A Sweet"heart"...

Whoosh, I am exhausted, in fact it is likely that I won't finish this post tonight, but I will try.

Here's a little recap of Ry's news. He had his appointment with the neurologist Monday. His MRI was abnormal and their are 2 new lesions from last year, the doc. said that one/decade is okay, so apparently Ryan is an overachiever! She started him on several meds for his headaches and even gave him a little shot in the hiney while we were there (unfortunately it didn't seem to do anything)! Today Ry was sedated again for an echo bubble procedure which detects if their is a hole in the heart, the results are in and Ry's heart is sweet (no hole)! So, we will not have to follow up with the Stroke team, but now we are left wondering what is responsible for the new (and several old) lesions. The Doc. said she is keeping him on a short leash, so we go back to see her on the 12th of May. In the meantime, he just needs to follow up with an ENT to figure out some other symptoms/issues and then hopefully we will have more news in a few weeks. His headaches have been pretty rough the past 2 days, so hopefully the meds will start helping soon!

A big thank you to everyone for all your help with the kids, yummy meals, and constant support this past week - we are spoiled rotten!!

Hide and Seek!

Addi loves to visit B-ball Grandma's and Grandpa's. One of her favorite activities is finding the rubber duckys that Grandma or Hallee hide. Lately, however she is just as content to hide all the little duckies herself and then, you guessed it find them herself! She gets so proud of herself when she finds them all tucked just where she left them! As you can see in the picture, she hid one little duckie really well a few weeks ago and nobody can find it!! This little one is pure joy!

Our Medical Deductable is Met!

Ry's surgery went very well this morning (we had to be at ST. Mark's by 6 AM )! My cute brother TJ came and got the older 2 kids off to school, my wonderful mother and sister-in-law "Suzy" took the babes! Ry came home and was out walking around the neighborhood, well around our yard chatting with people from the neighborhood and then.... it hit! Not feeling so well tonight! Addi is VERY interested in daddy's big owies and keeps saying, " I wanna see!" We are grateful for everyone's prayers and support, we are so blessed!

The Moments

I loved listening to conference this past month, my favorite talk was Elder Ballard's (Are you surprised??? What young mother didn't love this talk)!

Some of the highlights:

"Brothers and sisters, recently my wife, Barbara, had back surgery and could not lift, twist, or bend. Consequently, I have done more lifting, twisting, and bending than ever before—and it has made me more appreciative of what women, and especially you mothers, do every day in our homes.

There are moments of great joy and incredible fulfillment, but there are also moments of a sense of inadequacy, monotony, and frustration.

What can you do, as a young mother, to reduce the pressure and enjoy your family more?
First, recognize that the joy of motherhood comes in moments. There will be hard times and frustrating times. But amid the challenges, there are shining moments of joy and satisfaction."

So, I am trying to focus more on the "moments" instead of the long exhausting days! A few "moments" recently:

1. During conference as the kids skipped around the felt colored squares on the floor during the musical numbers (thank you Enrichment Committee) Hallee (4) shouts, "I love Conference"!

2. As the Sunday afternoon session was ending, Parker (9) asked if we could share our testimonies in FHE the next day. He reported, "I'm sure mine will be a lot longer now, because I have figured out a lot more things that I believe!"

3. Addi's belly laugh and sweet little smile

4. The toothless smile on Gracie's face when they won their first soccer game in well, let's just say a very long time! Priceless!

"Good News Minute"

Since tomorrow is Sunday, I decided to post our "Good News Minutes" (and not so good news minutes) that I wrote down earlier this week - what a month!

Addi's Good News Minute:
She got to see and love "gma and pappa Aguilar" (her nuresry teachers) this past week (she has been missing them since we have been gone the past 3 weeks) and got to see and Love her real life Great Grandma Williams at Mountain Grandmas. She can recognize 3/4 of her ABC's (which is 3/4 more than big sister H. can do)!

Addi's not so Good News: "Big Owies and Pink Medicine" aka: strep throat and an ear infection


Hallee's Good News Minute: She finally gets to go on a date with Mt. Grandma! It has taken her 5 months to get 30 days with no crying when going to bed, but she MADE it!! She also got to go on a fieldtrip to the candy factory and can't stop talking about our trip to St. George and Idaho!

Hallee's Not So Good News: "BIG Owies" aka: dislocated elbow that wouldn't reduce despite 3 attempts! Shared spit with sister Addi prior to strep diagnosis, but fingers crossed no sxs yet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Gracie's Good News Minute: Started back to school, she is growing to love school and her teacher! Play time with her friends is always the highlight of her day! Got to ride in a limo from the funeral home to the graveside service for Grandpa Williams and got to stay overnight in a hotel with Mt. Grandma and Grandpa (with a hot-tub and pool)!!

Gracie's Not So Good News: stepped on a nail Tuesday night (within minutes of Hallee's accident)


Parker's Good News Minute:He has been able to go to 3 Jazz games this year and mom's BF Jen just got him a signed Karalinko picture (his favorite player) that he carries with him everywhere! Oh and the Limo - apparantley a BIG deal!!

Parker's Not So Good News: the Jazz lost tonight (Parker told his dad that he went down in his room and asked Heavenly Father for a miracle for the Jazz)!

Brandi's Good News Minute: I got to go to a birthday party for my girlfriend Rian's 35th "mid-life" party last weekend! Great food, great friends, great conversation...and my girlfriends helped me finish my humanitarian packets - woo hoo!

I have amazing friends who spoil me rotten! Dinners, clean house, help with the kids, really, I am soooo blessed!

Brandi's Not So Good News: I'm the mom to all these sick/injured people!!!! Co-pays, co-pays, co-pays!!


Ryan's Good News Minute: His dad's surgery went well (despite some post surgical infections he is fighting right now)! Ryan "gets" his gallbladder out and some cysts removed in a week! This really is good news because he has been hurting for a while and is anxious to start feeling better soon. Despite all the same head/neuro sxs no TUMOR!! His neurology appointment was moved from July 29th to April 28th so hopefully we will get some answers soon!

Ryan's Not So Good News: Ry has had headaches since his brain tumor a year and a half ago, but they have been getting a lot worse lately, he has also been experiencing blurry vision and a myriad of other random and yucky sxs, so we finally got him in and hopefully he is on the road to recovery. The MRI showed no tumor - yeah! However, it did show a number of white spots (punctate lesions) on his frontal lobe. There are several possible causes for this, but our MD is wondering if he might have a hole in his heart that has been sending little clots to the brain! So we are anxious to see the neurologist and get her opinion!!

Easter

This year we had the privilege of celebrating Easter down south (St. Georgeish) with my grandparents! Each Sunday they call and Grandpa asks, "When you coming down?" Well, I could foresee my work schedule slowing down and the kids were in between sports (hurray!) so we decided to go (we being me)! Ry wasn't able to take off work, so I headed down with the 4 kiddos.

The highlight of the trip for me was our Easter devotional with Grandma and Grandpa. Saturday I took the kids to pick out some Easter bags and treats for Grandma and Grandpa. The kids stuffed and hid their eggs along with 4 other eggs that each had a piece of paper with a number written on them. The kids (and I) got a kick out of watching them hunt for their eggs.




The eggs with numbers corresponded to a picture of an event or time in the Savior's life (ei. birth, performing miracles, resurrection) and then one paper asked the person to share their testimony of the Savior.
We do this each year with the kids, but this year we decided to have Grandma and Grandpa share the stories and their testimonies with us. After each story was shared, we all sang a primary song that corresponded with the message. It was sweet, particularly sweet since 6 days later I received a call that my grandpa was in the hospital and would not make it through the night. How grateful I am that we were able to spend Easter together and particularly that my family was able to hear him bear his testimony of the Savior.

A few other highlights from our trip:
1 - Time with my darling grandparents - we had a wonderful time together relaxing, laughing at the kids, and visiting - oh and eating (grandma thinks it should occur 24/7!!!)


2 - Spending time with my cousin Kevin and his darling family
3 - The kids loved playing together and roping the steer head Grandpa had rigged to some milk crates! He also fashioned a ping-pong table out of PVC pipe and particle board that provided hours of entertainment!
4 - Sunny skies , sidewalk chalk, long walks
5 - Windy days perfect for kite flying (the girls LOVED it)!
6 - The Easter Bunny found us (the kids were worried) and left our eggs OUTSIDE!




7- Watching Addi - she entertained us all weekend with her songs and dances. She found a little stool and found 50 + ways to jump off of it!! She also managed to dump at least 6 of Grandpa's herb/vitamin bottles, color on the stool, and have a food fight with herself !?! Grandma is so patient with her and Grandpa just pops out his hearing aids, shakes his head and mutters, that girl!!:)

Who, me?

8 - I read 1 book and several magazines - ahhh!
9 - Finding a potted flower in the dishwasher - apparently Grandma doesn't use the dishwasher much,in fact I loaded it partially several times and when I wasn't around she would unload and hand wash the dishes - it was too funny! I offered several times to hand wash the dishes, but she would not have it!
10 - Ryan was able to ride the shuttle down and spend Easter Sunday with us! Parker called him Sat. to find out he was not feeling well (bad headaches) so we weren't expecting him to make it down, but I was very happy that he did!


11- The Easter Sacrament program at Grandma and Grandpa's ward - it was beautiful!