Farewell, President Hinckley

President Gordon B. Hinckley passed away yesterday, January 27, 2008 at the age of 97. I have such a soft spot in my heart for this man! President Hinckley became the prophet and president of the church when I was 15-years-old, so I think he will always be my favorite!

I remember one General Conference I was able to attend live in the Tabernacle when I was a teenager. I had a seat in the first balcony, very close to the stage. Before the session began, when President Hinckley entered the room, the entire congregation rose to their feet and sang, "We Thank Thee, O God, For a Prophet." President Hinckley smiled and waved to the congregation. At that moment, I felt such an overwhelmingly strong witness that he was truly the Lord's prophet on the earth! I had no doubt about it!
This is probably my very favorite picture of President Hinckley! It makes me think of his warm words of encouragement and love, and his infectious enthusiasm and wit that I have looked forward to every General Conference.

I know he couldn't stay with us forever (though I secretly hoped he would), still I can't help but feel a little sad. Sad for us, I keep thinking, but how wonderful for him! He's now united with his beloved wife, Sister Marjorie Pay Hinckley, who passed away in April of 2004.It makes me smile to think of those two sweethearts back together at last!

Logan's Kitties

If you know Logan at all, you will probably recognize these little guys:Logan's Kitties (or "Tiddies," as he calls them!) HeHeHe!

Logan absolutely LOVES these little guys and takes them almost everywhere he goes! The store, the library, the playground...If fact, they often join us at the table for meals!He'd take them in the bathtub if I'd let him (believe me, he's tried!) And don't even think about putting him to bed without them! As you can imagine, they get pretty dirty and have had every body fluid imaginable on them (including blood and vomit!) The poor little guys are no strangers to the inside of my washing machine!

There was a time when there was only one kitty (the more raggedy of the two...yeah, I know it's hard to tell!) He was a gift that Logan's Great-Grandma Nemanich sent in the mail. Grandma N has sent several cute little books and animals to the boys, but for some reason, Logan got really attached to this one!

Last year, when Kitty #1 joined us at Niagara Falls, I thought to myself, "What would we do if Kitty got lost on one of our adventures? We'd better get a replacement!" So I got on eBay (of course) and found Kitty's identical twin brother (at that time, he was brand-new, clean, and fluffy), who was immediately shipped to our house. Now I could sneak one kitty away to be washed while the other kitty took his place! I was pretty proud of myself for this brilliant plan!

This worked out pretty nicely until Logan happened to see BOTH kitties at the same time! He was THRILLED, of course - now he had TWO KITTIES to carry around! Yeah! So much for my brilliant plan!

The other day, I was working on the computer (okay, I was writing on the blog!), and Logan was playing upstairs alone. I noticed that I hadn't heard anything from him for a few minutes, so I went up to check on him. Expecting the worst, this is what I found instead:

I guess Logan and the kitties needed a little mid-morning R&R. This is exactly how I found him, blankets and all!Notice Logan has supplied each kitty with his own blanket! SO SWEET!

Birthday Mission: KIM POSSIBLE

Last friday, we celebrated Andrew's 6th birthday with a KIM POSSIBLE party. (KP is Andrew's favorite TV show! It's about a teenage crime fighter, KP, her goofy sidekick/boyfriend, Ron Stoppable, and all their adventures saving the world.) We sent out invitations shaped like mini file folders containing their "top secret mission" information.

The party began with a special training course for our guests to become certified crime fighters. The course included leaping from rock to rock through shark infested waters, balancing on a narrow bridge over a 1000 foot ravine, belly-crawling through a deep dark cave, and finally, maneuvering through the "laser room" without touching the lasers and setting off the alarm. Our crime fighters had some pretty sweet moves, so they all received their KP Certified Crime Fighter badges. (Andrew, Sam, Gracie, Airyonna, Lukas, Alexander, Logan, Isaac, Emilia, and Elle) We played "musical villans" and then ate dinner - "Mad Dogs", fries, and juice boxes. (Mad Dogs are the mascots at KP's high school) Bryan drew and painted an AWESOME poster for "Pin the Tail on Rufus!" (Here is Logan trying his hand at the game) When it was time to open presents, we went upstairs to the living room (where we originally left the presents) only to find a note from the villans, Drakken and Shego, who had stolen all of Andrew's presents!

Lukily, I just happened to have a "kimmunucator" (walkie takie) with which I was able to contact Wade (Bryan) who gave us clues to places around the house where we could find the secret passwords that lead us to the place where Drakken and Shego hid the presents! We were eventually successful and found the presents in the breakfast nook.
After opening the presents, we finished up with chocolate Kim Possible cake and Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream (Andrew's favorite!) Each crime fighter went home with a "Top Secret Crime Fighter Kit."
All in all, I think the party went very well and the kids seemed to have a great time! When I was tucking Andrew into bed that night he said, "Mom, will you do me a favor? Will you tell Daddy thank you for putting up the lasers?" I think that was his favorite part!

The "On-Call" Misnomer

Okay, so I've talked to various family members (and others) when making plans, etc, and I've mentioned that I can't go to family function X, or activity Y, or project Z because I'm "on-call" on the scheduled day. The conversation has usually run the course of "well, can't you come along and then just leave if you get called in?" The answer: No - this is because 95-99% of the time, when a physician is "on-call," it means he works all night. It doesn't mean hanging out at home 'till the phone rings or the pager goes off; it means that he (or she) puts in a normal day (leaving the house at 5:30 AM to go to work and then working all day), then staying in the hospital and working all night and well into the next morning, sometimes even past noon the next day. Granted, on a very good call day, you may get 5 hours of sleep during the night, but generally it's 3 hours of interupted sleep or none at all, and you put in a solid 24-36 hours non-stop.

As it so happens, I'm on call right now, and I'm writing this blog during the first break in the action that I got today (it's now 3:55 AM) . During the course of the day, I did anesthesia for two surgeries lasting around 7 hours each. They were both laparoscopic robotic surgeries, which I fondly refer to as "robot attacks." Afterward, I picked up the code pager from another resident, and suddenly became responsible for the well-being of around 30-40 post-operative patients, some of them still breathing through a tube. It also becomes my responsibility to quite literally sprint to the bedside of any crashing patient in the hospital (which covers about 4 city blocks) when everything is going awry. During the night so far, I was called to two codes where it was my job to get to the head of the bed and ensure the patient gets oxygen, either by mask ventilating the patient or rapidly sedating the patient and inserting a breathing tube while other residents perform chest compressions/CPR. During the course of the night, I ended up treating some patients with astoundingly high blood pressures, balancing electrolytes, intubating crashing patients, giving potent medicines (called "pressors") to patients with extremely low blood pressures, writing treatment notes, putting in IVs and arterial pressure lines, treating post-op pain, and managing epidural catheters. Despite the crazy hours, stress, and messes (I've even got blood on my shoes), I can still say I love this job.

*2 hours later*..... Okay, I'm back... change that to 4 codes during the night! It's now 5:20 AM and I just got back from two more. All four crashing patients survived (so far). Crazy night! Anyway, the last interesting thing that happened was after my first patient's surgery this morning. I was rushing to get the room turned over and preparing the anesthesia drugs and equipment for the next patient. In the process, I didn't notice that one of the laparoscopic surgical screens was located a few feet away just above my line of sight but lower than the top of my head. That being the case, I rushed over to grab a new anesthesia circuit and clocked myself squarely across the top of my head with the corner of the monitor. It was similar to stubbing a toe... you know, when you can't really focus on anything other than the ardent pain that is searing into the depths of your soul. I paused and took deep breaths for about 10 seconds while holding my head, then brought my hand down only to notice that it was covered in blood. The gash in the top of my head dripped down my forehead and I had to stick some gauze on it and hold pressure to stop the bleeding. Anyway, I couldn't really cancel someone's surgery because I cut my head, so I went and put on gauze and two surgical caps to hide the blood (I figured it wouldn't be very confidence inspiring for a patient to see blood on the anesthesiologists cap), and we proceeded with the next patient's surgery. When I got a chance, I checked with one of my collegues (I couldn't see my wound because it was square on the top of my head), and he said it was borderline whether I needed stitches. I figured I'd just forget it. Even if it left a scar, at least my hairline would hide it. Anyway, other than the head gash, it's been a pretty typical call day. I'll even get to go home in a few more hours!

A History of Birthday Cakes

Tomorrow is Andrew's birthday party, which makes today...Birthday Cake Day! If I get nothing else accomplished today, I'll be happy if the cake gets done! I like to do it the day before... just in case. I have always made the cakes for my kids' birthday parties and some have turned out better than others.

For our two-year-old birthdays, I seemed to have some common sense in my cake choice...for example, for Andrew's Bob the Builder party, I had the brilliant idea to pile brownies in a new dump truck for brownie sundaes - the easiest "cake" ever!

And for Logan's second birthday, I just baked and frosted a cake and placed some Little People toys in it - easy cake decorations and a present all in one! I didn't even have to take it out of the pan!
Other years, I didn't have as much sense. Like Andrew's Fire Engine Cake of '06 - my first and only attempt at a fondant cake. They make it look so easy on the Food Network! My fondant, however, kept splitting and ripping at every corner and white frosting would squirt out the cracks! I literally shed tears over this cake!

And the Pirate Ship Cake of '07... It turned out pretty cool, I must say (complete with "cannon" candles on the side and a pirate walking the "plank" in the back), but it formed a nice crack across the center which slowly grew as the party went on. By cake time, it had pretty much split in half like the Titanic and was sinking just as fast! At least I got some good pictures first!

So, why do I do this to myself? I ask myself that every time at some point in the cake decorating process. I admit, I do feel quite a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment when the cake is complete, and the praise from my husband is pretty nice too, but I put tons of work and frustration into it and I'm not sure if the kids even notice or care.

Last night, when I was thinking about chickening out, I asked Andrew if we could do brownie sundaes instead of a cake this year. He said, "I don't think so, Mom. A birthday is just not the same without a cake." I tried to reason with him that we did brownies for his 2nd birthday and he loved them. "I was only two, and I didn't know any better," was his reply. Wow! I guess he does really care! That gave me the little confidence boost I needed.

Today's attempt - Kim Possible and her goofy sidekick/boyfriend, Ron Stoppable. Unfortunately, Wilton doesn't make a KP cake pan, and I couldn't find any KP figurines or toys to decorate with (should have tried eBay), so I am on my own for this one! Here's a picture from the Internet that I'm using as my inspiration. (the heads, not the full bodies!)

I already baked and started frosting the cake earlier today - so far, so good. I'm going to get the kids to bed and then finish the cake. If all goes well, I'll get back on and add a picture of the finished product. If you don't hear from me by tomorrow, someone come find me! I'll be the one sobbing hysterically in the kitchen, covered head to toe in frosting.

*UPDATE*

Okay, so I survived Cake Day! After about a TON of food coloring, the Kim Possible Cake is finished! It's not professional, but I think you can tell who the characters are. And Andrew says he likes it, which is what really matters, right?!

"Maintenance needed for a wet spill in the paint department!"

It's worse than it sounds...

SO...we'd been standing for about 20-25 minutes in the paint department of Severance Wal-Mart last night, just waiting for someone to come mix one gallon of paint for us. We had someone paged twice and Bryan had to go buy the kids some blue Gatorade to keep them happy.

When someone finally came to help us, Logan said to me, "I have a tummy ache, Mommy!" I stepped closer to him, and was about 1 foot away from him when I got hit with a WALL OF VOMIT! PROJECTILE VOMIT! I just stood there, gasping, not realizing what had happened. The first thing Bryan said was, "Are you okay, Summer?" I guess I must have looked more distressed than poor Logan. Despite how cranky I was for having to wait so long for some freakin' service, I felt a little bad about the disgusting mess we left behind in the paint department! (It was fascinating to see how many employees suddenly appeared when there was something interesting like vomit to see.) We did our best to mop ourselves off with paper towels, paid for our paint, and rushed out to the car in the pouring rain.

On the way home, Logan got sick again in his car seat. Did I mention he had eaten Salt & Vinegar potato chips a bit earlier? I'll just let you imagine that smell in an enclosed car!

When we made it home and got Logan stripped down and into the tub, he sounded pretty proud of himself, "I did TWO frow-ups, Mommy!" (Yup.) "BIG ONES!" he said with a smile. He must have felt better after that, cause he went right to bed and we all slept through the night without any more "frow-ups."

This morning, I woke up a bit late and was rushing to get Andrew and Airyonna ready for school. I was thanking my lucky stars that none of us were sick this morning (despite the fact that we all drank from the same Gatorade bottle last night - nice, huh). Just as the timer rang to tell us it was time to leave, I heard the unmistakable sound of a "blow-out." Poor Logan...this time it was the other end! I started peeling a soaked shirt and pants off his body while shouting to the other two to get their coats and shoes on, "and don't step in the puddle of poop in the carpet!" I hosed him down in the tub and redressed him kicking and screaming (he didn't think it was fair that he couldn't stay and play in the tub). Back downstairs, it took me a while to realize that I couldn't find Logan's or my shoes and coat because they were in the laundry (Oh yeah, they were full of vomit last night!)

We did finally make it out the door (though Logan had to go shoeless; I put him in the stroller) and got the kids off to school - only a little late. I just finished scrubbing the giant puddle of diarrhea in my carpet, and thanks to a whole lot of Febreze, the poopy smell invading my entire house is starting to dissipate.

Through the ordeals of this morning, I had to keep thinking about Bryan and what he said last night, "Everything is okay, this is just part of life." When I was about to loose it at Wal-Mart (okay, I was already in the process of loosing it) Bryan kept a happy, cheerful attitude throughout it all! He even cleaned all the vomit out of the car and carseat with a smile on his face! I don't know how he does it, but this is one of the traits that I admire the most about Bryan! In difficult or very unpleasant situations, he always has a good attitude and is able to keep things in perspective. This is exactly opposite of my reactions; I just get moody and snap at everyone. I feel SO fortunate and grateful to have Bryan as my husband! Heavenly Father knew that I needed someone like him to make up for all my weaknesses and teach me how to behave! I just hope it doesn't take me an entire lifetime to learn from his example! I love you, Bryan!

Happy 6th Birthday, Andrew!

Name: Andrew Bryan Anderson
Age: 6
School Teacher: Ms. Bell
Best Friends: Sam Pussaar, Noah Weight, Lukas Zarders
Favorite Foods: Italian Chicken, Brownies, and Puff Pancakes
Favorite Book: There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bat!
Favorite Activity: Board Games, especially Monopoly Jr.
Favorite Movie: Underdog
Favorite TV show: Kim Possible
Favorite Color: Brown
Favorite Subjects in School: Art and PE
When I grow up I want to be: an engineer, a stocker at a grocery store
What I like best about myself: my brain, because it controls my whole body.
Do you feel different now that you're six? I can run faster now.

Andrew is such a cool kid! He is friendly and compassionate to those around him. He has such a smart, logical mind! I am constantly amazed by the things he knows! He is such a kind big brother to Logan and is usually very patient with him! He is tons of fun and always has a hug, kiss and an, "I love you" for his Mom and Dad. We are so blessed to have him in our family! We love you, Andrew!

Fudge vs. Cookies - It's a draw!

A few posts ago, I wrote about the fudge vs. cookies debate, and I have to admit, it was a very close race. I expected fudge to post an annihilating victory via TKO in the first round, however cookies had a couple of well-placed blows early on. Towards the end, it looked like fudge was going to win by decision, but cookies has held its' own round after round. In the end, after subtracting the additional point for Bryan's vote for fudge (only because the computer wouldn't allow Summer to vote after Bryan had already voted), the scores are tied. The final score: Fudge 6, Cookies 6. That being the case, Summer and I have respectfully agreed to disagree on which is better - it was a good fight.