Adventures in Gray Canyon

We spent Thursday through Sunday of our Memorial Day weekend in Gray Canyon near Green River, Utah. There was intermittent rain in the forecast but it was our friend Toby Ison's birthday and we were determined to join him and his family in celebrating afloat on the Green. We met up with the Isons and their friends the Griffins at a sweet campsite on Thursday evening and on sunny Friday morning Brandon, Gavin, and I along with Toby's son Jake floated the 8-mile stretch between our campsite at Nefertiti Rapid and the take-out at Swasey's Rapid. By early Friday afternoon the clouds had gotten thick and it began to rain. It rained almost nonstop for the next 40 hours or so. Our good friend Pete and Toby's friend Josh both drove in late Friday night and they both reported that the drive up the Gray Canyon road was terrifying. Sections of the road were underwater and/or washing into the river. By Saturday morning the road was impassable. We were planning to head for home on Sunday morning but a Sheriff drove up on a 4-wheeler and recommended we sit tight until they had a chance to get the road fixed. At around 2 pm Brandon, Pete, Matt and Josh shuttled a few of our trucks down the road to get us that much closer to being able to leave. That's when the KSL channel 5 news crew caught up with them. Eventually part of our group got all of our vehicles out while Brandon and Josh rowed the two rafts out with all of the kids, our dogs, and a couple of the moms aboard. We didn't end up getting down the canyon until 6 pm, but we were glad to be safe. Click here to see more pictures.

Giardia Update

It has come to my attention that I haven't closed the book on the Giardia story yet (thank you to those of you who have called me to find out how Gavin is doing). By day 2 of the 10-day course of antibiotics the diarrhea was gone and our happy little guy was back. Thank goodness for modern medicine! Its not clear to me yet whether or not the parasite still resides in his belly (and always will) as is the case when adults get Giardia, but so long as he's feeling better I'm not going to dwell on it.

WINNER!

He did it! Brandon's goal (aside from just finishing) was to finish in under 2 hours. He came in at 1:51, beating his personal goal by nine minutes. His official time will likely be even faster since he was at the back of the pack at the starting line. I am SO proud of you, Brandon!
They had all sorts of food and drink for the runners at the finish line, as well as a live band and lots of festive atmosphere.

Insane in the membrane

In six hours Brandon will board a bus labeled "Half" and ride it up Ogden Canyon, over Pineview Dam and around the reservoir toward Huntsville before it dumps him at the starting line. Last year the three of us (our hero Brandon pushing the stroller) ran the Ogden Marathon 5K, and shortly after we crossed the finish line he said, "next year lets run the half." I said, "You go ahead and do that and I will cheer for you." Ladies and gentlemen, the time for cheering is upon us.

Our Loving Neighbors

Tonight the Evans family invited us over for yet another delicious Friday night meal. Gavin and I (and Brandon in spirit) enjoyed chicken and potatoes and salad and some darn good company. Thank you again, sweet neighbors!

Beaver Fever

What is a parasite?
If you said "somebody who lives in Paris" you are WRONG.

The test results are in and Gavin has Giardia. We can only speculate as to where he picked it up. Nobody else we know has gotten it lately. My gut feeling (no pun intended) is that he contracted it from his interactions with the cows at the back fence. Then again our poop-eating dogs do sometimes lick Gavin in the mouth. And then there's the cat's litter box.... Really it's amazing that it took this long for Montezuma's Revenge to rear (no pun intended) it's ugly head around here. A 10-day course of antibiotics is underway. Let's hope that does the trick.

The best Mommy in the WHOLE world!

I haven't been feeling too good lately, but luckily I have a great mommy to take care of me! For Mother's Day I was going to help Daddy make her breakfast, but I wasn't feeling very good so I just cuddled with Mommy while we watched Sesame Street. Later I got to hang out with her outside, helping with planting and mowing and playing in the sandbox and stuff. We also got to swing together on the big chair and just relax and enjoy the beautiful day. Thanks for being the best Mommy EVER! I love you. Love, Gavin

Sick.

Well, folks. I was wrong. Gavin's recovery was only temporary and he has now been sick, complete with diarrhea and vomiting, for 10 days. I took him back to the doctor this morning and the doctor wanted to run some tests on Gavin's stool.

You're not going to believe this, but they need actual SAMPLES of stool (aka diarrhea, aka stinky noxious poo juice) to run the tests. Ok, so maybe that wasn't such a surprise. The real surprises were that, 1) I needed to fill each of THREE sample vials with ~2 tablespoons of watery icky poo, and 2) there couldn't be any diaper fibers in the sample. How does one collect a poo sample from a toddler without getting any diaper fibers in it? Naturally, you line the diaper with Saran Wrap. What? Um, ok... I don't keep Saran Wrap on hand so I improvised and used Press-n-Seal, whose name is now meaningless to me (read on). A few hours later it was finally time for sample collection. I knew this because icky poo juice was practically squirting out the ends (front and back) of Gavin's diaper. There is nothing "sealed" about the plastic-lined diaper arrangement. I managed to fill 2 vials but accidentally spilled the liquid preservative in the third vial (not to mention I ran out of sample material). The rest of the story is complicated and I'm sure after a few weeks have gone by both Brandon and I will reflect on it as humorous. However it still feels more traumatic than funny. I will try to be brief.

By the time the first 2 samples were collected and Gavin and I were cleaned up it was time for me to leave for my own doctor's appointment. Brandon was planning to be home early to hang out with Gavin while I went to the doctor, but he got hung up in a meeting and due to phone misplacement I didn't know that he was running 30 minutes late until I was already running 10 minutes late. I found my phone, threw Gavin (equipped with a fresh plastic-lined diaper) and our 2 samples in the car and headed for the hospital. In my haste I forgot the diaper bag. Brandon arrived at the hospital and rushed up to the doctor's office where he found me in the exam room holding Gavin and about 40 paper towels. Hurray! Not only did we have the third sample (ready for extraction), but we were already at the hospital where the lab was, AND Brandon was here to take Gavin and all the samples AWAY (er, I mean to the lab). Poor Brandon had to first find the lab, and then ask the mean lab lady for a fresh sample collection vessel and then find a place to collect the sample and get everything cleaned up without having a fresh diaper or any wipes. He did it, though, and that's one more reason why he's my hero. Stay tuned for test results (1 to 3 days).

See this fine lad, and watch as he grows...

...with olives on his fingers,
and noodles up his nose.

Yaaaaaaayyyy!

Both my boys are feeling better :).

Finally.....

Look who's feeling better! Gavin ate and drank more yesterday than he has since last Thursday. I think he's finally kicked that nasty virus. Unfortunately now Brandon has a touch of it. Incidentally, those neat Crayola markers came from the Frantzes and yesterday (5/6) was Susan's birthday. Hope it was a happy one, Q!

Chow Time

Gavin hasn't been hungry for 5 days but he can always count on his ungulate friends to have voracious appetites.

Sick

Does this kid look sick to you? Hard to believe he's had diarrhea since Friday morning and blew chunks all over his mom (his dad was in charge of mop-up) at 3 am this morning. It seems like he might be better today than he was yesterday. I think he ate and drank a little more and I think he had a little more energy. Keep your fingers crossed that tonight isn't like last night and that tomorrow will be the first day in a long string of healthy ones.

547 Days

Gavin is 18 months old today! As you can see, he's an active little so-and-so, which makes taking his picture in the historical place (the living room chair) isn't as easy as it used to be!

Unfortunately the little guy isn't feeling too well. Thursday night was the first time that Brandon and I were both away from Gavin overnight, and on Friday morning he woke up with a stomach virus. Poor Grandma Debby got to clean up messes from both ends all morning long. Brandon and I got home around 11:30 am and by then Gavin was napping. He slept for 3 hours and when he woke up he seemed to be feeling a lot better. Of course by this time I'd called the pediatrician's office. They said that there's a stomach virus going around and assured me that if Gavin didn't have respiratory symptoms and a high fever then he didn't have the 'swine flu'. He's still not 100% but at least he's getting re-hydrated. And despite Gavin getting sick I think our first overnight away was a success (Thank you, Grandma!).






Brandon made us a special breakfast of pancakes, eggs and hash browns this morning. Yum! Gavin insisted that he would rather sit on the bar stool than in his high chair. It seems like every day he does or says something new. He certainly keeps us on our toes! He loves to be outside - exploring, shooting hoops, jumping on the trampoline, digging in the sand box, playing with sticks and rocks, teasing the puppy next door, you name it. He says a few choice words like 'more' ("mo"), 'kitty' ("tid-deee"), 'ball' ("bah"), 'water' ("wuhwuh"), 'banana' ("nah-nah") and of course 'Mommy' and 'Daddy'. He is starting to color with crayons and his favorite toy is a ball.

Mama's Heels