My sweet little Abi

Oh wow, it has been a long time since I have posted anything! Sorry, so I have an update on Abi for all of you who don't know the whole story. I have some pictures, but they are too sad for me to post.

So mid October we took a trip to Las Vegas to go to the Utah vs. UNLV footbal game. While we were there Abi got sick and ended up having a seizure the night before we were coming home. She had a fever with this seizure but she was so non responsive after that it was really scary, so we called an ambulance. They came and told us to take off her pajamas, she was just too hot. Once we did that she started to cry and we were able to give her Tylenol. She slept with me the rest of the night, needless to say, but kept spiking a fever so I kept dosing her. We thought that was the end of it, and started our trip home. I kept checking on Abi to make sure she didn't have a fever, and she was fine. She fell asleep in the car and we were just outside of Mesquite. I turned back to check on Abi and saw that she was having another seizure! We hurried and pulled over, and at least after this one she was just angry, not so lethargic. We decided we better take her to the hospital so we drove on to St. George and took her to the ER. The Dr. there agreed that it was odd that she would have two febrile seizures so close together, so they ordered all sorts of tests. All of which came back normal. So they told us that she just had two febrile seizures which is pretty common in kids, and they usually outgrow this by the time they are 2-5 years old. So I thought, alright I can handle this if it happens again. It will probably be easier now that I have been through it before, right?

WRONG! So then mid November, a few weeks ago, I was getting the kids ready for church. Part of my Sunday morning routine is that after I shower, I put all three girls in the tub while I do my hair. The girls are usually really happy in the tub and play very well there, so this is why this works. So I was in the girls bathroom with them while they were in the tub. Abi went to stand up in the tub and when she did this put her face in the water for a second. She stood up and gasped, and was swolling some water. I was just about to turn to her and say,"Oh Abi did you swollow some water?" When I noticed she wasn't recovering from it. Just then she started to fall back onto her bottom. I reached for her and grabbed her out of the tub, she still was not breathing, or at least not very well. I turned her over and hit her back to try and get her to breathe and get rid of the water. Then I looked down at her and saw that she was having a seizure. It was probably the scariest moment of my life. I called 911 because I was so freaked out, but while I was on the phone with them Abi came out of the seizure. She was a little lethargic but not too bad. I told them I wouldn't need the ambulance, I would just take her into the ER, we live so close to Alta View Hospital. So I called Jamie, who was at church, and he came home. We took Abi to the ER. They started running basically all the same tests that they had in St. George. After her chest x-ray she was sleeping on my chest in her exam room and had another seizure. This one was the worst one she has had. I don't know if there were multiple seizures here or just one really long one. It lasted about 30 min. They had to order multiple anti-seizure medications from the pharmacy to pull her out of it. Meanwhile, the Dr. is having the crash cart brought into the room and telling me that we need to transfer Abi to Primary Children's by ambulance. The Dr. said that if she would stabalize she could go by sandy ambulance, if not then the pediatric flight team would have to take her by ambulance. I of course was a wreck. Abi did come out of the seizure and was just sleepy. I rode with Abi in the ambulance to Primary's we stayed there until monday night. They ran more tests, all of which came back normal. Good news, right? Then they told us that most kids who have seizures have normal results with these tests. So I guess they were just making sure nothing more serious was going on. So in the end, Abi may have another seizure, she may have many more, or she might not have any! The Neurologist told us we could start her on daily anti-seizure medication now if we wanted. These meds have a lot of side effects and once you start them you have to wait 2 years before you can start to taper off of them. Jamie and I did not feel that it was time for this yet. I am feeling very peaceful and calm about things, I am hoping that there will be no more seizures to come. It was been a little over 2 weeks and no seizures. One of the hardest things throughout all of this was not having my little Abi with me. She was so loopy from the sedation and medication she had received. It was not until Tuesday night that she was back to her normal self. That was practically three days of not having her with me. I am thankful everyday that I can see her and her crazy personality. Any of you who know Abi know that she is VERY BUSY! She is into everything. She never stops moving. Sometimes this can feel like a burden, but since we have been home from the hospital I am thankful for every moment I get to chase her around! Thank you so much to all of you for your love and support. When something like this happens in your life it is so nice to feel how much love there is for you and your family out there! Sorry it has taken me so long to post about this, it is kind of hard to do even now. But just know that we are all good and love you all very much!

Old or young?

So can you all remember when 30 seemed really old? I kind of can. Now that I'm 28, 30 doesn't seem very old. So throughout my life I have always felt very young. I am the youngest of 6 children, I was usually the youngest person in my dance/singing classes. When I started college and people would ask me what year I graduated and I would say 2000, they would all say oh wow you are so young. I think that one is just because 2000 sounds so much younger than just one year before when you could say 99. Then I graduated from college in 4 years, which is technically normal but can be quite a record these days. So then when I went into home health as a 22 year old RN all of my patients would ask me how long I had been a nurse. I could tell they were worried I didn't have enough experience. So anyway, to sum up I have often wondered when this feeling would change, I can't be the young one forever. So I have noticed the past few years, that none of my patients have asked me how long I have been a nurse, then I had a funny experience last night. We went to a pizza buffet for our friday night outing (yes that is as exciting as it gets around here!) Jamie had taken Grace and Sarah to get their food so I was sitting with Abi at our table. I overhear this couple in the booth next to me, here is their conversation. The boy, " She was, well mature looking." The girl, "Mature looking?" The boy, "Yes definitely mature looking." The girl, " So she definitely looked 30." The boy, " Oh yeah, she DEFINITELY looked 30." I had to stop myself from laughing outloud. What does that even mean? 30 isn't old. I looked over at them and thought, I don't look that much older than these 20 year olds. But then as I watched Abi shove some cheese, gold fish crackers, and ham cubes in her mouth all at the same time I realized something. I do look older than these people! I am this 30 year old person they are referring to! It just kind of struck me as a funny moment, so I thought I would share. I think I always thought I would somehow feel different when I got older. Some of patients will tell me how hard it is sometimes when they see a reflection of themself walking with their walker in the window because they will look at it and think, that's not me. I don't feel that old. I guess we never really change who we are or how we feel, unfortunately just the way we look!

Family Photos

So after 7 1/2 years of marriage it was finally time to get a real family photo! I feel awful that it took us this long to do this! It will definitely be a yearly thing from here on out. Big thanks to our friend Cindee who took the pictures, she was great. If you want to see more of her work check out her website. http://www.cindeestarkie.com

First day of school

Grace is in Kindergarten this year and Sarah is in preschool. Yep, that's right 2 days a week I have just one child! It is wonderful. I can't believe Grace is in kindergarten though, and it has been really strange to have her go to school everyday. Here is Grace with all of her friends from the ward that are in her class at school. There are two missing that are in the morning class, I wish they could all be together, but it is the way it is!
Here is Grace and Sarah enjoying some complimentary muffins and juice, shout out to the PTA!

Grace before school. She picked out this dress all by herself, with her grandma and couldn't wait to wear it for her first day.

Here is Sarah on her first day of preschool. Oh it is hard to get a good picture of this little sweet heart. She is loving school. Sarah starts talking from the moment she wakes up till the moment she goes to sleep. She is quite social, she runs up to her teacher and gives her a big hug every time I take her to school. She even did this the first time she met her. She is loving doing the big kid things that Grace does, now she gets to go to school and dance class, just like big sister Grace.

Summer update

So I have totally been slacking with the blogging, but we have been having so much fun, so I think that's a good excuse right? Here is what we've been up to. We went to the zoo, which was so much fun. My kids are at the perfect age for it, they loved it. Grace bloged about the zoo on her blog if you want to check it out at http://sarahandgracesblog.blogspot.com/

picture of all three girls out front
sarah modeling an awesome hat

Grace also modeling same awesome hat.

Love this elephant!

Everyone needs their picture taken against one of these things.


Then we spent a day up at Bear Lake. Many people don't see Bear Lake as a day trip, but it wasn't too bad, especially since my mom offered to keep Grace and Sarah up there for a few days longer! Thanks mom. We stayed at this really nice house courtesy of my brother's work. Thanks Chad!

A lot of the kids worked on this, they were pretty proud. Grace wore these goggles pretty much all the time, even when not in water.

My sweet mom with Abi. I told my mom maybe I should get Abi cold more often, because this was as still as I have ever seen her!

All 20 grandkids. Hard to get a good picture isn't it.

My sweet neice Morgan, I love this picture.

Also love this one. Sometimes Morgan has trouble being soft, but she has gotten so much better, and just look at how happy Abi is in her arms!

Abi was a wild woman, as usual. She was all over the place in the water. No fear.

Griffen and Abi. Griffen is doing a little bit of his head tilt. I love how he tilts his head in all of his pictures.

Grace getting ready for the action.

Then we went to Lagoon. My pictures are out of order, but I am too lazy to change them so sorry. Grace improves every year and goes on more and more rides, she is very cautious but I am proud of her. Jamie and Gavin and Scott did the big bungi plunge. My sister Heidi has good footage of this if you want to see it at http://rushingreview.blogspot.com/

Here is Gavin after the drop. This photo doesn't really do it justice, but just look at the hair!



Here the boys are getting ready.


Grace and Sarah on the swings.

The girls with their cousin Rylee on Puff. This was Grace's first year going on puff, yes very cautious.


Grace and I after rattlesnake rapids. I managed to stay mostly dry, I used protecting the camera as my excuse.

Sarah and grandma pruden got the worst of it I fear.

Grace and Sarah.
And Grace started soccer. Jamie is coaching and Grace loves that. She has already improved so much since Spring which is so fun to see. It should be a fun season.

Happy 24th

So this is a little late, but whatever. For the 24th we went up and spent a day in Logan and then spent another day at the cabin. Here are some pictures of us at the Logan parade. We went to a water park that is by our cabin and I am wondering if we made the right parenting decision. Maybe some of you can help me out. There was this water slide that was not huge by any means, but Grace being as cautious as she is wouldn't go down it. She wanted to, but chickened out. So Jamie and I made her go down it. I could hear her screaming behind me. Did we scar her or help her learn that she can't just say she's scared all the time? My sister in law Denae and I awaiting the festivities.
Emily and Grace, these two are best friends. They love every second they have together.

Noah and Abi. Abi of course is all over the place, trying to get out while Noah is playing happily.

Sarah and Rachel. Love Sarah's socks in this one. She always wants me to pull them ALL THE WAY UP!

Here are the girls at the water park, this is pre traumatic experience.

All in all it was a fun little get a way. Our cabin needs A LOT of work so right now going there kind of just feels like camping but it has been so fun to have somewhere to go!

Happy birthday Sarah!

Sarah's 3rd birthday was a fun one. It was fun to have a couple of days just focused on her. Sometimes the middle child just doesn't get enough of that. We started her birthday off with a breakfast of her choosing which was french toast. This was prepared by Jamie, he makes a mean french toast. Then that night we got a sitter for Abi and took Grace and Sarah to Mcdonald's for dinner, Sarah's choice, and then went to see Up. This was really the first time we have gone out with just the older girls, it was so fun. Then Sarah's party was the next day. We did a pinata, and had hot dogs. It was really cute to see how excited she was to have all of her friends over. This is Sarah helping with the breakfast.
This is the breakfast.

Here is Sarah blowing out her candles the night of her actual birthday.

Here is Sarah opening her present from Grace, and looking at the special card Grace had made.

This is Sarah opening her presents.

Blowing out candles on cake number 2.

I didn't think to clean her face before all the cake pictures, but I think this is cute nonetheless!

Again the messy face, but still so cute.

Dad and Abi enjoying some cake. Once this was started Abi was not going to let it stop, she thew a fit when we took the cake away.