Hodge Podge

Now that life is back to a more "normal" dull roar,

I've slacked off on keeping this updated.

So sorry.

Here's a quick run down of this past week's highlights.

We dropped Holland off (in her suit) and suitcase in tow

for a few days downtown at the state HOSA competition.

Don't worry, I'd never heard of HOSA either.

It stands for Health Occupational Students Association-

basically a club and competition for future health professionals.

She had a blast-- it was just kind of weird for us to have her away.

 And now that Kean's health has improved and he's getting his

energy level back up, it is time to get him back into regular

therapy.  He had his first Physical Therapy session in a pool.

 Every other week he will have therapy with one of his

former P.T.'s at a pool in the basement of a building over

by St. Al's.  

 My favorite part- I'm not so sure it was his - was when

she placed him in this contraption.

It is just a floaty but it buckles twice behind his neck and keeps

his head up while keeping his hands and legs free to flail

and kick.

 I think it was a little disconcerting for him in the beginning

but he soon was all over the place- acting like he owns the pool.

 Finally, my cute 97 year old grandmother was interviewed

by one of the local newspapers (Middleton) about her legacy.

Have I told you I'm one of 83 grandchildren!!!

Around our house, most of the time the girls don't call

her Grandma Great-- it's Grandma the Great!

And that couldn't be truer.

She is truly one of the wonders of this world.

Doctors Schmoctors

What's that old joke about Spring in Idaho?

If you don't like the weather, give it a few minutes.

We had sunshine, rain, wind and yep, lots of hail

(several times).  

The puppies weren't quite sure what to make of it.

 And by now you've likely heard what has been keeping

us running (no pun intended).  My mom fell 10 feet off of a ladder

and landed on her garage floor.

She has a broken foot--

which we got good news about today:  no surgery needed.

But she does have to keep off of it for six weeks.

That's gonna be tough.  Especially since my dad cracked

three ribs on Valentine's Day.

 My mom is bruised from her eye down to her neck.  Her

shoulder, her backside-- with new bruises popping up as we go.

I'm about to bubble wrap both of them.

 And just because we don't see enough doctors in our world--

we had to spend an hour with another one this afternoon.

It is time for Kean's evaluation by Health and Welfare

to determine that he still has Down syndrome and therefore

still qualifies for therapy services.

 Nope, it hasn't gone away.  He still has it.

And was quite bored in the office while I answered

at least a hundred worksheet questions about his

abilities or lack of abilities.

 And that's just step one.  We are being required

to get his IQ tested now that he's off Chemo

and might actually cooperate.

I can't think of a bigger waste of time or waste

of taxpayers dollars.  But hey, it's required.

Geez.

Road Trip

Clearly we are not as young as we used to be.

Get this.  We got up at 3:30 a.m. Saturday morning, drove

down to Salt Lake for Mark and Nicole Moomey's wedding,

hit their reception that night and then drove home.

We are paying for it today.

But, I must say, it was totally worth it.

Mark is like a big brother to the girls-- part of the family-- and he

also worked for Byron for many years.  We love this guy (and his bride).

We started (after driving) our morning with a family brunch.

Kean ate us all under the table.

He sure has his appetite back and has "made friends" with food again.

 Here is Mark and Nicole as they walked out of the temple--

shortly after being married.

It was a lovely, lovely ceremony.

 What made it even better (for me) is I ran into this guy-

he's a few years younger but grew up with me in Vegas.

Nathan Henderson's wife is the sister of the Bride's mother.

Small world, eh?

 We had a grand time at the reception that evening.

Kean was pretty good (thankfully he got a 2 hour nap)

and was totally into the dancing part of the reception.

 It was so worth driving with the kids in the car back and forth.

They were wonderful and we all loved being there for these two 

we hold so dear.

 Every one is in bed as I write this-- and I'll be there in a few

but we did have enough energy to play a rousing game

of newspaper "snow ball" fights.  Reese made snow balls

out of newspaper, set up boxes and divided us into teams:
Grandma and Byron vs. Lonni and Reese.

 We had to see who could get the most snowballs into the

other team's box.

I'll save you from having to tune in to ESPN-- ha, ha.

Reese and I smoked the others-- 10 to 4.

Whoo hooo!

The Third Boob Is History

Ah, Kean is one brave boy.  Either that, or he is completely numb 

and checks out each time we are in the hospital.

 He breezed through today's surgery.

Probably, because we had Grammy along for moral support.

 He had to wait (fasting) for hours before they came for him.

They let me dress up in what looked like a garbage man suit,

go back in to the operating room and hold him until he got

enough gas and was out.

 His surgeon said all went well and he came out of the anesthesia

with no problems (just an extra dose of grouchiness).

Oh and did I mention he was hungry and thirsty--

4 pieces of bacon were the appetizer.

 I thought you'd like to see what his ol' port looks like.

The purple part with the rubber insert is what caused the bump in his chest.

Then, the tube (it is cut short) threaded up his chest and connected

up near the right side of his collar bone to the main artery

that leaves the heart.

Much of his Chemo was administered through

this little device.

It will make a great show and tell some day.

Finally, a memory I'll want to hold on to forever is this:

as we were leaving this morning Reese got up early to smother Kean

with goodbye kisses.

She told him when he comes home tonight, he won't have his port anymore,

he won't have cancer anymore but...

he will still have Down syndrome.

It was hilarious.

That girl.

Good Genes

And now for something completely different....

(If you are an old Monty Python fan, you'll get that.  If not, enough about

Baldapalooza).

Today marks my grandmother's (Beth Walker) 97th birthday.

Yep, you read that right.

Take a good, long look at her in the picture.  She's incredibly 

healthy and truly runs circles around pretty much everyone I know.

She's just recently started slowing down a bit.

But get this, at her age, the only medicine she takes is

an aspirin (and that started just recently).

She give me great hope for my future.

 In fact, we all adore her so much, my girls refer to her as

Grandma the Great!

No truer words have been spoken.

 We had a little family get together last week in her honor.

She didn't want any presents, just portraits with each family.

But she gave each of her great grandchildren a very special gift--

her written testimony for each to keep and cherish.

Happy 97th birthday my dear, dear Grandma:

Beth Packard Walker.

Oh to be like you when I grow up!

A Pap Smear and a Prayer

Today has been all about trying to keep Kean from 

being too miserable and getting him to eat something!!!

Stupid Chemo.

It stresses me out.

He did seem happier to be outside and sitting in the garage

on Byron's old tractor.

 I have purposely never taken Kean for a ride on a tractor,

motorcycle or four wheeler.

Otherwise, I'd be hounded all day every day by you know who.

 When Byron got home from work he took Kean on a real

four wheeler ride-- and look who he let drive part of the time!

Yikes!

 I, by the way, this afternoon had a doctor's appointment

with a new doctor for a physical and annual exam--

yes that female one.

I really, really liked the new doctor and had quite the unusual

experience.

After I got dressed, she came back in and asked if she could

say a prayer for my family.

She then held my hands and said the most beautiful prayer--

petitioning the Lord to bless my marriage, my husband, myself,

the three girls and especially Kean.

It was really sweet and the most unique doctor's visit I think I've 

ever had.

We are feeling the love.

Tonight we came home to a box full of Valentine's treats

from Grandma Kay.

 As I said, feeling the love.

Birthday Blessings

Yawn.

A lot has happened since I wrote last night.

Kean was up-- quite miserable -- from 1:30 to 6 a.m.

Which means I was up with him.

Poor little guy was still feverish but not high enough to earn a trip to the hospital.

He did earn a bath and mom and dad getting to wash bedding and his clothes

in the middle of the night (ick) but by morning he was starving

(good sign) and the fever was all but gone.

The way I look at it is what a gift.

We didn't end up in the Emergency Room-- so that gives

us much to be thankful for.

Especially Reese.  When he started throwing up last night,

she burst into tears, ran and hid in her room.

My sensitive girl lives in fear of us leaving her for the hospital again.

Even though Kean is not feeling great, I had a wonderful day.

My friend, Calene kidnapped me for lunch where we joined

8 of our friends for a long, leisurely lunch.

Three of us were celebrating birthdays.

Then this evening, the Bodily's offered to watch Kean

and Byron's mom took all of us out for dinner.

Yum-- ribs! 

 Byron's mom leaves us tomorrow to head back to Montana.

What a treat it has been to have her here for the holidays.

Thank you for all of your prayers for Kean

and birthday wishes for me.

It means so much.

Aglow

Those cute neighbors of ours, the Bodily's gave us our Christmas

gift tonight-- they took Kean for the evening and sent us

to the Winter Gardens Aglow-- the Botanical Gardens

decked out in their finest.

 And while it was a bit nippy,

the girls kept us oohing and awing.

 Really, the place is amazing...

stunning.

 It seemed everywhere we turned the girls were like

"Dad-- take a picture of us here".

 We are now officially caught up in the spirit of the holidays

and ready for the big day.

The Big Man Himself

Talk about excitement around these parts....

we started the evening with our friend Trent bringing over

pizza for dinner and the new movie:  How to Train Your Dragon 2.

 But before we were even half way through the flick...

the man in red showed up (with the little Missus).

 Once we got past all the squealing (and Kean staring in awe)...

 Santa got to work finding out what each of the kids wants

for Christmas this year...

 and whether they've been naughty or nice.

 Holland admitted to being a little iffy in that department.

She's a teenager, what can we say?

 Kean wasn't even intimidated by the big guy.

 He's been practicing saying Santa Claus and has been 

non stop pushing the button on his little dancing Santa Claus

that the Bodily's gave the kids.  The dancing Santa sings

and says Ho, Ho, Ho.

So guess who we got to say Ho, Ho, Ho to the

guy who coined the phrase?!?!

 Um, guess who didn't even get to escape the lap--

me...

 Byron...

 and even his mom!

 They were just darling with the kids

and a real treat for all of us.

What a fun night between the movie with Trent and the visit from Mr. and Mrs. Claus.

Here's the video of Kean saying Ho, Ho, Ho.