A Good Day!

The Labs turned out fine...Must have been dehydrated or something because Jada was clear of infections, and viruses.

Saturday morning Jada Rose and I watched Lion King (I found a DVD on E-bay for $14! SCORE!) All week long Jada asks "monster ride?" Meaning she wants to go to Lagoon. All week I promised her we would go on Saturday. Saturday morning she asked and finally got the answer she was looking for! At 10am we finished Lion King and then packed up and went to Lagoon! For some reason Jada LOVES the haunted houses. Her Mom is scared to death of anything "scary"! So Jada must get this from me? Between "monster rides" we will stop at the Merry Go Round. There is a Golden Retriever that Jada LOVES to ride on! It is very popular so you have to make a sprint for it! All day we tried to get on and finally the last ride of the day we made it! Jada calls it Tahoe-Wasatch. She knows it looks like both of our dogs but can't pin the name on just one of them so names the dog both.



Up until this week Jada has been a little timid on the faster rides such as Puff, and the "boat ride". But for some reason this week she overcame it and went ballistic! There are two rides called Dinosaur Drop and Lady Bug Bop. Both rides technically Jada is too short to ride on, but I noticed they were letting on kids that were very similar to her height. We tried and succeeded! This ride takes you up in the air and drops you several times. Its like a miniature version of the Stratosphere in Las Vegas. At my last count we rode Dinosaur Drop 13 times, Lady Bug Bop 10 times, the Boat Ride 4 times, and Puff 3 times. How many times did we ride "Monster Ride"? I have no clue but it dwarfed the other rides! So basically I am STOKED to get this little girl to Disneyland! And am extremely pleased that she enjoys the feeling of raw adrenaline running through her veins!

Back when we used to do a lot of water skiing at Lake Powell I remember waiting for those magical moments when the lake was glass, the sun was setting, and we were the only boat on the lake! I recall having 2 or 3 of those moments every summer when everything was perfect! Thanks to Jada Rose, I get 2 or 3 of those moments every week! So for those who saw last weeks photo's of Lagoon and are wondering why I am putting more up from yesterday? Its because these photo's represent yet another day of PERFECT MOMENTS!

a CRAPPY lab value...

Yesterday Jada Rose went in to get some labs done. Today the liver clinic called and said her platelet level was really low..."CRAP!" Among the possible causes are

1. Dehydration.

2. CMV-or other virus.

3. Blockage.

#'s 2 and 3 are the scary ones. She gets her labs done in the morning so it is possible she was a bit dehydrated. She is getting another lab done even as I write this to check for platelets, and CMV. At 2 pm she is getting an ultrasound done to check for any blockage.

#2 Is a bit of a reality check for me. As the flu season ends and we start enjoying normal summer time stuff I admittedly get a little more relaxed and less germophobic. Hopefully this crappy lab value will be nothing more than a subtle reminder for us to help Jada Rose avoid coughs, sniffles, and other potentially "germy" environments.

As far as the reasoning for such aggressive tests, Dr. Book has a really good track record at locating CMV in her transplant patients from an early onset. Hopefully if (Heaven Help Us) it is CMV we can use the early response to fight it. CMV is VERY VERY VERY bad in people with HIV and organ transplants.

7:36 pm- Fortunatly the ultrasound came back with no irregularities. However the CMV results will not be available until tomorrow (Saturday). I have assured Jada Rose that our Lagoon Day will not be affected by the lab results tomorrow.

HINT: Two ways to watch the below videos...

1.When watching the video's below, you can avoid stoppage if you start it then pause allowing a few minutes for the video to fully load.

2. If you have Real Player, a tab will pop up above the upper right corner. Click on that and you can download the video.

Charlie Steps Part 1

Charlie Steps PART 2

Busy Saturday

1. Walked in race for Charlie Cooper
2. Helped Grandma Dawny in her yard.
3. Went to Lagoon

Craigy, and Emily's Wedding

Jada was one of the "Flower Girls" at Craig and Emily's wedding this past week. Dan had Aunt Claire's Camera and took some great photo's of the event. There are other ones taken by the photographer but we have not seen those yet. Here are a few of the photo's that Dan took...







Here is a slide show Aunt Loni put together that can also be viewed on Cousin Kits Blog.

Play Date!

Andrea, Jada, Cousin Isaak, and Aunt Tracy went to the Zoo together today. Jada is getting very proficient at identifying the Zoo animals. She still suffers from Zoo/Lagoon co morbidity. She believes they are one in the same, and cant seem to figure out why "Puff", and "Monster Rides" (Dracula's Castle, Terror Ride) magically disappear or re-appear on any given day? I'm sure she'll eventually catch on.

Andrea reported that Isaak (Son of Scott & Tracy, Scott is Jada's Dad's cousin) maintained a scholarly approach to the various animals taking time to inspect, monitor, and re-inspect each individual animal. Apparently its not out of the ordinary for Isaak to spend 40-45 minutes studying the just the elephants! All the while Jada Rose was more of a "Zoo Trick or Treater" rushing to each animal pausing only long enough to identify that particular animal, and promptly moving on to the next.








After the Zoo, Cousin Kit came over to enjoy a nap time retreat in the highly coveted Ute Room napping corner (Jada's dad wishes he was napping there right now!). Before the nap, Jada enjoyed entertaining cousin Kit by playing "at her level" Because of Jada's Liver transplant she rarely ever played on her tummy in her pre-walking days, so actually this was probably a fairly new experience for Jada Rose. It was fun to see Jada start to take enjoyment out of spending time with her cousin Kit. Chances are this alliance will haunt Cousin Troy in the coming years. But thats where he and his Uncle Troy will come together as the Trojans they are, and quell any attempted female insurrections!

Jada Rose- "Mmmmmm Juuuuiiiccce!"

Kit-"Mmmmmm photo op!"


Jada Rose- "here you need more pink, try this."

Kit-"Common Jada we both know who my mother is!"


Jada Rose-"See how giving I am?"

Kit-"Gee thanks Jada...your a regular Mother Theresa! Separate with the juice, and I might be impressed"

A Moral Dilema Averted

For me, this is the off season. It can be desperately boring. I have a hard time getting excited about the singular baseball games with 5,678 of them still to be played. Soccer is...well...I enjoy watching my wife play it but consider myself to be FAR from being a fan of the game. Now the NBA playoffs...Ahh thank you Jazz for providing several moments of transition on the way to Football Season.

-A Moral Dilemma Averted-

Jada Rose gets energized when she hears and sees me yelling and pointing to the screen. When she hears me screaming at the TV, She will come running into the room yelling GO GO GO! Formerly she was used to looking up at the screen and seeing #6 of The Utes Rumbling and Tumbling for a 1st down. However, this time there is noticeably some confusion on her face as to why I am so enthusiastic about a "blue" team. Her eyebrows drop, her mouth frowns and she glares at me as if to say "how could you?" I kneel down and point to the screen "Sweetie, that's UTAH...Utah Jazz" she is still confused, and doesn't believe me, but soon the synapse connects, the light turns on, her dimples again accentuate and she starts jumping up and down. Okur hits a three and I jump out of the chair! She yells GO GO GO with excitement then looks to me for approval and asking permission "UTAH?" I reply "thats right sweetheart, UTAH!"

So thank you Jazz for helping me bridge two aspects in my life to the University of Utah, in both an off season segway, and helping to alleviate an obvious moral dilemma by allowing me to teach my child that its ok to cheer for a blue uniform as long as you still say "GO UTAH!!!"

Below are Photo's from Sunday Dinner at Bob and Claire's. We were celebrating Craigy's graduation from...the name of the school escapes me I think it is some Academy down south? As well as his engagement to the Beautiful Emily Stringham!