A Successful Vacation

We don't take a lot of FAMILY vacations or trips.  It just doesn't really seem to jive for our family. I would love to say it was different, but we make individual and partial trips work in the best way we can for OUR family. With that said, it was sort of out of the ordinary recently to embark on a family trip last week and even more out of the ordinary to say, we actually all enjoyed it!

Except for the part that we experienced a NINE HOUR flight delay. There was a lot of laying around the airport. Literally.

(We received vouchers from the airline for our delay, and before we'd even taken off I was planning the next vacation. Mike recommended we get through this one first.)

Last week we visited beautiful Southern California for a Sowby Family Reunion. It's the branch of the family that two previous family reunions are recorded HERE and HERE.

These Sowby Reunions where the descendants of George Isaac and Annie Martine gather, have happened every two years for 35+ years.

                                              

For many years now, and especially the last couple reunions, fewer and fewer descendants are making the reunion a priority. It makes me sad, and honestly, a little bitter. Everyone is busy, everyone has schedules and everyone has conflicts.We do/did too. In fact, for some reason we had a lot of hiccups, setbacks and difficulties making this reunion happen for our family. The seven hour flight delay at the airport seemed to be the cherry on top, but then some complications (and a 1.5 hour wait) at the car rental place at LAX topped the cherry and caused me to look at Mike, and while trying so hard not to cry questioned, "Maybe we seriously are not meant to be here?"

But we were
.
We made it happen.
A few other families did too, and the result was a glorious time spent together laughing, crying, playing and enjoying family bonds.

Megan Sowby, Luke Sowby, Hannah Flaherty, Joshua Sowby, Connor Flaherty

Ryan Flaherty, Ellie Sowby, Sarah Flaherty, Drew Sowby

 Joshua, Sarah and Ryan Flaherty, Drew 

 front to back: Carol & Bernard Baker, George & Christene Sowby, Sandy Mittleman, Karena Hamilton

 Tiffany, Karena Hamilton, Bernard Baker, Jennifer Flaherty, Steve Mittleman, Damon Flaherty

Seth Hamilton, Mike, Carol Baker, Karen Mittleman, George Sowby, Christene Sowby, Amber Larson

Sowby Children, Hamilton Children, Flaherty Children, Larson Children

Obviously, I have never met Annie Martine Sowby. I'm related to her only through marriage, but over the past several years, I've had a handful of very personal experiences that have caused me to believe Annie Martine is one of my personal cheerleaders. A week or so before we left for the reunion, Mike and I were seriously debating whether or not to cancel our plans to go. One morning, I woke up early and knew I couldn't cancel. In a text exchange to Mike, I told him, "We're going to CA! I'm going for Annie Martine." (It's funny--I never refer to her as simply, Annie or Great-Grandma Annie, she is Annie Martine.)

How could seeing these scenes, not make Annie Martine (and of course George Isaac and their children whose posterity is represented here) rejoice and smile down from Heaven?

Cousins Carol Baker, Karen Mittleman and George Sowby

 According to Joshua (and this photo proof), Joshua did all the work maneuvering the kayak.

Luke and Sarah (Flaherty) were so proud of this creation they built on Mike's tomb. It was just moments away from completion when a HUGE wave wiped out everything you see in the above picture.

 Mike, Luke and Megan (photo courtesy of Cousin Sandy Mittleman)

 (photo courtesy of Cousin Sandy Mittleman)

 (photo courtesy of Cousin Sandy Mittleman)

(photo courtesy of Cousin Sandy Mittleman)

These relationships don't just happen at one reunion-- they happen over time. Mike and I have been blessed to have these people in our lives on a regular basis. With the exception of a few of the older cousins, my children knew these cousins. They mentioned everyone before we even got there. They knew who to expect, who they would enjoy playing with the most, and who they wanted to see first. We've not only made these reunions a priority, but we've opened our home to most of these people on many occasions over the years. It makes me smile that our relationships with most of them run much deeper than simply seeing each other every couple of years at a reunion.

Like this girl for example.
LOVE HER.

Cousin Jennifer is one of my favorite friends! Our husbands laugh about just how much we have in common, so it was no surprise that we also have the same make-up bags. Jennifer and I talk to each other a few times a month. Usually because one of us needs talking down from a ledge, or one of us needs reminding that we really do love our children. Love this cousin of Mike's! We likely should have been sisters, but then I couldn't have married Mike. So we'll suffice as cousins and friends.

I shouldn't have favorites, but I admit I do! Cousin Karena and Cousin Sandy (no photo of  us!!!!!) are two of my other favorites. I wish I had spent more time just sitting and visiting with them, but it didn't quite work out that way. But, that's nothing that a future trip to Utah won't be able to solve.

One afternoon, Karena, Jennifer and I left the children in the care of husbands and cousins at the pool and snuck up to my room for some left-over chocolate cake.

Not sure how well Mike was keeping an eye on the children...

This sand bucket cost $1.00 at the dollar store. Joshua couldn't bear the thought of us leaving it there on the beach for another child to play with. When he realized, "They really will let me take this on the plane? Then I'm taking it." It was a done deal. He carried that bucket around with him for the next several hours.

Joshua and Megan opted for a kayak ride with Mike. Drew, Luke and Ellie opted for a trampoline jump:

 The headaches of getting to California have almost been forgotten. Our memories made at yet another reunion, are deposits into relationship banks that we will withdraw from throughout the rest of our lives. Unfortunately for my little family, it seems we are all too familiar with family members who don't seem to make relationships a priority-we know who loves us and want to be around us, and we focus on those people. The others, I guess, are just missing out!

 Newport Beach LDS Temple

Attempting to capture a photo of these 5 clowns at the beach was a joke.

Balboa Pier, CA

After finally arriving in Los Angeles after our 9 hour flight delay and then experiencing further complications at the car rental place, I sent some serious vibes heavenward to Annie Martine to start intervening on our behalf. I like to think she did.

With the exception of the day Drew exhausted us all with his incessant requests for a wooden surf board souvenir for his stuffed animal, Monkey, and forgetting a few minor moments of quarreling and exhaustion, it was a successful family vacation.

 So now, where to use our travel vouchers to visit next?!

God's Hand. Ellie's Heart.

I’ve hesitated whether to write anything publicly about experiences around here of late. We’ve written plenty in private emails, text exchanges and journal entries, and thought that would be the extent of it. As I laid my head on my pillow last night, it took a surprising effort to fall asleep despite feeling utterly exhausted from a long day. The events of the last month kept playing themselves out in my mind, and after falling to my knees in humble prayer of thanksgiving and gratitude, sleep did come. With it, came the thought that I should be more open about sharing our experiences with others. It is part of our faith, our belief and our testimony--that God is not only in the details of our lives, but He is a God of miracles, and they do still exist in our world today. We have experienced them. Therefore, we will share an abridged version of our experience, in our small way of testifying of God's goodness, mercy and love.

I wrote about Ellie's mystery finger injury a few weeks back. We never did find out a reason for it being broken in two places, but that enigmatic finger turned out to be the start of a series of miracles in Ellie's life. 

I'm going to write the series of events briefly. We know what we view as miracles, I don't need to identify them specifically.

At Ellie's appointment for her finger, the receptionist told me Ellie was due for a well-check up and that I should schedule one. I had planned for her to get one around her upcoming 12th birthday in May to coincide with her getting the required junior high shots. But instead, for whatever reason, I made an appointment for the next week.

A week later at that visit, Ellie's pediatrician spent extra time listening to Ellie's heart. Thinking she heard something abnormal, she had 2 other doctors come in and listen. I stood there as both of the other doctors said everything sounded within the normal range. Our doctor listened again and had the others listen to HER stethoscope, but they still thought everything sounded normal.  Regardless of her co-workers opinions, our pediatrician told me she felt as though Ellie needed to be referred to a pediatric cardiologist at Primary Children's Medical Center.

I was able to get an appointment AT PRIMARY CHILDREN'S MEDICAL CENTER FOUR days later.

The pediatric cardiologist found everything normal that she could HEAR, but routinely did an EKG in which they found a problem within the "electrical system of the heart." The pediatric cardiologist herself, recognized the "powers that be" causing our pediatrician to refer us for something that is impossible to hear. Due to the results of the EKG, she referred us to an electrophysiologist. Knowing Ellie was in the middle of cheer competition season and typically very active (cast was due off the next week and we were planning to go to Portland for a competition), and knowing high exertion could be risky, the cardiologist went up to the front desk and made an appointment with us for the soonest we could be seen. We were to return one week later.

A few days after Ellie's initial cardiologist appointment, I returned to our pediatrician for an unrelated issue with another child. I gave her a brief update on Ellie. After her initial shock that Ellie had already been seen by the cardiologist, she looked me in the eyes and said, "Someone wanted me to hear something that day."

When checking in the next week with the electrophysiologist, I overheard the receptionists talking surprisingly about our appointment. We came to find out a few minutes later, that the doctor actually wasn't "in clinic" that day, but had set up our appointment amidst a conference call and interviews upstairs.

In layman terms, the doctor informed us that Ellie had an abnormality within the functioning of her heart. Unbeknownst to us, she was born with the abnormality, but she never had any symptoms....yet. Due to the lack of symptoms, if she were to continue in physically exerting gymnastics/cheer, it is quite likely we would have never known anything was wrong with her heart until it was quite possibly too late and she could go into cardiac arrest. That could have been 2 weeks or 5 years from now.

Ellie was told she needed to have a procedure done on her heart, and that until it was done, she would be unable to participate in any physically exerting activities (way more devastating to her than the words "at risk of sudden death" that the doctor kept throwing around the conversation). Abruptly stepping down from her competition cheer team smack dab in the middle of competitions was not an easy task for a constant cartwheel flipping and back-hand springing 11 year old girl to do.

Yesterday, March 14th, Ellie underwent a 4 hour procedure on her heart. It was a long 4 hours, but despite me feeling fidgety, Mike and I never felt anxious or worried while waiting for news of the procedure progress. As text after text came through my phone throughout the day, I felt the love, concern, faith and prayers of so many people close to us. 

The procedure went very well. The doctor said it was only a matter of time until the symptoms of her condition would have appeared. It is now 98% likely it is completely fixed, though they'll know with certainty in 2 months

Here we are a day later. Ellie is doing great! She is sore at the sites the three catheters entered into her body, but after a lazy, restful day today, she will be almost completely back to real life tomorrow. 

Today, I gifted Ellie three bracelets I purchased at the hospital gift shop yesterday. I told her, I picked out each one for a specific reason and I want them to always be a tangible reminder of three things. 1. The heart is self-explanatory-but to always remember the story associated with that heart of hers beating inside her body. 2. The "love you" one-is to remember all the people that have given her gifts, sent texts, served us, etc. I hope she always remembers how many people love and care for her. 3. The angel bracelet is to remind her that Heavenly Father uses people here on earth to accomplish His works. There is no end to the angels both seen and unseen that play a part in our lives. (We think our pediatrician is one of them.)

  

We have no explanation for why some youth meet a sudden death on a gym floor or a sports field, and why Ellie was likely spared that ending. We acknowledge the Lord's hand in Ellie's life. We feel humbled and very blessed that we have been the benefactors of true, modern-day miracles.

We believe God lives. We believe He loves us, and we believe that He is involved in the details of our lives. 

Two Patients Not THREE

Joshua and Luke had their tonsils out on Tuesday morning. After 10+ bouts of strep throat since December, we're hopeful this procedure puts an end to it. In addition to the removal of tonsils (and adenoids), Joshua also had a procedure done on his tongue, which has set him back a little more than Luke. (He can't lift/move his tongue much and so it makes eating a little trickier for him, and more pain than his throat alone.)

Upon being given the hospital gowns to wear, the boys became a little too animated and excited. I think perhaps it was a combination of nerves and the fact Luke was given lavender colored pants and a star gown to wear.

Poor Luke. It didn't help that he didn't comb his hair that morning.

Joshua went to surgery first and thus was done first. By the time we saw him, we was fairly awake and alert.

I think he felt like he had to stay awake for us, but we assured him he could sleep. We certainly weren't relying on him for conversation.

Luke was wheeled into the recovery room while we were with Joshua. Typically they don't allow parents to come in there for a while, and though they kept the curtains around Luke so we couldn't see them wake him up initially, they called us over to him probably sooner than they would have had we not already been in the room.

They warn you before surgery that everyone wakes up from anesthesia differently. Yet it still came as a little bit of a surprise for Luke to:

a. tell the nurse to "Shut up!" when she asked him a question

b. kick me when I was rubbing his leg

c. tell Mike to "Stop! Go away." when Mike said, "Hi Luke."

The nurses assured me they have "seen and heard it all" and told me not to apologize for Luke's abruptness. I still did. I'm not exactly going to stand by and laugh with them when my son covered his face and told everyone to stop talking to him and LET HIM SLEEP.

Within a few minutes, Luke and Joshua were wheeled into the final recovery room. Luke was a completely different person! He was pleasant and saying all sorts of "Please" and "Thank yous" to the nurses questions of slushes, drinks, and pain.

Luke had/has absolutely no recollection of his earlier outbursts to those caring for him. So I'm quite confident it was the anesthesia talking and not him.

I've been extra-attentive to the boys since their surgery. I've been checking on them frequently, getting them popsicles, ice cream, drinks, etc. It's a fair amount of work, as I tend to stay downstairs and they are spending most of their day upstairs. Drew has sort of been laying low with them.

Here's an example of an exchange: "Hey boys! Are you guys doing okay?" To which DREW will respond, "Yeah. I'm fine." And then 30 minutes later or so, I hollered, "Hey boys! Do you want a popsicle or something?" To which DREW responded, "Yes. Get me an Otter Pop."

Note to Drew: You ARE NOT the patient.
Luke and Joshua are.

July Briefs

Uhh...yes. This may or may not have been a result of a Hot Wheels being thrown at her by a sibling who SHALL remain nameless.

 This is on my summer must-do list every year. I'd never do it any other season, but for some reason at least once each summer, I eat Fritos and Bean Dip WITH a CAN of A & W rootbeer. My children LOVE this day!

One of Ellie's Summer Goals was to host a little lunch for some friends. It was a little out of her comfort zone, but she did it and had a wonderful time!

We've had a few summer evening rodeos over in the pasture! Goat riding, horse barrel racing and national anthem singing, provide entertainment for children and adults alike.

My dad bought a cannon. Yes. A cannon. He says calling it a new hobby is a little bit of a stretch, but I'm not sure what else to call it. Obsession? Warfare collector? Weapon hoarder? I'll just say he has a new hobby firing off his cannon. It's fun! Who doesn't enjoy candy shooting into the air and loud noises.

 Mike had his 43rd birthday. It passed very quietly and with very little fanfare. All he wanted was a "big piece of meat" and we went a step further with his traditional ice cream cake. No balloons, presents or parties.

 (Luke was sick with strep throat-thus the fact he's wearing a pajama shirt, and his hair is a little crazy.)

 Of all the birthday traditions, Mike has asked not to be done on his birthday, Mike has never complained about the birthday hat tradition. Granted, he doesn't wear it all day long like I tend to on my birthday, but the fact he wears it for the 2 minutes or so of candle lighting, singing and candle blowing, makes me smile.

 For some reason, Mike was extra generous with the cake servings this year. Though each slice was very thin, he let the children have about 5 servings each. I'm quite certain Drew thought he had died and gone to heaven.

At the very last minute, I decided to get tickets to the Days of '47 Rodeo in Salt Lake City. It was so last minute that Megan already had plans for the evening.

We have had a globe in our family room for years. Years. For over a decade we've had the same globe that has served us well in our spontaneous country conversations, or geography discussions. A couple of weeks ago, Drew apparently thought globes were to sit on. Ugh. Of course, our broken globe happened to coincide with Megan's trip to Peru, and I can't tell you how many times I've gone to reach for the globe when a child has asked me a geographical question about Peru.  A new globe is on my back-to-school supplies shopping list.

In addition to Drew breaking the globe. He also broke our electric pencil sharpener recently by seeing what would happen if he sharpened "the metal and eraser end of it instead." Of course this is the same child that also caused a large circular crack on our windshield from a golf ball a few weeks ago.

Speaking of Drew. He still loves music. This is one of his favorite songs lately:

July was a little busier than these handful of photos show, but this is a decent recollection for now.