First Day of School 2016

School has started and the boys could not be more pleased. Beckett had a really tough day yesterday and vowed he wouldn't go to school until his arm was completely healed. So needless to say, I was nervous about this morning. But, we woke up with a great attitude and ready to go. Tayden did just as I thought and woke up at 6:55 and got dressed and did his hair. Then he proceeded to help everyone else get ready so we made it on time. 

Our big kindergartener. 

2nd grade. SECOND GRADE!! How did that happen?

Cache was a little bummed about his buddies heading to school, so we decided to grab a special breakfast at McD's. 

Even my pajamed Ky was loving breakfast. 

It was a great day. Beckett did great and didn't have any issues with his arm and can't wait to go back tomorrow. I am incredibly proud of him. Tayden had a blast and loves his class and teacher. And mom was happy to be back on a schedule and time to recover from the awful weekend. 

This is going to be a great school year!  

A Day To Forget

I really wish I could forget about yesterday. But, it might be funny in a couple months...probably years....so I'll record it. It all started Thursday night when Scott came home from work. He didn't feel well and basically went straight to bed. He was planning on working overtime on Friday, so I was surprised to wake up at 7:15 and see him sleeping next to me. He said he felt like he had been hit by a bus. I did a mom exam on him and sent him to get a strep test. Sure enough, it was positive. 

When he told me he was in fact sick, I immediately examined Cache. Sure enough, cache was showing some symptoms. The problem with cache is when he has strep, he doesn't show many symptoms. His symptoms are slight, like a strawberry tongue. Then I got thinking about the last few days and his appetite and attitude and decided we needed to take him in. The doctor had an appointment a couple hours later, so I ran to the pharmacy to pick up Scott's RX while we waited. 

I took Cache to the doctor and his test came back positive. I spoke to the doctor about removing Caches tonsils, the referral was made and we are on our way to our third tonsillectomy. So, we headed back to the pharmacy for RX number two. Unfortunely, there was a miscommunication and the RX wasn't ready. Home we went. 

At home, I went downstairs to check on my husband. We were downstairs when we heard a scream and Tayden came running in yelling for help. Beckett had fallen and gotten really hurt. I ran upstairs just as Beckett was coming in the door...with a broken arm. My heart sank. I grabbed him some pants (he was playing in his unders) and shoes, got him dressed and took him to the hospital. We had to wait about 20 minutes, which was torture. He told me the pain was getting worse by the second. He tried so hard to be brave and not cry...but tears rolled down his cheeks. Watching him in pain was an extremely hard feat and it broke my heart. I wanted to scream at the top of my lungs for someone to help my baby! 

They got us back to the room and started working. The IV was the worst part, but once it was in and the morphine was flowing, Beckett was back to his happy self. He was chatting with nurses and feeling quite good. They determined he broke his radius and ulna about 2 inches above his wrist and 3 inches from his growth plate. My dad met me at the hospital and was able to give Beckett a beautiful blessing before setting the bones. The setting went well and you could hardly see the cracks in the post X-Rays. Beckett did great coming out of it. He saw me and had a huge smile and wide eyes and said, "Mom?" I assured him it was me and he continued to smile as he asked if we were in a dream. After the nurses were sure he was doing okay, they sent him out the door. And back to the pharmacy we went to pick up Caches RX and drop off Becketts for pain killers. 

Brave boy.

The break. His arm is not supposed to be bent like that. 

Mom and my boy.

After the bone setting. 

Beckett needed some fresh air with his new buddy "steggie" from our sweet neighbor, Hallie. 

Luckily, my mom was at my house being the super hero she is and was taking care of everyone. We got in and Tayden ran to Beckett with a huge hug. He had been so worried about him. Finally, for the first time all day, I ate. I had been feeling ill all day, but never had a chance to stop. And as soon as I got home and did stop, the bus hit me. So, I was off to the doctor. Strep. And then, back to the pharmacy I went. I picked up Becketts RX and dropped off mine. 20 minutes later and 3 new RX's...I headed home. I have never been so happy to go to bed. 

Three positive strep tests and one broken arm later, we had one busy day. 

A few things I don't want to forget about yesterday:

* Beckett broke his arm while they were playing on the tramp. The kids play this game where one kid is on the outside of net and the other kids try to push them off. Beckett was holding his ground pretty good, so Tayden gave him a running push and pushed him off the tramp. Beckett had a sore knee all day, and tried to land on his arms as much as he could. It buckled and broke. 

* When we asked Tayden what happened, he broke down into tears. He hasn't ever felt guilt like that before and watching him experience it was almost as bad as the broken arm. 

* Tayden called Beckett at the hospital. As they spoke, Tayden was a little hesitant to say anything after the hellos, so B said... "Hi Tayden, how are you?" It was the sweetest thing. 

* My rockstar parents came at the drop of a hat. My dad to the hospital with me and my mom to the house to tend the kids and Scott. We could not have survived without them. 

* While B was gettin his bones set, I had a quiet moment in the bathroom and prayed. I felt an overwhelming sense of peace and acknowledgement. 

The day was hard, but we got through it and I was so grateful when it was over. As much as I want to forget it, I'm sure I'll be glad to remember it one day. 

A New Decade

Yesterday was a big day for me. I turned the big 3-0! Actually, it's really no big deal. It feels no different than a couple of days ago, but let me tell you what...the day was phenomenal. The people in my life went above and beyond to make me feel special. I was greeted with birthday wishes from my sons as soon as I woke up. Then, my phone started going of the hook with texts messages, phone calls and Facebook well wishes. It was a great start. 

Later in the day I had lunch with my friends at Jodie's house. We had cafe rio, the kids had pizza and Jodie even baked cupcakes. After everyone sang Happy Birthday, we headed home. We walked in the door, laid ky down and noticed my room door was shut. Which I don't normally do. Curiously, I opened it and found my bed full of balloons. Jodie and Heather filled 30 balloons with little notes and messages about why they love me. I cried in gratitude. It's an amazing thing to have such great friends to point out such good things. 

My sister came and hang out the rest of the day. Then Scott came home and took me out for a date while my sister, parents and grandma watched the kids. It was a great day full of love and I feel so grateful to be a part of such a great group of people. 

I think 30 is going to be great. 

Dirt.

Summer is coming to a close and our activities are winding down. And I'm not going to lie, we are ready. I am ready, the boys are ready and heaven knows my schedule is ready. 

We spent the day last week with Grandma Packard, Aunt Ashley, and our cousins Aimslee and Elena. It was a fun day full of good conversation, plenty of play and tons of fun. 

Kyle has an obession with my phone right now. He loves it and screams the minute he sees it, until he gets it. So, pictures (On my phone) have become quite the challenge. So, I take pictures when he's sleeping. Because honestly, look at him. He is just so darn cute.  

On the way home from Inkom, Scott called and said he was going to be late. Since there wasn't any reason to hurry home, the kids and I decided to stop at my mom and dads for a few minutes and check out the progress on their new house. A few minutes turned into waffle dinner and hours and hours in the construction dirt piles.  

I have never seen Cache so dirty. 

Tayden transformed into weed boy.

We bathed them at my parents and changed them into my moms T-shrits for the ride home. 

It was a great day and almost had me wishing there were a few more days of summer. 

Almost. 

Suns Out, Guns Out

My dad took the big boys shooting while my brother was here. Tayden had a blast and was excited to be counted as a big kid. 

They had a good time shooting and spent a good chunk of the morning there. Could be because of the guns Tayden just couldn't resist. His words, not mine. 

Lagoon

We spent the past weekend in Utah with family enjoying Lagoon, Nickle Cade, Pizza, a Conference Center Tour and each other. It was three long days of late bedtimes, early mornings and exhausting fun. Now that we have finally recovered enough from it, I can blog about it.

We spent Friday evening at Lagoon and boy was it fun. Cache wasn't too thrilled with it to start, but once he got the hang of it, he loved it it. It helped that my brother basically took Cache duty and took him everywhere and on every ride possible insuring he had a good time. To say my kids love Uncle Justin, is a huge understatement. Beckett did pretty well and rode what he could. But Tayden, he was my brave rider. No surprise there. He rode anything and everything we threw at him. A few minutes before close, Scott agreed to take him on one last big kid ride at the other end of the park. Turns out there weren't any lines at that end and he and Scott went on four of the big adult rides. They were both in adrenaline heaven. 

He first ride. Cache was screaming his head off during this picture. 

I LOVE Becketts face. He was having the time of his life. 

Phone-Jacked 

We checked into the hotel around midnight and crashed to bed. The kids woke up entirely too early and were pretty crabby. Especially Kyle. I demanded a mandatory nap at 10:30 for everyone and after an hour worth of crying and boo hooing, we gave up. Scott and I decided to put on the best faces we could and got ready, vowing we would try to have more patience and fun for the rest of the day. We met up with my family at Nickle Cade (and arcade where all the games are a nickle) and went out to pizza. We capped off the night with a little family swim and headed to bed...again way too late. 

The kids fell asleep as we drove back to the hotel from lunch. They really needed the extra sleep, so we hung out in the car while they slept. 

Beckett woke up as we were taking pictures and decided he needed one too. 

Kyle thought this incline on the soccer game was a slide. He kept going down over and over again. 

Sunday rolled around and we weren't ready to say goodbye to our Texas cousins, so we went to SLC and toured the conference center. It was really fun and a great Sabbath activity. We hit Red Robin for lunch, not such a great Sabbath activity, and said our goodbyes. Its always the hardest part of the summer. I look forward to seeing Justin, Echo and the kids all year and it comes and goes too quickly. I always shed more than a couple tears saying goodbye to them and this year was no different. I tried to hold it together as long as I could, but walking away I broke down. He came and gave me one last hug and said, "I'm proud of you, kid.". Those are my favorite words. 

This is my favorite picture. If Ky had been looking, it would have been totally perfect. 

Typical Kyle. 

Cache was never far from Uncle Justin. 

Neither was Beckett. 

Grandkids oldest to youngest. Coda, Gracie, Tayden, Beckett, Cache and Kyle. 

It was a great weekend and I miss them already.  

To My Husband

Today, I miss you more than normal. I miss you everyday, the minute you walk out the door I wish you'd come back. But today, I miss you more. I've been thinking about the past year and how hard it has been. I think we'd both agree that our marriage is not perfect and this year has tried us. We've had disagreements, arguments, parenting differences, personality clashes and flat out grumpy days. There have been times that we haven't been able to see eye to eye and forget being on the same page, we were in completely different books. I haven't been easy. I've pushed you to your limits and asked for things that are impossible to give. I have been impatient, unkind and hard to love. And I'm sorry for that. 

But today, all I can think of is our triumphs. That through the thick of it, we came out ahead. We won. Together. We stood by each other and never ever ever gave up on one another. Because over the past ten years, we have become one. We have become a team. And without you, there is no me. Through all of your trivial (and some not so much) trials, I've loved you with a deeper appreciation than before. Our marriage has always been our priority. We have learned to communicate better, laugh when we want to yell and love through all of it. I am so proud of us. 

To say I am grateful you are my life partner, is hardly scratching the surface. To know you are by my side for all eternity, is the greatest blessing I will ever know. You are my security. I have never known a reason to doubt you and I know I never will. You and me are the real deal. Our marriage is honest, and true. And even when its hard, really really hard...I know we'll get through it, just like we have before. 

I love you, Scott. You make me better, my faith stronger and my love deeper. The young love that started the moment I laid eyes on you, has grown into a love that runs through my veins and is a part of me. Our love is a living, breathing part of me.  Not many people know unconditional love and I count my lucky stars that I know it with you.