KIDS CAMP- MOLLY and SADIE
Kenzie's big sister did a cute little Olympic themed, kids camp this week. Molly got to go on Monday. It was kind of funny because I spaced what time it was and looked at the clock at 8:55. Molly had five minutes to wake up and get ready and go. I rushed that little girl like crazy- she wasn't happy with me. We got her there at 9:15! I was pretty bummed that she was late, but we moved on. Then it came time to pick her up, I had set my alarm for 11:25, thinking it ended at 11:30 but luckily I looked at my phone and the flyer again and realized it actually ended at 11:00!! I hurried and texted Jessica, she was fine with it, but I felt kinda flaky. Fast forward to Tuesday, it was Sadie's turn. This time, I was a little more ready, she was up and excited to go and then I looked at the flyer one. last. time and here's the fun surprise. It actually started at 9:30!! On Molly's day too. So oddly enough- I had taken Molly 15 minutes early and then picked her up 15 minutes late! HA! Molly doesn't love that I did that, but I think it's pretty me like, so we're good :). They had so much fun! Balloon tennis, obstacle course- "we climbed up the rock wall and then went down the slide on their treehouse and then we jumped over the little pool noodles cuz they were arched and it was like hurdles, and then we got frisbees to throw in a hula hoop and we got three tries and had to get one of them in, and then bean bag toss with little torches and we brought them to little baskets, there's this little paper Maddie traced and we glued little tissues onto them." They both sounded like they had so much fun! 7-1-24--7-2-24
FHE- Movie Dinner- Emperor's New Groove
For family night we did a movie dinner to shake things up. We did Emperor's New Groove this time! It ended up being so much fun! We had Spinach Puffs, "Is everything on this menu swimming in gravy" beef tips, "pill bugs" (gummy worms), "Hit him on the head" broccoli, Cuzco's poison. Everyone loved the Spinach puffs, we'll be having them again! This was a success. 7-1-24
DATE WITH JACK
Jack chose to just go to lunch for our date and chose Wendy's! We went and had a nice lunch and got to talk a lot. Mostly about 7th grade coming up, which was fun. Then while we were talking we got on the subject of Legos (I had told him he should get a lego set instead of the wood jets at the air show, thinking they would have military aircraft lego sets, which they apparently do not, but Jack was fine with just finding something else) so we finished off our date with a trip to the Lego Store so Jack could spend his hard earned money on a Space Ship set. It was actually really cool and good size for how much it cost. We had a lot of fun. He's a fun kid to be with. 7-2-24
ERIKA DENTIST
This was a rough visit for Erika. She got a bunch of fillings. One more visit to go. 7-3-24
DATE WITH MOLLY
Molly and I got to go on our date on Wednesday. We went to the movie Despicable Me 4! We got a big ol' thing of popcorn that Molly regulated :). And we almost ate the whole thing. It was a lot of fun. I liked seeing Molly smiling at all the funny parts. Cute movie with a super cute girl. 7-3-24
4th OF JULY!!!
We had an awesome 4th of July this year! I loved it!! Erika and I got up early to get her to the 5K to warm up. We were pretty early so we stood around waiting for it to start. Finally Kate showed up and we were able to talk with her and Emily and they warmed up together. Erika did a great job! I was happy she was able to have fun with it. Her knees weren't even hurting which was awesome too! Good job Erika!!
After the 5K, we raced home to get ready for the parade. When we got home NOBODY was awake!! So kind of a mad dash to wake everyone, get them ready and go. I like to get there early rather than set out chairs/blankets to save seats. Our spot is never taken :). I mentioned that it would have been fun to have some cards to play with and Jack had the brilliant idea to run home and get his! So I let him! He came back with his rip stick and Erika's cards and we never even touched them after that :). But Jack felt pretty awesome I think. The Maughans showed up about the same time as Jack. The parade was a lot of fun. I realized while I was watching it that I don't really care what they have in the parade or how much candy the kids get (Travis was mentioning other parades that do more and are better) but I realized, I just don't really care about any of that. I like seeing OUR parade. It's our tradition. That's why I like it. I'm not picky about how it is. I love the military people that come through, that we get to stand up for the flag and for them. I love the school bands and color guards and cheer squads (kinda). I love thinking about how much I love this country and am so grateful for the blessings we have here. I like seeing a whole community together and enjoying something all together. And I LOVE the firetruck pics I get each year. I couldn't get Luke to go stand with everyone, but that's okay. And they did do anything real loud which was interesting. But I loved it all :). I also love watching my kids helping little kids get candy, stealing frisbees from short adults (Erika is so awesome), and being kids even when they are usually too cool for that. It's just the best. I'm happy with how it is. And I'm happy I was able to realize that. We got in our car, parked right behind us, and drove off right away with out any delay- kinda cool :). I love our spot!
After the parade we came home and sat. It was kinda nice. Jack had chosen to ride his rip stick home too, which was fun! I had to get all the salads ready for our barbecue. We ended up cleaning up a little and got things all ready for our barbecue at 5:00. Charity and Hunter showed up and we had a nice little dinner. Molly made our flag fruit tray, I did Ramen salad and pasta salad that nobody ate. Nate made pulled pork and we had Charity's watermelon and chocolate chip cookies. So fun!! The kids all ate out on the basketball court which was fun.
After dinner we went over to Barnes Park for the pre-firework fun. We bumped the volleyball around for a while, then the kids played Spike Ball, we got to play a few rounds of Anomia- Charity loves that game, we talked quite a bit- I got to have a long convo with Charity which was nice. Jack was practicing jumping over the camp chairs :). The Maughans showed up and everyone had fun doing all the fun stuff with them. Nate spoiled us all with cotton candy and light sabers for the little girls. It was so fun to have Nate with us for the fireworks. He had worked all day so he didn't get to do the rest of the day. The fireworks were amazing! Sadie had Charity covering her ears for the first part and then began enjoying it thanks to Nate's fun antics. It was a fun night. We ended up just playing around for about an hour after, til the traffic started to move and then got right out of there. We were exhausted when we got home, but had so much fun. Happy birthday, America!! 7-4-24
DATE NIGHT
We went to Slapfish again :). My choice. And then to see the movie Fly Me to the Moon. I really liked the movie, but I don't know why- HAHA! It was entertaining. It left me questioning the controversy of faking the moon landing more than confirming it for me. But that's okay. I don't really care. But it was a fun movie. 7-5-24
BAPTISM- MILO WIBERG
Nate and I both got to go to Milo's baptism together. Nate conducts the ward baptisms and now that I am in the primary I feel like that's the green light to go to the baptisms :). I love baptisms. The Spirit just washes over the whole room as they are dunked! So cool! I loved the talk about treasures and putting them in a cute box was so fun. And I got to sit with Nate for a minute. And visit with Kris Pederson. Kinda fun. During his confirmation the word "receive" really stuck out to me. We really do have to "receive the gift of the Holy Ghost". It's not something that is just put upon us. We have to choose. And I believe that choice is not just made in that moment when we are confirmed. It is a daily choice to have the Holy Ghost as our constant companion. Then in the blessing his dad said the word, "recognize" and I loved thinking about how important it is to recognize the Spirit in our lives. I want to get better at pointing those times out to my kids too. So cool. 7-6-24
SATURDAY EVENING ROAD TRIP
We were going to go pick up Kelly (she was working in South Carolina) at the airport at 9:00 so my joke of taking some of my leftover salad to Becky became a reality. Along with some of Nate's meatballs and mashed potatoes. But it did end up going slightly different than I had planned. I ended up talking on the phone to Steve much later than anticipated and we didn't get out the door til 8:10!! But it was going to be okay since Kelly's flight was supposed to be late, so we made it work. Just shortened our visit with Becky a little and then headed over to the airport. This is when it became a road trip! We were driving around, in circles basically, at the airport for almost an hour and a half! So crazy! I had no idea just how late her plane was and then they had even more issues when they landed, so even longer. But it was fine- Jack, Molly, Sadie and I kept ourselves pretty entertained considering the circumstances. It was almost fun. The joy that fills the car when Kelly gets in is amazing though. So cute how much everyone loves Kelly. She's such a fun sister. We're glad we get to have her here for about 18 hours! HA! 7-6-24
PRIMARY
I'm still getting in a groove with Primary- trying to figure out how I want to do everything, ,but it is still taking me the entire time to get things done. Kinda crazy. I just run around the entire time. I feel a little disruptive and wish I could just sit and enjoy the kids, but I'm sure things will get better as I get the hang of it. 7-7-24
GOODBYE KELLY, AGAIN
I got to drive Kelly back to BYU after church. She has one more week there and then a week off. We're all a little nervous for how her week at BYU will go since her first one was the worst one of the summer. Hopefully it's better. She had a coworker who needed a ride up to Weber, so we volunteered. Thankfully Erika was with me, but we talked to Sam all the way there. Even though his voice was gone- oops. It was nice to spend the time with Erika too. We'll be counting down the days til we get to see Kelly again. 7-7-24
PHONE CALL WITH BRAD
This was a fun phone call. Brad was anticipating his transfer news for the first half of the call and then distracted by the news for the rest :) HA! So cute. He is getting transferred to a place called Umacollo in Arequipa on Wednesday. He is being made ZL as well. We're excited for him. He sounded pretty pumped too. He's going to be sad to say goodbye to Moquegua and the members and friends there, but he knows "that's the mission". So he's toughing it out. He's happy with who will be taking over his area. I'm really proud of him and his positive attitude. He will be with a "gringo" so his Spanish is "not going to get any better". But he sounded really excited about the transfer for the most part. We all got a good laugh at Molly's filters- she was being so funny. Glad to see her smile. 7-7-24
NOT A GOOD DAY
We were supposed to have a combined party for Alyssa and Sadie today. A couple weeks ago we solidified plans for a party at the splash pad (Heidi was not wanting to spend money to go swimming like Sadie wanted). It was a simple party, Sarah and the grandparents would be there though, so it was going to be fun. Then the night before Heidi magically had passes to the rec center so she started a text to me and Sarah about going there. I had already planned a different swiming party for Sadie later in the week. I really didn't want to spend another $50 to go to the rec center- it's not my favorite. So I said it wasn't really in our budget. So they just scooted us out of the picture, said lets just meet at the park for food (which was funny because the whole reason I had picked the 4:00 start time for the splash pad was because I didn't want to have to do food), but whatever, dinner and cake is what Heidi's text said. Heidi had just taken the whole thing over. I was having pretty bad cramps all day Sunday and all night- couldn't sleep at all- and they were taking over Monday as well. Nothing was helping it was so crazy. I don't think I've had it that bad in a long time. So I was not really in the mood to be with people anyway. I ended up canceling and said we weren't gonig to make it and of course Heidi's response is , "did you already make the cupcakes? I can come pick them up" Like she's doing me a favor. Little brat. But anyway. Super annoying day- telling Sadie the plans were cancelled. It was nice of Sarah to come over and spend some time with us after swimming. Hopefully the rest of their visit goes okay. 7-8-24
SADIE'S BIRTHDAY CELEBRATING
We realized that if Nate and the kids left midday on Sadie's birthday, they would be able to squeeze in another backpacking trip. So we kind of shifted Sadie's birthday back, to start at noonish on Wednesday the 10th instead :). We took everyone swimming at Farmington pool for her fun activity. Grandma Hatch came too! This was fun. Then we came home, had our Primary activity, and then back home for a "family party" for her! Charity and Hunter came for the party along with Grandma and Simon. It was a nice time. We had sliders (I tried the big sheet pan of different sandwich combos- worked really well!) and fruit and chips. I think Sadie had a good time :). She has had some pretty high expectations for her birthday and we didn't deliver on some of them, but she's handled it all pretty well. I've been proud of her. She got lots of fun presents from Grandma and Charity. Decked out her whole bike! After that we had a movie night. Then Thursday, bright and early (after Dad had all the backpacking stuff situated) we gave Sadie her gift from us! We gave her a trip to Build-A-Bear! She was so excited and I don't even think she knew where she was going. It was pretty cute. She picked a cute chameleon (after deciding against the Pikachu). She was adorable filling it up with stuffing and picking out the fold out bed and shirt for it. Also a stuffed pickleball/paddle. Kinda funny. After build-a-bear we stopped at 7-11 for our free slurpees! So fun!! Then it was time to say goodbye to the kids and Nate. I didn't want Sadie's birthday to end there though and it was just she and I, so I treated it a little like a Yes day and kind of let her call all the shots. We went to Walmart to get her much anticipated booster seat! She was BEYOND excited to get a booster seat when she turned five. I'm not even sure where she heard that that was a thing. She got to pick out a new backpack and some shoes for when school starts too. She was very easy going about everything she picked. I hope she actually likes it all. After Walmart she wanted to get some lunch at Carls Jr. So we did that :). We were a little tired after lunch so we came home for a little quiet time watching a movie. She actually just let us chill for quite a while. We did go on a walk and to Ponds Park for a minute. It was SO HOT this week it was hard to get out and do much. As we were watching the movie, she asked if we could go to a movie, so we did! We went and saw Despicable Me 4. That was a lot of fun. We came home and had our grilled cheese sandwiches that she requested the night before and then went on a walk to Ponds Park. It was a good day. I think she was good and spoiled. I loved having her so happy all day. We had to come down from the birthday high on Friday, but I think it was worth it. 7-10-24--7-11-24
FRIDAY
Friday was meh. Sadie was not happy with all my no's and there wasn't anything really exciting on the agenda. She did get to go over to Owen's while I went to Gloria Ferguson's funeral. But she kept asking if I would take her somewhere. She really just wanted to be driving around in her booster seat all weekend. We went to Barnes Park for a minute and she overheard a mom suggesting to her daughter that they go to the gas station and get a treat and about five minutes later Sadie came over with a great idea- let's go to a gas station and get a treat! She had no idea what a gas station was, we went to the Maverik right there, so pretty close- she asked why we didn't just walk HA! I suggested that she could get a cooler treat if we just went to a grocery store and she liked that idea, so we did that instead. She picked out TicTacs. There were lots of walks, movies and tantrums. We had to hit Carls Jr. one more time for dinner after grabbing me a CafeRio salad. Sadie was so talkative and so much fun to be with. Love that little girl. 7-12-24
GLORIA'S FUNERAL
I LOVED Gloria's funeral. It was so perfect. She really was an amazing lady. I wish I'd known her better. But I did love hearing all about her. She was a very determined person. Kept commitments and set goals. I loved the lessons her grandkids talked about. She sounded like a really fun grandma. I loved hearing about how she was for the YW in Africa. She would have been such a fun YW leader. I really loved the messages from Shawn and Kiera- they did a great job and shared fun stories. Ike's talk was fun too- he talked a lot about marriage and how to take care of a spouse. I loved his talk. He's amazing also. Don't count the wrinkles or flaws in your spouse. So cool. I tried to sit by my dad, but his cousin came and sat between us and then called me his wife. Weird. She's funny. I forgot her name. Then my dad left early as well. It was cool though. Thanks Lisa, for watching Sadie. 7-12-24
SATURDAY
Sadie and I did our best to clean up the house Saturday morning and to make things pleasant to come home to and then we quickly whipped up some rice krispie treats- we sort of made them together. Sadie said she was making them with me, but kind of wanted to be doing other things at the same time and then she was disgusted with how quick and easy it was and that means it is boring. She's funny. They were the fluffiest rice krispie treats I've ever made. It was so fun when they all started walking in the house, all concerned with how bad they must smell. I didn't really notice. We hugged everyone, heard some stories as they took turns showering and then as I was starting to fold a load of laundry Charity and Kelly walked in! It was a really fun afternoon just sitting around chatting with Charity and sometimes Hunter. Kelly konked out on the couch- she had her favorite week of FSY so far at BYU and was exhausted. Steve stopped by with an injured bird that ended up dying a few minutes after he left, but it was fun to chat with him as well. Just a nice relaxing Saturday! My kind of day. We got pizza for dinner- I loved chatting with Luke as we waited for the gf pizza at Dominoes. Then we took a little walk to the park to end the day. Well, and we had a movie night. We watched Gran Tourismo- such a cool show. I think the kids liked it! Good times!! 7-13-24
TRUMP SHOT
We just found out that someone shot at Trump at a rally in PA and hit his ear, but killed someone else and injured another person. So weird. The only other Presidential candidate to be shot at was Joseph Smith! In the history of the US. Kinda crazy. Not sure where the conspiracy is here, wish I had more info that I knew was correct. We'll see how it plays out. 7-13-24
FAMILY MEETING
We made it to the meeting this month! Pretty proud of that. We heard about Jared's family's experience with trek and then read some stories from ancestors. Pretty cool. Then it was time for Brad to call so we left! 7-14-24
PHONE CALL WITH BRAD
This was a fun one hearing about his new area. He's now in Umacollo in Arequipa. It sounds like a bit of culture shock with how nice the homes are and the paved roads. He's got someone who cooks for him and someone who does laundry. Kinda cool. I'm excited to hear how it goes. The ward is huge. He said people were asking to get baptized. It sounds interesting! I hope he ends up loving it as much as Moquegua. His comp is Elder Manwaring from Arizona who is wanting to walk on to the BYU football team so he has special permission to workout for a whole hour everyday. Kinda funny. Brad is very excited about that. 7-14-24
LETTER FROM BRAD- Out of the Boonies
Holy absolutely insane week. Flew by so fast but at the same time felt like last week was forever ago. But its so weird because since my last email everything has changed completelyyyy.
My house isn't just this tiny little room anymore we actually have a massive mission house with a kitchen and actual rooms along with 3 bathrooms. My comp is Elder Manwaring from Arizona and hes boutta go home soon so I already know I'm gonna be here for a minute. I'm in this area called Umacollo. Basically its the center of the city. Completely different from Moquegua because there's not a single building taller than 2 floors there and here they're all massive. There's absolutely 0 dirt roads too they're all nicely paved and taken care of. The mission office is like the center of my area so I can just walk over and poke my head in to say hi to President. Our ward is a legit actual ward. They have about 250 active members and it was so crazy seeing so many people at church before the sacrament. There's actually a couple people from my past areas which is super fun.
This week we just decided to get everyone started early and get them hyped for this transfer so we did exchanges everyday and I haven't slept in my own bed yet hahaha. Super exciting though because it was fun being with so many Elders in so many areas. They were very successfull so that was good.
This ward is crazy because the members just be bringing their friends to church and the friends just wanna become members and get baptized so we were just running around getting everyone's numbers that showed up. This area is so insane. Actually hyped to be here for the next couple months.
I've been thinking a lot about how we can get our friends to asist church more so they can partake of the sacrament and I've realized there's one huge part that everyone forgets when it comes to our salvation. We teach very well the baptism covenant, the sacrament, gift of the holy ghost... those things we can all teach very well. But something that people seem to forget is we are saved on means of repentance. That we go to church to show our faith and repent. We take of the sacrament or don't take of the sacrament as a way to repent. That if we don't repent we wont be able to live in the celestial kingdom with our heavenly father. That through our faith in Christ and acting on that faith through repenting; or, turning towards christ and away from sin, by asisting church and partaking of the sacrament we are able to recieve those promised blessings and recieve the gift of eternal life. I think if we can understand that really asisting church and partaking of the sacrament is part of our daily repentance and that the sacrament is genuinely something we NEED we wont be missing it anymore. So go take the sacrament.
Sorry this weeks email was rough next week will be betta
I'll send the pics in a second too
7-14-24
MUELLER PARK WITH GRANDMA AND THE HATCHES
The Hatches are in town and we are excited for the plans we have this next week with them. We met up with them, grandma, Simon and Heidi with her kids at Mueller park on Monday for some hotdogs and goodies. We beat Grandma there, but it was a really good time. We followed the shade around the little picnic site. Everyone seemed pretty entertained by the water and the cousins. It was a lot of fun. 7-15-24
LINDON AQUATIC CENTER
For our next hang out with the Hatches, we met up at Lindon Aquatic Center for some fun. It was a scorching hot day, so we needed the nice cool water slides and lazy river to keep cool. I had a lot of fun rounding the lazy river with whoever was in at the moment. It was fun to watch Luke and Noah and everyone was having so much fun. We were unable to find Sadie's life jacket so grandma grabbed her one while she was getting Porter's. It was a good day. I liked being able to talk with Sarah quite a bit and watching Aria's moods play out with her snow cone and ice cream cone :). Funny stuff. We had a great time. Nate had shown up at about 3:00 to pick up Jack to take him home to LIam's birthday party. On our way home, Luke, Noah, Erika, Molly, Sadie and I all stopped for some Wendy's. The boys all needed to get their stuff over to the church for camp! 7-16-24
LUKE'S BIG OWIE
After showering from the pool, Luke and Noah quickly left to go play basketball with some friends at Barnes Park. It felt pretty soon after, but maybe not, but they came walking in the door together and Luke was holding his shirt up to his head. They were both pretty casual about telling me about it. Luke's friend Adrick had come down on him with his elbow to Luke's forehead on accident. I took one look and knew it needed some extra attention. It was a big ol' gash in the point of his forehead. I was a little bummed at first thinking I'd have to go sit in an urgent care/ER somewhere for the night, but then I got the idea to call Brent. Maybe it didn't need stitches. Lucky for us Brent mentioned that stitches would leave a really ugly scar with holes and I thought about Jack's from when he was little (we had no choice, that had to be stitched up). So after a long call with Brent and a trip to Walgreens, we got some iodine, butterfly bandages, and some sticky foam tape (this was my idea) and went to work. Thankfully Kelly was here to help squeeze the wound together so that I could place the bandages. It looked pretty good with the butterflies and then I slapped some foam tape over it- it was SUPER STICKY! I almost wish I'd been able to use it directly on the wound. Brent emphasized the need for it to be really sticky to hold the wound all the way shut. It made me nervous but Brent reassured me it would be okay. We had a funny joke about how calling him is much cheaper than an ER visit and that even the iodine was cheaper than an ER visit so I had to send him some candy bars and address it to: Brent Hatch (aka: cheaper than an ER visit) for funzies. I'm very grateful for his expertise and that things are easier because of him. At camp the second day, while I was in the hospital with Noah, Luke's bandages started to come off, so Nate had to re-apply all the stuff again and the picture he took of it while it was open looked SO GOOD! I was pretty proud of us. By a week it looked completely healed and you can almost not tell it happened. 7-16-24
VISITING COURTNEY AND BRIGGS
I finally made it over to meet Courtney's new baby. This was exciting. I loved talking with her. Her comment about Mormon Moms being born with an innate ability to mother was interesting and has stuck with me. I'm really excited for her to experience motherhood though. I hope she enjoys it. 7-17-24
NOAH'S LEFT PONTINE STROKE- THE WHOLE STORY
I'm not sure if I should do a play by play of this or just a highlight reel. We'll just see how it goes. On Wednesday, around 3:00 while I was taking a little cat nap with Sadie, I got about 10 texts that woke me up. It was Nate. Noah had been playing on a slack line at camp and fallen off.
His texts:
Noah hurt himself. I need some help
I didn't see it
But he fell onto his back from a few feet high. Two or three.
He's sitting by me and I've given him a lot of cold water to drink
I think he might be in shock
He's able to answer all my questions
He seems agitated a little and it seems like he's not able to exactly identivy what's wrong. He keeps saying "weird" a lot.
His eyes are red like he's been crying, which he kind of has but not sobbing. I can tell he's in pain
He didn't hit his head
I've got him at a picnic table and told him to keep his head down
So you can imagine my surprise and worry. Thankfully Nate called and we were able to talk about his situation. It was hard to know what happened since he had not hit his head. I was mostly unsure of what could be wrong and Nate didn't seem to think I should pick him up. So after we talked, and I asked him to send me some video, I called Brent. It was funny because he assumed I was calling about Luke's cut from the night before. Brent thought it was probably nothing, but didn't see the harm in taking him to the ER for a brain bleed check. I wasn't feeling like that was necessary, but then I saw the videos Nate sent. As soon as I saw those, I was figuring out a way to go pick him up. It was right then that Erika and Molly wanted to come home and for some reason, I still don't know why Kelly was home so early, Kelly was here when we got back. This is one of our miracles. I showed Kelly the videos and she was feeling as urgent as me to get him to the hospital. So I left everyone in Kelly's hands and raced up to the campground- Camp Zarahemla, in Morgan- and could not get there soon enough!! I stopped at a gas station for some ice- at Nate's request- and then pulled up to the camp. Luke and Nate were standing with Noah and helping him walk- this looked way worse than I thought. Nate proceeded to tell me that he was unable to walk and was feeling weakness or numbness in his right hand. I started to freak out a little inside. Then Noah got in the car and announced that he felt like he was going to throw up and Brent's words, "If he has a seizure or throws up, that's a 911 call!" So I politely asked Noah to hold the throw up for 31 minutes until we could get to the hospital. He did so good in the car!! Didn't throw up at all. Even stayed awake for most of the drive, just listening to his music because he didn't want me to talk to him. He was really irritable and confused. He told me the reason he didn't want to talk was because his mouth was numb and wasn't working right. But it did feel like he was having a hard time finding the words. But anyway. We raced to McKay-Dee Hospital. Got there around 6:00. I parked in the ER drop off, I assisted Noah with walking, putting his arm around me and we hobbled into the ER. They just stared at us for a minute. Noah was really feeling nauseous so he said something and then I felt like holding him standing up was a bad idea so I asked for somewhere to put him. They offered up the seat where they would do his blood pressure and such. They did give him a barf bag, but he never ended up using it. They seemed like they were listening to the list of symptoms I gave them (dizziness, numbness on his right side, confusion- I specifically said he hadn't hit his head) and then quickly took him back to be looked at. He had a lot of doctors come in, lots of people doing a lot of things really quickly. They got him some antinausea meds, they installed a neck brace, they took his shirt off, got him hooked up to all the monitors, had me sign consent for the CT scan, and then whisked him away. They brought him back, did ultrasounds on all his vital organs and a chest x-ray. As soon as they saw the results from the CT, they took off the neck brace, announced it was a concussion. They told us they were going to let us go home. I sat there a little stunned because I didn't feel like that was it. And we sat there for quite a while before they gave us the discharge forms and told us we could leave. I asked them specifically what I was supposed to do about his right side not really working and the MA (I assume) said, "Oh that will go away, just give it some time." So I grabbed the scrip for antinausea meds and we hobbled back out to the car. Feeling very unsure. I was glad there wasn't a brain bleed, but this seemed like more than a concussion. He was moving just like Gentry. So we stopped for some Jimmy Johns on the way home. Got home around 8:30, hobbled up the stairs in the quickest hobble I think I've ever been part of. I don't know how we got up there in one piece, he was SO anxious to get in his bed. Poor Kelly came into the room to find out how it all went and he quickly grumbled, "Please just leave!" He did not want to talk to anyone or look at anyone. It was so not him. He laid down and we left the room. I was pretty nervous about him and didn't feel like anything was settled, but I was trying to be patient. They said it would go away. He did end up taking a few bites of his sandwich later that night, we talked about him being able to go back up to camp tomorrow if he was feeling better. I was trying to be positive. He laid down and every time I checked on him in the night, he was wide awake, just laying there. It was very unsettling and several times, I had weird waking sessions where I woke up really worried about him and had to check on him. I asked him one time if he wanted to go downstairs and watch a movie or something. He really didn't want to do anything and still really didn't want to talk. He did not seem to be getting better at all. The next morning, I woke up at 5:00 and could not get back to sleep. I showered and then I started researching what could be wrong with him. Surprisingly he was sleeping in which isn't like him and I was glad he was finally sleeping, so I decided to try not to worry until he did wake up. But at about 10:00 I had the thought that maybe he shouldn't be sleeping!! Luckily, he woke up then and had all of his same symptoms. I helped him down the stairs. He tried to eat a pancake, I think I cut it up for him. But I was completely unsettled. There was no way this was normal and going to go away on it's own. I just didn't know where to take him. Ironically, Shelly Last was texting asking how Luke was doing (he had hurt himself with the water balloon launcher- I hadn't heard about that one) and we ended up talking about Noah's symptoms. She works at a physical therapist office and was able to talk to her doc about Noah. He suggested a concussion doc (we were still thinking it was just a concussion). I had tried calling the pediatrician, just to get someone to look at him and the soonest they could get him in was 4:00. So I tried this referral and they weren't answering phones at all, and only promised to return my call within a few business days, so that wasn't helping. It was so crazy. I really was about to lose my mind because I had no idea what to do with him!! I called Nate and he was helpful. I just couldn't do anything else. Finally I texted Brent again and was able to fill him in on a few more of the new symptoms- the right side weakness wasn't quite a thing when we talked last- and his response was "He needs an MRI. Take him to the ER". So I asked, "Why didn't they do anything about it yesterday??" Brent said, "They were just looking ofr a head bleed at the time I would take him to Primary Children's Hospital" And I annoyingly said, "I asked them about his immobility and they said it would go away" To which Brent repeated, "He needs an MRI". This was all I needed. I loaded Noah up in the car, woke up Erika to be in charge since Kelly was still asleep, and then drove up to Primary Children's Hospital hoping they even let me in. I was under the impression that you had to be referred there. So I drove up to the ER drop off, we hobbled into this ER, and within a few seconds of walking in the door, one of the guys says, "You look like you could use a wheelchair. Let me get you one." And I about melted. I felt like we were finally in the right place!! They immediately started looking at him and got his vitals as I spoke to the triage nurse. They listened so closely to everything I said. They noticed the drooping face and immobility right away. They warned me that when we get back to our room we will be swarmed with doctors and nurses and that if I needed anything to speak up. And that's exactly what happened. It was SO NICE to have him under their care. They were shocked to learn that McKay-Dee had discharged him in this condition, but quickly went and got the CT scan in the cute pirate room. They did both kinds of CT scans and repeated a few of the things they had done at McKay-Dee. Then took him down for an MRI. I was SO RELIEVED!!! Sure enough, the MRI showed that he had a left pontine infarction- I was told it was a clot by one doc and then another doc corrected me (saying it was not quite big enough to be called a clot, but basically a small clot) when I called it a clot, so that was funny, but same thing! They got him some aspirin and then wanted to do an EKG to check out his heart. That showed a few things they weren't happy with so they ended up doing an ECHO on his heart as well. This was actually really cool and fun to watch as they pumped the bubbles into his vein and we could see the bubbles go into the left side of his heart and nothing went over to the other side. The only hard part about this was they were helping a student learn how to use the ultrasound machine for about 20 minutes and then the rest of the time, almost 45 minutes total- they were doing the tests. It was good they were thorough. They didn't find anything wrong with his heart thankfully. We ended up sitting there for quite a while, waiting for them to move him to Neurology floor, and this was a challenge for Noah. We talked a little, but he still wasn't really able to talk. He needed to pee but they wanted a pee sample so they were having him pee in the hand held urinal thing. It was difficult to say the least. He couldn't pull his pants down and push the urinal thing in them at the same time. I was really nervous about going too far and making him feel uncomfortable. It was tricky! He kept putting it off but eventually couldn't hold it anymore. We had to make do and I ended up pulling his pants down from behind so he could hold the urinal in the front. I didn't see anything. So pretty magical. This was one of those things that made me sit and think about what I was going to do if this paralysis didn't go away.
The sequence of events gets a little shady from here on out. They moved us up to the 2nd floor to Neurology. There were a lot of really nice doctors and nurses there. Noah was able to get up and with assistance walk to the bathroom from the first time there. That was nice. The first night there, Nate, Charity, Kelly and Erika all came to visit and THIS was the turning point for his speech. I was so grateful and also a little jealous that he hadn't snapped out of it for me. But just having their smiles and laughter- I hope I never forget him tearing up as he saw them walk in the room. It was a turning point. From that evening on, his language improved significantly!!
Thursday night was a weird one. He was having a hard time falling asleep and every time he did, he would stop breathing. We had propped him up because he was also having a hard time swallowing his spit and struggled to breath then, but this was really getting annoying because when he stopped breathing his heartrate would drop and then the alarms would all go off. Poor guy couldn't sleep at all. They sent in some docs to check him out in the middle of the night, and they did basically nothing except offer to move him to the ICU, but after they left he was doing just fine. Kinda funny. He didn't sleep well until the last night for some reason.
By Friday they had sent in the swallowing therapist and he passed his tests pretty quickly. He was cleared to eat real food finally. This was nice. He loved his fish crackers that first night. As soon as Noah learned that his recovery depended on him wanting it, he was all over it! He started opening all of his snacks and trying to do everything he could with his useless limbs. It was pretty cool how quickly he regained a good amount of usage. Friday was his pooping day. He hadn't pooped for days. Probably because of the stroke but also because he wasn't eating much. But I had told him that that would help with his progress, so he worked really hard and was able to finally poop!! He yelled, "Oh YEAH!" from the bathroom when he finally got it out of there. He continued the improve on everything the whole five days we were there. Trying new things and practicing them. Walking, pushing buttons on his remote, feeding himself, texting (still needing some help here), shooting a basketball! (on Sunday they could tell he was getting really restless and gave him a basketball hoop to hang on the door and then brought another one while we were out) He looked like a regular teenager walking the halls. If he hadn't had all the IV's and such hanging off him he would have passed as a visitor! He had a lot of visitors while he was there- the little kids and Nate came almost every day. Charity and Hunter spent Saturday and Sunday all evening there. Meg and Sam, she brought some fun toys for Noah. Grandpa Hatch and Jo. Grandma Hatch and Simon. The Maughans had brought over a little gift bag for Noah and I and the fam brought that up with some snacks and crossword puzzles and thinking putty. And all the while we were in the hospital we had friends, family and neighbors texting asking what they could do, bringing over meals, goodies, thankfully Brooke babysat that first night. It was so incredible to have so much help and love and support. I was SO PROUD of Noah the entire time. This kid didn't complain once. He never seemed to get too discouraged and was very positive and hoping for improvements the entire time. He didn't even complain about the food. It wasn't the greatest for some reason. He was pretty fascinated with the lack of craving food that he was having and Kelly looked it up and realized that the part of his brain that was affected was the part responsible for cravings. Kinda funny. We found out Friday that we were most likely going to be there for the whole weekend and that was a bit of a downer for both of us, but again, Noah didn't complain at all. We watched a lot of movies. He practiced his handwriting on the whiteboard- everyone did for that matter :). He was so proud of his "Monday" under the section on the board that said, "What is most important to you right now?" He was pretty funny about that. He was really nice to everyone who came in the room, thanking them and being very polite. He was fun to joke with again and able to talk almost perfectly by the end of the stay.
Saturday, Nate came to be with Noah so that I could run home and shower. This was a nice little break. I needed a shower so bad. Unfortunately there weren't a lot of clean clothes or towels, but it was still good. Luke and Jack came home while I was waiting for Molly to get home from Jonah's birthday party. Just as we were about to leave for the hospital I got a text from Richelle that said, "Chick-fil-a will be there in a half hour!"' So we waited about 20 minutes and then grabbed the food and ran. It was so much food and so nice of her!!! Noah was talking about that chick-fil-a sandwich after his sedation a few days later- HA! Of course they came and did all the physical and occupational therapy while I was gone!! I was gone for three hours and that's when they chose to do everything!! They discontinued fluids on Saturday too, which meant, no more tower to wheel around everywhere.
On Sunday, we decided to go up to the 3rd floor for church and as we were sitting there waiting for it to start we were asked to give the opening and closing prayers. It was hard to see all the kids in there. Knowing that some of them live there at the hospital and may not ever get better. So sad. But it was a cool meeting. Noah saying the prayer was pretty exciting- two days before he would not have been able to do that. It was fun to have Charity and Hunter with us at church. The Spirit there was unmistakable. I loved seeing the deacon in the wheel chair passing and being able to enjoy that Priesthood responsibility regardless of his situation. Nate and the kids had met up at Mueller Park to hang out with Grandpa Hatch and the Hatches and Heidi and then came to the hospital so we could all be there for Brad's phone call. This was kind of hard, I felt bad we hadn't told Brad and he kept reminding us that we could email him, but I think it was the right way to handle it. Noah was looking good and talking just fine by then, so it was nice for him to get to talk with Brad and Brad could see that he was doing pretty well. Sunday night was his best night! He woke up feeling so good!
Monday we were so anxious to get out of there!! This was the hardest day I think as far as time passage goes. It was so slow. We took a little walk, going all the way downstairs and OUTSIDE believe it or not, and Noah did great! There wasn't a whole lot to see or do, so we lost interest quickly and I do think Noah was getting a little tired. So we went back to the room. Didn't kill as much time as we had wanted. They told us around 10:00 that they had scheduled his MRA for 3:30. So we were baby stepping to then. While Noah was napping I went down and had lunch with my friend Sherry- coincidentally we had planned to hang out that morning before we knew Noah was going to be there, but she had an appointment there as well, for her daughter. It was so funny that we were both there at the same time. When I got back up to his room, Noah woke up and then a few minutes later they surprised him with the news that they were doing his MRA early! Wahoo!! They took us down- Noah insisted on walking, while the nurse pushed the bed- HAHA!- to radiology. They talked for a minute and then sent me out of the room. It felt like a long time, but maybe only an hour in the waiting room and then they came and got me. I got to talk with Nate while I was waiting- we have been overwhelmed with all the miracles we've been blessed with these past few days and were able to sit and talk about all of that. Kind of nice. He was so funny coming out of sedation. One of my favorite things was when he said, "I'm really lucky to have so many younger siblings." It was so cute!! So sweet the way he said it. I loved getting a little video of him talking about who's good at spikeball and who's not- HA! He was really funny. The nurse and I almost peed our pants laughing. Once they took him up to his room, he was beyond ready to go home so they actually just started to discharge us before he was even completely out of the sedation. Kind of weird, but I wasn't going to argue with anyone. They hardly said anything about his MRA and MRI- but I guess everything looked okay or they wouldn't let us go. It was 6:00 when we finally got out to the car and driving toward chick-fil-a. He was still coming out of the sedation, but by the time we got home, I think he was all there. It was such a relief to have him home. Still concerned about his well-being, but so good to have him home. I think it was a little overwhelming, but mostly good. Noah even taught our family night lesson that night! I was so impressed with him standing up the entire time. He was totally showing off. The Hatches came by that night for a movie night, but we never turned on the movie. Noah didn't sleep very well. 7-17-24--7-22-24
BAD CHOICES
So. I'm not super proud of this, but I want to journal it. I made the stupid decision to take a walk over to the park on Tuesday. Noah had walked around a ton at the hospital and even took a little walk outside, so I thought this was totally fine. Sadie loves her walks and really wanted to go to Ponds Park- seemed fine to me and Noah. Luke even came with us, which I feel was an inspired decision of his. He was so fun with Sadie while we were there and Noah and I sat on the curb. After a half hour or so of sitting there. Noah said he wanted to go home. So I walked a few feet over to tell Luke and Sadie we were going to go and while I was over there, Noah started to stand up, got a little dizzy, said, "I'm feeling a little lightheaded" and then when I looked over, he was falling, very slowly, to the ground, in the wood chips!!! It felt like slow motion in the moment. I freaked out a little when he started shaking but remembered that that's what I do when I pass out too. Luke seemed shaken a little with me, but quickly ran home to get the van and came back within minutes to get us. I was so relieved that he was with us. I sat with Noah on the ground while we waited and then Luke and I helped him to the car. I was so mad at myself for taking him there. I debated calling the hospital, I thought for sure they'd make us come in, but it had been so hot outside, he hadn't had all his water, he had been sitting on the ground with his knees bent... all things that would have contributed. So I did call the doc later and they were not concerned. They said to watch for more droopiness in his face or less mobility in his arm or leg, but not worried about the lightheadedness. PHEW!! But still!! Kinda scary. 7-23-24
PIONEER DAY!
We had a pretty chill Pioneer Day. Noah got out and dribbled the basketball a little for the first time on the court. Nate and I just sat there marveling over all the miracles we had just experienced and the miracle of Noah's life (for the second time). Charity and Hunter came up for dinner with us- nothing special, just leftover Lasagna from Lisa :). We were all still recovering from our crazy weekend I think. I kind of wish we'd tried to do something more, but it was a good day. 7-24-24
NATE'S 45th BIRTHDAY
We spent most of the day getting ready for Nate's birthday because he was working. So I started on the cake and then we went shopping for gifts. It was fun to see what the kids picked out. Sadie got a hat, Erika got him some caramels. We all got him a crossnet, but it wasn't coming until the next day unfortunately. I finished his fish cake and then it was time for him to come home! We all went to see Escape from Germany and then Buffalo Wild Wings after! This was a fun evening. Grandma Ruthie and Jen and Grandpa Hatch and Grandma Hatch and Simon all came. Charity and Hunter even came up for a second day in a row. It was really fun! I think Nate felt good and spoiled. He opened his presents when we got home and then Thursday when his crossnet came we all spent a lot of time playing together and the little kids all played with it for the rest of the day :). Sadie and Molly really loved it. We lit some fireworks and did sparklers once it got dark. We are so lucky to have Nate and all that he sacrifices for us. I hope he had a good day. 7-25-24
DATE NIGHT
We went to Red Lobster and then to see the movie Twisters. We LOVED the movie!! This one might be better than the first! 7-26-24
JACK'S TALK
Jack was asked to speak about how to grow your testimony of Jesus Christ and tie it in with YM camp. He did such a great job!! I love that he wrote his talk himself and that he was so brave to get up and give it. So proud of him! 7-27-24
SADIE'S TALK
Sadie gave a cute talk on Sunday. Here it is:
Sadie’s Talk
7/27/24
Last year, I
was having a hard time sleeping
because my legs were hurting.
Usually my
dad can give me a blessing,
but my dad was working.
My big
brother Bradley
had just received
the Melchizedek Priesthood.
So I asked
Bradley to give me a blessing.
He was a
little nervous
because he had never given a blessing before.
But he put
his hands on my head
and gave me a Priesthood blessing.
The
Priesthood is Jesus’ power on earth.
It can make us feel better.
After the
blessing
I told my mom that my legs felt better.
I loved when
Bradley did that.
I’m thankful
for the Priesthood
and that it can make me feel better.
PHONE CALL WITH BRADLEY
We had a nice time talking to Brad. It was a quieter conversation this week, I think because it wasn't a great connection. But we got to hear about his week and the weird couple who chewed him out and thought he was checking out the wife. So weird. He sounded good and like he's enjoying his mission. He wants some peanut butter packets and air head bites along with some spinners and lures so he can try fishing in a nearby river. Some white shirts and some socks. I hope it all gets to him eventually. I like the price of Orion Shipping company, but I don't love their non-communication. I don't even know if they are still shipping! Oh well. I'm sure it's fine. I loved seeing Brad. 7-28-24
BRAD'S EMAIL
Here's my pics
I love mission work. This week flew by so fast it was crazy. I also legit saw soooo many miracles this week and felt truly blessed for being obedient and working.
Tuesday: super fun day. We had zone conference and talked a lotttt about references and also getting people to sacrament meeting. I also had to give a short little training about it so that was fun. Today after we took a recent convert to the temple and we got to go in a little to help him go through the right doors and everything. I LOVE THE TEMPLE. ITS SO NICE. I just try to take as much time as possible because I never want to leave. Its such a blessing the temple is in my zone because now we can take our friends to it whenevaaaaa. Super happy because of that.
Wednesday: we had district council and some of the Elders showed up 45 min late so we had a super long discussion with them about how it is nott gonnna happen ever again haha. We then went to the temple with our friend whos preparing for baptism. So powerful as well. We also went to visit a recent convert and we found his aunt with her 3 kids that want to come to church and want to come with their family because they have family that are members. Suchhhh a huge miracle.
Jueves: also found a half miracle today. This 2 people showed up to church while we were doing some meetings and told us they wanted to come to church and be members. We were pretty hyped and had a super powerful lesson with them. We were mostly in shock because it was unexpected. We gave them a book of mormon and they promised they'll read it and all that fun stuff. We were all laughing and having a wonderful time and it was just suchba good lesson.
Friday: we had divisiones and found 2 other miracles today. We knocked this door looking for a member and his brother answered. Told us he was already planning on coming to church on Sunday with his little sister. We set up a ride for him and confirmed church with them. We then right after knocked another members house and found an incomplete family that wanted to learn and come to church. THEN after that night we had a freaking powerful lesson with a bunch lf JAS. We were with this girl that had a baptismal date but had too many doubts and then she brought her friend. She has 0 experience with religion. But we had the lesson aand everyone started sharing their testimony and the spirit was just soooo strong holy. The 2 girls were crying because they felt the spirit so strong. It was so cool.
Saturday: we also went to the temple with our other friend preparing for baptism. I love the temple sm...
Sunday: we had stake conference yuhhhh. Elder Truque of the seventy came and talked in each session. SUCH A COOL PERSON. He started by making all the people that weren't members raise their hand and had them explain why they were at church. So clutch. But he was such a powerful speaker and was actually super interesting to listen to. Almost all of our friends made it to church and everyone made them feel welcome and introduced themselves and everything. Then after, our super cool miracle that just showed on thursday didnt show up. We called him and he wanted to figure out where we lived and if there were apartments nearby. He kept trying to figure out where we lived. Then we texted him and asked him if we could meet this week. He called us and was super angry. He told us that I was checking our his girlfriend during our lesson, (keep in mind they're like the same age as my parents...
) but was just saying some insane threats to me. He said he wanted to return the book of mormon and wanted to give it to me so he could "teach me a lesson, best me up, kill me..." all the fun drunk guy threats. There were some crazy wild stuff that came out of that guys mouth. We basically felt it prolly wasn't that safe to go walk around especially because this guy lived right next to the church so we just spent a lot of time planning anf calling for a minute. I'll let you guys know if anything happens with him. The thing that sucks is I have no clue what I did so not sure what to change for next time... but then after we found these 2 families that have been asisting church and not all are members so we had some super fun lessons that night.
Spiritual thought: i was thinking of Nephi when it got dangerous and God told him to flee into the desert. Because another insstance when it was getting dangerous is God gave Nephi power to knock over his brothers. The both were answers from God. So makes us realize how when we pray for help or answers we need to be open to all options. Im sure Nephi didnt love the idea of running into the desert but he soon realized the blessings of doing so. If we are willing to ask God what he would have us do, we are going to be blessed and protected.
7-29-24
PHYSICAL THERAPY
I spent a good hour and a half on the phone calling Primary Children's Hospital over and over trying to figure out where they had referred Noah for PT and then as soon as I had figured it out and found a new place and had the pediatrician refer him to the new place (since the original one couldn't actually take him), I got a notification on my phone telling me I had a voice mail and it was the PT where he'd been referred, from the 25th! But he has an appointment now, so we're all good. The ball can get rolling! 7-29-24
CAMPING AT LOST CREEK
We got to go on our family camping trip this week!! It went so well! We weren't sure how it would go with Noah still on the mend. But I think we made it work! We were so happy Charity came and that Hunter was able to make it up for a few hours on Wednesday evening. We played in the lake, sat by the fire, laughed, lots of tears from Sadie- she was pretty accident prone this time! Fell on her ear on a huge pointy rock off the hammock, burned her poor little legs with stuff from the fire, her legs were bugging her on Tuesday night as usual, and several other slips and falls, even a fall with Jack while he was carrying her on his back. She was trying to be brave through all of it. We had the yurt for Charity and Noah to sleep comfortably, which was good. Nate, Luke and Noah spent every free minute (which was most of them) fishing. Lots of napping in hammocks. So many snacks and some new-ish meals! Here were some of the highlights from the week:
- Staring at the "squirrel trap" (cup of trail mix with paracord tied to it) on the log for at least an hour.
- Cross net in the crazy allergen-filled weeds that set Charity off for the whole day- so many sneezes.
- Luke and Noah losing the fish in the kayak.
- Charity's funny stories about her three roommates who "one is deaf, one doesn't speak English and the other one is a psycho!".
- Cool shooting stars around the fire.
- Luke and Noah's spiritual thoughts.
- Sadie waking up Noah in the yurt- Noah bringing her down to the tent.
- Erika and Sadie on the paddleboard.
- Me and Charity taking a little swim in the lake- SO COLD!!
- Luke giving Sadie a blessing for her legs while Nate was out fishing.
- Thirties temps at night, but staying warm in our awesome sleeping bags.
- Stopping for yummy corn dogs and deep fried snickers and babybel cheese!
7-30-24--8-2-24
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