Gone for 6 days...

The day after Christmas I left town with my parents. My dad is scheduled to have surgery on Dec. 29th in Missoula Montana. No my parents don't live in Montana and aren't from there, but their doctor in Twin recommended my dad go to the specialist in Montana, best in the West. So off we went.

My dad has a tumor on his thyroid that reaches down to his lung. It has moved his esophagus and is now putting pressure on his lungs. Thankfully the tumor is not cancer, but it so large that it is taking over my dad's chest. So it must be removed. My dad's thyroid is lower than most people's, so when it started to develop this goiter, it grew down and out. This is why it took so long to detect.

I didn't like the idea of my mom being alone in the waiting room while my dad was in surgery. It wasn't right. No one should be alone in the waiting room, I have been there and it isn't fun. Also, my mom has been there for me with all my kids but especially over the past 2 years since Emmett's birth.

I made arrangements with Scott and with a couple of ladies in the ward to help out with the kids. I feel really blessed that the sisters I asked were willing to help me in my time of need. I was going to be gone for 6 days.

We left early Sunday morning for drive from Twin Falls to Missoula Montana. We stopped in Idaho Falls to visit with Grandma Hackworth (my dad's mom). Then off for the rest of our drive. I sat in the back and worked on my laptop for the entire 8 hour drive. I was updating all the Primary stuff getting ready to roll over for the new year.

After a day of travel we arrived in Missoula, found our hotel and relaxed. Then Monday, we met with the doctor and finalized our questions/concerns. Tuesday, we were up, dressed, and at the hospital by 7am. Dad's surgery took 5 hours. It was a long grueling day.

As we met with the doctor after surgery he said that Dad's goiter was huge like the size of a football. He said that this thing had been growing for 30 years. What? I asked, "How do you know it has been growing for 30 years, does it have tree circles?" The doctor laughed, apparently he thought I was trying to be funny, when really I just wanted to know why he thought 30 years. Then he realized I wasn't trying to be funny, but that I was serious. He said, "Well we can tell how long the tumor had been growing by the blood vessels that were in it and broken off." Then I piped in, "So kind of like the tree circles, huh?" He said, " Yes kind of like that".

Amazing, all these years my dad had no idea. Here is a picture of my dad after surgery. The doctor cut his throat from ear to ear. Then he put drains out of his chest to drain all the fluid that was filling up this huge empty cavity where the goiter was. My dad's body needed to move all the organs back to their proper place and that would fill up the empty cavity.

So my dad is home and healing well. His throat has gone down in size and he actually has definition around his chin.

I'm thankful for a wonderful husband who was supportive and understanding of me being with my parents during their time of need. I am also so very thankful for the two sisters in the ward who willingly served me and my family. Truly feeling blessed.

Merry Christmas

Our Christmas morning started off around 6am. Garhett was the first up and excited to see what Santa had brought. Slowly the rest of the kids and family made their way downstairs to the Christmas tree. We spent the morning opening presents with Grandma and Grandpa. We were so very blessed this Christmas season.

In the afternoon, Brian and his family joined us for Christmas dinner and a little Wii fun! Brian’s family gave us a Wii game called “Just Dance”! So Robyn, Randi and the rest of us took turns trying our skills at dancing. We had so many laughs. Here a few photos and a videos of our dancing fun.

Christmas Eve

As I went visiting teaching this month, the lesson was on Nurturing through compassionate service.  This lesson really touched me. I have had quite a few feelings lately about teaching our children to be more compassionate and to not be so selfish and demanding. I don’t want my children to think that everything is only about them. I want them to feel compassion towards others.  So for Christmas Eve we continued a family home evening lesson that was taught about service.

Today we decided to teach our children the importance of giving rather than only receiving the gifts that we want. Our ward has been sending around emails regarding this day shelter called Corpus Christi House. So we had a family home evening lesson about people and families that don’t have the same things as we do. Some people and families are lacking a place to live, a car to take them places, and food to eat. So in order to help those that have less, we decided to give warm winter jackets and some other essentials that were needed.

I have to say that our children did very well. Paige was very concerned about the people who are at the shelter, especially the children.  We took the children to the store and each one of them picked out a winter coat in their size that we could give to the shelter. We went into the shelter as a family to donate the items. Everyone was so friendly and so appreciative of the items we brought.

Our children felt so good. Then the questions started, why do they live there? Why don’t they have jobs? What do the children do? So our Christmas Eve was spent talking about how blessed we are and the things that we can do to help others.

I am so thankful for the birth of Jesus Christ. For this opportunity that Scott and I took to teach our children the importance of giving and to have compassion. 




Before our children headed off to bed to see what Christmas morning would bring. They sprinkled reigndeer food outside so that Santa would know where to find us.

Wrapping it up….

This has been a busy week with school ending and getting ready for the holiday festivities.

We started the week off with Emmett’s 2 week after surgery check up. His 5 cuts and feeding tube are all healing very well. Emmett’s weight is another story. He lost 2 pounds since his surgery date (for you and I would be just fine and welcomed), but for Emmett who is barely on the weight chart as it is, the doctor was very concerned. She gave us a week for Emmett to gain some or all of the weight back or she wants us to start feeding Emmett through his tube, which is currently only used to burp or throw up. On that same note, he can only eat liquid and soft foods. The doctor said no eating regular table foods for 8 weeks. The poor kid just got used to eating table foods and now they are all taken away from him. I have broken the doctor rules though. I have slowly started adding foods into his diet, like pancakes, French toast, etc. (just in very tiny smaller than bite size pieces. Other than the eating issues, Emmett has bounced back from surgery rather well. He is back to running around, back to sliding on his tummy (I know OUCH) down the stairs. All in all we are on our way to a full recovery!

Next on our weeks’ agenda was the Preschool Christmas Program for Paige. Last year Paige made her own debut by wearing fuchsia pink pants and shirt to her program. This year since we are almost 5 we are feeling a little more mature and in the Christmas season, so she decided to wear her red Christmas dress with her black click clocks. I must say she looked grown up, not like a 4 year old in preschool. Paige did awesome with singing all the songs and doing the signs with each song. Great job Paige!!!

The very next day we are at the school at 8am for Trent’s award assembly. Trent won the citizenship award for outstanding citizenship in the first grade. This award includes things like helping others in class, picking up, being a good person. Now I am not disputing this fact (well maybe a little), Trent is the most obstinate kid at home. Oh he helps out, but it isn’t until we have had a screaming match and a tantrum. It is nice to hear that he doesn’t do that for his school or Primary teachers, only his parents! Great job Trent, so proud of you!!!!

Here is Trent with his certificate and with the principal Mr. Johnstone.

On Friday, we had the ward Christmas party. It was good. I don’t think a very good turn out, but whatever. We didn’t stay to see Santa cause all the kids were running around and it was so chaotic. So we took our family and went to the mall to see Santa. No lines. The kids were able to get right in to see Santa, sit on his lap, tell him the thing that they want (but won’t be getting because they just added it to the list), and take their picture. We ended the fun filled evening with ice cream cones. Yea!!!

To wrap up our week, Paige performed as a gingerbread in her dance studios performance of the Nutcracker.

I couldn't get the video of her performance to load. Here is Paige in her costume.

What an exhausting week we have had. School is now out for 2 weeks for Paige and the boys. So hopefully we can stay home and relax a little bit.