David & Amy

read the prior post first.

kylie came home from school.  one hour later she laid on my kitchen floor screaming and throwing up...

yay.

So, last Thursday night was Jennifer's viewing and Friday morning was her funeral.  We had contemplated staying out in Baytown (it's an hour drive each way) Thursday night, but that would mean a hotel with so many people coming to town.  So, the thought of packing everyone up and then trying to get them to fall asleep in a hotel sounded horrid to me, so we settled for an extra two hours of driving instead.  David left work around noon on Thursday and my sweet family came over and helped me clean up for an hour or so, because we were supposed to have David's brother and their 5 kiddos come stay with us Friday night.  Then 2:45pm rolled around, I was in the middle of getting ready, David was taking a nap--we were both subdued with all the emotion and the phone rings.  Guess what makes a funeral and viewing so much better???  Vomit.  Sorry for the disgust, but the school nurse was on the other end of the phone.  Dallin had just thrown up in the classroom.  David left to pick the kids up.  We got them all dressed handed poor, pale, fevered, sick Dallin a bowl and loaded in the car.  The hour car drive took almost 2 hours.  There was a wreck on I-10, rush hour traffic and we had to stop to pick up a family member that was in the city on business.  Dallin threw up twice on the way there.  The car reeked.  David actually had to go inside the Intercontinental Hotel to wash out the puke bowl...nice.  ("Would you like a valet?, Oh, no thank you, but could you show me where to wash out my son's puke???")

So, we finally make it to the viewing.  Many people came and there were flowers everywhere.  It was very nice.  Emily and her cousin Nicole really had a hard time with seeing Jennifer like that.  I felt so bad I wasn't even with her when she walked up to the casket.  Too many kids and too much craziness.  Dallin laid on a couch, sick as anything.  About 9pm we load back in the car, at which time, we realize we never had dinner.  Poor Emily.  We are seriously parents of the year by this point.  So, we stop at Jack n' the Box where Dallin throws up, in the car, again.

We finally make it home.  Get everyone to bed, and then Dallin woke up around 3am crazy fevered.  I never got back to sleep.  The next morning we got everyone showered and dressed and out the door by 8:15am.  Dallin had a bowl and a glass of Gatorade this time.  He didn't puke in the car...thank goodness.  The funeral was beautiful and spiritual and packed with friends and loved ones.  Dallin walked in with me, in a suit, carrying a bowl.  My parents came and took care of Kylie and Devin during the funeral.  We went to the cemetery and all of the nieces and nephews dropped flowers on her casket as she was lowered to her final resting place.  David dedicated the grave beautifully, and Dallin really broke down crying as it all sunk in.

Their ward provided a nice luncheon back at the Church where Dallin laid on the couch in the foyer again, and threw-up again.  I was worn out.  We went back to his parent's house and visited the rest of the day.  No one spent the night, Dallin was too sick.  We got home Friday night, emotionally spent and physically exhausted.  Saturday morning came early, as we (for some odd reason) had a garage sale, then I took Emily to her volleyball game at 9am, while David stayed and ran the garage sale, (Dallin was still way to sick to go to his soccer game).  That afternoon we got everything cleaned and packed up from the garage sale and even had a water fight after the kids and David washed the car. Dallin was feeling better.

Ahhh, things were settling down...yeah, right.

We went to Church on Sunday morning, all was well, then we headed back up to the Church for the post-trek fireside that evening, being Young Men's President David wanted to see the video of his boys.
The kids were being pretty good.  We sat in the back and Devin was toddling around.  Then Devin came over to me and I picked him up.  He coughed twice.  Then he proceeded to throw up.  I think it was equal to his body weight by the time he was done.  Oh. My. Goodness.  It was everywhere!  My skirt was COVERED, my shirt, he was drenched, the gym floor, Kylie's stroller, the diaper bag.  Thank goodness for people that ran to the kitchen for paper towels...We left.

I showered.  The kids got ready for bed.  We tucked everyone in, Emily said she didn't feel well.  STOP THE MADNESS!  Yep, she threw up her entire dinner.

Well, Kylie when are you going to get sick????

So, I had a crazy busy day planned to get life back in order from the upheaval of last week, but instead I am taking care of a sick 8 year old and an extremely whiny, sick baby.

when it rains it pours.

It's 4:01am.  I can't sleep.  I've been awake since 2:24am.  That's when the phone call came, from David.  His sister Jennifer has been released from her crippled body and is now free.  She left this world and entered a world of peace with our Heavenly Father at 2:20 this morning.  She is free.  Free from the pains and handicaps of this life.  Her mission is complete.

We received a phone call at about 4pm yesterday afternoon ( less than11 hours earlier) telling us that she had an abscess under her arm that got infected and she had been admitted to the hospital.  We didn't know she was sick.  We saw her last Sunday.  At 9:30pm we received another phone call.  We thought it was about the BYU game excitement.  It wasn't.  She had a 108 degree fever and had been intubated.  David left immediately for the hospital.  Four hours after he got there, sitting alone by her side as everyone else had gone to rest, she was gone.

Good-bye sweet Jennifer, I am looking forward to finally getting to know you, to talk with you and laugh with you when my time comes.

On March 17th, 2010, we woke early and took Kylie to the hospital for open-heart surgery.  We were terrified.  It was a traumatic scary day.  She made it through.  She stayed in the hospital for 5 days, then took about 6 weeks to recover and probably about 3-4 months to get back to where she was physically.  She lost a lot.  Less than two weeks later (after she got home) our little Devin was born.  She hated him.  Poor Kylie.  All she knew was that one day she was fine, the next day she woke up with a tube down her throat drugged up and feeling horrible.  She finally came home and then Mommy and Daddy left and then came home with this little thing that took all of my time.  She wouldn't let Devin in her room for months without horrible screaming...
A year later she tolerates him and really just tortures him as much as possible.  Her preferred ways of torture include:  body slamming him to the ground, climbing on his back or sitting on him.

But here we are, a year later from the day I didnt' think we would make it through.  Life still has it's major hurdles, but we're still plugging along.  I am so grateful last year's major hurdle is passed.

Today was a fabulous day which I will detail more later, but tonight while we were reading scriptures with the kiddos, I glanced over at Devin and watched him put toys in a box.  Not an earth shattering development, I know.  But watching him, I burst into tears.  For over a year, Kylie's Occupational Therapist and I worked with her to put things in a bucket/box/container.  She half-heartedly occasionally will now.  Then tonight Devin just started doing it because he wanted to and he is at the age to do it. No intervention.  No hours of help and repetitiveness.  I am so very grateful for all of the tiny little (but to us HUGE) milestones this precious little boy accomplishes.

Pi is defined as the ratio of the circumference to the diameter of a circle; approximately equal to 3.14159265358979323846...

Let's just take the first three numbers (as it is more commonly known as) 3.14
Today is March 14th
Or in other words
3.14
So in honor of such a momentous occasion and because my family loves it and we are doing a pioneer theme Family Night...

I present to you our family night treat--the blueberry pie!!!!!

Happy Pi Day!!!