Family Medicine Residency of Idaho-Alumni & Friends Dinner

On Saturday May 16th, Curtis and I attended the FMRI Alumni & Friends Dinner (and fundraiser). The event was in the Double R Ranch Club room in the Stueckle Sky Center at BSU. We had the privilege of going to this event because I am on the Board of Directors for FMRI, where Dr. Perry Brown (my CF Doctor) works. Curtis was WAY excited about going to this event and see the AMAZING view of the football field & Boise area. He was also VERY excited to, hopefully, meet Coach Chris Petersen, who was a special guest at the event.

The evening started at 6 pm with a no-host reception (aka open bar...) and Chris Petersen mingling among the crowd talking. We used this time to take in the view of the valley and blue turf. (Wow, a football game from there would be tons of fun....but way expensive!!). We did get to say hello to Chris Petersen & shake his hand but sadly did not get a picture with him. I thought Curtis was going to pass-out on me when he talked to him....but he handled himself very well.

Dinner was DELICIOUS!!! We had a small salad, rolls, breaded trout, rice, a small steak and asparagus. Curtis even ate his fish...and he is NOT a seafood person. After dinner they recognized a few people and their contributions to FMRI over the past 30+ yrs, had one of the residents talk about their experience at FMRI, and then Dr. Ted Epperly (Program Director & CEO) talked about what FMRI is all about and what the future holds. I am really impressed with Dr. Epperly. He is so kind and caring and truly believes in helping others. Even with his busy schedule, he still times a few minutes each month to ask how I am doing and what he can do to help me. I remember being upset when my doctor moved his office to FMRI, but now I'm so glad! Dr. Epperly recruited Perry to oversee the education of the residents in pediatrics and also CF. The residents may still annoy me when I'm in the office, but because of this opportunity more Doctor's are learning about what Cystic Fibrosis is and how to treat it. (don't worry, I still tell the residents how to do their job and will only agree to any kind of treatment after we have talked with Perry about it) I also really appreciate Perry because he value's my opinion and he is really trying hard to do all he can to help fight CF.

Anyway, here are some pictures that we got of the evening....

View of the blue turf...AMAZING!!

I was very amused by the center piece. It's an FMRI water bottle with a rose in it. Sadly I didn't get the opportunity to take it home. However the dessert that you see was to die for!!

A view of the room and all the people standing around the bar.

The view of the valley from one side of the room

A view from another corner of the room

Dr. Rulon and I after the event was over.

I just have to say it again...I look HOT!!!

A self portrait of us outside the building

Since I don't look this good all the time,

I was having fun playing with the camera

My handsome husband!!!!

We go so well together! :o)

Our Nephew's Baby Blessing

Last weekend (May 1st-3rd) Curtis and I went down to Utah to attend the baby blessing of our newest nephew. Matthew Charles Shores was born on March 26th to Curtis' sister Heather and her husband Ben. We were excited to go down because we were the only ones in the Cahoon immediate family who had yet to see Matthew, and we were not able to attend Spencer's baby blessing because they lived in Arizona at the time. I just have to say that Matthew is just as cute as his older brother!!!

We stayed with my adopted family (Scott & Trina Martin and their daughter Chelsea). On Saturday we went to Heather & Ben's for a family dinner. Curtis and I both got to play with Spencer, hold Matthew, and visit with family. Before this visit, Curtis had never held a baby that weighed less than 14 lbs. (We saw Spencer for the first time when he was 5 months old and I believe he was wearing 9-12 month clothes by then...) Curtis was a little nervous before holding him, but he did a great job!!! I got some really cute pictures of them together below...

Saturday after our visit with the family, we went out to ice cream with the Maritn's. We had fresh home-made ice cream that was made with liquid nitrogen....it was pretty cool to watch! (I should have brought the camera and taken some pictures of it). The place is called Sub Zero. You pick your ice cream base (it ranged from Premium 14% fat to low fat yogurt, rice milk and soy milk), then you picked as many ingredient flavors that you wanted (like chocolate, vanilla, carmel, pina colada, root beer etc.) and then some mix-ins (snickers, heath bar, marshmallows etc.). They mixed all of those together, put it under a faucet with liquid nitrogen for a minute or so (depending on the size you ordered) and mixed away. Ta-da....your very own ice cream flavor created right before your eyes. It was fun to watch and very yummy to eat!!!

After church Sunday we went to Heather & Ben's for pictures and some lunch before the drive home. I was able to hold Matthew and get him to sleep for the 3rd time that weekend....what can I say, he just must really love his Aunt Sara!!! :o) It was so much fun to go down and see friends and family...and to be able to hold such a cute sweet little baby. (We'll be doing it again in a few weeks when we go down for Chelsea's high school graduation) Thanks Heather & Ben for letting us spoil your kids! We love you!!!!!

Curtis holding Matthew for the first time.

I LOVE this picture!!!

(isn't he going to be such a great Dad someday!!!)

His first nap w/Aunt Sara

Curtis decided to be brave and try holding him while standing.
He did a GREAT job, especially for his first time!!!

Showing off his church outfit that Uncle Curtis & Aunt Sara got

for him. It's still a little big, but he'll be out of it before we know it.

Spencer playing with his Grandpa Shores

I LOVE his smile!!!

Isn't he adorable!!!

A rare awake moment with Aunt Sara

Heather, Ben, Matthew & Spencer

I love my husband!!!!

Starting Our Garden

For the last couple of years, Curtis and I have been talking about putting a garden in our back yard. We've also talked about doing some improvements to the back yard as well. Such as: cutting down one of the trees, getting rid of the berms, adding more dirt in the yard (especially along the fence) and turning our "rock" gardens into flowers. While we were going to school, we didn't really have to time to try and do the projects. However, with the help of my brother Parley, we are starting to get things done. At the end of the summer last year, he came over and cut down the tree and took the stump out. This year we talked to him about tilling the berms up and leveling the ground where they were. Since Parley works as a crane operator, he hasn't been working much at all the past several months as construction has practically come to a halt...which leaves him lot of extra time to help others. :o) He was determined to help us get a garden in this year along with helping a few other family and friends start theirs as well. So here's how things happened at our house last month:

Parley showed up one random day with a rototiller and his 4-wheeler w/a plow attached to the front. He started on the biggest berm (the right side back corner), tilling across the top and then pushing it off and repeated this several times. (the ground was pretty hard and he could only till a few inches deep at a time) Now keep in mind that we all knew that there was a possibility of hitting the sprinkler system as we are doing this, but we didn't think it would actually happen because all the sprinklers are along the fence and in the "rock" beds and not in the middle of the yard. Parley had turned on the irrigation so that we could have all the sprinkler heads pop up and see where they were.

Problem one: a fountain sprang up next to the house. When we finally found the problem, it looked like a dog had chewed off part of the pipe that was capped off and not in use, until then. Okay, so we could live with that and not worry about exactly where the sprinkler heads are.

Problem two: While tilling (not even 1/4 of the way down into the berm) the tiller catches some wire. We found out that it's the electrical wire for the sprinkler system that went to one of the boxes, that just happened to be next to the berm. Bummer! But still fairly easy to fix.

Problem three: The berm is about 1/2 trimmed down and we find the sprinkler pipe. Yep, sure enough it is going diagonally across the yard, in the middle of the berm. Great!!! Now we get to replace some pipe. Thankfully my brother is a man of many traits and can fix and do just about everything around the house or outside in the yard, so he was already planning on fixing everything. It just meant that we had to fix the sprinkler system before we could start our garden.

After all of those problems, we all decided to just leave the other berm in the yard (the left side back corner) because it has the telephone company's big green box on one side of it, and if we damaged that at all then the whole neighborhood would be w/out a phone or Internet for a while and we would have to pay to have it fixed.

It took about a week to get the sprinkler system fixed, but Parley got it done (with the help of his friend Phil & Phil's girlfriend). He also took one of the side gates out and hauled in several truck loads of dirt to spread around the berm we didn't take out and make it more of a gradual hill instead of so abrupt and hard to mow. We also spread dirt along the back fence where the ground had sunk a couple inches (that allowed the neighbor's dogs to squeeze under and get in our yard).

We decided that we wanted to have a square-foot garden, but make it deeper. So Parley also built us two 4ft by 8 ft (and 12 in. deep) boxes for our garden. We filled them with some of the dirt he brought over and then added compost, vermiculite and peat moss. We were able to get some things planted (peas, onions and carrots) as soon as the first box was filled and before the sprinkler pipe was fixed. However, since then it's been too wet and muddy to plant anything else. The first week our sprinklers would turn on even though it was in the off position in the control box (I think it's fixed now) and then all of the rain we've had in the last week or so hasn't helped us. I have seen some onions and carrots start to sprout, and am hoping to get the rest of our garden planted this weekend.

Trying to find where the pipe goes
Spreading dirt around in the back corner.

Parley fixing the pipe

A look at where the pipe and electrical wire were

Proof that we had 2 full sized trucks in the back yard full of dirt

(We've had a total of 4 truck loads of dirt and we may

bring in one more to help level the yard)

Curtis and Parley mixing the dirt for the garden

One bed done and ready to be planted :o)

What the finished product looks like

THANKS PARLEY FOR ALL YOUR HELP!!!!

Happy Birthday to my little friend!

On Friday, it was Ethan's 7th birthday. Many of you remember when I use to nanny two little boys...Ethan & Aidan. I watched Ethan when he was 3 months old until he was about 4 yrs old, since then I have usually watched them a couple times a year and I see them at least every other month. Anyway, Ethan still likes me and he has now started to call me on the phone and talk to me. (I love it!) A week before his birthday, he called me up and invited me to his birthday party and told me all about how much fun it was going to be (because it was a Super hero theme and they were renting a Spiderman jumper...) When I told him that I would for sure be at his party (and reassured him that it was written on the calendar and I would not forget) he let out a big "YES!! I'm so excited, I can't wait for you to come!!" I talked to Becky on the phone after that and she told me that when they asked Ethan who he wanted to invite, the first person that he said was "Sara! can we invite Sara?" It totally made my day!!

Friday was a very busy day for us. My Great Uncle Paul Ward passed away, and his funeral was that morning, so Curtis and I attended that. I had a doctor's appointment after lunch, then helped Curtis get ready for his camp out with the scouts, and then went to Ethan's party. The party was thankfully inside the church bldg (it had been raining late morning and early afternoon) and there were kids everywhere. (I think there were about 17 kids...) I had fun watching them play games and go crazy in the jumper. After cake and ice cream, the kids went home and I stayed to help clean up and also play in the jumper with the boys. Since Curtis was gone camping, I ended up staying in Kuna for a while after the party. I helped Ethan do some science experiments (he's been into learning a lot about science and wanting to do his own experiments, so his parents gave him his first science kit and boy was he excited!). I don't have pictures of the "mad scientist" at work...his Mom took those pics...but it was fun watching him learning and having fun. After that, Becky and I went and got dinner and then went Easter shopping for her family. We were both pretty tired from the long day, but we still managed to have some fun shopping and laughing at each other while we were trying to remember everything that we needed to get. I didn't get home until after 11 pm, (and was EXTREMELY tired) but it was such a good day! Here are some fun pictures from the party:

The Birthday Boy!
Getting instruction on the race game that they were having

I let Ethan take some pictures with our camera.

He took this one himself of us...I think it turned out pretty good!

I got him a sound card...It had Spiderman on it and when you opened the card it said "Happy Birthday Super Hero!" given the theme of the party, I thought it would be great. Here he is listening to the card (his Dad put the card up to the microphone so everyone could hear it)

He thought it was the coolest card ever!

After all the kids left, Becky and I got in the jumper with the boys. It was fun, even though I couldn't walk very well for a few minutes afterwards (I got dizzy inside there...but it was worth it)

A nice picture of Ethan, Aidan and I. I love my little boys!!!!

A visit from my cousin

Last weekend we had a fun visit from my cousin Caleb and his wife Audra and their kids. They live in Northern Idaho (Craigmont) and were coming down to attend the Temple and needed a place to stay and someone to watch the kids. I was excited about their visit because Curtis was camping with the scouts, so this meant that I didn't have to be home alone for the night. On Saturday, Caleb, Audra and I went to the Temple. My Mom and sisters watched Jewel (2 1/2 yrs old) and Gideon (7 months old). I'm so glad that I was able to attend a Temple session with Caleb & Audra. It made me realize that I don't go to the Temple nearly as much as I should. I live about 15 min. away from the Boise Temple and they live about 5-6 hrs away. I'm very grateful for the example they are to me about the importance of Temple attendance.

Just like most trips with Caleb's family down here in the Treasure Valley there were errands to run for his parents. Caleb brought stuff down for Grandma and Grandpa Ward and a few other family friends that live here. They also needed to get some stuff from other friends down here and bring it back with them. Because of this, they ended up staying Saturday night too. It was a lot of fun. Jewel has lots of energy and entertained us a lot. We borrowed some toys from Curtis' parents for Jewel to play with (no kids at our house=no toys either....). Thanks Chuck and Judie for letting us borrow the toys, they were well used!! Parley also made it over to our house to visit with Caleb, so it was fun to see him too. All in all it was a good weekend filled with lots of fun with familly!

Jewel wanted to put my coat on and go outside.

My coat is just as big as her, but she sure looks cute in it!!
Parley and Caleb chatting

Jewel loved Curtis' hats!

Gideon has the cutest smile, but every time I tried to take a picture it went away.

She LOVED playing with the Jack-in-the-box. She figured it out pretty fast and it still usually made her jump. Every once in a while she would stop and give Jack a hug, and then put him back in the box and started the music again.

Gideon loved the slinky....and loved jumping.

It was a great work out for me.

Visiting the Zoo

This week was spring break....not that I got one, but all of those in school had one. I decided that it would be fun to take Brenda, Nicole and Mom to the Boise Zoo. We had planned on going on Wednesday because of my work schedule and Brenda's schedule with the Development Center that she attends. Of course, that had to be the day we had bad weather. The night before I watched the weather report and they said it was suppose to rain. When I got up Wed. morning I looked at the weather channel website and looked at the hour-by-hour forecast, they said that until noon there was a 5% chance of rain and around 2:00 pm on was higher than 50% chance of showers. So we decided to still go. Of course once we got into the Zoo, it started to rain and it didn't stop until late afternoon (don't worry, we brought our umbrellas). Oh well, we still had fun. There weren't a lot of people there (probably because of the weather) and we did get to see most of the animals.

Below are lots of pictures that we took at the Zoo. The newest animals at the Boise Zoo are the lions and giraffes. When we first went to see them they were inside their shelters because of the rain. We got to see the giraffes through the window but couldn't get a good picture. Despite the poor weather, we still were able to get some good pictures. Here are just a few....Enjoy!

Giraffes

I got this picture about a month ago when I took my client to the Zoo.
Snow Leopard.
He is not out a lot because he is easily agitated. This cat likes to run back and forth in front of the big windows and jump up on the walls. When this happens the Zoo keepers put him in his den to calm him down. He was pacing when we walked up, but he left for a few minutes and came back. Since we were patient, we got to get a good picture of him when he's calm.

One of the Tigers. A beautiful big cat!

The giant tortoise.

When ever I'm at the Zoo, this animal never moves! However, we watched him for a few minutes and sure enough he started moving around. I love this picture, it's like he's sticking his tongue out at us and saying "Yes, I do move....slowly!"

Spider Monkey

This Monkey is in the Rain forest exhibit. We stayed inside this exhibit for a while because it was nice and warm in there. The Spider Monkey's were very active and were having fun showing off for us. Brenda sat in front of the window and put her hand on it, this monkey came up a few times and put his hand where hers was....too bad he moved when ever I tried to get a picture...

Penguins swimming...very fun to watch!

These penguins were taking turns sitting on the eggs. The Zoo has quite a few penguins, but only a few were swimming, the rest had babysitting duty.

Lions

After we walked through the whole Zoo, we decided to go back and try to see the lions. We were in luck. They were under a covering by the windows, by the African school building. (The windows are at a 90 degree angel). No zooming needed for this picture!

Brenda and the Lion King! I love the look on his face here...

Me and the lion.

Brenda decided that I needed a picture with him too. As you can see, his head is 3-4 TIMES as big as mine. He could have probably swallowed me whole. This is the closest I will ever be to this King. (and the safest too...)

Right before he swiped at Brenda.

I decided to go to the other window to look at him & the female lions. Brenda put her hat back on and tapped on the window. He didn't like that and tried to hit her (but only got below the window instead). She jumped a little, but wasn't too scared. I laughed...probably shouldn't have, but it was kinda funny, especially to see just how big his teeth and mouth really are!

Front page of the paper for the 2nd time...

Yep, it's happened again. I'm in the paper and it was on the front page of the Idaho Statesman. This time it was about the Idaho Legislature wanting to completely get rid of the Adult CF program that pays up to $18,000 a year per Adult CF Patient. This year's story was printed on St. Patrick's day. The story 4 yrs ago was about the Idaho Legislature wanting to increase the funding for the program from around $2,500 yr per adult patient to $18,000 yr per adult patient (which did pass!). This story was printed on Valentine's day. Both stories talked about the struggles that I go through each day living with CF and features a picture of me using the Vest on the main front page of the paper. I really wish that I wasn't on the main front page, but I guess it's good because people definitely notice it!

here's the link for the story this week:
http://www.idahostatesman.com/localnews/story/700568.html

Being interviewed by the reporter is kinda intimidating. The reporters are usually nice and friendly, but they are writing down everything that you say! I didn't think about it too much while I was talking to them, but afterwards I couldn't stop thinking about the questions that they asked and if I answered them "correctly" or not. Did they understand what I said or did they interpret it differently? However, after it's all said and done I did what needed to be done. I told them truthfully about my life and how I felt about them trying to get rid of the program. I answered the questions and in the end they are the ones that write it and I have no control over that. I helped to put a real face to the issue at hand and I hope that helps. I know several other adult CF patients in the valley (besides my sisters) and they could have interviewed any of us and it would have had the same effect. Of course the thing that I don't like the most about all of this is the attention on me. I hate only being known as "the person with CF". But, CF is a part of who I am and I wouldn't change my life.

I'm getting use to all of the "Hey, I saw you in the paper!" and I just smile and say "yep". Yesterday I also heard a few times "I've never known anyone in the paper before and especially someone on the front page". Hmm...so what about a person who's made it on the front page twice in 4 yrs? Does that give me celebrity status? J/K So, on Facebook I was commenting back and forth with a few friends about the article. Dixie (CF research coordinator & RT) was also quoted in the paper. She mentioned that she was sad that one of her quotes didn't make it in the article. She said "they didn't use my usual quote of thick sticky mucus. It just rolls off the tongue!" Yes, gross....but true & VERY funny! You have to find humor in the not so fun things in life. :o)

Last thing, I encourage EVERYONE to write to their State representatives about any of the issues that you feel are important. If you live in Idaho, Please write to them and let them know of the importance of this program to the many Idaho Adult CF patients who rely on this program to help them get the medications and medical care that they need. We have the freedom and choice to vote for those who represent us in the government and to let them know how we feel about the issues. They have the responsibility to listen to our concerns!!!!

My 28th Birthday!

Last week was my birthday! I love my birthday....not because I'm vain, but because it means that I have lived another year. After I was born and diagnosed with CF, my parents were told that I wouldn't live to see my 16th birthday. Ok, I'm not sure of the age that they gave, but I know that I wasn't suppose to live a long life. I have outlived what the doctors thought over 20 yrs ago. I have lived to see my High School graduation. I've lived long enough to get married. I've lived long enough to make it through college and graduate with my bachelor's degree. So every year I get excited about my birthday because I have lived another year longer than doctors expected me to so many years ago. On the side note: I also love my birthday because while it is technically still in winter, it means that Spring is just around the corner and Springtime is one of my favorite times of the year. I love watching everything come back to life, seeing the flowers bloom, listening to the birds, and having the temperature outside just right.

Anyway, last Sunday we celebrated with my family. We had prime rib roast that was soooo yummy! For dessert I made an angel food cake (from a box....gotta love just adding water, mix and cook!) and we topped the cake with strawberries and cool whip. Mmmm, mmm good!!! (It reminded me of my birthdays when I was younger. Grandma Ward always made, from scratch, an angel food cake. She taught me how to make it and I've made a few of them myself....I just need to practice again.) Anyway, below are some pictures from my family get-together. I got my wish this day as well.....I blew all 28 candles out in one breath!!! (not so easy sometimes with lungs like mine).

My birthday (Tuesday) was a pretty good day. I watched the hail storm that we had and listened to the thunder. (Not my ideal weather for my birthday but the sun did come out and shine afterwards so it was ok). I got lots of birthday wishes from friends and family. I didn't have to work (yahoo!) and I ate lots of chocolate and cookies. Curtis didn't buy my present until after work, but he made up for it by making dinner for me. I wanted fettuccine alfredo and decided to make it easy for Curtis. So I bought the noodles and a jar of alfredo sauce and some french bread. Curtis was really good and cooked everything (including grilling some chicken to have with our meal too). It drove me crazy...I was so hungry and wanted to help cook dinner so that it would be done sooner, and Curtis wouldn't let me. He wouldn't even let me turn on the stove to start boiling the water for the noodles. However, dinner did get done and tasted really good, so I can't complain. And, it was made with lots of love! I love you Curtis!!!!

Doesn't this look so good!!A cute picture of Brenda and I

Aren't they cute!

This is a cute picture, except for the goofball in the background....

I got all 28 candles out in one breath!!!!

I love Curtis!!!