Happy Holidays!

It's the best time of the year, and we are making sure to enjoy it! We started out last weekend by going to an invite only sale at Cabeles. We left our house at 5:30 and so the whole drive was in the dark. We had wanted to leave Brilee and Bronson with Grammy, but the last day we decided Bronson was just too sick. He was needing breathing treatments, and I hated to put Grammy through that. So… we dropped Bri off and loaded Bronosn up. He did pretty good the drive out. As we were driving down Daniels Jake said, "Look at those huge deer." He flipped the brights on, and NOPE there were 2 moose! We freaked and started flashing everyone, and honking our horn. It got our adrenaline pumping! We got to Provo around 7 and the sale didn't start until 8. So, it was a great chance for us to get our favorites for dinner. Jake and Bronson hit up In-N-Out and I went next door to Zuppas. We ate then got to Cabelas just in time. It was packed… Bronson LOVED it though. He loves mounts and the fish aquarium impressed him immensely! The sale was RIDICULOUS though! Nothing was in stock. We were hoping to buy 2 Garmin dog systems (one for us and one for a friend), 2 cases of bullets, and a gun. They had none of it… Maybe they had the gun but NOBODY helped us and we got annoyed. So… we left empty handed. Jake was so disappointed. We hit the road around 10. Bronson fell right asleep. As we were traveling over Strawberry we commented on the traffic. Jake was getting ready to pass a truck pulling a trailer as soon as a semi passed. Well… the semi and the truck clipped head on. All we really remember from then on was a ball of fire. It was like an explosion. After the fire died down (so like 3 seconds) the semi's tire was heading straight for us. Jake swerved just right, and then the tire hit a pot hole and bounced over the hood of our car. We stopped and were shaking. Bronson was snoring (thankfully). The guy driving the truck was out of his vehicle and freaking out. He was so lucky! The semi driving came running up to us yelling, "Is the car okay? How many ambulances?" He too was freaking out. Finally we all calmed down and assessed the situation. The guy driving the truck could not get back in his vehicle (he had locked the passenger side and the driver side was totaled) so he was in our car until the police showed up. The officer was a lady with a strong accent. I loved her. She was no push over. Neither guy wanted to take blame so she and Jake went and walked the tracks. We were witnesses, but really could not see who crossed the lane because it was in a deep turn. Soon Jake came back and the officer had us fill out or statement. After that we were able to leave. We got home after 2… and Bronson never woke.

Del, Kirk, and Drew showed up Saturday night at our house. We fixed dinner and had a great time visiting. Sunday everyone but Bronson and I went to the cabin and then to Vernal. We all had a yummy dinner and enjoyed one anthers company. Monday we had family pictures and another evening at my parents. Tuesday my Dad made Jake a leg of lamb and Scott Montgomery came over to eat it with us too. It was such a good night. Bri got super mean, tired, and weird acting that night. I figured she was just exhausted from all the going and sleepovers. However, Wednesday morning she woke up with the worst sounding cough. I cringed and instantly got nervous. She shook it off and acted herself by 11 so she went with Bronson and my parents to Salt Lake. Jake and I worked and took off for Salt Lake around 4. My Mom called when we were in Heber and said, "The decision is already made so don't fight it, but you and Jake will meet everyone at a Vietnamese restaurant by the U. I will keep the kids in the hotel." It was so nice of her, and awesome to see Amy, Cathy, and Roger. We had a great dinner and then went to get our kids! We got off the elevator and I could hear Bronson from our room yelling, "I night night. I go home. I night night!" Poor boy. My mom kept him up so I could give him his antibiotic. He took it, grabbed his bottle, and was out! Bri, Stac, and I went to the hotel restaurant and grabbed some ice cream. She was coughing again, but acting normal. She convinced me to let her sleep with Aunty Stacia (our rooms were connected). We all went to bed around 10. I fell asleep, but I guess the other room just sat there and watched Bri cough, struggle to breath, and toss and turn.Around 1 my Mom decided to wake Bri up to make her go potty. As soon as she touched her she realized we had an issue. She was ON FIRE! My mom started knocking on our door (it took awhile to wake us up) and then I realized I had forgotten the medicine bag. I had set out tylenol, motrin, benadryl, and all the other necessities. My mom took off to find medicine and Jake and I tried a breathing treatment on her. When that didn't work and I could tell her fever was crazy high we decided to take her in. We went to IHC, and it was the best hospital experience we have ever had. It was amazing. On our drive there I told Jake I could feel her fever drop. It had gone down so much I thought it would be gone by the time we got there. In triage I told the nurse that as he was taking it and he said, "Well that's scary because she is still at 103.9." The nurse was named Jillian and we loved that! Bri told her she knew a Jillian but she called her Jilli Bean. The nurse asked if our Julli spelled her name right and Bri said, "Well her Mom does." Bri was so grown-up and big. The doctor and nurses all loved her. The doctor felt bad about the ruined sleepover so she wrote her up a prescription for a new sleep over with Aunty Stacia. It was adorable. Jillian told Bri there were lots of sick kids there that night, but everyone decided Brilee was the cutest. She said people might start coming to look at her and Bri said, "I know. People always do." haha! After double dose of med, breathing treatments (she was really struggling), and a urine sample Brilee was diagnosed with croup and a UTI. We were sent home with steroids and meds. We got to the hotel at 5 in the morning. We all breathed a sigh of relief that Bri was going to be okay, and that Bronson slept through it all (he always sleeps through the night in hotels. It's the craziest things.) My alarm went off at 7:15 and I got up to get ready for the Turkey Trot we had all signed up for. Jake decided to stay back with kids and keep them at the hotel. He took them to breakfast, had them bathed and ready for Turkey day when we got back. Our Turkey Trot was a blast! It was so pretty. My body was feeling it (stress, Vietnamese food, lack of sleep, and lack of training) and so it hurt. But I was under 30 minutes so that made me happy! Del KILLED it! He was so awesome. I think he was 3rd in his division! Kirk finished after Del and right before me. As soon as we finished we headed to the hotel. We showered and got ready. Jake, Del, and Kirk headed to Cathy's while Stacia, Bronson, and I went to find a open pharmacy. We finally found one and got to Cathy's in just enough time to make my green bean casserole. Bronson had fallen asleep in the car and so Jake and I were taking turns sitting with him. Bri was struggling and ended up falling asleep on the floor. We let her sleep and then Bronson woke up right before dinner. We all got seated to eat and Bronson decided he wasn't hungry. So I played with him while Jake ate, and then he let me sit down and enjoy dinner while he played with him. It worked out great. Bri slept all afternoon and when she finally woke up everyone was getting ready to go. Stac, my parents, Del, and Kirk all went to Wendover and everyone else went to their homes. Jake, the kids, and I went back to the pharmacy to get Bri's medicine and some other stuff. We grabbed Bri a Happy Meal and went to Toy-R-Us to buy her a toy for being a big girl. We then went back to Cathy's and enjoyed the evening playing with the Bullocks. Bri LOVED having Amy, and we had a good night. Friday morning everyone showed back up to Cathy's for pie. Jake, my Dad, and the kids headed home while Cathy, Amy, Stac, my Mom, and I went shopping! We hit up some cool stores, mainly IKEA, stopped at Costco and then we had to hit the road. Jake called when we were by Fruitland to say Bri's fever was back. He gave her meds and by the time we got home she was normal. That night she got bad again. Super HIGH fever and struggled. Yesterday morning I decided to take her back to get checked out. This time it was decided she has the flu… they put her on tamaflu and we hope it kicks it out of her system fast. She couldn't break her fever yesterday with tylenol and motrin in her system. She finally had a normal temp at 10 last night. I woke up around the clock to give her the medicine and at 4 she had motrin. I didn't give her medicine again until 12 today and her temp has stayed good (until about 10 minutes ago, but it is only 100.3). Jake took off this morning for his annual North Dakota pheasant hunting trip, and we are having a nice slow day at home. We have our Christmas decorations all up, and we love it!