Brain Study Time

Tomorrow marks 15 months since Brenna's Hemipalegic Migraine with all the symptoms of a stroke. 

They found no permanent brain damage in her CT scan or MRI, but she continues to feels the effects of it over a year later.  Her high school lacrosse coach, Courtney, works in a neurology lab and recommended Brenna participate in a study to see if it could help her.

Courtney is a recent graduate from Westminster College where she obtained her Bachelor of Science in Neuroscience and a minor in Chemistry. Her background is in cellular neuroscience, specifically in behavioral endocrinology. In the lab, Courtney is a study coordinator and primarily works with the following projects: Moderate and Severe TBI, Photobiomodulation, Inflammation, and Post-Traumatic Epilepsy. She is heavily involved with writing and reviewing Institutional Review Board applications. Additionally, she works with scheduling participants, performing lesion segmentation on adult and pediatric MRI scans, and administering neuropsychological tests. Her primary interest is in adolescent development with relation to traumatic brain injuries. She plans to attend medical school and further develop treatments for TBI.

She spent many hours doing pre-study testing. Some hours were spent inside a MRI examining her brain and other hours were spent doing cognitive tests like creating list and sorting objects. She came home exhausted. She'll now wear this red light therapy helmet for 20 minutes/day for 12 weeks and then go back for follow up testing.  Here we go!

 

Rainy Day Game

Announcers for today's game: Dave Johnson & Kayla Miller

Best Duo out there....and they had the best dry seats in the house.

B had a great game. So fun to have Kayla there announcing

and Brandon

and her bff Hannah. Great game for both of these true freshman.

I'm seeing some end of the honors coming for these two superstars.

 

Baby Naomi Comes Home

Jeremy. Lindsay, & baby Naomi are headed home today.

Got her all buckled in....ready to go  

She's HOME

 

Baby Naomi day 2

 

We could not get enough of sweet Naomi, so we had to head back to the hospital to see her again. 

We got there just as Tom & Dixy, Jeremy's parents were arriving. 

They are some of the most amazing people/parents/grandparents that we know, and we feel so lucky to share grandchildren with them. 

Look at that sweet girl

Hard to describe the amount of love that we feel for this sweet spirit who has come down fresh from heaven. We are all happy to hold and snuggle with her as long as we can. She is sooo precious!

Naomi Brooke Christensen

 Today we welcomed Naomi Brooke Christensen to our family. She is our 4th grandchild and 1st grand daughter. She was born to the most amazing parents - Jeremy & Lindsay; and 2 extended families that will love, care for, and support her throghout her life. 

Here is Namomi's birth story written by Lindsay:

Wednesday March 26 we had our 40 week appointment where Dr Blake swept my membranes. I was already almost 3 cm dilated and 60% thinned out so we had high hopes Naomi would come soon! That night we curb walked for 45 minutes, then I woke up at 1, 2, and 3am with contractions. I’d had them for a few days, but at 3am I woke Jeremy up and we started timing them. At 5:30am we made sure we had everything and left for the hospital!

We got to the hospital right before 6am and weren’t sure if we could go in because the doors were locked, but a kind nurse getting to work showed us in right as the doors unlocked. I was dilated to 6cm and 90% thinned out so they admitted us and we waited for the anesthesiologist to get to work so I could get my epidural. Around 7:30am he came in, gave the epidural, and I started using the peanut ball in different positions to get Naomi into optimal delivery position. After a few hours of sleeping and switching positions, the nurses checked again and I was at 10 cm and ready to push!

Everything was looking good, you were OP (facing the window in the room), so I started pushing. Jeremy gave emotional support and held my hand, massaging my head, and speaking affirmations. After a few minutes, the nurse checked again and Naomi had rotated while in the birth canal! They were unsure what to do, so the orienting nurse felt it, then called in the charge nurse who felt it, then called in the hospital doc. Naomi had rotated so she was now “sunny-side up”, but the doctor said I would still be able to deliver, although it might take a little longer. We kept pushing, but surprising only a few minutes later Naomi was already crowning! The nurses called the doctor from my clinic, but she didn’t answer as she was in the middle of a delivery at the Riverton Hospital. They debating having me wait for her, but luckily decided to get the hospital doc back in and let me deliver! Dr Lake came back in, along with other personnel, suited up, and after a few more pushes Naomi arrived at 1:22pm! They laid Naomi on my chest for a second, then took her to the warmer and suctioned out the fluid that was in your mouth until her cry filled the delivery room! The nurses handed Naomi back to us, we looked at each other, me crying and Jeremy filled with pride as we held our brand new baby. Our little Naomi Brooke was finally here <3

March 27 2025

7 lbs 0 oz

21 in

Our hearts overfloweth with love and gratitude for this Family! 

LAX with Carlsons

Still trying to catch some boys lacrosse games to watch Champ play. We love being able to watch their boys play sports and see them grow into men.  Chad and Denae have been like second parents for our girls over the years. Their love and support is constant and unconditional and been such a blessing in all of our lives.  Love this fam!

 

Work Friends

Lindsay went to visit Brenna at work today. Brenna is working for BYU Audio Visual,, where jeremy and Lindsay worked for much of their time at BYU. This is the exact couch that Lindsay would sleep on in between calls during the first few months of her pregnancy. One of Jeremy's younger siblings also works here now with Brenna, Fun to have friends com visit you at work. 

 

Forever Friends

Our lives have been blessed with literally the BEST friends ever.

Fron our time at Uof A, to our days in Provo, and our 1st South Jordan house, 2nd South Jordan house, and now Herriman. We have picked up friends at every stop along the way, and this week we got to visit with several of them! 💓

Lisa and her family, the BEST family, moved to Bailey, Colorado almost 4 years ago. We still chat a lot, and it;s pretty amazing how often we get to see each other (it helps that her parents still live in Utah and our girls play in Colorado at least once a year)

Though we miss seeing each other more often, we are grateful for all the lunches we get to enjoy together, and everytime I see her, I want wear her outfit.

We met Chris and Becky Johnson when we lived in Provo, and Chris was doing his undergrad at BYU and Robert was their home teacher. They had 2 small children-David and Hannah, and their 3rd child Ellie (Elizabeth) was born prematurely with lots of complications shortly after we moved in.  We got to witness first hand the faith and fortitude of these parents and it changed us forever. 

Fast forward 20+ years.  Chris & Becky now have 10 children, as well as several son-in-laws, daughter-in-laws, and 4 grandchildren. With so mnay of their children living in Utah, they decided to have Charity, their youngest daughter, baptized here over Spring Break and invited us to be a part of it.  

The 7 children that were born after our time together in Provo, all came at unexpected times and in unexpected ways. Several were adopted through divine guidance and others were born naturally through very difficult pregnancy's and delivery's. 

Chris and Becky trust in the Lord, rely fully on the Lord, and always believe that God will provide all that is needed for them to raise their family. I've often thought that their life stories should be recorded to strengthen and build up the faith of others. Years later, Becky wrote a manuscript entitled "Fortify Your Fortress" and I was lucky enough to recieve a copy. 

The Johnson are an amazing family and are lives have been very blessed by their friendship and valient examples. 

More friends from the past.

Trenton & Rily Stewart lived in a basement in our 2nd SoJo neighborhood. They only lived there for a short season, but it was the exact time that each of our family's needed each other.  Rily and Trenton moved in shortly before Kayla received her mission call to Cebu - the exact mission Rily has served in under Elder Schmutz, who was now serving as the Area President of the Philippines.  She helped teach Kayla about the people. culture, language, and was such a support to her during those hard 18 months.

Presly was just a baby when they lived there, and we were able to help tend her periodically to help lighten their shcool and work loads. We played games together, ate together, and grew to be great friends. 

They have now added 2 more precious girls to their family - Addy

and sweet Londyn. 

We love that they still come to visit us when they come to Utah.  

So grateful for the many good people that Lord has put in our path along this journey!

 

Game Day

Everbody coming out to support today!