Beautiful Katie

This year started out a little rough for us with the passing away of Mike's 13 year old sister Katie. I have put off this post because I didn't really want to think about it, but I want to remember so I am finally posting about it. During Christmas Katie had what seemed like the flu. The day after Christmas she started complaining that her ankle hurt, but we thought she was just being dramatic. When we noticed that it was swollen, we thought maybe she twisted it. During that week she was still sick and her ankle got worse. When they woke up on Friday morning and saw that she has blisters on her ankle they took her to the doctor. They called us and said that they were taking her to Primary Children's because she was dehydrated and her liver and kidneys weren't functioning properly. That afternoon I also found out that I had strep throat. When I got home from the doctor, Mike headed to Salt Lake to be with his family. That night he called and said that they had figured out Katie had a flesh eating bacteria. They were going to do surgery and take out as much of the bacteria as possible. Then they told us that there was only a 50% chance she would make it. After the surgery, Mike came home so that I could go back with him. Saturday we took Cooper to my mom's and headed to Salt Lake. Saturday morning they did another surgery and ended up amputating her leg. We spent the whole day at the hospital. When we got there, the doctor told us that there was really nothing more they could do and that she most likely wouldn't make it. Saturday night we all headed home to rest. Mike and I went to clean the house for them, but were called back to the hospital where we spent the rest of the night. Sunday morning they decided to take her off all of the life support and she passed away about 9 am. I have never been more exhausted and emotional in my life. Seeing what everyone was going through was heart breaking. I hated seeing them like that. Thank goodness for the gospel. This helped me stay positive and understand that it was her time. I also felt good knowing that she is in a better place and perfect now with none of the limitations she had here. We headed home right before she passed away. Mike got the whole week off, which allowed me to recouperate from being sick. Thursday we headed down to Salt Lake. We attended the temple with Mike's parents, siblings and other family. Thursday night was a viewing and Friday was the funeral. Saturday we went to Chili's as one last family activity since it was Katie's favorite restaurant. I am so glad that the funeral was a celebration of Katie's life, with her siblings sharing their favorite moments. I was also grateful to see that so many of Karla's family came from out of town. This situation was devastating, but so much good can come for these things. I am hoping that someday we can all be ok with what happened and celebrate the good things :). We love Katie and miss her, but I am so glad to know where she is and what she is doing.

Mike and Katie (Family Pics 2010)

Katie dressed up as her dad (my favorite pic)

Katie dancing with the Russian Ballet

Katie playing T-Ball

Recent Cooper Pics

Cooper is so cute that I just have to post some pics of his every once in a while :). He is so funny! He has actually started saying words in the last month and it's so fun!

spaghetti face

Touchdown!

Sleeping with his animal friends

Temple Square Lights

The Saturday after Thanksgiving we went with Mike's parents, Joe and Katie to see the lights at Temple Square. We went to Denny's before and then checked out the lights. It was really fun. Here are some pics.....

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

This past month has been INSANE! I couldn't decide how to do these posts and was lacking motivation to even do them at all. Lately I have been wishing that I kept a journal or had always had a blog because I can't remember stuff that's happened. Luckily, this has motivated me to do these posts. So here is a rundown of our December....
The weekend before Christmas we headed to Salt Lake to Mike's parents house. Mike's dad recently started a job in Iowa as CEO of a credit union. Karla paid Mike and I to help her clean and get stuff ready for Christmas. It was a very busy weekend, but fun. The awesome pic below is of Mike's brother Joe, Mike's grandpa dressed as Santa and Cooper. As you can see, my child is scared of Santa although he loves to imitate him :).
Christmas weekend was just as crazy. We went to my parents on Saturday for our traditional crab dinner. I of course opted for chicken. We opened presents with my family and Kara spoiled Cooper. (pics below) Saturday night we headed to Mike's parents and stayed until Monday. Everyone was there but two of his siblings which was fun, but also stressful for me (queen clean) since there was so many people and lots of mess! Below are some pics we got of Cooper. He has this new thing where when we take his pic his covers his face with his hands while saying cheese.
*descriptions of pics below

Cooper with his big truck from aunt Kara.

He clearly doesn't understand that it's not for riding in.

Mike's mom got Cooper and his cousin Jordyn their own rocking chairs. So cute!

Family pic before church

Fun pic of Cooper in a cowboy outfit at Grandmas

Cooper & The Snow

Just wanted to share these adorable pictures Mike got of Cooper playing in the show. The other night Cooper didn't want to come home from Grandma's, so he stayed the night. :) The next morning my mom called and said that he wanted to play outside, so we took over his snow clothes and away he went :). He loved it! He was chasing the chickens and the dog. And... of course, he had to taste the snow. The last picture is him eating snow off the window :).

Almost November.... Seriously?

Here is a little update and some pictures from our life in October.

Mike is still working at Fastenal in Ogden and doing really well. He is taking two classes this semester, one online and one in Brigham City. He also just got calledto be the 2nd counselor in the young men's, which also means that he is the assistant scout master. He is very busy!

I haven't really done anything. I have been really struggling with my arthritis. I have been taking two different shots, but am still in a LOT of pain. I have a doctor appt this week and it's possible that they will be putting me on a medication given by IV (YIKES!). I never knew how hard this would be. I can't really do anything and Mike has to do SO much. I am hoping that something will work.

Cooper turned 2 this month!!! I can't believe it! He weighs 27 pounds and is 32 inches. He is so short. He still isn't talking a whole lot, which worries me a lot. He is getting better at using sign and talking more than he did in the past. Here are some things about Cooper...

-he loves Blue's Clues

-he is a very picky eater

-he loves sports just like his dad

-he loves music just like his mom

-he loves nursery

Here are some pics from Cooper's birthday and Halloween. As you can see, this year we didn't do a whole lot of celebrating for either. Luckily Mike's parents helped us celebrate Cooper's birthday by taking us out to dinner and getting a cake.

Renovation Realities

Ok People. This is what we did this last weekend. All I can say is YIKES! If you are a frequent reader of my amazing blog :), you know that last year we "made over" my in-laws' master bedroom. Well.... apparently we are a little cuckoo and decided that this year we should tackle the living room. :) Our biggest obstacle was this ever so slightly hideous fireplace. So, we have been planning for months. I am talking countless discussions and plans, shopping, online research, drawings and measuring. As you will see, the fireplace has this beautiful black lava rock looking stuff over the fireplace and gorgeous tile on the mantle and wall. Well, we decided that we could build and frame and drywall over the rock and paint the tile. This may not be the optimal way, but it was what could be done with only two days and a limited budget. Things did not go smoothly at all. Things seemed to take way longer than they should and LOTS of things went wrong. I can say that it looks WAY better than before and I know they liked it. We still need to go back and finish the lighting and the tile. We were really rushed and the drywall over the fireplace is a little rough. Hopefully we will have the motivation to "touch things up" :). Let's just say that with my arthritis and being on our feet for 16 hours on Saturday and at least half that Sunday, we are exhausted. Here are some pictures to document this experience, which we actually learned from and made some amazing people pretty happy :). Enjoy the pics!

Before-there was about six layers of wallpaper and paint that Melissa, Daniel and Joe removed

Beautiful Fireplace

Joe covered in just a small amount of drywall dust

Making progress.....

Finished product

Voila!

Karla has senior and baby pics of all her kids. We replaced broken frames and painted them all the same color.

I also created four collages of family pics. Lots of hours, but turned out great

Thanks to Melissa, Daniel, Joe, John and Ashton for their financial, physical and emotional contributions! You guys helped us make this happen! WE LOVE YOU!