Hamster Hooplah

This afternoon Morgan was seriously upset. Majorly even. Because, you see, her mom made her come home from the neighbor's house before she was ready and well, in her words
 "That made her feelings hurt really bad!!!!"
 Anyhow, she is crying and I am doing my best to ignore it and not snap at her while I am trying to let her work out her feelings and she says,


"I have to go back to Conner's! I have to! I have to find their hamster! That girl, I think she is the sister, hers hamster is lost and I have to help find it!"
That was random enough to get my attention. "What? They lost their hamster?"
"Yes Mom! It's lost! It was just in a ball and I just picked up the ball and I threw it and the lid camed off and the little hamster just runned under the couch in a dark spot!"


"Wait?! YOU lost the hamster?"


"Ummmm....yes."


This is the part where I am thinking about how much I don't want to walk over to the neighbor's and tell them that my daughter enabled a small furry animal to be running rampant around their house. 
So I asked, "Did you tell anyone?"
"Yes! I just telled the sister. And the Mom. I telled them the truth."


And even though I still have a rodent-releaser, I am extremely proud of her.

Changin' It Up..Again!

SO, we are moving! Again! But, hopefully this time it will be for a while!

We have been checking craigslist, ksl, and about 7 other property management company's websites for the last 6 months trying to gauge what is a good deal around here, and just waiting for the one we couldn't say no to. Plus, with all our requirements (keeping Howie, 2 car garage for all our junk...) it has been interesting, to say the least, trying to find a place in our budget.

BUT- last week this townhouse showed up on KSL and I almost didn't even call on it because there were no pictures and I figured it was a waste of time. I decided to go ahead and put forth the effort, and I am glad that I did. It's a 3 bedroom, 2 bath with a 2 car garage for 700 a month, including water and landscaping. SO, it's a little pricier than what we were hoping, but it is still a screamin' good deal. And they are letting us keep Howie :)

Here is a link to one of the other units in the complex that is for sale,  it has pictures so you can see what it's like. Our place has the same floorplan, but there's no tile.

Anyhow, I have been back and forth on whether this is a good idea or not. We have been so blessed to have a place to stay here with Dave and Annette, and I am so nervous about the price we may pay  in stress because of the cost of rent. But every time I pray about it, it feels right. And I am able to calm down and stop hyperventilating. (for a few minutes at least)

The best part about this place is that it is less than 5 minutes from Costco, and barely more than that to the college. Right now JD is spending almost 2 hours of his day just driving to school and back, and then to work and back. With this place he will be getting an hour and a half of that time back. Us too, we will get him for a whole hour and a half more!

There are lots of reasons why I am excited, but I am also going to miss so much from living here. When we moved here, I had a really hard time being away from my family and friends and I feel like we were given the opportunity to live here as a blessing from Heavenly Father so that I wouldn't have to ever be alone. When Ian wouldn't sleep at all at night, Annette watched the kids so I could nap during the day. And I am a little jealous about this one, but I just can't make JD laugh the way that Sam can.

I guess there is a good and a bad to everything, but at least the things that are bad about us leaving are really things that were great about us being here.

All I know, is ever since we moved to St George, it's been nothing but blessings. I hope we can stay humble enough to keep them coming!

Feeling Pretty Good

    Besides the fact that it is almost 11 and I am stinkin' tired, we are feeling pretty good! We went up to SLC for an appointment to get an echocardiogram done on Ian's heart at Primary Children's Hospital and the test showed that he has a bicuspid aortic valve with mild aortic stenosis. Which (in English) means that most people's aortic valve has 3 (tricuspid) flaps that open and close to allow and restrict blood flow, but that Ian only has 2. And since he only has 2, the flaps do not open as completely as they would otherwise, which causes the blood to come through at a higher pressure.
    Accompanying the bicuspid valve, is mild aortic stenosis, which means his aorta narrows slightly at the valve, which also causes the blood to have to come through at a higher pressure. BUT, the good news, is that it is classified as mild stenosis and is currently only coming through at 20 mmHg and we don't need to worry about it until it comes through at 60 mmHg, which doesn't happen quickly :)
   What happens from here? Ian will need to see a cardiologist annually for testing to make sure the stenosis hasn't gotten more severe and to monitor the progress of the rate of pressure that his blood is going through the valve. The doctor said the biggest difference for Ian versus other children is that he might not be able to play contact sports like football, hockey, or wrestling. But I figure if that's the most we have to worry about, I can handle that!
  All in all, I am feeling very good. I am so thankful that it is such a mild case and that he is still such a healthy boy. Yes, there are a few things it sounds like we will always need to be concerned about, but I am so glad it didn't end up being anything serious!