Surgery, Dancing, Catching Up

March has been one crazy month! Of course our big news is Travis' surgery... He went to the walk-in clinic on March 10 after feeling sick to his stomach all weekend, they found he had elevated T cells and sent him to the emergency room, the emergency room took a C scan and found multiple internal issues as a residual of the car accident he survived 14 years ago, and then two days later he had major "open exploratory surgery" to correct issues too numerous to detail. He was in the hospital for 6 days, and is at home for the next couple of weeks getting better. I can't really describe what the last few weeks have been like. Tears. Lots of tears! Stress. The silver lining is that I think this incident has strengthened our marriage, and helped us realize that we generally take each other for granted, and that some things need to change. Travis and I are closer than ever, and even the girls seem to treasure him a little bit more. :) We love our Travis!

 This is the only picture I took in the hospital, of Travis walking with his Uncle Dan and cousin Tim. The support from family and friends has absolutely saved our family during this crazy time!

 These are photos from this last weekend. After a long run of warm, beautiful weather we hit a cold snap, but very pretty sunshine days!

 Ralph and Carmen (Trav's parents) brought us 3 bales of hay, and dumped 2 of them in the pasture so I wouldn't have to worry about feeding the horses every day. They also took the girls the weekend of March 14, and our neighbors tended to our house pets so I could spend the weekend at the hospital with Travis. My weekend at the hospital involved lots of cuddling on the hospital bed (they are so big!) and watching movies and playing Scrabble on the Kindle and hanging out with nurses (angels) and coffee (is it weak coffee or strong tea??) and walking circles in the hall with Travis. It's the most "together time" sans kids we've had in 5.5 years!

 (Almost) all better! Travis still has a drain tube for his chest cavity and has a little difficulty breathing and is tired, but otherwise much improved. Notice Kaia and Sophia are sharing a pair of pjs?? They also share hats and some other clothing. Kaia is so big and Sophia is so petite!

 Now we are going backwards. This was the moon rising over the prairie last week.

 We had a few warm days with snow, and then the snow all disappeared. We don't get any warm winter weather when you can get out and enjoy the snow. Winter up here is horrendous, and then it's over.

 Kaia is getting so big!!!

 Goofing off... they are quite a team!

 Sunrise :)

 The weekend of March 1 we were in Grand Forks for the annual "Father Daughter Dance," and had so much fun! Of course we had no idea that the next weekend would bring a medical crisis.

 I love these pics of the big cousins teaching Sophia the "Macarena."

 Pictures with Great Grandma Mary and Great Aunt Kathy

 Our Goddaughter Ava, who has a LOT of personality! :)

 Pictures with Grandpa Ralph, who escorted all of the girls. That is Lindsey's fiancee on the right, Dennis, who also went this year.

 Grandpa Ralph with all his little girls, minus Kaia of course.

 The oldest cousins, Gabby and Jaylin. They are so grown up!

 Sophia and Ava

 Sophia with her grandpa

 The "getting ready" pics

 Pheasants in the tree next to our house! It was so weird... we watched them for a long time!

Dance party! Kaia does eeeeverything her big sister does!

 Full moon rising over the prairie

 This was the 4-H meeting in February. I am really behind on pictures! They made Valentine's for a local nursing home. They are a pretty cute, silly little bunch!

This is mid-February when we had all of our snow, and the horses were desperately trying to sunbathe. :) I'm glad it's warmer now! And that's our wild and crazy month! :)