In Today's News...

Treyson was ordained a Teacher by Curtis, and I was asked to give a talk on our Divine Nature. All went well.

Sinus Surgery

 Dax had sinus surgery on Friday 1/7/22

.  I had known he had a deviated septum for several years.  When Dax was in middle school he did allergy shots for 2+ years and they didn't seem to help.  The Allergy Doctor suggested we see an Ear Nose Throat  (ENT)specialist.  At the time the ENT told me Dax had a deviated septum and he would need surgery when he got older.   At that time I thought thanks for that info but that didn't answer our question of why the Allergy shots didn't work. Dax was constantly congested and overall miserable.

A few months back Curtis wanted a solution so he searched and found out about this balloon sinus procedure.  We drove all the way to Avondale to visit this ENT. The Dr determined that Dax absolutely needed surgy, to fix the deviated septum and clean out a bunch of infections.  We wanted to wait until Dax finished his school semester and after our trip to Hawaii, we knew he couldn't fly for some time after surgery.

Dax finally had the surgery.  The Dr. said he was a mess, full of puss and infection.  I saw Dax immedietly after surgery, he was pretty drugged up at the time but he was amazed at how well he could breathe.  The Dr told him that will only get better since he had splits and bandages in his nose.

That euphoria was short-lived as the pain killers wore off and his sinus started to swell from the surgery.  The next week was rough.  I know Dax was completely miserable.  The splints in his sinus were incredibly uncomfortable, he said he felt like his nose was plugged 120% of it's capacity.  

The painkillers didn't last long enough.  Everything was painful.  Day by day he did feel a bit better. All this was normal and expected.

On Thursday he was able to have the splints removed.  This was huge, Dax felt much better after those came out and every day as he heals he says he can breathe better and better.  We are looking forward to him having a better quality of life being able to breathe normally.  For the record, I feel like a bad mom for not taking the first ENT seriously about a deviated septum being a problem.

Mele Kalikemaka

Our kids are spoiled and we know it. The past few Christmas' seemed monotious. Pretty much buying each other things we don't want or need, just for the sake of opening something on Christmas. I actually ended up returning several gifts that we gave to Dax and Derek because they didn't care, want or need the gift. Instead of a repeat of the last few Christmas we decided to make memories instead. We chose to go to Hawaii for various reasons. We were not sure if our kids were completely on board with the idea. Trey at first said he would rather have presents, since he had just had his birthday I asked him what he wanted for Christmas and he couldn't think of anything. My biggest concern was Derek since it was going to be his 18th birthday on December 23, he had to be on board with this idea, Otherwise I knew it would not be a fun trip. On top of Hawaii being the Christmas gift for the family, Derek's birthday gift was he could invite his girlfriend, Jocelyn. We were already renting a 3 bedroom condo and using flight miles for the tickets so it wasn't that big of a deal to add one more. We had a great time, so many things went right. Here is the highlight reel.

This is Kap Tafiti.  I went to school with him at BYU-H.  He is still running the PCC Samoan Village 30+ years and still climbing coconut trees at 53 years old.

Dax admiring art at Kualoa Ranch

The T Rex is after them.

Trey and Jocelyn admiring Dinosaur bones, I mean styrofoam movie props.

Our Christmas stockings

I think this was Derk's favorite gift a disturving "St Nicholas" Cage ornament.

Family Surf Lessons

Totally worth it to bring Jocelyn,  Derek Smiled and had a great time.

Sunset at Turtle Bay