Wednesday, June 25, 2008

This morning the kids went for a ride in Grandpa’s truck to his school. Grandpa had fun prizes waiting for them. After we went over to see my Grandma and it was nice to visit with her, living so far away we really only get see her once or twice a year.



























We went into Logan this afternoon and went to another one of my favorite restaurant's that we don't have in Texas Arctic Circle. After we went to a Fun Park and the kids enjoyed playing in the jump house and on the carousel.



























We came home and I barbequed hickory chicken, we had cookies and snow cones. Payton convinced Grandpa to take him in a ride in his truck one more time before bedtime.
























The kids are having a great time being with their grandparents and Aunt Kelsey. We are looking forward to Chad coming tomorrow and to going to IF to see his family.

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Day two of our vacation and another great day, we got up this morning and spent some time outdoors. The kids love being outside since it isn’t too hot, they must of had a dozen popsicles each. They also went for a ride on the Rhino.


























As if we haven’t had enough accidents yet. This morning, Payton tripped and fell into my parent’s glass table and cut his lip. We were so relieved that he didn’t knock a tooth out. No more accidents!






















Grandpa had told Savannah that if she could reach a balloon with a short string he would pay her a dollar. Since she couldn’t reach it Grandpa popped her balloon. Savannah told Grandpa that because he did that she got to tie him up.



























In the evening we went to Taco Time another one of my favorite restaurants in Logan. Crisp Chicken Burrito, Yum! I know that I’m crazy but being on vacation I have to visit all my favorite restaurants that I don't get to go to in Texas. Savannah is also having a great time and her personality has really come out on this trip. She had us all cracking up in the car. It’s great being here.




Monday, June 23, 2008

Finally arrived to Utah!

We finally arrived to my parents at 1:15 a.m. this morning; nedless to say we were all exhausted from the flight. The weather feels great here, well compared to Texas anyway. Everyone complains that it's hot; they don't know what hot is. We are so excited to be here. Payton spent the morning with Grandpa playing with toys and sharing Mt. Dew. My sister Kelsey decided that I needed a different hair style, so she straightened my hair. Not sure what to think of it might go back and forth for a while.

We drove into Logan and had lunch at Costa Vida which is one of my favorite places to eat. We went to the park this evening and met up with all my cousins, aunts, and uncles for my grandpa's 88th birthday party. It was great to see everyone since we don't get to see them very often. I was having a great time until Payton brought over a Sprite from the cooler that I thought he was going to give to me to open and instead threw it at me and cut open my eye. I'm not sure what is up with him and throwing things lately. Payton is also super busy and is always on the go and has to be watched constantly. When we arrived at the park we were all busy unloading the car and he ran into the street. He disappeared this morning from my parent's house and we found him out in my parent's car. I really can't complain since I am so glad to see him feeling well again.
























Payton + Sprite = Black Eye
















Sunday, June 22, 2008

ARR ARR Captain; we're off to Utah and Idaho!

Payton, Savannah and I are finally on the airplane and on our way to Utah. We are so excited to have this vacation, we can hardly wait. It will be great to see family. We will stay at my parents until Chad arrives later this week, after which we will head to Idaho to spend several days visiting his family. Then we will head back to Utah to spend time with my family at Bear Lake.

The kids received a post card in the mail from grandpa Archibald. He plans a theme each summer for the grandkids. We have all sorts of activities based upon the theme and do this at our family cabin in Bear Lake. The themes the past two years were Survivor and Amazing Race. This year the theme is Pirates of the Caribbean. Payton has been carrying the post card around asking me "Mom, what do pirates say?". I respond by asking him what he thinks a pirate says, and he exclaims, “ARR, ARR, captain.” Last year Payton missed out since he was in the hospital, so we are especially excited to go back and join in the fun. My dad always spends the whole year planning the activities and it’s always a blast. Regardless whatever we do we are always glad to go back and see family. We haven’t been to Idaho Falls in two years so we are anxious to get there as well.



Monday, June 16, 2008

Chad got home from Canada on Friday evening and after I worked the weekend, Chad decided to take today off so that we could celebrate Payton’s clean scans. We went swimming, took a picnic, and enjoyed spending time together. We don’t get a chance to do that very often since Chad is busy with school Monday through Friday and I work Saturday and Sunday. Being together as a family is very special now!










Saturday, June 14, 2008

Back to the clinic

We were back to the clinic on Friday to see Dr. Bowman. It was a long wait and I don’t miss that place at all. Apparently they have a lot of kids in the H/O clinic right now and it is a super long wait. Dr. Bowman said that Payton’s counts have recovered nice and said that he looks great. Dr. Bowman said he would like to wait another three months to make sure the 6 months CT/MRI Scans are clean before they remove his port. So in the meantime we have an appointment to have Payton’s port flushed in July.

On the way into the clinic Payton started screaming and said don’t put me on the bed. I really believe that he remembered our Wednesday visit when he was pinned down to be put under.


Payton hugging my leg and giving me a checkup while we waited to see the Dr.


Thursday, June 12, 2008

Great News!

I finally received Payton’s MRI results today. Everything looks clean. Wahoo, I can actually breathe again. I feel like somebody just lifted 100 lbs worth of weights off of my chest. The wait is horrible I feel like you are waiting to get a call if your child will be living or not. Great news and I couldn’t be more thrilled. Thanks again to everyone for your unconditional love, support and prayers.

Quick picture of what our summer mornings are like. Sleeping in, oh yes, you got to love it. Both kids have been in bed with me this week since Chad’s been out of town.

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Back to Cook's for an MRI/CT Scan

I didn’t tell Payton where we were going today since I didn’t want to stress him out. On the way to the hospital Payton said “Mom, I’m not going to the doctor today, nope.” It amazes me that he recognizes the freeway and which direction we are heading when we head to Cook’s. When we arrived to the hospital I tried to distract Payton with a sword I had brought and a Webkinz frog. It seemed to work for a while until he realized what was going on. Payton didn’t have to drink contrast today so it wasn’t the long painful wait that we usually have. Although, it’s hard to tell a three year old that they can’t eat or drink anything when they think they are starving. We got right back to pre-anesthesia and the anesthesiologist came and talked to me about how he thought we should try and get Payton to do his CT scan awake and that I could stay with him during that part. I guess they believe they can get better results from the scan if they are awake. I told him that we could try, but I really didn’t think that it would happen. When we arrived to the CT room, Payton immediately started screaming, I really didn’t think that he would lay his head in the little box and let them strap him down. I finally convinced him that it was a rocket ship and that we were going to take a picture of him in the rocket ship. Needles to say, he freaked out, but he held still enough to get it done. After, we met with the anesthesiologist again and Payton’s port was accessed and he was given his anesthesia to go to sleep. Typically, Payton falls asleep really quick, but he really fought it today. I think they realized how hard it was to watch Payton squirm while several people tied him down since they told me it was that I left the room. Wow, that’s really hard to watch. Since we haven’t done MRI’s before, I didn’t realize the long wait that it is. It took 2 ½ hrs to complete. While I was waiting in the waiting room I was watching so many families come and go with their children. All it takes to humble me sometimes is to sit in a children’s hospital and watch some of the problems and trials that these kids and families go through. I watched a couple families cry after they had been called back probably to hear the results they didn’t want to hear. I was thinking to myself about all the struggles that we go through in life and what some of these kids have to go through. It amazes me how these kids come into our lives and mean the absolute world to us. Once we have them we don’t know what we would do without them. We take them and accept them and love them no matter what the situation or hand we are dealt with.

It was really hard going back to cook’s today. It is weird being away for some time and then going back. It brought back some really horrible and painful memories. Payton was pretty red and mad coming out of the anesthesia, but he usually does that. Luckily it doesn’t take him long to forget about it.

Dr. Heym called this evening and said that he had the results of the CT scan, but not the MRI. CT scan showed clean lung nodules. We should receive the results of the MRI tomorrow. Good news on the CT scan and we are hoping for the same on the MRI. I can finally breathe a little better. Hopefully tomorrow will be good news as well. Thanks for everyone's concern, love and prayers.






Outside of Cook's on the bench


Pre-anesthesia room