Smoothie Anyone?

Gavin is very independent for a two-year old. If Mom is not going to get him something he wants then he'll just go ahead and do it himself. The latest task he keeps trying is making a raspberry smoothie. He gets the little blender cup out, then the raspberries out of the freezer, dumps them EVERYWHERE, then come to find me, because "mom, put milk in it." Sometimes I think he is too smart for his own good :)

Like Sister, Like Brother

Lately, Gavin wants everything Brooklyn has, so here are some funny things he has wanted just like Brooklyn lately...

Gavin was having a fit because I couldn't get a sponge roller in his hair, finally I succeded...which as you can tell made him very happy....cheese!

Here they are hugging with their matching headbands, I think Gavin's facial expression in the picture below is so funny...

GRASS....!!!

Need I say more, if there was one singular wish that I have had since it was warm enough to be outside, it was that we have grass! Although, don't get me wrong it does not solve all my dirty house woes. Gavin still finds the mud in the yard, he is drawn to it like a moth to a lightbulb, BUT, there is a lot less of it :) It still is a little hard to play on because it is watering more than once a day, but my kids love running through the sprinklers, they are pretty much in heaven. It was really funny because the other day the backyard sprinklers kicked on, and I was on the side of the house in the driveway, next thing I know Brooklyn has disappeared, then reappeared in swimming attire jumping on the trampoline, what could be more fun for a kid? I guess there was one good thing that came from Spencer's accident, he gave in and hired a landscaper, so we could have grass. This was a VERY hard thing for him to do too, because he is very much a do-it-himself kind a guy, and he is already critiquing(?) the work thats been done. I on the other hand am just glad it is done :)

Spencer's Surgery

Spencer, in pre-op apparently not realizing the excrutiating pain he'd be experiencing in a matter of hours :(

(He is actually laughing because he knows I am taking this picture for the blog and he is beside himself!)

Well on Friday, July 11th, Spencer went in for his surgery. It was only supposed to be same-day surgery, but when he went to recovery they were unable to get his pain under control so they admitted to the orthopedic floor for the night. His surgery lasted three hours and he was in recovery for almost two more hours, making a long day for me in the waiting room. When the surgeon finally came out and told me the knews I was glad everything went ok.

So, basically they went in with a scope to repair the ACL. To do this they stripped some of his hamstring ligaments and grafted them on to his damaged ACL, this part went well. Next they tried to pin the piece of bone that had broken off of his tibia, however they couldn't get it to adhere in a manner that would heal properly so they just took it out! Here's a pic, they brought it out to me in a cup. It is a little bigger than a quarter, but apparently not too important since they removed it.

This is Spencer's "cankle" he does not find this as funny as I do, but I had to document this for posterity!

Here is his leg all wrapped up with the ice machine going, he borrowed a machine just like this from a friend last fall when he hurt his shoulder and it was heaven, so I'm glad they gave him one after the surgery. When he was leaving the hospital he said "do I get to take this?" and they said "yep, you already bought it." So, there you go....he is still in a lot of pain and we are waiting for the upside, unfortunately after all of this, he threw his back out this morning...poor guy can't catch a break!

Summer Fun

Remember when you were young and had no worries in the world? I sure do, I remember when we lived in Lindon on a farm and playing all day and night, playing in the ditch when my parents irrigated, and floating on lids from the wooden bushel baskets. Thats what I remember about summer. It's funny how summer break seemed so long as a kid, and yet as an adult, I feel like it flies right by. We have been working on our yard, and trying to get ready for grass, but until that happens we have had to make due. Here are some pics of our summer fun so far....:)

I bought a little plastic pool to put on our back patio until we have grass, it worked great and the kids had a ball!

Gavin likes to be like Brooklyn, so here he is trying to lay out like her :)

Here's Brooklyn giving Gavin a "pump" on her bicycle, I was so surprised they were capable of doing this, but they rode all over our driveway like this, it was pretty stinkin' cute!

Spencer Update

Well, this week has been a loooong week. It has been strange having Spencer home so much. Anybody that knows him, knows, that he does not sit still. He always has a least one project(if not more) going on, along with work, his calling, and family. This week has pretty much been a bust in his opinion. Oh well, I have enjoyed his company. Earlier this week we were able to go see an orthopedic surgeon, thanks to my wonderful brother-in-law, Chris, he majorly hooked us up and got us in. Most of the orthopedists wouldn't even see as till the end of the week! So after his examination and looking at his xr's and CT scan the surgeon decided to perform surgery friday in hopes of just scoping the knee and being able to repair the fracture. However, he wanted an MRI done to make sure none of the ligaments were damaged. So, yesterday Spencer went in and had that done. Today he woke up and the bottom of his calf was really swollen, hot to the touch and PAINFUL, to say the least. Immediately I'm thinking DVT (blood clot) and freak out call the DR. Spencer was all mad because he didn't want to go in, and thought it was a waste of time. I told him "I'm doing this because I love you so much :)" Anyway, no blood clot, but while he was there the DR told him his ACL was torn. Not good news at all...Spencer was pretty bummed about it, but he excited to get surgery and start healing, so wish us luck tomorrow!

A 4th of July to Remember...

Well, this year our 4th of July was one to remember...or not. The 4th of July is probably my favorite holiday. I have always loved it, and look forward to it every year. We fight the crowds every year (much to Spencer's dismay) to watch the Freedom Festival's Grand Parade. In years past Spencer and I have ran the 10k, but not this year. Anyway we watched the parade it was perfect weather, plus we had shade, which doesn't hurt. My kids love parades, especially Brooklyn, so it was an enjoyable time.
After the parade my family decided to go boating. I haven't been boating in a long time, because I've had little ones, but we decided to give it a try. My sisters were doing some wakeboarding, and were pooped, so they told Spencer it was his turn. Spencer is good at really anything he tries, and has wakeboarded before. Unfortunately, he was trying to be a little too tricky, because next thing we knew he was down and YELLING! At first I thought he just hit the water a little too hard, so I was kinda laughing at the way he was freaking out. Then I realized he was really hurt. We all kind of stood there panicking not knowing what too do, because he could not get his feet out of the wakeboard. Luckily my brother-in-law Chris (a seasoned wakeboarder) dove right in, got Spencer's feet out, and swam him into the boat.
Immediately upon looking at Spencer's leg, I knew it wasn't good, he couldn't move his right leg, and then it was turning purple and starting to swell. My parents drove us into the harbor, and I took him to the ER.
In the ER they did XR's and found fractures, but they couldn't determine the extent, so we then did a CT scan. Which revealed a tib/fib avulsion fracture, which basically means, his gastrocnemius(large calf muscle) pulled the tops of his two bones from the lower leg (tibia & fibula) off! Not good! So, they put on a soft cast and this week he'll see an orthopedic surgeon, to determine whether they are going to do surgery and pin it or try to let it heal on its own.
Spencer, however, was such a good sport and still wanted to go to my family's BBQ (mostly because he WAS starving and the oreos and lornadoone's from the ER just weren't cutting it!) then he still went with us to the Jr. High to watch the fireworks, what a guy, I sure love him! We still had fun, and it was kinda nice being in the ER for three hours by ourselves without the kids, Spencer told the nurse it was our date night, and she said "this is a pretty expensive date!" I agreed, our deductible is $100, and we could have had a pretty nice dinner for that! Hopefully it will be a short recovery Spencer is not too good at sitting around :)

Ashlyn, Gavin, Brooklyn, Mom tubing!

Alyssa, Gavin, Dad, & Brooklyn

Gavin hitching a ride on my Mom's cooler after the parade

Gavin, look at that mischevious smile!

Brooklyn & Ash

Spencer trying to get some relief

This is the lame pic of Spence in the hospital from my Blackberry, because I can't get my pictures off of it(anyone know how?)