This week in Review

We had a really fun week that I wanted to share with all of you. This week the kids started school which was fun for all of us! The night before I was a little worried because as I went to tuck them in that night, I asked Calli what she was wearing the next day for school and when she said that she didn't know, I told her that I always had my first day outfit planned before I went to school and she informed me that I did that because I was excited to go to school and she wasn't!!! When I talked to Quentin about school that night tears welled up in his eyes and said that he wasn't that excited! However, after the first day, the kids came home and Calli told me about how nice her teacher was and Quentin said that this year was going to be the best school year ever!!! (He said that because all four of his good friends are in his same class.) They had a good first week. Mack went to meet his preschool teacher-Miss April and he was excited to do that. He starts on Monday.
Jeff is doing really well. We go in for his EEG tomorrow morning and hopefully that comes back normal. If it does, then I think I will let him drive again. It is driving him crazy not to and we have been told that if his EEG is normal then there shouldn't be any reason for him not to drive again. That does mean that we will be in the market again for a new vehicle because his car is about to croak for good.

Yesterday we attended the wedding of Jeff's brother Travis and his beautiful new wife Lacey. We are so excited to have her "officially" in our family. She has been such a big part of it for a few years now and we love her. Jeff was a groomsmen and walked one of bridesmaids down the aisle and Mack afterwords asked Jeff if he was married to her! We had a good laugh about that one. It was a beautiful outdoor "casual" wedding in the Jeff's parents back yard which is AMAZING! Ryan and Becca came from Mississippi and it was so much fun to have them there and be all together (all except for Alex who is in Brazil). I helped them out with the music for the wedding song and for the background music during the luncheon/reception. It was fun to put that together for them. I was a little nervous out getting the sound system down, but with the help from my "techy" son Q, we did it! What a fun day! Exhausting though-We all slept in until 8:30 this morning which is really late for our family!

The day after...

So, the whirlwind slowed down a bit. We decided to only spend the day together as a family. I wouldn't let Jeff out of my sight so he had to go run some errands with me and we took the kids to lunch and a movie. We went to see The Last Mimzy which Calli described as scary, but everyone liked it. I especially liked just sitting there in the dark peacefully with my husband and all of my children. After that, the kids pretty much spent the afternoon with us in bed while I tried to sleep, but I am still having a hard time closing my eyes and not replaying the whole event from the night before in my mind. I did sleep okay last night and so did Jeff. I hope the people at work take care of him today because it is sure hard to send him into someone Else's care! We received lots of phone calls and a lot of prayers and a few goodies from friends. I had a friend bring me over contents to make myself a huge bowl of caramel popcorn, some Pepsi and the Wild Hogs movie which Jeff and I thoroughly enjoy! We also had some neighbors bring pizza over for dinner! You never want help, but when you get it like that unexpectedly, you are so grateful that you have people who care and know exactly what you need.
Jeff is doing really well. He is on his way back to work today and I am going back to my routine. I need to drive Jeff to work because Doctors orders says that he can't drive for 6 months. Sounds crazy, but I will do whatever I have to to make sure he is totally well. There is a chance that the Neurologist may clear him before that. We both feel like that will probably happen. Quentin will go and mow grandpas lawn today and I have some last minute school supplies to go and get for Mack for Preschool. I am looking forward to a routine next week. Thanks again to all of the concerned friends and family! Jeff told me that he was going to have to write thank you notes! I chuckled...

Jeff's Scare

I can't sleep so I might as well write some feelings down about what happened to us last night... Jeff had gotten home from work and had just finished eating dinner. We were talking about having a quick Family Home Evening before he went back to work to do some printing. I went down stairs to tell the kids to come up and heard a very large crash! I looked around the corner and there on the stairs, fallen head first was Jeff, appearing not to be able to move. My heart sunk! I kept calling his name. He was looking me straight in the eyes as if pleading for help and I couldn't do anything. I dialed 911 and got someone on the phone and she told me to get him off the stairs and to lay him flat. At this point, he was blue and had quit breathing. I asked if I could administer CPR to him and she told me to proceed but to keep talking to her and an ambulance was on its way. I thought I was going to lose him. A lot of thoughts went through my head at that time. Some that are too sacred to share, but I knew I didn't want to be a single mom, and I didn't want to be alone. I prayed with all my might that he would be okay. After I had done CPR, he started to breathe and the relief that I felt was indescribable. The lady on the call asked me if he was moving and I told her no. He was just laying there limp. The whole time, his eyes looking right at me. I thought that he knew what was happening, but couldn't talk to me or couldn't move. Soon after that the response team showed up and started treating him. I immediately called the children upstairs because I yelled for them to go downstairs earlier because I didn't want them to keep watching what was going on. I hugged them as tight as I could and told them that the response team was there and they were going to take good care of him. By now, the whole neighborhood is at our house, one dear friend came to ask if she could take the kids and so she took the kids and I went with the ambulance to the emergency room. By the time that we had been in the ambulance for about 3 minutes, they told me that he was starting to respond and that he knew who he was and where he was. They also told me that they thought he had had a seizure. When we stopped and they pulled him out of the ambulance to enter the hospital I was so relieved to be able to go and kiss him and have him know who I was. After three hours and many tests, they told us that the only thing they could figure caused the seizure was the medication that he has been on for a little over a year for his pain. I was able to take him home last night and have him in my bed! I didn't sleep a wink because every movement I wanted to make sure that he wasn't having another seizure! When the kids came home last night and saw their dad they were so relieved. Mack just kept staring at him. I know that it really scared all of them. Now that I look back on it, a seizure may not seem serious and I'm glad that they couldn't find anything majorly wrong, but believe me when I say that I am grateful that I have a Heavenly Father who blesses me each day with this amazing man by my side and he'd better not take him from me sooner than he really needs to! Thank you to all of the prayers that I know that were said in our behalf!

The importance of Family

There have been a few things happen recently to really make me even more thankful for family than I was before. Living by our family has really emphasized the importance of family and how special it is to have one another. Also I have been passing off my scrapbooking as a way to journal some of my life, but I don't always get my feelings down about certain things, and we have so many things to be grateful for that I would love to express. I also love this idea to keep people posted on events in our lives. Hopefully I will be able to keep up on it!

Our Summer Coming to an END!!!

Where did the summer go??? I can't believe that it is over!! We have had so much fun this summer! Starting out, I thought that our busy part of summer would be over after the Fourth of July, but it wasn't-it just barely got started and got even crazier! That always happens...every summer. The older the kids get, the faster it seems to go! We had a lot of fun activities we particitpated in! A lot of family events! We first went to Lake Powell and stayed on the Nelson house boat for a week and then went strait to the Ostenson Family reunion in Utah where we spent the next few days with the WHOLE family. That's a lot of people!!! (I will post some separate posts for these items.)

Lake Powell 2007

Every year for the past few years, we have gone and spent a week on the houseboat with Jeff's family. It is such a great time. This year, every family was able to be there and we had such a wonderful time just being together. We always have fun swimming, playing cards, eating, boating, skiing, did I mention eating? oh and eating! This years highlights included the many Lizards that the kids caught out on the beach, Calli's obsession with the water slide, Quentin being told that he can't ride the jet ski solo until 12 years of age, riding the waves of the jet ski, and Grandpa falling off the speed boat while trying to board the housebout. "I fell off my boat" is now a common phrase used by the family and joked about quite frequently. My favorite part this year was taking the boat and going a little ways around the lake and visiting Rainbow Rock. What an amazing sight! I loved going there! It was an beautiful boat ride, and then a little hike in to the rock (and with 2 four year olds and 110 degree weather that was quite an adventure). When we rounded the corner during the hike where we were able to see the Rainbow shaped rock, I was just in awe at its beauty and its location-in the middle of nowhere! We met a guide that told us all about the rock and told the little ones to stay close to us and not wander off because of the protected surrounding area. The best part was he sprayed all of us with some water from a water bottle to cool us off for our adevnture back to our boat. He was a very interesting gentleman with an interresting job. What an amazing family adventure to do every year! We love it!

Ostenson Family Reunion

After Lake Powell, we traveled north again through Utah and spent a few days with the Ostenson Family. It was so great to be with the whole family. It has been forever since that has happened. Jon and his wife Kyla have access to a cabin up past Park City and it is beautiful! Sara and her husband came the furthest from Washington. It is always fun to be with everyone. There are 15 grand kids now and so it is definitely crazy-but so much fun. We did lots of activities including canoeing, swimming, hot tubing, a fourth of July treasure hunt for the kids, playing Pirate(Mack is a pirate in one of the posted pictures), took family pictures, and had lots of food and laughs. One of our favorite activities was the Wii system that Jon had brought and all of the boys could strut their stuff by competing with baseball, golf, bowling, etc. It was so fun to watch them because they are all so competitive! I especially loved the evening when we all sat around and read our family memories that we periodically write every couple of years and submit to a compilation book of all of these memories. This year, we all had to draw a layout of our Indiana home and write a memory of one of the rooms. It was fun to see every ones interpretation of our house. Not only did we share what we had written, but a flood of memories flowed through that room that night of growing up and of funny things we had done in that home, and special memories that we had too. With dad's health these past years, I realize more and more how important these memories are and try to hold onto all of them with all of my might!