He's an ADULT!

I just can't even.

How?!?  How has my baby grown up so quickly!  He is such a great kid, a pleasure to be around.  I'm so thankful for the blessing he is in my life!

Despite all of the drama with Dallin last week, we still wanted to celebrate Bryson!  We had the fam over for dinner and cake:

In a surprising turn of events, Bryson had his presents stolen out of HIS hands this year 😂:

I am nothing but excited for everything Bryson has in his future!

Sick

Every few months, Dallin gets the pukes.  Neither of us are ever really sure whether it's a stomach bug or something else since most of the time when he's sick or even just has a bad headache, he pukes.  It's not fun for either of us since he frequently doesn't make it to the bathroom.  Ugh.

Last week, Dallin started puking in the middle of the night Thursday.  Why does it always happen in the middle of the night?  Hours upon hours later, and zofran not even helping at all, we headed into the hospital in the wee hours of Friday morning.  Normally I wouldn't worry too much with a big kid throwing up for hours, but because of his blood disorder, he has a really high risk of gallstones which complicates things.  The intense right shoulder pain he was complaining of was an indication his gallbladder was involved also.  Of course on the way downtown he started perking up and being conversational and I was sure our trip was going to be for nothing.  I was supposed to work that next day so I had to call in... I was at the hospital, just not getting paid for it!

After getting zofran and fluids through his IV, he started feeling much better.  A few hours later and he was in for an ultrasound:

The definitely showed a plethora of gallstones and sludge (yum!), but it was unclear whether they were blocking the bile duct or not.  We needed to do a MRCP MRI to determine if it was and that would decide if we did surgery now or in a few months.

So we waited.  A.L.L. D.A.Y. Friday.

At least Dallin was feeling well enough at this point to play video games... 😒

Perry and Sandy were so sweet to watch Tyler at a moments notice because Nathan had some things at the office he had to take care of- Tyler was in HEAVEN!!  He played mini-golf ping pong:

Watched movies:

Escaped Explored outside:

The most frustrating thing for Dallin was that he was feeling better, but couldn't eat until after his MRI.  They kept thinking they be able to fit him in here or there, but it just kept getting pushed back.  FINALLY at 2:15 in the morning it was his turn!  By the time he got back from radiology, he was too tired to even care that he couldn't eat until his study resulted and they knew if surgery was iminent or not.  Boy was he hungry for breakfast!  We were both glad to find that he didn't have any blockags so he could eat- but were quickly frustrated with his diet order- they started with clear liquids and then advanced 'as tolerated'.  By lunchtime Saturday, he finally got 'real' food:

I couldn't believe just how yellow his skin was, especially his abdomen which was neon yellow/green.  But the camera normalizes skin tone apparently... even when your brother is in the picture:

We were discharged late Saturday afternoon once he'd proven he could keep solids down and are scheduled for surgery to have his gallbladder out in September... he'd rather miss school than work 😏

I'm a little nervous with him going to Chicago at the end of June for a week for FBLA Nationals because fast food, greasy food and red meat are definite triggers for his gallbladder.  But I know Dallin is pretty disciplined and responsible and I'm pretty sure HE doesn't want to end up sick and in the hospital in Chicago so he'll eat responsibly.

Once again, I'm so thankful for good medical care.  So glad that there's something we can do about his gallbladder instead of him just suffering with it for the rest of his life!

Eli Track & Field

Eli had a fun 8th grade track season, he loves the running events especially: the mile, 800m and 4x400 relay, but even mixed in the javelin and long jump a few times.

 

Strangers in the Night

Dallin: Do you want to hear something funny?

Me: Sure.

Dallin: At the stake dance Saturday night, Megan Zapalac asked me to dance.

Me: {laughing} Did she know who you were?

Dallin: I don't think she did at the beginning of the dance, but she did by the end.

Me: Was she taller than you?

Dallin: {raises eyebrows} TOTALLY!

National Honor Society

Dallin was inducted into the National Honor Society last night!  He is so driven and self motivated in his school work, we're so proud of him!

Sadly, it was on this day that Bryson found out that he could have joined NHS years ago... he thought you had to be nominated and now it's too late!  Oh well!  He's a great student also and easily met membership requirements, except the part about signing up to join 😐

 

Spring Band Concert

Hailee got to celebrate her birthday with a band concert! For Bryson, that would have been a dream come true, but not so much for Hailee.

She's been 'playing' the baritone all year in 6th grade band, but she's not really loving it.  Regardless, all three bands sounded so great- Mr. J is just amazing with the kids.

Hailee's 6th Grade Band:

Bryson on the bassoon and Dallin on the alto sax helped with the the middle school band and played Havana by Camila Cabello and The Avengers Theme.

Bryson then played a solo on the piano that he's been working on for forever for his senior recital- it's an intense piece by Chopin and as he played with vigor, the piano kept rolling away from him!  The piece was frankly a little too big for the little digital piano anyway, but its being on wheels without the brakes set caused the piano to constantly scoot away from him as he played!  He played through it with only minor pauses to pull the piano back towards him- grace under pressure for sure!

Bryson and Dallin then played again, this time with the high school band, which Eli (as an 8th grader in advanced band) also plays the trombone in.  They played a medley from Guardians of the Galaxy including Hooked on a Feelin'/Come and Get Your Love/Ain't No Mountain High Enough and some other songs:

A fun night for the kids playing their hearts out and seeing their hard work pay off!

12 Years Old!

Our Hailee girl is 12!  She is such a delight and, as usual, had BIG plans for her birthday!  She is very into Zelda right now and was very excited to get an encyclopedia of Zelda: Breath of the Wild- it's huge book and she has been pouring over it since she opened it!

She also wanted a watch and some art supplies:

Her actual birthday was a busy day with a track meet for Eli after school and then the middle school/high school band in concert in the evening, so her birthday spilled out on to Friday and then the weekend too, she didn't mind!

Tyler wanted to get on the present action also, so Eli wrapped up some of his toys for him to open:

We had the family over for dinner on Sunday to celebrate and Hailee decorated the family room accordingly:

Instead of a regular cake, she wanted Everything Brownies- a base of chocolate chip cookie dough topped with oreos then brownie batter poured over the top before baking.  She helped me make them and they were delicious!

I love my Hailee girl!  She is a wonderful mix of creativity and knowledge, she is her own girl and likes what she likes without worrying about what other people think.

Hamilton

Nathan and I were excited to bring Bryson and Dallin to see Hamilton downtown this week... but Dallin was sick at the last minute, so Eli went in his stead.  He was so disappointed, but Eli wasn't!

Mimi watched the other kids while we were at the show and Jace decided it was a good time to take a bath with Tyler, something he'd been wanting to do for forever, but I wouldn't allow- which he of course neglected to tell Mimi.  

They both wore swim trunks, so I suppose it was kosher, even if Jace DID know better 😑

After their bath, they bonded over their combined love of ice cream:

Prom

Senior Prom time!  It was kinda 'corny' they way he asked his friend Megan 😂...

I had to work that day but her mom and my dad got lots of great pictures!

They went to Applebee's with some friends (Ava and Colin) and went to the dance afterwards.  Megan is such a sweet girl and a fun friend.

 

20 Weeks

💗Officially viable💗

While baby is NOT welcome for many many MANY more months, it's always a relief when that point of viability is attained!  My 20 week ultrasound was uneventful