Utah Trip: Days 3&4

This might be getting boring for some of you, but I want to remember all of it. Skip over it if you aren't interested.

On Friday, we let Sheila's mom watch Eleanor with the help of Austin and Kenzie while Grant, Dad, Sheila, and I went to the Vernal temple. Aunt Kathleen was just getting into town, and she met us there. We got to do some family names since Kathleen is so dedicated to genealogy, and the temple was just as beautiful as I remembered it from the open house and baptisms for the dead. Eleanor had a great time and didn't have any problems with us leaving her since she had her good friends, Austin and Kenzie there. For any of you who don't know, they are my little brother and sister, born to my dad and Sheila. They were so good to her and made her feel so comfortable from the start. Kenzie was like having a built in babysitter the whole time-- that's what I call a vacation!

Saturday was the day of the big party. While Grant's cold was slowly getting better and Eleanor was only coughing at night, my cold had gone into my chest and was getting worse each day. I knew it must be because of the dryness compared to Oregon, and I just needed my chest to open up so I could cough out some of the gunk that was making it so hard for me to breathe. I tried calling a doctor back here in Oregon, hoping I could just get a prescription for an inhaler so that I wouldn't have to go to some urgent care or ER and cost us a bunch of money when I already knew what I needed. Well, I didn't get my usual doctor; I spoke with some guy who had never even met me who scared me to death, telling me I could have asthma problems for the rest of my pregnancy. He said I was going to have to take an inhaled steroid as a preventative measure for the rest of my pregnancy. Then he told me to go to an urgent care center. If you know me, you know I'm not so big on taking a bunch of drugs while I'm pregnant, so the thought of needing that kind of inhaler for the rest of my pregnancy was not my ideal. I would take it if I absolutely needed it, but I knew my current breathing problems were only because of my cold and the dry climate. After that conversation, I decided I felt better already and didn't need to go to urgent care where they were possibly going to try to push a bunch of drugs on me I didn't want.

But my coughing and wheezing just weren't getting better, and by the time I gave in and decided we should go to urgent care, they were closed. I couldn't stand to cost us the money it would have required for an ER visit in a place not covered by our insurance, so I decided I would just have to suck it up. My dad started thinking of anyone and everyone he knew with asthma from whom he could maybe borrow an inhaler. The first people he tried in his ward loaned us a nebulizer and several doses of Albuterol. I had a breathing treatment before the birthday party, and it made a huge difference. I ended up having one more breathing treatment during the trip, and once I got back to Oregon, my lungs got better every day. I'm fine now and still think it would have been absurd if I had listened to that doctor.

And now, for the main event: the birthday party. My dad turned 60 this year. There was a ton of good food, and we all ate first. During dinner, my Uncle John read memories and anecdotes about my dad, written by all the family. Then, we gave him gifts. After the festivities, some of the family played tornado. Here's a little video from that:

Eleanor got to play along with help from her daddy. My sister looks like she swallowed a basketball, but, I assure you, there were only the two balls at the start (tee hee).

(A few game shots.)

And here's the birthday guy, himself. My dad is in the middle, with his brother, Will, on the left and Grandma B, Sheila's grandma, on the right. She is such a dear, sweet lady, and I have so many fun memories of her! She loves Oregon because she served a mission out here along the coast.
The kids had fun playing in the nursery. I thought it was so fun that they had these in a nursery. What a fun toy! Here, Connor was spinning along with Eleanor, but he's giving up his seat for the lady (Grace). What a gentleman!

This shows some more of the grandkids. There are 11 in total, Eleanor ranking at #10.

During dessert, Dad read some of his favorite stories aloud to the kids.

The cake had dark blue icing in some places, and it dyed everyone's mouths. There was no mistaking who came to my dad's party.

Ethan with Aunt Kathleen, enjoying some cake and ice cream. Kathleen is my dad's sister, and Ethan is #11 of the grandkids.

I had to get a picture of Hayden's blue mouth. He didn't want to smile for the camera, so I had to catch him unaware.

Ethan is such a cutie! He was happy to sit and roll the ball with a partner.