Playing Catch-Up...

Hi Friends and Family! We hope your holidays went well. Ours where fun and full.
The slide show shows our Christmas, Jake's Birthday, Simon before and after his first trip to the groomers(he really is as soft as he looks), and Rachel's Valentine rose.
We've had a lot of good friends move lately, and we miss them! We wish you all well in your new locations and endeavors.


Here's a quick update on all of us...

Daniel... Turned 19! Yikes! His mission papers are almost ready to be turned in. We will of course let everyone know where he is called to as soon as we do.

Andrew... is still working at Sub Zero (an ice cream store in our mall), still working out at Throwdown and still plugging along in school.

Rachel...is getting taller and prettier everyday. She is doing really well in school and is about to turn 15!

Matthew...is liking being an official teenager. He is loving playing trumpet and he's doing well in school.

Jacob...just turned 10. He got his first iPod so he officially joins the rest of us as techno geeks. He had a birthday party and he and his friends saw "Ink Heart"(which we all really liked). He's a Webelos now too!

Aaron...is working hard and long hours but is still loving his job.

Heather...is still in Young Women and loving it. I've gone to a lot of doctors lately but I'm feeling much better now so it's not so bad. Even at my worst times the traditional medicines for Lupus would make me feel a lot worse than my symptoms do. So, I'm on a few anti-inflammatory meds and I'm slowly trying to build my stamina back up. We'll just leave it at that until the next flare and then re-evaluate. I feel really blessed! There are so many Lupus patients who are far worse off than me.

We hope you all are doing well too!

Finallly...A Diagnosis...

Hi Friends and Family! It's been crazy around here and I've hardly had time to breath let alone post. We'll see if we can get that taken care of now.

As most of you know, I've had some chronic health problems for years now. I've been told that I have everything from chronic sinusitis to Epstein Barr to chronic gum disease. While I have the symptoms of most of those, that didn't explain the low-grade fevers, hair loss, swollen hands and feet, joint pain, and ever-present and debilitating fatigue. I've been a real pest to my family doc and had all kinds of tests but nothing definite came up.

Aaron's company does annual blood testing as part of their wellness program. We go every year, get our blood drawn, and then get the results soon after. When I tell the nurse that I have heart disease in my family they do a test for C-RP or Cardio Reactive Protein. It's a protein the liver produces when there is inflammation in the body. It doesn't tell you where the inflammation is, just that it's there.

Healthy people should have a C-RP level below 1.0. Low to high is 1.0 -3.0. Mine was 5.8 This is the third year running that my C-RP level has been really elevated so I got online and started researching C-RP and found several mentions of Lupus as a cause. (The Lupus arthritis causes the high C-RP level.)

I really wanted a correct diagnosis finally, but I know too much about Lupus to want it be that. Long story short, it is that. I told the doctor I wanted a blood panel done for Lupus and after getting the results he called back saying I have the early stages of SLE or Systemic Lupus Erythematosus.

In a nutshell, Lupus is an autoimmune disorder. Here is the definition from the National Lupus Foundation:

"Lupus is an autoimmune disease that can affect various parts of the body, including the skin, joints, heart, lungs, blood, kidneys and brain. Normally the body's immune system makes proteins called antibodies, to protect the body against viruses, bacteria, and other foreign materials. These foreign materials are called antigens.

In an autoimmune disorder like lupus, the immune system cannot tell the difference between foreign substances and its own cells and tissues. The immune system then makes antibodies directed against itself. These antibodies -- called "auto-antibodies" (auto means 'self') -- cause inflammation, pain and damage in various parts of the body."

I keep trying to link to the site, but I'm having technical dificulties. Here is the address, you all can copy and paste it to your browser.

http://www.lupus.org/newsite/index.html

It's been really helpful to me to understand the disease and to know how lucky I am to have such a mild case of it. I don't want anyone to freak out or anything when they read about Lupus, keep in mind that my case isn't too bad right now.

What this diagnosis means for me is finding out all I can about the disease, getting to know some new doctors, lots of tests, and hopefully managing the disease and my life better. I've been living with this undiagnosed for many years now, so this is really a good thing! I want to be proactive and be as healthy as I can be under the circumstances and now I will have the tools to do that.

To all of you who've been so patient and supportive of me when I had to drop out of life for a while (now I know that those times where the Lupus flaring) I want to say THANK YOU! Also, I told you I was sick! Just kidding. :) I know how hard it was for you to rely on me and me not be able to fulfill me obligations at times. Thanks for loving me anyway!

I'll keep everyone posted but I hope that life will only improve for me and for our family.

Puppy Love...

We have a new family member to introduce, but first let's get caught up.

Nov. 9 was our Young Women Evening of Excellence. It was cool to see all the displays of our girls! They have been working hard this year on their Personal Progress. Rachel's display was of her Guys and Dolls performance at Dixon, her Junior High.

Rachel just finished her time in Joseph. She had a blast and the production was terrific! The whole family went to see her.
I was amazed at how much of a young lady my daughter is! I know I'm biased, but she is an amazing dancer, singer, and stage performer. It's been such a big part of her(rehearsing every day for three months)life that I know she'll miss it!

Thanksgiving was awesome. Lots of yummy food and the whole day spent in our jammies. Heaven! We missed all of you and hope your Turkey Day was as good as ours. We are very thankful for the many blessings we have and we consider friends and family to be right at the top!

And...Introducing...Simon!

We have wanted a puppy for a long time. Allergies always seemed an insurmountable obstacle. After seeing the kids take care of Beatrice so well and knowing we would have to find her another home because our cat allergies are really bad, I really wanted to see if there were any breeds of dog that we could all have around and still be healthy. I had a Shih Tzu growing up and never reacted to him at all.

After many trips to the pet store we narrowed down possible non-allergenic candidates to Shih Tzus and Maltese. Both breeds were really expensive in the store and we weren't too impressed with the way they took care of their puppies so we looked around and found a local breeder who had our adorable Simon.

He is half Shih Tzu and half Maltese. His coloring, tale, and eyes are more Shih Tzu but he has a Maltese snout and is super soft. The breeder already had begun house training him and had socialized him really well.

He is pretty mellow at times and a fuzzy Tasmanian Devil at others.(In other words, a typical, healthy puppy.) Overall,he has behaved so well! No accidents in the house yet at all. He loves the kids and they cannot get enough of him. They knew this would be most of their Christmas the year but they don't care at all.

Grandpa Brown footed the bill for him, so he is the most loved and appreciated Grandpa in the world right now! Thanks so much, Dad!

Am I blue...

Nah, not really. I just was getting a headache reading my own posts with the black background. So, we'll try blue!
Andrew had the beginnings of a root canal today, so he's a bit black and blue.

Daniel is switching jobs and he is NOT blue about leaving Macey's grocery store.

Rachel has a dress rehearsal today and she's a little blue about missing Young Women.

Matthew is playing a little of the Blues on his trumpet.

Jacob will be wearing his blue Cub uniform tonight for Pack Meeting.

Aaron looks fabulous in blue and is wearing it today.

So I guess we are kind of blue, so it's all good!

Picture TAG! I'm it...

Christi G. tagged me so I get to play and tag some more people. The rules are that you go to your photos on your computer, chose the fourth folder, then the fourth photo in that folder. Then you chose the sixth folder and photo. Here are mine. (Keep in mind that there are way more photos of shoots I've done than of my family on my computer.)






My number one is: A black and white photo from a wedding shoot I did.
Number two is of Rachel at the Godfrey's photo shoot letting me snap pics of her to adjust lighting and so forth.




I'm done. Let's see...I tag TNT!

Our (kind of) Cat

Meet Beatrice. (So named by Daniel.) She is a very pretty, sweet, and persistent kitty that has adopted us. She hangs out in our all-you-can-catch mouse buffet(backyard) most days and goes nuts if she gets any attention. She must count anyone being home as getting attention because as soon as she knows we are here she hangs out by the doors meowing her head off.
Jake gave her a little milk today, so I think we are doomed. I took the camera out to take pics after I realized what had happened and just getting that close to her made me break out in hives and have trouble breathing.
Aaron has had a discussion with her and they agreed that as long as she keeps mice out of the house she can hang around. We just aren't feeding her or anything. Right.
Anyway, she really is a very nice cat and I guess she is kind-of ours.

Leave Your Print...

I had the opportunity this past Tuesday to be a poll worker for the election. My precinct was PR08 and my polling place was the Provo Library that is pictured in the slide show. (The gorgeous old Brigham Young Academy building that has been restored and added onto.)
I showed up at 6:00am, was locked out until 6:30am, but eventually got in and got situated. :) I really enjoyed this experience!
The flow of voters was steady but never too crazy. It was perfect because I was busy without being overwhelmed. For my first election, it was a terrific training experience.
Most of the voters were BYU students, many of them voting for the first time. They were so cute and excited to vote and their enthusiasm was contagious. Many were clueless as how to use the machines but we were able to take our time and explain in detail so I think most had good experiences.

We were out of there by 8:45pm, so it wasn't nearly as long a day as I thought it might be.
I am really grateful to be an American! I have even more respect for the process and those who get involved because it's a lot of work. It was cool to be there and see it all first hand.