Road trip and Ambulance rides

Since we are moving to Minnesota to work full-time in a company that operates during the summer months, we realize that we won't be able to take summer vacations for the next 15 or 20 years. So we decided to route our drive through Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks and enjoy a family road trip. Of course pulling a trailer with all our possessions and having two young children have greatly redefined our idea of the notion of a road trip. Of course we started out by leaving several hours later than planned, and had an unexpected stop to pick up a prescription refill in Evanston WY for Brock. On top of that, it seemed that we couldn't get the potty breaks and meal break to line up with each other and had to make stops in Randolph UT, and Afton WY. So instead of getting to our first stop early in the afternoon with time to relax and look around Jackson Hole Wyoming, we got there late in the evening, didn't get to see much, and had used price as our main factor in finding lodging and ended up driving for forever up this steep pass(pulling our overloaded trailer) that wasn't in our direct route. But Thursday morning we awoke, ready and determined to make up for the previous days mishaps and enjoy Grand Teton National Park. This is what we found.

Snow, and lots of it in a few places. Ady as you can see, wouldn't wear her coat even though it was in the low 50s and had to play in the snow even though she was wearing a skirt.

This is Jenny Lake, we really liked this place. It was so beautiful and peaceful. The water was perfectly flat and as you can see the reflection of the Tetons on the water was idyllic.

Here is another shot of Jenny Lake, I like this photo since you can see the rocks on the lake bottom through the extremely clear water.

This is shot from the side of the road of Jackson Lake with the Tetons behind the lake and a herd of elk grazing in a pasture.

We ate breakfast at Jackson Lake Lodge and Ady found this bear in one of the lobbies. She would stand in front of it, raise her hands and growl at it. I asked her what she thought of the bear, and she said "it is like a monster". Ady loves monsters, she loves the movie Monsters Inc. and loves playing monster, meaning that she runs around growling and chasing anything or anyone who will run away.

We finally made it to Yellowstone early afternoon and at first I was really disappointed. After the picturesque mountains and lakes of Grand Teton NP, the 2 feet of snow at the Southern entrance didn't go over well. Then we went to Old Faithful and my disappointment didn't improve. I felt that Old Faithful was overrated. Some think that it is the highlight and main attraction of Yellowstone, but it didn't connect with me. And all those crowds of people waiting around to see hot water be shot up. So we left to find something else to look at. And the next place was better. We found a bunch of Bison on the road and they had calves with them. Ady liked seeing the babies and mommy animals. We thought this was a real treat, with the calves and them being right on the roadside. But after about 40 more groups of animals right on the road and many with young, we realized that animals on the roadside wasn't a rare occurrence, still special just not rare.

Our next stop was these cool pools of boiling hot water that were this pretty blue color at the center, but then became almost any color the further you got from the center. Here is Ady again, and yes, once again she wouldn't wear her coat so yes, she is shivering in this picture.

This is the edge of one of those pools, and you can see that this one has orange and black lines going around it. Really neat designs and amazing colors at this place. The pool is being hidden by the steam.

Later, after waiting for construction on one of the passes we finally made it to Mammoth Hot Springs. The hike up was along a boardwalk and I swear there were a thousand steps. Which at the end of a long day of driving, and then hiking around at high altitude is bad enough, but with Ady wanting to be carried up each flight and then wanting to hold hands, count to 3 and jump down each individual step I had to tell myself a thousand times this had better be worth it. And it was.

This is the Canary Spring and we thought it was pretty cool. Another amazing natural formation. The colors, stepped-almost terraced pools and the water flowing over it all was really something to see.

This is the lower falls on the Yellowstone River in the Yellowstone Grand Canyon. Absolutely breathtaking, the fact that it was raining really hurt visibility and of course made a lousy photo, but was neat to see none the less.

After being so disapointed with the first impression of Yellowstone, I was really glad we went. I think that this picture is more of what I was expecting, you know--herds of buffalo grazing by a stream with a mountain in the background. The snow and Old Faithful got me off on the wrong foot, but in the end, I like Yellowstone and would love to go back.

Ady was fairly non-committal about most of the animals until we saw these bears. When she saw elk she just said they were big deer, and the buffalo were just big cows. But for the bears, she went nuts. "Wook, wook, mommy bear and two baby bears." She kept talking about these baby bears all day. We actually saw 3 sets of bears, one grizzly with cubs and the rest black bears.
We had planned on spending more time at Yellowstone, but Kasey hadn't been feeling well all day and she ended up waking me up in the middle of the night and said she needed to see a doctor. So we went down to the front desk and were told that the medical clinic is closed, but there is an EMT available at all times. So the EMT came over and after talking and a short examination Kasey was put in an ambulance and sent to Livingston Montana(the nearest hospital) and our Yellowstone Vacation was over. They thought that Kasey was going to need an emergency appendectomy, but after the internal abdominal images came back they found out that she had been passing a kidney stone. So now we are stuck in a motel in Montana that is right by the hospital, hoping that Kasey will be able to pass this stone soon.

Aerobics and Minnesota

Kasey does these aerobic workouts where she bounces around the room doing whatever some lady who wears a pastel swimsuit does on this old workout video. The fact that all the ladies in the show have make-up on, have their hair done, and never break a sweat during the workout is funny enough by itself. But lately Ady has decided she wants to join in. Much to Kasey's chagrin(she assumed when I was taking the pictures that I was cutting her out of the pictures) I have not only captured the moment, but I am sharing with all of you. Note that in this first picture Ady has her hands out and is facing the same direction that Kasey is facing. She could almost pass as if she is actually following the workout.

Now this picture is a much more realistic view of Ady's exercise routine. Note that she isn't facing the TV, and more importantly, her eyes are closed. After about ten seconds of some loose interpretive form of doing what Kasey was doing, Ady just starts bouncing around, spinning circles, swinging her arms, sometimes jumping or kicking...basically she just goes nuts. Realistically this is also how she dances, so maybe she is just trying to dance to the beat during the workout?

And now for the big news... we are moving to Minnesota--Today. I know, I know, so many of you have heard for years about how we have been wanting to move to Minnesota, well it seems that day finally arrived. We are excited to have the opportunity to do what we have been dreaming of, talking about, doing research for, and preparing for over the last few years. We will provide more details when we legally can, but we are finally headed North and will be hoping to see many more beautiful sunsets on the lake.

Entertainment:

Brock's hair does a mohawk pretty well. So the other day we gave him one and Ady looks and says "Wook, Mom, Wook, Brock's a shark!" Then she claimed he turned into a dolphin. Ady is pretty entertaining, sometimes it is even good entertainment! Ya gotta love the things kids say. And Ady is getting a bit better at pronouncing words, but I have to admit that I am gonna miss her rendition of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. It went something like this "Twinkie in the sky, Twinkie in the Sky you are, Twinkie in the sky".

Insurance

Before Adam and I got married we had an interview with our Stake President(sorry, I don't remember his name) from our USU stake. He gave us 2 items of advice before we left the meeting. The first was to love Heavenly Father and make Him and His way the top priority in our life and marriage-things cannot end up on the wrong path if we are following Heavenly Fathers plan for us. The second was to make sure we had insurance-never gamble with putting your family in a situation that might put your family in so much debt, it would potentially damage and definitley strain, the families future ability to live a more fulfilled life, or have to think to consider money before more important things. Life is already fragile.

To this day, I don't know if that was inspiration to tell us that, or if it was just his advice that he told to everybody, but we committed to make sure we always have insurance. And it has been pretty dang expensive sometimes, especially when you don't have an employer with benefits. Before this year, I was figuring that by following his advice it was pretty much, more or less, a guarantee that nothing will happen. Isn't that how it goes? If we didn't have insurance, something would happen?

This year, things all changed. We were in an accident with our car and if we had no insurance, we'd be out alot of money and a car. Then we had a baby and he needed heart surgery and was in the Intensive Care Unit for a week. We would be in ALOT of debt right now, and working for a very long time to get out of debt, if we didn't have insurance to pick up most of that bill.

Ya know, now that I have used it, I'd definitely rather not have to use insurance and pay all those premiums that seem paid for nothing at the time, except for the small chance something might happen. But now all the money I've paid over the years to insurers will not even come close to compensate what they've paid for us this last month. So, even though they are sometimes a pain to deal with, the importance of being insured has been made aware to us. I am so so grateful for that advice, and the resolution we made when we were engaged to follow it.

Birthday fun and Brock's Blessing

Well last weekend was Kasey's and Adyson's Birthday. Kasey turned 29 and Ady turned 3. I was unable to be there for either of their birthdays as I was in Minnesota looking at a property, but Kasey told me all about it and Ady even sang to me on the phone. For some reason Ady thinks that she should sing the happy birthday song to herself. As you can see in the photo from the last post(if you can't tell what it is, don't tell Kasey) Kasey made Ady a "Nemo" cake. Ady loves the Finding Nemo Movie, and thankfully Grandma and Grandpa Haddock have a copy so she can watch it once in a while. The best part is that Ady is confused with Nemo's name. If you've seen the film, you know how Dory gets mixed up once or twice and calls Nemo 'Elmo'? Well Ady also is mixed up and calls Nemo-Elmo. We have given up trying to get her straightened out. It isn't too big of a deal except when we go somewhere and they have an aquarium with a clown fish. Then it is always the same scene, several kids pointing and saying "look there's Nemo", and then you will hear Ady correct them, "No that is an Elmo fish." For Kasey's birthday, She went to the Cheesecake Factory with her parents. I got back from Minnesota the day after Kasey's birthday and we headed down to my parent's house to have a belated celebration. Rachel, Sam and Jett came up and we went to a Korean Restaurant for dinner and then to Chuck E Cheese. We went there last year and I swore if I ever had to go again I wasn't going to eat the pizza. So I was really glad we ate first this time. But we got a bunch of tokens and had a lot of fun watching Jett and Ady play. We were about the only ones there and it wasn't too chaotic.

Here is Ady playing skee-ball. This was one of the best games value wise per token. Ady liked to roll the ball but wouldn't roll hard enough for the ball to make it over the lip. So the ball would just come back, and Ady would get another try. After a few misses I'd roll the ball in, and Ady would grab the next ball. Usually you only get to roll the ball 9 times, but Ady she had at least 3 times that many tries. We didn't catch it on the camera, but she even tried throwing overhand a few times.

Sam and I got playing this shoot 'em game and Ady wanted to join in. So she ended up on my lap doing her impression of aiming and yelling, "shoop it dad, shoop it" right in my ear.

Ady and Jett loved riding all the slow motion rides. Surprisingly enough, Ady didn't even mind sharing the rides with Jett.

Since I was in Minnesota, Kasey decided to go buy her own birthday present. Personally, I think this is the best deal ever. The way I see it is, Kasey likes to shop, Kasey likes to buy herself things, and Kasey likes to get new things for her birthday. I hate shopping, have a hard time picking things out for Kasey and always worry that she won't like it, (a few of my previous gifts, including the gift I gave her for our first Valentines, have ended up being thrown out or taken to a thrift store. So I felt this was a win for everyone--Kasey got to go shopping, didn't have to hear me complain, I didn't have to go shopping or complain, and Kasey got a a present that she actually likes and will use.

This past Sunday we had Brock's baby blessing. It was a beautiful day, the sun actually decided to join the party, and we had a fun outdoor barbecue get-together after church with family. It was really great to see so many people. Brock will be one month old tomorrow and we have so enjoyed having him in our lives.

Ady's Birthday and Brock's Checkup

Although most thought she was turning 4,(it must be the long hair) Ady had her 3rd Birthday! She loved having her relative friends come and help eat her Nemo cake(just in case you couldn't tell what it was). Yes, I attempted to be domestic and make Ady a cake. It's a good thing my mom, who is artistic, helped out or it would have been a big whale-ish looking orange and white blob.

After singing the cutest version of "Birthday to You" to herself, and trying to blow out all 3 candles at once several times and never quite making it, she opened her present. If you can’t tell by her face in the picture she was more than ecstatic to get a pink unicorn stick horse. They were selling them at our hometown grocery store and every time we walked past them, Ady had to stop and pet the pink horses and since we could not pry her away easily, she would usually end up there the whole time while we got our groceries. It even makes horse noises and plays the Lone Ranger song. We already are hoping the battery dies soon. Happy Birthday Ady!

Brock had his check-up with the Cardiologist. It was good, good, and not so good. First he got to get rid of the oxygen! No more heavy tank to carry and tubes up the nose! Also his right ventricle has become less thick and is not clamping together every time the heart beats. However his gradient pressure from the ventricle thru the pulmonary valve has gone up since we left the hospital 2 weeks ago from a 36 to a 50. Below 10 is normal. The doctor said this was moderate and that we should keep a close watch on him. If it continues to get worse, into the high 60's low 70's we will be looking at doing another surgery to open the pulmonary valve more because it is still only opening part way. If it stays the same then they will just keep monitoring him. Hopefully it gets better. We will continue to pray it does and would be very grateful for anyone else to pray with us.

Not that having any type of heart condition is good at all, but on the scale of heart conditions, Pulmonary Valve Stenosis is on the lower range of severity. Yes, it is a critical condition, but it is something that is treatable in today’s world of advanced medical science. The surgery Brock received was invented in 1984. Actually it was pioneered at Primary Children’s. And I thought having epidurals was reason enough to live in the 20^th century, but having our little boy survive more than trumps any other reason.

As we were talking with one of the nurses about all the possible things that could go wrong with just the heart developing, if you take that and add in all the body and its many, many parts, it is almost amazing that babies are ever born completely healthy. But more often than not, that is the case. Our bodies really are amazing. This experience has really strengthened my knowledge and I’ve felt a stronger testimony that God lives and is over all. Thanks again for all your prayers and support. It is truly felt.

P.S. Adam has been in Minnesota, so I’ve been driving around a lot lately. I realized I really haven’t driven much at all and especially not on the freeway since Hawaii. (being pregnant I always made Adam drive) As I first got on the Freeway I thought I was driving pretty fast, but I noticed a LOT of cars passing me. I looked down to notice I was going about 45 MPH on the 70 MPH Freeway. So I sped up, and felt like a rocket! I am still way too used to Hawaii highway speed limits.