Now that was a long week . . .(and so is this post)

We have had a some very busy weeks lately and I am utterly exhausted just thinking about it! Madison was heading to bed the other night when she started screaming. One of her frogs had passed on to the big lilly pad in the sky and she was quite upset. Maddy was too upset to attend the funeral which I quickly planned however, it was a nice deep sea service over the great white throne. I said a few nice words and sent "Lilly" on her way. Her brother "leaper" is now in mourning.

Our 20th wedding anniversary was upon us and we were going to celebrate.

We spent the majority of the day with our kids.

First we attended Cole's baseball game & Maddy had dance. . . because we are parents and still have to take care of them. (life still goes on even when milestones like this is there to celebrate)

Cole up to bat

he swings. . . and got a base hit. It was a beautiful day for a baseball game. I love the smell of a freshly groomed ball diamond and spending time with my family. (minus the panic attacks I have when Cole is up to bat or making a play, so I walk to the gas station for refreshments)

For the weekend we stayed at a hotel that had a slippery slide. I thought the kids would want to come down and hang out with us and swim. Only Maddy thought that would be a fun idea. She had a fun time but the place is geared a little more for the little, little kids.

Chillin in the Hot Tub

After we got rid of the kids for the evening :) Brett and I headed out to dinner and a movie. "Date Night" had been recommended to us. What a funny movie! It was a great weekend spending time with Brett as well as the kids! I am so happy to married to my best friend and glad we have been able to put up with each other for so long :) I look forward to growing old with this man!

Brett has been working out of town for the last several months and had to head back out on Sunday. So it's a busy day getting his laundry done, fixing dinner and preparing him for the week. Cole had not been feeling well either, puking quite a bit and having a major pain in his side.

Brett was headed for the warmth in Moab (yes they have an elevator)

Brett did a little four-wheeling while they were in Moab a few weeks ago - this is on top of Baby Lion's Back

So Brett was on his way to work (in a rented Penske truck) when about 2 hours later I realized he had left his wallet home. I quickly called him to inform him of the situation. Not quite sure what he was going to do, first he was driving without his license and did not have his credit card to stay at the hotel or eat. Operation "figure this out" went into effect immediately. I had to figure out how get him money and fast. . . learned about Western Union super fast and was so grateful for the nice Smith's employee who should have been closed but stayed to help me. During the time I was running around sending off money Maddy had called to tell me Cole was still puking and the pepto I had run to the store for earlier was not helping. When I got back home Cole asked me to take him to the Doctor. Now if you know Cole he is not one to ask to go see a doctor. He thinks he can handle most anything. I knew he hadn't been feeling well on and off the whole weekend but until Sunday I had just thought he had a migraine (which he gets often). He was crawling to the bathroom to puke because it hurt so bad to stand up straight. So I figured if he asked he must really not feel well. As I called to tell Brett we were headed to the ER he informed me the rented truck they were driving had broke down. Not really sure how I could have helped him and he was helpless as to how to help me either. As we were walking into the ER I realized how bad Cole looked. He was really hunched over and very peeked. They asked him 1-10 his pain level and he said an "8" I was surprised he was hurting that much. As soon as the nurse came in Cole was asking for a bucket. I have never seen so much come out of anyone, especially when I knew nothing had been going in. They immediately started with blood work and hooked him up to a IV and gave him some anti-nausea meds. He started to feel somewhat better from that. Then they started poking around on his belly and they found a spot that made him jump. The nurse came back in and told us they were waiting on the blood work to come back but that Cole was really dehydrated -no really? did you see him throwing up. I think I could have guessed that one! When the nurse came in to change his IV he let us know that Cole's levels were extremely elevated and he suspected we would be doing some sort of surgery (appendix, gall bladder) he wasn't sure, we would have to do a CT scan first.

They had him drink the special concoction so they could see what they needed to. He had a hard time getting it all down. The nurse told us if he felt like he was going to throw up they needed to come give him more anti-nausea meds. Cole thought he was going to loose it, we called the nurse and Nothing. They never came. That irritates me so much. He powered through the rest and fought the urge to budge. By the way, there is nothing on T.V. he made me watch some show about loggers and then there was really nothing else to watch except for Three's Company. After they brought him back from the CT scan we had several hours to just wait. Brett had safely made it to Moab but was only able to go about 52 MPH so the truck wouldn't keep stalling. He then began to feel helpless that I was at the hospital without him and we could possibly be looking at doing surgery and he was no where around.

When they finally came back in with the results of the CT scan they said they could not see anything that was inflamed: appendix/gall bladder so we would not be doing any surgery. Gave him some antibiotics and sent us on our way home. It was a late night/morning for us but we made it. I kept him home on Monday and we just took it easy and he was feeling much better. I sent him to school on Tuesday and about 11:00 a.m. he called and told me the pain was back. I had already been in contact with our pediatrician and had all his records transferred up to her so she would be aware of the situation. So when he called me I called them and they wanted to see him right away. She also found the spot on his side that made him jump. She had him do a jumping jack which he did and she said if it was appendicitis he would not be able to do that. She decided to run her own tests and compare to the hospitals. With all this blood work, it's a good thing he has great veins. She sent us on our way home as well. She called us later that evening with her findings. She thinks he is dealing with a kidney infection but wasn't 100% positive in that either. His levels that were high had come down which she was pleased with but he was on a major dose of antibiotics also so I am sure that is helping. Our pediatrician's husband is an internist so she had him look at his test results as well the next day and he didn't feel it was a kidney infection. So really there is not a answer as to what is wrong with him. He has not had the pain since the day I took him to the doctor and I hope to keep it that way.

It was also a crazy week with getting Madison everywhere she needed to be as well. She is such a great kid and extremely busy! My hat is off to those single mothers out there! It's a lot of work!!

Brett came home that week on Thursday. He called me at lunch time to let me know the truck had broken down and they were being towed home. Oh my- what an adventure that was for them! I wish I would have thought to have my camera ready to take a picture when I picked them up. There was this little tow truck with a big truck on the back and three men snuggled in front of the tow truck. When Brett and his coworker got in the car they both thought there were going to die, the tow truck driver was not very cautious and almost caused and accident coming down Spanish Fork canyon. Brett was very happy to be home!