Moving On

Well, we made it through December of 2021- moving on to the next year.  We are pretty darn happy everyone can MOVE after a broken neck, so a neck brace and stiffness is no biggie.  It is crazy how life just keeps going forward even when you feel at a stand still, the world never is.  I mean nothing (bar a global pandemic) halts a junior jazz season...

We love watching Harrison play sports and basketball might be his favorite.  He gets so into the game and is jumping with excitement all over the court.  He loves to play and does it even at recess when the weather permits.  He came home after school one day and ranted about how difficult his day had been.  He explained to me that the weather was good enough that week to break out the basketballs for recess.  The boys playing were broken up into teams and they told Harrison he had different rules than everyone else because he kept swatting the ball away.  Everyone else was able to do that, but Harrison would not be allowed to.  As he told me this story, he started sobbing and thinking it wasn't fair and in agony cried out, "Curse my basketball skills,  curse them!"  hahahaha  Hopefully he eventually will see people will want those skills on the court.  

Grant stayed home from school for a couple of weeks into January, just to make sure he was up to going through the school and classes and was healing ok.  He ended up contracting a terrible virus (which probably was covid).  We took him to Instacare because he felt like he had open sores up and down his throat and he felt like it was on fire.  We were worried there was damage from the breathing tube, but we will have to follow up on that later when his collar is off.  He has lost around 25-30 lbs, so we are working on getting him healthy in all ways.  He's looking good and moving in the right direction.

Miss Brenna joined the metal mouth club and will be sporting a brace face smile for the next couple of years.  

She got to enjoy a beautiful ski day with Dad.  Dave says she a natural.  While Grant and Katelee decided to take up boarding, Brenna is sticking with the skis.  

Brenna also got to experience her very first temple day with Katelee and Dave!  She went to do baptisms for the dead with them and it had been a long time for Katelee too, so she was happy to be back.  We are all glad temples are available to visit and serve in again!

After we got through January, and my birthday, which was cool and quiet and lovely, it was time for Grant and Brenna to be celebrated.  

Seventeen years for this fella.  He's super in to cars and shoes and friends.  He has absolutely been a champ dealing with his surgery and collar and restrictions and we are so grateful he's in our family!

Cinnamon rolls and quiche for the birthday boy and a laid back day for him as well...pretty on par with how his life is going at the moment.  

When it was Brenna's turn to celebrate (#12), she decided to take a couple of friends and her bro tubing.  As you can see, it was a very warm day, and has been for quite some time, so the snow was sparse, but the fun was plentiful.  

Harrison was lucky enough to join in the fun and hung out with Dave while the girls did their thang...

but it was helpful to have him there for an extra couple of tubes in the sledding train.  They capped the night off with a stop at the Chocolate for dessert, so it pretty much was a top notch party.  

I stayed home and let Dave be the party host because Grant was going to Sweethearts with Hailey. 

 I just like to be around on dance days in case we need to run to the store or he needs help with anything, especially since his is a broken kid at this point in time.  

We talked extensively about him wearing the brace the entire night, he has months of recovery in this apparatus.  I did give him permission to snap some photos without it.  

Pretty sure my instructions were not followed.  At least I made an impact on Hailey when I told her he could absolutely not go bowling.  He's not supposed to be lifting anything heavy.  That was the plan, but she happily made adjustments.  

I was just happy he got to go and had someone to match shoes with.  He's making lots of progress.  

While I missed the friend party, we still did a family dinner with Miss Brenna. 

 Her gift this year is her dance solo, so she just got a few little items which she was really grateful for, that's always fun to see.  

Brenna always has been a personality like no other- big, a mover and the most organized child ever to walk the planet.  She has lists and lists for her lists.  She is a beautiful dance and a resilient person who is going to do great things-she already does!

Our days of full family fun seem to be hard to schedule and few and far between.  These older kids are always gone and the younger ones have lots of activities as well.  We still had a (forced) fancy dinner and dance for Valentines day.  It will be interesting to see how everyone views these traditions when they look back.  There is lots of eye rolling and sighs from some, some giggles and joy from others but at least everyone had a happy belly!  

We have many nights where we take the younger two out, soon it might just be us and Harry baby.  He would be all over that as long as the evening included treats and history...like this ice cream shop we tried out.  No matter the dynamic or who is involved in the nights out, we keep moving on and enjoying who and what we get!