Since my life is getting more and more chaotic, especially towards the end of the day, I have decided that I need to spend several days making a bunch of meals and putting them in the freezer. That way, I actually get to spend quality time with Carson, instead of stressing over dinner and then taking care of Hallie. Also, for days that our life is a little unpredictable, it would be really nice to be able to just pull out a meal mostly made and cook it. It will be easier for Derrick as well when he is in charge at night. So, I am looking for your favorite recipes that freeze easily. They don't have to be fancy or anything, just something that is fairly easy to make and freeze and add an ingredient or two as you are cooking the meal. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!
All Carson wanted to do was go to the Balloon Races. So, we got up early-- 3:30 to be exact. We were at the high school to get on the shuttle at 4:15. Our good friends, the Pringles, came with us, as well as my mom. This was our first time going to the Balloon Races and I wasn't sure what to expect. It was extremely early and when we saw the Glow Show, we were all a little disappointed. Why exactly did we get up that early? It was two balloons that would flash their fire in tune to music. Not that big of a hit with us. When Dawn Patrol started, it was a little more interesting. There were supposed to be 5 balloons, but 1 had technical problems, so only 4 balloons went up. It was pretty cool to see the balloons against such a dark background, but we were still a little frustrated that we had gotten up that early. By 6:00 Dawn Patrol was over, and Mass Ascension didn't start for an hour, so we broke off in groups. Derrick, Jaime and the older boys all went to walk among the balloons. They got to talk to some of the pilots and said that was pretty cool. My mom and I took Hallie and Tucker and stood in line FOREVER for some hot chocolate and donuts. We were less than impressed at this point.
However, when 100 balloons started filling up, it started to get very interesting. It was so cool to watch and fun to see the kids expressions, as well as see which balloons caught their interests. When all 100 balloons started going up at the same time, it was pretty amazing. It turned out to be a very fun morning and we are glad we went, but even more glad that it only happens once a year!
Dawn Patrol
Cole and Carson
Grammy and Hallie-- what a good sport!
I have to say this was one of my favorite things. It was the day after the 9/11 anniversary and it was pretty incredible to watch the flag being raised. I thought of how all of us felt the day after it happened-- shocked, but determined to move forward and not let it ruin us as a nation. In a lot of ways, I felt like our nation truly showed what we were made of in those few days following the tragedy, so it was very inspiring to me to see the flag raised and hear the national anthem sung, and have many of those feelings stirred inside of me.
This was Derrick's favorite part. I think they are old WWII fighter jets and he was in heaven!
Cole, Carson, and Chase
Jaime and her boys Cole and Chase
Tucker and his daddy
As Hallie's health has taken a nose dive in the last year, it has become apparent that her medical problems are no longer going to be a matter of just managing the damage already done. We are fighting for her life to be at least somewhat normal and the medical expenses just keep piling up. Add that to the fact that we now have to travel between Reno and Salt Lake to get her the care she needs, our expenses are quickly out stripping our financial means. It has been extremely hard for Derrick and I to admit that we can't do this on our own, but it has reached the point that we have to reach out for help. We have created Helping Hallie as a means to help us raise money in her behalf.
We have created a website www.helpinghallie.com that tells her whole story as well as give information on upcoming fundraisers and ways to donate. We have had t-shirts printed and will be adding those to the website shortly as well.
Our kickoff event was a yard sale. We figured it would be a way to ask for help that most anyone could help in this economy. We were hoping to raise enough money to pay for a trip to Salt Lake and it quickly turned into something so much more. We have been completely overwhelmed by the response. We had people donating items to the point that our garage was full, our house was full (17 clothing racks stuffed full of clothes), and our neighbor's garage was full. We had incredibly support getting things organized. There were between 5-8 people a day here sorting, organzing and pricing items. It was amazing. We had a ton of people here setting up and Derrick even slept out over night to "protect" things so that we didn't have to do all of the set up that morning. I was overwhelmed by how many people came to help us work the sale and it was a HUGE success.
Channel 4 News showed up towards the end of our sale and we still had so many things that we agreed to do again the next weekend so that they could advertise it. I think we must be insane! Now, we had a yard sale a few months ago with just our stuff, so I was pretty sure that I knew how this sort of thing worked. People find stuff, bargain for it, then pay you for it and you never see them again. That is so not how it worked. People would find a few things, pay us double what we asked in a lot of cases, left, and then came back with boxes full of things to donate. It was incredible! We did it both Friday and Saturday and Friday we sold about $500 worth of stuff and inherited probably 3x that much. I can't even tell you how overwhelmed we have been by the outpouring of love, concern, and support on our behalf. We have been able to pay off some of her bills and have a reserve for future travel.
Unfortunately, it looks like we may be dipping into that reserve sooner rather than later. Hallie has had continual problems and it has reached a point where we have decided to surgically implant a central line in her chest and start her on TPN (nutrition through an iv). It has been a hard decision for us to make because TPN can cause liver damage as well as the central line will get infected. She won't be able to go swimming or take more than a sponge bath. She is going to be on TPN 3 days a week for 12 hours at night. The other days she will be hooked up to her feeding tube and get extra nutrition that way. She is being put on a probiotic to encourage good bacteria to grow in her intestines in hopes of killing of the overgrowth of bad bacteria in there. We are switching her to a very basic formula in hopes that it will be easier on her intestines to digest. We will be cutting her back to 2 meals a day as well. The overall goal is to give her intestines a break and see if they will start functioning better.
It's been very emotional at our house the last few weeks as we have had to face the fact that Hallie is going to continue having problems and to try and figure out how best to treat her and help her through this, as well as prepare for what the future may bring financially. If you have a chance, take a look at her website www.helpinghallie.com. If you can donate, it would be greatly appreciated. If you can forward her website to your friends, that would be fabulous as well. Thank you guys! We wouldn't be able to do this without you.
My brother and sister in-law decided that they wanted to come out and go camping at Tahoe, so they came out the end of August. Cody, Heather and Tatum came with us while we camped along the Truckee River, just a few miles from Tahoe. It was absolutely beautiful and such a nice break from the chaos in our lives. We had a great time and appreciate their efforts to stay close with us! Thanks for coming and feel free to come back again anytime soon!
