2nd Surgery Complete

It's been almost 4 months ago Jill went into surgery to successfully remove the cancer from her body.  Friday she went into the second of three scheduled surgeries.  Grandma Bryant came out first thing in the morning to watch the kids and Jill and I drove to the Utah Surgical Center.    

We had to be checked in at 7:00 a.m. Jill doesn't like mornings, but it's nice to be done with outpatient surgery and home by 2:30 in the afternoon. Dr. Self said Jill did a great job and she should recover well.  

Grandma Bryant took the kids for a sleep over at her house and they had a blast.  She stayed at our house until school let out (and Alyssa woke up from her nap) and then took them to her house.  For over a week Alyssa has been talking about having a sleep over at Grandma's.  She asked almost everyday, "Grandma watch me and have sleep over when Mommy have surgery".  

Jill came home and went to bed and slept most of the afternoon.  She woke up in the early part of the evening to have dinner and we watched the movie Life of Pi.  It was a pretty good movie and Jill was recovering so much quicker than after her first surgery.  She even said, "it took over 2 weeks to feel this way after the first surgery".  I think that is telling to how great she is recovering, and just how rough the first surgery was. 

Grandma played games with the kids and they all slept in her family room together.  As they laid down, Alyssa asked "Grandma is this a sleepover?".  Saturday mom took them to see a new movie called "The Crood's".  They loved going to the movie and she got them popcorn and a drink.  Alyssa was good the whole movie and has been quoting the monkey all weekend.  The monkey say's. "Da Da Da". 

Saturday morning we woke up to 6 inches of lake effect snow.  It was a crazy morning.  The Sears store came delivered our much awaited fridge.  It's been over 2 months of having no freezer, and water, and ice, and 3 weeks using a borrowed refrigerator. It is so nice to have a fridge again.  I had to race over to Riverton park to run the half marathon. It was crazy with the amount of snow we had, so the race was canceled.  So my friends and I all decided to run the race course anyway.  It wasn't a fast race because of the snow.  We all stayed together and had a lot of fun and finished in about 2 hours.  The city will refund our money, and we still got shirts and medals.  

The rest of the day we rested.  Sunday I took the kids to church while Jill rested.  It makes me feel for single parents, not having backup.  It's so important having someone to help when you need to tap out. 

Landon's Loses His First Tooth

Being the younger brother can be tough.  Landon is almost 2 years younger than his brother, but loves to keep up with everything Logan does.  Landon is really good at soccer, basketball, and gymnastics, but some things are just impossible to do.  Landon has wanted to get a visit from the tooth fairy now for a long time.

His front tooth started to get loose this week.  After a day of wiggling it, he agreed to have it removed "uncle Jake" style.  Logan never dared let me pull his teeth out with pliers, but Landon wanted it out so badly he agreed to let me pull it.

Landon loved the money he got from the tooth fairy.  He was so brave, it was well earned.

He also had a big week at school.  Landon was able to be "Leader of the Week" for his class.  His teacher wrote, "Landon is always on task.  He is an example to everyone around him of someone who always puts first things first.  He follows rules and gets things done!  Thank you Landon for being a leader by example.

The other exciting news of the week was St. Patrick's Day.  Last year our kids were exposed to other children's "traditions" of making leprechaun traps and expecting candy in their shoes.  I'm unfamiliar with the reasons why these things are done, but it's not worth disappointing our children.

Jill and I were at a church meeting on Leprechaun Eve, so Logan made this trap while his babysitter watched.  He used a bowl and had a paper drawbridge so the leprechaun could walk up to the bowl.  The bowl had small pieces of yellow paper to draw the leprechaun in making him think it is gold.  Of course the paper is too flimsy so the leprechaun would fall into the bowl.

We picked up some chocolate coins and put them in the bowl and some chocolate to put into their shoes.  Sunday morning the kids woke up right on time at 7:00 a.m. and woke us up to tell us that they got 14 coins!  They pointed out that "last year we only got 10".  I couldn't believe they would remember the amount of candy they got.  Clearly we will have to keep better notes for the future.

Random Things The Kids Say

I came home from work the other day and Logan had been to a museum with the Cub Scouts.   He asked me, "Dad do you know how to tell a boy buffalo from a girl buffalo?"  After a brief pause I had a pretty good response, "Logan why don't you tell me how to tell a boy buffalo from a girl buffalo?"  He then proceeded to tell me about how the horns curve inward or outward.  Whew!  I avoided a potentially difficult discussion.

Landon is reading so well these days.  He is the best reader in his kindergarten class but still makes mistakes.  While eating breakfast he said, "Why does it say Crackers and there aren't any crackers in the box?"  He was eating Quaker oatmeal (not to be confused with Cracker oatmeal).

Alyssa is always cute.  She talks so much and has such strong opinions about how things should be done.  She is determined to pick her clothes and her pajamas each day, AND which parent is lucky enough to help her get ready. Lately she wants Shanel to escort her from Sacrament service to her nursery class and isn't happy if anyone else tries to walk with her.  It can only be Shanel.

The weather is finally getting warmer and the kids can play outside.  They have been jumping on the trampoline and playing basketball again.  It's so nice for them to use up all of their pent up energy.  I pruned the trees Saturday then we all went down to Pleasant Grove.  We stopped in and saw Jake and his fun family. They have baby lambs and our kids loved feeding/holding them.

The Song That Never Ends

My parents always get the most creative things from going to Jazz games.  

The drama of our lives right now has been described by Jill as the Song That Never Ends.  In January,  on the day we left for Disneyland our freezer broke.  From that time on we haven't had a freezer in our kitchen.  Yes it's been 2 months without so much as a chicken nugget available without having to go to the garage to retrieve it. 

Parts have been ordered and multiple repairmen have attempted to fix it.  More recently a "repairman" also broke the refrigerator portion of our fridge.  I asked him "what are we supposed to do for a week until the part is delivered?"  His response, "buy lots of ice."  Thankfully a neighbor and my dad both have small fridges.  So for the last week we have been using 2 small fridges and 2 cooler chests (yes with ice).  So when we wanted a bowl of cereal we would retrieve milk from the cooler chest and, just  like when camping, it would drip with water from the melted ice.  It always caused a mess to wipe up. 

I know this is a "first world problem," because there are people around the world without refrigeration, but it's a major inconvenience.  

Finally after a week without our fridge, the repairman finally declared our fridge non-repairable.  Then began a 3 day fight to get a new one at no cost.  Finally Sears agreed to replace the existing fridge (it was 22 months old when it broke), but it will take 2 more weeks until it can be delivered.  Ugh. 

We couldn't live another 2 weeks without a fridge so another neighbor let us use an extra fridge she had in her garage.  It was when I installed it that I realized our current refrigerator was pretty big.  Here sits the "loaner fridge" for the next 2 weeks. 

It's starting to get warmer and our kids are outside now playing on the trampoline and riding bicycles.  It's so nice for them to get some energy out and exercise.

Part of my favorite time of every year is when I can earn my man-card and trim our trees.  I love getting out the pruners, loppers, and now chainsaw, to prune our trees.  I filled my dad's truck bed and also my trailer with limbs and branches.  Then I love taking them to the dump.  It just makes me feel like a man when I can use power tools, drive a truck, and go to the dump.  The kids love riding in Grandpa's truck, too.

Mission Call!

For a couple of weeks my parents have been waiting on their mission call.  On Thursday it finally came and they are now "Called to Serve". 

Everyone met at our house to open the call. 

We had pizza and ice cream and celebrated the mission call. 

Everyone met at our house and we ate pizza after we heard the big announcement.

Sledding

Saturday we had a family get-a-way and had so much fun!  The snow is beginning to melt and we are being teased with Spring.  The temperatures are now getting up to the 40's and we can go outside and feel the warmth of the sun.  With basketball season over we decided to go up to the mountains and do some sledding.  The sun was so warm, and the sky was so blue.  

We parked at the turn off for Doughnut falls, up Big Cottonwood Canyon, and walked up to some hills where children sled.  

We didn't know what to expect with Alyssa.  Would she love sledding?  Would she get to cold? How would she like our excursion?  After a short time of being there she insisted on going down the hill time and time again.  After each trip she would say it was the other parents turn to ride down with her, "Mommy take me".  That evolved into wanting to walk up the hill by herself and cary the tube.  A short while after that she finally dared to go alone.  Once she tasted that freedom Jill and I would never ride with her again.  I got some great video of her going down the hill by herself and it was so cute.

After a short time the coats, hats, and gloves came off.  

The boys had a terrific time. In years past Logan loved the snow, but Landon always got cold and didn't have as much fun.  This year they both went up and down so many times it got me dizzy trying to keep up with them.  When Logan got tired, Landon was still going strong.  When they got to the bottom of the hill they both would yell, "Awesome!"

When we finished up we ate a picnic lunch.

It was early afternoon when we got home and I tried to put Alyssa down for her nap.  She was a bit restless and tossed and turned. I laid quietly by her and at one point she said, "Ready, Set, Go."  I'm sure she was remembering the exhilaration of going down the hill on her tube.

Later in the evening Jill and I had dinner with Jon and Liz Shakespear.  They are such great people and it's been a while since we have gone out together socially.  Jon went off to medical school so we didn't see each other for a long time, but his medical training paid off during Jill's cancer treatment.  His specialty is diagnosing and treating breast cancer treatments.  He told us he tells about 1-3 people a day that they have breast cancer.  When Jill was diagnosed Jon was our second opinion about the treatment plan.

Speaking of breast cancer, Jill was given March 22 as her next surgery date.  We had thought it would be fairly minor, however after talking to Jon Shakespear he said it will have her down for a while.  We continue to pray for Jill's speedy recovery.  She is 100% cancer free, everything now is cosmetic, but it is still surgery and is never fun to have to go through surgery.

Sunday after church as we had lunch Alyssa got angry at Landon for taking the middle stool at the bar. She said, "Landon make me have a hard day."  So adorable the things she says. 

Lots of Sports

Superbowl Sunday has been a big deal in our family for many years. I grew up going to uncle Dan's house and eating delicious food and watching the game and commercials.  The last few years we have celebrated at Jake's house, but because of his travel we opted to have it at our house instead.  It was so much fun to "break the fast" with amazing Super Bowl food.  Jill made 7 layer dip, mom made shredded beef burrito's, and Kandis, Shanel, and Becky Jo all made amazing food to contribute.  

Alyssa loves to pull faces when getting her picture taken lately. 

Shanel makes the most amazing Oreo Truffle's in the shape of a football.  I think I ate 6 of them, SO GOOD!

While the men watched the game, the ladies visited, and the kids played.  Taylor was nice and played with Alyssa. 

The SuperBowl tradition usually involves Jake doing out taxes, but this year he will file them a bit later for us.

The Blue and Gold banquet was also this week.   Logan got his bobcat award and his good manners belt loop!

Our family all went to see the Sacramento Kings (and Jimmer) play the Jazz on Monday.  Before the game we ate dinner at Rumbi Island Grill at the Gateway.  The kids love cheese burgers. 

We got to the game and I saw a man in a blazer talking to Dad.  Due to some crazy circumstances, and an unused suite for the night, the man in the blazer offered Dad one of the Jazz suites!  I've never seen an event from the suite before.  It was so much fun! The kids LOVED it!

Alyssa loves to go to games, but she doesn't love noise.  As the Jazz Bear came out and throttled the motorcycle it made her cry.  But with Grandma there to console her she was better the rest of the night. She loved looking through the "goggles" (binoculars).

Saturday because of the cold and snow I took Landon and Alyssa to Scheel's.  It's a new enormous sporting good store.  Inside they have a ferris wheel, aquarium, and playhouse.  There were some long lines but we were able to do the bowling.

Jill and I celebrated Valentines a bit early this year. We met up with some friends Brett and Danielle Utley at the new Texas Roadhouse here in Riverton.  Then after dinner we went to The Chocolate, a quaint old home converted to a dessert shop.  We ate an decadent hot cookie with a scoop of ice cream,  called a Cazookie.  While we were out we had a babysitter named Alison.  Having just been to Disneyland Alyssa keeps calling her "Alison Wonderland".