Given's Hot Springs (June 1)

We wanted to go camping with our little family this weekend and decided to go camp out at Given's Hot springs. You can camp and swim at the pool, and it was only about an hour away!

We got there; set up our camp on the grass, had a swing set and a picnic table, and bathrooms very close by. Then we went swiming. It was quite a bit warmer than we expected that day. If I remember right, the temperature never got below 70 all night! So swiming at the HOT SPRINGS was almost too warm. but the kids still had fun, and we got some popcicles when we were done.

That night turned out to be one of the hardest camping nights we have ever had... First of all it is never easy with a 1 yr old who just wants the comfort of their own bed, and an almost three year old who sings and tosses herself to bed for hours every night, but doing it in a tent with all of us was horiable.  Chase and Tyler were so good and just layed quiet.

 

Tyler is so good at falling asleep. He can dround out anything, and was the first one to fall asleep and slept all night.  We finally got Zack to sleep, but he woke up around 2, and finally at 3:00 in the morning I took him for a drive because nothing else was working.

 The wind blew all night; it rained, and if the weather and the kids didn't keep us up, the semitrucks driving by did! Then to top it all off we happened to place our tent in direct light of the the super tall lamp post that stayed on ALL NIGHT!!! It wasn't even dark, which is partly why Zack had such a hard night. But in the end we survived. I think we had fun, and we camped again a couple weeks later!



May Birthdays

Zack's 1st birthday...

 Ball...

 Keys... he loves to slime my car keys so I got him a set of his own!

 And of course a truck! Something to push and ride while he learns to walk.

 Then we had Tyler's birthday right after Zack's! Zackery's was born May 10th, Tyler was born on May 12th. So we just decided to have two parties back to back.

 Where are all my pictures?... I was having a hard time taking pictures and video taping at the same time so I gave the camera to someone else and this is all I can find! 

I even made him a cute Pacman cake... where is it? It wasn't easy finding pacman toys. I found a plug-n-play joystick pacman game on eBay that I ordered for Tyler... he loves it, but the only other pacman item I could find was two little ghost tins that had little candies in them at Toys R Us. Finally a few days before the party I was looking around Deseret Industries for fun and stumbled across this Pacman plush toy $.50!! Lucky find!!

Soccer 2012 (5-12-12)

(I don't understand this new blog-set-up... so if it looks terrible, sorry!)

This year Chase did soccer again, and I was asked if I wanted to be the coach again, (if you can believe that); and of course I turned the opportunity down.

 This was his last game of the season. Tory's parents came into town to visit for the weekend so they got to see his game.

 This is a really great shot of him.

He shot three goals in a row that all missed the net, but just before the game ended, his 4th shot went in to

score the winning point.

After the game Tory and his dad and the boys went for a drive...

 I don't remember where they went, it was a little over an hour away... but they got some good pictures.

At the end of the day they were very tired!

Tory's Grandparents (3-24-12)

In March Tory's family had a big reunion in Bancroft ID to celebrate Grandma Hebdon's 90th birthday.

 While we were there we visited Grandma and Grandpa Dimick

I really thought I took more pictures than that. The kids were out laughing at the goats, but maybe that was Amber's camera... It  was a nice visit. We haven't been there since before Camrey was born, so it was good.

Halloween 2011

I didn't take many pictures this day. I was kind of just going through the motions with the whole Halloween thing.

My parents came over with my two nieces and we took the kids trunk-or-treat'n at the church. Then they took the kids to stay the night at their place. This was the day after I took Tory to the emergency room the first time so he was in the hospital during this.

The boys were Jedi Knights and the girls princesses. The best part of the night was when Tyler saw a kid dressed as Darth Vader and my boys dropped their candy sacks and pulled out their light-sabers and attacked the poor kid! I wish I caught it on camera... the kid didn't see them coming and backed away from them saying "Wo, Wo, WO..." then turned and ran.

Pericarditis...

I realized a few days ago when I got a call from an old Friend that not ALL our friends know about Tory's health struggles. So I will write about it now. I'm sorry it has taken so long to post anything, but hopefully this will make up for some of it.

In the middle of October Tory got a bad cold, which turned into a sinus infection. He missed work a few days, went back a few days, and had to come home sick again. He just wasn't getting better, in fact he was getting worse. He was in bed what felt like "around the clock." I was worried, but some times it takes almost 2 weeks to get over being sick. 2 weeks came and left with no improvement. He went to an Express Care and got antibiotics for his sinus infection, but he was having chest pain. The Dr. didn't have any advice. It started dull but each day the pain just kept getting worse.

Friday night before Halloween after the kids were in bed, Tory and I were watching TV and his Chest pain was really bad. He went to lay down again and that did it, we had to rush to the emergency room. I called a friend from church who lives around the corner, to be with my kids and left without waiting for her to get there. With emergency hazards on I drove as safely and fast as I could to St. All's.

They got him in and treated him like a heart attack. (Nitroglycerin, ext.) The heart monitors were showing his heart was under stress like a heart attack, but that wasn't it. So to make a long story short; His sinus infection got into his heart. It caused inflammation in the sac-like lining around his heart which is called the pericardium: Pericarditis. (But that wasn't diagnosed until the next day.)

They admitted him into the hospital, monitored him over night, and the next day they did a surgery procedure to get a good look at his heart; they ran a scope up his arm from his wrist then down from his shoulder into his heart to make sure All the walls and chambers of his heart were ok, and they were. It took about an hour and a half. Chest x-rays, EKG or ECG tests, echo cardiograms... the Dr. was confident that it was either Pericarditis or Myocarditis. Myo- meaning the actual heart itself being inflamed not the lining around it. The treatment was the same no mater which condition it was.

So after just 24 hrs of anti-inflammatory medications he was already looking and feeling better than he had in weeks.

After a couple days in the hospital he came home. And again this story can get long but the short version is: He came home, his antibiotics ran out; he relapsed with the sinus infection which went straight to his fragile heart again and the week before Thanksgiving we were back in the emergency room. He didn't bounce back like he did the first time. His condition complicated because he wasn't done healing the first time. So now the Dr. believes he has both Pericarditis : the lining around the heart, and Myocarditis: the heart itself both inflamed.

He should be able to fully recover from this in 3-6 months. We are on month 4. The second round set him back a lot. He went on short term disability and was home from work almost 2 months. (financially we are fine for those who wonder). Tory went back to work after Christmas.

He is getting better, but it takes time to heal a muscle that is used 24/7. He was taking 2 medications but is now down to only 1. He still gets tired easy, and can't ski and hike this year, but is looking forward to easy nature walks, and camping when it warms up!

Thanks to all the friends and family and ward members for all the support, meals, and prayers in our behalf.

Our Family up date...

It has been so long, I'm sorry friends and family. We have had a trying 4 months. These new family pictures were taken last September just before the health trials began. In October Tory got really sick. Even so he was hospitalized twice, once Halloween weekend and the second a few weeks after that in November before Thanksgiving. Tory is very private about a lot of things so I won"t expound the detail of our struggles, but close family and friends already know. I might write more about it later but not on this post.

Our little Zack isn't so little any more. He is almost 10 months old. He pulls himself up on everything and falls down so much I am starting to worry about his mental health. (just kidding) yes he falls down a lot but most babies do. He has let go a few times and stood by himself but I think walking is still a couple months away.

He is such a happy baby and his Dad is his world. Sometimes I don't think Zack even likes me. I'm the busy mother who doesn't pick him up and pack him around, but Daddy will!

Camrey is growing so tall. She talks so well I always have to remind myself she's just 2. She is so grown up.



My princess! Every thing in her life is centered around Dolls, dresses, shoes, and beautiful things. I am so glad I got a girl!

Chase is my biggest helper. His teacher at school says she wishes she had a hundred students like him. He is polite, does his work, and all around a good boy.

We decided to let him stay up each night after the other kids go to bed so we can have some one-on-one time with him. I feel like with a baby, a two year old, and Tyler who needs extra attention in a lot of areas, that Chase is left to fend for himself and do nothing but errands I give him all day: "Chase, get Zack; Chase, help Tyler; Chase Help Camrey; Chase I need the wipes, can you get me a diaper..."

Having one-on-one time with him is nice. We read together. I hope it will help us build a habit of trust and talking, so when he gets older he know he can talk to us about anything.

I love my boys! Its fun seeing them play together. Tyler... I love Tyler. He is so loving and so smart. Chase is at school right now and him and Camrey have been playing together this whole time. It's fun watching him learn and grow. He's a good boy too. His teachers always have nice things to say about him.

I use to worry about is ability to make friends. Last year in preschool his teachers said he prefers to be alone or with adults, but He has grow out of that. It's fun to see piers say Hi to him at school when I pick him up.

Me... what about me... Well, Like any other mom getting use to life with 4 kids I keep busy. My hair is Scary thin, and consistent exercise is difficult but I am happy, and blessed, and so grateful I still have my husband still on this earth with me.