Saturday, January 12, 2008
Christmas 2007
First of all, sorry it has taken so long for us to update this. Zach started an update at the beginning of December but then got so busy with finals and was never able to finish it. So, I have taken the liberty to update about our Christmas vacation. We were able to go home to Idaho for almost 2 weeks. Some highlights of our vacation:
1. We were able to spend SO much time with both our families. It is nice to have our families only a half hour away from each other. We stayed with Zach's family the first half and with mine the second half but basically we were back and forth between Rexburg and Idaho Falls the whole time. We spent Christmas morning with Zach's family and were able to take part of the traditional breakfast. Zach's mom makes the most amazing sausage rolls. Actually, this is the only way that I will ever eat sausage! Zach's family completely surprised us and got us a Nintendo Wii for Christmas. We both love it! Yep, I caved...many of you know how against Nintendos I have always been...the Wii is so much fun though. We got to spend a lot of time with all of Zach's grandparents also, and even saw some of his extended family.
2. My older brother, Mike, and his family flew home for Christmas from North Carolina so it was great to have my family all together. We spent Christmas night with my family and the highlight was playing with our niece, Bella. She will be 2 years old next month and is just so cute! She is so smart too. The whole trip she would point at our shirts and tell us what color they were and she knows her letters already too. Her new favorite word during the trip became "Zach." Whenever Zach came into the same room as her she would start waving her hands and get all excited and say, "ZZZAAACHHH!!!" She also started saying my name which was, "Zach Ninny." ha ha. My parents got me a magic bullet which I absolutely love! I have used it almost everyday since we've been back!
3. It was great to see so much snow while we were home. It snowed almost everyday we were there. We miss having such extreme seasons. When we came back to Memphis, we turned on our air conditioning for a few days!
4. We were able to attend the Rexburg temple Open House with my family. It was amazing. The temple is so beautiful. I can't wait until we go back and can actually do a session there! Oh and a random fact we found out about the Rexburg temple, it has the largest sealing room of all the temples.
5. Of course we ate at Craigos while we were home...twice. ha ha! For all who don't know, Craigos is this amazing pizza, pasta, and salad buffet. We used to go all the time when we lived in Rexburg and we've missed it a lot. We were able to go once with Zach's family and once with my family. :)
6. We were able to go to our old BYU-I 67th ward. Before we moved to Memphis, this was the only ward we had been in since we were married so it was really hard to leave. It was great to see so many of our old friends from the ward and especially to see Bishop Beazer. Zach served as his first counselor for a little over a year and became really good friends with him.
7. It was great to see so many of our friends while we were home. My best friend from high school, Becky and I were able to have our traditional Fongs date. This has been a big tradition for us since high school. We were able to spend a lot of time with our friends Guy and Amy who came home from their Christmas in Portland early just to spend time with us! We used to hang out with them ever Saturday night and lots of other times during the week so it's been really hard to be away from them! We got to go bowling and play games with them like we used to. Amy and I were even able to go shopping together for a whole day and left the boys at home!
Our Christmas was wonderful. We loved being home with all our family and friends. It was a pretty emotional Christmas for both of us, mostly me though. I was just so thankful to be able to spend another Christmas with Zach. For those who don't know already, the week Zach passed his kidney stones he ended up back in the hospital because of a blood clot in his left calf. While he was in the hospital part of the clot broke off and moved to his left lung. We are both so thankful he was already in the hospital when it moved to his lung. He was hooked up to blood thinners the 4 days he was in the hospital and then they released him but he had to give himself 2 shots everyday for 5 days. He is now on a pill form of blood thinner for the next 6 months. Thank you to everyone who helped us during this scary time. We really appreciate all your thoughts and prayers for Zach. He is definitely my Christmas miracle. :)
1. We were able to spend SO much time with both our families. It is nice to have our families only a half hour away from each other. We stayed with Zach's family the first half and with mine the second half but basically we were back and forth between Rexburg and Idaho Falls the whole time. We spent Christmas morning with Zach's family and were able to take part of the traditional breakfast. Zach's mom makes the most amazing sausage rolls. Actually, this is the only way that I will ever eat sausage! Zach's family completely surprised us and got us a Nintendo Wii for Christmas. We both love it! Yep, I caved...many of you know how against Nintendos I have always been...the Wii is so much fun though. We got to spend a lot of time with all of Zach's grandparents also, and even saw some of his extended family.
2. My older brother, Mike, and his family flew home for Christmas from North Carolina so it was great to have my family all together. We spent Christmas night with my family and the highlight was playing with our niece, Bella. She will be 2 years old next month and is just so cute! She is so smart too. The whole trip she would point at our shirts and tell us what color they were and she knows her letters already too. Her new favorite word during the trip became "Zach." Whenever Zach came into the same room as her she would start waving her hands and get all excited and say, "ZZZAAACHHH!!!" She also started saying my name which was, "Zach Ninny." ha ha. My parents got me a magic bullet which I absolutely love! I have used it almost everyday since we've been back!
3. It was great to see so much snow while we were home. It snowed almost everyday we were there. We miss having such extreme seasons. When we came back to Memphis, we turned on our air conditioning for a few days!
4. We were able to attend the Rexburg temple Open House with my family. It was amazing. The temple is so beautiful. I can't wait until we go back and can actually do a session there! Oh and a random fact we found out about the Rexburg temple, it has the largest sealing room of all the temples.
5. Of course we ate at Craigos while we were home...twice. ha ha! For all who don't know, Craigos is this amazing pizza, pasta, and salad buffet. We used to go all the time when we lived in Rexburg and we've missed it a lot. We were able to go once with Zach's family and once with my family. :)
6. We were able to go to our old BYU-I 67th ward. Before we moved to Memphis, this was the only ward we had been in since we were married so it was really hard to leave. It was great to see so many of our old friends from the ward and especially to see Bishop Beazer. Zach served as his first counselor for a little over a year and became really good friends with him.
7. It was great to see so many of our friends while we were home. My best friend from high school, Becky and I were able to have our traditional Fongs date. This has been a big tradition for us since high school. We were able to spend a lot of time with our friends Guy and Amy who came home from their Christmas in Portland early just to spend time with us! We used to hang out with them ever Saturday night and lots of other times during the week so it's been really hard to be away from them! We got to go bowling and play games with them like we used to. Amy and I were even able to go shopping together for a whole day and left the boys at home!
Our Christmas was wonderful. We loved being home with all our family and friends. It was a pretty emotional Christmas for both of us, mostly me though. I was just so thankful to be able to spend another Christmas with Zach. For those who don't know already, the week Zach passed his kidney stones he ended up back in the hospital because of a blood clot in his left calf. While he was in the hospital part of the clot broke off and moved to his left lung. We are both so thankful he was already in the hospital when it moved to his lung. He was hooked up to blood thinners the 4 days he was in the hospital and then they released him but he had to give himself 2 shots everyday for 5 days. He is now on a pill form of blood thinner for the next 6 months. Thank you to everyone who helped us during this scary time. We really appreciate all your thoughts and prayers for Zach. He is definitely my Christmas miracle. :)
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Zach's Adventure
Well today started out as a pretty normal, boring day but that quickly changed around 3 o'clock. My phone rang and the caller ID said it was Zach but when I answered I was surprised to hear Zach's classmate, Brandon, on the other end. He told me that Zach had been complaining about having abdominal pain and that they were walking into Methodist Hospital's Emergency Room. Right away I knew he had to be in a lot of pain because Zach refuses to ever go to the doctor. I talked to Zach on the phone earlier that day and he told me that his stomach was hurting but he just figured it was because he was nervous for his practical. I guess the pain got worse during his practical and after it was over he threw up a few times and lost all the color in his face. It took me forty minutes to get to the hospital...longest forty minutes of my life. When I finally got to the hospital the nurse told me I couldn't go into Zach's room until one of the boys left. She went back to tell one of them to leave and when she came out she told me that they were praying for him and that one of them would be out soon. :) A few minutes later, Matt Butler walked out and told me that Zach was doing a lot better and they thought he may have a kidney stone. When I walked into the room Zach was just lying on the bed and he looked like he was in so much pain...I've never seen him like that. Brandon and the nurse told me that he was looking a lot better than he did when they first brought him in. They were getting him all drugged up on pain medication and then they took him away to have a cat scan. Let me tell you though, Zach gets really loopy when he is on pain medication. Some of the things he was saying were pretty funny...Brandon and I wished we had a video camera. All the test results came back about a half hour after the cat scan and the doctor came to tell us that Zach indeed has a kidney stone...not only one, but two. Poor guy. So now, he gets to wait patiently until they pass. Lucky for him, they are both small enough that he can pass them on his own. So that was our exciting day!
It's interesting how things work out though. Last week I put in my two weeks notice at work. Why? Well, a few reasons but mainly because I wasn't getting the hours I needed. This has been a struggle for about a month and I had the opportunity to take a job in a different optometry office so I accepted the job. This Saturday was supposed to be my last day but that changed when the owner called my manager yesterday and told her to send me home and that I didn't need to fulfill the rest of my two weeks. I found out that they laid 3 people off in the other office on Tuesday and so I was feeling really good about putting my two weeks in and already having a job lined up. Now, I am really glad that I don't start my new job until Monday so I can take care of Zach. I am so thankful for all the help we got today. I really appreciate Matt and Brandon for taking Zach to the ER and giving him a blessing. Brandon stayed at the hospital the whole time with me, which I am so glad he did because he was the one who asked the doctor most of the questions...things I wouldn't have even thought about asking. It was nice to have someone to talk to while we sat in the ER for a few hours also. When we got home Brandon's wife brought dinner over for us which was very appreciated since I had eaten since breakfast! We have had so many blessings in disguise the last few weeks...it's amazing how it has all worked out. Let's just hope these stones pass soon! Thanks to everyone who helped us out today. We wouldn't have been able to do it without you!
It's interesting how things work out though. Last week I put in my two weeks notice at work. Why? Well, a few reasons but mainly because I wasn't getting the hours I needed. This has been a struggle for about a month and I had the opportunity to take a job in a different optometry office so I accepted the job. This Saturday was supposed to be my last day but that changed when the owner called my manager yesterday and told her to send me home and that I didn't need to fulfill the rest of my two weeks. I found out that they laid 3 people off in the other office on Tuesday and so I was feeling really good about putting my two weeks in and already having a job lined up. Now, I am really glad that I don't start my new job until Monday so I can take care of Zach. I am so thankful for all the help we got today. I really appreciate Matt and Brandon for taking Zach to the ER and giving him a blessing. Brandon stayed at the hospital the whole time with me, which I am so glad he did because he was the one who asked the doctor most of the questions...things I wouldn't have even thought about asking. It was nice to have someone to talk to while we sat in the ER for a few hours also. When we got home Brandon's wife brought dinner over for us which was very appreciated since I had eaten since breakfast! We have had so many blessings in disguise the last few weeks...it's amazing how it has all worked out. Let's just hope these stones pass soon! Thanks to everyone who helped us out today. We wouldn't have been able to do it without you!
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Happy Thanksgiving!
Thanksgiving this year was definitely different but very nice. Zach had a whole week off school which was nice for him but I had to work the whole time. He was able to study a lot though since the next 3 weeks are crazy busy for him with school. I did however have Monday off work so we went to this awesome outdoor mall in Collierville. We found some great sales so that was nice and then we ate at Olive Garden...yum! Here's a picture of me in front of some huge Christmas ornaments at the mall. Zach refused to be in the picture but he was wearing shorts and a t-shirt, it was so nice outside.
We celebrated Thanksgiving with our friends Matt and Corinne Butler. They are also 1st year optometry students from Idaho. It was neat to actually cook part of the meal. All the food was delicious. It was a little weird not be with family but we were happy to be able to share it with our friends. After we ate we played a bunch of card games and just talked. Here's a picture of all of us after we ate.
We celebrated Thanksgiving with our friends Matt and Corinne Butler. They are also 1st year optometry students from Idaho. It was neat to actually cook part of the meal. All the food was delicious. It was a little weird not be with family but we were happy to be able to share it with our friends. After we ate we played a bunch of card games and just talked. Here's a picture of all of us after we ate.
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