Memories that will last forever....

Pictures pictures and more pictures!Vicki and Kelly
One exhausted William

Ready to play!

Mara getting ready to go snowmobiling!

For Easter/ Conference weekend, we have made it a tradition to go to our favorite family getaway with our great friends, the Alders to our family cabin! We had such a blast (literally... we blew up 2 snowmobiles and a vaccum...oops)! Can't wait to go back! Thanks Alders for the memories! Here are some the pics we took from our trip!Anna is concentrating very hard!

Our friend Paul, just resting his eyes!

Silly faces!!

The Alder Family!

The girls getting ready for more snowmobiling!

On the sled and ready to go... FAST!!!

Coloring eggs!

The Easter Bunny knew we were at the cabin?

More egg coloring!

It was a cold ride upto the cabin. Will is under the red blanket.

Now what?! See you on Thursday!

Ok, so THAT didn't turn out right! Ok ok ok. BREATHE! So about a week ago (see below), I was feeling VERY hopeful that we had found some answers to Brandon's illness. NOPE! BIG FAT--- NOPE! Turns out that he is extremely allergic to all of the herbs that he needs to take to get rid of the assumed parasites in his body. Poor guy had to go to the ER after date night on Friday and is now on heavy doses of Prednisone because of the massive welts that showed up all within about an hour's time. So, we went back to square one, ONCE again and called his Gastro dr. Blood work came back really funky, so VERY LONG STORY short, he goes in for a colonoscopy and endoscopy on Thursday. Basically down both ends at the same time. Poor guy! I really wish that I could help him in some way! We have been on an emotional rollercoaster now for the last 5 years! AND I like rollercoasters, but come on already! I am getting really fed up with all of this and just need some answers! OR a really awesome vacation!? I'm thinking Maui or Disneyland! Ohhhh......

Anna's First Haircut- well, first one I paid for!!!

Will was getting his haircut, so Anna of course, has to follow suit! So here she is!

We got home and she asked if she still had her haircut! Love that girl!

60- 90 days... or so we're told!

My hubby's health problems are no secret. I have written about them many times before. I spend my days, looking for answers. Praying, praying and more praying. Researching everything! I am at my wits end! It is consuming me and my family. We think about it everyday! How could you not? We see him struggle to do simple tasks. We see a once really strong athletic man, turn into a weak and tired man. I wish I could ease his pain and struggles. I wish he could get on his bike and go riding like he used too! I wish he play hookie from work (or church :0) and go skiing in the back country like he used too! I wish he could go on a family walk without him needing a nap or to just lay down afterwards. I wish a lot of things for him. I wish it were me who were in his shoes, so that I could take this heavy burden from him! You have no idea! I am angry, sad, scared, confused, you name it, I'm consumed by it!

Anyway, a few weeks ago, there was a knock on the door. A very good friend of ours (thanks Jason!) came over to tell us about a place in Provo who does Stress Body Scans. It's all holistic and "a little weird", BUT he had seen health success through his brother and mom. It is suppossed to do amazing things! Needless to say, when he left, I thought he was CRAZY! I had never done a holistic, herbal, nope none of that crap! EVER! I was raised to trust doctors and medicine and if they couldn't find a remedy, you were out of luck and probably extremely medicated. BUT, crazy things happen when you are desperate. I am not saying that I had to get to a form of desperation to try anything natural. BUT, In all honesty, that's what it took for me to really look at how amazing the human body can be.

SO, to make a long story short, Brandon and I went and got a Body Scan from a place called First Opinion, down in Brandon's favorite city (NOT) Provo, UT! ( GO UTES! Sorry, had to do that for B.) Well, we sat down for about an hour with a machine and a guy who in that hour's time, told us that Brandon is full of Parasites! Completely FULL! From his heart to his GI track, they were attacking everything! WHAT?!?!? His words, were "Well no wonder you feel like crap! You are being attacked from the inside out!" We have been to many doctors. Neurologists, gastro, you name it, we have been there. Why in the last 6 years, had they not found ANYTHING! We sat down with this guy for an hour and he gets to the root of ALL of Brandon's symptoms. (Oh and by the way, you don't tell him anything going into the appt.) He told us Brandon has major absorbtion problems (knew that, didn't know why though). He told us he has allergies (duh! once again, we knew that!) I loved that he was able to tell us all of these things! It was all making so much sense! The timeline, the symptoms. EVERYTHING! I ran home and wanted to scream our success of finding this to the world. I am pretty sure I screamed!

So, once again, long story short, we are cleansing Brandon of parasites right now, AND, NO MORE SUSHI! AHHHH!!!! That was the biggest shock to Brandon! How could he go without sushi?! We have been eating sushi every week, sometimes twice a week for 8 years! Then the DUH moment hit us! Parasites, sushi, parasites, sushi! Oops and really big DUH! The warning is right on the menu! Dang! Really, no sushi?!

Well, since we are in the middle of cleansing Brandon's body, I will have to get back to you on his health, but this First Opinion place tells us he will be back to himself in the next 60- 90 days if he does what he tells him to do. SOOOOO, we will see..... I'll be back!

I also want to know what your thoughts are on holistic medicine. Good, bad, indifferent. Do you suppliment?! What?! Please do tell!

Look who came to visit!

Following the Leprechaun footprints!
They led us to a small pot of goodies! (My kids don't eat chocolate, so I wasn't about to spend the insane amount of money for gold chocolate coins. So, they got golden Skittles instead! )

A note from the Leprechaun

Happy kiddos in green!

HAPPY ST. PATRICKS DAY TO ALL!

What is it about running?!

I have a LOVE/HATE relationship with running. The HATE all started back in high school. I think my mom used running as some sort of cruel and unusual punishment for me if I stayed out too late or didn't do my part around the house, or was maybe a little out of control (WHAT?! not me?!!). My door would open around 545 AM or so and she would come and quietly wake me up by saying "Get up, we're going running!" Oh how I HATED the sound of the opening door! I would slowly get out of bed. And when I say slowly, I MEAN slowly. I knew darn well I really had no choice as to whether I was going or not. Believe me, I fought! HARD!

We would go running in sun, rain, snow, sleet, heat, cold, it didn't matter the weather. In the meantime, as we would start to run up the long hill, something strange would happen. My tongue would swell, eyes water, cramping up, feet hurt, over heating............... AHHHH!!!! I HATED this! We would get to the top of the hill and slowly run down past Hogle Zoo. Then more HATE would set in. If it was summer, the AWFUL smell of the zoo animals would premiate my every much needed breath. Or during the winter, the wind that raced down Emmigration Canyon would be enough to make you fall over, either from chills or sheer exhaustion.

This torture went on for years. BUT, something very strange happened after time moved on and I moved out of the house. I would get MYSELF out of bed every morning or race home after work, and GUESS WHAT?!?! I WOULD GO RUNNING!! What kind of sick person was I? This act of torture that had been placed on me for so many years, was now a form of pleasure!? Had I been brainwashed?!! What was going on with me?! I had to finally come to terms with my true feelings.... I LOVED TO RUN!! I LOVED everything about it, down to the very last blister! I could think when I ran! I could be alone in the beautiful weather and think about anything that I wanted to, go where I wanted to go! I WAS FREE!!!!

So how could something that I HATED so much, become an absolute LOVE of mine?! I don't know, but I am not going to ask questions. Because, I LOVE running. Don't get me wrong, my tongue still swells, eyes water, cramping everywhere, overheating, and everything else, but it is now part of my soul. Something that I can't wait to do.

I have signed up for my first marathon on April 17th! What I am thinking?! I am thinking that no matter how hard something is in life, we can always find LOVE in the things that we may HATE. I think..... Thanks Mom!

Show mommy how the piggies eat!

What was I thinking?!?!?!

So my girls would not eat the other night. They are usually my best eaters! They were playing and laughing and totally not listening, SOOOOOO, a bright idea popped into my head thanks to the Christmas Story with Ralphie and his little brother Randy, who won't eat. WELL, this is what happened. IT ACTUALLY WORKED!! However, now they want to eat like piggies everytime!