Terror in the high desert...

As I have mentioned earlier, I hate birds. Yes, I know, hate is a strong word I don't allow the kids to use, but there just isn't any other word that can describe my level of dislike for the germy creatures. Imagine my surprise, when I looked out my kitchen window on a bright and sunny morning and saw THIS on the neighbor's roof!




This monster was so large that I had to call Paul over to make sure that it was real. He thought it was the greatest thing ever, and went outside to get a better look because he is crazy like that. Upon closer examination Paul decided that the creature was over two feet tall, which for some reason made the whole even more exciting for him. He even grabbed the California bird book & tried to figure out what it was - possible a great blue herring? Whatever - I would have thrown a rock or something, but the bird was watching me, I'm sure of it.

Eventually he flew away, much to Paul's dismay - he was hoping to keep it as a pet. My ever supporting children were thrilled to hear the story, and are all hopeful that this creature will return. Shawn insists that the bird is nearby still and is in fact "stalking" me. Thanks Shawn!

A more relaxing day...

The final word on Michael is in - he is OK! His heart is back to normal, he was discharged from the hospital & was able to spend the afternoon & night with us yesterday. Today he had to go to Walter Reed Medical Ctr in Washington, and they decided that he is ok too. He still has to see a neurologist, but that will be a bit further down the line.

We were also SO relieved & excited that Kathy's surgery went so well. We love Aunt Kathy so much and were praying hard for her all day - and once again, Heavenly Father heard us!

Paul, Small Paul & I headed down to Washington DC to check out some of the sights. It was a beautiful day, and although we ran out of time really quickly, we were able to see some fun things! The Washington, Jefferson, and Lincoln Monuments were so impressive. The US Capital Bldg is just beautiful, and the White House is fantastic.

We only had time to run through one of the 19 Smithsonian museums, so we chose Air & Space, and it was very cool. We are already planning a return trip soon with the rest of the kids. We would love to take them to Gettysburg, Hershey PA, the Baltimore Harbor etc. There is just so much to see in this part of the country! It seems so odd when we are driving around - from where we are it's only about 60 miles to Philadelphia, less than that to Delaware, DC was about 70, and Virginia is right past the National Mall, in fact we made a wrong turn today & were in Virginia for a minute!

Michael will be with us tomorrow, so I'm off to start planning our day of sight seeing! What a fantastic turn to such a horrible event!

A HAPPY update from Maryland

Ok - well, the past few days have been a big blur...

Friday morning, while rushing to get kids to school & myself there for an awards assembly (yay Shelby & Reagan) I received a call from Michael's commanding officer. Michael was found in his bed that morning unresponsive, and the e.m.t.s took him to the hospital where he was in ICU hooked up to a ventilator. He told me that we needed to get out to Maryland within the next 24 hours so that I could make medical decisions because I am listed as his next of kin. He didn't have any other information but told me he would call me when he did. At this point it had been about 6 hours since they found him and he was still completely unresponsive and now they were saying it was an apparent overdose of one the MANY prescriptions the army docs have had him on.

I called Bishop Clark Everitt, who was able to get me the number for the Bishop out here, who was able to coordinate getting Michael a Priesthood blessing. Paul & I went into a crazy whirlwind of what to do with the kids, getting a flight, packing, getting winter wear etc...

What seemed like forever later we got some good news, Michael appeared to be trying to turn his head when they yelled his name & shook his arm. This was a good sign, but it was all very touch & go.

Saturday morning we were on our way to the airport when we got a call saying that Michael was breathing on his own & tried to speak a little, which was a great sign, although now there were even more questions as to what happened.

We saw Michael last night, but he was really out of it and had a babysitter in his room. It was great to see him, but he looked pretty beat up. They were able to tell us that his brain function appeared to be normal, but they were concerned because he had (and still has) a heart block. I kept asking questions that no one could answer for me - Michael has been doing really great for the past 6 months or so, has been totally positive about life, and has never done anything like this before, it just didn't make sense... an overdose?

When I went to the hospital this morning, Michael was awake, alert, hungry, and wanting to know why everyone thinks he wants to hurt himself... He was insisting to everyone that he loved his life, but he couldn't remember what happened.

The hospital psychiatrist finally came in and had a long talk with him and decided that it was not an attempt to hurt himself, but that he should have never been prescribed the meds that did this to him. More than likely, he took his meds twice Thursday night, which caused lots of problems including a seizure.

We're not done yet, still waiting to see how his heart recovers, but they think he is going to be ok. His commanding officer is opening a medical review to find out what went wrong and where, and who knows if we will ever find out ourselves, but we have learned that Michael cannot take TCA's anymore (a type of antidepressant they used to try to prevent his migraine headaches). The prescription wasn't helping his headaches, so they just kept telling him to take more & see what happened. Well, THIS is what happened. I'm sure I'll be angry later on, but for now I'm busy...

I need a nap ---- Thanks so much to everyone who was fasting, praying, and holding Michael & our family in our hearts. Once again Heavenly Father has taken care of my family - I am so blessed!!! Love to everyone!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...

Just for fun, after I picked up all of the kids from school, it started to SNOW!! We are all very hopeful that it will continue for awhile, it's so beautiful to watch, and they close the schools really quickly in our district... we will see what happens next!


Ok - I had to add this.....



The mailman just showed up bearing gifts from afar (Utah to be precise). How amazing are these shoes???? We L.O.V.E. them!!! Thanks so much to the amazing knitter Stacey!!! Small Paul is very happy to be keeping his toes warm inside of them on this chilly day for sure! (yes, that is his hair standing straight up in the midle of his head)

Aquarium of the Pacific

Even though it appears from first glance that we are attempting to establish residency at Disneyland, there are actually lots of other things we like to do too. One thing we like alot is going to Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach. There is so much to do there - pet the rays, pet the sharks, touch all kinds of tide pool dwelling creatures like starfish, sea cucumbers, and other things with long names I cannot spell. A couple of years ago for Paul's birthday he and Savannah the were able to go "behind the scenes" and learn all about taking care of Sea Otters, which was really cool! They even got to feed them!





Another fun activity at the aquarium (for some of us at least) is the Lorikeet Forest, which is a huge enclosed area where you get to feed the lorikeets. This may sound exciting, and the kids & Paul really love it, but for anyone who does not know this about me... I am terrified of birds. Really hate them, I can't help it - they completely creep me out. I'm not really bothered by any of the normal things - reptiles, rodents, whatever, but birds - YIKES! So, in an effort to raise well rounded children I brave the forest ducking & bobbing to avoid the birds zooming past my head on a mission (I'm sure) to peck my eyes out. This time I had to add protecting the baby to the equation and it was quiet an exhausting event for me, but the kids all had fun...



Scary - you can't convince me otherwise.

Wrapping up Christmas vacation

Christmas vacation is now over - sob - and the kids go back to school on Monday. Not wanting to waste any of those last, precious moments we headed out again! One more trip to Disneyland, followed by our first trip to Legoland. We stopped for a moment to bond with the rabbit from Alice in Wonderland and told him that we too are always late for our important dates!









We were cruising through the park we ran into Woody & Jessie from Toy Story! While Shelby & Reagan were there to get their autographs, Woody & Jessie played with Small Paul's spikey hair. The girls are on a mission to get EVERYONE'S autograph.






How cute are the Pauls? Small Paul LOVES the Small World ride, so we never miss it. I am not a huge fan of this ride, but I'm working on it for his sake. I used to like it, but I think I hit my limit on the song somewhere in my teens and haven't been able to re-embrace it quite yet. Luckily it is really cute right now because it is still decorated for Christmas and they also change up the song a bit.





On to Legoland where Savannah met a really nice guy! We explained to both of them that she can't date for 3 1/2 more years, and I think he will wait!






Sadly, a land shark tried to eat Shelby, but Superhero Shawn-E-Boy and his faithful sidekick Savannah were able to pull her out in the nick of time!


Legoland was very cool, much more so than Paul or I expected. We have had the tickets for quite awhile, and they were going to expire so we figured we should go, hoping to just have a nice day. I have to say that all of the gagillion lego structures, people, animals, cars (a full sized volvo suv) and artwork throughout the park were utterly amazing. I personally am limited to building simple boxes and calling them a house, or a garage - so I was especially impressed! We were there all day & only got to hit MAYBE half of the rides, but we only had to wait in one line, there was just alot to see & do. There is an aquarium next door and a water park too - maybe next time we will go for two days so we can do it all. We are able to get tickets through a friend and they are actually good for two days, but we had to get the kids back. The whole family had alot of fun & we are so glad we went. We were talking on the way home and thought that Liam & Drew would have a blast here if it could be squeezed in next time they are out. We all had alot of fun, but it is totally a busy little boy's dream destination!

The past two weeks or so...

We always celebrate Christmas separately with a big dinner with our good friends the Morris family, and with the kids' Grandpa Gabriel. This year, due to scheduling changes we decided to have a Christmas breakfast party instead, and it was a blast! I think it was more fun than just another big dinner, so we might just do it this way from now on!


On Christmas Eve we had a visit from Santa himself, and apparently we have all been very good this year! Aunt Kathy & family sent us a ton of new board games, which we were in desperate need of - we had quite the collection of incomplete board games before, and now we are ready for lots of fun family game nights. Thanks Kathy! Santa must have really loved the cookies because he brought me a new professional model Kitchenaid mixer which I have wanted for awhile now!



The kids held off on their attack till about 8:15 or so, and then there was no holding them back!



Savannah was very excited that she will now be playing her new electric guitar for her biggest fans at our house! She and Shelby have been taking acoustic guitar lessons lately & it's really fun for them, but Savannah wanted to make the jump to an electric guitar. Future rock star? We will all be able to say we knew her when...




Small Paul's favorite gift may have been his stuffed Elmo that he can chew on, but Mommy's favorite was this "bumbo" chair... I can put him down!!!! He was so happy sitting in the middle of the chaos watching the insanity of Christmas morning & has been sitting & watching me do lots of other things ever since. This is my new "go to gift" for all future baby showers - what a life saver! Why didn't they have these things 19 years ago when I started the mommy game??? And speaking of 19 years ago.....





Mikey came home to visit! He is here this week, then Saturday he flies back to Maryland where he is playing soldier for real! It is so much fun to see him, although he's changed alot! He looks great! It's been awhile since we've seen him so we are all really enjoying our time with him. He looks so grown up! Now, speaking of grown up...



Look at this handsome boy! Shawn turned 7 yesterday, so we celebrated with the Morris family, a couple of Shawn's friends, his Uncle Berk, Aunt Erica, Auntie Anita, and his cousins Cami and Tanner. It was alot of fun. Shawn is such a great boy, and this past year he has really grown up so much in so many ways! He is enjoying school so much more this year, he just loves his teacher Mrs. Knittle, and really likes to read to his Grandma Mathews every time we go have Sunday dinner with her.


We've been so blessed this year, and have had such an amazing holiday season so far. We love all of the great family time we've been able to get in, it's been such a happy time. We are looking forward to all that 2010 holds for us. We are so blessed as a family and are so greatful to have each other. Life is good!