And finally he blows out all the candles!

We love you Charlie and hope that you had a great birthday!

Halloween!!!

2008-10-31T21:36:00.000-07:00

We had a great time tonight! It's so much fun to dress the kids up and parade them around. We convinced all the girls to be witches this year and Charlie ended up being Indiana Jones. This is all the kids at Grandma's house. We trick or treated in our neighborhood for a few minutes, then we went to a party at the church. We also made appearances at Grandma and Grandpa Leon's, Aunt Amanda and Uncle Jed's and Aunt Emily's house. It's moments like these that make parenting so worth it! Here are our three little adorable witches!!!

Audrey - one of the rare moments that I caught her wearing the hat.

Sydney as an "October Witch." She was surprisingly sweet tonight and wanted to share her candy with everyone!

Katie - always wanting to trick or treat all night long. This girl is always ready for a party!

Here's Charlie in one of his Indiana Jones poses. He's been wearing this costume for the last three days. I actually had to pry it off of him to wash it for tonight!

Pumpkin Patch

2008-10-31T21:28:00.001-07:00

This was our family trip to the pumpkin patch. I decided to take them myself after school because I figured Saturday would be too busy. If I ever think about doing this again, stop me! I didn't think about the fact that we were going to get PUMPKINS, and that we would somehow have to pay for them and get them to the car, all the while managing the kids. Overall, we had fun... but I'll never do that again! Here's Audrey because she wouldn't get in the picture with the other kids.

The other kids with the two pumpkins we were trying to decide between. I would only let them pick one because it suddenly dawned on me that I would have to carry them out!

This is the hayride. Audrey loved it, but was constantly trying to climb out over the sides!

Katie's Field Trip

2008-10-24T17:51:00.001-07:00

I went with Katie on her field trip to the pumpkin patch yesterday. She talked about it for days before and she had a ton of fun. Here are a couple of the pictures I got.

Katie's friends, Reice, Enoch, and Mya.

Katie and her best friend Mya with the pumpkins they picked.

Getting ready to leave on the hayride! Boy it was fun to spend time with just one of our kids at a time. We don't get that opportunity often enough!

Audrey

2008-10-04T18:22:00.001-07:00

I just realized that our baby may be watching a little too much TV. She doesn't have very many words yet, but the sad thing is that these are some of them...spongebob, little bear, dora, diego. Sad, huh? I thought that was pretty bad, but last night I found out it's worse than I thought. I heard her crying in the other room, when I asked the other kids what they did to her (thinking they had turned off her show), I was told that they just took the remote away from her. That started me thinking that she really does enjoy holding the remote while she watches TV. It gets worse... she calls it "ba-ba." She carries it around with her and cries if it gets left behind. And don't you dare try to take it from her. Luckily she will accept a remote from another room so she doesn't turn the channel on us. I thought it would be cute to take a picture of her with her favorite things, the bottle, the binky, and none other than the remote. Looks like she's following in her father's footsteps.

Katie on the Piano

2008-09-27T11:24:00.001-07:00

Katie is one of the most determined kids I know. When she wants to learn something she practices it over and over until she gets it. I started teaching her a primary song, thinking that she would be able to play the first line or so, and she memorized the whole thing. Needless to say, this is what we hear all day long. So here's Katie playing, "When Jesus Christ was Baptized..."

Update on Mom!

2008-09-22T16:34:00.000-07:00

Well, it seems that this is going to be the year of trials for our family. Whatever we are supposed to learn we pray to learn it fast so that things can return to normal.

Saturday night my mom was picking up Jed and Amanda from the airport when through a combined effort of her forgetting to put the car in park and an accidental foot touching the gas, the car ran over her foot, knocking her to the ground and breaking a lot of bones. Her foot is broken in two places, her ankle is broken, and her hip is broken. She needs to have a total hip replacement surgery to fix the break. The hip surgeon at the hospital that she's at is on vacation so she is being tranferred to Good Samaritan Hospital in Portland sometime this evening. Once they evaluate her there they should be able to schedule her surgery. She's doing ok. She seems to have a really positive attitude about the whole thing. She's been wanting a hip replacement anyways, and this just happens to be the same hip that she was having problems with. This may just be a blessing in disguise. We all love her and are praying that she gets better quickly.

First Day of School

2008-09-22T16:24:00.000-07:00

Since David had his surgery on the first day of school, Amanda and Jed took the kids to school. They took pictures of them and we are a little slow in getting them posted. I heard that they had a great first day of Kindergarten and 2nd grade!

Dang-it!

2008-09-17T19:46:00.000-07:00

Sydney says Dang-it all the time. We got it on video and just had to share it!

Sydney Singing

2008-09-17T17:46:00.000-07:00

Home

2008-09-09T08:28:00.000-07:00

We are home and David is doing as good as could be expected. He's still in a lot of pain, but handling it well. The medicine that he's on makes him a little anxious and irritable (especially with the kids), and he has trouble sleeping at night. Every day seems to be a lot better and he's mentioned that he doesn't hurt as bad as he did in the hospital. We've been through this before and know that all you can do it just take it one day at a time. This kids are glad to have daddy back home. Audrey and Sydney will come home tomorrow and we are all anxious to see them. Maybe having the whole family back together will make things seem a little more normal. Our house sure is quiet with the babies gone!

Coming Home

2008-09-07T06:37:00.000-07:00

The word on the hospital floor is we're coming home today. I don't really know what time, but I'm guessing we'll get to leave by early afternoon. Yesterday, David took a shower, which took a lot out of him, and we went for a couple of walks around the hall. He's been really sleepy which I think is the some from just coming out of surgery, but a lot is the pain medication. The electrophysiologist came and saw him and said that they were going to reprogram his pace make a little bit. Before it was pacing his whole heart, which means that if his heart didn't beat, it would first fire the upper chamber and then the lower chamber. From the tests that they did, they really didn't see a problem with the conduction on the way down his heart. The upper chamber is really the problem, it likes to take a nap. So if they just fire the upper chamber then the rest of his heart naturally beats along with it. The doctors prefer that if his body can do it on its own, it's best if his heart beats more naturally, althought they have it set so that if the lower chamber needs help the pace maker will provide it. These pace makers are amazing. He will have to be seen personally in about a month, but after that they will give him a system for at home and he will transfer information from the pacemaker in his belly, through the phone to the doctors. Isn't that amazing?

Again, thank you everyone for all of your thoughts and prayers! Thank you for everyone that has helped with the kids. We are truly grateful!

Saturday Morning

2008-09-06T08:00:00.001-07:00

David's doing even better today. He's still in a lot of pain. We had a full day yesterday, lots of doctors came in, he had occupational therapy, physical therapy, a chest x-ray, the electrophysiology doctor came and worked on his pace maker, and they pulled out the central line in his neck. Now he has a big whole where they pulled that line. David said he didn't sleep great last night, he felt kind of congested and woke up every few minutes, but he said that he got better sleep early this morning.

The doctor that's in charge of this floor came in early this morning and examined David, he wanted him to sit up so he could listen to his lungs and that doctor actually pulled him up by his arm. That was excruciating! I wish they would teach the doctors what the patient is able to do after their chest is opened up. The therapists preach and preach to you about not pushing or pulling anything over 5 lbs, and then the doctor comes in and hurts you. One doctor is saying we may go home today and another is talking about tomorrow, we'll find out later today, I guess.
Things are really going well, we just have to get throught the long healing process.

Friday Morning

2008-09-05T08:57:00.001-07:00

David is doing a lot better this morning. At this moment he is sitting up in a chair eating breakfast. He has been advanced to a regular diet and his nausea seems to be gone. Yesterday afternoon he got the two chest tubes taken out. Then we were moved to a regular room on the cardiac floor. Once we got there we saw the doctors on this floor and they said they wanted the catheter taken out, and the IV in his neck. The catheter is out, but we are still waiting for the neck IV to be removed. David has a little swelling in his hands and feet and so they gave him "compression socks" to help the swelling go down. He slept good last night, and has advanced from IV pain medication to oral medication. Other than being in a lot of pain (and being a little cranky) he's doing well. He says the pain is tolerable until he has to adjust himself or cough. They haven't said when we'll be able to go home, but I'm thinking it will be either tomorrow or Sunday. We are waiting to see Dr. Weiss today, he should be in between 10:00 and 12:00.

Thursday Morning

2008-09-04T09:16:00.001-07:00

We made it through the worst of it, I hope. They let us come in and see David at about 10:00 last night. That was really hard, it's always quite a shock. He was having shivers due to coming out of the anesthesia so his whole body shook quite a bit. He also was having trouble with nausea and was in a lot of pain. He would talk to us, but kept his eyes closed most of the time. He said when he opened his eyes he was seeing double. David's blood pressure was pretty high when he came out and so they gave him medicine to fix it and by about 2 am it was back to normal. He had a chest x-ray last night and then again this morning. We asked the nurse and he said the x-ray is looking for fluid collecting around his heart. He was pretty miserable most of the night. By about 3am they finally had given enough pain medication that David was able to sleep. He says that he feels ok, he feels like he isn't sick, just in a lot of pain. He says it feels like somebody opened up his chest, go figure. Through the night he asked a lot of questions, he wanted to know how long the surgery took, he wanted to know how it went and if he had any chest tubes (he has 2). He also wanted to know if I'd gotten anything to eat. He's always worried about everyone else. He wanted us to hold his hand, and at one point he even asked me to give him a kiss. Normally he would have Sydney do it, but I guess I had to do because she's not here.

Right now David is sleeping peacefully. He wanted the oxygen off but they won't let him because it always dips too low. The plan is to move him to a regular room later today, and then the chest tubes should come out tomorrow. That's how things move in the hospital, he loses one tube at a time. His pace maker has been kicking in, it works when his heart rate drops below 60. All through the night his heart rate was around 100, but now is at 60 and the monitor says it is being paced. Even though this will be a long process, things are moving in the right direction and we are thankful that everything went well.

Out of Surgery

2008-09-03T20:24:00.000-07:00

We got a page at about 8:05 that said they were finishing up the procedure and the doctor was coming to talk to us. Dr. Langley (the surgeon) came out and told us that everything went great. There were no surprises, the pace maker is working well, it should last about 10 years. There was a lot of scar tissue that they had to work through, his heart was really stuck to his breast bone and so they had to cut through his entire sternum. He has two chest tubes coming out for drainage and the surgeon said they should come out tomorrow. He is being transferred to the adult ICU floor and we should be able to see him in about 30 minutes. I'll update more when we get to see him and he starts waking up.

In Surgery

2008-09-03T18:17:00.000-07:00

Well after a long day of waiting (and I mean long) David is finally in surgery. Our check in time was 10:30 this morning, and he was finally taken into surgery at 5:10 this evening. They say it will take about 2 hours to prep him for surgery and then they think it will be about 2 hours for the surgery. I will update again when we know how the surgery is going.

On a more positive note, the kids had a great day at school. It was Charlie's first day at the Spanish Immersion school and he said he had fun. He learned two words in Spanish and made three friends. I really think he'll like this new school. Katie had her first day in Kindergarten and was very happy to find out that her friend Mya is in her class. When I asked what she learned today she said they taught her how to write her teachers name. When I asked what her favorite thing about Kindergarten is she said recess. They are both excited to go back tomorrow.

Today as we were driving up here I was thinking about how important David is to our family. I wanted to write a little ode to David and tell everyone (and him when he is able to read this) why we love him so much.

David is the best father you can imagine. He plays with the kids, he is REALLY involved with them. He loves to cuddle them, and has tons of patience. He's truly interested in what they are doing and takes an active role in their lives. The other day I heard Sydney tell my mom that "Daddy likes kisses when he's sick." This is true he's always asking the kids to come and give him hugs and kisses when he doesn't feel well.

David is a WONDERFUL husband. An example is this afternoon when I lost it before he went to surgery. I am in tears and even though he is worried about what he has to go through, all he does is worry about how I am. We love spending time together and would be lost without each other.

David is extremely intellingent and hardworking. He worries all the time about how being sick is going to affect our family financially and will go to work if he can, no matter how he feels. He is a successful engineer and extremely valuable to his company. This Christmas my mom gave us all gifts that had our qualities listed on it. I was upset when I found out that my gift said "intelligent," but David's gift said "highly intelligent." I must admit that she was right.

David has a strong testimony of the gospel. He is a wonderful priesthood leader in our home. He is a righteous example to the children, and always striving to do what's right. The gospel is the highest priority in his life and you can see this in his actions and the choices that he makes in his life.

David has a wonderful sense of humor, he keeps us laughing all the time. He is always fun to be around and lifts the spirits of everyone around him.

David is a special man, I think that anyone who knows him can agree to that. We love him and pray that he will be back home with us soon, on his road to recovery.

The Eve of Surgery

2008-09-02T19:12:00.000-07:00

I hope my blog posts aren't getting too boring for everyone. I hear that people want more updates so I'll try to deliver. David and Sam went to Portland today for David's pre-op appointment. I stayed home to take Charlie and Katie to their open houses for school since I will miss their first day of school tomorrow. David met with the surgeons and they explained the surgery that will happen tomorrow. He is to check in at 10:30 and the surgery is scheduled for 12:00 or 1:00pm. We are extremely dissappointed that they will have to crack his entire chest to access his heart. We were told previously that this would not be neccessary. This means about a year of pain for David. He is not to work for at least 2 weeks and can't lift anything for 3 months. His pace maker will be placed just under his heart in the center or his torso instead of in his shoulder like most people. The leads will be all around the outside of his heart.

We would appreciate all the prayers we can get tomorrow. This is going to be a hard day for our whole family.

Finally...Another Update

2008-08-30T21:52:00.000-07:00

Sorry it's been so long since I updated. It seemed like the new information has been coming slowly. We spent almost all day last Sunday in the ER again, getting David's seizure medication changed because he was having an allergic reaction to the Dilantin. Once we got that all straightened out his itching and dizziness has improved a lot.

Thursday David has his cath. The information we got from that test is about what we thought they'd find out. They did studies on the pressures in his heart, and they looked o.k. When he had his surgery in 2004 they left hole in his heart, they call it a fenestration (sp?) to allow his body to get used to the new way that his blood would flow. During the cath they wanted to close the hole so that his oxygen level would increase even more. Currently his oxygen saturation runs about 92-93 and with the hole closed it would run about 97-98. They closed it for about 20 minutes and then decided that it wasn't a good idea. With the problems that his heart is having with rhythm it would just be too risky. The doctors are hoping that after he gets a pace maker and his heart is beating correctly they will be able to close the hole. The study has also shown that his heart function has declined, but they are also hoping that this is because of the irregular heartbeats. The hope is that with a pace maker, his heart function could improve.

The other part of the cath was the electro-physiology study. With this test they were trying to find a place inside his heart to pace it. David said that in the procedure they would get it working and then lose it shortly after. The doctors told us that they were not able to pace his heart like they would a normal heart (I don't think they were expecting this to be possible anyways). He is going to have to have a more complicated surgery to put the pace maker in. We think that the surgery is going to happen on Wednesday. Of course it has to be the first day of school, not to mention the first day that Charlie will go to the Spanish Immersion school and Katie's first day of Kindergarten. We are very lucky that the kids have such great Aunts that be taking care of them. They'll have to take lots of pictures for us!

David feels pretty good, he still hasn't recovered completely from the initial problems a couple of weeks ago. He says that he's just more tired and he can tell that his slow heartbeat is taking a toll on him. He's adjusting to the medicine a little better each day. We sure appreciate everybody's prayers and concern. Without our family and friends we couldn't make it through these trials. Thanks for everything.

Another Hospital Visit

2008-08-23T12:00:00.000-07:00

David has been feeling tired and dizzy for the past few days. The doctors took him off the Lisinipril to see if that would help. It took away the dizziness, but he was still feeling exhausted. Thursday and Friday he said that he was having waves of confusion and that he was really tired and having a hard time concentrating. I talked to the doctors at OHSU and they just said to go to the ER if he was feeling like he was going to faint. We did not like this answer because there was definitely something wrong, but he didn't think he ever felt like he would faint.

Last night I took him into After-Hours and they said they could not do anything for him, if he needed to be seen he should go to the ER. David felt like he was just tired and if he rested and got a good night's sleep he would feel better in the morning. Charlie and Katie came home from the ward campout with Sam and Kathi and Sam gave David a blessing. I took Katie and Audrey to bed and about an hour later David came in saying that something was really wrong and I needed to call 911. His left leg was twitching and he was halfway off the bed. The Paramedics came in and he continued to have seizures all the way to the hospital. Once we got to the ER, he had one more big seizure and then they were able to give him some medication to stop them short term. During these seizures he was always completely conscious and able to talk through them, the only his left arm and leg would twitch. Bishop Glazier and Brother Hurst were able to come to the ER and give him another blessing. Sam and Kathi and I stayed with him in the ER. They did another CT scan of his head, which of course came back showing nothing. They also did neurology tests (David calls them stupid human tricks). He loses movement and control on his left side during the seizures but seems to regain all of his strength once they are over. After talking to the Neurologists up at OHSU, they decided that he just needed to be on some anti-seizure medicine and then he could go home. I pressed the issue - not sure he was ready to go home. I asked that they at least call and talk to the cardiologists up at OHSU and see what they said. They also said it was ok to go home, with the medication. I warned that if there was any sort of trouble I was bringing him back.

They gave David a super dose of the anti-seizure medicine in the hospital through an IV, and then gave us a prescription to fill today. The IV medicine made him itch all over severely, which he did not appreciate. It also altered his thinking quite a bit. He is finally coming out of that now, but is extremely tired. Once we got home this morning at about 6:15, he was really fidgety and itchy. He kept trying to get up (which he wasn't able to do because he can't stand straight without falling over), and was extremely agitated. Finally I think he's a little calmer and the medicine has worn off a bit. He's actually sleeping at the moment. Hopefully this medicine will do the trick and we can make it until next Thursday, when he has the cath scheduled. I'm making sure that he takes it very easy at this point and we're watching him very closely.

Change of Plans

2008-08-19T16:23:00.001-07:00

We've had a sudden change of plans. Because of the doctor's schedules David's cath has been postponed until Friday, August 29th. I told the nurse that called that David had been feeling dizzy and tired. They said to stop taking the heart medication that they had started immediately. We need to know if he is dizzy from the medication or if his heart is causing it. If he's still dizzy tomorrow and Friday we are supposed to call the doctor immediately. I asked if they know how big of a hurry they will be in to put in a pace maker and he said it depends on the symptoms that David has. So for now I guess we're on hold.

Home

2008-08-18T06:07:00.000-07:00

We've been home all weekend, David's feeling pretty good. He's having a little bit of a hard time adjusting to the heart medication they put him on. It makes him tired and a little dizzy at times, but overall he says he feels good. We went to church yesterday and he plans on going to work this morning.

The cath has been scheduled for Wednesday at noon, and he will probably have to spend one night in the hospital. We should know more about the pace maker after that. We're not really sure how quick they will want to do that.

Thank you for all your prayers, it's been wonderful!

We're Comin' Home...For Now

2008-08-15T13:03:00.000-07:00

We are officially being discharged right now! Things are definitely looking up. We have to come back next week for the cardiac catheterization, and they are saying that he will have to have a pace maker put in. During the cardiac cath they will find out how they will be able to put the pace maker in and how invasive of a surgery it will be. David's our miracle...always has been. He sure is a trooper through everything he has to go through.

We are so thankful for all of the comments, emails, phone calls and prayers. It sure is nice to know that people are thinking of you. We are also extremely appreciative of everyone that has helped out with the kids and various other things to make our load a little lighter. We sure feel loved!

Friday Morning

2008-08-15T06:16:00.000-07:00

David had his MRI last night at about 11:00 pm. We haven't heard about the results yet, but his alarms on his heart monitor went off a lot last night. We are just waiting to hear if he's going to have a heart catheterization today. We could possibly going home today. They results of his EEG look great, there looks like there aren't any wierd things going on in his brain.

Another piece of good new - in Eugene they told us that his red blood cell count was too high. This is something that was corrected when he had his heart surgery. I asked the nurse yesterday about his labs and she showed me the report and said that the red blood cells count and his hematicrit (sp?) was all normal. The only thing that was off was his Platlet count, and it is always low.

Thursday Afternoon

2008-08-14T13:50:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry I haven't updated as much as I'd like to. This hospital is S-L-O-W!!! We finally just saw some doctors and it's almost 2:00.

On the Neurology side - David had a EEG yesterday but it hasn't been read yet. The Neurologists would like to get an MRI done tonight just to make sure there is nothing to be concerned about. They don't think they are going to put him on any medication but there is some REALLY BAD NEWS. They don't want him driving for six months. I don't know how we are going to handle this!

The cardiologists want to do the catheterization. They are going to try to schedule it for tomorrow. If they can't get it done then they will let us go home and have us come back when they can get it scheduled. During the cath they will do some studies on his heart rhythm. They are still talking about a pace maker which is also bad news. Because of the way his heart is they don't know how they will put a pace maker in. They way they would do it in a normal heart is a simple surgery and not a big deal. They have to figure out where they would put the leads on David's heart. This could mean open heart surgery again. His heart is still doing the 3-5 second pauses but then it will just pick back up and start beating again. Except for the pauses his heart rate is stabilizing a little bit. He hasn't had as many episodes of racing or slowing down too much.

David is definitely ready to get out of here. He wants to go home and go to the fair. (I think he's feeling a little better)! They took off his oxygen and gave him permission to go down to the cafeteria. Can you believe this? The ICU does not have bathrooms or showers. They can't find a bed for him on a normal floor so they are going to let him shower in the employee locker room. I think a shower will make him feel like a new man! Today has been good news and bad news but at least were getting somewhere and we're getting closer to going home.

Update on David - Wednesday Afternoon

2008-08-13T16:11:00.000-07:00

We finally have a little more information. The cardiologists came by about 3:00 today. They say that looking at the echo-cardiogram David's heart function has declined significantly. They think that we need to keep a better eye on him (or in other words he needs to be seen by the cardiologists more often). They want to do a cardiac catheterization sometime soon and are going to try to schedule it while we are here. They are still thinking about a pace maker the cath will help them decide if that is needed. Because of the decline in his heart function they need to start to preserve his heart, which means medications called ace-inhibitors. These medications take pressure off of his heart and help his heart muscle not work as hard.

As soon as the cardiologists left, the neurologists came by. They say that we have to assume that what happened was a seizure although it may not have been. Since he hasn't had a seizure in 8 years, it's likely that it could never happen again, or it might just happen about every 10 years. Their recommendation is that we take a conservative approach and not use medication to stop seizures. There has been no change in strength in either side of his body, or brain function, which is a good sign. Right now they are doing and EEG test, and assuming everything looks good this is the approach they will take.

They also have a theory about the blood that he threw up. They looked at the laceration on his tongue and said that it was a pretty bad one. Hey think that when he had the "seizure" his tongue bled A LOT!!! He swallowed the blood, which irritated his stomach and caused him to throw up. Everybody seems to think that we shouldn't worry about that issue anymore. What a relief! One less problem to work out.

Everybody is asking what they can do to help. Please pray for us. Pray for the kids that they will handle being away from us well, and pray for David that he will heal soon. Also pray for the Doctors that they will know what to do and how to help David.

David fixed my mom's computer so that we have the internet in his room. This has improved his mood quite a bit. If his tongue didn't hurt so bad he'd probably feel like he did before all this happened.

David

2008-08-13T05:33:00.000-07:00

I thought this blog would be a great way to update people on what's going on with David. I'll try to update at least once a day.

Late Monday night Brett(my brother) and Joey (David's brother) found David asleep on the couch, having trouble breathing and thrashing around. They tried to wake him up but he was not coherent. I was asleep on our bed with Audrey and so they came and woke me up, saying that something was very wrong with David. When I got out to the living room his face looked very blue, his breathing was really raspy and when I tried to wake him up he was non-responsive. He was tossing and turning on the couch and moaning like he was in pain or he was struggling to breathe. I immediately called 911 and asked for an ambulance to come. My dad was staying with us so he came downstairs and gave David a blessing immediately.

When the paramedics came David was still incoherent but very agitated that they were trying to talk to him or touch him. He tried punching one of them and he did not appreciate that we had turned on the lights. He got really mad when they tried to check his blood sugar. They loaded him into the ambulance and headed for Riverbend. I guess on the way to the hospital he was still violent and he started throwing up a lot of blood . He says that this was when he started to wake up but he wasn't fully aware of what was going on until he got to the hospital. They did not want me riding in the ambulance so when we got to the hospital we had to wait for quite awhile before we were able to go back and see him or even know what was going on. David's parents had come to the house while the paramedics were there and they drove me and Joey to the hospital.

When we finally got back to the ER we found that David's oxygen saturation had dropped to the 60's (normal people are around 98-100, David's oxygen is normally about 90-93). His face was still very blue and he had on an oxygen mask. He had responded a little to the mask (raising his oxygen level to about 75 but they had to try a bi-pap machine. They threatened that if that didn't work he would have to have a breathing tube put in because not only was he not getting enough oxygen but he rate of breathing was too fast and they were afraid that he would tire quickly. He did respond to the bi-pap machine. They proceeded to do tons of labs and tests to find out what had happened. While in a CT scan (they had ordered one of his head to see if he had an abscess or maybe they could tell if he had a seizure, and then one of his chest) they had to cancel after just doing the head CT scan because his heart rate dropped into the 20's.

Here is a synopsis of what the concerns were with this event:

He might have had a seizure.
Because he was throwing up blood he could have been bleeding internally.
His heart rate may have dropped too low (causing seizure like symptoms).
He may have had a heart attack.
There could have been a problem with the surgery that he had four years ago (something malfunctioned).

They simply don't know what caused any of this, and are currently trying to figure out what the initial problem was and then what other symptoms it had caused.

He was put in a room in ICU at Sacred Heart, and then it was decided that he should be moved to OHSU as soon as possible.

During the night his heart rate was very irregular. He fluctuates between 25-100. They have also insisted he have oxygen (this irritates the heck out of him).

We were transferred to OHSU at about 11:00 Tuesday morning. The trip in the ambulance went fine. David was actually looking much better and his breathing was stable. As long as he's awake his heart seems to be beating at a good rate. We arrived at OHSU at about 1:00 Tuesday afternoon. David's parents, his brother John and then my mom arrived shortly after we did. At about 3:00 the doctor came to get a history and they started testing. He had an echo-cardiogram, a chest x-ray and an EKG. About 6:00 Dr. Weiss (a cardiologist that has known David for a few years) came and we talked about what they think happened, and what the plan was. They think that he probably had a seizure but are not 100 percent sure. They also don't know what might have caused the seizure and would have to look into that. They are pretty sure that there is nothing wrong with his surgery that he had, because he would be sicker than he is and he has actually improved quite a bit since he arrived in the ER. The plan is to start testing everything starting with his head and working their way down. Dr. Weiss said that worse-case scenario, we would be here about a week. He is planning on starting with a neurologist. We are currently in ICU at OHSU but might be able to move to a regular room soon. The doctors are letting him eat (Finally!). And much to his relief and at his request they removed the catheter so that he can get up and walk around.

Last night at about 10:00 a neurologist came and got a full history again, we are sure getting tired of telling the story. He did some tests to see if his strength is the same on both sides of his body and they asked him a bunch of questions to see if his brain is working properly. He passed all the questions with flying colors. They are going to try to send for his brain scan from Eugene, or possibly repeat it here today. The team of neurologists is supposed to see him this morning.

We also had a little problem with his heart rate in the night. He goes on these 4-5 second pauses where his heart doesn't beat. Needless to say he doesn't get much sleep because he sets off the alarms every few minutes. His heart rate is also fluctuating quite a bit. He seems to be tolerating the rate that his heart is beating (no dizziness or nausea). They say it's possible that his heart may have been doing this for a long time, but it never caused symptoms and therefore was never monitored.

David's spirits are a little better. He hates being in the hospital and so he is always a little grouchy. His tongue is hurting (we think he bit it during his episode at home), so it's hard to eat and talk. We have been assured that tongues heal quickly and so this shouldn't last too long. Other than that he looks good and says that he feels good. Nothing else is hurting and he feels like he can get enough air. We're hoping that they find out what happened and are able to address it quickly so we can get home to those kids!

Thanks to everyone who is helping with the kids. We could not survive without all the help. I hope they are being good! I will try to update again later today when we have more information.

Swordfern Trail

2008-08-06T22:22:00.001-07:00

We hiked the Swordfern trail on Monday. It was supposed to be 1.5 miles but ended up being 2 miles. Swordfern trail is off of Rujada campground about 20 miles east of Cottage Grove. Audrey at the beginning of the hike. She loves to ride in the backpack. When we got it out of the car she ran towards it and yelled, "mine!"
This is Audrey in the middle of the hike. As much as she loves hiking, she always falls asleep.
Katie decided to collect wildflowers. She got some really pretty ones, and was quite proud.
This rock that we saw on the trail was huge. I know that the picture doesn't do it justice, but see if you can see the kids in the bottom left hand corner. That kind of put it into perspective.

Sharps Creek

2008-08-06T21:36:00.000-07:00

We went camping this weekend with Jed and Amanda, and my mom and Brett. It was a ton of fun. We spent time swimming every day, and then we went hiking and even got to play some cards. Sharps Creek was the best campground. We were the only people there most of the time, and there was a great field in our site for the kids to play in. There was also a herd of cows behind the fence. I must say we have never camped next to cows!

David, Jed and the kids went fishing. This is what they came home with. Here's Jed showing of the catch of the day - a 1-inch minnow!

The kids - eating my wonderful breakfast. I wouldn't suggest cooking bacon on the fire. We tried to lay foil on the grill and all went well until the grease caught fire. Our bacon was a little on the done side.
Charlie has decided that he can cook his own food, and he loves corn on the cob!

Hiking at Sweet Creek

2008-07-27T22:07:00.000-07:00

We went hiking last night with Amanda and Jed. It was a blast! We went to Sweet Creek Falls and it is just about the perfect hike with kids. We had dinner there at a picnic table, then hiked in and swam for awhile in the FREEZING COLD water. Then we hike out and on the way home we saw a bear. It was running along the road just ahead of us. When it saw us it went in to the bushes. The kids were really excited to see a bear, but Katie was terrified of it.

Here's Katie at the beginning of the hike ready to go. She insisted on bringing her swimsuit, life jacket and towl and swimming in the cold water. The funny thing is she brought that life jacket all by herself, I didn't even think about needing it.

Everytime we go somewhere I try to get a picture of all the kids together. This one didn't turn out to bad!

We went on a little path that we thought was "Sweet Creek Falls." It just led us to a parking lot with this at the top. The kids saw this and asked, "Is this Sweet Creek Falls?" That was a long hike for this view!

Charlie plays on the rocks, but he's very careful not to get in the water. He keeps telling us it's because he can't swim. I think we need to get him some swimming lessons.

Sydney is actually quite adept at scaling the rocks. Although, I'm a little nervous the whole time that she's going to slip and hit her head. She doesn't seem to be worried at all about falling.

Jed was trying to get Katie to actually swim in the water. It was FREEZING! She got close but would never get all the way in.

Here is the crawdad that David, Jed and the kids caught. Don't you think David should shoot pictures for National Geographic?

SLEEPING!!!

2008-07-27T07:22:00.001-07:00

I got the camera out to take a really cute picture of Audrey sleeping but when I took the picture I found out she wasn't actually sleeping like I thought she was. Go figure!

Audrey fell asleep on the rocking chair watching Dora. Isn't she cute?

I came home to this one morning after paper route, they were all so cute I had to get a picture!

Company Picnic

2008-07-27T06:59:00.000-07:00

David had his company picnic at Emerald Park this year. We assumed that they changed the location to closer in town because of gas prices. Smart move! We had a fun day, the weather was great, the kids had tons of fun and came home with lots of cool prizes. Here are some highlights!

I had told Sydney time and again not to pick the paint off of her arm. In this picture she is actually trying to hide from me so that I don't see her doing it. Little did she know I WAS watching and got it with the camera.

They always have a clown, and the kids love to have her make ballon objects and paint their faces.

Audrey found somebody else's chair that she really liked, she kept going back to sit in it. She was also showing off that paint that the clown did on her arm. She's very proud!

Katie figured out how to hula hoop on her own while we were there. She's actually quite good at it. When that girl wants to learn something she figures out how to do it.

Trip to the Zoo

2008-07-13T07:11:00.000-07:00

This last week we went to the zoo. I took the kids all by myself and met Toni and my mom there. We went to Toni's house and then rode the Max to the zoo. That was an adventure. It was 2$ Tuesday so the zoo was "a zoo." We had a great time. Toni took the older kids and that was great because the babies were a little slower looking at all the animals. That is why I don't have many pictures of Charlie and Katie. They all had a blast and asked when we could go back. The zoo is definitely one of our favorite places to visit! I thought I capture a rare moment.

Audrey was concerned about the Cougars sleeping right next to

her on the other side of the glass.

Katie petting the goats. We stood in line forever to do this and by the time we got in the fence we all knew the rules by heart. No running, Don't pet the goats head, no loose clothing or paper, wash your hands when you leave!

Audrey trying desperately to see the giraffes from her stroller!

Audrey after a full day at the zoo. We have a picture of me just like this at

the same age at the Portland zoo. I'll have to find it and post it.

Sydney wearing Grandma's sun hat.

Sydney was very upset when it was time to go home, she had gotten a map of the zoo and was trying to tell us all the animals that we didn't see. My mom said we'd better take that map away from her before she gets too upset. We just had to assure her that we would come back soon.

Noon Day Trail

2008-07-13T07:05:00.000-07:00

The day after the 4th of July David, Charlie and I went with Brett, Amanda and Jed on a 4-wheeling trip up the Noon-Day trail. David has been wanting to go ever since we went last year. It was tons of fun. Amanda and Jed had trouble with their Jeep on the way up (we must really like their company because they have car trouble on every trip we go on). Once we finally got that taken care of we arrived at the trailhead at about 12:30 pm. I was nervous of course (not sure if I wanted to go again after the last time). It was worse this time because I knew what was coming. We had to stop every 2o minutes or so to let the Jeep cool down so it wouldn't overheat, but we actually made it through the trail in about 2 1/2 hours. David and I had to be pulled out of the snow (can you believe we hit snow on the 5th of July?) about three times, and we actually had to pull the Jeep out once (Amanda was driving). We couldn't make it to the top because of the snow, but we had tons of fun and can't wait to go again!

Check out my Slide Show!

2008-07-13T06:54:00.001-07:00

Charlie's Thoughts

2008-07-12T20:32:00.000-07:00

Here is what Charlie told us today at the company picnic. Somebody came by and said they were surprised by how many kids David had. When she left Charlie said, "Mom, how many grandkids do you want?" I replied with, "I expect four kids out of each of you." Then Charlie said, " I'm only making three babies (where did he learn that?)! Well, it depends on what kind of wife I have. I'll have to ask her how many kids the wants."

4th of July

2008-07-05T21:43:00.000-07:00

We had a great 4th of July...here's a quick recap!

I tried really hard to get a picture of all the kids. These two were the best I could come up with. It's really hard to get them all looking at the camera at the same time, let alone smiling at looking at the camera.

What a cutie!

Our ward had a 4th of July breakfast and celebration. The kids did a parade with their bikes in the church parking lot. They loved decorating their bikes and showing them off in the parade.

We went out to Fern Ridge with my family and Jed's family. It was fun to relax around the lake. We played games had hamburgers, and chased the kids. The fireworks at the lake lasted forever, just when we thought they were done and started to pack things up, they started again. David, my dad, Charlie, Katie, and Sydney took the canoe out in Fern Ridge. I don't think they really liked it because they went just a little ways and then came right back. David said it felt like it was going to tip the whole time, and the last time my dad went out in it, he did tip it. We need to get them a sturdier boat, and one with a motor!

Rodeo

2008-07-04T15:22:00.001-07:00

At the last minute we decided to go to the rodeo, it was lots of fun! The kids really like the animals. Charlie asked tons of questions, Katie was excited to get a Rodeo Princesses autograph, Sydney wanted to go home the whole time, and Audrey especially loved the fireworks. Overall we loved going, the rodeo has special meaning to David and I, David took me on one of our first dates! Boy have we come a long hard road since that day! It's strange to look back and think about not having children. Here is Amanda and Katie enjoying the show together.

Audrey loved the rodeo (whenever there was actually something happening). The in between times were a bit of a challenge. We felt like there were ants crawling all over us. Audrey clapped when everyone else clapped.

This is Audrey's way of showing that she's excited! She does this about a lot of things, but this time whenever the animals came out she would put her hands straight up in the air and then did a little wave with her hands, I tried to capture it on camera, but it's just not the same.

I had to post this picture of Carson (Jed's brother). I just thought he was adorable. When I asked him to show me his huge belt buckle he did this pose that looked just like a cowboy and I had to capture it on film.

Bad at Updating

2008-07-03T06:47:00.000-07:00

Since I have been so bad at updating, I thought I'd just do a quick post to showcase some of our pictures and what's been going on in our life. We have baseball updates coming and some more summer fun!

I was getting complaints about not enough pictures of Audrey. So her you go. This is her at Charlie's baseball game. She loved to walk up and down the edge of the field.

Notice she is carrying shoes, they are her new favorite thing. Audrey has a fascination with shoes (like her Aunt Amanda). Her new hobby is putting on everyone's shoes. She usually has a different shoe on each foot, and she'll walk around that house like that all day.

When I was teaching Katie's primary class as a sub I took pictures of all the kids "being reverent." This was such a rare moment and such a beautiful picture that I had to share it!

This is the view David got through the kitchen window one night when he came home from the store. They were enjoying themselves very much. This was all because Audrey had an accident with a cat, or rather that cat had an accident ON Audrey.

This is Charlie's idea of an after school snack!

Sydney at her Teens n Tots graduation. Notice she's eating her breakfast,

dry cereal in a plastic bag!

Katie's 2008 Spring Soccer Season

2008-06-02T11:55:00.000-07:00

Katie loved playing soccer this year, she even came home from practice one night and put herself to bed. She gives it everything she's go! Her Aunt Emily said at one game that we should tell her to stop scoring so many goals because it was a little embarrassing!

2008-06-02T11:36:00.000-07:00

We had no idea that her fiesty attitude at home would come in so handy on the soccer field!

2008-06-02T11:33:00.000-07:00

Notice the tongue hanging out!

2008-06-02T10:13:00.000-07:00

Katie did a great job playing soccer this spring. This was her first organized sport (if you could call Kindergarten soccer organized). She loved when people would come and watch her, her spectators included Grandma and Grandpa Leon, Uncle John, Uncle Joey and Ashli, Grandma and Grandpa Slaughter, Aunt Emily, Aunt Amanda and Uncle Jed, and of course Dad, Mom, Charlie, Sydney, and Audrey.

Charlie's 2008 Spring Soccer Season

2008-06-01T05:54:00.001-07:00

Charlie had a great season this year. This was his first time playing soccer and I think he really liked it. He kept right up with the boys that had been playing a couple of years. He loved having his family come and watch and really liked getting to know the boys on the team. Charlie's a great team player and one of his strengths was passing the ball to his team. He had a couple of really good assists this season.

Katie Enters Draw Me A Miracle Fundraiser

2008-06-01T05:08:00.000-07:00

Katie entered the Draw Me A Miracle fundraiser at the hospital last month at Aunt Amanda's suggestion. She was very excited to go find her artwork that was displayed at the hospital. Here she is with her painting of "A Flower in My Garden."

When I told her

that somebody had bought her painting ( I didn't mention that it was Aunt Emily) all she wanted was to know if she would get some of the money that they paid. After explaining what she had painted the picture for, we think she understood that she did it to help the little babies at the hospital.