Mustang Megan

Yesterday when Megan came home from school she walked into the office with a huge smile on her face. I thought it was due to the fact that she went on a field trip, but that was only part of it. She held up a little stuffed horse and a ribbon that read Fiddlers Canyon Elementary Model Mustang. She got it for doing well in school. Wayne and I are so proud of her and her love of learning.

Not 1 but 2

So while Kaitlyn was in the hospital she discovered that she had her first loose tooth. She was so excited about it that she told everyone who came into the room. I even let her call Megan before she left for school so she didn't have to wait all day to tell her.

Kaitlyn has been very vigilant about wiggling her tooth. She would come up to me several times a day and ask me to wiggle it to see if it was ready. I would always say "almost keep wiggling". On Sunday night it was finally time. We tide some dental floss around it and I told her that I was just going to pull when she wasn't paying attention. So we sat for a minute or so and then I pulled and out it came. She was so excited and confused at the same time. She ran and got some toilet paper to stop the bleeding and then ran into the office to show Wayne.
Earlier in the week I had discovered that her other bottom front tooth was loose. Several minutes had passed and I asked Kaitlyn to let me check her other tooth. It to was ready to come out. So like the first we tied some dental floss around her tooth and I waited til she was distracted and then I pulled. And like the first the second popped right out. So in one night she lost her first and second tooth.
At bed time she put them under her pillow and for the first time she went to bed with out stalling. In the morning she ran in my room to show me that the Tooth Fairy had brought her $2.00. She now has been waiting very patiently for her mom to take her to the dollar store so she can spend her well earned money.

Kaitlyn

Our poor little Kaitlyn has not been feeling very well lately. Last Tuesday she started running a fever that got up to 104. The next morning I decided to take her in to see what was going on. I called and made an appointment as soon as the office opened at 9:00 am. She was suppose to go in at 11:20 but by 10:00 she was at 104.9 and was screaming in pain. So I called and asked if she could come in sooner. I brought her in and was told by Dr. Allen that he wanted some blood work and a cat scan done. So we went across the street to the hospital and she did so good with getting her blood taken. I really couldn't have been more proud. After that we were waiting for cat scan when I got a message 0n my phone from Dr. Allen saying that Kaitlyn had a serous kidney infection and that she needed to be admitted to the hospital. I can honestly say I was surprised to hear that she needed to be admitted. I went and got her admitted and then she went and got her cat scan. They ended up putting her I.V. in while she was there in radiology and because she was very dehydrated (due to the high fever and not drinking anything all morning) her poor little vein was very hard to find and Kaitlyn was done trying to be tough. They ended up shooting iodine into her I.V. so that they could get what they need from the scan. Well we found out that Kaitlyn had a mild allergic reaction to it and her throat started to close off just enough to make it had for her to breath. So now she can't breath, she has a 104 fever and is still in massive pain. I felt so bad, but all I could do is try and comfort her. When we finally got to her room they checked her temp and she was nearly 105. They dosed her up with Tylenol and Motrin and hooked her IV to some machine that feed her, her antibiotic. She said she was freezing, but we couldn't let her put and blankets on because that wouldn't help the fever. Around 2 o'clock she finally passed out. When she woke up she was feeling a lot better and was excited to have her sister with her. Wayne, Megan and Ty stayed for a little bit and then went home. Kaitlyn and I enjoyed watching some TV and a little dinner. At about 8:00 pm she started to feel some pain and within 10 min her fever was back up. I called the nurse a few times and then set out to find someone how could help her. They gave her some Motrin and we waited 20 min. to see if it would lower her temp. It didn't, so once again I went searching for the nurse to let her know that it wasn't working. The nurse came back in and checked her temp again and she had reached 105. The nurse gave Kaitlyn a dose of Tylenol and said that she was going to call the doctor to see what he wanted them to do. During all this Kaitlyn was in a lot of pain and thought she was going to freeze to death. All I could do is let her know that I was there and just try to comfort her. When the nurse came back she brought with her some lab techs who were going to take her blood again for a culture. I found out then that when a fever spikes you are more likely to find something with a culture. About 2:30 am she finally fell asleep and slept until 6:00am when a lab tech came in to draw some more blood. Kaitlyn was not excited to be waking up to another stick in the arm. When she finally got over the stick in the arm she watched some morning cartoons and was given pancakes for breakfast. She was able to talk to Megan before she went to school and was excited to know that daddy would be coming soon. When Wayne showed up I left with Ty and went home to shower and get ready for the day. I also packed her favorite pj's and went to store and bought her the new Barbie Thumbilina movie. When I got back she said her stomach was starting to hurt and I immediately called the nurse and told him that we needed her meds. It took 10 min for him to come and give her, her meds and by that time her temp was almost 104. She was in pain and was freezing again. It took a couple of hours to get her back to a normal temp. After that last spike she did really good. Her smile was back and she at one point was bouncing on her bed. By Friday we were told that she would be able to come home as soon as her cultures came back. When Dr. Allen came in and told us that nothing grew out in her cultures and that it was very weird. He decided to have some more test done.

Now to today. Kaitlyn had her two other test done today. She had a ultrasound on both kidneys and her bladder. Which according to the tech seemed normal. Her next test was shooting a dye in her bladder and then watching her potty. She had to be cathed for this one and she didn't like it at all. And once again all I could do is hold her hand, wipe her tears and tell her I was there. When they finally got the cath in she did better. The filled her up with dye and then told her to go potty when ever she was ready. When she finally went potty we found out that her bladder is refluxing back into her kidneys. We aren't quite sure where we are going from here, but at least we know what is causing it. Kaitlyn will be going to see Dr. Allen on Thursday and I will update everyone then.

I do however want to say thank you to the Giffords, Panahs, Springers, Schanks, Hills, Hughes, Knells, Holmes, Daileys, and Scotts for the dinners, deserts, gifts, visits, taking over car pool, and babysitting. We appreciate everyone for keeping our little Kaitlyn in their prayers.

Homemade Bread

So this past weekend my sister Brynn and her soon to be husband Ethan came down to visit. I had called her Friday morning to see when I could expect them to be here and what there plans were. She said that they would be here around eight and that Ethan wanted to go shoot guns with Wayne and that they were going to teach Wayne and I how to make bread. My first thought was...well I know how to make bread, but whatever. In the nearly four years we have lived down here this would only be the second time Brynn has been to our house, so I was kind of excited to have them come.

On Saturday they went sight seeing and then we all went to St. George for dinner. Sunday I totally forgot that it was Stake Conference and we all ended up being ready an hour early. So as we waited for the time to past Ethan and Brynn decide to start the bread making process. Ethan pulled out a hand grinder and attached it to the table and put in a scoop of hard white wheat into it and started turning the handle. At that point I realized that we were literally making bread from scratch. Starting with grinding our own wheat! Wayne and Ethan ground through two cups before stake conference started (with a little help from the kids). After stake conference they ground through I think 2 more cups of wheat while Brynn and I went over to the Hill's house so she could order a few things from Amanda. When we returned Wayne and Ethan had everything ready for Brynn and I to start making the bread.

Brynn was giving me step by step instructions on what I should be doing and what it should look like with Ethan watching close behind us. It worked out that I would be making two loaves and Brynn would be making two loaves. I would have to say that kneading the dough was not my favorite part only because my eye was itching like crazy and for 10 min couldn't do anything about it.

After letting it rise and watching it double in size Brynn showed me how to prepare the dough to get it ready to bake. I can honestly say that I had no idea the process in making bread was so detailed. After letting it rise one more time we finally put them in the oven set the timer and continued to wait. It only took 20 minutes and they where done. My whole house smelled amazing. I decided to give Wayne the first slice and his face was the reassurance I needed. It usually takes me a couple of times to get any new recipe down, so it was nice to see and hear the many complements that followed that first bite.

Between Brynn, Ethan, Wayne and I we nearly downed two on the four loaves our selves. It was sooo good that our next investment will be a wheat grinder and some wheat. I don't know if I will ever buy store bought bread again. Plus now I know that if it came down to it I would be able to feed my family with out the convinces of today. Thanks to Brynn and Ethan for sharing their recipe and teaching us something new.