Monday, May 30, 2011

Baseball Season!

It's my favorite time of year! Baseball Season! Love it!

This year for some reason I missed Little League sign ups for Sophie and Josh. But Ben and David both are playing and Joel is finally playing again. YES!!! You may not have known this but I fell in LOVE with Joel under the pretense that he was a baseball player. He reffed games and was on 3 different softball teams (1 fast pitch and 2 slow) when we were dating. It was hot! For the first 7 years of our marriage either he was on a team or we were on a co-ed team together. Since then he has played on the Wells family team once but somewhere along the way softball/baseball got pushed aside. But he's back! His work put together a co-ed team and a guys team. Co-ed plays Wednesdays and the guys play Thursday double headers. It looks like there will be a short period of getting back into the grove of things but I am so excited! I'm glad that the boys can watch their Dad play a sport that doesn't have me taking them out half way through due to bad mouthing the refs or swearing on the court.

To me Baseball is much more civilized than basketball will ever be. I know that there are those who disagree but it is a fact that the last basketball game I went to with Joel he got kicked out and he wasn't even playing! I do NOT want my boys to see that side of Joel. I want them to see the smile on his face as he steps up to the base or as he pitches the perfect strike right over home plate and the way he cheers on his teammates and buoys others up. That's what I want my boys to see. That's what I want to see.

This is David's first year and he definitely has a knack for baseball. It will be fun to watch him grow up and play more. As you can tell from this picture sometimes he looses focus and tries to see how high he can throw his mitt and still catch it. He is having a blast and the fact that Evan, Owen and Tavien are all on his team makes it that much more fun.




Ben somehow forgot a couple things from last year but after some good practices with Dad he's doing much better. He also has some kids from our ward on his team so that makes it really fun too.



Taye and Kai are playing in St. George and we were able to see one of their games on a night that Ashely also played.


This family is loaded with athletes! I love to sit outside on a nice cool spring day and watch them all have fun.


I will get better pictures of Joel but it was late and the night lights don't work well with my camera. I will post more of him later.

Josh, this week went to football camp at Pine View High School. He had a great time learning how to hit and tackle. He found that he doesn't want to be a receiver. He wants to take someone down! Which is funny because that is totally not his personality. Being raised with 2 big sisters doesn't make you very tough. Maybe this will toughen him up a little. I don't want it to change him to much because he is the sweetest, kindest, best behaved boy I know and I don't want that to ever change.


This summer Sophie will have Girls Camp, Swim Team and a Volleyball camp as well.
Shayne will be recovering this summer and trying to regain everything she lost before school swim season starts again. She has already missed the Las Vegas Memorial meet that has been a tradition since she started swimming. It was really hard for her to know that her friends where all there without her. But she will return with a vengeance! Watch out Desert Hills. Shayne will kick your butt next season!

Friday, May 27, 2011

Carpal Tunnel x2

On Wednesday the 18th Jan had Carpal Tunnel surgery on BOTH wrists. Which made it impossible for her to even feed herself not to mention other things. Her surgery wasn't until the afternoon so JoEllen took her to it and Andy picked her up. Then Thursday and Friday JoEllen and I took shifts. JoEllen would come drop Matty and Evan off around 8:30am and go help until 1pm and then she'd come pick them and David up and take them to her house and I'd take the 1 -5 shift or until Andy got home. It worked out great but she also had to make a wedding cake for a friend from work that weekend. And she made a cake the weekend before for another friend from work. Here is the one before surgery

Here is Jan after the surgery with her hands all bandaged up sitting with the dogs that wouldn't leave her alone.

The co-worker that was getting married after the surgery is in her 30's and didn't want a traditional wedding cake. She wanted cheesecake! Who doesn't? But as a wedding cake? To each his own. But Jan had never made a cheesecake. Paula is our cheesecake queen so none of us have even tried. So before the surgery Jan tried a couple different recipes and found the one that worked the best. And she also made a bunch of different sized roses and leaves in white frosting to place on top.
Thursday, I was in charge of making the 2 big cheesecakes. Raspberry and Strawberry. Now keep in mind that Jan was the only one to premake them. So they worked for her and we hoped they'd work for me. So, Jan told me what to do and I did it.




This picture was day 2 and she was feeling better.



Friday morning was JoEllen's turn with the 2 little caramel pecan cheesecakes. They were to DIE for. On the bottom she put pecans that were caramelized and Andy had made homemade caramel to drizzle over them, then cheesecake, then more caramel and pecans, then more cheesecake. They were delicious! Later that night Andy made the 2 little chocolate ones. Oh My! It was heavenly.


So staurday night, Jan and Andy took the cake to the reception canter to put it all together. Jan told Andy what to do and he did it. With everyone's help this is what it ended up looking like: GORGEOUS!


Here is what Jan's hands looked like after the bandages came off. Not so gorgeous.


This is a cake that she did a couple months ago for our friend Emily. It was gorgeous too!


Feel free to click on any picture to see it in better detail.

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Just when you thought everything was o.k.

As a mother you always worry about your children. But, until something really happens you don't realize how it changes everything including the way you worry.
Shayne is my oldest and strongest child. Physically, Emotionally and Spiritually. She has always been a great example to me. I don't know what I'd do without her but I almost found out.

On Friday the 13th Shayne came home after school and asked for some Excedrin Migraine. We have it in our house because twice a year I get a migraine. But with migraines you can see them coming on and usually have a half an hour to prevent them by taking precautions. So she took 2 and went to swim practice. Saturday morning we were in charge of selling PVHS blankets at the Washington City Cotton Days Carnival. I went at 9 and told her to come over after lunch to help out. When she came she still had the headache and laid down on the grass. Then she started telling me that she felt numb from the right side of her head to the tips of her fingers. Later I found out that it continued down to her toes but she didn't tell me that. So, we came home, gave her more Excedrin and she took a nap.

Sunday she woke up feeling fine and went to church from 9-noon. At 1:00 she was grabbing her head and crying because the pain had come on so fast and so strong. Joel sent Josh over to the Scott's house to get Josh Scott to come help give Shayne a blessing. He brought with him a Phenegrin pill(for nausea)and a Lortab (for the pain). We gave them both to Shayne and 2 minutes later she went into her bathroom and threw them all up. She continued to throw up for another hour. As soon as she'd stop we'd try to get her to take another Phenegrin but up it would come. Ice packs are a huge relief when you have a migraine. You should put one on the back of you neck and one on your forehead. They help keep the inflammation down to help open up the veins so there is less pressure. And get into a dark room. We had her laying in her bathroom on a mat on the floor. Her bathroom is so small that the mat couldn't unfold all the way. But her bathroom also has no windows so it was the darkest and quietest place in the house. So, I called Jan who gets migraines on a regular basis and has 2 prescriptions for them and she told us she had a Phenegrin suppository that Shayne could have. 20 minutes after she had completely stopped throwing up and could keep down a Lortab. Once she calmed down she laid there for forever. I told her to keep the ice packs on but she said it makes the pain worse so she didn't want them. That was odd. I checked on her every hour and all she did was roll over to the other side. I was glad it was over. Or so I thought.

Monday she spent on the floor of her bathroom and around 7pm she got up and took a shower. Now there is something you should know about Shayne. She is just like her father when it comes to throwing up. Joel has only thrown up once since we've been married (19 years!) Shayne very rarely throws up so to see her like this was scary.

Tuesday, She was up, back to school and work and had a small headache all day.

Wednesday, she came home after 3rd period because her head hurt again. She threw up again but only once and was able to take a nap to help her out. When I get a migraine I am very sensitive to light but Shayne didn't seem to be. She just crashed upstairs on the couch. But she was supposed to work from 3-6pm and then go to Young Womens and then back to work for an in-service meeting where they were announcing that they were making her a head guard. So at 2:45 I called her boss to tell her what was going on and when Shayne got to work her boss sent her home. She slept until the in-service where she went but didn't really participate.

Thursday - still has a headache but not to bad.

Friday - same as Thursday.

Saturday - great morning. She felt the best she'd felt all week. Went in to work from 11-4 and at 1:00...she asked to be sent home. They knew she had been sick and luckily the head guard was Shayne's favorite and let her go home. She went straight into the bathroom and stayed there. I wasn't home. I was at Walmart and got a frantic call from Josh telling me she was sick again. At that moment I had a really bad feeling. I found her in a pile on the bathroom floor and told her I was taking her to the Dr's office. Well, our Dr's office was closed of course so we drove to the IHC Instacare. Shayne was still in her Lifeguard swim suit and uniform and throwing up in a garbage can we took along with us. When we pulled up there wasn't a single car in the parking lot which I took as a good sign. No waiting. We got in there and Shayne sat down to throw up again as I talked to the nurses and told them that she has a migraine and that she needs a Phenegrin suppository and maybe an IV to rehydrate her and they said that they couldn't help us. WHAT THE?!? They said it was more than they could do and to go to the emergency room that was just across the huge parking lot. So we started to walk out and got through one set of the double doors going out and Shayne started up again. Now mind you that she is just throwing up stomach acid at this point but she was dizzy and I thought she was going to fall. We waited a minute for her to stop and got out the second door and and she stared again. I ran back inside and screamed for a wheelchair. There was no way that I was going to get her into my van and across the parking lot and find a place to park and have her get back out and walk into the ER. So, a lady came running out with one and helped me get Shayne into it. Then she pushed her over to the ER. They were pretty busy but I think the fact that the Instacare brought her over put us high on the priority list and they got us right in.

The nurse came in and talked to us. Shayne didn't really answer. She was in so much pain and still throwing up. So the nurse put and IV in her and gave her some medication for the nausea then left to find a Dr. While we were waiting Shayne would moan from the pain and her pulse would fall. At first I wasn't too concerned. I've worked in a Dr. office. I know when something like that is serious. The machine went off whenever it dropped below 50. I was watching for 30's. The 30's came and off I went to find someone. Next thing I know they were doing an EKG and making sure everything was o.k. Meanwhile she was still throwing up so they gave her a new medication which worked but didn't take away the pain. They couldn't give her pain killers until the Dr. saw her so they went to get a Dr. What seemed like an eternity later the Dr. came in. The hung a bag of morphine and I told him what the last 8 days had been like. He ordered a CT scan of her head and said they'd go from there. 30 minutes later he came back in and said he had good news and bad news that were the same. The CT was fine and showed nothing wrong. He proceeded to tell me that he thought for sure that they'd find something there. A tumor or something to explain how quickly the migraines came on. But nothing. So, he told me the nest thing to do is to rule out meningitis. And to do that she needed a spinal tap. Well, I've helped out on a couple of these in the Dr.'s office before and knew what it entailed. So, he got ready and by this time Shayne was out. Completely out. So far out that she was snoring. I was so happy! I wanted to cry right then because that was the first time in 8 days that I had seen her in peace. So, we turned Shayne on her side and between the nurse pulling her legs up and me curling her head and shoulders down the Dr. was able to do a great lumbar puncture without any problems. The fluid came out nice and clear which is always a good sign and when the Dr. was done he was kinda flustered that it looked so good. He said that we'd just wait for the results before doing anything else. So, while I waited all by myself I texted everyone and called my parents. A couple minutes later Mike and Elaine came but they would only let one of them back. So, Dad came back and I told him what had been going on and then Joel came and they were able to give her a blessing.
A couple minutes later the Dr. came back to tell us that it was indeed MENINGITIS. Back before Shayne was born a friend of ours died of bacterial meningitis and that memory frightened all of us. She was as pale as her sheets but I knew that we were in the right place if anything were to happen. The Dr. said that in order to find out if this was bacterial or viral they would have to culture it and see if anything grew. If it did - bacterial. If not - viral. We were praying for viral. Although the night before Shayne had gone to a birthday party of her friend Daniel and was around 20 of her friends. Viral was better for her but contagious and not good for everyone else.
So, now it was a 48 hour waiting game to see if anything was going to grow. They got her a room upstairs and moved her. It was an isolation room that had it own air system so that clean air was being pumped in and the air in the room was pumped outside where it couldn't hurt anyone. Also, to get into the room you had to enter an little room before and "glove up" which consisted of gloves, a smock and mask. It was scary. Anyone coming in had to "glove up" and it was interesting to see that they didn't care about me. They figured that since I'd been holding her hair back so she could throw up for 8 days then I was already contagious and there was no hope to cover me up now. Which was fine for me. I hung out on the couch for the next three days.

Sunday afternoon Shayne started to get visitors. It really cheered her up and she was starting to get her color back and look decent. But Sunday night she had a small relapse and they hurried and gave her more medication for the nausea and pain.

Monday - With the pain completely gone she was feeling better. At this point she had been given 10 bags of Saline and 4 smaller bags of antibiotics through her IV and finally felt like eating something. Sunday she was very wary of eating anything for fear of it coming back up. She probably lost more than 10 pounds over the course of this 10 day problem.
The High School only had 1 class that morning to hand out yearbooks and then a mass of students landed in her room. It was awesome. She looked better, felt better and was able to carry on a conversation and not get worn out. Later that night Dr. Chamberlain came in to check on her and gave us the green light to go home. The antibiotics would still be working through her body for the next two weeks and there was no fear of spreading it on. We were glad. She was ready for her own bed and so was I. The couch in there was seriously hard. The only problem was that Joel had taken my keys 3 days earlier to move the van out of the Instacare parking lot and take it home. So, not only did I not know where he had left his car but I didn't have any keys to start it with anyway. So, I called JoEllen and she came and got us. Thank goodness for sisters. Wait until you read the next blog about Jan's surgery. Wow! We sisters will do ANYTHING for each other. Anyway, we got home and James had brought balloons and another sign to welcome her home. And Joel and the kids had disinfected the entire house while we were gone. So, it was a warm welcome.

Today - I took Shayne's yearbook over to the school because the only people there were Mr. Candland and the band who were practicing to play for graduation and asked if I could get him and the students to sign her yearbook since she wasn't able to come to school. He said of course and I started to get all choked up. I told Enrique to pick it up when it was done and bring it by and then left. I cried the entire way home. The only other time I was able to allow myself to cry was when I was alone and she was finally out of pain in the ER. I knew she wouldn't wake up to see me and I could let go for a minute. Then today all day every time I thought/think about it I cry. It was a crazy experience and like when Ben got hit by a car, I couldn't help but think how bad it could have been. I am so incredibly thankful for everyone's support and help, Love and prayers. I am truly blessed to have such wonderful people in my life.

Monday, May 23, 2011

Josh's Graduation. On to Intermediate School!

Josh got the 100% Attendance Award this year and let me tell you it was hard to do. We had to rearrange a couple different trips up north to make sure he didn't miss a day. It must be a Beckstrand thing because us Shelton's tried to miss as much school as we could without getting in trouble.


This is his 5th grade class singing their school song one last time. Kinda sad.

This is Josh and Mr. Staheli comparing suits. They both looked great!

Josh's Graduation certificate after he walked through the W.

Mr Ivie is Josh's amazing 5th grade teacher. We have loved having him. He is all about Math and that is just what Josh needed. It was a great year.

Next year I will have Shayne at Pine View High. Sophie at Pine View Middle. Josh at Fossil Ridge Intermediate and Ben and David at Washington Elementary. 4 different schools! Yikes!

Friday, May 20, 2011

Sophie's Choir Concert

Sophie had an end of year choir concert last night. It was so much fun to see how many kids were in the choir and to hear how far they've come in such a short time.

Sophie loves singing. Anytime you pass her room you can hear her in there singing to anything from Church Hymns to High School Musical.

Sophie has loved being at Fossil Ridge. For many reasons like the theater program, Math Counts, Art class and all of the friends she's made and fun she's had. Next year she'll be at Pine View Middle and on to an new adventure.

David's Preschool Graduation!

I know, I know, it's just preschool but he's my baby and the only one to really go to preschool. This is his teacher Mrs. Nielson. Yes, she is young.

He's had so much fun but didn't smile once during the program.




They sang a whole bunch of songs, got their diplomas and went to eat lunch in the cafeteria.

He's such a little man. I hope I make it through him going to kindergarten next year.

Spelling Bee, End of year Program & Graduation and Party!

I loved spelling bee's when I was in elementary school. I would practice and practice. My favorite word to spell was assassin. I thought it was awesome that I could spell that word and no one could yell at me. So, when Ben brought home his spelling list I got all excited. But Ben didn't. He didn't want anything to do with it. So, a week later when he came home from school and told me he won I didn't believe him. It wasn't until I went through his backpack and saw the letter from his teacher that I got excited. They had a class spelling bee and he won and the top5 from each class were going on to the entire 1sr grade spelling bee. So, I got out the list and we studied for about 10 mintues until he was sick of it and he promised me he'd do the rest of it later that night. Which he didn't. The next day they invited the parents to come to the finals and they crammed us into this small room. Ben lasted 5 rounds spelling words like catch and . His downfall was on the word know. He didn't listen to the sentence and spelled it no. But he ended up in 9th out of the entire 1st grade and we were very proud of him. After it was over they all got a certificate and a bag of candy and started to head back to class. I went up and gave him a hug and he started to cry. He felt so bad. So I motioned to Joel to come over and he told him what a good job he did and gave him a hug and calmed him down. I felt so bad. The little stinker. Later that night we had a lesson on actually studying and why it's important. I hope he remembers it.





Yesterday was the end of year program and graduation. It was very patriot and they did a great job singing.




Today was Wii day. To celebrate all of their hard work Ms. Rogers bought pizza and let them play Guitar Hero and whatever else they brought from home. Ben was so excited to tell us all about it when he got home.

It was an awesome year and Ms. Rogers was an excellant teacher. Now on to summer and trying to get them to keep up on some math and reading. Right? I doubt it'll happen but I gotta try.