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Hamilton
Newsletter
January 2014
FAMILY: 2014 started out with McKinley going
into the hospital for appendicitis. It was a bit scary, because her appendix
had already been ruptured for at least a couple days, though we didn’t know it.
She hadn’t complained about it till the day before. She had to stay in the hospital for a couple
days, but we are so thankful that she is okay and acting like herself again J For more details on her hospital
stay, see her section. We joke that she was just wanting to give us a jump
start on our healthcare deductibles for the year. J Thankfully, she was feeling good
enough to head to Salt Lake on Friday, January 10th. The Checketts
were in town with their latest addition, Grace. It was neat to be able to meet
& hold our new niece/cousin. She is beautiful. There was also a little baby
shower for Noelle and we celebrated Grandpa Potts’ 60th birthday
with a “surprise” (he knew about it) party. Also – little Grace Checketts was
blessed on Sunday at Grandma Potts’ home. We were thankful to be there for all
these wonderful milestones & events. We enjoyed seeing family &
visiting. On Saturday, the 18th, we decided to head down to St. George
to check out the new Children’s Museum. There were a lot of people, but it was
really fun & there was so much to see! Also – it is free, so that is even
better! The girls had fun “milking cows,” changing tires, acting on stage,
exploring electricity, making their shadows freeze, & playing basketball –
just to name a few! Afterwards we had pizza & headed to the temple with
Jeff & Keeley. It was a great time down south. The 20th was
Martin Luther King, Jr day and we decided to go for a little hike as a family –
with our good friends, the Bealers. It was a beautiful day and short enough
that even the little ones could make it. We have had such a dry winter. It has
been nice, but the ward asked us to pray for moisture & the Lord delivered.
We had quite a snowstorm at the end of the month & we are enjoying the
white stuff. Another miracle was that the internet wasn’t working one day &
Jason found out that Rainbow Truck had chewed the internet cords. It was kind
of funny, but also sobering considering if he would have chewed a power cord,
he probably wouldn’t be here right now. So – we are thankful for that. On the
29th, our family went into the dentist. Looks like Jason & McKinley
have a few to be filled & we got a referral to an orthodontist for Ireland L On the 31st, we headed
down to St. George to celebrate Keeley’s 40th birthday. We enjoyed Café
Rio, ice cream, & good company. Happy Birthday Keeley! It was also Maddy’s
birthday & we called her to sing – Happy 2nd Birthday Maddy!
JASON: Jason was very supportive with his oldest daughter in
the hospital. He left church and came to gave her a blessing – then he stayed in
the hospital at nights to help her. Thankfully, he could work from his laptop
for a couple days & make up on lost sleep. We renewed our aquatic center
membership & Jason has started working out again. He had fun this month
with the Scouts this month at an assisted living center – singing songs around
a piano for the residents. Jason’s truck wouldn’t start after work one day
& after a bunch of calling around, we decided to take it to Amen Diesel.
Thankfully, they were able to fix it fast & somewhat reasonably priced.
Thankful to have 2 vehicles again!
HEIDI:
It was pretty nerve-racking when
McKinley went through her hospital ordeal. Memories of both Link’s death and
his birth were everywhere. And her longer-than-expected surgery had Heidi
pacing the floors. However, she is so thankful that Link was there to watch
over McKinley, the doctors, and nurses working with her. She is so thankful for
her beautiful McKinley & grateful to see her running around again J Heidi enjoyed her time in Salt Lake.
She enjoyed putting together a short slideshow for her dad’s 60th birthday
celebration – it was fun to see some old pictures. She was also able to go to
Olive Garden & then to the movies (The Book Thief) with her dad &
sisters & then that evening she met up with a couple local SIDS moms. It
was great to be able to visit openly with them. Heidi has been reading more and also started “working
out” again. She would like to be in at least moderate shape when this baby is
born. The 3rd trimester woes have begun and she finds herself waking
up with carpal tunnel or sore hips. Also – sciatic nerve pain has shown up.
Heidi decided to go see a chiropractor in our ward – Becca Whittaker. She’s
only been once, but hopes after a couple more sessions, she’ll see a big
difference. She blogged about their plans for Link’s angelversary & she’s
excited to do more temple work in the next couple months!
McKINLEY:
-Saturday, January 4th,
was our primary meet and greet at the church. We all went in our PJs & had
fun meeting our new teachers. McKinley wanted to play with her friend, Olivia,
after the activity, so she went over there and they played for a couple hours.
When she got back from Olivia’s, about noon, she started complaining about her
tummy hurting. Mom advised that she try & eat something. She said it was
still hurting, so mom told her to go lay down. After a few hours, she started
throwing up. We thought it was the flu at that point and had her stay in our
room for the night. She threw up about every hour and was moaning. In the
morning (Sunday), we gave her some ibprofin & she took a bath & seemed
better for a little while, but then she was hurting even more than before and finally
mom decided to take her to the ER. We got there about noon & it took till
5pm for them to confirm that it was appendicitis. The surgeon did an exam &
told us he really didn’t think it was her appendix because it wasn’t localized
or inflamed. He thought it probably was the flu or something else &
suggested we keep her there for a while to rehydrate her, but a nurse that
worked there (Kim) really suggested we do some more testing because McKinley
really was in a lot of pain. Her flu test came back negative & the x-ray
didn’t show anything, so we proceeded with the CAT scan. About 10 minutes after
she got back from the scan, Kim came in & told us it was appendicitis &
they would be doing surgery that evening. At that point, we updated family &
friends & asked for prayers. She went back to the OR about 6 & didn’t
get back until 8. We were pretty worried, but found out it was because her
surgeon (Dr. Munford) told us it appeared the appendix had already been ruptured
for at least a couple days. McKinley stayed in the hospital for two more days,
taking antibiotics and pain medicine through IVs. She had just had strep throat
the week before, poor girl – so LOTS of antibiotics! She had wonderful cards,
letters, phone calls & visits. The bishop kept checking on her, Krista
Corry, Dr. Dowse, Lisa Riddle, The Bealers, The Hamiltons, Sister Beacham, and
Mrs. Hardin all came to see her – and they all brought sweet gifts and things
to keep her busy. She was in a lot of pain for about a week after she came home
from the hospital. One time, she was hurting so much dad took her back into the
ER just to make sure nothing else was going on. After about a week, she started
to feel a lot better, though, and could get up and down without help and
without pain meds and was eating better. Within another week, she was running
around again. We are SO thankful she is okay & has guardian angels to watch
over her! Everyone joked that she just wanted to extend her Christmas vacation
(she ended up being out of school for about a month!)
-McKinley must have been spurred by
creativity and missing her sisters when she got feeling better. Here are some
fun things she did this month: She put out breakfast one morning & wrote a
note to Kezi from one of Santa’s Elves telling her that he was watching her
& that he liked her. She had a “McKinley Store” one day and when dad came
home, he found various things on the living room floor for sale – including his
2 other daughters, dressed as dolls. She also woke up early one morning &
had a “circus” - drew circus animals and
had circus music and spun her sisters on Link’s exersaucer for fun. She is so
creative, loving & giving.
-McKinley & Ireland both went to
the symphony for a field trip!
-Mom got some bamboo cooking utensils
for Christmas. McKinley told mom “you
shouldn't have gotten these bamboo spoons. Now the pandas won't have
enough to eat.
-McKinley was student of the quarter for math – way to go
McKinley!
-McKinley says “The part I liked best about January is going
to grandma’s house & getting out of the hospital. I like Ashten, Taylor, and I might be related to a boy in my class
named KC Barton.”
-There are a bunch of vinyl quotes on the walls of McKinley’s
school – most of them are from famous people like Albert Einstein. A FEW of
them, though, come from students. McKinley is one of them. Her quote says “Remember
to think what will happen at the end.” Great thought McKinley! We’re so proud
of you!!
IRELAND:
-Ireland has LOVED the sparkly jump
rope she got for Christmas. It’s in our living room and almost every time she
passes it by, she picks it up & starts jumping. She’s gotten to 50 in a
row. She can even jump backwards on one leg!! She is getting pretty tricky & it’s fun to watch her!
-Ireland was pretty worried about her
big sister when she had her surgery. When Ireland was at church, Sister Beacham (the primary
president) asked Ireland how she was. Ireland replied “My life is over! My
sister is in the hospital!” After the shock wore off & we knew McKinley was
going to be okay, though, Ireland got a bit jealous of all the gifts &
McKinley missing school. She was glad when McKinley got to come home & life
got back to normal J
-Ireland was a lucky girl this month.
She got to go to Dennys for a lunch date with dad and Arctic Circle for a “date
points” date with mom. We enjoyed our time with our spunky 6-year-old.
-Watching the girls play “store” one
day, Ireland took a Barbie as was using the cash register’s conveyor belt as a
treadmill J
-Ireland prays at night “And PLEASE
bless that we WON’T – with a ‘T’ at the end – have bad dreams!”
-McKinley & Ireland both went on
field trips to the symphony this month!
-Ireland got student of the quarter
for Math. Way to go Ireland!!
-At assemblies, they do the “we will
rock you” chant with the students banging on their legs. Ireland likes to do
this at home, too, and sings “WE WILL WE WILL ROCK YOU!” as she bangs the
table.
- When we were on a date, we saw a
policeman chasing a car on the freeway. Ireland asked “Do those fast guys go in
the dungeon when they get caught?”
-One day Ireland was doing a
characteristic wardrobe change & she had a dress on. She kept asking where
the umbrella was. Mom asked her why she wanted it. She said “I just want to see
if I jump off the couch if my dress & umbrella will poof out and I will
float like Mary Poppins.”
-Ireland didn’t have any cavities at
the dentist (yay!) but her permanent teeth are coming in all crooked (boo!).
Her mouth is just so tiny, so it looks like we’ll be doing a combination of
roof expanding and pulling teeth. We need to get her into an orthodontist
(already!)
-Ireland found out her cousin Joshua
learned to tie shoes, so she is working on it! She’s almost got it!
-Ireland also went through a paper
airplane phase. Daddy taught her how to make them & she made about 50 to “sell”
to people.
-Ireland says “I like Isabella. I
liked when I got to see my cousins. The end.”
KEZIA:
-Kezia loves preschool and says “I
wish I could go to preschool every each day.”
-Mom heard some fighting in the
other room & then Kezia yelling “CTR McKinley!! That means you have to be
nice to me!”
-Kezia is always trying to get her “grandpa
that doesn’t like peanut butter” to change his ways. When we were over at their
house, she grabbed a glob of peanut butter & came over to grandpa &
said “Open your mouth & close your eyes!” He refused… maybe it was the
smell or the patch of peanut butter on her face that gave her away.
-Kezia has been asking to go
fishing a lot lately. Soon Kezi!
-Kezi & Adelaide Price play
almost every Tuesday & Thursday after preschool. They usually get along
great, but sometimes have disagreements. One day on the way home from
preschool, Kezia was crying. We got home & mom asked what the problem was.
Kezia said that Addie said “Let’s have a staring contest! … I win!” Kezia didn’t
like losing and was crying. She turned around and yelled at Addie “Let’s have a
crying contest... See! I win!!”
-Kezia got to have a Teddy Bear
picnic – she decided to take McKinley’s Snoopy Dog she got from being in the
hospital.
-Kezia & Adelaide love to see
this horse on the way home from preschool. Every day they look for her. They
named her “Crystal Gem Gray Brown White.” One day Addie said “I am happy, but
if I am sad it’s because do you know why? What if our horse is dead?”
-We went to St. George to celebrate
Keeley’s birthday & found out when we got there that Kezia had gum stuck in
her hair. Luckily it was at the bottom of her ponytail & with some peanut
butter & shampoo, we got it out. Whew!
-Kezia says “I hope you have a
great Valentines. I love you. I love you all. I love grandma & Link. Hope
you put Valentines stickers on.”
LINK:
-We really feel like Link watched over
his sister while she was in the hospital. We are so thankful for such a loving
guardian angel!
Mom had a dream about Link in January that went something
like this: “I was on a long field trip. He had been
with babysitters all day. I was so anxious to see to him, I ran all the way
there from the school. There were 3 little old ladies at the house & they
raved about how good & polite he was. I went back there to see him sleeping
in a playpen. He had a cute, little robe on. He woke up & sat up when he
heard my voice. I picked him up & held him. So happy to be with my
chubby-cheeked little man.” Mom loves
dreaming of Link… though it’s hard to wake up.
-Heidi blogged
about Link’s angelversary coming up and plans to “link” families together. We
are excited to do more family history and head to the temple more in the next
couple months!
-It’s so nice to go
to the cemetery and enjoy his bench instead of just the temporary marker. We
love seeing his face & playing with his cars.
One of my New Year Resolutions this year was to scan all my old, non-digital pictures & get them backed up. Also - I'm transferring videos of my own and my parents to digital copies. 
It's Heidi.
I miss her. I'm not sure exactly where she has gone. Have I lost her forever? Some days I think I have. I mentioned in this post that once Link died, I became a new person. It's completely true. I read a quote recently that basically said when someone close to you dies, you have to grieve two people - the person that died and the person you used to be. I've lately been struggling with this new Heidi. I'm not sure if I can explain it. I want to be happy. I want to find joy. I want to enjoy life more than I ever have with my knowledge of how absolutely precious and fragile it is. I want to find a mix between that old, joyful Heidi who is ready for adventure and challenge and this new one that has so much more wisdom and empathy. I wish I knew how. 
