2014: School started

School has finally started. All the kids have been waiting for this day. Some a little more than others.

Elsie Anne is in 5th grade. She is growing up. Elsie was so excited for school because it was boring at home.  She was actually excited to do homework.

Kaden is in 3rd grade. He loves his teacher Ms Olsen. 

Rylan is in 2nd grade this year. He heard good things about Mrs Bianucci from Kaden but has soon realized he doesn't like to do his homework.

This was Elliot's first time leaving mom other than at church. He has been having problems leaving me at church and I was a little concerned for him. The big kids started school a week before Elliot.  The first 2 days I went with him. The first day was the worst. He didn't want to go inside without me so I followed behind. I waited ouside the classroom hoping he would forget about me. Well, Elliot put his backpack away and was in tears telling me to come in. I came in for a little bit and when the teacher started doing some work I snuck out and prayed he would be fine. And he was! Elliot came out of school full of smiles. He didn't even notice I left.

Camden thought he got to play with all the toys in Elliot's classroom. I had to go pry him away so we could leave. He was very excited for Elliot.

Here is Elliot and a few boys he goes to church with. Gavin Gee and Ben Wilcox. No immediate relation.

This is Elliot trying to be brave.

Elliot not sure what to think of everything and keeping an eye on mom.

After school. One happy boy!

Elliot has a new teacher this year. Ms Burnett seems to be really nice.

Riverton Elementary has been a good school for the kids. We love it. Good luck Elliot. You'll do awesome.

Ogden Temple open house

I didn't know the Ogden temple was having their open house until Elsie came home from church asking if we could go to the dedication and open house. Kaden and Elsie have already gotten their temple recommends and are very excited. I didn't know if I was up for hauling the 6 kids around by myself but after thinking about it I decided I couldn't pass up this opportunity. The last time we went to an open house Camden was a baby. We have made it to the Draper temple and Oqquir mountain temple open house. The older kids remember but with them all being older I wanted them to have this experience.  I never had an experience like this until I was in college. I made arrangements and prayed all would go well. The day came and things were going well until I accidentally slammed Rylan's finger in a door. Not long after that Rylan slammed Camden's finger in the door too. That one was a good one. So good he will probably lose his fingernail. Camden was so hurt he claimed he couldn't eat breakfast or use the bathroom by himself. The world was ending because Camden couldn't use either hand and everyone was yelling. Satan was working really hard on us but I wasn't about to stay home if Satan was working that hard. We loaded the car up. You would have thought this hour drive was 10 because the kids were planning a lot of things to do. We were scheduled to go through the temple at 12:45 so the kids ate lunch in the car. It worked out good except I didn't eat. We got to the temple just in time and found parking close. We literally only had to wait 2 minutes until our tour.  That was a great blessing in itself. 

 The whole tour was very well organized and went smoothly. What a special and sacred place this is. The temple was so beautiful and every time I go memories come flooding back of when I went for my first time and the day I married the most wonderful man in the whole universe. 

Our only wish was to go slower and talk about everything when we saw it. I love going to the temple and being able to show my children and have them experience it was priceless. What an amazing thing to be able to share with my kids. They were well behaved and even little Reyen slept through most of it. She did stir in my arms as we were going through the celestial room. She must have sensed Heavely Father. I hope my children remember this as they grow up. We are so blessed to live close to the house of the Lord.

I wanted to get a picture of all the kids in front of the temple so they could remember this day. Some protested but we got it. Another blessing was it didn't rain on us. We drove through many storms and were afraid it would be wet. It was cool and perfect. 

Once out of the temple the boys were boys again. Honestly I don't know how none of them ended up in the water. 

On our way home we stopped by Spinney's to visit. It's been a long time since we have been to her place. We just don't travel north enough.  Reyen is attracted to the tv and watched some with Spinney.  Who could miss her big tv. 

She is growing: Reyen at 7 & 8 weeks

People at church comment that Reyen is so little and ask if she is growing. Personally I know she is because her body is filling out. Her checks are more chubby and legs aren't as wrinkly. Reyen is smiling! It's not a smirk or half smile but a real one and I love it. I've yet to capture it on camera but I will.

I caught Reyen sneezing. She is getting so long. At her 8 week checkup she measured 23 inches long and 8 lbs 15 1/2 ounces. So she has gained 2 pounds since she has been born. I was so happy to hear that she is gaining weight. The doctor checked her out and everything was good. She is taking probiotics daily to help her poop. She is doing really good with that. The doc was impressed that Reyen was so strong on her legs. I was concerned that she was still little but the doctor told me everything was good and Reyen was just going to be tall and skinny.

Reyen loves the outdoors. We don't go out so much when she is awake because she is always closing her eyes. Evening are what Reyen likes the most. She is always looking up to the sky. I think she remembers heaven a lot still. We have talks about what it was like there.

I have to say Reyen is definitely a favorite in our house. I swear she is the only baby who has been kissed a gazillion times. Now that the kids are in school they don't get to hold Reyen much. It's cute to hear them say "I haven't gotten to hold her today". She is very loved around here.

Camden likes to get down on the same level as Reyen. It's kind of awkward for him to hold her but doesn't he look like a proud big brother?

Some of my favorite kids. My 3 year old and 2 month old.

Our 24th fo July

Our 24th of July started out like any day. We watched the big parade in Salt Lake on tv. With Mike being out of town we didn't do much. The kids were taking turns cooking dinner and loving it. That night Kaden cooked hot dogs and beans. After dinner the three younger boys went outside to play. At 6:30 Camden came in the house holding his right arm and crying. All I got out of the story at the time was Camden fell out of the truck by himself. As the night wore on Camden slowly told me more and I figured it out. The boys were playing hide and seek. Camden had climbed in the bed of the truck to count and had fallen out on his way down. No one saw the fall but Camden says he fell on the rocks so my guess was he climbed over the side. The minute I saw his elbow I knew something was wrong. It didn't look right.  As I started to examine his arm I noticed his bone poking out in his arm. It did not look good. It looked gross. Trying to stay calm we said a prayer as a family and got busy. I didn't know who to call except for Mike. Being in Colorado he couldn't help much but he called his parents who lived 20 minutes away. They dropped everything to help me out. I am so grateful to them for all they did for me that night. I left the older kids at home and went searching for an instacare with Camden and Reyen. Grandpa went to our house to watch the kids and Grandma met up with me. I tried a few instacares close by but when they were all closed I had to call my insurance and find more places. Needless to say, we ended up at Lone Peak Hospital Emergency room because everything was closed. By this time Camden had calmed down but was in a lot of pain. He wouldn't talk to anyone at the hospital except for me. Grandma took Reyen. She fed and changed her. They took some x-rays and the doctor concluded that he wouldn't touch it and was referring us to Primary Children's Hospital. I asked if there was another hospital that could take him but the Dr said there was no one specialized to work on Camden. My guess was that it was because Camden was little. So off we went to another hospital.

Camden had a great time getting rides in wheelchairs at both hospitals. The nurse who helped us out to the car let Camden keep a pillow for his arm. He was very quiet seeing all the people around.

We headed to Primary children's with all the paperwork in toe and waited. Kathy was a big help. She helped me not freak out and took care of Reyen. There were other kids there with injuries from falling out a two story window to falling down the stairs. Waiting was what we did most of. They made Camden do more x-rays because the first hospital didn't do the right angles. Camden didn't like that. After the x-rays they said he fractured his ulna and radius. If you look at the x-ray you can see the bones are not touching like they are suppose to. The main concern was the elbow. They said a specialist was going to work on him and they didn't know until they tried to put the elbow back in place if it was bad enough that Camden would need surgery. When they told me that I got really worried. I prayed that Camden wouldn't need the surgery. By this time it was around 1am.

These pictures are when they put the IV in Camden's arm. When we found out what was going to happen the Dr said we might as well get the IV in at the beginning with medicine. The guy who did it was so nice, he told Camden what he was doing in boy terms. Camden was really scared through the whole thing. He only made a few sounds and that was it. He was very concerned about what was now on his hand. Through it all Camden did awesome. He let them work.

We had to wait until the surgeon was able to come down and that was about a half hour. When they are getting ready to work on Camden they brought in so much equipment. They also had what seemed like 10 people crammed in this little room all for Camden.  We were given the choice to stay or leave. We left the room just as they were putting Camden to sleep. There was no way I was going to watch. Even though I knew Camden wouldn't feel anything for some reason I thought it would still be painful. Kathy watched and took these pictures. I just prayed everything would be okay. I was relieved when Kathy told me they were putting a cast on his arm. That was a good sign. The doc said things looked good and the elbow went back in. They took more x-rays and even though it didn't go back together perfectly as Camden grows it would be fine. I was so happy to hear that. We stayed awhile longer waiting for Camden to wake up.  We got all packed up and headed home after that. It was around 3:30am when we pulled in the driveway. I am so grateful for wonderful in-laws who helped me so much.

When I took some pictures Camden wanted a picture of his cool socks from the hospital. He didn't want to wash them when they got dirty and no one could use his hospital pillow. 

We were instructed to go back the following week and get a hard cast.  They took more x-rays and were told things looked good and to come back in a month to see if the elbow has healed the correct way. If it has Camden will get a smaller cast for just his arm. If not Camden will have to have surgery. We are praying he heals right.

Camden picked a black cast. It has worked out great because you can't see dirt. We were told he could swim but no dirt and sand. There was no way Camden would stay away from the dirt so when he wants to play we put a grocery bag over his arm. It makes us both happy.

I hope some day Camden starts caring more about how he wears his clothes. He loves his cast and is doing a lot with his arm. He is getting good at eating with his left hand. I've always wanted a kid who was left handed but never in this way. I'm so grateful Camden was brave through all of this and things have turned out good. This is something I don't want to go through again but my mother-in-law reminded me that I have boys and this is just the beginning.