Memorial Day Weekend

We had a great Memorial Day weekend! We got to go to Jason's brother, Josh's, for the weekend in Rexburg, ID. It is always so fun to see brothers together and having a great time. We had a weekend full of events, such as; killing and cleaning chickens, building tree forts, swimming, playing with baby kittens, and some hard time playing. Thank you Tara for all your hardwork and hospitality. You are truely an inspiration to me. We also were able to see Jason's good college buddy and their family, the Yeck's. We counted 15 children between the three families and there was not one fight or argument. It is truly amazing, we always have a good time when we get together. Here are some fun pictures of the weekend.

This was a picture of the kids' faces while the chickens were being killed. In our defense, the kids insisted on watching.

Jason, Josh and Jeff cleaning the chickens.

The starts of building the tree house.

Jason and Josh putting up support beams.

Putting the finishing touches on.

The mostly finished product. We took this picture just before we left. The weather had been beautiful all weekend. We took this picture and then it started to down pour rain.

I just thought this was a cute one of the three girls heading down out of the tree. As usual Lindsey has to strike some kind of pose.

I had to add this one. Yesterday we had our ultrasound of "the End." It is pretty cute and we were strong and did not find out what it was. So we figure we have a 50/50 chance, so our odds are pretty good of it being a girl or a boy.

Loving the warm weather!

As all of you have probably been enjoying, we are loving this heat wave. It has been so fun to be outside and not wear sweaters, jackets or long sleeves. Hunter still grabs his jacket to go outside. We are trying to retrain him to grab his hat instead. It is slowly coming. Sunday we went on our first picnic of the year to Pilcher creek resivoir. It was really fun. We made our first dutch oven cobbler of the year and it was delicious. The girls enjoyed waiding in the water and Hunter stuck close to all the food. Here are some pictures that make you stop and appreciate "the prescious moments" of life.

All the kids out swinging enjoying the weather.

Hunter doing his favorite thing. Pushing people on this toy.

Lindsey picking flowers at Pilcher.

Sierra picking flowers at Pilcher. Needless to say I had quite the boquet before we left.

Sierra sporting her flowers.

Hunter keeping his claims on the food. If you need to get Hunter to come with you and he is refusing, the magic word is "eat" and he will follow you anywhere.

Megan wading at Pilcher Creek. She had to go in first and make sure it is safe. Then Sierra and Lindsey would follow.

Track Season

Last Wednesday was the first track meet for Sierra and Megan. Instead of baseball this year, we decided to try youth track. It has been a lot of fun. Megan's comment after the first practice was, "How am I going to win all of those events." Megan took first in her group for the long jump. She jumped 7 feet 9 inches. Sierra was a trooper and participated in the shock put, long jump, javeline, 100 meter and 200 meter runs. Megan also did the 50, 100, 200, and 4 x100 relay, along with the javeline. She was upset that she missed the 400 and 800 meter races, but plans on doing those at the track meet tomorrow. It was really fun to watch them.

Megan throwing the "javaline"

Sierra doing the shot put (? spell)

This was Megan's winning long jump.

Sierra doing the long "skip"

Megan during the 50 meter dash was almost to the finish line and her shoe fell off. She had to learn the lesson of picking yourself up and finishing anyway. This picture was just before her shoe fell off.

Sierra and Megan just finished the 200 meter race. Sierra said, "I wanted to stop, but I knew I had to finish." She decided that she would stick with the 50 and 100 meter races.

A little bit blurry, but Megan doing the 4 x 100.

Newest Bingham (not ours)

Well, it has been awhile since I updated and I apologize. The weather is slowly turning nicer and nicer. Spring fever is in full swing here at the Bingham household. Sierra's cough is less and less frequent. She is definately on the mend. To our great relief.

Hunter and Lindsey Sunday, out with Dad for a bike ride (Hunter really was having fun).

Jason and the kids. Sierra and Megan are behind him coming up the driveway.

However , our most exciting news of all is the birth of Jake and Wendy's baby (Jason's brother). They had little Range Wesley Bingham at 5:10 PM yesterday. He weighed 8 lbs 10 oz. and was 201/2 inches long. A cute little guy who definately has his Grandpa Bingham's chin. so here are some picture of the new little guy.

A proud new brother Roper holding his new brother. Roper wanted to name the baby
Rower but decided that Range would be OK instead.

Range Wesley Bingham

Jake, Wendy, Roper and Range. Unfortunately Dallee Jo has had fevers and has not been feeling well for the last three days so she could not come to see the new baby. She is not pictured. But, is very excited.

I just had to add this one. It is Hunter throwing a fit because Jason is holding the baby and not him. What are we in for in 41/2 months. He will grow up a lot between now and then right!

Sierra's Biopsy Update

Sierra and I went to California the 21st-23rd. We got back last night at 10:30 PM. A long trip. Sierra had a biopsy Tuesday morning and all went well except, she has had a hacking cough for the last 3 weeks. The OR crew knew about the cough and was still OK with doing her biopsy (thank heavens). Toward the end of the biopsy, while she was under anesthesia she coughed and a bunch of gunk came up with it causing her oxygen saturation to drop a little bit. So, instead of the typical 1 1/2 hours of recovery, they wanted to watch her for 4 hours. If you can imagine, a room with four other beds in it with just curtains separating each one and a lot of little kids waking up from anesthesia. It can be pretty loud and obnoxious. So normally Sierra recovers really quickly and we end up leaving very shortly after she is wide awake. Now we had to sit there for four hours! She was not a happy camper, in the words of Sierra, "I just want to leave here, we are wasting our whole day." The doctors came in at the end of the four hours and told us that there was a little spot at the bottom of one lung on the chest x-ray so they wanted to start her on some antibiotics. She would take the antibiotics for 5 days and if the cough wasn't gone then to call them. Sierra's interpretation was, "We will put Sierra in the hospital for 5 days and then check to see if her cough is gone." Needless to say she was in no mood to talk to our favorite doctor, Dr. Bernstein, until I got her straightened out. However, the damage had already been done and she couldn't stop crying because she thought she was going to have to be admitted to the hospital. Anyway, we finally left the hospital and she was much more tired and exhausted than normal so we went to dinner with our favorite Stockwell's and then went back to the RMH and to bed.
Sierra's biopsy was a 1A, which we were actually relieved it was only that and not something more. We would have loved a 0, but with all she has been through the last few weeks we will take a 1A. Which means we get to return to California in 6 weeks for a follow up biopsy instead of 4 months. We are so very fortunate to have such a conservative group of doctors caring for Sierra. They really seem to look at everything with a thorough eye. Our stay at the Ronald Mcdonald House wasn't as fun as usual because of Sierra's cough. It alarmed many parents and so we were quarantined to our room (which is understandable with a house full of immunosuppressed kids) which is like a hotel room only without a TV or any form of entertainment. Sierra was upset, but, she got a lot of her homework done!
We missed seeing our friends the Thorntons, hopefully we get with you guys in June. We loved seeng the Stockwell's. They were our salvation in this whole mess of being quarantined. Thank you guys for visiting with us. See you in June! We love you guys!

Shawn (waiting for a heart for 2 years now), his sister Hailey and Sierra in front of the RMH.


Trista, Shawn, Hailey and Sierra. Not pictured is Shawns 2 sisters Amanda (at school in Palo Alto) and Sam(home in Alaska) and his dad George(home in Alaska).

Shawn, Hailey, Sierra, and me.

We are Home!

Well, we got to come home this afternoon. We went to Boise yesterday and Sierra got a picc line in. She couldn't keep an IV going long enough to get a continuous round of the medication going. So she was discharged from the hospital here in Baker and we went to Boise. It was fun to see all the nurses we knew from almost 2 summers ago. It is always fun to see Amanda there. We returned that same afternoon and was readmitted to the Baker hospital. The doctors discussed options and decided with a picc line in I could administer her medication at home (thank you!!). Her rash actually hasn't grown any the last 24 hours. That has been the frustrating thing, that it keeps growing and that spot blisters and then you have to wait for it to scab over. But, the fact that the rash hasn't grown the last 24 hours is very encouraging. We are hoping only another 24 - 36 hours of the IV medication and she will be done. So far, as long as she is 100% scabbed over by Monday the 14th of April, we are still on for her biopsy.