Harlee

Well everyone knows that I am not very good at keeping things updated, but I will update a lot and then not get anymore updates for a while. Harlee is so much fun the older she gets. Grandkids are the best!!! She is now talking and you can even understand some of the things that she says. I am so glad that she is healthy, happy and smart.

Wow - the time has just flown by

I am going to try to add some updates today. It has been a long time so I hope I can remember how!!! I don't even know what pictures I have in the computer to add to the page. The farming is pretty much done for the winter other than feeding and watering animals. Hopefully there won't be any fence fixing/building until spring. I have a feeling that if you have cows, there will always be fence fixing/building. The guys have almost finished hunting and were quite successful. I think Clint still has a tag for some hunt, but maybe that is over now too. They hunted pheasants out at the farm and really had a good time. I went out a couple of times with them for the exercise more than hunting.

Artifical Heart Reunion

My Dad and My Daughter at the Artificial Heart Reunion

It has been 6 years now since my Dad's artificial heart and heart transplant. The artificial heart was a Left Ventrical Assist Device (LVAD). We went to the reunion for the artificial heart recipients this year. It was so good to see the Doctors and Nurses that took such great care of my Dad. For those who don't know or remember, my Dad was diagnosed with Congestive Heart Failure in June 2001, he received his artificial heart - LVAD on July 25, 2002. He really struggled recovering from the surgery. He had a hard time with his blood pressure dropping and his vitals staying stable. After a little more than a week, they finally started to take him out of sedation. It was really something else getting use to the sound of the artificial heart. Every now and then I would quit listening to conversations and listen to the heart work, wanting to gain the security that the heart actually was working. I should have had the faith in it, the alarm is so loud when the batteries are low or if the heart malfunctions and quits. Anyway... had he not been lucky enough to have the LVAD, I don't think he would have been healthy enough to survive a transplant surgery. At the time he did get the LVAD, they had only given him 24 hours to live with the LVAD. He regained his strength and did receive a heart transplant on September 16-17. We are always thankful for the donor and his family and their generosity in giving so many people second chances and better lives. Although we were celebrated the second life that my dad was given, we did mourn for the loss that the donors family would be experiencing. I hope that they are proud of the son that they raised to be so unselfish and to think so much of other people, in his life and in his passing.

This is a picture of one of the most fantastic nurses. She received an award that night.

This is a picture of Doctor Clayson he is artificial heart and heart transplant surgeon. He preformed the transplant for my dad.

Where did the summer go???

OK, Bre wanted a new post and I got looking through pictures and I haven't even taken many. Summer is the busiest time for me at work. The farm is still requiring a ton of work. Needless to say, we haven't done much, gone anywhere or taken many pictures.

Bull Riding

Here is Chase on his first bull at State Finals

Check out my Slide Show!

Relay for Life

Well, I have a very caring daughter. She has gotten involved in the Relay for life and the past two years has been on teams to help raise money and awareness for cancer. Last year she bought a luminarie in memory of my cousin Vicki who passed away in 2004. This past year, we lost two other cousins to cancer Brooklyn who was 3 and Zariah who was 2 months old. We bought luminaries in memory of them too. This year Bre talked me into coming out and walking the track with her for a little while. I ended up staying the night - well until 5 am. I might stay out there with her next year, we had a good time walking the track at the high school. I saw people that I hadn't talked to in quite, it was nice to see old friends. If you have never been to a "Relay for Life" I urge you to go to the next one close to where you live. It was a nice experience.

Check out my Slide Show!

A Puppy!!!

Ok - so it is a little early, but I found a lab puppy for Clint. It is for Fathers Day but a little early. Chase and I wanted to get him one for Christmas but couldn't find one. We went to Woodland Hills, Utah to get her. The breeders were really nice and seem to "know" the lab breed. We have always been impressed with the intelligenc in Lucky, our 11 year old lab mix. We have been told that if we think she is smart, we should try a "real" lab. If she is smarter than Lucky, we could be in trouble.
Clint has named her Jewel. She is quite playful, loves to chew her chew sticks. She will eventually make it outside to the kennel but right now we are house training her. I would like to be able to bring her in on those occasions when Clint is on graveyards and Chase isn't home. Lucky has never liked to come in the house and you would have to drag her in -- unless it was during a lightning storm then you couldn't open the door fast enough.
Lucky is ok with Jewel. I think that she will like her a lot more as soon as some of this puppy energy has matured a bit. Zora still isn't too fond of Jewel, but anyone who knows Zora would understand that. Zora will 'tolerate' Jewel, but really likes her when Jewel still has food in her dish. Zora obviously likes "puppy" food better than her diet dog food. Zora is calming down finally but she still has her "QUEEN" attitude.

GREAT NEWS!!

Harlee's pediatrician sent her to Primary Childrens Hospital in Salt Lake to run a test for Cystic Fibrosis. The test came back negative. So far all the tests that they have been running for over a year regarding her size and growth have all come back normal. She is just very petite. For mor information, you can check out BreAnna's blog by clicking her link under "Friends and Families". We have had a lot of bad news this past year with our family. I have had two cousins who have lost their little ones to cancer so every test they run on Harlee has been stressful. Thanks to everyone and their prayers. We know we are so very lucky to have this little angel in our lives.

LITTLE Harlee

Just got news from Bre that the Dr. is not happy with Harlee's weight again. A couple of weeks ago she was up to 15 pounds and it was a huge celebrations. Today she is back down to 14. He said she shouldn't be any smaller than 24 pounds. This is so frustrating and terrifying to Bre. The Dr. sent her back to the hospital for blood and urine tests again. For over a year they have been running test after test and never finding anything wrong with her. I wish they would just decide she is going to be tiny. Developmentally she is on target or ahead. Walking, running, talking, dancing, etc... I often wonder how a kid who eats like she does isn't almost 100 pounds - she eats non-stop. My Grandma Carroll would say that Harlee has a "hollow" leg that she stores all the food in. She is so normal and you don't even realize how tiny she is until you see a child her age. She is probably still about the size of a 6-8 mo old I am guessing because of the size of clothes that she wears. She isn't "skinny" just tiny!! Anyone who looks at my blog or Bre's blog can tell that Harlee is "normal", small but "normal". Clint and I both think she is a very happy, healthy and smart 'LITTLE' girl.

Mesa Verde

WOW finally a vacation. I have wanted to go to Mesa Verde for so long. We left on Mothers Day and got to Cortez, Colorado that evening. We went into the park in the morning and our first tour was of Cliff Palace. Our guide was excellent and was very knowledable. We did a couple of "on-your-own" type of tours and all in all had a fantastic day. Towards the end, all of the things started to look a like but there was a lot to see. We were going to go on the Balcony House tour but decided to take our time the next day and hit all the stops we could from Durango up to Grand Junction. We hit a really bad snow storm, the road was pretty narrow with sharp turns and very deep drop offs. The museum in Silverton wasn't open so we just drove through that town and headed up north. We walked around a bit in Montrose and hit the museum there. We got to Grand Junction and couldn't find the place we wanted to eat at. I always get lost there. We found out that there was two high school graduations and one college graduation going on and we could not find a room anywhere so we came home early. We got home about 10pm last night but still had a wonderful time. I think I would like to go to Montrose the next time and spend a couple of days there.

Check out my Slide Show!

Snow Shoe Expedition

Here are some pictures of Clint and Chase on one of their hiking days. I don't know where they go so I can't tell you where the pictures are from. The sticks pushed into the snow that you see are their walking sticks so I am guessing that is about how deep the snow is. The ice is a waterfall that they go to each year and get pictures. Some of the pictures of the waterfall with either them or Lucky almost look like they have been cut and pasted into the picture of the waterfall. Lucky, our black lab, loves the snow. They always enjoy their hikes together.

Check out my Slide Show!

5th Generation

We finally did our 5th generation pictures. It was a nice day. BreAnna, Harlee and I picked up my Grandma, then we picked up my mom. We had our pictures done then had a nice lunch at Red Robin. It was a great day. Considering the ear infection that Harlee had, she was still in a pretty good mood. We all had a great time.

Check out my Slide Show!

Check out my Slide Show!

Our Family

Clint and I have three children

BreAnna

Cole

Chase

BreAnna's husband is Carter and they have one little girl Harlee *Grandpa and Grandma's little angel*

Cole is our most care-free child. He lives life in the moment!! He is always happy. Cole's goal is to be a Professional Bull Rider.

Chase is the youngest and is probably the most spoiled. He wants to follow in his Dad's footsteps by being a Bull Rider and Elk hunting guide.

We have recently purchased a 52 acre farm, so life is now going to be busier than ever before. We have 10 cows and about 7 calves (one more any day). Along with our "pets", the two horses, two dogs, two cats and I think there is a pheasant that lives at the farm (hopefully a lot more).