Good News!!

Today was surgery day for my Dad. Woke up at 4:30 and headed to Salt Lake so I could see him before he went in. Everybody was extremely nervous, especially my Dad. I was able to spend about an hour an a half with him before they took him in to do surgery. They told us to expect everything to take about 8 hours. They did their first incision at 8:30 am and he was in SICU at 1:00pm. The doctors were amazed by how well and smooth everything went. They were pretty nervous to open him up with his vasculitus. When I left the hospital tonight he was off the ventilator (they didn't think they would get him off this until tomorrow) and breathing on his own. He is in some pain, but in pretty good spirits.
I know that everything went so good, because Heavenly Father had his hands in it. I am thankful for the blessings my Dad has gotten that has given our family hope. He will have some big mountains to climb over the next couple of months, but we have climbed the first. I am thankful I have some more time with my Dad.
Thanks to my friend Candace who brought dinner for my family and thank you Jodi for flying up here to be with our kids so Ben and I could be at the hospital today. You have been a lifesaver!!

Really Quick...

Just to let those of you that have been following my dad's health, he is scheduled to have surgery to hook a VAD pump up to his heart Monday April 12th. It is a pretty extensive surgery. He will be opened up just like they do with open heart surgery and this pump will be hooked right in to the left ventricle of the heart. It will run off batteries and can also be plugged right into a wall outlet. He will be in surgery for about 8 hours, then spend anywhere from 2-7 days in ICU, next he will spend 3+ weeks on the floor with another 3+ weeks on the rehab floor. Then after that he will need to stay in Salt Lake for about a month where he will have to be in rehab or in doctors offices everyday making sure everything is working right. After that he will come home and they say have a normal life. If you can call being kept alive by batteries normal. We are all extremely nervous, but ready for my dad to feel better. It is going to be a long couple of months, but hopefully my dad's quality of life will be better when those couple of months is done. I will post more next week after the surgery. Thanks to everyone for your support, friendships, and prayers.

Just Quick Blurb....

Really quick here are some of the things we have been up to lately. First, Fletcher is eating foods. He has been so funny. I thought he would love food, but it has taken awhile for him to figure out he does like it. It was so funny when I gave him applesauce for the first time he gagged then started crying. It was quite funny.
We had a afternoon free so we took the kids to the Air force Museum down at Hill Air Force Base. It was pretty cool. We didn't get to see everything, because we showed up a little while before they closed. The kids loved it. Jarrett has been really interested in WWII lately, so we thought it would be fun to show him some of the planes. Then we went for some ice cream. It was a fun day.

Update On Everything......

First thing is Ben loves his job!! He was gone to Southern Cali the first week, home last week, he flies out to Las Vegas tomorrow, and he will be home all of next week. It has worked out good so far. Next on the list of things to say: We put our house up for sale middle of last week and we already had someone come look at it. They are from Tennessee and were just driving around and saw our house and liked it! What the heck?! Anyway, they are moving here for a Proctor and Gamble job. They loved it. We are just waiting to see if they are really going to move here and if they do they want our house. For various reasons we have decided to list our house with a Realtor. We listed it with Lyndee Bess of Besst Reality. She is very optimistic on getting our house sold in a timely manner. Thank heavens, because we are moving the first part of June house sold or not. We love our house and will miss it, but we are definitely getting excited for our new life in Las Vegas!!!
My dad is doing pretty good considering. It has been nice having him home. You would never know looking at him how sick he really is. He tires so fast, but is in good spirits. We go in April 6th to speak with the heart surgeon and then we will know when his surgery will be. We are all scared for the surgery, but when you don't have another option you do what you have to do. The weird thing is that when he finally comes home after the surgery I will have moved. McGregor thinks from all the stuff we have said about Grandpa in the mountains that his Grandpa is going to turn into a robot. How funny is that?
Life is crazy busy right now. We are all hanging in there, but will be happy when life settles again in the future. Thankfully Spring is on the way.

A New Day....

I posted awhile ago that Ben got a new job. Well, he started that job today. Does this sound like a little bit of a stressful morning with a new job. He had to fly out of SLC @ 7:05 this morning to Santa Ana, California where he was meeting his new boss and picking up his truck. We decided last night he needed to get up @ 4 am to be ready for his dad to pick him up at 4:30. Well we woke up to Ben's dad knocking on our bedroom door @ 4:30. The alarm never went off. So Ben was already nervous and then he was stressed. He got ready in about 10 minutes and they were on their way. I talked to Ben on his layover in Phoenix and he said he got through security with a half an hour to spare. He sounded excited and I can't wait to here how his first day goes. It is going to be a long 12 weeks. Jarrett was up last night already crying about daddy being gone. It wouldn't be so hard if we didn't love having Ben around. He is the best daddy ever and a dang good husband. We are going to miss him like crazy, but we are thankful he is close enough to come home on the weekends. A lot of people think we won't make it the 12 weeks apart, but we will. It is not going to be easy, but when you have kids in school you have to think of them first. Believe me if Jarrett and Isabelle weren't in school I would have left with Ben. It will also be good for me to be here, because my dad will be having major surgery in the next couple of weeks and I need to be here for that. My dad is home and resting right now. Last week they put a defibrillator just under his skin up by his collar bone. This week they will meet with the cardiology team to discuss his upcoming surgery. Both my dad and mom have had some amazing blessings and we are holding onto our faith that everything will turn out okay. It has been good to have my dad home for awhile before he gets his pump in. He sleeps a lot, but we are able to visit with him and kind of be normal. I will post more on Ben and my dad when I know more.

Isabelle's New Do...

Isabelle decided she wanted her hair cut. She wanted me to cut it to her shoulders. Yeah, I ended up cutting 6 inches off!!! It literally made me sick to cut it, but I decided we let Jarrett do what he wants with his hair and it's just hair for heaven's sake. Now that it is done I have to say she looks so cute!! She loves it.

Fletcher....

Well my baby is 6 months old today. It has gone by so fast, it seems like we just brought him home. He has been such a joy and blessing. He has to be one of the happiest babies I have ever seen and the cutest (I'm probably a little biased). He is a very big boy. He is weighing in at 18 lbs. 7 oz. McGregor was still bigger, but Fletcher is a solid little boy. I have been gone quite a bit lately with my dad in the hospital and every time I come home Fletcher is so excited and he gives me a million kisses. It's sometimes good to know you were missed. I love his kisses, his smile, and how inquisitive he is. He is rolling and sitting up. It is sometimes tough when your belly gets in the way, but he is doing so good. He brings joy to everyone who is around him. We love you Fletcher and we are thankful Heavenly Father sent you to our family.

News on my Dad. We had a scary weekend. We just about lost him Friday night. My mom called about 9:00 pm and told me to come that his body was shutting down. I can't even explain the feelings I had. By the time I got down there they had stabilized him and were moving him to the ICU. It has been so hard to see my dad like this. They decided it was a complication between him being dehydrated and the heart medicine they put him on Friday night. On a good note, I took my kids to see him last night and he looked so good. We even got him laughing, thanks to Tony. We are definitely scared about his upcoming surgery. Thanks for everyone's concerns and prayers!! We have definitely felt the spirit so close through all of this. At some moments it is almost tangible.