Giardia, E-coli, or what??

So poor little Abby has had chronic tummy aches for the last month. It began with a nasty case of the flu. She got sick in a cab, on the way to the airport, following our cruise. She threw up the entire way home. She was traveling with my parents, and my poor mother had to beg the flight crew to let them on the plane, after a layover, in Las Vegas. They were going to make them stay overnight, because they didn't want them to infect the whole flight. At this point, we truly thought it was motion sickness (coming off the ship, she often gets sick in the car, etc), and my mom convinced them to let them fly. Unfortunately, it was the flu, because two days later Zach got the flu, and two days after that Seth got the flu, and then the next day Abby got the flu again! (Sorry to all those people on the airplane)

The stomach aches have continued, no vomiting or other flu like symptoms have presisted. She will have a few good days and then a few bad days. I am not an overly sympathetic mom, if I don't see throw up, then you probably should go to school. We have been battling this for a few weeks. I finally laid down the rule that if you don't go to school, you stay in bed and no TV. I thought this would for sure push her to want to go to school. I had to be 'hard nosed' so that I could assess the severity of the stomach ache. (All my kids have taken a few unnecessary 'sick'days, feeling great by 10am). She stayed in bed all day, no tv. I guess she must really have a bad tummy ache.

She felt better for a few days, then the stomach aches reappeared on Easter Morning. We were out of town, attending sacrament meeting, and she choose to sit in the car because she felt so crummy.

What do you do?

I decided it was time to visit the Dr. I talked to the nurse who advised me to try a 'dairy free' diet for a few weeks. I told her we would try that, but I still felt like we need to see the Dr. (I am not the type who runs to the dr for everything). I was just trying to follow my "motherly intuition". Meet with our pediatrician, had a nice conversation, discussed what we had been doing recently. I told her we had been on a cruise. She asked where the cruise had gone, I told her Hondorus and Mexico, and her first reaction was that Abby probably has Giardia, E-coli, or some other freakin bacteria. LOVELY!

It took me 24 hours to coax a 'stool' sample from her, I then got to dissect it into three vials for testing (the joys of motherhood). We are waiting for the results, 2-3 days! I hope this is the problem, otherwise we will have to do some other fun tests. We are treating her with medication for these bacteria's, rather then waiting for the results, may as well. Plus, we are on a no-dairy diet to help the stomach recover.

Quality Time with the Family

Chris, Seth and Zach

Danielle and Abby

Our Easter Holiday began with our annual egg hunt at Grandma Shirley and Grandpa Tom's. We had a nice visit, and the kids enjoyed finding their eggs, and eating Grandma's yummy snacks.

We snuck away to St. George for Spring Break. We went with Jeremy's brother Tony, Elisa, and kids. The weather wasn't fabulous, but we found plenty to do to keep us happy. We love eating at the Pizza Factory, having treats at Nelsons Custard, and this time we enjoyed a visit to the new 'In and Out' Burger. The kids enjoyed spending time with their cousins. The adults enjoyed some late night gaming. We LOVE St. George! It is always nice to go away, with the sole purpose of relaxing. Mission Accomplished.

We are thankful for this Easter holiday, and everything that it represents. We know that God lives, that He atoned for each one of us, and that we can all have eternal life. We enjoyed church services in St. George before we began our journey back to winter in Salt Lake.

A new set of skills

Pantry Secrets Rocks! Check out their blog. A friend of mine told me about this great enrichment class that she had attended. The class is taught by a mother/daughter team. They teach you how to make bread from start to finish in one hour!! Yes, this includes the cooking. They also teach you 50 other things you can make with the bread dough. It really is amazing. I can say that because I came home and made the dough, and created the items pictured above. It was a success on the first try. I learned a few things that I will modify next time, but overall I was really impressed. The family loved it! You can make a loaf of bread for $.28.

I tried to sign up for one of the classes that they teach in their home, but had no luck. I found out where they were teaching another enrichment (thanks to a friend), and attended it. If you can get into one of their classes, it is well worth the $20. I tried to schedule them for an enrichment in our ward, and she said they are booked through September, and probably won't be doing many more enrichments. They are teaching other people how to be consultants, so more classes can be taught. They also have a DVD for $20 that teaches their method. I am sure that it is great.

*The other huge bonus, is that it is a recipe that is food storage friendly. It has ingredients that have a great shelf life, plus you can use your wheat!!!! (it only has 6 ingredients)

I am so excited that I can finally make a decent loaf of bread (white or wheat), and other bread type meals (pizza, bread bowls, scones, hot dog buns, hoagie bread, kiaser rolls, bread sticks, cinnamon rolls, danish braids, etc).

"If ye are prepared, ye shall not fear", right?

Every day, as I go about my daily routine, I feel like I am impacted by our current economic condition. The other day I went to meet Jeremy for lunch, we picked one of our favorite mexican restaurants. OUT OF BUSINESS. We picked another small sandwich shop that we like to go to, OUT OF BUSINESS. I have run into old acquaintenances that have been unemployed for upwards of a year. We have family members that are wondering, day to day, if they will have a job a month from now. If you turn on the TV, or read the newspaper, you become inundated with the ever increasing drama of the world we live in. It is scary. I think things will be sketchy for many months to come. We can't take anything for granted. These are the times that we have been counseled to prepare for! For some it will impact us in our own homes, for others it will be extended family, friends, neighbors.

BUT, rather than live in fear, I have chosen to prepare our family the best I can. Thanks to a dear friend, I have been reminded that I need to 'refresh' our 72 hour kits. I honestly can remember when I even assembled our family kits. THUS, I pulled everything out of the closet and determined what needed to be replaced. Much to my dismay, some friendly little rodents had found their way into some of the food. I also had to reevaluate, because my kids are much older now, and will consume more food. I have decided that every spring, around general conference, I will rotate some of the food, update clothing (as needed), and just refresh when necessary.

I am grateful that I belong to a church that prepares us for all aspects of life. (spiritually, emotionally, physically, etc). I know if we heed the counsel of our living prophet, that we will be prepared for anything that will come our way.

Peace of mind can be comforting, when everything around us isn't!

Our Caribbean Cruise

This is Jeremy doing my first post. It won't be as pretty as what Nancy does so I apologize in advance. This is a summary of our trip to the Caribbean on the Royal Caribbean cruise ship "Voyager of the Seas". This was a trip that my employer Axiom Financial sponsored for Nancy and me. We decided to have our children and Nancy's parents join us on the boat also. We arrived at the ship on Sunday the 8th and the ship departed that evening.









Our first two days were at sea, during which time we participated in the many activities that the ship had to offer. It was amazing! 15 different floors full of swimming pools, mini golf, roller-blading, basketball, rock-climbing, ping-pong, and of course LOTS and LOTS of FOOD!











Abby spent more time than anyone in the pool. We were convinced at one point that she had sprouted gills and fins and had become a fish. She loved the pool. We all certainly enjoyed the warmer tempuratures and as we moved down the Gulf of Mexico towards the Caribbean, the climate grew even more pleasant.


We were scheduled to visit three ports on this cruise. The first stop was on the island of Roatan, which is part of the country of Honduras. We were in Roatan on Wednesday. On Thursday we were in Costa Maya, Mexico. We spent Friday in Cozumel, Mexico. We certainly enjoyed ourselves in Costa Maya and in Cozumel, with time on the beach and some shopping and some great local cuisine. But we all agreed that our favorite port was in Roatan.

This picture is of the cruise ship
docked in the port in Roatan. We hired a private tour guide to take us to various spots on island. He took us to a hilltop on the island that overlooked the bay and the port and provided a wonderful setting for pictures. Shortly thereafter he took us to see the L.D.S. church building on the island, which was pretty neat to see.












The beach was wonderful in Roatan, but the highlight of our visit to the island was some time we spent at an inland location where they did zipline tours and also had spider monkeys and parrots for us to play with. Everyone did the zip line tour (even Leslie!) which involved some hiking and scooting across the zip lines. Everyone had a blast.

We really enjoyed playing with the monkeys; they were a riot. At one point they took my hat and I had to wait about 15 minutes before they gave it back. They were very energetic and very intelligent; it was the highlight of the trip to interact with them. I really enjoyed the short stay on Roatan and most of the people in our Axiom group had the same thing to say.

Costa Maya is just a small port town that basically exists to service the cruise industry. Frankly, the area isn't very pretty because of prior hurricane damage. But a nice beach was only a short busride away and we were able to spend some time there relaxing and drinking a ridiculous amount of pina colads with some great Mexican food for lunch.


Some of you have been to Cozumel so you know how it works
there. We had to be back on the ship by 3:30 so we had to get a lot done in a short amount of time. We found a great local beach to enjoy the sun and surf. Abby and I snorkeled. Zach, Seth, Nancy and Mike rented waverunners for a half hour and took them out on the ocean. And then Mike and Seth went parasailing! They had to have been a few hundred feet up in the air. Wow! After all was said and done, we had a great day in Cozumel with many adventures (including shopping, of course).

After all was said and done, it was a wonderful vacation. To see different parts of the world and appreciate different peoples, cultures, foods and languages is truly a blessing. The crew on our ship was absolutely incredible and we enjoyed the daily interactions we had with them. I really benefitted from the break and I really enjoyed some of the one-on-one time I had with my kids. My in-laws are great and my wife is the best. It was a great time and I'm thankful we could have the experience.

Humbled

It has been a very humbling week. My dear friend Michele has an eleven month old baby girl, Gracie. She was born with an extreme heart condition. She has fought many battles in her 11 months. Last week she was listed on the 'heart transplant' list. Saturday night, her parents received a call that they had a heart for her, an absolute miracle that it happened so quickly. Sunday she had the transplant, only to find out that the heart wasn't good. She is now on life support, awaiting another heart. She can only be on life support for 5-7 days. I can not imagine the daily pain and anguish that Gracie's parents and siblings are going through. I worry about them. They have taught us so many lessons over the last year. They have amazing faith. They have endured MANY trials, but continue to rely on the Lord to guide them. They have shared very intimate details about their sweet baby. They have touched the lives of 100's of people. There are people praying for them all over the world! They have been able to share the gospel through this experience. We love them and pray that the will be sustained during this difficult journey.

Our family has been blessed by sharing this experience with them. We are humbled to know them and humbled to be able to learn from their example. We have been reminded of how fragile life really is, and how our faith can carry us in difficult times.

PRAY FOR GRACIE AND HER FAMILY!!

Viva la Mexico!

Puerto Vallarta

Yuck

Dave and Jeremy by the Terminator!

Brooke and I by a waterfall

SOOOO Sad it is over!

We snuck away for a long weekend with our friends the Carns. We stayed at an all inclusive resort, and enjoyed endless pina colada's everyday, in addition to chips and guacamole. We love Mexico, it doesn't matter where, we just love it! The weather was perfect. We rented a car for 24 hours and ventured out to do some great sight seeing. We got a massage everyday! Life is good. Coccimiglio's are always up for a trip to Mexico, so if you want company give us a call.