SHE DID IT!
Mekenzie tried out for the Universal Rhythm team at school (the dance team). She worked really hard through a week of learning the routines then trying out in front of a team of judges. She has had to wait a very long 3 weeks to find out that she made it! Needless to say she is SOOOOO excited! And we are SOOOOOO proud of her! It will be a fun year full of dance performances for us to attend! We are so happy for her!

Surprise!

We have had a very laid back week this week. A lot of resting and recovering for us, which is what we needed. A few things HAVE caught me off guard this week though. The first one being Easter. How did Easter already get here? I am a planner, everything is always done way ahead of time so when I realized that Easter is THIS Sunday I was in a panic. My panic only increased when I went to Target and they had nothing left for Easter!!! Luckily over the last few days I have been able to get some things together and my kids will have Easter (it was a close one!).
The other happened today. I was laying on the couch, tired. I have been really tired lately but unable to sleep so when a moment comes and I get to lay on the couch it is a pretty sure thing I will fall asleep, so I did. The door bell rang, and Kellen yelled for me to get it because he did not know who it was (following the rules, good boy). At my door were two very sweet missionaries from our church. They said they had been trying to call the last couple of days, (we have been bad at answering the phone, and checking our messages), they wanted to make sure we knew we had signed up to feed them....tonight! (Now I love Kelly, he is usually so good at letting me know when he signs up for something that might need my preparation, but he didn't mention it this time. He does not even remember doing it.)
I had been so efficient today. Knowing I needed a restful day I had put some of our families favorite, bean soup, in the crock pot. I could NOT feed these sweet 20 year old boys bean soup!!! I asked them what they wanted for dessert (figured they needed something they really wanted), and they wanted peach pie and ice cream. Did I mention it was 3:00 and they needed to eat at 5:00 in order to make it to an appointment they had. I acted like we were prepared, no big deal, needless to say I was off and running!! Did you know Costco has peach pie?? It saved us!! We picked up some peach pie, ice cream, rolls, and fruit for salad. Then I decided they needed some meat (20 year old boys, remember!), luckily they had some tri-tip that looked just our size (yeah!) We ran around like crazy people but when the missionaries got here it looked like we had planned all day (thanks to all my kids, and the friends that were here, AND Kelly coming home early to help). It was a strange mix of food (I had to include the BEAN SOUP!) But they were so grateful (if only they knew!!) It ended up being a great dinner and the thing they liked the best, the bean soup, who knew!!! I wont mention that both of my boys got sent to bed early for showing off the whole time - some inappropriate jokes and a little "pants-ing" issue.
Moral of the story....I should have just finished my nap and fed them the bean soup!

Never say, "it cant get worse"!

I am hoping this is the lesson I am supposed to learn. That even when things seem really bad, they could quickly become even worse.
Our family has really struggled lately. Mostly surrounding Kellen's health. It has at many times felt like it was as bad as it could get (I have explained it many times as the bottom of a deep, dark pit we cannot seem to be able to climb out of). It has been exhausting!! I have said out loud many times that it really could not get any worse, I was wrong. I am blogging only because I am not sure it is believable, it's almost embarrassing!
Last Thursday (a week and a half ago) I woke up in the middle of the night with pain in my stomach. Not just tummy pain but intense pain! Having had an ulcer in the past I figured this was what it was, just worse then I have had before. I usually get a little bit of warning, not this time. I woke up Thursday, called the doc and he had me immediately come into the office. I got there and could not even get water down at that point. He tried to admit me but we both agreed that if I came into the office the next few days until he could scope it I could stay at home, so I did. I painfully got through the week with little sips of water and that is about all. Wednesday he scoped it and confirmed I have a ulcer, (a large crater eating through the lining of my stomach), that is due to lack of blood flow to that area. There is nothing he could do until he is able to consult a surgeon. So I came home, still in a lot of pain. Later in the day my left side started to hurt. Not just a little pain but the double over, I think I might actually die pain. I could deal with the pain but when I could no longer urinate I decided I might need to go to the doc. I gave them a call, they said to come now, so I did. Kelly had to drive me since I had been under anesthesia just a few hours before for the ulcer so we got there and I told him to stay in the car so he could work, I went in. I walked in got a few drops of urine out and they told me I could walk or take an ambulance but they were admitting me to the hospital. I was not happy...to make a long story short I told them no, they told me to call someone to be with me, I called Kelly to come in from the car. After going back and forth they offered 3 choices. All of them we ending up with me in the hospital. So I had no choice, and went. They decided I had a kidney stone and a kidney - bladder infection. They also decided I had some kind of blockage that was not allowing me to urinate.
Now, did I mention that we left Camden home with Mekenzie? He had a fever of 103, he was throwing up, and he would not move from the couch??? He was one sick boy....
We got to the hospital, they ordered tests (I sent Kelly home to be with Camden for the night), they pushed a ton of fluids into me (this was my favorite part since I could not urinate I imagined that at some point my bladder might actually explode!) and got me started on a million drugs. After a long night, no sleep, lots of tests, being so sick from the side effects of the drugs they were giving me, it was all confirmed. Kidney infection, stone, and a cyst on my left ovary. After 24 hours I passed the stone (can you say....ouch!) and even though I was still very miserable I could urinate and they released me (against their better judgment), into the care of my OBGYN - so I got to come home (Yeah!!). My day started with a ulcer, I had no idea it would end with me being sent to the hospital overnight.
We got home and Camden seemed to be a little worse. Still a high fever, throwing up, and now complaining of excruciating pain on his right side. I could only think of when Kellen did the same thing it was his appendix. I had Kelly take him to urgent care. 4 hours later they decided he had pneumonia and sent him home with 2 antibiotic shots and two prescriptions.
So we are both home, little bit miserable, but recovering! It has been a very long week, one I would not like to relive very soon. We are hoping by Monday we both feel a little better and can do what we need to.
The moral of the story... Don't ever say it can't get worse. Someone might think that is a challenge to show you that actually it can! I am off to go to take some meds. 2 for my ulcer, 2 antibiotics, a pain pill, a pill to counteract the nausea from the pain pill, and something to help w/ kidney function. I think that is all!