Friday, December 30, 2011

The Dave Update

First off, thank you all soo much for your prayers on my family's behalf. The past two days, Dave has really turned a corner and things are looking up!

Today whilst visiting Dave, he requested that I write on the blog what exactly happened to him, since many people have just heard bits and pieces. So here we go...from what I understand..there may be some editing occurring in the near future if my version of the story is incorrect...but this is what I understand..

On December 14, my dad went in for a full knee replacement surgery. He has been planning on replacing the knee for quite some time, and was a prime candidate. He was in great shape, and a very healthy 55 year old. Since he has blown out his knee a few times, his knee was causing him a lot of pain so he decided to get it replaced. The knee replacement itself went really well. My dad was able to come home about 4 days after surgery and the knee pain was under control. 

The day after he got home, he began to complain of intense stomach pains. When we talked with him, it sounded to us like he was reacting poorly to the narcotic pain medications. The problem was...the stomach pain was getting worse and worse. When I would talk with him about his pain, he would say that his knee pain was about a "5" but his stomach was a "10". If you know my dad, you know he is not a complainer of pain. I mean, he was up and walking on his new knee perfectly fine. After days and days of this and no improvement, it was time to just go to the emergency room. By the time they went to the ER, my dad literally looked 9 months pregnant and hadn't eaten for days because he felt so sick. 

Once he got to the ER, his white blood cell count was up quite a bit. They decided to do a CT scan, which showed an abscess in his bowel. They kept him over night and planned to drain it in the morning. When they went in, they found extreme amounts of infection in my dad's intestines and a bowel obstruction. Because of this, they ended up having to do a colostomy, which will be reversed in a few months. Along with the colostomy, they had to take out the damaged portion of the colon. The doctors also decided to take out his appendix. Besides all of that, they removed about 500 mL of pus that was in his intestines and colon. 

How did this happen? Good question. The trauma from the knee surgery could have caused infection in other parts of the body. The pain killers and anesthesia could have catalyzed some of the diverticulitis that he already had. Nobody is quite sure, but we are quite positive that one surgery caused the other surgery. It was a random complication of a pretty routine procedure. Unfortunately it had to happen to my dad and unfortunately he has had to spend his holidays in the hospital. 

He has been in the hospital about a week now. His outlook is looking MUCH better. He is eating solid foods as well as getting up and walking laps around the surgical floor of the hospital. He is seeming more like himself and is that same positive and optimistic guy he has always been! They are still concerned at the increased white blood cell levels, and we are hoping they didn't miss some of the infection in the surgery. They are keeping him at the hospital until they can get that under control.

I think that about covers it. Again, we appreciate all of the love and concern and we are truly grateful for all of the phone calls, meals, and prayers on our dad's behalf. It was a very scary situation and we are just lucky we found the problem in time!!

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Here's to YOU!!

My Faithful Life in the Sexy Lane Readers, 

As 2011 comes to an end, I want to write YOU a letter of appreciation! This blog has been the last step to turn "Sad Kelli" into a "Happy Kelli". As I have written about many times before, 6.5 years ago my life changed dramatically. I experienced a loss of someone very very dear to my heart: my brother-in-law Byron. As "experts" say, it takes about 5 years to fully grieve the death of someone close to you. Well, I began this blog about six months before the 5 year mark, and it literally changed me. This blog has turned the introvert weird grieving Kelli back into the normal happy optimistic extrovert Kelli that I was back when I was 16. When Byron died, I had a REALLY hard time being myself again. I was sooo burdened with sadness and didn't know how to be a normal person again. There were many many rollercoasters of craziness and sadness until I FINALLY became me again. The blog has helped me reach out and build new friendships, share my passion for running and allow it to grow, and most of all...just be ME and be happy that I am plain ol' imperfect Kelli. I know, I know it sounds weird saying that a blog has changed me, but it really has! It has allowed me to reach out and be myself and be SHOCKED at the amount of people who love me and support me just as I am, not as the "perfect" Kelli that I always think I need to be! Since the blog has began, I get about 1,000 hits per month, which BLOWS MY MIND! I really don't think I am that interesting, and I definitely am not that great of a writer/photographer! I just try to be me and be as transparent as I can. I have always hated those blogs that act like their lives are perfect and everything always goes just as planned (the typical Utah facade). It would be completely impractical to say that I don't have hard days and I don't get sad, and I really try to show exactly who I am and what I am thinking as a real, honest 22 year old kid. Sorry for all the crazy blabbering, but basically what I want to say is thank you for following the blog and reading the blog. The love and support is something that has truly changed my life and has made me happy that I am me...however imperfect that may be! Here's to an even more eventful 2012! My New Years resolution is to be more wittier, have better grammer, and take EVEN MORE pictures!!

Stay Excellent, 

Kelli Julia Young


Sunday, December 25, 2011

Merry Christmas!!!

Christmas was so great this year! Even though it felt weird without my dad around, we managed to have a pretty great day! The day started out going over to Alex's to skype his brother who is on a mission. It was so fun to be around his great family and spend some time with them and talk to his brother. After that, I came home and opened all my presents and had breakfast with the fam. Today was the day I turned into a woman. I went from jeans and t-shirts to suit coats and slacks. More pictures to come. Next, was church. Loved it...except for the fact that I went waltzing into church with my TJ Maxx tag hanging out the back of my new dress! I think my brain is pretty scrambled after the past few crazy days. After church we had a big Christmas dinner with our friends from Australia. Such a great day! I feel so refreshed, just what I needed. 



I'm so sad Rylie grew out of her smiling for the camera phase

 Spending time with excited kids on Christmas is my FAVORITE!


Favorite present = Watch from Alex. It's sooo rad! I am obsessed!

He also gave me a skin for my phone to remind me that even though I have to act like a grown up for the next few months, I am still the same little girl!


Grandma and Rylie


My two favorite Australians


I really don't know how Rylie managed to get in every other picture...


Mom and Candy- I am hoping Candy has her baby before I leave in the next 10 days!


Santa (Kali) came and gave us presents!! Jack was SOOO excited!


The Australians!


I am soooooo sad my little sis is leaving me!! We had so much fun together!


The Bunnells


Mom with the Australians. My dad converted Bruce (on the left) on his mission many years ago. This week, they came to pick up their daughter from the Temple Square Mission. SOOO cool to hear about his conversion!


The only downside to the day is the fact that I can't get in my bed tonight without cleaning up all my presents...this week is going to be CRAZY trying to get all packed up for the big move!


Feel free to come clean my room for me...

Saturday, December 24, 2011

All I want for Christmas...

Is a healthy Dad. 

My poor dad has been through a TON the past week. First he had a knee replacement surgery last week. Then he had an emergency surgery this morning to remove an infection in his intestines and colon and other parts of his insides. Now, the poor guy is stuck in the hospital for a whole week during Christmas. I feel so bad for him! Keep him in your prayers!! Thanks!!






























I found some pics of us in Mexico last April. He is the World's Best Dad!!

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Beach to Christmas

Tonight, we escaped the freezing cold and went to the Provo Beach Resort!!


We went surfing...
 Laid on the beach..

And went swimming!

Alex wanted to give a shout out to the great Larry Bird 

After, we got all bundled up, got hot chocolate, and walked through the lights at Riverwoods. They were really cool!!


























After that, it was Mission Impossible 3. Nothin beats Tom Cruise in front of me, and Alex Madsen sitting next to me!

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Becoming Tourists

I only have a few days left with my Australian. 

So what do we do?

We go visit BYU of course. I am really good at promoting a school I have never been to. 

Who do you think looks the most like Brigham Young??





She kept stressing Alex out. The sign behind her said DO NOT TOUCH, but she kept faking us out pretending to grab it. 


Of course we had to do our annual Thanksgiving Point Christmas lights drive thru


And say Hi to Rudolf. Today was one of my least favorite picture taking days. Not photogenic at all today. 



Of course we had to top off the night at the classic American burger joint. We went all out with the hats and everything. If you haven't gotten a hamburger "protein style" do it. It's all the goodness of the hamburger wrapped up in lettuce. LOVE. 






Look at this little gem I found when I was uploading pictures. Alex wanted everyone to see how cool he was with his Ray Bans and Peace Sign picture. Hey there good lookin'!


Bragging Rights

Okay, the results are in:

Fall 2011 GPA: 3.71
Overall College GPA: 3.55
Major GPA: 3.8

I can't even begin to tell you how great it feels to know that I gave college everything I had and worked my butt off and it paid off!! I never thought I would be in a situation where my undergraduate professors PESTER me about coming back to graduate school and conducting research with them. I mean, who just gets asked if they want free graduate school? Pretty rad, even if I don't end up going to grad school at USU. Even though the plan has always been to go to grad school the fall after I graduate, right now it doesn't feel like the right thing for me. I am not sure why, but I am sure the big man upstairs does. 

I apologize, I haven't taken ANY pictures since I moved back to Orem. 

I have been too busy doing ABSOLUTELY NOTHING and loving it! Seriously, being lazy and not feeling guilty about it is the BEST feeling EVER! I am beginning to remember what life before college felt like, and it is GREAT! I have gotten to spend time with all my favorite people: family, nieces, my favorite australian, my favorite boy, and my FAVORITE ROSIE! We went to her homecoming yesterday and it was AMAZING! It feels so great to be home and be around loved ones and people who appreciate me for me and make me glad that I am me. I got all the Christmas shopping done today. Hallelujah. I don't think I could handle the hustle and bustle any more than today. 

Best part about graduating and Christmas within the same month? Buying MYSELF an ipod nano to congratulate myself. Yes. I am very selfish. Whatev. Being able to have a whole 2,000 songs on one ipod for running and 2,000 songs on another ipod for normal life sounds like the best idea EVER to me. 

Pictures of the break will come soon! Trust me, I feel embarrassed even posting a post without pictures!


Friday, December 16, 2011

Treadmill Half Marathon??

Yep, I have officially lost my marbles. 

Here's the thing... my love for running is much greater than my hate for the treadmill

After a week of not much running, I decided to run 13.1 miles on the ol' treadmill. 

At a VERY quick pace of 1 hour 28 minutes (about 7 minute miles)

How does someone run that fast? 
Proper pre-running fuel = Swedish Fish and Orange Juice (I know what you're thinking Alex...and that orange juice may or may not have had large amounts of caffeine..)

I burned almost 2,000 calories (according to the treadmill). I am guessing I burned more, due to the fact that I was alone in the gym with the lights turned out singing karaoke using my ipod as my microphone...

I am so proud of my little legs. Only sore thing today = armpits. I had already moved my bodyglide (chaffe gel) home. Never again. 

In other news....I am now in Orem for exactly 20 days before I take off to D.C. I am sooooooo excited for a Christmas vacation!! 


























By the way, I only respond to people who call me Kelli Young, B.S. now. 

YAAAY FOR GRADUATING!!

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

I am going INSANE!!

Okay, so school is wrapped up. So why in the world am I trapped up in Logan?? I have been asking myself the same thing. I have to wait to have my exit interviews with my internship, before I am fully released from this terrible place called Logan. I am just going CRAZY, because I have less than a month left in Utah and want to spend time with my very favorite people before I have to go through withdrawals for four months!! I mean, how could you not want to spend all of your time with these guys: (once again, pictures are from Facebook)

 Mr. Stud Muffin himself: Alex Madsen


The niece with the most spunk: Allie


Hitting the slopes with anyone who will come with me! Hint hint...Shannon and Austin...


My favorite Dave



The whole crew! This was taken 3 years ago...we now have 3 more kiddos in our clan and one on the way!


Mr. Jack and all of his wise Angry Birds advice


My bestest friend in the whole wide world: Kali (telling her I was moving across the country was the hardest part about taking the internship...but she has already planned that we WILL be having all of the holidays that I miss when I get back: Valentines, St. Patricks Day, Easter)


Shannon I stole this picture, because I love it!!


Kate the Great


MY FAVORITE RETURNED MISSIONARY!!


Rylie (this is her escaping when she realizes I am out of chocolate)


The two best sisters anyone could ask for!


My favorite teenager Austy


The greatest example to me and truly my best friend: my mom. 

Leaving my family for four months is going to be suuuuper hard. I am ridiculously attached to these guys and would do anything for them. I can't wait to get home and spend as much time as I can with all my favorite people!!