Miracles Still Happen

On June 18th, 2011 we almost lost this precious little girl. Earlier that day Skylar Good had his baptism and to celebrate we got together as a family at Jeanette and Jeff's house for a luncheon and some swimming.  Brian decided to stay home that day.  We had been there most of the afternoon, when around 5:15pm Bryce (who is 10) stepped on something in the pool.  It was someone at the bottom of the pool and when he picked her up he said her eyes and her lips were blue and she was limp.  He then started calling for an adult.  Garrett (age 11) help lift her up out of the pool to Alicia Haws (Lawana's sister).  I was on the other side of the pool talking to one of the other boys when I saw Alicia and Jeff running out of the pool area with a body just dangling in their arms.  I knew it was Emree.  I immediately ran over to where they put her down on the ground and Alicia started to do CPR.  She was blue, uncontentious and not breathing. Jeff ran inside to have someone call 911 then was right back out by her side.  I was in complete shock and didn't know what to do. I remember just saying a prayer over and over inside saying please, please, please start breathing Emree, we can't loose you, I need you.   I think I even breathed into your mouth a couple of time when Alicia said to stop and just do chest compressions.  She pumped on her chest for what seemed like forever, when in reality it was only 30 second to a minute, then she threw up a little bit of fluid and some food.  It wasn't much though and she still was not breathing.  She started to take a gasp of air every 10 seconds or so but it wasn't normal breathing.  Alicia kept doing chest compressions until finally she started to breath on her own.  She cried a little but it was faint and you could tell it was painful.  By the time she started breathing the fire and ambulance was on their way and they told us to lay her on her left side.  I remember shaking so bad I couldn't even move her let alone think of which side was left and which was right.  Also, she hadn't taken a nap that day so she was extremely tired and wanted to fall asleep.  We had to try to keep her awake which was difficult.  EMT showed up shortly after that and took over.  They said they could hear a lot of fluid in her lungs and needed to air vac her to Cardon's Children's Hospital for treatment.  While in the helicopter it was difficult to start an IV.  She starting crying and after I heard that cry I knew she was going to be okay.  The paramedic in the helicopter said if she can cry that loud she was very hopeful for her.  The paramedics, fireman and police that were on scene were so kind and positive which really helped calm my nerves. 

We arrived at the hospital and not even 10 minutes later Brian arrived.  Brad and Sabrina went to our house, picked him up and drove him there.  As he came in the room we both cried, embraced then turned to Emree, who saw her dad and then began to cry too.  She has always been a daddy's little girl! 

The nurse told us they would need to do an x-ray to see exactly how much fluid was in her lungs and then go from there.  They had her on quite a bit of oxygen too because she wasn't getting enough on her own. 

Another 10 minutes went by when my mom, dad and brothers all showed up.  The men gathered around her and Brian gave her an amazing priesthood blessing.   The feeling in that room was so strong and we knew she was going to be okay. After the blessing they x-rayed her chest. It showed there was very little fluid in her lungs but they wanted to keep her overnight to make sure it didn't turn into pneumonia.

Alyssa stayed with Bryan and Lyndsey.  Jordan and Zaiden stayed with Lawana and then went to my mom and dad's overnight.   Brian's parents came to the hospital too that night (and I'm so sorry I didn't get a picture of them there).  They took Olivia for us overnight so we could both stay and focus on Emree.  We feel so blessed to have such great family around us to help us out in our time of need.

The nurses slowly weened her off oxygen and by midnight she was breathing on her own again!

 The next morning she was so happy, as you can see.  I love this picture, it's my favorite!  The doctor came in around 10am to listen to her lungs.  He said he couldn't hear any fluid in her lungs and had no reason to keep her in the hospital. AMAZING!

So after 17 short (LONG) hours we were free to go home and we are all forever changed!

That evening we gathered at my parents home to express our gratitude and our thanks to our Heavenly Father for positive outcome of this experience.  We also got together so the cousins could see that she was okay.  I was watching Bryce as he walked into the room where Emree was and at first he couldn't see her. I could see the worry on his face, but as soon as he saw her you could tell an instant relief spread across his face.  Something I didn't know until later is that while Alicia was doing chest compressions on Emree, the other 17 cousins and aunts were inside Jeanette's house saying a prayer that she would be okay.  I believe it was through the faith and prayers of those children and through the power of the priesthood that she is still with us today.  We love her and don't know what we would do without her. We are forever grateful to all those who helped save her life. Miracles do exist and we feel truly blessed to be a witness of such an amazing miracle and for the opportunity it gives us to draw closer to our Savior. We love you Emree!!!

There's no time like the present to start blogging again!  So here we go...

March Madness!

March started out all good...Good food for breakfast, lots of fun...

Grandpa and Grandma Mortensen came to visit us! We loved every second they were here. We miss them terribly and love them so much! They were a HUGE help while they were here...I think my Mom cooked dinner for us more than once while she was on "vacation"! Thanks Mom! ♥

Once they left...the chaos began. First Zaiden got into my make-up and give it to Emree while she was in her highchair.

Who needs make-up with a face like this!


Then they decided to get into the bleach! Yes, that is bleach on my carpet! What shape do you think it resembles? My closest guess would be a rhino maybe? IDK, but I was not happy! :(Brian thinks the shape resembles a Lobo. Brian said our kids are marking their territory just like wolves. NO one has a bleach stain like this. :)
Zaiden pinned his ear between the end table and his own head to cause this damage...while he was jumping off the couch, I might add!

The never ending getting into the marker mess! I swear I put these up high and out of sight but I have monkeys instead of normal children!

This mess happened while I was gone...I was at YW's and Brian took this picture before he clean it up. He said it was pretty funny because Emree tried to get out of the mess but kept falling down over and over again. You would think she would learn from this but she did it again...2 dozen eggs lost that night! If only she could talk letting me know what go's on in her little mind.

Always finding the stash of cookies! Look at those eyes though...so cute even though it looks like she is growing a beard!

The bottomless pit of snow...in APRIL! This picture does make me smile though because my kids made this for me right outside our front door!
(This is why the summers are so beautiful, we love the moisture.)

After all the drama in March Brian decided to take some time away from his schooling and take the kids to the park to feed the ducks! They love doing this...and we love that they can get out of the house!

Yes, March was a crazy month but we survived and now we can laugh at the picture we took!

April...so far!

I'm not sure exactly how I was placed in charge of the Young Women birthday gifts...but I was and this is what I've been doing for them since December. Don't get me wrong...I love doing it, but it does take time!

Jordan turned 5 on April 12th! He kept telling me on his birthday, "this is the best day ever!" He can be such a sweetheart when he wants to be. I can't believe he is 5 already. He is beyond excited to go to kindergarten in August and reminds me every day that he gets to ride the big bus like Alyssa. He has been telling me this since he was two! :) We love him!

Zaiden has always been our GQ man!

Easter Sunday!

Winter fun!

Sometimes the winters can be long here, so we have to come up with creative activities to do. The kids came up with these ideas! (sorry about the blurry pic)

Jordan's going to love me for this one when he's older! He is always playing dress up! Notice the other two girls in the picture aren't even dressed up? Jordan, I don't know what you're thinking!!! :) (the girl in the middle is Alyssa's friend, ShayAnne Ball, from her kindergarten class.)

We live close to an apartment complex that houses BYU-I single students. Some of the guys there built an igloo this winter. It was pretty cool! The kids loved it. It was huge too, I could stand up inside it.

Brian was very sweet for valentines this year. He gave me some chocolate covered strawberries and a corsage to wear to church. I am grateful to have such a wonderful husband. He says more in his actions than he does in words; which sometime is better than any words can describe. I love you, hun!

Sweet Alyssa turns 6!

On February 6th Alyssa had her "golden" birthday! She is an angel and a huge help to me. Don't get me wrong, she has her moments, but what girl doesn't, right?! She is an amazing girl and we love her to pieces!

Thanksgiving (yes I know it's March, but I want to talk about last Thanksgiving)!

We traveled to Arizona for Thanksgiving 2009. It was so much fun to see everyone and get to spend quality time. Unfortunately, we didn't get to spend a lot of time with Brian's parents (and family). We did, however, get to celebrate Emree's birthday with them and just hang out for the whole day. They even took the kids overnight so Brian and I could go on a date! It was so nice! We love them all!

My brother, Brad returned home from his mission a few weeks before Thanksgiving! It was so great to see him and his sweet, fun personality (as you can see :)! He was home for 3 months and found a sweet girl, Sabrina, with whom he is now engaged...quick mover! :) We couldn't be more happy for him. GO BRAD!

This trip Jeanette and Jeff let us stay at their house (Thank you, thank you!). The kids had so much fun with the "sleep over". In this picture Jordan had stuffed his blanket up his shirt. Don't ask me why, but when we took it out of his shirt he was sweating! Funny kid!

This is the most resent picture of all the grandkids on my side of the family. There are 17 all together so far! We love each and every one of them!

Fun taking a hay ride at night!

Great amazing food (Brian helped with this dish)!

This picture is a little dark but it shows just a fraction of the people (and food) that were at my parents house for Thanksgiving. I think we counted 80 people, all from the Rogers side of the family.

We also were able to visit our amazing, sweet, dear friends: the Berrey's.

This is Lily on her dirt bike tearing up the track!
This girl is amazing on the bike, and she's only 6!

The spectators!

Alyssa and Zaiden on the go-cart!

...and Jordan on the 4-wheeler! They had so much fun driving these. They could have gone for hours! Jordan saw a plane fly by when I took this picture. Normally he doesn't drive like this! Ü

Thanks to everyone for making our trip to Arizona so much fun! We love you all and miss you tons!