We made it

For everyone who gets confused when I talk about being worried about driving through the snow to get to California:



Have you ever heard of the Donner Party? Well this is Donner's Pass.Can you imagine being in a covered wagon trying to go through this?

We were very thankful for the snowplows and 4 wheel drive.

The highway had been shut down the day before and we were prepared to spend the night in Reno, however right when we were getting close, they opened the freeway for cars with 4WD and chains, so we went for it and were grateful to make it safely there.

In the middle of the winter I get this anxious feeling that I need to go to California, kind of like cabin fever. This year I waited until the very end of March/ first week of April to go and we still hit the cold weather. Now if we went to Southern California, we would have had nice weather. However, I am from Northern California, about 6-7 hrs north of Disneyland. So the weather isn't always sunny and perfect. Once you get down to the foothills of Cameron Park, the snow is gone and replaced by rain, so it isn't too bad.


We had fun visiting Maga and Paki.

I think this trips themes were robberies and fevers:
Coleson got to plan some new and some old favorite activities this time. He read this book about the gold rush and learned it was in California. He asked if we could go next time we visited. Coloma is about 40min from my parents home, a fact I had failed to mention to him sometime ... "how come you never told me?" More history for you-Sutter's mill is in Coloma, where James Marshall discovered gold and the gold rush began. When you grow up with neat history around you, you kind of forget how cool it is until you show your kids. We went to the museum and walked around the sites. We panned for gold and Coleson came down with "gold fever"



We did the toursity pan for gold in a trough(the river was really high with all the rain, not a good time to pan for gold on your own) and you pay for 45min. I had to drag him away before his full 45 min, to get Ammon his meds and food on time. Coleson still feels jipped. I told him I will take him real panning next time we visit. Coleson in a serious voice "Mom I think when I get older I am going to move to California" Me-That sounds good. "Well since I am so good at finding gold, I think I could just do that for my job and make enough money" :)Coleson is always planning his future job. He did walk away with a few flakes in a vile. He had to ask all about the security that goes into keeping the gold nuggets safe in the museum and what happens when people steal gold. One of the tour "actors" said they used to just "shoot ya" if you stole someone's gold. I don't think Coleson was expecting that.




We returned to Johns Incredible Pizza factory, where we get "ticket fever" Brynn caught on too this time.


My parents took Coleson and Brynn to the Train museum. Coleson came back telling me all about how the trains were robbed and what ammunition they carried on it.


We all loved the new trampoline mat.


The last place Coleson got to go was the Lego store. He patiently waited the whole two weeks to go. You can buy Legos anywhere now, but it's not the same experience as the Lego store. Maga took him and guess what he came back with.. a set with a robber stealing from an ATM. I just laughed. The whole two weeks worth of activities and questions all came together. Even at the Nature center "so does anyone ever steal stuff from here?" Paki even showed us this great show called Bait Car to top it all off.

Going back to fevers.. well Ammon came down with a fever while we were there and we had to spend a Saturday in the ER to find out he had a double ear infection and pneumonia. (I have a new appreciation for Primary Childrens and the other hospitals in Utah) We all took our turns being sick, but Ammon and I took the worst of it. The anti-biotics kicked it pretty fast, so by the last day or two we were doing better. Luckily, my parents helped me and Brian flew out for the weekend to help too.

A cool side note. If you heard Elder Ballard's talk in conference(I was in the ER so I had to listen to it at: www.lds.org..menu..general conference..view now..sat.afternoon), he started out with a story from the gold rush, something that Coleson could now understand and was able to listen to a little better. We actually got one of those rocks with the gold veins in it. Isn't the gospel wonderful?

Is it spring yet?

I am ready for spring and summer to come. I just want to sit outside and enjoy the sun. I went outside during nap time today and found our first flowers. The snow has melted and the big coats have stayed in the closet for a few days. Brynn is sick today. She woke up coughing yesterday and today her nose is draining. I'm trying to keep her away from Ammon and the rest of us, but it's tough. She just likes to do what everyone else is doing. She is starting to say funny things, now that we can mostly understand her. "bynn's sick" to Ammon while she signs it and gets a big pouty lip. I was done running on the treadmill and she said it was her turn. I told her "you have to be taller than Coleson to have a turn". She got one of her chairs, stood on it and said "I tall now". When she wants to do it all by herself "I do it myself". When she needs help-"I can't myself". She says random things at random places when we drive, but it's always the same thing, same place. When we turn right out of our neighborhood(usually we go left) "i see Rapunzel"which took me forever to understand, but that is the direction of the movie theater where we took her once to see Tangled. Then another really random spot where we turn right on the way to swim lessons(which we did back in the fall)she asks "where's daddy?" I say "at work" "oh". Over the bridge "don't fall, too high"-I didn't know she was even paying attention out the window. Her hair gets really big by the end of the day, so I thought I would try little pig tails. Her hair is still really thin, so they don't stay well, but I think she looks more grown up. I started letting Brynn have a little piece of gum in the car, so I could keep track of it. This day she snuck some and wouldn't give it up. One day she was taking a bath and I had left to get Ammon dressed. I hear all this splashing so I rush in to make sure she is okay and she says "doing my push ups" I ran to get the camera. Ammon had a good day, I even made him laugh. Just a little update-he does have low thyroid so we have to add a thyroid supplement pill to the list. We are looking into the Ketogenic diet for his epilepsy.

Coleson's Post...

I have been playing basketball. This is me almost scoring a basket



and this is Brynn cheering for me, so I've had a pretty good year.

How is Ammon?

There are so many who ask me all the time, "How is Ammon doing?". It's so nice to know that many people think about and care for him. I never thought I would forget who I have told and who I haven't, but I do. Anyway here is the happenings this past month.

On Feb. 2nd I took him into same day surgery to be put out under general anesthesia for recapping of 2 teeth (he grinds his teeth a lot and has worn down his caps from 1 1/2yrs ago) plus regular x-rays and cleaning (that showed more decay from his reflux)...a routine Echo cardiogram to make sure all his heart birth defects are gone...regular botox injections on his calves and abductor muscles...and an ultasound of his Thyroid (that's our newest problem). He was getting over a cold that he's had for about 2 weeks, but I felt like he was doing better. The anesthesiologist said normally they make you wait 6 weeks after a cold, but Ammon isn't normal and we did a lot of coordinating with 4 doctor offices to eliminate extra visits/anesthesia, so we both felt okay about it. Well he wasn't able to breath without oxygen when he woke up. I tried to comfort him and do whatever all day to try to make him better, but his oxygen stats just wouldn't stay up. The nurses were all asking me what I thought and I said he could have been like this yesterday, but he did seem a little more stuffy and labored breathing, so we went home that night with oxygen. I had to sleep holding his hands down, so he wouldn't pull the tubes out of his nose (it appears Ammon forgot what it's like to have oxygen tubes, which I guess is a good thing in many regards). The next day he seemed worse off and had tons of congestion that had moved to his lungs. That's when I started really getting stressed. I start getting this deja vu feeling of all the times his colds have turned into pneumonia or RSV, and all the nights spent at the hospital. I went into "battle mode" suctioning his nose every hour, layering on vicks, holding him over the humidifier all day, holding him in the shower, holding him so he could sleep up right for naps and at night (no shortage of prayers in all this either). Well, it all worked. We got discharged from the oxygen and about a week later he laughed with Brynn in bed one afternoon. That's when I can tell he's doing better. It's one thing when your child is sick, but its another when they don't respond to anything you do and can't tell you how they feel. The last few days I have seen even more improvement. He started rolling over again to get things. He shouts out when I talk to him-he must have had a good Valentine's party at school, his eyes really lit up when I asked him about it. In the bath he touched his hands behind his back! I have never seen him do that. I hold him in a sitting position for a little while so he can splash his hands and he was moving his fingers behind his back and touched his other hand. I haven't had one of those "my child's first time..." moments for a while. It was awesome (I'll try not to get too emotional)!

Two more things that have pulled us through..sunshine-the unexpected warm weather the last week have really helped us..second my Dad has been here to help me while Brian is out of town-I can't thank him enough (Brian here, I can't thank you enough either Steve, you Rock!). Usually I get sick after going through so much with Ammon. This time I was sick before he got sick and then my Dad has totally eased my stress and let me get some rest!

So results..Ammon's Echo looked fine, we are still waiting on the Thyroid. Today I went back to Primary Childrens Hospital for a bone age x-ray, so they will look at everything together and probably prescribe some thyroid medication. We still are battling the seizures. It's interesting they haven't been as bad since he has been sick. In January, I went to Ammon's neurologist with Brian and just cried because he still has small seizures everyday. He just isn't the same as far as interacting, reacting, wanting to do anything (see this prior post) (Brian here; Summer is by far the toughest most loving person I know; she is constantly attending appointments, doing treatments, and literally taking care of all Ammon's needs every day; through it all, she rarely let's all this get to her, she is amazing).

At the end of this month I am meeting with a nutrition specialist to discuss the ketogenic diet to see if that is something we should do (I'll post more on this; this could be the breakthrough and relief that Ammon needs, and he'll need all our prayers through this experience). However, Ammon is doing good and happy today! If he maintains today's behavior, I can live with it. My new goal is just to have him smile once everyday without crying (he's been crying a lot which is new too). Sorry for my ramblings, but I know it helps to have more information to understand Ammon and why I don't take the time to figure out how to turn the pictures sideways. We all love this little guy so much and are so grateful for him and the blessings he brings into our lives.

Thanks Paki-we're all Giants fans!

Christmas is over

I have been tired since Christmas. I usually post blogs between 10-midnight, when everything is quiet and settled. I haven't stayed up that late since New Years. Take that back, a couple times Brian and I have watched some red Box flicks that late, but I fell asleep both times before the movie was over. Coleson has been off track until today, so we have either been worn out from a fun day or worn out from not doing too much. Our Christmas decorations are pretty much put away except the tree. It is just plain with lights, but Ammon still just stares at them. How can we put that away. It is a rare treat to see him turn his head to pay attention to something. Christmas was good. We still have Santa coming to our house. When we were in Fiji there was this cutest boy named Ravi. We found out it was his birthday and we asked what he wanted. He said "All I want is lots of love from my mom" I wish we could go back to Fiji. Maybe one day we will go there for Christmas and let our kids experience the true meaning of Christmas when all you care about is just the love of your family.

Here is our Christmas Eve Party with the Cheney Family. We had a lot of fun together.










Christmas!
Coleson was all about the Legos,




Brynn all about princesses and dress up,




At least she wasn't wearing her Cinderella dress.

Ammon was all about lots of love from his family (and being healthy for the holidays).



The day wouldn't be complete without going to grandma and grandpa Hutchings house. Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!