Kyle Eppich

Today I got a scary phone call from my mom about my cousin Kyle Eppich, which is Karl and Kathi's son. Kyle and I are the same age and he now lives in Texas with his wife and 2 kids. He has not been feeling very good the last few days and has been to a few doctors, and finially his wife took him the the ER yesterday. Here is Kathi's letter to the family she can tell you better about what is going on:
Hi Family; Just an update on Kyle's progress. The 48 hr. cultures will be in today to see if the medications that they are using on him are correct. He had a chest x-ray last night because he was having difficulty breathing so they put him on oxygen,he loved it and wondered why they didn't do it earlier. The chest xray showed no signs of penumonia. He continues to drop his vitals in a good range and all of a sudden he begins another attach where his fever spikes and his heart rateraises. They are still baffled at the urinary tract infection, the kidney's are infected but responding to the medicationthey did ultrasound on the kidneys and they are functioning good and healthy which with E-coli posining that is a big problem so we feel good that they are not damaged. They are almost sure he has had E-coli poisoning but the cultures will confirm that.He has been a very sick guy. They are calling in an infectious disease spec. today to work with him.It's funny! As you can imagin I have had a hard time being here and them so far away. Kel found a good ticket price for us out of pasco, I told Natalie and Kyle told her sounds good, tell me what time to go pick her up. He told his Dad that he is pretty sick but is pretty sure he is going to rap this up soon and he will be fine. this has been a very scary time for their little family and we appreciate all the families prayers and willingness to fast with us.

I thought that all you that know Kyle would like to know what is going on. Please keep him in your prayers. Kyle has always been a big brother to me, always watching out for me.

Gracie Pearl and Jace are their names; they go everywhere the girls go.

After we got home from Disneyland we got 2 new little kittens. The girls were very excited. It's fun to see the kids out playing with them. It has given them something to do this summer.

Dr. Appointments

Wednesday Morgan and Natalie both had their well check ups. Madalyn also had to come along to get her shots for Kindergarten. She doesn't do very well with shots so I had made them when Garrett could go with me to help hold her down. At her last shot visit 1 1/2 years ago it took 3 nurses and me to give them to her (she is just so strong). This time she did better but it was still hard for her, she gets herself worked up so easy. She received 2 shots. Morgan got 4 shots, she is now already for Kindergarten also. I was going to break up the shots and do 2 this time and then 2 next year but when I asked her what she wanted to do she said she wanted them all now. It is crazy how different these two girls are.

Morgan's 4 Year- weight 27 lbs.(gained only 3lbs in one yr.) 0% percentile
height 38.5 in. 22% percentile

Natalie's 2 Year- weight 24 lbs. 15% percentile
height 33.5 in. 30% percentile

It's Over

Saturday Day #7 Today was a sad day we have to come home. Just like all vacations we were not ready at all to come home and wishing for just a few more days. We truly enjoyed every day of our trip, our family loved spending time together. We had looked forward to this vacation for a long time, we came home with many memories. Every little girl needs to visit Disneyland to feel like a Princess and I think ours did.

Beach, Family Pictures, Resort

Friday Day #6 We had Family pictures on this day in the afternoon so we didn't do to much. It was nice to finally relax and sleep in (as much as you can with kids). Todays thing was beach toys.

The Resort had crafts that we made, the girls enjoy doing crafts so it was fun for them. That night the family all went to Chili's to eat. It was nice to eat a good meal, we were sick of eating out. We can only handle Fast food for so long.

I hope family pictures turn out ok. Natalie was not a happy girl during that time, she got woke up from her nap to get ready. She would not look at the camera or smile.

Disneyland

It's hard being a little princess!!! We had long days.
Thursday Day #5 Disneyland and Cal. Adventure. Today's surprise was to be like a princess with glitter and cute hair. I had sprayed glitter and shimmer all over their bodies and hair.

A bugs life movie was not one of the girls favorite shows, it was really scary.

Our family at the Parks Entrance

My crazy girlsThursday we went to have breakfast with the princess at Ariel's Grotto, there were 6 different princess there. It was a little costly but well worth it. As you eat breakfast they all come around and visit with you and sign books, take pictures and talk with the kids. Our girls ages were just right for this.

Ariel meet us as we entered the restaurant.

Morgan had to have high hair so she could be tall enough to ride the rides. We loved Cal. Adventure they had great adult rides, if you did the kid swap passes the lines were not bad. The most we ever stood in line was 30 min. for dumbo. Most lines were 10-15 min. for us.

Disneyland

Wednesday Day #4 We left at 5:30 am from San Diego to go to Anaheim. We arrived and checked into the hotel and then headed to the park it opened at 8:00. Disneyland was our families favorite Park, Madalyn said" Dreams really do come true here" We spent 2 days at Disneyland and Cal. Adventure, we wish we had one more day at Disneyland. It was hard to fit everything in. The Gift for today was the kids each had a new Disney shirt to wear that day.

The girls really loved all the Disney characters, we waited in the lines to have them all sign the girls autograph books. I had bought the books before we left for our trip cause they are ALOT cheaper here at home and I left them in San Diego, so Garrett went to buy 3 books which set us back $38. But this is what they had talked about for so long.

Madie's favorite rides: Alice in Wonderland, it's a small world, Winnie the Pooh, Tea cups and Buzz Lightyear. Madalyn went on all the rides that she could (which was almost everything). She does not like scary things so she hated space mountain but she went one everything one time. I was very proud of her for trying it once.

Morgan's Favorite Rides: Splash Mountain, Thunder Mt. Railroad, Sleeping Beauty Castle, buzz Lightyear. Morgan loved all the fast and big rides. She was only 39 in. and for most big rides you had to be 40 in. and so we made her hair tall and put toilet paper in her shoes and she was able to ride them all. She was very sad when she got kicked off a few rides before we discovered the T.P idea.

Natalie Favorite Rides: Dumbo, Circus Train, Buzz Lightyear, Roger rabbit car spin. When we had to get off the rides she would say More, more and start to cry. She wanted to drive the tea cups all by herself. She also loved all the character walking around.

San Diego Zoo

Tuesday Day #3 The San Diego Zoo
At the Zoo we were able to see many different kinds of animals. This Zoo is very large, with tall hills to climb. Our stroller could go almost everywhere but we did have to walk with the kids more. We took the bus around the park in the afternoon cause we were very tired but still wanted to see more.

Natalie fell on the sidewalk Monday night, she had a very large fat lip. She was running faster then her little legs could go. Today's gift for the girls was princess necklaces. It was a big hit.

We went to a sea otters show that was really good. It is amazing what they can get these animals to do.

I just love this picture of Madalyn with her hands, and Morgan with the baby gorilla.
That night the women made watches with really cool beads, it was alot of fun for the kids and the women. I made 3 different ones, once you got going it was hard to stop.

Sea World

Monday Day # 2 Sea World
Monday morning we woke up and drove to Sea World. We really loved the Shamu show. Morgan was very cute with shamu, she thought that every time he waved that he was just waving at her. She called him her Shamu. This stroller was what I got last year for my birthday, it worked out great. It was the kids transportation for the week, and our life saver.

Sesame Street bay of Play had great rides and play area for the kids. Some of the kids favorites were seeing: aquariums, clydesdale horses, sea otters, touching different things in the tide pools.

Natalie feeding the seals, they were very loud and hungry. The day 2 gift for the girls was tinker bell hair bows and jenks family shirt. We loved Sea World.

Flying to San Diego

I want to write a little about our Jenks Family Reunion trip that we just got back from. This year will be 10 years since Garrett's dad was killed. So his mom wanted everyone to be together. What a wonderful gift it was to our family. We had a great time. We enjoyed every minute of it, seeing family and visiting places we have dreamed about for a long time. I'm going to take it day by day. So here we go....................

Our flight left Spokane Sunday at 8:00am, because of it being early we spent the night in Spokane. This was the first time the kids have been on an airplane, they were very excited. The day went very well. Natalie fell asleep for 2 1/2 hours so that was a big plus. She didn't like the landing and taking off. It scared her. We flew with Justin and Heather, it was really nice. The girls love spending time with their kids, they were a big help to us.

The girls all set ready to go. I decided that I would try and make the trip special so the kids got something new each day of the trip. Day #1 was new things in their bag packs. New games, books, coloring pages, work book pages, treats.

When we arrived we had dinner at the Bahia Resort where we were all staying at. Mary did a great job to make things stress free for us. That night the kids enjoyed playing in the sandy beach with cousins we don't see enough.