Long Time No Blog....

Yes, it has been way too long since I have updated this blog. We are busy, busy as usual. Kelly coaching, Jake and Kaitlyn growing. Time seems to fly. I am honestly going to try harder to keep this blog current! Jake is in 7th grade now. A middle schooler!! He loves it, especially since he gets to spend the day at the same school as his dad. Since he is with Kelly and they start earlier than Kaitlyn and I, we are a house divided in the mornings. Kaitlyn and I get up a little later, and I have really enjoyed our girl time together. But the evenings we are back to one, big, happy basketball family. Year round. For example, last night we had a pumpkin carving party with some of the girls from Kelly's team. We LOVE these girls. They are such a great group and a pleasure to be around. Everyone who knows me knows that I love fall, and I love carving pumpkins. And was it ever interesting!! We were cleaning out our pumpkins on the front deck and we ended up getting into a pumpkin gut fight! And yes, it was kind of gross. But listening to everyone laugh, Jake, Kaitlyn, and my basketball girls, the mess was well worth it. Check out the mayhem below. I will try to get some pictures of the fabulous pumpkins on here later.

Everything started out normal, ha. Just cleaning out our pumpkins.

And then, things got crazy! All it took was one person tossing a few pumpkin guts...

And then it was everywhere!!!

I think the girls really enjoyed getting coach!

The aftermath....

And then, finally, all my girls (and Jake) come in and get cozy to watch a movie.

How lucky are we to have so much fun!! Happy Fall and early Halloween to everyone!

Welcome to Ketchikan Football

Some things can be a little different here in Ketchikan. Case in point: Ketchikan football. We don't play on a "field" here. Oh no. We don't have grass, turf, etc. We have an area with sand and rocks. Small rocks, mind you, but it's still rocks. As if that isn't enough, we don't exactly have great weather at this time of year. So tonight the family loaded up for a football game where not only were we going to cheer on our team, we were watching Kelly officiate. I had to laugh to myself. I've been to many football games, whether in high school or college. I remember picking out cute sweaters, shoes, and hats to not only keep my head warm but match whatever else I was wearing. I would also dress my kids warm, yet adorable. It's a completely different story here. We drag out all the rain gear we can find. We put on baseball caps, because lets face it, hair doesn't stand a chance. We put on our Xtra Tuff (it's a brand that's extremely popular here in Alaska) boots and grab umbrellas and we go stand, yes stand, because there aren't bleachers. Well, not right on the field anyway. It's also the baseball "field" so the bleachers are in weird locations. We stood out there in freezing, sideways rain for the entire game. We lost, but it was still fun to watch some football. And Kelly in his fabulous ref uniform. My kids are seriously impressive. Not one complaint the entire game. Talk about tough Alaska kids.

Kayhi getting ready to play.

My husband the ref!

It's hard to tell in this picture, but it's raining REALLY hard.

My two awesome kids. By the way, Jake is wearing his Husky hat and Kaitlyn is wearing her Cougar hat. We're equal opportunity Washington football supporters!

Adorable!

Lawnmower Man

I was going through my pictures on my iPhone and decided I had to put this on here. When we were in Oregon we were shooting around at this park where the grounds crew was mowing the lawn. Kelly kept saying all he wanted to do was ride the lawn mower. Finally he actually asked the guy and he said yes. So, here is a picture of my hilarious husband riding the lawn mower!!

Inspiration

As usual, I have been inspired by Stephanie. She changed her blog layout, and it looks great, so I'm being a follower and changing mine. I too have been known to change my furniture around quite a bit, but have not been able to due to the set up of our current living room. Plus, I am craving spring weather and it feels like it may never arrive (we had snow flurries again today). So this will have to do. 

Also, Kelly is doing much better. He is still tired and weak, but is improving all the time. Most of the swelling is gone and he can pretty much real food again. And, I promise, I will have a fun update with a picture of the kids in the next couple of days. So, here's hoping for spring weather, or at least temperatures above 40 degrees!

Home Sweet Home

Kelly is home. Those words never sounded so wonderful. After three trips to the hospital (including one that resulted in a 3 day, two night stay), tons of fluids and antibiotics via IV, and SURGERY, he's home!!! I didn't know what to expect when I got there this morning. He has been so out of it, weak and in more pain than he's ever been in. He hasn't been able to talk, eat or sleep. The left side of his neck was so swollen. When I arrived and saw him up, walking around, talking normal and pretty much all of the swelling gone I nearly fell over! Of course, at that point he was like get me out of here NOW! But we waited for the doctor, got him checked out, picked up his meds, and now he is sleeping peacefully on the couch. I have always known infection is so bad for you, but I never realized how quickly it progresses and causes the body to deteriorate. So scary! We learned our lesson, that's for sure. And now the next step, on doctor's orders, is to get Kelly's tonsils out when he gets healed up. Whew! Now that all that scariness is over, I will make sure the next post is something fun with a picture of the kids or something!!!!!!!

Hospital = Unhappy Kelly

Kelly's tough. Seriously, I have never seen anything like it. A couple of summers ago he cut his finger at his summer job. He had to get stitches inside and outside his finger. When I got to the clinic he was standing there consoling his boss. That's my husband. So when he started feeling sick Saturday, I just figured it was his four year strep episode. Then Monday morning he couldn't swallow. "I'm not going to the ER" he says, and I tell him to just get it over with and so we go and he gets a shot of penicillin like he always does. Then Tuesday morning, he still couldn't swallow. At this point he hadn't eaten since Saturday, and couldn't even get water down. "I'm not going back" he says, and I tell him that this time they will get it right, and finally, he goes. They give him fluids via IV, plus antibiotics and some stuff for pain. This is it, I'm thinking, it's all going to be good from here on out. So by today, he still couldn't swallow. The left side of his neck is so swollen and I start to realize there is something really wrong here. He's been on meds since Monday and can't swallow! So I ask him to go back. Kelly's response: "I have been there twice this week and had an IV for the first time in my life. There is no way I'm going back. EVER".  So what to do? I sat here all day and finally begged him to go back in. It took some work but he went. We got there at 5:30 and I left him, as an admitted patient, at 10:00. Come to find out his tonsil is infected. They're keeping an eye on him tonight and if it's not better in the morning, they're going to take further action. It was so strange to see my big, strong, tough husband laying in that hospital room. The nurse came in to ask him questions and one of them (off the sheet, for real) was how do you feel about being in the hospital? Kelly's response? It f-ing sucks. Here's hoping it was the morphine talking! The moral of this long story is that I realized that women's intuition doesn't end with their children. It extends to their husbands also. I dreaded making Kelly go back, and he was pretty mad at me, but when I think about that infection getting worse, and his throat swelling up more and effecting his breathing.....awful. So everyone say a prayer for Kelly, and for his nurses too because the title of this post couldn't be more true. 

Good As New Again (We Hope)

Kelly Update: So after another night of no sleep and a lot of pain, my poor husband was in the ER again this morning. I couldn't believe it, but he was actually worse. But after an hour of IV to rehydrate him, and another IV of antibiotics, I think he's finally on the road to recovery. I will say this: Kelly only gets this once every four years, but it's like he gets four years' worth of being sick at once. It's awful. He's one of the toughest guys I know, and he can't eat or drink for days. But I'm looking at him right now, and he's sitting up and somewhat functioning again. Now if we can just get him some color in that face.....

Um, Seriously?

If you know me at all, you know how much I detest pictures of myself. Seriously, I have always hated how I look. So this morning, after taking Kelly to the ER I get home, sit down, and check out Stephanie's blog. Which I do daily at least once because I'm kind of a stalker. Anyway, the page loads and here is a cute picture of Stephanie, tagging me to take a picture of myself. Um, what?? So I just kind of laugh it off and move on to Facebook (I have that problem also), but then I start thinking...maybe I should just do it. After all, it said triple dawg dare, and that's pretty serious. So, my dear Stephanie, this is for you. No makeup, horrid hat, and next to no sleep. And seriously. I hate pictures of myself. This is how much I love you. Kelly is fine by the way. It's his every four year strep episode. Shot of penicillin and good as new. As for who to tag, hmmmmm, I can't really come up with anyone right now, but I will think about it.

Basketball Boys

We had quite the weekend! Kayhi swept Juneau, which doesn't happen very often people! Jake had a game Saturday, and after a pep talk from Grandpa Mike had a great game! It never gets old watching my basketball boys tear it up on the court! 

My husband....

Is a awesome father. Look at these two cuties! At the gym at 8:00 am to watch/support their Dad's team in the tournament (and they didn't go to bed until almost 11:00 the night before!).

Is an awesome coach! Look at these two boys! Dunking in the dunk contest in the Clark Cochrane classic! These boys have been coached by Kelly since Junior High. Yes, my husband is awesome!!!