December

Basal cell carcinoma 

For about the past five years every August, Curtis and I make an appointment with the dermatologist to get checked for skin cancer.  We figured since we both have fair skin, and over 40 and have had plenty of sun exposure over the years, this is something we should probably do.  Last year they found a pre-cancer spot on Curtis, so they immediately froze it off, not a big deal.
This year there was a red spot on my leg that they biopsied and it ended up being cancer.  I was very surprised.  I had noticed the red spot on my leg but I didn't think anything of it.  I figured it was an irritation from shaving or something.  I always thought cancer would show up in the form of an ugly mole.  Not so much, I'm grateful I had the screening other wise I probably would have gone on way too long thinking nothing of it until it was too late.

Early in December, I had the Mohs Procedure to have it removed.  I was wide awake and watched the Dr. cut it out, then sew me up.  I had about 10 stitches and kept it wrapped for two weeks.  It has healed up nicely.  Lesson learned go to your annual checkups.

The Red spot is cancer. This is after it had been biopsied 3 months prior.  Skin cancer is a wound that doesn't heal

Culture Day

Trey had an assignment where he had to research his family history, find where his ancestors were from, then he had to do a project on one of the countries.  All the gifted classes had "Culture Day" where they presented the project and the parents came to view them.  Trey chose Sweden, turns out his Swedish ancestry comes from Curtis side.  I always thought my dad's family was Swedish, not so much all Norwegian.
His teacher, Mr. Foy, grades on effort and creativity. I thought Trey was creative in making his poster look like the Swedish Flag, but he needed more  I felt like his creativity was still lacking, and something needed to be added.  We decided music and food was always a winner.  We decided he would make a playlist of popular music from Swedish bands.  Trey had never heard of ABBA, I told him every parent had, then I found some other Swedish music that he had heard and liked. It was mainly "The Final Countdown" by EUROPE.  Then he bought into the idea and made the playlist. It had songs by ABBA (by far the most popular Swedish band), Roxette, Ace of Base and EUROPE.  Now for the food, we needed something that was not very messy and easy to share.  We found some Swedish cookies, but it turns out there are kids in the class with food allergies and it had a trace amount.  I considered a "trace" wouldn't be a big deal, then I realized when you have a food allergy it is.  We were onto plan B...Swedish Fish.  I felt like they were pretty Americanized and wasn't thrilled with the idea.  We researched them and they did originate from Sweden just with a different name.  They were a huge hit.  Once the fish came out Trey had a huge line to see his project.  One of the mom's told me Trey should go into marketing with the interest he drove up.  Mr. Foy asked if Trey was trying to bribe him for a good grade since Swedish Fish is one of his favorites.  I told Mr. Foy the story about how we were going to do the cookies, just then one of the mom's with the allergy kid walked by and thanked us for not doing the cookies.  In the end, it was the right choice, and Trey got a good grade.  Overall I would say the kids did a great job with their projects.  When I left I felt like I had gone on a mini-tour around the world.  It was a fun project.

Arboretum Field Trip

The following week, Trey's class went on a field trip to the Arboretum, I had never been there so I thought it sounded like a fun field trip to escort.  It was actually very interesting and the kids enjoyed it.  I think their favorite part was when they gave them all binoculars and went around searching for birds.  It ended up being way more interesting than it sounds everyone got really involved.

They learned about predator and prey animals.  Trey teaching his group what he learned about the fox.

A few weeks prior to the field trip, Trey had lost the paperwork for Culture Day assignment.  I told Trey he needed to email Mr. Foy and ask for a new one.  Trey was reluctant to do so and wanted me to ask Mr. Foy for him.  I told Trey he needed to own up and write the email.  You would have thought Mr. Foy was the Big Bad Wolf.  While we were on the field trip Mr. Foy told me he thoroughly enjoyed Trey's email.  He said he liked it so much he took a screen capture so he could save it.

This is Trey's email to Mr. Foy.

Mr. Foy,

This is Trey.  I have messed up.  No matter where I look, I can not find the country research sheets.  I have looked under the fabrics of time and yet I can not find these very processed trees.  So i'm pretty sure that you know what i'm going to say.  Can you please get me a new packet.

Thanks,

Trey


He got a new packet. 

Double Digit Birthday with a side of Disneyland

Happy Birthday Trey #10

Trey's Birthday fell on Veteran's Day this year.  No school for that birthday boy.  We had a party at Uptown Jungle.  It is a new indoor trampoline park. Trey invited a few friends from school and Cubs.  It was the perfect amount of kids. They got to run around, eat pizza and cupcakes.  Then they gave Trey a huge tube of sugar.  It was like a giant pixie stick and he could fill it with different flavors.  He loved it.

Niko, Henry, Jack, Trey, and Marco- Missing is Soren. Clark didn't make it because he got in trouble right before the party

For gifts, Trey got a bunch of money and gift cards, we gave him a mini coding kit, to learn to code.

Then to celebrate both mine and Trey's birthday we went to Benihana's for dinner.  Trey is the pickiest eater, so I wasn't surprised that he didn't much like the food since they don't have mac and cheese at the Japanese restaurant,  he did enjoy the experience of the chef slicing and cooking the food and making fire in front of us.  We had our birthday dinner together because Curtis decided to take Trey and Dax to Disneyland, they would be leaving the next day.  In true Curtis fashion, he decided to go at the last minute.  I had a lot of stuff going on, Derek had a lot of school going on.  It was stressing us out trying to fit Disneyland in.  Same as last year.  Derek and I had a relaxing time at home while Curtis, Dax, and Trey headed to Disneyland and crammed in too much fun.  It makes me exhausted to think about doing Disneyland with Curtis.  They had a great time.

They love to go to Disneyland at this time to see the Christmas lights.  Disney does not disappoint.

Since they left in a whirlwind, we didn't even have time to have Trey's birthday cake with the family. We had it when they came home.  I bought the cake, but I made the decorations.  It is taken from a scene from Pirates of the Caribbean with the Kraken.

Vengeance of the Sea

 I named the cake Vengence on Sparrow for Jack Sparrow (he was on the boat) and we live on Sparrow Place.
A lot of love (and fondant) went into this cake for Trey.  He loved it.

Then I had a birthday too #46.  It was great, lots of love from friends and family.  Derek and I hung out together and had a great day.

Halloween

Kids are getting older.  Trey was the only kid that wanted to dress up this year.  He decided to be

"Voodoo Dude".  I had to leave town and go to my cousin, Shaun Smith's funeral, who died unexpectedly from a heart attack.  I couldn't be there to apply the makeup so I had my "theatre friend" Janae do the deed. She thought it was a fun favor.  Trey looked great and he said he got a lot of compliments.

Janae and Trey at Trunk or Treat

Trey going Trick or treating with his friend Niko

Voodoo Trey- I prefer the makeup over the mask, but the cane is Oh so cool.

Trey had a school assignment to decorate a small pumpkin (pie size, no bigger than your head) then write an essay to convince his teacher to pick his pumpkin to have outside his door on Halloween.  The pumpkin was not supposed to be carved, just decorated. Trey decided he wanted to do Japanese Food because his teacher lived in Japan (LDS Mission) and said how much he loved Japanese food.  Trey came up with the idea and how to decorate the pumpkin.  I thought it turned out great.  His pumpkin wasn't picked.  His teacher is also a huge Star Wars fan.  The Yoda pumpkin won.  I was proud of Trey, I thought his was very original since 11/22 pumpkins were Star Wars theme.  I thought his teacher choosing one of the Star Wars was lame since there were so many unoriginal ideas. Although, Trey was told that his was very popular and a favorite by the other classes.

Mr. Foy's class of decorated pumpkins

Pumpkin Ramen, with a side of sushi

Fall Fun

Just a few random pictures from the past few months.

What does it mean to be Human?  I snapped this pic from Derek's World Geography class. His is the second one down on the left.

Unibomber or Trey?  Trey getting ready to leave for school one day.  I told him he looked like the Unibomber

City of Ember Project.

 Trey's class read the book "City of Ember" which Trey really enjoyed.  Then as a group project the class made a layout of the actual city,  electricity and all. They learned about circuits and hooked up lights.  When they were all finished the parents could come and view all of the cities.  Trey's group struggled. Someone in the group didn't bring all of the items they were supposed to Trey called it "sparse". Trey and I watched the movie together the night before, we had a good time hanging out together.  I was glad I watched the movie so I understood more about the project and what it was about.  I was also glad because I have been trying to convince Trey that the books are almost always better than the movie.  He won't read Harry Potter because he already saw the movies. He admitted the book version of City of Ember was better than the movie.

 Having fun checking out costumes at the Halloween store.

Trey getting an advancement at cub scouts. 

 Trey took forever getting his award from the cream pie, eating through all the cream.  All the other boys finished and Trey took his sweet time.  He was holding everyone hostage making us wait for him to finish his pie.

New Schools For Everyone

Monday July 23, 2018 -Another First Day of School minus one.

It was kind of weird only having 2/3 kids start school today.  Their start times were so different I couldn't even get a picture of them together.  Derek was long gone before Trey woke up.

Derek is now a Freshman at Hamilton High School.  He is coming full circle with Hamilton, this is where he attended his pre-K classes Huskie Pups.  I can't believe how fast that went. Derek went from Middle School starting at 9:00 a.m. to High School starting at 7:00 a.m.  That is a drastic change for the morning alarm clock.

First day of 9th Grade Hamilton High School

Derek enjoyed his first day and is liking Hamilton.  I was nervous because Hamilton is such a ginormous school 4000+ students.  Bigger than my H.S and college combined. He is taking Honors World Geography and English, Tennis, Algebra, Photography and Seminary.  He did sign up for a 7th hour class of Honors Biology.  I didn't realize that until I looked at his schedule after he left for school.  Derek was home from school by 2:30 I told him he just ditched his last class of the day.  He didn't believe me.  We pulled up his schedule and sure enough he was not where he was supposed to be.  Then we got a call from the school saying he was absent from a class.  Nice way to start out the school year ditching the first day.  I was fine with it, once I realized what his class load was I thought the honors biology was too much for him to take on as a Freshman.  I had him drop the class.

First day of 4th Grade-"Foy's Falcons"

Trey started at a new school as well.  He is now at Jacobson Elementary.  Hancock was great and we loved it being across the street from our house but they don't offer gifted classes.  Trey tested into the gifted program a few years ago, we always wanted what was best for Trey.  Hancock and his teachers were great about challenging him, and he was always in the upper level reading and math.  It came down to he wanted to be with "his people"  he struggled working in groups with the regular class room.  He would get frustrated with their thought process and mostly ended up working alone, which he was quite content with in that situation.  We just decided it was time to give the gifted program a try,  his teachers and the principal at Hancock all agreed it was time and they were excited for him to make the move.

He is now in Mr. Foy's 4th Grade Gifted class at Jacobson. He rides the bus to school now.  He actually knew a few kids in his class from church and kids from Hancock who had also transferred into the gifted class.  I think he was a little bummed about that.  He was excited for a fresh start and 100% clean slate.  It is going well.

Dax LOVED not having to start school today.

He is legal (almost)

Dax turned 18.  What a great day, actually pretty uneventful.   We gave him some money, went to Olive Garden for dinner, then as a family we went to Improv Mania in downtown Chandler.  It was a fun night.


Dax had planned to go on a mission soon after he graduated and turned 18 (which would be about now).   It turns out our Bishop is very slow at this process.  When Dax started meeting with him in April he said it would be about 5 months before he could submit his papers. Initially the bishop told him the church allows you to submit your papers 3 months before you are ready to report.  What the heck, now he is saying 5 months before he will even be ready to submit the papers??? We all thought it would be a few weeks, submit the call, wait a few weeks to get the call, then wait a few months getting everything ready and then report.  We thought he would be leaving about August instead of just turning in the paperwork.  This is just how our bishop rolls.  I heard similar stories from other parents.

As we started the process, Dax had doctor appointments etc. and he was diligently filling out paperwork and regularly meeting with the bishop.  Because Dax has been diagnosed as being on the Autism spectrum the church is now requiring a psychological evaluation. I wish this had been brought up in his first meeting with the Bishop back in April, instead of June.  After a few appointments, we had a final meeting with the counselor the other day.  She said Dax scored 7/9 of the indicators for early release.  Anything over five is a red flag.  Some of the indicators for Dax were he is too rigid (difficulty going with the flow), changing environments regularly, other people not following the rules,  difficulty staying engaged in an activity (ADD), not making good eye contact and connecting with others.  This was not a surprise to us.  We have come up with a new plan. We have decided that Dax will wait a year for the mission and give him some time to grow up and mature in the areas he is struggling with.  His plan now is  to start ASU in January, study Astrophysics, and live in the dorms.  This will hopefully give him an opportunity for independence and maturity before he submits his papers again.  Dax was a little disappointed initially, but I think he is excited about this new plan.

San Diego

We have decided we are done staying home for the 4th of July Holiday.  I love 4th of July, but it is not fun here in the heat.  Too hot to do anything but stay inside.  My kids don't realize it is a really fun holiday.  They think it is just another day to stay inside and play video games.  We settled on San Diego.

We stayed in a really nice Vacation Rental in Carlsbad right on the beach.  I guess that area is called "The Strand"  The kids had fun boogie boarding and enjoying the cool weather.
First we visited the USS Missouri Aircraft carrier

Dax , Trey, Derek outside the USS Missouri

A statue made of the famous picture after the war ended.

Trey aborad the USS Missouri, he loved the morse code area.

Trey inside the ship Infirmary 

Our View from the vacation rental

a very cute boy sleeping

Wet Suit Extravaganza

Boogie Boarding, I think Derek enjoyed this the most.  He kept asking for other's to join him again.

View from our Condo- Sunset at the pier

On the 4th of July Dax and I first took a stroll along the strand.  It was fun to see so many people out wearing patriotic clothing, and they had their bikes and  porches decorated.  We had some snacks from food trucks.  Then we went back grabbed the family, then went back out for the festivities.  There were lots of street vendors and food trucks out.  Curtis and I shared a yummy gyro.  It was so yummy we wished we each got our own and not shared.   Then we attempted to walk to a boat parade at the harbor, which was much further than I anticipated.  By the time we got there we missed the parade, the kids were grumpy we walked so far for nothing.  Curtis bought them an ice cream, then we took at UBER back, and they forgave us.

We (Curtis) decided to extend our stay, but that meant we had to move to a new location because our current place was booked.  So we packed up and moved to a cool Polynesian themed hotel that was more south.  We took a few adventures along the way.

We stopped at a cool place and discovered tide pools, sea weed and other things you don't see in AZ

Beautiful photo op.  I love how we look so  patriotic on 7/5/18.  Not planned.

While waiting for our hotel to be ready we came across this treasure.  I think he robbed my grandma's basement, there were security 4 camera's on this  thing protecting these "valuables"

This made us laugh, we thought it said "stupid code"

We met up with our friends the Thomas' to go kayaking.  Janae, & Steve in one, Curtis and Trey in another, Derek and Weston in another.
Dax and I waited on shore and took pics.

We ended our trip by visiting the Mormon Battalion and eating yummy Mexican food.