Monday, May 25, 2009

Trip to Prescott, AZ

The girls and I decided to do a quick overnighter up in Prescott, AZ. The plan was to go to:
1. Heritage Park Zoo http://www.heritageparkzoo.org/
4. Swim
6. Wake up and leave in the morning for home.

That is exactly what we did.












Boy Birthday Party

Daughter #1 got invited to her 1st "boy" birthday party. The little boy was turning 5 and had his party at Peter Piper Pizza. There was lots of games to be played, pizza to eat and cake (the best part).











Heard Museum

I recently found out about a "Culture Pass", which can be checked out at our local library. www.showup.com/culturepass. There are about 10 different places to visit, in the valley, for free. So, I picked out the Heard Museum. www.heard.org The girls and I had never been downtown to this museum. There were 2 big kids sections, with activities, things to climb on and videos to watch.

The best section for me was the "Crafty Chica" display!! I wish I had enough time to craft up some of these great ideas.










Artichoke in bloom

This artichoke is not from my garden, but what a sight!!






Sunday, May 17, 2009

Home from the hospital

Dear husband spent the last 9 days in the hospital and it started with chest pains. Last Wednesday night he complained that his shoulder and chest were in a lot of pain and didn't know why. He went to the local urgent care for some tests, not knowing they would later send him to the emergency room. The urgent care ran test for a possible heart attack and that came back clear and fine. They stated he could have possible blood clots and he would have to go to the emergency room, at Banner Gateway.

He arrived at the emergency room around 9pm. They started with all the tests and examines. At midnight, the test came back that yes he would have Parallel Pulmonary Embolism. That means lots of small blood clots in and around his lungs. A pulmonary embolism can cause symptoms similar to those of heart conditions, that is why he was having the chest pains.


Once he was moved out of the emergency room up to the ICU unit, the pain continued to be unbearable. He was on a lot of pain medications and was out of it, to say the least. It was painful for me to watch him wince at every movement. We later found out the he was not ICU status, but the hospital didn't have any rooms available.

The hospital continued to run different tests and checked his blood levels. They concluded he was blood clot free in his legs, which is great!! There is no real answer to why or how he got the blood clots. He does travel by planes frequently for business, he does travel on vacations for long distances and up in elevation and as we found out there are several cases within the family of blood clots. So, any one of these factors could have played a role in getting blood clots.

Once the pain was under control, the doctors focused on getting his blood levels up. It took between 4 and 5 days and high doses of blood thinners, to get his blood up the level they were looking for. He was released on Friday, with a list of medications and doctor appointments to attend.

He will be fine, he is tired!! There will be lifestyle changes, which included diet and exercise, being more active on the aircraft and stopping more on long trips!!

I would like to thank everyone for there thoughts and prayers!! Especially the grandparents who took both girls, as I sat at the hospital for hours on end. A special thanks to my sister-in-law who drove out from southern California to help out with the girls. The past week was very scary and would not want to do that again. We will be taking measures to secure our future!!!

Date night with Grandpa

Daughter #1 got all dress up, with lip gloss on, perfume on, pursed filled with goodies and waiting for grandpa to pick her up. We went over all the rules for date night, say please and thank you, no talking with your mouth full and waiting your turn. Once grandpa arrived the booster seat was transferred to his car and off they went on their adventure.

Grandpa and dear daughter headed to the the Environmental Education Center , for their open house. http://www.chandleraz.gov/default.aspx?pageid=682. They saw scorpions, spiders, participated in butterfly activities and observed the wild flowers outside. I am sure dear daughter learned a lot about desert surrondings.

The adventure would not be complete without a trip to McDonald's. Dear daughter had a happy meal with chicken nuggets, apples and soda. Grandpa had a hamburger, we think.

I think grandpa has set the standard pretty high with date nights in the future!!!!






Monday, May 4, 2009

One of these things doesn't belong....

on the couch!!! But what a cute picture of all the girls. Poor husband surrounded by all girls, even the dog is a girl.


Swimming at Grandma's house







We decided to take a trip down to Tuscon.
The first stop was the Nimbus Brewery. http://nimbusbeer.qwestoffice.net/. The menu was quite funny. Husband had the "World Famous" fried bologna sandwich, I stucked to the hambuger, and girls shared the special. The menu item, I was slightly interested in was the Diet Plate....a small plate sprinked with breadcrumbs, pocket lint and a side of birdseed.






The second stop was the Reed Park Zoo. http://www.tucsonzoo.org/. What a cute zoo, there was lots of shade and the animals were very close. The girls were able to walk the entire zoo and daughter #2 lead the way with her map.










New aprons from Auntie

We had to try out our new Easter aprons from Auntie. We baked chocolate cupcakes. Daughter #1 wanted to deliver the cupcakes to Auntie at 6:00pm that night. The only problem is Auntie lives in North Carolina, we did not make it there by 6:00pm. The girls have fun getting messy and eating cupcakes.