24th of July

We had a wonderful 24th of July. We had to take it a little bit easy due to Alex's recent health scare so we stayed close to home and enjoyed our little family. The Sunday before the 24th they made butter in primary but Alex missed it due to being sick. I did not have the ingredients to make butter at home so we did a taffy pull. Just a word of caution here: do not attempt to make taffy without a proper candy thermometer it will not work.:) Then on the 24th we made butter and homemade ice cream in a bag. We watched the wondeful Logan 24th parade and had a family picnic. We also had a fun beat the heat activity with the boys and the slip n slide. That will be its own separate post. It was a fun day!!

T-Ball

Alex was in t-ball again this summer. He is improving so much and he really enjoys the sport. Here are some pics and video of our little leaguer. Running for home. This is Alex, Madison and Blake. They were all in Mrs. Hamp's Kindergarten class.

Just another Manic Monday

Alex has been sick with flu like symptoms for a week. It has been coming and going so we did not think too much of it. On Monday night he was in so much pain and Andy went to cuddle with him. When he went to rub his tummy it was rock hard. I called instacare and they stopped taking patients at 8 and this was 7:45. I knew we were not going to make it. I was told that we could go Urgent care at one of the hospitals so I called and they took our insurance so we were off. We got there and they did an exam on Alex and then some x-rays. They came back saying it was a blockage of some kind of his intestines and the surgeon was on his way down. I was freaking out, I did not think it was this bad. Then they said they would have to put in an NG tube to get the air out of his stomach. Alex was so brave and did not cry at all with any of the procedures. I held his hand and did some Lamaze breathing with him. The nurse told me later that she told the doctor there was no way she was doing that that it would be impossible on a kid. Boy was she surprised. She told us she wants Alex to teach classes on how to be calm during procedures.
After this the surgeon came in and said they were still debating on where to send us, if he needed to go to PCMC or if they could do the surgery here. The radiologist came back and said he thought the blockage was just from inflammation from his illness and not from anything so surgery was not needed. We were out of the woods. However, he did need to stay the night. By this time it was 10:30 and I was not prepared to stay the night. I called Andy and told him and we decided it would be best for me to stay so he did not have to wake Logan up.
Alex had to get some morphine to help him sleep but he was fine after that. They would not let him eat until lunch and as soon as his blood sugar came up he was fine. In fact he was so grumpy because he just wanted to go home and eat something. Finally at 6 last night they released us from the hospital. He seems to be doing great now and we have no real diagnosis of what really happened. It was a crazy two days but we are thankful it was not any worse.
Alex and his elephant nose.
His very concerned brother had to stay right by him for the first little while.
The tube finally gets removed and we see a smile. Alex jumped out of bed as soon as he was given the all clear to go home. Logan immediately climbed onto the bed to play around. I think he wants one of those cool beds for himself at home.

Why the title of our blog?

I realized today that I never explained why we have the title of our blog, especially with two boys. Here is the story: The day we took Alex to PCMC for his first biopsy I heard this song by LeeAnn Womack on the radio. I of course bawled through the whole song and prayed to my Father in Heaven that I would have a chance to raise this little boy. I listen to this song often when life gets a little tough and I sing at the top of my lungs. I know this life is not meant to be easy but sitting on the side lines and pouting is going to get you no where. Andy and I decided that this will be our mission statement for our family. We don't want to be observers in life. We want our children to go out and make a difference in this world. One of Andy's favorite songs is Standing Outside the Fire by Garth Brooks. It has the same message to it. Thus our blog, it is just us and how we are trying everyday to "dance" through life.

"I Hope You Dance"
I hope you never lose your sense of wonder,
You get your fill to eat but always keep that hunger,
May you never take one single breath for granted,
GOD forbid love ever leave you empty handed,
I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean,
Whenever one door closes I hope one more opens,
Promise me that you'll give faith a fighting chance,
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance.

I hope you dance....I hope you dance.

I hope you never fear those mountains in the distance,
Never settle for the path of least resistance
Livin' might mean takin' chances but they're worth takin',
Lovin' might be a mistake but it's worth makin',
Don't let some hell bent heart leave you bitter,
When you come close to sellin' out reconsider,
Give the heavens above more than just a passing glance,
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance.

I hope you dance....I hope you dance.
I hope you dance....I hope you dance.
(Time is a wheel in constant motion always rolling us along,
Tell me who wants to look back on their years and wonder where those years have gone.)

I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean,
Whenever one door closes I hope one more opens,
Promise me that you'll give faith a fighting chance,
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance.

Dance....I hope you dance.
I hope you dance....I hope you dance.
I hope you dance....I hope you dance..
(Time is a wheel in constant motion always rolling us along
Tell me who wants to look back on their years and wonder where those years have gone)

The Zoo

American Family sponsors a 26.2 challenge for elementary kids. The kids have to walk this in a three month period of time. The prize for walking this much was a trip to the zoo. Alex accomplished this goal so we went to the zoo yesterday for his prize. It was such a fun day and Logan loved every minute of it. Logan especially loved the monkeys and the mister to keep him cool. He was soaked. Alex loved all of the animals and once again got his face painted. The Neu grandma came with us. It was fun to spend time with her. Here is a couple of videos and a slide show for your entertaining pleasure.

4th of July (Part 3 of 3)

On Saturday the 5th Andy spent some time on the greens with one of his really good friends. I spent the day working on the ward newsletter. After Logan's nap we headed over to my mom's for some water fun with the Neu cousins. We also had a yummy BBQ, some fun at the park and fireworks. I have done a slide show for this post because there are just way too many pics. Enjoy the video of Logan and Champ. Logan has no fear with anything and that includes dogs that are lots bigger than he is.

Thanks Jenn, she is my awesome blogging friend. Ten minutes and I have an awesome slide show. With Neil Diamond music you can't beat it.
America Rocks!!! If you know a soldier or you are a military family thank you for your service. We will always be grateful for your sacrifice for this awesome country. "We are the land of the free because of the brave."

4th of July (Part Two of Three)

On the actually holiday I got to work but only until 11. We headed down to Salt Lake as soon as I got off of work. We stopped at my dad's for a little bit so the boys could feed the ducks. They both loved that and Logan found a rock that made a prefect slide. I was sad I left the camera in the car because it was so cute. He was soaked but he loved it.
After that Andy's parents were nice enough to take us to see Wall*E. Alex was really excited about this movie and he says he loved it. I thought it was a little political but luckily Alex did not get that part. I was worried about Logan in the theater but about half way through he fell asleep in my arms so it was perfect. Thanks Reggie grandma and grandpa for the movie.

That night we went with my mom over to my brother's circle. He lives right by Murray Park so we had a great view of the fireworks. Thanks Neu Grandma for the fun fireworks and yummy treats. I practiced using the fireworks setting on my camera and although they do not look like fireworks some make for some pretty cool abstract art. Here are a few samples:(For some reason my camera was on black and white but this looks pretty cool)

4th of July Fun ( First of three)

Life has been way too stressful at our house and so I told Andy we were getting away for the holiday. I took the 5th off of work so we could go play. We decided to just go and visit family in Salt Lake and not worry about anything else.
We are lucky to live where they do the fireworks on the 3rd of July so we got two nights of fun. There is a grocery store at the end of town and there are just fields from there to Logan. We discovered this treasure about two years ago and it is so nice not to have to deal with traffic. They even play the music on the radio. Logan, Alex and I made some yummy cookie suckers that day to take for treats.
We got in our jammies and headed off to the fireworks. They were so much fun and Logan loved them. Logan got up that night with his random sickness that he has (A whole long story on that one) We cuddled with him in our bed for a few minutes and as he was drifting off to sleep I saw his little hand come up. He reached up the sky spread his fingers and said "boom, boom, boom" It made my whole holiday to know he was dreaming about fireworks that night.

Can you say AFLAC?

We have decided that with Logan we need to invest in AFLAC's accident plan. It is at least 3 times a week that something happens. A fews days before the 4th he was being very helpful and clearing off the tabel. He was sitting on the table and would hand me the things that were on the table. As I turned to put a plate in the sink he decided it was time to get off the table. He got onto a chair and then handed me another plate. As I turned to the sink I heard a crash. As I turned around there was a Logan and a chair on the floor. I picked him up and loved him and noticed his nose was bleeding a little. Not even 5 minutes later his nose was double the size it should be. Luckily it was not broken but man we have had some close calls with this one.