Easter 2012

Kent is a very sweet man. When I got up in the morning and opened the door, my Easter egg hunt began! You see, Kent placed an Easter basket filled with plastic green grass right outside the bedroom door, and hid plastic easter eggs filled with candy all around the house -- on all three levels. What a sweetheart he is. Honestly, Kent is always going out of his way for me. I am one very lucky girl. Of course I opted this year not to get Kent any candy, because he kept telling me he doesn't need anymore sugar in his bloodstream. I've learned my lesson though! It's not about the candy ... it's about the gesture. I'll have to get creative with some candy alternatives for Easter morning.

For Easter dinner this year at mom and dad's house, I made a recipe I found on Bettycrocker.com for "Bunny Butt Cake". This is slightly scandelous because I was not allowed to say the word "butt" growing up (and still to this day feel rather uncomfortable saying it), but the cake was so darn cute I just had to make it.

The cake actually turned out a lot better than I was expecting.  You'll notice my little pink bunny rabbit is digging up the strawberry patch. Caught dirt-footed!

Daylight Saving Time & Dear Kent

First of all, I'm going to make an effort to start blogging again. It's so fun to go back and read memories that I had entirely forgotten (my memory is oh so small). So here we go ...

Last week was tough because I was down with the stomach flu from Tuesday through Friday. I finally springed back Saturday -- just in time for some lovely spring weather. I gave piano lessons, then Kent and I went to Sam's Club and did our price matching grocery shopping at Walmart (Yay for price matching! It's my new hobby that saves at least 1/3 on my grocery bill). We took Freddie on a leisurely walk around Waverly Station (our neighborhood), and just enjoyed the day. Then we went to my mom and dad's house to visit.

Sunday was also a lovely, lovely day. The weather was 64 degrees and sunny outside. After church, Kent and I grilled up pork chops, zuchinni, tomatoes, and sweet potatoes for dinner. It was fun to start up the grill for the first time in 2012! Then we took a nap. The day seemed to absolutely fly by because of losing an hour to Daylight Savings.

Lastly, my heart is full towards my husband today. He is a sweet man who really goes out of his way to try to make my life easier, to bring happiness to our home, and to help keep our home clean and lovely. He works hard, and has an aggressive love of learning which I value. Kent also goes out of his way to make me and Freddie smile ... telling silly jokes, singing songs (I especially love his impression of Gaston from Beauty and the Beast!). I love the tender heart he has for our Freddie Mac. He'll never say that he loves Fred in words, but he doesn't have to because he shows it every day. Kent loves and honors the Lord. I'm very grateful for this good man I've been blessed to call husband.

A Chilean Miner's Sister

I was watching the news tonight on the rescue of the Chilean Miners who had been trapped in an underground mine for something like 2 months.

They were interviewing a woman whose brother was one of the trapped miners. She said, "When I saw him coming out of the capsule, I forgot all of the suffering I endured because now he begins a new life."

Her statement was so sweet to me, because she knew that she might not ever see her brother again. But at last, when the day came that he emerged and they were reunited, "I forgot all of the suffering I endured."

I instantly thought of the loved ones I have lost, and how grateful I am that I'll see them again. I have no doubt that when the day comes that we are reunited, that I will have forgotten all of the suffering that I have endured.

Ginger is Out of Surgery

Ginger had her ASD closure surgery today and, aside from the surgery starting three hours late, everything went fantastically. Ginger went into surgery at 4:30 and was out at around 5:30. Now she has a device about 25 millimeter tall blocking what was formerly a hole in her heart's atria. It's pretty amazing what they can do in just an hour! There is still quite a bit of follow up to do with the doctor to make sure everything is healing correctly and the blood is all staying where it's supposed to be, but the hard part is over. Ginger is looking forward to spending some quality relaxation time with her puppy over the next couple days as she rests and heals.

I'm so glad Ginger is OK and so amazed and grateful for what the people at that hospital were able to do for her! We're so blessed that we caught this before something terrible happened to her because of it and that the technology exists that makes fixing it such a relatively little thing.

Freddie's Adventures with Rat Poisen

Oh Goodness. Kent and I went to Cedar City this weekend to see what the Shakespearean Festival was all about. While away, oh how our bad puppy played.

We dropped him off to my family's business on Friday morning, where he disappeared and sent the family on a dog hunt through the warehouse and down the street. He turned up just hanging out in the warehouse, not caring that people were calling him.

That afternoon, my sister took him to my mom's house, where he happened on some rat poisen hidden under a vent. And since our little Freddie has to mouth EVERYTHING, this rat poisen was no exception.  Luckily, my watchful sister caught him, and called the vet who told her to induce vomiting by giving him 1 tbs of hydrogen peroxide. She did this, and after throwing up about 4 times, he was okay.

Saturday comes, and he finds a different packet of rat poisen hidden in a different area of the house, and the games began again. My little sister, Sherry, again came to the rescue and saved our puppy from imminent death (or at least a really expensive trip to the vet).

And this from Kent and I leaving for only one night ...

Oh, but he is darling!

ASD

Last Friday, Kent and I went back to the Cardiologist for our echocardiogram. We found out that I do NOT have a PFO ... rather, I have an ASD. The difference between a PFO and an ASD is that a PFO has a flap that opens and closes letting blood in periodically which increases the risk of stroke. An ASD, however, has no flap, and lets the blood flow freely between the right and left atriums of the heart. This can cause heart and lung damage, not to mention an even greater risk of stroke.

You can read all about an ASD here: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/atrial-septal-defect/DS00628

Currently, I am 7x more likely to have a stroke than my peers without a holey heart. Pregnant women with this heart defect are 30x more likely to have a stroke, due to the extra amount of blood circulation/clotting that occurs in pregnancy. Also, many women suffer heart failure during childbirth, or a stroke after childbirth, if they have an ASD.

SO! I'm going to get this fixed! The good news is that the procedure is just like that of a PFO. They go in through your leg artery, and put a device in your heart that blocks the hole, correcting the blood flow issues.

I am currently scheduled for the end of August.

I feel incredibly blessed to have found out about this now; before having children and before any heart/lung damage (to our knowledge) had occured. I also feel so blessed to live in the day and age, where this can be fixed so quickly, and relatively easily (15 years ago, this procedure was open heart surgery!).

Freddie's New Bed & Other Ramblings About Our Pup

I bought Freddie a little cozy bed at Walmart the other day. I think he likes it.

This photo is of Freddie sleeping in his bed underneath Kent's desk in the office. I LOVE this picture. I think Freddie is saying, "Leave me alone ... I'm sleeping."

This week, we've taken Freddie to the Farmer's Market at Pioneer Park for the second week in a row, and we took him to Murray Park on Saturday night to listen to the strains of the Murray Symphony across the river. It was a lovely evening.

Oh, Freddie has worms. It is very sad. :( We took him to the vet yesterday, and they gave him a shot that should take care of the problem. We are going to buy doggie health insurance, because this pup just keeps getting more and more expensive. And we still need to get him neutered! The vet was quite impressed with how mellow Freddie was. He really is a rather mellow dog. He does so well around other dogs, children, cats, ferrets (he met one at the dog park the other day and quite enjoyed that), etc. The only thing that seems to scare him thus far is a razor scooter (we found that out last night). Oh, and he doesn't like to walk when he's tired.

I also bought some sparklers to test the waters with Freddie -- to see how he does with fireworks. The goal, however, is to get Freddie used to fireworks/sparklers so that he isn't one of the dogs that freaks out and runs away on the 4th of July.

This pretty much sums up our life right now. We are kinda crazy about our little boy.