hApPy inDepENdeNceDaY ! ! !

take a moment today to thank GOD for the country we live in and the freedom that we hold dear!

and while you are at it, thank a soldier if you see one too!! :)
if today is the "4th of july" then last night must have been
"4th of july -eve" - right?
well, what a better way to spend it than with family around the campfire?? :)
(papa buck and gramma dodo came over too - after i'd put the camera away - uncle tim did capture some shots though, including kajsa getting a hair cut - i'm SURE he'll put them on HIS blog- HA!)
if you can't tell by the pictures, kaci and uncle tim were trying to become friends! :) taya's looking for deer, and she & tessa are wrapped up because they just got out of the pool. i'm not sure WHERE kajsa was!! :)
today, we are off to CELEBRATE!! :)
tessa has to play in the band for the parade in stephenson and kajsa is in the parade with her best friend's family! :)
rick and taya are staying home and going to the bethel church "parade" (the walk from the church to the mellen township park) where we will all meet up for lunch and visiting this afternoon!
fireworks in stephenson tonight and the weather is just BEAUTIFUL this morning to start the day!! a bit cool at 50 degrees, but sunny, blue skies! :)

O.K. It worked! This is very cool! Now I know why the kids @school like their phones! But HOW do they get any school work done?

Testing to see if I can post from my phone!

hopefully we are done visiting the e.r. . . .

i SO should be in bed,but just a QUICK update on rick. . .
since sunday, he's still been having SOME dizziness, but the dr. said it could last up to SIX weeks, so 2 days is to be expected . . . what was NOT expected was a fever (almost 103) and the SHAKES that he started with today. i was up at school going over some things with tina (my friend & co-worker) when the girls called and put rick on the phone and he told me how sick he was . . . so off the the e.r. we headed again. this time it was TWO bags of i.v. fluids and a bag of an antiboitic, 5 tubes of blood, a urine sample (sorry, i know, t.m.i.), a chest x-ray and two swabs up his NOSE - YUCK. the dr. really seemed to think it was the H1N1 flu (a.k.a. SWINE FLU), but that came back negative, but his little sample in a cup indicated a bladder infection . . . totally unrelated to the sunday issues . . . hopefully this antibiotic will kick the infection out quickly and rick can be back to feeling himself soon! :)
(he's not the greatest patient, and i am most definately NOT the best nurse - obviously - he is in bed and i'm out here on the computer!)

e.k.g.'s, c.t. scans & would you like any sauce with that??

some days just end up differently than you think they will! to give a little background here, do you remember me mentioning that is was just a little warm this week? well, warm, as in HOT? and i mean HOT (in "yooper-speak" at least!) we had 3 days where our thermometer read over 90 degrees. (for any non-yoopers out there - that is HOT for us!) and, it's even HOTTER when you are building houses for a living! so, when rick complained of being tired, and even a little dizzy, i chalked it up the the heat and outdoor work this week - maybe a little dehydration . . . being thankful that yesterday was relatively cool and rainy! so, this morning, when he wakes up and says he has a shooting pain in his left ear, we immediately assume ear infection. i'm realizing that it must be quite miserable as he doesn't argue when i say i'm taking him to the walk-in clinic after church! so, after church, we head down town for a quick stop at the walk in to get a prescription for antibiotics, then off to a quick drive through lunch and home to mow the lawn and enjoy today's cooler weather . . . so the girls and i wandered around a bit (the walk in clinic is in shopko), and waited . . . rick was out really quickly and he told me that they refunded his $45.00 charge? what?? why?? doctors DON'T do that!! oh, yes they do, when they are sending you the the E.R.!!!!!! so, now, i'm a little stressed, but the girls are with us, so let's make it a bit of an adventure . . . off to the hospital we go (rick DID tell them he'd just go to his dr. tomorrow, and they said, no, you really should go to the e.r.)
so we get to the hospital, check in, and get into a "room" (more on that later) quite quickly. the dr. comes in and reviews rick's sypmtoms with him . . . dizziness, ear pain, a bit nauseous feeling . . . and informs us that 3 people already today have come in with symptoms similar to that . . . the first 2 had a viral ear infection - it's running through the community . . . whew - what a relief . . . oh, but the 3rd, well, we sent him for a c.t. scan and found a brain tumor. comforting.
so, since rick is over 50, with odd symptoms, the dr. orders bloodwork, an e.k.g. and a c.t. scan (looking for a brain tumor??) in between tests and while we waited, the girls were out in the lobby acting like they were at a party, not the hospital e.r. waiting room sitting like the perfectly, well behaved young ladies that they are (for TWO hours and 16 minutes, mama, kajz informed me!)
rick and i were in his nice, little private room "group" cubicle where we sat in peace, quiet, and much privacy were entertained by the patients near us, seperated by just a thin curtain . . . . we knew their heights, weights, alcohol & tobacco habits, whether they were going home or being admitted . . . just about everything they shared with medical personnel remained in complete confidentiality was providing us with our entertainment for the afternoon! so much for HIPA or whatever it's supposed to be called!! :) well after that nice doctor (he really was a NICE guy!) scared us a bit (brain tumors?) he came in and went over all the results which were all quite PERFECT and it must be the viral ear infection thing - "there are 2 more people have come in since you got here with the SAME symptoms" . . . so rick came home with an anti-dizzy medicine and instructions to take it easy this week and not climb! - ha! right! we'll see how THAT goes! after all the excitement, we were quite hungry so we stopped at taco bell and got some "lupper" (lunch/supper) and headed home. but, the "fruitista" that tessa & i got looked so good to taya & rick & kajsa that we stopped at the OTHER taco bell and got 3 more of those and some cinnamon twists . . . when we got to the window, the girl politely asked us "would you like any sauce with that today?" now, if i hadn't been TIRED and really ready to just GET HOME, maybe it wouldn't have been SO FUNNY, but i lost it!! :) and then, rick says, "yeah, some HOT sauce"!! :) it was nice to end the "journey" on a silly note! :)
now, rick is off to bed, resting up for the week that looks to be a good 20 degrees cooler than last week, the girls are camping out in the tent and i'm looking around at all the "stuff" that i should be doing rather than playing around on the internet!! :)

happy anniversary!

a very special happy anniversary TODAY to
DAD & MOM RYE
and to
TIM & ROCHET!
we love you all!
have a wonderful day!

we love kaci♥

it's as bad as having a new baby in the house

when you can devote an entire slide show to the puppy!

but, she's sure cute, isn't she?!

she LOVES to be WITH us!

if we are on the pool deck,

or at a bonfire roasting s'mores,

or playing in the yard,

or typing at the computer,

or sleeping out in this . . .

which is what we did last night!

all of us girls!

mommy

tessa

taya

kajsa

&

kaci!

daddy slept in his own comfy bed! :)

we could have left the cats with him . . .

but that would have been worse than being alone i think!