Year in Review

Yes, it has been over a year since I've last posted in the blog. I was actually waiting to download the pictures from my camera to the computer and just never did it. I have no excuse. It's been a crazy year though.

First off, from a year ago, Chris had his 6th birthday. Here's a picture or two:

Then Daniel started preschool. Here he is on his first day:

Then we had the usual Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.

 Alex turned 8 and then was baptized the next day on New Year's Eve. It was fun seeing all those who came up for it.

 Here's a few pictures from that and from the cake we had to celebrate his birthday with the family who came up:

 

After the first of the year, we had a good month and a half before things really got crazy. I did start running again after the New Year and ended up losing a total of about 25 pounds and have managed to keep it off so far and actually have kept up with the running, which I'm pretty pleased with.

But then the fun began on Tuesday, February 22nd.

That morning I got a text message from my mom saying that they had taken my nephew to the hospital by ambulance and were trying to figure out what was causing him to really not be well. She and my dad decided to fly to my sister's house to help out where they could.

Just after my kids got home from school that day, I got a call from a woman at Bryce's work saying that they had called an ambulance and were taking him to the hospital because he was having trouble breathing. They were calling Katie to see if she could come watch my kids so I could go meet him at the hospital, which she did. She told me she would call back and let me know which hospital. She called back, and I left, and the proceeded to wait because they didn't have him there. Then I called another hospital, who also said he wasn't there and kept waiting. Jarom showed up a while later and they still hadn't found him and the people in the ER called the paramedic dispatch to see if they could tell us where they had taken him, and it ended up being the hospital I had called. So we went over there where they still didn't know much, but Bryce was in a lot of pain. Jarom eventually left, while I stayed. We found out that Bryce had pancreatitis. Since he doesn't drink, so alcohol couldn't have caused it, it was determined to be caused by gallstones. They admitted him to the hospital and kept him pretty drugged up and kept him off any food or water until his pancreas seemed to calm down.

I really had a lot of help from people in my ward and neighborhood during that time, and it really was a blessing. It was really hard to go see Bryce in the hospital and see him in that condition, so the support I got from those around me really helped.
 
The following Sunday they did surgery to remove Bryce's gallbladder and again I had help from other people watching my kids and taking them to church while I went to the hospital. They sent Bryce home from the hospital on Monday evening, although he had a fever, so they really shouldn't have.


The next day, Ben was jumping off the trampoline to come inside when he slipped and fell and broke his arm.
I should say here that I was really impressed with him through that. He broke the one bone in two places and broke the other bone in one, so it must have really hurt, but he hardly cried or anything. Yes, we could tell he was in a lot of pain and could see him visibly feel better once they got the IV in him with some pain medication, but he was really quite brave.

Here is a picture of his x-ray:

I've got to say, I was not a fan of Tuesdays at this point.

The very next Tuesday, we had to take Bryce back to the ER because his fever had spiked to 104 late the night before and he wasn't getting any help from the surgeon's office who just kept telling him to watch his fevers, that they seemed reasonable. They did say after the 104 fever that if it spiked up again like that, he should go to the ER. The surgeon did a good job with the actual surgery, not so good afterward.

And Tuesdays really stink by now.

We also decided to go to another hospital, the one I had originally been told they were taking him when they took him by ambulance. There, it was determined that he still had pancreatitis, but also had some necrosis of the pancreas and they were very concerned about him. So again he was admitted to the hospital and not allowed to eat or drink anything. Because he had already been two weeks without really eating or drinking much, his body needed nutrients, so they eventually put a pic line into his heart to give him the nutrients he needed. This hospital stay was much better, although it was still hard to see him there. He was able to come home a week later on the following Tuesday.

That Tuesday was much better than the previous 3.


So after Ben finally got his cast off from his broken arm, there was still a problem. His arm looked like this:

The orthopaedic doctor kept saying that the arm should eventually straighten out because kids' arms do that, but then he would feel it and say how he really didn't like the look of it, so he ended up referring us to a pediatric orthopaedist. We liked this guy much better.

We had told Ben that the chances were that he would have to have surgery on the arm, but he was still really hoping that he wouldn't. When we got to the doctor's office, they took Ben back for more x-rays. When the doctor came in the examination room after looking at the x-rays, his first words were, "Oh, boy." Yeah, that's never a good sign. So yes, he said that Ben needed surgery, and it was scheduled for 2 or 3 weeks after that appointment. Ben really wasn't happy.

In the surgery, they ended up putting in 2 plates and 12 screws. The doctor said he really had to chisel away at bone to even get to the area to fix it, so apparently Ben grows good bone. Here's an x-ray of after the surgery:

And here's Ben in his cast after that surgery. His favorite colors are blue and orange, so that's what he picked for his cast.

Then Abby turned 3, so here's her with her cake. She wanted it pink.

I ran my first ever 5K in May, running in the Race for the Cure. Here's a picture of my friend Wendy and me before the race. Don't I look all skinny?

Then Chris graduated from kindergarten and Daniel graduated from preschool, but I'm not going to post the pictures from those.


Then Daniel had a birthday and turned 5:

Then Ben turned 10 and he and Alex shared a birthday party:

After that, the boys all started school. Ben started the 5th grade, Alex 3rd, Chris 1st, and Daniel Kindergarten. They were pretty excited.

Then Chris had his 7th birthday and wanted an octopus cake:

This last weekend, the boys and I all ran in the Harvest Classic Fun Run. Alex had been begging me for a couple of weeks to sign him up, so I eventually gave in and did it. The boys all ran the one mile fun run, which wasn't timed. I was really impressed with them as they all decided to help encourage Daniel to keep running, so they all stayed behind him and let him go in front and cross the finish line first. I have some great boys.

I ran in the 2 mile timed race and was actually really pleased with my results. I got 16th place overall, 4th overall women's, and took first place in my age division.

Ben has surgery again this Thursday to take out the plates and screws in his arm so they won't cause problems in the future.

So now we're up to date for the year. Here's hoping this next year will be more uneventful than this last year.

First Days of School 2011

So my kids started school on Monday. Ben started the 4th grade, Alex started the 2nd grade, and Chris started Kindergarten. Since he was in Kindergarten though, he just had orientation on Monday and started his first full day today. I'm still not sure I like the way they are doing Kindergarten, alternating between A and B days for full days(Chris is on A, so he goes Mondays, Wednesdays and every other Friday, kind of). They do it that way to save money so they don't have to do a mid-day Kindergarten bus.

Anyway, I did the usual first day of school pictures. Daniel and Abby both decided they needed to join the fun, so they had me take their pictures too.




Ben, Alex, and Chris all ready for school.



All 5 kids lined up together.

Ben and Alex getting on the bus the first day. There were only 5 kids including them who got on the bus that day.

This is Chris at the school just as we were going in for his orientation.

And these last two are of Chris waiting in line for the bus and then getting on the bus with his brothers today. He was so excited.

Girls' Camp

Since I am called to work with the Young Women, I had the opportunity to go to Girls' Camp again this year. Kind of funny how I never really looked forward to going to Girls' Camp when I was a young woman, but it's kind of fun to go back as a leader.

Last year was a totally different experience from this year for a few reasons; we did camp a whole month earlier last year, we slept in cabins rather than in tents, and it was a Stake Youth Camp, so the boys were there too. Last year it was kind of fun to watch the social interaction between the boys and the girls (and to be grateful I wasn't in that time of life anymore), but it was nice this year to be able to just focus on the girls.

This is where we stayed:


It was also very nice to have a husband who was willing (although I don't know that he would think he had a lot of choice in the matter) to take the time off work so I could go with the girls and be there the whole time, from the Tuesday to the Friday. And if you're friends with him on facebook, you probably already know that the kids gave him a run for his money some days.

This year we were close to a lake, so we did get to go spend some time there on that Thursday.


For the most part, we were all pretty laid back the whole time. It was nice to be able to relax and get to know all the girls better and not always have to be rushing off somewhere. But we did have our spiritual moments too. I sometimes think it's easier to feel the Spirit when we're out in nature and away from all the noise and chaos of daily life.

Daniel's birthday and Ben's birthday

Okay, so I was slow in getting pictures on the computer from Daniel's birthday and now Ben's birthday has passed too, so I'm just going to combine them in one post.

Daniel's birthday was back in June. He was very, very excited about his birthday. But everytime we asked him what he wanted for his birthday or what he wanted to do on his birthay, all he said was cake. I guess that's the important part of birthdays for him. We didn't do a lot during the day, except for some of the stuff I already posted about, like the trip to the veteran's memorial, but Bryce came home from work a little early and we took all the kids over to the McD's playground and let them play for a bit.

When we were done at McD's, Bryce dropped most of us off at home and he and Daniel went to the store to pick out a present. While they were gone, I finished decorating his cakes for his birthday. I had talked him into wanting my favorite cake for his birthday, which is chocolate cake with vanilla custard filling and whipped cream frosting. We also did some cupcakes with orange and white frosting, since orange is his favorite color.

Here are a few pictures from his birthay:




This one is of him and one of his presents, which was a toy orange snake. Think he likes orange?


Before we knew it, Ben's birthday came around. Ben was pretty excited for his birthday too, and when we'd ask him what he wanted to do, he'd just say he wanted it to be a surprise. Some of his siblings were pretty sick the week and the day before his birthday, so it was nice when everyone was feeling well. Still, we decided that perhaps we'd better stay home in case someone else would get it while we were out. That, and I was pretty busy getting ready to leave for girls' camp the next day.

We did decide to do a birthday activity during the day. We painted some pictures, which the kids have all been asking to do for a while. They had a good time and made a good mess, but I think that's something they'll remember doing for a long time. Ben also did get to have his friend Michael come over and play for a few hours, so I think that made the day for him, since a lot of his friends are in day care and not home during the day.

Here are some pictures of the kids painting and their finished work:






Because Bryce was taking the rest of the week off and his computers at work hadn't been working very well on Thursday and Friday before that, he didn't get home until about 7:30. So after we all ate a late dinner of ribs and macaroni salad as requested by Ben, Bryce and Ben went to the store to pick out his present and to get a few things that I still needed. Since it was getting kind of late and I was going to have to get up early the next morning, while they were gone I decided to take a quick shower. Abby put herself to bed while I was in the shower, despite being pretty excited for Ben's cake. He had wanted a BTS cake for his birthday and it was all ready to go except for the candy toppings that I had forgotten to get at the store and Bryce and Ben were bringing back.

I think it was about 10:00 by the time they got home and we were eating the cake. All the kids were pretty tired by that time and went to bed pretty easily. They usually do go to bed easily, but when they stay up that late, it's even better.

So now here are the pictures from Ben's birthday:




Happy birthday boys!

Summer Activities

So far we've had a fun summer. We've implemented our summer chores, which surprisingly, the boys do really well without complaint. Most mornings, they get up and do them before I even have to bug them about it. It's amazing how motivating it can be to get paid for their work and to not be able to play until they're done can be for the boys. Abby even does her part, but not as much as the older boys.

Since we have the yearly passes, of course we went to the zoo. They actually have a couple new exhibits, so the kids were excited to see the new animals. And I told Ben that our goal was to go there and learn something new about something that we hadn't known before. Ben spent some time at each exhibit reading the information plaques, so I'd say it was a success.

Here are a few pictures from that zoo trip:




Mom and Cindy and her kids came up for a visit for a few days last week and we had a lot of fun. I never did get any pictures though. But while they were here, we went to the zoo again (and got to see the butterflies this time), we went swimming, and ate out a lot. I'm surprised my kids aren't sick of pizza after that trip. I also had Cindy help me touch up the roots of my hair and we colored her hair too. I think the color took hold on her hair more than mine though. It's funny how using the same color can end up with different results, even on identical twins.

Yesterday I spent some time with Ben working on his wolf for Cub Scouts. His birthday is next month and he'll be moving up to the bears, so he wants to finish his wolf first. We actually now have everything except for one thing done, so we should be able to finish in plenty of time. One of the things we did yesterday to help him complete it was to go over to the city courthouse and the veteran's memorial they have there. It wasn't too thrilling for the kids, but it was interesting to see. I expected to see more names on their Vietnam memorial, but their biggest list was for WWI.

Here are some pictures I took of the kids there:









I'm sure this summer is going to go fast. Hopefully we can find more fun things to do to make it a memorable one. We do have a trip to Utah to see some family planned and swimming lessons after that, so I think we'll be able to come up with more fun things to do that don't cost too much money.

And today is Daniel's 4th birthday! I will do a new post after we've done his cake and ice cream. Happy birthday Daniel!