Grandpa's Two Birthdays in Two Weeks, and Record Breaking Release from the Hospital

A month ago my father-in-law had his stem-cell transplant. I think it's cool that they gave him a new birthday- his transplant day. They celebrated it with a sign and cake and everything. The first few days after the transplant were pretty rough, with vomiting, high blood pressure, severe head aches, and chest pain. But since then, he's done great! Ten days after his transplant was his real birthday, and we were able to go see him at the hospital. I hadn't thought they would let us see him, but we were all healthy, and didn't stay long, so it was ok. A year ago, we didn't think there was any chance that he'd make it to his next birthday, so this was cause for great celebration. He has amazed us every step of the way.

We were expecting him to be in the hospital at least 4 to 6 weeks. Before his transplant, he asked the doctor what the record was for the shortest stay after a stem-cell transplant. When the doctor said it was 3 1/2 weeks, Grandpa said he'd beat it. Sure enough, he was ok to be released in 2 1/2 weeks!!! He's still really fatigued all the time, but doing great. His blood cells are looking good so far. He had another bone marrow biopsy today, so we'll know more when we get the results in a few days. He's such a tough cookie! He's been through so much- poked and prodded every way imaginable. I guess the biopsy isn't just a little poke either, it's a 9 inch cork screw needle they drive into his hip bone. Ouch! It leaves him sore for days. This was his 10th biopsy. Now he has to stay within 15 minutes of the hospital for the next 100 days. He's got no immune system still, so he has to stay away from people and be careful with the food he eats- no raw vegetables or fruit that have the potential for bacteria. He takes about 40 pills a day to prevent infection, rejection, etc.

They had to scramble to find a place to stay when he got out. They hadn't anticipated him getting out so early, so the arrangements they'd made for an apartment weren't for another few weeks. They are so happy to be out of the hospital though! Rob's mom stayed at the hospital all the time, sleeping in a fold-out bed. I can't even imagine being in a hospital that long! There's a guy in the hospital, about Grandpa's same age, that had the same transplant, and is barely able to eat. He got an infection in his lung, that went up to his brain and put him in a coma for a while. We feel so, so very blessed to have him go through all this so well.Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers!

Way to go Grandpa!

My Four Chicks

I finally got Abby's 3 month picture taken -when she was 4 1/2 months (hey, at the rate I'm going, she's lucky to have any pictures at all). I've had pictures of all my kids in the same pose at this age, and here they are:
Nathan (at 3 months)
Sarah (at 3 1/2 months) Matthew (at 4 months)

Abby (at 4 1/2 months) I guess I've been feeling a little bit nostalgic lately, after going through all our old pictures to make Sarah's slide show. I'm not the only one that does this right? I love to look at pictures of the kids at various ages and compare them to each other. Soon I'll post pictures of Sarah and Abby showing how much they look alike.

Watch Out Fab Five and Jackie Chan

Sarah just started taking clogging lessons from my friend, and she absolutely loves it! All her friends from our old neighborhood, and her cousin Ashley are in the class, so that makes it extra great. I loved watching the Fab Five on America's Got Talent, so I showed Sarah a clip of their performance. She got all excited and asked, "Is that what I'm going to be doing?" Yep sweetie, in many, many years.
Sarah and Ashley gave us a performance of what they've learned in the first few weeks.

Sarah Turns 5

Our Princess Sarah has turned five years old- finally! She's been counting down to the big day for months. Everywhere we went, she would tell people how many days until her birthday. You can't help but smile when you talk to her, because she is so darn cute and says the funniest things.

From a distance you can't really tell just how awful her cake is. I decorated it in half an hour, and it was not my best work. I'm not very good anyway... this was just worse. From a distance you can't tell that I got crumbs all through the store-bought frosting. Pathetic! As I was decorating it, I started to better realize why I would see pictures of my older siblings with amazing birthday cakes my mom had decorated, yet I don't recall even getting a cake of my own until Laura moved away from home (In my mom's defense, she had 9 kids, and my birthday is the day after Laura's Halloween birthday. Who needs more sweets after that?!!!) I was, however, thoroughly embarrassed for my sisters-in-law to see such a dorky cake. One sis-in-law professionally decorates cakes, and the other just spent weeks planning and decorating an awesome barn cake for my nephew's first birthday (I'll post pictures soon). Ok... enough about that. She loved it, so that's all that matters.

Sarah was so funny when she opened her present from Rob. She giggled and giggled at the Ute gear he got her. Rob says she earned it when she shouted "Cougars stink," during the Provo Freedom Festival Parade, when the BYU football semi went past. Traitor!

So you know, I had nothing to do with the U of U gifts!!! Rob did it all, and I didn't even see what he got her until she opened them. I just wish we had video taped it. She was hilarious. Now when she wears her Utah shirt, I feel I have to wear my BYU shirt. That got us some interesting looks and comments at the store today.

Matthew and Adam loved the kitchen/cafe Sarah got for her birthday.

We love Sarah because she:

• is adorable
• loves her brothers and sisters
• gives the best hugs
• is an awesome scooter rider
• still has such a cute little voice, and calls marsmellows- smarshmellows, cheetos- cheetas, and tater tots- tater todders
• is a firecracker (watch out!)
• knows (or thinks she knows) all the answers in Primary, and shouts them out
• is so giggly
• dares to try all kinds of new things
• is a great helper
• wants to be a mom when she gets big (though she told me she wants to be a nicer mom than me. OUCH!)

Sarah's Birthday Slideshow

I made this slideshow for Sarah for her birthday. I've been meaning to do one for each of my kids, but haven't taken the time to do it. It was a lot of fun, but took an awful lot of time. I loved the stroll down memory lane looking through all my files. They grow up too fast, don't they?!

Z Family Reunion

Every year my Dad's family has a reunion at "Munkle" Mark and Aunt Carolyn's cabin. It is so amazing up there, and we look forward to the reunion every year.

THANK YOU MARK & CAROLYN!!!

Aunt Myrna and Abby. I don't think Abby was laid down the entire time! My cousins were so enamored my her. Anita kept stealing her away and telling me that we should have 12 kids because we make such beautiful kids.Michelle and AbbyMatthew and Adam loved the 4-wheelers that my cousins brought up.Here's Rob playing Ticket to Ride with Michelle, Janette, Kathleen, and Lynette. We stayed up way too late playing game- like we do every year!Dan is holding Cody and Porter.Sarah loves the air hockey in the basement. As you can see, she's a fierce competitor.For the kids, their most favorite thing about the cabin is the zip-line. They will ride that thing for hours.Here's Erin, Ryan, Nathan, and of course that's my Sarah sitting in the dirt.Have you ever seen a girl that likes to get as dirty as this girl?!I've gotten some pretty great pictures of Nathan on the zip-line over the years.

Sherry and Skyler
NatalieSarah and Ashley ready for our hikeNathan and Ryan found great hiking sticks, but then turned back before we were even up the drive way. They missed out!Terri and MatthewMatthew didn't last long hiking either. Luckily he had his Daddy pack horse- who apparently needed blinders.I just love this picture of Sarah and Ashley. They are such cute pals!Uncle RayJim with Ashley and ErinTrevan & Raegan with her gorgeous baby bluesAdam, Sarah and MattJohn is getting so big. and was so cute to read to a bunch of little cousins.

We had a great time with my family. Of course we missed Grandma and Grandpa something terrible, and maybe for that reason, we didn't even go fishing.

Hiking and Pineview

Back in July we went on a fun hike in Ogden Canyon. It was so awesome that we decided we needed to do that every week (we haven't though). It was so beautiful, and was just what I needed. Being the the mountains just rejuvenates my spirit like nothing else.
I love Sarah's glasses! She cracks me up- she insisted that she be the lead hiker the entire time. She practically ran the whole way down the trail so she could be first to the end. Hummmm... Reminds me of a little girl I used to know.
After the hike we cooled off at Pineview Reservoir. The older kids and Rob had such a good time. I tried keeping Abby out of the sun, and Matthew happy. He was too tired to enjoy the water. Rob traded with me, and I had a good time in the water too (long enough for me to get a nice sunburn- which honestly doesn't take very long for my bright-white completion).
Matthew preferred eating grapes on the beach. Unfortunately the sand was too hot to play in.
I probably hadn't been to Pineview since I was in high school. I'd forgotten how beautiful it is!

We need to do more fun things like this. We aren't very good at getting out lately.