I HATE KIDNEY STONES!!!

I ended up in the emergency room the other night with kidney stones. Not my first adventure with stones, but an adventure none the less. Thank goodness for kind neighbors , a babysitting dad, a sweet husband and great meds, I'm doing fine.

I woke up a few days ago with what I thought were symptoms of the beginning of a bladder infection. Again, not the first time with those, either, but now that I look back, things were different. A lot of cramping pain, but not bad enough to do anything about it. Heating pads and ibuprofen. Then, on Tuesday evening while I was fixing dinner I got a 'spasm' that made me feel like I HAD to go to the bathroom. Annoying!!! As it progressed, I thought it must be a stone not an infection, and 2 hours later I was gasping for breath, clutching on to anything that wouldn't scream from the death hold, and shipping Alex off to Grandpa Scott's while my neighbor Jill took me to the ER. Mike was in a meeting, but Jill told him as soon as he got home, so he turned around and met me there. (Sweet guy, huh!) He takes great care of me. 4 hours later I was home with pain meds, pacing the floor and hoping for some more relief. At 6 am - with NO sleep and still a lot of pain - I told myself, "Wait until 6:15. If you still hurt this bad Mike can take you back to the ER." At 6:05, the stone moved and the pain was gone. Needless to say, but after staying awake all night, and being on pain meds, I slept the whole day away yesterday!! Mike stayed home from work and took care of Alex and the house, and I was oblivious. I had to take pain meds every 4 hours, until bedtime. That's when I got the surprise pictured below!! Cute little thing, huh? Haven't named him yet, but I'm sure it will be something like 'Hell'. That pretty much describes the adventure!! Anyway, I took pictures of the big one by a cheerio, and then the other picture is of 2 out of 5 that I just passed this morning. They're much smaller, but closer to the average size. From what I understand, they're on the big end of average, so that shows you how big this sucker was! Some of you may think it's weird that I would take a picture of these things, let alone blog about them, but, hey! I figure I have something to show for the drama, I might as well share. Now I guess I'll stop eating all of my favorite foods since they are what causes these stones in the first place.

Picture of smaller (more average sized) stones next to a cheerio.

'HELL.'

What's up??

It's been a while for me. It's been a long few weeks. First of all, our stake had girl's camp. It was great! Busy, but great! I'm the 2nd counselor in the stake YW, and it was a stake camp this year. (Our stake does camp every other year, and then Youth Conference the next and the wards are responsible the opposite years for their camp and Youth Conferences.) Our poor camp director.... she was called a year ago. Plenty of time to put together a camp, right? well, add to that her wedding, multiple basketball camps, buying and refurbishing a new home, then moving into the home the weekend before camp. Whew! Her assistant was her prior roommate, so you would think that she'd be able to take part of the load off, especially since she's been her ward's camp director for years!! Well, her mother was not doing well - in fact she died while we were at camp. So, obviously we didn't let her come to camp, not knowing how her mom would be, but, again, this woman was amazing and pulled together all the food and organized all the activities... all while helping her dad and trying to cope with the possibility of her mom dying. So, as a stake YW we probably did more than we normally would have to try to help out. Hopefully, we didn't do too much!! Hate to step on toes!! But this year we saw a very positive attitude from all the wards as far as being patient with us, and helping us out at every turn!!

When I got home. I crashed for about 3 days!! I'm getting too old for that kind of stuff.

Then Alex had swimming lessons. I have a video that I'm hoping to put up once I figure out how (any help??) but I have to tell you he is amazing!! Let me give you a little history; after Alex moved in with us we wanted to do the old 'everyone in the bathroom while we bathe the new child' routine. That didn't work! We didn't know that Alex was deathly afraid of water. He literally ran up Mike's body and held onto his head for dear life! We had to sponge bathe him for about 9 months, and then we found that if he got in the tub (or pool, or lake...) on his own time and terms he would be ok. Usually by the end of the summer he would jump into the pool / lake a lot faster than at the beginning, but by the next summer we were starting at square one. Until this summer!! We went to the lake for Mac's birthday and Al jumped right in! We were all shocked, and actually thought he'd remember he was afraid and get back into his routine. Then he went to Cherry Hills with Mike while I was at girl's camp, and he was under water more than he was above!! So, at swimming lessons (which I signed him up for hoping to get him a little more confidence in the water) he was a total fish!!! To us as a family, it's nothing short of a miracle. We are so proud and happy!!!!

Then, I took my dad to the 'fake' Abba concert at the Sandy Amphitheater. This is what we saw. A lot of backsides!! The music was good and my date was fun!! I grew up on Abba music, and admit that when I hear their music I think of my dad. We got a good laugh at other's expense; there was a man about my dad's age that sat by us and he had NO rhythm in his body at all. It was fun to watch him try to clap or dance. Then there was a whole row of women my age and older who all did the 80's 'step, touch, step, touch' dance throughout the whole concert.

So, anyway. That's my last few weeks in a nutshell.

AWWWWW!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PHnRIn74Ag

Babies, babies everywhere!!

As I said in an earlier post, my oldest son Colby and his wife Kierra are expecting a baby girl in September (9/9/09!! Morgan Nicole!!!) and we just found out that my oldest daughter Cali and her husband Josh are also expecting a baby girl in December!! We've known about their pregnancy for a while, but with the fears of losing this baby, they haven't wanted to tell the world. Well, they put it on their blog, so I figure it's safe to put it on mine!! And Mike's youngest brother Bryce and his wife Kianna are due with their first baby about the same time as Cali and Josh - theirs is a boy!! I am so excited for all three couples who will be great parents and better use me to babysit at any and all times! (Yes, that's a threat!) I can't wait!!

A few things...

I know, I know. Random! But there's things I HAVE to tell you. First of all, I went to the dentist for a cleaning the other day. I didn't think anything amazing came of it until I brushed my teeth that night. WOW!! The toothbrush they gave me is incredible!! It's an Oral B CrossAction and it's the best thing since sliced bread. Now, there are multiple CrossActions 'types' and I'm not sure which one mine is, but I LOVE it!! Can you see the ripples on the back of the brush head in this picture? It rubs your mouth while you're brushing and it wakes all your senses!! I now look forward to brushing my teeth, and I will admit, I'm definitely brushing more than the required twice a day. If you're in need of a toothbrush, spend whatever they're charging for this and you'll be so glad you did!!

OK. Now for the next random item. I read this article in the Tribune the other day, and this is what I would have written if I had a way with words. Since I don't, I just copied it! (I even highlighted a few lines that really hit my heart) It's from the article Gen-X Women Praise Favorite Angel by Caryn Brooks;

Dear Farrah Fawcett,
I'm sure you understand why Michael Jackson's death has taken over the airwaves and blogosphere, but the folks you've touched remember you, too. You might not be on the front page, but people are still talking.
People are talking about The Poster. People are talking about The Hair. People are saying you were a pretty face, but more than that, too. They're praising your battle with the disease that finally killed you. And they're talking about The Poster some more.
One swath of your adoring public isn't talking about The Poster so much. Gen-X women are talking about Jill Munroe, the character you played on "Charlie's Angels," and how you taught us to kick butt.
For an entire generation of girls, that was your legacy. And even some of the girls born later who are fans of Sigourney Weaver in the "Aliens" franchise, Carrie-Anne Moss in "The Matrix" and even "Xena," know that Jill Munroe & Co. were the first soldiers on the female action hero front line.
The grown-up critics at the time derisively called the show "jiggle TV," and maybe it was, but that was lost on us. To us girls, "Charlie's Angels" was an exciting fantasyland where cool ladies in sweet outfits got to pack heat and run down the bad guys.
The feminist elders at the time dismissed the show as sexploitation, and it certainly may have been, but that went way over our heads. All we cared about was that now we had this fun game to play with each other after school. Some kids escaped into cops and robbers, but the girls of the '70s played "Charlie's Angels."
It went down like this: Everyone would pick which Angel they wanted to be. Farrah, I hope you know that everyone fought over who got to be Jill Munroe. And then, we'd run around together, our fingers twisted into pistols, acting out all sorts of scenarios where we'd outsmart the criminals while flipping our hair.
It felt like true liberation to find this funnel for our energy: to run, jump, roll on the ground and have purpose in our play. We fed off of each other the way we saw the Angels do it: friends before all with a little sass for everyone else. It wasn't lost on us how the Angels often used their feminine wiles to entrap clueless men. So who was being sexploited again?
Farrah, you only stayed on the show for one season, but your gift of Jill Munroe still lives on with the grown-up girls of the 1970s. They took to Twitter to offer homage.
"I was a Charlie's Angels gal. In the neighborhood, I was Jill until Kris [Munroe] came along. I had the silk jacket," said one. And another: "RIP Farrah! My 5th grade hair do was the Farrah and Jill [Munroe] taught me girls could be beautiful AND kick butt! Best hair toss ever!" And this one, too: "So sad that Farrah Fawcett lost her battle with cancer. Rest in peace Jill [Munroe] (I was totally her when we played Charlies Angels)."
Know that there are lots more just like it out there, Farrah. It's not wrong to be remembered for The Poster, The Hair or The Battle, as long as it's not forgotten that you've left a lasting legacy for something very different among a bunch of women who used to be little girls.
Yours forever,
Girls of the '70s

THAT'S RIGHT!! I too, wanted to be Jill Munroe! Who wouldn't be with that hair, those teeth.... AND she was married to the 6 Million Dollar Man! She had it all I'm tellin' ya.

Well, right now I can't think of any other life altering items we need to discuss. Thanks for reading, and I hope your life has been changed as mine has!! HAVE A GREAT DAY!

..........Hey! Maybe if I keep brushing with my new, utlra-amazing toothbrush I'll have teeth like Farrah Fawcett! Now... about the hair.......