Cedar City and Fun

We just got back, Sunday, from a visit with Laura and Adam in Cedar City. Mom and Dad tagged along and we all had a blast! We got to see Laura and Adam's apartment and how cutely decorated it is! They were the perfect host and hostess! We all ate very well and were always on the go! One of the things we did was take the three oldest girls on a hike south of Cedar City. Sorry, I can't remember the name of it, but it was fun and the girls, especially Shannon, were troopers because this was not an easy hike for little ones!




It started out easy and then we started to follow a creek up into a canyon that turned into a slot canyon. There was a rather unstable ladder (if you could call it that) that we had to climb up and that was an adventure in of itself!






Our destination was a natural waterslide that we promised the girls they could go down and true to their word, they went down the slide! And that water was FREEZING! Everyone went down the slide except for me and Dad. We enjoyed the warmth of our clothing! Shannon wanted to go down so badly! So Derek took her down, but she jumped into his lap which he wasn't ready for and they went right down into the water! Derek didn't have a chance to prepare himself so he could keep Shannon's head up out of the water, so she got a nice brain freeze and couldn't help but cry! I was impressed that she even wanted to go because, like I said, that was cold water!
Before her dunk!


Erin


Morgan
We had a little trouble getting back to the car without some protests from the girls, but overall it was a good hike! And thankfully Mom kept Lauren back at the apartment. Neither one of them would have enjoyed this hike!

summer ouchies

Wow this summer has flown by and I haven't been posting so here is a little update on a few of the things we're up to. Erin, apparently, reacts poorly to any kind of bug bite. One ,evening while I was at work, the girls went over to their cousins house and Erin was in her swimming suit still from swimming in our pool. So she took her shirt off and ran around in a swim suit and shorts. Not smart in Morgan county at dusk! This is the result.....





Then just a few days ago she was stung on the ear by a wasp and it gave her this result....




Not to be outdone, Lauren fell of a bench and split her ear open on Tuesday. It looked bad enough that I took her into the doctors and she ended up with 6 stitches! Poor thing! The doctor gave her 5 dumdum suckers for it though, so she made out like a bandit!






You can't tell from these pictures, but she took a chunk out of the rim of her ear and it's rather swollen. She won't hold still any more for me because she's a little leary as to what I'm doing. I was literally on top of the girl to keep her still so the PA could stitch her up. I layed my head on her while he was working and he asked if "mom was ok". I said I'm fine, I just had to work the night before. I have no problem with blood and stitches. I thought, "I see more blood than this at work!"

Hopefully we are done with the swollen body parts for the year and school starts next week, even though that doesn't guarantee an emergency room free year!

Adventures in babysitting!

This last weekend my sister in law was riding a motorcycle and broke her leg. She was taken to Davis Hospital and then transported to U of U to see a surgeon who specializes in the kind of break she sustained. This all happened Saturday and her husband was leaving town Tuesday for work and not getting home until the following Saturday. Guess who was going to be home? Me and my poor sister in law, Elise, who is expecting in Aug, here on her vacation time and sick. Lucky for us, we weren't the only ones feeling "under the weather". Almost all of the 11 children, we were watching together, had the cold in some form or another. We had 4 babies that were 1 year old and younger, one two year old, two 3 year olds, one 4 year old, two 5 year olds and then an 8 year old who was in school for most of the week. We were giving drops to 5 out of the 11 kids. All the babies were sick and wanting individual attention. Luckily, some good samaritans took a few kids out of the equation two days out of the week. This helped some, but we still felt overwhelmed! By the end of the week we were throwing in movies left and right...and PROUD OF IT! I'm pretty confident in saying that that was not how Elise imagined spending a good chunk of her vacation time. But we survived and, by a higher power, so did all of the kids!

more pictures of my girls.....

I had to take some updated picture of my girls a couple of weeks ago because they are growning up right before my eyes! The sunset and weather were perfect so I had to take advantage!

I love my new job!

I've had two days orientation so far, but I already know that I am going to love this job! I've started IVs on kids ranging from preemie, new born that day, to 17 years old. And apparently I'm pretty good! I seem to be better at it under pressure because we've had several kids who have already had other nurses try to get IVs on them and been unsuccessful. They call us in and as soon as we step in the room, the child is crawling up the wall! There is always two of us, because we usually need someone to hold the arm, leg, or head of the child so we can get the IV in. On a couple of cases we have needed two people holding the child down while I put it in! And the parents are there watching the whole thing. Luckily I've been able to get it in the first try! I actually had a room full of family, when putting in an IV for a 4 y/o, and just as I was about to put the needle in, the grandmother stood up and snapped some pictures! Not something I would think you'd want to put in the kids scrapbook for the memories!
I've been oriented on placing PICC lines which go from the forearm into the superior vena cava. I'll get to use ultrasound to place them, scalpels, lidocain, and then I get to suture it into place as long as the tip of the catheter is in the right place. We have to get an x-ray done in the patient's room to check that. I'm excited to try my first one, knowing full well that anything can happen! The one I saw placed went so slick that I got excited to try my first one. I know this probably sounds a little (or a lot) morbid to some, but I get a rush everytime I see that flashback of blood in the catheter and I'm able to advance it into the vein with ease. I know Annaleigh will agree with me, it's COOL!

I joined the work force!

I got the job I wanted at Primary Children's this week! I had an interview every day last week except Friday and was at the end of my rope trying to find sitters for my girls while I drove north to these interviews. PCMC was on Monday and I didn't think I had interviewed well. I don't do well with 3 other people on the other side of the table asking me questions about how I would handle stressful situations that I may come upon. I answered the best I could, but didn't feel well about it. I didn't hear from them until Tuesday, this week, and by then had told the hospice/home care center that I would take the PRN job as a case manager. I was worried about the scheduling for my family, but thought we might be able to work it out. When PC called I was ecstatic! It was scheduled time, and I could work my way into a full time position if I wanted to AND keep up my skills! I will be on the IV team and we are responsible for placing about 95% of the IVs and PICCs placed in the hospital. This is evidently a very respected team at the hospital and I'm really looking forward to improving my skills in this area! Yeah! I'm really excited to start! And I should be able to work night shifts on weekends and then sleep while Derek is home with the girls. Again, so excited!

Erin is baptized and lovin' it!

We were excited that Lauri, Jay, Kyle and Mark happened to be in town at the right time!


Most of the cousins that were there


The proud family of Erin N Kobe


I think Erin is glowing!


Erin was so excited for her day!

Today Erin was baptized as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints! She couldn't wait for this day to come. She was up before 6:30am because she was so excited! Her daddy was able to baptise her and confirm her on the same day. Derek gave a very short talk, (they say to keep it short for the kids, but I think the parents appreciate it too) then Erin's parents, Aunt Laura, Aunt Erin, Uncle Kyle and Uncle Trevor sang Dearest Children, God is Near You. There were three other children being baptized that day, one from our ward (another Aaron). Erin was the third to go and she looked so nice all it white (I need to get a picture or two from you Dad). We really appreciate the family support and love shown to Erin on her day! She was born into a great family if I say so myself! We then went to, as Morgan lovingly calls it, Chuck A Grandma, or as the rest of us would call it Chuck a Rama, at Erin's request of course! We were having an open house today and wasn't able to entertain at home afterwards. I have to say... I'm ok with that! I may just do it that way again for Morgan's...we'll see. It's been a good day, but everyone is beat! We did manage to go home long enough to change clothes. I sent Shannon upstairs to change her clothes and went to change mine. I then went upstairs to check on Shannon and she had fallen asleep on the floor in fetal position with one arm in her dress. I woke her up and she told me "I can't get my dress off!" So we'll just take a rest on the floor until Mom comes to help me! I should have taken a picture, but we were in a hurry to get out. Again, thanks to everyone who came and everyone who was there in spirit. It made Erin's day even more special for her! We love you all!