Friday, June 17, 2016
Sunday, June 12, 2016
We have a new baby!
Rosie has loved him since before he was born; kissing, patting and reading to him and continues her loving now that he is born.
Baby boy really loves his oldest sister, Natalya. At 7 weeks now, he looks at her and talks (coos and gurgles) and laughs.
Tristen loves to help carry his brother and protect him from "Dingos".
Sunday, January 10, 2016
Have Faith and Be Positive
"We all struggle with health problems occasionally- others do so constantly. Illness and disease are part of the burden of mortality. Have faith and be positive. The power of the priesthood is real, and there is so much that is good in life, even if we struggle physically. It is ajoy to know that there will be no injury or disease in the resurrection" - Howard W, Hunter Family
Update: It has been a week of trials and blessings. I am so grateful for the tender mercies and
miracle my family has received in spite of all the madness. Over the past couple weeks my husband had
been experiencing back pain, which with his spine history is not uncommon. On Wednesday and Thursday, he felt it
worsening, so he took Thursday off from work to try to rest and go to the
doctor. He went to a family physician to
see if he should go and see a spine specialist.
He was given a couple prescriptions.
When he went to pick up the prescriptions he had to stand in line a long
time to pick it up, which further aggravated he back. He got home and tried to rest. That evening, needing comfort, he called his parents from my son's room, because the main living area was noisy. When he went to stand up, he found he could not get up. He was stuck, kneeling on the floor. I tried to help him up, but he was in too much pain to lift himself and
I was unable to lift him. We called the
missionaries from out church and they came over and gave him a blessing and
were able to get him into a lying position on our son’s bed. My husband really couldn’t move himself and
was in searing pain. I called an
ambulance. They arrived quickly and were
able to get him to the hospital. My children of course were jumping all over
the place with all the commotion and were not going to go lay down and go to
bed with everything. I called and texted
my youngest sister, who happened to be having a business party nearby. I also
called my sister Rachel and her husband.
Her husband immediately began the journey across Omaha so I could be
with my husband, possibly all night. My
sister Emily arrived and I took off, while she waited for Nate to arrive so she
could go home to her young baby. I got
to the hospital and was a bit frazzled and wasn’t sure where to park, but there
was a security guard driving around who immediately directed me where to
go. It was a long night, filled with
lots of pain, an inconclusive x-ray, admittance to the hospital, and lots of
medicine induced nausea. The next morning (Friday)my husband’s pain was being managed well, so
I left to go back to my children. My
brother-in-law had made breakfast and helped get my son ready to school, and
even though I had failed to complete the laundry with the majority of my son’s
pants, they had managed to find something. Nate took Tristen to school and I
got the girls ready for the day, showered, and fed them. Then my sister Rachel came over for the day,
so I could go back to Anthony. He had
just had an MRI and so we just had to wait for the results. Finally the surgeon called and said that the
MRI showed a herniated disc in his L5S1 (Lower spine). Since my husband had already had a surgery
there, it was going to complicate things, so the doctor ordered another MRI
with contrast. More waiting… I cancelled
my doctor’s appointment with my OBGYN (I am 5 months pregnant, it was just a
routine checkup). Finally, I left and
went back home, where my girls were having great time with their wonderful aunt
and cousin. I took the girls and we went
to pick up their brother from school. We
were so blessed to come home to delicious white chili that my sister had left
in the crockpot. Another sister offered
to watch my children overnight so I could stay at the hospital, but I decided
to just take them to visit daddy and then come home. At this point his pain and nausea were down
significantly, so I felt that it would be ok for them to see that daddy was
ok. One of Anthony’s brothers from North
Carolina had sent a basket of candy to cheer him up and of course, it was a
huge hit with our children. They enjoyed themselves as best as young children
can in a hospital, giving daddy kisses, climbing on the couch, and going to the
family gathering room to see the exotic fishes.
We went home and went to bed. The next day (Saturday) we got up. The children had an impromptu princess party
before breakfast, then they ate, got dressed, and we went to help clean the
church. After that I was anxious to see
how my husband was doing. It had been a
sad and lonely night for him. He had
been able to meet with the surgeon and was feeling more confident. As suspected, the herniated disc was putting
significant pressure on the nerve, which was why Anthony was unable to feel his
toes very well and why he was having the pain and spasms. I was still very apprehensive about both the
surgeon and the surgery. I had gone
through surgery with my husband 4 years ago and knew that surgeries lead to
more surgery and was wanting to avoid that.
Unfortunately, at this point, this was the best option to save any
feeling in my husband’s leg (which is still not guaranteed to come back). After leaving with the children, I was still
feeling unsettled. I took the kids home,
warmed up some leftovers for lunch, and then tried to do our Saturday
chores. My children worked hard to help,
knowing that Nana was coming and it was her birthday, and I told them if we got
everything cleaned up in time, we could blow up balloons and put up some
streamers. They enjoyed making a
birthday sign using a picture Nala had drawn and putting up a few
streamers. Then my mom came with pizza,
and lots of food (which was a huge blessing as I had not gone shopping this
weekend). It was such a tender mercy
because my son had really wanted to have a pizza party for his nana’s birthday
and our budgeted “eating out” and “food” money was gone. (With the giant cloud
of medical bills over our heads, these things are such a blessing.) (We had also been blessed by a friend giving
us dry food earlier that week). Rachel,
Nate, and Zeke came over and we had a nice time. After the “party” (during which the birthday
girl cleaned and stocked my fridge), my mom, my brother John Carlos, the kids,
and I went to visit my husband. We had a
nice visit (and the kids got to pick a candy) and then I stayed the night, and
my mom and brother took the kids home. The next morning (this is
now Sunday morning), Dr. Longley’s (the surgeon who did my husband’s last
surgery) P.A. Pat woke us when he came in to check on my husband. He was able to reassure me about the
necessity of doing the surgery now.
After Anthony had breakfast (and shared with me), I went home to get
ready for church.
At church, not only
were there beautiful messages about hope, the love of God, and quotes
specifically comforting to me; but multiple people came up to me, asking how we
were doing, offering kind words, offering to pray for us, and asking if and when they could bring meals. What a blessing to be among people who are so
kind and supportive as we face this difficult time. My children were also so calm and quiet
during the sacrament meeting, allowing me a stress free time to reflect and
listen to the messages spoken. After church my mother and daughter made my mom’s famous lasagna
together (a family favorite while I was growing up), and then my mom told my
children a funny adventure story (the kind she used to tell me as a child)
while it was baking. It was nice to see those beautiful memories being
made. After dinner, we went up to see
Anthony. He had been blessed to have
received a priesthood blessing and had the sacrament brought to him. The children enjoyed the fish (and noticed
one they hadn’t seen before), and enjoyed being with their daddy. I
chose to stay so I would know when the surgery was going to be performed. Later that night the night nurse told us
that the surgery was scheduled for 4pm on Monday. Anthony ate his last meal (a peanut butter
and jelly sandwich), got his IV, we prayed together, and now we are going to
bed. Tomorrow will change things for us for the next 6 weeks, but we feel so
blessed to have each other, and a beautiful system of support from our friends,
family, and ward (church congregation) members.
Friday, January 1, 2016
Annual Checketts Family Nativity Enactment
Cute Little Angels
Hot chocolate and New Christmas Eve Jammies from Nana.
For Christmas we got our very first pets... Goldfish!
Monday, December 21, 2015
December Fun 2015!
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| Making cookies... Ended up being good for ornaments, but not very tasty. |
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| Hot chocalate and brownies after looking at Christmas lights! |
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| Sleeping by the tree |
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| Nalsa being cute as always! |
Tristen's First Winter Break from school!
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| West family Decmber 2015: Next Christmas there will be 6! |
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Cute Elf Baby! |
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| Girl loves Cady canes! |
Concerto!
Trsiten did great in his first school winter Concert! Mom did not do so well filming with a squirmy toddler in her arms.
After getting out of school, Mom and the kids went to play at the Omaha Children's museum!
Fontenelle Ward Activity Day Town
West kids made a lovely gingerbread house: "Hansel and Gretel go on an Easter Egg Hunt with the witch" ... check out the snakes!
Movies with Daddy
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| Nalsa Salsa mad a bridge display with Christmas Decor |
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| Cello Time |
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| Daddy shared his guitar skills with the kids: He played "Snickers" and then let the kids explore how the gutiar and cello were different. |
Family Dancing feet
Thursday, November 26, 2015
Anthony and Heidi West Family
Newsletter 2015
This has been a lovely year, with fun adventures, quiet calm
moments, lots of learning and growing, and a hopeful future. Some of the big events for us include: Going
to Disneyland and the Pacific Ocean; Anthony being able to attend the Nebraska
vs. BYU game; and our oldest starting kindergarten.
Anthony is continuing to be a rock
star (aka teacher), working at two different schools and changing the world,
one child at a time, as he communicates to his students of their worth and
importance to their schools and the community. In addition to teaching, he is
constantly blessing his family member’s lives as he spends quality time with
each of his children, and looks for ways to serve Heidi. Anthony has mastered the art of beading
medallions, and has created some very complex ones recently.
Heidi is
really enjoying being 30, and is discovering new things about herself and her
family all the time. She is very happy
and enjoys learning ways to better understand and help each of her very unique
children. Over the past 6 months, she
has rekindled her love of running and had fun doing a 5k with one of her Highs
School friends in September.
Tristen is the model kindergartener! At his first parent
teacher conference his teachers were very complimentary of him and he has been
doing well in all areas, both in English and Spanish. Tristen gets all greens, which means he has
never had any behavioral issues at school.
He has been very responsive to all his teachers, and tries to be a good
example to his friends at school and church.
At home, he loves computer games, and his current favorites are Age of
Empires and Star Craft.
Natalya is
really growing into herself, which has confused her mother as Natalya has all
the sudden become more assertive and independent. She has a very fun sense of clothing style
and takes pride in putting together her own outfits and dressing herself. She has also recently started learning the
cello in a class with 10 other students.
Her favorite parts about learning cello are 1. She has made a new
friend; 2. Cello practice means she gets to play fun cello games with Mommy at
home; and 3. Natalya looks forward to her first recital, because it means her
family and friends get to be all together to come see her (even though they
will have to clap for her, which makes her nervous). Natalya also is enjoying a
dance class, taught by one of her aunts, where three of her cousins also attend.
Rosalie
loves to be our “big helper in a family”, whether it’s helping mommy with
dinner, getting dressed, or picking up the house. She is always telling her mommy she wants to
“do it self”. Sweet little Rosie loves to mimic and play with her big sister,
too. She also enjoys her nursery class
at church, where she has no issues staying for two hours without parents, and
where she often receives compliments from other parents on how loving and
helpful she is to her friends there.
That is the latest updates on our
growing family… Oh, yes, by the way, our family is growing and we are expecting
a little bundle of joy in the spring! Happy Holidays Everyone!
Sunday, August 30, 2015
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