Almost back to normal

Just got back from the Doctors. The best part was actually getting dressed in real clothes, pants that zipped and everything!!!! I tried Sunday to wear real pants(not elastic waist) and it was a disaster! I am feeling so great and the Doc said everything looked great and gave me the go ahead to get back to normal except I still cant lift anything over 10 pounds for a few more weeks... that means vacuuming right? He wants me to have another CT scan and chest x rays in 6 months, December right before Christmas, hopefully it will be good news!!! Right now I am just happy wearing real pants again!!! Life is good!

He's all grown up now!!!

Happy birthday to Mitchell!!!! He turned the big 18 on Sunday! I can't believe it! I felt bad his birthday took a back seat to everything else that was going on at our house but we did have his buddies over that night. Kevin cooked some burgers on the grill and we just did fruit and chips and my super amazing kind Sister made a salad and brought it over too! It was really fun and as always his friends are super awesome and notice the super beautiful girl in the picture!!! They have been spending a lot of time together lately! Whew Whew!!! What a great kid he has turned out to be! Only he can have me watching a super funny show (Arrested Development) that has me laughing so hard it hurts just after coming home from the hospital! He is always making us laugh, always going out with the guys... or girl, always listening to music or "working" on his computer. He is a super awesome, kind, hard working, all around nice kid and I can't believe he is 18!!!! He took his little bro and sis to see Transformers a couple of days ago and then out to ice cream after. I am sure it had nothing to do with the super beautiful girl that works at the ice cream shop!!!! What a guy! Happy Birthday Mitchell!!! We love you!!!!!!

Back among the living!

I am sure everyone knows by now what has been going on with me and my multiple trips to the hospital this month so I just wanted to let everyone know that I am alive and well and getting better everyday! I feel like I am back to being a teenager enjoying summer vacation because I don't roll out of bed until 10:30 or 11:00 everyday! So just in case you haven't heard I will give you the quick version..... Emergency room trip a month ago to figure out why I was doubled over in pain. Had CT scan and found out it was an appendicitis and would be having surgery to remove it! Also found out I had a spot on one of my kidneys that I needed to get checked out. Emergency room doc said her buddy would call me when I got home to check it out but he never did. So I went in for my two week check with the surgeon and mentioned it to him. he looked up the notes on the scan and then personally walked me next door to his buddy the Urologist who got me right in. After pulling up my CT scan I found myself hearing those dreaded words... tumor, cancer, malignant, remove kidney.... WHAT? I have been in this guy's office for 15 minutes and he already knew all of this, guess he has seen it before! So any way to make a VERY long story short, checked in to Hospital, removed kidney, lots of pain, feeling better! The weirdest part was the next day after I found out I went to girls camp for a couple of days and had to act normal because we hadn't told the kids yet. So I am very lucky that the whole appendix thing happened because by the time I would have had symptoms it would probably have already spread and there would have less of a chance for a happy ending. As it looks now everything was removed and it hadn't spread so all looks well. I will have to have scans every 6 months or so but my Doc said he would give me a 5 percent chance of having any more probs so that's good! I was Very lucky to have had my Mom come and take care of us that week. It is funny how I am all grown up and have kids of my own but still need my Mom(and Sister) like a 2 year old! We couldn't have survived the week without her! Also all the beautiful flowers from Parents and food from friends and neighbors made this all bearable. It's amazing how something as simple as a hand held shower head in my bathroom installed by my awesome Dad made me cry! Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers, they have really made a difference. We are so lucky to be surrounded by such a wonderful family and great friends.We Love you all!

Back together again!

Jake finally lost his front tooth!!! SO cute!! ( he dressed himself that day!)

Jacob practiced his butterfly at mema's pool, he could be our next swimmer!!!

Maddi tried to get a tan but just got burned but looked stylish!

Thomas behind Brenden Hansen and Ian Crocker, both Olympic swimmers.

Thomas got to the pool early one morning and ran into one of his favorite swimmers Josh Davis(in the USA tank) Kevin forgot the camera so he sprinted back to the car to get it. Thomas was so excited to get this picture! He has actually worn one of Josh's gold medals before!

Well after spending the week apart , the Family is back home once again! Thomas had an AMAZING time at camp and got to meet some of his swimming hero's and got compliments from a lot of them about his swimming. Kevin had an awesome time while Thomas was in the pool he was working hard and made some great sales!!! Mitch is home from Powell and sunburned but had a great time! Maddi Jacob and I are back from a few days of visiting with Mom and Dad in St. George ( thanks to my fabulous sis for driving us down there and hanging out with us!) It was really fun but now it's back to real life and real laundry!!! YUCK!!!! Then Maddi and I are off to girls camp this week so the boys will be on their own!

All week long we have been teasing Jacob about his snaggle tooth that was hanging by a thread ready to come out. Well it finally did yesterday, he looks so cute with a missing tooth!

Swim Camp

Thomas is in Austin this week at swim camp. Today he got to the pool and was dissapointed to find out that he would be working with the coach that was going to lead the hardest workout. He got in the pool and the coach told his group that they would have a special guest today and from out of the locker room all dressed in his swim suit walks Aaron Piersol!!!! For those who don't know, he is the world record holder in the 100 and 200 backstroke? He just beat Michael Phelps at the last big meet. Thomas has had him coach before in years past but never has Aaron jumped in the water to swim with them! Thomas was SO excited! A dream come true!!!Then later today he got to hear from Garret Weber-Gayle who was one of the kids in the first relay with Phelps at the Olympics. Then it was off to work with Neil Walker who singled Thomas out and asked him his name and told him he had a great freestyle!!! Then to top it all off he had Eddie Reese who is the University of Texas coach and Olympic coach tell him that he could tell Thomas was a great backstroker and that he did one of the drills perfectly!!!! Needless to say he probably won't be able to sleep tonight from all the excitement! It's not such a bad deal having the Olympic coach know your name and tell you you did a perfect job!!! What excitement and today is only day one!!!!!!

Another cute grad picture

Here are all the kids together on grad day, only two more years and we will be doing it again!!!!

Graduation

Well, this has been one CRAZY week! We finally got to graduation night and it was awesome! Of course I cried when I saw him in his cap and gown and I cried at the graduation and he told me I was embarrassing him, so I had to control my emotions! He is wearing an orange honor cord for art and an art medallion that he earned. Wow, the past 18 years has flown by! What a FANTASTIC kid he has turned out to be and he has the most awesome group of friends! We are VERY proud of him and the decisions that he makes. We started out the grad festivities with a party on Thursday night and all the buddies came over for dinner, then they were off to the yearbook party and stayed out all night at another buddies house, Friday it was back to school for more yearbook signings and then graduation. That night the school put on an all night party that had a hypnotist and a comedy group and food and fun for all the grads! It was a great weekend but he is still running on about 3 hours of sleep in three days but of course he is out again with the guys tonight! Well enjoy the pix! Thanks to all of you who have been such a positive influence in his life to get him where he is today!