The Appendix

Dallin wasn't feeling well Thursday night. He didn't sleep well, but couldn't put his finger on what was wrong. Friday his stomach started to hurt a little and Friday night he could point with one finger to the spot in his lower right abdomen. He didn't have a fever and wasn't in terrible pain, so we decided he might have pulled something with all the shoveling. We decided that if he was the same or worse on Saturday morning, we would go to the ER.

Saturday morning came and he was the same - not too sick, but just not right. We took showers, grabbed books, and headed to the ER. A few hours later a CT scan confirmed that he had acute appendicitis and needed surgery. The Olsons came to hang out with the girls and Brian helped give Dallin a blessing and everything went smoothly. Dallin did have an allergic reaction to the contrast dye, but all was quickly under control and we were grateful we were taking care of things before they got too serious.

He had a little trouble waking up from the anesthesia and the first few hours were rough, but he doesn't remember that part and has done very well all things considered. We have discovered that he has a very high tolerance for medication and it took THREE doses of Morphine to take his pain down and make him sleepy in recovery. Yikes! Today he showed his surgeon that he could walk as far as he wanted and ate lunch without any problems, so they let him come home. He is currently zonked out next to me on the couch.

I hate to see my children in pain or going through something uncomfortable and a little scary. Yet, when these things happen I feel an overwhelming sense of gratitude for the ability we have to easily get the help we need. There are so many mothers throughout the world who are totally helpless when their children are sick. They have no way of getting help and many lose their children to the same illnesses I consider routine. I feel truly blessed to be home with my family safe beside me. I can't wait to someday work as a health missionary and offer a small piece of the blessings I enjoy.

Storm Part 2

We awoke to no school (again) and 16 inches of snow! We slept in and then decided the snow wasn't going to shovel itself and headed out to work. Many hands make light work and we had our driveway done in about 1 hour (Ed actually did some of the work the night before and made it much easier). Nevertheless, we have decided that this will be our last winter without a snow blower. We are getting too old for this!

It's amazing how kids just never tire of the snow. They make the most of each storm and enjoy sledding and building snowmen over and over. We had a great day and are looking forward to more snow next week:)

Our cute neighbors, Emma and Ethan, decorated this snowman all by themselves. They were very proud:)

Cami loved using the "snowball maker" and Taylor shows us just how high the snow was piled on one side of our driveway.

Hudson LOVES the snow, but Zoey only tolerates it for a few minutes. They got Hudson to go on the sled with Dallin a few times.

Storm Part 1

We haven't been to school much lately. Between Martin Luther King Jr. Day, exams, end of term teacher prep days, snow delays, and actual snow days we have only gone to school 2 1/2 days in the last 2 weeks. Yesterday was supposed to be a 1/2 day for the end of term (which was already moved once) and we were expecting a little rain in the morning followed by a few inches of snow last night.

Well, this video shows what we awoke to and NONE of the schools were closed because it started snowing after the decision hour of 5 am. It took me 1 hour to drop off Taylor and 50 minutes to drop off Cami. After dropping them off I started to wonder how we were going to get them home! Luckily there was a break in the storm and the buses got everyone home around lunch. When I asked the kids what they did at school (boy... it better be worth it:) Taylor informed me they had an assembly on cyber-bullying and sat around in the gym. Are you kidding me?



As the day progressed we realized the storm was going to be much bigger than anticipated and we knew we would be home for Thursday. We settled in for the evening and carb-loaded for the shoveling;) Cami made a snowman and we watched BYU win against SDSU.

Sleepover

Cami had a fun sleepover with her friend Ella. They are in the same class at church and have a lot of fun together. We just found out that Ella's family will be moving back to the South and are very sad. We'll try to be happy for them, but will miss them when they go.

Same Boys... Bigger Shoes

Dallin has great friends. He has known some of them for years. They are funny, smart, and polite. They spend hours playing video games in the basement, but always make sure to come up stairs and thank me for food or just for having them over. It's actually the same as when they were little, only now they eat more and leave bigger shoes at the door. I love having my house full of kids and I'm glad they like to be here.

Piano Concert by Zoey

Zoey was feeling exceptionally musical last week. Here are some short highlights of her concert.

My Crazy Plants

Remember this? My other plant is following suit. We finally decided that it might be blooming since the shoot died shortly after my post. This bloom is even taller, but doesn't seem quite as creepy. We'll see if it dies or turns into a leaf of some sort. Very cool.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service

Our ward participates annually in the MLK day of service. We always open our doors to the community and assemble Blizzard Boxes for the elderly and home bound. These boxes contain instructions about safety during a snow storm and enough non-perishable supplies to last for a day or more. The kids decorate them and make cards to put inside and it is an activity in which the whole family can participate. I really enjoy the concept of the community coming together and serving for the day.

(The shirts we are asked to wear by community organizers are another topic all together, but we'll not ruin this post with a rant about global citizenry and how I feel about my children wearing a pro-Obama T-shirt to school. Ooops.... did I just ruin the spirit of service?)

Scenes From an Ice Storm

Pajama Pants Project

Cami has waited very patiently to make these Pajama pants. She started them in Activity Days last year, but the leaders quickly realized they had taken on more than they could handle and asked girls that had moms who could sew to finish them at home. I spent a whole day organizing the craft room so that we could find everything we needed to finish them. Now that the craft room is finally getting unpacked we are all using it quite often. We've finished some sewing projects, Taylor and Cami love to use the Cricut for school projects, I am trying to be more creative in my singing time visual aids, and we are generally enjoying ourselves. Cami loves the way they turned out and has worn them many times already.