Surgery update...

Hey all! So, I had my ear surgery a week ago this past Friday (July 17). It went well, but was even longer than anticipated...it took 6 1/2 hours. Fortunately when they got in there and started removing the tumor, they found that my three little bones that help with hearing (ossicle bones) were still there...that is great news! Since the bones are still there, I will not have to have artificial bone grafts to reconstruct the bones. So, they went in removed the tumor, made me a new ear drum, made the ear canal larger, and removed some of the mastoid bone. Anesthetic makes me quite nauseous, especially when I am under for anything longer than 3 hours, so I have been pretty sick from it. Now, I am just dizzy a lot from the whole ear thing, and that in turn make me nauseous. I spend a lot of my time sitting or laying on the couch...not very fun. I just want to get up and play with my kids, take care of my family, etc. I am really hoping the dizziness will get better soon. I go to the doctor on Wednesday for a follow-up, and they will also remove some of the packing from my ear (I have packing on both sides of my ear drum, the stuff on the inside will dissolve in 3-4 weeks). I think my ear is definitely healing, and can't wait until it's healed enough to see if my hearing is better! Anyway, there is an update of what is going on for me...

Up chin...

Here are a few more funny things that Bridger has said, which I want to remember...

*I was helping him pull up his pants, and while doing so started to sing "Ring of Fire" by Johnny Cash (Bridger loves Johnny Cash)...I sang "I went down down down, but the..." and then Bridger filled it in with "but the pants went higher!"(normally goes "but the flames went higher).
*After reading him his bedtime story, he looked at me and said "I have an up chin and a down chin." (Up chin=the space between the upper lip and nose, according to Bridger)
*While painting with water colors, he was using the brown paint and said, "Mmm, this looks like chocolate milk!"

What a funny boy...I love all the funny things he says and I don't want to forget these things!

Goldfish...

So, here is our dinner conversation tonight:
*Josh: "Bridger, what did you learn today?"
*Bridger: "I learned a lot of songs, but I am trying to think of them. But the big fat singing lady had a firework thing."
(Us laughing about the big fat singing lady, but trying to not let Bridger see it)
*Josh: "So, what did the singing lady look like?"
*Bridger: (In a totally serious tone)..."a goldfish".
(We were really cracking up about that!!!)

Mustache...

VOTE

For Tom Dolan!

Ha ha ha...Tom Dolan is the mayor of Sandy...he looks like the monopoly man, and loves it! He is campaigning and part of his campaign is focusing on his monopoly man mustache. He was handing out temporary tattoo mustaches at the 4th of July festivities in Sandy, so while Josh was there for work, he grabbed one for Bridger...isn't that kind of him?! He conned Bridger into putting it on, but trust me, Bridger did not like it! We'd ask him how his mustache was doing and he's say, "Not good, it's stupid!". After they put it on, we then went to the Gardens at Thanksgiving Point (that was planned before the mustache) and boy did Bridger get some looks! Some people would laugh and say "nice mustache", other people would just stare, little kids would look and then tell their moms/dads what they saw. Poor Bridger...everyone was laughing at his expense!

The gardens were beautiful as always! We took this picture of Kenna on the grass(she hated the grass, note the annoyed look on her face!)...she's getting better at sitting up, but still doesn't stay up for long.

On another note, I had a CT Scan on my ear yesterday and found out I have to have surgery on it on July 17th. Not too excited about it, but at least we found it now. It's a growth called cholesteatoma (basically a benign tumor), and it has already eaten through my ossicle bones in my ear (responsible for hearing), so my hearing is bad. It will still be bad after surgery, but eventually they will go in and do an artificial bone graft to repair it. It's about a 5 hour surgery, so kind of long, due to the delicate procedure. They will go in, remove some of the mastoid bone, as well as the growth and then depending on what they find, they may have to restructure some of my ear canal. Some of you know that I am not new to the surgery thing...already had 13 surgeries, but that doesn't make it any easier. I am doing okay with it now, still not thrilled about it, but grateful they can fix things before it eats through more bone, etc. Anyway, I am posting all of this mostly so I can have it "journaled"...as I know this is just something to get through. We'll let you know how it goes once I am up and about after it's done!

4th of July...

Get ready for a ton of pictures! There were a lot that I liked, and anyway, it seems to be my trend lately to post a ton of pics!

And here is the dress I made for cute Miss Kenna!

We had a great 4th of July! I love the 4th it's one of my very favorite holidays! I love all the festivities and the feeling of patriotism. I have so much respect for those who have served and sacrificed for our country. We are so blessed to live in the USA! Our day was great! Josh had to work (has to every 4th of July) so that was kind of a bummer. Bridger, Kenna and I headed up to Kaysville to spend the 4th with the Johnsons. We started the day with a parade...it's a pretty good one too! Bridger was super excited because Grandpa was in it (he's on the city council). Grandpa also hooked Bridger up with a balloon and a ton of candy...thanks Grandpa! Bridger was sad when he had to continue on with the parade. After the parade, we headed over to Josh's grandparents' home for a family BBQ. It was nice to see everyone. Bridger had a lot of fun on the slip and slide with Lydia and Annabelle (Josh's cousin and 2nd cousin). After everything there, we headed back to Mark and Julie's where we hung out until the fireworks, which we were able to watch in the comfort of their backyard...very convenient that they live so close! We had a lot of fun, even though Bridger was kind of mean at times (please be done with this stage soon!). He loved it all though and Kenna was perfect the whole day! Hope everyone had a great 4th!

What's up...

Okay, get ready for another mega post, since I haven't blogged in a while! We've been busy with a lot of misc. things lately. We're still trying to get things unpacked and settled in...it's taking way longer than it did when we moved to Eagle Mountain...not surprised since I now have a 3 year old and 6 month old. My sister, Whitney, stayed with us for a couple of weeks while she was taking a CNA course. It was great to have her here! It was fun to have her go with me places and to have an extra hand. She also watched the kids, so we went on two dates! Whoa!!! We also had JD down here for a few days and while he was here, Josh, Bridger and JD went camping at Topaz Mountain. They had a good time, but came home earlier because of a lot of rain. Now here are a few more pics of what we've been up to!

This "little" project consumed my life for way longer than it should have (6 days from start to finish). It turned out great, but took forever because you have to wait for each stripe to dry before you can tape over it. Anyway, it was a lot of work, but I love it and Bridger loves it!! Nothing is hung up on the walls yet...that will hopefully be done soon!
I am so excited that I finally got a sewing machine! I've been wanting one for quite a while, because I would like one to make skirts for me and skirts/dresses for Kenna, etc. I do not know how to sew, and haven't really sewn much of anything, but I am determined to learn! My good friend, Jenni, is super talented with the crafty department and she taught me how to make this cute outfit (she did a lot of the work), so we'll see if I can do more. I did make Kenna a skirt, but it isn't perfect...but that's okay for my first time, right?! Next project...4th of July outfit...good luck to me!

Uggh...and in the midst of all of this, I am dealing with a perforated (ruptured) ear drum again...super painful and can't hear much out of that ear! I did this 2 years ago, at Lake Powell by jumping off the boat into the water. This time, I did a somersault under water at the pool...yah, pretty exciting stories, right?! It never quite healed right the last time, and would still hurt off and on, and my hearing was not what it was in that ear. This time around is taking a lot longer to heal. I went to an Ear, Nose, Throat specialist and he has me on a couple of new medications to hopefully get it taken care of.

Well, there's an update and congrats if you made it through it all! I'll hopefully update soon with pics from the 4th of July! I love the 4th!