Wilohm David Ellery Allen

Well I guess it's time to blog. Wil is finally resting peacefully and I have a minute to update everyone. I'm sure you've heard bits and pieces through texts, calls and Facebook, but I'll give you the whole story...
Sunday night Wilohm went in to use the restroom after dinner. I hear him yell and go in to find the toilet bright red with blood. So Cory calls the doctor and they have us run him into the ER. They are super nice and run some blood tests but think its probably a small tear. But they do send us home with a kit to take a stool sample which will need to be brought back to the ER within one hour of the bowel movement. Of course he decides he needs to go as soon as we get home, so at 11:00 Sunday night we head back into the ER. Monday morning he meets with his regular doctor and they run more blood tests. Through all of this Wil says he has no pain and no other side effects. So home we go. A few hours later he has another bloody stool and the doctor sends us back to the ER. More tests, same cool nurse, but no news. They tell us to follow up with our doctor and we don't need to bring him back unless he has a high fever or vomits blood. Bloody stools are just fine. (Really?!?) Tuesday morning we head back to his doctor, they check him out tell me they still don't have results from stool sample but he looks good so they send us on our way. I tell the doctor that we have family staying down at the beach and she gives us the ok to take him down as long as he stays out of the elements.
We load up and head to Tillamook cheese factory to meet up with the Robbins clan. The whole time Wilohm is assuring me that he is just fine.


Does he look fine to you? I think he looks like one of the Cullen clan. Plus he just wasn't his regular rambunctious self. This picture is taken while everyone else went down to the light house and we stayed in the car. That night he perked up a bit and by Wednesday morning he was running on the beach. As we were on the beach I got a call informing me that all stool cultures came back negative, so no salmonella, E. coli, or other such diseases. However, there were a few white blood cells indicating there may be some infection.



We hated to leave all the fun at the coast,





but we needed to get Mom back so she could head up to Brooke's. (Side note I love the Robbins and Crabbs!!!!)
We got home and Cory had a yummy dinner ready for us. We were starving and it was nice to be back home with Cor. We cleaned up and I headed to the gym and the kids went upstairs to play the wii. After about an hour Cory was down working in his office and heard a glass break and the kids quarreling. Jackson was freaking out because Wilohm broke my Finisher's cup. So he called me at the gym and says Wil was dizzy and he dropped my cup. I jump off the bike and race for the door hanging up on jack as I go. Cory in the mean time has gone up and sees Wil on the toilet as white a sheet. I call back and hear Wil start screaming and Cory asking "are you ok, are you ok?" Poor Jack was panicking so I told him to hang up and call 911. I made it home in record and run upstairs to find Wilohm laying in the middle of the hall as white as a ghost.
Going back, he went in the bathroom to get a drink because while he was playing video games his eyes were feeling funny. When he got the water he blacked out, dropped the glass and started to fall but caught himself on the counter. His stomach started cramping so he got on the toilet and proceeded to fill it with tons of blood. That's when I heard the scream. Cory went in and held him on the side of the tub and he passed out again in Cory's arms. I'm pretty sure Heavenly Father waited for me to be gone for all of this to happen because I don't handle emergencies very well. (Remember Hazel's broken finger?)
Ok so I'm home he's laying on the floor and the ambulance is on the way. Jackson is crying and so worried. Hazel is on the verge, Harris has no clue what's going on and Benny is very calmly getting me clothes and baby wipes so I can change before the medics arrive. 3 super nice firemen arrive followed by 2 great medics they all look in the toilet and assure us that we made the right call. Oh on the way home from the gym I call Linda (Cory's mom) to come stay with the kids. Mom and dad were up at Brooke's. Linda arrives as they are loading Wil into the ambulance and she is pretty shaken up. She makes me promise I will not let them send us home until they figure it out. I ride with Wil, Cory follows and we head to the ER for the third time, this time in style. We were there for about an hour as they once again took blood and scratched their heads. Luckily he had lost enough blood that his levels were so low Randall's, an amazing children's hospital in P-town told the ER to send him down. So we took one more ambulance ride. They transported Wilohm right to his super sweet room. And we were all settled by 2am. Once again through this whole thing Wil has been cool calm and quite. Not complaining about a thing.
They told us they thought they knew what the problem was and we just needed a scan to determine if they were correct. So we would do the scan in the morning and have surgery in the afternoon.



Unfortunately it was thanksgiving and they were now working on a skeleton staff. So what should have taken 2 hours took 6 and we were pushed back to this morning. The sad part was Wilohm could not eat a thing, and on thanksgiving! He went into surgery this morning at 8:00 and they were done about 1 1/2 hours later. He had a Meckel, a little leftover attachment from the umbilical cord to the middle intestine. The Meckel contains stomach lining with acid that causes bleeding. Wilohm's had a broad base attachment so they had to cut his intestine on either side and sew him back together. He did really well and he is recovering nicely although he is in a lot of pain. He has to stay in the hospital for 3-5 days and probably with no food. Poor baby. Keep him in your prayers and trust me we could feel all of them today!!!





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Location:N Gantenbein Ave,Portland,United States

MoRE ANd MoRe BloGS AnD I LOvE IT!

Coming home from Hawaii and I thought I would take a quick minute to catch up on the Blog. Oh my Word!!!! It was so fun to read so many posts. You are all so wonderful! The house was getting darker and darker. I kept thinking I should get up and turn on a light but couldn't stop long enough!

Leash, I needed to be in that picture with Scarlett, Jane and you. Then we could have said it was a computer generated age imaging thing...Ah things to look forward to as you grow old. Or for me the Benjamin Button thing. I just want my real hair color, and my skin back, oh and my waist, and no stretch marks, ect. Need I go on? I am looking forward to the resurrection with great anticipation! Then I can look like "a better looking Bella" only it will be a better, newly enhanced me, that is warm, has a heart beat, does not drink blood ever but could bring down a mountain lion if she wanted to and was not a vampire.

Sorry Meags, you win for most horrendous story. I love the comments!!! Particularly the ones about the crazy lady and Wil with a gloch and the possibility of giving the disconcerted woman the carseat....perhaps over the head would have been best! That story was amazing! Almost as good as the time you called 911 in the parking lot of Albertsons because one of the kids had fed the baby a piece of tape and there was bloody tinged foam coming from their mouth. Lots of help that time if I remember correctly from people that were not only disconcerted but concerned. One guy dressed in flannel, missing a few teeth, but with several tattoos and was helpful!

Hawaii was awesome and I am so spoiled! Our 40 year anniversary celebration. Lest you think it was a relaxing, romantic get away let me explain there was only 1 day we did not set an alarm....so much for the relaxing thing and as far as romantic...it would be best not to tax Ellery's loyalty and make him choose between me, Tony and golf. Luckily I also like Tony, Carol and Golf. We love the Big Island. We golf, swim, snorkle, hike, read, play lots of games, eat great food, go to the temple and church. They always thank us for taking time out of our vacation to come to the temple. So worth it! We have been going to the same ward for 18 years. We went to their Hawaiin Thanksgiving Dinner Sat night. It was great! They had a "band" playing Hawaiin music. One of the guys is 92 years old. Such good sweet people.

For you mothers with "busy" children. Carol went into Primary to watch them practice for their Sacrament Mting Presentation. The bishop's boys (he has 3) were doing the Haka (I know that isn't how you spell it) to the primary songs. It was perfect. The stand is hallow so it was making a great noise as they stomped and slapped. Their mom walks in to check on them which she frequently does because she knows her boys and they stop mid HaKa. Put on their "who me" faces and smile sweetly...she is not fooled. So funny! The church is true no matter where you go!

Time for bed, Love you Night,
Le Anne

Time for bed. Another "relaxing" week coming up!

Sie

I'm so proud of my Sierra. She is working so hard in school. Last week she thought she had a test on all 50 state capitals on Friday (of course she tells us this on Thursday night). So Gram helped her study by making a game and by writing all the capitals Sierra didn't know so well on a long roll of paper towels. We stayed up late and woke up early to cram for the test (there are a lot of capitals I had totally forgotten. Quick what is the capital of Maine?). Kaia also thought she had a big geography test (in Spanish, no less) so she was diligently studying also. Adam told both of them they better do really well on their tests or else they would study every day durning Fall break. Kaia went to bed in tears. When Sierra's teacher announced the test was postponed until after vacation, Sierra moaned "noooooo! My dad will make me study the whole time!" The teacher laughed and said "doesn't your dad know what a break is?! If he makes you study, call me and I'll tell him to take it easy on you." Sierra said the whole class was laughing. In her English class, Sierra had to do a book report. Her and Adam read "The Lion's Paw" (Sierra read 90% of it on her own, I was so impressed). Adam helped her decorate a shoe box with pictures of sail boats and seashells. It turned out so well. I happened to be volunteering at the school when she did her report in front of the class and I got to listen in. She did great and she just thrives on getting rewarded for all her hard work.

Provo

This is me today



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*UPDATE*

We still don't know if ColoradoBennetts are going to sell out and become BakkenBennetts (I've already planned out a new blog--Bakken is the name of the shale oil formation that is causing this oil rush). We are waiting to hear back on the final #s on salary...and Adam and I want to drive up there and check out the ward, schools, housing, nightlife, etc. We went to the temple this morning. I feel quite peaceful, everything is going to be alright.

Decisions

Meagan, it was agonizing to read your last post. I'm sorry you guys had to deal with all of that! It reminded me, tho, of the early days of this here blog. We used to swap a lot of stories, some miserable, some hilarious, some a bit of both. I'm currently in the doctor's waiting room with a purse full of pee. I think Ruby has her first UTI and I took a urine sample at home cause I knew she wouldn't go for it in the dr's bathroom. I wish I had a picture of the look on her face when I told her I wanted her to pee in a cup. "My mother's insanity knows no bounds" is surely what she was thinking. In addition, I've been awake since 3:30 because today is THE DAY. Adam has been in his interview with the big boss of TKI for two hours as of this moment. He hasn't contacted me yet. This is the meeting where we learn of the company's offer for Adam to have the title of Mr. Manager for the North Dakota plant. They want him to move his family to Arctic Hell, I mean somewhere just south of Canada. If we decide to take the job I promise that will be the only time I use the term "arctic hell" and I will say only positive things out of sheer gratitude that Adam has a job.

One *#=$ of a Morning

I know I just wrote but my day has been too good not to write about.
It started at 3:10 am when I was awakened by that wonderful gulping noise all my children make right before they puke. Kind of like the popping noise in the fire swamp (anyone?). I grab Harris and dash for the bathroom yelling at Wil to run down and get me a bowl. Then I realize he is in my bed because since he watched Sixth Sense he can not even go to the bathroom alone hence the reason he is in my bed. Cory and Jackson are at a scout camp out, of corse. So I hold bear while he pukes, clean him up then run down to the "scary" kitchen which I'm sure in wils mind has lots a open cupboards and a beaten down woman with slit wrists in a pink bathrobe. I get back upstairs and crawl into bed just in time to catch the next round of vomit. This goes on for the rest of the night as I try to figure out how I'm going to get kids to their soccer games without Cory and more importantly what I'm going to do if anyone else gets sick for the primary program tomorrow. Did I mention I'm in charge of the program and it has consumed my life for the last month? Puke and stress overwhelms my sleep. When we wake at 7:30 to get ready for the first game Harris seems to be doing better. He even wants to eat. So I make him a banana and applesauce shake. Silly me! We get half way to Benny's game and he up chuckes all over himself and his darn car seat. Mom and sisters you know the one the one that's impossible to clean, but don't worry it gets better. As soon as he's done spewing out one end the other end unleashes. Bye bye carseat! I drop Benn off (in tears, me not her) and run to target to purchase a new seat, new outfit and new undies. I run in leaving wil in the car with hazel and Harris and the cell phone. In record time I'm back out with...the girl version of the carseat, ARRRGGGG. I get Bear bear all cleaned up and settled while wil pulls out the carseat and leaves it by the car to help alleviate the smell which is starting my gag reflex. Hazel repacks the carseat and I run it back in. Again I'm fast as can be but at 9:00 in the morning the target employees are not so much. As I am walking up with this huge box in my arms the manager asks if I'm the owner of the white Yukon. Yes and yes my kids are out there but my baby is really sick and I had to grab some things to clean him up. She asks how old the oldest is and I tell her 10 and he has a cell phone. Now she's not worried but I am! Who is reporting me to the store manager and I'm sure CPS? So has they try to make my exchange I run out and check on the kids and wil says some lady was staring into the car. I relocked the car and ran back hoping the transaction was done. I grabbed my box, run out to the car and reach it at the same time as the lady who I assume was "so concerned". She asks if I'm aware that there's a carseat on the other side of the car. Yes, I am. Then she asks, Do you know how disconcerting it is to see an empty carseat and a car full of kids all alone in a parking lot? Um hello did you miss the pool of vomit and the smell of diarrhea? Oh all the things I would have said to her if my mind was on anything else besides caring for my poor baby. I said I was sorry and explained the situation and again she asks if I know how disconcerting it was for her? Not--oh I'm sorry or is he ok or I hope he feels better. So how concerned are you lady?!? That was my fabulous morning. I am the walking dead and still have a soccer party, a baptism, the after party, three dozen cookies to make, a sub to find for one of our classes and general stressing about the program. Plus I have the cutest little sicky to care for. Good thing Cory and all the other kids are being super helpful (kind of).


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Yesterday my visiting teaching partner had a great idea; we would go visit our one elderly sister like normal, but our other sister , Monique, we would get together with a few other girls and make thus great wreath. Awesome idea, huh?!? There is only one problem, it took all day!
I was inside and it was SUNNY! And then I think, is that really a problem? It's not like I do it every day or even once a month. But today I skipped the gym and the laundry and I spent time with some amazing women. We talked about our kids, husbands, and the gospel. We all took turns crying, but mostly we laughed. I think maybe because I am so close to my family I don't reach out and make close friendships like I should. When you have the perfect friends (all of you) it's hard to branch out. I love these girls from my ward and I've done lots of things with them, but today going out of my comfort zone made me realize how much I need these girls and they really are my sisters. Our sisterhood in the gospel will not leave us friendless. However, I've realized I have to BE a friend to HAVE a friend. I think Heavenly Father is trying to teach me something.
So here are the fruits of 4 hours...



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Location:NW 29th Ave,Battle Ground,United States

Provo

These two are so cute together I can hardly stand it! Finn is getting to the stage where he wants to wrestle all the time. Sadly, Adam is usually the victim. But he doesn't seem to mind it most of the time. I love it because Adam will bully Finn right back and he growls at him, hysterical. The other day Adam kept shoving Finn and Finn would pretend to fall over. Adam was laughing so hard. It was adorable!
Adam is already trying to talk. I realize that 13 months isn't all that early but considering that Finn didn't speak until he was 2 1/2, this is big! Of course he says "mama" and "dada". But now he's started saying "dee do" (thank you), "uh oh", "ah dah" (all done), and he loves to yell "NOOO". It's so funny! He also tries to copy words all the time but nothing has stuck yet. He is finally a full-blown walker after being on the verge for months. And he has learned to find his binki and his shoes when i ask him. He's obsessed with remotes and is a total tease with his kisses. He leans in and puckers but the second you lean in, he pulls back and laughs. Only a couple times, then you get a real kiss :)



Oh and he likes to clobber daddy's head while he's trying to sleep. Luckily, daddy doesn't mind.



Finny is mommy's best helper ever! anything that goes in the garbage or the dirty clothes, finn is on it! He is the sweetest little man, always making new friends everywhere we go and refers to everyone as "my friend". He reminds me a lot of Jackson in that way. He takes such good care of his baby. The other night I woke up around 3 am because of some noise. I laid there and listened as Finn clicked his night light on and off and the two of them laughed hysterically. It makes my tears come out watching them play together. Finn loves learning new things and asks if he can go to school almost every day. I think that means its time to find a preschool or start a joy school if I can. And as you can see in this picture he is OBSESSED with brushing his teeth! You'd be proud, Joan. He brushes them at least 15 times a day. Okay more like 3 or 4, but still. I think the only thing he loves more than brushing his teeth is drinking milk or reading books.



And he loves making beds in his toy bucket or in my laundry hampers and making forts.

I know you all wanted a super long update on my boys but I need to write these things down so i don't forget an I just can't get over how fast they are growing up! So I hope you weren't too bored.
And just as a side note, we just had YW in excellence which I made a slide show for. I've never done it before but loved it so much I now want to make a slide show for everything! I think I will adopt Cory's tradition of making a slide show of the year every Valentine's day. Very cool idea!
PS the girls and parents all loved it.
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Kaia Monkey

Way back in July Kaia had a birthday. Adam bought her a harness but it didn't fit. Last week he was finally able to take her to REI to get a new one. She was treated like a superstar and got a few extras (a chalk bag with a monkey on it from dad, a hair bow from the employee who thought Kai was adorable). Tonight was her first climb with the new gear. She is blissfully happy.

Goings on of VA BENNETTS

We had cousin Lydia and my sister Amy come stay with us last week. The kids adored their quiet cousin who spent literally hours on the trampoline with them and read to them each night. Come back, Lydia!! My cousin Ivy who lives in DC brought her dad down who just happened to also be visiting from CA and her two boys to trick or treat with us. It was great. I spent $15 on a huge bag of candy from Costco and my door was knocked on twice.  A total of 6 kids..mostly teenagers. I learned my lesson (lesson being that our house is at the end of a dark street..why would you stop here?)

 Amy, Lydia, and I took the day Thursday and headed up to DC. My friend called it an "adult" field trip. It was wonderful. Not sure of the name of this plant..but I want it!! All the plants and shrubs and trees located around the Smithsonian are labeled. Why didn't I get the name of this one?! We also visited the American Indian Museum (quite possibly a favorite), Natural History, and American History..as well as most of the monuments on the "mall" strip (Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument, etc).

 Just a few more pics from our beach trip back in early October. I wanna go back..

 So does Geof. This is what he did most of the time.

 We took Amy and Lydia to Maymont because that's just what you do when you come to Richmond. BeaUtiful!

 This pics are uploading randomly..here's Lydia feeding a quite social squirrel.  He had no fear of us petting or feeding his chubby little body. Geof. says there's a squirrel epidemic going on. They're taking over!!

The only pic of the three of us that wasn't too scary..sadly.

I just love reading all the quotes everywhere in D.C. This was a good one at the Lincoln Memorial. So great to live so close to history!!

Last of the year!

Good end to the fire pit season!

Our "Butt-ler"

So Harris came in to tell us --he "make us beckfast". He got his apron but i think he forgot something else....






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¿me da mi calaverita?

Alicia, Adam does not recall what his costume was back in P town. Can you post the pic for us?
So, I was trying to find out where this wild tradition of "trick-or-treating" came from. Wikipedia had some vague info. I read it to the kids, we liked the tradition in Mexico of kids going door to door saying, "¿me da mi calaverita?". Give me the little skull. I guess they hand out sugar skulls down there. I like the concept of Day of the Dead. Celebrating your ancestors on the other side of the veil, and all...

Cory's first half

This race was So beautiful! We ran along a river and under THREE waterfalls. It was amazing. Cory only wanted to puke the last 3 miles. The other ten were bliss. Trail running is the only way to go even if it is a bit more difficult. My favorite part was being with Cory every step, even when he probably wanted to kill me.


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Boil, boil, bubble and brew

In honor of Halloween, Mad was blessed with a creepy boil. Now I won't disgust you with all of the absolutely horrific details, but I will tell you that it has been a nightmare. I told her that I had seen women give birth naturally with less screaming. Just ridiculous. Anyway, today I asked her what she would do if she had them all over her body.
"I would probably make sure someone ran over my head."
I think she really meant it. Anyone else ever had one? Are they really THAT bad?
Anyway congrats to Cor on his first half. One fine day we're all going to run some awesomely great relay or other race together as a family. It will be glorious.
Can you tell I'm bored? Kev is watching Vampire Diaries and I, as some of you may recall, am not allowed to watch even mildly frightening things. While the lambs have, thankfully, stayed within the confines of my minds pasture, I will still weekly have jump-out-of-my-bed nightmares. What is wrong with me? Anyway, thanks to Joanie (and the talented Monni who took them) who posted these cute pictures of me and my daughter (by daughter, I mean Janie. Although, now I'm looking and my actual daughter is in there too. Huh). Love them.

Halloween

I love halloween! It truly is one of my favorite holidays. And that has nothing to do with the candy. It has everything to with dressing up! Especially the make up!


I love it. This is probably the reason I'm a witch every year. There are so many fun ways to do witch make up.
The other reason I love halloween is that Finny is just the right age! He loves the decorations, costumes, lights, pumpkins and of course the trick or treating. It is a magical holiday for my little man.





This is a picture on Finn and his little cousin Greyson. We loved our little avengers. They were all so cute!
Leash and Meags, I too often feel the HATE but not with Halloween. Hopefully I can take Jack's advice. I just want the most perfect, blissful and exciting day ever on holidays. Is that too much to ask?!!?!
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Halloween at the Rigby's!!

Gonna get married

This is the worst quality pic ever, but Miss Piggy is priceless. This dress ring any bells for any of you? I could barely zip the sucker up.

Halloween :-/

I didn't get a picture of my little nerd (Jackson) but here are the rest of us at Cory's office trick or treating.




It's still weird that Cory works at an office. In fact when jack told Andy (his best friend) where we were going he asked, "that little closet off the dinning room?". We were cracking up, but to Andy's credit he usually comes over on Friday and Cory works from home in that little office on Fridays. Halloween is like most holidays for me... Great build up and anticipation, a TON of work trying to make it perfect, then so much complaining, frustration, and disappointment from kids and mom that it didn't go as dreamed, it's kind of sad. Plus as an added bonus throw in the fact that we're all over tired, two kids had tons of homework and I ate so many minis you could have fed a starving nation and really what you have is a recipe for disaster. We ending the night all super angry and me going on strike. Which is working out nicely for me because I'm still in bed. (If I get up I'll be tempted to work). By the way whoever thought that Halloween should happen on a school night didn't have children.
So now it's November 1st and I can start dreaming and planning the next three holidays, my favorites I might add, (my birthday being one of them). So that I can be even more disappointed when I end up ruining them too. Oh well life goes on and hopefully my kids will be in such a candy coma they won't remember that I really was a witch!!
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