Daniel's Update

I have had some people ask me if I could switch Daniel's updates to our family blog. I agree....it's easier to access. So we will no longer update the Caring Bridge website. It will be easier for me, too, when Daniel's surgery happens next month! THAT'S RIGHT! We just got back from Stanford and we got some great news! Our transplant coordinator, Gerri, said that she had met Kelle and she was 'adorable' and she is doing great! Kelle went over and met with her team of 'people'....her surgeon, her social worker, her pschyiatrist (sp?), etc. Anyhow, apparently Gerri had no doubt that everything would be good and we'd get the green light to go ahead. She told us that nephrology transplant has the operating room every other Monday. August is full, but she is going to put us on the waiting list (in case there is another surgery that doesn't happen for some reason) if she can get us in the #1, #2 or #3 spot. So we are excited and hope that we get a date soon!

It's a good thing, too. Daniel's creatinie level went up to 3.3 . That is the highest he's ever jumped, so Dr. Talley is happy we have a donor and we are close to transplant because he is officially Stage 5 (the worse stage) - Chronic Renal Failure. We have 14% kidney function. So in one month we went from 16.6% to 14%. Anyhow, a few changes in his meds....his hemoglobin count was low. We have to do a couple more tests before the surgery: tuberculosis (sp?) and urinalysis. We are redoing his blood work on Monday to make sure his creatinine is as high as it really is and a few other levels weren't very good.

4th of July Activities

We started out the day with our ward's traditional breakfast of pancakes, sausage, eggs, milk & juice. I think Bryce went up 3 times! He was in heaven!

























Nathan and Sammy were playing on the picnic blanket. Nathan would roll up in it and Sammy would step on him. When Nathan would act injured Sammy would laugh and laugh!















Some friend of ours, the Hubbards, have been inviting us up to their 4th of July tradition outside of Carson/Reno (right between the 2 cities)....Bower's Park. We finally took them up on it this year! We are glad we did! The weather was beautiful (cooler the higher up in the mountains we went!) and the view was amazing! The park was huge which was nice because there were easily over 1,000 people there and yet there was a lot of space for people to set up volleyball nets, play soccer or just lounge and watch the kids play....which is what we did!














We did take a walk past the pool to Bower's Mansion. It's now set up for tours, but use to be owned by a wealthy family (the Bower family.....believe it or not!) They made their money in the mines. Beautiful home with a gorgeous wrap around porch! My dream! We didn't do the tour, but promised the kids we would sometime, along with go to the pool!





The playground equipment was fun. There was a little kids (twins size) section and then the older kids had a separate area. Comptyn got blisters on his hands he did this so many times!





Bryce...striking a pose!




Daniel & Sammy! CUTE!



Ryan also developed blisters trying to get across this. He worked really hard....and he FINALLY got it!







Despite what Nathan's face looks like, he breezed across these bars EVERY time! His hardest part was trying to touch on the other side. His toes BARELY touched the platform! He was pretty proud of himself! He did it before any of his brothers !












We then drove home (it's a little over an hour away from Fallon) and repacked the car and drove to 'our' spot to watch the fireworks. We played some football and some "Snorta!" (our new favorite game to play with the kids!)


























Daniel, not even 60 seconds after we got to Numa Elementary School to watch fireworks, slipped in a BIG puddle and DRENCHED his clothes....so he was in the diaper all night. Good thing it was warm! Anyhow, him and Sammy sat on the edge of the curb of the parking lot and chattered at each other for quite a while! It was fun to watch them interact! It always is!







The next day when daddy was mowing the lawn a frog jumped out from one of my lilac bushes! So of course the kids had to catch it and play with it! Ryan loved it the most. The other kids liked the "look but don't touch" philosophy of life! Of course, his name was Kermit!

And Comptyn found a praying mantis. He'd pick that up but not the frog!

Camping at Gold Lakes, CA

We spent the week camping up in the beautiful mountains of California. Below are some pictures of our hikes, camp and creatures we saw! We had moments of wondering why we took 2 two-in-a-half year old twins camping! What were we thinking! But over all it was a blast! And we had a great time!

Nathan & Daniel having a snack after one of our MANY hikes!

Ryan, Comptyn, Bryce & Nathan loved the stepping stones over this creek near out campsite!




Ryan & Bryce kept trying to sneak out these big
pine cones that were all over the national forest we were in.


The creek on one of our hikes.


Of course the kids had to stop and throw rocks in it!


Sammy chewing someone out about something!


Comptyn in one of his many poses!












Big Bear Lake. Water was incredibly clear and beautiful! Bryce got a little nervous the closer we got. He thought we were going to see Big Bears!


Fun bridge we had to cross to get the Big Bear Lake.


Sammy fell in LOVE with all the wild flowers. Notice the dirt and 'ouchies' on his fingers!















What is camping without a squirt gun fight! Of course we only had enough guns for everyone but dad!


We saw a marmot across the way from our camp site. We also saw new birds and a bobcat ran across the road on our drive up to one of our hikes!



Lucky Daniel could just fall asleep where ever! We were exhausted every night!

We have a kidney!

In fact, we have 2! We had 5 AMAZING people who volunteered to be tested. 2 passed the initial screening. Of those 2 BOTH were matches! One scored slightly higher as a better match for Daniel, so we are starting with her. Her name is Kelle. (Jimmy is our other donor.) Anyhow, both of them are incredible in their willingness to help a complete stranger! We did not know either of them before all this started! Anyhow, Kelle has a few tests to have done on her blood and an evaluation at Stanford and hopefully things will be OK. We are blessed to have a 'back up' if something happens with Kelle's work up. Anyhow, the transplant will happen soon! When? We don't know exactly yet. We have to wait for Kelle's things and then Daniel needs to get his Echocardiogram done. Then we wait for nephrology to say....GO! Which, at our appointment last month they said they wnat to have it done by Sept 1st if we could. So I think they'll get us in there as soon as everything is ready! We are just amazed at the miracles we've seen and been able to participate in throughout this whole process. We are grateful to those of you who have prayed and fasted on Daniel's behalf. Please know that we know that they are been heard and answered! We avoided at least 3 surgeries that I can think of off the top of my head and many other 'little' witnesses along the way. Thank you!

Yet another Brycism!

Our family has been reading from the Book of Mormon. We are hoping to finish by the time the twins graduate from High School in 15 years! Anyhow, we are in 1 Nephi 12 when Nephi is being shown the vision his father, Lehi, saw. The angel showing Nephi the dream will say, "Look" and then Nephi says, "And I beheld...." and then he would tell what he saw. It is repeated over and over thru out this vision. So the other day I was telling Bryce he needed to get dressed and his clothes were on the back of the couch. I kept saying, "Bryce here are your clothes, time to get dressed." (He was watching TV.) So I finally said, "Bryce, Look!" Without even moving he said, "MOM. I beheld!"

Trying to Catch Up!

Sorry for the way behind blog! We've have been just crazy busy lately and the blog is one of the first things to be left behind! So we'll try and catch up on things that have happened over the last little bit!

This is a goofy picture of the family and the 4 older boys on their father/son camp out! They had a lot of fun! The twins stayed with me....but next year they are going! When they came home, Comptyn especially, was literally dirt from head to toe! That is the sign of a fun camping trip!

Yesterday Bryce had his Kindergarten Promotion. He is so excited to be a 1st grader! He was one of 4 kids who hoola-hooped! He is getting pretty good. They did a "hoop-ercize" in their class and he really picked it up fast! Tomorrow is Ryan & Comptyn's last day and then we are done for the summer! YEAH!

We have been having a TON of rainstorms (which is about unheard of around here) over the last 4-5 days. Last night when we pulled into our driveway, we saw this rainbow. So these are my 6 little pots of gold at the end of the rainbow!

I have updated Daniel's www.caringbridge.org (type daniellords in the spot of 'visit a caring bridge website') and his Blog at www.daniellords.blogspot.com. Each has information on his 'stuff' he has been going thru!

Is It Working Yet?

We've been having some contention in our home lately. Bryce just seems to have been intentionally mean and thinking it's funny. He grows use to the discipline we dish out. "Mom, that soap tastes like watermelon!" or "If I keep running I am going to be really fast, huh?" In fact, it was so bad that Bryce didn't get to celebrate his 6th birthday. No cake, no ice cream, no presents, nothing! In fact, he got pink eye on his birthday. I like to think that was a little help from above of reinforcing his punishment! :-)
Anyhow, Kevin's mom and I went to a Time Out for Women in Fresno over the weekend of Bryce's birthday. TOFW is put on by our church for (obviously) women. We had wonderful speakers, singers, food, etc! Kevin's sister came up from Salinas, CA and spent some time with use, too! We had fun! We were told how to get rid of 'mom guilt', how amazing we are even though we only dwell on the negative a lot of times, etc. I came away refreshed and feeling like I am not too bad of a mom! I went over with a prayer in my heart that I would find the answer to Bryce's problems! :-) Well I felt impressed to read directly from the Book of Mormon. 3 of the kids are reading now. We usually read from our Book of Mormon stories book and rotate that with the Old and New Testament stories. So we sat the kids down Sunday night and explained to them that we were promised by a prophet that if we read daily from the Book of Mormon as a family we would have the Spirit in our home, less contention and more love and unity. We were about 2 verses into the 1st chapter and Bryce whispered to me, "Mom, is it working yet?" I said, "Yes, Bryce. Can't you feel the love?" He shrugged his shoulders and said, "Sortof."
I have to admit, though, over the last 2 days, he has been doing a lot better! It's nice to be promised something and see the fruits of those promises!