***SIGH*** =) We're home again. Adjusting to life again. Nick is healing well after his surgery in MN. We feel so thankful to have been blessed with this miracle!

We're finding ways to stay busy around here. Paul and Andrew are happy little bike riders (Nick is doing a lot of video games until he is healed all up); I am busy with child rearing, housework, and yard work; besides work, Josh is reorganizing the garage and also preparing to take the T.E.A.S. test so that he can apply for the nursing component of his schooling. We've also been steadily trying to reorganize our house in preparation for another baby due to arrive in January. =) We're about 14weeks along at this point! It's been a pretty eventful year for our family.

Quick rundown of some of the events for our family this year are:
Paul turned 8 and was baptized!

Nick had his 3rd heart surgery- this time at the MAYO clinic in MN and they were actually able to REMOVE the huge mass from inside his heart!

Josh pretty much finished earning all his pre-req's for the nursing program (which is basically the bachelors degree portion -- so now all he needs is the nursing component!)

Josh and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary in June. (Has it really been that long??)

We have learned we're having another baby!

And upcoming events are:

Josh will be turning 35 in August... (hehehe)

I will be leaving my 20's behind me in September... Not sure if I should be happy or BOO??

ALL 3 kids will be in school this August. Exciting but a little heart wrenching.

We are so happy. TIRED? ABSOLUTELY. But happy and feeling greatly blessed.

I know I should be posting on here, but I am a little otherwise occupied... If you would like to know more of what's happening in our family, please go to www.nicksheartstory.blogspot.com

A picture of my cute little guys on Easter Sunday


The weather was beautiful, and the kids were dying to ride bikes for a few minutes before our company arrived. I love that look-- collared dress shirt, rolled sleeves, and blue jeans. One of my fav's.


Mom, Dad, and Zack came over to share Easter Dinner with us. Here Mom is afterward, helping to make sure the colored eggs get put to good use. Gotta love Moms.


Just a cute shot.


After several days, I offered to give the boys some money if they would part with some of their Easter candy. They happily agreed, and I was proud of them, thinking that they were gonna put the $$ in their banks and save it for something they wanted. Um, No. I opened our door to the garage and LO! And Behold! There are 2 little culprits, spending their $ on candy from our little vending machine. Look at those faces. LOL

The egg hunts...

On the morning of the Easter egg hunt, it was snowy, VERY windy, and VERY cold. But, it was one of the 1st times that Josh was home and could go with us to do a hunt, and the boys really wanted to.... so.... we bundled everyone up in all their winter clothing from their hats and gloves to their snowsuits, boots, and scarves, and we made a go of it.



I was very surprised at all the LOOT they got from the city egg hunt! WOW. Who even needs an Easter basket after something like that??



We froze. My hands had no feeling for a good 1/2 hour after we came in. The boys had a great time though, and it helped get 'em psyched to hunt their colored eggs the next morning.





After the kids found the eggs that the Easter Bunny had hidden, they decided to hide them for each other and keep the fun going. These next pictures are ones that Josh took of the place Nick hid some eggs... We wondered how he had hidden them so fast. lol



Thank goodness for the innocence and sweet joys of youth! =)

Egg decorating

Here we are decorating Easter eggs at the Jardine household... It was much more fun than I had remembered in the past! Possibly due to the fact that this year everyone could do it unassisted. =) We had a great time and ended up with quite a few beautiful eggs for the E.B. to hide!

"Every obstacle presents an opportunity to improve our condition."

My good looking boys~

Paul on his baptism day


Son and Father pic


Just before the big moment!


Josh teaching the boys how to play Battleship


Nick and Andrew playing their own game


Andrew "just checking" Nick's board


Nick "just checking" Andrwe's board


Making a "monster-mask" for a school activity


Nick and Andrew modeling their masks


Just making sure who's behind each mask... those 2 are pretty hard to tell apart sometimes.

Just some pics with a couple of our fav's at PCMC.

Nick and Dr. Cowley


A goofy shot


The awesome lady who does a lot of the work with the ICD (but who I've temporarily forgotten her name), Nick, and Dr. Saarel.

Newest Nick News

Today I took Nick to see the cardiologists at Primary Children's Medical Center. For the first couple hours of the appointment things were pretty routine, and it looked as though we would be sent home and asked to come back in a few more months. It ended up, however, with the doctors and us deciding that another open-heart surgery will probably be the next step for Nicholas. This is probably going to be done in Rochester, Minnesota at the Mayo Clinic, and probably fairly soon-- like May/June-ish. This will be another attempt to remove (if not all, then most of) the fibroma inside of his heart. I keep saying "probably" because it's mostly discussion today, and our cardiologist will start working on pulling things together for us soon.

Hopefully this will be a good thing. There is a risk by not doing anything, and a risk by doing something. We have gone a long while not doing too much interference (other than some cath labs, medicine, etc.)and Nick has done well, but this may be the time to try another approach. He has been having some very serious heart rhythms, ones that would prove fatal if not for the implanted defibrillator, and the ICD has had to shock him more than once each time recently to get the desired results.

There are still several questions, many of which cannot be answered yet, but sometimes life is a step-by-step process, so we will put one foot in front of the other and pray to be led through the right course.

There are a few things that I do know though.

*God is a kind and loving Father who loves us.
*He wants good things for us.
*We have been blessed, and He will continue to bless us with what HE knows we need.
*Things are ultimately up to Him. Always.

So. We're preparing to hold on tight and get ready for this next ride. Hang on baby, here we come! =)

Februarys post

In an attempt to keep current on stuff, here's a February update for the Jardine Fam.

On February 5, the morning before Paul was to get baptized, the boys and I were in an car accident in Idaho Falls. It actually totalled the van, but THANKFULLY none of us were seriously hurt. Paul managed to get a bump and bruise on his head, Nick just a little red spot on his head, Andrew a sore neck (from the seat belt I think), and I just got a bruise on my knee and a little bit of a sore back. I feel VERY blessed that everyone was OK. The passengers of the other vehicle were also fine and they were able to drive away from the accident.

That was big news in our household for a few weeks. The kids were very shaken by the whole thing. They're doing fine now, but still find plenty of opportunities to bring it up. =)

Well, since the van was totalled, Josh and I had to go out and find another car. Luckily, we found another van, same make but 1 year newer. It seems like a good car. Again, blessed.

Other stuff:
Paul is liking scouts. He made a cool "BAKUGAN" cake for the Blue and Gold Banquet last week and that was fun. Also, Paul is doing really well with his reading, which is awesome. Right now he's enjoying the likes of "The chocolate Touch" and "The Call of the Wild". I love to have readers at my house! And I'm so thankful to have such a great little boy to help me and to set a good example for the little boys.

Nick is doing some great reading these days too. And writing and drawing. He's pretty phonetically accurate with his spelling which is fun to try to read. =) Also, he seems to have a current obsession with numbers. He wants to carry a calculator everywhere and is always asking me what certain numbers added together equal. He is a very inquisitive little guy!

Andrew has been practicing his coloring a lot and is really improving. He's also been WAY more mellow since I've been able to be home with him a little more (now that my school classes are over for a while). He keeps saying at different times "Now THIS is what I call a PARTY!" Fun, fun, fun little boy!

Josh is getting ready to apply for the professional component of the nursing program at ISU! He can apply sometime in March! He's such a great husband and daddy-- just working his heart out for us and he still stays happy and loving and great.

I am trying to plan a get-away for Josh and my 10 year wedding anniversary this coming June... It's not as easy as I thought. I'm not sure where to go or how to get the best prices. Maybe it's just because its February and I'm cold, but right now, I'm thinking somewhere WARM. =) Although, come June, I may be singing a different tune. LOL

That's pretty much it. We're just staying busy with work, kids, and school. But we know that we have angels tending to us for sure!

PAUL IS GETTING BAPTIZED!

Anyone who would like to come is invited!

Ok. So I have been neglecting the blogging world for WAY too long. Time to do some updating.
I'm gonna do a quick summary of the last months and then I'll try to keep up on things more currently. =)
August and September were gone in a flash. Chelsea got engaged and married and we (Mom and I) tried our best to help her pull it all together. It was beautiful and fun and amazing.
Also I celebrated starting the last year of my 20's. Good times.
October was a blur. We headed to SLC for an appointment at PCMC and things looked stable. =) Nick was, as usual, very happy to see Dr. Cowley. And Halloween was fun. Josh took the boys out and about and we also went to a pumpkin walk which was cool.





November I began a CNA class to get re certified. (I was a CNA in high school) The class was non-credit and only 2 months. I expected it to be a lot easier than it actually was (like in high school) BUT it was a lot of work and required a LOT of time. It probably took at least 15 hours a week not counting drive time and clinicals. I know it doesn't sound like much, but with the kids and their school, working p/t, Josh's school and work (both full time), church and callings, and regular old stuff, it was actually pretty tricky. I did get re certified this month though and so now I work not just at Broulims, but at The Gables of Shelley (assisted living).
Oh yeah, also it was Thanksgiving. We headed to the Johnson's for a cozy little dinner with Matt and his family, and Mom and Dad. As always the food was Delish! AND we also got together with the Jardine's for a family picture and some hanging out. The family is getting big!



December was crazy. I could barely keep up with things. We had a nice couple of get-togethers with family and a hilarious UGLY SWEATER party with friends. SO much fun. Josh wouldn't go get the camera for me though (yeah, that's right, I'm giving him the blame), so I dont have pics of it. The boys had their school Christmas program and did awesome. But for as much singing as they did at home, I still can't figure out why they didn't sing on stage... It's not like they're shy. =S





January has still been busy. I keep making this joke about how I only know that Josh and I still live in the same house because we do each others laundry and hand the kids off to each other as we race out the door. Josh is working SO diligently on his schoolwork and will be able to apply for the nursing program in March. I'm very proud of him.

Paul turned 8 last Sunday and is excited for his upcoming baptism... It should be the first Saturday in February. Anyone who would like to come is welcome! He's doing awesome in school. He works so hard to be perfect at everything that we have to remind him that it's OK not to be "perfect". He's my little sweetheart and a great helper.

Nick is doing great, being fun and funny, and causing mischief. I wish I could remember to write down the stuff this kid does and says because I would have a BEST SELLER. He's also coming along wonderfully in his reading!

We did have a bit of a scare on the 19th though. We had spent the long weekend in SLC at Paulines house, and Andrew, Nick, and I were sleeping on a mattress together when at about 4 AM Nick jolted and I woke up to see him jolt and then sit upright and begin screaming and crying. I tried to soothe him, but he hurt. He did fall back to sleep quickly and slept soundly till 7. I suspected he had been defibrillated. I sent in a medtronics report when we got home that night and my suspicions were confirmed when the cardiologist, Dr. Saarel called the next morning. He had actually been defibrillated 2 times, the first time not stopping the V-FIB. He had poor profusion, and possible ischemia she said. Now, we evaluate and watch, and keep doing what we are doing. He's such a unique situation that there really is not much else to do.
I cannot say enough how thankful and blessed we are and feel to have such wonderful doctors, technology, and the Gospel.

Andrew is growing like a weed. He's almost overtaking Nick in height and definitely has a solid stature. He's very much looking forward to going to school next year and wants to sign up right away. He gives the BEST hugs and loves to do chores to earn coins. I'm trying to figure out the best ways to help his moods though... because when he's happy he is very very happy and when he is not, WATCH OUT. LOL

That's about it for now. Our goals for this year are to pretty much just try to keep our heads above water.... oh, and to find a cheap good mileage car for Josh to drive to and from classes. The truck is killer on the wallet for gas fill-ups. =S LOL