This is going to be a rather long post….but I needed to get the memories posted!
Amidst an emergency room visit and sickness, our Spring Break Vacation was actually a time of relaxation and peace. I really enjoyed the time of leisure. I mostly stayed away from the computer. We watched movies, we played the Wii, we did puzzles, I made meals for the family, and we just spent quality time together. It’s just nice to get away from normal life from time to time.
It all kind of started on Wednesday, April 4th when the kids and I used different flavors of Kool-Aid to dye our Easter Eggs. It was so fun and I can’t wait to try new flavors out next year. Before we dyed the eggs, the kids used crayons to draw designs on the eggs. We found out that the blue Kool-aid turned out the best!
The next day (April 5th) the kids still had to go to school and I cleaned and packed and prepared for our trip. In the evening, Grandpa and Grandma Sorensen and Uncle Clint arrived. We had a good visit before all heading off to bed.
Friday, April 6th, the kids skipped school and helped me with the last of the cleaning and packing. Grandpa and Grandma had some errands to run as well. Finally in the afternoon we we were ready to leave. We traveled the 2 1/2 – 3 hours to Eden, Utah, also stopping to pick up some KFC for dinner.
We arrived at our vacation condo and started unpacking and settling in. I was taking the last stuff up the stairs to Joey and I’s room and Beth and JJ followed me up the stairs. We had opened the windows because it was a little stuffy. As I went through the door with Beth close on my heels, there was a gush of wind that slammed the bedroom door shut……with Beth’s poor left ring finger with it. She just happened to be turning around to talk to her brother and her finger was right by the hinge when this all happened. I quickly opened the door and was shocked to see the blood pouring from Beth’s finger. I was also shocked to see that I could actually see Beth’s bone and the skin around her fingernail was just hanging off. Beth took one look at her finger and just started bawling, with the tears streaming down her face. I went into panic mode and Joey ran up the stairs and picked up his little girl and ran her to the kitchen.
After a quick Priesthood blessing and getting some ice for her finger, we rushed off to the hospital that was 1/2 hour away in Ogden. Thank goodness that Grandpa & Grandma were there to take care of JJ. Beth was in a lot of pain on the way down. Joey is amazing when things happen – he stays completely calm, while I panic. He drove, while I held on to Bethie Girl. We tried to keep her distracted, but she was in pain and really scared to go to the hospital. We started talking about how it could have been worse and it was awesome to hear Beth say, “Well, it could have been worse – it was my left hand instead of my right hand, so now I can still use my right hand.” We kept talking about how much we were blessed and it really seemed to help her.
Once we got to the hospital (at about 6:30pm), things got a lot worse. Beth was really scared to be at the hospital for some reason, even though we told her that now we had doctors/nurses to take care of her. The worst 15 minutes or so of my life were when they brought in the big needle to numb up her hand. She screamed and we had to hold her down and tears were gushing out of her eyes and she just kept saying, “No, I don’t want it, please don’t let them do it!” They gave her 2 shots by the knuckles of her finger and it was so hard to watch that happen. I just held her other hand and kept whispering calming words to her, as my own tears flowed from my eyes. I wished so hard that I could take it for her. It even made Joey tear up, not being able to do anything for our little girl. But finally that was over and it numbed her finger so well. It took the pain completely away from her and it was such a relief for all of us. Beth had to get a x-ray of her finger and it was actually kind of a fun adventure for her since it didn’t hurt anymore. She liked that they showed her the pictures of her hand. She was fine seeing the x-ray picture, but she wouldn’t look at her finger anymore (ever since that one glance at it after it first happened). It was extremely scary for her.
Another relief came when they told us that nothing was broken. Unfortunately, they had to call in a hand surgeon and he was at the other hospital, busy with other patients. We ended up waiting about 4 hours before he was able to meet with us. In the meantime, we watched some tv, played on my phone, and the nurses brought Beth some coloring pages to color. It was such a relief to have her out of pain. Joey and I both went through some waves of emotions about having our daughter go through something like this, but we made it through.
Finally the hand surgeon showed up. Unfortunately by that time the pain meds were wearing off and they had to give her another couple of shots. It wasn’t as bad this time because it was mostly numb. Then, they cleaned the wound up and the surgeon sewed her up, using 4 stitches. They let us know that they call it a partial amputation and she would eventually lose her fingernail, but that it would heal just fine. They put a splint on her finger, bandaged it up (in pretty purple and blue bandages), and sent us on our way. It was after 11pm at this point and we were tired and hungry. We stopped to get some ibuprofen and tylenol at Smith’s before heading back to the vacation home. On the way home, Beth’s finger started throbbing and I was sure that we were going to be in for a long night. Beth kept asking “why did this have to happen” and “this is the worst vacation ever.”
When we arrived, we found JJ still awake and really glad to see us. He had been pretty anxious and worried about his sister. He gave a bit of a hard time for Grandpa and Grandma. We were able to visit with him for a bit and get him to go to sleep. Grandpa was already in bed and Grandma and Uncle Clint were ready to go to sleep too. We got Beth in her pajamas and put her in bed with us. By this point she was not hungry, but Joey and I took turns eating. Then, Beth just konked right out and surprisingly didn’t wake up all night. Joey and I did not sleep well after the whole ordeal and thinking that Beth was going to be in pain.
There was a few times where Beth needed some medicine, but throughout the whole vacation, she was just happy and calm. The prayers offered by all of our friends/family were heard and answered by our loving Heavenly Father. I know that he was with us and I just feel so blessed. Beth was able to enjoy the vacation and, besides just having to use one hand most of the time, did really well. I’m just so grateful for this true miracle that our family experienced.
On Saturday, April 7th, we had planned on going on a hike, but we decided that that wouldn’t be a good idea for Beth. So, Grandpa and Grandma went into Ogden to run some errands and meet Uncle Lane. We had a quiet morning just kind of settling in and relaxing. I began making preparations for the evening’s Easter dinner by making some crescents, putting the ham in the crockpot, and preparing the funeral potatoes. Uncle Clint and JJ were quite the buddies and had a good time playing the Wii together.
After Grandpa, Grandma, and Uncle Lane returned, we went on a drive around the Pineview Reservoir and explored the surroundings. It was quite the adventure with “Hospital trips, billboard watching, dead ends, and bears with chainsaws!” Just kind of a joke that came up as we were driving. We were driving around, getting a little lost, finding deadends and billboards, and all kinds of funny things. We were saying how this vacation was just so exciting, being sarcastic, and it ended up being pretty fun because we were all together and that’s what really mattered anyway. We were able to find President David O. McKay’s home in Huntsville on our drive.
On Easter Morning (April 8th), we woke up and had did our traditional Resurrection Rolls and talked about the Savior. I also started a new tradition with some special plastic eggs, filled with scriptures and a special symbol that represented the scripture. It was special to read these with Grandpa and Grandma and Uncle Lane and Clint. The Easter Bunny found us too. There was candy and the kids got Squinkees – Beth’s was Disney Princess and JJ’s was Disney Cars. The kids had a fun time playing with their squinkies throughout the rest of the vacation.
It was sad to say goodbye to Grandpa and Grandma and Uncle Lane and Uncle Clint. It was so fun to have them stay a couple of days with us.
Most of the rest of the vacation wasn’t really eventful, but it was nice to just spend time together.
We played the Wii and watched lots of movies:
We did a lot of coloring and crafting and decorating:
We then had to have cake and ice cream!
Yesterday was so exhausting that I needed to have a more laid back day today. I accomplished a few things, but mostly spent the day being lazy and Beth and I completed another puzzle! I love that Beth loves to do puzzles!
Happy Cinco de Mayo! We had bean, rice, and cheese quesadillas for dinner and it is one of JJ’s favorites, so he was very happy. I decided to cancel my crop for tonight because I just wasn’t ready for it – so we actually spent the day/evening together as a family. We also got word that this afternoon, I became an aunt again. My brother, Toby and his wife Savanna had their second child – a little girl they named Briel Ruth Sorensen. Can’t wait to meet her.
I worked on taking lots of pictures today and getting organized to complete my Photography Hunt Challenge. I didn’t get it quite done, but spent most of the day working on that. More cleaning and working on the computer too. The kids are still enjoying getting to play outside more! Joey was hoping that today would be his last day to have to give himself injections – but after visiting the doctor this morning – our hopes were dashed. He has to do it for 5 more days. We really hope the blood clots clear up soon.
It’s been nice to have Joey home all week, but I really feel badly that he has been feeling so awful. The blood clots, gout, and all of his medicines have really got him in pain and feeling down. But his girl can sure cheer him up. She snuggled and played with him in bed for a long while today. Since Joey didn’t have his podcast tonight – we had dessert first and went to Sub-Zero for ice cream and home for dinner tonight.
I slept in awhile today. Joey got Aaron to come over and mow our lawn and then they headed up to Salt Lake City to do his podcast. The kids and I spent the day cleaning, making cookies, and being lazy. I also worked more on my photography hunt challenge – its still not done and I need to finish! The kids were glad to see Joey at the end of the day. I made all of us lay down on the ground to take a fun family photo and I thought it was very cute of the kids as they helped Joey off the floor. 🙂 Joey brought home Mings for him and I for dinner and it was very good.
There’s nothing like the 3am sound of a kid throwing up. Poor JJ got sick all over his bed so we spent time in the shower and cleaning it all up. He slept on the couch with Joey nearby the rest of the night. This morning, I was feeling pretty awful too and Joey is having a rough day, so no church for us today. What a great Mother’s Day huh? We did get our calls into our moms though, so that was good.
I came home at 5am. I was ready to be with my family. It was a busy day with laundry and cleaning up the house from being away.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day. I discovered last night that I didn’t have anything Green for Beth to wear. The only thing we had was a yellow stripe shirt that did have some green in it. So we went with yellow-green and I made Beth a green bead necklace and beads for her hair. She was so excited to be so decked out for school! JJ and Beth had a great time at their fun St. Paddy day activities. I spent the day busily trying to get some things done – like getting my van inspected (didn’t pass) and trying to find a side marker lense for an old van. Hopefully we can figure something out. Joey was able to work from home today because his foot was hurting pretty badly. It was nice to have him around!
Beth has been on a puzzle streak lately and we only had 1 puzzle in the house. So today we took a trip to the store and found some puzzles. A big horse one and a Disney puzzle collection that had 8 puzzles in it. JJ, Beth and I spent hours today on doing this 550 piece puzzle. The kids went to bed and it still wasn’t done, so Joey and I stayed up until the wee hours of the morning getting it finished. Silly us – but it was worth it in the morning to see how excited Beth was!
Joey came home a little early today and treated us to ice cream at a fairly new shop here in Orem! It was a lot of fun – it was self-serve and you could get your choice of flavor(s) of yogurt/ice cream and they had all these bins of toppings that you just could add whatever and you paid by the weight. Yummy! Afterwards, Joey went to do his podcast and the kids and I had a quiet night at home.
JJ and Joey spent the day finishing up their Pinewood Derby Car. They had to get it weighed and handed in tonight and so they had to get it done. I think it turned out great. JJ was so excited to get to help. Beth did some puzzles and played while I worked on my computer for most of the day. We went out to eat at Training Table for dinner and it was really great not to have to cook!
After church and naps, we decided to go to Chuck-a-Rama for dinner – they have lots of great comfort foods on Sundays so it was nice. We came home and since it was already almost bedtime we needed something kind of short for Family Movie Night. We decided to watch a part of The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, since we are reading it. We watched up to when the kids meet the Beavers – since that is where we are in the book right now. I think it really helped the kids to comprehend the book better.
