Happy Heart Month

February was a busy month!  It was also heart awareness month.  Kelly has still been having a lot of shoulder pain along with a few other new symptoms.  He was complaining of fatigue, chest pain, left shoulder pain, back pain and edginess.  I have been trying to get him to see get checked again and finally succeeded after finding an obituary for a 37 year old male who was born on October 19, 1973 (one year younger than Kelly--has same birthday) died from heart failure.  He went to the doctor that day and was set up to have a Thalium Treadmill test the next day.  His blood pressure was also found to be high so he was started on medication for that.  He took Tyler fishing on Saturday and had a hard time climbing with out getting shortness of breath.  The treadmill test can back with some abnormality on it and so they scheduled him for an Angiogram on Monday, February 14--Valentine's Day.  He does have a lot of family history with heart problems.  His Grandpa was scheduled to have a shoulder operation several years ago and ended up have heart bypass instead.  They found out is was his heart that was causing the shoulder pain.  Our appointment was at 9:00 a.m.  We waited until 2:30 p.m. for them to actually get him in because the doctor had an emergency.  After the procedure, he had to lay with his leg straight for four hours because they went in through one of the main arteries near his groin to do the exam.  We were finally able to go home around 6:30 p.m.  The angiogram came back normal and no blockage was found.  It was a relief, but a long, Valentine's Day spent sitting in the hospital.  He was given a priesthood blessing the day before his angiogram and he feels like that blessing did more than settle his nerves.  It wouldn't be the first time that he was healed from a priesthood blessing.  He said it was like a light switch was flipped and everything was fine.  I guess there is no greater gift he could have given me than to know that his heart was ok.

Tyler turned 15 on February 16.  We got him is own cell phone since he is now taking driver's ed and we felt like if he was going to be driving we wanted him to be able to reach us if there was ever an emergency.  Of course, we got him just a plain phone and blocked the ability to text and use the Internet.  I also got him a 2 litter bottle of Pepsi and some Butterfingers.  I felt bad only giving him the cell phone, but I think he thought it was worth it.  Of course, the girls are already asking when they will get one too.

February being heart health month, Lacey had several discussions about this at school and brought home a challenge for the American Heart Association.  They asked for pledges and she jumped rope.  One day, she was running all around the house and told me that she had to exercise for 60 minutes every day because she didn't want to get any fat on her heart.  If only we could be that determined and have that much energy!

I was asked to be an assistant Activity Day Leader for the girls that are 10-11; Lacey and her friends.  We have activities twice a month.  I was also just asked to be an assistant Girls Camp Director in our ward.  I will be over the certification.  I LOVE Girls Camp and think it is the absolute best place to be.  It is ward camp this year and it is looking like we will have just as many, if not more, leaders than girls.  That's ok though...girls camp it the best place to really bond with others and the ladies I am going with are absolutely the best!

Alexia has been most involved with cheer leading this month--finally able to cheer at ball games which were two nights a week.  She LOVED this and has already talked about being a cheerleader again next year.  She has also had a couple of orchestra concerts.

Our oldest nephew, Mitch, will be leaving on his mission to Berlin, Germany, on March 2.  He has such a fun spirit about him and I know he will do wonders on his mission.  They lived in Germany for a while when they were in the Air Force so he kind of knows what it will be like.  We had his mission farewell and had a family get together.

As you can see, we have had a lot going on and it has been a struggle to keep us straight on picking up and transporting the kids around.  Most nights, we barely have time to grab a quick bite to eat or didn't eat until around 8:00 p.m.  Our kids love being so active and as long as we can keep schedules figured out, I guess that is better than having them sit at home doing other non-productive things.