Idaho here we come!!!

So we are officially decided on going to law school in Moscow Idaho! Yay for Idaho… right?  We will be making the move the first week in August.   I’m surprisingly excited for the move.  It feels very refreshing to be taking the steps that will lead us closer to our goals, and I feel safe knowing that this is where we are supposed to be.  It’s also exciting to be on another journey with our little family that will be getting a little bit bigger very soon.  However I do know there will be challenges along the way.  I feel that we are all up for the trial and that we will adjust very quickly.  I guess I’m still not sure how Owen will react regarding the new addition to our family, but I can’t imagine that he will be too upset considering how much he loves all of his cousins.  My guess is that he might just be a little confused as to why I’m not just looking and his face every second of the day.  I can honestly say the only part that I’m totally dreading, besides saying goodbye to everyone again, is packing all of our stuff up.  I’m so tired and pregnant I really don’t know how we will do it.

Well enough about that, we went to Yellowstone.  This was Cousin Sam Neff’s last adventure with the family before he left on his mission.  We will miss him, but he is being a great example to our little Onie.  We shared a Cabin with Shannon and Jill and that was a wonderful adventure.   Mike and I were lucky enough to score the only room with a door.  The drive up wasn’t too long compared to other’s we have taken.   When we finally got there Owen was in heaven.  In Owen’s eyes there is nothing better than dirt and rocks.  So this was the perfect place for him. 

That night we had tacos for dinner, they were delicious and Owen liked them too.  When it comes to food 90 percent of the time Owen will not let me feed him.  So I’m very used to putting food and his tray and letting him eat until he starts throwing it on the floor,then I know that he is not hungry anymore.  But we didn’t have that option so I tried to just share mine with him.  He ate some but in my defense it didn’t seem like much. 

When it was time for the kids to go to sleep I wanted to make sure he wouldn’t be hungry so I gave him some of a granola bar and got him a bottle of milk.  Normally Owen doesn’t drink a whole thing of milk before bed, but he was being very cuddly and just kept drinking.  When he finally threw the bottle aside it was almost gone.  I thought to myself 'good he will go bed with a full tummy.'  Well that was an understatement because about two minutes later he coughed and it all came back.  And not just a little bit of food.  It was a lot of food!!!!  I mean it was everywhere.  So I yelled for Michael to come help.  Meanwhile Jill is prancing around the cabin laughing and saying things like "I just hope he’s not going to bed hungry."  I sat in a pile of throw up while everyone in our cabin is running around and giggling.  I do have to give credit where credit is due.  Jill did immediately take Owen out of my arms and give him a bath.  Apparently I packed him pretty tight.

We all get up in the morning and head off to Yellowstone.  I grab a bag of chex mix because we were with the group and weren’t going to be in the cars for too long.   Plus I wasn’t in charge of snacks or lunch for that day so I thought we’d just grab some treats from the other cars at one of the stops.  Well unfortunately we let some random car go in front of us and got separated from the group.   We didn’t have any cell phone service and our walkie-talkie died cutting off all communication.  We weren’t sure where everyone was stopping so we drove around looking for them.  At this point we had eaten all of the chex mix and it was definately time for lunch.  The only thing that kept going through my head was how ironic it was that I stuffed Owen so full of food the night before and then starved in the morning!!!!  I felt so bad that I didn’t have food for him that I was ready to have Mike pull over at a camp site and ask someone if we could steal some crackers for my son.  I know it sounds silly that I was so worried but I just felt bad that at this point we had been in the car for about 4 hours.  Owen was being such a trooper but I knew he was hungry so we decided to say a quick prayer that we would find our family and some food. 

About 20 minutes later we saw a gas station and we decided to go get some food for Owen and let him out of the car for a bit.  As we were looking for a parking spot a navy blue van with a cute hart shaped wheelchair sticker on the back window pulled in front of us.  Hurray for family decals! The rest of the trip Mike wouldn’t let any cars pass us and we never got lost again J.

Yellow Stone Pictures.

Grizzly bear with Owen.

Eating pinecones.

Luv mah momma.

Nunny is as tall as owen.

Riding high.

Steamy hot stinky pool.

Eating rocks.

Too Cool.

Big kisses.

Leashed up.

Pirate boy.

Thugg Life.

Couldn't tell which one was his.

Not Prada but still cool.

Sleepy.

 Red White and Blue.

Primary Children’s.

Primary Children's is an amazing hospital and they help so many kids.  Up until this point we have never had to take Owen anywhere near there.  The last couple of days we were in Yellowstone I noticed Owen was very congested and coughing a lot.  But he seemed to be dealing with it just fine.  I knew it had been a long trip and we just needed to get home.  Luckily we were leaving in the morning so I wasn’t too worried.  That night he didn’t sleep well and his breathing was heavy.  He kept coughing and gaging so I brought him bed with us because I knew he wasn’t feeling himself.  Owen had gotten sick a few times before this and it affected his breathing in the same way.  So I was glad we were on our way back home.

As we continued to drive into the night Owen would fall asleep.  I knew that he wasn’t feeling his best but sometimes it’s hard to tell just how bad he is feeling because he always so playful and happy.  He finally passed out as we were arriving in Salt Lake City.  The rest of the night was awful he couldn’t sleep and coughed so hard he threw up.  Mike grabbed and took him into the shower to wash him off and hopefully get some of the gunk of his nose and throat.   I went and got the nebulizer with some meds that the doctor had told me to use help him breathe better.  We got him all cleaned up and Michael held him as I gave him the medicine.  When I was done Mike handed to me and said we need to give him a blessing.  At that moment I could explain how grateful I was to the priesthood and for having husband that was able to pass a blessing from our Heavenly Father to our children.

After Mike gave Owen a blessing we were all able to sleep for a few hours.  In the morning we took him to the doctor and they gave him another treatment just like the one we had done in the night.  Then they tested him again to see if it helped.  It did, but not enough so they sent us up to primary children’s where they hooked him up to a bunch of monitors and had a breathing specialist come look at him.  He said that he needed to clean out the gunk that was in lungs and that it wasn’t going to make Owen very happy.  The specialist recommended that if it would be to upsetting for me then I should leave the room.  Michael said that I should go and that he would stay so I let him because I was barely hanging on at this point as it was.  When I came back they were giving him steroids to help open up his lungs and a double dose of the breathing treatment.  Owen was finally getting some good air in his lungs and fell right to sleep.  About an hour later they came and said his breathing was not consistent enough for him to go home tonight and that he need to be hooked up to oxygen.  I was so grateful that they could help and keep him safe.  But I was so sad that he had gotten that sick I just kept thinking that is was my fault because of our trip and lack of sleep.  Even though I know that this thing just happen sometime I still feel responsible.   I try so hard to make sure that he is happy and has everything in the world that he would want or need.  So when something like this happens and I can’t just fix it or ease his pain then it’s heartbreaking.   I’m felt so lucky so have Mike with me.  He stayed up all night with Owen at the hospital and held him and loved him so that I could finally get some sleep as well. 

In the morning Owen started to perk up again he was eating and laughing.  It was so refreshing to see him happy and awake.  They released him from the hospital and said we could just give him breathing treatment at home until he was better.  All and all it was a wild experience and it makes you count all of your blessing that much more.  I will always be grateful to Primary children’s for helping my sweet Onie get better.

Hospital pictures.

Car wash with Daddy!!!

Forth of July fun!!!

Trying to eat the sparkler.



Trying on hats at the store with his cosin Mya.

Foldding his arms.  He is such a good boy.

Cabin fun!!!

Eating a stick.

Playing with all the Nickell cousins.

This boy loves animals so much.