been a while

I has been a while since the last post but here is my list of excuses for being so lazy about it.  We have moved so all the packing, and unpacking has taken a large amount of time.  And well uhhh moving I suppose is my only excuse.  Anyhow, we are now living in Twin Falls, Idaho! On our first night in our new house we breathed in a deep breath and were so delighted to smell to sweet smell of fresh cut hay.  You don't smell that smell in Elko.
We are moved in to our new house here in Twin and have started to integrate into our new ward.  For me this changing wards thing was terrifying.  I have never had the opportunity to move to a new ward before because I was baptized in the ward that we just moved from.  Our new ward is a lot younger then our ward in Elko, which is kinda hard to get used to.  I did receive a calling serving on the Ward Activities Committee.  Very excited about this.  One of the things that helped me so much when I was taking missionary lessons was the ward activities that I was invited to and was fellowshipped at.  I am excited to use the things that I learned in that part of my life to hopefully help others feel the spirit.
Jenni is starting school this week! Oh my goodness! Jenni is starting school this week!! Ahhhhh!! Jenni is going to school!  Did I mention that Jenni is starting school this week? Jeez I am so scared about this!  I remember the first time I took her to nursery at church.  I sent my perfect little 18 month old angel into nursery and I headed to Sunday school.  I then picked her up 2 hours later and she was telling me, "NO" and taking toys and saying, "MINE."  She was ruined!! Okay that is a little dramatic but still she was perfect before she spent 2 hours away from me.  So you see now she is heading to public school for 3 hours, yes 3 whole, long hours a day and not one day a week, 5 whole, long days and week.  Sheesh!!!!  Tomorrow is the big day.  We will see how I do.  Notice I am not worried about Jenni doing okay, I know she is going to do great and she is so excited to go.  Now if I can make it through the day with out puking and having a mental breakdown  it will be a great day.  There will be pictures to follow the big day.

Beginning of Summer Fun to come

And so summer is beginning at last.  We have started it off with a really busy summer.  We were able to to to New York again this spring to visit David's parents on their mission which they are now home from.  They served in the Rochester, New York mission which included the areas of Palmyra, Hill Cumorah, Peter Whitmer Farm and the Sacred Grove.  We are so blessed that we were able to go see them and all them spirit filled places while we were at it.
An update on Travis; he is doing FANTASTIC!!! He has gained 5 pounds in 5 weeks since his surgery!!! I am so grateful that his recovery has gone so well.  We are now looking forward to many more puke free years.
A huge change in our lives is about to take place.  We have decided to move to Twin Falls, Idaho.  We will be moving in the last week in July and David will be commuting to Elko 2 to 3 times a week.  We are very excited to be in a town with a temple! We will also be a lot closer to family this way.  We will keep updates on how it goes and when we find a house.

Other then that we have spent a few days on the lake and are looking forward to David's sisters wedding next week.

Jenni's 2010 Dance Recital

Jenni has been taking dance lessons for the past 3 years and is getting really good.  She took basic classes for the first 2 years and this year decided to take Ballet specifically.  So here are the pictures from her latest recital.  I am so proud of her and how much she improved this year.  She knew all the steps and didn't have to watch the others or to the side at her teacher.  FYI she takes dance at Encore Dance Studio here in Elko (Monica the owner and instructor is AMAZING!). Good Job Jenni!!!!!!

P 90 X

Yesterday I started P 90 X.  For those of you that don't know what this is please google it and read up.  So far just completed the second workout and it has kicked my trash but I feel amazing.  I am really out of shape! I will post weekly and keep everyone updated on my progress. Oh and when day 30 rolls around I will post before and after pics. This picture is what I hope my 90 Day picture looks like! Ha Ha Ha Wish me luck!

Travis' Healthy Jouney

So this little journey began when a beautiful little baby boy was born in December of 2008.  His name is Travis, and soon after he was born he started throwing up almost everything he was eating.  We struggled with different kinds of formula for a while and I quite nursing him completely.  He slowly fell from the 98th percentile to the 1st percentile and hung on the growth curve by a hair.  For 13 months we tried different diets, positions, techniques and timing of feedings.  We prayed really hard that he would grow out of what ever it was that was the problem. When Travis was 12 months old we were in Las Vegas over Christmas break and he had a bit of a fever and we could tell he didn't feel good.  That night he had a seizure.  A little history, our Damon suffers from a condition called Febrile Seizures.  For those of you that don't know what this is here is a run down.  Febrile Seizures are very common seizures that occur in children until about the age 5.  The seizure is brought on by the rapid rise in body temperature usually caused by an illness of some sort.  The seizures usually last between 30 seconds and 3 minutes, they cause no damage, pain or lasting affects and usually children out grow them by age 5.  So back to Travis, he had a seizure that lasted about 2 minutes.  Given Damon's history we were not too worried about it and figured that he had the same seizure disorder that his older brother has.  We left Las Vegas and made a trip to West Yellowstone in Montana.  We stayed there for a few days until Travis had another seizure.  This seizure seemed a lot different to me and lasted way too long.  About 6 minutes into the seizure we called 911 and had an ambulance come.  By the time the ambulance got there, the seizure had stopped and was a total of 8 minutes long.  We enjoyed a very long ambulance ride to the hospital in Rexburg, Idaho where we stayed for the night.  When we got back home to Elko we took him to his pediatrician and decided that we needed to take him to Primary Children's Medical Center to the GI (gastrointestinal) specialist to see about his constant throwing up and the the Neurology Department the see about the seizures.  After about a month we were able to get appointments and after lots of testing, x-rays, blood work, EEG, and an MRI he was to diagnosed with Febrile Seizure disorder and as having Severe Reflux and a Significant Hiatal Hernia.  So we all know what Febrile Seizures are and we all know that Reflux is heartburn.  So the Hiatal Hernia is where part of his stomach is protruding up into the chest cavity through a too big hole in the diaphragm.  So we had a diagnosis.......yippie!!!!!!!!!!  Now on the the treatment.  They started him on a high dose of Prevacid which is an anti-reflux medication.  This helped a ton.  He quickly started to put on weight and stopped throwing up so much I think in the first days of him taking the medication he went 11 days without throwing up.  So we made an appointment with a surgeon at Primary Children's and decided that he needed to have this problem Surgically repaired.  On Wednesday of this week he went in for surgery.  They did a procedure called a Nissen.  A routine surgery to correct severe reflux.  They also closed up the hole in his diaphragm and sutured his esophogus to his diaphragm to hold it in place.  The surgery was done all lapriscopically so there was no huge incision just 5 little incisions called ports.  He woke up from the surgery and was really groggy and slept most of the rest of the day.  Thursday morning he was up and walking around with a little pain.  By Thursday night you would have never know he just had major surgery.  He was running full board, laughing, smiling and putting on a show for the nurses on the unit.  By this morning (Friday) he was doing so good they sent us home which was a day or two early.  We are home now in Elko and Travis is sleeping very happily in his own bed and I too will be sleeping happily in my own bed tonight.  Travis has not thrown up since the surgery and will hopefully never throw up again.  Yes you heard me.  This surgery made it so that he is never able to throw up again for the rest of his life.  So the first questions asked are usually, "what if he gets the flu or gets sick?".  The answer is he has to tough it out and if gets so bad that he is dry heaving we will give him some anti-nausea medication.  So over all we are so excited to be home and have all of this hopefully behind us,  we will keep some posts up on the progress of his recovery.

First Roof of the Year!!!!!!

We roofed our first roof of the year this last week.  We had the pleasure of roofing Farns and Jill Williams' roof. It was an awesome project! We can't wait for the next one!

Jenni the Soccer Star

Jenni Lynn had her first soccer game last week.  She did so good!!!!  I told myself before the game that I was not going to be one of those "crazy soccer moms".  You know those Moms that run up and down the edge of the field screaming at their kid to run and get the ball.  Well you guessed it.  There I was sitting quietly on the blanket looking at my angel on the soccer field not doing a darn thing.  Suddenly I transformed into some crazy person I felt like the hulk and having no control over what I was saying or doing I began running up and down the side of the field yelling Jenni get in there, get it, kick it hard!!!!  So there ya have it folks I am a one of "those" soccer moms and dang it I am flippin proud of my baby girl!!! She even made the last goal and the look on her face when she kicked it in the goal was worth every thing I yelled at her from the side line.

Our Trip to Hawaii

We just had the pleasure of spending 10 days in Hawaii.  It was wonderful.  We spent 2 days on Waikiki Beach in Honolulu and spent the rest of our time in a beach house on the North Shore of Oahu.  We spent our days laying in the sun, playing on the beach and shopping.  We were able to bring with us a couple of friends of ours Mariah and Cassidy Daniels.  They were so much fun to have with us and were a huge help with the kiddos.  We also while we were there picked up their brother Trevor who was attending school at BYU Hawaii (smarty pants).  We also spent a day at the Polynesian Culture Center in Liae'.  It was amazing to learn so much about all the different Polynesian Cultures.  I have found a true love for the Polynesian People.  They are so happy, friendly and family and service oriented people.  We will be going back to Hawaii again for sure.

Volley Ball

So played volley ball with the ladies and the guys from Silver State Fire.  Had a BLAST and have made a commitment to myself that I will make it to volley ball 2 times a week now.  I really did miss it and I can't believe how good I felt after I was done.  So it is getting close to Hawaii time and I feel really anxious about starting packing.  Oh and I forgot about the trip to Boise as well.  We are going to Boise before we go to SLC to hit the plane to Hawaii.  That should make packing interesting.  Please no one judge me if my kids are wearing capris and flip flops in the cold weather of Idaho for a couple of days but I really don't want to pack for both climates. Ha Ha

In the Beginning

Here we are in the beginning of our blogging activity.  I am starting this as sort of a journal, scrapbook, and family update all rolled into one.  Plus it is all digital which means no cropping and no gluing.  So here it goes an update on us.  My husband David and I have been married for just over 5 years now and have 3 children.  Jenni is 5, Damon is 3 and Travis is 1.  Jenni is very active in ballet and will be having a recital in May.  She is also starting soccer this summer and will be starting school this fall.  Damon does what a little 3 year old does and hopefully will be getting into karate this summer.  Travis has been a bit of a challenge, we just got home today from Primary Children's Medical Center in Salt Lake with the results from testing that determined he has a significant hiatal hernia, which means his stomach is protruding through his diaphragm into his chest cavity which would explain the constant vomiting for the past 15 months.  We will be scheduling him for surgery after we get home from Hawaii in April.

We are very involved in our church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  David currently is called to the be the President of the Young Men's organization and I am serving as the 2nd Councilor in the Primary organization.  I am very happy to be so involved in such an amazing work and know that it is true with all of my heart.
As for upcoming activities, as mentioned above me, my family, Mariah and Cassidy Daniels are heading to Hawaii in April, we will be there from April 4th to April 13th.  We will be visiting the island of Oahu and will be spending time in Waikiki and on the North Shore near Oahu bringing home with us Trevor Daniels from BYU Hawaii.  Lots of pictures will be posted of that.

I think that is good for the first post, I will hopefully be able to keep up on this and even be able to add a few pictures here and there.