November

Thanksgiving was a fun day. We spent the whole morning at the beach and to say it was a BEAUTIFUL day would be an understatement. It was perfect. The kids had a great time playing soccer and frisbee on the grass with Nana and Brandon. I was on the sidelines. :) My parents heated the pool which the kids thoroughly enjoyed. Then we had dinner and played Code Names. Dinner was delicious. Grateful to my mom and all her preparations. 

*Quincy and her cute friends Holland and Leo

*Beazer and I had a temple date

*The 7 grandkids on my side

*The girls LOVE having their smoothie every morning that dad makes.

*Jadyn had to make a doll based off of her heritage, so the last picture is a cute little Canadian girl. My mom and Uncle Dill took over that project for me - which I am so thankful for.  

Soccer

 I have just LOVED watching Jadyn play soccer. Literally the highlight of my weeks. I was always so excited for her games. I could never just sit in my chair either... I got a little to into them. The improvement from the beginning of the season to the end was amazing. She did so well and was so fun to watch! Of course the one game she scored was when I was in the hospital, but I heard she was one happy girl. Nana told us a story of Mia Ham where her dad would give her a quarter every time she scored a goal but would give her a dollar for every assist. I loved that story and I think it resonated with Jadyn, because her last game she had an awesome assist! She had such a fun team with great, kind coaches. She truly loves soccer. She still is practicing everyday on her own. So cute!

Chiari Malformation

Back in May I got a really bad headache that lasted 16 days. It was so bad I could barely do anything. I have never experienced that before. One day I chose to go to the ER. They did a cat scan on me and found that I have Chiari Malformation. Chiari is something that you are born with and it typically doesn't make itself manifest until late childhood or early adulthood. The symptoms vary in terms of what they are and the severity. After seeing a neurologist, getting a MRI and seeing a neurosurgeon, they recommended I get the surgery. They did another MRI on my neck to see if there was any spinal fluid that was building up and there was a small amount which made the surgery something I now HAD to do. Basically chiari is a condition where my brain is larger than my skull and pushes into my spinal cord and brain stem, thus not allowing the spinal fluid to flow as it should. The surgery has been explained to me a couple times and I still don't completely know what they did. I know that they shaved off some of the brain stem, and the rest I would mess up if I tried to explain. November 7th was the big day and to say I was nervous would be an understatement. I was really worried about the recovery - that's probably what I was most worried about. Brandon gave me an amazing blessing and my ward and family fasted for me and it was an incredible feeling. I truly felt the prayers and love from everyone- I have always heard that from people before but never experienced that many people fasting and praying for me. It was truly a humble experience of what I am most grateful for. I went into the surgery, completely at peace. I heard that the surgery was fairly fast- an hour and a half. When I woke up I was SUPER out of it. The first thing I said is inappropriate to record but kind of funny. I had a friend come stay with me at night while Brandon went home to put the kids to bed and she said I was saying all sorts of random comments. The hospital stay to say the least was HORRIBLE! I was so nauseous and felt so so sick. It was really terrible. Between the pain meds and the nausea- things just weren't working in my favor. haha  The plan was for me to be there only 2 days but I was there 4. Once I got things under control and came home it was way better. I came home to some awesome gift baskets, and flowers. and I had A TON of visitors- to the point where I had to have no visitor days haha People are just so sweet. I feel like recovery was not nearly as bad as what I heard from talking to other people who went through it. I am doing great and easing my way back into real life. The amount of help I received was amazing. Nana came here for 3 weeks and I honestly would have died if she didn't come. I literally don't know what we would have done without her. Whenever I have talked about Nana to others I always referred to her as "my angel mother in law" and that is exactly what she is. She helped in every way possible. People worried about me coming back to the house to recover- they thought the kids would bother me but they didn't want a thing to do with me with Nana here. My sisters and mom were so helpful as well. I am so glad I live by all of them. The amount of service that has been given to me is just amazing... and it still continues. I am so blessed and I feel like my heart will burst of gratitude for all of my friends and ward family and family. How do people go through hard times without the gospel? Not only do we have the peace and comfort the Lord gives us , but a ward family that just takes over and serves like no other. I can say that I am grateful for this experience. I have learned a lot and it is such a SPECIAL EXPERIENCE to feel those raw, fearful, tender times, where you literally give EVERYTHING to him and can feel his presence bearing it all with you. I feel lucky that I was able to experience that. Here are some pictures of the progress of how everything is healing. If you ask me they did a great job! I think it looks good. :) 

* Jadyn woke up early on Tuesday (surgery day) and wrote this letter. It made me bawl my eyes out- it is quite possibly the sweetest most tender letter ever. Gosh I love her. 

HALLOWEEN

Happy Halloween! It was a good Halloween. Our friends had a party that we went to till dark and then we went back to our house to trick or treat with our neighbors. We don't last long trick or treating, the kids get over it pretty quick- which I don't mind one bit. Kennedy was the genie, Shimmer from "Shimmer and Shine." Jadyn was the one and only Wonder Woman, and Quincy was Belle. After trick or treating they all took a bath with a jack o lantern bath bomb! It was the best bath bomb we have ever used- it lasted forever! The kids loved it. 

October 31, 2017

Halloween Activites

Painted pumpkins, carved pumpkins and pumpkin patch! Dad wasn't able to go to the pumpkin patch with us this year which was sad, but we tried to make the most of it. I didn't even notice the storage sticker on Kennedy until I was looking at these pictures. haha