Pioneer Day Weekend

We took some time off over the Pioneer Day weekend to go camping with Tricia's family out to the east slope of the Uintah Mountains. Her uncle and aunt bought some cabin property just outside the borders of Ashley National Forest north of Vernal, and they invited us to come out for a few days. We packed up the trailer, stuffed the kids in the car, and headed out Thursday afternoon. I suppose single people making that drive could probably make it in a few hours, but it took us almost six to get there (what with potty breaks, food breaks, etc...). By the time we got out there Thursday, we just had time to get camp set up before bed time.



Friday, we relaxed most of the day. We didn't make an specific plans, so we ended up hanging around camp, riding ATVs a little bit, and enjoying the peace and quiet. The kids just roamed around and played in the trees and bushes. They collected rocks, animal bones, and just about anything else their imaginations allowed. The food was great, as it usually is when you're camping. I went out fishing Friday evening to nearby (somewhat) Calder Reservoir and had a good time. It was a beautiful drive through rolling hills and mountain draws, with trees, cattle, deer, elk, and other wildlife. I had the entire lake to myself when I first got there around 6:30, and took a long walk around the lake looking for a good spot to fish. I ended up on the northern shore and had a good time. I only landed one fish, but had quite a few strikes, and hooked a half-dozen or so. The one Rainbow I brought in to shore was about 18 inches long (too small to keep on that water, 22 inches and above only).



Saturday we got everyone together, loaded up the kayaks, and went over to Matt Warner Reservoir around lunch time. It was quite hot, so being in the kayaks on the water was nice. The water was mossy and so no one did any swimming, but we all had fun in the boats.





Friday night I went back to Calder Reservoir to fish, only this time I took Tricia's brother, Colby, with me. It's more fun to fish with someone else, so I was glad he wanted to go, too. We went a little later and stayed later that night. There were still only a few other people on the lake, and no one at all anywhere near us. We were there from about 7:30 until 9:00, and caught about a half-dozen fish between us. Most of the ones I caught were tiny Rainbows (8-12 inches) but he caught one that was close to 20 inches. It's the largest Rainbow I've seen anyone catch.



That was another beautiful evening, and we both took our cameras along and got some nice pictures as the sun started to set over the mountains behind us. The picture below is a nice silhouette of Colby as he's reeling in his lunker.



Sunday we slept in a bit, and then had a quick breakfast before we headed home. The trip back was a bit faster than the trip out, but still took us a good four+ hours. The kids were quite good in the car, though, so it was a pretty pleasant drive. We were tired and dirty by the time home, so showers and our own beds were welcome. All in all, it was a very nice trip-good to get away from work and the house for a few days, and nice to be able to relax a bit.

Reuben's Blessing

We blessed Reuben on Sunday, July 11th. Thank you to all who came and celebrated this occasion with us. Here are some of my favorite shots of him from that day.

Don't you think Matt's getting to be such a great photographer?

Priceless

Mommy's care and his delivery.

$10,589.53

Six days in the Newborn ICU including glucose IV, oxygen, CPAP treatment, 24 hour monitoring, nurses, diapers and supplies.

$21,005.36

Five chest x-rays to figure out what his lungs were doing.

$142.50

Five Doctors checking on him round the clock.

$3,792

Having a happy, healthy baby you'd never know had such a hard time when he first got here.

Priceless.

(Medical Insurance is pretty priceless to have too...)

Busy Month

May was a pretty busy month for our family. It started off in the hospital with Reuben, and included camping, birthdays, graduations, and a baptism (if we include the first few days of June...).

Livi's birthday was the 15th, and we went to her cousin's house to ride horses for a party. Then we had everyone over for cake and ice cream a day later. Tricia made a pretty creative birthday cake at Livi's request: it's a sunflower. She got a real camera for her birthday and has spent the last three weeks taking pictures and videos of everything around the house. We try to make her ask permission before she takes pictures, though.

Reuben was released from the hospital at the beginning of the month, and I've been trying to take pictures of tim ever since. Seems like most of the time he's asleep or crying, but we did manage to get a couple pictures of him in a quiet moment. He even posed for the camera a little bit. He might as well get used to it. He has been healthy ever since he left the hospital, and has been back for two checkups with the doctors since. Everything is normal and we're very happy to have him home with us.

Anna graduated from Kindergarten the last week of the month. We're so pleased with all the hard work she put in this year. She's really grown a lot and we love her. She was so excited to graduate, and will really miss her teacher, Mrs. Rico. We told her she could walk over to Mrs. Rico's house whenever she wants to though, since she just lives across the street.

Jarom and I went out with some of the boys in the family for a "fathers and sons" campout over Memorial Day weekend. We went with Grandpa Wayne, Ben and Bryson, and Uncle Dallin. In case you can't tell, the picture here is Grandpa and Jarom getting ready for a ride on the ATVs. We went out to Vernon Reservoir in the west desert (although we didn't end up camping at the reservoir-it was pretty crowded). It was pretty windy, but that didn't stop us from having a good time.

And then just this morning Olivia was baptized and confirmed. We're so pleased with the beautiful and smart young woman she is becoming. She makes some great choices and is learning to be a great help around the house. We love her so much and are happy she chose to be baptized.

Update on Reuben

It's been a long week. Tuesday afternoon, the nurses noticed that Reuben's breathing was shallow and quick, and that his oxygen levels were low. He was already on an IV to keep his blood sugar up, so they added some oxygen and took some x-rays. They decided that he needed some treatment with a CPAP machine, to keep his lungs open for the oxygen to get into his blood, and they put him on antibiotics. They monitored him closely for the next 48 hours to watch his progress. It was hard on Tricia-she couldn't hold him or have him in the room, and he couldn't eat.

From Tuesday until Thursday he was on oxygen, antibiotics, CPAP treatment, and the dextrose IV in the ICU. We were able to go down to see him, but he couldn't leave, obviously. He slowly improved, and by Thursday, he was off the CPAP treatment, and mostly off oxygen. The antibiotic treatment went through last night, and he's still on the IV, although it's a very low dose and he could probably come off it any time.

He still struggles occasionally with his oxygen and breathing. Sometimes he comes out of it on his own after 30 seconds, but sometimes they put him back on oxygen to stabilize him. They've taken x-rays again this morning, and we're just waiting to see what the doctor says today. We were hoping to be able to bring him home, but we're not really sure right now.

Here are a few pictures, and I'll post another update as things move along.









Update: The pediatrician and respiratory therapist decided this afternoon to put Reuben back on oxygen all the time, and keep him in the ICU until Monday at least. He is off the dextrose IV, and has finished the antibiotic treatments. They'll monitor him and see how his breathing improves over the next 36 hours and then decide what to do.

Reuben Wayne

Tricia started having regular contractions this morning about 1:30am. She let me stay asleep until 3:00, though, before she decided it was time to go. Grandma Dianne came over to stay with the kids (all still sleeping) and we got to the hospital around 4:00. Once they had decided that she was serious about today being the day, they admitted Tricia into Labor and Delivery. By 7:00 she was ready for an epidural, which made things much more comfortable, even though it slowed things down a bit. But by 10:30 the nurse thought she was ready to deliver, so they called in Doctor Willis. Once he came, things went pretty quickly and Reuben was born at 10:52am. He was 10 pounds and 3 ounces, 22 inches long. Baby's blood sugar is low, but other than that everything is fine and both mom and baby are recovering. I'll upload a photo or two as soon as I get home.

Tulip Festival

We take the kids out every year around their birthday for pictures. This year, I took Liv and Anna to the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point. Tricia isn't really into walking around for hours at a time, so she took Jarom over to Grandma's house for the afternoon. Here's a sampling from this year: