Father's Day

I hope Dave had a good Father's Day. The girls were excited to give him the gift we purchased the Monday before. They did an awesome job of not "spilling the beans" of what we got. I was very impressed!

Dave had to work Father's Day morning/afternoon from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. It was a busy day for him even though it was Sunday so hopefully the time went by fast.

He came home from work to us only having one child and she was asleep! The two oldest were with Grandma and were coming home for dinner with the gift.

I'm hoping we had one of Dave's favorite meals for dinner. It consisted of pork ribs, au gratin potatoes, cranraisin poppyseed salad, and rolls. Yummy! Uncle Glade and Grandma Peterson shared dinner with us. What a treat!

After dinner, the girls garnished Dave with presents. They each made him something at church. Hannah made a card and Ashley's class made poster's of their footprint. She was so proud that her foot remained pink the whole entire day! We also gave him a card as a family and then gave him the BIG gift, which was a set of 260 Craftsman tools! What man wouldn't be in HEAVEN?!?



We love you Dave/Daddy! Thanks for being our Husband/Father. We are four lucky girls!

Tillin' or Chillin'

With all of the rain storms we have been having recently.....okay......everyday.....it has been really hard to start putting in a yard. All we have been blessed with is MUD! In between rainstorms, Dave found a day last week to till the yard for the second time. Of course, he did the backyard and then left for young men's with hopes of doing the front yard the next evening BUT......it rained instead.

Thanks to Hannah she went out on the back patio and captured Dave doing something that he loves.....playing on tractors.


Now this is some nice looking tilled dirt! Hannah doesn't miss out on the "details" when taking pictures!

It Never Fails

At least I know that if I didn't have bad luck, I wouldn't have any luck at all! I swear that every time I am left alone to "man the fort" at least one of my kids ends up sick. Usually, I end up with one throwing up so I should be thankful that I am only dealing with a fevering toddler.

Dave left yesterday morning for a hiking trip to the Wind Rivers in Wyoming. He is off with two brothers, a sister, one niece and 4 nephews. Oh yea, and seven llamas. He will not be returning until sometime on Saturday.

In the meantime, swim lessons have begun, which take up Monday through Thursday afternoons. Yesterday after lessons, I decided to be a "cool" mom and take the kids to the park for a picnic. When we returned home at 7:30 p.m., I put Nicole in the bath and realized that she felt rather warm. I took her temp and it read 102.8. I thought that couldn't be right because she acted totally fine all night so I took it again. Yep....102.8. I had been home with the girls all day on Tuesday because my daycare provider took the day off to celebrate her birthday. Nicole had been fine the WHOLE time. Her nose started running after she woke up from nap but there were no other signs.

Needless to say, the Ibuprofen went in by 7:45 and Benedryl followed at 8:15 to help with a stuffy nose during the night. I checked her again at 11 p.m. before going to sleep and she was down to a low grade fever so I gave her a dose of Tylenol. I do have to be thankful that she allowed me an entire nights sleep. At least something went right.

I was worried about how she was going to be this morning. It never fails that when you NEED to be to work, something always goes wrong. The daycare provider is sick, Dave's schedule does not work that he can help, there's a deadline at work that can't be missed,.....I think you get the drift. Anyway, I was hesitant to take her temperature this morning afraid that it was going to be high enough that she couldn't go to daycare. I had Grandma Peterson on standby just in-case. The temp reading came back at 100.0. HMMMMMM.......not too bad. A dose of Ibuprofen and we were off to daycare.

I never did get a call saying to come and pick Nicole up because she was running too high of a fever. I thought I was in the clear.....and then.......tonight she fevered back up. Not as high but up to 101.4. Here came another dose of Ibuprofen and some more Benedryl for that nasty runny nose! I'm crossing my fingers for another good night of sleep but I know better than to push my luck for two nights in a row. I guess we'll see what the morning brings again for the temp and have Grandma on stand-by again!

I find it ironic that it always happens when Dave is gone! Not only is it hard enough to be "by yourself" but add a "not feeling that great" child on top of that and it always makes for a great adventure!

Saturday.....he'll be home on Saturday......I can do it!

What's Good for One.......

Is good for all four!!!
Starting at the top left and going clockwise......Hannah, Ashley, Me, and Nicole. Notice the marker on Nicole's toes. I guess she wanted to paint too. Now we know why she was so quiet in the toy room!

Just What I Needed

I guess my mom knew I needed a little pick-me-up so she scheduled me a pedicure! What an awesome mom I have!! I was able to go in yesterday prior to a doctor's appointment.

When you go to pre-op for surgery, they tell you that you have to remove all polish. It's summertime (I think........even though it's still raining.....) and I do not like the look of my bare toes in flip-flops. In my current condition and still packing around 12 staples in my torso, there was no way I could bend over and paint my toenails. The pedicure was EXACTLY what I needed!!

I love my toes!!!!!!!!!

Rain Rain Go Away........

Is it every going to stop raining?!?!? Have I moved to Oregon? As I'm looking out my TV room window, I can't see the Wellsville mountains. They are covered up by clouds!

Don't get me wrong, the cooler weather is nice. This means we don't have to turn on the AC quite so soon BUT a little sunshine with the cooler weather would be nice!

I watched the weather this morning and we're suppose to have showers through next Tuesday! This really isn't helping when we're wanting to start putting in our yard!

I Got a Little Queasy

My incisions had been covered with bandages and tape since the hospital. I was suppose to remove the tape and bandages on Saturday. I had two sections of tape. One was over my belly button and the other was diagonally down my right side.

Knowing that I was suppose to remove the tape, I became brave Saturday night before going to bed and removed the tape and bandage by my belly button. Ok.....I guess I wasn't sure what they really did during surgery and I THOUGHT I had a little incision "next" to my belly button. Little did I know that I had four staples, yes, that's FOUR stapes inside my belly button. This discovery made me a bit queasy. I had to lay down on the bed so I didn't tip over. I quickly decided that the next set of bandages were not coming off! I informed Dave that he would be removing the other bandages the next day while I was laying down and unable to see anything.

Yes, I have had three c-sections and I love watching ER shows on TV. I was surprised that I struggled seeing my own incisions but WOW it really threw me for a loop. When you have a c-section your staples are removed before you leave the hospital. Maybe this is the issue. The stapes are still in there! I look like I have four separate zippers on my body. It's going to make for a good dot-to-dot picture someday!

On Sunday, Dave did remove the other tape and bandages and yes, I was laying flat and did not watch. I have two little incisions that have two staples each and a third larger incision that has four staples. So, I have a total of 12 staples on my torso.

Today being the third day after surgery has brought me a lot of soreness. Everyone says the third day is the worst and then it's downhill from there. I kept getting a tickle in my throat yesterday which resulted in me coughing and IT HURT LIKE NO OTHER. This could be another reason why I'm pretty sore today. You don't realize what muscles you use for what until you can't use them. Coughing, sneezing, blowing your nose, spitting toothpaste.....yea.....these all use interesting muscles.

Hannah and Ashley will be coming home tonight. We called to chat with them last night and they are having a blast with the Ropers. They'll probably come home and be totally bored with us! What a fun experience for them to spend this much time with cousins and what a big help it has been for me.

Nicole spent last night with Grandma Peterson again and cried when she dropped her off at daycare this morning. She must be getting in some good "spoil time". She was here with Dave and I Saturday night and most of Sunday until we went to my mom's for dinner. She did really well but it was hard for me not to be able to pick her up and take care of her. I am use to doing everything so going from everything to nothing was pretty hard.

Dave is in training this week but at least it's local. He'll work 10 hour days Monday through Thursday and have Friday and Saturday off before starting his summer patrol shift on Sunday. The girls can go to daycare during the week and my mom will get them there and pick them up for me. Dave will be home in the evenings to help so this will be great.

Hopefully by the end of the week I will be back to pretty much normal.......accept for not being able to lift anything over 20 pounds for 3 weeks! I think this includes laundry and vacuuming too!

Gallbladder Surgery

Yesterday morning (June 5) I had my gallbladder removed. I have been having symptoms for awhile now and it finally came time to take it out.

Clear back in 2003 I found out that I had gallstones after I had some blood work done with my primary doctor and he discovered that my liver count was a bit off. After an ultrasound, they discovered that I did indeed have gallstones but they were not causing me any problems so nothing needed to be done.

Over the last six years, I have had some on and off pains and in the back of my mind I always wondered if I was going to have an attack. It especially scared me while I was pregnant with Ashley and Nicole that I was going to have problems.

Since the first of the year, the pain in my side has been more constant but still controllable. I have been seeing the doctor more frequently now that I have been put on high blood pressure medication (thanks to my lovely family genes!) and I mentioned in April that I was having some pain and wondered if I just waited until I had an attack before anything was done. Before I knew it, I was in for another ultrasound and a visit with a surgeon.

The technician that did the ultrasound told me during the procedure that I had a "gravel pit" in my gallbladder and this was more than likely the cause of my pain. I had my visit with the surgeon the following day and he too confirmed that I had gallstones and my gallbladder was inflamed. So.....a surgery date was set.

Dave and I reported to the hospital yesterday morning at 8:30 a.m. They took me to the O.R. at 9:15 and I was back in my room trying to wake up at 10:50. It was done laproscopically and it is an outpatient surgery. After I was able to become completely awake and get my pain level under control, which took two Lortab, Morphine in my IV, and another pain medication before it went away, they sent me home at 2 p.m.

The doctor came and chatted with Dave and I after I had woken up a bit and he told me that I had eight gallstones and that my gallbladder was inflamed and pretty nasty. He commented that I must have been feeling sick for quite awhile. He gave me two gallstones in a jar so I could see them and I must say......they are HUGE! They measure about an inch from side to side.

Yesterday I was pretty groggy and was in and out of sleep most of the day and night. Hannah and Ashley went to American Fork on Friday with Aunt Kendal and Uncle Nate to sleep over prior to Ben's baptism today. Nicole slept at Grandma Peterson's and then went to American Fork with Dave today for the baptism. So I have been able to rest quite a bit.

I feel more with it today but I'm pretty sore. I guess it's a good thing you don't know what they do to you while you're asleep. I have four little incisions. One by my belly button and three diagonally down by my right rib cage. I go in on Friday to see the surgeon again and have the staples removed.

I am glad it's over and I hope this cures the pains. After my ultrasound, I had many sleepless nights with massive back and chest pain. I'm crossing my fingers that my gallbladder was the problem and I have these pains no more!

Hannah and Ashley have decided to stay in American Fork with the Ropers until Monday night so tomorrow will be a relaxing day with Nicole only. Dave hasn't started patrol yet for the summer so he will be home to help. Nicole will then get another sleep over at Grandma's so she can take her to daycare for me on Monday.

Here's two pictures of my gallstones. You can't see them too well in the jar but the other picture has them by a tape measure. They're HUGE! I can't believe I had eight of these in my gallbladder!

Memorial Day

Celebrating Memorial Day in the past has really meant getting together over the weekend and having a cookout with family. I have had relatives pass on and a few times I have gone with my parents to put flowers on their graves.

It hasn't been until the last two years that Memorial Day has meant more to me. This is the second Memorial Day since my Dad passed away. This is the second Memorial Day that I have taken my girls to the cemetary after church on Sunday to visit Grandpa's grave.

I miss my Dad and there's many times when thoughts of him pop in my head. The most recent ones are while getting ready for Hannah's TaVaci concert to begin he popped in my head of when he came to her preschool Christmas performance and how I knew he would have loved to have watcher her perform this night.

Another recent one is as Dave and I are getting ready to start our yard. I think of how he would be right here with us on his tractor helping us till and level the dirt to get us ready to plant the seed. He would be loving every minute of it.

I love and miss you dad. I think of you often!

Here's some pictures we took while at the cemetary this year...

Hannah came home from church and quickly got busy making a card for Grandpa. Here's what it said, "Grandpa, We miss you. We are still thinking of you. We love you. Love, GDMHAN", which translates into Grandma, Dad, Mom, Hannah, Ashley, and Nicole.

Ashley and Nicole enjoyed a nap in the van while we visited the graves. I took this picture of them as they woke up when get got back in the van.

Buiried next to my Dad in Smithfield is also my Grandpa Joe, who is my Mom's Dad

and also Cody Richardson who is my cousin that died at the age of three months. We also put flowers on their graves each year.