Happy Thanksgiving! (this is 3 of 3)

We can't believe it has been a year since we came home from Palo Alto! We spent Thanksgiving last year in Salinas, CA with my sister-in-law and her family....this year we were here in Nevada! We had a great Thanksgiving and hope you did, too! We went to spend it with Kevin's family. They are amazing! We had so much fun! Good food! Lots of laughing and games and visiting! He has an amazing family and that was one of the many things I was grateful for (and always have been!)
Anyhow, here are some pictures of our weekend: (I thought I took more....but apparently forgot to get the camera out as often and I intended!)

Here is they typical basketball game! Notice Kevin is the oldest one out there! His nephew's and nephew-in-laws are getting to be a 'threat'! They are growing up!

We had a ping-pong table to play some games on. The kids really liked that.....so much the adults didn't get to play very much!

We did play a LOT of games this weekend! Learned some new and really fun ones like Bohnanza, Ticket to Ride and our favorite 'Nines'.

Here are the tables we ate at. Nathan patiently waiting at the kid's table (which I sat at to keep some of my kids in line) and then there is the adult table. Ryan and I made little pilgram hats out of fudge cookies and mini peanut butter cookies with a tick-tack as a buckle. I never did take a picture of it....sure tasted good! Kind of see them on the plate!


We had the traditional kick ball game for the little guys. Sammy and Daniel are really getting into it. Sammy even gave me 'thumbs up' on the last picture! He loved it!



Here Sammy and Daniel are both on base with hands on hips....can tell they are twins, huh?

Grandpa was reading to Daniel and I just loved watching them interact.


Anyhow, we had a great time! So good to see everyone there!

Ryan and Comptyn's pack meeting

So we had our first pack meeting in Cub Scouts since Comptyn joined in June. He really loves scouts! He was 3 requirement away from finishing his Wolf badge (which we have since finished). But to get his Bobcat I guess it's tradition to hold the child upside down to pin it on and then he has to do a good deed to get it turned around. Anyhow, this picture is of me pinning his Bobcat on. So next meeting he'll get his Wolf badge and a gold and 2 silvers at least! He was pretty happy!


Here is Ryan receiving his Bear badge and pinning the mother's pin on me. He was pretty excited to start the electives in the back of the book.

They are really cute about being Cub Scouts! They sure have a great love for their scout leaders which make a HUGE difference! So I am grateful for them! They have developed that love because of them. Thank you!

Daniel's Tube......

Many of you know that Daniel has been getting weaned off his feeding tube. Last Saturday (9 days ago) we took out his tube to try nights without any liquids! We had a little cutting up party....see the pictures below. (Ryan had to have his penguin in the pictures!) Anyhow, Wednesday morning Kevin took Daniel in for labs for the final results! If his creatinine level stayed at 0.5 we were done! On our way out of town for Thanksgiving we picked up the lab results and......0.5!!! We are done with the tube! We were all screaming in the van we were all so happy! Daniel was a little embarrassed and hid his face in his blanket, but has LOVED being able to get completely dressed by himself....shirt and all! Too much tape and things before! Anyhow, we had yet ANOTHER wonderful thing to grateful for this year!

Tired of lab results?

I know I am! I'd love to go a bit without reporting labs. But this one is special as it is the middle of us weaning Daniel off his tube! We did one week at 50 mLs, last week was 30 mLs. Base line creatinine was 0.5. This morning's lab results.....(drum roll please!) 0.5!!! We stayed level! I am VERY excited about that. That means lowering his intake at nigth has not effected his kidney at all! His blood pressures are good everyday! So tonight is our first night of 15 mLs and Saturday we take the tube out and go 4 nights with nothing and do labs again. If they turn out just as great.....we are TUBE FREE!!!! Prayers are being answered...AGAIN! We love it!

Crayon in the dryer......

OK...So I am sure some of you have experienced pulling out a clean load of laundry only to discover that there was a crayon in one of the pant's pockets! This has happened 2 times to me! So this last time I was a little upset......6 pairs of jeans, 5 shirts, 3 pairs of socks, not to mention underwear and pjs. So I did what I always do (OK not ALWAYS....but a lot!) to solve my problems....GOOGLED! I found this concotion that WORKED! I wanted to share it if this has happened or will happen to any of you! I should have done a before and after picture, but here is the underwear (I didnt' clean those....who looks at those?!) and a sock that looked just like it!

TOTALLY CLEAN!!!!!!
So here is the miracle concoction:

2 C liquid tide
1 C liquid Oxyclean
1/4 cup of Borax
1/2 cup of liquid Shout
1/2 cup of vinegar

Put that all in a bathtub with hot water......throw in clothes.....soak for 24 hours....DONE! Wring out and throw in washing machine. Don't add detergent as you already have enough. It was my VERY happy moment of the day! I was so glad all those clothes were saved!

Daniel's Biopsy Results

I have had Daniel's lab results for about a week now, but have not posted them. Daniel's one year (actually done at 14 months) biopsy results were GREAT! There are NO signs of rejection! Not even one layer of cells! We were VERY happy to hear that. Rejection comes in many degrees and we haven't had ANY of them! For that we are VERY grateful and feel extremely blessed! The BK Virus we prayed so hard to get rid of and received lab results that is was gone.....is no longer in the kidney. The biopsy shows 100% accuracy that it is all gone. There was no Prograf toxicity. Prograf is the immunosuppresant Daniel takes and ironically it is toxic to the kidney. That is why we get labs done so often to walk that fine line of toxicity and rejection. We are VERY grateful for these results! They could not have been better! OK....there is one more thing....

WE ARE WEANING OFF THE TUBE!!!!! Last week we cut back from 70 mLs and hour per night to 50 mLs. His blood pressures are still good! This next week we cut back to 30 mLs and hour. Then we go for a lab draw to see how his creatinine (kidney function) is doing. Then the 3rd week we cut back to 15 mLs an hour! Saturday, Nov 21st we will take the tube out! WE ARE COUNTING DOWN!!!! 13 more days! Anyhow, the Wednesday before Thanksgiving we are going to get labs and if his creatinine is good and his blood pressures are still all doing good.....WE ARE DONE! So we are planning to go to Winnemucca without a feeding tube in! YEAH!

So anyhow, those were wonderful lab results! Thanks for all your prayers and good thoughts that have helped Daniel! We are grateful for them!

Part 5 of 5! This is it!

We took teh boyz to the Utah Museum of Natural History....sounds boring but they had a BLAST! It was on teh University of Utah's campus, and this is a picture of Daniel when we put him on U of U grounds! (just kidding! He was throwing a tantrum about something else.....but it was good timing!)






So then we ended out stay in Utah with lunch at Benihana's. BOY DID WE HAVE FUN! The kids all loved it! Kevin and I loved it! SO much fun! the boyz even did good with their chopsticks!





Onion volcano...he'd pour water down teh center and it would steam up. Boyz LOVED that!

Here we are waiting at the airport for our plane. A Lincoln stretch limo picked us up in Reno and brought us back to REALITY! It was an incredible week! We are so grateful to Make-A-Wish. You know we really did appreciate spending all that time together and not having to worry about a SINGLE penny of it! We were certainly spoiled! OK....I am done blogging! Are you sick of reading?!?!?!

Part 4.......

So after Maggie Moo's ice cream on Friday we went to the Make-A-Wish building and the kdis did a little trick or treating.

Daniel was able to go into the Wish Room. He has his own key for it. They have a little ceremony and the room changes colors and is absolutely amazing! Very neat place!

That sheet of glass has water coming out the top and flows down all the sides. BEAUTIFUL!

These are the hundreds of stars in teh foyer of the MAW building.

They had some little booths and things for the kids to do.

For dinner we went teh "The Mayan" restaurant. It was fun! My sister and her family met us up there. It was good to visit with them for even that short time!




This is Nicole, my cute niece! (I acutally have 4 cute nieces, but unfortunately she is the only one I have met yet! Someday I'll come see you girls! And your brothers!) Anyhow, she was my buddy! It made my night!

Part 3

So we went to Hogle Zoo in SLC on Friday. I tell you! October is the month to go! We saw maybe 50 people! It was cold.....first picture is of kids catching snowflakes on their tongues, but it warmed up a bit and the inside exhibits were warm. Animals we have never seen before were up and moving! It was great! The kids were excited to see these pictures, but Bryce wanted me to show the picture he took of Kevin and I. He did a good job despite the subject (ME!) :-)



Zuri - the 2 1/2 month old 250+ pound baby elephant. She was cute!

This cougar kept pacing back and forth! We LOVE cougars! (GO BYU!)





The bears were playing around and that was pretty entertaining.

Baby giraffe born in July, I believe! I can't remember.





Here is Bryce's picture he is pretty proud of! He did do a good job! Thanks Bryce!

We went to Maggie Moo's afterwards (thanks Dana for hte suggestion) and had some DELICIOUS ice cream! Mine was cheesecake flavored! WOW! Heaven in my mouth!