November 2010 The Hortins

Michelle is going to be mad at me but if none of you tell her...



This is the picture I took of her family for their Christmas Card in 2006 That's Brooklyn, Rog, Michelle, Katelyn and Ty. If this doesn't look fimilar that is because she didn't love the picture and never sent it out or even Developed them!

Jump ahead to 2010
This time the baby is CODY. Cute picture. But you have never seen this one either. This year I not only took the picture but ordered the prints on the computer right away. Did you get your cute Christmas card this year from the Hortins? NO YOU DIDN'T I had to publish this cute family on my blog.

November 2010 Embarrassed??

I shouldn't post this but it was so funny.
This is so my kid.. Little stinker can't take a break from eating his ice cream to play the ipod or take a break from the ipod long enough to eat his ice cream.He makes me laugh on a daily basis!

October 2010 Halloween

Halloween is always a great time. It's a holiday that's a total blast when your single and really fun when your a parent. This year Morgan wanted to be a vampire. I'm not really sure there is any other reason other than she wanted the dress.
Sam on the other hand had a method to his madness. He told me he wanted to be a "builder". Not "Bob the Builder" but a builder like his dad. (Dorian is an engineer but when we drive by buildings that he has been involved with we say "there's a building dad built") Any way. Sam has some fun construction tools, belt etc. and on Halloween he came out of his room wearing his tool belt and a dress shirt. I said, "sam why are you wearing your church clothes with your tools." Sam: Because this is what dad wears to work. In the end I had to convince him that he needed to wear clothes like his grandpa Mike to really be a builder. Soooo what was sam for Halloween? a builder, his dad or his grandpa? I think all three rolled into one cute kid!

october 2010 LDS General Conference

My sister Michelle told me she had an extra ticket for the LDS General Conference. I have lived in Utah and have been a Mormon all my life and I had never had the opportunity to go so even though I was still on huge amounts of steroids (you can see my face filling out in the picture) I couldn't pass up the chance to go. I loved it and is was so worth the cold I got from going:)

Me, Michelle, Ty and Kate!


















beautiful sunrise on the way to conference. (can you see the sunbeam on the right?)

October 2010 Autoimmune Hepatitis

I started out my holiday season this year with a exciting turn of events. My sister in law my mom and I were hanging out at my house when kendall (my SIL) asked me if I was feeling well. I didn't feel great but I have felt worse, a lot worse. She told me my skin and eyes were yellow and that I needed to get to a hospital right away. Frankly I thought she was kinda over reacting (sorry Ken). She must have know that I wasn't taking her seriously because she left and in about 10 minutes my husband called and told me he was coming home to take me to the emergency room. I still thought they were all crazy but I went anyway. After about 6 hours in the hospital they sent me home with the diagnosis of hepatitis. They didn't know what form or type and I was supposed to see my GI ASAP!
My doctors office called, they had gotten the blood tests from the ER and right away scheduled a MRI, liver biopsy and LOTs and LOTS of blood work! I don't want to be morbid here but I have to say: Imagine you are REALLY tired, so tired that if you stopped moving you feel asleep, no matter where you were. You can't eat anything because you want to puke just thinking about it and you just feel crappy. Your a Mom, you are busy, people depend on you, you have to bake and clean and do laundry do errands and keep everything running smoothly. I had felt so bad that the day I was in the hospital for my liver biopsy, where no one needed anything where I was able to drift in and out of sleep with out guilt or interruption was about the best day I've had for a VERY long time!
Diagnosis was Autoimmune Hepatitis.
The doctors put me on a steroid called Prednisone. I have been on that medication before and it is defiantly a love- hate relationship. Nothing on the planet makes me feel worse (including liver failure) than prednisone but it works so what do ya do? And just for good measure they prescribed Azathioprine. The prednisone I was on for a couple months and had to stay inside or risk catching whatever germs anyone around me had because both of the medications weaken my immune system. I will most likely be on Azathioprine for the rest of my life.

My blood levels are stable now and I am finally feeling the effects of prednisone wearing off. Finally.

Just a Note* For those of you who know, I dehydrate easily and I have a "home health" service bring me a few liters of fluid a month. For the few months prior to my diagnosis I had to get multiple IV's and for some reason I never felt better. Well now I know why.
Yellow eyes.
Yellow skin

Aug 23, 2010 The First Day of School

Morgan is in 4th grade this year and Sam is in 1st. They have really great teachers. I love their school!

Feb 2011

As always I'm back peddling and trying to catch up. My sister Amy told me she read my blog the other day and quickly realized I haven't posted anything for 6 months but right before I felt completely guilty I checked her blog and she hasn't posted for oh, uhmm, 2 and a half YEARS! Sooo this is for you Amy and get to work on that blog!