A New Home.

After a lot of thought, investigating, and prayers, we have decided to buy a home.

I can't believe it. We love the house that we are renting right now. It is big and in a beautiful location, but it is not ours and we have been yearning to have a secured home that we will not have to worry if the owners are going to have to foreclose on and leave us to find a new place to live. I will also enjoy not having to clean such a big place. Everything has been falling into place for us and it feels so right.

Eric has had his eyes glued to the computer for months looking at homes and with the drop in the housing market, it seemed like a good time to buy. We spent a lot of time narrowing down houses that we wanted to see, then spent a day looking at them. Our realtor was awesome and helped us a lot with getting the ball rolling. We had our choices narrowed to two houses and when we found out that one house was a short sale and the other a bank owned, our decision was made. So, we put in an offer and the bank only counter offered for $6, 000 more. It was a great offer and we took it. Now we are starting the Escrow process. Hopefully, Everything goes well, but we are trying not to get attached too much in case it does not work out. There are a lot of bank owned houses out there on the market, but it is always a risky business to buy one.

The house we put in an offer for is 1900 sq ft., 4 bed and 2 bath. It is simple and cute, but the location is awesome with a schools nearby and multiple parks, including a dog park. We also have friends close by. If all works out we will be moving in a month and a half. Keep your fingers crossed for us.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Happy St. Patty's Day

Here's our little Leprechaun.

A toofers.

Tyler finally has his first tooth and it's SHARP! He loves to knaw on his mother's chin. He is also growing so big. At his last dr's appt. He weighted 19.5 lbs and was 27 1/2 inches tall. He is now in the 50% for height and weight and his head has finally caught up and is in the 45%. He is such a smiley boy. I can't believe that his is almost 7 months. Eric and I just love being parents and tell Tyler everyday how much we adore him. Who couldn't love all that chubs.

Shock waves.

Last Friday was my big lithotripsy day where my 6-7 mm kidney stone was pulverized. I was unusually calm except for the freezing hospital. I think working in a hospital and circulating in surgeries helped and, of course, knowing that this was really not that big of a procedure and I was in good hands. The surgery was short. They put me on a table with this rubber cutout which is where they partially submerge me in water, of course, after I am asleep. then they send ultrasonic waves to my back where the kidney stone is inside my kidney and the shock waves break up the stone. All I remember is moving onto the surgery bed and a mask being put over my face. I was asleep in less than 2 minutes and thank goodness because the only time that I panicked was when they put the mask on my face. I am clostrophobic and I felt like I was going to sufficate. I had to keep telling myself to just relax. I then woke up to a horrible heavy and sleepy feeling that seemed to last a long time. In the past when I had received anesthesia, it took a really long time for me to wake up. I felt the same way this time, but knowing this, I struggled to make myself stay awake so that I could be discharged home faster, but for two days I was really tired and had a heavy chest when breathing. The best part of it all was that I was never in that much pain. I was expecting a lot of soreness. It was great. I did not need to take any pain medications. I did, however, urinate blood and small stones for about 3 days. Overall, it was a very successful procedure. The really good news is that I met my urologist and he was a really great guy. He also seemed concerned and determined to figure out why I was producing so many kidney stones. So I will be undergoing more tests and hopefully get my kidneys working properly. This experience turned out really good and I am so thankful for the wonderful technology that was have today and for the knowledge and research to perform these procedures.

My own George Clooney.

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West Look-alike Meter

MyHeritage: Look-alike Meter - Vintage photos - Building a family tree

Make me Laugh.

Happy 6 months, Tyler!

I can't believe my baby is 6 months old. I am a little saddened that the time has gone by so fast. I just want him to stay the same little man from now on. He has changed so much in the last six months. He brings so much love and joy into our lives. Here are a few cuties he has done in the last month:

He has started teething and is infatuated with cardboard and paper.

He started eating baby food...

but getting use to the taste of rice cereal took a while.

His hair grew a little longer and fuller and gets crazy after wearing a hat.


He's always a cool kid...

and he has some cool stuffed friends that stay by his side.

He never misses that opportunity to play and have fun.

Most importantly, he never misses the opportunity to laugh.

We love you, Tyler.

A Sad Passing.

I was so extremely saddened to hear about our beloved Prophet's passing. President Gordon B. Hinkley was the most wonderful prophet. He was a prophet during the most important and influential part of my life and I felt the spirit so much when he spoke. I feel peace in knowing that he is now with his beloved wife, but at the same time my heart aches because I loved him so much as a prophet and leader and I just want to hear him speak one more time. As a man of 97 years old, he was so young at heart and always made others laugh. I will never forget this wonderful man, but I know that he fulfilled the work that he was supposed to on this earth and now Heavenly Father has a much greater work for him to do.

When bad food gets served.

As told by Eric:
A quick trip to buy a studying table at Ikea was unsuccessful and the non-furniture related side effects lingered a bit too long. We did our usual thing, taking advantage of the Ikea restaurant, with Kelly having a chicken pasta meal and myself with their classic meatball and mashed potato entrée –thank goodness we had different meals. Then we went about our business looking for a table and sadly finding out that it was out of stock. I got food poisoning from my dinner, and fought the pain for hours thinking it was simply an upset stomach or diarrhea. I struggled through a mostly sleepless night and at 3:30am I was throwing up and hoped that this would take care of the problem. Sadly, it persisted and got worse. I ended up wallowing in pain and nausea waiting by the toilet to vomit a 2nd time. Kelly awoke and found me doubled over in pain on the floor of the downstairs bathroom. I am hesitant to go to emergency rooms, but Kelly suggested it and I had already started to convince myself that I should go.
The trip to the hospital was HORRIBLE, every bump and movement was greatly accentuated and it took all of my concentration or distraction ability to keep my mind off the nausea and pain. Even before we left I was starting to feel light headed and then going along it got worse, and then my hands started to go numb, was I close to passing out? We made it. Luckily the hospital is not busy at 6am, so I got in and in about 40 minutes had an IV hooked up for 2-liters of fluids to relieve my dehydration. I was also given a dose of nausea medicine, but it wasn’t in my system soon enough and I again emptied my stomach contents. I was also given a dose of narcotics but it was not enough, so I was given a second one soon after. At that point I was finally feeling relief and I closed my eyes to catch up on sleep as we waited for blood test results. Everything checked out okay and the last throw-up got the remainder of the bad food out which stopped the problem. We went home and I napped for a few hours before I got up and went to school for my lab class. For the next week I felt the post-effects of food poisoning. I bruised my right kidney when I was vomiting, so it was quite sore for about 3 days. My stomach was sore for several days as well and my stools were not right until about the 6th day. Between the food poisoning and strong doses of Motrin, I had intestinal bleeding causing dark, black stole for several days. Thankfully, it is over and I am feeling much better. Eating out, you never know when you’ll consume the meal that was not prepared right. Thankfully food poisoning is much rarer here than if I lived in other countries

Love,
Eric