What would you say if I told you Mike & I went to the grocery store for our Valentine's Day date? Well, first of all, you'd probably think I was joking.  But, after I convinced you that we really *did* go to the grocery store for Valentines Day, you'd probably feel really bad for me, right?  Well, it's true!  We *really* went to the grocery store for Valentines Day...but there's no need to feel bad for me.  You see, we went to a 7 course meal at the new Harmons at City Creek Center!

If you haven't been to this grocery store, you *must* go to it...because it's not just a normal grocery store.  This place is literally an experience!  It's amazing!  Anyway, they have this really cool area on the mezzanine level where they hold private parties, and my morning co-anchor & I were given tickets to their Valentines Dinner Party.  Here's a really dark picture of Mike, me, Amy & her husband, Sheffield at our table.  The flash wouldn't go off--that's why it's so dark.  Darn technology...

And here's my Valentine of almost 13 years & me...


This was probably the fanciest dinner I have ever been to in my entire life!  Each course had something really exotic & expensive in it.  So, as you can imagine, a pretty simple Utah girl--like myself--had a lot of new experiences throughout the night.  I tried truffle, caviar & even oysters for the first time in my life  And, a bunch of other stuff too--but those are the ones that I'm remembering right now.  Yep, I ate this...


Let's just say I had to swallow it fast before I lost the 2 courses I had already eaten before this point.  I also ate a few things that I've had before, but don't eat on a regular basis because I'm not much of a seafood fan--shrimp bisque, lobster tail, etc.

It was an...interesting...experience.  Don't get me wrong, the atmosphere was great and the company was great--but the food was a little over the top for me.  Give me a big old steak & some mashed potatoes any day over oysters & caviar.  I guess I'm not refined enough yet.

Other than the fancy-schmnacy food, the night was awesome!  It was so much fun to hang out with Amy & Sheffield.  Amy is from Gunnison (a small town in central Utah), but moved to New York City right after finishing college so that she could become a network star.  That's where she met Sheffield--when they were both working at Fox News Channel.  So, as you can imagine, they have all sorts of fun stories to tell.  We love hanging out with them & need to do it more often.

So, that was our Valentines Day date for the year.  It will definitely go down as the fanciest one to date.

Oh, before I end this post, I have to talk about the kids' Valentines Day too!  Of course, there's always the annual Valentines Day box the kids always have to make for school.  I hate projects like this.  It's just homework for parents--that's all it is.  Luckily, Connor was the only one that had to have one this year.  I put Mike in charge of the box this year and, as you can see, he & Connor went slightly overboard...


Yep, that's a Yoda Valentines Day box...


We were actually out of color ink in our printer, but rather than drive to the store to buy some, Mike just printed out a black & white Yoda head & then went to town coloring it perfectly--shading & all.  Yep, I live with nerds!

We also always give our kids a little Valentines present as well, so here are a few pictures of them opening their presents...


Vivvie got a Strawberry Shortcake doll that she saw at the toy store a few weeks back & decided she couldn't live without.  Seriously!  Huge alligator tears were streaming down her face as we left the store without it.  But, now that it's hers, she's pretty indifferent to it.  Sigh...


Cohen was so excited to open his present.  Until he got through the paper enough to realize it was a shoe box.  He started crying, saying that he didn't want shoes.  We kept telling him to open the box to see what was inside it, but he refused because it was just "dumb shoes..."


So you can imagine his surprise when someone finally opened it for him & he found 2 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (his latest obsession).  Haha!  I think he was in shock...


Aiden's present was tricky.  I had no clue what to get him.  He's my kid that loves video games & apps, but video games are too expensive for a little Valentines present & apps can't be wrapped.  So, I got creative & printed off a bunch of little fake one dollar bills.  These one dollar bills can be turned into me whenever he finds an app he wants.  He was thrilled about it!  Score...


And, Connor got some figures he's been looking at & drooling over for a month.  I keep thinking at some point he'll start to grow out of toys, but we haven't reached that stage yet.  Just fine with me...


So, that was our Valentines Day!  It was a fun one...even if I *do* have to tell people I went to the grocery store.  --Lindsay

About a week and a half ago--Thursday, February 7th to be exact--Cohen woke up saying his tummy hurt. A few hours later, he started throwing up. Great...stomach flu! I hate the stomach flu. I think I would rather my family be sick with a cold for three weeks straight rather than deal with stomach flu for 24 hours.  I hate it that bad!  I was not looking forward to the next few days because I had visions of it spreading throughout the entire family.  Cohen threw up several more times that day, but wasn't acting like he felt miserable.  I started to feel lucky that at least this stomach flu didn't seem all that bad.  Cohen would be better by morning, and hopefully no one else would catch it from him.

The next morning (Friday) came & Cohen was still throwing up.  And he actually seemed worse than he had the day before.  He threw up more often & looked like he felt totally horrible.  By afternoon, Mike & I decided to take him into the pediatrician.  He couldn't even hold water down & he was starting to look dehydrated.  At this point, we were going on 32 hours of throwing up.  I wanted him to be seen before the weekend got underway.

The doctor didn't seem concerned about him at all.  He said that it was most likely Noravirus--a really nasty stomach bug that was going around--and that he was toward the end of it & would stop throwing up soon.  He told us that Cohen *was* dehydrated, but that his hydration levels would be fine through morning & he would most likely be over the virus by then.  He told us just to try to give Cohen a teaspoon of water every 5-10 minutes.  If he threw it up, we were supposed to wait 45 minutes & then try to give him water every 5-10 minutes again.

We took him home & did just as the doctor told us.  Cohen couldn't hold any of it down.  Sometimes he would hold it down for 5 minutes, other times 45 minutes, other times an hour & a half--but in the end, it just kept coming back up.  We did get him to keep some water down overnight.  He didn't throw up at all during the overnight hours & we were sure that we were finally done.  He would be back to his old self by morning.

But he wasn't back to his old self by morning.  He kept throwing up.  We were at hour 48 by this point.  I called & talked to a nurse at the pediatrician office.  She told me basically what the doctor had told me the day before--he was at the tail end of this virus & as long as he was keeping *some* water down for any length of time & urinating once every 8 hours, he should be fine.

By early afternoon, he started throwing up blood.  I called again.  The nurse told me that it was nothing to worry about.  He most likely had some small lacerations in his esophagus from throwing up so much.  There was nothing they could do to help him.  I asked if we should take him to the hospital.  She told me that all they could do there would be to hook him up to an IV to pump fluids into his body.  It would just be traumatic for him & it probably wasn't necessary because he was toward the end of the virus & would be over it soon.

I went into work that afternoon & left Mike home to watch over Cohen, who was going to recover any minute now.  My parents came to visit him & give him some "get well presents."  Cohen was still throwing up.  We were at about hour 60 at this point.  I talked to my Mom on the phone & she said that Cohen seemed to be getting very lethargic.  He wasn't responding to people's questions much & kept going in & out of sleep. They went to the store & bought him some popsicles because Cohen said that sounded good.  It instantly came back up.  Later that evening, I chatted with Mike about the situation for a few minutes.  Cohen was still throwing up. I did my 10:00 show & then quickly headed home.

On my way home from work, I had what I believe was a prompting.  A book that I had read several years ago randomly popped into my head.  It was the book "Heaven is for Real."  If you haven't read this book, it's a true story about a little boy who died & was then brought back to life, and all the stories he told people about the "time he spent in heaven."  But, that's not the part that popped into me head.  The part that popped into my head was the part before he had this near-death experience.   The little boy had been throwing up for a week straight.  His parents had taken him to the doctor & he was diagnosed with the stomach flu.  Well, it wasn't the flu.  His appendix had burst.  That's what was causing him to throw up so much.  By the time it was properly diagnosed as a ruptured appendix, they almost lost him.  Then these words popped into my mind, "Cohen can't beat this on his own.  You need to take him to the hospital.  He could die if you don't."

I called Mike & told him how I had felt.  He told me that Cohen was finally sleeping peacefully & that maybe it would be good for us to let him get a good night sleep.  If he was still throwing up in the morning, we would take him to the hospital.  I asked him to call our pediatrician's on-call nurse to see what she thought.  But actually, in my mind, it didn't matter what the on-call nurse had to say, I was taking my son to the hospital...tonight.  I called my parents & asked my Dad to come out to our house to stay overnight with the other kids.  He jumped in his car & left.

When I walked in the door to my house & looked at my little four-year-old son sleeping peacefully on the couch, everything in me screamed that he needed to go to the hospital.  I told Mike & he started getting everything ready to go.  I sat & just looked at Cohen.  His face was so gaunt.  He was skin & bones.  I could tell he had lost a lot of weight over the past three days.  He had deep, dark circles under his eyes.  He woke up a few times as I was sitting by him, but when he was awake, he wasn't all there.  He had a very glazed-over look.  He wouldn't respond to me.  This was not my happy, crazy Cohen.  This was a zombie.  That's the only way to describe him--he was a zombie.

Just then the phone rang.  It was the on-call nurse finally getting back to us.  I told her what was going on & that I was planning to take Cohen to the hospital.  She again repeated her textbook answer that as long as he was urinating once every 8 hours, we probably had nothing to worry about.  I told her--in some not-so-nice terms--that I didn't care what her textbook had to say.  My son was wasting away to nothing & I couldn't just sit back and watch him die.  She then said if I was that worried for his life, I probably should take him to the hospital.  Ummm, you think lady?!?

My Dad then arrived at our house.  We loaded Cohen in the car & rushed as fast as we could through a snowstorm to Timpanogos Hospital.

When we got there, they instantly hooked him up to monitors, started an IV, drew blood to run some tests & then started pumping fluid into him like crazy.  Cohen was almost totally unresponsive at this point.  If we tried really hard, we could wake him up--but it took a lot of work to get him to just open his eyes a little bit.  Here's what my poor little boy looked like...

About 45 minutes later, we got the results from the blood work.  It wasn't good.  The doctor told us that Cohen had something called Acidosis--a condition where your blood becomes acidic because you have thrown up too much.  They needed to pump more fluids into Cohen's system to dilute the acid.  Cohen would be admitted & would probably stay in the hospital for 3-4 days.  Then he went on to tell us that Acidosis rarely happens in cases of the stomach flu.  It is more likely to happen in cases where people have some other issue going on--like their appendix has burst or they have swallowed something poisonous.  More blood work was done & a CT Scan was ordered on Cohen's abdomen...


The CT Scan came back clean.  Then the blood work for toxins came back clean.  The doctor came in to talk to us again.  They had decided to send Cohen up to Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake because Timpanogos did not have an ICU, and that is where Cohen needed to be.  He then went on to say that the doctor at Primary Children's had requested the a CT scan be done on Cohen's brain before he was transported up there, so that they knew what they were dealing with.  This is when I lost it.  Why did they need a CT scan on Cohen's brain?  I was told it was just a precaution.  A precaution for what?  No one would give me a straight answer, but deep down I knew what it meant.  They were looking for a brain tumor.  They thought that was why Cohen had been throwing up so much & why his blood had turned acidic.  I couldn't handle it anymore & started bawling.  I had to have Mike go in with Cohen while he was having the CT scan done.  I didn't want Cohen to see me crying & for that to make him scared.  Looking back, I don't think he would have even realized I was crying because he was so out of it.  I called my Mom.  I told her I needed her to come to the hospital.  I needed my Mom there.  I couldn't do this.  I couldn't watch my son go through cancer.  I have several friends & even a family member that have lost their children to cancer.  I couldn't do it.  I couldn't watch my son go through months & months of surgeries, chemo & radiation just to lose him.  I couldn't be as brave as them.  I was an absolute wreck.

Then I went into the room with the technician to watch the results as they came up on the screen.  It looked normal to me, but what did I know?  I started hounding the tech with questions.  What are you looking for?  Do you see anything abnormal?  What's wrong with my little boy?  She very calmly put her hand on my arm & told me that the doctors were most likely looking for a tumor, or swelling/bleeding of the brain.  She then went on to say that the radiologist would have to look at the images, but that--in her experience--she didn't see anything obviously wrong with Cohen's brain.  Those few words were the best words I had ever heard in my entire life!  And I clung to them.  I wanted to hug her and jump up-and-down.  We still didn't know what was wrong with Cohen, but he didn't have a brain tumor--and as long as he didn't have a brain tumor, I knew I could handle anything!

We headed back to the ER to wait to be transported up to Primary's.  We waited & waited.  We were told the doctor was talking to the admitting doctor at Primary's, and as soon as the go-ahead was given, Cohen would be on his way up there.  But, after what seemed like hours, the doctor came in & said that since Cohen didn't have any of the big problems that cause acidosis--like a ruptured appendix or brain tumor--and since his acid levels seemed to be slowly coming down with the IV fluid, they had decided they could adequately care for Cohen at Timpanogos Hospital.

He was admitted & taken up to the Pediatrics unit.  Once we got up to his hospital room, the nurses brought in a cot for me to lay down in for awhile (it was now almost 5:00 am & I had been awake for over 24 hours).  Mike fell asleep in a chair.  My Mom got there a few minutes later & sat by Cohen's side as we all slept.

A few hours later, when we woke back up, Cohen seemed to be doing a little better.  He was easier to wake up, but still wouldn't respond to us much when we asked him questions.  The doctor came in to check on Cohen.  He listened to Cohen lungs & ordered an X-ray to check for lower-lobe pneumonia, which can sometimes cause repeated vomiting.  He also ordered more blood work to look for Pancreatitis.  Both came back negative.

Kristin & Dan came to visit him and brought him a cute monkey to help cheer him up.  As you can tell, I think he barely even realized it was in his arms...


As the day wore on, Cohen started to slowly improve.  By afternoon, he was able to hold down some apple juice & a popsicle, and we even got a few little smiles out of him...


Later that evening, we tried some jello.  It made his tummy hurt, but he never threw it up.  Our bishop & his first counselor came to visit for awhile.  It was so nice of them to take the time out of their busy day to sit & talk with us during this hard time.  Then Grandpa, Nana, Poppy, Connor, Aiden & Vivvie came to visit for awhile.  Of course the kiddos were wild & crazy, but that brought a few more smiles to Cohen's face.  Little Viv, who had refused to leave Cohen's side for much of his illness, thought she was staying overnight with him & made herself comfy in my cot...


After awhile, everyone left to go home to sleep.  Cohen & I watched the movie "Brave" and I was so happy to hear him giggle at a few funny parts.  He was slowly, but surely turning back into my sweet, happy Cohen.  Right before going to bed, Cohen told me he was hungry.  The nurse said we could try to feed him a cracker, so we did.  He was able to hold it down all night!

That night was one of the longest of my life.  The cot was ridiculously uncomfortable & I was woken up constantly by nurses & beeping monitors.  Cohen slept through it all though & when he woke up, he was like a brand new boy!  He was smiling, he was talking a lot & he even asked to eat breakfast!  The nurse brought him an awesome array of jello, graham crackers, apple juice & chicken broth.  He loved it all--except the chicken broth.  He said it tasted nasty...


A little later that morning, the doctor came to visit us again.  He said that Cohen's acidosis levels were recovering nicely--much faster than he had anticipated.  They weren't completely normal yet, but they were getting there.  I asked him if it was ever determined as to why Cohen had thrown up so much & for so long.  He said that through the process of elimination, they had come back to diagnosing him with Noravirus again--the original diagnosis from several days before at the doctor's office.  It just hit Cohen very differently than it hits most people.  Cohen only had half the symptoms, but the symptoms he did have hit him extremely hard.  The acidosis was caused because he threw up so many times over a 72 hour period.  Rarely do they see stomach bugs cause vomiting so severe that acidosis results.  99% of the time acidosis is detected, it's because of a bigger issue.  Oh how glad I am that Cohen was the 1%.

Mike got back to the hospital after getting kids off to school for the day.  He was surprised at how well Cohen was doing too.  Everyone was surprised by how well Cohen was doing!  At this point, I made the mistake of looking in a mirror.  My face was tear-stained, mascara was smeared everywhere.  That's when I realized I hadn't showered since Saturday morning at 4:00 am.  It was now Monday at 10:00 am.  And, yes, I still had Saturday morning's makeup on--well, what was left of it at that point.  I also still had Saturday's deodorant on--or what was left of it too.  I decided that since Cohen was doing so well, I would head home & take a shower.  I rushed home, played with Viv for a few minutes (Mike's Dad was now staying at our house to take care of her & the other kids while we were at the hospital), then quickly jumped in the shower & made myself look semi-presentable.  Then I headed back to the hospital.  When I got there, this is what I saw...


Cohen was totally acting like himself & was eating lunch!  The nurse said that since he seemed to be doing so well, the doctor said Cohen could eat whatever he wanted for lunch (within reason--no french fries just yet).  It was sort of a test to see if he could hold down a lot of solid food.  Cohen had ordered ham, scrambled eggs, a PB&J, and ice cream.  He was in heaven!  And so was I!!!  It was so good to see my baby boy getting back to normal.

After lunch, we had to let his tummy rest for awhile, but then the nurse said Cohen could take a wagon ride around the pediatrics unit & could even play in their playroom if he was feeling up to it.  Boy, was he ever...







While we were playing in the playroom, the nurse came in & asked, "Hey Cohen!  Would you like to go home to your own house?"  We were in shock!  Could he really go home already?  When he was first admitted, we were told it would take until at least Tuesday or Wednesday to get his acid levels down to normal.  Now, here it was Monday afternoon, and we were already being released!  The nurse told us that his acid levels had gone back to normal way faster than usual, and since he was now holding down solid food, the doctor had given permission for Cohen to be released!  Best news ever!!!

As we were packing up Cohen's stuff & getting him ready to go home.  The nurse started talking to me again about how quickly Cohen had recovered.  She then went on to say how dire the situation had been the night we brought him to the hospital.  She said that with the way they measure acid levels, the lower the number, the worse the situation is.  Cohen's levels were at an 8.  Anything below a 10 is considered critical condition.  That's why the doctors had wanted to transfer Cohen up to Primary Children's--because he was in critical condition & they didn't have an ICU at Timpanogos.  All the sudden it dawned on me that the other night, when the doctor had mentioned that the hospital didn't have an ICU, it hadn't quite registered with me that my son was in critical condition--but he was.  I asked what would have happened if Cohen's numbers had gone lower.  The nurse said that his organs would have started shutting down, and in fact, we were probably only a matter of hours away from that point.  That's why he seemed to be sleeping "so peacefully" the night we brought him in.  His body was starting to shut down.

At that point, I *knew* without a shadow of a doubt that I had be prompted by the spirit on Saturday night to take him to the hospital.  This was a problem Cohen couldn't beat on his own.  His blood would have continued to turn more & more acidic through the night, and who knows if my little boy would have been gone by morning had we not taken him to the ER that night.  And now, less than 48 hours later, he was totally back to himself!  Fully recovered!  Much faster than the doctors expected him to be!  And he was going home with us...


Miracles *do* still happen!  This experience proved that to me beyond a shadow of a doubt!  It was a miracle that I was prompted to take him to the hospital when we did.  It was a miracle that his acidosis wasn't the result of a bigger issue.  It was a miracle that he didn't have to be transported to Primary Childrens Hospital.  It was a miracle that the doctors got his levels to come down so quickly.  It was a miracle that he came so close to his body shutting down & yet was back to his happy, normal self within 48 hours!  Each of these things were miracles that we experienced!!!

When we were sitting in the ER that first night, I got on my Facebook account & asked all my friends to pray for my sick little boy...and boy did they ever pray!  Hundreds--maybe even thousands--of prayers were said in Cohen's behalf, and his name was even put on two temple prayer rolls.  I know that each of these prayers was heard & answered by Heavenly Father, and that He healed Cohen!  My Mom reminded me later that day that this wasn't the first time God has helped Cohen survive.  He was the baby I almost lost in pregnancy, and yet--through many miracles--he was carried almost to term & was healthy as a horse from day one.  I don't know--maybe Cohen has some sort of important work to do here on Earth...and no big, bad virus is going to stop him from doing it.  Heavenly Father will see to that!  I'm a lucky mama.  A very lucky mama! And a grateful one too!   I have a healthy, happy little boy bouncing off my walls again!  --Lindsay

Just did my monthly download of pictures from my phone. Here are some of the gems I found that I thought you might enjoy...

Remember how I posted a picture a few months ago of Cohen's toys lined up around the perimeter of our dining room?  Well, now that the dining room actually has furniture in it (yes, pictures will come later when the room is totally finished), my kiddos aren't allowed to go in there anymore.  Seriously--it's off limits to them.  So, Cohen has had to find new creative places to play with his toys--like the washing machine...

Yep, I went to throw a load of laundry in & that's what I found.  Not sure why.  Maybe the washing machine was supposed to be some sort of cool spaceship...or maybe Cohen just thought his toys needed a good cleaning.

Another favorite place I've found his toys--lining the stairs...



He balanced an action figure on each of the rod iron posts in the banister.  Silly boy!  Can't wait to see what other creative spots he comes up with next.

Now let's move on to Miss Vivienne.  This girl loves shoes to no end!  She's had this love since she was about six-months-old.  I'm not sure if it's healthy or not.  She *must* have shoes on at all times!  If she doesn't have shoes on, she'll find a pair and put them on herself--even when she's not yet dressed for the day...


She's also into this really awesome cheesy smile stage too...


Love this girl and her obsession with shoes & all things girlie!

And, while we're on the topic of Vivvie, she's into this new stage where she strips down to her birthday suit ALL.THE.TIME!  I don't know what it is...maybe I'm keeping the house a little too warm for her liking or something, because she's always taking off her clothes!  The other night we were eating dinner & I glanced over at her to find her looking like this...


She had taken her shirt off, but apparently felt it was too much work to get it over her little pigtails so she just left it sitting on top of her head...


She was so proud of herself!

Alright, let's move on to some good food!  I filled in on the weekday morning show a few weeks ago, & it seems like you always get free food on that shift--like this awesome burger & fried pickles from a bar & grill called Lucky 13...


Our feature reporter was featuring them on the show that morning & they sent some burgers back to those of us in the studio.  It was so yummy--even at 7:00 am!  And, the fried pickles were delicious!!  Now that's what I call a breakfast of champions!

Speaking of work, I took this picture from our studio window one Saturday morning about a week ago.  It was a really foggy morning in the valleys & I thought it looked so pretty.  Love SLC...


No fog up on my mountain though.  I took this picture about 30 minutes after I took the picture in downtown.  You can see all the fog down in the valleys, but nothing up in my neighborhood.  This is the time of year when I really love living at 5500 feet elevation...


Just a few days later, we had a big snowstorm.  It snowed big, fat flakes for almost the entire day.  We had over two feet of snow when it was all said & done...


I was supposed to go up to my sister's house that day to hang out, but we ended up bagging it because of all the snow.  Since I didn't have anything else planned for the day, I had decided I was just going to relax.  I started up the fireplace, made myself some hot chocolate, grabbed a warm blanket & got caught up on my DVR while watching the snow fall outside.  I *never* do anything like this!  It's so out of character for me.  I'm always running here or there & doing this or that, but not this day.  I just vegged!  It was so nice.  I may have to do it more often...


Once the snow finally stopped, Cohen decided he wanted to go make some snow angels.  He got himself dressed in his winter gear (all by himself, except the zippers) and headed out into all that snow.  Once he got to his desired snow angel spot, he stopped...


And then fell straight backwards into all that fresh powder.  It was so cute to watch...


Then he made another one...


And another...


After that, it was off to the snow-covered trampoline for a few jumps.  Then he ran back inside saying it was "too cold."  I'm pretty sure it took him longer to put on all his cold weather gear than he actually spent outside, but he had fun.  And, I had cute snow angel prints in my snow to look at out the window.

So, there's some random photos from the past month.  Love these fun and sometimes crazy little moments in life!  --Lindsay