Update on Darek

Darek is doing really well. He has finally decided that it is not so bad to get up and walk on the crutches, which was a hurdle for us last week. He gets around pretty well on the crutches and has even attempted the stairs. We will keep hoping for big improvements.
Also, pray that I don't loose my mind trying to keep him entertained for 2 weeks. He is not one to enjoy sitting and watching T.V. so already he is becoming bored. I'm going to try and see if I can slip in some merit badge requirements without him knowing what I'm doing. We'll see how that goes.

Here are some pics showing the incisions for the pins.

Gotta Go Back To School

The 2010-2011 school year has begun. Three of the kids headed off for their first day, Parker by bus and Becca and Rachel by foot. The morning went really smooth and although everyone was nervous they all left in good spirits. We'll hope the day continues to go well.

Parker is a big 8th grader this year. He is excited to be the "BIG MAN" on campus. He has a terrific schedule with lots of great teachers. We hope for big leaps this year in his reading and writing!


Becca is a 5th grader this year. She is growing up so fast. Not much of a little girl anymore. We have watched her grow this summer and she is turning into a beautiful young lady. However, she did allow me to walk to her classroom and into her classroom which is way more than she let me do last year! Thanks Becca for still being mommy's little girl.


My baby Rae is a big 3rd grader this year! Oh how the time has flown. She was so excited to go to school today. She has Miss Andrew's this year and they have something very special in common. Both of their names are Rachel Dawn! Miss Andrew was Darek and Becca's teacher so we are very excited to spend another year with her.


Two cute girls!


Darek's first day of school won't be for a couple of weeks. He will be having a teacher come to the house and do his work with him. Hopefully this will keep him from getting to far behind. The Dr. hopes that in a couple of weeks he will be able to attend for partial days. So this picture is Darek's "First Day of School." What a life!


I hope that all your kids' first days were good ones and that the school year is prosperous for all.

Crash!

So, Darek decided to end the summer on an exciting note. While roller blading behind a tote goat (small motorcycle)he underestimated a turn and ended up sliding into the curb and bouncing off. The result - a broken femur right below the hip socket. Not so great. Lots of pain and tears were shed while he waited close to 24 hours for surgery.
Here is a picture of him braving thru the pain while waiting. This is what lots of Morphine and Valium do to a guy.
His accident occurred at about 9:15 on Monday night and finally at 6:00 p.m. Tuesday he was able to go into surgery. The doctor placed a rod and 3 pins in his right leg to keep everything in place. The rod will remain in his leg for 9-12 months and then it will be removed. The surgery went extremely well. It took about an hour and a half for them to place the rod.
Here is what he looked like after surgery - pale as a ghost and funnier than ever. Coming out of the anesthetic was quite comical. We got a good kick out of watching him chew ice chips like a horse and breathing into the oxygen mask so that the balloon would inflate.


Today is a much better day. The leg looks terrific and he is feeling a hundred times better. No cast on the leg and by 4:00 he was up walking around on crutches.
Tomorrow morning he will be able to return home. Doctor says about 2-3 weeks on the crutches and then he can start walking on his own. Quite remarkable what they can do these days.


Look at Darek's cute name plate on his room.

Here is a pic of Don's sleeping quarters as he spends the nights with Darek and I spend the days.

Time to Scrapbook

Well, I've taken a ton of pictures this summer and need to get started on putting them in books. With the kids returning to school in a week, I figured it was a great time to start organizing the scrapbook supplies and get going. Close To My Heart is a terrific resource to help put everything together. In just a few short weeks our new Autumn/Winter catalog will be released and all the new goodies will be available. Not to mention that our current Summer catalog holds some delightful summer paper and stamps. If you haven't checked out my website, please stop by and take a peak. You can even order your items right from the site and have them shipped to your home. Just click on the CTMH link on the upper right side of my blog.

I would love to get a group of ladies together to scrapbook once a month. I was thinking of maybe doing it on a Friday morning when the kids are in school. My Friday nights seem to be so full with activities for the kids. If there are any of you who might be interested in this idea, let me know. My email is www.yeiwhos.com.

Look how darling this Journal is. It's simple and easy and what a great gift idea for a birthday or Christmas.


These cute 3x3 albums are a snap to make. These little books are on sale until Aug. 31st for just $2.50. These are perfect for all the small school pictures of your kids that you just don't know what do to with. They fit great in a purse or on a desk. I'd be happy to help you put these together.

Trip to the Rock

On July 5th we decided to take the kids out to the rock at the Great Salt Lake. Every time we drive by they ask us when we are going to stop and climb the rock. So today we did. Of course, it stunk (which Don and I knew it would) and the kids were a little shocked at how bad it smelled. But they made the best of us and with help from the men in our house, us girls made the climb to the top. It is a lot steeper then it looks. The going up wasn't too bad, but the coming down was a little more difficult.


Once at the top, we were able to have a spectatular view of the islands and took the opportunity for a great photo of the kids.

Home at Last!

Yes, we are finally home. Well at least the girls. We survived the blazing heat on the East coast and are ever so greatful to be back Utah.

As you can see the idea of me blogging my trip did not work out as planned. We were soooo busy during the day that by the time we got back to the hotel, the only energy I had left was used to bathe the girls and myself and flop into bed.

So just to update you on what happened since the last post. We next went to Gettysburg and what a fascinating place. The musuem there is enormous. You could spend a couple of days going through it. The movie and the Cyclorama was awesome! The girls really enjoyed that. We did the battlefield tour with the help of a CD dad purchased and our car. The battlefield is huge and it took about 3 hours to do the tour. As we stood in the blazing heat at the base of Little Round Top in what is know as the Devil's Den, Mom and I came to realize what it must have felt like on that day in July, with full uniforms on and the heat beating down on those men as they fought one of the heaviest battles during the Civil War. We looked at our watches and it was 3:00 which was exactly the time that the battle actually occured. Great appreciate for those men and the sacrafice they gave on that day so that we could have the freedoms we do.

Next we went on to D.C. As you probably have heard, D.C. has experienced one of the hottest summers on record and it just so happened that 3 of those record breaking days were while we were there. I have never been so wet in my life from just sweat! It was unreal. The first day there we walked the Mall, took a tour of the capital, walked to Union Station, saw the Lincoln Mermorial and finished off with a trip to Arlington. By the time we got to Arlington we were so physically exhausted. The heat index that day had been 115°. Mom and I went into the restroom at Arlington, looked in the mirror and had to laugh! We looked awful, but so did everyone else. We splashed water on our faces and continued on.

While at Arlington, we had the opportunity to see the Exchanging of the Guard as well as a wreath ceremony. One of the Boy Scout Troops from our counsel was asked to participate in the ceremony and so all of our boys were there to enjoy. Extremely fascinating and oh so sacred!

At this point in time our trip takes a little detour. Don had some bug bites on his leg that had been progressively getting worse and by the time we all got to Arlington, his breathing was very shallow and he was coughing alot. I decided that the hospital was a needed option. I was so fearful that the pnemonia he had last year at this time was starting over again and the bites had made his foot swell up to about 4 times it's normal size. So we hopped on the Metro and headed for George Washington University Hospital. We spent the next 6 hours getting our diagnosis and some medication. Good news was that his lungs were clear and they gave him antibiotics for the bug bites. He was also told he had to take it easy the next day. So at 12:30 in the morning we jumped back on the Metro and headed toward our hotels. Dad picked us up at the Metro station and we took Don back to his hotel and me and dad continued on too ours.

The next day we didn't go anywhere. The girls went over with their dad and swam while mom, dad and I did laudry for 38 scouts in an unairconditioned laudrymat for three and half hours. Again, we had to laugh. We looked like we had jumped in a pool again! Dad says that we have done our "Good Turn Daily."

In the evening we decided to go down to the Iwo Jimo Memorial. We arrived just as sun was beginning to set and on how awesome the memorial looked. Again, such a reverent place. We continued on the Pentagon where we were able to see the memorial there honoring the victims of 911. Beautiful! Dad then took us up to the Washington D.C. temple. By this time it is really dark and the temple is gorgeous. It sits like a pedestal on the hill.

I will post more about the trip tomorrow. Just want to let everyone know that the men are doing great. Darek is home sick and struggles with getting out of the campsite. The heat has really taken it's toll on him. Parker is having the time of his life! He hasn't done much in regards to merit badges, but he has become an avid Patch Trader. He is so his dad - loves to barter! He has collected some AWESOME patch sets. Can't wait to see what else he comes home with.

Don is doing better. The breathing is good, but last night he told me the foot is still swollen. He's a trooper! The heat has decreased. He said that yesterday had been really comfortable. We'll keep praying for the cool weather to hold out.

Sorry I haven't updated this. It has been long, crazy days. We are having a terrific time. Our flight getting here was delayed and they downsized the plane which made them 20 seats short for the booked flight. They were trying to get people to take a flight to Atlanta and then to Baltimore. We chose to tough it out and hope we didn't get bumped - which worked. Then there were problems with traffic control in Baltimore so we had to wait at the gate before taking off. The boys had an even longer wait - 45 minutes on the tarmack in S.L. and then another 45 to taxi from the runway to the gate at JFK. Needless to say, we were all a little tired by the time we arrived. Way to much waiting to finally get here.

On Tues. we were up bright and early and off to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. We didn't get to spend too much time at Ellis because I wanted to be at the Statue of Liberty with the boys. But we did hurry around. The girls found a "Barbies around the World" exhibit, which they fell in love with - as you can imagine. Took pictures of EVERY Barbie.

We then went on to the Statue - met up with the boys and took a family photo in front. The boys continued on and we made the climb to the Pedestal of the Statue of Liberty. It was amazing! And oh, the view of Manhattan and Long Island. It was breath taking and worth the climb.

We then went to N.Y. which was insane and crazy to drive in. After 2 hours of driving around downtown N.Y. we found a place to park - with the help of a policeman and walked to Ground Zero. This so far, has to the be highlight of our trip. We found the memorial wall to the fireman and it was so moving to read each fireman's name. It was such a sacred place! We then went into the WTC Visitor's Museum (which will be moved when the new memorial and museum are completed at Ground Zero). We must have been prompted to go in because it wasn't in the plan, but oh, what an experience. We had a gentleman come up to us and ask the girls if they had touched the metal beam from the Twin Towers. The girls said no and he proceeded to give us a story that will forever be imbedded in my heart. He was survivor! Tom is a fireman with Company 44 that was trapped under the tower when it fell. He dug his way out of the rubble with severe head trauma and burns (which as present you could never tell). He told the girls they had to touch the metal because then they could go back to school and tell their friends that they had touched the twin towers. He proceeded to tell us about the memorial wall which has pictures of all the victims. He asked what the common factor in the pictures was and Rachel immediately said, "They are all smiling." "Yes," he said. And that is the way we should always remember them. He said to always smile when your picture is taken because that is how we want people to remember us - during the happy times. And that is what the wall represents. He spent another 20 minutes telling us stories of about 5 pictures on the wall. And I spent the 20 minutes sobbing - not just tears of sadness, but tears of gratitude and happiness. What an awesome experince for all of us.

Today we say the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, the Betsy Ross home and the Declaration home. We learned a lot about Ben Franklin and what a great influence we was on American History.

The weather was miserable today- hot and humid. Yesterday wasn't too bad. We will hope tomorrow is better, however, tonight in Lancaster it is down pouring!

Tomorrow we are off to Gettysbury and on into D.C.