A "New" Dishwasher!

Some of you know that we were going out last weekend to buy a new dishwasher. Our old one broke down last September, and so we've been washing dishes by hand since then. It never seemed bad or hard until we went to Scott's parents' house after Christmas. When I never did dishes except ONCE, and even then I only put them in the dishwasher. That's when I realized how magical dishwashers are. You put your dirty dishes in them...wait a bit...and then beautiful clean dishes come out. Did you know it takes less than half the time to do that than to wash them yourself? It's just like magic. So we came home, and that's when it really hit me how hard it is to have NO MAGICAL DISHWASHER here! I'm it! Well, that's not technically true. Scott helps a lot too-and don't get me wrong, that's pretty magical too. But I got new dishes for Christmas-and I never wanted to use them because it was easier to use paper plates-they don't need a dishwasher. They just go in the magical garbage.

So when we realized we had enough money to buy a dishwasher, I almost wept for joy. We went shopping. And realized that to get a halfway decent one, it was going to cost more than we'd thought. We could still afford it, but didn't really want to anymore. However, while shopping, we noticed some websites advertised, where dishwasher parts were sold. (We had tried to buy the parts needed back in September, but discovered they cost so much that it was just going to be better to get a new dishwasher.) After we got home, Scott went online to these places and found he could buy the parts for a fraction of the cost that we'd previously thought.

The parts came this last week, and after spending 4 1/2 hours on the dishwasher yesterday (more than three of those hours were spent cleaning out a clogged pipe-yuck!), we have a working, MAGICAL dishwasher of our own! I just loaded it and turned it on just before starting this post. Aaaahhh, life is good! And I'm so grateful to have a husband who knows how to fix stuff and is willing to spend the time to do it. All for me.

The escape artist and the art of dancing

This morning while Tyler and Emalyn were at school, I was doing the dishes in the kitchen, and I suddenly heard the front door open and close. I went to go check it out and found Krysta outside on the front porch, dressed like this. She said she was going to wait out there until Daddy came home-which was only 7 hours away! We came inside and I took the following video. The front door is now deadbolted!

A few days ago, while I was on the phone with my mom, Emalyn got all dressed up and danced for me. I wish I'd taken a video! It was so cute-and even without music!

Happy Birthday Dad!

Today is my dad's birthday. He is such an amazing man and I am lucky to be able to call him "Dad." One thing that's been on my mind for a while now is how grateful I am for his testimony of the Gospel.
My Dad is a convert to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I won't share his conversion story here, but it's a pretty amazing story. I just wanted to share how his conversion and his testimony have blessed me as one of his children. My parents are wonderful examples of faithful members of the church. My dad has made the study of the gospel and its principles a lifelong pursuit. It's easy to see his love for his Savior just by listening to him. He's made a lot of sacrifices for the gospel, but he sees them all as great learning opportunities. Right now, he donates a lot of time in tending to members of the church in the area where he lives and speaking in meetings, and I'm pretty sure it's exhausting at times, but he gives it freely. He also has an amazing grasp of the principles of life and of the gospel. I wish I had listened better when I was younger, but we've had some pretty good talks lately.

Thanks Dad. I love you!

Krysta update

We went to the Dr today (the urologist). We got some good news: no kidney damage and no surgery (yet). We're going to put her on low-dose antibiotics for a couple of months, during which we're hoping that she either grows out of this or it just goes away with the absent infections. Either one is a good possibility, the doctor said. We have our next appt in April, when they'll do another kidney scan to see if everything is alright. If it is, then no more antibiotics. If not, then we'll decide then what to do. She could be on antibiotics for up to a year. Hopefully not. We're also supposed to bring in a urine sample every month for the next three months. So that means we either have to take her in for a catheter once a month, or we potty-train her. I'm a little worried about potty training her (with everything she's already gone through), but that seems least-painful option (for her, anyway :)) So wish us luck with the potty training!
Other than that, she's doing fine now. She doesn't complain of pain anymore. Her cold is even gone this week. If she gets any kind of a fever, we're supposed to take her in immediately. He said there's still a possibility of a kidney infection (but a very small possibility) even with the antibiotics.

We're all doing great. Scott got an "Outstanding" in his performance appraisal at work last week. Nobody at his work got an "outstanding" last year, so this is pretty amazing. We went out to dinner to celebrate his success. This was the first time in YEARS we've gone out to eat as a family-and the kids loved it AND they ate their food!

life can never be too busy

Or it just doesn't matter if it is...life doesn't stop just because it gets too busy. I probably should've learned that already. So we'll just say I'm learning it again.
Update on Krysta: the nurse called today to tell us that she has a condition called "vesicoureteral reflux" [vesi-co-ureteral]. Say that fast 10 times. ha ha. It just means that urine is "refluxing" back from her bladder through her ureters into her kidneys. We will have an appointment with a pediatric urologist next Monday, where we'll find out if she has damage to her kidneys already, and whether or not she needs surgery. I'm still not clear on what will be the deciding factor either for or against the surgery. I have lots of questions for the urologist next week. :)
The poor little girl came down with a nasty cold this weekend. As if she wasn't sick and miserable enough already. What can I say? She must be a tough little cookie. The hardest thing for me has been that her kidneys still hurt her. She comes up to me, says, "Hold you?" So I pick her up, and she says, "It hurts. My back hurts Mommy." However, on a positive note, we at least know what she has and pretty soon we're going to know how to fix it. Yippee!

Tyler and Emalyn are in swimming lessons again. And loving it. Emalyn had to choose between dance lessons and swim lessons- and it really shocked me when she chose swimming. Although I have to say I am so proud that they love something that I've always loved. They are having a blast and getting very good at staying afloat and learning their strokes.

We had an eye therapy appointment for Tyler today. It was a follow-up 3 months after his graduation from eye therapy. Dr. King says that he's doing really well!! His eyes are still doing better than they were 6 months ago. He even saw 6 3-D images!!! Dr King kept saying, "oh, I'm so proud of you Tyler" over and over. We are so proud of him.

Emalyn finished her first real homework booklet last week in Kindergarten. Her teacher gave her a coupon for a free meal at Olive Garden for finishing it. So she and I got to go out to lunch just the two of us. It was the first time she's been to a restaurant that's more elegant than Wendy's, so it was a little overwhelming at first, but afterward she said it was fun. I think her favorite parts were the raspberry lemonade and the fact that we sat across from the fireplace. She also really loved the Italian music. I can't wait until she finishes her next homework book!

Krysta

Sorry, I kind of dropped out of the blogging community for a while. It's been a rough couple of months for our family. I'm not going to share all the gory details, but two major things that happened were, first, my grandma, Barbra L. Jensen, died in October, then Scott's grandpa, John D. Jensen, died in December. Interesting, wierd sidenote: Scott's grandpa died on the one year anniversary of my grandpa's (Denmark C Jensen) death and his funeral was on the anniversary of my grandpa's funeral, Dec 23 and Dec 29, respectively.

But I need to catch up Krysta's birthday party, which was in November. We celebrated it at Ryan and Melanie's house up in Genesse, ID, since we were already there for Thanksgiving.

Krysta on her 2nd birthday. We celebrated it at my brother and sister-in-law's (Ryan and Melanie's) house in Genessee, ID. Here is the cutest cake that her Aunt Melanie decorated, a pink and a purple balloon.

I made this pinata. It was a red car. Krysta was really into cars at the time. Here she is, having a go at it. It was a pretty big hit with all the cousins.

Also, Krysta had a wierd illness last month. She got septicemia. Her fever had been around 104 F all day, (which the dr said was NOT A PROBLEM) and she'd thrown up that morning. I took her into the dr that morning, and they did lots of tests, none of which came up positive. They said it was probably just a virus and to give her Tylenol for her fever. That night, Scott and our home teacher gave her a priesthood blessing and then we put her to bed. I was not feeling comfortable with just doing nothing though, so after talking to Scott for a while, I called the on-call dr and he said since her fever had never come down that I should take her back in for a UA. We got to the Instacare and her fever read 106.2 F. She was also sound asleep and we had a hard time rousing her. She just laid there. Needless to say, I kinda freaked out. So did the nurses and the dr. The UA came back, and as they said, it was inconclusive. I guess there was bacteria in her urine, but not enough to be causing her fever or her listlessness. So then they decided to do a blood test and a blood culture. This is when they started suspecting Septicemia. The dr recommended a shot of antibiotics. He said no test confirmed that she needed them, but he felt that if we didn't give it to her and it was septicemia, then "we didn't want to know how bad it would be in the morning." So, yea, I voted for the antibiotics. After that very painful shot, we went home. Her fever never went above 103 F the rest of the night (it is odd to think of that as low), so we were feeling a lot calmer. Since she'd responded so well to the antibiotics, they gave her a prescription for more until we found out the results of the blood culture, which would be back in a couple more days. They called a couple of days later, and yep, she'd gotten bacteria in her blood, septicemia. So it was a pretty bad scare, but we were pretty sure the worst was over.

Then this last Tuesday, she woke up with a low-grade fever. I was worried, just remembering last month. I even called Scott, who assured me that you really shouldn't take a child to the dr when their fever is less than 100 F and they've only had it for a few hours.:) And really, he was right. But I just couldn't shake that worried feeling. And then, just like last time, it got higher. But I didn't get really worried until she started shaking. And then screaming. From pain. In her lower back. That's when I freaked out again. I took her back to instacare. They did another urinalysis, (which if you're in diapers involves a catheter-not fun, believe me) and found that the bacteria in her urine was three times the amount that it was last month and she has "another" kidney infection. This time helped to put the puzzle together from last month. She had gotten a bladder infection, which had turned into a kidney infection, which had turned into an infection in her blood. Luckily, this time, it didn't get into her blood yet. So she's had two shots of anitibiotics in the last two days, and she's on oral antibiotics too. She had a kidney scan yesterday, which showed that she has urine going from her bladder back into both of her kidneys. I don't have much more information. The dr still has to go over the radiology pictures and then we'll have to meet with a pediatric urologist. I don't know if she'll need surgery or not yet. But I am very happy that we've figured out what the problem is. The scariest part, to me, was how sick she got both times. And for now, they said we'll keep her on antibiotics until we find out what to do. So she won't get another kidney infection. That makes me very happy.

Thank you to all of you for your love and support and prayers.

Emalyn

Now for what 's going on in Emalyn's life...

First of all, she had her birthday July 29. She turned 5 years old!!
We made her a butterfly cake (with plenty of candy...) And she got some beautiful presents. Tyler gave her a musical make-up box (that she LOVES), Krysta gave her a crown and earrings, Daddy gave her a pink and blue bouncing ball, and her mom gave her a new school shirt.

She wanted to have a pinata at her birthday, and we had a lot of fun whacking it with our bat.

Aren't we all such talented dancers?

At the end of August, she had her first day of Kindergarten. I love the excitement that cannot be contained on this face. She was so excited. She LOVES school and her teacher.

We are so proud of our dear Emalyn. She is such a sweetheart. She has an amazing ability to have empathy for others, be sweet and loving to everyone around her and still be very assertive about what she wants and feels. She has had a lot of changes in her little life this year, and she is growing up faster than I can believe. She's very smart and doing well at school. She also has budding musical abilities-she started picking out some melodies on the piano this week, and making up songs to go with them. She is a wonderful big sister to Krysta, and they love to play together.

The Amazing Tyler-man!

I think, to catch up on the last few months when I took a hiatus from blogging, I'll just catch up on each family member, one at a time.

So first, it's Tyler.

Here he is on his first day of First Grade. He was pretty excited to finally get to eat lunch at school. As you can tell, it was pretty cold that first day.

He got to play soccer again this spring. We weren't originally planning on having him play, but another player signed up and paid all the fees and then was unable to play, so they offered Tyler his uniform. To say he was excited would be an understatement. He loved it. They never actually won a game (unlike last spring, when they won every game except one in which they tied) but they all had a lot of fun. Tyler is the kid in green walking in front of the kid in purple.Tyler had his 7th birthday on September 19th. When we asked him what he wanted for his birthday, he said he wanted to have it at Grandma and Grandpa Jensen's house. Since it was on a Saturday, we realized we could actually do it. We kept it a surprise until the day before (since he had to pack). It was a lot of fun to be able to spend his birthday with family. He got bakugans from us, you can see him getting them out of the package here. And from his Grandma Nancy and Grandpa Ron, he got this hammock, which you can tell how much he liked from his expression.

I can't believe I have a seven-year old! He's growing up so fast. I am so grateful for his presence in our home. He has such a natural happy disposition and can find joy in almost every situation. He's a gentleman, who loves to take care of me and do special things for me (like get out breakfast for me in the morning, help Krysta get out of bed, help Krysta get into her carseat with her seatbelt in the van, get me drinks of water, find cans of whatever I need for dinner in the pantry downstairs, etc.). He's a wonderful brother to his two sisters. He really helped Emalyn get ready for kindergarten by telling her what to expect and all about Mrs. Gale, since he had her last year.

Heidi and Jaron bought relighting candles to put on Tyler's cake. You get to see some of Tyler's surprise here, but our camera battery died in the middle of him blowing out the candles. We eventually took the cake outside and had everyone help blow (or pinch) them out. It was pretty funny.

Lastly, on September 29th, he graduated from Eye Therapy. He worked hard for the last year, and his eyes are doing so much better. In this picture, he's standing with Dr. Alona King, who did the therapy with him. She's absolutely amazing with kids and helping them overcome esotropia and strabismus. We will really miss her!!!

Pity, pity pumpkins!

A couple of weeks ago, Emalyn asked if I would paint her fingernails. It's been so long since we've done that-and it was so fun! We did Krysta's too-and she really really loved it!
Emalyn loves colors-all of them-usually all at once-rainbow colored anything is her favorite-so she painted each hand and each foot a different color. I loved this picture, where she's laying down on the ground, showing off her fingernails. The nails on the hand on the right are purple, and the nails on the left are pearl. We didn't get her feet, but one foot was done bright red, the other in pink.

Blogger turned this picture on it's side, and I can't get it to change, but here's Krysta showing her fingernails and toenails. One hand is purple, the other is pink, and her feet are both bright red. She absolutely loved doing this-now she walks around showing everybody her hands and feet and saying, "I pity, I pity".

We had to pick our pumpkins while they were still green from our garden since it hit freezing temperatures in early September. Tyler and Emalyn decided to have a sleepover in the kitchen, with their pumpkins. As you can see, blogger turned this picture too. Sorry!

Anyway, just thought I'd better post some recent pictures, so you know we haven't dropped off the face of the earth. We've been having a lot of fun, with school, soccer, and trips to Utah, and they've been keeping us really busy.

"...We all scream for Ice Cream!"

Or at least Krysta does anyway. We took this video of her finishing off the last of her ice cream. Thought you'd get a laugh out of it too.