July & August

I can hardly remember everything which serves me right for not updating the blog. After the friend reunion, July went by so fast! We spent the 4th in Fillmore and it was so bloody hot. All I can remember is how hot it was and how I just wanted to go home. We did have the best seats in the house for the fireworks and Monty couldn't stop saying "WHOA! Wow! WHOA!" Needless to say, Monty absolutely loved it. He made the fireworks entertaining to the rest of the family. Well just kept giggling over Monty's reactions. I didn't get 1 picture because is was too hot to even think about anything but getting home to the AC. 

During the middle of the month, we worked on selling our 36ft trailer, and kept praying about a certain house in Holden. We decided to go look at the house and after 2 different walk throughs, we were ready to try buy it. We talked to the owners, and I need to record how  close we are to the family. They are Stevens', but related 4 generations back. The house that they lived in, now we live in, is the house that J.D. and I met in. We met here at this house where our friends reception was at. I even stayed the night in the house. This family has known us as a couple from day 1, and J.D. spent his childhood playing here all the time. It's a 5 bedroom 4 bath house, with a huge sunroom and jacuzzi in the back. Knowing that, there was no way we could afford this house. J.D. called the dad and explained we just couldn't do it. The dad said, "Well, what can you do?" J.D. told him our max budget and he dropped the price 40,000 dollars from the price they wanted to list the house, just for us, just so we could purchase the home! J.D. said, "What? No, Roger you can't do that. You go home and pray about it and talk to your wife." This family wanted to help us and kept telling us that they knew it would be okay and they wanted us to buy the house. They didn't want anyone else, and they felt right about us. Side note: this family is the most in tune family I have ever known. They are such a huge example as to what I hope to be more like. 

Back to the house.... after the owners lowering the price, both families (us and them) and miracles happen. For starters, we had to sell our trailer and refinance our truck to actually qualify for our max budget. That very weekend we texted everyone we had every had any interest in the trailer and told them we would lower the price to 5800. (this is after we refinished the entire thing). We had a buyer. The next day a completely random person called and wanted to pick up the trailer that day and give us 6000. SOLD! 

Meanwhile, I was in St. George and went into the bank and had the truck refinanced within 20 minutes. We waited until Monday to do all the paperwork for the house and we were on our way to closing. That weekend was my mom's birthday! She had posted a gourmet fruit cake that looked so good to her on Facebook. I decided to attempt baking it for her for her birthday.... it turned how pretty good, but too healthy for my liking. 

My whole family was there and I got some pretty sweet pictures of Uncle Matt and Monty playing ball.

And, my family got Monty addicted to pepsi.....

We also got pictures of our two little boys who both have lost 1 front tooth! 

Later that month they both lost the 2nd front tooth. Carson should have his by Christmas, but Dawson might be singing that song "All I want for Christmas is my 2 front teeth" because we have yet to see those permanent teeth come in....

Until we closed (which didn't happen until the 2nd weekend in September) we had visitors from Montana! The Oellermanns came and stayed with us for a couple of days and got to experience a real 24th of July in Utah. In any other state, its not as big of a holiday. Any who, the Oellermanns came and we went to the reservoir, we hung out and visited Thursday, and Friday after the celebrations they headed back to Montana. Our kids had so much fun playing at the reservoir. No one else was there and we had the entire beach to ourselves. 

While the Oellermanns were there, we had more visitors come from Arizona! J.P and Jessica Cosper stopped in for breakfast on Thursday morning. So we had a big breakfast all together! We last saw J.P and Jessica at their wedding. So our reunion was long overdue. It was so fun and we laughed so much together. We were all ready for a nap by 10. Once again, too early in the morning to think about pictures. :-) 

Friday we had went to the Holden parade and breakfast for the 24th of July. Adler got to walk with Dawson and be in the parade too! 

Aren't they so cute!?

I had to get this cute pic of Tilden, Monty, and Brant waiting for the breakfast prayer to be said. Monty absolutely loves these 2. He gets so excited just seeing them! 

That afternoon, after the Oellermanns had to go, and J.D. got home from work, we headed down south to a family reunion at Lake Powell with the Shelley's. We had a blast!!! It couldn't have been a better weekend to go. The beach was packed but we happened upon spots right next to each other and the whole family had fit all their campers and tents. We ate so good and just enjoyed spending time with one another without any stress. 

We got back to Holden on Tuesday and we were so worn out, but we still had birthdays all that week to celebrate. Tilden turned 9 on the 28th, Brielle turned 2 on the 29th, and J.D. turned the big 3-0 on the 31st. For J.D.'s birthday I took him to the Red Iguana in Salt Lake. Oh MY! Best mexican food I have ever had!! 

AUGUST

We continued to work on closing for the house. We didn't have to pack anything because all of it was still packed from moving in March from Montana! 

We celebrated Jetta's birthday! She is quite the teenager and is good at being one! :-)

Dawson started his 3rd year of soccer and did an amazing job. However, he seems more concerned about good sportsmanship than actually making a goal. I can't even tell you how many kids he helped up from being knocked down. I have a video of him helping 4 kids in 1 minutes. He is such a good kid! I love that he is so aware of others and what is really important. On another note, he is so good at soccer. I love watching him dribble the ball down the field. I didn't get to watch him as much this year because I was grabbing Monty and trying to keep him off the field. 

We would go home every night and Dawson would kick the ball around with Monty.... so now we've got Monty kicking every ball around the yard and house. He's pretty good for only being 1! Monty is absolutely amazing when it comes to balance and coordination. He has been riding Dawson's scooter all summer and needs no help. This is a 2 wheel scooter, not a 3! We get lots of comments about his balance and coordination for being 1. He is built like a man already too! Broad shoulders, thicker thighs, puffs out his chest.... I have no clue what's in store for us later on with Monty. He understands everything and loves taking off his diaper. 

On a really good note, Dawson couldn't be a better big brother for Monty. Dawson teaches him everything and thinks Monty is just "soo cute and funny". Monty wants to be just like Dawson and do everything he does. 

Monty has even learned how to make his tongue into a straw like Dawson....

Dawson started school on the 19th! His teacher is Mrs. Beckstrand and she couldn't be more perfect for Dawson. She is big on reading and is very calm. Dawson says,"she's even calm when she gets mad!" lol! Dawson is really good at getting his homework done, but still hates to wake up in the morning. J.D. goes down at 6 am and just talks to him for 30 minutes just to get him in a good mood for the day. J.D. is the perfect dad for him and I love that he is willing to do that just so Dawson has good days. 

Parker started the same day, and we had to get a picture of these handsome boys together! They looked pretty sharp their first day...and everyday after that. 

Monty got in the groove of school schedule too. He found a back pack and made his way to the truck and then screamed because he couldn't get on the bus with Dawson. 

Also, Lynette and Shane came to visit at the end of this month! It was the best visit ever. We loved watching Monty and Ally together. They are only 10 hrs apart in age. They were so cute together. Dawson loved playing with Cam and Chase. He told me after they left, "Mom, I just love my cousins." Poor Cam broke his arm while he was here! I still can't believe how calm and tough he was. He cried little bit, but never screamed or complained. Shane has been to medical school and knew it was broke when he saw it. It's pretty nice to have doctors in the family. 

The day Lynette left, we had to make a trip down to St. George and Kanab because my nephew returned home from the Billings, MT mission! 

We got back to Holden fairly early and J.D. got to spend some time with the boys. I'm not sure if I've mentioned, but J.D. is the favorite according to the boys and they make it obvious....

 I have 1 last pic to show for August and it was a Sunday during church. Monty is a little pill 90% of the time and we are willing to do anything to make him be quiet in church....

And that is all until September's update..... life got a little crazier believe it or not....

Annual Friend Reunion

June was a pretty easy month and was filled with lots of recreational activities. I can't tell you how many times we went jet skiing over at Delta reservoir. Also, we had our 1st annual Friends Reunion. We had a blast! We went camping at Caliente Nevada. 

First to start our reunion, Dawson and Hunter decided it would be 'fun' to climb this HUGE mountain and slide down. Needless to say we laughed, but we were also scared that there would be a rock slide.

You can see how high they were, there is a tiny blue speck in the middle of the pic below... that's Hunter. 

 And they made their own slide all the way down.

 On Saturday we spent that day waiting for the Peterson's to get back from Vegas... so we ate at a cute little local restaurant. It was so good! 

 We visited this old train station

 We walked through OLD train cars

 and went back to our camp spot and took a picture to document where we went.

 There are no words to describe how much fun we had. We can't wait for next year! We missed the Hair family, but we are hoping to see them next year. Thank you Petersons, & Ewells for coming!

More May

We stayed pretty busy the month of May and the rest of the summer. 

J.D. built a playhouse for Signature Real Estate for their drawing and he did an AMAZING job! I love having a husband who is so handy and good at what he does.

 We started our swim time and Monty LOVED/still loves it!

 We also had memorial day which has more meaning to us with Andee being gone. You can see J.D.'s sister's grave, and his Aunt JoAnn's grave. Three generations of children lost and the parents still living.

 We sure miss her, but I'm so grateful to have the opportunity to live in Holden where I can decorate her grave, go on walks with the kids to see her grave, and include her more. 

My good friend Jamie put flowers on her grave, and my mother in law. Thank you for thinking of Andee and remembering her. 

Dawson's May

In May, Dawson graduated from Kindergarten with scoring a 98 on his test! They tested the kids individually to see where they stood before entering into 1st grade. I'm so proud of him! He also had an "end of the year' program that the elementary puts on every year! Dawson danced to "Tiki Tiki Bird." 

You can see him with his orange feathers in the center of the photo. 

 He FINALLY learned how to ride a bike without training wheels. We were in American Fork visiting and he rode Taylee's bike. He got the courage all by himself and just decided to do it. We were so excited! After that, he started earning money to buy his own bike with no training wheels (he did get it this summer too!)

 There he goes!

 He also started his season of baseball! He is a pro, I'm not even joking. Every year he plays, I always get multiple comments on how GOOD Dawson is, and how he is such a team player. I love watching him play too! 

 We also made it to the Payson Temple Open house. I'm putting this down as one of Dawson's may memories because he was truly amazed and excited to go inside the temple. He is such a spiritual kid and loves the gospel. It made us so excited to go in the temple just listening and watching him. 

We love you Dawson and are so grateful for you sweet spirit and fun you bring into our lives!

Grandma turns 100!

This whole summer has been crazy fun and filled with so many events. I will start with May to keep things condensed. In May we celebrated J.D.'s grandma's 100th birthday! We had a huge party with so many wonderful memories and people who have been in Grandma Marjorie's life. 

Grandma was born into a family with 9 children. Here are the last living 4, Bernice, Don, Phyllis, and Grandma in the chair.

 Granda looked so beautiful and was so excited to see everyone.

 I think she was getting tired of all the pictures, but you never know when it will be the last one you'll get. 

 I've never had a picture with me and Grandma before, and I've been a part of the family for 8 years. She is such an amazing person and I'm so lucky I get to visit her every day. My kids get to know her and get to make so many memories just by living in Holden. 

 This is kind of backwards, but we had a little celebration with just J.D.'s family for Grandma on her actual birthday. 

 And of course all the kids had to help blow out the candles! 

One of my first memories with Grandma that I told at her birthday party, I was asked to go get lettuce out in the garden. I went out to the garden and just searched and searched. I didn't grow up with a garden, nor did I know what to look for other than a 'head' of lettuce. I couldn't find any heads. I finally thought to ask Grandma knowing she wouldn't make fun of me for not knowing what lettuce looked like. So I went in, asked grandma, and she walked me out to show me what lettuce in a real garden looks like. Thanks to her, I didn't have to look stupid in front of J.D.'s family for not knowing what lettuce looked like in a garden. 

Happy 100th Grandma Marjorie!

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.