Family Photos

Right before we moved in August, my favorite photographer extraordinaire, Haylee McGuire, took our family pictures. There was rain, thunder, and lightning that afternoon, but it broke just long enough for a quick photo session. Here are some of my favorites.

Our Home

We moved! Ash got a new job in August and three weeks later we moved up to Portland, Oregon. We miss our Utah friends dearly and are enjoying living near family for the first time in our married lives. After a month of air-mattress camping in an apartment, we moved into our new home October 7th. We love it! Now we can literally hug the trees right out our window (threw that in just for you, Coby! haha). It's a work in progress, but some friends have asked for photos, so here they are. We'll post of the bedrooms when they're more put together.

U2

Ash and I went to U2 as an early Father's Day celebration. The first "big" concert for both of us. It was so cool! The weather could not have been better and Bono did not disappoint. Happy Father's Day, Ash, it was great to hold hands and speak in uninterrupted sentences with you. :)

Flour Power

So little 16 month old Luke chose Father's Day, the one morning I'm trying to make fancy food, to throw chess pieces everywhere, empty a bottle of bubbles on the kitchen floor, and get into the flour I was using for cinnamon rolls. And he's so pleased with himself. And Ash still liked the breakfast. And don't mind the laundry room mess in the background. And you shouldn't start a sentence with "and." Just so you know.

October

October was pretty much all about Micah. He had been having some sleep apnea and crazy loud snoring for about nine months because of his mega-sized tonsils, so after consulting with a few doctors, we decided to go ahead with the tonsillectomy. Little did we know the fiasco we were getting into!
His surgery was October 1st. Here he is in Pre-Op. Micah is a brave kid; he doesn't cry with shots or that kind of thing. When it was time to send him with the anesthesiologist, he gave me a hug and kiss and happily hopped in the wagon for the trip down the hall. It was definitely rougher on me than on him.
Before they took him, he got to play some Indiana Jones video games. We didn't have anything like this until this Christmas when we broke down and got a Wii, so Micah was in heaven.
This was about an hour after surgery; it had all gone really smoothly. My dear friend Kristine had Sarah and Luke for the morning (which was the first time I had ever left Luke for more than half an hour or so). Eliza was with us at the hospital for an appointment with her immunologist, and I know Micah was grateful to have his big sister close by.
Check out those bad boys! Even the ENT acted surprised at their size. Micah wanted to take them home, but since they are a biohazard, we weren't allowed to, which was a great relief to me. Nasty.

So many of Micah's sweet friends called and dropped by with popsicles, cards, books, movies, anything to keep him busy but resting on the couch. Well, a few days later he developed a little cough and the ENT office just recommended we keep him hydrated and resting to minimize his coughing, which we did.
His first surgery had been on a Friday, and eight days later, Saturday night, he came into Ash and my bedroom about 10:45 pm with a weird gurgly cough. I took him into our bathroom and he began throwing up fresh blood and lots of blood clots. It was definitely the scariest moment of my life. I called my sweet friend Lynette who dropped everything and came over to stay with the kids until Ben got home from a dance, and she took Luke for the rest of the night. We are blessed to live five minutes away from a hospital, so we hopped in the van, hazard lights flashing, and raced over to the ER. Lynette's husband Coby came over to help Ash give Micah a blessing, and Micah ended up back in surgery for three bleeds in the back of his throat, one of which the ENT said was a real pumper. Micah was a real trooper through the whole thing. Like I said, he is pretty tough and gave Ash a good kick when we tried to help him sit still to get his IV line placed. After it was all said and done, he faced another week on the couch and dropped some weight from all the inactivity and living off of popsicles!
Although the whole thing was really scary and my heart still races involuntarily whenever Micah coughs, I look back on it with gratitude for priesthood blessings and the unmistakable power they bring, and for dear friends and neighbors who showed their love in so many ways in our time of need and recovery. Micah is now back to his wild and crazy self, and getting much better sleep at night, and we wouldn't have it any other way; we love our Micah.

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Sunday Sink Bath

Little Luke chomped his tender gums on fresh peach slices all afternoon, so he was in serious need of a bath. He is 7 months old now, standing up against things, jibber jabbering away and cute as a button.