Rough couple nights

Grandma has had a rough couple nights. She had to get some blood the first night which is not uncommon after a surgery. She was doing great but then started to have a low grade fever, so they gave her some drugs and continued on with the blood. The next day she was feeling better and up about in the room walking(with assistance of course). Well then I think just due to all the stress of everything and including her bodies response to the blood her heart went in to a different rhythm. I think it scared a lot of the family. I am grateful I could be there to explain things and help everyone understand. Being educated and calm makes a huge difference! I see this everyday at work and do this everyday at work, but because it was my Grandma I had feelings of just nervousness I guess. I would have felt better had I been in there doing it myself! They gave her the medicine and her heart converted back easily to normal sinus rhythm. No shock needed! Grandma was extra tired after the event of the last couple days/nights! She is doing great with her therapy though and is expected to go home in a couple days! I know she has a long road a head of her but I am so grateful things are going relatively smooth. Thank heavens for modern medicine! I am so proud to be in the medical field and love helping people daily-especially when it is my own family!
I am so proud of my Grandma and how tough she is! I would like to think that I have inherited some of her fight, strength, and perseverance ! I definitely look up to her. Love you Grandma!!!

BYU game-just maybe!?!?

As most of you know, not everyone in our family -a.k.a Bryan-are big BYU fans. So it is pretty safe to say you probably wont be seeing us at many BYU games. Which would really be no big deal, however I just might miss out on something really big. My Aunt went to the BYU game yesterday and while walking up to the stadium a nice car pulled right up. They had security around and were directing people around. My Aunt with her new hip and all is not as quick of a mover these days and was taking her sweet time. She noticed a cute little old lady get out of the car followed by her hubby whom she recognized. There he was, President Monson!! My Aunt was so excited she got out her cell and snapped a pic.

He was really courteous to stay there for a bit to wave and say hello to people. My Aunt sent the text/pic to my cousin Jess who was at the hospital with my Grandma along with Addy and me. Now on to the part I would not want to miss if I went to a BYU game. Jess showed the picture to Addy and said,"Hey Addy, look who was at the game with Aunt Sherry tonight. Do you know who that is?" To which Addy replied, "That is President Monson!" Jess told her the story of how Aunt Sherry had seen him. She then asked Addy, "What would you do if you saw the Prophet at the BYU game?" Addy said without hesitation, all giddy with her arms waving, "I would yell to him, Hey! I am your biggest fan!" Needless to say she had us all in stitches including Grandma! I wouldn't want to miss out on seeing that. Anyone else up for a BYU game with Addy???

Answered Prayers

Last night as Bryan and I got out of the Temple, I noticed I had a lot of missed calls on my cell. All were from my family. That is never a good thing. I called my parents to find out that my Grandma had fallen and was in the ER. They were pretty sure she broke her hip! My heart just dropped. My poor Grandma. Later that night as we were driving home we got a call that confirmed she had broken her hip and was having surgery the next morning. I turned to Bry and told him I had to go up and be with her. He told me to go! I love my husband, he is ALWAYS so supportive of me. So this morning I woke up and Addy and I headed up North.
I have to say I was more than a little nervous. I see this all the time at work. The outcome is not always good. Statistics are not in her favor. Statistics say that about 80% of elderly people that fall and break a hip, have surgery die with in a year. Not really wanting to think about that. Especially since only a couple of years ago she had open heart surgery. That complicates any surgery! Could her heart handle the surgery? This is where being a nurse can skew my perspective a bit. My Grandma is strong and I only want to think about that. Yet I did voice my thoughts and concern to my parents, especially my Dad. His reply was simply,"She is a tough old bird. She is a fighter." To which I just simply agreed.
When we got to the hospital Grandma was just out of surgery and was doing great. The surgery went so well. The Doctor said it was better than he had anticipated! Guess he underestimated my Grandmas strength! She is one tough Lady! However I am so grateful for his caution-considering she had open heart surgery at 89 anything is possible. I know we as a family prayed a lot for her! I know our prayers were heard!
Today went as expected. She was in pain and we had to talk her into taking pain meds. She slept a lot as well. She looks good though. I was so glad to be just there by her side. There is no other place I wanted to be and am so grateful for a hubby who is willing to pick up all the loose ends so I can be here! Thanks Bry- I love you.

ARRRR MATIES!

Dawson had his birthday party today with his friends. He wanted a pirate party! Easy enough for me so we sent out the invitations.....

We had his party at Pirate Island Pizza in St. George. We had reserved the Smugglers Cave. It was so cool! Everything about that place was amazing, including the food. The boys thought the cave was awesome!


This was right above the cave. It is actually a water fall with a Pirate skeleton on it. So cool!
The rowdy crew, Addy, Easton, Braden, Dawson and Cole (sorry- again my camera sucks!)
The boys by the shooting game with the pirate ship in the background


They even had a little pirate play area for little stow aways! Ky had a blast!ARRRR the cake
Birthday pirate and the cake, which he loved!



Dawson even had a "traditional" pirate birthday song sung to him by the very pirates themselves. I was a little surprised Dawson did NOT want to get his picture with them! Crazy!

Most of the whole gang
Cake was a big hit with Ky, a big messy hit!

Dawson and his fellow Pirates and Piratess. They all got eye patches, telescopes and glow in the dark swords!
ARRRRR the treasure!


Dawson had a great birthday! The boys all got along and had a blast playing games, spending their tickets, looking at all the cool decor-really they kept pointing things out, so cute, and just playing with each other. We are so lucky he has such great friends! It was so fun, thanx Nana, Papa, Grandma and Grandpa for coming! Whew glad the party was a success, guess I wont be walkin the plank!

Go CV

Tonight Addy got to cheer at the CV game. She loves it! She has been able to do it the last couple years, and we look forward to this event every year. It is so fun to watch the girls. I loved everything about it this year! The weather this year was perfect, plus I love football, not that I get to really watch any of the game anyway. It is a fun family night out!

Bubba and Dawson-a rare moment of "chill time"

Addy and her BFF- Brooklynn
Addy and Lily
Ky hanging out with the Principal A.K.A Grandma
Addy and Grandma
Addy cheering during the 2nd quarterVideos of Addy cheering





They also did a dance at halftime, however you can't really see Addy. Oh well here it is anyway.

9-11

Today being September 11th, and the 8 year anniversary of the tragedy, makes me feel so proud to be an American. Not that I don't feel that anyway, but on occasions like this I get that overwhelming and overflowing pride. Today at Addy's school they had a flag ceremony and it was so touching. I have to admit, I can't help it, I get teary eyed when I hear the kids sing God Bless America. It is so heartwarming! I am grateful to all of those men and women who serve our country in every capacity! We are so blessed to live in this country. Even with all the turmoil going on in the world,I hope God continues to Bless America, My Home Sweet Home!

5 Already!!!!

Today Dawson turned 5! I can hardly believe he has made it this far!!!! Seriously with all his energy and kamikaze moves it amazes me that 1. he is still alive and 2. he has not been more injured! Dawson is the comic relief in our house and I often wonder what in the world I would do without that! He is a smart, helpful, happy, and ENERGETIC boy! Every birthday, we have a tradition that the kids get breakfast in bed. However because Dawson is so energetic and wakes up at like 6:00 am, I never have breakfast ready for him upon him waking up. Oh well, he loves it nonetheless. This year for his breakfast he chose pancakes and bacon with cranraspberry juice. We all walked into his room singing Happy Birthday! He loves that part!

Dawson eating his breakfast
Since Dad had to go to Las Vegas today we gave him 1 of his presents to open. He will have to wait till his party on Saturday for the rest. He got a Hot Hoops game! Big hit!!!


Today was also his 1st day of preschool this year! He has been so excited and I am not sure which one he has been more excited about! He loves school so to go to the 1st day of school on your birthday makes it even more cool! Here he is pumped and ready to go! Hope the teacher is as well!
At preschool
Dawson with his new teacher, Mrs.Clark

He had a great first day of school. He was so excited that they sang Happy birthday to him and he got a special birthday hat and balloon! I think he is really going to love his preschool!Tonight we went to Grandmas house for dinner. Dawson requested scrambled eggs and sausage. Of all the things he could possibly chose pizza, chicken nuggets, mac and cheese my 5 year old wants scrambled eggs. Go figure!

We opened some presents, this one being the highlight! Mario and Sonic at the Summer Olympics Wii game.
And of course what birthday is complete with out cake! Dawson wanted the confetti cake with confetti frosting. Just like his Aunt Nanny fav! It was the perfect ending for what he said was, "the awesomest day!" Glad you had a great day, love ya buddy!!!

Labor day 2009

We began the day with the festivities at Parowan. The parade was first on the list. It was a great parade and the kids got a butt load of candy. Sorry no pics! Then we headed over to the petting zoo. Another big hit! They saw lots of different animals and got to pet a goat, lamb, pig, a ram and rabbits. They thought it was awesome!
Here are the kids with one of the goats.
Ky getting a lick from one of the goats! Not sure how he felt about that.
Addy and one of the lambsKy and one of the pigs

After the petting zoo we headed up the mountain to the family cabin at Brianhead. It has been a little tradition the last few years. We love it up there! We BBQ'd, went for a little hike down to the river, rode the 4 wheelers, guys played some horse shoes with Addy and Dawson as assistants.We had a wonderful time just enjoying the mountain! This was actually Ky's first time on the 4 wheelers and he loved it! He just smiled the whole time. Addy and Dawson love the 4 wheelers as well. Guess we should make an effort to ride them more often!
Ky thinking he is ready to drive it!
We had a great day with the family! The weather was perfect, food was yummy, fun activities and wonderful company! Who could ask for anything more!

Sticker Fun

At church today, like most Sundays I had to take Ky out. I normally stand in the back foyer so I can keep an eye on Addy and Dawson. Well today when I was out there they were both being so good! I was so pleased, being a rare occasion and all, to not be able to hear Dawson. Sacrament was about over so I was starting to head back to our pew, when Dawson came towards me grinning from ear to ear. He had his sleeves rolled up and had stickers all up both arms and some on his face. I tried really hard to not burst out laughing which would have been totally inappropriate at church. Right???? Seriously he just made me smile! Thanx Dawson for making me smile especially during stressful times, like at church! Love ya buddy!

Parowan Gap

Today we actually had nothing planned, which is a very rare event at the Wood house lately. We decided to have some quality uninterrupted family time so we went to Parowan Gap. Neither Bry nor I had ever been there so we didn't know what to expect. We had heard about all the petroglyphs and thought it would be fun for the kids to see. When we got there I thought, this is it. Needless to say I was not to impressed upon first glance. There was no signs or historic info to read, nothing. I guess that is why you don't judge a book by its cover. We had a blast. We started by walking over to this fenced off area of the mountain. There was a little sign inside the fence which gave some info, but very little. We started to see all the "Indian writing", as the kids called it. It was really cool. It was all over too. The kids just had a great time climbing and finding all the petroglyphs on both sides of the gap/mountain. We also found little caves, which were a big hit. We seriously had such a great time. We were there for almost 2 hours.

Here is Addy and Dawson by some of the "Indian writing". It was fun to hear them tell each other what they think each sign meant. So fun to see how their minds work.

Kids with Dad climbing away, little mountain goats. Bry and I were a little nervous at times. Apparently we were unaware of our kids climbing abilities, thanx Papa! Dawson was so funny when we would tell him to,"be careful" or "slow down and take your time", (which is basically like asking him not to breath!) he would say, "No worries, I got this!" What can I say, the kid just makes us laugh!Ky a little sad he can't go climbing that high. Ahhh
Here are some of the caves, or as the kids thought maybe the Indian's homes, or part of them anyway. At one point Addy showed me where she thought the kitchen was in one of the caves. He He



All 3 of our munchkins! We all had such a great time! Next time Papa comes to visit we want to take him there. Not only would he like the petroglyphs, but he would love hiking with the kiddos just as much as we did!

Fruits of our Labor

This year our garden has been very plentiful, unlike last year. We have had plenty of squash, zucchini, cucumbers, green and red peppers but most of all tomatoes. We have had tomatoes by the bushel. Last year we had a handful here and there, so it has been very exciting to have so many this year. My kids have loved the garden as well. Dawson loves the zucchini, squash, and tomatoes, Addy not so much. However she will eat the chocolate chip zucchini cookies but that is it. Due to all the tomatoes I have finally been able to can me some salsa! I love homemade salsa, but then again who doesn't!


This is just what we picked out of the garden in 1 day! Crazy

This is what I have in my fridge....... I think I am ready!

Here is the fruits of our labor. Yummy!
Plus we pickled our cucumbers, something I have never done before. Thanx to Grandma Morris who came and helped me. We did it in no time at all. Not only was it faster but we had a great time together!.