Thankful for Izzie B

So thankful for my little beast. She teaches me to smile & to have even more patience & to smile & laugh some more. These pictures can speak for themselves.

Thankful for Ryry

My only boy & he's my favorite. He's makes me laugh & smile everyday. His sense of humor is quite advanced for his age. He is either a perfect angel or in major trouble...usually nothing in between.

At Hannah's soccer practice, I took the littles down to the river & Ryan found this dead crawl dad. Sick! He found great pleasure in showing his dad & chasing Hannah & her teammates around with it. haha

Our nephew, Paul, took this picture of Ryan a few months ago. Paul & Katie are both super talented photographers. Check them out @ www.shutterfreek.com.

Thankful for Hannah B

I'm thankful I have a spirited girl to call my own. She reminds me a lot of myself at her age. A pack rat. A reader. Entertaining herself. The leader. Very opinionated :). I love her & am thankful for her. She teaches me patience every day. I hope I am teaching her the same.

Hannah had to make a New Mexico cookie & show major landmarks & cities. She loves crafty things. It was fun to do together & to eat! BTW: she got 100%!

This is Halloween, This is Halloween!

I never took pictures of our Halloween decor this year, but it is our favorite! I think I may leave it up until Christmas. We made Halloween candy this year.

They loved making it. See the half eaten ones? That's what happens when you sleep in on Sunday mornings!

We carved pumpkins after soccer practice (more pictures later). They love cutting, getting the goop out, the carving. Everything. Hannah has gotten pretty good...like mother, like daughter.

Izzie, waiting her turn, patiently.

Ryan's spider, Izzie's Happy Hal & Hannah's cat. Ryan was smart & enlisted Sam to help him out (Thanks, Sam!). Izzie helped me with hers. Hannah finished hers on her own. Pretty awesome, I think!

Ryan was a Ninja, Hannah was a country diva, & Izzie was a butterfly. Cute.

I painted Ryan's face.

And Pat's to match. No one recognized Ryan at the party at church & Pat made little kids cry. haha!

Pat & Izzie handing out candy to the kiddos.

Ryan finished his round & kicked Pat out the car to start eating his candy.

Pat & his neice, Olivia. I think she was a little scared of him.

Hannah & Olivia, the BFFs. Hannah is getting older & wanted to walk around with her cousin, the Greek Goddess, by themselves. I'm not looking forward to those teenage years.

Pat's Knee...The Neverending Saga...WARNING: Graphic Pictures!

Haven't posted in awhile. After reading this, you will know why. Pat had knee surgery to remove his bursa sac on July 21, 2010. It was inflamed & filled with blood & just wasn't going away. We went to Durango to have the surgery. The knee kept draining & never totally healed. The doctor said that was normal & it may drain for some time. He had been back to work for 2 weeks & the knee was still draining. On Monday, September 20th, I sent his to the hospital in Farmington because he had red streaks running down his leg (1st picture). The ER doctor took 1 look at his leg & knew it was infected & ordered a culture of the liquid coming out of his leg. He was admitted to the hospital. They, of course, ordered blood work & they asked if he was anemic. No, not that we knew of. They asked if he was tired. He is always tired, but we just blamed the lifestyle we lead & the crazy hours he works. Turns out instead of having the 14 he should have, he had 6.9 units of blood. Not good. They didn't know where he was bleeding or why. To make a very long story short, he was seen by many doctors in the 5 days he stayed in the hospital & had his knee reopened (September 22nd) to clean out the infection (2nd picture)...which happened to be staph infection. Great. Wonderful. Just our luck. Of course. Nothing has EVER been easy for us.

He was sent home with his leg looking like this. Gross. We had to have the dressing changed every day until he was taken back into the OR to close the wound on October 1st.

Because the skin was so tight from being left open for over a week, the skin did not want to go back together very well. The doctor said the wound would heal from the inside out & leave a nasty scar, but it looked ok.


The yellow parts in these pictures is not puss, as we thought. It happens to be the granulation (scar tissue) forming. Still gross. The 4th picture was taken on Wednesday, October 27th. We saw the doctor & he decided the stitches needed to be taken out & the wound restitched because it was coming apart & not healing & closing like it should. We, especially Pat, were floored. If you are counting, this is the 4th time surgery was performed on this knee in the past 3 months. This is getting old. BTW: this is the 12th...that's right, I said TWELFTH time he has had surgery since we have been together. :/



This is after the surgery on October 29th & the dressing change on November 1st. Looks swollen & bruised, but much better than the last picture. We are hoping to get this thing healed up & get him back to work so we all can resume a normal life. He is tired of sitting at home & I'm tired of him sitting at home. :) We have had our fair share of medical issues & we are ready for them to stop. Thank you. That is all.