August Birthdays

We celebrated August birthdays boating with my parents. Ali's family was there too. It was a blast! They all took turns riding the tube. I was the flag person since my foot couldn't get wet yet.

Wind blown hair....I think he looks like the boy on Meet the Robinson's.

Jameson's 11th Birthday

Jameson is eleven! He had to follow clues to fin his present. This is a tradition he started a few birthdays ago and it is a fun one. The clues took him all over the house and then the present ended up being hidden in his bed.

 We went to Seven Peaks to celebrate. His friend Mckay, and cousins Katelyn and Drew came with. I sat in the shade by the kiddie pool with my foot elevated. 

 The kiddie pool has been renovated and is so much better! Now there are more than four slides and they are fun and unique.

 James is a trooper. He has not had it easy with his health for the last little while. He has a good attitude through it all and stays positive. He is responsible and a great baby sitter. He is self motivated and gets all of his chores done every day so he can play and have fun. He loves to read and always has a book with him. He loves soccer and running.

James chose to see Spider-Man: Far From Home for his special birthday movie date. James hadn't had corn for four weeks. He had popcorn and loved it because he didn't feel sick after. So we have now been able to keep corn in his diet and it has opened up more options. Yay!!!

Utah Cup Champions

Jameson's team played in the Utah Cup and won!!! They got shirts instead of medals which is so fun and more useful.

Aunt Pat's Birthday

Aunt Pat is the best! She has helped our family out so much! We don't know what we would do without her. She had a birthday this month and so we had a surprise party for her.
Thanks to my mom for making the best gluten free, egg free, dairy free, soy free, corn free cupcakes!
Thanks to Kaden for taking the picture! I was on the couch with my foot up and Kaden took over as photographer.

Payson Lake

Marshall is a brave person. While I was at the research center he thought it was easier to take all the kids camping instead of staying home. His definition of easy isn't the same as my definition. :)

They went to Payson Lake. They all told me how much fun they had after and asked when we can all go back.

They were fighting a lot before the trip but came home much better friends and way less fighting so that was pretty awesome.

Lynnlee out fished the boys!

Foot Surgery #1

I knew I needed to have bunion surgery but how do you know when it's the right time to have an elective surgery? I was in pain but I could keep enduring the pain and put the surgery off longer. That is where prayer comes in. So I prayed and felt like I should do it. One of my friends had the surgery and she said I should just get it done because I'm too young to be in pain every day. Marshall's advice was to see if there were any research studies. I looked it up and found a bunion removal with pain medication study through Jean Brown Research.  It took a few weeks to get the ball rolling. Once I went in for my first appointment the ball began rolling very quickly. I met the requirements and got the surgery scheduled for two weeks after that. Everything felt good and right. Even though life is busy and there is no time for anything like this, it needed to happen so time was made for it. We did school shopping and everything else that needed done the week before surgery.
I got to Jean Brown early Tuesday morning. You aren't allowed to have anyone with you so that was a little strange. I guess that is where being a nurse is comforting because I wasn't afraid to get the IVs placed or the nerve block. I got an IV in each arm. One for blood draws and one for the IV medication. Then I got the pop block in to keep my foot numb. I was sedated for the surgery and woke up feeling great afterwards. No pain. I went back to my room and got to sleep off the sedation. Then I watched shows and read a book. It was a nice vacation that day. I just relaxed and watched shows, slept and read. The meals were ordered from the restaurants nearby so I ate well too.

Wednesday morning it all changed. They removed the pop block and a few hours later I had feeling in my foot. It started off with medium pain but soon increased very quickly. The pain is expected though. I mean I knew that but I thought I would get relief from the study drug. So they started the study drug. It was an IV drug so it should've worked quickly. After a half hour I had no pain relief and my pain was continuing to increase. I asked for the "rescue" medication but they couldn't give it to me for another hour. I had no idea that was one of the stipulations. When I read the study before nothing was mentioned about having to wait a certain amount of time for the rescue medication. I also know that when your pain gets out of control it is harder to control and get down. I knew I got the placebo because the study medicine "infused" over 9 hours and I never had relief.  It was an uncomfortable and tearful day. Yikes! I used a lot of breathing and relaxation techniques I learned from giving birth.
The rescue med was morphine which I thought would have brought relief but it didn't. After a few doses, and hours later I finally just felt too sleepy and relaxed to care. I prayed a lot that day and I felt like my prayers were answered and I was able to get through the day. Once the study drug finished I got Tylenol and I finally got some relief. I was able to have a few doses of Tylenol through the night and got some rest.

My mom picked me up Thursday morning and had water and ibuprofen for me. I appreciated it so much! I alternated ibuprofen and tylenol and finally had relief that afternoon. I took medicine for a few days and then the pain decreased and finally went away.

I have been amazed by this whole process. I only had to be non weight bearing the first two days. Thursday I could barely move/shuffle. By Friday I could hobble and bear some weight on my heel. A week later I was hobbling much better and two weeks later I can move to a gym shoe. I tried to put my shoe on after my check up today but it hurts too much. I still need to get range of motion back in my toe joint. The orthotic shoe feels fine but my gym shoe has too much of a bend for now. I bet by next week I will be able to get into my gym shoe. Goal this week is to work on my toe range of motion.

My stitches were trimmed today and then the rest will dissolve. I still have a lot of swelling but that is normal and will take awhile to get back to normal.

It was interesting talking to the foot doctor today. I had been thinking it was rough because I had one day of the worst pain. I actually don't realize how good I had it. If I had this surgery at a hospital or surgery center I wouldn't get a pop block. That first day can be so painful. Without the pop block the pain can be out of control and last for three to four days. Then it delays the recovery. So I am really grateful I went through Jean Brown Research! I don't tolerate pain very well and I don't think I could have tolerated the whole thing the regular way.

I know the Lord takes care of me and is in every detail of my life.

Well Child Checks

I made a mistake by scheduling the minis' and Kaden's well child checks all at the same time. It sounded like a good idea until all three were in a small room acting silly and loud. Also we were at a new pediatrician because our previous one is going on a mission with his wife. So this is the new pediatrician's first impression. I had totally lost control of all three of them. They were so crazy and silly. It was embarrassing. Wow! We had a good chat after and I told them I wasn't taking them out in public for a very long time. That was true because my foot surgery was a few days later :)

Cowabunga-Lagoon

We had a few days packed full of fun the week before my foot surgery.
Fishing...

Cowabunga Bay...
We got the Get Out Pass which is an amazing deal for all the places you get admission to. So we went to Cowabunga Bay on Pioneer Day. It was pretty crowded but it was ok. There aren't too many rides so we got to do everything and then we enjoyed the lazy river for the majority of the time.

 

Lagoon...

Sienna sprained her ankle at the beginning of the week. We carried her around at Cowabunga Bay which was fine because she only wanted to be in the lazy river and she didn't need carried for that.

The next day we went to Lagoon. We dusted off the umbrella stroller, good thing I hung on to it. Taggart was so cute to push her and take care of her.

 

 I had to care her on and off rides but it worked out and she and Taggart had a great time.

 It was not that crowded so we got on all the rides by lunch time. Then the rest of the day was spent going on the favorite rides over and over.

 Just ask aunt Betsy....she got to/had to go on Bombora with the minis over six times. 😁She is the best!

Bonnie's family came too! The cousins had fun going on rides together. I can't believe I didn't get any pictures of James and Lynnlee with Kjersti and Katelyn. They were all so cute together going to all the big rides. They loved the independence.

Lowry Girls' Day

We had a wonderful girls' day with the Lowry ladies. We started off with seeing Freaky Friday at Hale Center Theater. It was so funny and entertaining!

We went out to eat after and then went to Bonnie's for beading and nails. It was fun to catch up with everyone! I wish we could get together with every one more often. Getting together with family is like a little snap shot of heaven. It makes me want to keep trying hard every day to choose the right so I can enjoy all the family time in the next life.

We finished off the night trying out a new ice cream shop called Rockwell Ice Cream. It was so yummy and definitely worth going back to. There were some traditional flavors that were so much better with than normal. There were also some unique flavors and they all sounded so good it was hard to choose.

Sienna and London have so much in common and they definitely love playing with each other.