20 Week Bumpdate

Hey all - it's Dani again! I know I haven't been as active on the blog lately and am grateful that Chris has continued to take the time to write. The last few months have just been a whirlwind of emotion, nausea, and fatigue - and taking the time to write just slipped away from my priority list. But I'm back now and am ready to give you a 20 week bumpdate -- or rather a little snapshot of how pregnancy has been up until this point.

Chris and I found out pretty early on at just 4 1/2 weeks along that I was pregnant. I was supposed to drive down to Provo and throw a joint yard sale with my girlfriends but woke up that morning feeling incredibly nauseous. I told my girls I wouldn't be able to make it and two of them (who are already mothers and knew we were trying) started teasing me that the reason I was nauseous was because I must be pregnant. I have never had regular periods, was only a couple days late, and had just taken a negative pregnancy test recently. Not wanting the disappointment of another negative test I told them I was sure I wasn't pregnant and it must just be something I ate.

At this point I texted Chris my conversations with my friends, and he came home with a pregnancy test and convinced me to take it (this had happened a few times before -- I was sure I wasn't pregnant but me mulling over the "what if" would drive Chris nuts until we knew for sure. So he bought the test just to prove that I wasn't pregnant, not to actually see if I was!). I took the test just knowing that it would be negative -- and I cannot begin to explain the look of shock on our faces when it read positive! Once the initial shock wore off we were thrilled.

The next three days I was stoked out of mind; ready to be the epitome of the perfect Pinterest/Instagram pregnant woman. I exercised, ate healthy, and set goals of perfection for the upcoming 9 months. On day four the nausea came back -- and you guys, it hasn't left.

My pregnancy could not be more different from the perfect little dream I had painted. For the first 17 weeks of pregnancy I had "morning sickness" (which by the way is completely misnamed seeing as it lasts all day, everyday). The nausea was so strong that most days I was not even able to get out of bed. Normally it was just a debilitating nausea, some days I would just throw up at random times, and occasionally I would vomit from morning until night. There was no pattern or trigger behind my sickness which made it really difficult to handle. Would I throw up just once that day or would it last a full 24 hours? Would I be sick in the morning, the afternoon, in the evening, or the middle of the night? There was no way to tell! My body just did what it wanted, when it wanted. I tried everything to help -- from eating saltines first thing in the morning, to trying different supplements, and even getting weekly IV therapy treatments. For the longest time I kept counting down the days to the end of the first trimester, thinking that once I hit that milestone I would feel better. But my first trimester came and went and I found no relief.

The last four months summed up in one picture - I have to pee ALL the time
but don't dare go anywhere without my barf bowl!

During these beginning months of pregnancy I had a few tender mercies that helped me get through the long weeks. I missed a lot of church because I was so sick - but was blessed with a wonderful bishop who noticed my absence and helped by sending some sweet young men over to my house on Sunday afternoons to give me the sacrament. I felt comforted that although I wasn't able to attend my Sabbath day meetings I could still partake of the sacrament and renew my covenants. My testimony grew each week as this experience became more personal to me, and my understanding of the atonement grew. I am also incredibly lucky to have a worthy priesthood holder as my husband. Chris has been able to give me blessings that have helped me survive the worst of days. My visiting teachers have also become close friends as they would not only visit me monthly but would consistently text me, bring me books to read, randomly drop off flowers, and find small ways to serve me and brighten my long days.

Starting around week 18 my nausea began to let up, though it has yet to completely disappear. Instead of constant nausea 24/7 I now am sick only about half the time. As I approached week 20 (the halfway mark!) I had a stretch of really good days. Optimism overtook me as I begin to hope that this meant the sick days were behind me, until two days into my twentieth week when I had my worst day yet. In the course of just 11 hours I threw up 10 times! I was once again humbled, and reminded that this pregnancy just isn't going to be easy on me. But luckily I know it is worth it.

I'm just over halfway now and pregnancy has taken quite a toll on me, but I still wouldn't trade it for anything. It's been hard on both Chris and I. I've struggled with feelings of discouragement and inadequacy as I've been unable to do so much -- things like working, hiking, and even household chores have been impossible for me to accomplish. Chris has temporarily lost his adventure buddy and has taken on the role of full-time student, provider, personal chef and maid! The poor guy has pretty much only eaten quesadillas and eggs for months as I've been unable to cook and have been surviving on toast and applesauce (only recently have I gotten an appetite back most days, but now I have occasional "teenage boy cravings" of pizza, burgers, and ice cream! After his diet of late Chris has been more than willing to indulge in my cravings when I have them).

We're hanging in there, and we're optimistic for a better finish to a difficult first half. My favorite memory of pregnancy so far was on February 19th when I felt our little guy move for the first time! He's a little rascal though, because whenever Chris puts his hand on my belly to feel it our boy will immediately stop and won't start moving again until Chris moves his hand away. But I know he loves his daddy because whenever Chris is gone all day (work, school, errands), the little dude flips for joy inside of me when he hears Chris's voice again. I've also loved learning how much Chris truly loves me through this experience. It's easy to love your best friend when you're both feeling well and you're adventuring together. But to see how much Chris has loved me through my worst of days makes me feel insanely lucky. I've always known he loves me -- but what a different level of love I've seen in moments when he drops whatever he's doing to run to my side in order to help hold back my hair and rub my back when I'm barfing. Or when he's had to pull over on the side of the highway as I'm throwing up all over the front of our new car, and then he tells me it's ok and cleans the car out himself. The list of selfless service and sacrifice I have seen from him the last few months is never ending, and I thank Heavenly Father daily in my prayers for giving me such a patient, loving, kind, and perfect husband.

Remember to pray and remember to play (cause it's way more fun than barfing),

Mr., Mrs., & Baby Andrew

Finally an adventure!

Early last week Dani felt somewhat better, and we were able to go for a short walk on a trail near our home. However, she relapsed later and felt pretty crappy again. With this warm front a lot of the snow has melted and I just had to get outside, so I soloed Adam's Canyon to the waterfall.

This week Dani felt quite a bit better so we went camping! All of Utah was in a downpour, but after our rain-or-shine adventures in Juneau we were not daunted. We planned a visit with Jacob and his fiancée Karlee this weekend, so we figured we could break up the trip in two days (car rides aren't so good for pregnancy puking) and have some fun doing it. We drove up Provo canyon Friday night to look for a camping spot and finally found one at Deer Creek State Park. It had been raining so hard and so much snow melted that the ground was waterlogged, so we put the seats down in the Subaru and "roughed it." In the morning we headed out of the canyon (the long detour thanks to two mudslides) to stop by the Hansens for a nice visit and then to Grandpa and Grandma Andrew's with Jacob and Karlee. With the wedding preparation they have been doing they were looking for a central location to hold a reception after the wedding in June, and it sounds like they've chosen my grandparent's beautiful summer backyard for their venue.

Dinner on the stove

On Sunday we took a quick trip to Logan for Hannah's homecoming talk! It was so good to see her and my cousin Mark (who is studying at USU) and catch up with the rest of the Duersches and my sister Anna.

It's a boy

At our appointment with our midwife this week, she asked us if we wanted to find out the gender of our baby. Surprised, we said "sure, but we thought we couldn't find out until week 20 and that's a month away!" Well, it looks like we're having a son!

People sometimes asked us if we "had a feeling" about the gender before we knew. I've always wanted a boy as my first, but if I had to guess I'd tell them a girl because of a goofy dream I had before we were even off birth control. It went like this: fast-forward to Dani being full-term and delivering a healthy girl in the hospital. Dani isn't discharged for a few days, but I get to take our girl home from the hospital the day after she's born. So what do I do? Take her hiking at two days old of course! She's a trooper in her baby carrier as I'm tromping all over sandstone dunes in Southeast Utah, not one peep. Only catch is we are on a short leash, as we have to get back to the hospital every two hours for mom's milk.

So anyways, we'll have a hiking baby - but we'll probably wait at least a little longer than 2 days to take him on his first adventure.

On Thursday we're officially 16 weeks and 4 days, making our official due date July 10th. We're pretty darn excited! Below is a clip of the ultrasound - he does a little jab with his elbow.

In other news, Dani's brother Jacob just got engaged to his girlfriend Karlee! We are so excited for them. Karlee is fun to be around, perfect for Jacob, and we couldn't be happier that she's joining the family. Their date is June 22nd in the Payson Temple, and we're so looking forward to their summer wedding.

The Best Christmas Present

Christmas is always a joyous time of the year, but this year Chris and I couldn't be happier with our gift - a perfect little baby. That's right folks, WE'RE PREGNANT! 

Christmas Day we got a lot of snow, but Dani also got a long awaited
break from her all-day-every-day nausea. Yay!

We are so thrilled to be expecting our new best friend this July. But if we are being honest with full disclosure - being pregnant is the worst. Don't get us wrong, this little miracle was planned and we are so honored with the opportunity to become parents, but my body has yet to get on board with this whole pregnancy thing. And the first trimester is not being nice. People talk about "morning sickness" but there are no morning parameters surrounding this sickness. I have been nauseous 24/7 since finding out at 4 1/2 weeks, it has yet to let down, and I have tried EVERYTHING. I have only had a handful of good days of feeling somewhat normal (thanks to a lot of prayer, as these days have fallen around the holidays where they were extra prayed for). This has been hard because I was planning on working, eating super healthy, and exercising my whole pregnancy but clearly the Lord has other plans. Luckily my husband is really a saint and not only is he going to school and working but he has also taken on the mantle of taking care of all the household chores as well as being incredibly patient with me. He's back to his bachelor diet of quesadillas and eggs, and I am getting by on toast and applesauce. I have occasional moments where I want to try other foods and almost always regret it afterwards; because once you throw-up most foods it's really hard to want them again.

Remember to pray and remember to play,

Mr. & Mrs. AND BABY Andrew

Surprise vacation.....

First of all, Joseph returned from his mission in Brazil on Wednesday! We all went to the Grand Junction airport to pick him up after his exhausting 16 hour flight, and after lots of excited hugs and a drive home, he crashed for the night. It was fun to listen to him speak with a Brazilian accent, and to see his souvenirs he brought home.

The next day, Dani and I joined the family again for a drive up north, where the younger three kids were told that we were taking a "really long trip." Early in the morning they were still guessing our destination as we headed to the SLC airport, and they still didn't know where we were going until they were on the plane to Hawaii!!! Anna joined us from Alaska, and we all rendezvoused at the rental home we were staying at near the North Shore of Oahu.

When Dani and I arrived at our basecamp we quickly changed and took the three younger kids (everyone else were so pooped from the flight that they were napping) with some boogie boards to the ocean, a short 5 minute walk. As it was their first time to a beach, it was fun to watch them play in the water and sand. The water was so warm! The last time Dani and I had been to a tropical beach like this was when we were both teenagers, so we enjoyed rediscovering the ocean too.

It was incredible to see how different the landscape was everywhere you looked; the sunny, white-sand shore all along the coast line and then towering green cliffs inland, where rainclouds constantly fed hundreds of waterfalls through the rainforest.

On Saturday we were up before the sun was for the famous snorkeling at Hanauma Bay state park. We were not disappointed! This was another first for all the kids, including Dani and I. It was amazing to swim in any direction and see a new fish or sea creature! In Alaska Dani and I would see sea anemones, crabs, seals, and an occasional whale, but this time we were IN their world, discovering their habitats. One of my favorites were the parrotfish, nibbling on chunks of coral. Did you know that a single parrotfish can poop out one TON of sand per year, just from their diet of dead coral? Blew my mind.

After leaving Hanauma Bay we went to Waimanalo Bay for the body boarding. Dad, a So-Cal born-and-raised beach bum, went out with the younger kids to show them how to catch a wave and ride it back in. Olivia surprised us with her seemingly natural ability to catch the wave and ride it in, until she ate it hard and came back in tears. I was up next, as this was one of the things I was looking forward to the most. Dani and I were paddling out, ducking under the waves as they crashed down, but had a really hard time getting out far enough before the next wave pushed us back toward the beach. I finally started swallowing seawater as the waves seemed to get closer and closer, and I was getting pummeled. Despite dad's hollering to come out farther, I was exhausted and paddled back to the beach before I could get slammed down again. Let's just say that you won't be seeing Dani or I on the surfing channel of Extreme TV.

                                 

On Sunday we enjoyed touring Pearl Harbor and the USS Missouri memorial there. Mom Brading sent us pictures of when she reenlisted into the Navy at the memorial! After catching church on our way home, we took it easy the rest of the evening, just enjoying family time.

The ancient banyan trees in the rainforest are GIGANTIC.

The next day the rest of the family went to the Polynesian Cultural Center, and Dani and I took off to explore some waterfalls of Oahu - Manoa, Lulumahu, and Maunawili falls. Manoa Falls was incredibly tall but incredibly crowded, as it is the most popular waterfall hike in the area. Lulumahu was exciting to get to because the unmarked trail crossed private property and was a little difficult to find. Our favorite though was Maunawili. It was definitely the nastiest 2 mile slog through the mud to get there, but the destination was so worth it. The mountain stream crashed into two consecutive pools that were enclosed by tall rock faces covered in ferns. The refreshing water was deep enough to dive in, and we had the place all to ourselves. It was amazing.

                       

Tuesday the family headed to more snorkeling, this time at Shark's Cove, where we saw a green sea turtle! Swimming with it was the coolest experience - they move so leisurely and don't seem to have a care in the world. The massive underwater boulders were teeming with other sea creatures, and this snorkel spot was the family's unanimous favorite on Oahu. Later that day we drove to the Dole Plantation where we toured the pineapple farm and sampled the Dole Whip, a delicious sorbet-like pineapple dessert.

Discovering tide-pool creatures

The rainbow eucalyptus and its vivid colored bark.

On Wednesday the family called for more snorkeling, and one last trip to Shark's Cove. As it was our last day on Oahu, we had to run to Honolulu return the snorkeling gear in the afternoon. While we were on that side of the island Mom took the younger kids to the aquarium while Dad took the rest of us to hike the volcano at Diamond Head. From the top the view was amazing - you could see downtown Honolulu, the beach, and the reefs off the coast.

From the top of Diamond Head state monument looking toward the crater and downtown Honolulu.

Early the next morning we headed to the airport to say goodbye to our perfect family vacation. It was one of the most memorable experiences we've had, and it was the best way to welcome Joseph back from his mission.

The brother's backpacking trip

This week Dani was scheduled on a 4 day Desolation Canyon river trip, but the morning she was supposed to leave she got pretty sick and didn't want to risk being 100 miles away from civilization still feeling crappy, so she stayed home. Unfortunately, I had already made plans to keep me busy while she was away with double EMS shifts, a long day at work on Friday, and a campout with my brothers. The time Dani had off was good for her to rest and recuperate.

Because I was going up to Springville to work for my dad this week (a 20 hour day), I took Wednesday off and left Tuesday evening to take my younger brothers on their first backpacking trip. We drove to the Gold Basin trailhead in the La Sal mountains, where we were bombarded with mosquitoes as soon as we stepped out of the truck. We're all Boy Scouts and none of us brought bug repellent. As we hiked the mile to our camp the buggers were relentless, and we finally donned our full rain gear just to keep them off of us. We enjoyed appetizers like cherries, carrots, and jerky while we waited for the cheese and broccoli soup to cook (Dani kindly packed all our food, thanks darlin'). When we settled down for the night in my two-person tent, I was surprised by how comfortably it fit the three of us.

A forested area that had been cleared by an avalanche last winter.

The peaceful tarn at the bottom of the basin.

In the morning we left our sleeping gear in the tent and took off through the woods in an attempt to summit Mt. Peale, the tallest peak in the La Sals. As we tromped through the underbrush we woke thousands of mosquitoes, and if we stood still for more than 10 seconds they would swarm our bodies. We kept thinking, "It will be better as soon as we're on the rocks above the treeline," but as we began our climb high above the forest the insects got worse! Finally we called it quits, we had had enough.

On our way back to our basecamp we stumbled across an old decayed cabin site, without any apparent roads or trails.

When we had packed up and come back home, we concluded that our trip was a success despite the annoying mosquitoes that plagued us constantly.

After work on Friday Dani came from Moab to pick me up on our way to Layton to check out an apartment for the fall. We stayed the night at Grandpa and Grandpa Hall's and enjoyed their company until we left in the morning to go look at a promising basement apartment. We arrived a bit early, so we drove around the neighborhood and noticed the nice balance of older classic homes and newer ones in the area. When we toured the apartment, we both were pleased with everything: a tiled bathroom, gas-burning fireplace, well-lit rooms, and lots of storage (heaven knows we have a lot of outdoor gear). The only downside to it is the small kitchen space, but for just the two of us it'll be just fine. We love that it includes all utilities (wifi too!) and is more than $200 cheaper than we budgeted for! We're pretty excited to move in, and everything is coming together for us this fall.

Matthew's Birthday and Ordination

This week was pretty laid-back with lots of work and some play. I had a backcountry call out to a mountain biker that fell and broke his arm near his wrist. He was fine otherwise, so we gave him pain meds, packaged him up, and drove him out on the SAR rhino to our ambulance. It was a pretty uneventful call, but I really enjoy using 4WD to get out to a patient and treating them in the wilderness. I'm so lucky to get these cool opportunities.

For Matthew's birthday, Dani gave him a trip down the river with a buddy, so we took some duckies after work and floated the rapids. Matthew and his friend Everett had a blast exploring side-streams and swimming and they had some great hits. At the take-out they had fun playing in the water while I hitch-hiked back to get our truck from the put-in.

Everett and Matthew after a successful run of Cloudburst.

While exploring they found some tiny reptiles!

It was his 12th birthday, so he was ordained a deacon today after church. Bishop Garrett remarked that he remembers when Matthew was born, and now he's the last of the Andrew boys to receive the priesthood!

Trout for Dinner

This week I had the chance to shadow the anesthesia department at the hospital. A brother in our ward, Laird Clark, is a nurse anesthetist and offered to show me what he does at work. I observed a couple hernia repairs, a tubal ligation, and laparoscopic cholecystectomy (gallbladder removal), but the gist of anesthesia was the same for all of them. As a nurse anesthetist, the patient's face is your workspace - you need to have control of their airway and breathing, and you monitor their vitals and responsiveness throughout the surgery. I left that day feeling very excited about potentially pursuing a career as a CRNA.

It was Olivia's birthday this week and for Dani's gift to her she took Olivia and a friend on a river trip! Olivia had a blast, and later I took her out for milkshakes at Milt's.

After a long week on the river, Dani was pretty burned-out and so we escaped to the LaSals for a cool weekend. I got a year-long fishing license (first time ever!) and we went to Medicine Lake Friday afternoon. We had the entire lake and campground to ourselves, and by the end of the day I had caught my limit. Dani enjoyed reading "Desert Solitaire" while I cast for hours.

Our favorite quote from the book so far: "A man on foot... will see more, feel more, enjoy more in one mile than the motorized tourists can in a hundred miles. Better to idle through one park in two weeks than try to race through a dozen in the same amount of time." -Edward Abbey

My salmon pictures from Alaska put these small rainbows to shame, but I was pretty happy to catch what I did!

Saturday morning after cleaning up camp we hiked around in the woods, grateful for the cooler mountain temperatures above the sweltering Moab valley.

Saturday evening I responded to my first "code" -- a patient with absent vital signs. We performed CPR for about 30 minutes, which ended unsuccessfully as we could not resuscitate our patient. As a new EMT I've looked forward to using the skills I've trained for in this type of situation, but also (for obvious reasons) I would never wish for a reason to use those skills, if that makes sense. The scene went smoother and calmer than I expected. I was surprised that the hardest part was after cleaning up, going home, and actually having time to think and analyze the event, prompting some hard-to-answer questions. The fact that it was a suicide made it even harder. I learned the less I know about the personal lives of patients the easier it is to handle. Luckily after a sober evening I was able to put it out of my mind and move on. I'm so grateful for this opportunity to work in the saving of lives.

Murphy Trail

Our week was busy but uneventful; Dani is on the river almost every day during June, and when I'm not at the office I pick up as many EMT shifts as I can. Several times a week we are called on transfers. Moab Regional Hospital sends a lot of their patients to surrounding hospitals for different reasons. I say surrounding, but the other hospitals aren't very close - the nearest transfer is St. Mary's in Grand Junction at an hour and 45 minutes, and the farthest transfer we do is to SLC, 4 hours one way.

I don't hate transfers, it's just exasperating when I'm riding in the back of the ambulance with my stable (read: not exciting) patient towards one of these hospitals, and we hear on our radio the backcountry call that just went out to the back-up crew. I have to remind myself that quality patient care is most important, and try not to grumble about the fun the other EMTs are having.

With only two weeks left before Dad's rim-to-rim trek, we needed to put some miles in. A friend of ours suggested doing a trail in Island in the Sky (Canyonlands NP) that would give us a challenging distance and elevation. On Saturday morning we began the Murphy Trail, descending to the white rim. We followed the cliffside, exploring some of the neat rock formations. After we completed our loop, our total mileage was 12.4mi and 1,400 ft elevation gain/loss.

Jacob's Moab Birthday

Insert from Chris, just because he was so excited about his first backcountry call: "On Tuesday at 19:00 we were paged to a mountain biking accident on a remote trail north of Moab. The other EMT and I staged our ambulance near the trailhead with search and rescue and we headed out on their ATVs to the scene. It took almost two hours on the rugged trail to reach our patient, but fortunately it was only a fractured clavicle and not critical. We administered some pain meds, put his arm in a sling and took off on the bumpy ride back. By the time we returned to the station it was around 01:00 in the morning.

One of the SAR rhinos for backcountry patient transport.

On my previous shifts I haven't had very exciting pages - I've been a "call killer." So I was pretty stoked to get my first backcountry run! Due to the remote nature of Moab's surroundings, I'm looking forward to many more interesting calls like this."

Now back to Dani: The highlight of our week was definitely when my brother Jacob and three of his friends came down to visit! Jacob's birthday is June 7th, and he talked some friends into carpooling down to Moab the weekend before to celebrate it in Moab. Chris and I planned some fun adventures. They left Provo around 7pm Friday night, and when 11 o'clock rolled around we were anxiously waiting their arrival when I get a call from Jacob telling me that they were going to be a bit late... "Where are you guys?" we asked. "... about 14 miles outside of Saint George." "Uh......"

Yep... St. George is 5 hours away from Moab, on the opposite side of Utah! Apparently everyone in the car thought somebody else in the car knew the way, and nobody bothered to say anything. Luckily they drove safe and the crew finally arrived here around 4am.

Knowing how tired everyone was, we let them sleep in a little as Chris and I ran over to the warehouse to borrow some river gear. Once everybody was awake we ate a good breakfast and then headed down river road to ducky the daily (a ducky is a two person, sit-on-top, inflatable kayak). Since nobody else had river experience Chris and I kinda got into "guide mode" with a safety speech at the put-in and step-by-step instructions on how to run all the rapids. We all had a lot of fun enjoying the river, and nobody flipped.

Jacob and Carley in White's Rapid

Our boat bent in HALF when we got surfed in the wave!

A quick lunch followed the river and then we headed back out to play. We originally planned on going to left-hand (a waterfall with limited cliff jumping) but thanks to it's popularity in town and online, it was too crowded to enjoy. We chose instead to hike up right-hand which is a much better kept secret. At the end of the hike there's some natural waterslides, and though the water was really high with snowmelt there was still a small section we were able to slide down. Afterwards we went to the much larger (and crazy fast thanks to all the flowing water) natural waterslide by the power dam. Everyone had a blast sliding!

                                         

Our busy day of exploring combined with their late arrival wore everyone out, and we spent the night with snacks and a movie. After church Sunday morning we had a family lunch and I surprised Jacob with a birthday cake. Jacob and I have always been HUGE Harry Potter fans, so it was only natural that I drew inspiration from Hagrid for his birthday cake.

It was sad to say goodbye, but I'm so grateful that Jacob and his friends were able to come visit. They all agreed that it was worth the 9 hour drive here, so we must have done something right as hosts/tour guides. We're just glad that it only took them 3 1/2 hours to get back to Provo.

Remember to pray and remember to play,

Mr. & Mrs. Andrew

Capitol Reef and a Highway Rollover

This week was a blast. Dad, mom, and Jacob left on a Mexican cruise, so Dani and I had the youngest two all week. Dani spoiled them rotten while I was working and training with the EMS department, taking them on all sorts of hikes and adventures. She even baked them a giant cookie and let them decorate it (the frosting reads: No Parents!)! I didn't have work Thursday or Friday, so we took off to Capitol Reef to spend a long weekend in the Park. None of us had ever been there before, so we explored around the desert, discovering all sorts of arches, potholes, and caves. We weren't exactly roughing it in the backyard-like "campground," but Olivia certainly appreciated the flushing toilets.

The rain was off and on all weekend. Desert rain feels pretty incredible - the dampness in the air feels so refreshing, and the fresh-soaked ground smells so alive. The lichen on the red rock turns green, and the rivers turn a copper shade of chocolate milk. We stayed away from narrow canyons, as the scarcely-seen cliffside waterfalls had filled the usually dry river bottoms with flash flooding.

Matthew and Olivia playing in the "Kukoo-moodoo" holes

At the end of our longest 7 mile hike, we found a series of pools, or tanks, that cascade into one another when it rains.  In one of them there were a ton of toads!

When we got back to Moab on Saturday, I took Matthew out to test fire his newly-built potato canon. I can't believe I never constructed one of these when I was his age! When we got home I told Dani that I'll probably have to make one before we have our own sons.

                                    

Today was pretty exciting for me. I was on-call for Grand County EMS, and early this morning we were paged out to a vehicle rollover on the highway. After three previous shifts without any real calls, you better believe I was the first one to the response shed.

Even running code with our lights and sirens on, our travel time to the accident was over 30 minutes. He had swerved off the road, flipped his car at least three times, and landed in the opposite direction of traffic. He wasn't wearing his seatbelt, and the airbag didn't deploy. When we arrived, our patient was up and walking around, and after a full assessment, he refused to be transported, only asking for a bandaid to cover an existing cut on his finger. What an incredible miracle! Although I was looking forward to the excitement of actually being involved in patient care and transport, I was pretty glad that he survived without any serious injuries.

I finished my day with a transport from our hospital to Grand Junction, CO where our patient could have his appendix taken out, as our surgeon is moving and his replacement hasn't arrived yet. I'm really looking forward to volunteering more as an EMT this summer.