December in Pictures

A lot of stuff happened in December.  Most of it consisted of me getting out of the hospital, Curtis, Sam & Justin finishing up the fall semester of school, wedding plans & Christmas.  Oh, well there was also the talk of getting a lung transplant, but that is for a different post.  At this point I didn't even want to hear the "H" word again (hosptial).  I wanted to stay as far away from there as I could...at least until after Sam & Justin were married, then I didn't really care what happened as long as I was able to be there & enjoy their big day.  Thankfully everyone managed to survive finals week! Yay!!!

 This was a common sene at our house,

working on homework...or wedding plans

 Justin designed this. I think it turned out really good!

We all had fun stuffing envelops & putting addresses on them....well, it wasn't as fun as it could be, but it was a necessary thing that needed to be done...they sent out around 400 invites!!!  Thank heavens we didn't have to hand write all of those envelops! :)

Christmas day was on a Sunday this year.  It was a very special day for us.  Curtis & I started the day by taking a card & some food to my Dad at work, since he still had to work Christmas day for 12 hrs.  (He is a security guard in Boise).  It was a surprise to Dad so it was exciting to see him light up & realize that he wasn't forgotten about on Christmas day.  After that Curtis' family came to our house & we made traditional Christmas breakfast of potato pancakes, sausage, bacon, eggs, fruit & toast. YUMMY!! We did open a few gifts & we talked to Heather & her family on the phone.  Curtis & I got a new camera (Thanks Mom & Dad Cahoon!) but sadly I couldn't take pictures in the morning because I needed to charge the battery 1st.  I did use it later though. :)   Then Curtis' family came to church with us because Curtis was singing in the ward choir.  (sadly I had to give up choir because I just can't breathe very well...that has been really hard to deal with, I LOVE singing...but I will be back!)  We only had sacrament mtg for church that day since it was Christmas & they wanted us to spend time with our families.  

My family came over around 6 pm on Christmas day & helped finish up preparations for dinner.  Dad came over right after he got off work & then the feast began...baked potato soup w/rolls.  Mmm, mmm, good! :)  During & after dinner we had a great discussion about the true meaning of Christmas, the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ.  What a wonderful blessing He is to all of us! :)

Now for some pictures of the day w/the new camera:  

 Our cute little tree

 These two are amazing!

Can you feel the love there? :)

K-I'm only posting the next couple pictures of Brenda because it is such a great story!  Normally when ever she gets a present that is wrapped she tears through the paper super fast & then moves on to the next gift.  Opening the presents is her FAVORITE part.  We've had to open presents one at a time during Christmas now because she rips through them so fast & then we never get to see her reaction to them.  This year Justin got the privilege, or rather, the challenge, to wrap "the big one" for Brenda.  Boy he did a great job....I think he used a whole roll of packaging tape on the small box.  We let Brenda decide who got to go first & she couldn't wait to find out what was inside "the gift that Justin wrapped".  I just have to say, this is the most fun we have EVER had with Brenda opening presents.  It took her about 20 min to unwrap the box & find out what was inside!!! (we had to cave a little & get the scissors out because she was getting no where...she got 4 small cuts...it probably would have taken her an hour if we didn't "help")  She did a great job at trying & finally succeeding to open her gift.  Justin was so proud of himself when Brenda finally said at the end..."fine, I give up!"  She did get it & boy was she excited!

She sticks her tongue out when she's really focused on something

 She managed to get through several layers of tape & 

wrapping paper, only to find more layers of tape :)

 She has wanted one of these for a long time & we finally caved in & 

gave her one, mostly because we got a really good deal on it. :)

 "YES!!!" She did this several times once she saw what it was.  We also heard for the rest of the night..."Thank you sooo much for my jersey! I love it!"  After all that work, she was exhausted & was very calm the rest of the evening.  :)  Great job Justin!!!

Parley wasn't w/us on Christmas day, but he did come over the next day to get his presents.  I couldn't resist getting this shirt for him, it has Parley written all over it! Love ya Parley! :)

Hospital deja vu

After a busy Thanksgiving Day week, I enjoyed relaxing over the weekend.  After that it was back to our regular routine.  A month previous I had finally convinced Curtis that he needed to have a yearly physical done at the doctor's office so that they could check all of his labs.  He was NOT looking forward to this appointment, especially since we set it up with one of my doctor's, who just happens to be female.  Just so you don't think that he was going to see some off the wall doctor, don't worry he wasn't.  Dr. Elizabeth Rulon is a Family Practice doctor, who also happens to do CF care & OBGYN appointments too.  She is AMAZING!!!

Anyway, the day of his physical was Tuesday November 29th.  That morning I woke up around 5:30 am coughing a lot.  I was also having some pain in my back ribs & was tossing & turning, but I really didn't think much of it since there are often nights/mornings that I have a hard time breathing & therefore sleeping.  I also remember coughing really hard about 8 am & the pain that I had in my back went to the front of my chest.  I finally gave up soon after 8 & decided to just get up for the day & do my morning treatments since I obviously needed to do them.  Doing abuterol & using the Vest didn't really help me to feel better.  I was still struggling to breathe & I still had the pain in my chest, but the pain honestly just felt like I had a rib out (which I've coughed hard enough many times to do & also pull/strain muscles).  My pain was also coming & going in waves.  I decided to still go to my chiropractor appointment for that morning, but had Sam drive me because I wasn't sure about my pain & my breathing.  At my appt. I told my doctor about my pain & he gently worked on my spine & rib cage. Neither one of us thought that I could have a collapsed lung.  I actually felt better after my appt & had Sam take me home.  She dropped me off at the house & then left for school for the day.  10 min after getting home the pain came back & I was struggling a lot more to move & breathe.  After about 15 min I realized that I probably had a collapsed lung, but still wasn't sure because it didn't really feel anything like it did before.  I called Curtis & had him come home early.  I would have called the doctor, but I knew that we were going to be in the office w/in the hour for his appt, so I knew it wasn't going to get me there any faster. Besides, the pain was still coming & going in waves so I still wasn't 100% sure it was a collapse, last time everything hurt & I could hardly move w/out wanting to pass out.  So we went to Curtis' appt & after all of his check-up was done we asked Dr. Rulon to listen to my lungs "just to make sure that they were ok" since I was still struggling to breathe & having pain.  She couldn't hear much air movement on my right side & sent us over for an x-ray.  BIG CLUE right there!  Curtis' appt ended up being a good one for him, but I stole his thunder...I just couldn't let him have the spotlight for the day.  Sorry honey!

So it turns out that I did have another lung collapse, but this time it was about a 50% collapse, where last time it was about 90%.  So x-ray sent me immediately over to the ER where they put me through another horrible chest tube placement and admitted me to the 7th floor of the hospital.  This time I knew what I was getting into with my treatments, so it made it a little easier to deal with.  BUT since it had only been 2 WEEKS since I was last in the hospital & I knew I wasn't coming home until the chest tubes had been out for a few days, I was preparing for a long stay.  That was emotionally hard!  I didn't get crepitus this time around, but I still ended up with 2 chest tubes because I had a pocket of air at the bottom of my lung that wasn't healing.  This time I wasn't nearly in as much pain as far as chest pain goes....but my head was killing me.  I don't know why but this time around I had horrible migraines with this.  They would give me pain medication & my head would still hurt.  I was also sick to my stomach one day & felt horrible because I had thrown up in front of a few ladies from church (I know people understand, but I hate being sick in front of others).  Because of my pain medication I also slept a lot.  I remember one day my Mom had come up to be with me & she finally said she was going to go because she could tell that all I needed to do was sleep.  Thankfully after 5 days of having 2 chest tubes & was able to get them out.  I was also able to go home after being in the hospital for only 8 days.  That was a huge blessing!

During this hospital stay we all started talking more seriously about getting me on the lung transplant list.  I guess once you have a 2nd collapse on the same lung w/in 3 months of each other that it is not good.  (duh!  It also doesn't feel good either!)  Curtis & I started to do our own research, well mostly Curtis.  I don't really care much about the statistics....ok, I do, but for me it's not about the numbers, honestly it comes down to how I feel.  I can either keep feeling lousy & keep watching my body get weaker & weaker, or I can try & get a lung transplant & have a better quality of life.  Besides, my whole life I've been the exception to the rule...I've surpassed all of the statistics & lived longer & had a better quality of life then doctors ever though that I could when I was born.  Medical technology is improving all the time, I've benefited from new medications & new procedures.  Heck, 30 yrs ago lung transplants weren't performed yet.  The 1st successful double lung CF transplant wasn't done until 1989...think about how much better it is now! :)  Anyway, we were still in the beginning stages of looking into this.  Our doctors kept talking about how they needed to meet together & "run the numbers" to see if it would even be a good time to start the process.  We knew at this point that there are several tests that they use to get a lung score for me that determines where I would be at on the list.  We had already started many of those tests so that we had a "base line" for me.  Until we had our meeting with the doctors, we couldn't really go forward with all of this.  So we basically looked at statistics & information about the various CF centers & hospitals in the country that do lung transplants.  We also knew that it there was going to be a waiting period & that I was going to have to relocate to the area where we were going to have the transplant.  Usually they like you to have family support, but most of our family lives in Idaho & the closest centers where they do lung transplants are in Salt Lake City, UT; Denver, CO; & Seattle, WA.  Curtis' sister & family had just moved to Iowa, & they have a transplant hospital that is 90 miles away from their home, so we were kinda thinking about going out that way...but didn't really know where we would go until we met w/the CF team here.  We finally set our meeting for December 20th & put our faith & trust in the Lord that everything would work out the way it was supposed to.  

Good times w/family

I got out of the hospital on November 15th & boy was I glad to be home! It was time to spend some quality time w/Curtis (now that the big project was done), catch up with Sam & Justin's wedding plans, & get ready for a busy Thanksgiving week that was fast approaching.  This year my sister Nicole's birthday was on Thanksgiving Day, so we decided that we would just have a "small" family dinner...meaning my parents & siblings at our house.  Since it's just Curtis' Mom, Dad, & brother Tim at home & they would have just had dinner w/the 3 of them, we invited them over too.  After all, Thanksgiving is about spending time with family & I knew that they would all help w/dinner.  This year we added Justin to the family (since they had just gotten engaged).  Then we ended up with Scott, Trina & Chelsea  Martin & Chelsea's friend June coming to dinner.  (Chelsea is my adopted little sister & she had recently moved up to Idaho from Utah, so we had them over too...after all, it would be another 4 people that could help w/dinner preparation, eating & clean-up).  Anyway, our "small" family dinner ended up being 16 people...but everyone was 20 yrs old or older so it wasn't a lot of work for just 1 person.  Yes, it was probably crazy that we did it at our house so soon after me getting out of the hospital, but I didn't do a thing except give directions & eat food because no one wanted me to over-do it.  We had Parley cook the bird on the grill....YUMMY & of course there was way too much food, but it was a great day! :)

 Getting the bird ready for the grill

 Happy 28th Birthday Nicole!

 The finished product :)

So naturally since Sam & Justin decided that they were going to get married they needed to decide on a date.  This was a little tricky for them because they were both going full time to school, the holidays were coming up, & they were going to be traveling to the Twin Falls, Idaho Temple to be sealed together.  (The Boise LDS Temple closed on July 11, 2011 for renovations/remodeling & will be re-dedicated & open again in about 18 months).  They decided that they were going to get married for Time & All Eternity on January 19th, which also happens to be Samantha's birthday.  (nice for Justin...he better not ever forget that date...)  Samantha also decided to go to the temple to receive her endowment on November 23rd.  (To read more about the Temple & the covenants that we make there please click here) 

November 23rd was a very special day for our family.  Curtis & I were able to drive to Twin Falls w/my Mom, Nicole, Sam & Justin.  We were able to enjoy a wonderful time together inside the Lord's House, as Sam received her endowment. It was such a special day for us.  There were many special memories that were made there that day that are too sacred for me to repeat here.  We all felt the love of the Lord that day & felt extremely blessed to be able to share that together as a family.  We did take pictures outside together afterwards, but I don't have those pictures, Sam does. Sorry.  But here is a beautiful picture of the Twin Falls Temple:  

November 2011 Excitement

November was another eventful month for us.  I'm putting it into 2 posts because so much happened that month....unless I babble on too much, then it might end up being 3 posts....  

I started the month off in the hospital again.  After my lung collapse in August I was having a really hard time getting my lung function tests back up to where they were before (my baseline before was around 34-37% FEV1 & afterwards I couldn't get it above 30%).  Myself & the CF team were starting to think a little more about the possibility of me getting a lung transplant w/in the next couple of years.  It was also hard for them to say whether it was time or not to look into it because you need to have a baseline FEV1 & we didn't really know what mine was.  We decided that since I still didn't feel the greatest & we didn't really get to do an aggressive CF exacerbation "tune-up" like we had planned in August, that I should go into the hospital for 2 weeks & get the aggressive medical treatment that I needed.  The other purpose of the visit was to establish what my true FEV1 level was.  I ended up going into the hospital on Halloween, which wasn't a big deal to me.  The only bummer was that I forgot to bring the candy we had a home & for some reason no one had any candy that day at the hospital. :(

This was a visit full of emotional ups & downs.  Mostly just for me personally.  Part of the ups & downs was due to Curtis being extremely busy with work & school.  I failed to mention in previous posts that after Curtis got released as Scout Master back in August that he then decided to take a class down at BSU.  It was a power electronics class that he had been wanting to take & the time worked for his schedule & it was his favorite professor that was teaching it & since he didn't have a major scout calling he could devote time to the class & still have time for family.  Curtis had passed the engineering licensure exam the year before & in order to keep his license he needs to have 30 professional development hrs every couple of years.  By Curtis taking this class it would fulfill those requirements for a couple more years.  Of course after he signed up for the class my lung collapsed...but we both decided that he should still continue with the class, so he started his class 2 nights a week, a week after my collapse.  That was a busy time for us....well at least for Curtis.  He had a big project for the class that was due the beginning of November.  He did work on it off & on before it was due, but still had a majority of it to do in the final week before it was due.  Curtis ended up taking about 3-4 days off of work so that he could work on his project, he spent a few late nights at the engineering bldg w/some of his classmates, got a last minute 2 day extension on the project & FINALLY finished it just a few hrs before it was due.  This whole project was hard for me because I couldn't help him on it & I was sacrificing my time with him by encouraging him to work on it (or go home & get some sleep) so that then when it was done we could enjoy our time together.  

Some other things that made this stay emotional was the fact that Sam & Justin got engaged & she took Mom, Nicole, Brenda, & Justin's Mom, sister, & grandma to go & pick out her wedding dress.  Don't get me wrong...I was EXTREMELY HAPPY that she got engaged.  I knew it was coming.  I was also the 1st one to know about it after he asked her because they came up to visit me & to show me the ring.  It was just hard because she is my sister & one of my best friends & I was looking forward to doing all of the "wedding planning & excitement" with her & I was missing it because I was in the hospital. (She was able to get a super good deal on her dress the 1st day that she went looking, which is the only reason why she bought it the day she did...so I don't blame her for not waiting for me)  I also missed Brenda's birthday that week & besides Sam, Brenda is the one that LOVES her birthday the most & it still really means something to her, it's exciting & fun. Brenda was pretty sad that I couldn't do something fun with her for her birthday, but we did get to do something after I got out of the hospital, so she was ok with it. :)

I was also an emotional roller coaster that week because 1-it was that time of the month (probably TMI, but honestly sometimes it explains a lot) & 2-I had to stop taking my Celexa because of one of the antibiotics that I was on (bad side effects if taken together).  I started to take Celexa back in June 2011.  I had been fighting depression for over a year & I finally had decided to do something about it.  Depression is a normal thing for someone that has a chronic disease & who experience major changes in their daily living (like no oxygen during the day to wearing it 24/7, just one example).  Thankfully just a small dose was all I needed to help boost my mentality & energy.  When I went off of my medicine for those 2 weeks (& it could have just been bad timing by us) I would be fine & happy one minute, & the next one I would be annoyed or upset & crying the next minute.  Depending on who was around I was able to hide the fact that I was struggling. Thankfully I had a few angels in my life that week who let me cry, laugh, talk & cry some more & knew just what to say to help me. (a Dr, nurse, RT, friend from church, & my BFF!) This was the same week that it really hit me that we needed to start looking into getting a lung transplant.  Like I said earlier, at this time the CF team was still split on whether we really needed to start looking into getting a lung transplant or not.  I LOVE my Boise CF team, they are amazing! But they are also human & have different personalities & approaches to medicine (GI doc compare to family medicine doc)....which is good because one may find something that the other misses, but sometimes it's hard to know which one to listen to when they all have different approaches & opinions.  Thankfully I have a good relationship with all of them & I'm not afraid to ask questions & advocate for my own health care & they are not afraid of talking to me or listening to me or working with me to find the best solution.  Anyway, the whole reason behind mentioning the Celexa/depression thing was because it was the first time in a while that I had cried & realized just how bad my CF was & that I might not actually live another 3-5 yrs.  Thankfully we have the downs so that we can enjoy & remember the ups even more & learn from them. :)

Ok, enough of the depressing part of it.  On to the emotional ups!  Of course the first one was Sam & Justin getting engaged.  Another one was having one of my good CF friends in the hospital room right next door to me during 1/2 of my stay.  Christian & I knew each other from CF camp years ago.  When he was on his mission I started school at BSU, & I met Kendra & became good friends with her.  They met each other after his mission & soon got married.  They are an amazing couple! They always make me laugh! :)  We spent many hours that week talking with each other about everything from hospital food to football to spiritual topics & more.  We even had the radio on out in the area outside or rooms so that we could both listen to the BSU football game that was only on the radio (unless you had a special cable channel or had a ticket to the game that was just a mile away from the hospital...really annoying!).  It really helps to have CF friends.  Our disease is very similar but VERY different at the same time.  It's so nice to talk to them & I don't even have to explain anything because I already know that they "get it", all of the dr visits, medication, insurance stuff, medical mysteries & more...they understand all of it.  Anyway, it was a lot of fun that week & they helped me while Curtis was so busy working on his project for school.  I love the Hooper's! :)  Among some other emotional ups for me was that I was able to finish my cross stitch of Sunshine Bear (or is it Funshine Bear...can't remember).  I was making it for Shasta.  She then surprised me by coming & visiting with me in the hospital for 4-5 hrs. Shasta lives in Mountain Home, which is about an hour away from Boise, & she stayed until after 12 am!  It was a blast! We laughed, we cried, & we laughed some more.  Seriously, you get the two of us together & we can't stop laughing & we are loud.  Some of the nurses & RTs thought that I was having a party in my room & couldn't believe that it was just the two of us making all that noise. :) Yes, laughter is good for the soul!!! I also have to say that I do LOVE my husband & he is my BEST friend, but sometimes a girl just needs to have another girl to talk to, to make everything better & Shasta is the one! We often refer to each other as our twin because we are so much alike.  Even though we didn't get to be blood related sisters, we are forever sisters & friends & we're thankful that Heavenly Father put us together as friends.  Other emotional ups included visiting with family & friends from church & working with & getting to know all of the many nurses, RTs, & CNAs.  They are amazing!!!!

So overall the hospital stay was a success.  I started to feel a little better & we were able to determine that my baseline FEV1 was around 30%.  14 days is a long time to spend in the hospital & I was ready to get out & get through the holidays & on to Sam & Justin's wedding.  But first some pictures:   

The Ring!!! Beautiful!!!

An "Eddible Arrangement" that was VERY YUMMY!!

Thank you Christian & Kendra! :) 

The finished Care Bare project. I love it!

September & October 2011

Ok, so we are going to have to back up a little bit on the happenings in my family life.  JUSTIN THIS IS FOR YOU! :)  Clear back on July 1st (or 2nd...) Samantha had gone on a date with this guy in her Young Single Adult Ward...his name is Justin Mello.  I know I've heard the story several times, but I don't remember all of the details, like when the first date actually was or other things.   Soon after that first date they started seriously dating each other.  Sam met Justin's family a few days after the first date.  Justin wanted to come over & met our family but Sam wasn't going to give into that just yet.  Well she did give in on our Dad's birthday.  Justin had dinner w/our immediate family during Dad's family birthday dinner.  Justin bought shot gun shells for him because he wanted to impress him.  He did a great job of that, that was the perfect gift!!!  Anyway, I could tell that Justin was smitten right from the start.  Sam was too, she just didn't know it yet.  Justin is hard to get to know.  He is VERY quiet (& MELLO) & the complete opposite of Sam.  I wasn't so sure about him at first.  Of course I probably wasn't easy on him anyway.  I wanted to make sure that he was right for my sister & that he knew & understood what CF really is all about.  He seemed to take it all rather well. When I was in the hospital in August (& was "fat Sara"), Justin insisted that he wanted to go with Sam up to see me & visit me. After that hospital stay & all the teasing & joking that I put him through he was still around so then I knew that I would like him & that he would eventually be a part of our family.  During September & October Sam & Justin were at our house making dinner almost every Wednesday night & maybe one other night as well. They would also work on homework together at our house.  (yuck!)  It was during this time that Curtis & I were making bets on how long it would take them before they got engaged.  :)  But that story is for another post.  So Justin, you should now feel honored because I have included you on my blog.  You may not like the pictures that I picked out to put up here, but since they are also on FB I figured you didn't mind. :)

Ah...Justin Mello...

The cute couple again. :)

Justin, Sam & Katy rockin the 80's!

I was pretty wiped out during the months of September & October.  Having your lung collapse takes a lot out of you!!! I do have to back up a little bit here w/some health info...Earlier in the year we had diagnosed me w/having pulmonary hypertension, & I was starting to really have a lot of problems with this, especially after my lung collapse.  According to the Mayo clinic, pulmonary hypertension is: a type of high blood pressure that affects the arteries in the lungs and the right side of your heart. Pulmonary hypertension begins when tiny arteries in your lungs, called pulmonary arteries, and capillaries become narrowed, blocked or destroyed. This makes it harder for blood to flow through your lungs, and raises pressure within your lungs' arteries. As the pressure builds, your heart's lower right chamber (right ventricle) must work harder to pump blood through your lungs.  They had first diagnosed this back in February by doing an ECCO on my heart (or an ultrasound) that included a "bubble study", where they put small tiny bubbles into my vein & watched how they moved through my heart.  It was pretty cool to watch. :)  The doctors wanted to do this test because of my health at the time & they knew at some point in the next couple of years we would probably start talking about a lung transplant.  This is one of the tests that they have to have done, so they figured they might as well have a baseline test done before we even got to that point.  The treatment for pulmonary hypertension is pretty simple...turn up your oxygen when you are moving/active. So for me I was on 2 liters continually & was suppose to turn it up to 4 liters when moving around.  (there is medication that you can take that can help it, but they haven't really tried it much with CF patients, but other pulmonary hypertension patients use it a lot, it's called Viagra, & you may laugh, (I did) but the actual intention & purpose of the drug was to treat pulmonary hypertension...they found out about the side effects of it later).  I'll admit that at first I didn't think I needed to turn up my O2 & didn't always turn it up to 4....but by summer I could tell you exactly what it was that would exhaust me & I would turn it up automatically.  When I was in the hospital in August we were going to do the next test that they use to help diagnose pulmonary hypertension...a right heart catheterization, but after my lung collapsed we put that test off.  So I had it done in October when I was doing a little better.  This test also helped to give the doctors a baseline for the day that I may start the lung transplant process.  It wasn't a horrible procedure. It's almost they same exact procedure that they use to stop bleeding in my lungs, so it honestly didn't phase me. There were a bunch of numbers, or pressure readings, that were taken & I don't remember what they were or if they were good or bad except that it showed that I have mild to moderate pulmonary hypertension.


We had a family BBQ over at Grandma & Grandpa Ward's house in September.  They wanted to celebrate me getting out of the hospital & they also wanted to meet Justin.  Parley also wanted to have the BBQ because he had cut up a few cord of wood for Grandpa for the winter & he wanted help unloading all of it.  It was a very memorable event that had a few embarrassing or awkward moments for Justin....but I'll keep them between us & not share them here.  :)  I did want to share some pictures of the family. :)
  

trying to figure out where they should stack the rest of the wood

3 amigas! 

Love Grandma's beautiful Smile! :)

Mary, Blaine & Sam

Chatting after the wood was done being stacked

I love my Grandpa Ward!!!

Gotta love family!

A few days before BSU had their 1st home game of the 2011 season (that was on Sept. 24th) we had been given tickets from St. Luke's hospital to go & attend the game.  (Several departments were given a certain number of tickets to give to some of their patients).  Of course I HAD to say YES to the tickets because it is actually kinda hard to get BSU football tickets, especially a few days before the 1st home game of the season.  For me it was one of the best days to go.  I hate being cold at the games, but the temperature for this game was actually in the 80s or 90s & then cooled off after half time.  We didn't get to pick where we sat in the stadium because we had north end zone tickets, which are open seating.  There are some crazy fans that sit in the end zones....but it was a lot of fun!  You really have to go to a game in the stadium, see the fans, watch the players & see the blue turf.  It's amazing!!! (of course I could be a little bias since BSU is my & Curtis' alma mater...)  So here are pictures of the BSU vs Toledo 2011 game...

Blue Thunder Marching Band & Maneline Dancers 

during the Star Spangled Banner

Check out the cool color scheme

Watching the huddle

Can you see the players?

Go Broncos!!!!

BSU 41  Toledo 21