Grandma Lyman

January 26th 2011 was a bitter sweet day. It was the day that Grandma Lyman left this earth life. Bitter, because it is hard to see a loved one pass away and leave you behind. Sweet, in that she lived a VERY full life. She was 95 year old, her body had been weak, but yet her mind so very sharp to the end. I have wonderful memories of my grandma and will cherish them the rest of my life. I think of the greatest blessings that has come to my family is the time that she lived with us for 2 years while Aunt Joyce and Uncle Milton were on their mission. She brought a wonderful spirit into our home and was a joy to have around. It was a hard day for me to see her leave and go back to California, but I knew that is where she wanted to be. The oldest grandson from each of her children were the poll bearers.

Her funeral was a wonderful experience. Out of 40 grandchildren only 3 were unable to attend. It was wonderful to see everyone and spend time all together! As grandma would always put it, "stay sweet, I love you". My whole family including the newest member Alyssa! Mom's two favorite people Cannon and Belle, but I get the feeling Belle is a little jealous in this picture


We went hiking on saturday, it was freezing outside, but you cant go to Esclante and not spend time in the outdoors! Plus that is what grandma would want us to do.

Christmas 2010

Christmas 2010 was a lot of fun! Everyone was home and it was great to be together, relax, play and get sick together. Having Cannon there was awesome! I love being an aunt, he is so much fun and I can not get enough of him. Here are some pictures of my Christmas. Enjoy!
The Christmas tree, there is just something about a live Christmas tree.

Mom and Christmas popcorn, I know it looks weird but I promise its the best!!!!

Getting the Packard out, don't the wheels look great! I cleaned them up:)

We could have a used car lot at our house and this is not all of them either.

Cannon, how does that hand taste?

Amy and Cannon trying to stay warm during the rocket launch.

Patrick run before it goes off and don't forget the dog!

Yes, that is a prickly pear cactus going out of the saguaro.

Me and my beatiful sisters

The boys doing what they do best playing the wii
I love my family and I had a great time. Thanks for the great memories.

Portland

Better late then never, right!? At the beginning of November I went to Portland to visit Patrick and Alyssa. It was great to get to know Alyssa better and I am looking forward to having her be part of the family. Oregon is a beautiful state and I had a great time. I can not wait to go again, and hopefully I can soon. We ate some really good food and saw some really amazing places and I took part of the no sales tax!! The weekend went way to fast. I love my brother he is one of the most amazing men I know. I am SO grateful to call him my brother. He is probably going to hate me for writing this but its true. I love you Patrick more then you will know. Remember to always aim for Mars!!!! Below are some pictures from the weekend.

Patrick and I at the rose garden.

Alyssa and I at the rose garden

One amazing water fall

One of the beautiful roses from the garden
Thanks Patrick and Alyssa for a great weekend. I had a really nice time. I hope that I can come visit you soon.

Heart Update

This has been a long process and still is not over. I never thought it would take me this long to feel better and back to normal( at least what I think is normal). I had a stress echo done the middle of October. Which I finished, the results were okay. As my doctor put it, I did fine. Could I have done better? Yes. He then gave me the news that I was hoping that I would not hear. That I will need to have open heart surgery to repair my valve..... I had a feeling that I would have to have surgery I was just hoping that it would be quick repair. Instead of the week in the hospital and a month to recover.

I was very shocked to say the least and I went to my appointment alone because it did not think I would be receiving this news at this time. So I went to my car and had a melt done. He told me that I would probably would need to have it in the next couple of years, but that would be up to the surgeon. He did say whatever you do don't get pregnant before having this done. Okay, not a issue now, however when that times comes I am already in my mid thirties I really do not need to wait longer.

So, I went to see the surgeon, which by the way is about my age, CRAZY. His first words was that I was to young for all of this. I totally agree. That he would like to wait, because I am high functioning and not presenting any major signs at this point. To listen to my body and note anything that is different. Sounds good to me, however now that I have had time to process this, if this is something that I have been dealing with my whole life, what if what I am feeling is not normal and I just do not realize it?

I am going in for a second opinion on Monday and we will go from there. Not that I am in a rush to have surgery, but there is a part of me that would like to just get this over with. Patience is truly a virtue I am learning. But I know that everything will be okay, prayer truly has become my best friend. Keep everyone posted.

I did get to go to Portland last weekend and visit Patrick and Alyssa, I had a great time! I will have to post some pictures and write about it a little later.

My Heart

Let me start this off by saying that I am doing much better and feeling really good. On September 29th I was getting ready for work I went into ventricular fibrillation (V-fib) with a heart rate of 250. I was immediately taken to Banner Desert Hospital where they sedated me and shock my heart. My heart responded well to this and went back to normal. I have never had this happen before so it was a complete shock and very scary at the same time. Of course I was admitted to the hospital and sent to the cardiology unit to be watched. I am in the good hands of two doctors from Tri-City Cardiology. The next day I had a echo cardiogram done. That night I received the news that the right side of my heart is enlarged and I have a leak in my tricuspid valve. This is of course was news that you do not want to get. To give some background I was born with a congenital heart defect known as Atrial septal defect(ASD) which was repaired with open heart surgery at the age of 3. At that time I was watch for a year and then given a clean bill of health.

They are not for sure but my current problem could be from this original defect that was never noticed and then got worse over the pass 30 years which would cause the right side of my heart to enlarge. One Friday I had a cardiac catheterization done where they look at your heart and make it go into V-fib again to find out what caused it in the first place. You are awake during this procedure. It is one of the weirdest feeling I have had. To be lying down while someone controls your heart rate. They were able to find the nod that caused me to go into V-fib and dead in it, which means I should hopefully never go into v-fib again. I was released from the hospital the next day. The next step is to deal with the valve that is leaking. This can be treated with medication or surgery depending on how bad it is. Which I do not know at this point. I have more test this week which should lead us to the right direction

This whole experience has been VERY humbling, however I truly have felt the hand of the Lord throughout this whole process. I had a blessing on Wednesday night and have felt very calm since and still do. I have to thank my family and friends for all their love, prayers and support. I have felt them on a daily bases. I have to get a big thanks to my mom. She stayed with me at the hospital for 3 and a half very long days. When you can not leave the cardiology unit the days go by really SLOW. People asked if the triathlon caused me to go into v-fib the doctors do not think so, I think it was just a matter of time. And if I had to pick when I would have it happen now. Keep smiling everyone, everything is going to be just fine, I promise. Love you all!

My first Sprint Triathlon

The following weekend, I went home again to do my first sprint triathlon! Which was 300 meter swim, 12 mile bike and 5K run. Olivia convinced me some time ago to do this with her. I was really nervous I have to be honest! I have never done anything like this in my life. But I trained for it, and my goal was to just finish it. I really did not care how long it took me. The end result was I finished is in two and a half hours! Not to bad for a newbie if you ask me. I was the last one out of the pool, but I didn't care! It just met that lots of people were cheering me on!!! The bike was not bad, I enjoy bike riding so this was easy for me. Olivia on the other hand got a flat tire and could not finish the bike.

Olivia being pick up by my mom and Chelsa.
I told myself that I would not push myself on the run and would walk most of it and run the last part, which was exactly what I did.

Please remember I am not a runner!
I felt great finishing it and would definitely do it again. Thanks for pushing me Olivia and thanks to mom and Chelsa for coming to cheer us on!!!

A Weekend in Tucson

A couple weekends after Cannon's Blessing I went to Tucson for the weekend. Some weekends I go with a purpose and other just for fun. This weekend was for a purpose. Patrick fiance Alyssa came down to meet the family. We had a great time and ate a lot of eegee's! It is always nice to go home and relax. Even if I did lose at bowling and had to do the dishes. Welcome to the family Alyssa! We are excited to have you part of the Corning Family! This picture is from when they visited Amy and Trent in Provo, UT. I did not get any pictures from that weekend, sorry:(