Cervical Dystonia

So I thought I would give an update on what has kept us busy these days. As some of you know Steve's neck has been bothering him for some time. Since we moved it has progressively gotten worse. But In the last few months it seems to worsen at an even quicker rate. He had been seeing a Spine and neck specialist and now a Neurologist. He has been diagnosed with Cervical Dystonia. This is involuntary jerking of the head and neck. His case happens to be extremely painful. In fact he has been unable to work for 3 weeks and for 2 weeks he could not get out of bed. He has a hard time driving and can't drive most of the time and eating is a challenge. It looks similar to Parkinsons. We have found that this permanent and may continue to get worse. We will be searching for ways to lessen the pain and the jerking and learn how to control it as much as possible, but there really isn't much known about this and it is different for everyone. Today he flew back to Utah to work and is tired and sore, but I know he is glad to be working. I just wanted to thank all of you that have had us in your prayers. We know this is only the beginning. Steve is so amazing. Even with the excruciating pain he is in he never complains and just keeps on going. We love him and appreciate all that he does for our family. The kids are handling it great and have pitched in so much. There are many u- tube videos about this. He is in about the middle of the 2 extremes. Not mild, but certainly not the worst. And during all of this, in May Steve took back Xavier in Utah so he travels there during the week and comes home to CO for the weekend. Anyway we love all of you and miss and family and friends that we are away from.

Tornado's in Parker, CO

So what was expected to be a mild Sunday afternoon, ended up in a running to the basement and hoping we would still have a roof. This is one of 2 tornado's that we were in the middle of. They were about 5-10 miles from our house. Needless to say that is not far enough away for me, when it comes to tornado's. We were a little freaked out, but it made us realize that we are NOT ready for emergency preparedness.

Dalin's 8th Birthday August 16, 2008

Dalin celebrated his 8th birthday at Alpha Gymnastics. This was a lot of fun after weeks of watching the Olympics. The favorite was the Trampoline jumping into the foam pit.

FINALLY

Well we finally sold our house in Spanish Fork. As sad as it was, we are so glad to not have to worry about it any more. Down side---Steve doesn't have anywhere to live since he is traveling to Utah each week to work. My mom and dad are so great and letting him bunk up with them until he finds somewhere.
Summer has been quick for us Ashlyn and Dalin went back to school on the 7th of July. It doesn't feel right to send them off to the bus while Madi and Mitch snooze in their beds. I am sure we will get used to it soon though.

Ashlyn Singing at a Rockies Game

This is Ashlyn in the middle of the Jumbo screen
. Her School Choir sang the national anthem at
a rockies game on May 28th. It was so awesome.
WOW what an experience. We were so excited for
her and of course we got to stay and watch the game.

King of the Mountain

Madison and friend Shana dueling for the lead at the playground. I so glad to see my children are growing up!!!

Summer is here

Well summer is here and we are so glad. We spent our 1st week in Utah. Madi went to EFY at BYU with cousins Courtney and Christiaan and the rest of us played with friends and cousins. It is great to see everyone. We had a big scare on the way home. My mom had a heart attack while visiting Scott in California. The doctors say she will have a complete recovery and we are so glad that Dad, Scott and Lisa are taking care of her. It really made us think about our lives. So new family goal this summer we are all going biking or jogging every day, starting tomorrow. (we will see how it goes.