Reunion Time

We had a great reunion in St. George, UT--fishing, hiking, boating, swimming, and more swimming. Here are some pictures:
Hannah with cousin Melissa

On the boat and tubing



Fishing



Emerald pools hike in Zion's canyon. As a proud Mom, I have to say Kevin hiked the whole thing himself (a little over 3 miles total) and didn't complain until the end of the ascent, then again at the end of the descent. Hannah became good buddies with cousin Josh and they stuck together and explored the pools together.




I broke my toe, and I'd like to say it was while I was doing something exotic like hiking or tubing down the Virgin river, but I broke it on the pullout bed I was sleeping on. Lame, I know.


Hannah hijacked the digital camera and took over 100 pictures of her cousins and various knick-knacks in my Mom's house. Some of them turned out pretty good.
Cousin Mary (Aaron's youngest)

Cousin Sophie (Trejo's middle)

My Mom--looking good with her new hair (it came in curly after radiation)


These are some of the funny face pictures she took:
Sophie

Juanita (Trejo's youngest)

Jethro (Aaron's middle)

Orion (Trejo's oldest and quite the ham)

Hannah finally handed off the camera to her cousin Eliza and she took this funny face:

My Hannah is quite the character!


There are lots of pictures I don't have yet, but we did a lot more fun things like tie dye t-shirts, tube on the Virgin River, break a pinata, and we should be getting pictures of Garrett's backpacking trip sometime. But let's be honest, I probably won't be posting again about it, so just imagine them in your mind.

Halt the congratulations

John has been at home for the last week without us, I'm still in St. George with the kids. On Sunday, I started cramping and then bleeding pretty profusely. I was extremely depressed and sobbing off and on all day. My Mom had 10 children with no miscarriages, my sisters and I have 13 kids between us with no miscarriages, my aunts and maternal grandmother with almost 20 kids between them have never had a miscarriage. The thought never even crossed my mind as a possibility until I started bleeding, and even then I still was hopeful that it would all be ok. My biggest problem was that I didn't know what to do, or even if it WAS a miscarriage. On Sunday evening, my brother gave me a blessing, and though it was very special to me, it is very difficult to convey the impressions and feelings I had during and after the blessing. Mostly the feeling was "this is not the time yet for a baby" and "you'll be ok." It confirmed to me (more than a medical test) that it was indeed a miscarriage. That night I prayed and cried and prayed some more, pondered the reasons for this experience, and mourned a little. Monday morning, I woke up feeling emotionally cleansed and ready to face the future. My family has been great and supportive, they have taken care of my kids while I recover my strength. If you have to have a medical problem away from home, with your family is the place to be!

On Tuesday evening, I decided to go to the hospital so they could do a blood test to confirm that my hormone levels were going down, and to do an ultrasound to make sure the worst is over so I could be cleared to travel. The doctors and nurses were so funny, because they were trying to cushion the blow that I had lost the baby, but I already knew that. Finally the doctor asked "How hopeful are you that this pregnancy is still viable?" and I said "I know the baby is gone, I just want to know when I can go home." That sped things up considerably. Everything is progressing normally and I should be able to begin traveling home whenever I want. John is going to fly out to SLC on Saturday and help me drive home. He was trying to get me to fly home while he drove the kids home, but I thought that was a little silly. I'm feeling pretty good, just really tired and crampy. I'm so grateful I haven't had any emotional issues since Sunday, though there have been times I want to curl up in my bed and not face my family: that's pretty standard on a family vacation though :).

Next week I'll post some great pictures from our vacation. I would appreciate your prayers for our continued blessings and our safe return home. I know John has been beside himself during this time away from us, and I can't wait to get back to him!