Colorado & Bears!!!!!

What started as a cabin cleaning day at the Colorado cabin on Thursday, July 24th ended as a bear adventure.  When we found out that bears had been coming to eat on some dead calves in Bear Creek and that 7 had been seen the night before at one time, we decided to stay later than planned to try to see them.  

We went to the hill overlooking the meadow where the bears had been spotted and waited.  It didn't take very long before a cinnamon colored bear, with black legs and a black head wandered in to the meadow and started to eat.  We moved down the hill so we could see him better.

Eventually, a second bear came down the hill and in to the meadow.  He was also a cinnamon color with black legs and a black head but he had more black on him.  The two bears checked each other out and almost looked like they were dancing or boxing at times.  The second bear seemed to be more aggressive and chased the first one away a few times but it returned.  We were able to watch the two of them for quite awhile.  Jed and Justin moved closer and took pictures.

Justin wanted to get a closer view of the bears and crept closer to them.  He got within about 20 yards of them. They looked at him and even took a few steps towards him which made us very nervous.  They eventually ran into the trees and circled around us, coming pretty close to the rest of us who were watching and then disappeared up the hill and into the trees.  After they were gone, a black bear came into the meadow and started to eat.  That made 3 bears that we had seen.  They were so awesome!!!!!

Weekend in Payson

We made another quick trip to Payson this weekend.  Lexi and Jensen were competing in a swim meet (they both did a real well-it was fun to watch), Deco needed help on his yard and Marilyn was having her first Lia Sophia jewelry party (Noelle and Maxon came and spent the afternoon with us).   We are doing our part in keeping the oil companies in business!!!

American Idol

I am probably one of the biggest fans ever of American Idol and so for Mother's Day and Father's Day this year, some of our family gave us tickets to their concert.  It was on Monday, July 14th at the E-Center in Salt Lake.  It was so much fun and we weren't even the only old people there!!  It was very loud and crazy.  When David Archalette sang his 4 songs the audience were on their feet screaming and clapping throughout his whole performance.  We forgot to take our cameras and so we didn't get pictures (only a couple of cell phone shots) of the concert and no pictures of our time spent with the kids and grandkids:(

4-wheeling with Jericho Road

On July 10th and 11th the singing group Jericho Road was in Blanding for a youth conference.  They did a fireside on Thursday night, the 10th and then a concert on Friday, the 11th.  We had been asked ahead of time if we could help take them out on a 4-wheeling ride on Friday morning.  We met at 8:00 AM at the Stake Center and loaded up and headed out to Arch Canyon.  There were the 4 members of Jericho Road--Bret, Dave, Justin and Abe and then Justin's wife, Kristi.  Craig Halls, Joe F. Lyman, Pres. Oliver Harris, Jed and I went with them.  They were all very nice and it was fun to be with them for the day.  An interesting side note is that Justin's wife, Kristi, was 8 months pregnant.  She rode on a 4-wheeler behind her husband and hiked up to the ruins and everything-we were all a little worried but it turned out ok!!!  It was a fun day.  Arch Canyon is so beautiful and interesting.  There are a lot of ruins to see and it is so gorgeous!!

Bone Marrow Transplant

On the 8th of July Uncle Mike received his "Bone Marrow Transplant".  Here is the e-mail that Michele sent a few days later.  We love Uncle Mike and are all praying for him.

Hi,

As you all know, Mike (Melvin McKay Halliday) was diagnosed just over a year ago with leukemia.  Right from the beginning, the doctors started talking about a bone marrow transplant.  So Candice and my mom were tested to see if they matched Mike.

There are 10 antigens in the white blood cells that could match in donor and recipient.  A good match is 7 or 8.  My mom and Mike matched all 10.  An interesting fact is that they have different blood types--Mike is O+ and my mom is A+.

After the testing, they decided not to do the transplant last year.  Mike received lots of chemotherapy and eventually the leukemia was gone.

On May 14th (his 59th birthday) of this year, Mike received the phone call that the leukemia was back.  He was back in the hospital 4 days later having a chemo treatment and he called to ask my mom how her bone marrow was.  They needed to do the transplant.

So this week we watched the miracle happen.

Each morning for 4 days (starting July 3), my mom went in for a shot (in her stomach) that increased the stem cell production in her bone marrow.  Her bones were achy and she got headaches.  On the 5th day, she got another shot and got a catheter put into her jugular vein.  Then that morning, over a 4-hour period, 14 liters of blood were taken out, run through a machine that removed the calcium first, then the stem cells, and then put back into her body.  14 liters of blood is approximately 2 to 2 1/2 times her body's full blood supply.  The next morning, the 6th day, she received another shot and then they removed 14 liters of blood again.

The first day's collection was one cup.  1% of that cup of liquid was stem cells.  It looked like watered down blood.  There were 2.7 billion stem cells collected the first day.  That's a lot but Shawn could probably count them.  There were 3.6 million stem cells per some unit of measurement (I can't remember what).  They said that was a great number.  We don't know the number of stem cells collected the second day but they figured it would be about 2 million per unit.

My dad and I went to the hospital on the second day.  we watched my mom's blood run through a machine and then back into her.  The second day they warmed the blood before it went back because the first day she got really cold (which never happens) from the cold blood.  they also put calcium back into the blood before it went back because she felt very tingly due to a loss of calcium.  We saw the little bag of stem cells hanging there and the plasma that was also collected.  We watched the tech pack it in a cooler that is kept at room temp.  A technician stayed with my mom and the machine the whole time both days.  The tech personally delivered the stem cells to the lab.

When my mom was done, all 3 of us went to Mike's room.  He had received his last chemo treatment 2 days before (July 6th).  The infusion of stem cells from the first day had just started.  They are run into him like an IV.  He has a line into his jugular vein.  It took just over an hour or so.  I sat and held the little tube and watched the cells run through it.  The nurse kept checking his vital signs to make sure he wasn't having a reaction to receiving foreign cells into his body.   While we were there, the nurse and other staff members came in with a birthday balloon.  They sang Happy Birthday to him because it was the first day of his new life and being a new person.

The stem cells will take 2-3 weeks to ingraft ( I thing that's the word they used) in his bones.  They they'll start producing A+ blood.  So Mike's blood type will be changed.  Over the next few weeks, he'll need blood transfusions since he has no bone marrow to produce blood.  They'll give him O+ red blood cells but A+ plasma and platelets.  If there are any remaining leukemia cells, my mom's cells will kill them off.  as soon as his white blood count is 500 then he can leave the hospital but has to stay somewhere close.  I don't know how long he has to be here in SLC.

It is an amazing miracle and so neat to watch.  You can send this to anyone that you think might be interested.

Love, Michele

4th of July in Blanding

We had a wonderful 4th of July weekend.  Most of our family was here.  Jeremy and Heather and their kids and Deco did not make it:( but everyone else was here.  

We played hard, ate a lot of food and had so much fun. 

 Some of the family played softball in the Midnight Madness tourney. Some ran in the 5K race. 

We ate and four-wheeled on the Blue Mtn.  We went to the parade and the carnival.  

We went to the melodrama and the fireworks. There is nothing as fun as the 4th of July in Blanding!!!