The Kidney - 1 - 2 - 3

Sorry - best fun picture I could find!

Oh and by the way (mom is going to kill me for this)

it does not sting for her to pee - but she is going a lot -

which is good!

Perfect pictures because Mom's new kidney is in 1st place!

The day that our family has been waiting for 1 year for finally happened on Friday, November 7, 2008. My aunt Debbie donated her left Kidney to my mom. They were scheduled to start the surgery at 11:00 but did not take Debbie back until 12:15 then my mom did not go in until 2:30. So, needless to say we sat a long time just waiting for a surgery that took what seemed like forever!

Both doc's came out a different times to let us know that everything went great. The doc that did Debbie's surgery said that he went in to moms when they put the new kidney in and as soon as they got it in and hooked up it immediately turned pink and started to work! What a relief! It took mom quite a while (2 1/2 extra hours) to come up to her room from recovery since she got really sick while in recovery. Then was sick all night, poor thing. As of last night she was still a little sick to her stomach, which they determined was the pain meds so changed those. Debbie has been doing great she was able to get up and walk around on her own yesterday, she said that her stomach is just really tender.

My mom and Debbie have such a great support group, our family was all there plus their sister and brother have spent a lot of time with both. We have all received many calls from family and friends letting us know of their love, support and prayers. I know both of there names are on every temple prayer roll from Utah to Hawaii and in some cases several times.

I am so thankful for the knowledge that the doctors have that they can do this operation by making a 6 inch incision to prolong someones life for so long. I am thankful for a boss who is so understanding in letting me have the time off that I need to be with my mom. I am especially thankful for my aunt who upon finding out there was a problem called immediately and told my mom that she would be the donor. It is selfless acts like this that truly make a family special.

As we get more information I will update. We are just so relieved that it is over and we can start to move on with a healthy kidney.

Now on to why my title is "The Kidney - 1 - 2 - 3". The other night Johns and I were watching Bridger so the rest of the Nall clan could go to an awards banquet. As Bridger was asking what I was doing I Friday he started to question the transplant. I told him that Debbie was giving one of her Kidneys to Mom. He asked what will they do with the 2 that my mom had so I told him that they leave them in her. He thought about this a little longer then kind of laughed a little and said. "So, Debbie will have 1 kidney, I have 2 and Grandma will have 3." He just thought that was the funniest thing going 1, 2, 3! I love the way that kids think!

September - was there a September?

So, today I started to think about how fast this last few years have gone by and then I realized It has been over a month since I updated my blog about how fast August went by. Now September is over and October is 1/2 over!

What a great month of September that we had. First we went to Arizona and had a great little get away for Johns and I. We really needed the break, even though it was a working break! Upon returning we found that Jolene (Johns mom) had torn her meniscus in her knee and could not even walk. She has not had the best of luck this last year starting with breaking her right leg and left arm in December 2007 and now this to her left leg.


On September 18, Johns, Kent, Jolene and I headed to celebrate our 2nd anniversary and Kent & Jolene's 40th in sunny, humid Florida. We had such a great time while we were there. Jolene's sister Etta and her husband Don were able to meet up with us there and we had so much with them!


The Disney World trip was just what I expected WONDERFUL! I always have fun at anything Disney but this was really nice. We took it easy, Jolene had her "Jazzy" scooter to get her around and we were able to do everything we wanted with an added bonus of having a "handicap" person with us were able to get the best seats for the fireworks, parades and front of the line....my dream - I felt like my own year of a million dreams came true.


The only thing that was a little disheartening was it rained - ok poured but only for about 5 minutes - one of the days that we were at the magic kingdom and before going I had bought some $.90 (yes that is 90 cents) ponchos to wear for the "wet" rides (I have this thing about having wet clothes - yucky). We had taken a couple of the ponchos and put on the scooter to insure it did not get wet and ruined in the rain. We had parked it under one of the covered areas and went into the Liberty Tree Tavern for lunch - which by the way was the 2nd time we had gone there because of this "ooey gooey toffee cake" dessert can I just say a little bit of heaven - when we came out we had found that someone stole one of the $.90 ponchos! Oh my gosh a crime at Disney I was crushed! I guess they really needed it more than we did. Johns said that maybe it was for a little girl in her princess dress (that the parents spent $100 for but they could not buy a 90 cent poncho) and it needed to be covered.

Oh there are so many more stories about Disney World I could seriously go on and on. As soon as we get the 2700 pictures that Johns took plus the 300 that was on our photopass loaded I will add pictures.

Then on October 2nd I was able to go to the Utah History Museum and the U of U and the State Capitol with my niece Brianna. This same day my mom had her Gaul bladder taken out. She has not had any problems with it but they did an ultrasound and found that she had Gaul stones and before they can do the kidney transplant they had to take it out. Everything went perfect with it and I was able to meet up with them at the hospital that afternoon.

On October 9th Jolene was finally able to go in and have the surgery done on her knee. Everything went great on it and she even has pictures - so cool - I would love to be able to see a surgery like that in person. She is getting around ok and should be back to work on Monday.

Then today the BEST news was received my aunt Debbie is a full match with no health problems to be a kidney donor for my mom. We were a little worried the last couple weeks because one of the tests came back that she may have the same thing that my mom did so they had to repeat the test and the results are in and the surgery is a GO! So, on November 1st she will be flying in and the surgery will be on November 7th. It is very scary but my mom is as her doc said "in good shape for the shape she is in" so we will pray everything will go good. Please keep both my mom and my aunt in your prayers.

I am so thankful that my aunt is willing to do this for my mom. It was such a shock last year when we found out that she was in kidney failure to have Debbie offer this up for her is wonderful! We are so blessed to have the family that we do.

Where did August go?

I cannot believe August is gone already! We have had such a busy summer I don't even know where to start! I have put on some pictures of things that we have done......I have so much more to do but the pictures are not loaded...I will get to them soon...

Alexis birthday party at Classic skating....

Eric

Alexis and Justin

Bridger softball. He loves anything to do with sports.....

look at that determined face....

Family Picnic

Playing on the "tractors" - so they are

not as fun as grandpas but they will do.

Racing on the tractors - ok who but the

favorite aunt will get her bootie on this tractor

and chase you around the tennis court?

Crashing on the tractors - That would be Chase

on the ground, the wheel to the tractor away from it

and Broc cracking up that Chase crashed. .

Family hanging out after lunch!

The girls on the swing! I had a cousin that was really close

to my age so I totally know how great it is to be able

to play and get along with your cousins like these

2 do.

Funny Blog

So today I came across a funny blog about childbirth. I don't have any kids but I have been with both of my sisters when they have had theirs and it is really a great experience. This link is to a L&D nurse and her take on the situation....Check it out for some great laughs....http://itsababynotbrainsurgery.blogspot.com

More to come

So, Johns has been doing this huge project for a friend at work so I can't load any new pictures on our computer until he is done...but don't fear - I will have some great pictures of fun things we have been doing...stay tuned...

Vacation Count Down

I HATE SNAKES!

So as I told Johns last night I can tolerate and deal with a lot of things but I CANNOT tolerate or deal with SNAKES!!! I was mowing our forest that I sometimes like to call our yard (today I call it a yard yesterday I had some other words for it and our lawn mower - UGH!) I was putting the rain gutter extension back on and noticed that there were a few rocks from the roof in it. When this happens no big deal I just drop them in the window wells around the house. Last night as I was tipping the rocks in I noticed that the "stick" in the bottom of the window well MOVED! I nearly freaked out! I remained calm as I walked up to the back door opened it to where Johns and his sister were sitting and informed him the whole "I can tolerate and deal with a lot of things...." speech. His response "What do you want me to do"....My response "I want you to get the shovel and KILL IT!!!!!"

My hero came out and killed the HUGE 2 foot snake - after about 50 jabs at it because the stupid thing kept moving around....Oh my gosh could that be any worse!

Surfs Up

Surfs Up DUDE! The 2 days a year that Dewey waits for he shines up his 4 John Deere tractors, creates a cute family float (Surf Shack) and we join the Syracuse (June 28) and West Point (July 4th) parades. Between the 2 parades this year we threw 3200 frozen Otter Pops! The look on the kids faces as we threw them is completely priceless!



We really do enjoy the West Point parade and the park after since we have lived here my entire life so there are a lot of people we know - and you don't have to worry about any "shaddy" people hanging out. While we played BINGO (you know you are jealous) we let the kids run off and play at the free activities they had going on. First would you dare do that at the Layton or Clearfield parks and second do they have free activities at these 2 parks...um NO! See why West Point is the BEST!

Johns was the official Carlson photographer and took 400 pictures of us at the Syracuse parade. He had to work on the 4th so me and my lousy 25 pictures of the West Point parade did not do him justice - sorry!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO US!

Today is our 2nd anniversary. I can't believe how fast the time has gone by! I can honestly say that I married my best friend and I am eternally grateful for him.

We had the best day ever! The weather was perfect, the words that were spoken to us were amazing and we had such a wonderful day. It was like we were the only 2 people there that day and it was OUR day! We did have a few minor incidents in the elevators in the Temple but they were quickly resolved. But make for great stories!

Here are just a couple of my favorite pictures from our PERFECT day!

Same Name!

So, I was out today just going to different blogs and I noticed that someone had a link to someone named Shanda...I had to check it out....Anyway on her site she had a link to a web site of "How Many of Me" so I want to see just how many Shanda's were out there. It appears that there are 9,129 with the name of Shanda and 57,815 who have the last name of Johns - of those there are 2 of us that have the same name..man are we lucky girls! Anyway you will have to check it out for yourself at "howmanyofme.com"

HowManyOfMe.com

There are 2 people with my name in the U.S.A. http://howmanyofme.com">How many have your name?

P.S. The shoes came in last week and I LOVE THEM! They are so comfy - I may just have to buy another pair so when they wear out I won't have the same trauma!

We are officially booked!

I know it is hard to imagine but I LOVE ANYTHING DISNEY!!!! Two weeks ago Johns parents asked us if we would like to go to Florida with them in September...UUUMMMM - we had to think about that for about 1/2 of a second and of course we said YES!!!! Is there any other answer? HELLO! Plus Johns will be able to use his super cool new camera! Love it!!!

Anyway, their 40th wedding anniversary is next month and they wanted to take a trip. After many "where should we go's" it was decided they wanted to go to Florida. I think that our job is the drivers, but that is OK as long as I don't hit another Armadillo! Yes, I am still having flashback nightmares about that poor creature that I hit and Johns informed me that it was OK because the Alligators that came out at night would just EAT IT!!!! I digress...

Here is why I LOVE it so much. In Disneyland/World there is no crime (well that you know of), there are no bad people - you can just sit in line and talk to whoever is around you, you are always in a good mood, you are with other people that make you happy (specifically for me Johns - the husband), it is fun and last but not least it is the one of only a few places you can go and just not have to worry about anything else.

SEPTEMBER COME QUICK!!!!!!!!! HURRICANES STAY AWAY!

Cue the Shoe Choir

The Problem - no singing choir yet....
You know when you find that perfect, comfy, easy to wear pair of shoes and you buy a pair thinking when they wear out you can buy another one - well for a couple years I have been able to do that, actually last time I found them I bought 2 pair on clearance not thinking that they would not bring them back. I mean I found a them at Kohl's and at Payless so why wouldn't one of them have them again? I am not like that Magic Emporium guy that bought like 200 pair of shoes (and no I won't die without the shoes)....So, I started looking for a new pair, well apparently they don't make them any more! I have search Google, Ask Jeeves and anything else that I could think and and NO SHOES!

Well I was starting to panic because I am one for comfort more than anything and I could not find anything that did not make my feet look like I had clown shoes on, ones that I would have to wear socks with because my legs are so short I looked like I had stubby legs, ones that just covered my toes (yuck) or ones that covered my entire foot! I know, I know I am PICKY!!!!


THIS IS WHERE THE CHOIR STARTS TO SING!!!!
Last night Johns and I were at Kohl's and I found a cute pair of slip on Sketchers that you don't' have to wear socks with, but I can were my peds since I won't wear shoes without socks, they go to about the middle of my foot so they cover more than my toes - however, they were white...not my color for shoes. So, I came home Googled "Sketchers Grapevine" and I found them!
Plus ordering through shoebuy.com I got free shipping AND 10% off AND an extra $5.00 off because I was a return shopper! See why the choir is singing - or is that just Johns because I will stop crying that I can't find shoes? Anyway, I ordered them and they should be here in about a week! Oh Happy Shoe Shopping Day!!!!

HE DID IT!!!!

We were lucky enough today to attend Chases graduation! It actually went by really fast and Johns was able to get some great pictures! Chase took a beach ball and after he sat down from having his name called blowed it up and then started to toss it around - yes it was "against the rules" - That was until some ornery teacher picked it up and kept it with him...

3 Generations - don't tell Dewey this picture is her he said he did not ever want to be on a blog! :)

The Nephews

Game Face Sumo!

So I had to post a better picture of Johns with the Sumo suit and his game face, it is too priceless to miss....

Dance Dance Dance

This past week I was able to attend not only 1 dance recital but 2...Now that goes to prove that I AM THE FAVORITE AUNT!!! Now who else would sit through 90 some odd dances and about 4 1/2 hours but the FAVORITE?!?!?!

Brianna - Walking on Sunshine

Alexis - Peter Pan

Look - she is flying!

The cousins - Alexis and Brianna!

OK, it was totally worth it to see the 2 of them! They were both great and I have a feeling that I will be attending a lot more performances! Girls are so cool!

SUMO!!!!

OK, so my great husband is NOT a big guy. This past week he decided that, for a good cause, he would dress up in SUMO costume (diaper - so it is not a real big diaper but you know, hair and all) and wrestle his boss!

But first things first - there were a few other people that had put on the Sumo suit before him so he broke out the Lysol to "clean" the suit before he put it on.....

Then there was the task of putting the suit on! I think that it weighed more than he does!

Put your game face on!

Ready - FIGHT!

Now I will give him that he did get the "bigger" suit but it was so funny that you could not even see his feet! It was really a fun day and our work was able to raise a lot of money for the March of Dimes.

I am so proud!

My nephew Chase is graduating from high school this month! I can't believe he is old enough!! I still remember when I took care of him when he was in kindergarten! I am really proud of him and he is just so dang cute! Here are a couple of the 600 pictures that we took of him to pick out!