March-Ted's Passing

I think this post is the reason I have been putting off my blogging for so long. I knew I would eventually get caught up to this point and I was putting it off for as long as I could. We were fortunate enough to be able to spend a whole week in Blackfoot right before Ted died. Tyrel took some extra days off of work and  we had a lot of nice visits and were able to help with lots of things around the farm. We returned home because Tyrel was getting short on days off only to get a call the next day saying we needed to come back right away. So we quickly did some laundry, paid bills, etc and made the drive back. I don't want to go into details of his sickness or what it was like before he died. He was so amazing, strong and such a fighter through it all, but his sickness didn't define him because he was all of those things even when he wasn't sick. I am so blessed to belong to the Bingham family. They excepted me into their home and into their family from day one. I was always kind of nervous to gain "in-laws" and more siblings. But honestly when I married into their family I only felt like I gained another set of parents and 4 more brothers. It has always been so easy and natural for us to get a long and to love each other. I always tease Tyrel and tell him that I fell in love with his family first, but I knew from the very beginning that I wanted to be a part of his incredible family. I had a special bond with Ted, we were very close. When we lived about a mile down the road from them they had some land that they farmed behind our house. He would come over quite often and we would just sit and visit. Somehow he always seemed to know the days that I needed a visit and when he left I was always much happier. Even after we moved we would talk regularly on the phone because he knew he could get more out of me than he could Tyrel ha ha. He always introduced me to people as his daughter and that meant a lot to me. Whenever him and Kindra sent me cards for my birthday or whenever, they were always daughter cards never "daughter-in-law" cards. I was always glad to know they felt the same way about me as I did them. When we moved from Blackfoot I bawled like a baby because we were moving away from them. Now in a few days we will be moving back to Blackfoot and I am so excited, but sad too. I always knew one day that we would move back to farm full time, that has always been our ultimate goal. Never in a million years did I imagine moving back to farm without Ted being a part of that. He is the heart and soul of that place and I always imagined my kids growing up with him around being a big part of their lives too. He still will be a big part of their lives, just in a very different way. It doesn't seem fair to lose someone you love so much especially when they are so young and would have had so much life left to live. There was a very calming and peaceful feeling when he passed. I felt it and I think everyone else did as well. I am so happy that he doesn't have to suffer anymore. He fought a long and hard fight and it gives me so much joy to think of him back to his normal happy and healthy self. It was so amazing to see how many people came to the viewings and to the funeral. He touched SO many peoples lives, it was incredible. I can't even think of words to say to honor the kind of man that he was. I loved him so much. I am so grateful to have a knowledge of life after death. I know without a doubt that we will all be together again someday and that this life is only a glimpse of what is really in store for all of us. I know that families are forever. I know that our Savior lives and that he loves us. I know that He knows us all personally. I know that He suffered for our sins and died for us so that we can be with our families forever. It brings me so much comfort to know these truths.  Here is the link to his obituary if you are interested in reading it. He was such a great man with an even greater testimony.
http://www.memorialsolutions.com/sitemaker/memsol.cgi?user_id=1263532

Best day ever:)

Tytyn adores his Grandpa. And I think its safe to say the feeling was mutual:)

A fun day trip we took 2 summers ago. The picture below is of the same trip. It wasn't the nicest of days, but the boys still jumped into that lake from a rope swing ha ha.

I loved his little half smile smirk.

Our last full family picture together before Dawson left on his mission.

See that real smile that was captured?! I think its because he was out in his element doing what he loved!

I don't know what to say about this picture, it just cracks me up.

He loved taking the boys for rhino rides around the farm. This is something that Tytyn remembers well and I know he will miss doing this with his Grandpa. 

This was Tytyn's blessing day. Ted was so excited to get his first grand baby. He had a special little bond with him from the beginning. Tytyn would always fall asleep on him and always wanted to go to him. It was really sweet to watch.

February and Tyrel's Ear Surgery

I don't remember that much about February and I only have a few pictures from that month to help jog my memory. The biggest thing that happened in February was Tyrel finally had surgery on his ear. When Tyrel was in Junior High he had a pivot tire blow up in his face causing some severe ear damage. Being the kind of boy that he was he didn't even mention what had happened to his parents until he couldn't stand the pain any longer. He had it least 2 surgeries to put tubes in, but it didn't do much. It didn't repair his hearing and he would still get infections quite often. Since we've been married, every time we've been swimming or gone water skiing he has always gotten a REALLY bad ear infection. It wasn't worth it for him to swim or water ski anymore. He finally had it looked at about 3 years ago by a doctor when we lived in Pocatello. The doctor found a cholesteatoma in his ear (some sort of growth or tumor). He said it was big enough that he needed it removed right away. We scheduled a surgery with him. He was a really interesting doctor (horrible bedside manner). Basically the only things he told us was that the surgery shouldn't take more than an hour and that he would be able to remove it all through the ear hole so that they wouldn't have to cut him open. Well I sat in that waiting room for a good 5 hours with NO updates at all. I kept walking up to the desk and asking them what was going on, but they weren't ever able to tell me anything except that he was still in surgery. Finally he was done and in recovery. I had to wait another hour while he woke up and gathered his bearings and then they brought me back. He looked AWFUL. The only words out of his mouth were please take me home. I never got to see or talk to the doctor to see what had happened. I only was able to talk to a nurse who gave me the discharge papers and gave me instructions on the drugs he should take. So we headed home and got him put to bed. He woke up a few hours later complaining of a lot of pain, which I obviously figured would be normal, but he kept saying the pain was behind his ear, not even in his ear. So I checked it out and the whole side of his head was matted with blood! I kind of freaked out a little because after looking a little more I could see that there was a big incision all the way down behind the length of his ear. I went and grabbed the paperwork the nurse had given me because I remembered seeing a section on wound care. They hadn't written anything under that section. I couldn't believe that they had cut my husband's head open and didn't even tell me, let alone write anything on the paper of how to take care of him! I was so angry! We had the surgery done on a Friday and by the time we realized all of this everyone had already gone home from work. I called the doctors office and the outpatient center that he had the surgery at and left some messages for them. They must have been able to tell that I was not happy because even though they don't work on Saturdays I got a call back. It wasn't even the doctor who called me back it was his partner in the office who apparently handles all of the communication issues. He apologized over and over and couldn't believe that we hadn't been updated or told anything. So he went ahead and gave me details on the surgery even though he hadn't even been there and then he proceeded to give me instructions on how to take care of the incision. He invited us to come back into the office so that he could talk to us in person about things. Tyrel wasn't feeling well so we didn't meet with him for quite a few days, but when we did it was still this other doctor who was meeting with us. The doctor who had done the surgery was too embarrassed to come and talk to us so he was having his partner do it. I understand that surgeries don't always go as planned and that a lot of times they can take longer than previously thought, but I felt like he should have had the decency to it least send someone out to update us on what was going on. or meet with me afterwards and tell me how it went. So anyway fast forward a few years and we're living here in Vernal and Tyrel needed to get his ear checked again because the surgery  he had had in Pocatello wasn't a guarantee of getting all of the growth out. Plus he still had the bum ear drum and couldn't hear out of that ear. The doctor in Pocatello did tell us that the surgery he would do would be only to remove the growth and that he would need another one to fix his ear drum completely. So we met with a doctor in Roosevelt and he was able to take a look in Tyrel's ear. He told Tyrel he didn't want anything to do with his ear and that we should go and see a specialist in Salt Lake. The doctor in Salt Lake is supposedly a world renown doctor and specializes in ear surgeries. So we took a trip up to see him and he confirmed that for sure Tyrel would need another ear surgery, even possibly two. Well it took us a year to decide and plan a date for him to get it done, but he FINALLY got it done in February and to make a long story short it went awesome! Tytyn and I were able to go be with him while he was prepped and up until they took him back for surgery. I was called to the front desk when they started the surgery and was kept updated throughout the whole thing. The doctor talked with me after the surgery was finished and told me how everything went. He explained that he was able to do everything he needed to in this one surgery and that he should never need another one again. It would still be a couple more months before he can get his ear wet and completely under water, but by July he should be able to swim and water ski and do whatever without worrying about getting any sort of infection. He said if he got any hearing back at all it could take up to 6 months. Tyrel didn't care at all about getting any hearing back and honestly if he does get it back I'm not sure he will tell me ha ha. He loves using his deafness as an excuse for things. So we're glad that all of that is over with! The greatest part about this whole situation is obviously that he won't have so many problems with that ear anymore, but also I had one of the best laughs of my life when we were brought back to see him right when he got out of surgery. I kind of figured it would be like last time, that he would be in so much pain that he wouldn't even want to talk and would be really grouchy for weeks ha ha. So Tytyn and I walked into his room and his eyes were closed and he had a look of pain on his face. I was feeling really bad for him and went up and kissed him on the cheek. He jumped back and said "Who are you?!"
Me: Ummmm I'm your wife ha ha ha.
Tyrel: I'm married?!
Me: Uh ya!
Tyrel: "Looks me up and down", "Well dang I did good!"
Me: Laughing hysterically. "Ok Love you know who I am quit joking around."
Tyrel: Why did you just call me love?
Me: Because that's what I call you, I'm your wife and this is your son! -As I point to Tytyn-
Tyrel: What!? I have a son?!
Me: Tyrel come on be serious.
Tyrel: -Looks at Tytyn- "Yup he must be mine look at what a stud he is!"
At this point Tytyn is cracking up too and keeps saying Dad, Dad quit being so weird. And every time he called him Dad Tyrel would say, "Why do you keep calling me Dad?"
I really couldn't tell if he didn't know us or if the drugs had just made him super playful. He is normally a big tease and loves to push my buttons so I was thinking the drugs had just heightened that ha ha.
Me: "Yes love you are a Dad and you have one on the way too!" -I pointed to my belly-
Tyrel: "OH dang I done good!"
Then the nurse walks in and Tyrel points to me and says, "thats my wife, she's pretty dang sexy isn't she." I got super embarrassed and just started laughing. The nurse was just like, "Ya your pretty lucky." ha ha Then she proceeded to tell Tyrel that she really wanted him to try and use the bathroom and if he didn't think he could get up to do it she'd leave him with one of those cup things that he could try and go in. He didn't think he could get up so she left the cup and her offer of help. But I told her I could handle helping him if he needed it. He wouldn't let me help him because he said he was afraid I wouldn't be able to keep my hands off of him and he didn't want people walking in on us ha ha. I just laughed and looked at Tytyn and said I'm pretty sure that won't be a problem. Well he couldn't get himself to go and so a male nurse came in to help him up out of bed and to help him walk to the restroom. As he sat him up he proceeded to tie the strings to the hospital gown because they were all undone. Tyrel brushed his hands away and said, "It's ok don't worry about those I'll just give everyone out in the hall a good little show." We all laughed and Tytyn said,"Dad! Nobody wants to see your dirty bum crevice out there!" That got me laughing! Anyways, this post has been long enough, I just wanted to remember some of these things for myself. He was high on those drugs for a good hour or more and felt so well he wanted to drive home that night. We had planned on staying at my Grandma's house in Sandy, but he wanted to go home to his own bed. He was a champ to make it 3 hours home, I drove of course. His recovery has gone a lot smoother this time around and pretty soon here he should be able to get his ear wet again. The whole day was just a blessing. I was really worried about what a long day it would be for all of us. With me being pregnant and entertaining Tytyn while hanging out at the hospital, I just didn't know how it was all going to pan out. The whole day just went so smoothly though. Tytyn was SO good the whole day, which isn't too surprising. He is a really good boy and can be entertained very easily. They have a huge waiting room and we had packed a big bag full of games, puzzles, books and trucks to play with. Between our activities and getting lunch in the cafeteria the day went by really fast. I was also worried about the drive home because I hate driving in the dark and when I'm driving its hard for me to get things for Tytyn, but the drive went so smoothly. Tytyn never whined or complained about needing anything and after making that drive so many times I felt like it was the fastest it had ever gone. We were truly blessed that day in so many ways and I am so grateful for the Lord continuously watching over us.

Tytyn falls asleep like this a lot of nights, I think it's pretty darn cute!

We had a lot of really nice days after Tyrel's surgery (in February), which is kind of surprising, but it was good. We were able to sit outside a lot and watch Tytyn ride his bike and go on family walks. I know he is way too big for this bike, but his legs are SO long. He isn't even quite 4 and is growing out of 5T pants. He's got long legs like Daddy.

Our first shipment of cattle left in February.

This was the day we shipped cattle and the cutest things happened. I walked outside with Tytyn to take pictures and from far away could see Collin. From where he was standing I could only see the side of his face and he looked EXACTLY like Dawson! The resemblance was crazy. I didn't say anything about it though just noticed it and kept it to myself. Anyways Tytyn spotted him about a minute later and just started screaming and jumping up and down saying, "Mom, Mom look its Dawson, Dawson's home!!!" I was like oh bud actually that's Collin, but it sure looks like Dawson huh, I even thought the same thing. Tytyn was so adamant and was like NO Mom, that is Dawson. Just then Collin tuned to face us and started walking over and Tytyn was like oh never mind its just Collin. I thought it was pretty cute how excited he got thinking his uncle was home from his mission already. 

My sleeping angel. Every night and go in his room to check on him before I go to bed and I smooch on his cheeks about a hundred times and whisper to him how much I love him and what a special little boy he is. There's something about a sleeping child, they are just little angels! My favorite is when he will wake up a little bit and very groggily say my favorite phrase,"I love you so much Mommy." And then he'll roll over and go back to sleep.