Christmas

                 

 

Our Christmas was great!

 Owen is finally at that age that he gets Santa and actually wanted to sit on his lap this year. He had a great talk with him and thought it was super fun to tell him what he wanted for Christmas. 

With so much snow at our house we shovel a lot and Owen loves to go out and help Jeremy. They are such boys sometimes they always end up in a snowball fight. 

My mom always has dinner on Christmas eve at here house so Owen and I went over there for the night. Jeremy has a late schedule right now and didn't get off work until 11:30pm so we are thankful to have family close to spend our time with. 

Also Jeremy's little sister Jennilee and her husband Shane traveled from Washington to be with the family. It was good to see them again and hang out all together. We did the usual breakfast at my grandma's house and then tracked over to The Hamilton's for a yummy ham lunch and more presents! I am pretty sure Owen was overwhelmed by all that he got. There was too much stuff for him to play with and by 3:30 we desperately needed a nap. 

Also this year my family found these cool Rudolph noses that blink at Restoration Hardware. I think the picture is awesome! We found out  Andy (Jeremy's brother) and Danielle's  are having a baby girl this spring and we cant wait! Its the closest I will get to seeing what a daughter of  our own might have looked like. We had a yummy dinner at their apartment before going to see the lights at Temple Square.Its a good thing the food was warm and Delicious cause it was bitter cold at the temple. The lights were beautiful and reflection pond was pretty with all the lights on it but man it was cold cold cold! Poor Owen had frozen everything by the time we got back to the car. 

It was a very good Christmas for our family and its always good to be surrounded by the ones you love. 

On a side note the scope I did back on the 19th went well. Although the day before I threw up again, that is the second time in 4 weeks I have puked for no reason. Not fun! I am not a puker, I would rather suffer in agony all night and day than throw up so 2 times is making me kinda worried. The doctor found some irregular redness in one part of my stomach and did a biopsy to see what was going on. I don't particularly like that word biopsy it hasn't been my friend in the past. The doctor seemed to think it might just be a bacterial infection and would need antibiotics.....we will see. I haven't gotten results back yet with all the holidays I doubt it will be before next week. I haven't been sick since that last time, and hope that will have been the last time. 

Jeremy is working his late shift again tonight so I guess i will be ringing in the new year without a kiss. He does have tomorrow off though. Maybe I will get a date out of it! 

Turkey Day!

We took Owen bowling today! It was his first time and he loves doing things over and over so bowling is great! We had a great time and for sure want to do it again. Owen didn't get any strikes but there were a few spares in there so he was pretty proud of himself!

So my mom said all she wanted for Christmas this year was a picture of her kids. That's a mom thing I guess. So we took some pic's on turkey day at my parents house. My mom cooked a great dinner as usual. She makes the best stuffing ever and the turkey was awesome! I am so glad I mom that is a great cook so I don't have to cuz I'm pretty sure we would all get poisoned if I cooked the bird!

My mom thought we were goofing off too much, we kept doing these "blue steel" pictures from that movie Zoolander. She got real mad at us but as you can see we were having a great time!

We hadn't taken pictures of just us three since Morg was about 6 so it was time.

On black friday we did some serious shopping in SLC with my mom, sister, grandma, and my cousin. We spent 6 hours at Gateway. Hit trolley square and this little store on 9th and 9th called Hip and Humble. We got home after dark but it was a good day of shopping!Thats what happens when you take all those girls and put them in one mall. My dad took Owen all day so I didnt have to pack him in and out of stores, Im sure he was tired by the time we got home but It was really nice of him. Jeremy had to work Overtime(just couldnt pass up double time and a half)

Wow your spleen is huge!

That's what Dr. Hudson said at my appointment on Wednesday.

A normal spleen is only supposed to be 3-5 cm and mine is 17 cm.

I know gross!

If only my body would function normally and grow a accessory liver instead of an accessory spleen. The good news is that the spleen hasn't gotten bigger in the last 6 months.

The ultrasound tech said there wasn't any water in my abdomen but by the time it was over there was 3 technicians in there doing it. They couldn't get a great view of my portal vein. Finally got one but my ribs were red and sore because of it.

My blood test results came back great too! My bilirubin which measures my jaundice level was .8 and my tumor marker was negative. The only count down was my platelets but only slightly. I have been having nausea after meals. It doesn't really matter what it is i have eaten so its not really food related. Dr. Hudson will do yet another EGD to check for a ulcer or a blockage somewhere but I doubt its either one.

My MELD score they use to determine where you are on the transplant list is a 7 now. Six months ago it was a 9. You would think that would be good but its not really. I have to be a 15 to be listed at all and approximately a 24 to be transplanted. We asked with the spleen enlarging so much what that meant with time until transplant was needed. Answer: 2-5 years. At the beginning my spleen wasn't big at all so the time frame was about 9 years. So that was kinda scary to me and Jeremy. That's not much time and I sure don't like the thought of having such a HUGE operation.....if I can get a liver when I need one.

I would be more than happy to just continue seeing the specialist every 6 months and go about my business. It is nice to have advanced warning and be able to plan for certain things like insurance and coverage stuff.

The funny thing is the doctor pretty much said all the same things last time(minus the 2-5 yrs) and I feel so much better about this visit than the last one. Don't know why, maybe being more up to date on the time frame.

Jeremy and I both agree we have the best specialist there is on the subject of liver transplant. Dr. Hudson is very knowledgeable, down to earth, and kind. But more than that he is not a beat around the bush kinda doctor. He tells us straight up every time whats happening and that means so much to both of us.

So I will continue my course of going about my life trying my hardest to lose the weight I need to, being with my family that I love and making the most out of life while I still feel great.

I guess a lot of cirrhosis patients don't have a lot of energy and feel pretty crappy.

I on the other had ran on the treadmill at the gym today!

THRILLER!!!!

Owens cut on his head is just a tattoo
he just wanted to be like frankie

Well we have been waiting all year for October to come so we could take Owen to THRILLER!


It is a awesome Halloween based dance production by Odyssey Dance Company. There is a sweet mummy that does a dance with some beautiful Egyptian girls to the beginning song on my blog page. It is one of our traditions we love, it totally gets us into the Halloween spirit. I know your thinking how can that be possible?!!


This year it was down in Provo in addition to up in slc so we didn't have to use up more gas to get there. The only downer was that half way through the show right after the intermission there was a dance with witches and lots of pyrotechnics well it was too much for the smoke detectors and the alarm went off, we all had to file out and stand in the cold for about 30 minutes. Which wouldn't have really bothered me but it was an especially cold night and it was starting to snow! Poor Owen was freezing! We ended up in the car for a while and the fireman came and actually stayed for the rest of the show! As we were leaving one of the fireman reached out to feel O's head to see if his tattoo was real and asked him if his head hurt. Guess it does look pretty real and we have had a bonk on the head before that needed glue.

This weekend we also went to the Body Exhibit in SLC with our friends the Brimhalls. It was just as good as the one I saw in Vegas but way more crowded and so so so HOT!

The thing I am not excited about is that it's time for me to go see the Transplant docs up at U of U. Every time it comes around I get panicked about all that they could say and what they could find on the ultrasound and blood work. I try most of the time to have a good attitude and outlook on the situation but every six months I get to face the severity of what could go wrong and what has happened to my body in the six months since the last time. The doctor is super nice and totally down to earth able to ask him anything but just thinking about sitting in that little room waiting for him to tell me its still the same or gotten worse is making me sick right now. Good thing I got some xanax to take this time. Ive never taken it before and I only plan to take it at these appointments, although I don't have a high tolerance for meds so it would be really sad if it made me super sleepy or something.

They learn so fast...

I cannot believe how fast our Owen is growing! He was to tiny and fragile then and now he is so big and smart! I miss the days when he was so tiny and I could hold him on my chest, but having him tell me what he needs is wonderful too!

In fact just the other night Owen woke up in the middle of the night turned on his light, used the bathroom, turned back off the light, got back in his own bed and went back to sleep. That's progress!!!

Owen has been loving pre-school. He has a little "girlfriend" in his class named sophie. When I went to pick him up the other day his teacher told me that sophie had told him "im going to marry you one day Owen, are you Mormon?" I guess they start training them early in her family! He didn't say anything in response....didn't know what to say i suppose. Funny though!

Owen also has a favorite book at our house. The Haunted House. Its a Disney book, with mickey, Donald and Pluto in it. I guess we have read it to him enough because he knows every word on every page! He can literally read it to me at night. I will try to get a video of it before he stops. Pretty cool since he is only 3. I really love books so I hope he continues to them too!

I wasn't feeling very good this week, i had a terrible cold and sore throat. My awesome parents came and took Owen for the day so I could get some much needed rest. I still felt like a train hit me when I woke up from my nap so they ended up taking Owen to my brothers JV game in Payson. My dad was taking Owen to the bathroom at the very moment my brother scored a 50 yrd touchdown. So my dad missed it and my mom wasn't quick enough to get in on tape. I think I am on the bad list for a while with that one! But if a 3 yr old tells you he has to go....you go!

The Varsity team also won the Homecoming game! It was awesome! At the ticket booth they gave everyone a balloon to let go at the first touchdown. It was sweet to see all those green and white balloons floating away! School spirit is the best!

Jeremy and I got tickets for Thriller! We are taking Owen for the first time and I cant wait! It is actually here in Provo for once and my entire family is going. It is one of the few traditions Jeremy and I have together so to finally include Owen is great! He loves everything Halloween and he cant stop thinking about it!

I taught the lesson in relief society last week. It was pure torture and I'm pretty sure my blood pressure has never been higher. I made it through and managed to use up all the time allotted to me. I don't think I did a good job, but my mother in law told me as long as you learn something from the lesson that's all that matters. Thanks Cathy!

Cowboys, football boys, army dudes & ropes

A couple of weeks ago I signed up Owen to take a cowboy class at Thanksgiving Point.
He got to ride some of the toys out in front of the barn before the class started and they were so cute I had to take a picture.




In the class he got to paint a wooden horseshoe, brush a tiny pony and see what real horseshoes look like. They of course let the kids take a ride on the ponys too, Owen is always up for a ride!
He thought for sure this sweet little thing was going to try to buck him off!


My brother Morgan plays for his high school team and we love going to the games!
Last week they played Springville and the school had invited the Army to come complete with a huge tank. Man those things are really big! I had no idea the massive size....pretty intimidating!

By the tank was of course an Army dude as Owen calles them and he asked if he could go talk to him. I said sure.( I didnt think he would be so brave.) Well he walked right up to him and shook his hand told him "good job. Do you shoot the transformers?"
I guess we better explain to him what they really do for our country!
Everytime Springville made a touchdown they would fire off the cannon, Owen was scared the first time but then he loved it!

I am on our wards enrichment activity planning comitee. This last time we planned a ropes course at our local church. We did it outside and it was a wonderfully spiritual night. I dont know if any of you have ever done one but I highly recomend it for your wards. One of the girls in our ward set it all up and did all parts to go with it. I was just helping other women to it but then they told me to go through it also as the last person.
I had already seen the course and it was difficult but I was sure I could manage. It was hard having things I knew were comming but not opening my eyes to see it. The ropes were tied around trees, rapped around huge barrels. The picture below they gave us a log to carry on our journey that represented "burden" some people gave them back imediatly. I held on to mine until they asked later if they could take it from me. I gladly acepted. Then later in the course they gave me a rock to hold that was my "testimony" I was supposed to keep it always.
At the end of the course our relife society president was there and she let the rope(The iron rod) we had been following our entire journey fall to the ground and took us into her arms. She
whispered in our ears"you have done well faithfull servent come into the light).

That sunday i got called as 2nd counselor in the relife society! Pretty exciting and scary at the same time!

Oh yes people.... that's right!

Owen is also obsessed with Frankenstein! He calls him frankie and loves everything about him. So when I found this mask at the dollar store I couldnt resist! Now he calles himself 'Baby Frankie".

At the Hamilton house Halloween is bigger than santa claus! All the stores have so much cool

stuff Owen and I couldnt wait anymore to get out our decorations.

I know your thinking to yourself what are they doing? But ya know what! If people can put up the christmas decor in november I can do this!

Owen absolutley loves all our decorations and had

so much fun helping put it all up. You would think he would be afraid, but not this kid. Which is funny cause I am most definitley a big baby when it comes to scary stuff! While we were getting our the decorations Owen found his trick or treat bag from last year. Sure enought there was a left over tootsie roll in the bottom. Wow was he excited!

From out of the blue he said"oh thank you ho ho, thank you!" Super funny!

The skeleton on our door I bought at Roberts Craft and painted myself with the paint that crackles, its one of my favorites in our collection.

Family Pics!

Our little family had not done professional pictures since Owen was a bald baby so it was time!

We had to tell Owen he didnt need to look at every picture after it was taken that we could look at all of them once they were done. He is really big on "Let me see". I think they turned out pretty cute, our little boy was such a ham....hamilton....funny!

Anyway we had a really great morning with Jeremy taking these pictures he has been working so much overtime lately it feels great when he is around.

I also went to the dermatologist for a strange spot on my cheek. It had been there for almost a month and not gone away. It kinda looked like it would be a pimple because there was fluid in it but just blood would come out. I go to the derm and he said I needed a shot and some cream to make it go away. The doc said it was some kind of cystic acne but not like any I had ever seen. So this shot was horrible it was like the kind you get at the dentist. Took forever and burned like fire. I didnt get a sticker or balloon after either what a rip-off.

Our Labor Day weekend was a great one! Jeremy's aunt Debbie and her two daughters came up from Las Vegas. They are great house guests and always fun to be around. We took them to Training Table and went shopping. Which is funny that they like to shop in Utah and that is the only reason I like to go down to Vegas.

Jeremys grandma was in town from Reno for a double reception in Slc. It was great to see her, I love it when Owen has a chance to be around Great grandma's. They are the best!

I went to Swiss days out in Midway with my mom and sister and that was really hot and Owen was not having fun. I put him up on my shoulders when he got too tired to walk and that was a big mistake! My neck has been killing me ever since. I look like rainman walking around with a crooked neck. Sweet Janelle gave me an awesome neck rub but the pain came back the next morning. I hope i am not doomed to walk like this forever.

On Labor day my mom, sister and I went out to Trolley Square and a store called Tai Pan. We got some great Fall and Halloween things for decorating. That is my favorite time of year. Monday was super cold here like 60 degrees and i thought it was wonderful! It was funny to see people walking around with their winter coats on but i was loving it!

That night we had yet another family dinner with the Hamilton side. There was lots of yummy food and there were lots of kids for Owen to play with. Thanks to Bruce and Kate for hosting all of us!

It was nice to have our routine back this morning but sad when Jeremy went back to work. We get used to having him around on the weekends and then it feels like we dont see him again till the next weekend. He is such a hard worker for us.....I love him for that and all he does for our family!

Our BIG little boy

So Jeremy and I have been thinking of putting Owen into pre-school for some time now. I was always saying he is too little still and I thought he could wait till next fall but over the course of the summer we finally decided it was time. He just needs more socializing with kids his age and since Jeremy and i cant give him that it was time. We had done a lot of searching for a school we both liked and Owen would too. We finally came up with one. It has everything in it we wanted for him. He has been going for a week now. Only M,W,F from 9-11:30am. I thought even though we had many talks with him about it he would be kinda clinging to me and not want me to leave the first day but he did great! I will admit i waited as long as i could and then called to check up on him(it was only and hour). The teacher said he had a little aggression at first and there was some pinching but after the rules were explained he did great! Oh man it was the longest 2 1/2 hrs of my life. When we picked him up he was so proud of himself and was doing this great walk like john Travolta on Saturday Night Fever. It was awesome to see him come alive. Ever since he loves to talk about it and asks us everyday if today is a school day.

We also went to the doc for his yearly check up and he is in the 95% for height and 75% for weight. Not too bad.....but i am pretty sure we are going to be always shopping for shoes & pants for that kid! My dear sweet friend Samantha was in town and we got to hang out and do lunch without the kids which was so cool cuz i hadn't seen her for 2 years. Whenever i hear her voice it just makes me happy! She calls me Nicky so well i cant help but smile! :)

Sure do miss your guts Sam!

Riding Bumble-bee

So Owen is obsessed with Transformers! Everything yellow is a transformer just like bumble-bee from the movie! It is kinda funny cuz now even when Owen is not in the car with us we see a yellow car and say "transformer car!".

This weekend we rented a wave runner(which had to be yellow) from a little shop in Heber and went to Jordanelle Dam for the day. It was awesome to have Owen there with us! he definitely has more of Jeremy in him ,that kid has NO FEAR! We got a 3 seater with Owen in front, that kid kept yelling " Faster!, Go over there!, Jump us again dad!" I was on the back with these two crazies and begging them so slow down cuz I didn't want to fly off the back into the water! The only thing Owen didn't want to do is fall off. We kinda made the mistake of watching Shark Week with him a few days before so I am pretty sure he thought there was sharks in there waiting to get us. Oops bad parenting! This month is also our 6 year anniversary! Pretty sweet and we are more in love now than before. Its funny the things that change and stay the same in that amount of time. That was our anniversary outing: renting the wave runner, most of our outings include Owen these days and I love having him along with us to share in the experiences! After all day at Jordanelle in 100 degree weather we were all pretty tuckered and passed out in our beds after some much needed room service at a hotel in Park City. The next day we did the Alpine Slide which was more horrific than i remembered and the wind was blowing like crazy making me feel like I was for sure gonna die up there on that stupid ski lift. Hate it hate it hate it! Jeremy will never talk me into anything again. The only reason I finally gave in was for the picture you get at the top of your family riding the tram. We finally made it to the top and the dumb picture place was closed for the day.....i hate everyone! We did some shoping at the outlets after that and I found some sunday shoes for O that were on sale down from $49 to $11! I love a good deal! On the way home we stopped and FYE and picked up my reserved copy of Breaking Dawn so dont be surprised if i fall of the earth for the next few days! I am really gonna have to pace myself to enjoy this!

Why not add more?

So i have not been sleeping very well this last little while and wake up with a headache.
When i went for my usual 3 mo check my doctor suggested i get my thyroid checked and do an overnight oxygen test to see if that wasn't the problem. My blood pressure is also very high again and although i have been thinking it was just the white coat syndrome and the unknown stress of seeing the Dr so often, i had checked it periodically and it has stayed high. So i am now on a bp med. Why not add more right? Soon i will be on more drugs than an elderly person. The thyroid came back normal though so that is good, just frustrating that i am so tired all the time even though i go to the gym almost everyday.
Really it could be worse, just complaining which i try not to do.
We have had a good couple of weeks at our house. Owen is loving the pool! We even went to seven peaks with my family yesterday. It was so hot but Owen loved it.
Jeremy will start training in SLC in about a week along with his new schedule 2pm-10:30pm. It will be an adjustment for all of us.
My birthday is on Monday and i am going for a massage! I am so excited to just lay there and relax. We are having a family party on Sunday and i am making a new version on apple pie. The recipe i have substitutes apples for zucchini. I got the recipe from a girl in my ward and she fooled her husband with it so i cant wait to try it on my family! If it turns out i will email you all the recipe.

Do you remember when....

Here is a fun little game I saw on a friends blog.Here are the directions:

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses.

If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you.

Our 4th was a good one Jeremy got up early and took Owen to see the balloons in the morning. I stayed in bed and relaxed it was awesome! When Jer went to work i went to my moms and hung out all day. She has a little blow up pool and when Owen woke up from his nap we played in it a little. Water wasnt quite warm enought and he was kinda chicken to get all the way in. My dad bbq'd for us and i had my hamberger on a lettuce bun instead of a real one....my docs would be so proud!

My sweet grandma called and said she wasnt feeling good and she wouldnt make it to eat with us, said she had high BP and had horrible double vision.

So we took some food down to her which was really code for lets go check on grandma. When we got there she was worse. My mom and dad ended up taking her to the instacare and then the ER. Where she was admitted for 2 days while they tried to get her sodim level back to where it should be. Because of the double vision the docs ended up doing an MRI of her brain and found a small tumor in the front part of her brain on the outer edge. They said it wasnt effecting her vision and it could have been there all her life, just to check on it in another month or so to make sure it wasnt growing. Im not sure what is in my families genes that make us all have freaky things wrong with our bodies but im getting pretty fed up with it!

On the brighter side though Owen loved the fireworks and kept saying"how beautifull!" Pretty funny when all the other kids are just saying "wow".

Rodeo's, jewlery & timeouts....

First things first my egd was normal no signs of any varicose veins and I shouldn't need another on for about 2 years! Lets all cross our finger people!
So this summer my cousins have been in a lot of local rodeo's and Owen just loves it! He has a hat, boots, a rope, and a stick horse that is rather beat up from all the pretending when we get home.

He is really a really good boy 97% of the time. Its the other 3% that are killing me slowly. He is in this mode back sassing me and every time i tell him no he tells me, "we don't say no mom." So there have been an unusually large amount of timeouts at our house lately. I don't like it and I'm hoping its a phase he will get out of soon!
On the brighter side Owen is finally potty-trained YAHOO!!! I kept pushing the issue way before he was ready and now that it was his idea it has all been smooth sailing. These Hamilton men are sure stubborn....everything has to be their idea! :)

We also just bought one of those new all natural gas cars so Jeremy could commute up to west valley again. He got a promotion over at the call center again and will get a 5% raise! Very nice since the past 3 years at the retail stores the most he has gotten is 2%. It will be a good thing for us and minus the driving it will give us more time as a family and he will have weekends off. That will be a beautiful thing to attend church together as a family, I'm so excited!

Jeremy and I went down this past weekend to Manti for the pageant. The pageant had changed from the last time we were down but it was still moving and wonderfully spiritual. The day was way too hot and then the sun went down and we froze our butts off. The next morning we were able to attend a temple session since we had left Owen with my mom overnight. Neither of us had been back to that temple since our sealing 3 years earlier so it was very emotional for both of us and the spirit was very strong. There was a sweet old woman that had been at our first session and when i told her i remembered her she was so happy she cried. Her husband wasn't there so I'm not sure if he was just home or had passed on and i didn't have the heart to ask.

Also the jewelry I have been making ,I usually take to my mom's work and sell. This weekend my sweet grandma and i are going to the farmers market to sell from a booth. I am a little nervous but I think it will be fun and I like earning my own money again makes me feel like a working woman.

Choo Choo!!

So for Memorial Day weekend while Jeremy worked on Sat my dad, brother, grandmother, mom, and owen all went to spanish fork cemetary. Pretty much my whole mom's side is there and its really cool to see all the names of my ansestors there together. After we had lunch at this little hole in the wall place its sortof a tradition in my family to have lunch there after we go put flowers down. It goes back clear to my great grandma morgan she would make my mom and siblings stop for a icecream. Pretty cool i could introduce it to owen.

Jer had to work again on sunday but finally on monday he was off! We really love his days off with us. We wanted to make it a fun day for Owen since his days off are usually filled with honey-do's from me that we dont make it out of the house! We bought tickets to A Day with Thomas in Heber. We chose the earliest time to ride the train so we could divide our time between our families the rest of the day. It seemed like a good idea at the time but waking up at 6:30 to get ready and get out there by 9 was no good! Plus it was raining cats and dogs. Owen had on 3 layers of clothes and a hoodie but i stupidly forgot his gloves so his little hads were just about froze till we pulled them into his coat to be next to the warmness of his body. He looked pretty funny and just as we did it the train conductor came by and we asked for a picture with him. I wonder if he thought Owen didnt have arms at all!?! He did kinda look at him strangley.......whatever.

The ride was very short for the money we forked out but we made it up with the little pony's they had in a pen to pet. They were so cute the one in the picture is only a month old and his name was oreo! Owen loved him can you belive how tiny he is standing next to owen i am just thankfull he didnt want to ride him with all the rodeo action we got in our house!

Hope your memorial was as fun filled as ours!

Whats old is new again....

So my old job Mountain Peaks called and asked me to fill in for a couple days. At first i was thinking it would be impossible, then i got sitters figured out for Owen and it was kindof exciting! I was thinking about what i would wear,and how nice it would be to get out of the house and be a working girl again. Until i was on my way there....it was all very surreal and i started to feel kinda sick. What if i was like those horrible Substitutes in school who didnt know crap and everyone hated. What if i was slow and didnt know how to work the systems anymore or messed up on checking someone in. Well lucky for me the new girls upfront are very nice especially Angie! We got along great and i really wish she had been there when i was. The phone system had changed so that slowed me down some, but i feel really good that i now know i can still do the job! It gave me a renewd sense of hope that i will be able to go back someday but that i am thankfull to be home with my Owen. Especially when i had to tell patients one of the docs was booked till Aug! Yep those of you know who i am talking about and i got to see some familiar faces some good, some NOT GOOD!
So thanks Peaks for treating me so good and giving me a glipse into the working world again!
Owen didnt do so good on the first day and was a terror for my sweet grandma and Aunt Tiff but the second day with my mom wasnt so bad.
We are thinking of putting him in a little pre-school type thing just 5 min from our house. Its for 3 year olds only and doesnt really focus on the school stuff so much as social skills. I love my kid but me being home doesnt really give him the skills he needs right now so its only 2 hrs 2 days a week and that will be good for both of us. I will let you know how it goes!
The music on my page i stole from my friend Amy L. Thanks for the great idea Amy! Although i will admit the first time i linked on it scared me to death! Hope you all like the music and if not then too bad and turn down your volume and make your own!
Hope you are all doing well and know that i love ya tonz.
Ps: i still feel great but i am not excited for the egd next month. I will post soon after to let you know
Pps: I am so excited Jeremy will actually be home for Memorial day! We are going to see Thomas the train at the Heber Creeper. Love the kid stuff!

Owenator is 3!

Owen's birthday this year was a big deal. He is finally at that age when there is excitment and the thrill of presents and candles! Jeremy and i had gotten a few things in disneyland to keep until the party and i am so glad we did! He loves playing with anything pirates, so we found these mickey mouse pirate figures and he loves it! We also got him this great wooden barn with animals and even a fence. I am proud to say i painted it myself and it doesnt look like he did it!

Owen has gotten so big all the sudden! Everyone says how tall he is and how much he looks like Jeremy. He does look pretty tall but i didnt realize how much util my friend Elaina brought over her little boy Brock who is only 6 mo old and Owen begged to hold him. He sat on the couch and held him like such a little man. He even played pic-a-boo with him SOOOOO cute! My little boy isnt so little.....sad. He is learning to play by himself more but is very much a mama's boy and im sorry but im ok with that for now!

The spider man pic is from a father/son thing at the local library. Jeremy didnt tell me just let me see his face when he got home! I cannot believe he sat still for them to do it!

My mothers day was good too! Jeremy had to work but i got to sleep in and go out to dinner at Outback with my parents. Jeremy got off work and we got to spend sometime as a family before bed. I am so thankfull for all we have, and that Jeremy works so hard so i can stay home! Love ya honey!

More California Pics

California Dreamin...

So our trip was so wonderfull! The trip started a little strange though.. we woke up at 3am to get to the airport in time and check our bags all that jazz. Well we were driving in the very dark morning and just past the lindon-PG exit in the field we say this bright orange/yellow light as we got closer it was a fire...and it was on someones front porch!!! So of course we called 911 and they asked if we could meet them back where we saw it cuz they couldnt find it! So we turned around at AF and went back as fast as we could well being the worry wart i am i was freaking out we would be late for the plane. We drove back and couldnt see the flames or the house anymore being so dark you would think we could see some smoke or something but no! well we drove back and forth trying to tell 911 where we thought we saw it and finally pulled over at the exit and talked to the very frustrated police,firemen,and emt guys. So now i am really freaking out because its 430am we are still in pg and our plane leaves at 6am. Lucky for us we were not the only ones who called in about the fire and they let us go. Tender mercy i tell you!
So we got on the plane and had to sit there because the starter had gone out....sweet....my anxiety level by then was off the chart and i am really hot cause the cant turn on the air till we take off. The take off was terrifying and jeremy sitting by the window kept trying to talk to me. I couldnt even look at him for fear i would see out the window how high we were! I was over fairly qickly and the landing was smooth.
We got there very early and it was soooo hot already. We got our sweet mini van and headed off to the swap meet. It was pretty hot there about 90 so i didnt really enjoy walking around as much as i could have. I dont do well in the heat!
We got checked into our hotel and played in the pool Owen was so happy to be in the pool again! Whenever we drive by the one in provo he begs to go....hopefully we can this year!
The next day we went to disneyland and it was great not too hot and not as many people as there could have been. We didnt have to wait long at all and Owen was really good waiting in line.
He was crazy about the pirates ride and we went on it like 10 times! He was about 2 inches off of being able to ride some of the cooler rides like thunder mountain...the kid has no fear! He loved the madderhorn and the safari ride in the boat. He was really cute with mickey too! He told him he loves to watch his cartoon show. Owen even got to do the hokey pokey with mary poppins and bert. We went to California Adventures the next day and that was ok but the food sucks over there and owen was more honery. I did go on the freakiest coaster called california screamin and boy did i! I did it so my sweet husband could have some fun and it was worse than any nightmare i have ever had! The shear speed alone was enough to kill me but im pretty sure the g force that shoved my inerds up on the 1st drop wasnt good for my liver or spleen!
We went down to Huntington Beach and walked down picking up sea shells.
Walked up and down the shops along there and then went down to Laguna where we spent the rest of our time shoping and body boarding. It was very relaxing and nice weather. Owen would have dug in that sand to china if i let him. He loved feeling it between his fingers. I say a humpback whale but no-one was around so they all think i was lying. Whatever!
We had a great time till we came home and heard about that poor man getting eaten by a shark!
Yea no more ocean for me.
We had a great time! We told owen we can go back when he is 5 but he's gotta dring all his milk and eat lots of veggies so he can be tall enough! So far its working!
Hope you like the pics!

If it's not one thing.....

Yesterday was my 6 mo check up with the liver transplant docs at U of U. I had an ultrasound in the morning and that went ok, there was no water and it seemed everything was fine. We had a later appointment to meet with the doctor so jeremy and i just roamed around slc killing time. Its was kinda relaxing cuz my sweet sister tiffany took owen for the day and we didnt have the added stress of entertaining him. thanks tiff!
So then we went for our appointment and the liver transplant dept has been doing some remodeling and we were told it would be long wait! We really didnt wait that long though and were back in the room within an hour. The doctor i see Dr Hudson is really nice but doesnt look like any Dr i have ever worked for. He has a ponytail and he has a body builders walk. He examined me and come to find out my liver score for transplant has gone down to a 4 when it was previously a 9. Which i thought was pretty sweet but i guess not because now my spleen is doing worse and it infact growing in size. So much in fact they are insisting i do another scope down my throat to check for varicose viens. I swear if its not one thing its another.
It didnt really make sense to me until Dr Hudson explained that my blood flows from my spleen to the liver and then throughout the body...well my liver being so scared is not allowing proper blood flow and the blood having to go somewhere is backing up and causing lots of pressure.
He called it portal hypertension. I know a scary word. Well this hypertension is forced into the viens in my esophagus and can cause these varicose viens that can potentially rupture and that is no good. So in the next month or so i will have another egd(scope down the throat) and then if there are any of these viens that are bulging the dr will tie them off with a rubber band. So good that there is something can be done but bad in the fact my liver cirrhosis is still the same.
The good news is Owen survived with Tiff for 12 hrs and she is still talking to me! Its dumb the way my life is and i feel terrible havingto lean on people but i am eternally gratefull they are willing to help.
On a post note i am still feeling great and making it to the gym everyday to get my endurance up.
One day i will write of happy silly things just hope they are sooner than later....

Stress.....

So for the last year or so i have had a strange mark on the back of my calf and one on each of my feet. My family always said go get that checked and i just brushed it off cuz it didnt hurt, itch or seem to get bigger. But then the one on my leg started to change color and got a little bigger so with much relife to my family i went to the dermatologist today. Come to find out it is not eczema like everyone thought or ringworm like my sweet grandma thought. It was granuloma annulare.

Turns out there is no one thing that causes it , its usually on the back of hands, feet, elbows but not usually on legs like mine and there are some treatments available including steroid shots around the areas....but the doctor informed me it does seem to come about in association with stress in the body, and it is far more common in women than men. He told me about a neighbor of his...she found out her mom had cancer. the daughter developed these lesion looking things like i have and not until her mom had the tumor removed and was given a clean bill of health again did they start to go away.

Well he asked me if i could think of any similar amount of stress in my life i nearly laughed out loud! I of course told him the short version of the liver issue and sure enough this came about the same time i found out. He said even with the treatments it could take 6mo to 3 years for it to go away completely! Well i was just so happy that it was something so dumb and harmless not cancer or some other horrible thing. I was so prepared with all the bad news that seems to follow me at the physicians i see these days i just knew he would tell me i had to amputate stat!

So i have got to obviously find a way to decrease my stress and while my good health is helping with that i guess my body says do more...so if anyone has ideas let me know!

Well I did it!

So my dear sweet friend Samantha E Miller told me it was so easy and it was so quick ... here I am! I had a wonderfull talk with her just yesterday and it was nice to hear her voice! It brought back so many fun memories of times long ago.

I woke up early today and made it to the gym for my daily dose of cardio, then Owen and I made it to story time at the provo library(where we hadn't been for weeks). Then we went over to my grandma's house for some lunch. We also played with her dog maggie and talked to the baby sheep! Owen loves to be there and doesnt EVER want to leave! Tonight i had my book club with the ladies in my ward. I chose the book for this month and so i led the discussion on Cold Sassy Tree. It is my absolute favorite and if you havent yet go get it!

The pics are from when Owen rode my cousins horse just 2 weeks ago. He is obsessed with cowboys and rodeos! What a ham!