A celebration of 30

Tomorrow, I turn 30. But I'm not thinking about that today. Today I am remembering some of the great things that have happened in my life. I, in no way, believe this is a good idea, but I am posting 30 pictures of me through the years.

I'd have to guess maybe 2? Reminds me a little of my girls

3 or 4? Probably my birthday, when Heather and I both got presents. :)


4 or 5? Hard to tell. Mom, any input?

8, Baptism day

10th birthday. Lisha and I totally did the glasses before Twitch.

Don't know ages. Probably about 10 here as well. Notice the van in the garage. I drove that baby in high school. It was a power steering fluid leaking beast!

10 1/2, at the hospital when Jonny was born

15, at EFY. The boy who first held my hand, Rich Cook.

Sorry if you wanted to see more awkward photos from the 11-14 range. I don't seem to have any (not because there aren't any, I just probably left those at home when I was taking pictures).

I'm guessing 16. Proof that at one time I had boobs.

Almost 17, dyeing my hair (with Linzi Jolley) on a volleyball trip. I remember this clearly and how Linzi covered up with her pillow when she saw the camera. I, on the other hand, didn't seem to mind in the least. And I'm "getting out the guns."

17, Homecoming senior year with Mark Madsen. Our last date.

17, Senior year of volleyball

Just before I turned 18, fractured elbow from state volleyball tournament


18, All-state banquet for basketball with Coach Higgins

At a choir concert with Melissa Ricks, 17 or 18

18, at a softball tournament with my BF, Tyler Campbell

18, Pine View High graduation with Tyler

My 20th birthday, celebrating with 259 cds.

20, dating Jeff

20, our wedding

20, My wedding with my bff from college, Jenny Costley

21, at Jeff's graduation from BYU

21, at Jenny's wedding

22, at my graduation from BYU (6 months pregnant with Damon)

22, taking Damon home from the hospital

almost 24, family photo shoot

24, the night we said good-bye to Chance

26, Allie's birth

27, Jeff's graduation from Ohio State

28, Kyla's birth

The rest of October

These are the pictures from my phone for October, all jumbled together in one post so we don't lose them. Some of them are repeats for my Facebook friends, so sorry about that.

This is at Jeff's mom's house. Kyla came back inside without a diaper on and was sent back out to retrieve it. She was happy enough to stop and pose for a photo with the offending diaper.

From Allie's computer class that she attends on Mondays and Wednesdays. She loves the headphones with the microphone headset, and pretends to talk in it pilot-style, but it serves no purpose.

As a side note, I love this computer class. It's free, sponsored by Waterford Learning Center and is a study of 4 and 5 year olds. The games she plays are on her level and she does 20 minutes of reading and 20 minutes of math every time we're there. There is also an activity room with puzzles, games, books, etc. that Kyla loves, so it's basically a two for one, and it's all free! If you are in the Provo area and are interested (for next year maybe), let me know and I'll give you some more info.

Allie arranged her Barbies like this. On purpose? We'll never know.

I took Damon on a "Night Out" to see a play of Tom Sawyer at the library, and followed it up with a trip to Hello Yogurt. Damon's yogurt was strawberry topped with gummy worms, Skittles, sprinkles, raspberries, strawberry sauce and a few other things I am forgetting. He thought it was a great night.

Kyla got her hands on some chocolate covered fruit at Costco as we were about to check out one day. The guy helping at the checkout said, "You must like chocolate!" I turned around to see her like this. Yes, she loved it!


Jeff's birthday pie, Lemon Meringue, made by his mom. Jeff was in Arizona right before his birthday (and we were in Moab), so this was the only party he got. He wasn't disappointed. Happy 33rd, old man!

Kyla found some soap or shampoo and thought it would be a good idea to wash her own hair, sans water.

Another one from her night in the hospital.

And Kyla applies mascara, and is pleased with herself.

Phew, I think October is covered. On to November!

Swim Lessons

Allie missed out on being able to take swim lessons this summer because she was otherwise engaged at BYU (she was doing BYU's preschool). Damon took lessons and really seemed to improve a lot, but I felt bad that Allie didn't have the opportunity (and had never had the opportunity). So, when it came time to sign the kids up for a "fall sport," I had very little hesitation in choosing indoor swim lessons for both of them. I knew Allie was going to love it, because she can basically swim already, she just lacks the confidence to go all the way across the pool. I was very pleased with my decision when I learned that Allie was in a class with just one other girl and Damon had just three others in his class. One of the definite perks to taking swim lessons in the fall. I knew Allie would love the individual attention and the opportunity to shine in the pool.

And she did love it. For the first three lessons. By the end of the third lesson, she was shivering from the cold and instantly decided that she was not going to love it anymore. This was also the day she started running a fever, which we later realized was H1N1 flu, so she had good reason to be cold that day. We let her sit out of the next lesson (3 days later), but by Wednesday, she was fever free and I thought she would be able to get back into it. But I was wrong.

For any of you who know Allie (or have read even one post about her on my blog), you know that if she sets her mind against something, she will not be convinced otherwise. This was one of those experiences that I dread. She cried the entire time she was in the pool, claiming she was freezing. She refused to participate at all, but instead insisted on staying by the light to keep herself warm. I tried not to get frustrated, telling myself that she was still recovering from the flu and would be better the next time. I even took her to buy a swim cap so she wouldn't have to get her hair wet. But it didn't help. The next lesson was even worse. She cried so loudly that I could hear her through the glass of the viewing room where we watched the kids. And, again, she refused to even put her face in the water to blow bubbles.

This time, I was not so patient. I knew that by now it had become a mental game with her, and that she really had no excuse for acting the way she was acting. I walked down to the edge of the pool and gently told her that I was not going to save her, and that she was going to have to finish swim lessons. Her choices were to enjoy it or make it miserable, but she wasn't getting out of the pool. She finished, but she cried the whole time. I left feeling so discouraged. Mostly for her, because she was missing out on the opportunity to learn to swim because of something that was completely in her head.

We spent the whole weekend talking about it, and trying to convince her that the only way to warm up in the water was to actually move her body, and that I hoped she would change her attitude big time before swim lessons were over. Monday came and I held my breath. Which Allie would emerge from the locker room?

Luckily for all of us, it was pleasant Allie again, the one who loved her first three classes. She participated and really enjoyed herself. And I heaved a sigh of relief. I wish I knew the secret to helping her change her attitude. It would make both of our lives so much easier.

Here is proof that she particpated. She is the one floating in a ball underwater. The other little girl in her class, who is 6, must really have a fear of water, because she was nowhere near actually learning to swim. But her attitude was great.

And Allie posing when she saw me taking pictures. By this time, she didn't even need her swim cap anymore. I wish I had pictures from the day she wore it.


Damon, on the other hand, did fantastic at his lessons and is getting so much better at all the different strokes. I want him to do swim team this summer so he can really improve. Swimming is a skill I wish I possessed, as it is something you can enjoy for the rest of your life. I think someone needs to tell Damon that if he wants lats like Michael Phelps, he's going to have to work really hard.

And here's the other observer. She desperately wanted to get into the pool every time. I thought about trying to substitute her for Allie when things looked sketchy, because I know she would have loved it. I'm not sure why she had her shirt off, but it's probably safe to say she thought she had a better shot of getting in the pool if she undressed.

Glory, Glory Halloween

Fortunately for all of us, everyone had regained their health by Halloween night (side note: on Sunday, we were listening to Battle Hymn of the Republic, which I called "Glory Glory Hallelujah." Kyla asked for clarification, "Glory Glory Halloween?" Hence the title of this post).

Here are the yearly pics.

I bought the fireman's jacket at a thrift store in Ohio about 5 years ago. The hat and sweats came from Savers for about $5 total. Kyla's costume was the one Allie wore 2 years ago, and I got her tights for $5. Allie's costume was brand new at a liquidation store for $8. So, all spent this year--$18. I was happy with it, and the kids seemed fine, too.

After the event

And more proof that it was a successful Halloween.

We were putting the kids to bed and listening to The Bare Necessities on their cd player. We were dancing around (attempting to extract as much energy as possible, to be honest) and Damon said, "this is the best day ever!"

The candy fun was short lived. Yesterday, we took all the rest of the candy to Dr. Swensen's office (a local dentist) to be donated to the soldiers overseas. The kids got raffle tickets for their candy (we had 6 pounds) and got to enter for prizes. They didn't seem too heartbroken.

H1N1

Two weeks ago today, we stood in line for the H1N1 vaccine at the health department. It was the third day the shot was being administered, and decided we should all get it, especially since we will be bringing a little one home in a few months, and want to protect him from all the nastiness. It was a long line, and we waited rather impatiently for two hours in a drizzle before we made it inside. I was the only one who got the shot, everyone else got the mist (which is a weakened version of the live virus, the shot is not live). We didn't get a choice. Still, we felt we were doing the best thing for our family and proceeded.

The next morning, Damon had a slight fever and kept telling me he felt "drowsy." I let him stay home from school, but by afternoon, he was feeling fine, and went for the rest of the day. The girls and Jeff had no reaction at all, and I felt like we were getting off easy.

By Friday night, Allie had developed a fever of about 101 and was extremely tired. I wondered if she was having a delayed reaction to the mist or if she was just coming down with something else, but didn't worry too much about it. For the next few days, she battled a fever of about 101-102, a sore throat, and extreme lethargy. She didn't complain much, just laid around sleeping, not eating much, and generally just sick. I wondered if she had actually contracted H1N1 from the mist, but since the mist takes about 2 weeks to really produce full benefits, also wondered if she had picked up the actual flu before getting immunized. Again, it didn't really matter, she was starting to get better.

Monday afternoon, Kyla started getting a fever. Allie was about 50% better, eating and drinking more, but still tired in the afternoon and running a slight fever. Kyla skipped lunch and took a three hour nap instead. Unusual, for sure. I gave them both a dose of Tylenol before we went to meet Jeff's family at the pumpkin patch that night. All seemed fine.

We came home, put the kids to bed, and when I went in to check on them a few hours later, Kyla was breathing very rapidly and very heavily. Out of my three kids, she has suffered the most from any type of cold, and seems to have airway issues. I have a nebulizer and albuterol, as I am no stranger to giving her breathing treatments when she is sick. She was also hot, around 102, and woke up crying not long after. She and I stayed up watching So You Think You Can Dance and Gossip Girl until around 1:30, and then I put her in bed with me. She wasn't crying a lot, but trying to cough obviously hurt her and she sounded croupy.

Needless to say, we all had a terrible night in my bed, and I called Jeff's sister (an ER nurse) the next morning to ask what I should do for her. I gave her a breathing treatment and some motrin and Tylenol and she seemed to feel a little better. Well, her breathing never got any better, but she seemed less miserable for a few hours. But during the day, she just seemed to get worse and worse. She was increasingly restless, wouldn't eat or drink, and was not keeping her temperature down, even medicated.

I took her to the doctor at 3:30 and he felt pretty sure she had h1N1 and was concerned about her breathing. She was starting to retract on one side (showing her ribs when she breathed in) and he was concerned with how quickly she had deteriorated and said no one should have to work that hard to breathe. His solution was to admit her to the hospital overnight so we could get on top of her breathing problems before they got any worse. I was a little surprised, but of course wanted to do what was best for her. So, I called Jeff to tell him the news, and headed to the hospital.

They got her admitted, started an IV, performed an invasive virus scan by sucking junk out of her nose to find out which virus we were dealing with, and started her on breathing treatments of epinephrine. My friend, Tiffanie, was in town from SLC as we had plans to go see Little Shop of Horrors that night, and she brought dinner to my family. Jeff called and told me that he had arranged for a babysitter for the other kids and was coming to the hospital so I could go to the play with Tiffanie. As a side note, the play was awesome and a decent distraction from what was going on at the hospital.

When I got back, around 10:30, she was feeling a little better, but not a whole lot.

They gave her a second breathing treatment, and her breathing started improving, and she finally fell asleep. Every few hours, the nurses had to come check her vitals, give her a breathing treatment and sometimes some medication. She was started on Tamiflu (in case it was H1N1) and Decadron (a steroid to help avoid any worsening of the croup). She didn't sleep all that well (and neither did I, to be honest), but it was clear that she was getting better. I spent most of the night up in the bed with her, as she was severely traumatized from everything that had happened.


By the next morning, she was so much better. Her fever was finally under control and her breathing sounded so much better. I knew she was on her way to recovery when her breakfast came, and she said, "Yum yum yum, delicioso!"


We had to work pretty hard to get her eating and drinking again so she could be discharged, and she fell in love with chocolate milk, which is pretty much all she had all day Wednesday. They let us go home, though, and we were so grateful. Everyone was really great to her in the hospital, but it's always nice to be home.

By then, I was exhausted. The lack of sleep coupled with the stress was catching up with me, and the last thing I needed was two very whiney girls at home. Allie wasn't running a fever anymore, but it was clear that she wasn't back to her normal self. Both girls were incredibly needy all day (and Thursday too, to be honest) and I felt like I was going to lose my mind at times. When Kyla's results came in, we found that she did, in fact, have H1N1 and needed to stay on Tamiflu for four more days. It only makes sense that that is what Allie had been suffering from as well, and we were probably just too late getting them the mist for it to do any good.

I sent Allie back to preschool on Thursday, and she seems fine. I hope she isn't contagious anymore, but she hasn't had a fever for days, so I think we're fine. I think her body still needs to recover. I had to have my blood drawn for my glucose test, and dragged Kyla in all her sickness to the doctor's office. I only needed to be there 10 minutes, and I promised her if she would wear a mask, she could have a sucker. She did, and we made it out of there. I would say she was about 50% better on Thursday, still a very sad little girl, but the Tamiflu really seemed to shorten her symptoms compared with Allie.

Friday I was in charge of Damon's Halloween party at school and although it wasn't a huge ordeal, it was weighing heavy on my mind of just one more thing I had to do. Jeff was home and stayed with Kyla, and Allie came with me to help out, and I can't even describe how relieved I felt once that was over. I slept from 8:30-7:30 that night and still took a nap on Saturday. I was completely wiped out.

I couldn't be more grateful to have October behind us. I am so grateful to those who helped us out (I have the best neighbor next door, and Jeff's sister and my aunt also helped us out with kids and food), and am so grateful we are all returning to health. It sure was a trying week for me, although I know that there are so many who are suffering with so much more. I just hope that is the end of our run-in with H1N1, and am so glad the rest of us were spared (maybe my vaccine and Jeff and Damon's mist really helped after all).