HOORAY!!!

After 15 days, 2 surgeries, and a blood transfusion, my Mom is finally HOME from the hospital!

My Dad was able to bring her home last night around 5pm.

Thank you so much for all your prayers! They really helped her get well.

Now she can relax in her own home in her comfy chair and fuzzy blankets. My Dad has been an excellent nurse staying by her side most of the day every day she was in the hospital. But his job doesn't end there, he's got his work cut out for him making sure my Mom takes all her meds, gets to her doctor's appointments and follows all the doctor's orders. You're doing GREAT Dad, keep up the good work!!!

Here's to a speedy recovery, Mom! You are my hero and best friend!
♥ I LOVE YOU ♥

Come See the Light

I had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend with family and friends.

It’s been kind of hard getting in the Christmas spirit {which usually decorating the house with the family does it} because my Mom has been in the hospital for the past week and a half. Earlier in the week, Ben, the kids and I went to my parents’ house and set out their tree with lots of lights and garland, and we found some decorations to place around the house too. We wanted my Mom to feel “festive” when she comes home. I finally started getting us ready for Christmas by putting lights on the house outside and setting out a few decorations. I’m really hoping we can get our tree set up this weekend. Are you ready for Christmas?

Have you seen Mark Mabry’s photo exhibits called Reflections of Christ and/or Another Testament? They are so amazing! I have the book with all the pictures from Reflections of Christ and my parents have the CD, which they play often – it’s so beautiful and peaceful.

Well, I just received an email notice with this info:

“Dear Friends,
Great news! Deseret Book is offering a friends and family discount of 40% off the Book, DVD, and CD from Another Testament. This is for in store only so print and enjoy:
COUPON

“Also, we've made a new video combining images from both projects put to the music of Come See The Light:

“The biggest thrill of my life over the last two years, other than the birth of my son, Canon, has been the chance to speak often about the making of Reflections of Christ and Another Testament. The process of making of these two projects effected me deeply and positively. These projects deal with my personal understanding of the Savior and how His gospel works in my life.
This email reaches out to people of various faiths. Whether we're Baptist, Catholic, Mormon, Methodist, Unitarian, or anything else, the intent of this work is to let us all imagine together meeting Christ in person.

“The new video combines my two most recent projects and focuses on two different communities of people coming to the Lord. We are all familiar with the first group of people as those in the Holy Land at the time of Christ. The imagery also introduces another group living across the world on the American continent who knew about the Savior and awaited His appearance after His ascension to Heaven in the book of Acts. The stories combine the Biblical record of Christ and the record kept in the Book of Mormon.

“If nothing else, I hope these images give us pause to imagine that Jesus is among us and that we can see each other as we are... brothers and sisters.

Merry Christmas,
Mark Mabry
markmabry@mac.com “

I just watched the youtube video and it is incredible! I really hope that you’ll watch it. It’s only a few minutes and already I feel some peace in what’s been a really hard past week and a half, especially today.

My Mom is about to have surgery again tonight. Please keep her in your prayers. Her surgery last Sunday went fine until she didn’t come out of her anesthesia, the doctors gave her something to counteract it, then she stopped breathing. She had to be on a respirator for a day or two until she could breathe on her own. I’m praying that her surgery goes well tonight and she can wake up from anesthesia and get well so she can come home.

* * EDIT * * Received message from my Dad - surgery went well & my Mom is waking up! He is with her right now. THANK YOU for all your prayers! I was getting really nervous and scared most of the day since her surgery kept getting delayed. It's been a long day for everyone. Now my tears are tears of Joy! I can finally breathe easy tonight.

I'm still here...

Holy Hanna! I haven't posted on my poor little bloggy in for-evah!

Ok, this is gonna be kinda long - BUT it's our summer in a photo-nutshell.

June 2, 2009 - My oldest {Nathaniel} turned 11

June 24 - 28th we went to Ben's family reunion in Utah.

June 26, 2009 went to Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open House
The temple was BEAUTIFUL!!!
June 27, 2009 HUGE Family Reunion at Bridal Veil Falls in Provo, UT
Ben's Family with all his siblings (minus 1) plus his parents & nieces/nephews

June 27, 2009 my beautiful daughter, Felicia, had her 10th birthday!
July 4, 2009 we celebrated Independence Day with a few fireworks of our own (in our backyard)!

July 23, 2009 these dorks guys left for Comic-Con in San Diego, CA

July 26, 2009 They came home.
Ben got all of us tons of FUN free swag!

Are these not the CUTEST little Batmen & Catwomen?

I told Ben he really shouldn't bother coming home unless he found some New Moon swag.

No I wasn't that mean, but he DID hook me up!

Awesome trading cards, plus see that Carlisle Ring? Everyone was waiting in line for raffles to win one of those. Someone thought his costume was COOL so he gave one to Ben! Woohooo! Way to go hubby!

He also scored these posters for me!

The big posters look just like the smaller ones, but the back looks faded & backwards almost like you're looking thru the poster! Pretty awesome!!! Thanks again babe!

Ok, so we wanted to wear the COOL masks too!

Do we look HOT or what? LOL

These two actually played together a LOT this summer!

August 5, 2009 This little guy got a haircut!

This is the BEFORE.

Are you diggin' on his sweet locks?

Well, don't get too used to them, cuz now they're gone!

There's my adorable Anson!

August 6, 2009 My munchkins got some new Webkinz

Thanks MOM for finding these amazing deals @ Costco!

August 7, 2009 I had foot surgery. OUCH!

And got to wear this cute shoe for the last 3 weeks.

Well, it's better than the one I wore 3 years ago when I had my bunionectomy.

I can finally squeeze into a sandal, so at least my shoes match now.

August 9, 2009 the Boys being silly after church

The Girls striking a pose after changing out of church dresses.

Yep, they planned on their matching outfits! heee heee

August 10, 2009 Ben left for Oregon (for work)

And my sister, Christy, had her birthday!

August 12, 2009 FIRST day of school

Nathaniel - 5th grade, Ashley - 2nd grade, Anson - Kindergarten, Felicia - 5th grade
Yep, my sweet fun baby is in all day school now! I have totally mixed emotions about that. I'm happy for him because he loves it & was so excited to start school. On the other hand, I miss my little buddy hanging out with me all day!

After 1st day of school treats!

Sonic Slushees

While Felicia was playing on the computer after school.....

I found Ashley like this...

She curled up on a jacket on the floor & passed out. LOL

I found Nathaniel sawin' some zzzzz's on the couch

Anson was watching tv, but quickly gave in to his heavy eyelids. haha

They had a wonderful 1st day of school, but apparently it totally wore them out!

August 16, 2009 10pm - Nathaniel got stung by a Bark Scorpion!

OUCH!!! Poor guy! He thought he needed to go to the ER or he would DIE! He knows those suckers are very poisonous! I talked to Ben on the phone {yep he was still out of town}, looked it up online and also called Poison Control. All I had to do was wash the area with soap & water, dry it off, apply a cool compress, and give him some Tylenol. As long as he didn't have an allergic reaction (like hives or trouble breathing), then he would be OK. Poison Control did warn me that this type of scoprion releases neurotoxins and within 6hrs he would probably have some numbness and/or tingling anywhere on his body. It could take 24hrs up to 2weeks for it to go away. He had some tingling the next day and came home from school early, but was fine later that evening. Thank goodness!!!!

That night ALL the kids slept in my bed with me.

I had our pest control company back at our house and respraying for scoprions inside & out!

August 18, 2009 Ahhh yes, that's water under our Hot Water Heater.

Well, it was 15 years old, so time for a new one!
Another thing to take care of while Ben was out of town.

Luckily, my Dad's friend came over right away to replace it!

August 22, 2009 we Celebrated Anson's 5th birthday!

{even tho his actual bday is August 23rd}

Ben came home for the weekend to celebrate Anson's bday!

But then he had to leave again early Monday morning :(

August 28-29th Nathaniel had his FIRST Boy Scout Campout! He was ecstatic! He loved that all the boys got to help plan the menu - he LOVES food! He came home covered in dirt, but had a BLAST!!!

See - my foot is healing quite nicely!

I took this pic this morning. I know my feet are covered in scars. But the newest one is on my left foot in the middle. My foot still hurts a lot periodically and I can't walk very fast.

Ok, sorry to end this LONG post with a pic of my foot (I know feet are gross) but at least my toenails look cute, right? LOL

Oh I had Parent Information Evening (PIE night) last night with Anson & Ashley's teachers. Their teachers seem nice & fun. Plus the kids love them! Looks like the year is off to a good start!

Today is picture day for the kids. We were late, but NOT because I was busy fixing their hair (I got that done on time) but Anson was stuck on the potty - crying in pain. Poor guy. He finally did his business and we were on our way! Felicia was the only one on time because I had to take her to school early for a student council meeting.

Tomorrow is PIE night for Nathaniel & Felicia's classes. I'll be busy trying to touch base with both teachers since usually Ben & I divide & conquer. But he is still out of town. In fact, he's on his way to Seattle today for PAX (Penny Arcade Expo) with his friend Trey. They will be helping EA promote the sequel to Army of Two xbox game {they will be dressed in total Army of Two gear}!

Ok, I'm out!

Updates & NEW Stuff

First, THANK YOU for all the kind thoughts & prayers sent our way. My Sister is recovering well from her surgery. She came home Sunday afternoon and stayed at our parents' house all week. She's doing so good that we were able to squeeze in our cousins' lunch too. It's always fun to see them & laugh for a couple hours! Christy had her follow-up doctor visit and got the OK to go back to work (sorry sis but you knew it was coming - LOL) and drive again. YAY!! Now she can feel independent again with her own car.

I've been trying to help my Dad by taking my Mom to some of her appointments so he can actually get some work done. This has been a BUSY week. My Mom has had several appointments EVERY day. I'm glad I am able to help out though. Plus it's time I get to spend with my Mom :)

We're trying to squeeze in our appointments before school starts again. {Yikes that's coming up quick - Aug 12th.} Nathaniel had his retainer adjusted since more teeth have been growing in. Nathaniel, Felicia & Anson all have their well visit next week. I had my yearly woman exam, then needed a sonogram (NO I'm NOT prego not even close). I've had painful monthly ovarian cysts since I was 21. Turns out I may have endometriosis now. My Dr wants to do laparoscopy to check for sure and if so, then blast any unwanted cells. {OUCH!} I also had my 3rd MRI on my left foot because of my dang toe joint that hurts. I have Freiberg's Disease and the pain just keeps getting worse. I'll be having surgery soon to remove part of the 2nd metatarsal head. Don't know how close together I can do these procedures, but I'll get it worked out. I'm going forward with the foot surgery first.

Ok enough with the blah blah blahs. LOL

DSO is still having their Designer Call and Site CT Call until July 31st

If you want a chance to sell your designs at DSO or love scrapping and want to be part of the DSO Store Creative Team, go apply now before it's too late! Good Luck ☺

DSO has a couple new talented designers in the store this week!!! WOOHOOOO!!!!

Sassy Sarah aka Designs by Sassy has joined us! YAY!!!

See what's new in her STORE

And one of my *online* designing buddies - Charlie (aka Charlie's Digiscraps) has joined the DSO team also! We've gotten to know each other thru blogging and at our fave digiscrap place DSO!!! Welcome aboard sweetie!

See what she's added to her STORE already

Oh I almost forgot, there's a couple new treasures in the store too!

Kim & Gaye (two very talented & creative sisters) have joined forces and created this amazingly beautiful Toof Fairy Collab kit:

You don't want to miss out on this kit!

It's so incredible & with so many hand-drawn elements!!!

{There are LOTS more pictures & close-ups HERE

& some FREE add-ons on their blogs!}

Ya know what?

This kit would go perfectly with this month's DSO Quote Challenge!

{hint - it's about *toothless grins*}

Bunny created this amazing poem wordart in this same theme:

Jazzy also has some darling Toof Fairy wordart

To see all the new designs go HERE

I also wanted to share some lovely layouts using my Hokey Pokey kit:

Renee's Flowering Cactus

Michelle (aka SunshineState) Birds of a Feather

{she won my kit at DST}
Bunny playing with glue again, made this darling hybrid box


I also want to do a little shout out to my brother-in-law:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ERIK!!!!

Hope it's a good one!!! Have a safe trip home!

My Sister - Update

Christy had laparascopic surgery to have her gall bladder removed. She was getting pretty nervous. We were all being silly & giggling & I think that helped take her mind off it for a little bit. Thank goodness it went well & she did great! She has some aches & pains, but they gave her some pain meds & something for her nausea. They finally brought her back to her room and she was pretty tired and thirsty. She hadn't eaten or drank anything since 2am. They said it was ok for her to have something. She had a popsicle & some chicken broth. My Dad and I decided to leave and let her get some much needed sleep, plus it was getting really late. I just barely got home about 20 minutes ago.

My Dad's going back to the hospital in the morning and once the doctor checks her out, she can be released. YAY!!! She'll be staying with my parents for a few days (plus she gets out of work for a whole week - doctor's orders).

Thank you all for your well wishes & prayers! They are really helping :)

My Sister

went to the ER this morning (my Dad took her). She was having extreme abdominal & chest pains - a gall bladder attack. They gave her some pain meds, so she's feeling a little better. I felt so bad for her when she called me this morning. She could hardly talk because of the pain.

She had a sonogram and it's definitely gall stones. They have scheduled her for surgery in a few hours. I think they are removing her gall bladder.

Please keep her in your thoughts & prayers. Thank you!

P.S. I've been posting updates (as I get them from my Dad via txt msg) on My Facebook

{pics sent from my Dad's cell phone}

Staples {and I don't mean the store}

The adventure continues....

Did you read the previous post? Thanks for all the comments. I thought I was freaked out by them playing on the ROOF. Well, it gets WORSE!

Saturday, I was on the phone with Ben (he was at work & usually calls during his lunch hour on the way to the gym) when I heard the doorbell. I got off the phone to answer the door. Oh and I was still in a robe at Noon. {Note to self: Apparently, I need to get dressed earlier on Saturdays. They seem to be our day of horror.} Felicia ran to the door to unlock it. Ashley is standing in the doorway in her jammies freaked out & crying. Anson was only in a t-shirt & his underwear. {our kids don't like to get fully dressed plus I thought they were in the backyard} She said they got locked out and Anson had fallen & LOOK! Anson turned to look at me as I was approaching the door. The right side of his face & head was covered in BLOOD! Yikes! What happened???

Ashley muttered something about being on the shed. She climbed down on one side and Anson had fallen backwards on the otherside. When she got to him, he was standing on a chair dripping blood everywhere! She's really frightened of blood, so this was completely freaking her out!

I called Ben right away. He was prepared to ditch work & rush home. I told him to wait. I called my Mom and being the SUPER MOM that she is, she rushed over to watch the other kids, so I could run Anson to urgent care. *Thanks Mom* I rushed to get dressed & brush my teeth {very important} and had to look up the nearest urgent care online (new insurance since the last time we've had to do this). Felicia, Ashley & Nathaniel (in that order) have all had stitches (well ok Ashley got the glue, which totally doesn't work in my opinion) so I was kind of prepared for this kind of situation. I felt so bad for him. He was so scared. I got him cleaned up as much as possible. Each kid that walked into the kitchen to see his head would cover their mouth and make a wide-eyed scared face. I had to tell them to stop looking at him weird & saying stuff because it was upsetting Anson. I was trying to calm him down & they were NOT helping.

Urgent care on Saturday at 12:30pm is apparently one of the busiest places to be. It was a LONG wait. We were there 2 1/2 hours when they finally took a look at him (he also got in a nice long nap - poor little sweetie). They applied the numbing gel & said it would take another 30 minutes to take effect. Finally they called us back and Dr Gomez got him all cleaned up & said it was really deep. He gave him 6 staples! Wow I wasn't expecting that. Have you ever seen them *staple* a head? It's weird. It didn't hurt Anson but he wasn't thrilled about the pressure or sound it made. I could barely watch without squinting & I'm not squeamish.

We finished about 3:30pm & decided to meet my Mom & the other kiddos at McDonald's (she took them there for lunch). Did you know that chicken nuggets happy meal & vanilla ice cream cone have healing powers? Well, they do. Anson was feeling GREAT after he scarfed all his food. I guess trauma makes him very hungry (well and he hadn't eaten breakfast since 9am). Nathaniel & Felicia thought he looked freaky. Ashley didn't want to get near him because it freaked her out too. I thought she was going to cry again. I told her that it would be nice if she gave him a hug to help him feel better. She looked at me like I was crazy and stood farther from him. Awwww at least Anson didn't notice he was too busy eating.

Anson wanted to play when he was done eating but I told him it wasn't a good idea. He might hit his head and make it bleed more. Nathaniel thought I said NO because it would freak out the other kids like it was freaking him out. Silly kids. As if they've never seen a wound before.

If you are feeling brave, you can see some gory pictures HERE.

He's doing really good & even tells us that it doesn't hurt {unless he thinks someone is going to TOUCH it}. He got lots of interesting looks at church & we had to explain several times what happened. We can't cover it because nothing would stay on his hair. And it looks kinda gross because we have to gob on the neosporin to keep it clean.

Oh and ALL the kids promised that they will NEVER climb on top of the shed again! As it turns out, it really is DANGEROUS!

Felicia's Hospital Stay

Felicia in the ER (just got her IV)

Another ER "room" waiting for CT Scan
CT Scan
Just before surgery
Couple hours after surgery
She got several stitches inside and Dermabond outside
Eating popsicles
Walking around
She asked Dad to bring the kids because she missed them!
(so we ALL hung out til it was time to go home)
Ben, Felicia & ME
Felicia & Nathaniel

Felicia & Ashley
Felicia wanted to show the kids how she gets around

{awwww I just love how Ashley was being so sweet with her}

Raggedy Ann & Andy {a really nice nurse, Azita, gave these to her}
Some of the toys she received
(crayons, markers, play-doh, notepad, clay, bubbles, coloring books, tattoos, beads, etc)

Her stuffed animals she received from the nurses
(the red one is "Fox in Socks" by Dr Seuss)

Anson, Felicia, Ashley & Ben watching "Jumanji"
Her last attending Nurses
Edward (NA), Felicia & Dallas (RN)
{have to say I immediately thought of Twilight when he told me his name! LOL}
She had a really good night last night. She sat at the table to eat dinner, but then had some sharp pains, so she went back to our bed to relax. We gave her some pain medication, she took a little nap, then suddenly she was up and walking around everywhere! Kept telling her to take it easy so she doesn't get incredibly sore when the meds wear off. She kept telling me "I'm fine." She finally fell asleep in our bed, then Ben moved her to her room. We found her this morning on the couch. She said she got up in the middle of the night to lay on the cool couch. She seems to be doing GREAT! Ben made breakfast and Felicia ate a pancake and at least one piece of bacon. WOW That's a lot of solid food for her. She hasn't eaten that much all weekend! And she's moving around really good saying that she doesn't have too much pain! YAY!!!