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!

Abundant Gratitude

The holiday season started with a typical focus on gratitude.  We always write on our chalkboard things we are grateful for in the month of November.  By the end of the month, it is fun to see the same repeated blessings and some new ones each year.  We were grateful for safety as Grant got in his first little fender bender...

Those high school parking lots are always treacherous.  He and another driver just backed into each other.  We popped the piece back in and had a little repair done, but it was a pretty mild car bump.

Of course we mentioned food in our 'grateful fors.'  Grant had the special job to dress up as a fruit at each of his swimming meets.  It was so fun to look across the pool and never have to wonder where our swimmer was, he was always donning a giant banana costume.  

As Thanksgiving drew near, we had a food/gratitude YW activity as well.  We shook cans of whipping cream and made butter to go on yummy rolls.  It was fun to shake shake shake with the ladies.  

All the regulars made their appearance at our family Thanksgiving feast.  We had a great time at our Petrick family dinner and went to Encanto.  Cute movie, great songs, but we don't talk about Bruno... Ha!  

It seemed like a fairly typical holiday season.  Interestingly enough, we had a youth activity for our church with a guest speaker who has a religious podcast.  She felt inspired to give a talk she has never given before.  She felt she needed to find a yoke.  She woke up day of the talk on a mission to find a yoke and miracle of miracles, she did.  She was led to a historical society, where they opened a door and there was a yoke sitting at the table.  They even let her borrow it for free.  

Tami spoke about how the Lord will carry our burdens as we yoke ourselves to him.  I loved it and hoped someone there needed that.  Reflecting back, I see I was one of the people for sure!  After continuing through the holiday season, we got one great snow storm.  It was big enough to call a snow day for the schools.  Of course, my kids were thrilled.  I took Brenna and Harrison sledding, watching people fly of tubes certain that someone was going to break some part of their body...I should have had an inkling then.

Meanwhile, back at home, Grant was accepting a challenge from the swim team to put on his speedo and jump into the snow.  Without his contacts in, throwing on goggles and wearing nothing but his swimsuit he dove into our back yard snow pile that he was sure was deep, all while Katelee videoed the episode.  He jumped head first and then laid there unable to move.  No one else was home, so after a good minute, Katelee told him that's not how swimming works and had to help him into the house.  As i was wrapping up the sledding fun, I got a text from Grant telling me he "kinked his neck" and it was really hurt.  When I asked if he could move it, he said he could and he was sitting in the bath trying to relax.

As the night went on, he wasn't getting better and started telling us his fingers were hurting.  I talked to some friends and they suggested I get a doctor's appointment or see someone the next day.  We called a chiropractor neighbor to take a quick look and he manipulated it a bit, we all told Grant to roll it out, etc, thinking he had a pinched nerve.  But, when we got to the chiropractor's office the next day and Grant had to take an x-ray, he could hardly stand, the pain was too great.  He was getting queasy and had to throw up whenever he was told to move his neck.  He started saying his arms were on fire.  The chiropractor took an x-ray and practically threw us out of his office saying to get Grant to his neurosurgeon friend immediately and that Grant had a severe broken neck.  

He got us an appointment with a surgeon, and I called Dave so he could meet us as the hospital.  The surgeon's office had us take him to radiology for an x-ray, where Grant completely passed out as he stood against the wall.  Dave and the x-ray tech ran to catch him, luckily before he hit the floor.  

His C-5 burst and was pushing into his spinal chord.  The ER staff was shocked at how he was still walking and moving around and truthfully, everything we did post-accident to the hospital visit could have paralyzed him.  He was made to lay still, put in a collar and unfortunately, we had to take him home for the weekend until we could get him in to surgery.  Paige was floored that we took him home.  She said no way would Primary Children's hospital release him.  Looking back, we should have insisted we have the surgery that day.  The ER doctors told us in no way were we to move him, he was going to be taken by ambulance to a hospital that could hold him for surgery that day and then a few min later the surgeon told us he was good to schedule it for the following Monday.  Needless to say, it was a scary weekend making sure he wasn't moving and still had feeling in his arms.  The pieces of bone did break more over the waiting days and put more and more pressure on his nerves so he was in excruciating pain.  

Surgery time got pushed to the end of the day so we waited and waited and finally got him prepped.  

He was in good spirits-it was so impressive to see how he handled the entire situation.  The night before surgery, our stake president came over to visit and give him a blessing and it was sweet and personal and comforting.  Grant never complained about what he was going through.  

The corpectomy was a success.  The doctor wasn't sure if he would need a follow up procedure through the back of his neck, but the cage held well and he pulled through with no nerve damage and a gnarly scar. 

He and I spent the night at the hospital and were able to return home a few days before Christmas.  It was a legit Christmas miracle.  Having him alive and walking was all we needed for Christmas.  Cute Harrison was a good cheerleader.  The day after we got home from the hospital he said, "Tomorrow is the 23rd which means it's time to have more Christmas spirit and be even more jolly."  He could tell we needed some picking up.

 We had so many who reached out to share our burden and help carry the yoke.  We had family immediately at my house the day we found out his neck was broken, we had someone text me out of the blue while I was in the chiropractor's office getting the scary news.  She was able to get word out and we had dinners on our table for 2 weeks.  We had Christmas Elves come get all our gifts and wrap them for me because Christmas still happened.  We didn't need presents because all of this support and his miracle of walking is the only gift we needed.  Time after time doctors and nurses were blown away with the minimal damage he was experiencing.  

Grant even came to our family party on Christmas Eve (which proved to be too much for him as he recovered, but he wanted to give it a go).  At least he got to be there when Taco Bell welcomed us with "welcome to Taco Bell, we are out of meat," when we tried to do our annual pay it forward for Christmas.  Grant got to be there and we kept looking at him overwhelmed with gratitude.  

So he has 3 months in a neck brace.  Totally do-able because he can walk.  

Every hug, every smile, every moment together 

just filled us with abundant gratitude.   Harrison had told us at the beginning of December that it was going to be the best Christmas because now everyone in our hosue had been baptized.  It definitely will be one of the most memorable.

 Harrison got up to bear his testimony the first Sunday in January.  He said how it's been hard and how Grant shouldn't be able to walk and how Harrison knew miracles were real because Jesus had one of his big brother Grant.  

He is right and we will never forget that.  We will also never forget this gem of a Christmas gift Harrison wrapped up...

what you can't see are his hands in a prancing position like his ready to pounce across a field as a deer.  It was one of Dave's favorite gifts, along with this pillow of my face.  I thought he could take it traveling with him on his work trips and keep it in his hotel bed.  hahaha!  

So, even though our world could have drastically changed and we were going through a really hard month, we had lots of help and could feel from people we could see and those we couldn't- in other states and across the veil.  We had a fast our families joined in on to give Grant strength in recovery and it sustained us all.  We were able to keep going as regularly as possible, we even had a little piano recital while the boys stayed home to tend to the patient.  

The month surprised us with something we never ever expected we would go through, 

scared us and left us emotional for weeks,

but turned out to be something we could raise our glasses to in gratitude and amazement.  

I can't even put into words the feelings that we experienced but all I can say is now, our cups runneth over.  

 

McArthurs in Paradise

Oh Hawaii, Hawaii, you dreamy island vacation spot.  We made plans to take our kids on a vacation to Kauai and Ohau but kept that information to ourselves because we didn't want Covid restrictions or a positive test result to cancel those plans.  When the dates of the trip got closer, we spilled the beans to Grant and Katelee but had been slyly asking Brenna and Harrison if they ever wanted a surprise trip again (they loved when we woke them up and headed to San Diego with no heads up). Brenna was going back and forth between wanting to be surprised and then digging for info with questions about plans for Fall Break.  I ended up telling her we wanted to do something for Fall Break but with Covid, we didn't want to fully commit.  Hawaii requires negative test results before you can fly over so that was the tricky part-taking the little people to Walgreens for a good old nose swab without them wondering why.  It was so funny because of the pandemic climate we live in, all I had to tell them was that we were told they needed to be tested and off we went for a brain scrub.  When all of our tests came back negative, we let out a sigh of relief and moved forward with plans!

Our Fall Break started on a Monday, but our flight left the Friday before.  I spent all day Thursday packing secretly and we deposited the bags in the front room.  We had planned on not getting Brenna and Harrison up until it was just about time to go, but Brenna came out of her room a little salty saying we didn't wake her up for school on time!  After guiding her to the front room to see the pile of suitcases, she understood why and started getting excited, even before knowing the destination.  Harrison, however, starting crying because he was going to miss Technology Day at school!  After explaining we'd have lots of technology/screen time in our travels, we coaxed him out the door.  

As we headed to the freeway junction, we had them guess where we were going.  Somehow it came down to Idaho or Washington or Disneyland, then Hawaii was thrown out.  When we didn't head south, they thought Disneyland was out and acted a bit disappointed.  When we explained that we were heading to the airport, they figured Disney was still in the running and perked up.  Katelee was worried they'd get on the airplane and be disappointed so when we dropped off our car we told them the destination.  Brenna responded with a little squeal and jumping up and down.  Harrison, while excited told us that Disneyland would have been a tiny bit better!  Then, he started getting anxious about flying over the ocean.  But, as soon as wheels touched down in Hawaii, the kid was standing up and doing the hula- telling me that it is common in Hawaii and now we needed to learn the language!  Ha!  We made it and were ready to par-tay!

After stopping at Costco to stock up our hotel room in Kauai, we got a view of the beautiful resort, got lei-ed and our jaws dropped as we saw the upgraded room we received.

  

With a wrap around balcony, full dining room/kitchen area, rooms for all of us pretty much, we decided we needed to spend a whole day enjoying the place.  So, the next day was a full resort day.  

Swimming, lounging, tropical drink consuming kind of day...

We just ran up to our room whenever we needed lunch thanks to Costco's goods stored in our kitchen. It was relaxing and marvelous.  

We decided it was time to update the family photo in our front room so why not do it on a beach while on vacation.  

We had a couple good photos.  But, it was a typical family photo shoot- you think you had one good shot of everyone and then look over at one of the people and they are making the goofiest face (Harrison) or (intentionally) closing their eyes. 

 This happened even though the kid was in the hotel room 'practicing his smiles' before our appointment.  He informed me that he had 4 smiles and brandished them for me, but apparently during the shoot he opted for some surprise expressions instead.

We still had fun and got to see a glorious sunset on a picturesque beach, so it was alright.  

We woke up the next morning and got ready for church.  It was so crowded at the meeting house but always fun to worship with people from all over the world.  We went back to the hotel to change and then we headed out for Waimea Canyon and some trails.  We had researched a few restaurants to try and stopped at Chicken in a Barrell for some smoked meat.  The food seemed good when we were at the restaurant, but the food did not seem good to Brenna as we drove the winding canyon roads.  One minute we were chillin the next minute she was barfing.  I threw a couple walmart sacks at her and hoped she caught the tail end of the spew...which she did.  Poor girl.  Poor us too.  I start gagging when I hear people throwing up and Harrison declared he has "an allergy" to people throwing up. 

  Luckily, she perked up and just had a too full stomach on a windy road and we were able to hike the gorgeous Canyon Trail.  

Some children were not thrilled about hiking and thought we needed to skip it to rush to the beach for sunset, but I am so glad we made them buck up and enjoy the "grand canyon of the pacific" because it was breathtaking.  Luckily we made it to a beach for sunset so Katelee was happy.  The kids just waded and splashed each other and we got some good video of Grant trying to show Harrison a crab.  Harrison of course, ran away screaming about the crab biting him.  When Grant asked Harrison to name one person he knew that had been bitten by a crab, Harrison confidently said someone in China.  When we said he needed to tell us someone HE personally knew he said it was one of God's children that he knew all of them in heaven.  So, due to the very familiar person that Harrison knew who was attacked by a crab, he would not hold the creature.  The rest of the vacation Grant still chased him with tiny

 crabs whenever he possibly could, of course. 

We supplied our kitchen with most of the food we would need in Kauai but I really wanted some fresh acai bowls while we were in our tropical paradise and when we found a close little shop in a grocery store, we found heaven in a bowl. I still think about my Chunky Monkey bowl.  sooo yummy...

After our sweet nectar of the Gods, we went to snorkel at Poipu beach.  

We didn't pick the best place to explore and the kids ended up scraped and cut with not a lot of wildlife viewing, but they looked cute doing it.  

There was plenty of sun bathing and burying each other in the sand.  We stayed just for a couple of hours so we could go back to the hotel for lunch and prep for our dinner sail up the Napali Coast.  

Katelee was very worried that the dinner cruise was only for old people because she didn't see many teens her age in line.  It caused her a lot of distress thinking it wouldn't be fun for someone her age.  We told the kids to wear swimsuits and when we arrived not a lot of people were in their bathing suits so they (esp Katelee) thought we had duped them.  

Good thing we told them it was swim attire because they were soaked after laying on the trampoline seats of the yacht.  

The scenery is magnificent and while we didn't take the cruise at the right time of day to see dolphins and turtles, it was still fabulous.  

Well, Harrison might disagree about the dinner-apparently steak and lobster aren't his jam.  Watching the sunset as you sail along the Napali Coast is quite a gift.  

We got back to the hotel in time for one last night swim at our incredible Kauai resort.  We knew we were going to miss this balcony, but it was time to head to island number two the next morning.

I really couldn't leave without one more acai bowl from the place we found so we grabbed breakfast, drove to a shopping center to look around, stood in line for a famous Puka Dog and made it to the airport for our little flight.  

Unfortunately, Dave started feeling junky so by the time we got to our hotel in Ko'Olina he just wanted to lay down.  I walked around the resort and watched the sunset while the kids watched Netflix in the room.  Ha!  They needed some recovery time.

The next day, we dined on some cereal, had Dave drug himself up with some Dayquil and I took to the roads to get us to the Swap Meet.  Grant and Katelee are quite the shoppers/thrifters, so this was right up their alley.  Harrison can't shake his Pokemon obsession, so he thought that would be the best find at the outdoor market.  He actually did find some packs, which we are sure are fake cards, but it wasn't worth talking him out of.   After a successful shopping haul and a delightful lunch at a local Mexican place and BBQ joint (we split up since they were next door), we arrived at Pearl Harbor.

We were so happy it was open and we were able to go to the Memorial.  It's pretty neat how they have preserved the site.  Definitely there is a feeling of hurt as well as gratitude that engulfs the entire location.  Harrison, not surprisingly, was the most interested in the museum and he and I read the markers and had some good discussions.  

After our tour, we drove through Waikiki and up along the coast stopping at a couple different beaches.  We saw some crazy town boogie boarders.  The kids were disappointed we didn't have boards with us so they could try the killer waves.  I, however, was secretly grateful that they could not join in the danger!  

Our last beach was Sandy beach and it was so pretty.  We watched the sunset from there and listened to some terrible music some people were blasting from their cars.  When we were packing up and heard an older gentleman playing his relaxing songs, Dave made sure to tell the man that his music was way better.  As we were driving back to our hotel, the moon was rising and it was so pretty.  We were all gazing out the window at the scenery (minus Dave who had pushed his sick body to the limit-he was out cold).  Harrison reflectively said, "I hope I never forget this moment."  Perfect thought to end a lovely day.  

We had heard so much about the Disney resort near our hotel, so we decided to check it out and eat breakfast there.  It was fun, but Grant said the characters waving at him makes him extremely uncomfortable.  It was worth it to me just for the macadamia vanilla sauce on the pancakes.  Whooowee...

We took a drive to the Polynesian Cultural Center to spend the day there.  It is just such a fun place.  We toured a lot of the little villages.  We wove fish in Samoa,

learned all about different island cultures, watched performances, drank from a coconut.

Harrison had been dying to do that since we arrived on the islands, so glad we could check this off his to do list.    

The people got tats in Fiji.  They  attempted to learn the skills of warriors there and in New Zealand.  We totally stink at spear throwing, so I am not sure anyone is joining a tribal war soon.  

We paddled around the Tonga display and heard the drum show which was a favorite for sure.  It is fun to take a little bus to the temple that is right off the campus of BYU Hawaii.  

We had to meet up with cute Ella, our neighbor, of course.  She is lucky enough to go to school at BYU Hawaii, so she walked over to the food truck area at the PCC and had dinner with us.  I made sure to tell Michelle that I gave her a 'mom hug.'  We had a great time visiting with her.  We had perfect weather all day and it started to pour just as we left.  

By the time we got back to Ko'Olina, the skies had cleared and we got to swim in the pools for a bit before bed.  

The next day we woke up sad knowing it was our final vacation day.  But, we still had a lot of fun planned, so it was alright.  Surf Lessons started out the late morning.  The three older kids all got up on their boards lots of times.  

We thought Grant would take to it so easily with his snowboarding experience, but that proved to be a challenge to not treat it like a snow board!  Harrison found a buddy in a local girl his age and she showed him how to scoop up sea cucumbers from the ocean.  It was so fun to watch her surf and as well.  

To wrap up our glorious Hawaiian vacation, we attended the Paradise Cove luau.  

It was right by our hotel, so it seemed like a solid choice.  I remembered going when I was in college and I would say it is pretty much the exact same show.  They maybe even have some of the same performers.  Haha!

We took some deep breaths, some pictures, joined in a hula, lawn games,

kalua pig un-earthing and dined on typical luau cuisine...which some people at our table refused to eat. The dinner show was fun especially the fire dancer and the Lava Flow drinks were just as tasty as I remembered.  

The next day we had a super early flight and we were off.  It was so magical it seemed like it wasn't even real.  We've had a lot of trips- some have been great and I'm not going to lie, some have been a struggle.  Minus Dave getting sick, this one really couldn't have been much better.  So, here's to you Hawaii.  And in the words of a very wise 8 year old... I hope it is a moment (trip) I never forget.