Grandpa's Fishing Buddies

Caleb has been wearing his "Grandpa's Fishn' buddy" hat all summer long. (He wouldn't even take it off for surgery). Last night was Caleb's lucky night, because Grandpa came over and took him fishing.

We meet at the store at Panguitch Lake. Here are Kaelynn and Tyler in a little boat

I love Colman's "Alfalfa Tale"

 Coleman is now 10 months old! He is such a happy baby.

 This was the only boat Coleman got to ride in. Too bad, maybe next time.

 Silly kids

 GRANDPA'S HERE! Off we go..

 "We love Grandpa's boat"

Grandma say, "Goodbye, I will sacrifice and stay behind with Coleman" 

(I am secretly going back to the car to read in peace.)

 Caleb with his fishing pole. He loved putting his pole in the water. I felt bad for Caleb because he only had a bobber and spinner on. I thought about putting a hook on his pole, but I worried that he would fling his pole around and someone would get hurt. Or that he would actually catch a fish and not be strong enough to keep a hold of the pole.  He kept saying "Here fishy fishy come and get my bobber" It was so cute, but alas, no fish got his bobber.

 Our fist catch. We caught this little guy just a few minutes out. He was a pretty small fry so we threw him back.

 Grandpa and Kaelynn with the first catch.

We had really good luck. Was it because of the New Moon a few days ago, or the bright orange lure they used, or was it the fish finder that led the way? Either way they caught about 6 fish and keep 3 (one for each of the fishing kids). Grandpa took them home to clean and freeze.

Vacation June 2012

For our summer vacation we wanted to go to Park City. We planned this before Caleb hurt his hand. It still worked out pretty good because of all the follow up appointments Caleb had to have. We just had to extend our vacation a few days (I'm not complaining). 

We started out by going to Caleb's appointment. We left at 6am Friday morning. 

This was 3 days after surgery. Caleb didn't want to look at his hand at first.

Then he got a little braver and opened his eyes. The Dr. said things were looking good. They re-wrapped his hand into a big wrap. He called it his "big hand" It was pretty big.

After the Dr. we went to EM. to get Kaelynn and Tyler and go a BBQ. It was great to visit with friends and relax.

Then we headed up to Clinton to spend the weekend with Jeff and Sarah. Saturday we took the kids to the park. On Sunday Jeff and Sarah blessed Carson. It was great to be with family. My parents took some pictures that I was going to get, but I haven't gotten them yet. 

Sunday night we headed up to Park City for out actual vacation and birthday fun! 

Monday was our fun day!

Here we are swimming!

Poor Caleb can't get in the pool because of his hand. He enjoyed just sitting on the step and watching everyone.

Monday morning first thing on my list was shopping. Yep, I asked my parents to give me an advance on my birthday money for this moment. I was able to find some a few things I was looking for. But, just when I was getting started, Ben and the kids started to cry about being hungry. So here we are at Ruby Tuesday for lunch 

 Caleb and his big arm. He hasn't been on pain meds since his Dr. appoinment on Friday. What an amazing kid.

 Here's my pride and joy!

 After shopping and lunch everyone wanted to swim some more and Coleman needed a nap. Later that night Ben had the great idea to take us on the Alpine slides. Which was so fun!

Tuesday morning: HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME! We said goodbye to Park City and headed to Caleb's 1:00 appointment (or so thought). When we got into the Salt Lake Valley we wanted to go on a quick picnic. We decided to go to "This Is The Place" monument. We lived on the Wasatch Front for 8 years and we have never been here. Now that we moved and are tourists it just seemed right.

 Now the story of Caleb's appointment. They scheduled us on the wrong day. His appointment was supposed to be at 1:00 we got there early and they said we had no appointment and they were double booked. We told them we are from out of town and we needed to get in today. They told us to come back at 3:30. Frustration!! While on vacation we dropped out van off to get fixed. So we decided to take the loaner van back and pick up our van. Right when we were done doing that the Dr called and said they could see Caleb in 30 minutes if we could get there. Perfect. We high tailed back up to the hospital. Caleb got his "big arm" taken off and he is now in our care. We go back in two weeks to get his compression glove. We have to do some hand therapy with him, but his hand is looking so good. He doesn't like using his right hand as much, but he is getting more and more used to it.

After that fiasco.. We headed to EM to pick up our swing set. By the time we got that taken care of if was 6pm and we were all hungry. It was my birthday so I decided to go to one of favorite places. Sean's smokehouse in S.S. It's the only one in the world and it is so good. We spent the night in Payson with Amanda and got up the next morning (Wednesday) and left for home. We were all tied and ready to get back home.

But wait......

Thursday was the opening ceremonies for the Utah Summer Games. I have been going to the USG my whole life. Their fire work show is wonderful.  But before the fire works we had a really fun Lulu at mom and dad's house. 

Tiki bar with Bryan and Celeste

 Everyone having a fun time

  

Well, our summer started out in a really fun way! Hopefully the fun will continue.

Today is Father's Day and My parents wedding anniversary (34 years). Today Ben wanted a roast and mashed potatoes for dinner. He also wanted cinnamon rolls.

Caleb's Surgery

Caleb burned his had last week and now it's time for Surgery.

Here is Caleb the morning of Surgery. He was such a good boy. Ben and Uncle Jeff gave him a blessing the night before. I know that helped all of us to be calm. When we got there we went up to surgery and got Caleb ready. Isn't this hospital gown so cute?!

 Caleb put the hospital gown on with no problem. But the hat was a different story..

 Caleb wouldn't put on the hat the hospital wanted him to wear. They let him keep his fishing had on until he was put under and then they put it back on before he woke up.

 Caleb was getting kind of sad so I took some funny face pictures with him to make him laugh and feel better.

 Then the Dr. gave him some relaxing medicine and we turned the TV on. Here he is waiting to go.

 Post Opp picture. Caleb did surprisingly well coming out of it. He cried a little, but no kicking and thrashing like what we thought would happen. They gave him a popsicle and turned the TV on and he calmed right down. He wanted his clothes back on right when he woke up. Look at his huge arm! When we got home He said "there's a bat on my arm"

So far recovery has been great. He is a happy boy. The big arm cast doesn't seem to slow him down much. He is on medication, but he acts like a normal boy.

Here is a picture of Caleb before the accident. I know that soon this will be Caleb again. He is a strong boy. I know Heavenly Father is watching out for this little guy!

Here is a more detailed account:

On Monday we drove up North to stay with Jeff and Sarah. It was Eli's birthday and we had a fun time singing to Eli and eating cake. Ben and Jeff gave Caleb a blessing and we put the kids to bed. They Jeff and stayed up until past midnight talked and laughing. Probably not the best idea since we woke up at 5:20am. We left Jeff and Sarah's and went the University hospital. We got to the hospital at about 6:45am. We did the check in and got everything ready to go. It was about 8:30 before Caleb went into surgery. Before the Dr. told us that Caleb was going to need a full skin graft. They took some of his skin from his hip area. I haven't seem the scar yet, but they said it wouldn't be took big. The surgery took a little over an hour. After is was done the Dr. came and talked to us. We have to go back in on Friday to have the dressing changed and check on the progress. Then we go back again on Tuesday for a follow up. The Dr. said we could have a lot of follow up appointments. Caleb is also going to have to wear a compression glove for anywhere from 6 months to 2 years. But it didn't sound too bad. He said that he had to wear it 23 1/2 hours a day and he will just get used to it. Caleb will have have to go through some therapy.

When we got to see Caleb he was still asleep. Coming out of the drug induced sleep wasn't too bad. He cried a little, but we got him to calm down. He wanted to get dressed right away and leave. Before we could leave we had to talk to the Dr again and make a follow up appointment. Caleb also had to drink with out throwing up and go to the bathroom. We also had to get the pain under control. The only thing that he was complaining about was his leg (the donor site). They gave him some medicine and he was good to go. He drank a whole cup of apple juice and went to the bathroom pretty good. We were fully checked out by noon. It still felt like we had been there forever.

Caleb wanted to eat lunch at Costco. (That kids LOVES Costco). I wanted to get a few things, so I didn't mind. Caleb did pretty good while we were there. He sat on a pillow in the cart. He ate about 80% of a slice of pizza and we were on our way. He did really good on the drive home. He slept about half the way.

Last night he only woke up twice. We gave him some medicine and he went back to sleep. I think tonight will be even better. Today Kaelynn and Tyler came home and that made Caleb happy to see them. He also got to see Grandma and Grandpa. Grandpa surprised him with his own fishing pole. So now Caleb is ready to go fishing!

Caleb is such a special boy. While we were at the hospital he won the hearts of all the people there. I am so glad that everything went well and that he will make a fully recovery! 

Caleb Got Burned

On Tuesday we were over in Cedar City to meet with the architect about our house plans and to do some shopping. While we were there Caleb got burned on a treadmill. Tyler and Caleb were playing downstairs when the machine got turned on and Caleb's hand got stuck. I was shopping so Ben and Dad drove him to the ER. The ER didn't know to much about burns so they wrapped it up and told is to go to the University of Utah burn center in Salt Lake. We made the appointment for Thursday. We went up and they told us that Caleb will need a skin graph. He goes into surgery on Tuesday. They said the recovery will be about 3 weeks until he can just wear a compression glove that will help with the skin graph. After the surgery we have to go back every 3 days for them to change the dressings. We only have to do this twice then we are in charge of the care.

This was very scary for us. We felt so bad that Caleb had to go through this. When he first got hurt he wouldn't stop crying. When I finally got to the hospital Caleb had stopped crying so I had Ben and Dad give him a priesthood blessing. During the blessing I could feel the healing powers and I felt peace that everything would be fine. Caleb hasn't cried since his blessing and is his normal happy self. In fact after the blessing he woke up and looked at his hand and said "take this off". (Oh, I wish we could) He does have a big bandage on his arm that looks like a cast, but other then that he is looking good. He hasn't had any pain meds since Thursday, and he hasn't complained over pain. We have to be at the hospital on Tuesday morning at 7am. They said the actual surgery will only be an hour and we should be out by noon. I am grateful that Caleb is happy and otherwise a healthy little boy.