May Flowers

Skipping back to cheerful recollections...

...every year the re-emergence of the yellow spring flowers makes me smile. Ski runs are swapped for hiking trails, and it all makes me happy.

This is the very first year I've gotten to enjoy these trails with a dog. 

Zion has plenty of flaws, and I certainly have moments when I regret becoming a dog mom. However, when it comes to hiking the trails, he is fantastic. Just like with me, the mountains bring out out his best self.

Plus, how can you not love those ears.

Here we are hiking up to The Living Room.

This is my kind of arm chair.

I'm not quite sure why he was licking his face so much this day, but it was pretty hilarious.

More puppy pictures back at home. Annika adores her naughty pal.

As for me, I love Annika (and Talia and Eli) enough to tolerate Zion's antics. Even when he eats my pens. Here are a couple photos that I took while trying to get a decent one for my new nursing badge. Also, why do I stress about these things? Badge photos never resemble anyone anyway.

Just a girl and her dog. At least it's not a wolf.

I'm glad the foothills are close so that Zion can get time off leash to be free.

Annika enjoys the freedom too.

Moving on to more cultivated flower elegance, here are some more glimpses of spring in Salt Lake. These tulips are in our front yard. I love the few weeks when the flowers shine bright and the weeds are still shy.

A gorgeous tree in the International Peace Gardens. Brianna, Violet, and I met up here for a bike ride along the Jordan River trail.

What a cutie!

Believe it or not, after nearly nine years of living in Salt Lake City, I finally made it to the Conference Center rooftop this spring.  It's absolutely perfect for viewing the city and the ongoing construction of the Salt Lake Temple.

Glad Eli and Annika came with me!

More crazy adventures--meeting up with the Wilhoits at the whale.  Two pups is more than twice the fun.

Spying on the baby owls in the cemetery.  I adore how they come back to nest here every year!

You can almost always find deer in the cemetery as well, especially in the spring.

We have our own Popcorn Popping tree.

This naughty pup ate ALL the provolone.  In general he doesn't steal food off the table very often, but apparently cheese is a weakness.

Zion ought to join Sonja and I for a run to work off the indulgence.  In truth, he's kind of a pain to run with in the morning.  He often doesn't want to leave his crate, and after we get him outside he barks at all the cars.   At least the sunrise was gorgeous.

Crazy hair, don't care!

Checking out the flowers on Temple Square.  The display is always stunning.

 Back to flowers in the Foothills.  I know.  This post has absolutely no cohesiveness.  But hey, ain't nobody got no time for that.

Last but not least, here are Talia and I enjoying the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point.  This cute girl had never been.  Frankly, she can talk me into taking her nearly anywhere since I am going to miss her so much when she leaves in a couple weeks for college.  Except Scotland.  Much to her chagrin, we still haven't made it to Scotland.  Maybe next year.  :)

Feeding frenzy.

Perfect place for a cartwheel!  Remember when she was into gymnastics?

Yes, smiling flowers make me so happy, but smiling family is best.

Next Level Hard

It's been a long while since I last blogged--my apologies.  In truth, it's been a tough summer.  We'll get back to the cheery posts soon.  But first, I wanted to take a moment to be real.

For a long while now, Annika has felt miserable.  She's experienced nausea, abdominal pain and mouth sores off and on for several months.  While the pain hasn't been constant, there have been very few days where she hasn't felt sick for a substantial part of the day.  When I look back on Summer 2025, the image I will remember most is that of Annika curled in a ball and moaning on the couch.

There have been so many heartbreaking moments.  Annika counting down the days until Dungeons and Dragons at the library, only to call for a ride home early.  Annie curling up with her head in my lap instead of running around with her best friends at the zoo.  Getting picked up from overnight troop camp after an hour instead of getting to horseback ride and do the high ropes course.  Missing out on playing with her cousins.  Feeling too sick to walk Zion.  Leaving the table meal after meal with her plate untouched because it hurt too much to eat.

I generally disapprove of crass language, the most truthful way to sum it up is to say that it really sucked.  

I have often fought back tears, wondering whether we made a terrible mistake in proceeding with transplant. Pre-transplant Annika's activity was limited and she experienced pain when she exercised.  But in recent months she's been even more limited and felt sick almost all the time.   The transplant medications are absolutely critical, but at times it felt like we were poisoning our daughter.  

I think the only reason I can share all this is because we've finally found a medication that helps.  We've run a gazillion tests and still don't know why Annika is experiencing so much abdominal pain.  However, between an aggressive regimen of cyproheptadine for her stomach and dexamethasone/triamcinolone/lidocaine for the mouth sores, she is finally functioning again.  Watching Annika reengage with the world has brought so much hope to our family.  Two weeks ago, we questioned whether she could make it through a full-day of school.  Now we are all excited for her to begin seventh grade with her peers.

In coming posts, I plan to capture all the happy that happened this summer despite Annika's health challenges. But before I do, here are some photos of her struggle.  Remembering the hard times makes the joy of recovery particularly sweet.

Here's Annie following from her six-month cath. Because they accessed her heart through her groin, she had many hours of "flat time" followed by a migraine.  Poor kid.

One evening she felt up for a scooter ride up City Creek Canyon with Zion...

...but soon found her stomach hurt too much to continue.

Eventually she was so miserable that we took her to the pediatrician, who reached out to Annika's heart team.  By the end of the day the transplant team told us we needed to report to Primary Children's Emergency Department.  Of course, by this time Annika was actually feeling much better so we stopped off for some grapefruit gelato from the outpatient side before checking in.

I'm sure the emergency physicians were confused by this chipper tween coming in to get checked out for abdominal pain that wasn't currently present.  In the end, the x-ray and bloodwork didn't show much beyond some elevated inflammatory markers.

After a few hours the tummy pain came back.  Dang it.

The nausea and abdominal pain were no fun, but the mouth sores were torturous.  Sadly, the mouth sores are a known side effect of everolimus, one of her anti-rejection meds.  We could switch her back to myfortic, but everolimus offers some long-term protection for the kidneys and coronary arteries.  These are such tough decisions!

It didn't help that one of her prescriptions to treat them was on long-term backorder at the pharmacy.  We finally located some by calling around, but by that point the sores were already terrible.

Here's Annika gathering up her stuffies after calling for a ride home from camp.  (Thanks for the rescue, NomiAnn and Papa Kay.)  I was a parent volunteer and still had to stay with the troop, but it was pretty sad to be there without her.

Here she is feeling under the weather at an outdoor concert.  By this point, we were all really worried.  Annika's physical health was really starting to impact her mental health as well.  After years of enjoying Annika's exuberance, the world felt wrong with Annie depressed.

Desperate, we finally pulled some strings with Uncle Justin and got Annika into the GI clinic at Primary's.  We met with a doctor on Friday and scheduled her for an upper EGD scope (esophagogastroduodenoscopy) on Monday.

A little scary, but she did it.  She was quite happy that she could have flavored gas (tutti frutti) before getting her IV placed.  Unlike during other procedures, I was invited into the room to hold her hand as she drifted off to sleep.  I got so emotional watching my little girl go under anesthesia.  Even though I knew this was a safe and quick operation, I also understood that they would soon be shoving a camera down her throat and snipping tiny pieces from her esophagus, stomach, and duodenum. I felt overwhelmed by how much this child has been through.  She's a trooper, for sure.

When Annika's procedure was over, they called us into a "consult room" and I totally flipped out.  In my mind, you only get called into a consult room if the news is BAD.  (Like when they took Jason and I into a conference room to tell us Annika might need a transplant.)  But apparently this is just standard protocol for the Children's Procedural Center.  I was super relieved to learn that nothing major was going on.  However, in a bizarre sort way I felt equally disheartened when they told us that everything looked "stone cold normal."

Because, this.  Whether her gut looks great or not, something was obviously wrong.

I wish we had answers.  We don't.  But we have an effective treatment, and I'm going to take that as a win.  Life is happy again.  Plus, Talia took one for the team and told Annika that she could douse her with water if it would make it feel her feel better.  It definitely did.

Turn around is fair play.  Sure love this family!  And so glad you're feeling better, Annie Mae.  We love you!

P.S. In those moments when I question the necessity of Annika's transplant, it's important to remember that the biggest concern was that her heart would stop completely.  The road we are on may be challenging, but it's better than the alternative.  God pretty much sent a personal telegram that we needed to do this,  As always, we are so grateful to Annika's donor and all organ donors for making life possible.

So many kids

News update: I'm composing this post from the Denver airport. I have a long layover on my way to Omaha to help my parents pack up their home. They closed on a house in Murray today and have contracted to sell their beloved blue home on Capitol Avenue to a family with two little girls. Hopefully this next generation will love the treehouse as much as our kids have! As sad as it is to leave so many Nebraska memories behind, it's joyful to think of all the new Salt Lake memories we will make together.

In truth, our family has been pretty scattered all over the world lately. Last night Eli made the long journey home from Nice, France after three amazing European weeks with Christy and Ben. Talia has tickets to see Wicked on Broadway at Times Square today, and Brooklyn is living her best life as a missionary in Bilbao with Hermana Bailey (from Australia.) Left to her own antics at home, Annika apparently set off a fart bomb in the house today. Her excuse? "I was bored." Fortunately she goes to Girl Scout camp at Camp Trefoil up Provo Canyon on Sunday. Of course, she and Jason and Eli are all traveling to Idaho first to see Great-Grandma Hansen and celebrate the Fourth of July. By the time Annika gets back from camp, Talia will have come home and left again to go white-water rafting with the stake young women and Eli will be off camping at Schuester creek. And just think! The original plan was for everyone (Andruses, Wilhoits, and Wheelers of the Avenues, Millcreek and Hyde Park varieties) to share group campsite in Zion National Park this weekend!  Whew.  I'm tired just thinking about it all.

Back to building memories in Salt Lake, here's a fun memory from This is the Place park over Easter weekend. Baby animal days are the best! Where else can you pet an albino wallaby?

Thanks for joining jus, Papa Kay!

We were a little concerned that this llama might be in a spitting mood, but fortunately it behaved. Anders was a fan.

A cow cute enough to cuddle on the couch.

Plus, Annika and Eila now have proof that unicorns exist.

A true pioneer at heart.

Anders's going to have a tough time deciding between a career as a farmer, leatherworker, or blacksmith.

2025 was the year of the GOAT. Literally. So many caprine kids.

Of course, Papa Kay is partial to the lambs.

However, the goatish kids came out on top. Here's Annika at Baby Animal Days at Cross E Ranch. This may look like torture, but she was in heaven!

Quoting Annika, "This is the best day ever."

This farm bliss came courtesy of Jason's new calling as a high councilor for the Emigration Single Adults ward. They had a Family Home Evening event here and kindly invited us to join. Apparently one of the ward members' family owns this ranch.

To all my human kids (and hubby too), I miss you already!