2015 family pictures

About a month ago, we ventured out to our lovely Heber mountains to get family pictures taken.

 

It was pretty cool for us, because it was the first time getting family pictures, with our complete family!  It was really special.

 

The kids did great, the location was exactly what I was hoping for, and it was a success.

 

FEW! 

 

So, here are the favorites.....out of 175 pictures!

 

 

 

artsy fartsy

A few weeks ago, Cintas had a group date thing for everyone on Ben's team and their spouses.  I usually really look forward to these fun dates, but this time around I was a little concerned.  It was going to be at an art studio, and we were going to do a painting.  umm, not really my thing.

It ended up being a blast!

I am not very artistic at all.  I can think up things that I want to create, and things that are cute, but I can't really create them.  My mom kept all of those genes.  Rats!

This was a fun step by step tutorial though, and it was so fun to paint next to Ben and to listen to everyone tease and mess around.  We also had some yummy food to eat while we were painting.

Naturally, Ben did his own thing, and painted with his fingers for a while.  And I, naturally, went straight by the book and tried to mimic the teacher exactly.  Somewhere along the way, it became relaxing and fun.

It was so much fun, and Ben and I both really enjoyed it.  He team mates were a constant noise of sarcastic comments and teasing, but it just added to the fun.

I think e just found what we will be doing for Mary's Birthday.

Who woulda thunk!  Art with a Twist...fancy that.

Mine: left   Ben's: right

camp of a lifetime!

Last weekend Mary had the opportunity to attend a tumbling camp in Provo, UT.

It was a huge deal, because Mary was able to get in two 2 1/2 hour training sessions with the 2012 Olympic tumbling coach, the US National team double mini coach, and a 5 time world champion floor coach!

5 time world floor champion, and 15 National titles



2012 Olympic TNT coach

US National team double mini coach

Talk about a chance of a lifetime!

It was also Mary's first time being away from home overnight, and being completely responsible for herself as far as ordering her own food at the restaurants, packing her own bags, and getting ready for everything.

She loved it!  She went down with some others from her team and her coach, and they had a great time.  They were able to swim at night, eat out, and mess around in the hotel room.

Mary said the training was amazing, and she learned a lot of little tricks that make a huge difference with her tumbling.  There were only 6 girls per group, so she got a lot of training time.

I am so grateful that my little girl was able to have such an amazing opportunity!

We are getting really excited for her tumbling season to start up again next month.

miss molly and the mystery mucous

Since Molly was teeny tiny, just a couple months old, we have noticed that she always seems to have a bunch of mucous and a constant runny nose.

 

The mucous has in turn created lots and lots of ear infections.

 

The ear infections were reason to take her adenoids out and get tubes put in.

The tubes would help the infections, and getting the adenoids out would supposedly get rid of all the green, thick, nasty sludge that is constantly draining from her nose and back into her sinuses.

 

Well, the tubes helped a ton with the ear infections...but the mucous has still been as thick and consistent as ever.

 

A few months ago, Molly started getting sinus infections from all of this mucous not draining properly and getting infected.  It is just too much junk for her body to get rid of.

 

Along with her sinus infections, she was getting tonsillitis too.

 

She had three infections in less than three months.  She had full rounds of antibiotics with all of them, with no improvement.

 

After the third infection, her pediatrician referred us to an allergist.  We all figured she must have some kind of allergy creating all of this mess.

 

So, off we went.

 

 

 

 

The results...negative.  All negative.

 

And the infections and the mucous continued.

 

The allergist referred us to a lab to get blood work done for autoimmune diseases, as well as a sweat test for cystic fibrosis.

 

This one hit home for me.  My uncle passed away from cystic fibrosis, and I was terrified that my little girl could suffer a similar fate.

 

The sweat test had to be done at Primary Childrens in Salt Lake. 

 

They put these electrodes on her arms for 10 minutes to open her sweat glands.

Then they place heating pads on her arms and wrap them in a tight plastic wrap.

Then, they wrap Molly in a foil blanket.

 

And then...we wait for 30 minutes.

The whole thing doesn't sound that bad, but believe me, it was.  I had to find sitters for the other kids, drive 2 hours round trip, keep Molly from ripping all the stuff off for 30 minutes, and then there is the worry.

Not fun.

Even better, Molly didn't sweat.  So, we had to go back a couple days later, and do it all over again.

I worried the entire week.  I looked up everything I could find about CF, and I kept telling myself that she had no signs or symptoms other than lots of mucous in her sinuses.

To our HUGE relief, Molly's CF test was negative.

Now we were back to the beginning, and Molly was still getting infections and was still miserable.

Next, I took her to see our ENT that did her tubes, as well as Luke's.

He was completely stumped.  In the end, he decided to have her get blood work done for allergies (it is more accurate than the back scratch test), and yes, that had to be done in Salt Lake.

He also decided to swab her sinuses and throat and send in a culture.

4 days later...we FINALLY got an answer!

This all sounds so fast in writing, but this all was over a LONG period of time with a sick baby, and lots of tests and driving.

I was so happy to finally have an answer, even though it is a little bitter/sweet.

Molly has a drug-resistant bacteria in her tonsils, that we can not get rid of unless her tonsils are taken out. 

It is causing all of the infections and problems.

The hang up, is that in order to get Molly's tonsils out, it is a 7-10 day hospital stay and a terrible recovery.

The ENT wants us to do everything we can to wait until she is at least 2, and then get them out asap.

In the main time, we treat the infections as they come.  None of the antibiotics we have tried so far have worked, but he put her on one that has a chance of working, because she currently has a sinus infection.

If the meds kill the infection, we wait and see how long before she gets another infection.  If it is a long period of time, we just keep doing this until she is 2.  If she keeps getting back to back infections, we need to decide if getting her tonsils out now is best.

Molly just finished her 10 days of the antibiotic yesterday.

 The good news:  She has been snot free for almost a week!  This is amazing for her!  She has been happier, sleeping through the night, more energetic, and overall seems better.

The bad news:  Today she is a complete grouch, has the sniffles, is rubbing her sinuses and is not sleeping.  I am trying to stay hopeful, but things don't look good.

I am really hoping she is just teething.  :)

s is for soccer

Mary and William both had their rec soccer season last month.

Yeah, it is one month long.  But I tell you what, it is a BUSY month.

Add in Sam's club games, and we were averaging 5 games a week last month.

William's games were shocking to all of us.  At his age, they usually just crowd around the ball, fall down, and every once in a while score an accidental goal.  I love 4-5 year old soccer, it is hilarious.

William blew us all away when he got the ball, dribbled it down the field and scored a goal at his first game!!!

He ended up doing this every single game, and more than once most games.

The best part of it all, is that he was always the biggest kid out there, and he would just laugh and grin as he dribbled the ball down.  He would be in his own little world, just thrilled to have the ball.

 To make it even better, without even realizing it, he would stick his arms out every once in a while and knock a kid over that was trying to get the ball from him.  The kids would drop like flies.
 William would just keep laughing and dribbling.  Not trying to hurt anyone, just getting everyone out of his way without even realizing it.

I was gut laughing the entire game when I saw this for the first time.  It was hilarious, and at the same time to awesome to see how good William is.  He already knows how to dribble, and his shot is hard and fast and accurate.

He LOVED soccer, and was so excited to be able to play.  I can't wait for it to start up again in the spring.

Go William Go!

Mary was lucky and got on a great team this season.  Her coaches were really invested in the team, and made it a lot of fun!

Mary's tumbling muscles are perfect for soccer, and she is FAST!  She is very, very fast!  Mary doesn't have a ton of training with soccer, but any little bit of practice she got, made her better.  She has great potential with soccer, and we decided to let her play club soccer next year.  We are really excited to see what she can do with some more training and skill.  She definitely has the wheels!

She scored a couple goals this season, and had a ton of assists and steals.

Mary's team (the fighting Narwals) had a team pizza/movie party to celebrate the end of the season.  Her coach made them all shirts and everything.

The party was in her coaches house, and it was unbelievable.  Their theater room was jaw dropping!  The had a fully stocked candy/popcorn/soda bar, stadium seating with about 12 leather recliners, a huge screen up on a stage, speakers everywhere, a drinking fountain, and about everything else you can think of.  To top it off, their cat just had kittens, so the kids got to watch the movie and hold baby kittens all night.  Mary was in heaven!

Even though it is extremely busy, Ben and I both have really enjoyed watching the games.  It is a great sport to watch, and the kids learn a lot.  Some things are just worth the sacrifice.

Soccer rocks!

fall running

A little while ago, when I decided to have my partial hysterectomy done, I decided to go out with a bang, before I would be laid up for a while.  So, I signed up for a couple half marathons.

One of the things I love most about running, is fall running, so it has been perfect timing to train for a race.

The air temperature is perfect, the scenery is gorgeous, and there is just an air of excitement and fun.

I have completed all of my long runs for my training, and I ended up doing the exact same path every time.  Yup, it is that amazing.

I LOVE where I live!

Wish me luck this weekend....and next.