Our Weekend!!!

On Friday, my friend thought it would be fun to have a craft day for the kids so we all got together and made little bunnies and chicks. So cute!

Then Friday night Lynette and I got to go to another one of our shows from our Capitol Theater season tickets. We went to the OG with our families then ditched them and headed across the street to see Legally Blonde. It was so cute; I loved it actually. They had two real dogs (bulldog and of course "Bruiser" the Chihuahua) and I loved them. They were so cute! Thanks for the fun day and evening. Lots of fun!
Then on Saturday we hit two Easter egg hunts. The first one was at Hatch Park and the weather was SO deceiving. It looked warm but the wind was freezing. But that didn't stop Lydia.

Checking out what they got after the hunt.

You can see how miserable Lydia is here.

Then in the afternoon we met up with the Newell's at This is the Place Park for yet another egg hunt. And yes, it was still very cold. This hunt was NUTS. WAAAY too many kids. The hunt seriously only lasted 30 seconds...it was an ambush. CRAZY! They had a lot of other free activities but we wanted to make a trip to visit my dad so we couldn't stay. But after our visit, we met back up with the Newell's for dinner then back to our house for basketball. Of course the girls' played perfectly, the guys had a great time watching the game and Anabel and I had fun just relaxing on the couch chatting. It was such a fun day...Lydia had a lot of fun with all of her friends.

Brielle and Lydia getting ready for the 2nd hunt.

And on Sunday, my sweet cousin Dianna invited us out to their house for dinner and to give me some baby clothes. Lydia had so much fun playing with her second cousins Emily and Easton. They got along so well for the whole two hours. It took her FOREVER to warm up, but she got there eventually! Thanks for the invite Wiley's. We love you guys!

In between all of these activities we went to visit my dad at the hospital. Yep, he's back at Huntsman...again. He was there for a couple of weeks after his tongue surgery, then got moved to Woodland Park Care Center for transitional care but he got so sick that they re-admitted him back to Huntsman a few days ago.

I tell you, my dad just can't catch a break. He has officially been diagnosed with pneumonia and C-diff (definition: a bacterium that can cause symptoms ranging to diarrhea to life threatening colon inflammation. Illness from C-diff most commonly affects older adults in hospitals or long term care facilities and typically occurs after use of antibiotic medications). But the doctors are hopeful that he'll recover from these setbacks. Well, that definition of C-Diff described my dad's situation to a T!

Dad also has horrible acid reflux and has been throwing up every time he gets his tube feedings so they had to do a pretty extensive surgery on him to place a new feeding tube in his stomach instead of his nose.

But despite all of that, dad is still in good spirits. It's like nothing is keeping him down. He's going to fight this until the end and I admire him so much for that. He's lost 40 pounds since this whole thing began only a few short weeks ago. He wrote me and said that these past four days have been the hardest of his entire life and I can see why!

But on a more spiritual note, I've been trying to think of different ways to bring comfort to my dad. It just seemed like praying, going to the temple, placing his name on the prayer rolls and happy thoughts just weren't enough. So, duh, I thought of something I hadn't before...a family fast. So I emailed all 6 of my siblings and some other family members and organized a 24 hour family fast for dad. And let me tell you...what a great experience that was. Although I couldn't participate 100% in the fast, I prayed a lot and refrained from eating as much as I could without depriving the babe in my belly! I snacked but didn't eat any meals. And the Lord really blessed me because if I don't eat I get really sick, but even though I didn't eat much, I really felt good. My faith in the Lord sustained me and I'm so grateful to have a husband that was willing and wanting to participate. Not eating for 24 hours after running 9 miles that morning is quite the sacrifice so thank you honey so much for all you do for my family!

I told dad about this plan and of course he just started crying. He's an emotional guy (that's where I get it!) and I love that about him. He was so grateful that all of his kids would come together for him. Hopefully through this fast, the Lord will bring more comfort to him during this difficult time. And whatever the Lord's will is for my dad, I know that through all of these spiritual experiences, we will accept whatever the Lord wants for my dad. He really does have a sweet heart and I'm so grateful for the past couple of years we've been able to have together!!!

My advice to everyone....Love your family as much as you can, while you can. Because you never know what trials lie ahead. If I hadn't reunited with my father before all of this happened, I don't think I could ever forgive myself. Life is too short to not love and be with your family whenever you can.

I love you dad!