3 Days of Easter

This year for Easter we celebrated three different days.  We had Easter at home with each other, then another Easter with my grandparents and cousins, and then the third with Cody's family down in Cedar City.

Last summer before we got married i found two little Easter baskets at a garage sale for 25cents each.  They weren't very cute, but for 25cents i thought why not!

I decided I wanted a cute Easter basket, so i took some ribbon and things from my craft room and put together this little thing.  Much cuter.

Since we were having 3 Easters I didn't want to go overboard with our baskets, but being our first Easter married I wanted to do something.  So I bought a few DVDs and some dollar store candy to fill our baskets. 

For Easter every year my grandparents have a big Easter party for all the grandchildren.  My grandma fills the basement with candy, and toys, and little knick knacks and we all fill our grocery bag with whatever we can grab.  Then My Grandpa hides a $20 bill for each grandchild and we all have to find our $20.

At the end my grandpa always makes up some sort of challange that we all have to compete in for a $100 and a $50.  The last two years in a row we had to bounce a golf ball and land it my grandpa's old shoe.  This year we had to throw a golf ball from across the room and get it into one of the two holes.

The first person to get the ball into the hole on the left gets $100, and the first two to get it into the bigger hole on the right get $50 each.  This year Cody was the first to get it into the small hole, and won the $100!  Between the two of us we came home with $140 this Easter!

"It loks like a cave!"

Today I finally got my bandages off!  My appointment was at 11:30, but i waited in the waiting room from 11:25-12:20.  Finally the nurse called me in, took my bandages off, said "hmm, looks good!" and sent me out the door.  Seriously, I waited 5 minutes shy of an hour, for a 2 minute doctors appointment. Pssh.  

Anyways, I'm amazed at how well everything has healed up in just two and a half weeks.  My incisions all look great, well except for my unfortunate looking belly button!

I now have 1and a half bellybuttons.  I showed my sister Brittney, and she responded with "It looks like a cave!" It kind of does though. :(

All in all i guess my bellybutton is worth the sacrifice for being healthy and feeling good, right?  

Yup, He Loves Me!

My sweet husband makes me happier than I have ever been.  He truly is the half that makes me whole and my best friend.  I love him so much..and apparently, he loves me too! ;)

All that air in my stomach, finally being able to eat fats, and laying in bed for 3 weeks has left me feeling rather large, and quite self conscious.
  

I have mentioned several times to Cody how gross I feel, and how the second the doctor gives me permission to exercise I want to go at it!  Unfortunately the only exercise I am allowed to do for 4 more weeks is cardio, but I don't have a gym membership and because of my bad ankle I can't run outside- because of the uneven pavement. 

My darling husband Went dumpster-diving at school and work, collected all the scrap metal and wires he could (didn't really dive in the dumpsters, just to clarify, just collected the scraps from work and school), and spent 3 days stripping wire.  He then took all the scrap metal and copper and turned it in for money.  He then took that money and bought me a brand new elliptical! He carried all 200 lbs of it from his truck, into our house, up the stairs, and put it together, all by himself!

It's the NordicTRack E5.7

It connects to the WiFi, and you can download any trail from google maps and follow it on the screen.  It also has speakers that you can plug any audio device into, and the audio plays out of the elliptical itself!

My picture isn't as good, with the sun coming in and being a camera phone. But here it is!

And now we wait and see...

March 4th I finally got rid of my pesky gallbladder!  The surgery went well and Cody took the day off of school to be with me.  I forgot how painful abdominal surgeries were, until the nurse made me get up and walk around.  I can't wait to be able to get out of bed by myself again. 

Luckily the doctor was able to do a laparoscopic operation, which makes the healing process much quicker.   

They have to pump air into your abdomen to make room for the tools, but apparently they have yet to figure out how to get the air back out.  Look how swollen and puffy I am!  It's supposed to take 7-10 days to begin to deflate, can't wait!

Besides making me feel fat, the air bubbles like to move around and cause a shockingly large amount of pain, especially in my shoulders, who'd of guessed? Three days after the surgery i had to go back to the E.R because i couldn't breathe- turned out to be just air bubbles caught in my lungs, but of course they had to stick dozens of needles in me to do tests before deciding what the problem was.  I hate needles more than just about anything else in the world.   

So as it turns out I was born with an under developed gallbladder, making it too tiny to fully digest fat and cholesterol.  After years of unsuccessfully digesting, my gallbladder began to store layers and layers of cholesterol- until finally it hit it's limit and just quit.  This explains why I used to get sick when I eat, why I didn't notice a problem until about age 11, and why it has been getting worse over the years. 

Finally I can drink milk, eat cheese, sour cream, cream cheese, ice cream, butter, fried foods, etc.  Besides not being able to get up by myself, i feel better than i have felt in years!  

Oh, I Love My Husband!

Since my gallbladder crashed I've been stuck in bed, which may sound fun and relaxing at first, but after a couple days of it..it gets pretty boring.  I actually wish I could go back to school, never thought I'd say that!

My favorite video game as a kid was, (and still is) Donkey Kong Country, so my sweet sweet husband ran to walmart and bought me Donkey Kong Country Returns to play while I'm stuck in bed. 

He's so good to me!

Seth's Blessing Day

This Sunday was Seth's blessing.  Cody gets of work at 2 A.M so it was going to be hard to make it.  However, we wanted to be there so Cody was going to drive down to provo after work and pick me up, and we would drive all night getting to my sister's house just in time to change clothes and make the blessing.  Unfortunately with my gallbladder completely fried we couldn't make it.  

Here is Seth in his blessing outfit on the day of his blessing.  Sad we couldn't be there, but were so happy for my sister and her husband, and for Seth. 

Well, that certainly is ironic

The other day I was talking with my sister-in-law and we got to talking about Valentines Day. 

 I mentioned how every year in high school I managed to land myself in the Emergency Room.  Different reasons, but none-the-less every year i found myself in the E.R on Cupid's birthday. 

That particular trend ended in high school, and of course by telling her so i jinxed myself. 

This February 14th I woke up with a stomach ache, which was nothing out of the ordinary so I ignored it.  I made Cody a compleatly heart shaped breakfast in honor of the holiday and went about my day.  The pain escalated quickly and by about noon I found myself once again in the E.R on Valentines day.  (Side note, my adorable, law-abiding grandpa burned rubber skidding through a red light to get me there.) 

Long story short, after several needles, blood samples, tests, a CT scan and a HIDA scan the doctor may have finally found the cause of the past 11 years of pain, feeling crappy, and getting sick whenever i ate.

Apparently a healthy gallbladder has an ejection rate of 40% or higher and a normal gallbladder 35-40%.  My gallbladder has an ejection rate of...12%

As soon as i can get a surgery date they'll take my gallbladder out, and hopefully fix years of pain and getting sick whenever i eat.  Just hoping for the best. 


As a party favor from my fun day in the E.R, they sent me home with a picture of the inside of my stomach! Those with a weak stomach don't scroll down, those who are curious...keep scrolling.... 


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What the inside of my stomach looks like.