Kidney Stones

Kevin has been having more and more trouble with trying to pass some kidney stones. He handles the pain remarkably well and can pin-point where the stone is in it's process to move out of his body. He was under the supervision of his urologist, Dr. Peter Caputo, and was "catching" his urine and discovered three huge stones and took them in for diagnosis. They came back as largely made of calcium and the doc said he should avoid "green, leafy vegetables", which was naturally heartbreaking to this man who still hates spinach and broccoli. Let's hope these are the last ones for a while.

Something Wicked This Way Comes

A couple months ago, my work made a consorted effort as a group to try to win the option to purchase tickets to the Utah Broadway production of "Hamilton" and I too, was unsuccessful like the rest of the group. To make it up to myself, I wanted to get tickets to the Utah Broadway Production of "Wicked". I talked to Kevin and he said I should get 4 tickets so that we could bring Trace and Nanny if she moves to Utah before the show. As the time for the production got closer, I figured out that Nanny would not be moving to Utah before the show, so I called Mom to see if she wanted to go with us. She hadn't even seen Wicked or even any Broadway show, so she agreed. The nice thing is that she ended up paying me back for her ticket! That wasn't necessary, but I did appreciate it since finances have been tight with us since Kevin's injury. Kevin and I had seen another performance of Wicked at the Orpheum Theatre in San Francisco before Trace was born, but this was Trace's first time seeing the show. He needed a couple of plot points explained to him, but he said he really like it. During the show, I was surprised that I burst into tears over the song "For Good" and the amazing rendition of "Defying Gravity".  My Mom said that she understood crying over the sweet, sad song, "For Good", but couldn't understand why me and tons of other people around me had cried at the "Defying Gravity" song. I didn't know how to explain it myself. All in all, it was great to see my favorite Broadway show again.

Dizzy and Liam

I got a text from Rob asking if we could watch Liam for him for a few hours on Saturday and I replied to his text with; "Sure, as long as you bring Dizzy too". Much to my surprise, he said "Okay". Dizzy is his newest puppy. A purebred French Bulldog that they plan to breed at some point. Trace and I were excited to have two little playmates to hang out with us and help us avoid our Saturday chores. Dizzy and Raven got along just fine and played together until they were both tuckered out. Trace and Liam played together too and they too were tuckered out by the time Liam went home. All in all, it was a fun way to spend a Saturday afternoon. 

Cute humans cuddling and cute puppy poking up her head!

Neither one of them knew what they were doing

Now, that is a mischievous smile if I've ever seen one!

Valentines Day

This year for Valentine's Day, we didn't have any great ideas for a Valentine's box that would represent something that Trace was interested in, so we started looking for ideas elsewhere. Kevin and Trace came up with the idea to do a hot air balloon with the basket as the spot for the Valentines to go into. After trying some paper mache that didn't work well for the balloon portion of the box, Kevin went to the party store after work and found the perfect thing! An extra large balloon that he was able to stabilize with chopsticks and twine on the top of the box. He cut a slit in the top of the box, I added letters to spell his name and we had it! I think it turned out great! Trace really liked it and he even won the award from his class of "class favorite".

The Sunday before Valentines Day, Trace had worn all black to church and I told him he looked like a Casanova. He went downstairs and came back with the rose in his mouth. I thought he looked so cute, I snapped a picture and even sent a copy of it to Nana and Nanny.

Snow Fort

We finally got enough snow for Trace and his cousins to play outside and since he had his cousins to help, they were able to make a small fort tunnel out front and participate in at least one or two snowball fights.

Cherishing the English Language

I gave Trace a small CTR ring that I had left over from our Primary class and he was so sweet about it, he said; "Oh, Mom, thank you so much! I will keep this and always perish it." I laughed and said; "I think you mean cherish, buddy." So sweet!

Third Grade School Photos

It's the exciting time of year when I get to see the school photos and the class photos are back for my enjoyment. Since I don't volunteer at the school as much as Kevin, I hear lots of stories about different kids and I always love to put a face to a name. This year, the boy looks as handsome as ever in his picture and since he loves his teacher and class so much this year, it was fun to see who he's got in the same class with him as years in the past etc.
He is always buddies with most of the kids in his class, but some of the best friends are;

Liam Barnes (lives around the corner from us)

Blake Christensen (played on the same baseball team)

David Fairbanks (close friend since Kindergarten)

Camden Foreman (played on the same soccer team)

Burton Klc (family is in our ward)

Chloe and Riley Morgan (twins in our ward)

Matthew Palmer (close friend since before Kindergarten)

Kanyon Petersen (previous enemy but now a frequent buddy during recess)

Nashla Pichardo (partner in class for much of the year)

Baiya Sanford (same class since Kindergarten)

Samanatha (Sammy) Sebahar ("tomboy" who is a good friend)

Talan Smith (family is in our ward)

Liam Welling (same class since Kindergarten)

He also simply loves his teacher Ms. Alison Stroud, she is so helpful and kind with all of these kids. She's patient and seems to attack each day with energy and positivity. She does a weekly blog for all the parents of her kids to stay informed and she has helped Trace learn so much this year. 

 

Tiny Bear

I've posted before about Trace and his love of "Tiny Bear", (couldn't say "Teddy Bear" when he was younger) but I just thought I mention how cute it is that my NINE year old little boy still cuddles with his tiny teddy bear while sleeping. I hope he never grows up!