My sister's Momma Kitty that we are taking care of as they are between permanent housing had her babies!!!Joe and I had an unbelievable weekend!!!
We went on a 4 day motorcycle trip with friends of ours up to Jackson Hole! It was incredible and I can't wait to go on another bike trip!
We left home at 4:30. We wanted to leave at 2 to beat traffic since we had a couple stops in SLC to make before really getting out of town. Instead we hit the heart of rush hour and added yet another hour to our trip. After a few pits stops to gas up and once thinking we ran out of gas (really Joe just forgot what tank we were running on...) we made it to St Anthony at 11pm. We were freezing cold! The temperature dropped just before we hit Idaho Falls and going 75 down the highway made it 1000x worse! Not to mention our butts were SOOOOOOO tired and sore. So we were so glad the hotel had a 24 hr hot tub. We got settled and went for a dip only to find the hot tub was ICE cold! That was frustrating. We enjoyed our rest and set out the next day for Jackson Hole.
We went with Derek and Tracy who live in Rexburg. They had a kids football game to be at that morning so we went and visited Justin and the boys. Holly was in Oregon at our sister Becky's baby shower. They were sad that we didn't have their kitties or our 
kids with us but they had a blast trying on our helmets and shooting each other with a Nerf gun with them on. Carter and Brenden
each went for a ride. They LOVED it!
We left them and headed to Derek and Tracy's house. They finished getting their bike loaded and we were off! We had thought about going through Yellowstone before heading down to Jackson but decided it was going to make the ride less relaxed. So we cut down through Swan Valley. The ride was amazing! Absolutely
breathtaking. We arrived in Jackson and got a quick bite to eat and did some shopping before we headed to see The Bar J Wranglers. That was Joe's whole reason for going. They were fabulous and well worth the drive and sore butt. You will have to watch for them to come to your area or go out to Jackson Hole.
We went sight seeing that morning. What a beautiful country we live in! We hit an antiques show in Teton Village. We headed back to Jackson and did some more shopping. It was getting close to head home time so we went to the base of the Tetons and had lunch. We had a great time sitting and eating and talking. So much in fact that we left an hour and a half late. We said our goodbyes. Derek and Tracy went back home. Joe and I took the back highways to Eden to our condo up there. We got there at 9:30 and BEGGED them to keep the hot tub open just a bit longer. They let us stay til 10:30. It was just perfect! We met some really nice people and had a great night.
Yah I know most kids don't have friend parties every year but I LOVE parties so my kids get one!
This years party for Brynn kind of snuck up on me. Not sure how... but it did. I have these HUE plans for a water party at the park with the fire truck there to get all the kids wet... oh well. Next year! This year we did fairies.
After all the girls arrived we made Tinkerbell magnets. The kids LOVED it. Then we had cake and ice cream, presents then they used Brynn's new make up and dressed up like fairies. It was simple and fun and the kids had a great time.
Monday night we had all the family over to celebrate Brynn. We had a bbq and did presents and cake and ice cream and all the cousins played. I love when my family gets together.
From the moment Brynn was born she was a special child. She had already had devil horns made out of her hair before she was even finished being born(Thanks Dr. Jarrett), she received 10s straight across on her APGARs which is very rare, after 10hrs of being born she smiled not once but 4 times in an hour. She continued to smile for everyone who came to see her.
Brynn's birth was by far my easiest. I was released a day early and went from the hospital to Katya's pre-school orientation. That made up for the 6 straight months of vomiting I had during my pregnancy. Well almost...
She was a super happy baby for 3 weeks and then she began to become more irritable and started projectile vomiting after every feeding. I noticed she was loosing weight because clothes that fit her at birth were too big. Her 6 week check up came and she had gone from a happy 8lbs to just over 5. My whole world started crashing down. We stopped nursing thinking it was my milk but even water made her vomit. We monitored her for another week and she lost another 6 oz. We were sent to Primary's right then. They ran some tests but found nothing. They kept her for monitoring. She was there for 3 days and we were sent home. She was still loosing weight so after another week and 5 more oz they kept her another 8 days. She continued to decline. They ran every test and could find nothing abnormal that could be causing it. My baby was slowly dying and they could tell me nothing. I had my first and only nervous breakdown that week. Joe was so scared he thought he should call for an ambulance.
On her 3rd day(the 2nd time) they tried a feeding tube to her stomach but she would vomit. So they put a tube to her intestines. When she was released we were sent home with a pump. Over the course of 2 weeks she pulled the tube out 8 times and we had to take back to Primary's every time to have it put back in. It was put in every time with out anesthesia. After the 4th time I couldn't watch or listen. It was too hard to hear her scream. It was sometime around this time that they suggested we think about putting a shunt in her abdomen. It would be permanent and stunt her overall growth. We told them we would think on it.
After the 8th time, on Christmas Eve, I said enough was enough. That time she had her hands taped down and she was asleep. 15 seconds later (the time it took me to open my car door walk around the car and open hers) It was all the way out of her body. I said a silent prayer and went into WM to get last min items. Since we had been in the hospital all day no one had really eaten so I got some popcorn chicken for me and corndogs for the 2 girls. Brynn kept making sounds and looks of wanting to eat my food. At this point I was in the baby dept to get diapers ect... I told Brynn that she was too little for big people food. She began to cry. Then what has only happened to me once before in my life I heard a distinct voice tell me to feed her solids. I didn't think twice and began filling the cart with baby food. I didn't know how I was going to feed it to her since she didn't know how to eat from a spoon but I didn't care. As I rounded the corner a bottle stood out from all the rest. It was a feeder bottle. Works with suction. You fill it with baby food or rice cereal and as they suck on a nipple the food is pushed up. It was exactly what I needed. I bought 2 of them and hurried home. She ate the food so fast I thought she had inhaled it. I waited and waited. No vomiting! That was the best Christmas ever! 3 days later I was able to tell her dr the wonderful news. With in a month she had gained back a whole pound! She stayed in the negative end of the size graph for 2 yrs but was steady in her growth so we were happy.
Now she is as healthy as could be. She is still tiny but makes up for her size in ambition and leadership. She can be quite ornery and bossy. I wonder sometimes if it isn't from all the unpleasantness she suffered through as a tiny baby. But she is our miracle child. We love her and wouldn't trade her for anything. I fear for her life everyday thinking that I was only lucky the first time and that I really won't get to keep her. Amazing what trauma does to your brain.
Brynn is super smart. She is one of the top readers in her class and only 1 of 4 who knew all of her letters (upper and lower) and all their sounds. She is great at math as well. We are so proud of her.
I have caught up 3 weeks worth of blogging. 11 posts in all.
So you will have to go back 2 pages!
Go see how busy we have been!
Happy reading!
So we have added 2 more animals to our zoo.
Holly and Justin are inbetween homes and needed a place for thier cats. We are happy to have them and the kids LOVE them. Here is the kicker!
Her one cat came to us PREGNANT!!!!!!!!!
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What a great fun camping trip!!!!
We went with Lisa and Zane and Lisa's family. Lisa's parents have a Camper World membership and
came along with us so we could all go to the campground up near Plymouth. They are along the line of hot springs that runs up in that area. The in ground pool is fed by one of the springs. It was wonderful!
Lisa's brother Brian and his wife Tiffany came up with thier kids and 
we all had a blast! It turns out Tiff and I grew up in the same region and went to the regional
activities. I knew her! She was wearing purple birks and I only knew one other person who had them besides my best friend. Her! I saw her on the beach trip when we were like 16. It was so fun to talk of Oregon ect.. we just really hit it off!
The kids swam and swam and swam some more. They LOVED it! I got kind of frustrated cuz even though I put sun block on my kids
4x in as many hours they all came 
home as lobsters! I think the 102 deg water had something to do with it..... I got some nice sun and got more of my book read. It was a very relaxing time.
Sat night Lisa's other brother came up and we sang songs around the campfire. We heard a whole group of coyotes howling and they had pups it sounded so cute! No one wanted to leave. I have decided we must do it again allot!
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