I'm glowing

I had my other GI test this morning. It wasn't nearly as uncomfortable as the last one. I went in, and the nice man gave me some scrambled Egg Beaters laced with the added yumminess of radioactive chemicals. If I were to walk through an airport x-ray machine, would I set it off????? So then I lay down on the moving board and he put the machine right up to my belly. The machine took x-rays every 10 minutes of the eggs moving through my stomach. It was my job to lay very still for 90 minutes. It was all good, I had my IPod, grooved to some mellow music and drifted off to sleep for about 10 minutes. At least I missed two songs on the playlist, so maybe that's only 8. I was startled awake by Harry Connick Jr. singing way too loudly in my ear; I hate it when songs are downloaded at different volumes. I'm sure I gave the man a good chuckle, I totally jerked my arms and hit the machine when it happened.

He said the results would be sent to my doctor late this afternoon, so I should expect a call tomorrow. I was trying to get some answers out of him, but I could tell he didn't want to say anything. He did say that my stomach emptied well for the first half hour, but then plateaued. What does that mean? It means I had a lump of eggs still sitting in my stomach and I could feel it. So maybe I'll have some answers by tomorrow, yay! Let's hope so, because I am tired of feeling so nauseous all the time.

Hailey's dream come true

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St. George

I am late in posting this, but I have to tell about our little adventure last weekend. We went down to St. George, as Greg was there for business and our SIL, Angie, invited us. Greg's brother Jeff has been out of town on business for six weeks, and we thought we'd give her a little company. Ha! Seven people invading your home is never easy, but she was wonderful, as always.
I will say this: I am so glad we didn't move to Idaho, because then I would have had to make solo four drives with the kids often. And that was not fun. We got there Friday evening and the kids were so excited to see their cousins. Their home is beautiful and it was fun to see it for the first time.

Saturday morning we climbed Dixie Rock. It had great views of the city. We then went to Hidden Valley Park. It had a fun water feature and the kids liked getting wet. It was still way hot down there!

After naps, we went to the sand dunes at Entrada State Park and let the kids play in the sand. I have never been in such soft sand. It was beautiful. The wind started blowing pretty hard, so we didn't stay long. I'd have to say the kids' favorite part of that outing was seeing the golf course, country club and baseball diamonds that were featured in High School Musical 2. When Hailey saw the club house, she let out a huge scream, it was so cute.
After some Papa Murphy's and bath's, the kids zonked early. We went to church the next day and then headed home after a yummy lunch. It was a short trip, but the kids had so much fun spending time with their cousins, and it was great to see Angie. She is a super woman, that's for sure.

Bomb hits WaMu, misses Greg

I've gotten lots of calls today from concerned family and friends about Greg and the WaMu buyout. For those of you that don't know, Washington Mutual was bought by JP Morgan Chase yesterday. What does this mean for Greg? We're still not exactly sure. He still has a job, which we're very grateful for. He is not sure how Chase is structured with Financial Consultants in their branches, but details should be coming soon. Chase says they are only closing 10% of WaMu's branches, which is a really good thing. Greg is over the entire state of Utah, except for Salt Lake County, so he's been stretched a little thin. This might turn out to be a really good thing for him and our family, as well. Thanks for all of the love and concern we've been shown today. We really appreciate it! (He thought of the title, all wittiness has left me for the day.)

Will they please figure it out already?

My stomach problems are back, that's why I haven't written about our fun weekend to St. George. I saw a Gastric doctor on Tuesday and he scheduled me for an upper and lower GI today. I was on a clear diet yesterday, and then had to drink some nasty medicine last night to clear me out. Since I had been throwing up since Monday night, I hadn't had any real food since then, so hunger was my biggest issue today.
The test was around 2 pm, and the doctor didn't find anything. Which is good and bad. Good, because that means there are no ulcers, cancer, or polyps. Bad, because they still don't know why I am throwing up all the time. I have another test next Thursday, it's called a stomach emptying study. They have me eat some scrambled eggs that are laced with an ingredient that will make them glow as they are digested. Fun, fun. I'm up for whatever it takes to figure out what's going on. These last few days have been very hard on me emotionally. I feel like I am such a burden to Greg, my family and my neighbors, having to rely on them when I am down and out. We have been very blessed with neighbors that have taken the kids today, even when I know they've had a lot going on. And Greg's mom has taken the little ones twice this week. I am ready for some answers and to feel good again.

A great weekend

I am taking advantage of a rare quiet moment to update about our fabulous weekend. With lots of Dr. Pepper in my system to keep me awake, we picked up my sister-in-law Shawn and her son Ethan from the airport on Thursday. Kevin was in town for work, so they decided to join him for the weekend. The kids were beyond excited to finally see Ethan. I had told them about how cute he was, and they couldn't wait to smother him with kisses. He and his mommy spent Thursday afternoon here and Kev came over after work. He and Shawn are such a great Uncle and Aunt. They jumped on the trampoline with the kids and Kevin took Trent to swimming lessons. We then got Cafe Rio for the grown ups for dinner and the kids were ecstatic to have Del Taco. While we were visiting, Rachel decided to put my cell phone in my cup of water. Yeah, those two things don't go so well together, in case you didn't know.
Elise is totally enamoured with Shawn and followed her everywhere, asking her all kinds of questions, which Shawn very patiently answered. They left for their hotel around 7 pm, and you would have thought it was the end of the world, Elise was so upset.

Friday night was the Father/Son campout for Greg and the boys, and we girls had a totally fun Girls Night. Greg took the boys and Suzie, the dog, up to Hobble Creek canyon, and he said they had such a good time. It was a little chilly, but not freezing yet. They played soccer and flashlight tag, and some of the boys told Trent, "You have the most awesome dad!". When Trent told about that, I asked him why they'd said it, wanting to know what had presipitated it, but Hailey said "Because he is, Mom!". What a sweet daughter. We'll see if she feels that way in a few years! Their favorite part was making s'mores and spending time with their dad.

For our Girls Night, we started out at the mall, of course. We got mini pretzels and lemonade, and then got me a new phone. (Hailey told me its totally awesome, so I feel cool now.) Then we looked at Claire's and wished we could buy the whole store. Well, the girls did at least. As we were walking through the food court to the car, someone gave us coupons for free ice cream! What a fun surprise. After the baby ate my entire cup for me, we headed home. I'd told Elise I had a surprise for her, and it was worth every penny of the $12 I spent when I pulled "Barbie and the Diamond Castle" DVD from the bag. Her face was priceless. She kept hugging and and thanking me all night. Once I put Rachel down, the three of us snuggled up in my bed and ate licorice and Sour Patch Kids and watched Barbie. If your girls like those movies, this is my new favorite one.

The boys got home around 11 am, right as Kevin was bringing Ethan to Hailey and I to watch for the afternoon. Kevin knows Norm Chow, and got 10 tickets to the BYU vs. UCLA game. (Shawn got her Masters in Nursing from UCLA, so they have season tickets in CA.) Little did he know what misery awaited him.... hee hee. Greg showered and headed to the game, while we took care of Ethan. He is such a good baby. The kids had a ball making him smile (which is fairly easy to do) and playing with him. Rachel didn't get very jealous; I was happily surprised.

Greg said the game was awesome! They were sitting in the UCLA section, and it got to the point that he'd turn around and tell the UCLA fans, "That was a really good effort." or "They almost made that one.", to try to make them feel better. Kevin wasn't in the best of moods, so they left at the end of the 3rd quarter. We had planned on spending the evening with Kev and Shawn, but he wasn't too happy and they decided to head out. Which meant that Greg and I could go to a party my friends were having!

It is so nice that Hailey is getting older and can watch the kids, but this was for a long time, so we had her friend Caitlin come over to help her. Greg and I headed up to Big Cottonwood Canyon where they were having a bbq. It was so fun to see everyone with their husbands, as this was the first time we'd done a couples night. We had heard so much about the hubbies (for one party we had told our love stories) that it was great to see their personalities in real life. There was a fire pit and everyone put their camp chairs around, before we were split up with girls on one side and guys on the other. We then played a somewhat clean version of the Newlywed Game. Greg and I answered about half of them right. Greg was being is funny self of course. That night when we got home, Greg said "I can't remember the last time I had such a good day. I woke up with my boys in the mountains, say BYU kick UCLA's butt and then had an awesome date with my wife." I agree, it was a fabulous weekend.

See Mommy Run

We had a rather uneventful week last week; except for activities starting, and me going crazy while driving all over Lehi, and trying not to cry every morning when the alarm went off. I didn't think anyone wanted to hear me freaking out about trying to get it all coordinated, so I took a break from the computer.

I was so tired every night that I fell asleep before 10:30, which is a rare occurrence for me. I started to type up my weekly schedule to help explain the insanity, but it took too long and was confusing. Just know that I am going completely nuts the first three days of the week. If you email or call, I'm sorry if it takes me awhile to respond. Thanks for understanding.