Summer Fall Winter

 This is the last day of 2023. This year was so complicated. We would take two steps forward and three back. August was filled with the County Fair. Victoria's last fair with the 4H Dog Program. We aren't stopping. The two of us are still running the program. We love the kids and the dogs.

Sammy passed away at the age of 17. I miss him under my feet, always having to touch me. 

Victoria's health took a nose dive with daily IV infusions of fluids just to get her through the day and closer to her surgery date in September for a bowel resection. The doctors don't know what to diagnose Kaleb with. His extreme fatigue and muscle weakness has increased drastically. Daphne came down with the worse case of Shingles I have ever witnessed and her inflammation markers are sky high. 

Victoria got her surgery and came through with good results, PICC line out, got a Hickman now in her chest for IV fluids. I never thought that normal meant Home Health nurse visits, IV bags, IV Zofran, tubing, and an IV pole. Abdominal drain of 11 1/2 months out and healed. College is on hold until she regains her energy.

Kirk is doing an excellent job at pastoring Cache Cowboy Church. He has fit into this position as he was meant to do all along.

Jared is a respected contractor and growing his business well. He just purchased a skidsteer cash. I know he has plans for it but I have great plans of clearing out the goat yard this spring with it. I can't wait!

My days are filled with caring for people as a NAET practioner. I can't imagine our family surviving without these treatments.

The New Year? 2024? What is ahead of us I have no idea but we are a resilent people. God has incredible plans for us and I can't wait to see what God has planned for us this year. 

July Explosions

July came in with a BANG!

Victoria is such a hard stick that her veins have had enough. She got a PICC line placed on July 3. I hadn't even really thought of it. I thought maybe we were over reacting but when the Home Health nurse said that she should have one, I was more confident in my observations. Everything is SO different when it is happening in your own living room. All my nursing skills have been uses to it's fullest potential lately. No more pokes for her. They can even draw blood through it. She is getting 2 L of fluids 3 times a week. Cross Trails Cowboy Church in Texas is sending her to Falls Creek Church Camp at the end of the month. This will make it so much easier for her to give herself fluids.

She was commenting as we were driving down the road that you see weird stuff that people do in their cars and now she is one of them. I assured her that most people won't even realize what is going on.

We marched in the Lewiston 4th of July parade with Cache Cowboy Church.

We loaded up Jared's new goose neck trailer, threw candy to the crowd and cooled them off with water.

Three generations of lovely women. Kathy, Sundi and Haisley waiting for fireworks in Malad.

I first saw this little guy along the driveway. I have never seen a horned toad in Utah. He was the cutest little guy. I left him where he was and about a week later I found him hanging out amongst the tomato plants in the garden. I have seen him several times since then. He is the cutest little guy. He turns his head to the side to watch me.

Victoria had her very last 4H Ambassador role up at USU for Teen Summit. She was essentially in charge of the entire planning of the event.  We are really proud of her. This was a tough year with all her health issues. She has managed to hang in there living with pain almost every day. She built a Team Building Obstacle course for her workshop. We came to the Dinner one of the nights. Kaleb saw this kid with a sequin dinner jacket and asked the kid if he could try it on! He is crazy!

Victoria and Olivia, good friends, past Ambassador and future Ambassador. Victoria is just finishing her term and Olivia is just starting hers. Cache County hasn't had any State Ambassadors for 5 years before Victoria and now Cache has had two in a row and both from the Dog Program. I think we are doing something right!

There is a whole story behind these green and orange socks and the Green Converse!

This has been a great group of kids. They are from all over the state of Utah. Victoria is excited because a couple of them are going to school at USU this Fall.

Kaylyn and Victoria, partners in crime!

Victoria doesn't just hug people so if you get a hug from Victoria, you're special!

Pretty sad that this is the only family photo we have had in years. Life has been hard but we pull it together for eachother.

I felt like I had to get away so Kaleb and I went hiking  in Tony's Grove. Being a Friday, there were quite a few people all around. I felt like we couldn't get away from people so we kept taking side trails. Kaleb needed to be away from people too. The introvert in us, I guess. We managed to find a trail away from everyone and sat on a boulder just talking about stuff for about an hour.

We didn't even bring any dogs with us because we just had to get away from everything. I have found that when I need a break from life, I head to the mountains. I just want to run down the trail and immerse myself in nature. I like to just listen to the sounds of life, natural life, the wind blowing through the pine trees is my favorite. We always find something to look at whether it's lichen, moss, bugs or tree bark.

The instigator, the butler and the kid.

Storm rolling in at Bear Lake

I came around the corner with Kaleb asleep in the chair and Jasper in the other one.

Victoria made it to Oklahoma to the Falls Creek Church Camp. There were 5 kids from Wasatch Cowboy Church and Victoria from Cache Cowboy Church that traveled and met up with about 100 youth from Cross Trails Cowboy Church in Texas. They stayed in a lodge together and had a wonderful time. Some of the Seniors from Cross Trails wanted to kidnap Victoria and take her back to Texas with them. She had asked me what I would do if that happened. I said, Oh, I'd send you a plane ticket in about a week. She tolerates so much in a day because her body won't cooperate. She lives through pain, discomfort with the PICC line now, an abdominal drain that she has had for 8 months at this point, Crohn's pain, poor appetite, the list goes on. BUT....she manages to hang in there when she needs to. She crashed when we picked her up. It took her over a week to recooperate from the trip.

It took two days drive to get back. On the last day, a Sunday, Kaleb and she were playing BattleShip via texting. It took them almost 3 hours to play the game completely. I love their relationship.

Yeah, he looks so innocent. He's so big he doesn't understand that you

 just can't rip the tops off the sprinklers. 

I was attempting to do some Bible Studying but MerkTavitch had other plans......

like ..... fetch.......

 

May Forgotten!

 Dang, I forgot May!

Why does Summer go SO FAST and Winter goes by SO SLOWLY!?

Doug is getting brushed for the umpteenth millionth time! 

The St. Bernard in him sheds like no body's business!

Look at that Face? 

Cowboy Church and Troop 1 were at Mountain Man Rendezvous at American West Heritage Center. Kaleb and a few of the scouts had fun activities at their booth all day. Kaleb is such a great guy to the scouts. He is very encouraging to the boys and jumps right in along side to do the fun and the hard stuff. Kaleb dug out his Scout Blanket that I made for him. We have sewn all of the project patches on from his Cub Scout days all the way to Eagle and beyond. I loved reminescing over the patches.

Next to our booth, Victoria led a roping activity. It was fun to see how many people wanted to try their hand at roping. A couple experienced people walked up and did it lickety split. 

Pastor Larry and Wasatch's musicians were here playing music. 

He has been an amazing mentor for Kirk. I have always prayed for Kirk to have Godly men put in his path and Pastor Larry is definitely one of them. He is so funny. He has so many experiences in life and almost all of them are funny. We just love this guy!

Victoria exhibiting Doug's massive ears!

Victoria was getting her Remicade infusion, blood was backing up into the tubing. She was like..."Uh....is this supposed to happen??" She sent the picture to the boys.

Kayaking the Reservoir

Kirk and I were in the canoe. It was peaceful to just get out on the water.

Victoria still has an abdominal drain which means that using those muscles make it very painful. We weren't sure if she could use her paddle board without killing herself so she stayed sitting down. We eventually tied a rope to her and dragged her around the reservoir. We just adapted. It was good to see her out doing something in spite of the pain that she is always in. We were expecting the fistula to close and for the drain to be removed....but it is still here.

Doug's head is heavy so he rests it on the window sill to look out the window.

I bought Brody this ball. You put treats in them and the more he rolls it around the more treats fall out. I might drill more holes though, it seemed kind of hard. I could tell he was starting to get frustrated.

The 4H Dog Program went on a hike around Benson for a Fit Dog activity. 

Victoria made it out but almost didn't make it back because she was in so much abdominal and drain pain. Will there ever be a time that we don't have to think twice about an activity?

The dogs were playing chase and I turned around and saw Doug standing on the picnic table. I think he was trying to catch his breath.

Merk likes to hang out and watch Brody. I was brushing him.

Jared's new trailer. 30 ft Goose Neck.

No room for ME!

Kaleb is setting up for an Orienteering course that he is making for the Scouts. Any opportunity to get out on the trail is enough for me! I'm there! Victoria too.

 The three of us have FOMO. Fear Of Missing Out. 

We had to keep turing around and make sure Victoria was still with us. She would normally be in the front blazing the trail but now her body isn't cooperating very well. I'm glad she's still trying.

This is proof that I am actually here.

Douglas Spillith Over

Doug spent all this time digging a hole. It was looking pretty deep. He turned around a couple times like he was going to get in it and take a nap in the cool dirt only to find out that his back legs are the only thing that fits in it. Oh well.

June here and gone

June just feels like a distant memory. A blur.

There didn't seem to be any time for anything. I look back at our calendar and see that life was mostly busy with managing Victoria's health. You'll see in a minute why.

I love this lilac bush that came with the house. I love to put my face in the blooms and just inhale.

It is very calming to me. They are beautiful to look at too.

We started the month with Church Camp. Cache Cowboy Church paired up with Wasatch Cowboy Church for a weekend of fun. We were supposed to actually camp but Victoria had her infusion that Friday and then we just couldn't get our act together. So we drove home and came back the next morning. I love these people! Our lives are better because of Pastor Larry and Lily.

And Jerry of course. Jerry is an amazing musician. Kirk even got up there and sang along while Jerry played. 

You can't have Church Camp without a craft. This was a hit! We made string art crosses on old wood. 

Alex hasn't been doing very well. He's really weak. His blood was so thin it was like Kool-Aid. It freaked me out. I looked at the Vet and he said "yep, it's not supposed to look like that". His x-ray showed Calcium balls in his gut. He is supposed to have surgery on them. I can't fathom him having surgery. He's too weak for surgery so being a reptile, we are giving him a fighting chance to see if they move out of his gut. He's 37 years old this year. I'm not ready to part ways with him yet so I am researching all that I can to help him.

4H Dog Camp was a huge success. We had so much fun!

Farm Kid knows how to drink out of the water jug!

Cleo has completely bonded with Victoria. She is amazing. She is glued to Victoria's side. This is Victoria's last summer of being a 4H youth. She is aging out after 10 years of being in the 4H Dog Program. And she has a wonderful new dog to finish out the last of her shows.

Victoria and I saw this and found it ironic. Victoria looked at it and thought it was stupid. She said, "Have you seen my LIFE? it's a MESS!"

My little Lightning Bug always up for a hug and a squeeze!

I love these Peonies. They are so pretty

We had so much snow this past winter and in to spring that I heard that Green Canyon had water in it. I have NEVER seen water in Green Canyon, Victoria can't quite hike with an abdominal drain in place and Daphne's got complications of UC so Doug and I went on our own. I could have stayed up there for hours and just never come home. It was beautiful and refreshing to be up there.

I have such a need to be in the trees. I would much rather be in the mountains than anything else.

That's a lot of water coming down from snow melt.

Doug is funny, he will sniff EVERYTHING on the way up the trail. If it's a down and out type trail when we turn around, he barely sniffs anything on the way back. He's already smelled it all I guess. So hiking up the trail, it takes us FOREVER because he has to sniff everything. On the way down, it takes us no time at all to get back. He makes an amazing companion. He's well loved.

Victoria baked Jasper a Birthday Cake for his 6th Birthday. He is quite the character. He's totally waiting for her to say Okay.

Here, he's huffing because she is taking too long and he wants to have a bite of his cake. He's like, come on!

Victoria has started with infusion of IV fluids several times a week now. So now we go in to the infusion center at the hospital for 3 hours at a time. It has definitely helped but trying to make time for this 9 hours out of the week is something else. It is helping with the nausea and abdominal pain though so it is completely worth it.  Not quite how I thought this summer was going to go.

Doug likes to hang out with me in the morning while I get ready for the day. I think he doesn't understand how big he really is. I'm surprised that he actually fits on the bath mat.

God always has a plan. And it is always a good one.  Victoria started with Home Health to get her IV fluids now. Chad, an RN, stops by once a week to check on things. I just give her the fluids at home. SO much easier now. It can be done around her schedule. No more spending hours in the infusion center. She is so much more comfortable too. What a blessing! It comes in handy with me being a nurse too.

Cache Cowboy Church was in the Pony Express Days in Clarkston. It was fun, got to meet lots of new people. The kids loved it.

Cleo is obsessed with toys, especially balls. She's too tired to play but determined to hold her toy.

I was sitting at the picnic table eating my lunch, reading a book and Merk jumped up on to the table, and layed his head on my book. I'm thinking that he wants my attention.....what do you think?

Another beautiful Peony. This one is my favorite. It's very frilly