Crawling Out of Our Hole

When the isolation ended, it really ended. I even removed the sign on our front door.
Part of me wants to put the sign back up because it kept the door-to-door salesmen at bay.

The trip to Idaho was amazing. Literally. It is amazing pleasant driving with one, self-sufficient, calm, quiet child whose bladder can hold it for astonishing stretches. Ryan and I joked that it felt like we were on a date because we were able to talk for hours uninterrupted. We stopped once for gas the whole way. It was incredible, truly incredible.

The boys loved Idaho and being able to play with cousins, pick raspberries, ride bikes, feed the ducks and eat all of Grandma's candy stashes and sodas. I orchestrated a doctor’s appointment with an Idaho Falls pediatrician and found a lab in our insurance network to run labs on Monday so William could be cleared to begin his next round of medication. All went smoothly, but I must admit I had mild anxiety that morning as I tried to anticipate anything that could possibly go wrong. The past year and a half we often we never knew when we would land back in the hospital at a moment’s notice for an undetermined period of time. I wonder when I will stop having these mild anxiety attacks surrounding William’s health? I jump when I see him put his head in his lap and sometimes it just means he's tired.
We enjoyed a quick trip through Yellowstone, the Tetons, and Jackson Hole. Ryan and I drove around Jackson Hole to find the place where he proposed only to find the meadow is now a large time-share condo complex. It is ironically called Love Ridge. Cheesy, I know! I think our kids could’ve cared less, but it was fun to reminisce for a moment.

A whirlwind describes our trip to Salt Lake. We spent 2 days and enjoyed being with grandparents and aunts and uncle. The highlights included swimming at the Tennis Club and watching Soren, 4, show up his brothers by being the first to jump off the high dive. That kid is fearless. I’m in trouble.

We enjoyed at quick walk through Temple Square and had quite a treat when we went into the Conference Center and got to sit in during the weekly practice of The Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

Isn't the Salt Lake Temple beautiful? Ryan and I were married in it. Ahhh.

We spent the last day in Park City at the Olympic Park riding the alpine slide and zip lines and watching the ski jumpers practice their jumps into the large swimming pool.

However, all was not pleasant. Foosball got a little heated on the first day we were there and William and Clark got to use their allowance money to pay for a broken window. I suppose a broken window is a rite of passage for most boys. At least Grandma comforted them by telling them that their uncles broke windows in that room multiple times.

The drive home was filled with whining and fighting. What did we expect? However, we managed to only stop once and make record time. Miracles do happen.

First Day of School

I’m not a terribly sentimental person. I sure some of you might gasp if I admit that sometimes I let my husband drop the kids off to school on their first day while on his way to work. But I’m changing with this whole ordeal and embracing the little things. Ryan and I escorted all four boys to their classes. It was awesome to see William greet his friends and see so many parents that have been so supportive and concerned for our family. I live in the best community. Really, the best! But I didn’t cry…until I went back to pick them all up after school. Seeing William on the playground and come out of his classroom with all the kids as if life was completely back to normal made the tears start.

William loves being back. He is exhausted, but I think that’s normal for most kids. I love this picture of William and James on the first day of school in Kindergarten. They have always been in the same class. Last year they weren’t going to be in the same class, but luckily we won’t count that year! Here they are on the first day of fourth grade. And they even have the same teacher they had in Kindergarten! I am grateful for the coincidence fairies!;)

All the boys love their teachers. The twins love being in the room next to Clark. Clark has the same teacher he had for 1^st grade and said the best part of going back to school was seeing his teacher again. I love that. The boys are also excited to finally get to walk to school on their own. I love this picture.

A week with the boys back in school and no doctor appointments feels almost too good to be true. William has one more hospitalization. We check in at UCSF Monday and stay through Friday. It will be the last hospital stay! Yay! Yay! YAY! His treatment will officially be done in mid-October as the last round simply consists of an oral medication. He still has lots of appointments and such, but life is starting to normalize and we are crawling out of our hole. It feels so good to go places together as a family, see him socialize, and let so many of you who have prayed so often for him and been so supportive of our family see how great he is doing.