Got the Blood Pumping...

Last night around 7pm, Jared started having a sharp shooting pain in his chest area with every breath he took. We got the kids to bed and settled into bed ourselves, Jared at a more elevated position and went to sleep! At 2am Jared was up and the pain was much worse! When I offered to take him up to the hospital he readily agreed...this made me jump to action because he usually waits stuff like that out. Myrna was staying at Rachel's so my go to was not available! I called my mom, twice, to come stay with our kids but she too wasn't home...so my lucky little sister got the 2am call. She didn't hesitate and came right over. In the meantime we headed for the hospital. 

As soon as Jared checked in and said he was having sharp, shooting chest pains with every breath they took him right back to the exam room. They hooked him up to the ECG machine and as they watched the results print out the two nurses got rather quiet. The only thing I heard them say was call the doctor and tell her to come now! 

The doctor didn't take long to get to the hospital and after looking at the ECG results she was happy the nurses gave Jared chewable aspirin and a spray of nitro under his tongue. She told Jared he was having an acute heart attack and she was just waiting to speak to the doctor at the south health campus. While waiting they did another ECG, thank goodness they did because the results that printed out were normal!!! Phew!!!! The first reading turned out to be inaccurate, and after blood work coming back normal a chest X-ray determined he had an infection in the plural lining of his lungs. Boy did we get a scare, I'm so happy it isn't as serious as a heart attack, I am sorry the pain caused him so much discomfort... I'm happy we have a hospital so close and they are very thorough even when it appears not to be as serious as first suspected!  He still got up and went to work this morning because he had a new guy starting, the pain has diminished significantly and it's safe to say his blood is pumping really good now!!!

Annual Cattle Drive

This year our annual cattle drive went much smoother than last year!!  The cows were eager for a change in pasture so they followed the tractor out of the field with no problems!!  Dave drove the tractor, and to start, Emry, Armin and Jared were on the quad while Calum and I drove Dave's Tahoe.  Keeping the cows together in one big group wasn't too difficult.  Jared jumped off the quad and walked while Emry and I worked both sides of the group with the quad and truck.  Once we got closer to where the cows had to make a turn down the road for home I got a little anxious, I wasn't sure if the group as a whole would follow the tractor or if some more curious ones would spot the huge pile of grain and veer off!  Luckily at the exact right time Myrna came driving down the road and inconspicuously parked in an approach.  After the tractor turned down the road she inched her car forward onto the road and parked so the cows would have to turn!!  She eased my anxiety immensely!!!  It was like she was a natural!!!

Eventually all the kids climbed back onto the quad with Jared, I so wish I had a picture of that!! All four of them lined up on the quad was quite the sight to see!!!

As the cows got closer to where the gate was for the field we wanted them to go into they started passing the tractor and seemed to know exactly where to go!  The entire trip from the sand to home took just over an hour, and it wasn't even too cold!!  I do love having the cows home, I love seeing them through my kitchen window as I prepare supper, or as I walk through the living room! It completes the living on the farm experience for me!!

West Edmonton Mall

This past weekend we loaded up our new to us van with the kids and Grandma Puzey and we headed to Edmonton!! We have made a rule that there is no eating in our van and for the most part that rule was very well followed through!!! 

We made our first stop in Vulcan where Armin and I had to do a short speech session! Jared washed the van and filled it with fuel while we did this!!!

Our second stop was in Calgary to have lunch with Grandpa Glen!!! We ate yummy burgers at South Street Burger!! It was great to see my dad and catch up!! Armin had been asking when we were going to see Ampa Wen again!! The timing was perfect!!!

Our third stop was our hotel!!! Our navigation system on our van worked perfectly and took us right to the entrance doors!!!  Oh, we did have one more stop before our hotel!!! The side of the road for Calum to pee!!!

After getting settled in we headed over to West Edmonton Mall to look around and have supper!!

Saturday we woke up with pure excitement as we got ready to go to the water slides!!!! We grabbed a quick breakfast at the hotel and were promptly at the waterpark by 10!!! We rode the slides and splashed in the waves for 9 hours!!!!  Armin especially liked the hot tub!!!! Me too!!!  Jared, Emry and Calum decided to do the zip line across the pool so they did that after we changed out of our suits!  They all got their harnesses on and hooked into the zip line but Calum just couldn't let his harness take his weight, he was too scared!! So they had to unhook him and send him on the long walk back to where the zip line ended!! Poor guy, and it was him who really wanted to do it!  Jared and emry had a blast!!!

It was too long of a wait to eat at the mall so we drove to the nearest Moxies!!!  Back at the hotel we all crashed and slept really good!!  Sunday we travelled home!!! 

It was lots of fun...the kids sure make us laugh!!  Jared gave each of the kids a nickel to throw in the water to make a wish! Armin held his nickel up to his mouth and whispered his wish to it before throwing it into the water!!! Calum took his nickel and said thanks for the money!!! He claims wishes don't come true so he wanted to save his money!! Emry threw hers in and made a wish!! All kids have been raised the same and all three did this fun little ritual differently!!! Fascinating!!!!!

The weekend wasn't nearly long enough but it was a fun and much needed getaway!!!  One minor downfall...our whole trip was planned because we didn't get to use the water park pass I got through airmiles last year because of the weather!!! So we had until November of 2015 to use it, except I ordered the pass in October!!! So we really had until October 22, 2015 to use it!!! Our weekend ended up costing us more than we anticipated but it was still a ton of fun!!!

39

Jared celebrated his 39th birthday this year!!! We didn't make too big of a deal out of it, especially the day of!! We had invited Myrna over but she was busy so we decided to post pone his yummy birthday dinner until she could come, so we did it today!!  I made his favourite dinner, Chicken Cordon Bleu with Chocolate Dessert for dessert!!!  It turned out so yummy, I don't know if it was because we were all starving to death or if I just had a good cooking day?  It was so good in fact, Jared couldn't finish his most favourite dessert ever, I have never in all the years we have been married witnessed Jared not being able to finish this dessert!!  Myrna, Buck and Arren and Gil and Lily helped us celebrate such a fantastic guy!!

I am so thankful for the man he is!!! Being six years my senior he bestows much wisdom to my youthful self!!!!!  He is a good man, a great father and a wonderful husband.  He supports my wild and crazy ideas and he carries me when I struggle to carry on!  I love the example of hard work he exhibits daily, the strength of his faith and the great patience he has for our very busy children!!  I am thankful I am by his side to celebrate days like his birthday, a truly great day indeed!!!

 For his birthday mantel I put this picture up of him being silly, mean of me I admit!!! But he took it in stride and let me keep in up.  He has a great sense of humour and makes me laugh on a regular basis!!  Happy Birthday to my very best friend, the love of my life!!!