More Utah Fun...

Today Meredith and I aren't feeling very well. Meredith's nose has been running like a faucet and she has a croupy cough. Poor thing's nose and cheeks are all red from being wiped so much. By 7:15 tonight she was zonked. I made her a bottle and she crashed hard. I'm hoping she'll feel better tomorrow. I'm totally congested and have a sore throat from the drainage. I've also had some waves of nausea for the past week or so. Whenever I eat a meal, I feel like throwing up. don't know if I'm just eating too much or what (no, I'm definitely NOT pregnant)? I've spent most of today just laying on the couch feeling icky. I did laundry and did some organizing of our stuff in the room we are staying. John gave me some nasal spray to help clear my sinuses. We had a good laugh as I tried to squeeze the spray and inhale in the right order. I don't think I've ever used a nasal spray before. It seems to have helped. Tonight should be interesting...being congested always makes me anxious...I don't like feeling like I can't breathe. Usually I have Court beside me to tell me I'm not going to die, but not tonight since he is in TX and I'm here. Maybe I'll have to call him at 3am for reassurance. I'm sure he'd love that!

Yesterday I had decided to take Meredith to the ward Court and I attended before we moved to Texas. Got up, got dressed...never made it there. Just as I was getting ready to leave, my phone rang. It was my brother Rob calling to tell me that my dad was in the hospital. Apparently he'd been having some chest pains on Saturday and drove himself to the hospital. He didn't tell anyone he was in the hospital until Sunday morning, so he spent the whole day on Saturday at the hospital alone. I felt really badly when I learned that. John, Rob and I drove over to the hospital and arrived just in time to see him wheeled out to have an angiogram done. I could tell he was really nervous. Rob and John gave him a blessing and then we hung out in this tiny little waiting room. They told us the test would take 20 minutes and then if he needed any stents or anything, they'd do the procedure immediately. When an hour passed and we hadn't heard anything, I knew there was more than just the test happening. When the Dr. finally came out, he told us that everything went okay and that they had to put 4 stents in. The nurse took us back and showed us the video of the angiogram and the stents being put in. Apparently, one of the arteries was completely blocked and the nurse said that usually when that happens people have a heart attack. So my dad was very lucky. I'm just glad that he is the type to go to the Dr. when he feels chest pains. If he had ignored it, things could have been very different. When we finally got to see Dad in the ICU, he was in good spirits and said he felt much better, but was really tired. The hospital he was in was not so great, though. They didn't have phones in the patient's rooms and they didn't allow cell phones. Well, my dad wanted to talk to my step-mother, so I pulled out my cell phone and called her...she was in Vegas visiting with Michele. A nurse came in and told me I had to turn off the phone and walked out. When she came back in and saw me still on it, she glared at me and told me I had to leave. That got my dander up, and told her I had my father's wife on the phone ... did they have a phone with long distance that we could use? If not, I wasn't going to hang up the phone until she'd had a chance to talk to my dad and to work out some logistics. The nurse got really mad and told me I had to take the phone out to the hallway. I just glared at her and she left. Dad wanted to sleep, so we left him and went over to Rob's house for lunch and to hang out. We played Rock Band on his XBOX (very fun game! I did pretty well at the drums if I do say so myself...I stunk at the guitar though) and hung out for a while. We tried calling to see how dad was, and they wouldn't let us talk to him. They said they could only relay a message. Rob asked if they would let us know when he was being discharged so we'd know when to pick him up. They said they would. My sister Kristyn tried calling to talk to Dad and they told her they didn't have a patient there by my dad's name. She said, "Uh, yes, you do." After being transferred around she finally got the nurses' station, but they wouldn't let her talk to him either. They said she was calling too late. When Kristyn called the next morning, they told her he was being discharged soon and she should just wait a while and call him at home. They didn't let us know when he was being discharged, so my dad just drove himself home. Can you believe that?! Me neither. I think we are going to write a family letter to the hospital to complain. Never go to Mountain View Hospital in Payson, Utah. They are very unprofessional and you won't be able to call anyone or receive any phone calls! Anyway, Dad's home now and Linda came back from Vegas. So all is well.

Here are a few pictures from the last two days:

The Riley Family Band:

Kendall was rockin' with those drums.
I was amazed at how well she did.

The Youngest Member

Janis Joplin in training?

Jam Session

Tiffany borrowed this really nice camera from a friend to take pictures of her kids, and she graciously agreed to shoot some photos of Meredith. It was a beautiful day and the flowers were so pretty. I'm excited to see the pictures Tiff took. Here's a shot of some of the girls getting their picture taken.

Playing with Preston