Memorial Day 2012

 With lack of time and money for a big memorial day vacation we opted to load up the four wheeler and take the kids rappelling for their first time out to our favorite Gunlock spot.  Years ago when Gunlock was flooding our favorite spot was unaccessible and the swing we loved was no longer on the tree.  Luckily someone has replaced the swing with an even better tire swing and it just so happens to be a great learning spot to rapell.  We've never taken the kids before because we've been too cheap to buy youth harnesses and after we did the math of how old Mat's ropes were I realized youth harnesses were the least of our worries.  They say replace your ropes every five years...ours are seventeen years old...Well, they worked. Go figure.

 Honestly these are my favorite outings we take.  Spur of the moment and always a blast.  The kids get along great and seem to really like their red neck get aways.  

 Bonus, that they LOVED rappelling!

 Memorial Day was bittersweet as we read about a plane crash at the new airport. The news hadn't released names but said that a 172 had been found just off the runway early that morning and that the four passengers in the plane had not survived.  The fact that the plane was a 172 caught my eye as the plane Mat had logged a lot of his hours for his license on was a 172 but that plane belongs to Mat's uncle who had since sold it so I thought nothing more of it.  My dad came over and asked if we knew who was on the plane and I said no that I had no idea.  Then we got a very sad phone call.  The plane was in fact the same plane Mat logged many hours on and although it no longer belonged to Mat's uncle it was indeed piloted by one of Mat's dearest cousins.  His buddy (and Easton's namesake) Tanner and his friends were the four passengers.  One of the passengers was our sweet neighbor's only son and the other two were also Santa Clara boys. All very young with so much of life ahead of them.  We feel very fortunate to have known a kid like Tanner.  He was someone always surrounded by smiles and will be greatly missed.

The Dreaded Call

 On April 19, 2012 I was prepping dinner when I got the call.  I looked at my phone and knew I recognized the number but couldn't figure out who it was so I decided to answer it anyhow.  It was Bailey's coach on the other line saying that Bailey had fell at practice. The coach explained that she didn't see the fall but saw how Bailey had landed and it didn't look good.  She also said that Bailey was crying which surprised her coach knowing Bailey is tough and wouldn't cry unless something was seriously wrong.  I felt a tad relieved from my initial reaction to hear that she had hurt her arm and still wanted to stay at practice.  I was worried but figured it couldn't be too bad if she wanted to stay.  Ten minutes later I got a call saying she wanted to go home.  I told Mat that I would go pick her up and we could decide then if she would need to see a Dr. that evening.  I received another call from one of her teammates a few minutes later saying I needed to pick Bailey up.  She didn't know that I was already on my way but her teammate sounded very shaken up and had clearly been crying.  I didn't take it as a good sign.  When I arrived at the gym my heart broke to see my baby girl sitting outside the door waiting for me in tears holding her arm. I gave her a big hug and helped her in the car.  When I called Mat he said we could probably just wait until the next day and see if it was still hurting.  He hadn't seen her.  I told him that he should at least call our neighbor that is a sports Dr. and have her arm looked at.  Our neighbor was actually waiting curbside in from of his house for us and took a quick look and said it needed x-rays.  We headed to the instacare where luckily Dr. Dan was the Dr. on shift.  Bailey's arm was broken as well as her shoulder bone.  Both Dr.'s made sure to tell Bailey that cheerleading was the most dangerous sport for girls but Bailey was more frustrated that she'd not be able to participate until after summer. 

 Luckily her arm didn't need to be casted  based on where the breaks were and THANKFULLY she wouldn't need surgery (which was a big concern for us).  Bailey was worried that she caused us unexpected medical bills.  I told her thanks to Dr. Dan giving us a discount that having her break her arm was actually cheaper because we would miss a few months of cheer payments so we pretty much came out ahead. ;)  Of course we would have paid double for her to have kept her bones in tact and be pain free.  We allowed her to stay home from school the following day since she was still in quite a bit of pain.  She had many friends and her brothers spoiling her with treats and well wishes and felt rather special.  When she did return to school the next week she faced a lot of criticism from other girls who was sure that she was faking (even posted on Facebook about it) and thought she was just looking for attention.  Clearly none of those girls know Bailey. Three weeks after breaking her arm and shoulder blade she was hating missing cheer and decided that if she could do a backhandspring that we would allow her to go back so she went outside on the trampoline and practiced one handed backhandsprings!  Four weeks after she injured her arm and should she was showing us on her gym floor how she could do a backhandspring and was begging to go back to cheer.  Yes, it hurt her.  The pain clearly wasn't as bad as not being able to do her favorite thing ever.  We allowed her to go back to cheer after 5 weeks if she promised to take it easy.  Thankfully she has been back for months now and only faces mild tenderness from her injury now and then.  We always knew we would get a call like that and just hoped if we did that it wouldn't be devastating.  Honestly, as far as a cheer injury goes we were super grateful.  She was injured at the beginning of the year so she wouldn't be out of any competitions and would have plenty of time to heal before competitions, and her injury was really something that was able to heal on its own.  Other girls on her team have not been near as lucky.  

The first wee she was back she ended up falling while tumbling and her coaches actually dialed 911 and then realized it was a false alarm. She really makes it look so easy you forget how dangerous all of the things she does really are.  Bailey is back at cheer in full force and truly looks stronger and more capable than we've ever seen.  Truly grateful!

First Day of School 2012

 Bailey began her first year of middle school on August 15, 2012.  Officially an 8th grader! Wasn't it just yesterday that I was so anxious for her to begin kindergarten?  I'm trying not to recall life as a middle schooler as to avoid stressing about my baby girl surrounded by a bunch of boys...

 Easton and Caleb also started school.  Caleb in fifth grade (his last year of elementary) and Easton in fourth grade.  I can't believe my boys have grown so big.  Peyton began her second year of preschool at Ms. Debbie's a few days after the boys school began and was thrilled to be back.  Next year SHE'LL be the kindergartner!