HEAD LIKE A HOLE

I returned home from camp on Saturday evening at about 8:30pm. Chris and the kids came to pick me up at Denay's house and I was so excited to see them. We stayed up late talking about everything they did that week with their dad and I kept Chris up with stories of camp. Needless to say the following day at church was pretty long. I was so emotionally and physically exhausted. On Monday morning we were to take Chris to Bismarck for a doctors appointment. Our friends the Palmers offered to watch the kids for us. It was hard to say goodbye to them again but something was telling me that I had too. Which I found out later why. About a month ago Chris had gone to the dermatologist to check out a sore that he had had on his forehead for almost a year that would not heal. They did a biopsy and discovered that he had carcinoma (a form of skin cancer). His appointment in Bismarck was to have it removed. We had to get up at 6am to be there at 9am. We did not leave the clinic until around 1pm. Which made me very grateful that we did not have the kids. So thank you Palmers!!!!! The nurses and the doctor were very nice to both of us. They explained the steps of the procedure and then took me to a lounge with recliners, food and drink. After about 15 mins. Chris walked in with orangish yellow stuff all over his face (beta dyne) oh how I wished I would have had a camera. Anyway we were to wait there until they examined what they had cut out to make sure that they had gotten all of it. Which they had not so Chris had to get cut in some more. They then came to get me once they knew that they had gotten it all. When they took off the gauze where he had been cut his wound was now the size of a silver dollar and it went as deep as the thin layer of muscle that you have over your skull. I have never had a very good stomach for things like that so as soon as I could I needed to sit down. As I was sitting there Dr. Appert was explaining the options that we had to reconstruct his face as best as possible. He gave us three options. One being to stitch the way that your forehead lines go the only downfall to this is that it would raise his right eyebrow to about the middle of his forehead. Choice 2 being to graft skin from somewhere else, which would leave a burn looking mark there instead. Choice 3 cut from the top of the hairline down to the top of the right eyebrow and down to the corner of the right eye which would give the Doc enough skin to stitch things up so that with in a year or so Chris would look the same except for a faint scar. The recovery time would take longer and Chris' eye would swell shut and be bruised for a couple of days or a week. He chose choice 3 of course and we left the clinic with a bag full of dressings for the week and a prescription for Tylenol with codeine and some antibiotics. We then got something to eat and Chris discovered that he really did not like the feeling of chewing which has lead to a week of a soft food diet. He is feeling much better now that it is day 6 and we are off to Bismarck again to hopefully have his stitches removed.


Doesn't he look lovely!!! And no, I do not beat him!

Camp

GIRLS CAMP 2008

AROUND THE WORLD IN 5 DAYS

'O The Places You Will Go'

Camp always comes and goes so quickly. I was so excited to take the girls to camp this year. When I was a young woman and went to camp I had the opportunity to go to a high adventure camp almost every year that I went and I remember how rewarding it felt to accomplish some of the tasks that the camp would require. I really wanted the girls to experience that for themselves. We were able to attend a boy scout camp in Minnesota called Camp Wilderness, which offered so many activities. Low and High ropes, climbing towers on land and water, canoes, swimming, archery, shooting real 22's and so much more. We did have to drive aways but to me it was so worth it. We had a great time it was fun to see all the girls pulling together and making new friendships. I tried to go around and experience all the activities myself this year and let me tell you the High ropes course was amazing. We did hit some rough spots with rain almost every day and some wet tents and beds along with a tornado warning and we did have to take a couple of girls home due to death in their family and illness but over all camp was amazing. Knowing that this would be my last year with these girls was harder than I thought it would be. Testimony night was wonderful. The quarter master that runs the scout camp had decided to come to our testimony meeting and he actually stood to talk to the girls saying how he had been watching them all week and that he was so impressed with the courage and self worth that he saw in them. He said that he did not know much about our church but after hearing these girls bare their souls and knowing that we were raising girls that are so confident and amazing made him want to seek out more information in our faith. What a testament that we were where we should have been this year. These girls never cease to amaze me! They carry a love for the Lord that is so real. I have to tell you that a part of me was excited that I would not have to plan camp for next year,but oh how I will miss it. What can I say camp was awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!

Great Balls of Fire !!!!!!!!!

Well it has been a while with a whirlwind of events. But I could not pass today up. The day started out great with piano lessons and reports of no cavities for the kids at the dentist. Hayden even did outstanding being that this was his first visit to the dentist. While he was waiting for Dr. Cheney to come in he saw an ugly picture of some blackened teeth and he said "EWWW! They aren't being a good example, they need to come have the dentist fix their teeth". Since we were downtown I needed to run some errands so the kids and I went down to the teacher's aid store in the mall and if you know our family when you take a trip to the mall you always have to stop into Barnes & Noble. The kids love to listen to the music with the earphones that they have around the Cd's which happen to be by the mall entrance where they have their anti theft walk-thrus located. Alec needed help with his earphones and I could see Hayden out of the corner of my eye walk toward them with a CD in hand. All of a sudden we here this loud beeping sound which had all of the kids' hands to their ears right away and which also frightened Hayden into running to me. I thought the sound would stop when Hayden backed away thinking it had to be the CD that he had in his hand but when the loud beeping would not go away and then lights started to flash I realized it could not have been the sound I thought it was. In fact what it was instead happened to be the fire alarm. Since there was no fire in sight it had to be only one thing. Some one pulled the fire alarm!!! And guess who that someone was? I looked down at Hayden and said "bubba"(that is what I call him) what did you do? He looked up at me and said. " I didn't do it on purpose"! Right away I thought what should I do? There was no one around and all the associates seemed calm and then the loud beeping sirens stopped so I assumed everything was o.k. so the kids and I proceeded to go look at the kid books. After a while I had to persuade them into leaving to go home. As we were walking out toward the mall exit where we had begun. I saw a line of firemen suited up walking right toward the switch. I thought "oh no"! Those poor men came all the way down here for a false alarm which my son had caused. I had half the mind to stop and tell them that my child was the one who had done it and that they needed to teach him a lesson. But, you know what I did? Not a thing. I walked right past them thinking "do I really want to"? NO! Run!!!!!!! We did not run but oh how I wanted to. So, there you have it. What a day huh!

Blowin In the Wind

The sun is shining and it is finally warm enough to wear shorts But the wind is blowing. Alyssa had a program at school today so Hayden and I walked over to the school which is hard to do when the wind is blowing your hair right in your face where you can not see. The plus side though is that we got to see Alyssa and her class recite some poems and plays which they had to have parts for. She did a great job and afterward we were able to eat lunch with her

We have had a pretty nice week. We are all very excited to beable to play ourdoors more too.

Our tulips came up this year. Are'nt they pretty and Cousin Calebs Flat Stanley came to visit a while ago.

Mother

Happy Mothers Day! I have had a wonderful day today What can I say I have a wonderful family who has waited on me hand and foot. I received the cutest drawings and cards from my kids and hubby along with a new book and Chris made linner(what we call lunch and dinner combined) The kids got to say why they love there mom Alyssa said: she makes great cookies and shes pretty. Alec said that I make good food and she let us play the wii on her day. Hayden said she plays with me and makes me cakes on my birthday. How cute are the sounds of your children on moments like this. Also I called to tell my own sweet mother Happy Mothers Day and I got the most exciting news from my little brother Paul. He's getting married!!!!!!!!! Yeah! A sister and a wife for my sweet brother. They planned the wedding around when we would get to come home for the summer in August. How sweet is that! Hayden gets to be the ring barrer along with Kira's 3 year old cousin who will be the flower girl. He gets to wear a tux and everything. Wait till Hayden hears that he gets to dress up along with walking a cute girl down the aisle. He'll be ecstatic! Anyway, Happy Mother's Day to all of those who have done so much for the love of your children.

We've only just begun

Welcome to our blog! We have finally decided to get with the times. Please enjoy seeing our little family in action. We have seen some pretty creative stuff out there, and hopefully we will be able to keep up. Enjoy the show!