Snow fun!!!

Last weekend we went to Utah to play in the snow. We left here at 3am and drove to Vegas where we picked up my cousins kids. Then we drove another two hours and met up with my brother, sis in law and niece. Another hour drive after that and we were in Brian Head, Utah! There was so much snow. We had such a good time playing in all of it. Chloe wasn't too sure what all the fuss was about though. She thought we were all crazy. Next year though when she can walk and play in it, I'm sure she'll love it!

Getting ready to race innertubes

snow bunny

just chillin'

so cute!

Chloe and Auntie Jen!

There was so much snow, I just sank into it. It was so hard to walk in it.

Chloe in the snow

her first Diet Pepsi

Her first piece of candy...sour licorice

Who needs sleds when you can slide down the hill on your butts

the boy scouts made an igloo for us!

my snow angel

Tales from the ER

A note to my patient last night....

Because I know you don't remember what you did, allow me to refresh your memory. You are a young girl, probably very pretty, but it is hard to tell, because I have only seen you covered in your own vomit. The police brought you in, hog-tied because you kicked out the police car window, and your face, hair, and clothes were soaked in vomit. The police said that you had taken a bunch of tylenol trying to kill yourself, and yup, there was evidence of partially digested pills in your vomitus.

I'm sure you are wondering why you are so sore this morning. Well that is because we had to tie you to the bed. You were kicking and swinging at us, and we just can't have that now. We tried to tell you to lay still, but you just wouldn't listen. When we tied your hands and legs you were laying on your back, but somehow you managed to twist yourself around so you were laying on your stomach, I'm sure you're feeling that pain in your shoulders today. Oops. Next time listen when we say lay still.

The pain in your throat is from the large tube we had to stick down there to wash out your stomach. Let me tell you that was an adventure. It took two cops, two nurses, and a tech to hold you down enough to get that done. I was the lucky one who got to shove the tube in your throat, and had to hold it at the lip while another nurse dumped a bunch of fluids into your stomach. The unfortunate result of dumping all those fluids in, is that they must come back out. So, while we were trying to suck them back out, I guess we weren't fast enough for you, because you promptly vomited again. And because I was the lucky one holding the tube, you vomited all over my hands. Good thing I was wearing gloves.

I'm sure you're also wondering why you have blood around your nose. Well that is your own fault. After we took the tube out of your mouth, we had to stick another one into your nose that goes down into your stomach. (The tube in your mouth can't stay in, this one can, so thats why we had to do both.) Anyway we got the tube in, and gave you the charcoal (more on that later), but when we had to untie your hand to move you, you immediately yanked that tube out. Again, we told you not to do it, but you just didn't listen. We told you it would hurt, but I guess you're just one of those people who have to see for yourself.

So back to the charcoal. What people don't know, is that tylenol is one of the worst drugs to overdose on, it won't kill you, but it will ruin your liver. Seriously. So we had to give you charcoal, it binds with any undigested pills and prevents them from being absorbed into your system. This was given via the tube in your nose. Charcoal is thick, black and nasty. Not fun to give. But you took it like a champ. Of course you didn't have a choice, because, again we gave it via the tube. The unfortunate side effect of charcoal though, is it makes you really sick to your stomach. About half hour after you yanked out the NG tube, you started to vomit that charcoal back out. You were laying on your right side at this time, so there wasn't much risk of aspirating. After you vomited, you laid your head right back down into it. We tried to tell you not too, but again you didn't listen. And this time you fought back a bit. You rolled around in that nasty stuff and got it all over you, so we moved you to a clean bed, but you vomited all over again. This time it was projectile. It splattered everywhere, including on me. Now my cute green scrub pants are permanently stained with your charcoal vomit. Thanks for that. So anyway you kept rolling around in this nasty stuff. And the thing is, charcoal vomit is horrible. It is black and chalky, and well, it stains. I'm sure you would be aware of this, if you could get to a mirror, but I know you can't so allow me to tell you what you look like. Your face, arms, chest (yes, your chest, you wouldn't keep your clothes on either) are smeared in black. Your pasty white face, looks like an african american. And it's in your hair too, mixed with the vomit from earlier. If I were you, I'd plan on getting a haircut when I left the hospital. You'll never get the black stains out from your blonde hair.

Anyway, the main point of this letter is to let you know, that while we were doing all of this to try to save your life, and your liver (although you'll probably kill that by drinking, the police said they found you in a room littered with beer bottles), YOU BIT ME!!! Yes, you read that right, you bit me. So I just wanted to know if your vaccinations are up to date, or do I need to get a rabies shot?

Thanks.
And by the way, you're welcome for saving your life.

Chloe's first Christmas

My niece on her first Christmas. So cute!!!

Israel and Jordan part 4

Don't forget to check out parts 1, 2, and 3....

Friday started with a trip to the pool of Bethesda where Jesus healed the blind man. (Read the story here.)
We weren't able to go into the pool but entered a large cistern that used to hold water for the city.

Lions Gate, one of the gates into the Old City of Jerusalem

inside the gate

ruins of the old city

ruins of the pool of Bethesda

going down into the cistern under the old city

underground

Mom, in the cistern

Near the pool is a church built by the Crusaders called St. Anne's Church. (Read about it here.) The church is usually full of visitors but we were lucky enough to get our group in there by ourselves. The architecture is very simple, with wooden benches to sit on. We had a short message and then sang "How Great Thou Art." It was another very inspirational moment.

St Anne's Church

From the Cathedral we walked down the hill to the Garden of Gethsemane. I have to admit that, although it was neat to go to the garden, it was a bit disappointing. Don't get me wrong, it was great to have been there, but it is very small, and the trees are all fenced off, so you can't really touch them, or sit amongst them like we had been hoping to. That being said, just the fact that we were walking among 2000 year old olive trees that Jesus could have rested under during His last night before the crucifixition was amazing.

Garden of Gethsemane

It is entirely possible that Jesus rested under this very tree.

From the Garden, we headed to the Western Wall, also known as the Wailing Wall. The wall is the only remaining wall of the Second Temple that was destroyed in 70 AD. It is tradition to write prayers on slips of paper and stick them in the cracks of the wall. Unfortunately, we didn't know this, so we weren't prepared. So our prayers went into the cracks between the stones written on gum wrappers. Twice a year the prayer are cleaned out and buried on the Mount of Olives. The prayer plaza is divided into men's and women's sections. There were many Jews gathered here praying, and crying. They are praying to God for the messiah to come, but we know that their prayer has already been answered in Jesus, if only they would realize it.

inside the walls of the old city.. there is a path that you can walk around, it was used to defend the city in ancient days.

Stacy and Mom

Me, preparing to defend the city against invaders. :)

The Wailing Wall

hundreds of prayers

sticking my prayer into a crack in the wall

the men's side, on the left, had tables and chairs. the women's side, did not

Mom, Me, and Stacy at the Wailing Wall

Tales from the ER....

It was another one of those nights at work. It started out innocently enough, nothing too exciting until about midnight.
We got an ambulance run with a patient who called 911 because he stubbed his toe. Yup, he stubbed his toe. I'm sure it was really life threatening and worthy of that 911 call. Anyway we xrayed his toe, nothing was broken so it was time to send him home. He sat there and said he wasn't going. His exact words were "You can't make me." So we called the police. Before the police got there tho, he got into a yelling match with the one male nurse we have on nights. So the patient gets up and is yelling "You wanna take this outside?" So our nurse says yeah, opens the doors to the ambulance bay and the patient walks out ahead of him. Our nurse quick closed the doors. That got rid of that patient. Ha, dummy. Next time don't threaten to go outside, when that is all we want from you. Stupid.
Then I got a patient, a girl in her early 20's who mom brought in because she was acting weird. So we get her in the gurney and sent mom back outside because the patient didn't want her back there. So we're asking her what is going on, why she's acting weird and she keeps saying "my mom is the culprit" So of course I ask her, "What did she do?" The patients response "I told you she's the culprit. She's been culpriting." When I asked her again, I got the same response "She's been culpriting"
Nice, so I can see where not going to get anywhere here. So we get her undressed and into a gown and of course she takes the gown right off. So then she's sitting there nekkid and yelling that she wants "my Jeffrey, bring me my Jeffrey." Yelling, at the top of her lungs. We finally get blood drawn and IV infusing and she promptly rips it out. So then I'm pissed. We ended up medicating her 3 times, and each time I used a bigger needle than the last. (That'll teach her this afternoon when she feels those bruises.)
So anyway even after all this medication she's still screaming and yelling, trying to undress herself, and trying to throw punches. So we got out the restraints and tied her arms down. She immediately tried to kick me in the head, luckily her aim was a little off. So anyway, we all walk away and just wait for the meds to kick in, and she's still screaming. "Get me out of here, I hate you all." They she says "Hey I know how to sing" and so the next hour or so goes like this...
"I HATE YOU....think of me, think of me fondly....GET ME THE F*CK OUT OF HERE....think of me.....WHERE IS JEFFREY......think of me fondly.....I WANNA GO HOME....think of me....GET ME Out of heee...."
The meds had finally kicked in. Thank goodness. Then she slept for the next 4 hours, and I got to go home and pass her off to day shift. Yay for me. Unfortunately, I really like Phantom of the Opera, and that song will never be the same for me again. :)

November is over?

Wow time flies. Tomorrow is December 1st. I can't believe the year is almost over.
So before we get to Christmas here's my Thanksgiving report....it was tons of fun.
Jay and Mandie and Chloe got here late Tuesday night. Chloe is the cutest baby ever, and so sweet. She's got the best disposition, just happy all the time. And she's at a fun age, she plays with her toys, and gets so excited about everything. You can tell she is just itching to get down and play with all the kids.
My other cousins from Arizona came with their kids. They have 9 and 13 year old girls, and a 6 year old boy. I love these kids, they are so much fun. Thanksgiving day was a busy day, usually we do it at my grandparents house, but this year it was at my parents house. We had 26 people over and had to cook a ton of food. Even with all those people we had a ton of leftovers.
On Friday we just stayed home and played with the kids, paper airplane wars, Phase 10 games, walks around the block, naps, fetch with the dog, all in all it was a very fun day. Saturday we decided to go up to Venice Beach, we had gone there two years ago when my cousins were out here for Thanksgiving and had a lot of fun. It's always interesting to people watch there. We rented one of those tandem bikes, riding that was interesting. And we got the yummiest donuts fresh from the fryer. Mmmmm.
Sunday was a sad day....everyone went home. I slept all day to make up for all the lost sleep over the weekend. :)
Tomorrow is December 1st and Christmas is only 23 days away. I haven't even started shopping or anything. I think I'm gonna do the decorations tomorrow. It will be another interesting holiday, the first one without my grandma.

Thanksgiving....

Today is Thanksgiving. So in the spirit of the holiday here are the things I'm grateful for this year....
1. God's love. The love that He has for me that He sent His Son here to suffer and die for me, to pardon my sins. And knowing that I have eternal life in Him. That because He died and rose again, I can live forever in heaven with Him. I would not have been able to make it thru the loss of my grandma without knowing that this separation is only temporary. I will see her again one day, and that makes the pain of loss bearable. And, for that, I am grateful.

2. My family. I have the best family. We may not be perfect, but no matter what, thru thick and thin, we always stick together. And, for that, I am grateful.

3. My niece being born. This little baby is the biggest blessing. She's such a happy baby, and just thinking about her makes me smile. She's only been in my life for 8 months, but I cannot imagine life without her, and for that, I am grateful.

4. My friends. I may not have alot of friends, but the one's I do have are great. I know I can count on these girls, and hope they know they can count on me. And for that, I am grateful.

5. Facebook. Ok, you might be thinking this one is a little strange, but Facebook has brought me back into contact with some old friends that I would otherwise probably have never spoken to again, and for that, I'm grateful.

6. My job. In this economy to have a job is a good thing. To have a job that I like, with people I like, is truly a blessing. And for that, I am grateful.

7. My dad quitting smoking. Never in my life did I think I would see the day that my dad would quit smoking, but he's gone cold turkey for 6 weeks now and for that I am grateful.

8. The perfect mac and cheese recipe. I perfected my own recipe this year, not only is it fantastically yummy, but I have a wonderful potluck dish that every one loves and frequently requests, and for that, I am grateful.

9. The new Arby's by my house. Arby's is one of my favorite fast food places, but up until a few months ago, there was not one within a 10 mile range of my house. Now there is one just about a mile away, and for that, I am grateful.

10 Twenty minutes on the last Saturday in August. This was back when my grandma was still sick, it was the day we really realized that things were bad. I was at my parents house when my mom came home from my grandparents and said things were really bad. I headed up there and found my grandma laying in her bed. I laid in bed with her and just snuggled up with her and told her that I loved her. And even though it was not the last time, it was 20 minutes that no one else had, just her and I. And I will never forget it, and for that I am grateful.