October 2012: Week Three

My sister & I have an app on our phones that track where we are so if for some reason she's not answering her phone, I can see that she's at work or she's at my Mom's & they're ignoring me.  Early this week, Alicia text me & asked if I could figure out where she was & sure enough, I saw she was hiking the "M" so it motivated me to go on my own hike.

 

Not only does my phone have cool apps that track my sister down, it takes great pix!
Twin Falls is pretty amazing in certain places.

This is basically in the center of town. 
Way cool.

Almost immediately after my hike, Grammie showed up with her sister, Auntie Patty to watch Cashe while Shad & I went out of town. 

 

Cashe-man was still a bit out of sorts recovering from his surgery the week before & he hadn't eaten much or pooped at all in a whole week.  Praise the Lord, he was 100% recovered by the time Shad & I left town.

 

It certainly helps the recovery when Grammie wants to snuggle all day long.

Initially, I was headed to Phoenix for my Grandfather's memorial service & Shad had a training in Indianapolis; however his training was cancelled & it just happened to be the same week Shad's friends were golfing in the ESPN Golf Tournament in Las Vegas, so he decided to join them instead since his Mom & Aunt were already headed down to watch Cashe.

 

My sister & I met in Salt Lake City on our way to Phoenix & my Dad was already there with my Aunt & Uncle & one of my cousins, KJ.  Our other cousin, Kylie was scheduled to arrive in Phoenix from Norfolk, VA where she is currently stationed in the Navy.

 



Alicia & Dad.
Fuh-reaks.

 

After Kylie arrived on Thursday, we went through Grandma's jewelry & some of Grandpa's things too.  

"I pity the fool who puts on my jewelry." - Mr. T.
I put almost all of their jewelry on, including some of Grandpa's nametags.

Grandpa had the largest hat collection EVER & each hat had a story. 
He would always wear his hats high on his head & never bend the bills.
We all put one on in honor of Grandpa. 
Awe.

Thursday, we spent putting together the centerpieces for the luncheon after the memorial.
We took each hat & put it on a hat stand & the story for each hat was underneath each hat.
What a cool way to remember Grandpa.

We had 19 hat centerpieces to put together & this wasn't even half of his hat collection.

Then, Thursday night we decided to play the game where you blow out your lips (like a horse) & someone catches your face on camera.  We laughed so hard, I was crying ...

See my tears?

Group shot: me, Dad, Uncle Peek, Kylie & Aunt Shauna.
(I saved us all a little embarrassment by not posting our individual shots, so this will have to do.)

Friday morning, we woke up & loaded up the car & headed to clubhouse at the community where my Grandparents used to live to set up for the luncheon.  Then we headed to the church for the service.

 

Grandpa was an incredible man with an incredible life story.  He & my Grandmother were very, very social people & very active in their community & very active physically.  It was such a neat time with family to remember them both & what an impact they had on all those who knew them & loved them.



 

Our two models: Granddaughters, Kylie & Alicia.

All three Granddaughters posing with Grandpa's telephone he used when he worked for the telephone company, his guest book & his hard hat he wore for the telephone company.

Kylie, Alicia, April, Patty & me in front of the story boards we made.

When we got home from the service, we went through Grandma & Grandpa's things & divvied them up amongst us all.
Dad & I found these giant gold plates that looked like shields, so we did a little sword fighting with a staple gun & a remote control.

Alicia didn't approve of my earlier 'horse faces', so I had to try again. 
This turned out a little better.

Then we played a game where you had to put your head against the wall at a 90-degree angle
& try to stand up straight while lifting a chair. 
Apparently, women can do it because of the way their hips are designed & men can't. 
Alicia could do it, but Uncle Peek could not. 
Dad wouldn't even try.

Saturday morning, Alicia & I jumped on our plane back to Salt Lake & then headed our separate ways back to our little families.  We had a fabulous time goofing off & making more silly memories while remembering those we loved & lost. 

In the meantime, Shad broke even in Las Vegas & had a great time with friends & lounging at the pool. 

And Cashe got some great quality time with Grammie & Auntie!  He seems like a whole new child now that he can hear properly.  He's forming sentences & talking non-stop.  He's more of a riot than before, if that's possible.

October 2012: Week Two

October hasn't seemed to slow down much for the 'typical 2012 in our lives', except for this week.  Life was still a little wild, but God snuck in a little slow-down-&-snuggle time for us.

 

The week started with Preschool Co-op at our house since we would have company in town the following week when I was scheduled to teach.  

 

Here are the kiddos scoping out how to jump off the back step during outside play time. 
... & Cashe just read to everyone as they monkey-ed around.

Here goes Hudson! 
(Cashe still wondering what the big hype is, while still holding his Nemo book.)

Still not interested in the jumping. 
Nemo's way cooler.

Here goes Selah!

And here comes Carson running wild with a blue & orange BSU football.
His Vandal parents would probably kill me if they knew.



The next 'big' day of the week came on Wednesday, Surgery Day.  We all woke up at 5:30 to be at the hospital at 6:00 a.m. for an 8:00 a.m. surgery time. 



Cashe's first nurse got out the stickers & let him put stickers on his little breathing mask.

They loaned us the wagon to tote Cashe around in on his surgery floor in his little hospital pjs.

Good thing we practiced because this is how they hauled him off to the operating room!

Here he comes back from surgery!
He did great!

Snuggle snuggle time with Mama.

Snuggle snuggle time all day Wednesday & all day Thursday in bed.

Lots & lots of popsicle lips too.
We had all sorts of visitors come over & bring loads of ice cream too. 

Thursday we managed to make it out to run a few errands.
Here the big boy is all set to go in his Elmo slippers with his basket full of cars.

And here we are after errands.
Cashe requested french fries (after not eating much of ANYTHING for more than a day),
so I swung by McDonalds for some unsalted fries.

Believe it or not, a switch went off in Cashe's brain after surgery because now he's psyched to potty on the toilet!
Yahoo!
Here he is in his big boy undies ...
on the counter ...
in mom's hat ...
having a sucker as his treat ..
after going potty.
Big day!

We also took a walk through the neighborhood to the closest little farm (which isn't hard to come by in Twin).
We saw a ton of chickens, heard a few roosters & saw some horses.
And we were greeted by some giant turkeys who came out of their fence to check Cashe out.

Almost immediately after the surgery, Shad had to drive to Helena, Montana for their 'Lilly Day of Service' that he was in charge of setting up.  Each year the districts get together & do community service at a central location for the district (hence the reason Helena was chosen). 

 

He was gone all of Wednesday & all of Thursday & got home late that night.

 

Cashe did well through both Wednesday & Thursday, but as soon as Friday hit, he was lethargic & moody. 

 

So, lucky me got to head to Boise Friday afternoon to celebrate Dianne's birthday with Shad got to deal with Grumpy-Pants. 

 

This year we decided to take Dianne to Ulta to get a makeover (her request was to get a new make-up 'look') & we would each purchase whatever make-up she liked from the make-over.

 

 

Here we are!

Before
(I made her sit like this with her hands up as if she was in a Glamour Shot.)

After
Tada!

Then we went to Willowcreek Grill to celebrate her new look (yes, with a glass of water).

Then we headed back to the showroom for an awesome dinner, some Just Dance 4 & a chick flick.

And I can't go to Boise without cramming in at least 6 different things, so I met Kelly the next morning for a 2-hour run/walk (which mind you, I have not run since our relay in August, so I almost died.  True story.)

 

We also had coffee afterwards & here we are
(me, near death & Kelly, gorgeous as ever).

THEN, I had a lunch date with my dear friends, the Zantjers (John & Brenda) & Patterson (also known as Nicole).  We all worked together & some of us still do (just Patterson & me).

 

The girls at the Ram: Brenda smashed between two Nicoles.

And a John Sandwich. 
Awe! 
We miss working with him. 
What a great guy.

Until next week, my friends.

October 2012: Week One

Monday morning began with our preschool co-op.  This week, we did an all-mom class at Alexis' house.  The kids colored in their school books & painted & sorted blocks. 

 

Here the kiddos are painting.  We're missing Hudson this week,
but we gained Carson (our new friend) & Asher, who is Selah's older brother.

I had mentioned a few blogs ago that some chaos had hit us mid-week a few weeks ago.  Basically, our whole lives have been flipped upside down yet again & we're adjusting & making a few changes, which I will elaborate on eventually. 

One thing that I will elaborate on is that I took Cashe into a speech pathologist to have his speech tested because I felt as if he was behind.  Sure enough, he did not do well on his test, & I started my researching & decided he was autistic.  (Like spending too much time on WebMD can make you believe you have cancer.)

I called my cousin, Kelly to see what else I needed to do & she suggested I call Health & Welfare to get him enrolled in the state program for speech therapy in addition to having him see a speech therapist privately too. 

I called his pediatrician & his old preschool teacher from Eagle & asked for referrals to have him tested for autism.  I scheduled an autism evaluation in Boise.

Then, we went to BSF on a Thursday & Cashe's teacher said his nose was running nonstop & I told her it ran always, all year round.  She asked if I had ever seen an Ear/Nose/Throat doctor to have his adenoids & tonsils checked because her daughter had the same problem.  Swollen adenoids & tonsils cause sleep problems (which Cashe definitely has!) as well as fluid build-up in the ears, which causes a delay in hearing; therefore a delay in speech. 

God is good.

I called the Ear/Nose/Throat doctor & got him scheduled for October 9th.

Then, I went to get my hair done.  When I told Brenda about the situation, she asked who I was seeing & said she rides (road bikes) with that doctor's wife.  She sent his wife a text & got us in Monday afternoon, 9 days earlier than my appointment! 

God is good.

We got to the appointment & Cashe passed the hearing test; however he does have a significant amount of fluid in his left ear & due to his sleep problems, the doctor recommended we have surgery to remove his adenoids & tonsils.  We're also having tubes put in his ears to drain future fluid after the current fluid is drained.

God is good.

Here is Mr. Cashe-man himself playing with his cars while we waited for the doctor.

Here he is bagging his first groceries at Winco. 
Such a helper, he is!

Thursday afternoon, after BSF, we were supposed to go to the pumpkin patch with the playgroup.
However, Dad called & asked if we would meet him for lunch.
It feels as if we hadn't seen him all week, so we met & Cashe sported my sunglasses the entire meal.

After lunch, I headed to Boise for our last bunco game of 2012.  Boo hoo.
It was a Boise Bunco theme & Amber Joy hosted at the showroom.
Not only did I win my money back for most losses, I won a new BSU shirt & some blue & orange nail polish!

Saturday afternoon, we decided to spend the afternoon at the Rock Creek Growers Fall Festival in Kimberly. 

I had never been to Kimberly (& apparently, Shad had).  Nevertheless, it took us an hour to find Kimberly, Idaho & it's a whopping 10 minutes from our house!  Oops.

We wound up in Hansen (maybe 25 minutes from our house) because all of the stinking roads in this farm country aren't recognizable by GPS or Google Maps or iPhone Maps or any satellite that provides directions. 

AND, all of the streets are numbered. 

Not just 1st Street, 2nd Street, 3rd Street, but 3200, 3300, 3400, 3800, 3900. 

AND to top it off, they have TWO names 3200 = Hankins, 3300 = Overland (I'm making these up, but you get the gist.) 

We were so lost & had gotten coffees because we knew it would be cold & windy at the festival.  I had finished my coffee after 45 minutes of driving in large circles around farms & through freaky towns & I had to pee like no other.

Anyway ... we did have fun ...

We managed to snag a hay ride from our parking spot to the festival.
(Love Shad's expression.)

First things first -- we found the playground equipment with Carson & Charis.

Then we headed through the haystack maze & jumped a few tires.

... & played in a giant tractor tire.

Cashe won a prize matching two ducks' numbers.

... & he ROCKED it at the goldfish toss. 
He has a great arm!

Cashe rode the train ride all by himself.

Mr. Independent.
He also threw a fit so huge when he had to get out, I think all of Twin Falls heard him. 
Lovely.

Here's to another fun week!  Happy Fall!