Jan 7, John Thomas

Had a few minutes and don't want to get behind.

Stacy and Sierra are flying out to California for biopsy and IVIG.  It has been 2 months since Sierra's last biopsy when she got a 1B rejection.  They fly out today on a commercial flight, stay at Bob Paugh's house, then biopsy at 9:30 Wednesday morning with 12hrs of IVIG afterwards.  It is going to be a long day tomorrow.  Then if pressures and biopsy results are okay, they will fly back Thursday.  Sierra is looking and acting good, so hopefully everything is good.  I will report as we find out.

Last weekend was a treat. We drove to Princeton Oregon, where my sister Garrity and Seth live. Seth works and manages a big cow herd for a ranch. If you have never been to Princeton, go to Crane, then travel south for another 20 minutes. There is a single wide mobile home that says 'Post Office'. That is Princeton.  Then on another 10 minutes down a dirt road and there they are.  A nice little valley with cows and hay.  It's a really nice place to live if you like the wide open spaces and NO neighbors. 

We were there for their son's baby blessing.  Little John Thomas O'Crowley is he pride a joy of that little family.  For the weekend, we had our 5 kids, Jake's 4, and Justin's 4.  That is 13 cousins fussing over one cute little John boy.  Plenty of stimulus for the little 'Taco John'.

That's it for now, biopsy results as I get them.

 My mother with her little grandson



 But this is what the seen was for most of the stay. 3-5 kids loving (and fighting over) their new cousin.

 

Megan's basketball game. She loves to play!

Jan 2, 2014 Christmas break

Finally an update.
Interesting how the blogging doesn't come as natural as it did back the in California days. Blogging then was very therapeutic for me, now I am just recording our life and thoughts.  If our lives turn upside down again, I am sure I will need that blogging therapy.

It has been a wonderful Christmas break. Kids are all doing well. Here are a few events we want to remember.

Kade's baptism. Back on Dec 21, Kade Thomas, our friends who live in Homedale and were in Calif the same time we were with their daughter, was baptized. I had the honor and privilege of speaking at his service.  I talked about the events of June 2012 when we met and how that has brought us together.

Kids Basketball. Lindsey had her last game over the break. I think she had a really good time, and I enjoyed coaching the kids. Now Lindsey is playing YMCA volleyball and Stacy is coaching that. I am coaching Hunter in his YMCA basketball with other 1-2 graders.  We have 9 kids with a WIDE range of skills.  Justin was going to coach it, but his daughter Alya broke her leg up skiing, (which is another story) so since his daughter won't be playing basketball, he doesn't want to coach. Go figure.

On the 20th we last good snow storm. We have about 3 inches of frozen snow on the lawn, and about 30 inches in the mountains.  We need a LOT more to get through the irrigation season this coming year.

On Christmas Eve we did our traditional tubing party at Little Alps. We have gone there every year (we can) since I was a kid.  It is good fun for the family, especially the kids!  Hunter and Megan had a blast going over the jump.  The other kids were a bit more conservative. 

Christmas Day was everything we dreamed of.  In our family, we have to get up and get the chores done before we can go in to open presents.  So we had all the kids up, out feeding cows, eating breakfast, and cleaning up before any presents were opened.  Then we spent the day at Jake and Wendy's for Christmas dinner.  The memories of last year are still very bright in my memory.

We still don't take the simple things for granted, like all being home, all eating together, room to run around, not hooked to machines, etc.

Last Saturday, Stacy and I took the girls up skiing. Now that was fun.  The girls are all good enough to get down the intermediate runs. Megan was fun to challenge, she would follow me down any hard run I wanted to go down.  Couldn't quite get Sierra to blindly follow along.

Played basketball with a bunch of Bingham's. Had Cass there, Hailee's husband. He is a 6'10" guy who played for USU and is VERY good. It was really fun to play against someone that big.  He took it really easy on us and gave everyone a chance.

A few days ago we killed 3 pigs up at Nick's.  That is NOT for the light hearted.  We now have them gutted, skinned, halved, and hanging in the shop. Tomorrow we will be cutting them up into pork chops, ham roasts, sausage, and bacon.  It's actually pretty fun.

Lindsey had a fun birthday on Sunday. Big 10 years old. We had a fun get together with family and friends and played guestures and other games.   For New Years, we let Sierra and Megan have some friends over for a party.  I KNOW they had a blast.  They made these music videos and painted each other fingernails. Even Samual and Roper came over.  They thought they were pretty cool hangin out with cute junior high girls.

Sierra and Lindsey had a heart checkups in Boise. Lindsey's echo and checkup was perfect. No issues there.  She goes back to California in early February for biopsy. Sierra has some issues with her echo that they are reviewing it with California, possible increased pressures. (grrr)  They didn't do and change anything, just issues to watch.  She goes back to Calif next week for biopsy and IVIG.

I would be lying if I said I'm not concerned.  Remember that little demon that sits on my shoulder that says, "What if?"  Well he is still there.  For the most part I don't think about it much, but it's always in the back of my mind. She looks and acts great, so we will just do what we have to do, what ever it is.

So that's a basic history of what we have been up to. Nothing out of the ordinary, just thoroughly enjoying being home...together.  We are truly blessed.

Now for the pictures...
Here are some fun pictures of Lindsey and Keanna, and a crash they had up tubing.

 

 

 

 

Next is a train we did up tubing.

 

 

Later, Jake crashed on the jump. Blood was everywhere. It was awesome!

 

Now for some skiing

 

 My cute girls



 

Now for breakfast / dinner

 Before...

After...

 

Dec 16, THOR, The Office party, & Utah trip

This last week we had the office Christmas party at Jim's house. We had a nice dinner and a gift exchange. This year Stacy and I did a great gift for none other than thee one and only Tom Isaacson.  We found out that Glenda wanted to see the movie Thor because of Thor's great hair, but Tom wasn't crazy about taking her. So for a Christmas gift, we bought Tom a Thor wig and helmet. Now he can take here and look great!  It was so funny.  Tom was a great sport.  Allen also got a fake snake in his present. It was a fun night.

On Friday, after Megan and Sierra danced, we left for Utah to go to Stacy's grandpa's 93rd birthday party.  It was a nice event down in Draper at Stacy's cousin, Tammy and Kevin's house.  Many of her aunts, uncles, and cousins were there. Afterwards we went to see the lights at Temple Square. Apparently there was some sort of concert or something going on because it was crazy trying to find a place to park. The lights were nice to see, but there was hords of people.  There was so many people it was hard to enjoy the spirit of Christmas.  We were able to stay with Ryan and Michelle and spend a bit of time with most of Stacy's family.  All good stuff.

One more game left in Lindsey's YMCA basketball.  It has been a great season for her and her 5 teammates. Now Hunter has basketball, Lindsey has volleyball, Megan has junior high basketball, and Sierra has skiing and volleyball. Going to be an exciting 3 months as I get geared up for tax season. 

This morning at breakfast we were handing out the morning meds (not a few), commenting on the lovely prednisone and how is stunts Sierra and Lindsey's growth.  Lindsey is very sensitive to her height, or lack there of. Sierra had the quote of the day, "Well if it keeps me alive, I guess I am good with it", as she downs a huge hand full of meds.  Ya know, maybe we all complain about 'things' way too much! 

God bless the family of Dale Smith.  They still haven't found any remains of the plane. Our prayers are still the family.  What a sad, sad thing to happen.

Sierra has biopsy Jan 6, and Lindsey's biopsy is February 8.

Till next time, Merry Christmas

 

Grandpa Glen Hobbs. 93rd Birthday party. He is winding down in life, but he is and was a very good man. We sure love him.

Stacy's siblings and family at Temple Square

 

 Megan and Sierra performing the dance routines. They have fun with that stuff.

Yes, that is our high school gym. Go Badgers!

 

Our favorite picture. This is Tom (Thor) ready for the movies!!

Glenda, how can you resist?

 

Dec 7, Remembering Dale Smith

It's been a pretty basic week here. VERY cold. Highs in the teens and lows in the negatives. Lindsey is still playing YMCA basketball. Still amazes me how well she is doing and how hard she runs given where she was at a year ago.

Stacy picked up 2 night shifts this last week. That always wipes her out.  Had Range here for the weekend. He and Gage are best friends. They love to play 'cowboy' all day long. Range has the funniest cowboy talk for a 5 year old. "Aunt Stacy, Can I have a drink of water? I don't like eggs. In my house, my Dad puts the hot chocolate in the refrigerator to warm it up."  But you have to say it the way he does, loud and like a 5 year old cowboy.

We also had Lacy and Patience Wick here for the weekend.  Good kids that needed a place to go.  Megan and Sierra are doing a lot of babysitting.  They love doing it and are making a bit of money.

Finally got word from California regarding the next tests. Sierra and Lindsey have blood draws now. Sierra has IVIG and biopsy on January 6, and Lindsey has biopsy in early February.

But that not the real thing that has been weighing on my mind. Last week Dale Smith's small plane went down in Idaho. They have searched for 6+ days now and still haven't found any sign of him, his kids, or his aircraft. Dale was a very nice guy who lived in San Jose. He had given us rides through Angel Flight to Calif for biopsies and checkups. His parents live here in Baker City, so it worked out good for him to come and visit, then fly us to California.  We are still in shock over the loss of this good person. He was an excellent pilot, and we always looked forward to flying with him. Our prayers continue to be for him and his family.

Here are a few pictures of Dale Smith back in July when he gave us a ride to Calif.

Nov 25-30, Thanksgiving week

What an enjoyable Thanksgiving week. We had good family time, games, and visiting. On Wednesday Josh and Tara, and their 5 kids showed up. Hunter and Lindsey were sitting out by the road watching for them for well over an hour. They were convinced that Josh and Tara were broke down somewhere and we needed to help them. But all was well. Garrity and Seth and their new little baby John Thomas showed up late Wednesday. Jake and Wendy went to N. Dakota to her sister's place.

Thursday we did the 5K Turkey Trot in Baker City. All of us except Gage ran/walked it. Lindsey and Sierra walked most of it but did well.  Thanksgiving dinner was at our place this year. We had Mom & Dad, Justin & Emily, Garrity & Seth, Josh & Tara, and the Kymetics, a total of 27 counting kids.  We had the dinner in our cleaned out and newly insulated shop, it was a fun place to have it.  Later we had Nick & Hil, and Allen & Pam over for pies. We shot guns and played pinochle.  That night we had 14 cousins over for a sleep over. It was a living room of kids, pillows, blankets and lots of giggling!

Friday Josh and I cooked breakfast for all 14 kids while Stacy and Tara did the 'Black Friday' thing.  Josh and I definitely came out ahead on that one. Once the wives got back, we headed for the hills and cut 8 Christmas trees for various families. Then over to Justin's for more games, hot tub, and activities. It was then Justin's turn for all 14 cousins to stay the night.

Saturday after Josh and Tara, and Seth and Garrity we gone, we cleaned up, 'decked-the-halls', decorated the tree, and put out Christmas lights.

Regarding our kids medical needs (which are never far away), we are waiting to hear from Calif regarding Sierra's next IVIG. May be next week, may be in a month, still not sure. Gage is good till February for a checkup. Hunter, Megan, and Lindsey are due for checkup's with the Boise doctor.  They all seem to doing good, no major concerns at the moment.

It was a great week.  Stacy and I talked about all the things we are thankful for. We are grateful to be home, health kids, family around us, beautiful area, good job, and faith that keeps us together. We are excited and look forward to the Christmas season. God has truly blessed us.

Christmas decor

 Lindi and Gage in the shop for Thanksgiving dinner

 Thanksgiving in the shop

 Josh and I cookin breakfast

 Yah, Sierra and Lindsey doing the goofy hair.

 Lindsey putting up her 'Beads of Courage'. If you remember, for every poke, every night, the Berlin, the transplant, and many other things, she received a bead. We now use that string of beads as part of our Christmas tree décor.  The bead at the top of the tree is the 'Heart' bead.