the skinny

Well i'm calling it the skinny cause that's how much I know.  But here it is. 
    Dad Estes is going to have a triple bipass on july 26 in seattle WA.  His recovery will be about 7 days in the hospital and then he can come home and do as little as possible for 3 months.  no shooting no fishing, no manual labor.  just resting and getting better.   I guess he has been okayed to travel to Utah in Sept for Mollies Wedding.  Which they delayed for a month so Mom and Dad could go.  Peggy and her hubby are coming to see mom and dad and mollie and val and their family are also coming. I think this weekend.  Sandra left last tuesday, we miss her already.  So..... that's the skinny.  As far as I know it.  I reserve the right to correct myself at a later date. ;-)

So Yesterday we finally poured and stamped the patio in the back yard.  Well, Isaiah and Dad did, don't worry dad took it easy.  It looks pretty good, although i wish it was colored already, we have to wait 28 days to color it.  Isaiah was sick and still did it.  He's such an awesome guy!   He's still sick today and he went to work, and will do more work when he gets home.  I don't know how he does it.   Jade is sick with some sort of fever, and throwing up illness.  Amoz is healthy and busy being a big "little" boy.  I am also feeling under the weather, but am slowly getting better day by day.  I am mostly tired and nauseous, with a few cold symtoms.  I think it's cause i haven't been sleeping well lately.  The last week of nights has been pretty rough on me and Isaiah, i don't know why. 
     Amoz has been trying to be a helful big brother to Jade today and for the most part jade is being ornery to him, but they're trying and that make me feel good that they love eachother enough to try and get along.  well i'm done for today.  we'll catch ya another day on " THE SKINNY!"  J/k
i know i'm a weirdo. 

Later!

The News

     Well, I haven't ket up on my blog the way I had hoped.  I guess life is always coming at you fast, and you have to figure out your priorities.  I would like people to know what is going on in our lives and how we are doing, but I also know that other things are more important than being in front of the computer.  I had intended it to be a diary or sorts, but some things are just too personal for the web. 
     Two big things that happened are my kids.  Amoz turned 5 this past May and Jade turned 3.  My baby is 3 yrs old.  Crazy!! Had things gone the way we planned them we would already have another child, but in what world do things ever go according to plan?  Right!?  We have gone camping a lot this summer. Mostly out to Isaiah's parents cabin in Plummer, ID. 
     We have done a great deal of 4-wheeling and exploring around the places we like to camp.  Because of a battery problem one of the 4 wheelers is out of commission currently but we hope to have it fixed soon.  Our nieces and nephews also had a great deal of fun on them this summer while visiting.  We went to Dworshak Resevoir and Plummer and Bumblebee campgrounds this summer camping.  Lately though we'd like to focus more on getting to the lake as much as possible.  Our boat has a problem we have yet to diagnose but have hopes that it will run soon as well.  Fishing you know?! 
     We are setting the forms for the back patio today, and hope to pour this weekend.  That is a task that we are completely ready to have done finished.  It will span the length of the house and eventually be covered.  That will be a great asset to our home.  We always have big dreams.  It's just a matter of them coming true or not that we struggle with.  
     More currently, we have been focused on Grampa Estes. He's had a lot of health problems lately, first with a series of little strokes called transient strokes.  He did get better though, even with the limitations of treatments.  When he was in the hospital we got to see Jake and Elisa, and Mindie came up to help Mom, and give them support.  He was scheduled to go in and do some follow up tests.  The other day when he went in for those tests the doctors decided they didn't like what they saw in his heart during the stress test they administered.  They kept him there till they could feed him and administer another test taking pictures of his heart and blood flow.  They diagnosed him with having more blocked veins to his heart with the possibility of the main ventrical being blocked as well.  Treatements being stents ( which he got a few years ago.  His body doesn't react well with the way stents are put in.)  The other option being to put a baloon in to clear the pathway.  The last option being a bypass.  Since the strokes Linda has applied for more coverage through the vets hospital and Fred now has full coverage through the VA.  The only hinderance being he has to stay within the confines of the VA hospital.  They took him yesterday to seattle to have more tests run.  I am assuming because it is a bigger VA hospital than we have here in spokane, and have a heart surgeon on staff.  As far as I know they will conduct some tests there to see the treatment options, and either treat it in seattle or send him to the SLC VA, i can only assume once again because it is bigger or more well equipped.  But nothing is decided as yet, and I have not heard any of the results of tests they may have conducted.  Sandra flew in last night to come support Mom and Dad and will drive with Mom to Seattle on Thursday to be with Dad for the weekend.  That's all i know and it's not much.  So I'll keep posted when I hear more.  God be with you and may you have as much peace in your lives as possible. 

The Estes Family

Blogging is Hard...

   So, it's not as easy as I thought it would be to keep a journal online, especially as I want to remember specifics of things that happened but don't necessarily want the world wide web to read about it.  So I find myself being edited.  It makes it hard to want to write, but instead of writing a journal it'll be more a frequent christmas card that changes with the year. 
   I don't think I can catch you up with everything so i'll just let you know what pops into my head while i'm writing and hopefully not keep you here all day.
   This Week: 
           Isaiah started training for a half-iron-man.  It is swimming for one and a half miles, bike riding for 56 miles, and ending with a 13 mile run.  All events have a maximum time limit, but I don't know what they are. You can check it out at http://www.oliverhalf.ca/Oliver%20Half%20Web%20Site/index.htm.  it's also kind of cool because it's in canada.  ROAD TRIP!!!!  We're very excited!  It's June 6,2010.  Just this week he has done: MON- rode his bike to and from work = about 20 miles.  TUES-running hill/speed intervals, swimming 30 laps ( to one side and back) = 1 mile.  WED- run 3 miles. THURS- Run 6 miles. and FRI- he's going to swim and SAT - he has a 90 min bike ride.  He is very sore, as you can imagine.  His only means of working out before this week was playing basketball 2 times a week.  Talk about kicking your butt into shape.  He and I are also in a play called "Check Please" It's about a series of horrible blind dates. We are both playing multiple characters thought he has more than me.  He is a Pirate, a cousin, an 80's hair band rocker, and a gay actor method acting to be a straight guy.  I'm sure most of you can imagine him playing these roles.  I am a sweet, innocent, soft spoken, Bears fanatic! and a Control freak! you know the kind that does background checks on her dates and such. 
   Isaiah is also trying to start a business. Though he does enjoy his work at Greenstone Homes.  They are so good to us.  Isaiah also plays basketball on Thursdays, once with people from work and then with the church league. 
   We are also still trying to sell our house.
  Amoz's teacher from HeadStart came to our home this week to do a kind of parent teacher conference.  They do it to set goals for the children and families, to help them succeed.  As of this week every goal Amoz  set and his teacher and I set has been accomplished.  He is such a fast learner.  There wasn't anything she could think of to have him work on other than raising his hand before answering a question.  So for the rest of the year he'll be focusing on learning to write numbers better and start learning to read.  I'm so proud of him.  He truly is Amazing.  We are so blessed to have such a Son.  He also helps around the house more.  He helps set and clear the table and takes out the garbage for me. (usually with a little help from me or daddy), but he tries his best.  We're still working on the cleaning up as you go instead of all at once, it's not a concept he enjoys either way. 
    Jade is getting a rather large vocabulary, and is also learning to pronounce them better. ( she clicks on the c or k sounds, sometimes g sounds) like pin-(click) instead of pink  it's very cute.  I thought it was very ingenious of her to think of another way to make a sound that was hard for her.  She is very smart!  and Soooo.... CUTE!  Her hair is almost to her bum now, curly and light brown with some blonde streaks from last summer.  She is getting so big, she wears 3t now and is almost in a 4t.  OH! and she is potty trained!!! she's not perfect yet but we are extreeeemely grateful she gets there most of the time. We are hoping to get her into preschool this fall.  AH! my baby isn't a baby anymore. (she tell me so)  She is also cute when she tells people to stop it.  It's so clear and in a cute little voice.  She still has her super powered scream though.  I hope she grows out of that.  I might go deaf before my time.
   Both the kids are excited for swimming and parks and fun this summer as we haven't had much of a winter up here.  It's still cold, but it fools you almost every day. It looks so beautiful outside and then it freezes you when you go outside. Although some days feel like the middle of beginning of april.  We get snow and then a couple hours later it's gone.  Freezing at night. Sometimes raining. Wacky weather this year.  Isaiah and I went snowboarding and it was like falling on cement each time I fell.  I got pretty beat up during that adventure. 
   Well I have work around the house and errands to run.  I hope this finds you in good spirits.

Later,
  Carrie

What a way to bring in the new year...

Well, I haven't been very good at writing lately, I could blame it on christmas and new year's but I actually thought about writing everyday, I was just too lazy to do something about it.  I can say that my lack of sleep contributed to my laziness but that would be an excuse as well.  Our Family had a good christmas in Utah with my family and a few from Isaiah's family.  It was spiritual as well as social.  I was glad to see my cousins and family that I haven't seen for a long time.  Staying in touch is important, and I'm sorry i'm not better doing so.  My mom told me of about a singing group she was in called the 10 virgins, and that they sung songs and dialogue from a CD called the 10 virgins.  I have not heard it, but I have heard a few of the songs my moms group sang and I was touched deep within my spirit.  I plan to buy it, but if any of you have it or know of someone who does, I strongly suggest you listen to it.  It is very.. powerful.  It contributed greatly to my Christmas. 
  I did not get to do everything I wanted to on my trip to Utah, I'm sure Isaiah's grateful, he hates it when I plan every second. To a certain degree so do I.  But as our vacations are few and far between, I feel the need sometimes to take advantage of the situation to get the most out of it I possibly can.  Not always a good idea.  We left early on the 27th, to catch a flight on delta at 8:45am so we left at 7:30am, got to the airport at 7:45 or so, it took us.... I don't know how long to get all our bags in line to check in.  I had to stand in line and move 4 bags with Jade with me, then Isaiah my mom and Amoz brought the other bags, there was a lot of baggage.  We had to pay 100 dollars to check our bags!  If you have a lot of stuff to take, don't take Delta, it's not worth it.  They 're nice people but the money you save on tickets you end up paying double on baggage, no money saved but more money lost.  After checking in we had to get our gun checked, that was fast thank goodness. Then we took the long trek down to our flight, but because it was such a small flight when we got to gate check in they were paging us to tell us we were late.  right as we got there over the intercom came last call for the estes family.  then more hurrying through a long outside hallway and on to a small plane we went. it was a decent flight and the attendant was nice. When we landed we had a long way to go with a lot of luggage, and then baggage claim.  The kids thought it was all kinds of fun.  Ah the innocence of childhood. 
   It was nice to get home early we had all day to relax and unwind. That day seemed really long, as you can imagine. We got up so early, but we just opened presents, watched movies and ate food.  It was a perfect christmas, except for the part where we had no snow.  well, i want to get to bed.  so i'll catch you up tomorrow. if i'm good.  later!