July News

We have a new granddaughter!  

The most-anticipated day arrived with Shandra and Hayden heading to the hospital very early in the morning for her scheduled c-section.  Kalel spent the night with Kim and me.  He has been so excited for his new sister to arrive!

Kalel jumping for joy on the way to the hospital to finally meet his new sister!

We arrived at the hospital just minutes before Shandra, Hayden, and the baby arrived.  Kalel insisted that Kim and I close our eyes until he got a chance to see the baby because he wanted to be the 3rd one in the family to see her.

Kalel is absolutely thrilled to have a little sister.  He said that he was even excited to have the job of changing her diaper!  

Poor little Kiaya soon became our little Glow Bug.  Her bilirubin was high very early on, so she was put under the lights at only 8 hours old!  

She ended up staying under the lights for a full week before she was declared jaundice free and allowed to be held, snuggled, and cuddled with her anxious father, brother, and grandparents.

Needless to say, we are all very excited to have her in the family.  Her dad insists on holding her every day from the time he gets off work until bedtime.  

Shandra's blood pressure started creeping up after the delivery and she actually ended up back at the ER the day after coming home because it was so high!  Two doses of IV medication as well as an oral dose and she was able to go home with instructions to watch it closely.  With continual medication and monitoring, she was able to overcome the headaches and fit into her shoes again.

KALE and BRYNANNE

Kale, Brynanne, and I got together for lunch this month.  I know I have said this a million times, but I just love those guys!  Kale always chooses the place for lunch, and this time it was very interesting.  It was a pizza place that had good reviews, but apparently most people order take-out because the restaurant part was a little sketchy.  It looked like a run-down bar with covered windows, weeds growing all over, and in need of a paint job.  I'll be honest, I was more than just a little nervous when I arrived there first, all alone!  However, I resisted the urge to run and soon the rest of the gang arrived.  The food was just as good as promised, and the company was even better!  It was so good to catch up.

BATHROOM REMODEL UPDATE:
The bathroom has been such a grand adventure (ok, by grand I mean troublesome!) Every time we think we are under control we hit a major snag.  The tile around the bathtub was up and ready for grout. It should have been an easy, two-hour project.  NOPE!  For some reason the grout we used dried so rapidly that we (Kim) was scrambling to finish a small part of the project.  We had followed the instructions perfectly, but something went horribly wrong - and we had used all of the grout.  So, we hopped in the car, drove back to Ogden and got another bag of grout.  We also spent some time asking questions and learning exactly what we needed to do ensure success.  Home again, we followed the instructions to the letter and mixed everything exactly the right time.  In the bathroom, as we started applying the grout, once again it started hardening way too fast.  Kim and I started shoving grout into the cracks as quickly as we could.  Only minutes later as we started wiping off the extra grout, we found that it had already hardened and we couldn't wipe it off!

It was awful!  I literally started crying!  Here we were - at the final phase of the remodel - and it looked horrible!  I could just envision having to demolition the entire project to start again.  Fortunately Kim found some little sanding drill tools that we were able to use to scrape out most of the extra grout.  It was a long process, and it doesn't look perfect, but it looks okay.  After doing some research of my own the last attempt turned out a little better.  We found that if it started hardening it could be remixed to keep it soft.  IT DID NOT SAY THAT ON THE INSTRUCTIONS, NOR DID THE "EXPERT" AT THE STORE TELL US THAT LITTLE TIDBIT OF INFORMATION.  The third time was the charm, and we got it finished.

Overall I think the bathroom turned out great.  I love the colors and textures.  We still have a few little things to finish, doors on the cabinet over the toilet, hanging the 2nd door, light switch cover, etc.  But it so nice to have it usable again.  Here are some "after" pictures.

DECK DILEMMA
As much as I love my bathroom the biggest problem now is that I realized that we really should have focused on our deck instead.  Our deck should have been repaired/replaced several years ago, but we just avoided the issue until we no longer can do that.  Two years ago the stairs were so wobbly that I insisted that they be taken down and the opening boarded up.  Since the deck can no longer be used as an outside access point, it has become a place to store things . . . not very attractive or functional. 

 I have never been fond of the deck, it is so small it is more like a landing than a deck.  So now to make decisions.  Do we just replace what we have, a small little landing that gives us access to the backyard?  Or do we spend a little more to make it a functioning deck that we can use for barbeques and relaxation?  It makes sense to make a nice deck, it will add value to the house.  I just hate to put one more project on Kim's shoulders.  I can afford a bigger deck if Kim builds it, but only a small one if I have to pay labor.  We are still in the deciding phase, but we can't wait too long because the existing deck is becoming scarier each minute.

MASS CASUALTY SIMULATION

During the last of each semester, we have school-wide mass casualty simulation.  The graduating students do all of the planning and preparation for the simulation.  This was the first time our Layton campus has had a graduating class - and since I teach that class, I was very involved.  I have to say that my class was AWESOME!  They came up with a great scenario of shooters shooting into a large crowd.  Unfortunately, this scenario is all too real, there have been too many situations like it in the nation recently.  We used all of the first semester students as the actors/victims, all 24 of them.  The nursing students had to triage all of the victims and then treat their wounds, even a shooter who had gotten injured.  It turned out marvelous.  I was so proud of my students.  We had Kim play one of the victims, he had an amputated arm and was bleeding to death.  I think that this simulation will stand as a benchmark for the classes coming up!

HELPING CYNTHIA
Cynthia is just a good daughter!  Her mother is living alone right now, so Cyn and her sister have decided to sell their house (which has many stairs) and buy a house without stairs so their mother can move in with them.  I went over after work to help her pack and fill the truck.  Unfortunately, I wasn't able to stay to help unload it, so I didn't get to see her new house.  I'm sure it is great because Cyn always chooses well!

Saying goodbye to the old house in Layton

PARRISHES ARRIVE
The Parrish family (without Mont) flew in late Monday night.  Luckily, McKay was available to pick them up and drop them by our house.  Since I had to work the next day, I just left the door unlocked for them and slept through their arrival.  It was awesome to wake up to seeing Marilyn as well as Marshall and Maddie!  It honestly felt so right to have them here.  We visited a little and then I had to run to work and she had tons of errands to do to help Maddie get ready for her mission and for McKay's wedding, and then she and Maddie spent the afternoon cuddling little Kiaya.   After work, we decided to do our favorite thing - get pedicures!  We just went to the salon in Wal-Mart.  It felt so good!  I especially loved the massage chairs while we were getting our toes done.  Both of us decided to splurge and get manicures too.  Great times with my friend.

While we were enjoying our pedicures, we saw this cute dad bring his little girl in.  He was taking her on a date to get her fingernails painted.  It was the cutest thing EVER!

DAD UPDATE
My dad is doing well, however, he seems to be having more and more of a hard time talking.  You can tell that he has a lot he wants to say, but he just can't seem to find the words, or he will substitute other words that make no sense.  It is really hard because he gets frustrated and I get frustrated because I want to know what he is talking about but I can't understand.  He still acts like a kid sometimes!  Today when I was visiting he was sitting in a wheelchair - and he tried to pop a wheelie!  I could see that going bad very quickly!  I stopped him, but I'm afraid that he will try again.  I did warn the aides to be on watch.  His balance is so poor that I'm sure he will have a big crash!  Kalel loves to go with me to visit dad, which makes me very happy.  He loves to borrow a wheelchair and wheel around but even if there are no wheelchairs he just loves to visit.  I didn't get good pictures, but the other day Kalel and dad had a race down the hall.  Oh, those kids!