Little Natalie - Prayers Requested

Natty's hand 12.21.09

Little Natalie Wilcut, my sister Michele's youngest daughter who is 4 years old, is in the PICU at CHOC (Children's Hospital of Orange County). She has been there since Saturday night. We know she has pneumonia, but are thinking there must be another viral or bacterial infection which has caused her so much trouble. She is currently on a ventilator which is giving her lungs a break at working on their own. It looks like she will be there at least through Christmas. Michele has great comfort and confidence in the doctors, nurses and other medical staff working on behalf on Natty.

Saturday the 19th of December, she became ill very quickly. Michele gave her a couple of breathing treatments during the day which didn't help much. Once her fever reached 103 and Michele could see that Natalie was struggling to catch her breath, Michele decided to take her in to Urgent Care. The doctor there decided she was too sick for their facility and sent her accross the parking lot to the ER. In the ER, she was intubated and had a few tests run. From there she was transported by ambulance to CHOC where she remains sedated, intubated, and hooked up to numerous monitors, with tubes going in various body parts and is undergoing continuous testing.

Yesterday, the 21st, Natalie was showing little signs of impovement. Some test results have come back negative, they are still waiting for more results to come in.

Michele has felt the power of the prayers being offered on their behalf. She is humbled and greateful for your love and support. She knows Natalie is receiving THE BEST care possible and that everyone there is working to get her better. Her spirits are good for the most part. She is comforted and feels our Heavenly Father's spirit with her and her family.

Thank you for those who have been praying and will now pray for little Natalies recovery and for your all of love, well wishes and concern.

I will post again as I am given any major changes.

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I will be blogging again soon... stay tuned.

Pioneer Day Fun

Chris - A great catch

Here are a few pictures from my mom, brother Tony, and Calee's visit from Cali. Ryan joined us on a couple of the days they were here. We had so much fun with them!

Karley on the giant water slide

Fireman's Foam!

Bobby & the fishin' gang!

Fishing on Logan River

Haley, Tony

Karley, Calee, Chandler

Bella, My Mommy

Danielle

Calee, Karley & Danielle

Tony, Ryan & Bobby waiting for dark and the amazing fireworks!

Look closely at the pic above, you'll see a stow-away.

After our family prayer before they left to go home, we all went outside to see them off. We couldn't find Snickers. She was in their car, hoping to catch a ride back with them! We were cracking up! It took a while to finally get her out. So funny! See, my mom brought her dog Bella, a chihuahua/poodle mix. She and Snickers are buds now and Bella gets to go on car rides and Snickers loves my mom so she must have decided she was going this time.

Still not wanting to get out.

And they're off...

I DID IT!!!

The hottie to my left is Calee, my brother Tony's wife. Bobby took this pic as we were passing my house early in the run.

On July 25th, 2009 I ran and finished my first 10K, with my adorable sister-in-law Calee by my side. I set a personal goal, a lofty one for me, once I had been running for a while, to run the 10K on the morning of our city's Pioneer Day celebration. I did it! It took me a long time and it wasn't fun, but I did it! Bobby, my mom, Tony and Haley were all there for us at the finish line and I could hardly hold back the tears as we approached the end.

I'm so excited that I stuck with training for it when I seriously didn't know at times if I could actually accomplish the task. For me, it's been so nice to run alone where I'm not worried about holding anyone back or carrying on a conversation. This has been so nice to just go with no interruptions. As I have been working towards this, I could tell I was making progress along the way when I no longer had to carry a water bottle to sip on every 1/4 mile; when I could talk a little when running with a partner and not die; not stop to catch my breath; and listen to soothing music rather than motivating, blaring music.

I challenge any and all who read this post to set a goal and go for it. Don't even think about quitting! I'm so much better for it, and if I can do it, you can too!

On to my next goal, a mini-tri next Spring...

A Fair Trade

(Pre-Post disclosure: I have decided to be a little more candid in my blog, hoping it doesn't backfire. I want to be a little more 'real life'. Not to flaunt my issues but to (a) document what's really going on and not candy-coat things for my own personal journaling, and to (b) share in the hopes that maybe sometime, someone, somewhere will gain from my honesty.)

This is the lowest dose I was ever taking of this 'wonder' drug. As I mentioned in a previous post, I have been taking this since Bobby was just about recovered from his back surgery and we were waiting for his retirement to go through. It helped me and my family tremendously, so it served its purpose. There was a time that I didn't care if I had to take it for the rest of my life, because it helped so much. Well, that time has come and gone. I've been mentally and emotionally ready to stop the medication for some time, but not able to completely wean off of it. I was getting horrible headaches and having an increase in weird behavior, like pulling at my hair and eyelashes, biting the skin off my bottom lip, and clenching my teeth.

Out of complete desperation I starting running. Once I got a taste of how it made me feel, I was sold on the idea that it was good for me in so many ways. I still don't love running, but it's the feeling I have when I'm finished and getting a 'second wind' or 'runner's high' while I'm running that I love. Because of my consistency in running, I was able to trade my meds for these.

I'm amazed at how much better I feel physically and mentally when I am running consistently. I wish I could say that I lost all the weight I wanted to but that's not the case, however I am literally taking one step at a time and now I feel empowered to do much more. Yay me!

Typical

Ok , so I sat down to blog about the past month and a half and this is what is going on. (Just kind of typical of how we make plans and prepare. Then... life just kind of gets in the way.) Chandler is chasing Snickers around our yard, trying to get her to comply with taking a bath. This is not a normal Sunday activity, however, just before we were about to leave for church at about noon, we brought Snickers in from her morning galavant around the yard. She passed by me in the entry way and I about passed out. I thought maybe she had boofed, but no, she had dog doo all over her right ear and the right side of her body. Disgusting. So she stayed in the garage instead of her kennel area inside the house while we were gone to church. Now Chandler has the responsibility to get her all cleaned up and she is NOT at all happy about it. Not sure if Chandler or Snickers is more upset.

"Interested?"

"Interested?" That's what Craig Montierth asked me when we were in Carlsbad Beach, CA, oh my gosh, 22 years ago this summer. I thought he asked "Interesting?" and I answered in the affirmative. He then said, "So is he." I was floored, to say the least. He was asking me if I was interested in Bobby D. Then he told me that BOBBY WAS INTERESTED IN ME!!! I still find myself trying to figure that one out.

We just celebrated our 19th anniversary last week. THAT IS CRAZY! That's like such a long time, and man oh man so much has happened, and yet it doesn't seem possible that it has been that long.

He is the best husband to me and father to our kids that I ever, ever could have asked for. We decided a VERY long time ago, before we ever married, that we would not fight. We decided a long time ago that we would do our best to leave sarcasm out of our marriage. That was a little tough since sarcasm was a part of both of our upbringings.

He also promised me that he would never intentionally scare me. He's kept his promise. The only time or two he's ever scared me, it was a total and complete accident and he felt so bad for it. My dear dad had a fascination with scaring me and my mom and siblings while I was growing up and I was afraid Bobby might be the same way. He's not, thank goodness.

Early on in our marriage, when Bobby and I had a misunderstanding, rather than scream my head off at him (which I have never done ), I would clean. Clean like a mad woman. That's how Bobby knew we needed to talk. I've always been, and still am, afraid to hurt his feelings. I think he feels the same way. Not that it's a good idea to keep it all bottled up inside, that has it's ill effects too. I just have never wanted to hurt him.

When we were married and sealed in the temple, the sealer gave us some advice. One profound piece of advice he gave was to NEVER say anything hurtful to each other. He taught us that we can never take anything back that we've said. Words hurt like cuts in the skin. A cut will heal but may leave a scar. So will words . We may forgive the person, but the scar will always be there. We took that advice very seriously and have done our very best to live by that everyday.

We both feel so blessed to have 'found' each other at such young ages. Bobby was 18 and I was 16. I think for us, we grew up together in many ways and that worked to our advantage. But also, we made very conscious decisions to be kind and loving to each other very early in our relationship. To make each other our top priority. That's not easy all the time, especially when you have demanding, hungry, needy kids, jobs, church and civic duties. I consider us both to be very patient as well. Patience is a virtue, I hear. But also, patience is not something you ever master. It is a characteristic that we all have to constantly practice.

Bobby is my very best friend. I am so thankful for his love, patience and support. One of his qualities that I have always admired is the fact that he is so optimistic. He is and always has been so positive. This has been tried and tested over the last several years as we have faced adversity. He is a man of great integrity, one who honors his priesthood. I am extremely grateful for him.

I know that we are very blessed to have the relationship that we have. For many years I felt almost guilty that we have such a great relationship and wish that everyone had the same for themselves. I have been fortunate enough that my husband has chosen to treat me well in word and deed. I count my blessings everyday that he has made good choices and that he has remained faithful to me and the Gospel.

Bobby, I love you with all of my heart. I'm so sorry for the pain you have to endure everyday. Keep in mind, it's only this lifetime. You always make me feel so good about myself and because of you, I want to be the best person I can. Thank you for loving me.