Since I last wrote...

We have been having quite a bit of fun these past two MONTHS!  Much has happened, and getting pictures on the computer then onto the blog has been a challenge.  Our poor computer is on its last leg.  I am going to try and highlight some of the best events.

Since I last wrote...We went to Mexico

Russ and I went to Mexico in February.  We stayed at the same resort that we stayed at last year.  Russ flew down a week early with his buddy, Chris Homer.  They fished for several days and had a great time.

Catch of the day: Snook

Uncle Chris and his catch

I flew down the following Thursday.  I met Russ at the airport and traveled with several people from Alsco to the El Dorado Royale.  We stayed in the lap of luxury for 5 days.  We ate good food, went to a flee market, swam in the ocean, swam in the pool, explored the area, and went walking along the beach.  It was a fantastic 5 days.

While we were gone the kids stayed with Nana and Papa, and one of my co-workers and her husband.  They had a great time and were spoiled with good food and fun activities.

Since I last wrote...Garrett made the high school baseball team

When Russ and I got home from Mexico, Garrett was in the middle of his baseball try-outs.  He made the freshman/sophmore team for the high school.  We were very excited for him.  Garrett is a great little baller and has had a successful season.  He is playing all over the field, depending on who is pitching.  He plays right field, first base and short-stop.  He has also pitched in a couple of games.  Garrett is batting 2nd in the line-up and hitting great.  They are 12-2 in season, and 8-1 in region.

Since I last wrote...I ran another marathon

 Start line- Me, Dayna, Jill

This was where we started the race

The week after Russ and I got home from Mexico, I traveled with a few of my friends to Arizona to run the Phoenix marathon.  It was a super quick trip.  I traveled down with Dayna Player-Robinson, my favorite running mate, and Megan Pace.  We then met our friend Jill Hymas there, who recently moved to the state of  Washington.  Dayna had talked Jill into running the marathon (her very first) and I had talked Megan into running the marathon (also her first).  Then Dayna and I both got injured.  Dayna developed Tarsal Tunnel and plantar fasciitis.  She has damage to the nerves in her foot and can't run more than a couple of miles without being miserable.  I had injured my IT band and hobbled around for weeks before the marathon.  Neither Dayna or I planned to run the marathon, but felt obligated to go since we had talked our other friends into running.  Dayna and I decided to at least start the race.  Dayna ran the first 8 and then limped off the course.  I was feeling really good at the half way mark and decided to keep going.  At mile 17 my IT band started to get irritated.  By mile 18, I could hardly walk.  I kept walking, hoping to find the medical cart to take me to the finish.  I couldn't find one until mile 23.  I decided to just walk to the finish and get my medal.  I finished an hour later than my St. George marathon time... very disappointing.  But not too bad considering I walked (with a serious limp) the last 8 miles.

Since I last wrote...Grant started playing Lacrosse

Trash talkin'

Last year Grant started talking about playing Lacrosse (LAX).  We know nothing about LAX and didn't even know they had a team here in St. George.  But come to find out, they have one team and they play in the Las Vegas league.  Grant plays on a team with a bunch of boys that haven't played before.  He absolutely loves it.  He is aggressive and really gets into the games.  He comes home wiped out, and bruised up, but smiling none the less.  Grant mostly plays defense, back by the goal, middy (mid-fielder), and sometimes attack.  He loves defense the best and is good at it.  The have only won a couple of games, but they are a relatively new team and little in comparison to most of the teams they play.  Grant really enjoys it and we are glad that he has found some sports that he enjoys (gymnastics also).

Since I last wrote... Gracie started playing soccer again

Gracie is playing on the same team she played on in the fall.  She has been really excited to start playing again.  She has only played in one game so far this spring.  I am hoping we will have some more updates on that.

Since I last wrote... I was called as the Girls' camp director

I am a nervous wreck.  I have fond memories of girls' camp growing up.  But I have been serving in the Primary for 15 years.  I know nothing about Young Women.  I feel all kinds of pressure.  Our stake camp theme is based on the Dr. Seuss book Oh, the Places You'll Go, stand in holy places.  Then each ward had to pick a Dr. Seuss book for their ward theme.  We chose One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish.  I have no idea why a fishing book popped into my mind.  Anyway, we had our camp kick-off party.  It turned out so cute.  I am starting to get excited as we are busy planning and preparing.  It is super time-consuming and somewhat stressful, but I think it will be really fun.

Since I last wrote... Grant became a Life Scout

Grant completed his requirements to become a Life Scout.  He is so close to becoming an Eagle Scout.  He just has 2 more camping days and a few requirements for two other merit badges.  He will begin his Eagle Scout Project sometime this year.  He is very motivated by the fact that he can become an Eagle Scout at an earlier age than Garrett did.  Hopefully, that will be enough motivation to get him through the finish!

Since I last wrote... Gracie had surgery

Before Surgery

On February 10th, Gracie developed her first of 3 ear infections.  She was put on an antibiotic, got better, was off the antibiotic for 10 days and developed a second ear infection.  She was then put on a stronger antibiotic, got better, was off the antibiotic for 10 days and developed her 3rd ear infection.  The day before I had had her at the doctor for her follow up appointment for the second ear infection.  Her pediatrician looked in her ears and said all is well, we got it this time.  That night, at 1:18 a.m., she woke up crying saying her ear hurt and had a fever of 102 degrees.  The next morning I called the doctor to get a referral to an ear, nose and throat specialist.  The doctor said, "I just looked in her ears yesterday and they were fine".  I said, "I know, but yesterday she wasn't complaining of ear pain and yesterday she didn't have a fever... but today she does".  He then asked me if this was a "Munchausen by Proxy situation".  That is where parents make-up illnesses to take their kids to the doctor.  I was silent.  Then he said, "Oh Kori, I am just teasing".  I told him that I had been up since 1:18 in the morning and this was not a good day to "joke" with me.  He then said, "Well, I want to see this ear".  We took Gracie in, and sure enough she had a raging ear infection. HA! He referred us to an ENT who saw Gracie the next day and said her ear "looked so painful".  I am still furious with our pediatrician if you haven't picked up on that yet!!  Needless to say, she was scheduled for surgery to have ear tubes put in and her adenoid removed.
On April 11th, we took Gracie in for her surgery.  They got her all dressed in her gown, hat and socks.  Then the nurse came in to put in the IV.  I was a mess.  I have horrible experiences with IV's and so does my mom.  The nurse talked to Gracie about what she was going to do.  Then she started the procedure.  Gracie watched her the entire time.  As the IV was inserted, some blood squirted into to the IV tubing and Gracie giggled.  She wasn't scared, hurt, or anything... no, she giggled.  After the surgery, the doctor came out to talk to me.  He said that when they got into surgery and started moving her tonsils to get to the adenoid, a bunch of tonsil stones were coming out.  He said it looked like "hundreds of little white mice scattering when the light was turned on".  So, he decided in surgery to remove her tonsils as well.  It was going to be a much harder recovery.

After surgery

She was great for the first 6 days.  Then on the 6th day she woke up crying with ear pain and a fever of 101.8 degrees.  She had been off the antibiotic from her 3rd ear infection for 10 days!  I called the doctor, he said to watch it for a couple of days.  As the day went on, she got better.  The next morning she woke up the same, but as the day went on she got better.  She did that for 4 days.  Finally today, she seems normal.  She slept well, and has had no pain.  Hooray!

Since I last wrote... I was asked to be the Pulmonary Rehab Coordinator

A few weeks ago I was asked to be the pulmonary rehab coordinator at the hospital.  I have been spending the past couple of weeks putting together a business plan to propose the start of a Pulmonary Rehabilitation Program at the hospital.  It has been challenging.  However, this last Wednesday, we presented the business plan to the CEO of the hospital.  She said the plan was very well put together and saw no reason why we should not proceed with the program.  Yippee.  This week they are sending me to a couple of hospitals up north to begin training.  I will then begin implementing the program in our hospital and we should be up and running in a couple of months.  It is similar to what we already do in cardiac rehab and will just be an expansion of our current department.

Well, that about sums up the last two months of our lives.  We have been having a great time, for the most part, and staying super busy.  Someday, I will get more consistent with blogging...

SEE what's DRIVING us these days

We have had so much going on these past few weeks.  I don't have much time for a long post, but I thought I would share a couple of photos anyway.  Last week Grant got glasses.  On the same day his buddy, Fisher, got glasses as well.  They are pretty stylin' don't you think?

Garrett and his buddy, Hunter, went down to the DMV yesterday and got their Learner's Permits.  Look out St. George!  Garrett has been driving all day today.  He is thinking this is pretty dang cool.  His mom is a little nervous.

The pictures were taken with a phone, so not the best quality.  But you get the idea. I will try and  get a few better pictures soon.

Today it is OFFICIAL

 Today, Garrett had his Eagle Scout Board of Review.  Russ and I were asked to introduce him as an Eagle candidate and tell a little about him.  We, of course, had wonderful things to say about him.  Then we were asked to leave and Garrett was interviewed by Mark and Karen Gubler and Ron Jensen.  He was in the room with them for about 15-20 minutes.  He was then asked to step out of the room.  After just a couple of  minutes they asked all of us to come back into the room.  Sis. Gubler asked Garrett if he thought the number 13 was unlucky.  She said that it was going to be a lucky number for him now because on 1/13/13 he became an Eagle Scout.   Yippee!  We are so excited.  He is all smiles, and so are his parents. Russ finally got to scratch this off of his To Do List... I think it has been on there for 2 years.

In other news, this weekend was very fun for our family.  We were asked to house a couple of the players from the BYU Rugby team Friday night.  They had a tournament down in Mesquite, NV.  About 8:00 pm we went to pick up our two players.  I told the coach my name and he said, "Oh, you've got those two crazy guys over there."  The one player stands up and yells "Mom" and comes over and gives me a huge hug.  The whole team starts laughing and wishing me good luck.  I was a little nervous.  But, there was no reason to be.  They were awesome.  We had Jordan, from New Zealand and Noke (pronounced No kay) or "Nokes", as his teammates called him, from Tonga.  They were so much fun.  They had super strong accents and were sometimes hard to understand.  For instance, Jordan said he wanted to shoot a beer.  We later realized he was saying bear.  He wanted to go hunting and shoot a bear.  They were super polite, made their beds in the morning, and ate a ton of food.  Noke could put the food down.  Garrett has finally found his match!!!  On Saturday, we drove down to Mesquite and watched their games.  It was freezing cold, but so fun to be there.  We learned a lot about Rugby (since we knew nothing before going down there) and had fun watching "our boys" play the brutal sport.   

 Jordan

 Noke or "Nokes"

 The Scrum

 This is the inbound procedure

 We loved having them and hope they get to stay with us again when they come back down in a few weeks.

De-Braced, Braced, and Re-Braced

For the past 5 years I have been making monthly trips to the orthodontist.  Garrett started in braces 5 years ago.  

The day he got his 1st phase of braces off, Grant got his first phase put on. 

Then 2 years later, Grant got his 1st phase of braces off, the same day Garrett got his 2nd phase put on.

Well, it has been another 2 years.  Garrett FINALLY has beautiful, straight teeth.  The day his braces were removed, Gracie began phase 1 and Grant began phase 2.

De-Braced

Braced

 Re-Braced

  Honestly, I don't see an end in sight any time soon.  However, Garrett's teeth look so nice that it is worth every penny we are spending (I am pretty sure we have paid for our orthodontist's home by now).  I also don't mind giving up one Friday every month for the next 5 years for appointments.

Christmas Concert

This year Grant decided to take an orchestra class at school.  One of the ladies in our ward is the teacher and Grant was excited to be in her class.  There were four instruments Grant could choose from a viola, a violin, a cello, or a bass.  My little Grant chose to play the bass.  It is enormous and bigger than him.  It doesn't even fit in my car.  Luckily, his teacher lives across the street from us and drives a van.  She is very sweet to bring his bass home on Friday and back to school on Monday morning.  We are so appreciative of her and her sweet attitude toward doing it.  Grant loves his orchestra class and was happy to play in his concert.  He did great and looked so cute while he played.

Fall Festivities

We are alive and well.  I have been having some computer problems lately and have fell out of the blogging world.  Some day this will become easier for me.  Anyway, Russ worked on my computer tonight and fixed the biggest problem.  So, I thought I would hurry and post some pictures of a few activities that we have been involved in this fall.

First, was our annual ward activity: THE PUMPKIN DERBY and CHILI COOK-OFF.   This is such a fun activity that our neighbors look forward to every year.  Families build all kinds of contraptions to race pumpkins down a big hill.  This year, Garrett and two of his buddies took apart our old jogger stroller and built a platform and attached it to the big wheels of the stroller.  They worked on it everyday for a week.  It was fun to watch them use their wood shop skills and have so much fun together.  Here are some pictures from the start line.  You can see all of the different ideas.

Then, Gracie finished soccer season.  This year she loved it and is anxious to play again in the spring.  Here are a few funny photos from one of her last games.

Yeah, well we have until spring to work on her form and develop some skills.  She was sure cute though and was able to learn a little Spanish while playing.  Rapido Gracie.  No manos Gracie.    

Next, some friends and I ran the Color Me Rad race.  Unfortunately, it was freezing cold and I had NO white warm clothing.  I was unwilling to sacrifice my body warmth to get into the spirit of the race.  But, I had a great time hanging out with some of my running buddies and some new friends.

Next, we had some yard clean-up projects that turned into a little leaf jumping fun.

Finally, we had a court of honor and Grant received a handful of merit badges and a rank advancement.  He is a Star Scout and actually has been for about 5 months, but just recently received his award.  Along with Grant's progress, I am happy to report that Garrett has officially completed all of his Eagle Scout paper work and turned it in to the council.  He will have his Eagle board of review the 2nd Sunday in January.  We are one month away from that boy finally being done with this project.  Hallelujah!

And there you have it.  Short and sweet.