Easter

Easter weekend was busy for our family. Miss Madison celebrated her 6th Birthday, which she got a new bike for. Then Easter was the next day, but we were already gifted out from Madie's party, so the Easter Bunny almost dropped the ball, but fortunately Cody came to the rescue and helped a bunny out. Cody stopped by a couple of stores and picked up a Calico Critters camping set for Madie, and a bowling set Cash had on his "wish list" from Wal-Mart, along with some jelly beans and eggs stuffed with nasty chalky candy. This morning the kiddos couldn't wait to go into the living room and see what the Easter Bunny brought. Madie later told Grandma Burns "the Easter Bunny brought me SOOO much stuff," and Cash informed Uncle K.C. "He hid it all. I had to go find it" when K.C. asked if the Easter Bunny brought him any candy. And it was so wonderful to get to hear Cody explain why the Easter Bunny brings us treats when Madie asked. He explained that they are gifts just like Jesus gave us many gifts, and it reminds us of them.

There She Goes

When we moved into our house Madie was just our little peanut busy growing. We didn't know if we were having a boy or girl yet, but one thing we did know is that the baby I was carrying would NEVER end up going to the school just down the street from us. As wonderful of a school as it was, and regardless of how much fun those little kiddos were having at recess each day, that day was just SO far off for our little tiny baby, and it surely would never actually happen. Soon we found out that little baby would be a precious little girl that would change our world, but that school just down the street still seemed like forever off into the future. As our family grew to welcome Cash, and our little girl grew to become a little lady, we started to realize the kids walking to school weren't that much older than Madie. Then it started to sink in: those kids are Madie's age, and our little girls actually is going to that school one day, and that day was quickly approaching.

Well, today the day came. And she went. Off to Daybreak Elementary to be a Daybreak Dolphin. Not a tear shed, not an ounce of nervousness. Miss Madison walked off with her class giddy and happy to finally be a kindergartner. She was so excited- Paige was in Mrs. Collins' class with her, and for the entire week leading up to today they would count down the days till school, and then start yelling "YAY!" while jumping up and down together. Once she got to school today she found out Addy and Harry were also in her class, which was a fun surprise for her, but will be quite the adventure for Mrs. Collins.

The entire time we were dropping Madie off, I had to keep reminding myself "I still have 3 years till Cash goes to school," but I have a feeling those 3 years will be going by quite quickly.

We picked out her outfit last night, and I left work early so I could walk her to school today with Cash and Daddy. I got home early enough to do her hair, which she wanted in "two braids," so I did my best I could at piggy french braids.

Scary Chick-Fil-A Cows, and Easter

For Easter this year we decided (ok, so I begged Cody) to go to the Easter Eggstravaganza at Thanksgiving Point. It was sponsored by Chick-Fil-A, and they had a cute little cow train that went around the park. Who can say "no" to a train ride with a cow? Well, that question was answered within seconds of the Chick-Fil-A mascot approaching us. Cash's "udder" fear of mascots is our benefit, as I still cannot look at this photo without busting out laughing. I could understand a face of such devastation if say someone were destroying his blanket (which is starting to resemble a piece of sandpaper sewed onto a polka-dot piece of fabric, since apparently you can wash out the softness of a baby blanket), but a 16 year old dressed up in a ratty cow costume should only get such a reaction if he WERE the 16 year old being told to go put on the cow costume. This mascot fear is something that is definitely going to need to be addressed before we plan a trip to Disney!

 

 After the cow adventure, and bumpy wagon ride that reminded me I'm much closer to 30 than 20 years old, we were ready for the hunt. Being Burns' these kiddos were ready to scout out the eggs, and spot and stalk them. But.... being a kinda crappy overpriced "eggstravaganza" their version of an egg hunt was having a group of teenagers throwing out boxes of plastic eggs stuff with useless junk like weird stickers and lame candy that could get a housed egged if you handed it out for Halloween. Lucky for us, we made a haul at the Easter egg hunt (blogger really needs to get on the development of a sarcasm font).

 Fortunately, we spent Easter Sunday at Grandma and Grandpa Burns' house, and the kiddos had the chance to use their hunting skills in the egg hunt. Cash left his binoculars home, but luckily Grandma had backup hunting equipment like his magnifying glass that he actually found an egg using it that even all the grown ups had missed.

Red and White Game

This year we decided to go to the Utes Spring game, the Red and White game. It was a good excuse to get out our "go Utes" clothes, and spend some time out in the lovely weather. After getting to stand in the Snowie line twice, and then going back out into the breezeway to clean up from the Snowie disaster, I got to catch a few minutes of the game, and get my first farmers tan of the year. Yay! Madie is definately growing up as a little Ute, practicing her "Go Utes U" with her hands all the time.

 When we left the house that morning Cash insisted on bringing his Utah football, and I insisted that he leave it in the car if he was going to bring it. Lucky for him, parking was a lot worse than Cody and I expected, and I threw Cody and the kids out of the car while I went and parked in one of my "secret" handicap parking spots I knew about (when I still had my handicap parking pass from my pulmonary embolism- one of the "perks") and Cash made it out of the car with his football and I pulled away before we realized he had it. Good thing that boy is sneeky, though, because after the game we were able to go out on the field and toss around the football.

 We're practicing our "GO UTES" cheers, throwing around our Utes football, and we are ready for some Utah football to start soon!

New Job.... Bye Bye 4 Day Weekends

Since this poor little blog is so far behind and hopeless of ever getting caught up on, I think I'm just going to start at this point, and hopefully update better from now on. We've been busy adjusting to life being a little more busy lately, because sadly my 3 day work schedule had to come to an end... BUT, it really is for the better. At the beginning of the year I started a new job, still within ARUP, but in a new lab. I'm now working in the histology lab, and I LOVE it. This working 5 days a week is keeping me busy, but it is a busy that I enjoy, and it makes me savor the time I have with my family in the evenings and on the weekends even more. Plus, I get my share of crafty time at work, because my lab feels like a scientific craft room.

Bunk Beds!

Since Cash has to always do whatever his big sister does, and has to be wherever big sister is, we decided to give it a try putting Madie and Cash together in the same room. I ordered the furniture today, so it should be in soon, and I'm pretty sure that I am the one that's the most excited (although Cash always wants to go to bed with Madie now, and tells me all about the bunk beds at bedtime). Madie told me today that I've already mentioned to her that we are getting bunk beds. As soon as the new bedroom gets set up, I will try to post pictures.

Much Better

Things are getting back to normal around here.
In fact, if I dare say, things are getting much better around here than before our little curveball in life.
Nothing like a near-death experience to really put your priorities in check.
(and unfortunately for this blog, my priorities are not taking pictures of everything we do)
I came home from the hospital Saturday, the 30th. 6 nights, and 6 days in room 173. And only room 173 (except for the fun little excursion I got to take to radiology Thursday for a chest x-ray because I started coughing up blood)
A LOT can be learned in 6 days spent in a hospital bed, and I was so blessed to have my family and friends teach it to me.

• My husband is the most amazing guy out there. Cody made sure he was with me every time the doctor visited, and took up residence on a recliner that didn't even recline all the way back. He was the loving support that got me through my first couple of days of shock, when I began to realize JUST how serious everything was. 
• I hope I never have to go through what my Mother did. It was my Mom that drove me around trying to find and urgent care that was open, and eventually talked me into going to the ER.  She had to sit in the ER room with me while the doctor told us I had suffered a pulmonary embolism. Being a mother myself, I cannot imagine hearing that sort of news about my children~ even if they are grown at the time.
• Grandparents are amazing, and sleepovers with Grandma Burns and Grandma Smith helped out more than I will ever be able to express. Knowing that my two little loves were being taken care of by people that love them as much as Cody and I relieved a lot of stress as a mother.
• Our neighbors are the best friends that I could have ever dreamed of. As soon as everyone heard about what was going on I had more people than I could have dreamed of not simply offering to help, but demanding we allow them to help.
• It's official: we have the most adorable Sunbeams ever. Pictures drawn by our precious Sunbeams came flooding to decorate the plain white walls, and make room 173 a little more like home away from home.
• There is nothing like a pulmonary embolism to completely clear out your schedule. I've taken a new approach towards life from this experience, and I am trying to eliminate the term "I'm too busy to do anything" from my list of most common phrases.

This past Wednesday I went to an appointment with my pulmonologist, and he said that my lungs sound like they are improving, and my medicine is doing its job keeping my blood thin. He said that I can start back to normal activities, but I just have to still take things a little easy. That shouldn't be too much of a problem, since my body basically keeps me in check by getting exhausted halfway through a normal day. Naps have become much more prevalent in our household lately.

We went back to Church today (technically yesterday, since it is 1:30am now), and it felt wonderful. As I walked into the building I felt a happiness and calm come upon me. The talks were focused on prayer today, as if it were planned perfectly just for me. God carried me through this entire experience, and prayers were answered all along the way.

Walking away from this experience I have no real negative emotions. I'm not ready to sign up for such an experience again, but what I have taken from it is irreplaceable.  Although not that many people read my blog anymore (at one point I was too busy to blog, now I just don't blog because I feel guilty posting without pictures) for those people that DO still read my blog, I want to thank you. I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for the prayers and well wishes.

Curveball

Reality sure seems to have a way of putting you in your place. I've got an agenda book that has everything this summer planned out till August 8th, which was (well, still technically is) the first day of no school for this summer for me. This summer I registered for 14 credit hours to do the final push of school, and be done with my degree by this fall. My schoolwork has affected EVERYONE in my family, from Cody having to work double duty to let me do all my homework and assignments, the kids having to stay out of our room while I'm on the computer doing work, and me being CONSTANTLY busy. If I wasn't at work, I was at school, if I wasn't at school, I was at home doing schoolwork, and the little bit of time I found leftover I managed to split between sleep and family time. To say our family has been running on empty waiting for this semester to be over would be an understatement.
Then, enters reality. On Saturday morning, July 23rd, I woke up my entire left lung having piercing sharp pains. Leading up to this I've had a bad cough, though, so I thought nothing of it, and figured I'd make an appointment Monday morning to get some medicine. We went on with life, because we had a busy weekend planned, and I wasn't going to let a little lung pain stand in the way. Saturday we went to Savannah's 4th Birthday party, visited with friends, had an amazing crawdad boil, and went to sleep. Sunday morning we wake up, and my lung still hurts, but we had 9am Church, and there are too many precious 3 and 4 year old Sunbeams waiting for us at Church not to go. So off to Church we went as a family, and normal life continued. Sunday afternoon I laid down for a nap while the children were napping, and the pain began to get worse and spread. I had a few homework assignments due that night, so I woke up and finished those assignments while Cody took the kiddos to his parents to give me some quiet time. That's when I started to realize I probably needed to get to the doctor that evening to get some pain medicine, because I wasn't going to be able to sleep that night with the pain getting worse.
So, the adventure begins! I walked up to my mom's apartment (Cody had taken the car to his parents with the kiddos) and ask her to take me to an Insta-Care just up the street. When we got there, they had closed early that night in observance of Pioneer Day (a state holiday for Utah). The sign said there was another Insta-Care in Murray open till 10pm, so we traveled there, arriving at 9:10pm, to discover that location actually closed at 9pm. That's when my mom told me we should go to an emergency room, which is the last thing I wanted to deal with. Luckily I caved to my mom and we went to Jordan Valley Hospital's ER. I was checked in with chest pain, so I was moved up on the list and didn't have to wait long at all (SCORE!) Soon they were drawing blood and X-Raying my chest, finding no cause to my pain. My blood levels did come back a little high for a value that indicated I possibly could have had some clotting, so the doctor ordered a CTScan, even though he didn't believe I had any clotting. To EVERYONE'S surprise the CTScan came back that I indeed did have clotting- quite a few clots- in my lungs- both lungs. I was immediately checked into the hospital at 2am Monday July 25, and am still waiting for a discharge date. Monday evening my pulmonologist came in to talk to me, and that's when the news really sunk in for me. Luckily Cody was in the room, and was able to take in everything, because my mind couldn't even wrap around the first sentence he said- that if I hadn't been here in the hospital, I very likely could have been dead. He later told us that cases like my are rarely diagnosed, but rather usually discovered in autopsies.
So, here I sit, in a hospital bed- which was NOT anywhere in my planner. But, as much as this has thrown everything in the air as far as plans, I feel more blessed than anything. I am blessed that I get to sit in the hospital and recover. I am blessed that I am planning family activities once I get out, instead of my family planning a funeral for me. I am blessed that my Heavenly Father is giving me time to appreciate the many blessings and miracles he has put in my life lately. I am blessed that I will get to tuck my two precious kiddos into their beds then go to bed and snuggle up with my husband, even if it may not be tonight. I'm blessed that I will get to go to Church, and enjoy our precious little Sunbeams, and give thanks to my Heavenly Father for the miracle he has given me, which is one more breath.

2

Somehow time must have fast-forwarded, or something, because this morning I found myself wishing my {baby} Happy 2nd Birthday. Even though I keep saying he has to stay my little snuggle partner, I'm finding everyday my little snuggle partner is still just as cuddly as ever, but not staying so little.

For every selfish reason in the world, I want this little boy to stay my baby for forever, but because I love him so much, I am so excited for him to grow up. He celebrated his Birthday on Father's Day today, which made me think all day that someday my little Cash will become a father, and I can only hope he is blessed with a little boy as wonderful as Cody and I have been.

Happy Birthday, our amazing little boy. You continue to make your Mommy and Daddy so proud that our cheeks hurt from always grinning ear to ear, and your Big Sister Madison could not have dreamed of such a great little brother (well, except for hitting her with your new bat). 

P.S. We {well me, Meg} are a little busy right now just trying to survive this summer while I finish up school, but I will try really hard to update the blog a little more often.

Happy Holidays!



HoHoHo! We had a great time yesterday having breakfast with Santa!



Yellowstone

When I was 4 or 5 my family went to Yellowstone. We also went to Mount Rushmore and I'm sure a lot of other really fun things I don't remember. The ONE thing I remember from that trip (other than the family reunion, which is the reason we made the trip) was Old Faithful. It was chilly and rainy. We had to go into the Old Faithful Inn to buy a sweatshirt for me since it was so cold. I've always wanted to go back, and see it as an adult to really be able to appreciate it's greatness. I finally got to go back in the middle of October. Our wonderful friends Douglas and Sarah invited us to their family cabin in Island Park, and we went into the park 2 of the days we were there. It was magical- it made me feel 5 again. Well, a five year old with the patience of a mommy of 2 kiddos. And I think part of what made it so magical was the fact that the day we went into Yellowstone with Madie and Cash was a day just like when I was a little girl and we went to see Old Faithful. It was a cold drizzly grey day, and it couldn't have been more perfect for me. It took me back to my childhood- a fabulous one that I enjoy sharing with Cody and the kiddos. We didn't end up with a lot of pictures, but here is one that brings back every memory I have of my original trip to Yellowstone when I was 5: Miss Madison walking on the sidewalks at Old Faithful, with a Yellowstone sweatshirt on.

Can I tell you how much I love this girl, and how amazing it is too watch her grow up into a beautiful young lady!

And this little guy was the best trooper. He did great the entire day just taking everything in while spending most of the time in the backpack. The only word Cash says is still "mum," and everyday it melts my heart more and more. To say he is a mama's boy would be an understatement!

(Dad, I promise I will try to start updating more. It's been pretty easy to put the blog on the back burner since nobody else reads it anymore.)

finally feeling better!

After a solid week and a half of ALL of us feeling like this (but definitely not looking this cute) I think it is safe to say all the fevers are gone, and just little runny noses and coughs are left as a souvenir of the good old H1N1.
Now we are ready to go to the TCU vs. Utah game!