Christmas Down Der…….on da San Juan…..

Two weekends ago Christmas came early for me! (By the way this is Ty! I am hijacking my wifes blog...) I chose to fish the San Juan River in New Mexico with my brother Damon and brother in-laws Chris and Tyson. We found a weekend that would work for all…and put it on the calendar. Thus the planning began this included travel arrangements, fly tying and endless reading of forums to get the low down on what was happening on the Juan. The last time I fished this river I went three days with only three fish, my dad went three days with no fish so YES to say the least this was a very intimidating river for me. With the plans in place and the endless notes taken we were ready!

(Fish Eating Midges on top of the Water)

We were ready until the night before when the dreaded phone call came from Chris, he was stuck in Scranton Pennsylvania because of freezing rain. (Chris is a pilot) We weren’t sure if he was going to get out of there…. best case scenario was he would be able to fly into Durango Colorado Friday morning the worst case was that he wouldn’t make it at all. We hoped for the best and went forward with the plans. All day Thursday we weren’t sure what was going to happen and then finally after sitting on the plane for over two hours I get this text from Chris “Later Scranton” from then on I knew we were going to have a great weekend.( Who said that singing “I have Sunshine in my soul today…”) wouldn’t work?
We definitely made it a fun filled two days packed with fishing, traveling, comedy and just a “good ol time!” We left Thursday after work for a seven hour journey that quickly turned into eight and a half hours since we stopped at the Gallup Wal-Mart. With a grocery cart full of food diet Pepsi and fishing license we were on our way to Farmington New Mexico and the San Juan. We arrived at 2:30 a.m and just as we hit the sack Chris was getting up and flying to Denver. After a few hours of sleep and a good breakfast we found our way to Durango Colorado to pick up Chris at the airport and shortly after we were off to river.
Everything was falling into place, not as planned but it all came together. The first day offered up few fish but the ones that were caught were nice fish that were worth the effort that we put in. We finished the evening with all of us catching fish Chris and I hooked into two very nice fish as Damon held his own. I think Tyson spent most of his time tying up his fly’s for some reason he kept loosing them somewhere along the way of our travels. Hungry and cold (From sitting in 40 degree water all day) we thought we would drive the 45 min. to eat at Costa Vita’s. This was well worth the drive in and so was our trip to Wal-Mart for some hand warmers. On our three minute drive to the Farmington Walmart Chis was telling us about a time when he was in the checkout aisle there. There was a Navajo man he started talking to and he asked him where he lived...he said "Kayenta". He asked what he was buying...he said "Dog food"....I asked if he had driven all the way from Kayenta (130 miles away) to purchase dog food only....he answered, "They don't have big bags of dog food in Kayenta"....So it was upon entering Walmart that it all came together. Right in front of us, an old Navajo was man pushing a shopping cart with nothing in it but 1 large bag of dog food....Classic

The next day we had success and a lot of fun we all had caught fish and had some great laughs. I have to mention that on the trip home we hit some bad snow and winds on the rim. After sometime Damon couldn’t handle the snow in the headlights and became deathly sick. After three stops we were able to get him to sleep so we could get home. Thanks to Damon, Tyson and Chris for a great weekend I am still recovering after getting home at 4:00 a.m. on Sunday morning.

(Lucky Catch!)

(When all goes well you catch ....)

(This And these lead to....)

(This....)

(And this........)

(Not sure what he's measuring......)

(This guy must be endorsed by Orvis or maybe he is just rich!)

El Cash-O . . . Numero Uno

So I guess I have more catching up to do than I thought. Sorry. This was Cash's official first birthday party which due to strep throat we had to postpone until Nov 22. It was so much fun. Ty's parents have moved out to some wide open space and it is always fun to go out there and play. We ate yummy Sweet Pork Salad and had Aunt Shawna's famous mint oreo icecream cake for dessert. The kids had a blast. Needless to say, Cash made a haul. He deserves it I guess. Thanks everyone for your help. Unfortunately my picture taking skills are suffering because I am noticing a lot of blur, red eye, and things I wish I would've photographed but didn't. I'll do better next time.

Ty was in charge of the activities which proved to be quite entertaining. There was an equestrian course where the kids (and some adults) had to complete jumps, turns, and direction changes. Hilarious. I give the gold to Tony on that one.
This is Ty demonstrating the course to the contestants. I always wanted to marry a cowboy.

Quad riding. Lucy looks dressed to ride on the back of a carriage doesn't she?
It wouldn't be a day at the Wheeler's without some random creature being captured. Unfortunately this little guy lost his tail in the name of the children's curiousity but all his important parts are still in tact.
We also milked a cow (made from a diaper box, some wood, udders made from plastic gloves filled with water, and a balloon for a head). As you can see the head has shrunk and she is now udderless, but that is just what happens after you have kids. OH! bad dum schhhhh! (that was supposed to be the drum noise that you make after a funny joke)

And the crowd favorite, the rattlesnake stomp.
You tie a long balloon around each child's ankle (we just used curling ribbon), and the object is to run around and pop everyone's balloon without getting yours popped. Of course it was instant devastation to each child when their balloon was popped. Weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth is how I would describe it. So we played it a few times. Seriously hilarious. If you have a large group of children I highly recommend this for a good laugh.
Keane, although not the swiftest or trickiest, somehow ended up being the last one with his balloon still alive. This made the other children hot with anger and they all chased him in a furious mob. They ran fast. They stomped hard. But just as their feet would hit the pavement Keane's little stride would jerk his balloon just out of their reach. We were all in stitches. Maybe you had to be there but that is one memory that is burned in my brain and will always make me smile.

Opened presents.
Last but not least, the traditional dive in. READY--
SET--(he looks pretty focused doesn't he)GO--

I THINK HE LIKES IT!Happy Birthday Cash, we love your squinty mug!

In Honor of Twilight

So I have not read Twilight, but plan on doing so in the next couple of weeks. For all you junkies out there, Bella and Edward (Damon and Colleen) showed up at one of our Halloween parties. Enjoy the movie!
(And don't forget to comment and tell me how badly I need to read it, and that you will lend me your copy so that I can get started right away.)
Yes that is a bloody baby arm protruding from her truly pregnant belly! I guess that comes in a later book. Quite disturbing. Somewhere in their house is a wandering one-armed doll. Are you picturing Sid from Toy Story?

(She is due in February, even though she is not even showing yet-darn that skinny Colleen!)

Survival

What? I was busy doing dishes--okay?

He is one year old now, he can find his own dinner!

I think you know why the fruity pebbles are sticking to his face in that specific area.

Cash "Coopah Supah Doopah"

Today is the day. My baby is one! It has flown by. I guess this means I can't use the excuse that I just had a baby anymore. Dang it! That one was working so well for me! This little guy had quite an eventful beginning. And since by now you know that I like to tell a story, here comes another one.

So I am 2 weeks from my due date and I go into see the Doc. He says I am dialated to a 5 and asks, "Are you sure you aren't in labor?" Needless to say, after almost delivering Keane on the freeway, the fact that I live 30 minutes from the hospital, and I am already halfway dialated, Dr. said that he doesn't really feel good about sending me home and would I be interested in going over to the hospital and seeing if we could get things going. To the hospital you say? I just so happen to have a babysitter already lined up (thx Amanda and Susan!) and there is a suitcase in my car packed for three days. I think I am ready Doc! So I headed over to the hospital and after 30 minutes on the phone of trying to convince Tyler that I was truly at the hospital. He came to meet me. I was SIKED!!!

I am one of those sick people that loves labor. Maybe it is the distance runner in me, I don't know, but I love to see how the body and mind handles pain and overcomes it. I feel like labor is like a roller coaster, and as soon as it is over, I look forward to the next time I can do it again. I know, I have issues.

So the nurses were a little turbed that the doc had sent over an induction but he reassured them that I would go quickly. I could see the look in their eyes "sure that's what they all say" they were thinking. Well we got going on the pitocin and not much was happening. An hour went by and Dr. came to break my water on his lunch break. YES. Well things definitely started happening and FAST. After 30 minutes or so of some serious non stop contractions, I decided to ask for my epidural. I knew that I was not progressing as quickly as I thought and was thinking we would be laboring for a few more hours.

So I sit up, the anesthesiologist is cleaning my back and the nurse (very cute and nice girl named Brook Brown) is standing in front of me helping me to brace for the epidural. Epidural begins, needle goes in my back, and just as she is trying to find the "sweet spot" I feel a baby coming out. WHA?!?!?!? I grabbed nurse Brook's shoulders and looked up in panic. I had NEVER felt this feeling before, the urgency to push and not able to stop pushing. The nurse was shocked too, well after calling for backup and a couple minutes of panic while we got the epidural finished and I managed to keep the baby in, I flipped back onto my back and the nurse took a look. Sure enough, there was little Cash, RIGHT THERE and ready to go. So somewhere in that 30 minutes I managed to completely dialate and just didn't realize it until I sat up.

I was very excited. Then I was also disappointed, here again! I had gotten an epidural at the completion of my labor, when I did not need it! UGH! If I had only known that I was almost done. Baby #4 maybe. Anyhow, Cash came quickly and he came out crying. Music to a mother's ears. A sign that baby is strong and breathing and most likely healthy. Well they took him over to clean him off, and Ty took the video camera over to get some shots of our new little guy.

All of the sudden, the crying stopped. I watched the happenings over at the table where my new baby lay. My heart stopped as I notice the nurse trying everything to revive him and. . .nothing. 10 seconds...20 seconds...30 seconds and nothing. I felt completely helpless. He lay there limp and now purple as the nurse called for an EMT and bagged him in another attempt to bring Cash back to life. I looked at Ty and he read my thoughts which were, "turn off the camera, I don't want the death of my baby on film". Just after this, he gasped and began to cry again. OH RELIEF! He was back. They whisked him away to the NICU (newborn intensive care unit) for more tests and observation.

Turns out that a lot of babies that come out crying and then stop breathing end up having a serious heart valve defect. Everything will function normally in the womb and with the first few breaths but as the blood and oxygen begins to circulate through the body, everything malfunctions. They did chest x-rays and blood tests and everything came back normal. Phew. There was a problem though, since Cash decided to come through the chute at light speed, there was still a lot of fluid in his lungs, and he was having a lot of difficulty breathing. His breathing was very audible and labored and I could tell that each breath he took was serious work for him. They would have to observe him and let me know what the plan was going to be.

I usually am an optimistic person and this situation was no different. I knew that he would be okay in a couple of hours and then he would come into our room and get to meet everyone and everything would be normal. So as all of our family members arrived and were anxious to meet him, I walked down to the NICU to get an update. "He's not doing too well, we are going to have to admit him," the nurse tells me. I try to maintain composure but the reality of everything that happened earlier, and the fact that my baby is now in intensive care has finally hit me. I walk out to try and explain to everyone what she just told me and I totally lost it. Like in a bad way, like let's just say high octaves and two IV bags that came out my tear ducts. Oh well, what can you do.



Well after about 3 days, Cash had worked it all out and we had made friendly with some great nurses at Banner Gateway (nurse Margaret in photo). I loved watching these nurses handle the babies. Tubes and IVs in these itty bitty little bundles of pink flesh (and they knew just what to do to soothe them. I loved how they always talked to them. There was not one cry that went without a lengthy verbal reply. They would say "What are you complaining about, I just styled your hair?" or "Register, (Cash's night nurse called him "Register" get it, Cash Register) you just ate! Aren't you ready for a nap or something?" They were so sweet, gentle, and understanding of an anxious emotional post pardem mother. I spent lots of time in there feeding Cash and watching him breathe. He got better and better each day and at the end of the third day they were able to take his IV out and we were able to take him home!

Some of you may know about the fact that months before the birth in each of Lucy's prayers she would say, "please bless that when the baby comes out and he stops breathing that they will be able to help him get his breathing back". It creeped me out so much that she was forbidden to pray at all for the last trimester. So after all this happened it made me wonder how she knew about this? How do you explain that?

One year later, this kid has brought nothing but happiness to this home. Heavenly Father must want me to have more babies because Cash is as easy as they come. He sleeps at least 12 hours a night, and has since he was 7 months old. His cheesy grin is sooooo contageous and can cheer up a grouchy sister in 2 seconds flat. He is not much of a cuddler, but his other sibling make up for that and we will never stop trying to force our physical affection onto him! You know you secretly like it Cash. But seriously, he hasn't given me a kiss in 2 months! Why do you have to be so difficult! He loves to eat, and I think that is pretty obvious. Although he doesn't eat THAT much. I promise. He is just big boned okay! Ha. He is known for that "stone cold" expression that he has most of the time (just like his Dad).

Although he is a fabulous baby, I can tell this kid has some serious fire in him. While pregnant, doc said, "if you are waiting for a red head, this one is it." He was extremely active in the womb and has not stopped. Keane was so low key that we didn't even have to put hardly any child locks on and Cash...well he is completely opposite. I would say his top three loves are steering wheels, electronics, and being outside. Those three things pretty much consume his every thought. I see him at meal times and bed time and the rest of the time he is BUSY! We ADORE our little Cash Man and are so thankful to have him in our family.





















What a handsome blonde!! Check out those deltoids!
Oh, and you're kinda cute too Tyson.











GURTH!





















GIGGLES!
















GLUTEOUS! (that is a nice big chewy, booty folks--it doesn't get any better than that!)

A Day Off

Hey kids, let's go to the park. Sure you can wear whatever you like.

But Keane has to pick up his mess first. (He spent minutes trying to pick up scraps of paper with his mittens on, and he needs to pull up his pants. Can you tell what kind of dinosaur that it is? stegosaurus) Grandma is going to be there.some cousins too...
...it will make you smile.

Marlee's Partee...and Halloween

We love this little one for so many reasons. Shelby and I had so much fun being pregnant with Marlee and Cash. During our pregnancies we were cleaning models homes together, right up until the end. Despite our due dates, we ended up delivering just 2 weeks apart! Aside from being buddies in heaven with Cash, we love Marlee because she is just the sweetest little thing you'll ever meet. She just had her first birthday and since she was born on Halloween, it was quite the costume birthday bash! It was so much fun and no where near what Cash's first birthday will be like!!! Poor deprived Wheeler kids. I hope that her and Cash grow up to be bestest buds. Happy (late) birthday Mars! I am sneaking our Halloween pics into this post too.

Here is the man himself--POPEYE like you have never seen him! My kids love watching Popeye, so when I suggested we do this for Halloween, they were all on board. But this little guys seriously rocked it. From his pantyhose & batting forearms, to his authentic corn pipe, he had a great time, even singing the theme song. In fact, the other day Lucy was describing a bad dream that she had where some stranger had tried to kidnap her and Keane told her that he would just eat his spinach and beat him up. Attaboy!

Here is Olive Oil herself. Lucy was such a good sport to let us spray her hair black! I just wish she would have waved her skinny arms and said "Popeye, SAVE me!" Come on Lu. She actually got first and Keane second at the party costume contest. Although the judges were Grandma and Shelby so I don't know if it was completely fair.
Here is the sheriff and the little known archnemisis of Popeye, Bluto or as Keane still calls him "Noodle". Cash's beard is all slobbered off. I love those boys. Check out the forearms on that sheriff! Can I count Ty's forearms as part of our food storage? I think if we get hungry enough we could deep fry those suckers and have enough meat for our family of five for at least a month. What a man. My man that is.

The whole crew together. I didn't get a good ensemble shot. Sorry.

This is Halloween day at Ty's office. We go in every year for the cubicle trick or treating. But seriously don't these two look alike? I swear, Cash is Mini-me of Ty. One of my friends told me after she babysat Cash that she could never do it again because the whole time she was cuddling him and feeding him his bottle, she kept thinking it was Ty and it made her uncomfortable. Ha.

These are some friends of ours (Taylor, Miken, Dade and Tayen Gardner). The pic is blurry but they looked freakishly good. That is family togetherness. Cash went right to Taylor and never cried once. Hey Cash, beware of deranged, skitzo murderers next time.

Good Times at the State Fair

My mom had a fantastic idea to take all the kids to the fair while the Schroeder's were in town. It was super-arizona-october-hot, but we had a blast nonetheless. Pictures don't lie! Just look at these faces!

Riding an elephant! Seriously awesome. Although Keane had a panic attack on his way up, hence the grandmother caboose.
Aubs, Benson, and Lu on the ferris wheel.
Keane and I at the very top. Gulp.
Petting zoo. Do these two look like they have the same expression?
Bumper cars, a must do for all 3 year olds.
The infamous water guns, where Benson, Lucy, and Clark trashed some other little kids and won some serious poundage of plush! Thanks Coach Aubree!
I'm so proud! sniff, sniff
Lu and Ben on the Footsie Wootsie relishing their victories.

THANKS GRANDMA!