Preston's emergency surgery

One night when we were laid down for bed Preston was complaining his stomach hurt.  He thought he had pulled an ab muscle or something for how much pain he was in.  He soon started vomiting and all that other stuff and I got him meds that did nothing for him.  He kept saying you're going to have to take me to the doctor in Flagstaff tomorrow...I've never hurt this bad before.  The pain never stopped...neither of us got any sleep for all the pain he was in.  Every time he'd throw up, he'd take a bath to try to warm up because he was freezing then he couldn't get comfortable in bed because of the pain.  The next morning I knew I just better get ready to be at the doctor all day and so as soon as we dropped Presley off at school I took him to the emergency room here in Winslow against his wishes.  he wanted me to take him to someone in Flagstaff but with the lack of sleep I had I didn't want to be driving and stuck up there.  They took him back and asked about his gallbladder immediately.  He'd never had any previous issues but as soon as they gave him some pain meds and got his ultrasound the tech basically let us know we wouldn't be leaving the hospital and would be in surgery.  As much as he didn't want to go to Winslow, it was great...they had him back in surgery in 3 hours from the time we walked into the ER.  I was able to go home and eat a quick meal and handle some work stuff real quick and was back before he was out of surgery.  He had to stay the night in the hospital but he was so tired from not sleeping the night before and all the meds he was on from surgery so I left the hospital about 7 and my mom fed the kids and me and we were able to go home and be back to pick him up right after I dropped Presley off at school the next morning.  We were so thankful that his dad and the new CEO of the hospital, Brother Travis Udall were there to give him a blessing before surgery to help calm his nerves.  Things went well and he was supposed to be off work for a week but that led right into his weeks vacation so he ended up being off almost two weeks by the time we had a follow up appt with the surgeon.  Looking back...Preston can now see where he had been having stomach issues in the past but didn't realize what it was.  

I had let the three boys know what was going on but I waited until the end of the day to let Ty know so I wouldn't freak him out.  He still did get freaked out and got permission to call home and check on dad but dad was already asleep by then so I just let him know things were just fine.

Asking the tech if it was twins and it really was!

 

Swim team

Buckeye Invitational 

They love the Buckeye Invite because they do awards and separate the teams into divisions.  

State Backstoke

State Medley Relay with Zack starting off with backstoke

The lead he gave his team

Coaches Reese Chatwin & Cheyenne Lowry

Zack, Tobin Henling, Reese Wood & Keoni Kvien (Reese was the only senior boy so those two boys could well be on the relay teams next year)

Best times:

50 Free 25.65

100 Free: 59.23

100 Back: 1:10.60

500 Free: 6:46.81 

200 Medley Relay: 2:06.49 with Zack, Kale Rivera, Jakob Hartman & Reese Wood

200 Free Relay: 1:52.17 with Jakob Hartman, Kale Rivera, Reese Wood & Zack as anchor

State: 100 Back: 1:10 (28th)

Zack qualified for State in Backstroke & their medley relay.  We were so excited for him and his teammates.  Reese Wood also qualified for backstroke.  Jakob qualified in Breast. These are the first guys to ever qualify for state for the swim team.  The girls team had Tatum qualify in two individual events and their relay team as well.  

At State Zack's invite was at 7pm at an outdoor event and we were all in pants and hoodies.  We could tell he was starting to slow down at the end...it was cold and he said his legs started to cramp up.  He still had a PR though so that's awesome.  He finished 28th & Reese finished 32nd out of 40 at state.  For his medley relay, Zack got them off to a GREAT start...I wish I had his split but unfortunately their team was disqualified for Kale leaving to early.  Zack was ahead of all the other teams.  Their relay was in the afternoon on that second day and being in warm weather sure made a difference on his time.  

At their end of the year banquet Zack received two awards: Drama Queen & Most Miles 83 miles with Jakob Hartman.  After their family banquet, the team had a team only party and after that the coaches announced they were resigning so we will see who becomes swim team coach next year.

Tesla

Preston has worked hard for our family for many years and was ready to buy something for him that he wanted.  He had bought a truck that he thought was 4WD but it wasn't and he wasn't happy with it so we had been trying to sell it for months with now luck.  We finally just sold it to a dealership and was able to go buy him a Tesla Model 3 brand new!  We had gone down to watch one of Zack's swim meets and test drove and a couple weeks later when Zack went to State for Swim Team we picked his up.  It's quite fancy and he has enjoyed having a new vehicle.

 

Zack future politican

Zack has been using the new bulldog that Ty's senior class purchased and donated to the school as a gift but people have been saying it doesn't look like the normal bulldog we've had as a mascot all these years.  He decided to try to fundraise and purchase a new bulldog suit and with the support of his Student Council advisors and some office staff he was able to start that.  He presented to the City Council and they donated $500 and other community members in attendance that night committed to donating as well.  With all the legality issues he had to wait to get approval from the school board to do that fundraising but is well on his way to being able to purchase the bulldog.  

 

He has become a big time political kid.  He's always watching all the debates and listens to all kinds of other political talks.  He saw Trump was coming to Prescott for a rally and got tickets to go but Preston got called so we just let him and Drew go to the rally by themselves (talk about nerve racking after the attempted assassination earlier this year) but they went and were safe.  John had bought him two flags last year for Christmas and on election day he proudly wore his Trump rally shirt and hat he bought several summers ago and wore his American Flag cape.  He told me he drove with his windows down blaring "God Bless the USA".  After school he said he was making laps around the voting booth.  He was a happy kid to see Trump win!

Halloween

Presley had to decorate an apple for a Halloween project and was wanting to do the same thing we did last year but we were able to get her to switch to a Bluey one this year.  I put Preston in charge of helping with that one and they did a great job together.  I asked if we could take John Luke to the city's Halloween parade and she was happy to have him go with her.  Zack was working the event and so he came and took a picture with us.  As we were walking and waiting I asked if that was good enough and if they wanted to go trick or treating but since neither of them have ever really gone trick or treating (because we usually have a Halloween party instead) they were happy with what they got at the trunk or treat.  

We didn't have a party this year because Drew was supposed to have his JV game that night but we found out a couple days before that they moved the game to Wednesday and it was too late to plan a party.  We did dress Presley up and took her to a couple of family and close friends and then the boys hung out with Emily for the night.

Neither of the boys dressed up.  Aydon finally got to be Maverick from Top Gun though.

 

Ty's leaving the CCM

Ty had had such an emotional day that I prayed so hard that he would find his friend Talan at the CCM and be able to hang with him.  I was so happy to hear that they did run into each other very quickly and Steve just happened to be talking to Talan and they sent me a screenshot.  When Aydon went, he was able to go to the Mexico City temple twice but Ty was able to go every week.  Avery arrived the next week and those three boys barely got to see each other or hang while there but they managed to get one last picture together...can't wait to get that reunion picture.  Ty had to celebrate his birthday at the CCM as well and I couldn't even send him anything but we had a package ready for him when arrived at the mission home.  I know Ty was excited to be back in the good ol' US of A!