Lately

As per usual, my plans to blog weekly have not panned out :) Surprised? Didn't think so. I'm happy to report, however, that we've been doing a really great job of "breathing" amidst the chaos of every day life. We are so very blessed!

Kreg & I got to attend our very first Broncos game a few weeks ago! It was AWESOME! Although Kreg is not technically a Broncos fan, he donned his John Lynch jersey and escorted me to a very fun game! He has decided he can cheer for the Broncos against 99% of all NFL teams :) I can handle that. The atmosphere was incredible & our seats were perfect!

I'm going to say this cautiously... I think I may be addicted to running. This is coming from the girl who has NEVER enjoyed running, despite being involved in organized sports since age 6 and being married to a runner. One of my New Years resolutions this year was to "get into it." In April I bought a double jogging stroller & started out very slowly. I've stuck to it thru the summer and have worked up to being able to do a little over 3 miles. For this asthmatic girl who lives in the mountains, that's a pretty big deal :) my motivation was wanting to be able to run with Kreg (for fun) and also, I've been told over & over how good it is for people with asthma. I've never given it much of a chance before, but I am slowly losing my hearing due to the amount of steroids my body has dealt with since age 5 and I want more than anything to be able to be steroid-free, haha! I really have noticed a difference :)

Kreg & Westin have shared some special moments over the past few weeks! They got to have their first golf outing together a couple Sundays ago. I'm really not sure which of them was more proud :) Westin got to take along his own golf clubs and work on his putting game. He also was a big help driving the cart!

Westin also started soccer for the first time this month.  We put him in a program here in Colorado Springs called "Soccer Buddies" that allows you to start as early as 15 months... and yes, after taking Tucker to the past couple of classes, we may have to break down and sign him up to.  He wants to be out there SO bad!

 Kreg & I have had a date night almost every week this month.  Not even kidding. I would be just fine if we kept this pace up, haha! Last week, we got to attend a "Casino Night" to benefit the Colorado Starlight Foundation which makes a HUGE difference in the lives of sick kids and their families.  I'm calling this a "half" date night because I was "working" a little bit :) I've had the opportunity to be Starlight's photographer for two of their events now and have been so thankful to be a small part of what they do!  Kreg & I had a blast-- it was a great excuse to dress up, eat well, and play some blackjack! Oh, yeah... and have a little photobooth fun...

 THEN, this Friday night, we got babysitters and conquered the Manitou Incline together.  For those of you, I will assume that to be most of you, who do not know anything about the Manitou Incline, here are a few fun facts: it's a 1 mile trail, straight up the old Pikes Peak Cog Railway ties.  In this 1 mile, you gain 2,020 feet in elevation.  It's one of the physically hardest things I've ever done in my life! I made it to the top in 46 minutes, which I was pretty proud of.  Then, we jogged down Barr Trail which, after the Incline, was a nice, leisurely, 4 mile jog.  Almost completely downhill :) Kreg has done this several times by himself and likes to take unsuspecting physically fit visitors with him but this is the first time I've been brave enough to go with him.  I'm glad we did, it was a lot of fun!  After we finished, we had dinner together at Meadow Muffins in Old Colorado City. It's a very quaint little place that used to be a sort of Civic Center for Colorado Springs in the late 1800s, early 1900s.  It's decked out with memorabilia from old movies, of which I'm a big fan :) 

 Saturday we had a pretty big scare in the Kell household.  Westin started coughing on Friday night while Kreg & I were out & on Saturday afternoon we noticed he was struggling to breathe.  We could hear him wheezing and could see his poor little tummy working really hard to get air in his lungs.  We watched him for several hours and did everything we could think of to try to help him through it.  With my asthma I've learned several tricks to help me make it through an attack without meds and we hoped that would help him, but by about 10:45 pm, he was taking twice as many breaths per minute as he should have been, his little heart rate was up to 130bpm, and he couldn't sleep but was having a hard time communicating very well with us.  We decided we better take him to the ER.  Westin is almost 3 1/2 and has never been to see a doctor for anything other than a check-up, and he's never been on any type of medication. But clearly, we needed some medical attention.  I stayed home with Tucker, who was asleep, and my mom was gracious enough to go with Kreg to the ER.  They spent the night there getting 4 breathing treatments, oxygen therapy, chest x-rays,  steroid treatment, and, because of all that, anti-nausea medicine.  Their diagnosis was Bronchiolitis, which is a pretty common virus that just seemed to attack him a little worse than the average. He's on the mend now, breathing is back to normal, and we're thankful.  If you would, I ask that you would keep our family in your prayers as we await the hospital bill... because of our current health insurance situation, this is not going to be an easy one.  We're confident that our gracious God will provide for us but we are a little uneasy about how it will all work out. 

Well, that pretty much sums up the exciting parts of our last few weeks. I'd probably be okay with a little less excitement over the next few.  We'll see how it goes :) Regardless, I'm just so thankful for my sweet little family and for all the blessings in our lives!