Thursday at 9:21 am, I received a text message from my mom telling me that her and my dad were taking my Grandma Velda (my dad's mom) to the Cottonwood hospital since she wasn't feeling very well. The previous Sunday, she had been admitted in the Grangeville hospital for exceptionally high blood pressure. Anyway, the text came a little scrambled but I just figured she would get back to me and explain what she had meant. At 9:24am, my brother Brad called me and told me that my Grandma had passed away. At this time, I was on the other phone with Bradley so they both heard me break down into hysterics and yelling "No!". It was crazy!!! I immediately called my boss, went home and started packing the family up to go to Cottonwood and be with the family. At 9:39, my brother called again and said, "Did you hear, they revived her???" I was at first angry because I thought it was some cruel joke but after calming down, he explained it all to me so, here you go...
When I received my text from Mom, they were on the way from Grangeville to Cottonwood. Both towns are 14 miles apart. As they started going through Fenn (it really only takes a couple seconds to do so), Grandma started complaining that she was getting warm and wanted to take her coat off. They were traveling in her Durango with Dad driving, Grandma in the passenger seat and Mom in the back behind her. That is when Mom sent the jumbled text. She reached forward to help Grandma take off her coat and they said she made a big exhale of air and leaned forward...only being held up by the seat belt and her eyes were wide open. Mom immediately unbuckled and started trying to find a pulse but there was none to be found. She told my dad that she was gone. The next thing was to either get her to the hospital or pull over, call 911 and start CPR. They decided to drive as fast as humanly possible (roughly 115 mph from what I was told), call ahead to 911 and let them know they were coming and see what the outcome would be. After calling 911, my mom called my brother to call the rest of the family and let them know...which, is when I found out...a whole whopping 3 minutes after this happened.
When they pulled into the ER at St. Mary's Hospital in Cottonwood, a team of nurses, including my mom's best friend Teena, met them at the door. They immediately started CPR and within a minute or so, they said Grandma just opened her eyes and started looking around. She doesn't remember a thing!!! After an EKG and CAT scan, they set her up in a room and fed her lunch!! Can you believe it, within hours of having life-saving CPR done after being without a pulse for about 10 minutes, she was eating lunch!! The doctors aren't sure what exactly caused her to "die" but they are assuming it was from a UTI that made it's way into the bloodstream. My brother Dave and his family as well as my family of 5 came up that afternoon and gathered together to do what a family does. That evening, she had an MRI. The next day, my Aunt Vivian came and visited with her as well.
This morning, when all of us had left to come home (we all had to go back to work), they received the results from the MRI. She has a benign tumor in her brain which they say is pressing against her pituitary gland causing her to have problems with her vision. They are going to keep her until at least Monday since her blood pressure was starting to spike again this morning. It was a whirlwind of a day and quite the crazy couple of days. I am especially happy to know that all those people who care deeply for my Grandma were able to come and give her the support she needed during this crazy time. I guess those Mundt women are pretty darn tough!!! Thanks also to all my friends who called with love and kindness during this ordeal, you will truly be blessed in life because, we all know now that miracles happen everyday!
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Monday, December 15, 2008
And Baby Makes Three
My brother-in-law Korry and his wife Taffee have finally had their beautiful baby girl, Jaci Nikol Nielson. She was born December 13th at 8:00am and weighed in at 8lbs 6 oz and was 21" long. She has tons of hair and is absolutely adorable. I can't wait to see her in person!!!
Monday, December 8, 2008
And He Completely Redeems Himself...
Yesterday evening was the annual Costco Kids Christmas Party. For those of you who are not aware of what this is, I will give you a quick rundown. It is basically a party for all children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews of Costco employees, put on by our planning committee that is held during the month of December sometime...the only exception, last year when someone thought it would be cool to throw a Halloween party instead...guess I wasn't the only one who was bummed! Anywho, there are usually activities such as cookie decorating, ornament crafting and of course, pizza, dessert and a special visit from Santa. Each kid, if they cooperate, get their picture taken on Santa's lap and then they receive a goodie bag. Everyone also dresses up in their very best Christmas outfits.
This year, a magician was hired to entertain the kids during the last hour that the store was open. We all crammed inside the breakroom and watched the show. The guy was really good. I believe he is a local guy and his name is Christopher Smith. He kept everyone entertained and was hilarious. When the show finally ended and the announcement was made that pizza was being served out in the food court, all the kids and parents rushed out to get in line. A few kids stayed back to see if Mr. Magician Smith would perform a couple more tricks. That's when my son COMPLETELY redeemed himself for knocking over my Christmas tree. He walked up to the magician, reached out, shook his hand and said "Thank You!". I was in awe. I must let everyone know that not a single person told or asked him to do this...it was all his own idea. The coal is now being replaced in his stocking. It's nice to know that some things we are teaching him are sinking in!!! For all those interested, I will post pictures later on of this event.
This year, a magician was hired to entertain the kids during the last hour that the store was open. We all crammed inside the breakroom and watched the show. The guy was really good. I believe he is a local guy and his name is Christopher Smith. He kept everyone entertained and was hilarious. When the show finally ended and the announcement was made that pizza was being served out in the food court, all the kids and parents rushed out to get in line. A few kids stayed back to see if Mr. Magician Smith would perform a couple more tricks. That's when my son COMPLETELY redeemed himself for knocking over my Christmas tree. He walked up to the magician, reached out, shook his hand and said "Thank You!". I was in awe. I must let everyone know that not a single person told or asked him to do this...it was all his own idea. The coal is now being replaced in his stocking. It's nice to know that some things we are teaching him are sinking in!!! For all those interested, I will post pictures later on of this event.
Monday, December 1, 2008
Someday I'll Look Back And Laugh...
But today is definitely NOT that day!!! Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures to display my anger so you'll just have to make do with my exceptional story-telling abilities...
Yesterday afternoon, the kids and I put our Christmas tree up. Usually this is something I do solo but this year, I decided they were old enough to help. Miraculously, it was beautiful and perfect in every way. The kids decided on purple and white decorations this year since we have done red and gold the last several years (if you know me at all, you'll know that I have hundreds of color-themed ornaments). Anyway, we spent a good portion of the afternoon setting it up, decorating it, tweaking it to make it just perfect and then decorating the rest of the house. All of that lasted one beautiful night!!!
Today, we arrived home around 4:00 in the afternoon, plugged the tree in and started to get ready for our evening. I had to make a phone call to my dear friend Anne and decided to step into Jordyn's room to do so...it was a little quieter. No more than a minute later, Jordyn came running in saying, "Um Mom, something happened..." As I looked out through the bedroom door, I noticed my otherwise beautiful living room corner was empty. Stepping into the living room, I realized why....my tree was knocked over on the floor!!!! I have never in my life been so incredibly mad at my children. My friend quickly made her departure from our phone conversation.
It turns out that Jeylin, being the ever-hyper kid that he is, thought that running and jumping on the couch were good things to do....especially since being told to never do that again. The two were bickering about who knocked the tree over but I finally got the truth out...Jeylin had actually kicked it over! I was fuming and both kids were sent to their rooms until I had a substantial amount of time to "cool down".
We, or rather THEY, were lucky though; none of my ornaments broke! That might be due in part to the fact that we no longer have hardwood floors in our living room. Another lucky part, the tree did not fall into Daddy's brand new TV and probably the most lucky aspect of all, it did not fall on Kierra!!!
As I stood the tree up, I realized that not only had it fallen over, it had rolled and so, the ornaments were strewn everywhere as well as glitter and hooks. I set it back up, bagged up all the ornaments that were on the floor and decided to leave it until Bradley came home. Once again, if you know me at all, you'll realize that there was no way I was going to leave my tree looking like that for 3 hours!!! I took all the decorations off, straightened the light strands and redecorated. It took me an hour and I still don't think it looks as perfect as it did but I guess I'll have to live with it.
One final warning to my children this evening...."Don't even so much as BREATHE on my tree or you will both be sent to your rooms!!!" Well, I hope everyone got quite the chuckle...I know Anne and my mother did....but, I guess it will just take me a little bit longer to look back and laugh. Sure wish I would have snapped some pictures though! Here is oneof my "second" finished product...sorry but the camera really doesn't do it any justice at all. I'll try to post better ones later.
Yesterday afternoon, the kids and I put our Christmas tree up. Usually this is something I do solo but this year, I decided they were old enough to help. Miraculously, it was beautiful and perfect in every way. The kids decided on purple and white decorations this year since we have done red and gold the last several years (if you know me at all, you'll know that I have hundreds of color-themed ornaments). Anyway, we spent a good portion of the afternoon setting it up, decorating it, tweaking it to make it just perfect and then decorating the rest of the house. All of that lasted one beautiful night!!!
Today, we arrived home around 4:00 in the afternoon, plugged the tree in and started to get ready for our evening. I had to make a phone call to my dear friend Anne and decided to step into Jordyn's room to do so...it was a little quieter. No more than a minute later, Jordyn came running in saying, "Um Mom, something happened..." As I looked out through the bedroom door, I noticed my otherwise beautiful living room corner was empty. Stepping into the living room, I realized why....my tree was knocked over on the floor!!!! I have never in my life been so incredibly mad at my children. My friend quickly made her departure from our phone conversation.
It turns out that Jeylin, being the ever-hyper kid that he is, thought that running and jumping on the couch were good things to do....especially since being told to never do that again. The two were bickering about who knocked the tree over but I finally got the truth out...Jeylin had actually kicked it over! I was fuming and both kids were sent to their rooms until I had a substantial amount of time to "cool down".
We, or rather THEY, were lucky though; none of my ornaments broke! That might be due in part to the fact that we no longer have hardwood floors in our living room. Another lucky part, the tree did not fall into Daddy's brand new TV and probably the most lucky aspect of all, it did not fall on Kierra!!!
As I stood the tree up, I realized that not only had it fallen over, it had rolled and so, the ornaments were strewn everywhere as well as glitter and hooks. I set it back up, bagged up all the ornaments that were on the floor and decided to leave it until Bradley came home. Once again, if you know me at all, you'll realize that there was no way I was going to leave my tree looking like that for 3 hours!!! I took all the decorations off, straightened the light strands and redecorated. It took me an hour and I still don't think it looks as perfect as it did but I guess I'll have to live with it.
One final warning to my children this evening...."Don't even so much as BREATHE on my tree or you will both be sent to your rooms!!!" Well, I hope everyone got quite the chuckle...I know Anne and my mother did....but, I guess it will just take me a little bit longer to look back and laugh. Sure wish I would have snapped some pictures though! Here is oneof my "second" finished product...sorry but the camera really doesn't do it any justice at all. I'll try to post better ones later.
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