Indian Springs Trip

   Wow, It's been awhile since my last post. Here's something to catch you up.

Sydney trying to catch her sisters.

   Most of you know Brian and I have lived in Salome, AZ for 5 years now and we have realized that we haven't seen much of the area around here, so we have made a "bucket list" of things we want to see. Our local community center has a list of landmarks in the McMullen Valley area that we are going off of. The highlights include, Indian Springs, Harcuvar Petroglyphs, and the Harrisburg Cemetery (if we can find it). We are looking forward to exploring the world around our home.

Devyn and Kori showing off.

 

   The first attraction on our list was Indian Springs. We had heard about it a couple times, It's a popular hang out spot for the teenagers, they like to go out there and have bonfires and such. So a few months back we went to see what it was all about. We took a picnic lunch with us and embarked on the 45 min drive from our house. We took out our '08 Nissan Pathfinder, which turned out to be a little too wide for the narrow quad trails and we came home with some "desert pin striping", which for those non-desert dwellers means our paint job got some minor scratches from the bushes.
   I have to say, as we pulled up to the spot, I was a little worried. We were in a sea of Cholla cactus, which is nicknamed "jumping" cactus for a reason, you walk too close to it and it practically jumps on you. I could just imagine any of our 4 very ACTIVE children, getting too close. Luckily for us the area we spent most of our time in was Cholla free and full of HUGE granite boulders, the largest of which was probably 100 ft tall.

Bryson enjoying the treasure he found.

    After lunch, the kids went straight to demonstrating their likeness to monkeys, and scaring me to death in the process. They all enjoyed finding their own ways onto the massive boulders, although Sydney and Bryson required more assistance than Devyn and Kori for obvious reasons, but after awhile even Sydney was becoming more confident and able to pick her way over larger obstacles. Even Brian was making me nervous with his daring climbs onto VERY high, seemingly precarious rocks. Although I do have to say, as time wore on, I was also gaining my old adventurous spirit back and started doing some "daring" climbing myself. It turned out to be so much fun, that when we had family in town for Thanksgiving we took them out there to climb like monkeys with us, and I think I speak for them when I say they enjoyed it as well.

  I need to get some pictures of the really high rocks, even if the scale doesn't seem as large in pictures as is does in person.

An awesome shot of our four wonderful chidlers.

  Stay tuned for our next adventure when I post about our trip to "S" Mountain.

Things are looking up

Today was a good day for Brian. He got up several times to walk around and has begun moving around much more. He is pushing himself to get better and the nurses are confident that he will be home for Christmas.

When I left him tonight he was in a new room and seemed pretty content. If you want to visit just give me a call and I'll give you his room information.

Brian's accident

By now most of you have heard that Brian had an accident (and no, he wasn't putting up Christmas lights). Wednesday the 15th He was helping a member of the branch put a roof on his shed, stepped through some insulation and fell 16 ft to the concrete floor below. He broke his collar bone, shoulder blade, ribs 2-10 (9 in all), pelvis, tail bone, and punctured his lung, along with a concussion. He has a chest tube in to drain any fluid build-up in the lung cavity.

He was helivaced into Phoenix and was admitted into the ICU at John C Lincoln Memorial. The doctors and nurses hope to have him home for Christmas.

Brian has been getting out of bed, walking and sitting up, and has some excersizes to help his lung heal faster. Right now the nurses biggest concern is a blood clot. Because he has so many injusries he doesn't want to move too much. But I think we lit a fire under him today because he seems to be a little more willing to flex his muscles and do his therapy.

Right now I am staying in Mesa with Brian's sister Cassey. I have Sydney with me and Devyn and Kori are in Tucson with my sister Becca.

Brian has had several visitors and enjoys seeing everyone. The ICU requests that no more than 2 people are in the room at a time and that the visits be kept under 20 min.

We appreciate all the prayers and support. I have had several people ask what they can do to help. The two things that I can think of that we need are help watching Sydney while I am in the hospital with Brian, no one under 13 is allowed in the ICU, and gas money because the hospital is 25 miles away and I make several trips because of nursing Sydney.

Thank you so much everyone and I will try to keep everyone updated.

The Swimming Pool of Doom!

So, this is mainly for your benefit Sariah...you really need to join Facebook, I think you would love it.

Brian and I received an above ground pool from some friends at the end of last summer. We got all ready and got it set up but realized a hose to our chlorine generator (a saltwater pool system) was broken. I thought I could fix it but couldn't so we ordered a new one...the problem was that we had already put the salt in and we couldn't put any chlorine in so....we had a bit of a swampy mess.

Before

BRIAN DOESN'T NEED SURGERY!

YAY! So Brian had his appointment with the surgeon, that we have waited for a month to get and the verdict is....he HAD a Perilymphatic fistula, or hole in his ear, which has healed itself improperly, making his ear think it's still there or something. So, the surgeon has diagnosed him with Endolymphatic Hydrops which he is treating with a 6 day steroid regimen, and a low sodium diet, to help relieve pressure in his ear. The surgeon believes Brian will be showing an improvement in two weeks and should be completely recovered within a month. YAY! Brian is bringing home is MRI and CT scans so hopefully I will be able to post those as well. Thanks for all the prayers and well wishes.

Random Pics

Just some pics of the girls playing around...

A light at the end of the tunnel?

Sariah and Brian's wedding was this weekend. We had a lot of fun. Devyn and Kori had so much fun they didn't want to leave Tucson. They wanted to stay in the hotel. I made the dresses they wore (which most of you know) and they turned out super cute.


Brian had another round of testing on Monday. The tech said that the results were indicative of a fistula. SO.......Brian is making calls, trying to get appointments to see a surgeon. His therapist is helping, calling her Dr, the one she works closely with, to see if we can get him in and get the surgery done before the baby comes. We are so hoping that it will happen soon. Keep us in your prayers!