"And it came to pass". . .

About eighteen months ago while picking peaches in the back yard I suddenly had a deep pain in my back.  I came in and laid down for a minute and the pain steadily got worse.  Doug happened to be home and it was a Saturday so I had him take me to the Instacare here in Hurricane to find out that I had a kidney stone that was passing.  They gave me a couple of shots of pain killer and some to take for later and I went home and went to bed.  Thankfully my mom came by and told me she had prayed that morning to be able to help someone, so she bottle the peaches I had picked for me.  I can't tell you how much I appreciated her help that day!  I was able to move the stone out of me in just a few days and was pain free for about four months, until the same symptoms came again.  This stone took a few weeks to pass, but I could find relief without drugs this time, but I would still have an occasional back and side ache. 
Finally, about last February the pain had become constant and I was spending a lot of time laying down to ease it (they said that when I laid down on my left side that the stone moved out of the exit hole and that is why I was able to relieve the pain),  and doing a lot of stretches on the floor which also seemed to help the discomfort.  I was drinking a ton a water each day because the more water I had in me the less pain I felt.  When I finally got in with my Doctor, they felt it was a kidney infection and gave me an antibiotic and sent me home.  The medicine didn't help and I continued in pain.  Dr. Worwood sent me for a CAT scan the first of April to see if I had another stone, because he was worried that I might have one that was five or six millimeters, which would be too big to pass.  My CAT scan showed that I had a THIRTEEN MILLIMETER stone and I was referred to a Urologist, Dr. Adams, to have it surgically removed.  Dr. Adams is a great doctor, and we had a good laugh at how big the stone was, he said it wasn't his largest to remove, but definitely close.  He scheduled me to have it blasted for the Monday after Easter. 
I am very sensitive to medications and because of that I had a hard time coming out of the anesthesia in the hospital.  I was very sick and bleeding, even though Dr. Adams didn't cut anything.  He used sound waves, coming from different directions and they crossed paths on the stone.  He described the procedure as a bomb (the stone) going off in my kidney, sending shrapnel (stone particles) into the tissue. Then over the next few days I'm supposed to pass the particles out of my body.  The general anesthesia made me very sick and I ended up throwing up on the way home, the worse case of motion sickness I have ever experienced.
The next day was probably the worse of the whole experience, I had developed a blood clot inside that was keeping things from moving.  It backed up into my kidney, causing it to swell and be incredibly painful, then backing into my stomach.  The only thing they could do was wait for the clot to dissolve and give me morphine shots for the pain. (I'm so grateful for pain medications!!)  I'm so grateful for all the powers that BE and I only suffered for about 24 hours when the clot dissolved and I got rid of the rest of the stone.  Recovery after that was 100% better and faster.  I was able to go to Austins Sterling Scholar regional competition with a friend who drove me over (I didn't think I should drive while on heavy painkillers), and went to church on Sunday.  This may be gross to some, but I have to include a picture of the stone fragments that I kept for Dr. Adams. 

They will test them so I can change my diet to keep from getting anymore kidney stones.  I'm so grateful to not have a knife in my back  anymore, and to be able to have some energy to get some stuff accomplished without having to lay down all the time.  It is amazing how much pain zaps your energy. 
While reading the scriptures the other day we started a chapter in the Book of Mormon with "And it came to pass"  and I started laughing.  The phrase has a whole new meaning to me.  I'm grateful that these things have "come to pass" and I willingly am letting them go. 

Hoppy Easter!

This year Easter came fast it seamed.  We didn't get in the spirit of it like we usually do.  We had General Conference the week before, and didn't have our usual Family Home Evening on the atonement, so when the weekend came to "celebrate" the resurrection, I wasn't in the right mood.   We did, however, enjoy some Easter fun, in the eggsighting kind of way.

Saturday morning we went to Leeds to join in their Easter Egg Hunt.
They always do such a good job.  Dalyon and Cami were in the same group this
year so they had fun looking for eggs together.

Cami got her face painted like a bunny.  It was Dalyons idea
to put the ears above her eyebrows. 

The Easter Bunny came and gave them large chocolate bunny suckers.

Dalyon is eating the ears off his bunny, so that it won't
hear what is going to happen to it.  Funny kid.

Later that day Dalyon went with my sister Vickie and her family and my mom on a hike to Toquerville Falls.  They were going to hike Redcliffs reserves, but the park was full so they went to Toquerville instead.  It was rough terrain but they made it all the way to the falls in the pickup, played in the water then came back to my moms for dinner.  We all joined them that night for an Easter dinner of ham and dutch oven potatoes complements of Grandma.  It was nice to visit with our family again.  The kids had a small Easter egg hunt that night while the adults visited.

Sunday morning the Easter bunny hid the kids' baskets in the back yard as he always does.  This year he was too exhausted to hid eggs I guess because he only hid baskets, but everyone was happy. 

Cody and Cami looking for their baskets. 

Mady is happy, she found her basket, Cody and Cami are still looking.

In our sacrament meeting Sister Joyce Swyers spoke about what the knowledge of the resurrection means to her, and how, after loosing so many of her family members to death, Easter morning gives her new hope and joy knowing she will live with them again.  She lost her husband two months ago after him being bedridden for sixteen years.  She also has lost both her parents, her in-laws, and three of her children.  She quoted from Elder Bednars article in the last Ensign and gave us all renewed hope in the atonement of Jesus Christ.  I really enjoyed listening to my dear friend speak, that renued in me the true Easter spirit. 

Asking Holly to Prom

Austin and his friends enjoy coming up with funny ways to ask girls to their dances.  Senior Prom in April 21 and Austin finally decided to ask Holly Holmes to the dance.  It took him a lot of pondering to decide who he was going to ask because he gets uncomfortable with girls who wear immodest dresses, or that have kissed too many other guys.  He decided to take his friend Holly and was excited to ask her. 

He has had an old fridge sitting in the back yard for a few weeks and wanted to plug it in and fill it with soda for he and his friends.  I told him no because I didn't want to pay for the electricity to fuel such an old fridge, so instead he worked it into asking Holly to Prom. 

Austin and Mady made up this poster and put it inside the
fridge.  The "cool" part refers to the refrigerator. 

They cut out colorful fish and taped them all over the fridge on the outside. 
Mady didn't get a picture of the fridge standing up, but this is right before they took
over to her house.

Austin bought some gold fish crackers and wrote each letter of his
name on separate crackers, then put them in a small fish bowl.

The only problem with the fish crackers was that when Austin bought
them, he bought fish and basketball shapes.  He and his friends had
to pick through the shapes to find enough fish to put in the bowl.  He
mixed the letters of his name though the bowl of fish and put it in the fridge on
her front lawn. 

Austin Swyers and Darringer Scow are sorting
through the basket balls for the fish.

Kris Wilson (AKA Topher) and Ephriam Tait are supervising the
"Fishing".    The boys call themselves a "brotherhood" and
make sure each of them are taken care of.  They have a good time for sure.

Later in the week Austin got a call from his friend Austin Swyers telling him that he needed to go out and hide his truck because he got word that Holly was going to answer him.  When Austin went out to his truck to move it, it had been covered in real fish, frozen ones that were duct taped to the side of his truck.  In the window Holly had taped a note that said, "Out of all the fish in the sea, I'm so glad you choose me!"  then painted YES on all of his windows.  I think she got him back really well, wouldn't you say?  (Luckily the fish were still frozen, sadly, not edible anymore.)

And the Wisdom Teeth are GONE!!

With everything going on in our lives this spring I had to find time to work in getting Austin's wisdom teeth out.  I tried several days around Easter break, but with his Steriling Scholar competition coming up we needed to get it done early.  On March 29 I took him out of school early and went over to Wisdom Teeth Only, a dentist in St. George that extracts the teeth under general anesthesia.  We were both a little nervous about the whole thing, and it took a half an hour of talking to the assistant to get paperwork finished, then another half an hour to do the procedure.  I was concerned about how fast Dr. Hendrickson took out his teeth, especially where he had to be put under too.  I could tell Austin was up again because he yelled from the operatory "OH YEAH!!!" as they sat him up.  He came out of the general anesthesia early while they were still pulling his last tooth.  (He told me later that he was never numb on that side, but the general anesthesia kept him from feeling too much as they pulled his tooth.  How AWFUL!!)  He was very funny as they wheeled him out to me a few minutes later.  He wanted to maneuver his own wheelchair and do tricks in it, but the assistant wouldn't let him.  She told him that "She was in charge of this wheelchair."  He reported to her "Who made you wheelchair queen?".  He was really giddy and loud all the way home.  I didn't dare stop to fill his prescriptions because I was afraid he would get out of the car and walk somewhere, so I hurried him home.  We stopped at Maverick on the way and I got him some frozen yogurt while our friend Nathan Barnum talked with him (Nate works at Maverick) that way he didn't try to come in with me or take a walk.  After we got home the general anesthesia began to wear off and he started to hurt on the side that wasn't numb, and get really sleepy.  I ran to get his meds filled so that he could sleep comfortably.  While I was gone his friends started to come over and bring him shakes.  He didn't get much sleep that first day but said he felt fine. 

This is right after arriving home.  He still feels good and hasn't started swelling
yet.  He is in the kitchen talking with his dad telling him how great
he feels and that "this was nothing!" 

A few minutes later, still with ice on his cheeks but starting
to feel the anesthesia wearing off.  Not so happy now.  I love the
ice packs, they are very clever for wisdom teeth. 

  We are glad to have this experience over.  It has been anticipated for about a year, and I'm glad to get it over with so that as he prepares for his mission it is one less thing to get done.  He enjoyed all of the attention from all his friends, especially the girls who came to rub his head and keep him company while he recovered.  He soaked that right up! 

Clogging Competition

Mady and Cami are both involved in the American Cloggers, taking clogging lessons once a week.  Every March their group goes to a competition that is held here in St. George.  This year Cami's class, the beginning class, clogged on Friday night, and Mady's advanced class competed on Saturday.  Both girls were excited. 

Cami is practicing on the side of the room with her group.  She
loves to dance!

A close-up while we are waiting for our turn.

This is them performing, Cami is on the front row on the right side.
They took first place with their dance "ABC" from the Jackson 5.

While Cami was competing in St. George, Mady was playing softball in Hurricane, but she got her turn the next day.  Mady's advanced clogging group performed two dances, with a costume change in between.

Here she is right before her first dance "Start the Party".
  She wasn't feeling well that day, I think more from exhaustion than
anything, and her neck hurt her, but she smiled and danced her best anyway!

Lining up for "Start the Party!"  Mady is in the back.   They took
second place with this dance and really did well with it. 

This is their second dance after the costume change.  They took first place
with this dance, but felt like they didn't know it as well.  Go figure. 

Fast Pitch Softball!

Mady is staying very busy, and now that she is a freshman she can play high school sports.  In addition to playing club volleyball she decided to try out for the freshman softball team this spring and made it!  She played on a little league team five or so years ago, but hasn't played much since then so I was really surprised when she announced that she was trying out and that she made the team.  She is having a lot of fun, and the coaches are really good.  They practice with the older girls so they are getting some good experience and she is growing in the game. She practices everyday after school and has games on Tuesdays and Fridays.  It is a high school team so they get to ride together with the JV and Varsity teams to away games. 

Mady plays outfield right now.  Look at her stance. . . she is ready to catch
a ball!!  Go Mady!

She is up to bat.  Fast pitch is much different than the slow pitch and
is harder to time the swing with the fast ball.  She is getting better at
hitting, and has a strong swing.

After the games the team has a powwow.  Mady is #17.

Fast Pitch Softball is a lot of fun to play and to watch.  It gets more exciting as they get better, and I hope Mady will stick to it.  They have a lot of fun!!  Go Tigers!

Cowboy Cody

Cody is in the 7th grade and during their spirit week they had a cowboy day.  He planned to dress up in his chaps and vests, boots and spurs, and then he started brainstorming with Austin and they planned to have him ride a horse to school.  Our friends the Crofts have a horse that they let us ride named Mack, and Austin has taken good care of him.  Austin loaded him up in the trailer and took him over the the school that morning for Cody to ride around in the parking lot. 

He certainly looked  the part!!  I'm not sure how the school felt
about him walking a horse on the grass, but because it was
cowboy day I guess it was OK.

Cody and Mack in the parking lot.  He really looks
good on a horse!

Mr. Furse getting a picture for the yearbook.  I think Cody was born in the
wrong century, he would have enjoyed riding a horse to school everyday.  YeeHaw!!