Doctors, and Hospitals, and Casts! Oh My!

June and July were completely crazy with doctor visits and hospitals. With me having a baby, Warren breaking his arm, and Clara getting tubes in her ears, it felt like we spent more time in waiting rooms than at home. Between me, Sawyer, Clara and Warren we had 11 doctor visits, 5 trips the hospital lab, 2 hospital stays, 1 outpatient surgery and 1 emergency room visit all within the two months. It was crazy! It really made me grateful for our usual good health and for wonderful friends and family who helped me get to the appointments.

Clara signing Warren's new cast - Holding him down while they put it on him was not very fun!

About a year ago we noticed Clara was having a little trouble hearing. We had to repeat things we said to her A LOT. She had a hearing test which showed some mild hearing loss, then a visit to an ENT where they determined it was because of fluid built up in her ears and so we decided to get some tubes put in. 

Waiting to go into surgery

After the procedure, just before coming out of anesthesia

St. Lukes in Boise made it a great experience. They treated her like a queen the whole time she was there. In fact, a little while after the ordeal she asked if she could go back and do it again, mostly because of the pampering and the popsicle at the end. The best part was all of the compliments they gave about what a wonderful girl she was and how calm she stayed the whole time. She did great! And it helped a lot. We could tell immediately that she was hearing better and her next hearing test results were greatly improved.

Here is Warren with a celebration Frosty just after getting his cast off on August 11. It was a long 5 weeks for him. He was already having a hard time adjusting to having a new little brother and a mom who couldn't lift him. It has also taken him a little while to talk much so he couldn't communicate with us what was bothering him. Breaking his arm really made him grumpy and he couldn't participate in all the fun parts of summer for a while like swimming, sandboxes, and trampolines. I was worried getting the cast cut off was going to be another bad experience, but the nurse took him in and just did it really quick. He was a little confused and at first kept saying "back!" because he wanted it back on. The x-ray showed it healed wonderfully. His arm was stiff for a few days but once he got it moving again he seemed much happier. We were glad to have our cheerful little guy back!

Sawyer got to go not only to his appointments, but to most of the others as well. I think it wore him out almost as much as it did me.

2014 Barry's Hike

Barry's hike with his brothers this year took them on a journey to the middle fork of the Salmon River. Barry, Charles, Colby, Jared, and Michael were able to go. It sounds like they had a great time and the pictures show just some of the beautiful scenery they encountered.

Fishing from a hot pool sounds like my kind of fishing!

Fun in Rigby

After a fun weekend in Oakley, we sent Barry off on his annual brothers' hike and the kids and I went to Rigby to visit family there. They always have lots of fun at Grandma Packer's house picking raspberries, jumping on the trampoline, going to the Rexburg water park, a movie, and running around with their cousins. 

Here they are throwing pop-it fireworks

The first morning we were there I asked Quinton to turn off the TV to come watch breakfast. He came a little unglued (as he sometimes does) at my request and was very upset at me that morning. Later I found 3 or 4 of these notes around the house. Translation: "I don't like you Mom. Quinton" Haha. I chose to laugh about it and every time I saw him I just kept saying, "I love you, Quinton." I was actually pretty proud of him for sounding out the words by himself.

At one point someone had picked a bucket of raspberries and set it on the counter in the kitchen. I was upstairs helping Sawyer and when I came down I found this little man with very red cheeks and a huge smile on his face because he had hit the berry jackpot with no one around to stop him from eating all of it!

Grandma made some sno-cones one night (and gave Warren a bath in the sink).

Here is Sawyer meeting Johnathan for the first time.

One night Grandma Packer's stake celebrated Pioneer Day at Krupp Scout Hollow. They had so much to do! Dinner, pony rides, cotton candy, sno-cones, crafts, balloon animals, a candy cannon, and more. It was a lot of fun. Before we went there, we made a stop at the Rigby library where they had an animal display. The kids thought it was really neat.

Pioneer Day

We always have a blast when we go to Oakley for Pioneer Day and this year it was no different. 

On Friday, July 18, Barry took Quinton and Clara on a hike to Independence Lakes with Grandma Jenks, cousins, and more. Quinton is pretty much unstoppable when he's hiking and likes to take the lead. Clara took a little more encouragement, but they all made it 3 miles there and 3 miles back!

Clara was a little worn out for the ride home.

Sawyer stayed back at the house with Warren and me

On Saturday Quinton and Clara ran the mile race. They did great!

After the race they have games for the kids in the park. Warren could not be dragged away from sending these little rubber ducks down the hill. Later that day they catapulted water balloons in Grandma and Grandpa's yard and tried to catch them. That night we finished the weekend with yummy food, homemade ice cream, and fireworks.

Jenks Reunion

Just a few weeks after Sawyer was born, over the 4th of July weekend, there was a reunion for Grandpa Orvin and Grandma Nona Jenks' side of the family. I wasn't planning on going so soon after having Sawyer, but we bought a little tent trailer and decided it might be a fun adventure to camp for one night at Thompson Flats Campground near Pomerelle. We had a fun time visiting with cousins, eating a dutch oven potluck dinner, playing games, making ice cream for a contest, and going on a hike. Quinton and Clara love camping, especially with cousins! Warren wasn't too sure about it at first, but he got a little more comfortable by the second day. Sawyer just slept the whole time.

Barry playing chef

Our tent trailer and Clara playing with a second cousin.

Breakfast!

The hike on Saturday morning. 

Everything went pretty well up to this point. I stayed back at the campsite with Sawyer waiting for everyone to get back from the nature hike. Interestingly, I got a little nervous feeling in the bottom of my stomach when I felt like they were maybe gone a little too long (I tend to imagine the worst scenarios in my head as a mother and wife sometimes when it comes to the outdoors!) Sure enough Barry came into camp carrying a very traumatized, howling Warren. Barry had been carrying Warren on his shoulders near the end of the hike when he rolled his ankle bringing himself and Warren down to the ground. They hit the dirt and rocks pretty hard. Barry was a  little beat up, but Warren couldn't be consoled and when Barry touched his hand and arm he screamed even louder. We knew we had to get him to a doctor.

Everyone at camp helped us so much with finding him medicine and ice packs, packing up our tent trailer and gear, and holding Warren and Sawyer so we could get things situated. After rushing around to get all of that done we had to drive about an hour into Burley to go to the emergency room. Warren calmed down enough to fall asleep during the car ride, but was very sad when he woke up to more poking and prodding. He wanted nothing to do with any of the doctors and nurses. Barry and I took turns switching between him and the other kids. Everyone was dirty, tired, and hungry. It took a while to get the x-ray, but it turned out he did have a fracture on the bone just above his elbow. They put it on a temporary splint at the hospital and a few days later he got a cast in Boise. So that was our very first experience with a broken bone in the family, and with three boys, probably not our last!