{gymkhana}

We signed the kids up for the Oakley Gymkhana rodeo......they had a blast!

All worn out.......

Kyler all geared up.......

{Kelsie's Primary Childrens Visit}

Kelsie had to have some tests done at Primary Children's in Salt Lake. She really wanted pictures to document her visit. She loved the slushy that she got as soon as she awoke from anesthesia. She even asked for another as she was getting ready to be discharged. "For the road,"she said!

She is spoiled and received the lavender scented stuffed animal from a friend of mine at work, so of course she needed a picture of that as well........

{The 4th}

Celebrating the Fourth with Ice Cream and Fireworks!!!

(Kids)

We had a few minutes as we headed to church the other day to take a quick picture.......After looking at it and realizing that over the past year we haven't taken a whole lot of time to take pictures like we used to. I looked at this picture and thought a lot about how much older they all look. I often wonder what they would tell you about the past year.....what were their fears?? their joys?? what will they remember or take from this experience?? I look at this picture and am so thankful that I had them here with me. I never had time to be angry or sad, because I always knew that they needed me to be strong and carry on. I am so thankful for each of their sweet spirits and the individual personalities that they have. I know without a doubt that they were each sent to our home for a reason, now more than ever!

(JAM)

Someone gave us a whole milk crate full of apricots. Every single year we make freezer jam and this year I decided that I wanted to try and make some regular jam. It wasn't any harder to make and now we have a whole lot of apricot jam and even some syrup! The girls had fun doing it and I am so glad that Josh's mom was willing to help us attempt this the first time!! We had a fun afternoon.....

{Cheer Nationals......}

I got this CD back with some super cute pics of Kelsie at Cheer Nationals in March. There were some really good ones, so I thought I'd share!

{Update on Josh}

In the beginning of June Josh had completed all of his chemo and a PET Scan showed that there was no cancer in Josh's body...we celebrated!!  He had made it through everything and could begin the process of rebuilding strength and getting back to normal, or at least mostly normal.  We began the process of tests to see if he was ready to have the ileostomy removed.  All of the testing went well and he was able to schedule surgery for the 20th of June.  He was very excited and ready for this part of his life to be over.  We arrived in Salt Lake and he had surgery as planned.

 All went well and he seemed to recover very well.  He was released after only three days and felt great.   We drove home and we could tell that he had begun to not feel well.  Upon arriving at home he just got sicker and sicker.  He made it through the night but after calling his Salt Lake doctors we were advised to head to the ER.  While there they discovered that he had a bowel obstruction that was making him so sick and that his gall bladder was full of stones and would need to be removed eventually.  He waited in the hospital for a few days and it seemed that the blockage was only partial and things were slowly starting to move through his bowel as normal.  We were released on Thursday with appointments to see the surgeon in a month to have his gall bladder removed, giving his body some rest.  We were happy to be home!  That night he struggled with some back pain, but pain relievers did the trick and he went to sleep easily.  Friday he felt so good that he was up and about eating lunch with some friends and attending a BBQ that night.  Unfortunately, the energy and good feelings didn't last.  That night Josh could never get comfortable and began to experience severe pain.  After trying everything that we could think of to relieve the pain we headed back into the ER.  While there they noticed that many of his labs had changed, indicating a more severe problem with his gall bladder.  They determined that some of the gall stones were stuck in the bile ducts and would also have to be removed.  The plan was to have the gall bladder removed laprascopically and then a GI doctor would step in and remove the stones through a procedure called and ERCP.  The gall bladder removal went well, however the GI doc was unable to remove the stones after a marked amount of time.  A stent was placed in his pancreas in order to prevent pancreatitis.

 We were then told that we would need to move to Boise or Salt Lake in order to have it removed.  Because of the pain and and need for fluids and IV pain medication it was decided that he should be moved by ambulance.

         

That was completed late last night and Josh underwent a procedure this afternoon to remove the stone.  We knew that there were three options in removing the stones, they said that they would begin with the simplest and least abrasive and then progress until one of them worked.  We are very fortunate that the first, most simple procedure was successful! His pancreas and ducts show signs of distress at this point.  We will be here in Salt Lake until everything is working again and his body begins to recover from everything that has happened in the past 13 days.  We are just thankful that the healing can now begin and that Josh is still safe here with us!!

{Randome Phone Pictures}

{ZOO}

The kids came to Salt Lake to be with Josh as he went in for surgery this time because it was summer and they could spend some time away from home.  My sister in law took us to the zoo one day and the kids loved it!  We saw some neat new exhibits and it was a very nice day so most of the animals were out. 

 Kyler was our guide, always checking the map.......

{Kylers glasses

We were finally able to get some accurate tests on Kyler's eyes because he is big enough to tell us more about what he can and can't see.....and the verdict was he needs glasses! Doesn't he look handsome! He is so excited about all of the new things that he can see!!

{Locks of Love}

Kamrin decided the other day that she wanted to cut her hair....She had grown it for so long and I was a little  hesitant to let her do it.  I thought that she would probably want her hair back quickly and that wasn't going to happen.  But, she then told me that she had heard of a place that you could cut your hair and send it to help make wigs for cancer patients.  She really wanted to cut her hair in order to do just that.  So, we went to JC Penny's and they measured her hair, they told her that she had 11 inches which was enough.  While getting her hair cut she was asked why she wanted to donate her hair.  She said in her very grown up voice that cancer was just a part of her life (Josh's mom has breast cancer currently) and that doing this made her feel like she was helping someone like her grandma. After getting it cut we took the ponytail to the cancer center at the hospital and Kamrin got to deliver it there.  She was very proud of herself and so was I!!

Here's the before picture::

  

After cutting it::