New Baby Pic

Okay... I know I'm being obsessive, but I thought I'd pass along news and a picture from our ultrasound appointment today. Everything appears normal except for something called Hyperechoic Bowel, which is where the intestine, which normally appears gray on the ultrasound, appears a dense white color. This can be signs of some complications, but in most cases "it is a normal part of the baby's development and is not going to cause any problems." The doctor also took a guess at the baby's gender. This is not definite, but it appears that we will be having a boy. She also mentioned that based on her measurements the due date would be the 24th of May, but since it's only a guess on either doctor's part we'll just stick with the 22nd for now.

Lots of love, Karen

Gmyr update for Nov 28th, 2004

I hope everyone had an enjoyable holiday with their families and friends. Ours was pretty uneventful as we stayed home and cooked ourselves turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and corn. Dan was very happy because of all the dishes, only one of them he is technically allowed to eat on his diet. We also had some rolls that we had purchased a while ago and kept in the freezer (those ones that you can take out a few at a time and bake), but they had been in the freezer so long they worked better as bricks than bread.

The pregnancy continues. As this is all new to me I really am not sure what to expect, but I do know it looks more like Dan feeds me VERY well than that I am expecting a child. My pants and garments are rather tight around the middle, but I thank Heavenly Father that I've always loved big T-shirts, sweatshirts, and turtlenecks, because I'm pretty sure they will last the entire pregnancy. We've come up with some names we've liked, but we're still don't know the gender so it's more what sounds good rather than coming up with something definite (not that we don't have plenty of time to decide). It's nice that the "morning sickness" has abated somewhat. It's gotten to the point that I can pretty much ignore it in the morning and almost all day. As long as I have something in my stomach I'm usually okay.

I'm happy to hear from Jennifer and the good news from up north. I'm actually rather glad that we won't have twins at our house, but it sounds like an exciting adventure. It's good that you'll have help around the house with the other kids and Andy.

The only news we have at our house is our upcoming trip to Albuquerque right after Christmas. We'll more than likely be driving out on the 27th to avoid holiday and Sunday travel. We're not sure how long we'll stay, but we can't leave the cats along very long so it will more than likely only be 3-4 days. I'm looking forward to seeing family, and I think Dan's looking forward to not being chained to the phone for work (they still have him on call 9 out of 10 weekends).

Have we made any other suggestions or plans for a possible family reunion in 2005? It would be nice to know a little in advance since Dan will have to have about 3-4 months to request the time off and have it be approved. I would really enjoy seeing all of the family I don't get to see or hear from much. Steve and Beverly, this means you ;).

Dad, I'm excited to know that you and Lucynthia will be able to comeback soon, though I know it will be sad for you to leave your new friends. Keep us up to date on your information. I'm already hoping to come out and see Sandy at the end of January, and it would be nice if I could see you both as well.

Lots of love, Karen

Thank you all

I wanted to thank you all for your congratulations on the upcoming arrival and for the birthday wishes I've received via phone, email, and mail. It's been about a month since I last wrote and a pretty uneventful one until this past week.

Dan has been busy with work, having projects in his lap as well as other people's projects he has to fix. On the plus side he has to use some of his vacation time or lose it at the end of the year which means that he's taken a few days off here and there. The first day he took off was this past Monday. It was so he could go to the Ob/Gyn with me... and that bring us to the exciting week we've had.

Sad as it may seem, we can already show off baby pictures and fully intend to do so. (They will be attached to the email and posted on my site for those who wish to view them.) During the exam we determined that I was approximately 11 weeks along putting my due date on May 22nd. The doctor also sent me to the lab to have some preliminary tests done. I decided to wait until Tuesday and was fairly glad I did. The nurse who took my blood told me that Monday had been really busy. Dan also took a long lunch so we could walk over and vote. It's very nice knowing that our voice counts. Even though we didn't know some of the people that were on the ballot we did have a basic grasp of some of the major issues taking place in our area, state, and country and were able to express our opinions on the matters.

Wednesday was fairly uneventful until I called a friend up to see how her turtle was doing (I was asked to look after and feed the turtle and fish while they were in Vegas this past weekend renewing wedding vows) and was invited over for dinner. Dan and I accepted and we spent and enjoyable evening talking and eating. We're thinking of trying to make this a weekly or bi-weekly thing. Thursday that same friend, Genaphur, and my former boss and good friend, Natalie, and I made plans to go hiking. I wasn't exactly sure what to expect since Natalie had made all the plans. I just climbed into Gen's SUV when it pulled up around 9 am and we were off. We ended up approximately 2 1/2 hours outside of Tucson at Chiricahua National Monument (http://www.nps.gov/chir/) where we started hiking down the Echo Park trail. We reached a cross-point where you could complete the Echo Park loop or head further into the park to the Heart of Rocks area. Feeling fairly confident, though noneof us was in the best of shape, we decided to take the extra trek. Oops. What could have been a nice mild 3.3 mile hike around the Echo Park loop we turned into a 7.5 mile test of muscle, joint, and asthema. I'm still hurting. I doubt that I could have made it without Heavenly Father's help, which I was asking for about halfway into it.

Ahh well. Enough about me. Again, I am grateful for the best wishes we've received. We're very happy to hear from family and know you are doing well. We're looking forward to seeing as many of you as we can this December, though you may not recognize me at first glance since I'll be about 4 1/2 months along at that point.

Love to you all,

- Karen and Dan

10/03/04

Not much happening in our neck of the woods. Not that there are many trees, as many of you already know. Dan's still busy with work. A heavy work load and demanding deadlines have kept him late much of this past week. As for me, I spend most of my time trying not to throw up. I've been feeling nausiated since the 24th. A combination of tests at home and by the doctor have revealed the cause to be our latest ... and pretty much only ... news. We're expecting. My first visit to the Ob/Gyn won't be until Nov. 1st, so we don't have much information. We guess that the due date will be sometime between mid-May and mid-June. As information becomes available to us we'll pass it along to you.

I'll keep this letter short so that those of you with the need to read this over and over again in shock won't have to read a lot.

Sheri, I regret that our financial situation will not allow me the opportunity of visiting you later this month. We do, however, look forward to seeing you and the rest of the family shortly after Christmas.

Sandy, I looked at the selection of teas at one of our supermarkets and got confused. (I know. Nothing new.) There are so many brands and varieties that I was hoping you would be willing to help me out again. Would you be willing to send me a sample of a couple you enjoy so that I may try them before purchasing 30+ per box for myself?

Jennifer, I'm anxious to know how you are doing? It's drawing closer and closer to your due date. Have you and Andy picked out names yet? How are the other kids feeling about it?

Karma, I'm terrible at remembering things. Would you be so kind as to email me the Christmas schedule for this year? I have an idea, but I'm not sure who Dan and I have.

Beverly, how are things in your neck of the woods? You have a lot more trees than we do. At least I know that much :). Tell us how everyone is doing.

Steve, send along our love to those who aren't getting this directly. Let us know how you and Lea are. Have you healed up yet? How's work going?

Dad & Lucynthia, love from the States. I always look forward to reading the exciting and interesting emails you send. I still post them on the internet so that I can look at them anytime.

Love to you all,

-Daniel & Karen

We're still alive in Tucson... we think

It's been a while since I've written, I know. Not much has happened since I last wrote. I'm not working at Waldenbooks anymore. Dan's still dealing with stress at his job. Okay, I'll give you more information.

Dan's current job title is Knowledge Engineer. Prior to his promotion he was an Author. An author is one who writes the flows to be put in the databases. A knowledge engineer is one who designs the flows to be written. As an author he found himself doing a lot of designing on his own because his KE wasn't doing his job. So when he got the promotion he started getting paid for doing stuff he was already doing. The promotion came when several of the KEs were either promoted or transferred to other departments. This left about 3-4 KE positions open... and only Dan to fill them. AOL finally hired 3 people to be trained as KEs, but in the mean-time Dan was still having to do both KE and authoring.... plus, he got to take his turn with the training process. In a word, the hiring made more work immediately (though hopefully it will level off in the long run) and it wasn't helped that they started getting rid of other authors. Why don't they hire more authors you may ask. Because they intend to switch soon to a system where less authors are needed. So Dan's been a little stressed with work lately. On the up side, he's managed to talk his boss and coworkers into letting him have an hour and a half each Sunday to attend sacrament meeting. This past week made it 3 weeks in a row :).

As for me, I'm not working right now. I really didn't want to have to play with another Holiday season in the retail environment. With the extra time on my hands I thought it would be good to consider going to school to pursue training in areas I've been interested in. With the help of some friends I've kinda narrowed down the areas I've been interested in. Massage Therapy (and/or possibly Shiatsu) was suggested by myself, and encouraged by my friends Dina and Genaphur, Veterinary Assistant was mentioned by my friend and former boss, Natalie, and Physical Therapy Technician was suggested by my friend (and sister) Sandy. Sandy was actually the one that bullied me into taking the first step (Thank you). I'm signed up to start an Introduction to Massage Therapy class starting Monday the 13th (I would think that Monday the 13th would be worse than Friday the 13th... at least Friday the 13th is at the end of the week). I'm also thinking of trying the Introduction to Shiatsu class in November. They are both 6-week, 18-hour classes. I'm also signed up to go to Apollo College this afternoon to get information on their Veterinary and Physical Therapy Technician coarses. I'll let you know how things go.

Well, I've bored you enough. I'll go through the rest of the family quickly. Echo still spends most of his time hiding from the evil air conditioner and laying on the couch waiting for you to pet him so he can bite you. Siren can't get enough of her Koosh balls and being scratched on the back (she'll bite you if you stop before she's done with you). And while Scout still loves her plastic toy and football, her latest fascination is water being poured slowly down the drain. I think that about covers everything. Love to you all.

- Karen

7/26/04

Just wanted to send out a quick note to everyone letting you know what's been going on in our lives. As mentioned in our last email Dan and I have both been seeing the doctor to try and discover the possible causes of medical conditions. Dan for his diarrhea and headaches and me for my dizziness, tingling fingers, and irregular menstral cycle. Dan's pretty much gotten the diarrhea under control and the headaches will be an on-going investigation it seems. The migraines have almost stopped, but he's been having headaches almost constantly and they will get pretty bad at times. While determining the possible causes of the diarrhea we found that Dan's family has a genetic flaw that can lead to high triglyceride counts. At the initial testing 3 months ago his counts was at 668 (normal is below 150). The doctor prescribed a daily medication (a generic lipotor) as well as a change in diet. We chose the South Beach Diet over the Atkins diet which were the two options the doctor gave us. Three months later (although the tests were actually performed about 3 weeks ago) he came in for a check up. Dan's triglyceride count dropped over 500 and his weight has dropped a little over 30 lbs. There was one number the doctor read (though I can't remember which one it was) at 101 where normal was below 100, but the HDL levels were high enough to cancel that out. I'm so proud of him.

I on the other hand seem to be in good health dispite my problems. The doctor had me go for an ultrasound to see if there were any ovarian cysts that could be causing the female problems. The ultrasound did show something, but nothing of a life-threatening nature and nothing that truly worth treating. Whether it is the cause or not, it seems to be something to just live with. As for the dizziness and tingling fingers... that seems to be from mild dehydration causing imbalance with my blood pressure. From sitting on the examination table to standing my blood pressure dropped 10 points. The only thing I can do about it would be more fluids.

So there you have it. Good news all around on this end. On top of that, Daniel and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary on Saturday by going out to dinner at the Mexican restaurant down the street and going to see a movie. If any of you are ever passing through we'll take you to the restaurant. I'd almost say it's as good as Gardunios, but then again I haven't eaten at Gardunios in a while so I can't really judge.

Love to you all, Karen

7/11/04

It's been a while since I've written. Nothing major has happened recently, but I'll fill you in on some of the smaller goings on.

Highlight of the week: Dan received a birthday card from Dad and Lucynthia in Czech (they translated it for us) and then received a phone call for them to sing to him. It was very special.

Downside of the week: We were planning on heading to Albuquerque this past weekend to attend Guen's wedding and see family, but Dan's work put him on call first Saturday and then Sunday preventing him from leaving the house. Sorry we couldn't be there Guen. We hope everything went well.

The most recent news for Dan was the appointment he had on Friday with the neurologist. He's been suffering from migraines more and more frequently and the doctor had ordered some tests to see if there were external causes. The appointment on Friday gave us good news and bad news. The good news was that the MRI and EEG both came back clean. The bad news was that this means we don't know exactly what causes or even triggers the migraines. The doctor has him trying out a couple prescriptions to see if he can find relief from the pain and possibly determine the trigger.

The most recent news for me has been that, as some of you know, I've been considering going back to school. In preparation for this I've turned in my notice at the bookstore. My last day will be somewhere near the 30th of this month. If you want me to pick up any books for you using my discount let me know before then ;). I still haven't decided what to study in school. I'm not even sure where I'll study yet. We have both the UofA and Pima Community College here as well as a few trade schools. I'll keep you up to date on that as things come along. My other news is that during my physical the doctor determined that I may have ovarian cysts. I've had an ultrasound and the technician didn't seem concerned with what she saw so I'm not worried. I'll learn more on the 20th during my follow-up appointment.

I'll leave you with our love and let you get back to you activities.

- Karen

5/23/04

I wanted to write and let you all know what's been going on lately. The biggest news was that last weekend I was able to drive out to Albuquerque to celebrate Sandy's graduation with her. I've been wanting to spend some time with my sisters (I miss you all so much) and this was a perfect opportunity for me. Friday morning I drove out of Tucson and arrived 7 hours later (that's doing speed limit even) in time for us to rush out the door to pick up an edited copy of Sandy's research paper. Upon reaching the house we again headed right back out to pick Sheri up from the airport. We drove straight from the airport to Little Anita's (first time I've eaten there) to have dinner with Karma and Bob. After dinner we rented a movie and finished the night at the house. So much for quiet vacation ;)... and that was just the first day. Saturday we ran errands in preparation for Sandy's departure as well as the family potluck on Sunday. We even called Bob from the car to wish him a Happy Birthday. We then headed to an award party that Sandy's class was having. I think this lasted longer than any of us realized it would. We returned to the house and began watching a movie that we all seemed to be dozing off throughout. We did finish it at least. Sunday we headed to sacrament meeting and then back home to get Sandy ready for her graduation. The ceremony went well even if I couldn't figure out Sandy's camera well enough to get her some pictures. Afterwards was a brief reception where we met the Hartmans and got caught up on some of the family news we'd missed. Then it was off to the Hartman's home for our family potluck. Sandy was so worn out by that point that she fell asleep in the living room. In between all the running around she was still finishing off her research paper. Monday morning I woke up just in time to see Sandy and Sheri off to Texas (of all the days to sleep in) then spent the rest of the day relaxing and unwinding from a hectic (but really fun) weekend. That evening I drove to see Valerie (my mother-in-law) and Cory (her husband) and spend some time with Dan's family. Tuesday morning I locked up the house and headed back to Tucson.

Dan's biggest news was the two hours he was able to beg from work to attend our Stake Conference with me. We had some very inspired talks from our Stake Presidency as well as a wonderful talk on families from Elder Keith R. Edwards.

Well that's our news. For those of you wondering, the South Beach Diet has been working fine. We've both lost some weight and next week Dan will be tested again to see how things are looking on the inside.

Love to you all,

 - Karen

5/2/04

It's been a long time since I've written. Some of you I've talked to since, and some of you I haven't. I'll try and keep this short so as not to bore you, but there have been some new developments that I would like to share.

The biggest news is of course Dan's health. The diarrhea is all but gone. Fiber suppliments have pretty much killed that issue. Still no word on the head problems, though the doctor did recommend he see a neurologist. He has an appointment set up in June (unless there is a cancellation). The news is the issue the doctor found while trying to determine any possible causes of the diarrhea and headaches. Some blood tests revealed that his triglycerides, which are considered normal below 150, were at ~660. The doctor gave us 4 options at that point. Dan could start a diet/exercise program (Atkins or South Beach being the diets suggested), type-2 diabetes, heart attack, or stroke. And that, dear family, is why we've decided to start the South Beach Diet.

This leads us to my big news. The other night, I ate fish and liked it. Yep. And the world is still turning. Nothing else big in my life. Still working, still participating in RS Home, Personal, and Family Enrichment, and still wishing it wasn't so darn hot here.

I wanted to thank Sheri and Sandy for their help in figuring out which diet would probably be best for us. Your advice is appreciated. Thank you also to Sheri for the drink recipe, it was a big hit. Thank you all for the emails we've received. It's nice learning what's going on out there.

Love to you all,

-Karen

PS. Congratulations to Emmy. We're sorry we couldn't make it.

4/4/04

Not much has happened since we last updated this website. I've added more to the Prague Updates site, including pictures. We've used the opportunity of this weekend without Dan working to clean up the computer room. We're not completely done, but our trash can is full so we had to take a break until we can empty it on Thursday.

Dan's health problems haven't gotten much better. The diarrhea has been helped greatly by the daily fiber suppliments, but the symptoms associated with his head have almost gotten worse (we can now add dizziness to the list).

Love to all of you.

 - Karen

3/23/04

Once again I've been lax in writing to everyone. I'll be duplicating this in email, but I wanted to have a record online since this past Sunday we had a lesson in Relief Society about family history and one of the suggestions was to write a journal for future generations. I've never been very good at writing so I thought typing would work okay.

We got the results from Dan's colonoscopy back. The gastrostroentralogist believes that Dan probably has Irritable Bowel Syndrome and isn't sure of the cause. He also found coloration consistant with someone who has taken a lot of laxatives. Considering Dan's problems I can safely say that Dan hasn't taken any which is what he told the doctor. This seemed to stump the doctor. Now Dan jokes that his body produces excessive laxatives naturally. He's been taking fiber suppliments and it seems to be helping somewhat. The other problems are still on the examination table as far as the medical world is concerned.

My biggest project has been Enrichment night for this month. The Relief Society birthday dinner is this month and there is a script our President wrote for their birthday dinner a few years ago that we decided to use this year. My task was to coordinate the skit. This involved editting the script, sending around sign up sheets for participants, assigning parts, setting up a rehearsal, lining up use of the microphone, figuring out lighting, etc.... It's been a lot of fun :) You all know I would rather be up on the stage being directed than directing others, but I get to play a part so I guess it all works out in the end.

I'll leave off with a congratulations to Bob and a best wishes to the rest of you.

Love,

- Karen

Prague Updates

Am working on a way to get all of Dad and Lucynthia's emails online so you don't have to store them at home if you don't want to. See Other Journals for the link.

3/9/04

It has been a couple of weeks (or more) since I last wrote anything. The latest is that we went to the doctor this morning for Dan's follow-up visit only to have the doctor order more blood tests because of concerns he has. The last tests revealed that there was some kind of elevated liver functions which concerns the doctor because Dan doesn't drink alcohol. There are also possible heart disease concerns especially since there are heart problems in his family (heartattacks and heart murmurs). Add that to this whole ordeal tomorrow (he has his colonoscopy in the morning), additional tests ordered by the gastroentromologist (sp?), and the fact that his headaches haven't gotten any better (even with the medications he's been taking) and Dan just may be right when he says he's "falling apart."

My life is pretty simple. I'm still working part time. With the house sold, we can actually afford for me not to work full time. I had been summoned for jury duty on Thursday, but that got postponed to Monday and then cancelled.

I appreciate the emails coming in. It's nice to hear from all of you, even if it is just once in a while. Congratulations to Jess and Mary. More great-grandchildren for Dad to play with :).

2/16/04

This past week has been fairly uneventful. We had fun on Saturday when Dan decided that it would be easier to make something special for dinner rather than try and fight crowds at any restaurants. He went pretty full out too. Shrimp alfredo over noodles, grilled shrimp ka-bobs, and grilled steaks were obviously a lot to take in one sitting and we ended up with dinner for Sunday as well.

On more personal notes, Dan's been really frustrated with his work in regards to Sundays. Since it ends up being left up to what's best for everyone and Dan is only one of a couple who would rather work Saturday than Sunday so he's stuck working Sunday's until everything is caught up. This wouldn't be much of a problem as he's typically home soon enough to make it to sacrament, but he's left on call for the rest of the day in case anything else goes wrong. The past three weeks, however, he hasn't even had to go in because they haven't called, but he can't go anywhere else either.

Karen has been enjoying the rest. Not having to constantly worry about other people not showing up, among other things, has been really nice. It has also given her a chance to get some things caught up at home and finalize things from the sale of the Ogden house.

Love to you all.

Favorite Wedding Memories

Sheri's Wedding

Two things I remember most about Sheri's wedding were the fancy dresses that we used for dress up forever after and the present train we made to get the gifts to Sheri and Randy to open.

Karma's Wedding

Mom and I used to go clothes shopping now and then. We'd see something cute or pretty and we'd examine it to see if it was something we'd like. Inevitably we'd encounter the price. The price always determined if it would remain cute or pretty or if it would be religated to the "that's nice" category (meaning it was still cute or pretty but much too expensive to be worth it). We encountered one such dress while shopping for Mom's dress for Karma's wedding. We'd been looking for a while when we spotted one that was really pretty. It was the right size and fit mom great. Then we looked at the price and decided it was "nice". Mom started changing back into her clothes while I took the dress back to the rack. As I was hanging it up I noticed a sign saying 25% off. The dress became wonderful again :). Another favorite memory was sitting in the room with the family getting ready for the session and having one of the workers say I could sit next to my mom... Karma :).

Karen's Wedding

My fondest memory was sitting in the Celestial room waiting for Dan to come in. Between my fancy frilly dress and the elegant surroundings I truely felt like a princess. And Dan looked like a prince when he arrived. Another happy memory was Sandy taking the time and care to curl my hair just right. And then there was the dinner at Donovan's where Dad parked his own car in the valet lot.

I don't know why I wanted to share these with you, but I did. Please, post your memories too.

2/10/04

I wanted to make it easier for anyone to view this at their leisure and refer back to it without having to save our emails on their computers.

So far this week has been pretty uneventful. Dan's been having problems with diarrhea and headaches lately so he went to the doctor yesterday. Already he has appointments to see a specialist and a follow up with our family doctor. I'll keep you updated as time goes on.

I've been using time at home to work on laundry and clean up around the house. Back before the monsoon season started we discovered our roof leaked. We got it fixed in time to not be flooded by the monsoons, but some of our clothes that got wet haven't been properly washed since (I've been busy okay). I've been working on getting all that done, plus picking up and going through boxes of stuff we really don't need. I've also been trying to get everything in order since the house sold to get a fairly accurate budget laid down. I fear that until we no longer have those utility bills from Ogden (we're still getting "final bills") I won't have an accurate assessment.

Love to you all.