FEBRUARY 2019

   Kennedy had her first two GSL Volleyball Tournaments on the 9th and the 23rd.  I was planning on going to both, but with Talen getting sick, I didn't make it to either.  She was a good sport and went with the parents of the other girls on her team.  The first tournament her team took 1st place in the Silver bracket.  She was pretty excited because 1st place gets a medal.  But the second tournament was even better - they took 1st in the Gold bracket!  She was beyond excited.  This time they beat the team that beat them in the last tournament.  She says that she really likes these tournaments better than the ones that she went to down in Vegas for SUVA.  But from now on, I vow to make it to the rest of her tournaments - I hate missing out on seeing her play!!

   On the 3rd, Daxton and I went to "Great to be 8".  He's getting pretty excited to be baptized - and I can't believe that he's almost 8 already!!  We have officially set his baptism date for June 1st.

   On the 4th, Kennedy went to the dentist - no cavities!  Carter had his dentist appointment on the 13th (thanks to Cathy for taking him while I was at the hospital with Talen), he had 2 cavities filled and then had to go back again on the 27th to have his little extra "tumor" thing removed.  He was such a trooper, it looked so stinking painful!  They totally had to cut open his gums to remove it, but Carter didn't even flinch.  In fact, the dentist said that Carter was "the best patient in the world!"    

  On the 25th, Carter had his parent teacher conference.  His teacher said that he is doing great, he just needs to work on subtraction and not mixing lower and capital letters when writing a sentence.  When we first started him in Kindergarten, we did it knowing that he was one of the youngest in his class and we might have to have him re-take Kindergarten if he wasn't keeping up with the other kids.  So, I asked his teacher how she thought that he was doing and she said that he was totally fine to move on to first grade - turns out that we have another little smarty pants in our family!

   Daxton had his parent teacher conference on the 26th.  It wen't really well too.  Dax is doing fantastic in all areas, but especially in his Language Arts.  He is currently at a 4th grade reading level!  His teacher said that he was also excelling in Math too!  Why am I not surprised?!?!  Daxton has always been so stinking smart!  I just pray that he can focus on school enough to put all those smarts to good use.  I am sure he will, he is such a good boy!! 

Carter's Odontoma

Carter has had this little spot between his teeth, that looked like a little tooth-like bump that just wouldn't come through.  I knew it wasn't a tooth because I could tell that he had all his teeth, but this little spot just wouldn't go away and it wouldn't allow his teeth to grow together like they should.  So, the last time we were at the dentist, I asked Dr. Christensen about it.  He said that he thought it looked like a complex odontoma which is a benign tumor linked to tooth development.  So, we had it removed today.  Carter loves going to the dentist because he gets to watch a movie while he is there.  So we got him all settled (including a blanket because he insisted on having one), numbed up the area, and started the removal.  I thought it would be cool to watch, so I stepped a little closer, but as soon as I saw him cut a whole chunk of his gums open to make a flap to remove the tumor, I decided it might be best to watch from a seated position.  And, I'll admit, there were a couple times that I had to look away because it looked so painful.  But Carter handled it like a champ.  In fact, the only time he even moved was when he was irritated because Dr. Christensen's arm got in the way of him seeing his movie - little stinker!!  It took about 20 minutes, but after lots of digging, he had the odontoma removed.  Dr. Christensen had to keep the parts that he extraced so that he could have them sent off to be tested to make sure it wasn't anything more (we found out a week later, that it was in fact a complex odontoma).  After it was removed, the flap was laid back into place and secured with 1 stitch.  There was a little paperwork to be done, then we were headed home.  I thought for sure that Carter would have a sore mouth, so I gave him some Tylenol when we got home.  I was certain that he would need more in a couple hours, but he never did.  He never even said that it hurt or was sore or anything!!  The stitch fell out later that night and after that, not another word was mentioned about his mouth.  Carter is one tough little boy for sure!!

Dax & Carter play basketball

I believe that this was Daxton's third year playing basketball and Carter's very first.  Daxton was lucky enough to get on basically the same team as he had last year.  The coach was the same and the majority of the players were the same - which was nice because they already know and play well together.  Daxton's team had a pretty good season (I think they only lost 2 or 3 of their 8 games).  Daxton only averaged one or two baskets a game (sometimes none at all), but to see how much he has improved since his first year playing is amazing!  He is quite the little defender.  He puts on his serious face and there is not getting around that boy.  He just loves the game and (even though I don't care for basketball even a little bit) I love to watch him play!!  Sadly, Daxton was sick and missed his very last game.  Which means that he didn't get any pictures of his whole team or any with his trophy, but luckily his friend Hank (who was on his team this year) brought his trophy home for him.

Carter also had a pretty good season (I think he only lost 2 or 3 games as well).  He was on a team with boys that he had never met before, but that doesn't stop Carter from making new friends!  His coach was super nice and the kids he played with were pretty friendly too.  There was one kid on his team that either played before or obviously had older siblings that played because he dominated the court.  There was one game that they made like 40 something points and I think that kid alone made 30 of them!  Carter did super good for his first year.  He averaged about 3 baskets per game (but he also had a couple games where he didn't score any either).  He really seemed to enjoy playing and I love watching him run up and down the court trying to figure out what in the world he was supposed to be doing.  Such cute boys I have!!!

Talen got his button switched

Talen was so tired of having his NJ-tube in his nose, we were more than thrilled when the GJ-tube arrived from Utah Valley and we could go replace it for his G-tube.  He was a little nervous when we first got there, and of course, he was not too happy when he had to get this IV (especially because we had to do it twice because the lady couldn't get the first one to stay in!)  But, after the IV was in, the rest was smooth sailing.  The doctors even let me go back into the observation room and watch.  It was pretty cool, I felt like I was on Grey's Anatomy (minus all the nurses sleeping around in the break rooms, hehehe).  Actually, the nurse was totally shocked that they let me go back, because she said she had never seen them let anyone go back into the Operating Room to watch.  The whole procedure was supposed to be pretty fast, but of course, that isn't how Talen likes to do things.  It took over an hour to get the J-tube side weaved down into the correct part of his intestine.  They used the same hole that the G-tube was in, but for some reason, his intestines didn't want to cooperate.  Afterwards, the doctor doing it came back to the observation room and said, "Why is it that the ones that are supposed to be the quick and easy ones seem to take the longest!"  I guess I should have told him that Talen likes to do things his own way, and I am sure this is no different!  Anyway, after the surgery, they took him back to recovery - PACU.  We were only there about 10 minutes and then they sent him back to the regular room to finish recovering.  Originally they said that he would need to stay for 2 hours afterward while they watched him to make sure that he was ok, but the doctor said that he did so good, that he would let us go immediately.  So, we got him dressed and we were out of there.  And, just like we expected, he slept much, much better that night!  Yay for no more nose tube!!!

Postponed school for SNOW!!

We got the word late last night that because of the predicted snow storm that school might be cancelled.  By 6 am, they decided to postpone it for a couple hours instead.  This is totally crazy to me because, while it did snow during the night, by 6 am there wasn't a cloud in sight.  I guess the weathermen were totally wrong on this one!!  But the boys enjoyed putting on their coats and mittens and heading out to make snowballs and have a snowball fight.  This is so out of the norm for us down here in Southern Utah, but we loved it and made the most of our postponed snow day!!