30 Days of Thankfulness

Day 11-21

Day 11. Thankful for my step Dad Lynn and his unconditional love for me and my Mom.
Day 12. So very thankful for my in-laws. Everyone of them are amazing.
Day 13. I am so thankful for Ryan's job.
Day 14. Our beautiful new home.
Day 15. I thankful for school and teachers.
Day 16. Thankful for cartoons. I know its bad of me to say that, but right now it is so quiet and peaceful. Thank you nickjr. Every mom needs a cartoon break now and again.
Day 17. I am thankful for our freedom.
Day 18. Thankful for heating.
Day 19. Thankful for all of my great friends.
Day 20. Thankful for summer and already miss it.
Day 21. Thankful that Ryan shovels the drive way. (when he's home)

30 Days of Thankfulness

I'm am going to try to write something I am thankful for every day this month. Here is day 1-10 in no spasific order.

1. Ryan so supportive, loving,thoughtful,
2. Alex strong,friendly,energetic,
3. Connor quiet, sweet, loving and smart
4. Hayden FUNNY, loud, little, my baby.
5. Doctors and modern medicine.
6. Therapists especially Connors five therapists.
7. The Gospel.
8. My Dad for being baptized and much more.
9. My brothers yes even with all the craziness they bring to my life.
10. I am so Thankful for my Mom. She is the strongest person I know, a fighter, my hero.

Halloween 2010

Okay so I'm not much of a blogger any more, but here are some pictures of our Halloween. The kids had a lot of fun and got way to much candy. I posted a lot of pictures one my FB page if your really that interested.

My Baby is 2 Years Old

September 25, 2008 at 9:45 p.m.
Hayden Blosch Sanford Was Born

2 years ago Hayden came into our family and things have never quite been the same.

Hayden is the happiest, craziest, and most active little boy ever. He loves playing with his brother and sister and a lot of the time he bugs them without really knowing it, but isn't that what little siblings do best? He loves them both a lot and loves to give hugs and kisses.

On Friday we drove down to Utah and took the kids to Hogle Zoo, which they loved, and we had a lot of fun. After spending the day at the zoo we went to Ryan’s parents for a fun night. Hayden got to open all of his presents and even Connor and Alex got something from grandma and grandpa (they are so sweet).

Hayden is obsessed with cats and suckers. Those are probably his two favorite things right now and he can’t seem to get enough of them. He also loves trains, cars, being outside and pretty much anything boyish.

His dislikes...well he doesn't really have many dislikes, but he doesn't like to go to sleep, and he’s not a fan of being left alone. Most of the time he wants to be where the action is and will usually stop doing whatever he’s doing if you walk out the room and follow you. He has what I call left-out syndrome. He is the funniest kid.

We love you little man.

Connor's First Day of Preschool

Connor started his first day of preschool this year. This is his second year of preschool and he gets to ride the bus again which he really likes. It’s a good thing he’s an early riser, because the bus picks him up at 7:15 and he gets droped off around 11:15 giving me and Hayden a good 4 hours of alone time which has been great.

Here is another picture of Alex heading off to school she loved her outfit, so we had to take another school picture. She’s a cutie, I can't help showing it.

This Week

Quite a bit has happened this week. I thought the easiest way of sharing would be to list a few things along with pictures.



· - After five days at a care center mom was rushed back to the hospital for a very high fever that they couldn't get down. After some tense hours, they were able to stabilize her vitals and she appears to be recovering.



· - Hayden moved into a big boy bed and for the most part has done great. He did have a night when he woke up crying at 2:00a.m. crying but went back to bed after Ryan spent a few minutes with him.



· - Alex started school on Monday and loves it. Wow, I can’t believe she is in first grade. She also gets to ride the bus which she loves.



· - A huge part of our landscaping went in! We got the sprinklers, lawn and trees in. It all happened so fast, now we have to work on the flower beds.

Okay so maybe it doesn't seem like a lot, but they are all big things that have happened so I wanted to share them.

Connor's B-Day Celebration!

Graft-Versus-Host Disease

On Wednesday Lynn told me that Mom has graft-versus-host disease (chronic form), they are treating it with multiple medications.

Graft-versus-host disease is a fairly common complication of bone marrow transplants where the immune cells in the transplanted marrow recognize the recipient as "foreign" and mount an immunologic attack on tissue and organs. Because it didn't manifest itself until now, it should be easier to treat than if she got it the first 100 days after the transplant. We still don't know how it will impact her health long-term.

The medications are helping. I did talk to her tonight and she did seem to be doing okay. She said that she didn't feel well, but was feeling better then she did a few days ago.

I just keep wondering what will be next, she really needs to catch a break. Poor Mom.

Please continue to keep her in your prayers. Thanks for all you support.

Wow how Things Have Changed.

I was looking back at some old post of pictures of my sweet Mom. She has gone through so much in the past 15 months and every day she amazes me with how strong and faithful she is.

This past two times have been kind of hard to see Mom and the drastic changes that she has gone through, but I love her so much and even though she looks a lot different she is still as beautiful as ever.

I love you Mom with all my heart.

Little Update on Mom

So mom is still in the hospital. She was scheduled to go back to the rehabilitation center today until an orthopedic doctor came in to look at her knee that she has been having trouble with. He took a sample of some fluid and it came back positive for a bacteria. He scheduled surgery to in his words, "wash it out" and then clean up some arthritis.



This is now the third surgery in the past seven months. January was her bone marrow transplant, in May she had back surgery and now knee surgery. Hopefully all will go well and she will be able to get to the rehabilitation center and get back to therapy so she can get home sooner the later.



Please pray for her and if at all possible visit her, she would love to have company.

Melaleuca Picnic 2010

Every summer, usually on the hottest day of the year(j/k), Ryan's work has a picnic for the employee’s families and it's always a lot of fun and the kids LOVE it.

They have snow cones, popcorn, cotton candy, and it's all you can eat and it's all free. The kids love all the treats but they really like all the huge blow up toys that they can play on. This year they even had a mechanical bull that Alex rode. They have pony rides, helicopter rides, and they give away a ton of prizes. It really is a lot of fun.

Here are a few pictures, I really wish I would have taken more, but there is always next year.

Pictures of the House

Summer Hair Cut

Moving Day

No it's not quite moving day for us yet – but it is for Mom. She is moving to her new "home" today. I say home but we hope she is only there for a few weeks, the doctors think it could be as long as 60 days before she is able to walk on her own and have enough strength to really go home.

She will be staying at the Riverton Transitional Rehabilitation Center. If anyone is interested in visiting her, calling, sending a card or letter here is her information:

Riverton Transitional Rehabilitation Center
3419 West 12600 South
Riverton, UT 84065
Janet Bronson Room #207

Center’s Number 801-693-3900

Her direct room number is 801-693-3956

Thanks for everyone’s prayers, love, support and help through this tough time. Mom is truly a fighter and we can't wait to have her home again for good.

Our 4th & Alex’s New Skates

Our 4th of July was the average 4th - we watched fireworks set off our own and had a BBQ. For the most part it was a pretty laid back lazy weekend. Both the boys are sick with a cold and we found out yesterday (the 4th) that Connor has a ear infection. He is doing better now that he’s on some medicine for it.

Today Alex had a dentist appointment to take care of a few teeth she’s having trouble with. She had a cavity filled, a baby root canal, and a tooth pulled. The dentist wanted to sedate her, but it’s expensive and insurance doesn’t pay for that, so we thought we’ll talk to Alex and if she was brave, she could get the roller skates she’s been wanting. It would be lots cheaper than sedation and she would get something for the pain. She was a little nervous at first, but Ryan said she did really good. So I took her to get the roller skates and she loves them. The minute we got home she wanted them on and she has been outside practicing all day.

Unfortunately, she has a little more work that needs to be done in August. Her mouth has cost us a pretty penny and she is only 6! I really hope this isn't how it's always going to be. We try and limit her sugar and she’s a pretty good brusher and even flosses every night. I just don't get it. At least the boys have good teeth so far.

A Lot Has Happened

A lot has happened in the past few weeks and I just haven't got around to posting about any of it. So, I’ll get to the point and make some long stories short with a little simple list. (From oldest to newest)
-Mom went home from the hospital for a couple of days
-Mom got really sick and we almost lost her (Thanks to the docs and nurses in the ICU who saved her)
-I took a quick trip to Utah when things weren’t looking good
-Mom is still in the ICU, but seems to be getting better
-The house is starting to really come along
-Connor started horseback riding and has picked up two more hours of therapy (it really is his 20hr week part time job)
-Got a stupid speeding ticket
-All three kids had temps over 102.0, Alex for three days Hayd for one and Con for two days. (Thankfully not all at once)
-Went to Utah again
-My Dad got baptized
-Went shopping in Park City
-Saw mom again and she is doing even better than the week before.

Now we are home. I am hoping that things can settle down a little, but I'm thinking I'm not that lucky and it’s summer of course. It has been a very interesting month, but the good things have outweighed the bad and I am very happy and grateful for my family and everything I have. I am truly blessed.

Great News

Mom has now been in the hospital for about a month and they are finally telling her that she might be going home this weekend. She has been getting stronger and stronger every day and just the other day she took 60 steps. Yay Mom! They are still trying to get her strong enough to get up on her own, but again are hopeful that this is the weekend she can go home.

The Joy of Building

I love the fact that we are building and how it allows us to customize so many things, but all the choices definitely create a challenge all its own! We have about 7 weeks or so until we move into our new (or so says our contractor) and we still have a ton of interior choices to make - all we’ve really picked out so far in the color of the carpet. Ryan and I joke that it’s the color of dirt (it’s really a nice brown called Harvest Spice).


Anyways back to the point, we’re a little lost when it comes to mixing and matching things and that might sound dumb, but when it comes to decorating I'm at a loss and now having to pick hardwood, tile, and cabinets that complement each other... well let just say I'm getting nervous about the next few weeks. Today we went and tried to pick out light fixtures with some luck, but we still have a long way to go…Oh there is just so much.

Now please don't get me wrong I am so thankful and grateful that we are able to build our own house at this time, but I’ve been a little surprised at just how much time it takes and poor sweet Ryan gives up so much time at work to try and get every thing done that I know it adds to his already busy work schedule.


We’ve be taking a lot of pictures of the house, and there are a lot that you wouldn't care about seeing, but I did want to post a few for the family and friends who have asked to see the progress.



Ryan and I in our front room

Master bedroom

Front door
Me in the kitchen area

Front of the house

More on Mom

Mom seems to be doing better and better ever day. They think that she will be able to leave the hospital in the next day or two, but she won’t be going home quite yet. The doctors feel like she needs to spend some time at a rehabilitation center, so she can get multiple sessions of physical therapy every day to get some of her strength back. They want her to at least be able to walk on her own before she goes home.




She has one more surgery that she needs and it's for her eye. They need to removal a fungal infection from her retina. Once she is feeling a little better from this back surgery and has gotten some of her strength back they will do the eye surgery.

Update on Mom

My step-brother wrote this last night and I thought I would just copy it. Thanks Paul.
They had to clean up a leak from one of her spinal punctures, remove some fatty tissue and a cyst that was putting pressure on her spinal chord, and do a laminectomy (spread out) some of her lumbar vertebra. Hopefully this will help relieve the pain that kept her from being able to walk.

Breakthrough for Connor

sConnor had a really big day on Monday at developmental therapy. He said 5 words all together. I know it doesn’t seem like a lot, but it’s a big deal for us because normally he only puts two, maybe three words together.

His therapist Cole shot this video with his cell phone. "I want ball please. I want ball please Cole." Cole was excited to show me this when I picked Connor up.

We are happy and excited with the progress Con is making and look forward to seeing him continue to grow and learn.

Work in Progress

We’re Moving!

Yes it's true - we sold our house and are moving in a week. Our new house isn’t done yet and won’t be until late July or early August (hopefully sooner, but we won’t get our hopes up just yet). In the meantime, we found a cute two bedroom apartment that we’ll move into next week and put everything else into a storage unit.

We’re very excited and drive by our house almost every day to see the progress it is making. It will be interesting being in a two bedroom apartment for the summer, but there are some real bright sides to it. We’re really close to a nice park, which I have a feeling we’ll be at a lot this summer and people keep telling us that our new house is going to feel huge after living in an apartment.

I don't have any pictures of the house right now, but I’ll try and get some in the next few days.

“Leprechaun Day”

Last night after the kids were in bed we (the leprechauns) put out a bunch of gold chocolate coins in the hallway leading to a small pile of coins for Alex. So at 3 a.m. Connor comes into our room and Ryan woke me up saying Connor smelled like Chocolate. Come to find out his face and PJ’s were covered in chocolate. All the gold coins were gone and we thought Connor had picked them all up.



Turns out that Alex woke up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom and saw them and gathered them all up and put them under her pillow. Being the sweet big sister that she is she put a few on Connor’s bed. Very nice of her, right? We still don’t know whether Connor woke up and started eating the ones on his bed or if they just melted all over him. It was a mess and not that funny at the time.



This morning when I was putting his sheets in the wash I had to laugh. I remembered wiping off his face and one of his eyes were almost closed shut with chocolate – okay, so it was funny after all.



It all turned out to be worth it to see how excited Alex was when she got up this morning. She couldn’t wait to tell us about the “great news” that a leprechaun had brought her gold coins and a new green outfit.



Happy Leprechaun Day! (as Alex would say)

Way To Long

I know it has been way to long so instead of writing about all that has been going on here is a little slide show. Pictures are some times just as good at telling a story. Enjoy:)