Another surgery

 Since we were busy doing the Thompson reunion on my birthday, Scott took me out a couple weeks later.  It was the night before his femur surgery.  I think he was nervous and wanted distraction.  But either way, I'm glad we went out.  He took me to a very nice, expensive Italian restaurant and we went to the planetarium and watched a U2 laser show.  Brought back memories of high school and how young we were way back when.  

 Scott walking on Mars.

 His leg after surgery.  It was so swollen and sad.

Recovering.  This picture reminds me so much of him when we were in high school.  He used to sleep like this all the time.  And with that exact blanket.

As an update, we went to the doctor about a week after our celebration of getting off pain meds and found out he would need another surgery.  The bone in his femur wasn't growing back like it needed, and so he had to have a new rod put in.  He went into the hospital on September 12th, one day shy of his one year anniversary since the accident.  We had been trying to come up with something to do on the anniversary, but that wasn't quite what we had in mind.  The doctor said it would be quick and he should be on crutches for a couple weeks and then walking on his own. Well, it was very painful and almost 6 weeks later he is still on crutches.  When we got home from the hospital it took us 1/2 hour to get him out of the car and up the stairs into the house.  When he made it to bed he didn't move for a week.  He started going to work a week later but it was very hard for him to move his hip.  He was using the walker again for a couple weeks and then moved to crutches.  

This has been hard for both of us.  He was anticipating getting back to regular activity but instead has been in so much pain.  He can't put weight on his leg yet.  The doctor tried a newer method where they don't put screws in the top of the rod and leave a gap between the rod and the top of his bone so that it will move up and down and try to create more bone growth through stimulation.  The couple times he has stepped on it has been excruciating.  

While he has been more patient than I'm sure I could be, it was been hard on both of us.  He is tired, grouchy and hurting.  I hate to see him in pain, and carrying the weight of taking care of the kids and house and everything by myself is hard.  I don't know how I did it a year ago when he needed a lot more help.  I don't think the kids were as busy, though, and I started a new job working a lot more hours.  But I have been so exhausted and sometimes feel so alone.  I know he does, too.  But he is slowly getting better and I know that we will make it through.  I am grateful that he is still here to share everything with, even the hard times. 

Lagoon

 Sending Grandma and Grandpa down the river in the raft with all the grandkids.  Almost all, anyway.

When I first met Scott, their family went to Lagoon every year for his Dad's birthday.  I went with them the first year we were dating and it was so fun!  It's been a few years since we went, and since we were kind of in charge of the reunion this year, we decided to go again.  We had a great time until the rain came POURING down at 5:00.  We decided to call it quits at 6 and went home and had a sleepover and watched a movie with the cousins.  The next day we went to the cabin and hung out and then went fishing and crawdadding and Kelly made the most delicious shrimp boil.  Sunday we hung out and watched videos at the cabin and ate good food.

Celebrating

Scott made it off his pain meds for a few weeks and we knew we needed to celebrate.  That was a huge ordeal, and I was so proud of him.  The few days leading up to it there were several obituaries in the paper with young guys who had OD'd.  I was proud of him for being able to break himself from it.  He was also walking on his own again, and while it was slow, it was without any help!  So we went to a new restaurant called Tamarack and out to a play.  I love this man!

Christian gets the priesthood

I knew it was coming, but it was still hard to actually grasp.  Even now, 2 months later, I forget that he needs to go to Young Mens on Wednesday.  And it still surprises me to see him pass the sacrament.  Sunday, August 3rd Scott, Nick, Grandpa Reece and Grandpa Thompson came to his ordination.  It was really nice and I cried.  He is such a good boy and I am so glad he's part of our family.  Since this was a big birthday for him, he had a party at Nickel City and then we had family to our house for ice cream the day of his ordination.  

My two boys in their suits.  So handsome!

We took him and Alyssa to the temple to do baptisms for the dead.  What a great experience!

First day of school and random summer pics

I can't believe my little boy is in 7th grade.  I can't get him to wear pants, even in the dead of winter.  I finally told him if it's below freezing he had to wear them.  Crazy kid.  I have a picture of Alyssa somewhere, I will get it later.

Amber (5th grade) and Livi (2nd grade).  Neon is back this year.  Cute girls!

Soran had to wait another 2 weeks before she started, which about killed her.  Here she is, my baby, a kindergartener!

Lyssa and Christian got to go to youth conference in August.  They had a good time.

Alexis and Amanda came for the summer.  We had so much fun with a sister and a cousin!

FHE writing nice things about each other on their backs.

This year our family as we've known it has officially ended.  We no longer have dinner together every night.  We can't find a single evening where we are all home together.  It makes me incredibly sad, but I guess I knew it was going to happen.  Alyssa made it onto the JV ballroom team this year, and when I went to the parent meeting I knew it was going to take over our lives.  With competitions, performances, practices and fundraising, piano, volunteering at Timpanogas, serving in her Young Womens group and friends she is always gone.  But that was before Christian made it onto the competitive soccer team with Utah FC.  THAT was what really changed things.  He has practices a couple days a week and games at least once a week, and we are traveling all over the valleys to get him to his games.  He is also in orchestra and taking Chinese (which he loves).  Amber is in 4H, piano and dance.  Alivia is in capoeira, thankfully her school started an after school program for that so I don't have to drive her anymore.  Soran is in dance and started doing full day kindergarten at the school I work at.  She loves it, and it is nice to have her busy.  She crashes at the end of the day.  I wouldn't have them miss any of their activities, but I will surely miss the days when we all sat down every night and ate together.  

Color Festival

We are super lucky to have the Hare Krishna temple just a few minutes away.  We have gone there as a family for their vegetarian buffet, yoga classes, field trips and just for fun, but we hadn't made it to the Festival of Colors until this year.  We heard it was insane but decided to take the kids anyway.  It was a good experience, but not sure it was worth the effort to get in and just wander and then leave.  

 The cloud of dust surrounding the temple on our way in.

 Bus ride to the temple.  See how clean and white we are?

 Scott's cane.  It was tough getting around all the hills though.

 In the beginning, you could see the different colors.

 In the end all the colors kind of blended together to a kind of brown.

 At the temple.  So the Festival of Colors is to celebrate the coming of spring, and you get to throw colored chalk at anyone/thing that you come in contact with.  Every hour they have a throw where everyone crowds into the middle where the music groups play and throws their chalk--you can hardly breath.  

 They really do have some delicious vegetarian food.

 In the end.  I was glad the chalk came out of almost all the clothes except the white shirts, which it was supposed to stay in.  They turned spotty brown.  We all had colorful hair for about a week, though.  And colorful ears.

Legoland/Knotts Berry Farm/Whale Tour/SeaWorld in 4 days!

In February we went to Arizona and California to get some much-needed sun and warmth.  We met up with the Bowens and had such a great time!

 The new temple in Gilbert, AZ.  It is such a beautiful building.  We went to a Thai restaurant with Michael and Lindsey and then went to see this. 

 Lemons on the way to California.  Made my mouth water just looking at it.

 Started with Knotts Berry Farm on Wednesday.  We hit almost every ride and even left a little early, which isn't like us, but I think everyone was a bit ill and had a headache from all the roller coasters.  We went back to our hotel and watched a movie.  Scott got us a great upgrade to a suite so almost everyone had a bed and we had 2 rooms.  It was nice to be able to spread out!

 This was the best ride.  You lean onto these horse things and then shoot off really fast.  I loved it!

 Scott went on the red and gold coaster.  He thought afterward it might not have been the best idea.  Alyssa went on everything, as usual.  That girl is crazy.

 Next up was Legoland.  We spent a day and a half there.  Scott caved and got a wheelchair to ride around on, which probably saved his life.  It was fun and most of the rides were great for the kids.  

 Who's smarter?  I definitely know who's cuter.

 Jeremy, Christian and Tyler in front of the American lego land.

 Lyssa and Amber in front of the Chicago lego land.

 Alivia and Megan on The Dragon!  All of us rode it together.

 These two hit it off well.  They loved to spend time together (they giggled for pretty much the whole time) and Soran was constantly talking about Lucy for months afterward.

 Lego driving land.

 Scott and I went to dinner at a seafood place near the hotel.  It was amazing.

 Whale watching!  I was doubtful about seeing anything, but we saw a lot of animals.  It was neat to watch the dolphins swim next to the boat and jump around it.  We saw a couple of California gray whales.  We also saw otters.  It was too bad Scott got seasick and Alyssa was cold.  They pretty much just laid on the bench the whole 4 hours.

 Discovering how long different sea animals are.

Navy ship in the background.

 SeaWorld!  A cool fish tank near the Poseidon ride.

Petting the stingrays while Scott, Lyssa and Christian rode the Ray ride.  The kids loved the dolphin show and all said they wanted to be animal trainers afterwards.  We got on most of the rides, but we were only there for about 7 hours, so it was rushed.