The One With Vacation Interruptis

I am a Daddy's girl, I think I probably always have been.

Don't get me wrong, I love my Mom, we get along great, and we have some fun times.

In March of 2009 my Dad was diagnosed with cancer. It was like I had fallen a million feet and crash landed onto jagged rocks, it was not something I wanted to hear. Although, somehow I knew it was coming. My dad had been having some pain, and when my Mom called to let me know what the doctor said, I picked up and said "It's cancer, isn't it?" Somehow we just have this connection.

Well Sunday night we were on the coast staying at the beautiful Salishan Resort. We got in bed late, got up late, were getting ready late, trying to make it out the door on time. My phone started ringing, and I saw it was from the office, so I picked up just assuming they were calling about something on the calendar.

No such luck.

It's my mom, crying and frantic saying Dad was in a bad accident on his way to McCall and they were trying to get LifeFlight to him, but it was so foggy they couldn't get the helicopter in.

My first thought, is it bad enough that they need LifeFlight? MAN!!!

We talked for a little bit, and it was decided that we should not start our long drive home until we knew more information on what was wrong. The rest of the morning was filled with phone calls from family members to me, I called the hospital in McCall and talked to them. It was a very tense day.

First the hospital says, he looks good, looks like he broke his shoulder, but that's about it.

So we go out to breakfast, and start driving to the aquarium, and then I get a phone call saying they found a bleed on his brain and that they are needing to LifeFlight him down to Boise now.

It's crazy how fast things change. Although I knew that the hospital in McCall was probably just being precautionary, as they aren't equipped to handle blunt trauma cases, it was still a little scary.

Well, to make a super long story short, this is essentially what happened. My Dad was driving up to McCall to do a walk through with a client. Just before Cascade on the straight drive (lucky it wasn't in the canyon) the fog broke, and so he decided to call the office and talk to one of the techs. He talked to my mom for a minute, then she handed the phone to Jeff (the tech) and Jeff heard my Dad saying, I think I hit black ice. The truck he was in started sliding from side to side, he coudln't get out of it, then it spun completely around and essentially backed up into a mountain. The entire bed of the truck, as well as the extended cab is crushed up to the driver's seat. He was knocked out because of the accident, when he woke up, the truck was on it's side, and he was curled up next to the driver's side window, the other window's were blown out.

An undercover policeman stopped to help him, at which time four other people slid off the road in the same place, although, by some miracle, no one hit each other. My Dad ended up being the worse one out of all of them. They pulled him out of the truck and took him up to the McCall hospital. He ended up with a concussion, broken clavicle, separated shoulder, and a 5mm bleed at the base of his brain. The fog never cleared well enough to get the LifeFlight helicopter in to McCall, so the LifeFlight ground team drove him down from McCall to St. Alphonsus in Boise.

He was released on Wednesday after they found the bleed was not growing. We went over to see him as soon as we got back into town, and he looked great. Pretty good bruise on his shoulder, as to be expected, but he looked great considering what had happened.

Yesterday (Friday) he had surgery to pin his clavicle back together and asess the ligament in his shoulder to see if a repair was necessary.

All in all, my poor Dad seems to be having a rough couple years. I love him and am glad he is okay!!!

The One With Parker's First Huting Trip

We drove up to Portland on Friday.

Then EARLY Saturday morning (try 5 o'clock) Eric and Parker got up and left with Papa, Papa Great, and Great Uncle Kuhie to go hunting. They actually back tracked about two hours closer to Boise, got there about 730ish and had all four deer down in about two hours.

Then came the cleaning, that was the only part I thought Parker would have a hard time with, but nope, he LOVED it. In fact, he ran around the rest of the day saying "I'm gonna clean you like a deer."

Which is funny, and yet disturbing all at the same time.

Eric said Parker did great looking out the truck for deer, and that he loved climbing around all over things. It's kind of sad that chances are he won't remember his first hunting trip, since he's only four, but we took lots of pictures that will hopefully help to remind him.



The One With Grandma & Grandpa Great Marshall

A lot of Eric's extended family and friends still live in Portland.In fact, Eric was just telling me how much he wants to move back because all of his friends are relocating, Kevin and HolliJo Klein just moved back from Arizona, Dustin and Ashley Snyder just moved back from Washington, and their other friend Ryan and his wife are trying to get moved up from California. So Eric feels like it is about time for us to make the big move . . . . AGAIN!!!

But most importantly we like going up to Portland so we can see family that we don't get to see too often. Here's the kids with Great Grandma and Grandpa Marshall. Parker got to see a lot of Papa Great because they went hunting together!

The One With The Aquarium

Preslie LOVES fishies!

We found this out a few weeks ago when she came with us to the baby doctor and saw the fish tank and screamed and giggled and squealed at the fish the whole time. She was very not happy when we left.

So while we were at the coast we took a quick detour at the Aquarium, it was pretty sweet! TONS of cool animals, and plenty of fish to keep Preslie entertained.

For those of you asking for prego pictures, this is about as good as your gonna get! :)

 This is the new addition to our family, we think he's pretty great . . . when he's not trying to kill us.

 When you're in Oregon, do as the Oregonians . . . . tree huggers.

 Ummm . . . . . I just want ONE taste of that HUGE crab! YUM YUM YUM!

 Looking at the sea lions and otters

 I could never have gone under water in that thing, so heavy!

 RAWRR!!!



The One With the Coast

So, amidst all the craziness of school papers, and grapes, and kids, and callings, and church, and  . . ..  need I go on?

We took a little vacation!

I actually got ALL four of my papers done before we left. We actually got all 100 quarts of grape juice canned (although we are water bathing them now, after we got back). We actually got time off of work. We actually got all of our bags packed, and a Halloween party attended. And we actually left for SIX DAYS!!!

It was spectacular (well mostly, next post will be about the vacation interuptus from sad town).

We left Friday morning, drove up to Hood River where of course we had to stop at our favorite wood playground and visit Papa at the dental office. We also got the "ALL'S CLEAR" from our pediatrician - Preslie's second c-diff test came back clear, so hopefully within the next few weeks her digestive system will return to normal and we will have no more runniness. FINGERS CROSSED!

Mostly I just want to show our kids AWESOME jogging suits (thank you Costco!) we are a jogging suit family, and the kids even picked out new shoes to go with them!

Then Friday, Parker and Eric got up SUPER early (like 5am the crazies) to go hunting (again that will be it's own post because there is just too much awesomeness to cram it in here) while Preslie, Grammy, and I went SHOPPING!!!

Sunday, we went to the Single's Ward where my father in law is in the bishopric. May I say that I felt a little bad bringing our kind of noisy kids into a setting as ridiculously quiet as a single's ward? Um yeah, we made it through most of sacrament (skipped out on the closing song) and then we drove out to Lincoln City on the coast to Salishan Resort & Spa. It was BEAUTIFUL!!!!

We drove directly onto the beach and got out to play. But of course, this is the face you make on the Oregon Coast - because it was windy and cold. Say what? The Oregon Coast windy and cold? NEVERRRR!!!

  Daddy was braver than Mommy and took the kids out into the water, yeah, I didn't want to freeze, Parker had fun splashing around, but Preslie wouldn't put her feet in, as much as she loved looking at the water.

 We then went to the outlet malls for a little cheap shopping, hoping to find some awesome things for Christmas, uh not really much luck there - but we did find this awesome outfit for Preslie for $7 at Carter's (yes I am a cheap shopper). She loved modeling it in our suite.

 And aren't those the two BEST LOOKING KIDS in the entire world. They love each other, it is cute!

 And yes, even I was surprised that they actually slept in the same bed without much prodding from Mom or Dad.

 The view from our suite, so gorgeous!

 Parkie had to get a picture next to every pirate he saw - and since we were at the coast, that was pretty much every five feet. At least is sweatshirt matched!

The One Where We Pick Some Grapes

So last year, about this time, Eric and I heard about this "U-Pick" vineyard in Payette, where you can pick TWO five-gallon buckets of grapes and pay $5. Well that's a lot of grapes! So last year we picked a ton, and juiced them, new experience to me - you can check it out in October of last year's blogs if you really want to.

We canned like 55 or so quarts last year, and we drank it all gone within like 7 months. So this year we did even more grapes! Good idea since it will last us forever, BAD idea given it was during probably the busiest week of our life!!!! But finally, right before we went to Portland, we got them all canned, and we have almost 100 quarts, that should last us some time I'm thinking.

Preslie was pretty excited to pick the grapes! BIG SMILES!
 

And then of course, in true Preslie fashion as of late, she had to start eating them, without washing, just chowing away. 

Even if that meant she picked them up off the ground . . . . Brittany, she may teach Lucy these naughty things.

 Parker mostly enjoyed running underneath all the rows of vines with his cousins Jack and Bennett, he wasn't too interested in posing for pictures.

 Umm yes, how can you not love this little girl. Am I alone in thinking she is the cutest thing to ever grace this earth? I just LUFF her!

 This is the awkward Daddy why'd you make us look at the sun for pictures look.

 Daddy and Preslie picking their grapes!

 All of my family that went, Mom, Grandma and Grandpa Carpender, Brittany and Jared with Jack, Bennett, and Lucy, and then us!

 We were a little pooped by the end of this, and WELL past nap time, hence the grumpy faces! But this is a tradition I can't wait to keep up!

The One With General Conference Weekend

So this post is OBVIOUSLY just a little late, being as it is almost the end of October. But I snapped some pretty cute pictures during this weekend, and I felt it was worth documenting.

Our kids are way too little, and maybe Eric and I are still as well, to sit down for four hours a day and watch the TV without being able to do anything. And I have LONG since realized that I am a GREAT multi-tasker, and I can absorb information [almost] better when I am doing a million things at once.

So during General Conference on Sunday, Parker and I made cinnamon rolls! YUM YUM! And then we ate them, which was even YUM YUM YUMM ER!!!!

If you look close in these pictures, you may see a bit of a 27ish weeker prego belly, but I'm pretty good about NOT wanting pictures taken while I am pregnant - seriously, who would WANT to see that belly? lol. Some day I may regret that.

Maybe.

Preslie had a brief RUN outside, meaning somehow she escaped into our backyard before we could catch her. This little woman loves being outside. I just wish I was better about just letting her be back there without constantly running out to check on her. I'm far to afraid of this little girl getting hurt, I'm such a wuss with her. 

But then Daddy took her into the office and got her playing a game on the touchscreen computer. All she had to do was kind of "flick" the bowling ball, and then she was sitting there bowling strikes for an hour . . ..  while listening to conference of course. Pardon her messy hair look, it was a bit of a lazy day for us all!



The One With the WHOA Crazy Week!!!!

So last week I started my first official day back at college. University of Phoenix it is.

Aside from the fact that I really don't have any idea how I would fit in school at BSU or even CWI - seriously, I work three days a week and have kids, what am I supposed to do on the days I am home with them? Pay someone to watch them while I pay someone else to teach me things? Uh I think not. 

Well, Mr. Eric, who has finished his Bachelor's of Business Management through U of P, and is currently working on his Masters in Health Administration and Informatics, for them, also happens to work for this lovely school. What does this mean? 

Six months after his start date with the company, they not only pay for his school 100%, but they pay 80% of my schooling as well. Uh yes, this seems like a no-brainer.

So back to school, back to school, to prove to dad I'm not a fool . . . .

okay really, I have no idea how that song really goes, I kind of make up words.

So first two classes for the first nine weeks - Education in an Info Age - some general class that seems to be skating by pretty easy - and ETHICS! Man how I loved my Medical Law and Ethics class!!!! Alas, this is just general Ethics, be nice to people, don't hate me because I'm black, yada yada yada. But seriously this teacher demands a lot of writing. I'm a bit of a nerd I guess. I've been working a few days ahead in the classes to make sure I don't get behind, and I actually LIKE (cough, cough) being back at school. I love learning, it is great. It's a little bit harder now that I have two crazy kids running around while I'm trying to do my homework, and a really good looking husband who constantly pulls away my focus . . . . but I'm doing it. And guess what? My 2 years at BYU-I counted for something. I will graduate in a year!!!!

But this is where the uber tough part comes in. Eric says, "Hey let's go to Portland!" and it's like heck yes, we need a vacation. Let's leave Friday, and not come back until Wednesday. We also picked like a million gallons of grapes this weekend in Payette to make grape juice with (seriously I am not a homemade canner time of person, but this stuff is incredible!) and they will take us forever to steam all the juice out and seal up in cans. 

Saturday: Pick grapes, come home and steam juice them, find Preslie's halloween costume, and spend way too much money (but hey, at least almost all of it is things she will actually wear again!)

Sunday: Steam more grapes, finish paper for class, stay home with Preslie from church because once again she is sick with C-diff and can't be around other kids as she is "immuno-compromised". 

Monday: Work, not a usual day, but a make up day since I won't be here on Friday. Go home and juice MORE Grapes.

Tuesday: Work. And a family party until 8, and go home and juice more grapes.

Wednesday: Clean the house so it isn't a complete disaster when we get back from our trip, do the laundry so we actually have clothes for our trip, get a lesson planned for Activity Days, go to Activity Days, Eric has mutual, juice more grapes.

Thursday: work, get bags packed for trip. 

Doesn't sound so bad right? Well then let's add in that little thing called school. I have to have three papers written for one class this week, at least 1000 words - and they should all be done before we leave on our trip. The other class I have to get online and participate in class discussions four nights this week, plus a 1200 word paper. And in that class (as we will be gone through Wednesday of next week) I also have another paper I have to write. Roll in an hour at least of reading each night, and now you see why this week is "WHOA" crazy! 

I hope I survive.