Mother's Day 2016

Mother's Day was so long ago, I barely remember it!  It's taken me a while to find the time to write about it.  Here's what I remember:

The ladies all went out to eat instead of exchanging gifts again this year.  We went to the Timbermine steak house at the mouth of Ogden canyon.  It was DELIGHTFUL!  Timbermine is dark.  You know - it's a mine! So we couldn't get really great photos.

My sisters.  They both have CRAZY lives right now so it was pretty miraculous just to get them there.  

After dinner, we wandered around the Quilted Bear (a crafty store) for a while.  We had some pretty great laughs, even though we were so stuffed from dinner we could barely walk.

Saturday was busy, as usual  We had soccer and basketball, and some friends' baptisms to attend.  We had a yard  and home to clean up and kids to feed.  In the evening, David and I went to the temple.  Afterwards, we went to Kneader's Bakery and bought a ton of half-priced pastries for the next day. (After 8:00 on Saturday, they mark everything to half price.  It's awesome!)  Then, we brought a few over to my mom so she could have a little Mother's Day treat too. 

So Mother's Day itself started with a crazy delicious breakfast! Actually, it started with Bronson sneaking past his dad, who was trying to let me sleep in, and climbing in bed with me to be the first one to wish me a Happy Mother's Day.  I loved it.  Shortly after that, Josh snuck in too, bearing many notes and pictures that he'd been making for me.  In Quin came as well, bearing a stinky diaper, which David changed.  Let the spoiling begin!

David bought me a smoothie maker - our blender broke months ago.  I sure love having a blender again!  I threw away a lot of over-ripe produce when I was blender-less.  All the kids made me something at school (Ali made me a pottery jewelry holder, Nicki made homemade bath salts, Josh made a heart shaped key ring) and I was overrun by homemade cards, notes, pieces of art, and other tokens of affection all throughout the day!

In church, in addition to giving all the women a cute gift (heart shaped measuring spoons), the bishop did something special.  During the last hour of church, he had all the women meet for an ice cream social.  He had asked the young women to teach the primary children so that the leaders of those two organizations could go to the social.  He spoke to us for a few minutes, then we all went into the gym and had sundaes and visited with one another.  It was fun.

I don't really remember details about the afternoon/evening, but I'm sure it involved delicious food, and me laying around a lot while everyone took care of the house and each other so I could rest.  They always spoil me on Mother's Day.

Every day is pretty good when you're the mother of these crazy kids, but they really turned on the charm for me on this special day.  Of course, it looks like Josh wasn't too charming when this picture was taken.  Oh well,  Four out of five is a pretty good percentage.  I guess I'll take it.  I'm really just going for percentages most of the time anyway... who likes dinner and who hates it, how clean our house is, how many of us like whatever activity we are currently doing, how many days in a week that nobody throws up or wets a bed,,,greater than 50% and I'm good.  There's a little Mother's Day wisdom for you!

The Labrador Principle

Here's what I've been thinking about lately:

When I was in 6th or 7th grade we got a dog.  One of the main reasons my parents got a dog was to help me get over my fear.  I was a six foot tall 12 year old and I had a terrible phobia of dogs.  I would climb into a tree whenever our neighbor's Chihuahua was out in his yard.  It was embarrassing.  So when a neighbor called and said they had found an abandoned black lab puppy, my parents decided to adopt it.  I still remember that first afternoon with Santa Lucia.  We had her tied to a tree for the time being.  I sat on the grass just out of reach of her chain for a long long time and slowly fell in love with her.  She tried to reach me for a while, but then gave up and did her own exploring and playing while I watched.  Within a day or two, that sweet girl won me over, healed me, and turned me into a life long dog lover.

Cia was the funniest, craziest, gassiest, loveliest dog in the world!  She was always moving.  Even if she was holding still for a second, her tail was flopping on the ground and her eyes were searching for the next thing to attack with love.  She had nearly endless energy.  She just bounced around everywhere - including off of people when she couldn't contain her enthusiasm.  If you took her for a really long walk, she'd start to slow down the farther you got from home. At some point, you could almost hear her whine "Are we there yet?" and you'd have to practically drag her along.   However, as soon as you turned around to head back, she'd suddenly perk back up and trot home again.  She was always up in your face, "Hi! Hi!  Can you see me?!?  Wanna play?!?!" Even if you got mad at her, she was too clueless to care.  "Hi! Hi! You mad?!?!  Wanna play?!??!"  She was just full of joy and she gave me a lot of joy too.

Now I'm sure Labrador retrievers aren't for everyone.  In fact, I bet they annoy plenty of folks.  But here's the truth - they aren't trying to be annoying and they don't let the fact that they are annoying get them down.  What a great way to live! I've been thinking about it for the past little while and I've decided that:

A) I might have a little bit of Labrador in me and

B) Maybe that's a good thing.

I can get a little enthusiastic at times. I like pretty much everyone I meet, assume they like me and want to play, and usually miss any clues whatsoever if they think I'm annoying.  Overall, it's not a bad way to live.  I'd much rather be a Labrador than a Pit bull or a snooty little Spaniel! Or worse yet a cat!  (just kidding - they're all great!)  Ooh, I just realized that I might have a little more Shar pei in me than I'd like!  Perhaps some old English Bulldog too...

Medical Issues

Exciting news in the world of Kelley's health: Okay. Honestly - a long, rambling, overly detailed, whiny narrative on the details of Kelley's health:

About eight years ago (yes, I'm starting that far back) I started losing sensation in my feet.  My brother and my grandfather both had neuropathy, so I figured I was getting it as well. I went to a neurologist in Idaho Falls.  His tests didn't show neuropathy in my feet, but he said that my vitamin B levels were low and prescribed regular shots (administered by David) to bring my levels up.  The shots didn't do anything for my feet, and when I became pregnant with Josh, I just kind of let my foot issues sit on the back burner.

Well, lately (and by lately, I mean progressively since eight years ago) my feet have been getting worse.  They aren't numb, the are HYPER sensitive.  They burn and tingle and sting all the time.  And several times per hour, a sharp pain will zing through my foot and sometimes up my leg.  I am constantly trying to keep my feet from cramping up and they itch so deeply that I want to scratch with a screwdriver.  Overall, they're pretty nightmare-ish.

A few weeks ago, I went to a neurologist in Layton.  David came with me.  We told the doctor my foot history and answered several questions that he had about my health.  We also mentioned that I had recently picked up a pretty sizable tremor. The doc thought that my tremor probably wasn't related to my feet.  He suggested I talk to my family doctor about anxiety with regard to the tremor.  He poked and prodded my feet and legs for a while,  Then he ordered a series of tests. Like a dozen. A LOT of blood was taken that day.

The next week, I went in for a nerve conduction test.  Basically, a lady hooked a few electrodes on my legs, then she took a taser-like instrument and shocked me several times in several different places.  Then, she would record how my nerves responded to the shock.  It hurt.  Sometimes, it hurt a lot.  And my feet and legs would spasm as she did it.  After about a half hour of shock testing, the doctor came in.  He took a quick look at the results, and said, "Well, you're within the normal range.  However, your levels are about half of those I would expect for someone your age."  That's all he said about it for the time being.  He got to work poking my legs and hips with acupuncture needles hooked to microphones or something.  He was "listening" to my muscles.  Whatever.  It was all a bit strange to me.  He lost me when he asked, "Have you always had large calves?"  Really, Doc?!?!?  REALLY?!?!?  I don't think Dr. Sadiq is known for his bedside manner.

Last Thursday, I went back to the doctor for results.  For some reason, I was feeling pretty nervous.  More than anything, I was afraid that he would say that there's nothing wrong with me and send me off without fixing my feet.  He didn't.  Not exactly at least.  He said, "You have a mild case of neuropathy.  Not too bad." I was thinking, "Tell that to my feet!"  Then he said, "Didn't you mention last time that you have a tremor?  Well, I found the reason for that.  You have hyperthyroidism."  I was like, "Whaaaa?" He said that the thyroid was a much more serious problem and that I needed to take care of that before worrying about my feet.  In fact, he said that fixing my thyroid could possibly fix my feet.  The problem, he said, was that the endocrinologist was so busy that he wasn't taking new patients and even if he did take me, it could be months before he could see me.  He said, "Hold on.  Let me call him."  He called the endocrinologist and chatted for a minute.  By some miracle, he had planned on being in DC that day, but his flight was cancelled, so he came into the office and had some free time in his schedule.  My neurologist sent him my medical file number so that he could see my test results, told me to visit him about my feet in three months when my thyroid was under control, and sent me upstairs to the endocrinologist's office. Pretty amazing that I got in!  My head was spinning.

So, this is a really long story just to say that I have something called Grave's Disease.  It's a (frighteningly named - after the man who discovered it, not the place it sends you) immune disorder that results in my thyroid going crazy.   My little sister Katie has it too and she no longer has a working thyroid - she nuked it.  The doc explained it like this: thyroids basically control the gas pedal to your body.  They tell you how hard to work, how fast to go, etc.  Mine's stuck going too fast.  Once I learned about the symptoms,I felt pretty dumb for not figuring it out earlier.  Hair loss, sleeplessness, sweat, tremor, etc. These things have been bothering me for years!

I'm not sure how bad everyone that has Graves Disease gets, but it seemed like my case was pretty bad. At least, my doctors and nurses seemed concerned about it.  My FT3 hormone production was high.  Normal levels range between 2.5 - 3.9.  My body tested at 13.37.   My thyroid is actually so swollen that it is visible. I have a little bow tie sticking out of my neck - I just didn't know to look for it.  The tremor was pretty noticeable.  My skin is hot to the touch (and all this time I thought it was just because I'm smokin' hot).  Perhaps most concerning to the doctor was my blood pressure of 160/98 and my resting pulse of 112.  That might explain why I almost passed out after my spinning class the day before. I was probably on the verge of cardiac arrest.  He prescribed me a beta blocker to slow my heart rate.  That was the main concern for him.  He also started me on a low dose of a thyroid medicine.  On the bright side, he said that once my thyroid is fixed, I won't have to take the heart meds any more.

The whole thing was kind of shocking and unexpected.  The one symptom I knew about hyperthyroidism is massive weight loss, but that's the one symptom I didn't have.  In fact, I have to work very hard to keep my weight within healthy BMI range.  Now that I'm going to be taking medicine to slow down my heart and fix my thyroid, I can expect to gain weight.  I know in my head that it's okay - that being alive is better than being thin, but this is a major concern to me and I cried all day on Thursday over it.  What a mess, huh?  Maybe its the extra FT3 in my system or the sleep deprivation.  It will all be great.  David is so supportive.  He pointed out that there are so many MUCH worse diseases that I could have been diagnosed with.  This one is manageable - maybe even curable.  He's right, and I am very grateful.  He also said that since I didn't lose weight when I was supposed to, maybe I won't gain it either.  And I know he will still love me if I'm chubby, so all is well.

Seriously. All. Is. Well.

April Catch Up.

Here are a few photos that we took in the month of April:

***Love these two!  They are simultaneously - no... alternately -  best friends and worst enemies.  This is one of their best friends moments.

***I finally took the oldest four kids to the dollar theater to see Star Wars. They loved it. Over the Christmas break, I'd made them watch Episodes IV - VI so they were properly prepared for it.    

Nicki loved Star Wars so much, she asked me to giver her a Rey hairdo.  

***One day during spring break, my parents took the kids and I to lunch.  We met at Farmington Crossing.  This is Quin riding a goose statue (which he probably shouldn't be doing). 

Here's the crew checking out the fountains.

Another fountain photo.

We ate at Johhny Rockets, a fifties diner. As you can see, Quin enjoyed himself very much.

Kristin came too!  It was fun!

Look how the waitress decorated my ketchup bowl. Good times.  Good times.

***"Candy Conference."  Looks like Sister Oscarson just said a word!

Oh what fun!

***This photo was taken at a family home evening lesson.  We talked about family "ties" and how when we are knit together as a family, we help hold each other on safer ground.  It's not easy to leave the family circle when you're tied together.

***Not sure exactly why I took this picture, but it shows the gang all crammed into our van.  The back row is already shoulder-to-shoulder.  When the boys get a bit older, we're going to have to get something bigger so it will hold them!

***Bron and I had fun with sidewalk chalk the other day.  I need to learn how to stand facing the sun so my shadow doesn't ruin the effect, but you get the idea - Super Bron!

Nicki's Birthday

Cute Nicole turned 11 years old on April 5th!  We sure love that girl!  She gets "more" every year!  More funny, sweet, sassy, etc. - stronger, faster, better!  I think she had a pretty fun day.

In fact, it started a couple days BEFORE her birthday!  We had a combined birthday party for her and Grandma Smith on Sunday after general conference.  Aunt Sue and Uncle Mike were there, along with Grandma Church.  

So was McKenna and her family.  We had an ice cream sundae bar.  It was fabulous!

On Nicole's birthday, she insisted on waking up early and cooking pancakes for everyone.  As you can see, she made a giant one for herself.  

What a cute picture of the birthday girl!

As usual, her brothers helped her open her presents in the morning.  

She got some fun crafty things.

She brought a box of Airheads to school for a treat.  Her classmates loved them because she had so many, everyone got three.  After school, I took her and her siblings to FIIZ for a fun birthday teat. Then, she played in the neighborhood while I worked on her dinner and cake. 

She chose to eat barbacoa pork salads for her birthday dinner.  They were fantastic.  Grandma and Grandpa Smith joined us.  

Here's a picture of the cake I made her.  

I love Alison's face in the background.

That night, Ali and I had to go to Young Womens'.  But I planned ahead and rented the newest Star Wars movie.  So after the boys went to bed, Nicki and her dad watched it together.

One of the gifts Nicole got from us was a face painting kit.  She has had a wonderful time painting her brothers.  Here is just a small sampling of her work:

Spiderman.  Quin has sported a Spiderman face as well, but I forgot to take any pictures.  

Fox.

Dinosaur and robot.

Tiger.

Zebra.