Clint's Bee Suit

Clint wants to follow in his father's footsteps and be a bee keeper. While he was at Neal and Marcia's he put this butterfly net on his head and proudly called it his bee suit.

Dad's BYU Helmet

One of Dad's best ICU nurses, Spencer, is also a great artist and turned Dad's head wrap into a BYU helmet. Too bad they only scored 1 touchdown so he only got one paw print. I tried to get a picture of him with his eyes open but he just couldn't do it for me. He slept and didn't eat hardly a thing Saturday night through Friday. Pretty worrisome time. The confirmed he had a stroke either Wed. night(the day of the surgery) or Thursday morning. So they moved him to the rehab section of the hospital so they could hopefully get his left side moving again. The second day in rehab the put in a feeding tube which I think gave him some calories to be able to stay awake a little more. I've been going down as much as I can. When he was in the ICU I would go and hang out in the waiting room with Cole and while Cole was sleeping I'd go in with Dad while someone came out and sat with Cole. I know I didn't do much there but it was nice to just be there. I was useless at home anyway-- just couldn't get anything done-- my mind was mush. Darryl's parents took the boys from Thursday night to Monday afternoon; What a HUGE help. Darryl was so great to let me be gone too. He took care of himself, and honestly I didn't even think about what to do for him for food or anything. Like I said-- my mind was mush. Since he's been in rehab I can have Cole in with me but I haven't been down as much because he's in therapy all day until 3:30 and then naps hard until dinner. So dinner time is the only time to really visit him and since I'm teaching Mon. and Wed. nights I can't go those nights. I wish I could just stay and keep him company-- I know he's lonely but unfortunately I can't take care of my family and be there all the time. Since being in rehab he has made improvements instead of setbacks! WAHOO!

so sad

The camera was right there and I couldn't miss getting a picture of this pathetically sad cry. I can't remember if he was hungry, tired, or just sad because someone walked by and didn't play with him or pick him up.

Dirty Dash 2010

I've heard of these muddy races before but didn't really know what they were until now. Soldier Hollow held their first Dirty Dash this year and Darryl signed up along with 2 teams from Redmond Minerals. It's a 10K race with muddy spots and sprinklers. To cross the finish line you had to hold hands with your teammates and go through a huge muddy water pool. Looks like fun!

It's My Party . . .

. . .and I'll cry if I want to. Well, since this is my journal I'm going to once again write personal feelings. So today was my birthday, and thanks to my sweetheart and many family members and friends it was as great as it could be. Darryl surprised me and made me this key lime pie from a recipe he found in a food magazine-- it was the best key lime pie I've ever had!-- and I've had my fair share around the country. I spent the day at Utah Valley Hospital with my dad, my mom, brother Wayne, brother Buzz, and Cole. I was so excited Wed. after the surgery. He seemed to be doing SO well. The next day there were set backs and ever since he just hasn't improved at all and won't be leaving ICU any time soon. So I worry about him and how it will go. Darryl came down and took us all out to eat at Tepanyaki's. It was nice to eat something besides the hospitals cafe' food. In pondering what I want for my birthday all I could think of was what a great gift it would be to go back and erase this whole cancer experience. Yes there has been some amazing lessons learned through it but I really don't enjoy this part; the guessing game of how it will all turn out. Anyway, there were many friends who gave me birthday wishes and made the day brighter-- I've got great people in my life.

Fall Colors

These pictures are not the greatest quality. I need to take some better pictures with my real camera and not my phone-- guess I'll have to do it next fall. I snapped these one day going down Provo Canyon to visit my dad at the hospital. It was a beautiful time to have to frequent that drive.

"Dr. kit"

Clint started collecting things for his "Dr. kit" today. About everything you can think of he's said, "Oh, I need to put that in my Dr. kit!" He has every chapstick in the house in there and Kade said, "Doctors don't use chapstick!" To which Clint replied, "Ya, they do. If someone comes in he puts chapstick on their lips." I'm not sure what Dr. he's been to?!. The kit has grown since this picture. It's to the point that when Darryl or I can't find something we don't spend any time looking around we head to the Dr. kit and sure enough we find what we've been missing.

Running Skillzz

Clint came to me today, handed me this pedometer and said, "Will you put this on me. I need to practice my running skillzz." I couldn't help but giggle and take a picture of him. He kills me. He of course could see no reason why I was laughing; I'm sure he was thinking, 'Silly Mom.'

Fun at Grandma and Grandpa's House

What could be better-- sitting on the "tractor" eating ice cream with the cousins.

Lake Powell

Lake Powell was only a 1 week trip for Darryl this year. He messed up his back doing a tree before the first trip so he didn't go on that one. I didn't go at all because I didn't really want to take Mr. Cole. Here are some fun pictures on all the fun I missed. Darryl is still landing his back flips on the sky ski and off the boats. There is just nothing like the sights at Lake Powell. Darryl's parents were on the same trip, so that was fun for him to spend the week with them. Here are two 7 sec. clips of Darryl's sky ski jumps and flips.

Loves the tongue out

He loves the tounge out right now. I think it's because he's getting his top teeth.

It's back :(

So today I pick up my phone and read the following text: Dad's MRI was not so good today. He has a spot about 1.3 cm, close to the brain stem, also close to the old surgery field. We will have to see Dr. Gardner to see if he wants to do surgery or just watch it. . . .Love Ya all, Mom.
My heart dropped. After his first surgery 5 years ago I dreaded every MRI he had because I knew it was very likely that this kind of message was waiting in the wings. Well for 5 years it never came and I grew comfortable and with every MRI I just expected a positive reading. So when today's news came it was a huge blow. There is just so many not-so-great things about this go round. Dad is so weak compared to the last battle, they can't do full radiation again on the cancer they can't remove(like last time there will probably be some cancer that would be too risky to remove), we find out later(after the surgery) that he's not even a candidate for spot radiation, and chemotherapy is really scary/risky in the brain. SO the Dr. told him the only option is to make the best of each day and be happy you had the last 5 years, or we could do surgery and try to get some of it but likely won't be able to get it all. With surgery comes a SUPER TOUGH recovery and any other complications that come, as we knew from last time. But Dad was not about to sit back and just let this cancer "win." He wanted to go out fighting, so he said surgery! Everyone drug their feet on this (including the Dr.) but Dad didn't want it any other way and you have to let him make his own decisions. SO surgery is set for the 22nd.
About a week ago I was mowing the lawn, my mind was wandering and I had the thoughts, "Life is so good...We haven't been humbled in so long...We're going to be humbled." I immediately started redirecting my thinking. Silly mind--don't think like that--stick to thinking about cutting the grass! It came and here it is.

Photoshoot

Kade did a little photo shoot with Cole today. These are a few of the 100 picutres he took. :)

surprise

I went in Cole's room to get him after his nap and I was surprised to see his little eyes looking right at me when I opened the door. I'm not sure how he untied the bumper pad but he did it.

Paintings

Clint has been painting pictures for everyone lately. He gets so happy when he gives them the picture he painted them. This is one he sent Grandma and Grandpa Brown. And the note he had me write to go with the picture. He painted similar pictures for McKylee, Darryl and I, and Grandma and Grandpa Bosshardt. "I think you will love this picture, because when I colored it I think it looks really cool! I hope you love me because I wrote a letter to both of you. You can share the picture. Get some tape and hang it up. Love, Clint"

It's been 8 months!

I don't know how 8 months while your pregnant can seem to take forever but after those little babies are here 8 months is gone in a flash!

Cole's new trick: He loves to sit and play. It makes me so sad that he's not content sitting on my lap all the time anymore. He wants to get down and play with his toys. Occasionally he topples over backwards so I try to keep pillows behind him or the boppy, but for the most part he's pretty good. Stats this month are: 15 lbs. and 26 in. Which are almost exactly what Kade and Clint were. I guess he's not so big anymore but he still has more "chub" than they did. He is no where near crawling due to the fact that he hates to be on his belly, so I guess he's more chub than muscle. :) It always seems to amaze me how different each baby can be. Kade and Clint were completely different so I've been watching Cole to see which one he'll be more like. The answer is . . . neither. He is so different in his own way. The other boys didn't sit an play with toys like he does. The other boys would roll around but he doesn't. The other boys talked, he screams. But they are all super cute! A few other things to note: Cole isn't even close to crawling mainly because every time I put him on his stomach he looks at me like I'm torturing him and cries big alligator tears and it just breaks my heart so I let him lay, sit, or stand so I can see his happy face again. Ever since he was 2 months old he just enjoys being on his feet-- Kade was like that so I guess they're not so different.

BIG DAY!

It was Kade's first day of Kindergarten! He was extremely excited. Darryl took him to class(which he was excited about too). Darryl said Kade couldn't get rid of him fast enough. He kept saying, "Okay, bye Dad." He said his first day was so great. He got a green dot, meaning he didn't ever get in trouble, and he couldn't wait to show me his paper that even showed a green dot. Darryl took a couple pictures with his phone on the first day. I forgot the camera when I went to pick him up so I took a couple on the second day. ;) Don't you love goofy faces! Also, his teacher, Mrs. Stagg, and Principal Brown are in the background onn the right. I have to say too that I have to beg Kade to write letters but he ran into his class and his teacher said there was a paper on his spot for him to write letters and he dug in!

Bye-Bye Garden

It was great while it lasted. Last night the poor garden got zapped by the 28 deg. temperature. Of course I could have covered it, my excuse is that I didn't know it was going to freeze until we were headed to bed and by then I had no desire to go out in the freezing cold and cover it at 11:30. I'm usually pretty good about that because I hate to see all of the summer work benefits come to an end. We had okay peas, the chickens really messed up the beets and onions, great chard, great beans, great corn(much to my surprise, I thought it was going to be super short but it shot up after it tasseled out), good peppers, great cherry tomatoes, great cucumbers, great squash, I haven't checked the potatoes, and there are a LOT of green large and roma tomatoes but I doubt they will be good after the freeze.

You've Got Mail

The boys are REALLY into writing letters to people. They love to get them too. They are pen pals with their cousins in St. George but they still love to color pictures or write letters to other cousins, friends, and grandparents. Since they can't write much I usually end up taking dictation from them. Here are a couple of the latest letters from Clint; one to the mailman[Clint thinks I mailed it :\ ] and one to his cousin McKylee[Clint wrote her name all by himself with verbal coaching]. They are quite funny. The other letter is one Darryl sent the boys while he was on his last business trip. He knows how much they love mail-- what a thoughtful guy! It didn't get here until after he was back, even though he sent it as soon as he got there-- they were still tickled to get it.