My Logan Boy is gonna be 9 Years OLD!

My Logan Boy is gonna be 9! Where has the time gone?!

This kid is such a stud, such a show off, such a pain and such a tender hearted guy. He amazes me each and every day. 

  
This past winter he pulled off some major talent on his snowboard and was asked to tag along with a personal instructor out of Park City. It was a huge ego boost for the kid but after much discussion Rich and I declined the offer. Maybe next season he can go along with Dad in tow! As parents we want him to enjoy the sport and not "work" for it.

Logan did amazing as a 2nd grader in Mrs. Crowton's class. He got all A's sort a speak. The grading is so weird now days but A's explains it for the older folks. He is an excellent reader. We are still working on those R's with his speech, he'll come around. He is a good friend to all and was caught the other day sharing his candy to a less fortunate little kid at the candy drop, what a stud.

He has put away his skate board this spring and is seen more on his pink rip-stick! He started up piano with a local High School pianist instructor, Candace Gunn. I knew he would pick right up on it with no problems. So far he enjoys practicing, cross our fingers for future piano practices. He enjoys playing Jr. Jazz Basketball, AYSO Soccer and swimming.

He is so easy to tease and loves to dish out a good tease too. The best is when Nellie teases him and he gets burned by a 3 year old. Uncle Bryan is good at teasing Logan and then ends it with Logan in loads of trouble. Logan knows how to cross the line that is for sure. We are working on that with him and when enough is enough. When he does cross the line his new thing is to say "I'm sorry, I'm sorry Mom, I'm sorry." He'll say it over and over again.

He is a Wolf in Scouts and will soon be a Bear. This summer he and I went with his scout group to Camp Kiesel - Day Camp.  I think I enjoy it as much as he does. He got to shoot bow and arrow, shoot a bb-gun, went on a nature walk, made a craft, walked a tight rope, went in a row boat and played games. He loves that stuff and sucks it all in. It was so fun to tag along and watch him that day.

I have been told by some teachers and friends that have been his leaders at church how in tune he is. He can repeat what he learned at church and remembers each and every detail. He educated me the other day about The Good Samaritan. He use to fight me to go to church and now he gets excited about it and tells me every week how good he listened and that Rileigh did not listen at all in class! (I totally believe he is telling the truth too!)

He is not the clean freak he use to be, I knew it was too good to last. He is a pretty good helper around the house, although he hates, hates, hates feeding the chickens on his day. I'm still praying for that day that he and Rileigh are best friends and can hang and have a normal conversation and not fight so much. Maybe they will even skip and hold hands! Ya right that is pushing it!!!

He is excited to start 3rd grade, 3rd grade people! What if it was 4th grade? Makes me cry to think about this time slipping by.

Happy Birthday my Logan Boy. Love you with all my heart and so enjoy hanging out with you and so proud to be your Mom.

PS Logan has a small girl crush too, we won't mention any names though!

4th of July Whitemyer/Thatcher/Engel Celebrations

Aunt Tami, Uncle Chris, Cousins Noah and Katie came to visit over the Fourth of July. Let's just say it was a whirl wind of activities and I thank them for making us do things we would not venture out and do in our own backyard of Utah. Oh I love stay-cations!

We started at Layton 4th of July Parade. My parents get the same spot every year. We met up with my family and Rich's family. It was fun and hot all at the same time. Totally unplanned was all the kids were dressed in a red shirt (except Driggs)!
 

I love going to my hometown and taking my kids there for this parade every year. It is fun to chit chat and sit back under the trees in the shade and catch up with some old faces. My friends from Layton know where to look for us every year.

That night Tami talked us into going to the Ogden Demolition Derby. It was blasted HOT to say the least. I love to see the cars start on fire and smoke. There was a girl driver in a purple and pink car that was pretty cool. There was a truck division and I said someone is gonna flip over and right after I said that sure enough a truck was on it's roof. The fireworks afterwords were pretty cool except for the fact we could not see them from our seats and Logan was a major grumpy mghee at this point. It was a long day.


















The next event was at the South Ogden Splash Pad for Katie's 4th Birthday. It was hilarious, the kids kept slipping and sliding and falling and we had one sobbing right after the other. Rileigh biffed it running on the concrete. Noah fell on the play set as did Nellie. At that point I pointed at Katie and Logan and said don't get hurt. Next thing we knew those two were hurt in some random way. We had a good laugh from all the chaos. Next we were off to Fort Buenaventura for a Picnic Dinner, cupcakes and some fishin'

We then took a Saturday and ventured allllll the way up to Logan to go to Willow Park and fish some more. Living in Logan before I had never been to Willow Park, it was so cool and way better than I expected. The kids loved it! We ate lunch at the park and then were off to the little pond to fish for hours.

 I enjoyed it a lot just lounging and watching everyone fish. A storm rolled through and did not bother us one bit. It was nice for it to cool off. We then went to Grandma Barb's for a Burger off the grill! Again, a way fun day....

The Ogden Marathon 2012

I totally forgot to blog about this blessed event and it has to go down in the history books.  Not sure I will ever have the desire to do a full marathon again. It is not even on my bucket list, which at the moment I cannot even find the so-called bucket list. At one point I wrote a "realistic" list and titled it. "40 Things to do before I turn F-O-R-T-Y" Now where did I put that list because I am so adding to it: Run a Full Marathon!!!! And will happily check it off!

It was a typical February and I needed to start training for Ragnar once again and this years training partner was Liz and Mandy (who lived in PRICE). So these fools were training for the Ogden Marathon, please note they ran the St. George Marathon last Fall.  I thought for sure my knee would give out or a number of things would stop me from keeping up with these fine ladies. Then the "unspeakable" came up in conversations a couple times that I should go ahead and get a spot and just run it. I told my brain I would not commit unless I could get through the 18 miler with no problems. Well Liz and I did it in the sleet at 6:30 in the morning starting up past Morgan....who does this?! We stopped for doughnuts at the Morgan Gas Station on our run and it was easy sailing from there. It was a great run. Her Dad has a pic somewhere on his phone I need a copy to prove we started in a storm.

So I put out some feelers on KSL, three contacts to be exact to buy a spot and didn't get any bites. The next run was 20 miles. Liz and I drove to Sprigville and met up with the Mandsters in the middle and ran up and back down Hobble Creek Canyon. Again, another glorious run that included cookies at the golf course at mid point! If my memory is correct I believe it was this day that I was contacted by a super cool marine dude that sold me his Marathon spot. Just in the nick of time too. I was able to transfer it to my name. YAY!

So the next couple of weeks I honestly was not running and training on mid-week runs like I should have been. Saturday runs were still going good and the big day was approaching. I felt at this point like my diet was good and I had it down what my body could train and run with and to pop some Motrin and Tylenol every now and then was a big bonus for me.

Race Day came and we boarded a bus bound for the start line.  The race started at 7 so after meeting with the Honey Buckets it was game time. I was in a state of mind that this was a training run and to keep my mind in a calm and collected mood, as to not freak out and become a major head case. Let me just say I am a major goof ball and made a foo' out of myself by posing for the cameraman at the start line. The START LINE PEOPLE, before we ran across the line I posed for the cameraman and face planted on the asphalt. I believe my right shoe got caught up in the my left shoe that had the time tracker looped on it. The loop caught my shoe lace and sent me flying. So embarrassing to say the least. SOOOO I gave myself a pretty good hand bruise and some road rash to the left knee. My friends honestly saved my can this day in so many ways. I jumped up and again psyched myself into thinking this was a training run and to remain cool. Once I started running Mandy reminded me not to look at my knee. I also remember her saying so sincerely, "oh no not Amberlee not this." She later said she thought for sure I would get back on the bus and call it a day.

I had set all this little goals in my head that I wanted to accomplish along the way of the 26.2 run. The first was to run and stay with Liz and Mandy up until the damn, which was oh I'd say mile 15. Literally touched Mandy's arm at the damn and said goodbye see you later. I could no longer keep at their pace. Next I wanted to run it and not walk, especially when I got to the Ogden Park Walk path. Totally ran the whole thing with no walking. Yes, I did like a 15 minute/mile pace towards the end BUT I did not walk. Third, I wanted to finish at 4 hours and 45 minutes and I finished at 4 hours 52 minutes, close enough for me! Plus I had two bathroom, Honey Bucket breaks. The second bathroom break I kind of started to break down mentally and was like what the Hell did I get myself into and started to sob just a wee bit. Then I kicked my head in gear and literally ran out of the potty to get back into the ZONE.

Hi-Light of the run by far having family to cheer me into the finish line. My baby girl on Rich's shoulders surrounded by Logan and my in-laws, brother in-law and niece Kat. Then opposite side my parents, brother and niece Demi and nephew Kaleb. I got through the finish line and then caught up with my parents and honestly had an emotional melt. I never thought it would be so emotional. I hugged my Dad and cried and cried that I was so proud of myself and that I met all my goals. I later called my brother to see if his kids thought I was the biggest ninny. He said they thought it was cool and it was good for them to see me do it!

Now it is all said and done I honestly believe it is mind over matter. I was in such a ZONE with my music and ambition that I got through it and am so glad I did it and thanks to some great friends that pushed and supported me the whole way.

Rileigh and the arm that took over Summer

I love to blog this not so fun stuff to let far away family know of the Whitemyer Happenings (only wish they would comment so I know they are out there) and also to blog it helps me to never forget these moments.

So Tuesday May 22nd Rileigh was playing in the yard with Taylor Evans and they had built a fort with a ladder and were playing in the water. When they would get cold they would hide in the ladder fort to get warm. As it got close to seven and the wind started to pick up and the sun was going down I asked Rileigh to start cleaning up. She is the type of girl that can do it all by herself. She released the clips to disassemble the ladder in the mid section and climbed up the ladder to release the upper clips to fold up the ladder into fourths. Well as she climbed up to the top of the ladder the mid section folded a bit with her right arm stuck between the two bars at the very top. Her body weight was hanging on that elbow. My thinking is she panicked and tried to get out all quick like and the worst happened. She started saying to her friend get my Mom, Taylor go get my Mom. Crazy thing is Nellie's window was open and I was right there putting Nellie's jammies on and heard Rileigh. Nellie's window is never ever open. Blessing #1.

So I ran down and released the upper tension on the ladder and she fell to the ground in a ball of whimpers. I asked her to get up and finish cleaning up because it was getting cold and windy. A second time I said can you get up and she said no. So Her friends Mom came and picked Taylor up and Rileigh and I were sitting there with no one out in the neighborhood. Then I noticed her arm was all puffed out above the elbow like Popeye the Sailor Man. I contemplated what to do for a little while and then called a very reliable neighbor, he is an eye doctor. Counts right? He raced down and he and I talked Rileigh through getting in the car. I had to call for help because she was NOT moving. She even suggested backing the car up to her. No, that is silly is what I thought. So then reliable neighbor #2 showed up who happens to be a Social Worker, AWESOME. We are in good hands. So between the two of them they lifted her into the van flat on her back in the back of the van that I did in fact back up since the grown adults suggested it as well. Before pulling away these fine neighbors offered Rileigh a blessing that she can endure the pain and heal quickly. We are so blessed to have such good friends and neighbors! Blessing #2.

We were off to the insta-care for a minor broken arm, so I thought. Rich met us there and he and I tried talking Rileigh out of the back of the car. She was not budging. After twenty minutes the Dr. walked out to the car and said he could not help us and to go to the ER. Holy crap this sucks so we went around the corner to the ER. Another 20 minutes of trying to get her to move into a wheel chair. We even had some dude that was a War Veteran offer up his strong arms. He literally tried grabbing and pulling her out. Rich, who has broke his elbow and dislocated a shoulder in the last year was so much more patient with Rileigh than I was. Looked at this fine gentleman and simply said please leave my little girl alone she is in a lot of pain and we will let the Dr's handle it. The guy was all bent out of shape and said, "well I'm a Dad and my little girl is 22!" GO AWAY DUDE. He was freaking me out.

We FINALLY got a back board and a stretcher brought out after everyone realized the seriousness of the not so simple broken arm. The bone had pin-holed out the back side and was bleeding. They got her in the ER and gave her some pain medication and started on the X-Rays. She endured quite a bit of pain with every little movement. The orthopedist showed up and accessed the situation and decided to put her under to set the bone. He also suggested no surgery, which I guess they use to always do surgery in a case like this to scrub clean the exposed bone. She was set in a hanging soft cast counting on gravity to heal the bone that was now set in place.

As we were leaving the ER we noticed the elbow of the cast had filled with blood, ooh gross. That slapped on more gauze and sent us on our way. So this was Tuesday and Thursday was the last day of school. I took her up for about an hour to see some friends and sign year books with her left hand!
Friday we ventured to the store and then my Mom's just to get out of the house. Well she was playing with the cousins in the basement and when it came time for dinner she came up to eat and little did I know she had on "click clicks" little play plastic shoes. She got up from the dinner table to get a drink and splat fell on the wood floor. So off to the ER we went again to check the bone that it did  not move and re-bandage the nasty soft cast that had collected a lot of blood for three days.

Davis Hospital ER Nurses suck at being sensitive to kids, this ER visit was so not fun. I went for them to re-examine her arm in case it moved when she fell at my Moms, they decided not to even x-ray. I then wanted her arm re-bandaged because it was so full of blood. We got it re-bandaged and got out of their. I was totally regretting we even went.

Four days later we went to an appointment with the Orthopedist  to x-ray and check progress on the healing of the "set" bone. It looked like this:

My thinking was it did not look so good and the Doctor said she is young it will heal just fine.  So he plopped a pink cast on her and said, "gravity will heal it."

Exactly one week later, it looked worse, like this:

 So.....that is when it was decided surgery had to be done. I told the Doctor I was freaking out inside. The dude has to be a young 30 year old. I kind of wanted to strangle him at this point. I explained to him that Rileigh needs a good right arm to play basketball and volleyball and get a scholarship, this Momma is not paying for college, no joke. So we could plainly see Rileigh was a bit upset so I pushed for Surgery that very night and we were not waiting until the next morning.Grandma T. then whisked her off to the mall to get it off her mind while I ran home to get some things for all the kids. Logan and Nellie slept at Grandma T's that night.

Surgery went good other that it took an hour longer than anticipated. She was in surgery for 2 and half hours. So made me take her rag blanket to comfort her. I asked all the nursed to not judge me as a mother because of this rag blanket. In fact one of the Nurses was my good friend Rose Blood Carter, that I grew up with. It was so good to have her there helping Rileigh in recovery. Rileigh was way upset and confused when she woke up from surgery. The scrub tech happened to be a friend of my friends Tanna. She was the one that came and got the rag blanket ha ha. They finally let us see her and once we got her settled and back to sleep she re-awoke realizing where she was at that point and was in a little pain and I think scared. They put two wires in the bone to set it in place, after they re-broke the bone of course. So now it looks like this:

She stayed in Recovery for a little over an hour and then we got her up a bit too fast and had her puking in the wheel chair on the way to the car, not fun.
Once home we just had to be sure and stay on the pain medication schedule and she was good. I knew we just had to get through the first two day and literally she was back to herself as usual. I still have to remind her to stop running, stay of trampolines and to slow down.

A week after surgery we went back to the orthopedist to see x-rays. Everything looked so good! She was then fitted with this awesome cast that she can swim and shower and sleep in with no problems. Summer had just began, perfect timing!!!

Now currently we are going to a Hand therapist twice a week to try and wake up the nerve for the thumb. She is not able to do thumbs up all the way. I would say she is at 60%. Also, they are working on re-straightening the elbow. It stiffened up being in a sling for weeks. Good thing we are not having to cancel any fancy vacation plans and just get to go to doctors appointments...yipeee!

I must say Rileigh has had such a good attitude about it all and she is so brave and strong willed. She honestly never complains and has just entertained herself in her own Rileigh ways. The best was when she got out all the paint and painted all day with her left hand.

She has not complained about what she can and cannot do with it all. When she was in a lot of pain she seriously had control of every adult in the room in the ER on when she was willing to move or not move, very strong willed this kid. I lover her a ton and am proud to be her Mother.
 Pictured below are her Achievement Day Girls and Leaders that came to see her and made her whole week!

Last but not least the love and support we as a family and Rileigh got from Family and Friends. Holy cow it was awesome and such a blessing. The Logan Boy was getting A LOT jealous of all the gifts Rileigh was getting. He might as well as slammed the door in peoples faces when he saw the loot they were bringing Rileigh. I am sure the look on his face was of full dissapointment. He and Nellie have both said they want to break their arms. Nellie said then it will be her Birthday, ha ha!