For Laughs

Katelee has a great sense of humor and a creative mind. The other day as we were getting ready to leave the house, I sent her to get dressed. She came out looking like this.

I needed a laugh. Thanks, Katelee - I love you!

U.S. Mint

Another place we visited with my family before the surgery was the Mint. It was fun, though I was disappointed they don't make any paper money there (only coins). Still, I'm glad we visited.
After the tour, we went into the gift shop, where Katelee found a keychain with her name on it. We told her we were not going to buy it (what does a three-year-old need a keychain for?) but let her get some new quarters and a new dollar coin instead.

Later that night, I found the Katie keychain in my pants pocket. Upon questioning, Katelee admitted she put it there. Sheesh. We tried to explain that stealing was wrong and we even had a family home evening lesson that night about repentance. I didn't feel like I was succeeding as a teacher. When I would tell Katelee that she would feel better after returning the keychain, she would reply, "I feel fine! And I like my keychain!"

In the end, of course, we took it back and didn't give Katelee the choice, though she would have kept it if she could have. She told the shop keepers she was sorry and she wouldn't do it again. As we left the shop and we walked down the sidewalk, Katelee turned to me and said, "I can't stop smiling!"

Finally! The teaching moment had arrived! We sat on a bench in the sunshine and I explained that the happy feeling was the spirit telling her that she had done the right thing. She kept smiling and saying, "I'm so happy!" It was very sweet.

Thank goodness for the spirit, who could teach Katelee a lesson I could not teach her.

Air Force Academy

I have a few pre-surgery events to catch up on! My parents and brother were in town for about 5 days before the surgery took place, and then my youngest sister also flew out for the weekend. We did some sight seeing and had a really fun time while everyone was here. On Saturday afternoon before the surgery, we visited the Air Force academy that is about a half hour drive from my home.

Go BYU! I mean Air Force!

After the Air Force, we stopped by the Castle Rock outlets for a little while and then went out for a nice dinner. It was such a wonderful day to spend with my family!

Busy Baking

It's been a busy baking weekend! I had three cakes ordered. Two cakes were for a high school poms banquet. These cakes were so much fun to make! My customer had a pretty specific vision of what she wanted these cakes to look like, and she seemed very excited and pleased when I delivered them. I thought they turned out very cute!

The third cake was a birthday cake ordered by a husband for his wife; he loves to give her roses and wanted that to somehow be represented in the cake. I loved how the cake turned out.

They are hard to see, but I love the fondant ribbon border with the little buttons on the left hand side . . . it's those cute little details that I love!

Latest Update

It looks like my dad is getting out of the hospital today.

Hooray! He has been there now for pretty much all of the past 11 days . . . I think he must be ready for a change of scenery. Katelee and I made him and grandma a Welcome poster to celebrate our excitement at having them with us all the time now! ;)

Thank you, thank you, thank you for all the emails, comments, and phone messages you have all sent me and my family during these past weeks. I appreciate it more than I can express. I am sorry if I am not replying to all of you very quickly, but know that I love you and appreciate your support! Many of you have asked for a new update. This is the email my grandma sent to the family on Wednesday; I think it sums it up pretty well:

We found out today that Brent has a disease called FSGS. (We knew this before but thought he had the secondary version of it.) This disease is classified as either primary or secondary. He has the primary which means it is in his body and no known outside source has invaded. He must have had it before and they mis-diagnosed it in Las Vegas. (Probably the reason his numbers went down so fast.)

This disease is aggressively attacking the new kidney, thus the shutdown, the blood, etc. while reading about it on line we read that it can attack the new kidney within hours or days. There is not much they can do for it but what they can do they are doing. They will continue with the massive doses of steroids even after completing the scary three-day treatment. Also, today they are starting to remove the plasma from his body and replacing it with new plasma from donors hoping to reduce the aggressiveness of the disease.

They have the best doctors in the world and the doctor they are working with now is hopeful that they can save the kidney even though it would not last as long as they would like. We are praying for any time that would relieve Brent from his suffering. We know that Tyler's kidney will serve him well.

Of course we recognize the power of the Priesthood on earth and know that the greatest physician of all is our Savior. We have been touched by his continued love and the love of Heavenly Father who is in charge. Miracles happen and we are praying for one and in doing so always submit to "Thy will be done."

Happy Birthday Gerald!

I just have to take a second tonight to say

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

to the rock of my life,

the person I can depend on for anything,

the person I love more than I ever imagined.

In light of other circumstances and my current worries,

today hasn't been the most fun or relaxing day for Gerald.

But if you know anything about Gerald,

you know he never complains.

And we did get some fun time in:

waffles for breakfast,

presents,

and a quick lunch

where Katelee and I had fun listing

31 reasons

why we love Gerald.

Tonight after Gerald gets home (late) from his night class, we will eat his birthday cake:

Happy Birthday honey! I love you!

Bad news

What a terribly emotional few days it has been. It now appears that my dad's disease is attacking the new kidney. I don't know exactly what this will mean for the future, but it's not good and does probably mean he will not have the full recovery we were so hopeful for. Thanks for your continued prayers.

Valentine's Day Cookie Bouquets

So, while thinking about making Valentine's Day cookies to sell, my sister Melissa gave me the genius idea of making cookie bouquets, rather than just plain cookies, to set them apart a little. I think these cookies-on-a-stick are a GREAT idea, and I had a lot of fun making them! I only sold 7 bouquets, but it was enough for my crazy life right now. (By the way, a few of you asked where I would sell them . . . I am part of a yahoo group for any one in my community who knows of a good deal, is trying to sell something, etc and so forth. The group has hundreds of members, and is where I have found many of my piano students, cake orders, etc. I sold these cookie bouquets on there.)

I think cookie bouquets are a fun addition to my cake business. And, I have to say, these were sooooooooooooo yummy. And fun. And make great gifts for any occassion! Because you are my friends and I like you, here is the link to the how-to and glaze recipe. :) Try them out!

Look how cute they look all packaged up! Ahhhhh....

xoxoxox

Another Update

So, it appears that during surgery the kidney was damaged. This is why things have been so yucky for my dad the last couple of days. The kidney is not doing it's job, so my dad had dialysis again today (darn, we hoped he was done with that!), but they are hopeful that the kidney will heal. As always, I'll keep the updates coming and thank you for your prayers!

And the winner is . . .

So this morning I wrote everyone's name who entered the drawing on a slip of paper and had Katelee draw one out of the bucket. The lucky winner is...

My high school friend, Ashlie!

Congratulations, Ashlie!

Ashlie, email me and let me know the size you want your organizer to be and what categories you want on it.

Thanks to all of you for reading my blog and for being such great friends.

There is nothing new about my dad yet this morning. I'm heading out there soon, so I'll try to keep you posted.

Love,

Jennifer

Another Surgery Update

A little udpate on the patients: Tyler is doing better every day. The first two days were much harder for him that I think any of us were expecting, but he is really doing well now and is recovering nicely. My dad was great for the first two days. He was in some pain, but he looked and felt quite good, all things considered. They actually discharged them both from the hospital on Friday, but my dad was back in first thing Saturday morning. Things seem worse today. I have to admit I'm a little scared. The kidney is trying to fail, and the doctors have my dad on medications they call 'the big guns' to try to stop it from failing. These are pretty hard on my dad; they have to check his vitals every 15 minutes ... We just keep praying. Thank you for all your prayers, too. There is power in prayer. I'll keep you updated.

Love,

Jenn

To My Valentine

I am so lucky to be married to this wonderful guy here.

I honestly don't know what I would do without him. I rely on him so much. And he is always there for me. He is the love of my life and I am so lucky to part of his.

Happy Valentine's Day, Gerald!

My Little Valentine

Katelee was asked to say the prayer and scripture today in opening exercises for primary. :) It was her first time, and she made quite the splash! Her prayer was quite . . . well, creative. It went something like this:

Dear Heavenly Father,

Thank you for this day. Thank you for my friends. Thank you that we don't fight. In the name... (at this point, I whispered in her ear, "Say thank you for primary.") Mom, I can do it myself. Thank you for Landon. Thank you that he loves me. Thank you that he chases me and that he kisses me. (Landon is a four-year-old boy who is also in primary.) Thank you for primary.

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

It was so cute; I couldn't help laughing. I guess it was a fitting prayer for Valentine's Day!

Here are some more pictures of my sweet little Valentine.

Happy Valentine's Day, sweetheart. I love you so much!

A Valentine's Kiss

Mmmmmm.....

mawwww!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY TOMORROW!!

In other news: my dad and brother were discharged from the hospital yesterday, but my dad is back in with minor complications and will probably be there at least until tomorrow. :(

You can still enter the giveaway until midnight TOMORROW! Last chance if you haven't entered yet...

Surgery

My dad and brother went in for surgery about 7:30 a.m. this morning. I have come down with a stomach bug, so I'm not able to be there at the hospital with my family, which is a major bummer. :( But my mom and sister are keeping me well updated. Thanks to everyone for your prayers, and I'll keep you updated here on how everything goes!

10:30 a.m. - Tyler has been out of surgery for almost an hour now. Everything went fine. The kidney looked great! My mom should be able to go and see him soon.

11:20 a.m. - Tyler talked to my mom and Brittany; he's awake and doing fine. He says his stomach and his abs hurt - I'm sure that is to be expected. My dad is now also out of surgery. The doctor said everything went well and hopefully my mom will be able to see him soon!

2:00 p.m. - I just talked to my dad. He is tired, of course, but sounded surprisingly great considering everything! Tyler is also doing well, though he seems to be in a bit more pain, poor guy.

6:30 p.m. - I talked to both my brother and my dad just now; they are both doing okay, though of course they are both in some pain.

9: 30 p.m. - My mom's on the way here. My brother and dad are both settled for the night. I am glad that this day is here and gone and that everything went well today! Now I am just praying that they both have a quick recovery.

My Family is Here!

My parents and brother arrived Wednesday evening, much to our excitement and joy! I feel so blessed that we happen to be living in Denver right now that that this is where my dad is going to have his transplant. You'll never convince me that it is a coincidence. Yesterday was the final day of 'testing' to make sure my brother is good to be the donor, and everything looks good to go next week! Hooray!

Gerald and Katelee didn't have the best timing, though, when it comes to my family arriving. Wednesday evening when my parents were arriving, Gerald was still at school working hard on a huge project due on Thursday. In the end he ended up working on it all night long, without even an hour to nap. He got it done in time (barely), but said at least he wasn't alone...practically the entire class stayed all night to get the project done in time - crazy. That's all I have to say. Crazy. So Gerald went to class all day Thursday and finally returned home about 24 hours after my family arrived, and promptly fell asleep on the couch. Poor guy.

And this morning Katelee woke up late. When she walked out into the family room she looked at me and said, "My stomach hurts." She threw up a couple of minutes later and has been unfortunately throwing up all morning. Poor thing! Just the other day I was telling my sister that Katelee never throws up and that I can't remember her throwing up in a long, long time. So, I guess I cursed myself! ;) We are keeping her confined to her room where she is content to be, because it would be particularly bad if anyone else got sick! But she has had no fever and is actually acting like she feels much better right now. We'll keep our fingers crossed!

Tomorrow my little sister flies in, and I can't wait to see her and give her a huge hug! It's so wonderful to have my family around.

Do You Think Her Face Will Freeze This Way?

Katelee is obsessed lately with making this face.

Especially in public places.

At the doctor's office last Friday she moved around the waiting room and personally pulled this face for each waiting patient. I was quite embarrassed, but when I tell her making this face is rude she gets mad at me and says, "No, mom! It's funny." And it is true that most people laugh at her when they see her doing this.

So if you see us in the grocery store, at church or at the library and Katelee is looking at you like this...

...I'm sorry.

And try not to laugh when she's looking.

:)

Who Needs a Laugh??

Bangs.

I have a love/hate relationship with them.

Some days they will swoop elegantly to the side and stay there perfectly.

But usually not.

Today my bangs insisted on one style and one style only. Finally, in frustration (and because I thought it would be funny) I took my curling iron and gave in to my bangs' demands.

This (THIS!) is the style they so easily fall into:

Now that I think about it, we should bring back the poofy 80's bangs! Who's with me?!

No?

Okay, fine.

I hope at least I brought a smile to your face today.

(Yes, I am still in my bathrobe. Yes, it was like 11 in the morning when I took these pictures. Some days are just like that, you know. And I felt like taking ridiculous pictures of myself and publishing them on the internet rather than getting dressed. Yup, one of those days.)

P.S. Jenny and Tammy, I REALLY hope you were kidding when you left comments about the effects of my blog on your self esteem. I really do. But everyone should be feeling a lot better about themselves today after seeing these pictures, don't you agree?! Wahahaha! ;)

P.P.S. You can still enter my giveaway by commenting on the post below if you haven't already, although 12 comments are already there, so I'm thinking that might be the extent of my readership . . . :)