My Birthday....Sort of

Well, my 26th birthday was on March 28. I wasn't wanting to do much. After a while birthdays aren't that big of a deal. And I had already gotten my birthday present from Scott...a night out to see My Fair Lady at the Buell Theater here in Denver. Eric and Erica, who were up visiting, were so nice to watch our kids so that we could go! Thanks you guys!! The play was long, but so good!! It was just like the movie and the cast did great. I would love to see it again! So I had a great gift and just wanted to enjoy some ice cream and cake on my birthday with my family. However, like many things in life, things never go as planned. This is a picture I took myself of me with my cake that I ate alone on my birthday.Let me just say that I actually wasn't too disappointed. I was more worried about Katie, who was in the hospital with Scott. This was the first day of about 6 that she spent in the hospital during the following week. We'll start at the beginning...Katie started out with her usual cough and breathing troubles. We werent' too worried because she hasn't been getting very sick lately and we haven't had to use the nebulizer and albuterol for several months. We were hoping that she was growing out of her respiratory problems. Well, she continued to get worse, so I took her in to her pediatrician's office, expecting them to send me home with instructions to get the nebulizer back out and start her treatments. Unfortunately, 3 hours later I was still at the doctor's office with a tired, sick girl and a hungry, mad little boy. After several nebulizer treatments that didn't work we were sent to the emergency room with Katie on oxygen. Scott met me there and I took Jace home to go to bed. Poor Eric and Erica who were there to visit were starving and bored, so I sent them off to dinner, put Jace to bed, and ate my cake.
Katie was able to come home the next day (Saturday) because they thought she was doing a lot better. We were able to get this cute picture of the kids with Eric and Erica. I felt so bad that we couldn't do anything while they were visiting! But they were so great and were fine with going out and doing things on their own.
So...Katie did okay for a while. We kept her home from church on Sunday, but that evening she started doing badly again. She really struggled to breathe. It was kind of scary! Scott took her in, they tested her, didn't know what was wrong, and we decided to take her home so she could rest comfortably. They sent us home with instructions to call if she got worse. She did, and Scott had to take her in again at 1 in the morning. They decided to admit her and she was there until Thursday morning. They diagnosed her with RSV. For most people, this is just a cold, but for a few unlucky people, it gets into their lungs and causes respiratory problems. Since Katie is prone to getting respiratory infections, this was kind of a given. We are really hoping that she doesn't have asthma and grows out of this soon!
I felt so bad for Katie at the hospital...she was on oxygen the whole time because she couldn't keep it up on her own, and they had to wake her up every few hours to give her a breathing treatment. But despite all this, she did great and had fun playing with some new toys and watching lots of movies. The doctor's and nurses were great and we had a good experience at Children's Hospital at St. Joseph's.
Scott's mom came up to help us out, and Scott and I took turns staying the night at the hospital with Katie. We were so grateful to have Yvonne's help. I think it kept us sane. I wish I had pictures of her with the kids, but the week was so crazy I forgot to get the camera out when we were at home!
Katie is doing much better now and we just finished her breathing treatments today. The picture above shows all of Katie's get well cards. Lots of family and friends helped us out and we really appreciated all of the support...meals, phone calls, fun things for Katie...it was wonderful! We are mostly so glad to see her getting better and not have to work so hard to breathe. Having sick kids is definitely one of the hardest things about being a parent.
Jace also got sick, they think it was probably RSV too, but not nearly as sick as Katie. His was more like a cold, although he did get a high fever and a rash. Scott is also a little sick, as well as Eric and Erica...sorry you guys! But we are out of the worst and glad to have life going back to normal.

Some other great new...Scott passed his dental board exams!!! HOORAY!! We are so glad to have that over with and now we can concentrate on what lies ahead. Good job Scott!!!

Easter

We had a great time celebrating Easter in Idaho with our families. Katie and Jace had so much fun with their cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents. They just love all of their family! Katelyn had lots of fun hunting Easter eggs this year, and hit the jackpot with three of them!
The first was in Idaho Falls with Scott's family. Grandma Yo and Katie's cousin Tyson hid the eggs for all of the little girl cousins. It was fun to see them all running around looking for the eggs, passing by most of them in their rush and excitement. Katie really got into it this year and loved all of her candy and her lip gloss ring.

The next egg hunt was in Blackfoot at Jensen's Grove. It was a big community egg hunt with hundreds of eggs all over the grass. We should have known that she would not be too excited about running out in that big mass of kids. Those kind of things make her nervous. She ended up with only one egg, but a nice man came over and gave her a few more.


The third egg hunt was in at my parent's house. Every time she found an egg she let out this high pitched squeal of delight. She thoroughly enjoyed herself!

Jace was there, but didn't really participate of course, although he did find an egg or two on accident and liked shaking them and hearing them rattle. The best part about the trip was being with our families and we can't wait to live so close to them!

It's Official!!!

It is official...after graduation we will be moving to Idaho Falls, ID! Scott will begin working with Dr. Jay Harris at Harris Dental on July 1st. We are so excited to be back home and living close to our families! It's what we hoped for these past four years and we feel that we've really been given a great opportunity that will be so good for our family. There are so many mixed feelings right now...excitement for what lies ahead, but so sad to leave Denver and our great friends there who have become our family. We will sure miss everyone, but can't wait to begin living 'real life' in Idaho Falls!!

Happy 1st Birthday Jace!!

I can't believe it's already been a year! Time just keeps going by faster and faster! We celebrated Jace's first birthday today. His actually birth date is March 18, but we are going to Idaho tomorrow and all of his presents were already here in Denver. Here are some pictures of the fun event!

Jace opened presents first. He never really got into ripping off the paper, but Katie was more than happy to help out. She was physically unable to keep her hands away! But Jace didn't seem to mind...he was having lots of fun playing with the wrapping paper and looking at his new toys.

Jace got lots of fun stuff for his birthday! He and Katie had a blast all evening playing with his new toys!

I went all out (for me) and made a theme cake. It was a construction cake with oreo crumb dirt, chocolate cake boulders, and little construction vehicles. It was fun and easy to make, and I think it turned out pretty cute!

This is the end of my great cake! Jace demolished it even more after I took this picture. He loved the cool whip frosting and ate it by the handfuls. When he got tired of eating he began smashing. What a fun celebration!

Victory!!!

Boards are over!!! What a load off of our shoulders! I'm sure Scott was too busy to be very nervous, but I had a stomach ache all day today wondering how things went. I was so relieved when he called and said, "I'M FINISHED!!" Now we have to wait four weeks to get the results, but I'm sure he passed. So good to be done. Now it's smooth sailing to graduation on May 23.

It's a crazy kind of week...

I think Scott is feeling a little kooky right now as he is right in the middle of his boards exams. We can't wait until this weekend is over! There is so much anticipation and nervousness because so much is out of Scott's control...whether or not his patients will show up, what the 'grader' decides he likes or doesn't like...it's insane! Send a good thought and a prayer towards Scott this weekend...he'll appreciate all the help he can get!

Here is proof!

When I was tagged, I mentioned that I didn't think people really believed that I used to play soccer. So here are some pictures as proof that I really did...and that I even got to play, as shown by the muddy uniform! : ) I love soccer and have played since I was seven. It is the sport in my family. All of my siblings play or have played, and my dad is a die-hard soccer fan. I really would like to continue playing in adult leagues or indoor soccer tournaments, but with four knee injuries I am too nervous to risk another one.

This was my junior year when we won the conference championship against Portland State. It was cold and muddy, but it was one of my favorite games of my career.

Here's our pre-game lineup...I'm #6, the one with the knee brace.

My sister joined the team my senior year...she's #16. We had a lot of fun training and traveling together. Unfortunately, we didn't get to play together for long...I tore my ACL 6 games in and was out for the rest of the season. : (
Every time I look through my soccer pictures I feel a little sad because I miss it so much, although I don't miss the intense training that was my life for four years. I've traded soccer for family and I wouldn't trade back for the world!