Family Pictures

I finally decided that we needed new family pictures.  I waited until after Christmas to post them because we were giving them as gifts also.  Well, I ordered the pictures online at Walmart and I have still not received those pictures.  They said they were mailed on the 16th and they even charged my card, and still no pictures.  Well, I have blogging to do, so I can't wait any longer or I am going to be really behind.  So, I guess if my loved ones see this then so be it, SURPRISE.  We went out to my friend Becky's house and she very kindly took the pictures for us and it was freezing!!  But, I think they turned out pretty good under the circumstances.

Needless to say they were not very happy that I was making them sit in the snow.  I don't know what they were complaining about, at least I let them sit on their coats since I wouldn't let them wear them.

I did give in at one point and let them warm up a little.  I am so nice, don't you think?  Rays head for some reason, blended in with the sky on a lot of the pictures.  But, they still look pretty good.

For some reason Ray has a habit of tilting his head during pictures.  Becky had to keep reminding him to keep his head straight.  But, aren't they cute?

Another Day in the Life of the Youngs.....

So, here are some of the details of Rays visits to the hospital recently.  I knew the week of Thanksgiving Ray wasn't feeling very well.  He had called me several times and said that he felt he had another kidney stone.  He came home on Wednesday while I was still at work and took some pain pills and went to sleep.  He was asleep when I got home and slept until about midnight and then he starting tossing and turning.  At 2:30 a.m. he finally decided I needed to take him to the hospital.  He knew what the problem was and so they gave him pain meds as soon as he got there and then they did the tests.  They found out he had a 9 mm kidney stone and told him that he should probably stay in the hospital so he could stay on morphine until they could get him into the urologist in Idaho Falls (nope Rexburg doesn't have one) and kidney stones really aren't an emergency so they weren't going to get us one on Thanksgiving.  Anyway he stayed until Friday morning at Madison Memorial and then I took him to EIRMC.  They admitted him and then the doctor came to see him and they decided to put in a stint and then go from there.  The best option was to wait until a Thursday when the lythotripsy (laser) machine comes to town so they could break it up.  So, that is what we did and normally they can go home the same day of placing a stint, but they couldn't regulate his oxygen levels so he had to spend the night.  I brought him hom on Saturday and he stayed home from work for the week.  On Thursday I took him back down to the hospital and they did the lythotripsy to break it up.  That went much better and I was able to bring him home that day.  The worst part about it is that we heard that the procedure will cost $10,000 and we got the bill for his first stay at EIRMC and it was $9,600.  Thank goodness for insurance.  He was able to go back to work the week after on light duty and now he is feeling better.  They did call him during this last week and he has something wrong with his liver so he is going in the day after Christmas for an ultrasound to figure that out.  So, yes the saga continues.  But, we are thankful for all the blessings we have received and we realize how truly blessed we are each day.  Thanks for everyone's prayers and well wishes, you are all amazing.  

Thanksgiving?? Yes we are thankful!!

So this is where we started Thanksgiving this year.....yet another Holiday in the Hospital.  One of these days I will post all of the hospital visits on here for you all to see.  It has been quite the fun at many times I must say.  Kinlee really struggles when her dad isn't feeling well, so we didn't stay long at the hospital and then went up to moms for Thanksgiving "dinner" (lunch).  Ray was fine with that, because he was doped out on Morphine.  I guess I should tell those of you who don't know that Ray had a 9mm kidney stone and the morning, early morning 2:00 a.m. I took him to the hospital because he was in so much pain.  I will continue with the rest of that story on my next post, because it was over a week long battle, different hospitals....different procedures and lots of fun, yes I am calling it fun!!

 

All of us kids were at moms except Merrill & Linda and their family.  Also, Ashlin had to work on Friday, so she stayed in Utah.  But, we had so much fun, including the baby there was 25 of us in all.  Ray would have made 26 if he would have been there with us.  We cooked or should I say mom cooked 2 turkeys and several pies.  And of course all of the other yummy stuff. 

KaReena, Kelsie, Sydni, Jerika, Gma, Gpa

Brayli, Gaven, Kinlee, me and Kelsie

We all ate in the big family room.

Tragen, Peyton, Lydia, Dax & Brayli looked like they were all ready first.

Kelsie, Some Weirdo, Nakia, me & Another weirdo

Blake & Cindy

Shelby & Anita

Ma & Pa

KaReena & Brian

All of us kids, minus Merrill.  (The picture is just a little off center, but I won't judge, I obviously can't take all the pictures.)

All of us with mom and dad.  I am pretty sure I am trying to look like I am not the shortest.  Nakia was up on the couch, and I was on my tippy toes.  But, it is the sad truth that I am the shortest sibling.  At this point we hadn't starting eating yet and some people were getting a little frustrated.

Rylen & Cody.  Hopefully I was able to get pictures of everyone!!  It was a really fun day.  We each brought a craft for the little kids to do, so that kept them busy and the big kids kind of helped.  Then when we got done with all of that, we went back to the hospital to spend the evening with Ray.  He was still pretty tired and a little out of it, but we stayed for a little while and then went home.

Fastest photo shoot ever

Doug and Tara (Allisa's sister) wanted their pictures taken the weekend Mya got baptized and it was so cold.  But, we did take a few pictures even though we were all freezing.  Poor kids, they were such troopers.

Nakia's family

What a crazy Thanksgiving!!!!

I will post some pictures when I download them.  I am just really thankful for my family and that Ray is feeling better.  I am also thankful for good friends.  This week should be a continuation of the craziness, but I guess I wouldn't know how to handle life if everything ran smoothly all the time.  Thanks again to everyone for your prayers and everything else.

Halloween

So, I put these pictures on here the other day and didn't have time to write anything with them.  Well, I am at the hospital with Ray right now and I have a little time on my hands, so I am going write something now.  I wish I had my sd card and I could update through today, but just my luck.

For Halloween, Kinlee went to the sugar city trunk or treat with Nakia and I watched baby Gaven.  I know I really got the sweet end of that deal!!  Then we went to moms house for dinner.  I just barely noticed when I posted this picture that Ben is holding Lydia up in the background.  He is always good for some kind of laugh during picture time. 

Baby Gaven with mom, isn't he so cute!!  He had the worst cough and he didn't have a voice, he had this really quiet sad voice when he cried.  Broke my heart.

Grandpa just loves me when I take his picture.  I know I have said this before, but he likes it even more when I post his picture on the internet.  The good thing about that is he doesn't ever read my blog so he doesn't know he is on here unless someone else tells him.  So mums the word.

What cute people I have in my life!!

Jerika's performances

Can you see Jerika in this picture?  Doesn't she look thrilled?

Here is Jerika's new high school and below is the auditorium - it is huge.

This is the singing group that she is in at Madison that she had to try out for.  I think she likes it and in December they are going to Utah to perform.  I am pretty sure I get to go with them, so that will be fun....for me anyway.  Jerika said she wants me to go too and she knows it will be much more fun if I am going. LOL

This is her solo performance for her voice class.  She sings so well, but really quietly, so it was pretty hard to hear her.  But, she did it next time I am going to put the microphone much closer to her mouth while she is singing.  I am quite certain with that little threat on the table she will make sure she sings as loud as I know she can, because she does at home frenquently.

Place clever heading here.....

So as I was surfing other blogs today, I was thinking, wow they are behind, they are just posting Halloween pictures.  Well, guess what I am even behinder than that.  So, I thought I better update my blog so I am not so far behind.  Also while I was reading other blogs, it kind of made me jealous that I am not clever with my words.  I can talk a mean talk, but when it comes to writing things down, I could be much more witty, but this is what you get.

This is Jerika and Sam.  I am pretty sure this is the first time introducing Sam on here.  He is Jerika's "friend".  She says he is her best friend and we haven't quite figured out yet what that means.  All I know is there is a whole bunch less drama when she hangs out with him than other girls.  But, it also makes me a little nervous too.  But, we like him and he has been good for her.

Kinlee didn't want to carve pumpkins, she didn't feel very well.  But, in looking at this picture now, I am thinking maybe she was faking.  Jerika and Sam went to get the pumpkins and they got her one too, however, this is not a time honored tradition in our home.  As a matter of fact I think we have only carved pumpkins one other time, so maybe she just didn't care one way or the other.

This was the other pumpkin and I am not sure how we did it, but we convinced Ray to carve it and he was such a good sport (at least according to the pictures I am posting, I didn't post the other ones where he didn't look very happy about his task.)

One of these days I am going to figure out why my chin looks red and blotchy in every picture I am in.  I really can't see those blotches in the mirror and if anyone else has noticed them in person, I wish you would tell me, at least then I would know they are really there in real life.

We all did have fun (I had fun watching).  And it was fun to spend some time with Sam.

Girls Day Out

Whenever Christopher & Banks in the mall has a sale, at least one of us get a personal phone call letting us know about it.  Well, this one was the best phone call........50% off the entire store..... and even better, only the people that got the call knew about the sale for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.  So, mom, Nakia, KaReena and I went to the mall Monday morning and checked out the sale.  I took the day off, KaReena went in late, Ben went in late to work so that Nakia could go with us and since mom is retired, she was totally willing, eager and ready. 

We had one of the bought something at one of those little stores in the middle of the mall, so the guy was totally willing to take our picture.  Then after shopping we went to lunch at Panda Express.  It was such a fun day and I think between all of us we saved at least $200.00 which made it all worth while.

THANKS GUYS IT WAS SO MUCH FUN!!  LOVE YA