October Happenings....

 I am now 3 weeks out from my surgery and am feeling good. I am pretty much back to normal life, I just can't lift more than 10 pounds. While I was having my surgery, the kids were at Shoshone Mountain Retreat. Landon's school went there for a 3 day camp and he said he would only go if Josie went with him. There were some random photos taken so I took them from the school's FB page. The kids had fun and it worked out perfectly to have the kids away so I could recover. 

One of my old Co workers came to visit me. It felt good to get out of the condo.

Meanwhile, back in Valleyford, Our shop is being put up!

Landon had to build a boat out of natural resources for school. 

Last week Josie's good friend Gabby came to stay with us. She goes to Freeman and is doing virtual school like Josie, So they were able to hang out together. 

There has been a mama bear and her 2 cubs living down the road from our place. The other day the mama jumped out in the road in front of my car!

Landon's teacher got married last Saturday night. It was at the barn at the school. The attire was country casual. 

The wedding party showed up on a work truck.

Landon Hugging his teacher after the wedding.

Our friends Kevin and Melissa. They are also the friends that I work for:)

The boys hung out in the loft watching the party and daring each other to ask girls to dance. 

Living on the mountain, winter comes a little earlier now. Sunday I took gabby home and brought Josie and Landon with me so we could visit some friends. 

We dropped off Gabby and went to say Hi to our old neighbor Alee.  Alee and I went to lunch and her husband took the kids to a trampoline park. A couple of hours later Josie called and said 'I think Landon broke his ankle!' Apparently a girl 'double bounced' him and he came down hard on his ankle. Kale met us at the urgent care with Landon and carried him in for me. They took X-Rays and said it didn't appear to be broken. They didn't have a walking boot small enough for him so they made a temporary gel cast for it and said to follow up in a few days with an orthopedist. 

We got home late Sunday evening, I told Landon that it was his turn to lay on the couch and be catered to now....He smiled, and said 'YUP!'

Day one on crutches were a little rough. Landon was excited to go to school and show all his friends. I dropped him off and all the kids were helping him and asking him questions. 

He had to make sure that his Halloween costume fit with his splint. 

 Wednesday Landon had a follow up appointment with the orthopedic office. They took new x rays and said that they can't rule out a fracture. He called it a Salter-Harris Fracture. It is a fracture in the growth plate. It doesn't show up well on an x ray so the dr. is treating it as if that is the diagnosis. They gave him a walking boot that fit and he will be in that for 4 weeks...At that time they will re asses and do physical therapy. Landon quickly got over the excitement of showing his friends and became depressed that he couldn't run and play with them. I cheered him up with some chicken fries from Burger King and we talked about how it wont last forever...His spirits grew a little and he was glad to have an actual walking boot. He was also glad that the boot was black and matched his Halloween outfit. 

The sunrises have been really pretty in the mornings. When I take Landon to school we get to see this view. 

The other day Luke got this picture of the baby bear cubs that live up on the mountain. They were up in the trees! 

Landon's school learns a lot about animals and they combine science with farm and Ag learning. Yesterday they butchered chickens and then learned all about the digestive system. Landon was not that impressed, and said it made his tummy hurt. Here is an email from his teacher that explains what they did.

Josie now takes horse lessons 2x a week and is loving it. 

We are expecting 9-12 inches of snow up here on the mountain today. I am meeting some friends from College, Katie and Jen, in Sandpoint to have a girls night and stay downtown this evening. 

Grandparents Day, A Heart Attack, and a Hysterectomy....

 Landon has been loving his new school. He is helping out with the pigs each morning. I picked him up from school the other day and he said 'mom, I need some jeans, a flannel and a cowboy hat'  This comes from a boy who hasn't worn pants in over 2 years!

I drove by our old place to see the new driveway coming along. It was still really smoky, but the driveway looked good.

My parents came for a visit. We went Hiking both days. 

Landon had a grandparents day at his new school. He was excited to show us how he can do a backflip on the trampoline. 

Landon showed us the pigs. Fiona and Jessie. Fiona was just bred and in the spring Landon will get to raise a baby piglet. He is very excited for this. 

My parents left on Saturday. Josie and I took the dogs for a hike with our friends. Joey loves to go in the Ranger. 

We have been hiking and mountain biking quite a bit. The smoke finally cleared and you could finally see the lake!

Our friends took us out on their boat last week for Taco Tuesday. 

I have started my new job and really enjoy it. I brought Josie to work with me the other day so she could get out of the house. My friends son Campbell does his homework there too. 

Thursday morning I got a call from my mom at 4:30 am. My dad got up with the dog because the dog was whining. My dad ended up stepping in dog poop...so after cleaning it up he started to have chest pain and starting sweating profusely. My mom called 911 but it took the Ambulance 45 minutes to get there! Once they got him to the Davenport hospital (which is really small) They sent for Life Flight to take him to Sacred heart in Spokane. The problem was the Helicopter couldn't land in Spokane due to a cloud bank. So the life flight team got in an ambulance and got him to spokane. It turns out that a stint that my dad had placed in 2014 was forming a blood clot around it. The cardiologist in Spokane placed 4 new splints and said the old one was too small and that is why it formed a clot. My dad had a total blockage to his heart.  

In the meantime...I had to get a Covid test to be cleared for my Hysterectomy. I was terrified to have the 'brain swab'. They gave me a packet with the test in it and then I took it to the lab. It looked horrific!

It ended up being a 'self swab'...so I just had to swirl it around in my nose a few times and hand it to the nurse! It wasn't bad at all, and it said I didn't have Covid, so that was even better. 

Landon's school had class photos taken. His teacher took some with her phone while the photographer took the pics.  

I spent the night with my mom at the lake on Thursday night. My dad wasn't able to come home until the weekend and with Covid, I wasn't allowed to go in to see him...Although I may or may not have snuck in once.  Friday I left for Suncadia in Cle Elum. Jen and I meet once a year and Suncadia has become our spot. We had a great time catching up on life, Hiking, getting a massage and eating out! 

I was taking a picture of our coffee and masks and this dog ran into the picture and started peeing:)

The spa was all shut down due to Covid, so there was no hot tub, sauna or steam room available. We still had nice relaxing massages, It just looked different this year. 

We hiked to this old mine house..

Saw some Deer...

Luke was busy at home keeping the kids entertained. 

Landon needed a new hat to take to camp this week....His school is at camp for 3 days. He said he would only go if Josie went with him because he gets too homesick. So I dropped them off on Tuesday and crossed my fingers he would be fine. Apparently yesterday he got hit in the face with a rock and has a butterfly bandage on it. The teacher had called Luke to let us know. She said he got homesick last night, but was having fun! The kids get home this afternoon so I am excited to hear all about it. 

Tuesday we had a new fridge, micowave and oven delivered. The old ones were very old. 

My Hysterectomy was Wednesday. My dr. recommended that I 'clear my bowels' prior to surgery....So I really went for it. 

My surgery check in time was 6am. We got up at 4 and drove into Spokane. I wore my 'surgery slippers'

Due to Covid, Luke wasn't able to come back with me, but I feel like I am kind of a pro at surgeries now. And, once they gave me the 'relaxing medication' in my IV, I didn't really care about much. 

Everything went well and I was home by 2 in the afternoon. I'm not in as much pain as I was with my other surgeries. I'm hoping it stays that way. They went in Laparoscopically, so I have small incisions on either side of my stomach, one in my belly button and one in my old C section scar. I'm glad to have this surgery done with. The dr. said that everything looked good when they took it all out so that made me feel good. 

Landon's school Picks came back and I love them.  

Josie doesn't go to his school because it only goes to 6th grade. But, the photographer offered to take her picture too. 

My dad was doing great. But then was outside at the Lake and a huge Bull snake started charging at him. He started kicking gravel at it, but my mom had to jump in with a rake and try to get it away. After that happened my dad started having chest pain and sweating again. My mom called 911 again, but put my dad in the car and told the ambulance that she would just meet them on the way to the hospital, which is about 25 miles away. My mom said that she was almost to the hospital before the ambulance came into view. They did some blood work and kept him overnight. Yesterday they transferred him to Sacred Heart to have another cath lab evaluation. They just want to make sure that there is no other blockage in a smaller vein. He will have that done today at 9. It has been quite the week! Hoping things settle down a bit!