We were able to go to Bear Lake in August with the youth this summer. It was Marcus' and the kids first time there. Marcus was asked to go, since he is in the bishopric, and they were nice enough to let the rest of his family tag along since they were short a YW leader on the first day, so Megan could fill in. We started off the trip doing a service project putting in a sprinkler system at a new campground.
While we were there Marcus somehow got a staph infection in his knee. We believe it was from him kneeling in the dirt, but we don't know for sure, something up there did it. You can see how red his knee is in the picture, he was in a lot of pain. It was tripling in size every 24 hours. We ended up going home early on Saturday and straight to the doctor. They gave him a dose of IV antibiotics and told us to come back the next day. The next day we went in and the Dr. sent us to the ER because it didn't look any better. After a few hours there, they ended up sending us home with two IV antibiotics and a set of crutches, because he could barely walk on it, and told him to make an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon for a follow up.
7 weeks prior to all of this, Megan was in the hospital for a week with major pains in her abdomen that they could not figure out if it was appendicitis, a major cyst in her ovaries, or something with her colon. After two ER visits and then being admitted to the hospital and being watched for a couple days they finally gave her some antibiotics to see if it could help. While there she had 2 CT scans and 2 ultrasounds and they couldn't get a good picture of her appendix because there was an abscess blocking their view. They figured this was the cause of the pain and the antibiotics was seeming to help it go away. After being released from the hospital she went in for a follow up for a third ultrasound and eventually another CT scan to see if the abscess was getting smaller. It wasn't, so she had a chat with her surgeon and he said it would be best to get an appendectomy and take a look around in there to see what was really going on. YAY! (not!) This was scheduled to happen on the Monday after our Bear Lake trip.
So Monday morning, we got up early and went out to St. Marks for Megan's Surgery. They removed her appendix, which was an inch longer than normal and poking her fallopian tube, and discovered she had acute appendicitis. Marcus and her mom were with her that day and once she was awake enough later that day, she was sent home. Megan's mom pretty much moved in with us by this point to take care of us and the kids because we couldn't do much of anything.
Tuesday Marcus saw his surgeon in the afternoon. The Dr. took one look at his knee, told him he had septic bursitis and cellulitis and that he had to be operated on immediately or he may lose his leg. Thankfully he had not eaten lunch yet, so this was not a problem. They took him in, sliced his knee open 5 inches, drained it, stuffed it with gauze and left it that way for two days. During his stay in the hospital he experienced some intense pain even with his strong pain killers. Thankfully family was always with him (thanks to all of you for sticking it out at the hospital!!) if he needed help since Megan was recovering at home. Thursday afternoon they sewed Marcus' knee back up and sent him home. He was very happy to come home, and Megan was very happy to be able to be with him (even though she couldn't really take care of him yet). Megan's mom took care of us both and stayed with us until Megan was given the OK to be able to pick up Emma. Marcus then suffered through a crazy allergic reaction to one of the antibiotics they gave him, he woke up in the middle of the night itching all over and well... here is a picture of what he was facing or should I say what was behind him on his back! No fun! 
We both have some nice new scars now. Megan has 4 tiny scars on her belly and Marcus has one huge scar on his knee. We are very grateful that everything turned out okay for us and we are feeling pretty darn good now. The only thing that makes us sick now is the overwhelming amount of medical bills that seem to be never-ending! Thank goodness for a max out-of-pocket on our insurance because we both managed to hit it!We just want to say thanks to all of those who helped us, brought us meals, treats, prayed for us, and just thought of us. Megan didn't have to cook a meal until 2 weeks after all the adventures because of all the yummy meals that were brought to us. It was great! (all things considered) Thank you so much!!
They turned out pretty cool! They even looked cool just stacked up in the corner. 
We decided to take the kids up the canyon while we were still having warm weather and go for a little walk on a trail. 
So we finally got around to getting current pictures of our kids and an updated family picture for this year. 
We started off with Payton, he was so stinking cute! It was REALLY hard to choose one to hang on the wall. He is such a funny kid. His 4 years old stats are 37 lbs. and 3'5" tall. He is the same height that Marcus was at 4!
Emma was also super cute for her pictures. She has such a sweet little look.
Her 2 year old stats are 24 lbs. and only 1/2" shy of 3 feet. She is a tall one!
Later we had the boys join us for presents and cake and ice cream. Megan made a cute jewelery box cake. She has a lot of fun making the kids birthday cakes. Emma LOVED it and really enjoyed licking the beaters from the frosting.
She was so cute sitting in a big chair and sharing her cake with her daddy. She is such a sweet little girl!
We went with Megan's parents, her brother Jeff & Family, her Aunt Steph, and the Dutchies (her relatives from Holland). It was so much fun! Payton was either on the beach or in the water pretty much the whole time!
Emma was just happy to be there! She posed so cute for a picture in front of the houseboat.
It was lots of fun being able to spend some time with the Dutchies, if only Holland wasn't so far away we could hang out a lot more!
Tuesday Marcus saw his surgeon in the afternoon. The Dr. took one look at his knee, told him he had septic bursitis and cellulitis and that he had to be operated on immediately or he may lose his leg. Thankfully he had not eaten lunch yet, so this was not a problem. They took him in, sliced his knee open 5 inches, drained it, stuffed it with gauze and left it that way for two days. During his stay in the hospital he experienced some intense pain even with his strong pain killers. Thankfully family was always with him (thanks to all of you for sticking it out at the hospital!!) if he needed help since Megan was recovering at home. Thursday afternoon they sewed Marcus' knee back up and sent him home. He was very happy to come home, and Megan was very happy to be able to be with him (even though she couldn't really take care of him yet). Megan's mom took care of us both and stayed with us until Megan was given the OK to be able to pick up Emma. Marcus then suffered through a crazy allergic reaction to one of the antibiotics they gave him, he woke up in the middle of the night itching all over and well... here is a picture of what he was facing or should I say what was behind him on his back! No fun!
We both have some nice new scars now. Megan has 4 tiny scars on her belly and Marcus has one huge scar on his knee. We are very grateful that everything turned out okay for us and we are feeling pretty darn good now. The only thing that makes us sick now is the overwhelming amount of medical bills that seem to be never-ending! Thank goodness for a max out-of-pocket on our insurance because we both managed to hit it!
