A prayer for Chelsea....

Shannon trying to catch a snooze on his makeshift bed! This was where he and Kelly took turns sleeping each night...
The girls were soo excited to finally get to see Chelsea...somehow just seeing her made them feel better and Chelsea too! Laughter really is the best medicine...

Kelly was trying to help keep Chelsea pre occupied while the nurses changed the dressing on the stint in her arm...they had to scrub it...there were lots of tears! But Chelsea was very brave! The rest of us went out of the room while they cleaned it, but Brooklyn stayed in to try and help keep Chelsea's mind on the Eye Spy book. Brooklyn is soo tender hearted!

Mom came up and brought Zack, he was really having a hard time with Chelsea being gone. He is such a great big brother to her, she is lucky to have him. Mom brought Chelsea a present, it made her smile. But then Mom makes everyone smile!
When we came to visit Chelsea she felt well enough to go for a ride to the children's play center, Wow was it fun! The nurse even let Brooklyn & Halle ride in a wagon...they thought that was pretty cool! Chelsea got the best ride of all in her little wheel chair, while Kelly and I pulled "skinny" (her machine) alongside us and tried our best not to get all the tubes tangled up in her wheels! In the children's center we played with toys and got to make birthday cakes out of paper, glue and glitter!

As I watched Kelly with Chelsea the thought came to me, "I can do HARD things" I don't know a mother alive that doesn't ache when she sees her sick child and feel so helpless. Kelly has a very tender heart and such a sweet, sweet spirit. It was so hard for me to watch her try to tend to her helpless little girls needs. Kelly was so patient and loving towards Chelsea. I know our trials make us stronger....and as I watched her I realized, we can do HARD things!
Brooklyn & Halle are like sisters to Chelsea so it was very hard for my girls to picture Chelsea in the hospital and wonder if she was ok. They had alot of questions for me, but after we went to visit, they had even more! Like is it scary to ride in a wheelchair? Why do the nurses have to wear those funny masks when they clean Chelsea's stint? What are all those tubes she has hooked to her arms? What do all those machines do? And my favorite, why is her finger glowing red?
My twin sister Kelly's little Chelsea has been soo sick! For about 12 days she had a fever and aches. They would come and go day after day. Kelly took her to her primary care doctor 3 times. Each time the doctors would send her away telling her they couldn't treat it, it just needs to run its course. Finally the last time, they drew 4 vials of blood, and determined her white blood count was really high and her red count was low. (usually meaning she has got some kind of infection in her body). That night was Shannon's youngest brother Lance's wedding Thursday June 24th, Kelly got the news at the reception, just after family pictures and then took Chelsea up to Primary Children's Hospital. She showed up to the hospital looking beautiful in her long black gown and high heels! They had to give her scrubs to wear that first night until Shannon could bring her some normal clothes!
They were amazing there and went to work trying to figure out what she had. After several days she was diagnosed with "Kawasaki disease". The hospital usually only sees about 30 cases of this a year, but each case is different. She had all the symptoms, high fever, aches and pains in her bones and joints, sores on her tongue, peeling skin under her finger nails, swelling in the blood vessels and inflammation that can lead to possible heart attack, and the white of her eyes were blood shot. She also started throwing up blood.
They had to give her 2 IVIG's. Its an immunoglobulin, to help people with auto immune disease. It's human plasma from like 50 different people to help build up the red blood cells in her body, to help fight off the infection.
The first one worked great but the second one had a reaction to her AB+ blood type, so she started going downhill with high fevers again. She lost a lot of blood through all this and also had to get 2 blood transfusions.
She stayed in the hospital for 10 days. So, after being sick at home for 12 days and another 10 days in the hospital, she finally came home yesterday on July 3rd. She still has a slight fever, but she had started eating and drinking again, so the doctors thought she was well enough to come home...Yea! Our prayers were answered, what a blessing! We love you Chelsea and we are soo glad that you are all better! :)

Lagoon with the Fletcher Family!

Each summer dad take our family, and goes to Lagoon for the day! The grand kids look forward to this all summer long! It was a hot day - but as you can see, we found the wet rides...we even got mom and dad to go with us! Some of us swam and others watched the musical shows. It was soo great! What a fun day! We missed Kylie and Steve, they are having a great time in New York!

The Manti Pageant!

The Fletcher family had our annual summer vacation! This year we went to the Manti Pageant! What a fun trip for our family! We now have 28 grandkids! And Kaylee the oldest grandchild announced that she is expecting her first baby and our families first great-grandchild...WOW! We left on friday night June 25th, we ate dinner at a ward house. Each year they serve hundreds of families this amazing turkey dinner! (Manti is known for raising turkeys) Anyways, after dinner we all walked down main street to the Manti Temple. Its soo beautiful! Set up on a hill...Over looking the city. The Pageant starts at dusk...by then everyone is starting to get tired, almost 10:00 pm. But it was wonderful! I havent seen it since I was about 13 years old. It follows the growth of the church in the Latter-days, starting with Joseph Smith at 14 kneeling in a grove of trees. It was very powerful! Its centered around a young couple, searching for the truth about God, and a plan for eternal families. It follows them across the plains with the pioneers. It also goes through several of the stories of the Book of Mormon including, Captain Moroni and his army, The 2000 Strippling Warriors, Jesus Christ visiting the Nephites in America, the Angel Moroni, the last prophet of the Book of Mormon, atop the Manti Temple, sounding his trumpet. And it ends with Joseph Smith again kneeing in the grove of trees, and says, "And all of this, because a young boy of 14 went into a grove of trees to pray! May God go with you, amen, and amen!" We missed Kylie and Steve, but we know they are having lots of fun in NYC! Love you!

Brooklyn's last days of 2nd grade....

Brooklyn is in 2nd grade, and in the last weeks of school, she got to do some fun things! We went to the Hogle Zoo on June 15th. It was soo much fun! Brooklyn has soo many cute friends in her class! We saw everything from the penguins to the elephants! And walked from one end of the Zoo...to the other! Then on June 22 she had her 2nd grade program. It was fun to go and watch her sing and dance with all the other kids in her class. Then on June 24th we went to the Waste Management facility and the Weber Basin Water District. The waste facility was very interesting, we were soo surprised to see all our garbage! They are able to burn almost everything thats taken there. Then we were onto the Water District...its where most of the water in Davis County comes from. It was also very interesting...its amazing to realize that sometimes in life we have no idea the work that others do to make our lives better!

Halle & Miranda...best friends!

These two truly are the best of friends! Halle & Miranda have spent the last year in the same afternoon kindergarten class...so each and every morning they were calling and making plans to play. They didnt do anything without the other, they have been inseperatable! They are soo cute together and seem to get lots of attention wherever they go! Ive never seen another two girls who could play and play like they were the only to people on earth. It was as if the world was made just for them! One of their very favorite things to do is to dress alike, so Malorie, Miranda's older sister, dressed them alike on Halles birthday and took them down the street to take these great pictures! Arent they soo cute....thanks Mal!

Halle Jo turns 6....

Today is Halle's 6th Birthday...my little baby is growing up! Before I ever married Jared I dreamed about a little girl with dark hair, its funny looking back, I remember thinking she didnt look much like me, and now looking at Halle sometimes I wonder who she looks like?

Halle you are soo beautiful, everyone always tells you, you have such pretty eyes! You are full of life! A little stuborn at times, but you are silly and like to make us laugh!

This birthday was a dream come true for you! For almost a year, you have been asking for Bitty Baby Twins from American Girl. They are a little expensive so we waited until I knew for sure you were old enough to take care of them. You got to pick their hair and eye color. You were soo excited when you opened the box and saw them, you could hardly stand it! You named them Brooklyn & Halle!

Because we are in year-round school, you were still in Kindergarten on your birthday. But Mrs. Adams made it a fun day for you & mom brought treats to share with your friends! That night, we went down to the Tophams because your older cousin Josh was going through the temple for the first time, so you and Brooklyn got to play with your cousins while mom and Kelly went to the Draper Temple.

Ky and Steve missed your big day, they are off in NYC for the summer, but Ky sent you a present! It was a blue shirt with "I Love N Y" on the front and also a little statue of liberty! We miss them, but they will be home soon!

Happy Birthday Baby Girl...Mommy loves you!

Brooklyn & Halle's Birthday party....

WOW What a day! 58 kids and 13 adults....we were a little out numbered! Its always been easier for me to have Brooklyn & Halle's party together. But it seems the older they get, the more friends they want to invite, Sooo we had a really big party!

They are still in school so we did it in the afternoon, and because it was outside, we didnt want to leave anyone out, so we invited everyone! Lucky for me I have bunch of really great friends who came to help me with the party....I could not have done it without them! As you can see it was quite a party!

Steph brought over her Bounce House, and I rented Cotton Candy & Sno Cone machines. We also did bags of popcorn and of course, cake! It was soo much fun...the kids kept coming back for more treats! Im sure they all went home with sick bellies from all the sugar....but they had fun!

We had to have our party without our big sissy Ky, that was hard! I kept thinkin' something is missin, and it was her....But she and Steve are having lots of fun on their adventure in NYC! Thanks to everyone for your help! Happy Birthday Girlies!