It's been awhile!

I know it's been awhile since we've posted but life has a way of staying really busy. Our big news is that we bought a house! I'm not going to post pictures of it on here or any other information so if you want to know more about it, you can email me personally. We should be moving our stuff into the home on Monday. We've been deep cleaning, finishing hardwood floors, redoing the bathroom...all the fun stuff! We can't wait to actually move in. Everybody is doing well. Peyton had a Cardiology appointment last week and everything continues to look good. He had an ECHO done and he stayed really still because I fed him M&M's through the whole thing. His heart is pumping well and he doesn't have any leaking valves! YAY! We will see the Card again in March and she is thinking surgery around next fall. We had a great Halloween and the boys had so much fun dressing up...three different times. Mason was a Black Panther and Peyton was a cow. That's about it so enjoy the pictures!

Montana's Pheasant

Montana shot this pheasant last December. He was so excited when Melanie agreed to let him have it mounted. It took almost five months to finish and he was finally able to pick it up today.

Busy Summer Time

I know....I'm horrible at updating this blog. But since I've got a wireless connection, I thought I'd just add a bunch of pictures about our summer!

Mason at the Father's and Son's Campout

Mason with his best friend, Ty

Montana on Father's Day

Mason and Peyton at the Farm at Thanksgiving Point

Going for a wagon ride at the Farm - Can you tell how excited Peyton is?!?

Mason milking the cow at the Farm

Bear Lake - Where we went for my family reunion

Pleasant View Parade with my family

Peyton picking up candy

In Las Vegas, at the M&M Factory

Montana and Mason in front of the M&M car

View from the top of the Stratosphere of the hotel

Montana with Michael Jackson

View of the Las Vegas strip from the top of the Stratosphere

Our garden!

Another view of our garden!

Mason riding in Grandpa Thayne's truck at Flaming Gorge

Flaming Gorge

Mason doing his craft at Bear Lake

Mason laying in the sand at Bear Lake

Playing in the sand at Bear Lake

The boys and Ashley at Bear Lake

Kylee Sue - So Cute!

Peyton playing in the sand at Bear Lake

P.S. Beach pictures to come later...if I have time!

Quick Update

I know it's been forever since I last posted and I have so many pictures to post but our dial-up internet just takes so long to put pictures on. So, this will have to do for now! And it will be short and sweet. We are all alive and well! Peyton had his Cardiology appointment yesterday and he looks amazing! His sats are in the high 80's and he isn't the least bit blue. We got a lot of encouraging information. Dr. Etheridge is estimating that his next surgery, the Fontan, will be when he is roughly 3 1/2. That means we still have another 1 1/2 years before it will happen! That makes me so happy. The longer we can wait, the better. Peyton goes to see his helmet doctor and the plastic surgeon next Tuesday to make sure his head is still growing the way they want it to. I'm not worried about that appointment at all! Mason turned four in May and I can't believe he is that old already. He also graduated from Preschool in April. We love both of our boys even though some days I just feel like locking myself in my room! My brother left on his mission on Mason's birthday and we are so proud of him for serving the Lord. He will be an awesome missionary and I know the people in Ecuador will love him! If you want to follow his mission blog it's: www.elderthayne.blogspot.com. We are happy and healthy and are looking forward to the many fun trips we have planned for the summer!

Jon Schmidt

I went to a workshop today for piano teachers and the guest was Jon Schmidt. He played an amazing version of Taylor Swift's "Love Song" and Coldplay's "Viva La Vida". He told us we could find it on YouTube so, of course, I looked it up. Click this link and it will take you to the video. Enjoy! Oh, and pictures and more post to come at a later date when I clean off my camera!

A Week In Review...or a little more!

Just a heads up...this is a long post! Lots has happened since our last little post. To start, Peyton was up again on his weight at the doctor today. His Pediatrician said that we can send back his feeding pump and be done with the tube FOR GOOD! It was such great and exciting news...And we only have one more synagis shot! Peyton has also wanted to start eating anything and everything that we put in front of him. If we don't give him some of our dinner, he gets mad and refuses to eat his dinner. I guess that's good except he doesn't manage some of the foods well enough yet!

Montana keeps asking me when I am going to post about him and the adventures that he has put me through lately. What better time than now?!? On the 13th of March, Montana decided to throw a curve ball into my day. I was cleaning the house, doing laundry, going to the store, etc., so I would be ready for my mom to come and stay with me Friday night and Saturday. Well, around noon I received a phone call from Montana saying that he needed me to pick him up at work. He had the car at work and I didn't understand how I was supposed to pick him up without a vehicle. He proceeded to tell me that he was having chest pains and the doctor at work told him to go see his doctor and to NOT drive there. He finally found a ride to the doctor and the doctor sent him to the ER at Orem (right next door). I finally found a babysitter and a ride to Montana's work to pick up the car and I headed to the ER.

When I got there, all of Montana's tests were coming back...NEGATIVE. This is awesome news when you have chest pain! The doctor at the ER called a cardiologist at Utah Valley Regional and we were given a couple of options. Montana could be put on a bunch of meds and go home for the weekend and come back on Monday for a stress test. If this test showed anything, then he would have to go in for an angiogram (heart cath - Peyton has had about three of these, I think). Our other option was to go straight to Utah Valley Regional and just have the angiogram. Side note - Montana's dad has had heart problems for a lot of his life...including heart attacks, triple bypass... Because of Montana's dad's history, we decided to go with the angiogram. Since Montana went to Orem with chest pain, I couldn't drive him to Utah Valley Regional...he had to go by ambulance...just what we need, more bills! I went to pick up the kids from the babysitter and get somebody lined up to give Montana a blessing and hurry to Utah Valley Regional to make sure they didn't start the angiogram before we arrived. Well, I got there with the kids and two men from our ward and Montana still hadn't left the Orem Hospital. He finally showed up and we all went to his room. This was about 4:00PM.


My mom arrived and we took the kids to get dinner and then went back to the room to wait. The techs came at 6:00PM to take Montana to the Cath Lab. We followed him down and waited, and waited, and waited.


Finally they wheeled him out and the tech told me that there was some disease and the cardiologist would be out to talk to me in a minute! Well, we waited and waited and waited and waited............ About 20 minutes later, the cardiologist came out. I was so nervous by then that I couldn't even help my kids. Good thing my mom was there! The cardiologist explained that there was only some plaque in Montana's arteries but nothing that was causing trouble right now. He put him on a low-fat diet and 4 different meds and said he would be released from the hospital in a couple of hours. I was finally able to breathe again and we went up to see Montana. He doesn't remember us coming into the room at all. The boys were able to see him for a minute and then we took them home to put them to bed. On the drive home, I explained to Mason that I was going to put him to bed and then go back to get Montana. He started to cry and I asked him what was wrong. He then said, "But I didn't get to say goodnight to him". He was pretty upset so I told him we would call when we got home. He forgot until I put him in bed and then I had to tell him that the phone wouldn't ring in his room because it was so late and it would just go to the nurse. He was okay with that! My mom stayed with the boys and I went back to the hospital to pick up Montana. I asked the nurse, while we there, why Montana had chest pains if no arteries were blocked or partially blocked. Her theory, as well as ours, was that it was a blessing in disguise...Heavenly Father's way of saying that something needed to change so that Montana doesn't end up with a heart attack early on in life. He recovered well from the angiogram and he has lost over 10 pounds since! I was definitely ready for a break by the time he was up and moving again!

We had a very fun St. Patrick's Day! We started off with a Preschool Party for Mason at our house. The kids had a great time and the weather was wonderful for us to hold most of the party outside. We had green waffles and green orange juice for dinner that night. We don't have pictures of it because Montana made the dinner and didn't take pictures. Oh well. I did make this cool cake for Preschool though.

Last weekend, we decided to invest in a bike trailer for the boys. We found a bike for me at Savers for cheap and we think it's even nicer than Montana's. On Saturday we took a ride up Provo Canyon. We didn't realize how much of it was uphill until we came back and we flew down the canyon. We packed a lunch and stopped at a park to eat. Mason thought it was great and Peyton got a little nap in. And Montana rode a bike for 10.5 miles that day...I did 6!




Sorry for the long post...Enjoy the pictures!

Update!

Just so everybody knows, Peyton was weighed today and he is up 4 ounces from his last checkup two weeks ago! We are tube free until the next visit which is in two weeks and hopefully we will have the same results!

We've got ourselves a WALKER!

Yep, that's right, at 18 months of age, Peyton decided it was time to walk. He is so cute when he walks...check out the picture!

Also, do you see something missing from his nose? He has been without the feeding tube for a little over a week and he is completely off night time feedings! We take him in this week for a weight check to see if he has gained, lost, or stayed the same. That will determine if the tube goes back in or not. We are hoping that we don't have to put it back in. He was even eating grilled cheese on Saturday by himself!

We went to the Draper Temple Open House a little over a week ago. It is such a beautiful temple. And it's so small compared to Mt. Timpanogos. Mason loved walking through and seeing everything and Peyton loved to see all the pictures of Jesus! They were so cute and they loved the bus rides and the cookies at the end.




Montana and I had the opportunity last Saturday to have a double date with the Shaws! It's been all talk for a long time and finally we all got babysitters and took off. We went to dinner and then to the BYU Basketball game. We felt like teenagers again without a care in the world. It was so much fun! Thanks Kev and Aubrey for a wonderfully awesome double date!



And, some of the best news is that my brother Eric got his mission call! The boys and I were able to to be with him when he opened it. He is going to the Ecuador Guayaquil South Mission and he reports to the MTC on May 20 - Mason's birthday! We are so excited for him!


And here's a cute picture of Peyton that I had to add!

Prayers for Gracie and Family

If you find sometime today, please say a prayer for little Gracie Gledhill and her family. They have decided to take her off life support. If you would like to see her story, you can visit their blog at http://thegledhillfamily.blogspot.com.