Finally a picture of Clarissa Pregnant.

Posted in: 2008, riss on Monday, April 28, 2008 at 4 comments  

The most quoted line that people have used on me in the last week is... "Lot's of people go to college for seven years."...  Darrin graduates from BYU with his Bachelors in Construction Management and a minor in Business. He did an amazing job. This last year he took 35 credits to finish his school before the baby was born. He is incredible and I am such a lucky girl! Way to go babe, you kicked butt and I am so proud of you.

Posted in: 2008, darrin, us on at 2 comments  

Darrin's surgery was scheduled for 5pm, which meant NO FOOD all day. No worries, the evening gets better. We arrive at the surgical center at 4 to begin the check in process. Assuming, in our naivety, that things are on schedule I get called back be with Darrin until his surgery begins. Darrin’s nurse comes into the room wheeling a portable television. Of course Darrin chooses Galaxy Quest to watch. BLAH! The nurse informs us the doctor is running behind. Now remember Darrin is STARVING, he can only think of what Mexican food he can have after the surgery and that Mi Ranchito better be open. To make the mood in the room even better another nurse comes wheeling in another gentleman accompanied by his wife. Normally I would not care but this guy was more than annoying. Words cannot describe how much I wanted to smack this guy. He just keep talking and talking and he never learned to use a whisper voice. We spent the next hour listening to him only to find out he goes into surgery before Darrin. Now I am almost in tears because of how hungry Darrin was and how antsy he was. Darrin soon dozes off, to stop thinking of his hunger pains, when the anesthesiologist comes in to get Darrin’s info. HELLO, couldn’t he have waited until the actually surgery, he finally fell asleep. NO, now Darrin is fully awake and we still wait another hour. Finally Darrin gets his surgery at 7:30. The surgery went well, the doc said that if Darrin had even fallen wrong before the surgery his ACL would have completely snapped. At 8:45 Penny and I are finally allowed to go back. Blankets surround him from head to toe. There is even a heating machine hooked up to an inflatable blanket to keep him warm. When he finally awakes he is extremely nauseated and in a lot of pain. The one good news- the post op nurse kept loading Darrin with drugs. So many that we did not leave until 11:45. Darrin forgot all about the Mexican food, instead he much appreciated the saltine crackers. So much the nurse gave us a bag of them for the ride home. Well, after dragging him out of the car and onto the sofa I have concluded that this will be the last time Darrin has surgery. If he ever gets wheeled in, when he is wheeled out…. Colby and I will be in Hawaii.

Posted in: 2008, darrin on Monday, April 21, 2008 at 2 comments  

This is my genetically engineered ergonomic pillow for infants. With ease babies conform to the simplicity of the shape. Infants rest soundly to the rise and fall of your every breath. This is our nephew Benson.

Posted in: 2008, riss on Saturday, April 19, 2008 at 2 comments  

Summer 2004 - Action - Darrin decides to go wakeboarding at 2:00am and does a backroll.
Result - Ripped shoulder completely out of its socket and get surgery

Summer 2005 - Action - Darrin tries a backroll with too long of a rope and too small boots.
Result - Tore right ACL

Fall 2007 - Action - Darrin tries a scarecrow on the wakeoard in choppy water.
Result - Tore Left ACL

Spring 2008 - Action - Darrin plays in church basketball tournament
Result - Tore Left ACL... Again!

Posted in: 2008, darrin on Thursday, April 17, 2008 at 2 comments  

The Pregnancy,
Clarissa had her 36 week check-up and received some disturbing news. While the cold handed doctor was "checking" the situation he exclaimed, "Wow! this baby has a BIG head! Labor is not going to be easy." For everyone who knows Clarissa you can probably imagine her response. "Are you serious?!" seeing the fire in her eyes the doctor quickly postulated and said, "Well... no... aren't you getting an epidural?" the shakiness in his voice was not very reassuring and Clarissa is now in a constant state of paranoia. needless to say, our baby head is much like "Sputnicks", spherical, but quite pointy in parts.

The Elusive Diagnosis,
Yesterday Darrin received an MRI to scan his left knee. Upon returning home Greg called the radiologist, who said that there was a blood effusion (Bleed into the bone), torn miniscus, bruised muscle, and a "disrupted" ACL. All in all, this was promising news. The bone and the muscle would heal with time and the miniscus would not cause too many problems in the future. But, Darrin still had a doctors appointment the next morning (today). When the doctor came in he just shook his head and said that Darrin had done SIGNIFICANT damage to his knee. "Apparently" Disrupted ACL means 99% torn, and one trip will pop it the rest of the way. We got our hopes up for nothing. Darrin goes under the knife on Friday afternoon to remove the dead guy's (cadaver's) ACL and replace it with some other dead guy's Achillis Tendon, one of the strongest in the body. The doc said that this is the one they use when the person (idiot) keeps tearing the graph. Needless to say, Darrin is receiving nature's equivalent of a tension cable as a replacement ACL.

Our insurance loves us!

Posted in: 2008, darrin, riss, us on Tuesday, April 15, 2008 at 3 comments  

Clarissa and I have decided to follow this new program to get out of debt.

Posted in: 2008, us on Tuesday, April 8, 2008 at 2 comments