Big H's Eye!

Those of you that read the last post know that Big H had red and swollen eye on Saturday. It was only one eye so I thought pink eye, but then it was all cleared up the next morning.

Monday all seemed well. I guess it was just allergies.

Tuesday he woke up and that same eye looked a little funny. I looked closer and it was red or anything, so I figured it was fine. We went to the grocery store and on the way there he was rubbing it and he seemed really irritated. I told him I'd look at it in the store. We got to shopping and I forgot. Then my nephew said something about how his eye was all red. "OH yeah, I was going to look at it!"



I pull him out of the cart and take a look. It looks really weird and I can't tell why. It's really swollen, but beyond that something is off. Because it's so swollen it's hard to get a real good look at the actual eye ball. Craig and I finally manage to pull the eyelids apart. The whites of his eyes are swelling up around his pupil. It looks like his pupil and iris are sinking inward. I pull away and start to tear up. "Take him to the ER or doctor or something. . ." I exclaim.



Craig, picks him up and takes him to the insta-care. My nephew says, "You're worried about him aren't you?" and, "Did that scare you like 'have a heart attack' scare you?" and, my personal favorite, "He's going to go to the Doctor and they'll take out his eye and give him a new one huh?"



Turns out he just has allergies. The doctor thinks he got some pollen in his eye. All we need to do is give him Benedryl.

The rest of the day my heart just broke for poor Big H. He just looked so sad. I could hardly look at him because it hurt my heart so much to see his eye all swollen like that.

I still can't believe it was just allergies. I have never seen that kind of reaction. I thought it something so serious like he might loose his vision because of it.



Later I apologized to Craig for freaking out.

"You always stay so calm," I said.

"Well that's my job isn't it?" He replies.

"I just feel dumb because I freaked out like that." I tell him.

"Why? Because it looked like your son's eye was melting?" he asks me.

I guess that means my overreacting was somewhat understandable. He also assured me he wouldn't have taken him to the doctor unless he thought it was absolutely necessary. That made me feel better. I hate when I take them in for no good reason. Especially since we don't have insurance.

That's What We Do!

It's time for another blog catch up because, lately, that's what we do.

Fun Visits

We enjoyed a fun visit from Craig's parents July 10th through the 12th. I have no pictures unfortunately, but we enjoyed it all the same. We went up to Ikea and Michael helped my Dad get my Grandpa Andreason's old Dodge running, which my parents are VERY grateful for! Thanks for the visit, and for everything else, guys! :)

Stewart Falls

Craig's parents left on Tuesday and we decided to enjoy a sunset stroll up to Stewart Falls because that's what we do.

OK it's not really a stroll. It's a hike. Not a hard hike unless you take three kids, one that can't walk, and a 7 year old nephew with you. And we didn't really mean for it to be so close to sunset. The whole thing was very much like a marathon.

We hiked in as fast as we could.



Ate our picnic dinner as fast as we could.



And hiked out as fast as we could.

Notice we have no pictures of this because we were all completely exhausted and had no patience left for pictures. Oh, and it was getting dark. We were very happy for the full moon. OK "happy" may not be the best word to describe how we were hiking out. I still don't know where I drew the strength to keep my legs moving-- cut me some slack I had 20 lbs of baby riding with me. But it was a blessing that we had the moonlight to get us through that last 1/4 mile or so.

Stewart Falls is quite different from how we remembered it. The extra water we received this year causes the mist from the falls to have quite the reach. The area where we used to picnic down below is now full of mud and snow-- yes there's still snow. There were also no trees this year. They have all been plowed over. I'm guessing from the run off. It was really crazy. It almost looks like a bomb went off there.




Despite the fact that we yelled a lot, and were rather cranky on the hike out, it still must have been a fun family outing. My nephew asked if we could go again.

New Family Members

In other news we added two new members to our family. No I'm not pregnant with twins. We just got two cute little kittens because that's what we do.



Our neighbors were "Selling them for free" as my nephew phrased it. Big H LOVES cats, and it was always our thought that we would get one if we came across one for free.



Well my nephew wanted a cat too so we said he could have one as well. There's a girl and a boy. We named them Buzz and Jesse. They live in the shed and have endured endless torturous and affectionate play times-- and that's just from the neighbor kids and my nephew ;).



OK the twins aren't much better, but for 2 year old's they really handle the cats well.

Owning animals is a paver on the road to happiness, so I don't mind inviting the cuddly creatures to come live with us.

30th Anniversary

We threw my parents a "30th Anniversary Party" because that's what we do. We did a Hawaiian type theme because we'd love to send them to Hawaii but can't afford too.



We all enjoyed yummy food and swimming in the pool.





The baby wore himself out. He's my only one that will fall asleep like this. The twins have to be in the car in a room to fall asleep.



My grandma's. Both widows. When we started planning this party, back in June, my mom said my Grandpa Guthrie would like it because it would help get my grandma out of the house. It was only days later that he passed away. It's so crazy to think he couldn't even make it to this party. I'm sure he was there in spirit. I'm sure both grandpa's were.



Our family friends Mac and Mickey joined us. Mac is the one responsible for introducing my parents. We always enjoy their company. And we enjoyed everyone who joined us at the party



I was really happy to see all those who came to support my parents in celebrating their special day. I'm sad Craig couldn't make it. He helped to give it. Sorry you couldn't get work off sweetie. Anyway. . .here's to 30 more wonderful years!

Splash Park

We took a trip to the local splash park again. This time my cousins Alisha and Ashlie, and Ashlie's daughter, came with us. Why did we do it? Because that's what we do. Well, that, and Ashlie had the idea to come see the kittens and then go to the splash park :).



This time Baby M joined in on the fun!




Today. . .

We have swollen eyes, or eye, because that's what we do. Big H's eyes flared up the first time he held the cats. We were worried he might be allergic, but he hasn't shown any signs since. Then today I noticed just one eye was red, weepy and puffy. It got better with some Benedryl and Motrin, but I still feel bad for the poor guy. Hopefully it clears up.



This has been another Stratton Blog Catch Up. Thanks for joining us!

A Hill for Grandpa

My Grandpa died unexpectedly at the age of 83. This sounds strange to some. He was an elderly man. But it sounds even stranger to us to refer to him as elderly. The man was incredible. He did things as a grandfather that amazed and astounded.

In his 70's he hiked The Narrows in Zion's National Park with my parents. I'm talking about the long overnight hike.

As an 80 year old he joined a street bicycling group that rode from Highland to Cedar City. They even wrote about it in the papers. People could not believe this "elderly" man was so able bodied. It was no shock to his family of course.

Recently he talked about how he was slowing down. But even so he remained very active. He skied all winter and was still out riding his bike as often as he could-- though he said he didn't plan on anymore more rides to Cedar City ;). In fact riding his bike was exactly what he was doing when he died. He was riding up-- or down I'm still not clear on that-- a hill that his friends, and fellow cyclists, had come to call "Lloyds Hill". He suffered a sudden heart attack, fell over and died. The people that found him say his feet were still on the pedals.

They wrote about it in the papers: "Elderly Man Found Dead in the Road". It still sounds so strange, "Elderly". It's hard for me to think of this article being about my Grandpa. Each time I read the title I have to remind myself that they are talking about him. I wish I could tell them more about them, so they would know the man they found was anything but elderly. I guess the best way to do that is to tell everyone about "Lloyds Hill".



Some friends of my grandfather had a sign made for "Lloyds Hill". Now maybe when people ride up it they will ask questions. Maybe people will find more out about this man who passed away on this hill and come to know him as we do. The friend that had the sign made even plans to start a blog so people can share their experiences as they ride up "Lloyds Hill".

I'm happy to know I can share this small piece of my Grandpa with people. That maybe they can come to know this exceptional 83 year old man. Thank you to those who put up this sign. It really means a lot to me.

Our Fourth!

I'm sure you've figured out by now that The Fourth is one of my favorite holidays. If you hadn't figured it out well now I'm sure you have. I love this country and it makes me so happy to see the whole country pulled together in unified patriotism.



This year's Fourth was made even greater by the fact that Craig could join us for the celebrations. Craig usually works on the weekends, so he's always gone for family parties, weddings and other events. But this year The Fourth was on a Monday making it possible for our Craigery to celebrate with us! Yay!



We did the usual summer celebrations. We got together with the family, took a swim in the pool and enjoyed some yummy food.



This Fourth was a little different however. My grandparents anniversary is July Fourth and with the passing of my grandpa my grandma asked if we could help her get through the day. So my aunt and my cousins joined us in celebrating this year. It was great! I'm glad we could all be there for Grandma.



Baby M eating some Carrot Cake.



Big H sporting his Uncle Sam necklace. I think my brother and I made these. See how he's holding a little flag too? He loves flags.



We ended the night with a fireworks show-- put on by Craig. Of course the real show was enjoying everyone's fireworks. With the legal laws being lifted-- and the view from my parents-- we got a show almost as good as the professionals put on. Craig commented that it was nice to see everyone celebrating. It made it more fun! I have to agree. We finally got Big H into fireworks, and Baby M didn't seem to mind at all, But Little H still doesn't like them. I tried and tried to convince him, but he insisted on going inside and watching "Thomas"! I finally consented. However, whenever he here's the popping and screaming of fireworks in the neighborhood he happily cries out, "Works! Works!"





Happy Fourth everyone!