Jitter Buggin' in the Kitchen

Waltzing With Gramps

Madison wanted to learn to dance like Grandma and Grandpa used to. So, Grandpa turned on sirius on the satellite to the big band station (I thought it was pretty cool that he even knew how to do that), took Miss Madison into the kitchen and taught her a cute waltz. I wish the audio was better so you could hear them both counting under their breaths ..... "1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3....".
In case you were wondering what's up with the headphones, Merlin uses them so that he can hear the TV, plus they are just so dang cute with his outfit! Every hoofer should have 'em!

Gotta Love Leo's!

As per Joe's promise to Jace, (20 tokens for going skiing),I took the little bugger to Leo's Place today for lunch. He ate his corn dog at warp speed, then ran down to the arcade to use his tokens. About two minutes later, Jim Taylor came over and said to me, "Mie, you'd better get a suitcase for that son of yours". I was like, um, yeah, whatever. When I turned around, Maggot was standing there quite proud of himself with this red mass. I asked him what he did. His response....... "I just put in one token and pushed the button". If it's that easy, why do I never win anything?!

The Mrs

Not too long ago, our family stayed overnight in Salt Lake at the Little America. Madison and I went downstairs into the lobby to wander around. Who did we find there but Mrs. Arizona and Mrs. Utah, complete with sashes, as you can see. Madison was honored to have her picture taken with them! She started a little frenzy. By the time I had actually taken the picture, people were gathering around us wanting their pictures taken too! Madison was so excited that it was all she talked about for several hours after. Could that be Mrs Utah 2030 in the middle?!?

A Ski Bum in the Making

Yesterday Daddy took Jace skiing at Targhee for the first time. Jace got to have two private lessons and some great time out with his Dad. He was quite hesitant to go, as a matter of fact, we had to bribe him..... 20 tokens at Leo's.... to get him to agree to just watch. When he came home, he was full of smiles and says he wants to go again and again and again and again...............

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Posterity

Here are a few pictures from the funeral. Madison was so sweet to take care of Grandpa, and Jace was the cutest pallbearer ever!

Hanging at the Hospital

A few pictures of our 30-hour vigil at Sacred Heart in Spokane, WA. The hospital was kind enough to let our family use this private room for two days. We managed to make the best of it!

Passing of a Wonderful Woman

December 12, 2008 at 1:28 pm, Bonnie Call Anderson, my sweet mother-in-law, passed away at Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane, WA. Words cannot express our sorrow and the emptiness we feel cannot be filled. We were blessed to be able to gather around her bedside as she left this life and joined her loved-ones on the other side. It has been a great pleasure and an extreme honor to know, love, and care for her. My memories of her are treasures which I hold dear to my heart. I love you!

Update

As most of you know, my sweet mother-in-law had undergone open-heart surgery today. The goal was mitral valve repair. There was a major complication that became apparent within the first 30 minutes of surgery. Her aortic artery had dissected (secondary to retrograde flow). The surgeon had to repair the dissection and then move on the the valve repair. I know Lori.... little words. I'll explain later. Just know it's bad. People usually die from dissections before the ever get to the O.R. Anyway, her 3 hour surgery wound up being over 6 hours. We are now maintaining an vigil at her bedside. (Everyone except me. I am at Mike and Koni's where my kids are sleeping. Jace has croup again, buy the way.) Tonight has been really rough. Talk about a emotional roller coaster. We were able to see her for a little bit just after they got her to her room in Cardiac ICU. Then I came home to put kids to bed. Since then she has coded (died and been resuscitated) twice. It has been real touch-and-go. We are not ready to give her up yet! However, things may be making a turn for the better. Joe just called me from the hospital to tell me that she was opening her eyes a little and she was squeezing his had a bit. If you are reading this.... say a little prayer for our family. We could never express how grateful we all for all your friendship and love! We love you!


UPDATE: Dec 12th. She had an angio this morning to try to figure out why her blood pressure is dropping so severely. It basically showed that nearly every major vessel coming off her heart has dissected. Meaning that no blood is getting to her bowel. All her blood flow is though false lumens. Basically we had two options, let her suffer or let her go. We chose the latter. We all gathered in her room and said our good-byes. Once the nurse shut the vent off, it was only a few peaceful minutes until she was gone. Madison sat by her side and held her hand for quite awhile afterwards. How will we face tomorrow!?

Beso's Brush with Death

This past week, some jerk hit Beso. I took him into the vet where we found out that both of his hind feet were broken. On foot had to be pinned and the other had to be cast. So, for now, his is our gimpy dog. Beso is our only dog ever to be hit by a car and live to tell about it.