Yet Another Tragedy

I would like to take the time out to remember Mauricio (Maurice) Lacayo a friend I worked with at Neways. He passed away January 19th. He leaves behind his wife and 3 children 6, 2, and a 6 month old. He was like a brother to me....I really enjoyed working with him we had fun times. Maurice was always such a smiley guy, he said hi to everyone! He was the friendliest guy you would ever meet. I lost contact with him and I tried to find him to see how he was doing but I just couldn't get a hold of him. I regret not trying harder to get in touch but at the same time I think his death would have been harder to deal with. I keep thinking about his small children and I don't know who I feel worse for....the older one who has come to terms with the fact that she lost her father or the two younger ones who will not have memories of him. It is devastating for everyone member of his family. Maurice will be missed! My heart goes out to his wife and children. I am sure they have lots of friends and family there to support them and to help them in any way possible.

Mauricio Lacayo

1979 ~ 2010

Mauricio Javier Lacayo Gomez died January 19, 2010 in American Fork from a tragic accident. He was born February 1, 1979 in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala.The son of Rosa Eugenia and Baldomero Ranferi Escobar, and the late Hector Alberto Lacayo, Mauricio was a precocious and intelligent child, always getting high grades for which he received several awards.He was an active Boy Scout, enjoyed karate, and loved to dance"often drawing a crowd that would make a circle to cheer him on.Most everyone who met him loved his personality. After graduating from Provo's Timpview High School in 1998, Mauricio certified as an EMT and worked as a volunteer with the Provo Fire Department. He volunteered with the Saratoga Springs Police Department and was soon to complete his degree at UVU to become a paramedic. He served a Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking mission for the LDS Church in Boston, Massachusetts from 1999 to 2001. Mauricio married Yolanda Meza Sanchez June 28, 2002 in the Salt Lake City Temple.They have three beautiful children: Victoria 6, Israel 2, and Caleb Josue 6 months.He was a very good son, husband, father, brother, uncle, and cousin"and the best friend you could have.Mauricio had a strong testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and served faithfully in various callings as a teacher, financial clerk, executive secretary, bishopric counselor, and most recently as a counselor in his Elders Quorum"always serving his fellowmen with much love.He always made us laugh with his great sense of humor and will be greatly missed. He is survived by his wife and children, Saratoga Springs; his parents, Payson; brothers and sisters Doris (Findley) Jenkins, Idaho; Fernando Escobar, Arizona; Nancy (Jeff) Despain, Heber; Ottavio (Claudia) Lacayo, Orem; Astrid (Daniel) Garza, Arizona; Juan Pablo (Marielena) Lacayo, Springville; Mariela Lacayo, Springville; and Jacob Isaac Escobar, Payson; aunts and uncles Maria (Manuel) Climent, Lehi; and Jose Adolfo (Margarita) Garcia, South Jordan.

Mauricio, you will be greatly missed. UNTIL WE MEET AGAIN!

A viewing will be held from 10:00-11:30 before the funeral services. Funeral services will be held Tuesday, January 26 at 12:00 Noon at the Saratoga Springs 6th Ward Chapel, 267 N. Weatherby Dr. in Saratoga Springs. Interment will be at the Highland Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, please give to the Mauricio Lacayo trust fund at Wells Fargo or the Bank of American Fork. Please share condolences at www.serenicare.com

Update

It has been a while since I last posted anything, not because there isn't anything to say but because I have been doing the FaceBook thing. HA HA

We have had our tough times, from health issues to me losing my job. I was laid off December 4th. The boss I had was well....a crazy chick. She is really nice but crazy. So here I am at home taking care of my girls. The girls go to daycare two times a week because I didn't want them to get used to being home with me every day since eventually I will be going back to work and I also need to keep the spots.

I feel that thing don't just go from bad to worse but from worse to worser (if that were a word). I know there are others out there that have problems too it doesn't make me feel any better BUT I know we are not the only ones and sadly I am sure there are others who have it much worse. Thank goodness for our loving parents to help us out when we need it! They have been there for us through everything and I don't think we could ever thank them enough.

The kids are doing well except Shannon and Ellie still haven't gotten used to their Step-dad even after three years and we don't even want to go there with Christopher. The other day Ellie was saying that she wanted to live with us, Todd told her that she would miss her mom too much and her reply was "well, I can visit her every other week". Sad really.

Elena is a wild child! Not sure how to control her she has been getting better thank goodness but she has her "monster" days. Alexia is 6 1/2 months old now and I recently took her to get pics done, they are super cute! These kids are just growing too fast!

I went to visit my brother in Vernal over the holiday break with my parents and sister I had Elena and Alexia with me as well. We had a good time it was good for me to get away for a bit. Elena was able to play with her cousin Aubrianna who is just 8 months younger than she is. It was great seeing them play together! My brother is out of a job and they are struggling he is very stressed because they have a baby on the way in March. I wish they would live closer....I would really like that.

I know that people who blog usually talk about all the good stuff that is going on but once in a while you need to vent, right? You can't just let people assume things are perfect. That is being fake.

Well that was a summary. I will post more often!

Scary Stuff

On Wednesday September 2nd 2009 at about 4:30am I am up and I had just finished nursing Alexia and putting her back in her crib when I hear Todd's phone get a text message. I thought to myself who in the world would be texting at this hour. I grab his phone and see that it is a text from Christopher (which was weird because he is just down a bit away from our room) so I read the text and it says "I feel sick, like really really bad". I go to wake up Todd and show him the text so he gets up and checks on Christopher he comes back to tell me that Christopher says he has a really bad headache and feels like vomiting. Todd ends up giving him some Tylenol and goes back to bed. The next day he stays home and off to our routine of going to work.

The end of the day I am getting ready to leave work when my sister calls and tells me my dad wanted us to go over for dinner. I call Todd and tell him about it and we decide to just meet at my parents. While we are there Todd says "I don't know what Christopher is going to eat I haven't checked on him." I was a bit confused as to why he would say he hadn't checked on him, I had totally forgotten that he didn't feel well. I tell Todd that he should call and check on him. He does and when he hangs up he tells me that Christopher said that he didn't feel well at all that he just didn't feel right. I tell Todd that he should take him to the doc but by this time the after hours clinic is closed. I suggest that he take him to urgent care (at this point I am thinking Swine Flu). He calls Christopher back and asks him if he feels bad enough to go to urgent care. He says no and so we leave it at that. We are still at my parents' house but Todd had to leave for an appointment so the girls and I just stayed with my parents.

Later after Todd's appointment he calls me and says that Christopher now wants to go to urgent care. So off they go and it is about 8:30pm or so. They get to the urgent care and Christopher says that his head hurts and that his neck and back are sore. The doc there decides that he might have Menigitis but they didn't have a way to check for it so he says they need to go to the ER. I freak out about this news because of the girls so I decide to just stay at my parents longer.

They get to the ER and they start asking questions by now the doctor wants to know how much of it was just drama and begins to tell Christopher that they will proceed with a spinal tap.....suddenly his neck and back aren't as sore. They do some blood test and realize that his white blood cell count is low. Todd calls me to tell me all this and I just find it odd. Why would his white blood cells be low if he is fighting off something? I could tell by Todd's tone that it could mean very bad news. LEUKEMIA! With his cell counts so low he had to be admitted to the hospital. I didn't know what to think!

Todd got home and I gathered up the girls and headed home at about 2:00am I couldn't sleep the rest of the night! We didn't go to work but I took the girls to daycare and Todd went to the hospital early and I met him there a bit later. The doc was going to come in at around lunch time to tell us what his counts are and what might be going on. The doc comes in and says that Christopher's white blood cell count is at 1 meaning 1000 per cubic mm of blood a normal range is anywhere between 5 and 10. No one with even just a sniffle could visit.

His counts continued to drop a bit so they had to take him off the fluids because it can dilute the blood. He continues to feel pretty sick and feel very weak. The doc said they think it is some sort of virus. The last test they would do would be for Leukemia and they just kept checking his counts.

Finally his counts are going up! He get released from the hospital on Friday night. His counts are at about 3 so he still had to stay away from the public. They gave him some anti-viral medications and had to get his blood checked every other day. He was able to go back to school on Wednesday the 9th but he still needs to get his blood checked. No one is still quite sure what happened but personally I think he caught some nasty bug because he never and I mean never washes his hands! If he wants to play with the girls he MUST wash his hands and I MUST see him doing it. Something like that could be fatal for our little girls! Maybe even someone Ellie's age (6). He had been doing a lot better but sometimes he says that he doesn't feel well and he gets headaches quite often. We are happy that he didn't get any worse and that he recovery is going well.

Oops!

In my earlier post I said that Shannon was going to be in 5th grade but she is really in 6th grade now!

I also forgot to mention that Elena went to the dentist and didn't have any cavities! Totally awesome! I hope we can keep it that way for a long time.

More pics!


Elena having a "tubby". Awesome hair!
Here she is trying to blow bubbles.
Alexia and I. Not the greatest pictures of me but oh well she looks like a doll.
Elena and her spaghetti face.
so cute in Christopher's beanie thing.