This Feels Weird

First of all, I should start by saying that yes, this really is Allison.  I know that it may be confusing since my oldest son has been the author of the last couple of posts.  Thinking about it, maybe I should change my password. 

Anyway, when I look back over the last year and a half or so since my last real post, it seems like so much has happened and yet as I sit here, there is not much that I can recall that has been worth posting about.  There have been trips and vacations, school, work, and the occasional funny moment, but it all seems too far gone to try and catch up. 

So here is my dilemma.  I really don't think anyone reads this anymore so it doesn't seem like it would matter much if I just went on and on about my deepest thoughts or my boring day to day life. However, after going back and reading past posts, I really enjoyed remembering some of those "I totally forgot about that" moments.

I obviously haven't been good about keeping up this blog and don't think I can commit much to it in the near future. So, I think what I've decided is that I will really try to at least catch the highlights of my day to day moments (maybe monthly? It's at least a goal anyway).  And then when I do have the times where the journal is needed for my own personal introspection, this blogging thing won't seem so weird anymore.  I used to blog to get the information to family and friends about Ethan's heart condition and then it turned into a way for me to vent and to get support and to try and sort out all of my thoughts and feelings.  It really seemed to help to be able to make enough sense of them to be able to write them down . But now it just seems rusty.  Plain old weird. 

For what it's worth, I'm still here.  Our family and Ethan are all doing really well and hopefully sometime in the near future I will post some pictures and will try not to be so awkward in my writing. Until then,........oh how do I end this?  Seriously!  I told you I was rusty.

~Allison   

Scripture

Here is one of my favorites it's in the book of Moroni chapter ten it reads..

32 Yea, acome unto Christ, and be bperfected in him, and cdeny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and dlove God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be eperfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God.
33 And again, if ye by the grace of God are perfect in Christ, and deny not his power, then are ye asanctified in Christ by the grace of God, through the shedding of the bblood of Christ, which is in the covenant of the Father unto the remission of your csins, that ye become dholy, without spot.criptures it always makes me happy I hope you will also enjoy it.

New person in charge (at least until my mother figures out).

Hi this is Tim and Allisons oldest son Spencer I got tired of seeing this blog without a post since Halloween two years ago so I took charge. So with any one reading this I'm just going to say that this blog is back in action.....


SEE Ya!

Meet the Band

Tim has warped my children. My kids LOVE KISS! So the natural choice for Halloween costumes are as follows:

Emily aka Paul Stanley
(Lead Singer)

Spencer aka Ace Frehley
Lead Guitar

Gavin aka Gene Simmons

Bass Guitar

Ethan aka Peter Criss
Drums

KISS

They will be signing autographs later :)

Happy Halloween!!!!

Emily's Rodeo Ride

It took a while for Emily's video to download, but now, here it is for your viewing pleasure.

She says she can't wait until she can do it again. I love my crazy girl!

---Allison

Gavin's Rodeo Ride

I tried to post both Gavin and Emily's rodeo ride, but for some reason it won't let me. So here is Gavin's, and I will do Emily's in a seperate post.

Gavin was so excited to get some unexpected money from his ride. He was a hoot to watch! Anyway, here is Gavin's ride on his sheep.

Gavin and Emily (and several of their cousins) heard about this fun opportunity and couldn't wait to give it a try. Neither of the kids have ever ridden on a sheep or a cow, in fact, I don't even know if they have ever been to a rodeo before. Regardless, they couldn't wait to get on and ride! Surprisingly, they each showed up with a certificate and $3. The kids were so excited. They didn't even know that they would get a prize from the rodeo itself. Their uncle Bryan had previously given an incentive of $5 for each catagory (the sheep and the cow) for the child who stayed on the longest.

Is it a surprise that both Gavin and Emily won the money? Not if you know them! Not a bad days work I'd say.

---Allison

Bryce Canyon Vacation

We went on a week long family vacation to Bryce Canyon a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, Tim and Spencer were unable to join us until the 2ND to last day due to some circumstances out of Tim's control. I have to tell you, I sure missed them. It's always hard to go on a family vacation without having the whole family there. Especially when the kids that were with me have different interest and/or activity levels. Luckily, I had my parents and most of my siblings (missed you Adam and Angela) there to visit with and to help me out when I needed it. I felt the worst for Spencer, though. I just imagined him sitting a home alone by himself knowing that we were having fun without him. Tim did his best to make it up to him that week and we've already made some plans for him to go on the deer hunt this Fall to try and pay him back for his missed vacation.

Anyway, although it was stressful at times, we were able to do a lot of fun things. I was kind of worried about how the elevation would effect Ethan, but he seemed to do really well. The overall favorite things that went on were the rodeo (this will have a post of it's own), horseback riding, staying in a tee pee, hiking, visiting with family, and of course the swimming.

Here are just a few pictures from this amazing and one of a kind vacation!

Spencer, Emily and I went on a 2 hour horseback ride through the canyon. It was AMAZING! Although hot and dusty, we were able to go to places that you never could by simply hiking. It was well worth the money and definitely a highlight.

Spencer, cousin Austin, and Tim.

We drove to quite a few lookout points when Tim arrived. It was the best way to see as much as we could with our limited time.

Here is the tee pee we stayed in. It was much bigger than a tent would have been and the kids loved the novelty of it.

These last 4 photos were on a short hike that the kids and I went on. This was the only hike that Ethan and Gavin went on. Emily was able to go on some longer hikes with my extended family while I stayed back at camp with Gavin and Ethan. The reasoning was, I didn't trust Gavin on some of the more dangerous hikes, and I didn't think Ethan would tolerate the longer hikes very well.

Out of order from the others, but Emily on her horse. She was disappointed because Spencer and I had mules and she wanted one as well. But in the end, she was pleased with her horse.

Again, these photos are out of order (sorry) but these last few photos are from the same hike as above. We went to a waterfall and let the kids play in this small river. Gavin's shoe fell off and my dad luckily caught it down stream. He was standing guard just in case it was a child instead of a shoe that was swept away, but either way, I was glad that he was watching and standing guard. It would have been a long hike back to the car with only one shoe.

Gavin and cousin Boe at the swimming pool. The kids all got to spend some fun time with their cousins. It was quite hot during the day and the swimming was a nice treat. Plus, it kept them somewhat clean since we were always so dusty and dirty. Kinda gross, I know.

So all in all it was a great trip. It would have been better had we all been together the whole time, but we made due with what we were given and made the best of it. Stay tuned for the "Rodeo" post. A lot of the cousins signed up to ride in it for fun and it was HILARIOUS to watch!

Take care!

---Allison

Our St. George Family Vacation

Not that I didn't already know that it's been a while since my last post, but it was confirmed when I uploaded all of the pictures and they came out completely mixed up. So, I will just give you the basic run down of our little family vacation and you can just figure out how the pictures fit in to it.

Tim informed me a week before our vacation that he would not be able to come down with the kids and I but would have to come down a couple of days later. I was definitely bummed, but Tim needed to get some things done at work and didn't feel he could take the time off. Unfortunately, I couldn't change the dates, so there was nothing I could do but just roll with it. Anyway, the kids and I woke up early (5am) and made the 4 1/2 hour drive without too much trouble. We got settled into the condo we rented and of course the first thing the kids wanted to do was to go swimming.

Our whole vacation consisted of swimming, napping, swimming, golfing, swimming, mini golfing, swimming, reading, swimming, shopping, and then a little bit more swimming. Needless to say, we had a wonderful time with just our little family and we hope to make it a yearly event.

The only thing that put a little kink into our vacation was Ethan started having rapid respirations (65-75 per minute) and an increased heart rate the afternoon before we were supposed to come home. I watched him closely that day and although he was acting fine his respirations never resolved. I woke up around 5:30 (the morning we were supposed to leave) to find his respirations were still in the low to mid 70's. I called the on-call Cardiologist at PCMC because I was starting to get bugged that his breathing wasn't resolving. I wasn't sure if we should come home and have him looked at PCMC or if we should take him to the Emergency Department in St. George before we made the long drive. Anyway, although there were no other symptoms and he was acting fine, the Cardiologist felt that he should be seen that day and since the cardiology clinic was closed due to the holiday (it was July 5th) we should just go to the ER in St. George. He felt that it would probably be best to have him checked out before we left for home.

So, even though it was not the end of our vacation that we had planned, it turns out that everything was fine and they let us go home after about 5 hours in the Emergency Department. They did x-rays, an EKG, and lab work and everything came back normal. They didn't see any signs of heart failure, dehydration, kidney troubles, infection, or anything abnormal for that matter.

His breathing continued to be fast the rest of that day as well, but by Tuesday, he was back to his normal self. I still have no idea what was wrong, but I am very relieved that it was nothing serious. Ethan does have a routine appointment with his cardiologist next Thursday, so we'll see what he thinks during that visit.

Well, that is the basic run down of our 5 day St. George vacation. Here are the pictures to go along with all of my jibber jabber. Again, sorry for the randomness of the pictures.


They had this simple mini golf course in the club house of where we stayed. The best part is that it only cost $1 and the kids loved it.

Ethan was not happy when I woke him up and told him that I was taking him to the hospital. He kept telling me that he didn't want a poke, but he stayed calm and didn't panic too much. Unfortunately he did end up having to have an IV placed and although he was upset and cried, afterwards he told me that "he was brave". He is such a sweet boy.

This picture of Spencer was taken the night of the city fireworks. It was a fun fireworks show and of course, the kids had a great time.

This is how Ethan would watch the older boys when they would play their video games on the TV. He honestly loves his brothers and admires anything that they do.

There was a kiddie pool that was perfect for Ethan to play in. It was a little bit warmer than the big pool and although he liked the big pool, his lips turned purple a little to quickly for my comfort. It didn't take too much encouragement to keep him in the little pool once he realized that the temperature was a little bit more pleasant.

We honestly spent about 4 hours each day in the swimming pool. We'd usually go down for 2 hours in the morning or early afternoon, and then another 2 hours after dinner. Needless to say, we went through a LOT of sunscreen.

Spencer had been grounded from his video games for a little while before our vacation. However, he had no problem making up for lost time while on vacation.

These last 2 pictures were taken on the 1st day that we arrived. The kids were SOOOOO excited to go swimming. I knew that I would have to be quick with the camera once the sunscreen was on.

We've been doing a lot this summer and we have been keeping very busy. I will update again after Ethan's cardiology appointment next week. Until then, take care!

---Allison

Birthday Catch-Up Post

So I don't have any pictures of Spencer on his Birthday. He is at the age where it is hard to get him in any pictures. However, this is a quick re-cap of our birthday festivities.

Gavin got a Nintendo DS for his birthday. He was VERY excited about it.

He also loves SpongeBob and puzzles. So this floor puzzle was a good find.

My Birthday was yesterday. A sweet friend of mine (thanks again, Rachel) brought me by this cute clown ice cream. I used to admire these from afar when I was a little kid. It was fun to finally get one.

We combined Emily and Ethan's family party and had a SpongeBob theme. The kids had fun with the extra hats.

Ethan opening one of his presents.

We went to Chuck-E-Cheese on Ethan's birthday to celebrate. He LOVED this dog ride and had a hard time sharing with the other kids who wanted a turn.

These pictures are a little out of order, but Ethan simply LOVES cupcakes. He had about 3 the night of his party.

Emily and one of her gifts. The kids always get spoiled and love every minute of it.

Emily making use of her extra hat.

This is my niece Addison. She is the cutest little bug ever. Her mom says that this is her "flirting" face. She is honestly too cute.

Again, out of order, but you can see how delighted Ethan was when riding with his dog at Chuck-E-Cheese.

Spencer and Emily playing one of their favorite games. Spencer was too into it to even look at me for the picture.

Gavin and his tickets. He loves shopping for prizes with his tickets before we go home. The prizes are totally lame, but hey, whatever makes them happy.

Ethan waiting at the table for another turn on his dog ride. He really had a hard time letting the other children have a turn. It's so hard being 3.

Emily is such a poser. She is my one child who doesn't EVER shy away from the camera. She LOVES being in the spotlight. It makes me wonder what she will be like when she gets older.

Anyway, I still have lots of pictures from a previous Hope Kids event, a family wedding in March, and from Spencer's band concert last night. But these will have to wait for another time.

Also, we are finally going to have Emily's friend birthday party tomorrow (I know, 3 weeks late), but she wanted to go to a fish farm and so we've had to wait for good weather. Anyway, I am sure I will have some pictures from that as well. Until next time! Muah!

---Allison