The beauty of California

A few weekends ago, Blair and I took off for California. His good friend decided to get baptized and wanted him to do the honors. She, Diane, lives in Dublin in the ward of my college roommate, Amy, who happens to be the Relief Society President. Small world, huh? It was an amazing weekend including a short outing to San Francisco complete with a ride on the cable car and lunch at Fisherman's Wharf in the shadows of palm trees. We reconnected with some dear friends, relaxed, slept in, and drove with the car windows down.

While Chicago is a friendly place to live, the weather here is crummy. Especially in January. We left -10 degrees for 65 ish. I had forgotten what clean cars and green hills look like. I didn't remember sun actually giving off warmth either. The flowers smelled amazing and we walked around without coats. We put our feet in the ocean - all in all a fabulous weekend and very therapeutic.

LAUREN TURNS 16 YEARS OLD!!

Looking back on Lauren's life.... what a journey she has had.!!Summertime 1993 - Lauren was such a fun new baby. It was amazing to watch her grow and learn and change.
August 1994 - 19 months old. This is just a few days after Lauren's 1st transplant. It was a miracle to watch as her coloring, energy and personality improved within days of receiving a perfectly-working heart.

January 1996 - 3 years old - one of the last times she let mom choose her dresses for her.

1998 - 5 Years old and sweet as can be.

October 1999 - Never has a child been so excited to start 1st grade!! After a scary rejection episode in August of that year, Lauren had to be home-tutored the first few months. It was so disappointing. All of her immunosuppression meds had to be boosted, thus the chubby cheeks.

May 2000 - 7 years old and so excited to be a big sister to Nathan!

8 years old. Lauren did take ballet for a season. Every mother dreams of watching her girls in a dance recital. I did get to see one or two. Lauren just didn't have the endurance to be able to stick with it.

Jan 2005 - 6th Grade and feeling great. (12 years old)

Dec 2006 - The post-chemo hairdo. Lauren hates this picture, but I love how she is still smiling - that speaks volumes about her life.

14 years old - Jan 2007 - using a wig/hat combo to cover the bald head.

November 26, 2007 - shortly after midnight - just after getting the phone call about a heart, 3rd time around. She doesn't look like she has a terribly diseased and damaged heart, does she?

November 2007 - A few days post-transplant. Looking back, it is hard to believe all those wires and tubes ever got disconnected.

Spring 2008 - This is Lauren's transplant cardiologist, Dr. Pahl, the brains behind everything good that has happened to Lauren since we moved to Chicago in Jan 2007.

Now look at skinny Lauren with her beautiful straight long hair, free of steroids, driving us all out to dinner for her 16th birthday. I am so grateful to be her mom - she is such an example of faith and optimism and courage.

..and then there is Lauren

After the family trip to Bear Lake, Lauren flew to Seattle to go to EFY all by herself. She had a fantastic summer! July 23rd was a big day. Her post-chemo hair was finally long enough to pull back in a ponytail, it was her first day in 10+ years when she didn't have to take a steroid, and a week before she got braces put on her teeth. Little did we know, it was the last day she would feel very good for a long time.

Lauren was scheduled for right femoral artery bypass surgery on her leg on Aug 6th... supposedly a 2 day hospital stay and a short recovery. Well, she has spent 38 days in the hospital during 7 different admissions over the past 3 months. While other kids are going to school, Lauren has missed 80% of schooldays but finds time to do homework on the 5th floor at Children's Memorial Hospital.

After leg surgery, cellulitis, C-Diff, lots of pain, a colonoscopy, several episodes of dehydration, pancreatitis, lymphedema, blood transfusions, many gastrointestinal problems, multiple antibiotics, eosiniphilic enteritis, and analyzing all kind of bodily fluids, she still smiles and tries to get through each day.

Blair and Bear Lake

Blair is the kindest, most unselfish person I know. He always is looking for the good in everyone and is forever the optimist.

For those of you who know Blair well, you know that water outings are not his favorite thing. But when you are at a lake this beautiful, even he couldn't resist. He spent his birthday riding around on a Sea-Doo and even took a turn driving the boat. Just goes to show you are never too old to try something new.

MEGAN

You would be hard-pressed to find any 11 year old girl who works as hard and long as Megan does. Blair's project of burying the sump pump line took many hours of hard work and Megan stayed with him for as long as she was allowed.

The best part of the Bear Lake trip for Megan was playing with her cousins, but here is a brief moment when she was enjoying the boat rides.

Megan is awesome. She made the 6/7 grade basketball team as a 6th grader. She certainly wasn't chosen for her height. But the coach loved having Megan on the team. She just "gets it." Not to mention her amazing shooting ability.

ROAD TRIP - JUNE 2008

Road Trip - packing, unpacking, different bed every night, hours and hours of togetherness, driving and driving and driving some more, only periodic whining, lots of sightseeing, and great memories!!





















Do you know how much flatland there is between Chicago and Utah? There are also tons of working windmills, antelope and prairie dogs. We passed acres and acres of corn as well.
Nathan was studying state capitals in school, so we tried to hit as many of those as we could. We were grateful to be driving a nice, air conditioned van as we visited several church history sites and learned more about the pioneers.


























Mount Rushmore and the Badlands of South Dakota were really amazing. To think they have survived all these years......

We drove through 8 states, clocked over 4,000 miles, ate tons of snack food and finally arrived at our destination in Utah. It was a victory - the keys to success were switching seats often, froot loop necklaces, frequent potty breaks, staying wide awake while tensely watching our 15 year old navigate semi trucks and construction zones, and having 6 people with a great sense of humor.

Our May Birthdays

Nathan was baptized on May 25th.

The only part he was nervous about was the water temperature. Blair has been his primary teacher and did a great job of having him prepared for such an important day. His new favorite sport is rock climbing, and he's getting higher each time he tries.

Rachel turned 13 this year. We had a blast taking her to a photo shoot. We can always tell when Rachel gets home - a wave of energy goes swarming through the house. Rachel is all about the trumpet lately. She auditioned for a state band in the beginning of October, and made one of the first few chairs, had a big jazz band solo, started private lessons, and is in the pit band at school for Annie the musical.