Holden So Far

J.D. had a great interview and made it back in time to go to work Friday. "Luckily" I broke my back and he got time off. He wouldn't have gotten the time off otherwise... We had my mom up in Glendive for 2 weeks. Then J.D.'s parents came for a week. It was that week that we found out J.D. had the job! He had to start the week of February 16th..... So we started packing. J.D.'s parents took all of our fragile stuff home in their truck. We had also bought two trailers for the hotshot business, but they were used to help move us. 

I didn't get to Holden until the 24th. My doctor didn't give me the approval to travel, so I had to stay up in Glendive for an extra week. My good friend, Kathy, let me and the boys stay with her and her family. AND she brought me all the way to Holden! She wanted to come to Utah, so it worked out perfectly for everyone. 

The only thing about having to stay an extra week.... well a very close friend, who was my second grandma, passed away. Ellie babysat me until I could babysit her grandkids. I watered her flowers every summer, and worked for her son in laws business until I graduated. I'm so grateful I got to write her a letter before she passed, and she wrote back! She assured me she was going to give Andee a hug from me. I prayed and prayed that Andee would greet her when she passed, and I know she was. I've had amazing experiences about that and I have no doubt she was there. I couldn't make it to the funeral because my doctor prohibited me from traveling. We did get to send flowers and after a couple of weeks I got a letter in the mail from her daughter Rinda. She sent me an obituary and a copy of her talk. It meant so much to me and made me feel like I was really there. 

After my doctor's appointment on the 23rd, I was able to take off my turtle shell brace and got a much smaller brace. HEAVENLY! It is so nice to not have to wear that stinkin turtle shell. Normally, most people might have to wear that turtle shell longer. However, I have my Heavenly Father and worthy priesthood holders to thank. I have no doubt that the priesthood blessings worked and continue to work every day. My doctor said it was a miracle for how well I was doing. 

We set off to Utah after my appointment in Billings. We had the funnest road trip and I'm so grateful for Kathy and he friendship. It was sad to see say goodbye to her, but I know we will always be friends. Holden was such a relief to see. It was SO warm too! 

Monty loves grandma and grandpa's house. He waves to all the cars passing by!

We love seeing all of the cousins and playing with them.

It is so nice to let the kids be kids. Monty just wonders around and discovers so many new things. He loves to be outside and loves to be free to play.

We walk up to the bus stop almost daily and play at the park after Dawson gets off the bus. Monty loves his big brother and Dawson loves entertaining him. Dawson loves teaching Monty all sorts of new things and gets so excited for the new things Monty learns to do.

One of our favorite things is going to Parker's soccer games or watching other cousins play.

Here is another day at the park. Monty has learned how to climb up everything and is keeping up with Dawson!

Monty is getting on a schedule finally, but it involves laying on my face to go to sleep, lol!

We visit Great Grandma Marjorie every day, we go on lots of walks, and we are so close to purchasing our first home. We should close on our house this week! We've had some unfortunate events with the house buying process, and both vehicles breaking down. Eventually we will get them working and get more settled, but it's a work in progress. We are still trying to figure out things here with schedules and getting everything done that needs to be done, along with every day life. 

Dawson loves riding the bus, and he is making friends finally. Monty is getting more comfortable with everyone and is finally sleeping through the night again. J.D. is liking his job, and is going to do his handy man stuff on the side. I am adjusting well and ready to get renovating our house. I'm excited to have a blank slate for our yard to do whatever we want to it. Holden is good and we are excited for more adventures. 

The Sledding Accident

We were all going down the small hills for about 45 minutes. Then we all drifted over to the larger hills, one of the sledding trails had a ramp about a foot high. It  had been there for weeks and lots of people had been sledding off of it. The only thing about the ramp, it was set diagonal, so when you hit the ramp you would just catch the side of it and not go very high.

I went down the hill, hit the ramp and just laughed! It was SO much fun! I came back up and J.D. tried to hand me Monty. I said, "Just let me go 1 more time please!!" He agreed. I sat down in my little plastic saucer sled.... My friend Kathy said, "You are crazy!"

My reply, "This will determine how many more babies I have..." and I was off!

My self started to turn and go straight for the middle of the ramp. I got cold chills right as I hit the ramp. I FLEW! I came down and POP! I crumbled over and couldn't breathe. I was in excruciating pain! I can't even begin to explain the severe pain and not being able to breathe. I sat there trying to yell for help, but it came out a whimper because I couldn't breathe.

Back at the top of the hill, J.D. and everyone was "ooh' ing because it looked like it hurt. Finally, Kathy noticed I wasn't moving. She mentioned it to JD. As they watched, J.D. soon started running down the hill. As he got closer he could hear me.

J.D. "What happened! Jenny! What happened! What's wrong!?"

I explained the pop and how I couldn't move or breathe. I tried to roll over and I just screamed. Kathy just started dialing 911. What seemed like forever, the police came and kept asking me questions..

Police: "whats the date today?"

Me with complete and utter disbelief attitude: "Seriously! It's Saturday! Who the heck knows the date on Saturdays! It's something in the teens.....17...16...18...I don't know!"

Police: "We have to ask questions mam. Who is the president of the United States?"

Me: "UUUHHHGGG! Obama! "

Finally the ambulance arrived.

EMT: "Do you want your husband to ride with us?"

Me: "Does it cost more!?"

EMT: "Ummm no we don't charge per passenger."

Me: "Okay fine, whatever. Just get me some meds."

I'm in excruciating pain and I finally get into the ambulance. Okay, for any of those who have ever ridden in an ambulance you can totally agree. SO NOT WORTH how much it costs! So bumpy and for someone with a broken back, I am screaming in pain every time we go over a bump. Luckily enough, it's Glendive...winter...ice chipped roads....therefore there were plenty of bumps. Had I known the the EMT's were actually volunteers and couldn't administer ANY drugs, I would have said "Throw me in the back of the truck."

We finally get to the hospital. I'm rushed in, and they keep asking tons of questions. I repeatedly said, "I need medicine. Please take away the pain. please get me something!"

Ya.... that didn't work for an hour! During that hour they asked me tons of questions, people were in and out, I was rushed to do cat scans and x rays, and they cut all my clothes! For the record, that very day I decided to wear my new garments, my new sweater, my new pants and jacket, and my new bra. All of which were Christmas presents and this was my first time wearing it all. When they got to my bra, with every breath I had, I screamed, "NOOOOO!!" All hands went up. I cried, "Don't cut my bra. It's brand new and my very first Victoria Secret bra that cost so much and makes me feel so confident." lol! not joking at all about that. So needless to say, they did not cut off my bra. :-)

I found out later that my good friend Bethany took the boys to her house. She lives 2 blocks from the hospital. I was told Dawson was bawling and so scared for me. He was so worried, which just broke my heart.

They gave me morphine after morphine after morphine dose. It didn't work. They kept worrying because I was still in so much pain! Finally they gave me Velotted...sp? It worked like a charm, but made me so nauseas. So they came me some zofran (which is was I take for my pregnancy sickness). 

They came in with results explaining I had totally broken my L1 vertebrae and shattered my discs above and below it.

I was to be life flighted to Billings because a piece of the vertebrae chipped towards my spinal cord and was touching it. So we waited for Billings life flight crew for 2 hours. They explained I could be gone for up to 2 weeks. That was it, I finally broke down. I called my mom and told her what had happened. I asked to see my kids, and I got a priesthood blessing. Monty need me and would not let go. This was so sad because I couldn't really hold him. This was so sweet to have him just hug me and be okay. He kept getting fussy, and Kathy took him and found him some food. Of course! He was starving! It was 4 o clock and he hadn't even eaten since 11! Poor kid!

I had my close friend Kathy there the whole time with J.D. She had just walked to the hospital after taking her kids home from sledding. It was an answer to my prayer. I told J.D. I needed Kathy there because I needed to tell her what to do. I immediately knew my kids would be staying with her and no one else. I trusted no one else at the time and knew I could get through my time at the hospital knowing she was watching and caring for the kids. When I told J.D. that I needed Kathy, he walked out to call her and she was right there already. She went with J.D. to go pack the kids' bags, my bag, and a bag for J.D. They came up with a plan to bring J.D. the truck on Tuesday so he could go to his interview on Wednesday. 

By the time the life flight crew got there, our other close friends, The Lighters had shown up. Charles and J.D. gave me a blessing and just sat with me waiting. It was unreal how I got transferred. They put me in a vacuum bag basically. I felt so cozy drugged up and warm. 

They drove me to the airport, and got me in the nicest and most quiet jet ever! However, $21,000 was not worth it. I would have driven to Billings or ridden in a van had I known that cost. J.D. said it was pretty awesome because he got to sit in shotgun. lol! 

I was not allowed to move at all once we got to the Billings hospital. They ordered MRI's and explained I would have surgery in the morning. My nurse in the ER was Austrailian! She was awesome. I was starving and was giving until midnight to eat. They wouldn't let me eat before the MRI's though, so the nausea got worse. I threw up so many times while they tried to get 8 MRI's! I had throw up everywhere and was beyond sick. Finally we finish...at 12:15am. Which meant I couldn't eat. Are you kidding me??? If I don't eat I will get more nauseaus because they kept drugging me up with more pain killer medicine. 

I was wheeled to ICU where J.D. was waiting. I was about to cry because I was so miserable. The nurse in the ICU was amazing. He switched my neck brace and cleaned my hair and neck and face so I could be more comfortable. He got me whatever I needed to not feel nauseous. After everyone left, he said, "I'm a member too" with a smile. It was such a blessing. He helped give me a blessing for surgery. By 9 am, he came in and said, there will be no surgery. The bone had moved! I would only need a brace, which would be fitted that afternoon. I cried again, because it was so strengthening to my testimony. Priesthood power. 

My brace came and I was given another remarkable nurse who stayed with us the entire time and ordered us whatever we needed. He even ordered food for J.D. for free! That afternoon they brought my brace in. I sat up for the first time and they strapped that sucker on....

Oh my word, the most uncomfortable thing, but it felt good to get in a new position. All of the sudden I was puking again! All over and I couldn't bare to sit up any longer. I fell to my bed and laid there all night.

I was finally feeling better and they got my medicine under control. They changed it to a lower dose of Fentenal...sp? With a combo of zofran. I started to feel much better, and I was able to get out of ICU. When they went to switch me into a new bed, I said, "I want to stand up please! I'm dying laying down." The doctor explained I was not to stand up for 5 days, BUT my nurse let me when I got to my new room out of the ICU. 

I was on top of the world! New goal: I had to stand, walk the halls 3 times, shower myself, dress myself, go up and down stairs, and not throw up in order to leave the hospital.

Things were looking up! You couldn't keep me down. I was going to do everything so J.D. could go to his interview and I could head back to Glendive. But by Monday night I was feeling down. I couldn't go anymore. I couldn't finish everything they needed me to. I was so tired and hurting so bad. I had done everything, but I didn't know if they would let me go because they could see I wasn't doing good that night. 

I walked and walked, and was in so much pain, but I did it! The doctor was in disbelief. People asked, "Are you sure you broke your back?" That evening J.D. walked out of the room and said he'd be right back... Guess who came back!!??

Yep! My brother Matt! It gave me so much confidence and totally turned my attitude around! Heavenly Father sent me another angel and that's what I needed. The next day I did everything I had to again! The doctor said, "There is nothing else we can do for you... so we are discharging you today." WHOOOHOOO! I did it! 

Kathy and Marge came to get me, drove 2 vehicles, our truck and their car. J.D. hopped in the truck drove to Utah for his interview the next day and I went back to Glendive. The priesthood is amazing and I'm so grateful for all the prayers and worthy priesthood holders who helped give me a blessing. I'm so grateful for family and friends who helped me the next 6 weeks. Me being able to walk and be doing so well is truly and absolutely 100% a miracle. 

Hot Shot or Delta Job...

I can't even begin to do separate posts on what happened in January... and February for that matter. It started with coming back from Utah determined to start J.D.'s Hot shot business. Now for those who don't know what hotshotting is.... It's a really good looking guy who goes around driving a super sexy truck....
JK! It's has to do with hauling oil field tools to different rigs and drilling wells. :-) J.D. is good looking on a side note.
OKAY! We had bought the trailers in Utah, and we hauled them up to Glendive. Within a week we had business cards, business stickers, contracts started, and we were about to invest a few thousand dollars one day to finish up getting everything for the business...... I called JD and just said I couldn't finish doing all the work because I wasn't truck savvy enough to understand all the lingo. SO, J.D. said he would help me when he got home.

Twenty minutes later, J.D. got a phone call from Lucas. There was a job opening in Delta, UT for Magnum Gas.
(Just a little history, J.D. turned in a resume there over a year in a half ago even though there was no positions available. In fact, they didn't hire a single person last year. This year they sold the company to a different company called NGL Energy Operations, in which they plan to expand and grow from here. Expand HUGE! One of their workers had gotten fired, and they called J.D.'s brother because they remembered J.D. turning in a resume. They had 55 applicants and only interviewed 5. )

I'm getting ahead of myself, so J.D. called me and we had 2 days to decide. We prayed and prayed and fasted all of Friday. Saturday evening came and we said a prayer and then began to talk about it. Before beginning, I went to the filing cabinet and pulled out our secret 5 year wish list.

(Side note: I had written a wish list 5 years prior and J.D. and I never looked at it, but we accomplished everything or got everything that was on that list except Dental School) April of 2014, I wrote up a new one with J.D. for the next 5 years.)

J.D. said, "This is exactly what I needed." We made 2 columns and decided to put a plus or negative on each item determining if the delta job would help us accomplish our goals or if the Hot Shot business would help us accomplish our goals. We were happy in Glendive, and we were excited to start the business. BOTH were great opportunities, so we could make this decision with an open mind. We decided the Delta job would help us accomplish more goals in the next 5 years.

SO, J.D. applied that night.

We waited 2 1/2 weeks to hear about the job. We just kept working with our current job and waited. In the mean time, we decided to put an offer on the little red brick house that we walked through during Christmas break, with a contingency that we get the job. Things went into motion with the house and we continued to move forward with it.

We finally got a call January 16th from Magnum and they set up an interview with J.D. for January 21st. It had to be in person, so J.D. planned to drive himself through the night and drive home Wednesday after the interview. He wasn't sure how he would get work off, but he didn't really worry about it.

To help pass the time, the next day we had planned to go sledding with a few families. One being the Fuquay's (the dad is a member of the church but inactive. The mom has taken the discussions, but hadn't received a confirmation yet. Dawson is in love with 1 of the twins, Raina. He says he is going to marry her. Both the girls are in Dawson's kindergarten class.) The other family is one of my best friends, the Jacobson's. We met at 1 to go sledding at Whipkey park which has perfect sledding hills.

Next post.....

He Lost 2 teeth!

Dawson lost his bottom teeth! He is so excited and feels like he is growing up way too fast! 

Dawson got a letter from the tooth fairy and he has treasured it since! 

He loves to wear my glasses too! 

Christmas 2015

We spent Christmas in Glendive with my Aunt Debbie and Uncle Kyle who live in Williston, ND. It was small, but so special. I love doing our own traditions. We had fun putting up our Christmas tree, decorating it, and we had enchiladas for dinner (which was my Aunt Debbie's tradition).

Dawson loves the colored lights, but we kept changing it to white lights for J.D. and I. Monty pretty much broke all of our ornaments on the bottom half of the tree, so by Christmas our tree was half decorated lol!

Our little elf, Timmy came to our house this December too! Dawson is convinced he works at the library in the North Pole because every night he would bring Dawson and Monty a Christmas book!

For school Dawson had to disguise a gingerbread man so he wouldn't be eaten! So Dawson chose to make him look like Captain Hook......

I couldn't even tell he was a gingerbread man and he survived this holiday season ;-)

This Christmas we made our annual cinnamon rolls for friends in the area. They turned out to be HUGE this year, which was a bonus because there is more to eat right? 

One of our friends ;moved to the area and always did a Polar Express Night with her kids. SO we made it a big night with all of our friends and their kids. We reserved a Santa (who was President Clayton from the Stake Presidency). I was in charge of finding a Santa, so when I asked President Clayton he said he was done with playing Santa for his lifetime, but because he loved our family so much, he would do it one last time for us! It made it more special because he truly loves Dawson and Monty so much! 

We had tickets that had to be punched by a conductor and all the kids had to wear their pj's! 

Then we went into the gym and frosted lots of cookies, made reindeer food, and built a candy train! I had to wear my pjs too!

Dawson had SO much fun! 

Monty was with his best buddy Charles. This is the guy who got Monty addicted to Pepsi! We love Charles and his family, and Monty went to him every Sunday to sit with him. I think he associated Charles with treats and Pepsi, which will win Monty's heart any day!

We all went into the relief society room to watch a movie and all of the sudden we heard BELLS!! The kids ran down the hallway to find............

SANTA!!

We set up a sitting area so the kids could sit on his lap and tell them what they wanted for Christmas! Dawson and Monty were very first!

Monty wasn't quite sure what was going on, 

but Dawson came up to me afterwards and said, "Mom! It's president Clayton!"

That next evening, we set out cookies for Santa, and the boys went to bed immediately. Dawson and Monty both fell asleep as soon as I said it was time for bed. We told Dawson he couldn't come out of his room until we came and got him as 6:00 am. 

At 6:00 am we went to get Dawson and he was anxiously awaiting our 'OK' to come out. He had been awake for quite awhile, and was so obedient in waiting for us. 

The boys were SOOO excited to see their new toys from Santa!

Dawson got a DS! and a little movie player in the most "special box"

Monty was so funny to watch him play with Dawson and load up on candy so early in the morning. I've never seen Monty so happy so early!

Monty wanted to just play, but I had to get a picture of them with their Christmas jammies! They say "I'm a Nut" with a nutcracker gingerbread man. 

Monty got a little blow up house with tons of balls! He was in his glory!

Obviously, Dawson couldn't resist any longer.....

The kids got a few more things like a Globe

The game Trouble (which is one of Dawson's favorite games)

and lots of candy....

J.D. got a shotgun, and a couple movies. I got a jewelry armoir and a couple movies. The whole family got matching sweatshirts, the game telestrations, and then we got MORE in Utah. 

That afternoon of Christmas Day, we headed to Utah..... the roads were not so bad...

And they continued to be great the whole way....

Then we made it to Utah and it was a glorious site!

Monty started walking there and it was SO exciting!

The kids had a snow ball fight and played constantly every day we were there.

We got more outfits, toys, games, a United States map, expensive cleaning cloths, candy, and most importantly we got to spend time with family. While we were there in Holden, we walked through a couple homes in Holden. One was built by his great uncle in 1936.... which is important to remember as I keep posting of where we are at now. It was just a coincedence that we happened to just look through the house. :-)

Back to Christmas.... It was so special. There were so many wonderful things that happened in December. We are so grateful for the Savior and his life. We loved having Dawson start to truly understand the true meaning of Christmas. 

Monty 1st birthday

December 8th Monty turned 1! The day of his birthday we let him eat all sorts of goodies and made sure to give him extra loves and play time. He was on cloud 9! People brought him balloons and pepsi (which is something I did not get him addicted to.) 

Monty loves to be outside! Even though its below 0 most days. It just so happened that the day of his birthday it was quite warm out and we went to the park! He was SOOO excited to be a little cold and swing. 

We spent the weekend at a friends house and we made him a cake. We can't find any of the pictures from the night, but Monty dug right into that cake and was more than pleased with it's deliciousness!

We cut his hair as well because he was officially 1, and the shag was getting too shaggy!

He was so cute and happy while I butchered his hair! lol!

He is the sweetest little boy! He started walking 3 weeks after his birthday, and loves to climb! He is definitely a climber! 

He is fearless and can beat anyone out of a stare down. His look is intense and he is determined to get what he wants. He loves to sing with me, loves to play with my hair, loves to cuddle, falls asleep to watching Matlock, and loves to FaceTime. He makes us laugh all the time and loves to do whatever Dawson is doing. Monty has surprised me with how much he wants to do things the way big people do things. For example, feeding himself, drinking out of cup, sitting at the table and not in his high chair, coloring already, playing and building with legos, and even driving. He LOVES to play with the steering wheel! 

Monty we don't know what we'd do without you! We love how happy you are and all the big smiles you give us! Happy Birthday Monty B!