Powerless

This post was going to be the final installment in our vacation series. Instead, I'm going to vent some frustration.

Mathison and I returned about an hour ago from a 10-hour jaunt into Salt Lake City for a doctor's appointment at Primary Children's Hospital. It appears that Mathison is beginning to show some early symptoms of the same immunodeficiency that affected Jefferson. The immunologist decided that certain tests were needed in order to get a clearer picture of what's going on with Mathison and suggested we get them done all at once this afternoon to spare us another 2 hour drive into SLC.

So began our 3 hour nightmare. The first test the doctor ordered was a sweat chloride test to rule out cystic fibrosis. Mathison was hooked up to 4 "jumper cables" - 2 tightly secured to each arm - and given electrical pulses for 5 minutes. The cables were so tight that his hands were turning purple, his arms had to be kept straight out in front of him, and the current stung horribly as it went in. Needless to say, Mathison was screaming the entire time - and nothing I did could calm him. When the time had finally come to turn off the electricity, both arms had to be wrapped from wrist to mid-bicep with gauze, then plastic wrap, and finally an elastic bandage. These layers prevented him from bending his arms, and he ended up crying for several minutes in frustration.

At this point, we had 45 minutes before they needed to take off the wraps, so we headed over to radiology to get a CAT scan of Mathison's sinuses. The patient has to hold completely still during a CAT scan in order for it to effective; I had wondered how they were planning to do this with a one-year-old without sedation. Well, it didn't take us long to find out. They swaddled Mathison like a newborn, then strapped him across his chest and upper legs to the table. They also had a way to secure his head to prevent him from turning it. The poor kid looked like a mummy....and didn't like it one bit. More screaming; by this time Mathison's face was bright red.

Luckily, we got the views they needed on the first try, sparing us further torture for a few minutes. We headed back to the lab to remove the arm wraps and get a sweat sample taken. Just when Mathison thought the worst was over, it was time to take his blood. It took 3 people to do it, he was fighting so hard. In fact, he wiggled the vein away from the needle before they had collected a full sample. They spent 10 minutes looking for another vein before finally deciding they could take the remainder that they needed through a finger poke. At this point, Mathison's face was a deep purple and his eyes were nearly swollen shut from crying.

Don't get me wrong - my intent is not to rant about the staff at PCMC; they were very good and tried their hardest to do everything in a professional, compassionate, and timely manner. Rather, my frustration came from having to watch my terrified baby get poked, prodded, and shocked .....and not be able to do one thing about it. I know that the tests were necessary and performed in Mathison's best interest, but it still broke my heart as I watched my child suffer. It was especially hard because as a young toddler, Mathison is used to me protecting him - and he couldn't understand why I was just standing by and letting others hurt him.

I hate feeling powerless - especially when it comes to my children.

Memorial Day Trip Part 2: Phoenix

It took us about 6 hrs to drive from Chinle to Phoenix because we stopped to eat lunch, then took the kids to see the Meteor Crater. This is a HUGE hole in the ground ( 2 miles in diameter and 600 ft. deep) caused by a 150 foot meteor that hit the Earth about 50,000 years ago. We left the camera in the car and didn't get any pictures :(

After arriving at my sister Missy's house, we ate dinner and went on a walk. The subdivision she lives in is very family-friendly with many parks and water pads. We went to a fun park a few blocks away and let the kids stretch their legs after a day in the van. The next morning we got up early and went to the Phoenix Zoo. It was perfect weather - in the 80's, cool for Phoenix at the end of May. The following pictures were taken at the zoo:

Jeff and Carter having a close encounter with a squirrel







Playing in "Frog Glen"

The "big" boys


We had a good time, but Mathison was definitely ready to leave at the end of our 3 hour visit!


After the zoo, we drove to the Desert Ridge Shopping Mall for some lunch. This is an outdoor complex that has some really fun activities to try besides shopping. We ate lunch, then everyone headed over to the arcade. Well, everyone but Krissia - she wanted to shop :) After some friendly competition we collected our cheap prizes and drove back to the Colton's house. Prior to coming to Phoenix, one of Del's former Acclamation students, Sally (Cooper) Wright contacted us. She lives in Anthem (a short drive from No. Phoenix)and wanted to get together with us if we were ever in the area. We made plans to meet that evening with Sally and her family at one of Anthem's neighborhood parks for a picnic dinner.

It was so fun catching up with her and seeing her cute family! The younger kids also really enjoyed themselves at the Anthem Park. Mathison discovered that he LOVES sand:

...touching it

...lying in it

...and even EATING it!!


Jefferson, Carter, and Ethan had fun splashing around in a water pad and climbing on the rocks:

We ended the night by hanging out at Sally's house, where she treated everyone to ice cream as we reminisced about the good ol' "Accla" days.

The next day found us at a water park. Our camera had temporarily gone missing, so I didn't get any pictures :( It reminded me of 7 Peaks in Provo, with various slides, a wave pool, lazy river, and child section. Again, everyone enjoyed themselves - especially Jefferson, who had a little "romantic" encounter :) After coming home and cleaning ourselves up, the adults decided to have a night out. We ate at the Cheesecake Factory (girls' choice) then followed up with a movie. We ended up seeing the new Indiana Jones movie. The general consensus was that it was good, but not "WOW". There's just something about seeing a geriatric Indiana Jones that makes some of the adventure scenes seem a little unbelievable :) When we got home, we put the younger kids in bed and spent some time playing games (we won't mention who won, since it wasn't me). We got up early the next morning, knowing we had an all-day ride ahead of us.

We had a wonderful time in Phoenix; even the weather was great. Thanks so much Missy and McKay for letting us stay with your family!!

Memorable Memorial Day Weekend Part 1: Chinle

Hi everyone, I hope you had a fun holiday weekend - we sure did. We decided to take a road trip to Arizona and visit family members; we left early Saturday morning and returned home late last night. I've decided to post pics and details about our trip in three parts to avoid giving any of you readers Carpal Tunnel Syndrome :)
This first installment is about the time we spent in Chinle, AZ, visiting my parents.

It took us about 5 hours to drive to Chinle. This town is in the middle of the Navajo Reservation and is located in a very desolate area. Although small in size, Chinle had a few amenities that surprised us like some fast food restaurants, a large community center, and a full-sized LDS church. We arrived around 1:30 and had no trouble locating my parents' trailer, which sits in the LDS church parking lot. My kids were surprised to see Grandma and Grandpa living in a single wide trailer after being used to their big house and yard in LaVerkin :) We had to cross a cattle guard while driving into the parking lot; when Del asked my father about it, he said that it was to keep out wandering cows and horses. Del assumed my dad was teasing him until we started driving around and saw several wild cows and horses along the sides of the road!

After we ate lunch, my parents drove us to Canyon de Chelly National Monument. This is quite an extensive area that holds many Anasazi ruins. Because it is situated on Navajo lands, tourists are not allowed inside the canyon unless they pay for a guided tour given by Native Americans or are personally invited by a Navajo who farms property inside the canyon. However, there are several lookouts situated around the top of the canyon, and my parents drove us to three of these spots. We were able to look down into the canyon at the ruins; from our height, they almost looked like sand castles on the canyon floor:



Everyone seemed to have a good time, although it was a little chilly due to the wind.




My mother had prepared a pot roast dinner for us when we returned. We finished the evening by watching the Work and the Glory III with my parents, then somehow found a place for everyone to sleep in the tiny trailer!

The next morning, my mom got up early to fix us her traditional pancake breakfast. We left for church 20 minutes early; although my parents' trailer is in the church parking lot, that building is being renovated so the ward has to meet in Many Farms, a town about 15 minutes away. We attended the Many Farms Ward, and were quite impressed with the reverent feeling present. One of the talks was given in Navajo; although we couldn't understand the language, the spirit was quite strong. After sacrament meeting, one of the missionary Elders took this picture of us:

We then drove back to the trailer to pack up and head off to Phoenix. It was so nice seeing my parents again - especially in the mission field. Our family had a very nice time for the short period we were in Chinle!

We've hit 18 months!

My beautiful, blond, baby boy turned 18 months old this week. Where does the time go?? Although toddlerhood is bringing it's typical challenges, the joy this little spirit brings into our home is more than worth it; we feel so lucky to have him as part of our family - even if it did take 10 years to get him here :)

MATHISON'S STATS
WEIGHT: 22 LBS (7%)
HEIGHT: 31.5" (25%)
TEETH: 8

THINGS THAT MATHISON LIKES
climbing (grr)
dancing to music
Yogos snacks
running away when someone asks him to come here
anything to do with trucks
slides (he even uses the backrest of our bathtub as one)
Baby Einstein videos
numbers and shapes (he can recognize 1-5 and a star and circle by sight)

Here are some recent pictures of our little guy:

Just Make Up Your Mind!!

I am so tired of the fickle, wacky weather we've had the past few months.

One moment it is broiling hot, the next moment....it's SNOWING!!

We've had near-record breaking heat the past 4 days, so I was all geared up and ready for summer. Today brought a 40 degree drop in the weather and a half-foot of snow in the mountains. Go figure.

Whatever happened to having spring?

Krissia Turns 15!!

Krissia had her birthday a few days ago; I can't believe my little girl is fifteen! She's really excited because she's now old enough to get her learner's permit. I'm just not ready to have two children driving - mentally or financially.

We held a family party for Krissia on Thursday morning before school. Her gift from Del and I was an I-pod.

Krissia seemed pretty excited to get it; she's been wanting one for a while now :)

On Saturday afternoon, Krissia invited several of her friends over (girls only) to play games and have a BBQ. Everyone seemed like they had a good time.


Here are 15 things I like about Krissia:
1)She is beautiful, inside and out
2)She's a tomboy like her mother
3)She's very mature for her age
4)She's an incredible athlete
5)She is a wonderful help around the house
6)She's a top student
7)She truly cares for other people
8)She's very goal-oriented
9)She's not afraid to stand up for what she believes in
10)She has a strong testimony of the gospel
11)When she does something, she gives it 100%
12)She's extremely outgoing
13)She is a very genuine person
14)She's eager to try new things
15)She is a good listener

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KRISSIA - WE LOVE YOU!!!!