Idaho | Island Park | Yellowstone

We had such a great trip with the Bringhursts to Island Park! We headed up on July 30th and stopped in Ogden to hang out at Toads. We played laser tag and rode the go carts. It was a blast. Bridger Destroyed us at laser tag and Mom destroyed us (literally) on the go cart track. We rented a house in Blackfoot to stay the night and met up with the Bringhursts and Browns there. 

That evening, Cass and I went to visit with Sister Baird from my misson to Palau. She is 95 and still so with it. It was amazing to spend some time with her. Later that night we had a ping pong tournament and then played 21. It may have been the top moment of the entire trip watching Steve be the dealer!

The next morning we headed toward Island Park. We stopped in Idaho Falls to see the river and the temple and then to Big Jud's to eat some GIANT hamburgers. After that we hit up the waterfalls before going to Island Park. The Bringhursts rented a huge awesome cabin for all of us and it had plenty of beds for everyone. That night, we made Tie-Dye shirts. 

The next morning we headed into Yellowstone. we had a list of all the animals we wanted to see and were able to cross them all of the list, even a bear! There were huge bison that walked right through one of the geo-thermal spots we were at, but the highlight was that right as Old Faithful was going off, we pulled out one of Quaids big front teeth. Everyone around us cheered. It was awesome. That night we had dinner in West Yellowstone at a pizza place. 

The next morning, we floated the river. We were all geared up with our life jackets, kayaks, canoe, and raft...only to find that the water was about 6 inches deep. Cass and I were in the raft and we ended up PULLING it most of the way. It was still pretty and we saw a mother moose and her calf. That night we went into town for the rodeo. Emma tricked Ash into joining a dance contest, which he TOTALLY owned and WON!

The next morning, we headed home. It was a great trip and we love spending time with our cousins and Grandma and Grandad!   

The rest of July

The horribleness of McCoy being in the hospital cast a shadow over the rest of the month. But here are some other things that we did:

• 4th of July- We went to the Leifsons for treats and fireworks. It was great to be with everyone, and it was weird that McCoy, who had been so sick the day before was suddenly doing flips on tramp and hanging out. the tide turned soon though...
• Youth Conference- Cass and I were in charge of Youth Conference and we had been planning it out for several months. It wasn't until the night before that we realized that we would not be going. Cass went to the hospital the night before. I went for the 1st day to help get things going. We went to Camp Williams to do the obstacle course. It was super fun, but in the end it was too hot and we were not a big enough group to fully leverage it. We went up to Snyder Mill in Park City. Which was supposed to have a huge grass area that ended up being a dried weed field. Other than that, it went great for everyone. Bridger had a good time. The food was great, the activities, service and speaker that Cass had arranged were all fantastic. 
• Swimming- The Blacks let Cass take the little boys to their pool one night. The little guys needed breaks and activities to help counter all the heaviness; it was a welcome break for sure.
• Steele Days- We missed pretty much all of it, but the Woolfs gave us some tickets and I took Marshall and Quaid to the last night. It was so busy, but they had a blast and we got to hang out with Ash the whole time. 
• Quaid is amazing- This kid is so good at Perler beads. 
• Lake Powell- We had been planning to go to Lake Powell with Mike and Melissa. Bridger still got to go with them and we were super grateful. He had a great time, despite it being super hot and the toilet being broken on the boat. He got really good at wake surfing and had a lot of fun fishing with Steevenson and Graham.
• The Fords lined up for Cosmo to visit McCoy. It was so nice of them. He couldn't make it while we were at the hospital, so he came to our house. He took pictures, signed things for the kids, and did a back flip in our living room!

 

RIME Disease- The worst month ever

 

Not all posts are happy and this one just flat out sucks. McCoys story starts at the end of June. He had a cold with a cough. It didn't seem to be feeling better after a few days so Cass took him to the Dr. to get checked out. on July 1st they told us he had walking pneumonia. He was put on meds and was told he would feel better in 24 hours. On the 4th, he started feeling great and by that evening, he came with us to the Leifsons for a 4th of July party. He was running around and having a great time. That night he had a canker start to show up in his mouth,, but it was no big deal. He had a couple of cankers on Saturday, the 5th and that night we went to JCW's for Quaid's Birthday. He only felt like having a shake because it hurt to eat. 

Sunday morning I took him to instacare because things were just getting worse. They said it was an allergic reaction to the pneumonia medicine. We changed up his meds and came home. He rested the rest of the day. On Monday morning Cass took him to Alpine Peds where they said that he had cold sore disease. On Monday evening, we still weren't feeling good about it and I called the nurses line. She said it sounded like hand and foot. We were trying to get things figured out as Cass and I were in charge of Youth Conference starting the next day. Cass was messaging with McCoys soccer carpool and happened to send a pic of McCoys mouth. Andrea Mumford showed Scott and he immediately called us and wanted to do a video call with McCoy. He said it was Stephen Johnsons syndrome and we needed to get to Primary Childrens in SLC immediately.  Cass jumped in the jeep and headed to SLC. Over the next couple of days as symptoms developed, they decided it was RIME disease. 

After a few hours they were taken up to his room and started checking him out. It was a long night and by the next morning things had gotten worse. He kept going down hill with his mouth getting worse and worse and his eyes swelling shut and hurting to the point that all he could to is lay there in the bed in pain, in the dark, with a rag on his face and moaning in pain as his mouth continued to blister and shred and his body was slowly covered in giant painful blisters. The blisters took over his entire body including his privates. This was the horrible depressing case until the next Monday (7/7) when things started to slow down. During that time, on Wednesday they decided to get him set up with a feeding tube (his last food was that shake on Saturday). It took 3 tries to get it placed, each time was horrific, and in between they needed to wait for an x-ray, and then again for someone to read the x-ray. That process took 8 hours by itself. 

The blisters started to pop, causing painful lesions all over his body that hurt and itched and caused more pain. Monday and Tuesday were met with slightly less pain, but overtaken by his depression from laying in a bed with his eyes closed in pain for a week. It was awful to watch the poor guy. The entire process has been so emotionally draining. We've cried and cried, and laughed and cried, and tried to be strong for McCoy, but there have been so many times where we didn't know how this would end and it was super scary.

On Monday we did start reading to him. During the rest of the stay I read 1 1/2 Hunger Games books with him and Cass read the Christmas Pig to him. On Tuesday night (7/15) he had a couple bites of Mac and Cheese, which was a great sign. On that day he started to turn a corner and made daily progress from there. On Tuesday night he cleared pneumonia protocol and was finally able to leave his room. We started going on a couple of walks per day after that. The hospital had a teen room to hang out in and he made a cool shirt in there and played video games this week. By Thursday, he was just itching to come home and was starting to show a lot of improvement other than his eyes, which still throbbed non-stop. 

Things have continued to improve and he got to come home today, 7/19, after spending nearly 2 weeks in the hospital and over 3 weeks dealing with issues from pneumonia. We still have a ways to go, but are excited to get him home and have him finish his healing. 

A couple of things we want to remember. 

• People have been SO kind to us. Our ward was praying and checking in on us daily, multiple times a day. The youth had a special fast for him. They brought meals and encouragement throughout the whole process. Our friends were also so great, checking in, Shauna taking the boys and visiting, Lindsay and Raquell sending money, Matt Peterson sending Blue Bell ice cream, Meg lining up Cosomo to come visit him. Our family being awesome, Deanna coming up to stay with us, Ash and Emily taking the boys each day for the last couple weeks for a few hours. The neighborhood kids made signs. McCoys friends checked in on him daily. There were people that we have not talked to in some time who heard about it and were checking in on us. We got mystery gifts on our front porch, and his name was on probably every prayer roll in every altar of every temple in Utah. We are so blessed by having so many people who care about us. It was a reminder to not hold off on checking in on people. Some people may want their space when they are going through a trial, but I bet most need you support and don't know it. 
• Miracles are all around us. While we were in the hospital, the youth of the ward did a special fast for McCoy. It was overwhelming. Things did not go as well or as fast as we wanted, but we could feel the love of our ward and our family and friends and it sustained us. Scott Mumford later told us that there is no way he should have been there to get McCoy referred to the hospital. He hikes Timp EVERY Tuesday morning with his friends, but he had a bad feeling on Monday night and decided to stay home, which led him to stay up late. Andrea's phone is always on silent and in her pocket, and he NEVER checks it, but for some reason, when Cass sent the text to the soccer car pool, he jumped up and grabbed it.