Our ward had a BBQ last weekend. We went and it was so hot, and no one really came over to talk to us much, so I wasn’t having the greatest time. But after everyone finished eating they started a few water games for the kids and it cooled down a bit. We got up and I started talking to a few of the other young moms, and it ended up being a nice activity. I should have pulled out the camera to get some shots of the kids with the water balloons, but at least I got some cute ones of them playing baseball with Daddy and the other boys. Camden had a lot of fun playing on the bleachers with the other little kids too. It ended up being a nice night.
Showing posts with label BBQ. Show all posts
Showing posts with label BBQ. Show all posts
26 June 2008
22 June 2008
An Orientation Week
This week Michael has had his orientation. He is excited to get started on Tuesday. He will start off with a surgery month. One thing that he mentioned from the orientation was that they were instructed on what to do when someone stops breathing or their heart stops, as the interns will often be the first responders when that happens. They got a refresher course in CPR, and learned how to use the defibrillator to shock someone if needed. That kind of responsibility sounds a little overwhelming, but I’m sure Michael will do great!
On Monday evening Grandma Faun watched the boys for us while Michael and I went up Millcreek Canyon to a place called Log Haven. They had nice food, and it was a beautiful setting, with flowers and little waterfalls surrounding the area where we ate. The new interns were invited to the awards dinner that night for the outgoing interns, and it turned out that that was their graduation ceremony too – but it was a nice, personal graduation with recognitions for each of the interns and not a lot of long speeches or anything like so many other graduations we’ve attended in the past. The dinner was nice, and we were able to meet a few of the new interns in Michael’s class and their spouses, and a couple of the outgoing interns. One of the couples we met that is leaving is actually good friends with Jandee and Dustin Anderson, our friends from Milwaukee, and they are moving out to our old ward in Milwaukee. They even bought the Lundgren’s house. Fun.
On Tuesday morning I went down to Pilgrim Point and met Mel and her boys for their playgroup. There is a fun little area with a big statue of Noah’s Ark and all the animals and it has water for the children to wade in and little fountains that splash up. There was also a cave with a bear statue and some fun gardens – we’ll have to go back some time, since it sounded like there was a lot more there that we didn’t get to see yet. And Michael got off in the afternoon on Tuesday, so that evening I went with Grandma and my cousin, Dorthy, to a meeting for their walking group. I guess some of the people in the group are pretty serious walkers – they do “race walking” and sign up for marathons and half-marathons all the time. I would just be up for normal walking, plus pushing the kids in the strollers, but I think I’ll try it out. Dorthy, Grandma, and I are getting up early tomorrow morning to go walking, so I’ll see how that goes.
On Thursday the boys and I helped Grandma plant flowers in the front yard. Actually, I weeded the planting areas while the boys helped Grandma plant. They are very good helpers. We got two different visitors while we were out doing that. The Kearls stopped by to drop off a sippy cup Camden had left at Tyce’s parent’s house. They saw our place and stayed to talk for a little while before heading off to the airport that afternoon. I’m glad we have plans to get together in the future, even if they’re not very soon. Also, after they left the relief society president from church came by and welcomed me into the ward. She asked if I wanted to be a visiting teacher and let me know that someone will come to visit with me too. That was nice of her to stop by. After cleaning the boys off and letting them get a little rest, we headed out to an activity at Snowbird resort for the new interns and their families. It was nice to have an activity just for our group, so I could get a better idea of who was in Michael’s class. We have met several nice couples, and I am hoping to be able to get together with them. There is no official spouse association, but a couple of the wives were talking about organizing something, so I’m looking forward to that. I was also thinking of e-mailing all the new interns and seeing if they would each send me some info about themselves and their families and I could try to put together some kind of directory. There are only 13 interns, I think, so that should be do-able. The activity at snowbird was nice. There was a nice dinner and some fun games, including some of those inflated bounce-house things, a zip line, some trampolines with harnesses so you could bounce really high and do flips, and gondola rides up the mountain. I’ll have to post videos later of the boys bouncing on the trampolines – they all loved it, especially Camden!
On Friday Michael didn’t have orientation, so we got some errands done and we went to the West Valley recreation center to check it out. We decided to sign up the boys for swim lessons, so Michael is going to go in tomorrow at 5am to sign them up, since they told us the classes fill up quickly. While the three younger boys went with us to check out the rec center, Kolby stayed with Grandma and helped plant flowers in the back yard. He is such a good little helper, and loves spending time with his grandma. That evening we went to Grandpa and Grandma McIntosh’s house for dinner, and then afterwards Michael’s uncle Rich and his kids stopped by. We had fun catching up with them and the boys had fun playing with the cousins.
Yesterday we went down to Spanish Fork to visit Alan and Jenn at their place. We played games for a little while, then played in the back yard before coming in for some cake and ice cream. It was nice to go down and visit them – even though it was quite the drive to get down there. After that we stopped at the grocery store and then headed straight back to West Valley for a ward BBQ. It was so hot out that I could barely stand to eat a hot hamburger, but after dinner there were some water games for the kids and the boys and Michael joined in a game of baseball while I talked to a couple of the other moms there. It ended up being a nice evening.
And this morning I ended up staying home with Isaac because he had a little cold. I helped Michael get the other boys ready for church, then I actually went back to sleep while Isaac slept, which was nice. Michael said that I missed a really good meeting, though, by a young man who was leaving on his mission. After church I ground wheat and made bread. I have been putting off making bread, just because it takes so long to grind the wheat (because I would rather grind the wheat enough for several week’s worth of bread batches all at once, rather than grind it each week, so that takes quite a while). But after doing it for a while, I ended up with 6 loaves of bread – perfect bread that rose just right (I knew it was my oven in Milwaukee, and not just that I couldn’t make bread that rises correctly), and I made 8 bags of wheat flour and the other dry ingredients to put in the freezer, so for the next two months I just have to pull out a bag, add the liquid ingredients, and cook the bread. Now that the grinding is done, it will be easy to make bread each week.
And after the boys took naps we went over to Sugarhouse Park for Grandma Bradshaw’s family birthday dinner. Her birthday is tomorrow, and lots of the Utah cousins got together tonight, which was fun to see lots of them again. We were right next to the lake, and as we expected, Camden fell in. He was chasing some birds right when we got there, and then he turned and stepped into the water before I could get to him. The bottom of the pond was so slippery that he slid right in up to his neck. I dried him off and let him run around in his diaper. Later Kolby was throwing pieces of bread in to feed the birds, and he accidentally fell in too. And then after that Michael was video taping Camden feeding the birds and Camden went in a second time and hit his head on the side, but luckily he wasn’t really hurt. I think Eli only stuck his foot in. And now all 4 boys are asleep and I have a chance to write this and try to get things updated a little more. It has been really nice that Isaac is sleeping in the playpen now. About a week ago I decided it was time for him to switch from being swaddled and sleeping in the swing to going down in the playpen, and so we prepared ourselves for a few rough nights of him being up and crying a lot, but he surprised us by going down just fine at night and for naps in the daytime, and not even crying for more than a few minutes each time before he falls asleep. I guess he was ready too.
18 May 2008
Cinco de Mayo BBQ
We were invited to a Cinco de Mayo BBQ and had a lot of fun hanging out with our friends. The kids especially enjoyed playing on the playground and running in the grass, we had good food, and we played a little ultimate frisbee (or “roosbee,” as Kolby would say it).
01 July 2007
A Long Weekend
This week has been wonderful! Michael finished his trauma surgery rotation and had his test on Thursday, which he felt good about after he took it. We are both so relieved to be done with this rotation – and on to better things. (Wow – Michael’s now a 4th year – one more year of medical school to go!)
Earlier in the week, on Tuesday, we all went over to the church and Camden and I went to an enrichment activity about family history. Most of the evening was an introduction to genealogy, so I just went to help out, but they also scheduled a time once a month when a group of us will be going to the family history center during the day and we can trade off babysitting so we can have some time to work on our research. I am excited because this should allow me to find the time to get some more names ready for temple work. While I was in doing that, Michael and the older boys went outside and helped as a group of church members pulled weeds around the church grounds. Michael said that they will still need to get together again because it didn’t all get done, but about ten families showed up to help so that is a pretty decent turn-out, I think.
Wednesday was a busy day. Camden had his 9-month-old doctor’s check-up in the morning, and he looks healthy and right on track with his growth. He now weighs 20 pounds 4 ounces and is just over 29 inches tall. A few hours later I dropped the boys off with Rachel Roberts and went for my first physical therapy appointment. I liked the physical therapist and she gave me some good information. Since then I have been doing several different stretches for about half an hour two times a day, and the pain that I had in my hip for the last week has gone away. My knee pain is still there, but hopefully it will go away soon too. Then that evening I took Kolby and watched while he had his swimming lesson. He has done so well this session with listening and doing just what the teacher asks. He did an especially good job of floating on his back this week.
On Thursday morning I took the boys to their art class, which they always enjoy. After Michael got home from taking his test and the boys took their nap, we went and got some fireworks. We found a good deal on a big pack of fireworks that was buy 1, get 2 free. When we got home, we took Eli to his swim lesson. Michael got to swim with him while I watched. And afterwards we went to a BBQ for the students who were all on the same track with Michael to celebrate the end of 3rd year. I only knew two couples there – the Cortezes and the Jays – but it was nice to meet some of the people Michael has been working with and have some time to socialize and play at the park.
On Friday we were thinking about going camping overnight because Michael had the day off, but then decided that it would be less expensive to just take a day trip. We ended up going to swim at the Lake Pewaukee beach, and it was a lot of fun (although I still find it a little difficult to call anything that is not on an ocean a “beach.”) But we all enjoyed ourselves there.
On Saturday evening we had our annual pre-4th of July BBQ and fireworks. There was a very good turn-out – there were over 20 adults there and tons of little kids. I love the summer time when you can do stuff like this and you don’t have to worry about how many people you can fit into your apartment. After eating, we gave sparklers to all the kids and they had a blast. Some of the little girls kept running around waving the sparklers like magic wands and saying, “Bibbity bobbity boo!” Afterwards Michael and Matt Vernon put on a fun fireworks show. Lots of the people ended up heading home before the fireworks were done, just because their kids were tired because we had to wait so long to start the fireworks because it doesn’t get dark until after 9:00pm in the summer. But it was a fun show – especially since the boys enjoyed it so much. Kolby kept naming all the different colors of sparks he saw, Camden watched with a smile from his stroller for the first little while until he got tired, and at one point Eli was so excited that he was jumping up and down and shaking Camden’s stroller. It was pretty cute.
This morning Kolby was kind of grumpy when he got up and he said that he didn’t want to go to church. I was telling him the fun things that we would get to do, like going to his sunbeam class and taking the bread and water for the Sacrament. When I told him about the Sacrament, he seemed to be happy to go to church. So, this morning we went early to set up chairs at church, but someone had already done it before we got there, so Michael played a few hymns on the piano until it was time to start. Everything was going pretty well until the young men went up to the front of the chapel to help pass the Sacrament, and then Kolby wouldn’t calm down. He said that he needed to go help, and when Michael told him he needed to stay in his seat, he said that Mommy told him he could. So, when I told him about taking the Sacrament in church, he thought that I meant he could be one of the young men who got to go help pass out the bread and the water to everyone in the congregation. He finally calmed down some when we told him that he could pass the bread and water to us after it was passed to our row. But he still wanted to go up to the front and help. The rest of the meetings went like normal. This is the fourth week in a row that Camden has been happy right up until the third hour of church, when he acts so tired and fussy that we have to take him out in the hall. Michael took him for me the last few weeks when he did this, so this week I said I could stay out with him. I did get to meet another new family in the ward while I was out there, so that was nice. After church Kolby’s sunbeam teacher told me that during primary there was a family visiting who’s son had recently been baptized. The boy was baptized in the Susquehanna River, which happens to be a significant location in the history of our church, so the primary leader was asking the children to guess where the boy had been baptized. So, his teacher told me that Kolby raised his hand right away and answered, “At a garage sale.” She said that he was very proud of his answer.
This afternoon we came home and water was leaking from the light fixture and wood work above our kitchen sink. We finally got a hold of the apartment maintenance worker, and he came and said that he will have a plumber come tomorrow, since it seems that it leaks more in our apartment every time our upstairs neighbors use their sink or dishwasher. Luckily, the majority of the water is dripping into our sink, so it shouldn’t be too bad.
This next week should be a lot of fun too. Tomorrow Michael has the day off because in his dermatology rotation they are training new interns tomorrow, so they aren’t going to have the students start until Tuesday. So we are planning on taking the boys to the zoo in the morning. And then Michael gets Wednesday off for the 4th of July, so we will take the boys to the parade in the morning, then to the annual ward party at the Twelmyer’s house, and then to see the fireworks in the evening. Hopefully the nice weather holds out. Well, we hope you all have a happy 4th of July!
Earlier in the week, on Tuesday, we all went over to the church and Camden and I went to an enrichment activity about family history. Most of the evening was an introduction to genealogy, so I just went to help out, but they also scheduled a time once a month when a group of us will be going to the family history center during the day and we can trade off babysitting so we can have some time to work on our research. I am excited because this should allow me to find the time to get some more names ready for temple work. While I was in doing that, Michael and the older boys went outside and helped as a group of church members pulled weeds around the church grounds. Michael said that they will still need to get together again because it didn’t all get done, but about ten families showed up to help so that is a pretty decent turn-out, I think.
Wednesday was a busy day. Camden had his 9-month-old doctor’s check-up in the morning, and he looks healthy and right on track with his growth. He now weighs 20 pounds 4 ounces and is just over 29 inches tall. A few hours later I dropped the boys off with Rachel Roberts and went for my first physical therapy appointment. I liked the physical therapist and she gave me some good information. Since then I have been doing several different stretches for about half an hour two times a day, and the pain that I had in my hip for the last week has gone away. My knee pain is still there, but hopefully it will go away soon too. Then that evening I took Kolby and watched while he had his swimming lesson. He has done so well this session with listening and doing just what the teacher asks. He did an especially good job of floating on his back this week.
On Thursday morning I took the boys to their art class, which they always enjoy. After Michael got home from taking his test and the boys took their nap, we went and got some fireworks. We found a good deal on a big pack of fireworks that was buy 1, get 2 free. When we got home, we took Eli to his swim lesson. Michael got to swim with him while I watched. And afterwards we went to a BBQ for the students who were all on the same track with Michael to celebrate the end of 3rd year. I only knew two couples there – the Cortezes and the Jays – but it was nice to meet some of the people Michael has been working with and have some time to socialize and play at the park.
On Friday we were thinking about going camping overnight because Michael had the day off, but then decided that it would be less expensive to just take a day trip. We ended up going to swim at the Lake Pewaukee beach, and it was a lot of fun (although I still find it a little difficult to call anything that is not on an ocean a “beach.”) But we all enjoyed ourselves there.
On Saturday evening we had our annual pre-4th of July BBQ and fireworks. There was a very good turn-out – there were over 20 adults there and tons of little kids. I love the summer time when you can do stuff like this and you don’t have to worry about how many people you can fit into your apartment. After eating, we gave sparklers to all the kids and they had a blast. Some of the little girls kept running around waving the sparklers like magic wands and saying, “Bibbity bobbity boo!” Afterwards Michael and Matt Vernon put on a fun fireworks show. Lots of the people ended up heading home before the fireworks were done, just because their kids were tired because we had to wait so long to start the fireworks because it doesn’t get dark until after 9:00pm in the summer. But it was a fun show – especially since the boys enjoyed it so much. Kolby kept naming all the different colors of sparks he saw, Camden watched with a smile from his stroller for the first little while until he got tired, and at one point Eli was so excited that he was jumping up and down and shaking Camden’s stroller. It was pretty cute.
This morning Kolby was kind of grumpy when he got up and he said that he didn’t want to go to church. I was telling him the fun things that we would get to do, like going to his sunbeam class and taking the bread and water for the Sacrament. When I told him about the Sacrament, he seemed to be happy to go to church. So, this morning we went early to set up chairs at church, but someone had already done it before we got there, so Michael played a few hymns on the piano until it was time to start. Everything was going pretty well until the young men went up to the front of the chapel to help pass the Sacrament, and then Kolby wouldn’t calm down. He said that he needed to go help, and when Michael told him he needed to stay in his seat, he said that Mommy told him he could. So, when I told him about taking the Sacrament in church, he thought that I meant he could be one of the young men who got to go help pass out the bread and the water to everyone in the congregation. He finally calmed down some when we told him that he could pass the bread and water to us after it was passed to our row. But he still wanted to go up to the front and help. The rest of the meetings went like normal. This is the fourth week in a row that Camden has been happy right up until the third hour of church, when he acts so tired and fussy that we have to take him out in the hall. Michael took him for me the last few weeks when he did this, so this week I said I could stay out with him. I did get to meet another new family in the ward while I was out there, so that was nice. After church Kolby’s sunbeam teacher told me that during primary there was a family visiting who’s son had recently been baptized. The boy was baptized in the Susquehanna River, which happens to be a significant location in the history of our church, so the primary leader was asking the children to guess where the boy had been baptized. So, his teacher told me that Kolby raised his hand right away and answered, “At a garage sale.” She said that he was very proud of his answer.
This afternoon we came home and water was leaking from the light fixture and wood work above our kitchen sink. We finally got a hold of the apartment maintenance worker, and he came and said that he will have a plumber come tomorrow, since it seems that it leaks more in our apartment every time our upstairs neighbors use their sink or dishwasher. Luckily, the majority of the water is dripping into our sink, so it shouldn’t be too bad.
This next week should be a lot of fun too. Tomorrow Michael has the day off because in his dermatology rotation they are training new interns tomorrow, so they aren’t going to have the students start until Tuesday. So we are planning on taking the boys to the zoo in the morning. And then Michael gets Wednesday off for the 4th of July, so we will take the boys to the parade in the morning, then to the annual ward party at the Twelmyer’s house, and then to see the fireworks in the evening. Hopefully the nice weather holds out. Well, we hope you all have a happy 4th of July!
27 May 2007
Surgery
So I guess that it is finally my turn to write. I have been busy this last month doing surgery at a place called Waukesha Memorial Hospital. On a normal day I would get there between 6:00 and 6:30am to “round” on my patients. This includes looking at their chart and reading the notes left by others since the last time I had seen the patient, looking up labs and vitals (temperature, blood pressure, heart rate, breathing rate, etc.) in the computer, and then examining the patient to see how they were doing and writing a progress note. Most mornings we had a meeting with one of the doctors around 7:00am to go over random surgical topics. And then it was off to the operating room throughout the rest of the day. Most days we each helped with 2-3 surgeries. Most of the patients came in through an area called Day Surgery, so we would go over there beforehand and meet the patient and then do a pre-op history and physical exam. Then we wait for the patient to be taken back to the operating room and go to assist the nurses in getting them ready for surgery.
The surgeries could last from one to several hours, depending on what it was. I saw several laparoscopic (with a video scope) gallbladder removals; breast biopsies/lumpectomies for cancer; carotid artery surgery to open up a clogged artery; aneurysm repairs; removal of small and large intestine due to tumors/cancer; removal of a spleen, removal of a thyroid; a toe amputation; and many others. The longest surgery I was in was one called a Whipple, which is a surgery used on a person with pancreatic cancer. The area of the pancreas with tumor is removed, along with the surrounding small intestine; then the stomach, outlets from the liver, pancreas, and small intestine all have to be hooked back together. That surgery took 5 ½ hours – my legs were so tired by the end of that one. I took 5 call days during the month. Once we were done with the surgeries of the day, we did home call, where we would be called back in if the doctor needed our help. I wasn’t ever called back in, though I did end up staying late on a few of my call days before getting home. Overall, though, this month was a lot nicer that I would have expected for a surgery rotation.
As I watch these surgeries, I am amazed by the complexity of the human body, and yet how it works and functions so nicely – it has been an added testimony to me that our bodies are divine creations of our Heavenly Father. I am also continually reminded of how blessed I am to have a family that is healthy and well.
Yesterday we were able to go to the temple and do some sealings for several of Steph’s direct ancestors (including some third great-grandparents and fourth great-grandparents). I took the car in that morning for what I thought was going to be a simple oil change that turned into the back brakes having to be replaced, but at least the car is safe now. There was an accident on the freeway on the way down to the temple that put us quite behind the time we had scheduled to get there, but everything turned out fine, and we had a wonderful experience. The spirit is so strong in the temple, and there is just a feeling of peace and happiness that I feel every time I go. I love it there.
I got an email this week from Dr. Flores, who I did a summer research project with a few years ago, saying that our paper we had submitted is about ready for publication, and he included proofs of the article pages for us to review one last time before final print. The paper should be published in August, so I’ll let you know more about it then, but we were so excited to hear of the progress. I am also working on a case report right now with a pediatric dermatologist, Dr. Lyon. We are just in the rough draft stages of the report, but it looks good so far.
We have had beautiful weather here this past week and have enjoyed playing outside with the kids. Steph was able to take them to the zoo and is enjoying here year-long pass. We went to a end of the year choir barbeque at a park on Friday night to just have fun with the others. We took our grill and roasted up some hotdogs and then had fun talking and playing on the playground. Then we had some friends over for games afterwards.
Kolby continues to love school and learn new things each week. He is almost done with this semester and then will have the summer off before starting back up. He is so good with his numbers and colors and is always pointing things out to us. Steph put together a chore chart for Kolby and Eli of things they can do each day to help her in the house, and then if they do all their chores for a week, they get a special prize at the end of the week. They love helping out around the house.
We are told by Eli’s teachers that he is one of the best kids in his nursery class. He loves to play, he is nice to the other kids, and he loves to help clean up. Steph says that he is just a little fish now in his swimming class and loves to go under the water.
And Camden just got his first tooth today!! It is his front bottom left one. He has been a little fussy this week, so that would probably explain why. He sure loves playing in his jumper and he actually started crawling for the first time tonight!
Oh, and Stephanie got a new calling at church this morning. She will be a visiting teaching district coordinator, and she thinks that will be a good calling.
We hope you all have a wonderful Memorial Day. I am starting trauma surgery tomorrow and so have to be there to help out, as this holiday is one of the busier for the emergency room. I’ll let you know what that is like in future posts.
The surgeries could last from one to several hours, depending on what it was. I saw several laparoscopic (with a video scope) gallbladder removals; breast biopsies/lumpectomies for cancer; carotid artery surgery to open up a clogged artery; aneurysm repairs; removal of small and large intestine due to tumors/cancer; removal of a spleen, removal of a thyroid; a toe amputation; and many others. The longest surgery I was in was one called a Whipple, which is a surgery used on a person with pancreatic cancer. The area of the pancreas with tumor is removed, along with the surrounding small intestine; then the stomach, outlets from the liver, pancreas, and small intestine all have to be hooked back together. That surgery took 5 ½ hours – my legs were so tired by the end of that one. I took 5 call days during the month. Once we were done with the surgeries of the day, we did home call, where we would be called back in if the doctor needed our help. I wasn’t ever called back in, though I did end up staying late on a few of my call days before getting home. Overall, though, this month was a lot nicer that I would have expected for a surgery rotation.
As I watch these surgeries, I am amazed by the complexity of the human body, and yet how it works and functions so nicely – it has been an added testimony to me that our bodies are divine creations of our Heavenly Father. I am also continually reminded of how blessed I am to have a family that is healthy and well.
Yesterday we were able to go to the temple and do some sealings for several of Steph’s direct ancestors (including some third great-grandparents and fourth great-grandparents). I took the car in that morning for what I thought was going to be a simple oil change that turned into the back brakes having to be replaced, but at least the car is safe now. There was an accident on the freeway on the way down to the temple that put us quite behind the time we had scheduled to get there, but everything turned out fine, and we had a wonderful experience. The spirit is so strong in the temple, and there is just a feeling of peace and happiness that I feel every time I go. I love it there.
I got an email this week from Dr. Flores, who I did a summer research project with a few years ago, saying that our paper we had submitted is about ready for publication, and he included proofs of the article pages for us to review one last time before final print. The paper should be published in August, so I’ll let you know more about it then, but we were so excited to hear of the progress. I am also working on a case report right now with a pediatric dermatologist, Dr. Lyon. We are just in the rough draft stages of the report, but it looks good so far.
We have had beautiful weather here this past week and have enjoyed playing outside with the kids. Steph was able to take them to the zoo and is enjoying here year-long pass. We went to a end of the year choir barbeque at a park on Friday night to just have fun with the others. We took our grill and roasted up some hotdogs and then had fun talking and playing on the playground. Then we had some friends over for games afterwards.
Kolby continues to love school and learn new things each week. He is almost done with this semester and then will have the summer off before starting back up. He is so good with his numbers and colors and is always pointing things out to us. Steph put together a chore chart for Kolby and Eli of things they can do each day to help her in the house, and then if they do all their chores for a week, they get a special prize at the end of the week. They love helping out around the house.
We are told by Eli’s teachers that he is one of the best kids in his nursery class. He loves to play, he is nice to the other kids, and he loves to help clean up. Steph says that he is just a little fish now in his swimming class and loves to go under the water.
And Camden just got his first tooth today!! It is his front bottom left one. He has been a little fussy this week, so that would probably explain why. He sure loves playing in his jumper and he actually started crawling for the first time tonight!
Oh, and Stephanie got a new calling at church this morning. She will be a visiting teaching district coordinator, and she thinks that will be a good calling.
We hope you all have a wonderful Memorial Day. I am starting trauma surgery tomorrow and so have to be there to help out, as this holiday is one of the busier for the emergency room. I’ll let you know what that is like in future posts.
23 May 2007
The Last Couple of Weeks
So, our family has been doing pretty well lately. I enjoyed a very quick trip to San Diego a couple weeks ago. My sister, Michelle, and I were both able to fly in and surprise my dad for his surprise 50th birthday party that my mom had organized. I took Camden with me, and our friends were nice enough to watch Kolby and Eli for us on the days that Michael had to work, and it is always easier to travel with one baby than with three.
While we were in San Diego, we got to go to my brother, Matthew’s, lacrosse game, and had the surprise party for my dad that night. On Saturday we drove up to Malibu, California and went to the Getty Villa, a large country home in a canyon that was designed with ancient Roman architecture and has been converted to a museum to contain the Getty collection of Roman statues and artifacts. It was pretty cool. Then we drove back that night and had dinner at the Chart House. The next day was Mother’s Day and Camden was kind enough to sleep in for me, and then my brothers brought me breakfast in bed – they are so thoughtful! We opened Mother’s Day gifts for my mom and Michael called and we talked, and then we were able to go to the beginning of church before driving to the airport. Although it was a lot of traveling for such a short trip, it was definitely worth it. Michael had a good time with the boys while I was gone that weekend too. They were invited to a BBQ Saturday and then to a dinner and games Sunday evening, so that was nice for him.
Last week Kolby had his speech evaluation. We got a progress report a few months ago from Kolby’s preschool program that mentioned that he had trouble enunciating his words, and so the doctor thought it would be good to be safe and have it checked out. His evaluation went really well. They did a hearing test, which showed that he can hear well, except he had some fluid in one ear, which is probably related to the cold he has had recently. Kolby really enjoyed the speech evaluation because it seemed like a game to him, with lots of pictures to look at, words to repeat, and questions to answer. They said that there is no problem with his speech. We have noticed that on some of his words that start with the letter S he has trouble pronouncing the first part of the word, so I made some flashcards with S-words, and we have been practicing saying them correctly. But we were glad to find out that there is nothing to worry about with his speech or hearing.
Last week we had several fun activities, including a birthday party for our friend, Peter, a trip to the zoo with Amy and Faith, and a new toddler art class that a girl in our ward started for the 2- and 3-year olds this summer. I also had another doctor’s appointment last week, and everything is going great with the baby. We have our ultrasound scheduled for June 5th.
Last weekend was kind of busy. On Friday mornings I take Kolby to his preschool classes at the YMCA, drop Camden off at their Kid Care, and take Eli to his swimming lesson. Eli absolutely loves the water – I have never seen a kid his age who enjoys jumping under the water or doing ‘bobs’ (holding his head under the water by himself) so much. We were about half way through the swim lesson when someone came and told me that Kolby wasn’t feeling well. Eli was rather distraught when we had to get out of the pool, and even more hysterical when we walked through the locker room and didn’t stop to take a shower first on our way to check on Kolby. Kolby was lying on the carpet in his class. He had a fever, but he was crying because he didn’t want to miss his second class in the gym. I took Eli back down and showered him off, then we went to get Camden, and I’m sure that everyone was staring at me: with my messy wet hair, Camden and all our bags in my arms, and two crying boys in tow. But after we got home Kolby got some Tylenol, they all went down for a nap, and Kolby didn’t seem sick again after that. I was glad that I didn’t have to deal with him being sick over the weekend.
Michael was on call that weekend, and he got home early Saturday afternoon, so we were hoping that he would get home early Sunday too, because our friends were having a BBQ dinner after church with all of the 3rd-year students and their families from the ward. Unfortunately, Michael had several surgeries on Sunday and didn’t get off until right when the BBQ was ending, but we really can’t complain, because in general his schedule has been so nice this month compared to most other surgery rotations we have heard about.
Well, nothing too major has happened yet this week. Kolby has enjoyed his preschool classes so far this week. His last class is on June 8th, and then we will take a break for the summer. With all the summer activities we have planned for the boys (weekly swim lessons, play group, and toddler art class), I think it will be nice to take a break from school until the fall. Last night I went to an enrichment group that a girl in the ward taught about being organized and cleaning. It was fun to get some ideas and talk to friends. And tonight I am planning on running over to the family history center. I need to get some names prepared for our temple trip on Saturday with Peter and Cynthia.
So, this weekend my parents are leaving to go to Europe, and they will be picking my sister, Jennifer, up from her mission in Germany in a week or so. We are so proud of her and all the hard work she has done there. And the boys are very excited to see their Aunt Jenn again.
Well, I hear Kolby calling me from the other room. Better go see what he’s up to.
While we were in San Diego, we got to go to my brother, Matthew’s, lacrosse game, and had the surprise party for my dad that night. On Saturday we drove up to Malibu, California and went to the Getty Villa, a large country home in a canyon that was designed with ancient Roman architecture and has been converted to a museum to contain the Getty collection of Roman statues and artifacts. It was pretty cool. Then we drove back that night and had dinner at the Chart House. The next day was Mother’s Day and Camden was kind enough to sleep in for me, and then my brothers brought me breakfast in bed – they are so thoughtful! We opened Mother’s Day gifts for my mom and Michael called and we talked, and then we were able to go to the beginning of church before driving to the airport. Although it was a lot of traveling for such a short trip, it was definitely worth it. Michael had a good time with the boys while I was gone that weekend too. They were invited to a BBQ Saturday and then to a dinner and games Sunday evening, so that was nice for him.
Last week Kolby had his speech evaluation. We got a progress report a few months ago from Kolby’s preschool program that mentioned that he had trouble enunciating his words, and so the doctor thought it would be good to be safe and have it checked out. His evaluation went really well. They did a hearing test, which showed that he can hear well, except he had some fluid in one ear, which is probably related to the cold he has had recently. Kolby really enjoyed the speech evaluation because it seemed like a game to him, with lots of pictures to look at, words to repeat, and questions to answer. They said that there is no problem with his speech. We have noticed that on some of his words that start with the letter S he has trouble pronouncing the first part of the word, so I made some flashcards with S-words, and we have been practicing saying them correctly. But we were glad to find out that there is nothing to worry about with his speech or hearing.
Last week we had several fun activities, including a birthday party for our friend, Peter, a trip to the zoo with Amy and Faith, and a new toddler art class that a girl in our ward started for the 2- and 3-year olds this summer. I also had another doctor’s appointment last week, and everything is going great with the baby. We have our ultrasound scheduled for June 5th.
Last weekend was kind of busy. On Friday mornings I take Kolby to his preschool classes at the YMCA, drop Camden off at their Kid Care, and take Eli to his swimming lesson. Eli absolutely loves the water – I have never seen a kid his age who enjoys jumping under the water or doing ‘bobs’ (holding his head under the water by himself) so much. We were about half way through the swim lesson when someone came and told me that Kolby wasn’t feeling well. Eli was rather distraught when we had to get out of the pool, and even more hysterical when we walked through the locker room and didn’t stop to take a shower first on our way to check on Kolby. Kolby was lying on the carpet in his class. He had a fever, but he was crying because he didn’t want to miss his second class in the gym. I took Eli back down and showered him off, then we went to get Camden, and I’m sure that everyone was staring at me: with my messy wet hair, Camden and all our bags in my arms, and two crying boys in tow. But after we got home Kolby got some Tylenol, they all went down for a nap, and Kolby didn’t seem sick again after that. I was glad that I didn’t have to deal with him being sick over the weekend.
Michael was on call that weekend, and he got home early Saturday afternoon, so we were hoping that he would get home early Sunday too, because our friends were having a BBQ dinner after church with all of the 3rd-year students and their families from the ward. Unfortunately, Michael had several surgeries on Sunday and didn’t get off until right when the BBQ was ending, but we really can’t complain, because in general his schedule has been so nice this month compared to most other surgery rotations we have heard about.
Well, nothing too major has happened yet this week. Kolby has enjoyed his preschool classes so far this week. His last class is on June 8th, and then we will take a break for the summer. With all the summer activities we have planned for the boys (weekly swim lessons, play group, and toddler art class), I think it will be nice to take a break from school until the fall. Last night I went to an enrichment group that a girl in the ward taught about being organized and cleaning. It was fun to get some ideas and talk to friends. And tonight I am planning on running over to the family history center. I need to get some names prepared for our temple trip on Saturday with Peter and Cynthia.
So, this weekend my parents are leaving to go to Europe, and they will be picking my sister, Jennifer, up from her mission in Germany in a week or so. We are so proud of her and all the hard work she has done there. And the boys are very excited to see their Aunt Jenn again.
Well, I hear Kolby calling me from the other room. Better go see what he’s up to.
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