Recent doings....

Once again, just some pictures of what has been going on lately...

 

 This is Ash being held by one of my nieces, Berklee.  Her and her sister, Abbie, came over to babysit Cali and the kids while I took Alex to a doctor appointment.  They are fantastic babysitters!  I took this pic because Ash's hair is crazy!!!

 Colby will be having hernia surgery soon and will be on a non-meat and bread diet for a while, so he asked us all to come with him to Tuscanos (meat, meat, meat!) for lunch.  Starting on the left and going around is Kierra (with her back to the camera - she hates pictures to be taken!),  Mo, Cali, Colby, Alex, TJ, and Brandon.  George went to the temple with a friend and Josh and Oak were jeeping.  Even though we didn't have the whole family, it was still great food, and the servers are very good looking!

 I had ordered a lemonade, which they served with a flask full and a cup of ice.  Alex's drink only came in a cup and he felt jipped.  We asked if he could have a flask of diet drink and a cup of ice.  Obviously Alex doesn't need the cup of ice!!  (I'd like to see you try to drink with your tongue out like Al does!!)

N is sitting by herself now!!  She taught herself how to do this.  She has gotten really good at pushing up on her hands while on her stomach, and one day she decided to just swing her legs forward and

wa-la!  She's sitting!

 Oak was showing N her new mermaid barbie doll and I thought it was cute so I took this picture, then I laughed when I actually looked at it.  Notice how Oak is sitting?  It's a pet peeve of mine.  It's called W sitting, and working in special ed I have never allowed any of my kids to sit this way (it's really bad on the hip joints).  Oak has a mind of her own.  It doesn't matter how many times I have told her to "fix her legs" she continues to W sit.  So notice N is sitting correctly, and Oak isn't!  But it's still a really cute picture!

We survived Girl's Camp 2012!

I say 'we' because the girls had to survive my scatter-brained shot at being organized after the last month, just as much as I had to survive the late nights and cray-cray girls!!

I was so blessed to go with the group of girls that I did.  This is my second year as ward camp director and both years I have been so proud to say that I am their leader, yet they are the ones who definitely are the example to me.  There is no possible way I could have survived, let alone succeeded at leading camp this year if it weren't for the tremendous young women and their leaders that helped me with every step of the way!  Way to go Sixth Ward Sexies!!  (That's our nickname / motto.  Yeah, we are proud!)

We were able to go to a cabin this year; it belongs to one of the leaders. The picture below is of most of the girls on the patio.  It's actually the roof of the garage, but we spent as much time there as possible just because of the beautiful view and the breeze.  But it's also where our troubles began...

Here's a picture of some of the girls in front of  'the cows.'  On our first evening, we went for a value walk, which was a nice leisurely stroll down the dirt road in front of the cabin and the paved road to the river.  Like I said, a nice leisurely stroll.  Before we started, one of the girls showed us how she can talk to cows.  It worked!!  When Kelsey mooed, all the cows stopped grazing and looked right at her.  So, all the other girls had to try it.  They weren't as successful as Kelsey, but it was entertaining to see 16 girls trying to have a conversation with cows.  We think this is what caused the cops to be called on us.  Yup.  You read that right.  At 9:30 that night we had 2 sheriff officers pull up while we were having a very reverent, spiritual devotional to tell us they had received multiple calls throughout the day and would we please try to keep it down.  Are you kidding me?  After much discussion, we decided it must have been when we were cow whisperers - or maybe I should say cow yellers.  But who knew you couldn't moo at cows in Oakley in the middle of the day?

So the first day was getting settled in, the value walk, some good food and fun, and a near arrest.  Great start!  I slept in our van off the side of the road, because I snore so loud I would either keep everyone awake with my snoring, or I wouldn't sleep for fear of keeping everyone awake.  Around 6 am I hear, "clip clop.  clip clop"  and then these 2 huge nostrils are sniffing the window next to me.  I sit up to see 2 riderless horses taking a little jaunt down the street.  This is a picture of one of the horses, but they were too close for me to get them both in.

  Hmmmm. Interesting start to the day. We then went boating at Rockport (thanks, George!! You are incredible!!!) which is when we got the cops called on us a second time!! No kidding! I guess I should call them the coast guard since it was at the lake. Someone said they were nervous about how many people were on the bow of the boat. If you have seen our boat, you know that there is a railing and that we can sit on the bow if we are straddling a bar from the railing. Well, the coast guard came out and asked Mike how many people he could legally have on the boat. His smart remark, "10 1/2." After the cop guffawed, he asked again, to which Mike finally answered correctly "10." When the cop said, "But you only have seats for 5..." Mike informed him of the law in Utah that allows people to sit up front if they are straddling the bar. Looking right at them he asked, "And are they all straddling a bar?" "Yes." "Does everyone have a life vest?" Again remember he is looking right at everyone... "Yes." "OK have a nice day!"

Wow. They really have nothing to do in that area except sic cops on innocent girls.

We ended the day with no injuries, very light sunburns and a group of exhausted women.

The next day we did our 5 mile hike.  It was on our schedule as a 5 miler, but of course since we were still tired from boating, we thought we would just take a little hike then come back and do crafts.  The little hike was longer than expected!  One of our priesthood leaders took a truck up to the top so our lunches were in coolers, so instead of hiking down the longer than expected hike, and so we could maybe be 3 for 3 in the cop calling arena, we put all 16 girls in the back of the pickup!!  No cops were called (darn) but it was good fun! 

We had a fantastic testimony meeting that we started on the patio, but ended up in the living room of the cabin because of a good strong rain.  And on our last day we held a birthday party for girl's camp.  It's been 100 years since the first organized church girl's camp and we wanted to acknowledge it.  We had the girls write down something they always wanted themselves to remember - or not forget since our theme was "Forget me not."  Then they tied the paper to a balloon and we let them go out on the patio while we sang "I am a Child of God." 

Girl's camp is a place to be silly and outright weird while at the same time being filled spiritually and increasing our testimonies.  We definitely were able to do all of the above!  Because I wasn't as organized as I maybe would have been if Cali hadn't gotten sick, I led by the spirit a lot more than usual.  One thing we did that was because of a prompting was have 'family counsels' and family prayers.  They were both awesome experiences, for me and the girls.  During the family counsels I gave them a topic and we all shared our thoughts on that topic;  something you need to tell one of your parents that you like about them or that makes you proud of them, something to someone in the room that you never want them to forget, and on the last day, with the balloon launch they had to vocalize something they loved from camp that they want to always remember and want everyone there to remember as well as write down what they wanted themselves to never forget about anything.  The girls really opened up and said some deep and kind things.  Plus I think it helped us grow even closer, which if you knew these girls you wouldn't have thought possible because they are already pretty tight.

And that's girl's camp.  Sixth Ward Sexies on three. 1, 2, 3!  Sixth Ward Sexies!!!

Just some pics

 These pics aren't in any particular order; the 2 above are pics of Al and Ash showing their enthusiasm for fireworks.  Ash could have cared less while waiting for the fireworks, and after all the hoopla, Al wanted a snack but decided he was too tired so pushed two chairs together and fell asleep.  Cute how they both have their thumbs in their mouths!  Al bites his when he's tired and Ash is a thumb sucker!

Here's a cute pic of Josh blow drying Oak's hair after a bath.  He sure has been good through all this with Cali.  He does most everything for Oak (unless she wants someone else to do it.) and he has been understanding that Mike and I need to help and be at the hospital, too.  He probably is getting sick and tired of us, but we sure appreciate the time he is letting us have.

Our neighbors were out of town, so I went to water some flowers in their yard since it's been so hot and dry.  Their cat always comes over for a cuddle, but this time just stayed in the same spot.  When I walked over to her, I noticed she had a little playmate.  Yup, that's the cat at the top of the picture and a mouse in the center.  They just laid by each other and if the cat moved, the mouse moved with her and if the mouse wandered away, the cat picked it up in her mouth, laid it down gently and sat by it again.  Weirdest thing I ever saw.

Another fire here in Utah.  This time in Alpine.  This is the view from our front yard.  It was amazing how powerful it was even from this far away.  Beautiful to watch, but sad that so many fires have started this year.

...and again...and one more time!!!

Cali must really like the emergency room because she's been back, again!  This time for bleeding issues.  She has had this trouble on and off throughout her long hospital stay and started bleeding again the day after getting home from the hospital with the blood clot.  The next day she started passing clots, some as big as my thumb.  By the next day the clots were so big you could hear them splash in the toilet (sorry for the graphic details, but they were huge!!)  so off to the ER again she went.  They found a hole / tear in her vaginal wall that at first they talked about cauterizing closed, but then after getting some more opinions they decided to let it heal itself.  So 6 hours later she was home. 

It's a good thing, too because the 4th of July is my kids' favorite holiday!  Yeah... even before Christmas.  We do the same thing year after year, and if I try to change it up I get an earful.  We relax throughout the day, then have a BBQ for dinner and I'm expected to make a potato salad.  Then off to JHS to watch the city's fireworks where we meet up with the neighbors and more extended family.  Then we come back home, do our own fireworks in the street while eating homemade ice cream.  That's it.  But the relaxing day, the family, the fun and tradition have made this day special for all of my kids. 

But not before we had to get Cali to Instacare!  She woke up with a really bad lower back pain.  Sure enough, she has a urinary tract infection!  Pop her some pills, give her a heating pad and prop her up in the jeep to watch the fireworks and she was good to go.  It made her really tired but since then she's doing a bit better everyday!!

When Cali went to the ER for bleeding, the gentleman that came in to start an IV looked her up and down and said, "You look like you've been in a battle!"  It took 4 pokes before he finally was able to get a line in.  He left, but came back in a minute later.  "I know who you are!  You're Jo Nolast!  I sat with you during your CT scan the first time you came in.  Do you mind if we talk about it?"  He then told her how he had been eating lunch on that Sunday when the charge nurse came in telling everyone they had a trauma coming.  He said he really gets excited for traumas because it gets his adrenaline going and helps the time fly.  The charge nurse knows this and said, "Don't get excited this time.  This is a 24 year old pregnant woman that is 20 weeks pregnant and isn't going to make it."  "And now here I am sitting here talking to you!!!"  She truly has baffled the medical world, and we are so grateful.

We had all our kids with us, a few extra dogs, good food and our 4th of July was awesome!

Opps! She did it again!!

Cali ended up in the hospital again!!  Thank goodness it was only for 24 hours, but it was still very scary!  She may be smiling in this picture, but she was hurting and VERY scared!

Cali was pulling her hair up to go to get her INR levels tested (how thick or thin her blood is) and came in to me and asked, "Is it weird that when I move my arm or breathe in real deep it hurst right here?"  She was rubbing the left side of her neck and when she moved her hand I noticed the swelling.  So, back to the ER!  The cool / interesting / funny thing about this trip was she ended up in the same trauma room with the same ER staff from her first time when she was life flighted.  None of the staff realized it at first, since they were just making sure she was stable and safe, and she looked completely different from the first time.  Once the commotion settled down, someone put 2 and 2 together and then all of a sudden Cali was famous!  They all came in to touch her, talk to her, cry with her, tell her how much they worried about her.  Some just stood at the end of her bed and shook their heads in disbelief that she had survived.  I guess in the ER the staff has to sign a paper saying they won't seek out any of the patients once they leave the ER so the staff had assumed that with as bad as Cali was when she left them, that she had passed away since they couldn't check to find out.  They were all very much in awe to see her not only alive, but looking so good.  One of the docs that worked with Cali in one of the ICU's was in the ER and her nurse asked her if she remembered Cali.  I happened to walk by just then, and when the doc said, "That name sounds familiar...?" I touched her shoulder and said, "Jo Nolast."  She got all excited, so glad she would get to see her again!

I took these pictures when Cali was getting a CT scan. As you can see there are a lot of machines and equipment and from what they tell us they used every bit of it with a whole bunch of people trying to figure out what was wrong with Cali. (We got a little taste of it; while we were there another trauma came in and we were only separated by a curtain.  It obviously wasn't as severe as Cali's was but it was still pretty organized chaos.)

Cali ended up having a few blood clots, the biggest one being behind her collarbone.  Again she was the talk of the ER because she was stumping the doctors.  Two days before this her INR levels were perfect (2.5) and this day they were 1.3; very thick so she was clotting even when they put the IV in her arm.  And her platelets were at 1100 - a far cry from the 400 when she left the hospital a week ago.  Not sure why her levels changed so drastically so quickly, but they are running tests for some different autoimmune diseases to see if she has any of them.  The doctors who didn't know what Cali had been through recently were all ready to send her home because the clot is in a safe place (for a clot) and they knew they could manage it with meds at home.  But the trauma docs once again went up to bat for us and insisted that if they didn't admit her, they would just put her in an ER observation room overnight so all of us - including them - would feel better about things.  So Cali and I spent the night up on the 4th floor.  She was released this afternoon - after a 24 hour stint in the hospital and is very grateful to be home... again!!

The yard sale was a huge success!!

A huge thank you to everyone involved in the yard sale fundraiser for Josh and Cali!  There were many, many people involved, but in particular Josh's family (a shout out to Heather for putting it all together) who spent many hours setting up, helping customers and then taking down this huge undertaking.  And thanks to everyone who donated items to sell, or came by and bought things.  It was a win-win situation for everyone involved, especially for Josh and Cali!

HAPPY 4TH BIRTHDAY McKALLISTER!!

The day was a rough one for Cali (and probably Josh, but he had work to take his mind a bit away from reality).  We first took Oak to a friend's party out by their house.  It's amazing how just driving in the car can wipe Cali out, so when we got home at lunch time she slept the rest of the afternoon away!  But her honey Josh had planned a birthday party for Mac; he had invited family and friends on the down-low to meet at Mac's park at 8 pm. 

 So when Cali and Josh pulled up...

 ...this is what she saw!...

There was a very bitter-sweet singing of Happy Birthday...

...then the releasing of balloons so McKallister and Quincy had something to play with in heaven.

(I love this picture with the big bunch of balloons in the upper left corner, a small bunch that Oak and Cali sent off together in the lower left corner and the moon in the upper right.)

Some of the balloons got stuck in the tree, not sure they wanted to leave the fun of the party!!  And who could blame them?... 

...all the kids, big and small, really had a great time at Mac's park...

...and they even got to run through some sprinklers...

and with a beautiful sunset to end the day...

...we got to be reminded again of our angel baby on his special day, and now he has his little brother with him forever!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY McKALLISTER!!  WE LOVE YOU!!!