everyone..... meet tuff!!

Well we have a new addition to our family. He is a mini dachshund ( mini weener dog). His name is tuff. We are absolutely in love with him! He's just a little guy and loves to cuddle! He is the best little dog as long as someone is cuddling or touching him. He is the most chill and layed back puppy I've ever seen. If we let him he'd cuddle, chew on a bone, and sleep all day. He's a shy little guy, but we are so happy we have him!!!

He is so attached to Rick! He always wants to be with him and laying with him. At night time as long as he is touching Rick he sleeps great, but if Rick moves even a little bit, Tuff will wake up and cuddle up to Rick again and go back to sleep. I must say he's the perfect little puppy!

Happy Birthday Rick!!!

Well it was my sweethearts birthday yesterday! I'm a day late because I had to work all day yesterday, so it's getting posted today.

Rick, I think you are truly amazing! I promise you that every year after this will keep getting better and better. I don't know anyone that could go through this trial so faithful and and wonderful as you have. I know this is the hardest thing we've been through in our lives, but we just need to keep our hope, faith and love and everything is going to be just fine. No, not just fine, but amazing!! I tell you this at least 100 times a day.. but just if you wanted to hear it again.. I love you babe!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY STINK!!!

YaY christmas!!

So Rick's rule is that I can't start talking or decorating for christmas until after Thanksgiving. Well needless to say it never works and I start talking about christmas about three months earlier. But I do wait till after to decorate. So today I decorated!! Rick and his dad went and cut down a tree yesterday and we decorated today. Oh I love Christmas!!

Thanksgiving was way fun!!! We went up to my parents house in Taylorsville on Tuesday and we stayed till Thursday night. On Wednesday we went on a walk and me and Rick got each other our Christmas present. We got a beautiful picture of Jesus. It's the picture of the woman at the living water well at Jesus's feet. Well we already have it up on the wall. Merry christmas to us!! But it's what we wanted so it's great. On Thanksgiving we had delicious food and my brother and his cute family came. It was a blast!!

Then we came home and Rick's family came the next day. Everyone except his brother and wife because they just had a cute little baby girl. So we spent the weekend with them. They were so nice and built us a ramp in the garage for the days it snow since ours is outside. It's wonderful! Thanks so much you guys!! So overall this week was a great one!!

Well it's come to my knowledge that alot of people are reading our blog that have never heard the story of what happened to Rick in the first place. Rick's sister started a blog when Rick first fell but when I started mine I never really told the story of what happened. So here it goes........... On March 9th Rick was working on our new house late at night with some of our friends. It was about 11:00 at night, and it was an hour before our one year anniversary. Rick shot a nail into a board and it bent funny and ended up going into his hand. He was fine and he pulled it out and he said it didn't even hurt. But then he started looking at his hand making sure his leather glove didn't get into his hand. While he was staring at it he started to get light headed. This was in a house that was just in the framing stage and in the wood floor there was a hole cut out for where the stairs would go. When Rick felt light headed he started heading over to the other side of the house to get his drink. While he was walking over he passed out and just happened to tip just right and he fell through the hole in the ground. He fell about 9 feet and landed straight on his head on the concrete floor. Since he was passed out he couldn't brace himself at all. He woke up and couldn't feel or move his legs. An ambulance was called and in the hospital they took cat scans and found out he broke his neck. He got life flighted to the hospital in Provo and that's kind of where my blog started. So the rest of the story I've been telling over the last 8 months. From the beggining we've had blessing and feelings and everything else that Rick will be healed and will walk and we'll have kids.. we just have to be patient. And I'm thankful for all the people that read our blog and leave comments, it makes us realize we're not going through this all alone. So now everyone knows the story so my blogs will probably make more sense.

Here's a video with some pictures through out the journey. Rick trully is amazing and I know he'll come out of this an even more amazing person then when he started. It's hard, and this is definely the biggest trial either one of us have faced. We're strong people, but we have tons of moments of weakness(well at least I do.) But we both believe and know it's temporary so we can do it!

i'm a slacker

So yes we are still alive, just been a little crazy lately. With my new home health company I have about 24 or more patients a week which is a little bit of a change since I use to have 9. I work Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays and have about 8 or 9 patients a day. So thats been keeping me busy. Then we drive up to Salt Lake Monday, drive home Tuesdays, drive back up to salt lake Wednesdays and home Thursdays, for Rick's therapy. Needless to say we do ALOT of driving! But we think that Rick's therapy is important to his recovery so it's worth it. And for the first time ever, I'm attempting to make all my christmas gifts. So when we are home I'm trying to work on those. So there is all my many excuses for not writing on the blog forever. But life has been going pretty good. It seems like lately I've spent alot more time on my knees than ever before in my life. I've been having alot more breakdowns and I wish I could just cut it out. I know that everything is going to be okay, I just don't know when and that's the most frustrating part. I thought that Rick would be all better by now, and it's just frustrating. I guess this really is a true test of our faith and patience. And I'm really not doing good at the patience part. But we just keep going and do the best we can. I just really want a Christmas miracle!! But this is just one of those months, hopefully it just gets better and better!

keep rollin....

WHEN LIFE GETS TOO HARD TO STAND...... KEEP ON ROLLIN!!!

I LOVE YOU RICK!!!

count your many blessings....

Well sometimes we get so caught up in waiting and finding our big miracle, that we forget to count the blessings we get every day. But lately we've had so many blessings that I need to write and say how blessed we are. On my very last day of work I was feeling pretty stressed and worried and sad on my way home from work. I just didn't know what we'd do for money and I didn't know what kind of job would hire me only three days a week and for only a couple hours because I need to be home with Rick. Then I found out about a home health and hospice place in Salina that was interested in hiring me. They found out that our branch went out of business. So the day I lost a job, another job became available. I went and had my interview today and I got the job and I start Monday. I'll get paid a little more and I get more patients. So that was a BIG blessing. We'll now be able to pay our bills! And while we're on that subject, we also got accepted for social security disability! Which I hear it's almost impossible to file for disability and have it all work out, but ours was way easy! We filed one day and we were excepted a short time later. So that's also a huge relief! We also get to keep our medicaid, we just have to pay a little more a month. But that means we'll still get reembursed for our gas to go to therapy. So those are three huge blessings all in a row!

Fun Fall

So lately I'm just not very good with updating our blog. It's not that our lives aren't interesting, its just that I feel like I write the same thing every week. I don't want people to get bored with our blog so I keep putting it off thinking that I'll write when something huge happens. But I've come to the realization that I should write about all the little things that happen in our lives because everything, big and small, are blessings.

I love fall!!!!! I love this time of year. I know that most people do too, but I love the look of it, and the smell, and everything that goes along with it. I have to admit I wasn't too happy when it snowed a while ago though. I had to wake up before church and shovel our ramp before church. I told Rick that I would have no objections if he started walking before the next snow fall because I'm not one to go out there and shovel way early in the morning. Our ramp comes out the back of our house and it would be really bad if it got icy. So I'm not ready for the snow part, but the rest of it is wonderful. I'm trying to explore my crafty side lately, and for fall I'm trying to make some cute stuff. For anyone who knows me, I don't have a crafty bone in my body, but I'm trying to learn and bring that side out in me. So I would say I'll post pictures of my new projects but I can't make any promises till they turn out and I see how I do. So if anyone has any cute ideas for fall decorations that aren't to hard to make and don't involve any sewing let me know.

Well Rick's therapy is going great! I am so proud of how hard he works. I have more videos of his therapy but I'm going to wait till after this weeks therapy and get some more videos and then put them all together. I never thought about all the things that come along with having a spinal cord injury. To tell you the truth I never thought about a spinal cord injury ever before it happened to us. But a huge issue lately is Rick's temp. He gets cold so easy, and once he does get cold it takes so long for him to warm back up again. Rick always use to be so hot, so it's way weird to be the one that's asking him if we can turn the heat down. Your spinal cord controls your temp and since his is kinda messed up right now that's causing us alot of problems. So needless to say, I'm not excited for winter to hit till we get him back to normal. At therapy we've seen some people that have injured their spinal cord at the same level as Rick. One of them has got his hands back and all sorts of things back, and the there's one who has to use a power chair and can't transfer or do alot of things that Rick can do. And there's alot inbetween the two. But Rick is doing so awesome, and it's such a good feeling and knowledge to us that he'll just keep getting better. It's fun to look around and say, "Won't it be fun when you can do that!" But really from when Rick first started therapy to now, it's like a whole different person. So I guess we should just enjoy the time we have together and be grateful for our layed back lives right now because I'm sure before we know it we'll be so busy with jobs, school, kids and that whole package.

Well I'm sorry if my blog is kinda boring lately. But tuesday through thursday we're up in salt lake doing therapy, and the rest of the time we're trying to do therapy at home and just hanging out. I'm still on the hunt for a job that I can do at home and be with Rick. So if anyone out there has cute ideas for decorations or a job..... let me know!!

therapy and taylorsville

Well it's been a pretty crazy week! I'll start with Rick's therapy. In this video he's doing a bike called a F.E.S. bike. They hook electrodes (not sure I spelled that right) on is legs. They put two on top of his thigh, two on the bottom and two on his butt. They hook him up to the bike and then his muscles get shocked and they move. His muscles last about 15 minutes and then the bike switches over to passive therapy, which means it stops shocking him and the motor in the bike just runs. It switches over because his muscles get fatigued. But the more he does it, the longer his muscles will go and the stronger they'll get. It's a really cool bike. Christopher Reeve's (superman) was actually doing this bike before he died, and from what I hear he was making great progress. Another video that's on there is a nustep bike. He moves it with his arms and it moves his legs. It's a great work out for him. And the other video is just him doing some sit ups. Therapy is going great!! We love it there! This last time we went they just sent him into the gym and got a workout plan. He was so sore the next few days. He is going to get so buff!! They work on his transfers all the time, and he's getting great at them. We've met so many amazing people there. It's so cool because so many people there have had spinal cord injuries and it's fun to talk to people that are in your same situation. There's people there that are higher injuries then Rick and lower. So it's neat to see how everyone does everything and all the different levels of spinal cord injuries. It makes us feel blessed because we meet so many people that have it harder than we do, and it always reminds us that no matter how hard we have it, someone has it harder and we should count our blessings.

Well after therapy on tuesday we drove home and I went to work on wednesday morning. When I got to work I found out that my home health company is going out of business! So that wasn't very good news! But hopefully I can find a job that works with therapy and being home with rick soon. After that we drove back to salt lake (well taylorsville) and went to my parents house. We haven't been there since Rick's accident, and it sure felt good to go there. I grew up in the same house my whole life and I was so excited to go stay. On Wednesday we just drove up there and just hung out at home that night. On Thursday we went to therapy in the morning and then went to the Provo hospital for some doctor's app. We had a wound care app. and they said how amazed they were how his wound looks. She said we must have been praying really hard, and I told her, "Oh believe me we have!" Hopefully we'll be done with his wound here in the next month. I am so happy and thankful every day that we didn't do that surgery and have him on bed rest for weeks and weeks! Then we went to his outpatient rehab doc just for a check up, and he said everything is good. Then we went and had x-rays for his neuro doc app the next day. On Friday we went to his neurosurgeon and waited in the waiting room for an hour!! People kept going in, and me and Rick continued to sit there, and sit there, and sit there. When we finally got in, his doc said, "Yep, everything looks good. You don't have to come see us anymore." And that was it!!! We waited for ever, for a 5 min app!!! I was so mad!! But at least everything is good. My cute little nephews came and stayed on Friday night, and they were cracking me up the whole time! In the video below, there's a video I took of my nephew Carter. Sorry it's so shakey, but I was laughing so hard I couldn't keep the camera still!! On Saturday we watched conference and headed out. I was so sad to leave because we had so much fun, and I just love my family so much! My parents sent us home with the best food ever! We're going to eat like kings for the next couple weeks. I wished we could have stayed longer, but I guess I'll have to wait till next time. It just feels so good to be with family. On Saturday night we went to our friends house and played poker. I kicked butt! Then Saturday we hung out with Rick's family and watched conference. We are so blessed for the wonderful families we have! So sorry for such a long post, but there's our week!

yep... we're still here

So it has come to my attention, alot, that I haven't been to good about writing on the blog lately. But I have some excuses. Rick has a little tool thing he can strap to his hand and type with so he told me not to write and he would. So I was all excited that he was going to write on the blog instead of me, and needless to say he keeps putting it off. I think he'll do it soon, but I decided I'd better do a quick update because who knows when he'll do it.

Well for my birthday my parents came and for my present they gave me all sorts of cute stuff to decorate my house. We got my plant shelf all decorated and we added a cute little shelf (or is it spelled shelve?) and cute stuff for the bathrooms. I'll post pictures of those next time. It was so fun to have them visit. And before they came my brother shay got home from boot camp and stuff, so he came and stayed with us for a weekend. We had a crazy wii tournament. First he played Rick in tennis, boxing, and baseball. Rick kicked his butt at tennis. Then me and him had a bowling tournament. We were up till 1 in the morning! We played the best of 5 and I won 2 and he won 2 and on the last game he beat me by 2 pins!! I was so mad!! But we had tons of fun!

While my parents were here, I kind of had a strange experience. Well strange isn't the right word, but a interesting experience. Lately, as I've already said, Rick hasn't been making tons of improvements. He's still been making them, but not as fast as they were or as fast as we'd like. So I think we've both been having kind of a hard time these last couple weeks. I've been praying harder than I ever have in my whole life. And sadly there are days we just get so down that it's hard to feel the spirit and it doesn't feel like our prayers are even being heard. Well during one of these days there happened to be a rain storm here. Right when it got done, our neighbor called me and told me to look out the front door. When we opened the door there was a rainbow so bright and close, I've never seen a rainbow like this in my life. And right above that rainbow there was another one on top of it. So it was a double rainbow, and the prettiest one I've ever seen. To most people I'm sure it was just a really pretty rainbow and that's about it. But right when I saw that rainbow, my eyes filled up with tears and my heart just swelled. It's almost like I heard a little voice in my head saying that rainbow was just for us. I felt a complete calm come over my body, and right then I knew that everything was going to be okay. I've always learned that a rainbow is a sign of a promise, and I know in my heart that Heavenly Father sent us that rainbow that day promising that he would keep those promises that he gave to us in blessings saying that Rick would be healed and that everything will be okay.

I know that this looks a normal rainbow because a picture of it doesn't do it justice, but it was amazing! Sorry to get all personal and tell everyone that but it made me feels so good and it just amazes me the ways Heavenly Father will remind us that He is there, and He is listening to us.

Well we got the news that we got accepted to Neuroworx, and our insurance is going to work just fine!!! We are so excited! We think it's going to do great things for Rick. A little bit more of a drive, but it's worth it! We have our first session this Thursday. So I'll take lots of pictures and tell you how it goes!!

Always a new adventure

Well we've had an interesting last week. On thursday we drove up to south jordan and went on a tour of Neuroworx. The founder of it took us on the tour and told us all about himself and neuroworx. He was such a nice guy. He was in an accident 9 years ago and he injured c4 and c5 which is a level higher than Rick. But he has been mostly healed and can walk now. He said alot of his bottom half is still paralized but he's blessed enough to be able to walk. We are so excited to start there! Hopefully we can figure out all the insurance stuff this week and get accepted and start this next thursday. They have so many machines and stuff there that we think will really help Rick. And everyone has such positive attitudes! Which is a great change from when we were in the hospital. So hopefully I'll be writing in these next couple days saying that we got accepted and we're going!!


On Friday we went up to Fish Lake for a picnic with our neighbors Ady and Hollan. It was so pretty up there! We were cursing ourselves the whole time because we forgot the camera and it was so beautiful! It was just a fun little day trip to kinda get away. I love living here because our backyard is the mountains and we only have to drive 30 min. and be somewhere so beautiful. But we had a picnic and then went on some trails and on a walk and watched some boats in the lake. It was a fun little get away. On friday night we walked down the street to the highschool and watched some of the football game. Then we just hung out outside and talked to some of the neighbors till it was dark and headed home.


On Saturday our whole neighborhood had a big yard sale. Sadly I threw most of the stuff we didn't want when we moved so we didn't have anything to sell but in the morning we took a walk over and saw all the stuff that they had to sell. It sounds like everyone did pretty good and got rid of alot of stuff. After we walked over there Rick's dad came and picked him up and took him birthday shopping for me. I'm going to have such a hard time when Rick goes back to work because even when he's gone for like an hour I miss him so much! But I was really excited that they were birthday shopping for me! Poor Rick has had to hear about my birthday for the last 4 weeks. I'm one of those people that think that my birthday should be a national holiday and Rick thinks that birthdays are no big deal. But i have taken it upon myself to convert him to my side! But luckily for him my birthday is tommorow and then I have to stop talking about it for at least another 8 months. Well after he came back we just hung out for a little bit then alot of our neighbors went to one of our neighbors house and we all had dinner together and just talked and chilled. It was really fun, we love having tons of friends all in our neighborhood, it makes things so easy.


For the next couple day my parents are coming to hang out for my birthday and because they want to see us ( and the house). So we should have fun and I'll keep ya posted on everything for Rick's rehab. We think this week is going to be a great week for Rick and we're going to see alot of improvements, so hopefully he proves us right!!

new house and new adventures

Well here is some pictures of the new house. I haven't decorated yet very much, so it's still kinda plain, but it's getting there and you can get the idea. We still absolutely love it!I took some pictures of the kitchen, living room, spare bedroom, our bedroom, the hall bathroom and the master bathroom and the outside of the house with Rick's ramp on the side and the deck in the back. Everyone else in the program got into their houses too, so we have a neigborhood now! It's so fun to walk outside and see all your friends right on your street and in your neighborhood! I'm pretty sure we have the funnest neighborhood ever!





Well last time we went to rehab we sat down and had a talk with our therapist. He said he thinks most of the progress that Rick is making is from what we do at home and just time that passes. He doesn't really think that what he is doing is really helping us all that much. So he suggested that it is time to go to a rehab placed called Neuroworx. It's founded by a guy that was once paralized himself. It's a place that is all about spinal cord injuries. They have all different kinds of machines and stuff that are all for spinal cord injuries. So we'll be calling next week to schedule an appointment and hopefully work everything out with insurance and start Rick's recovery there. It's kinda been frustrating lately because Rick was making progress so fast and then it kinda slowed down. He's still doing great but his legs aren't healing as fast and as strong as they were. So it's been kind of a hard couple weeks for us just because it is frustrating. But we just need to keep believing and keep our faith and hold on to the knowledge that he will be healed. Maybe it just slowed down a little because a huge miracle is coming our way soon. And on top of everything he got another bladder infection! Boy we sure are sick of those! So he hasn't felt the best. But we know we just need to hold on to the positive things and our luck will change soon! We'll let you know how the new rehab will be, hopefully we get going there smoothly and with no huge complications and get Rick walking!

It's been a while......

So sorry I haven't wrote for a while. We've been kind of hectic and bored all at the same time. We've moved in and are getting use to our new house. We absolutely love it! We are so spoiled to get such a beautiful house! We've mostly unpacked everything, but I'm not even close to being done decorating! I'm scared to hang something on the wall and put a nail hole in the wall and then change my mind and hang it somewhere else. And I ask Rick his opinion and he says no matter what I do looks good, which is not true! So it's taking me a while to decorate, but I figure I have some time. And next time I write I'll put pictures up.

This last weekend we had Rick's family reunion here. His two sisters and their familys and his brother and wife all came down. We all went to the Manti temple on Saturday morning. It was my first time going to that temple and on the way there I was stressed because I knew there would be lots of stairs once we got in the temple and I didn't know how well it would work with Rick's chair and everything but it turned out great! There was alot of stairs but there was alot of help and Rick got around with no problems. It felt so good to go to the temple because we haven't been able to since Rick fell. The whole reunion was fun and it was great to be with Rick's family. We're both lookin forward to going to the temple when Rick is up and walking.

Rick has been doing great! Since we got into the new house he has been trying to do alot more stuff. He can get around so well and he's learning to open doors and do more and more for himself. His legs have kind of stayed the same these last few weeks, but we are going to work them harder and hopefully by next therapy session we'll see huge improvement. I feel bad for Rick because he has such an emotional wife. I have breakdowns all the time. It's not because I don't think we'll get through this, it's just because I know how hard it is for Rick not to be up and going all the time. And I know he's disappointed when he trys so hard to move his legs better and better and it's just slow progress. But this is a trial of our faith and patience and I know everyday we're getting closer and closer. He is such an example to me and other people because he doesn't give up and he keeps trying. Maybe this is just an emotional few weeks for me because everything and anything can make me cry lately. But I know I keep saying it over and over but I truely believe we are almost done with this whole thing and that Rick will be a miracle.

We're in!!!!!!!!

Well.... we are finally in our new home! We moved in Monday night and we love it! So many people came and helped us move and we were out of our old house and in to our new house in one hour!! We had so much help and so many people came, and it was done just like that. The unpacking part is going slow but sure. It's a lot more fun than the packing part. The only problem is that I change my mind so much about where things should go! I changed the dishes, bowls, cups and plates about ten times. I just want everything perfect. But it is so fun, and we absolutely love our house! I'll post pictures as soon as I'm kinda unpacked so you can actually see the house instead of boxes everywhere. And one of the best things is that Rick can get around in this house by himself so well. He is doing great! Now that we are in this house he trys to do so much more by himself, and he is gaining more and more independence. He keeps getting stronger and I'm so proud of him!

Surgery??????????

Well today is suppose to be surgery day for Rick's pressure ulcer he has. But after alot of praying and just time we've realized that his sore keeps getting better and better and the bone we use to be able to feel is now covered with pink healthy tissue and every day when I dress the wound it just looks better. So NO SURGERY!!! We called and canceled on Monday and it felt GREAT!! We were excited that we didn't have to stay in the hospital for weeks but we were still dreading the whole bed rest thing. Rick is doing so great and we didn't want to stop his progress and he's finally getting to the point where he likes to be up and about and not just in bed. So we are so relieved and excited and that we are not going to do it. And very worst if the wound stops progressing or gets worse or something we can always reschedule the surgery, but we believe that we won't have to do that. We believe that if we just keep praying and fasting and staying off the wound that it will heal and it will heal fast!! So there is our good news for the day!

Rick is doing great! Before he always had to have the slick board inbetween his legs to eliminate gravity, but now when we are just laying on the coach he can rotate his hips and pull his legs up and down. It's just a little ways but he can do it!! Little progress every day!!! We have therapy tommorow and I'm expecting great things! I'll let ya know!

So... our house... yep still not in. But now we have the deck all done and our ac and most of our appliances. The inspection is tommorow morning and hopefully we'll have good news!! And that's all our updates for now!

Always progress.....

Well yesterday was the 24 of July.. In the morning we walked out our front door and watched the parade. We live right on Main street and the parade goes right by our house! We just sat on Rick's ramp in the shade and watched all the fun things go by. I LOVE small town parades! They have the cutest little floats and animals. When I'd watch the parades in salt lake they were always fun, but they didn't have the same feeling as the parade here. My favorite part was the tiny horses. They were the size of a bigger dog like a lab or something... but they have to be the cutest things I've ever seen! Before I was bugging Rick to get a dog but now I'm wondering if I should start bugging him to get a mini horse!!! Then after the parade we just hung out at home because it was way to hot outside! So we stayed inside and just relaxed. In the evening our friends came over and we all had a bbq. There was 4 couples and their kids and it was so much fun, not to mention yummy food! Then at night time we went and sat in our backyard and watched the fireworks. That is one thing about this old house we're living in right now is that we are in the perfect position for the 24 of july. Perfect for the parade and perfect for the fireworks. It was a great day!!

Well you can probably guess... but we're not in our new house yet. They had a problem getting the trex that goes on our deck delivered and our stove was on back order. But from what we hear next week we should move in for real. The trex got delivered today so they just have to put it on and the little inside stuff should get done this weekend and then appliances on tueday and hopefully move in wednesday or thursday. But in the mean time, our whole house is in boxes. Rick's sister Becky and his mom came and helped me pack everything up, too bad we couldn't move in the next day. Until then we'll just have to find ways to make do. At least when it's time to move in we'll be all ready!!

Well today was therapy day. It feels like we haven't been forever!! Now that we cut down to once a week it seems like forever between therapy sessions. But Rick did awesome today!!! He was moving both of his legs so good and strong! They put him on the treadmill to walk him and his therapists said that he could feel Rick helping! His reflexes are alot stronger and his movement keeps getting better and better! It's so fun to watch his legs move and all the improvement he's making. Next time we go I'll take video and put it on here so everyone can see what he can do!! The improvements and progress will just keep coming and it's going to be so fun to watch it all happen!!

Well I haven't wrote for a while so I guess it's time for an update. There's lots of pictures in this video... the first ones are from about a week or so ago. Hollan and Ady got the rockband for the wii and that explains the drums, the guitar, and the microphone. I played the drums and I sucked but it was still fun. Don't be surprised if you see us on tv one day being famous for being so good at rockband!!

Well our house is closer than ever!! We found out a last week that we got a deck donated to us!! We were so excited! Some people from Richfield donated the wood and the labor and a company up north donated the trex that is going on top! All that's left on our house is to put the trex on the deck and just a few finishing touches like finishing the banester and just finishing a few finishing touches. As of right now we're suppose to move in next week, so keep your fingers crossed that it actually happens. I'll put tons of pictures of it when it's all done. Rick hasn't seen the house since we first came home from the hospital and all it had was sheetrock.. well last night for the first time Rick went in and saw our house. That's what the pictures are of on the video at the last. He loved it!!! Of course he did... what's not to love!! It was fun to have Rick see our house because now he knows all the wonderful things I've been telling him about.

Rick has been doing great! He keeps progressing. His arms keep getting stronger and he works them out every day. I'm so proud of him, he trys so hard and he does everything he can to get stronger and getting all his movement back. We do weights on his arms everyday and stretch him out, he does a motorized bike to work out his legs and he we do tons of stuff with his legs to get them going. In rehab on friday, they put him in a standing frame and told him to try to thrust his hips forward and back. He did really good! They did some reflex tests on him and said he is still in spinal shock which normally lasts about 6 months. We're in month 4 now... and our theory is, is that as soon as he's out of spinal shock his feeling and movement is just going to come rushing back! I think the fact that he is making so much progress while he is in spinal shock is such a great thing!! Rick I am so proud of you and your wonderful attitude and how hard you try. I fall in love with you more and more everyday and I'm always here for you. I know that if we keep our hope and faith we'll be done with all this before you know it!

We just want to say thankyou to a few people... Robert for fixing our sink for us, Anna and Jen for weeding our yard, my parents for taking us out to lunch and hanging out with us, Becky for the jamba juice and hanging out with us in rehab, Chad and Tiff for all their concern and love, Trav and Mac for calling and getting the updates and always asking what they can do to help, Shay for all his faith and hope, Matt and Mindy for their love (Mindy we hope your feeling okay :) ) Jen and Jake and all their cute girls (Makayla thanks again for fasting for us, you are so dang cute) Hollan and Ady for being the bestest friends anyone could ask for, all the wonderful people that are involved with our house that are helping and donating things to us, Roy Moore for being like our other father and for all the wonderful things he does for us, Stir and Tiff for being the best boss and friends to us, (Rick can't wait to get back to work for you) and I know I've already said it, but both of our parents are pure amazing! I couldn't even list the things they do for us because the list goes on and on. I could honeslty go on for days and days with people we need to thank, but at leasts that's a start! Thank you to everyone!

Well we got the news....

Well, I'll start with Wednesday's adventures because they are pretty exciting. Ya know how I posted that rick could move his left leg the last couple therapy visits.. well on Wednesday he moved his right leg just as good as he has been moving his left! His right leg caught up in like two days! We were all so impressed! And his therapist put him on the total gym which is a machine where rick lays in his back and and the board he is laying on slides up and down when he pushes his legs. Well on Wednesday he pushed himself up... over and over again! His therapist would start it out for him and Rick could do the rest! It was so fun to see!! Today when we went to therapy his legs weren't as active as they were on Wednesday but it's probably just because we were staying in a hotel and we were stressed out over the doctors app. and we didn't sleep very well and we weren't in our routine. So we're just going to work really hard over this weekend and next week and next time he goes to therapy I'm sure he'll blow everyone away with what he can do. We're just going to go to therapy one day a week from now on so that when Rick gets close to walking we won't run out of visits to therapy.. we want to have plenty and not have to worry about it. So we're going to do tons of stuff at home now, and I get to be his therapist. So then when we go once a week, he'll have made so much improvement everyone will be so impressed!!


Well on to the news about our doctor visit and Rick's pressure wound. We went Thursday morning and saw the plastic surgeon, on our way there I told Rick that I never thought we'd be going to a plastic surgeons office. Anyway, we went and talked to the doctor and he told us that Rick is getting surgery on July 30, but we only have to be in the hospital for 3 or 4 days and we get to do all the rest of recovery at home!!!! When the doctor looked at his wound he said that it was just a small one and it would be really easy. So he will be on bed rest at home for 3 to 6 weeks, but judging on how small it is and how determined Rick is I'm sure it will only take three weeks or less. We are SO excited that we don't need to be in the hospital the whole time! It will be hard for Rick to lay in bed all day every day till it's healed, but with all the prayers being said for us I'm sure it will go by fast. We can do some therapy while he is laying in bed as long as we don't put any tension on the wound site. So we can still work out his arms and do some stuff with his legs. We are so thankful to everyone who fasted and prayed for us. It means so much to us, and we are getting so many blessing. We could never say thank you enough to all the people that are helping us through this, but hopefully we will find ways to repay all of you. Your prayers are what is helping us so much, because it truly is all in His hands. I really believe once we get this wound thing all healed up Rick's recovery is going to go so fast and he'll be up and walking in no time!!

Our house finally got stucko!!
Our kitchen cabinets
Our jet tub... mmmm

Me and Rick on the 4th of July
Rick and Roy and Hollan Moore
Me and Ady

Well it was the 4th of July yesterday... We spent the morning just being lazy and taking it easy. then later on went to Wal-Mart and then Ady and Hollan came over for a bbq. What would the 4th be without a bbq? Then we went to Hollan's aunt's mom's house...I hope I got that right? They lived right by where the fireworks were going off... so we had the perfect seat. It was honestly the longest firework show I have ever seen!!! It was an hour long! I kept thinking it was ending and it just kept going.. and going.. Don't get me wrong I love fireworks but this was way too long! But we still had tons of fun. We talked to some great people and just hung out with friends. Overall the holiday was a great one!

Well as you can see our house keeps moving along. There's only a couple things left to do and it's all done! We're way excited! Now we're just hoping that when it's time to move in we won't be up at the hospital with Rick having surgery. But we'll just pray and fast and turn it over to Heavenly Father.. because he knows what's the best for us. Sometimes it's so hard to see that He knows what's the best.. and sometimes we just want to have everything our way. But I believe that He wants us to be happy, and I also believe that He will heal Rick if we just be patient and keep learning the lessons that we're suppose to, and always keep our faith. It's very hard sometimes, but there's always wonderful people that remind us and make our burden a little lighter.

A side step....

So when Rick was in the ICU he got a pressure sore on his tailbone because he couldn't roll back and forth since his neck was broken... pressure wounds are nasty nasty things. We have been battling with this thing ever since he fell. For a little while we thought it was getting better then it got bad again. So we had to start going to wound care at the hospital. We learned that these wounds are kind of like iceburgs.. you just see the tip of them and it just gets worse under the skin. Well when we finally got it all dug out and all the bad tissue gone we learned that it goes all the way to the bone and that his bone right there is considered "bad bone" now and it's just crumbly and flacky. So we now have an appointment with a doctor up north on the 10, and unless things get better, and i mean way way better... he's going to have to have surgery and we'll be in the hospital for three to six weeks to let it heal. They're going to make a flap of muscle to close it up and graph some skin over it. We'd have to stay in the hospital that long because if he'd put any pressure on it at all it would ruin the whole surgery.

So.. we just got out of the hospital and we really don't want to go back. We'll do what we have to do and we'll make it through it.. but we really don't want to go back to the hospital. So we are asking everyone.. please pray for us. I know tons of people already are and we are so grateful for all of you.. but we are so ready for a miracle. And this wound healing up would be a miracle. We're fasting this Sunday which is fast Sunday and we know all of you have things in your life that you're are going through too... but we are asking everyone to fast for us then and keep us in your prayers. Even if we do have to have this surgery.. we're praying that we'll only be in there for a couple weeks.. if we're in there for six, I don't think we could do it. Please pray for us.. we're ready for this whole thing to be OVER!!

yep... still moving

Well today was therapy again, and as you can see in the video.. Rick is still moving his leg! It's his left leg again, but I think he's moving it farther than he even did last time! I think I have watched this video like a hundred times already because it is so fun to see it move! He still can't feel it, he said it just feels like he's trying real hard. Whenever he watches the video he gets a slight smirk come across his face.. it is so cute! Today in therapy he also wheeled himself from the rehab gym to the vending machines.. which is down a real real long hall and back! He did awesome! He is also fully recovered from his sickness.. he is getting all his strength back and doing great! It will be so fun to keep posting all the videos of Rick's improvements and progress!

My brother Shay graduated from boot camp today.. he was in the top ten of like 170 people! I am so proud of him! Keep up the good work Shay! We can't wait to see ya... you're always in our prayers!

My parents came down and saw us yesterday and today.. we had a real good time.. it was really fun to see them! Through this trial we have come to see what the important things are in life... and family sure is!! We have the best family anyone could ask for. Everyone in my family and Rick's have touched our lives somehow and we are so blessed to have them. Through this time it is hard, but if we didn't have the family we do, it would be almost impossible. We'd like to thank all of our family and let you know how much you mean to us!! You guys are super de duper! No but really we love you all!!

one movement closer....

Well I am full of good news today. First of all rick isn't sick anymore! I don't know if it was his antibiotics or the flu or something else... all I know is that it is gone! He's still a little weak, but he'll have his strength back in no time. It's a good thing he's better because I don't think we could have handled one day more of that!!

Now for the news that I am so excited to write.... Rick moved his leg today!!!! During therapy today his therapist layed him on his side and put a board in between his legs to eliminate gravity... he normally moves it all around and tells rick to try and move it. Well today he was on his side and his therapist straightened it out and told him to bend his knee up to his chest.. so it's kind of like a walking motion but he's just laying on his side. Well.... he moved it!! With no stimulation or help... he went from straight to a little bent. It wasn't all the way up but he moved it a good 6 inches by himself!! We knew that it would happen soon... but now it's starting to happen. It was his left leg... and he said he couldn't feel it.. it was all tingly though. Which means there is a connection going through... it's just a little small one right now.. but no worries it will just keep getting bigger and bigger!!

I found a quote that President Gordon B. Hinckley said at his wife's funeral and it just hit home and summed up so much......
It isn't as bad as you sometimes think it is.
It all works out. Don't worry.
I say that to myself every morning.
It will all work out.
Put your trust in God,
and move forward in faith
and confidence in the future.
The Lord will not forsake us.
He will not forsake us.
If we will put our trust in Him,
if we will pray to Him,
if we will live worthy of His blessings,
He will hear our prayers.

fundraiser

Well if anyone from monroe or richfield are lookin for a good time you should go to the richfield fairgrounds tommorow night!! Hollan's dj company (ALiveSoundDJ) will be playing and there will be great food!! Who doesn't like to dance? The answer is noone!! And the money is going to Rick and I. It should be a real fun time!!

It's amazing that we live in such a wonderful community and have such amazing friends! Thankyou to everyone who is helping us through this.. we will find ways to repay you when this is all said and done. Thankyou again!

Yep... still sick

Well today has been quite the adventure... well every day is an adventure but this one for sure. We woke up and got ready and then we went to the doctors because Rick is still sick!! So we got him in the car and drove to the doctors.. got him out of the car... the doctor checked him out and wanted us to go to the hospital and get a blood test.. so got back in the car and drove to the hospital.. got out of the car and got Rick's blood drawn... got back in the car and went back to the doctors to wait for the results.. got back out of the car and went into the doctors office.. of coarse waited in a little room for a while.. the doctor came in and said his white blood cell count was a little high but not too bad so maybe it's the antibiotics that is making him sick but we need to finish them out for the infection, so pretty much he'll be sick for at least three more days, but we can handle it... then we got back in the car and grabbed food.. came home and got out of the car and ate food! So yep there's our day. For most people getting in and out of the car is not something you think about, but when you're transfering someone that needs full assist it's a different story. But actually the transfers went good today, no hurting my back which is always a good thing. We both feel a little less stressed about Rick's illness.. hopefully it's just the antibiotics and we'll be done with it soon. If it doesn't go away when we're done with the pills... then we have alot of tests, but that's too far away to think about. I think it will go away when he's done taking the pills. I think it's safe to say we're just going to stay home and chill on the coach the rest of the night... today drained us!!! Hopefully next time I write.. I'll tell you how healthy Rick is feeling and he's back to working hard in therapy. I just look at this sickness as the last bad thing before he just gets all better. We have to have one more trial before it's all over and this is just a memory. I know we'll have more trials along the way but I sure hope and pray we're almost done with this journey we're on and we'll be on to the next. Don't worry I'll post pictures of the miracle happening... small miracles happen every day!

our house

Well here's the progress we have so far... a few cabnets, hardwood floors, tile and so on.... we're getting close!! you can't tell to much from these pictures but we love it so far! We don't have the outside stucko color on yet so right now it's just gray but that should be on soon... I'll keep the pictures coming!

New muscles!!

Well Rick is still feeling pretty sick. He's been on the antibiotics since Friday and it's still not going away!! We don't know what the deal is. He still has the fevers and the nausea and all that stuff... maybe it's a little better but I don't know. If he's not feeling better by tomorrow we'll have to take him back to the doctors. We had to miss therapy today but hopefully by Friday we'll be able to go. But the good thing about not going to therapy today is that Rick was able to rest and sleep and hopefully get healthy and I was able to organize stuff and clean. Since we will be moving soon ( or at least one day) I figured I might as well start getting ready. We went through our spare room that was full of junk and cleaned it all out and packed it all up, and we organized and went through a little closet we have that we just kinda put random stuff in and threw away alot of junk, and we went through our junk drawers and organized all them. It sounds like we have alot places that were full of junk but it was just those three places. So we felt pretty acomplished just by doing those little things. One step closer to packing up and moving!! Our house is getting closer and closer. Our floor is getting close to being done and some of our cabnets went in and the island in the kitchen and most of the tile in our bathrooms.. closer and closer!! We're going over to check it out tonight so I'll take some pictures and post them.

Although Rick wasn't feeling very good on Monday at therapy a great thing happened!! Rick thought that he could use more muscles in his back and arch his back a little. So our therapist put his hand on his back and sure enough Rick is using new muscles!! He can flex them all the way down to a little bit lower than half way. It will really help him with balance and it's just one step closer!! So even though he's sick and right now kinda sucks.. he's still making improvements and still progressing great!!!

Happy Father's Day!!!!!

Happy Father's Day!!! These are some pictures of my pops and Rick's dad. I hope all the fathers out there have a wonderful father's day because you deserve it!! I want to say a special thanks to my dad.. he really is my hero! I couldn't ask for a better dad and I can't wait to see you soon... love you pops!! And to rick's dad.. thanks for everything you do and we love you!!
Well on Friday when we went to therapy someone up above was really looking out for us. Rick was still feeling really sick but he insisted on going to therapy ( you could say he's a little stubborn at times). Right before our therapy started we went to the vending machine at the end of the hall to get some fruit snacks and right then one of Rick's doctors came walking out the door. He asked how Rick was feeling and we told him how we was really sick the day before and we thought he was better that day but he was getting sick again. Rick was telling him all his symptoms, like nausea and stomach ache, and how his stomach just felt really cold and his terrible fevers. The doctor said it sounded like a UTI (urinary tract infection.) I didn't even think about that because last time he had one he just had a fever but he felt fine besides that he didn't throw up or anything. But he said alot of the time with spinal cord injuries a UTI will have alot of different syptoms for Rick then it would for the rest of us. So he gave us some antibiotics and had us go do a urine sample to make sure. We won't get the results back till Monday, but we're pretty sure that's what it is. Rick is still kinda sick... he's still not feeling great. We're still kind of battling the fever and nausea but he sure is alot better. If we had not seen that doctor in that hall that day we would have probably come home and his infection would have got worse and I would have freaked out and taken him to the ER. It's so amazing how God is always watching out for us. He sure saved us alot of sickness and stress from sending that doctor to us right then. It sure is neat to see how prayers get answered. I know our prayers get answered everyday and He is mindful of everything we do. That's why I know that Rick will be healed, because there are thousands of prayers being said for him. Thankyou so much to everyone for those prayers... and please keep them up!!!

Good vs crappy

Well yesterday Rick had a great day at therapy!! Rick pretty much transfered himself from the wheelchair to the mat all by himself!! His therapist just gave him a little pull to get him over the tire but that was it. Before his therapist would have to help pull him and balance him... so Rick did awesome!! Rick is starting to learn how to go from laying down to sitting with his legs out in front of him. The first time he did it yesterday he needed some help, but then once his body figured out what he needed to do, he got the hang of it real fast. By the end of our session Rick was doing it all pretty much by himself!! He did awesome!! And the sensation when Rick trys to wiggle his toes his toes tingle, or when he trys to move his knee his knee tingles, or on and on, keeps getting stronger! His therapist said that it means there are connections getting down and coming back up, now we just have to keep working on it and make those connections stronger! Yesterday was just an awesome day! When we got home from therapy we went over to our new house and they were laying more floors and they're putting stucko on our house today. Our designer who is in charge of our house pretty much said that her goal is to have our house done by the end of next week. Then we just have to do all the inspections and we can move in! We're getting very close! Then Rick's friend from highschool and his wife and baby came and spent the night and we just hung out and had fun... so overall it was a great day!

Funny how whenever we have an awesome day.. there has to be a crappy day to follow it up. Yesterday when we were driving home in the car Rick kept saying that his stomach on the inside felt really cold. We didn't think much of it but it turns out that Rick woke up at 6 this morning with the flu! He has it pretty good too. So today he's just been laying in bed and sleeping and trying to get over this yuckiness. I"m hoping and praying it's just a 24 hour bug and then we'll be as good as new tomorrow. It's just a blessing that we didn't have therapy today so that we didn't have to cancel it. He'll just get to stay home and sleep it off. So good day yesterday... followed by a poopy day today!! But the good days are so rewarding so I guess we can handle a few bad ones inbetween!!

still going

Well we have had some busy days lately. This weekend was fun. On Sunday after church we had a LONG nap, and then Hollan and Ady and Greg and Tyla came over for dinner. It was delicious! Then they played guitar hero with the wii.. it was pretty entertaining. Greg is a serious pro! Then we just played some games and hung out.. it's so fun to have great friends!! Yesterday we had a doctor's appointment at 10 in Provo. So we had to wake up at 5:30 to get ready to leave at 7:30! Early morning things are not the best for us. But the doc app. went well. He said that he could tell that Rick's arms are alot stronger , and that he's gained alot of his triceps back. Rick told him that when he trys to wiggle his toes his toes start to tingle real strong, or if he trys to move his legs his legs start to tingle harder. The doctor said that was really neat! That's all he said.. but hey we'll take it! Then we met up with my mom and went to Sizzler for lunch and then just went to the park and hung out. Rick mostly just slept, but it was real good to just sit and talk with my mom.. I don't know what I'd do without her! Then we went to therapy, and for occupational therapy they had Rick push himself down the hall t0 the pop machines and back. He did great! He's getting so good at it! Then for physical therapy he practiced getting himself up from the mat and transfering himself to the wheel chair. The harness thing that holds him over the treadmill wasn't working so they put him on a machine where he pushes his body up with his legs. It will be so exciting when he can do it all by himself, he's getting closer and closer every day!

Sometimes I have bad days, like everyone else, and I start to think of the things that Rick can't do right now. Like walk, or work, or get himself ready, but then I start to think of the things that he can do. Rick can breath on his own now, and eat, and talk, and move his arms better and better, and feel new spots and new sensations, and help me transfer him, and eat things on his own(when he wants to that is), and help me roll him in bed, and help me get his shirt on, and he can make me smile and laugh SO hard! He has the most faith and determination out of anyone I know, he shares his testimony and feelings with everyone, including strangers, he can make everyone laugh and want to be with him, he reminds me that everything is going to be okay all the time, he can take drinks by himself, he makes me fall in love with him over and over everyday!! Rick is amazing.. I know that I say that in almost all my blogs... but he reminds me everyday just how amazing he is! Rick is going to be a miracle.. he can and he will!!!!!

a note to doctors

Okay so I am so happy and thankful for doctors and everything they have done. But here is a note to anyone who wants to be a doctor, knows one, or has had to deal with them as much as us. I understand that you can not give false hope to patients... okay I understand that!! But that does not mean you have to shoot people's hope down as soon as they have some. There is a little thing called faith in people's lives.. in our lives.. it's a huge thing!! I know that your medical book might say one thing, but it's okay for us to believe another!! And just because someone has hope and faith... no it is not called denial! And if someone comes to you with good news like.. Rick's legs tingle.. or Rick's reflexes are stronger.. don't shoot us down and say that might not really mean anything!! This is hard enough to get through already.. we don't need you to strip hope right out of us. I am so thankful for your knowledge and help and all the education you've been through.. but not everyone follows text book rules. The doctor in the sky knows alot more than you and he has ways of letting us know his plans for us. And after we find out those plans.. like yes Rick will walk again.. even if you don't believe it.. don't tell us!! Just don't say anything!!

So it's obvious that I will never tell all this to a doctor, so I had to vent and just get it out there!! It seems like when a person becomes a doctor they're not a person anymore just a doctor.. I'm sure some of you know how I feel.. but I guess it will just make it feel all that better when Rick walks into those doctor's offices!!!!

The wii

So Rick's brother Matt let us borrow his wii the other day. At first I thought that it would be really good therapy for Rick but little did I know... that I'd get addicted!! I love the wii!! Whoever comes over we make them play the wii with us. When my parents came to visit we even made them play. I must say they did really good. So I suggest to everyone.. play!!

I don't know how many people know that I have three older brothers. And I'm a little bias but I think I have the best brothers a younger sister could have. My brother Shay who's the youngest of the three just joined the national guard. He's in nursing school and he had to finish all his finals early and real fast so that he could make it to boot camp on time. When he got there he got pnemonia, pink eye, and an ingrown toenail. Some how he survived all that and kept going with boot camp. And the funny thing is that I don't even have to be there and I know he had people laughing and smiling through it all. Shay's had a hard time deciding what he wants to do with his life over the years but I can say everything he does he is great at! He is so smart and unlike me school seems to be a breeze for him. He is one of the most spiritual people I know and of coarse we would fight growing up ( in fact we were really good at it) but I always knew that if I needed him he'd be there for me. When Rick fell my whole family was there for us, and Shay said some things that really helped me. So I thought that I'd just take a minute to tell Shay how proud of him I am and to keep up the hard work! Love ya Shay!!

Rick is still doing awesome!! Of coarse he keeps getting stronger, and his reflexes are getting stronger! Yesterday his parents took him up to Provo for rehab so I could have a day to relax and do stuff for me. I thought it would be so nice to have a day but the second Rick left I missed him so much!! As the day went on I was okay, but I could not wait for him to get home! But it felt good to have a day to regenerate. Today I feel great! I even got my hair colored.. which for most people is not that big of a deal, but since I only did it once before it's a huge change. Everytime I walk by the mirror I even surprise myself because I forget. But today has been a great day because I've just been hanging out with Rick and of coarse playing the Wii!!

When we drove by our house today a guy is in there putting in our hard wood floors!! YAY!! We're getting closer and closer!!

chinese fortune

Well I'll start by saying Happy Birthday Hollan!! Today we went to lunch with Hollan and Ady for Hollan's birthday. We went to the chinese place here in town. Isn't their little boy so cute!! We pretty much adopted him as our nephew, so we are now aunt tara and uncle rick. Well while we were there Rick picked a fortune cookie and his fortune read, "All your hard work will pay off soon." Okay so I don't believe in anything like fortune cookies, but hey we're going to take that one and believe it!! We'll take anything we can get!!

Rick has been doing awesome! We have to drive to Provo every Monday, Wednesday and Friday for therapy. Everytime we go it seems like Rick is getting stronger and he can do stuff better and better. On Friday he got from the laying down to sitting up much better then he ever has, and his reflexes in his legs are getting stronger. Rick you are awesome!! I know your hard work will pay off soon, and it well be so exciting!!

So we all have trials to learn things, this is a well known fact. As we are going through are trial, it's amazing what I am learning. The first and most definite one is how much my faith has grown. This would be the scariest thing to go through if I didn't have a knowledge of this church and of blessings. Another thing I've been learning, is how to ask for help. Before this I asked for help with little things, but it really is humbling to ask for people's help because I feel like I should be doing this all by myself. Which I'm learning I don't have to do. It's still hard at times, but I think we're both getting better at receiving help and asking for it. I'm also learning what an amazing person Rick is. He faces this trial with his head up and he does everything he can to get through this. I knew he was amazing the day I married him, but this really has opened my eyes just how amazing he is. We all have good days and bad days, but Rick just keeps fighting through and he never looses his faith. I can't even imagine what it feels like to be him right now, but yet he keeps smiling and making everyone laugh. Rick you are my hero!!!!

Hopefully our house is getting closer and closer for us to move into. We are so excited! Our house is going to be incredible! We're going to have a beautiful house, incredible neighbors, the biggest miracle we'll probably see when Rick is healed, wonderful friends and family, and the list goes on and on!! Everything is good.

Well I haven't wrote for a while and like always I have great news! We went to a follow up doctor appointment on Friday with our neuro doctor. The actual doctor wasn't there but we met with his assistant who is also a neuro doctor. He was so surprised when he saw Rick. He said from the report that he got he expected Rick to not be able to do tons of the stuff that Rick can. Typically a C6 injury, which is what Rick has, shouldn't have any triceps or wrist movement. While the doctor was sitting there talking to Rick, Rick was grabbing his mug and taking a drink and moving his arms all over the place. The doctor said he could tell the way Rick was moving he's getting his triceps back and he can do tons of movement with his wrists. When Rick told him he tingles all over, the doc said that was a sign of nerve regeneration. So pretty much it was an awesome visit, because FINALLY a doctor agreed with us that he is getting things back, and the way Rick tingles the doc said it sounds like he will get it back everywhere(Which we already knew) but it's good to hear from someone else. He did say it takes a long time, nerves come back about a milimeter a day, but we think Rick's is going to come back a lot faster. It already has!! After our visit with the doctor we went and visited our physical therapists Shane, and we found out we start therapy again this wednesday. We're excited, it will be so good to have Rick start doing stuff with his legs and everything again. When Rick works his legs with Shane they sure do twitch and move after, and they still do but not nearly as much as when he works with him. So we're excited! Lots of driving for us, but we think it's totally worth it.

This weekend all of Rick's family came to visit. It sure was fun to see everyone again. We went from seeing them everyday to well... not. So it was really fun just to hang out and visit. Rick and I have an awesome family! Which we need it! It's funny because one day we can be in such high spirits and the next day we both feel like breaking down. But our wonderful family and friends sure do help pull us through. And the fact that we know this is just temporary sure does help.

Just a second ago I was rubbing Rick's back and I swear he's getting more feeling. He says he can't tell if it's moving but I think it is. Everyday it seems like it keeps getting bigger, we should get a marker and mark it everyday. I love seeing the improvements in Rick it is so exciting!!

We're home!!!

Well we finally made it home. We moved out of the hotel this morning and moved back into our little house, and it feels great! Our stuff is still all over the place, and I have a feeling once I get everything put where it goes it will be time to pack it back up and move into our new house. But I'm okay with that because at least we're not living out of a one room hotel or hospital anymore.

The exciting news of the day, is that Rick got more feeling!! In his lower back on his left side below his rib cage, there's a little spot that was tingling alot last night and today he can feel it!! It's so amazing to see the improvements that Rick makes every day, and it really is EVERY day!! His physical therapist worked with him today and said he felt stronger today and it seems like every time he works with him he says that. His whole body tingles, and it seems like right before he gets feeling somewhere it tingles stronger. It's so comforting and reassuring to me that he tingles everywhere, I already know all his feeling and movement will come back it's just so nice to have that to always remind us.

Rick just commented on how nice it is to be back in his recliner, and I have to say he looks great in it! He looks right at home which is where he should be. When I think of all the blessings that me and Rick have it is so overwhelming! Even simple things like us being back home and Rick being in his recliner is a blessing. Whenever I start getting sad or bummed out from our situation, it takes just a minute to realize we have so many blessing and there is no reason to be sad. We have a wonderful family, friends, a new house, a wonderful community, ward, neighbors, Rick's getting healthier every day, and of coarse each other. I know that this is all sounding corny and cheesy, but somedays you just need to realize all your blessings and just be thankful.

Rick workin at the houses, helping with insulation

Rick and his wonderful therapists Shane and Andy
Well this weekend was a good one!! On saturday me and Rick had a bbq for everyone at the houses. They've done so much for us, that the least we could do is cook them one good lunch. Rick's parents helped us out a tons and barbequed the meat for us and helped set everything up, and we just hung out and visited. It feels so good to be around friends again. After we ate lunch Rick went and helped put the insulation in. There's a little button you have to flick back and forth to turn it off and on, and that was Rick's job. He had a good time being back out at the houses working again. I know that he wanted to do more, but soon enough he'll be out there again workin away. On sunday we went back to our ward in Monroe. Our church starts at 9:00, so it was quite the challenge to get there on time. We use to wake up about 20 minutes before, but now it takes us about two hours to get us both up and ready. But we made it there, and we were only about 10 minutes late! Everyone was so nice and told us they were happy that we were back home.

This of coarse is a huge trial and challenge for me and Rick, but there is one thing I'm going to miss when Rick's healed. I get to spend all day with Rick and just hang out with him, and I LOVE it! I think I've fallen in love with him all over again. We go on drives alot these days and I love just talking to him. I think when he goes back to work the first day, I'm going to miss him like crazy! Don't get me wrong, I can't wait for our miracle, but in the time being I love hanging out with him, and getting to know everything about him.

Great day!!!!!

Well today Rick noticed that he can feel lower down on his chest!! Right in the middle of his chest between his rib cage, he can feel it! He said that when he touches it, it kind of feels like a blanket is on top of it. I was so excited when he told me that. Rick really does have little improvements every day. Most spinal cord injuries, you can see improvements from month to month, but we can see Rick's improvements every day! We had physical therapy yesterday and occupational therapy today and our therapists are really nice. They both said they were suprised about how well Rick is doing just two months after his fall.

We also decided that we are going to move back to our house that we were at before. We didn't know if it was going to be possible, but we went and walked through it today and realized that it will work till we get to move into our new house. The hotel is nice, and the people here are so generous for letting us stay here, but there's just something about being home that's priceless. One of our wonderful friend/neighbor came and helped us in our house today, and he is being kind enough to build us a ramp so we can get Rick in that house. We are so blessed to live in such a wonderful community with such caring, and amazing people. We moved into that house right when we got married, and it's crazy how attached you can get to a little, old house. I'm way excited to live there again for about a week or two till we move again.

Everyday we're reminded of how blessed and lucky we are to know such amazing people! And everyday I'm reminded how lucky I am to be married to such an amazing man. I know we're going to get through this, and the only way I know I can is because I have such an amazing husband.

We're home!!!! Well we're kinda home. We're staying at a hotel till our brand new house is done. We had a chance to go see it yesterday night, and we love it!! We are so excited to move in and start our new life there. It was so fun to see some of our friends last night, we've missed everyone. But the weird thing about coming home is that there is alot of mixed emotions involved. Of coarse we're excited to be out of the hospital, and among friends and family, but at the same time we already miss going to therapies and our wonderful therapists. At the hospital we had a schedule to stick too, and we got in a pretty good routine. This morning I realized at 11:00 that we hadn't had breakfast yet. Our morning routine takes us about an hour or more, but hopefully that will get faster. All day yesterday I was so emotional. I was happy, scared, excited, anxious, and just felt out of place all day. I think in the back of my mind whenever I thought about going home, I just thought that everything would go back to normal, and now that it's not normal yet reality kind of sets in. We know that everything will go back to normal, and it will just be a journey, kind of an adventure, till we get there. We have our new physical therapists coming today, so I'll let ya know how everything goes!!

Here we go!!!

Well, Becky has been doing a wonderful job keeping her blog up and letting everyone know what's been going on. But we figured since we're going home on Tuesday we better start are own blog to keep everyone updated on Rick's recovery and on our life. I just want to start out by saying THANKYOU to everyone for all the support and love we have recieved. We have an amazing family and friends and support system. We know that we wouldn't be doing as well as we are without you all. We have truly seen how amazing people can be and how many people have helped us in this time of need. We know that we will continue to need help as things progress, but we know that we will always have people to help us, and that is such a wonderful feeling. I could name people one by one and tell something amazing about them and how much they've helped us, but that would take days and days. Just know that we are so touched by everyone and so appreciative for things that people do for us.

We get to go home on Tuesday! We're so excited! We're going to live in a hotel for a little while till our house is done, then we get to move in to a beautiful, new house! We can't even believe that so many people pulled together and is building a wonderful house that we can go home too. And we are so excited that we're going to have the coolest neighbors and friends living in our neighborhood. We're so excited to live there and start our new lives and recovery there.

I'll always post the wonderful progress and improvements Rick is making, and I think there are going to be tons!! Some times I start to feel more like Rick's nurse than his wife, so I just want to tell him how much I love him. I couldn't do anything without you Rick, and there are no words to tell you how much I love you. You are such an inspiration to so many people, but to me the very most. You are so strong, physically and spiritually, and I am so lucky and blessed to be your wife. I love you my sexy husband!!