Pinewood Derby!

Pinewood Derby!

All of the cars before the race. Kyle's is the shiny red one near the center.

Kyle and his car. (They did the hole in the middle because when they took it for weigh-in his was slightly over weight.)


Kyle and the scouts putting their cars on the track. Kyle's is the red one in the middle.





Laren sweating bullets!
Right before the race started Laren leaned over to me, telling me he hoped Kyle's car made it off the starting blocks. He thought it might have been too low, or that the tires would rub on the center thing on the track.




We realized right away that Kyle had a fast one! He ended up winning every race except for one, and he finished third place in that one. (There was something wrong with lane 5 on the track - every car that took that lane had problems.)



So Kyle WON the entire DERBY!!!!
I was happy for Kyle in that he has gone through SO much lately with his life threatening liver problems and being in and out of the hospital - and most especially that he could enjoy racing cars like boys do and that he had something positive happen on his 9th Birthday since he had been so sick earlier in the day!!

Kyle and Dad with the winning car, first place blue ribbon and Kyle's "Ring of Fire" award. All boys got a certificate and candy for racing. The top 3 finishers got ribbons. I was glad they didn't put too much emphasis on place because not all boys had a Dad to help them, etc... But especially so the boys didn't feel bad if their car didn't do well.

I am not sure all that they did to make Kyle's car fast, but I know with Laren being an Engineer he was thinking about speed through the whole design process. They moved the tires back, and put the weight in the back, rubbed graphite on the axels and I'm not sure what else.

**And just a little aside - Kyle does look different than he did before his liver problems. His primary teacher told me he did not recognize him the first time he came back to class and sat down. Most of the change is caused by the steroids (prednisone) making his face swell and making him gain weight. As for his sickness and his numbers going up - I guess, at this point the doctor thinks his numbers going up is directly related to him having had the flu this past week. Crossing my fingers that is the reason!

Happy Birthday and Hurry up and get Better Son!

Happy Birthday Kyle!

Kyle this morning before school. He is 9 years old today!

Kyle was feeling well enough to get up and go to school this morning. Only to have the school call me after an hour or so later and tell me that Kyle is feeling sick and had been in the nurse's office for the past 30 - 40 minutes. He was shivering, even with a blanket on. His temperature was 99.5.

I went and got him, brought him home and he is back in bed. His temperature is now 100. We are hoping he is feeling well enough to have Ice Cream Cake tonight for his Birthday Celebration - and the Strawberry Crepes he requested for his birthday dinner. And if he is feeling well enough, the Pinewood Derby tonight - to race his "Phantom Racer" (the name he gave his little four wheeled red race car that he and Laren built together.

Yesterday we got some disappointing news, his numbers that had been coming down are now going back up. I don't know why for sure, but it may have something to do with the doctor cutting his prednisone in half last week because he was getting "close enough" to normal to do that.

In the meantime, the school called and now Rilyn, our youngest daughter is sick with a sore throat, cough and tossing her cookies. So once Kayla and Alyssa come home from school I will have them watch my sick littles and Tyler who is napping and dash to the store to get what I need for Kyle's Hopeful Birthday Celebration!

Hoping for a Happy Post really soon!

Up with the

SuN

I'm long overdue for an update. There are many reasons to my not having blogged lately, mainly though life has just been overwhelming. I just have not been able to accomplish even the little things in the past month. I think all the stress of moving and having Kyle so ill finally caught up with me.

On my mind right now:

-Kyle getting better, he went back to school full time this past week, was at school a full two days and he came home after getting "sick" at school on Friday morning.

Kyle, a little while ago. He has spent the better part of the past 3 days in bed. So sad for me to see. But his liver enzymes are coming close to being back to normal.

-Kyle's 9th Birthday tomorrow and how grateful I am that he is alive to celebrate it, hoping he is better by tomorrow! Flu bug, I think?

-The wonderful General Conference this past weekend. President Monson, I know he is the Prophet of God. I had the opportunity to attend the General Young Women's Meeting last Saturday with Kayla (who is now 13!) and when the Prophet came in the room, I felt a spiritual electricity run through my body. I felt so blessed that Kayla and I had that special opportunity!

-Young Women, I've been serving in my new Utah ward in the Young Women's Presidency and what a blessing that has been. I can honestly say I love these Young Women that I'm working with (including my own daughter). And the other gals in the Presidency are amazing, inspiring women. It was so wonderful to attend the YW Open House training meeting this past week with the Presidency after a delicious lunch out!

-Laren's job stability. I can happily say that Laren's job was saved by the Utah State Legislature last month. That had been such a worry and caused a lot of sleep deprived nights. That same job is, however, keeping him very busy.

-Our house in Colorado is still for sale.

-I miss old friends in Colorado, and the warmer weather in Colorado (yes, even with your Spring Storms Utah Girls you are still warmer than Utah this year!)!!

-I need to get Kyle's patches put on his scout uniform today. His pinewood derby is tomorrow. I hope he will be able to attend!

-I found these new great jeans thanks to my new-found friend, and meterologist, Debbie Worthen. They are Calvin Klein flap pocket, stretch, boot cut jeans in two different washes from Costco for only $24.99 - hurry they are selling fast! I thought they were hundred dollar jeans for sure, because they look like they are (with the hiney lift and all).

Debbie, the gal who told me the tip about the great Calvin Klein jeans at Costco. (I got 3 pair, because good jeans are hard to find!)


Me on the treadmill today, for the first time in at least six weeks. (Photo courtesy of my cute little Tyler!)

-You may recall me blogging about my desire to work on my waist a couple of months ago. ...And then all that happened with Kyle and I have done nothing, absolutely nothing exercise wise, until today. Hope I can keep it up.

-My baby is no longer in nursery. All of my kids are in Primary or above now. Sad.

-Laren and I are speaking in Sacrament Meeting on Sunday. Topic=atonement. I have not yet started my preparations for that.

-Laren got in a car accident last week. His car was totalled. Now we're either trying to find a new car or maybe have him keep the totalled one (it is still driveable), for now.

Laren, on his birthday last month.

-I have the world's most upbeat husband who has buoyed me up through all of our trial and turmoil! I heart you even and especially on my down days, Laren!

-My kids make my world go 'round! What a blessing they are to me!

5 for Friday

5 for Friday

Scentsability or something like that.

1.) Scentsy knockoff. I love this thing! Walmart sells these here for $12 .88 each; much cheaper than Scentsy. My favorite scent is a pineapple one. The only downside is Walmart only carried 3 different styles of these 'wax melters' and they sold out super quick. And all the fruity scented (my favorites) waxes are sold out too. The wax is $1.88 per package of 6-8 "chunks."

Kallie and Me.

2.) Today I got away for a fun lunch with my Sister, Kallie, at Temple Square. What a nice break, to get away for lunch. And our boys had a good time entertaining each other.

We ate at the Nauvoo Cafe. I ordered a salad that was super delish with baby greens, chicken, raspberries, caramelized walnuts and feta cheese. She got a chicken salad sandwich with cheddar cheese on the most buttery delicious white bread - YUM (she gave me a taste)!! The picture above is the Salt Lake Temple as I was driving away.

My Tyler (L) and her Zach (R). Kyle was crashed on the bench we were visiting at.



Kayla's magnet board from Young Womens.

3.) These are those magnet boards I mentioned that we gave the Girls for New Beginnings. You can also use a dry erase marker on them. I think they are super cute - we found them at The Wood Connection.

4.) My Mom and my Mother-in-Law are coming for visits next week.

5.) Being new to Utah, I wanted to check out IKEA. I finally made it over there (right before Kyle ended up in the hospital, ironically) and this is one of the great "finds" I found. It is perfect for all of Tyler's Preschool Art!

This little hanging display thing, I got at IKEA with Tyler's artwork inside.

Thursday 3

Thursday 3


1.) After about 5 hours spent between being at Kyle's doctor appt. and traveling to and from the hospital, we were exhausted. But we got some informative news. They are referring to his condition as "Marker Negative Auto Immune Hepatitis." It is NOT, however, the type of Hepatitis that is infectuous. It is not a communicable disease. In this case, Hepatitis means swelling of the liver. (itis = swelling, hepa = liver). They cautioned us about even using the term hepatitis with anyone, because so many only think of it as a communicable disease.

On Monday Kyle's blood tests came down very little from the Thurs. before that. But they were still trending downward (though one of the numbers, his AST, actually went up a little). The doctor said most patients she see's in Kyle's condition would have responded better to the medication by now and their numbers would be back to normal already. That was frustrating to hear. Anyway, because of that he was put on another medication - one that he will have to take for the rest of his life. And I guess in 1-2% of patients they can actually contract a cancer of the bloodcells. I'm not excited about any of that. But we are between a rock and a hard place on getting his liver functioning again. And apparently the benefits are greater than the risks.

On a brighter note, I took Kyle in this morning for more blood work and his numbers have made significant progress since Monday (with the addition of this new medication, and many, many prayers). The doctors told us on Tuesday that they think it will take Kyle about 4-6 weeks for his numbers to be back to "normal." I am thinking it may happen faster than they are thinking!

2.) Yesterday was New Beginnings for Young Women. Our theme was "Everything we need to know we are learning in Young Women's." It was a busy time getting everything ready, but I think it turned out really well! Kayla was super excited about the cute magnet boards we made for the girls, along with a magnet that had each girls' initial on it. (I'll have to take a pic. and post it.)

3.) Kyle's faith amazes me. Today, as we were pulling out of the garage to go to the hospital for yet another blood draw (something he detests more than anything) he said, "Mom maybe we should say a prayer that it won't hurt so bad this time." I told him it was a great idea and asked him if he'd like me to say, or if he wanted to. He said he'd do it. So he said the sweetest, most humble prayer.

After an almost hour wait, they called him back. This time the phlebotomist got a collegue to help hold his arm (I was so relieved I did not have to do it this time - it's hard to have to submit my child to that). She got his vein the first time. On the way out Kyle told me that that was his "easiest time of getting a poke." He said he did not even feel the needle go in.

So we talked about how that must have been an answer to his prayer. He was sure it was. So I suggested he say a prayer of thanks, which he did. It was such a tender, tear filled moment. On the way home I asked him if he would like to drive past the temple. It is on our way, but it is faster to go another way, so we don't usually go that way. But he said yes, that he'd like to so we did. As we approached the temple Kyle said, "Mom the temple is so beautiful, don't you think?" Again it was just so touching!

Though this is a difficult trial to be sure, it is filled with so many sweet blessings. I definitely feel my Heavenly Father close as Laren and I try to work our way through all of this.

* Oh and a little sidenote, after all of that our house contract fell through - so no buyer afterall!

...

Today we have another appointment with the specialists at Primary Childrens Hospital. Yesterday I took Kyle to our local hospital for more bloodwork (it's weird you go to the hospital lab for bloodwork, in CO we always went to places like LabCorp, etc...).

Kyle's poor little arms are so bruised up. The phlebotimist tried to find a vein that was not so bruised. She found one, but couldn't get to it and had to dig. Ugh! The digging is always so painful. I had to cover Kyle's eyes. She called for help, but finally got it.

I'm hoping for good news at the doctor today. Kyle is hoping his blood sugars will get back to normal so he can get off his low carb diet. It really is hard to find things he can/will eat that are low carb. He is tired of beef jerky and string cheese.

And, crossing our fingers, we have our house under contract. Wouldn't you know we got the call on the way home from the hospital with Kyle last week. It is definitely a bad market to sell, so I wouldn't recommend unless you have to. But grateful, if this works out, that we can move on and get a house here for our family.

My Hometown

My Hometown

Most places have some claim to fame. Some are more famous than others. Some are known for their movie stars, their landmarks or their leaders. My hometown is known for this. The vermiculite was contaminated with tremolite asbestos -- a particularly toxic form linked to numerous illnesses including mesothelioma, a cancer that can attack the lining of the lungs, abdomen, or heart.

It is such a beautiful place that has housed a deadly poison in the soil of the WR Grace baseball fields that my brother played on in Little League, on the track at the High School where I cheered at many games and events, and in the garden soils of so many local homes.

I have a brother that has major lung trouble in which this asbestos filled vermiculite has adversly affected his lungs.

Such a crazy thing to be known for, especially for such a beautiful place. But when I saw this article on cnn.com, about a place I know well, I had to say a little something about it.

Libby, Montana