Memorial Day Reunion

Rob and Erin came up from Texas over the holiday and as the older Adams' boys normally do, they found a project to work on....and our Adams' household was the one to benefit!  They took out the old insulation under our roof and put in new.

 During one of the trips to Lowe's, Rob stayed home and asked Levi if he would show him how to play one of his games.  This lead to all the boys playing.  I got this picture because Rob was laughing at how he had to move closer and closer to the TV because Brigham kept jumping up and down in front of it.  Brigham makes every game a physical activity!

 After they were done we all went down to Stephen and Holly's house.  

 I love it when we can get family shots!

 After we ate and played a little we went on a short hike.

 It really was pretty and perfect weather for it.

The older kids played around the water and "conveniently" Levi fell into the water 5 times.  He still is insisting that they were all accidents but 5 times?!  Either way, they all had fun.

Yearly Tradition

It's fun when your kids get old enough and you have been doing a family tradition long enough that when you ask them questions about it, they can give you the correct answers.  I think this is the first year that I am sure they know the meaning behind Memorial Day.  The real meaning without having to be reminded.



I took this picture because of my Dad and his love for Pepsi.  This is the second year that we have went to this particular cemetery and like last year, the local funeral home was providing free drinks.  Our family has been doing this tradition of finding children and military undecorated graves for years and have done it at a lot of different cemeteries.  Each one has their own uniqueness to provide.  My favorite about this one in Ogden is that this funeral home is doing something little to make it somewhat easier on those who are mourning at the grave sites.  What a kind way to serve the public.  Simple but very kind, I think. 

Levi's Elementary Graduation

 Today was the boy's last day of school but on Wednesday night Levi had his elementary graduation.  Yes, our oldest son is now entering Junior High.  He will be going into 7th grade which means he is more than half way through his public education experience. 

We are so proud of him.  He will be going to an advanced math class next year.  He was also invited to a gifted camp program, this summer, that pulls the best of the best students from 27 different elementary school in the area.  There are only 30 people in the program he was asked to attend (computer programming).  I still can't believe I gave birth to this smartie pants!

 Here Levi is as he is leading the way to the gymnasium at TH Bell (where he will be attending Junior High next year) before the ceremony. 

 Getting his "diploma."

 They were asked to help with putting up the chairs after the ceremony.  So I had to stage something, of course with our Maddie.  I got the cutest picture of her and Baby Boy.  She saw him, had to hold him of course, and then kissed him...which lead to an adorable lipstick mark on his big forehead!

 (Justin, Dylan, Quincy, and Levi)

 During the ceremony Mr. Dyer spoke of how he wears his "Joe badge" with honor.  I'm so sad I didn't get the whole "Joe Squad" in a picture before every one left but this will have to do.  Mr. Dyer was Levi's teacher and as Levi says, he is the best teacher Levi has ever had.  We have moved around a lot and have been blessed with great teachers but I am telling you that Mr. Dyer is exceptional.  He really is.  Always so positive with the children he teaches and can still play around.  

I guess one day when Levi turned in an assignment, he turned in his paper with "Joe" as the author.  Mr. Dyer doesn't have a Joe in his class so everyone thought this was funny, of course.  When he called who ever turned in the assignment out on this, Mr. Dyer told them that he wouldn't know who "Joe" was without his name on it.  So the next time he turned in an assignment he put Joe on there again but with "Levi" next to it.  However, "Levi" was written very small.  So small that it was hard to read.  That got more laughs, of course.  This lead to him turning in assignments with the name of "Joe Doughnut."  Soon many other classmate caught on which lead to nick names of Joe Juice, Joe Bacon, Joe Squiggle, etc..  Poor Mr. Dyer got the nickname "Joe It."  I guess because in his family he is known as Uncle It.  

Levi informed me the other day that I was Joe Mamma.  Not bad, son,  Not bad.

After I took all these pictures of Levi a certain little boy got sad...so we will end this post on a selfie that made little Hyrum happy!

Just Sayin'

 It has been real hard for me to stay emotionally stable since Brigham's hospital stay.  I was talking to Grandma on the phone, not to long ago, and before we hung up she had to make sure that I was doing ok...really ok.  She has been so good to me about making sure I am "ok" every since Oklahoma.  At that moment I was ok.  It's just been weird how I keep bouncing around.  I'm sure the continuous sicknesses that are still going around our house aren't helping.  Now Baby Boy has Croup.  Our normally happy baby is very whiny.  But through it all I am reminded of all that I am blessed with.  Mainly because of David.  He truly loves me and like Grandma, checks up on me.  

So these pictures are from Mother's Day.  The one with David and I, we are in front of our bush in our backyard.  I get so happy when it blooms.  And the Hydrangea here are from the boys and is in one of our front planters.  David made sure they got something that would come back each year (because he knows that the only thing I like to buy yearly are my Petunias.  And that is probably because of my upbringing.  Mom always had those in our yard every summer).  He was also careful that when he and Levi planted my Hydrangea  that he didn't disturb my clovers.  Which is sweet because they are not his favorite!  I think he looks at them as weeds but I look at them and see my time spent at Annies Garden Gate.  We sold those around St. Patrick's Day.  Plus, it makes me think of my childhood.  If you chew on them they have a sour taste.  I did that a lot as a child.

I guess I needed to write this post to reflect back on home (Oklahoma).  Brigham, Baby Boy and I will be there in a few weeks and I'm extremely sentimental about it.  I am so ready for this.  I am ready for my family.  I am ready for the good people of Oklahoma.  I love it here in Utah.  I do.  But I love it for different reasons and Utah doesn't have my family nor the good Bible Belt type thinking people.  Which makes me think of Charlene.  She and her family moved to Texas last year.  I was talking to her earlier this week and she spoke of how people in Utah think they are nice but they aren't.  What she meant by that is that she grew up in Utah.  She loved Utah and I'm sure a part of her still does but leaving here and now seeing how small town Texas has shown her how different people can be she is seeing a whole new side of people.  And she is right.  I know lots of good people here in the city but its different.  It just is.  And it is hard to explain.  One day I was talking to a friend here, and after learning that I was from Oklahoma she said, "Is that why you are so nice?"  I started to laugh and she told me that she was serious because I was different than everyone else and was sincerely nice.  Can you tell I am seriously longing for Oklahoma right now?  Geez!  Now don't get me wrong, I'm not depressed over it and I love that David has found a job that is truly making him happy.  That the boys have great examples in their friends here.  And only if we were here would we have Baby Boy in our lives so I KNOW this is where we are to be.  I guess I'm just sayin'.....

God's Not Dead

Levi has been obsessed with this song lately.  We listen to it over and over in our house from his MP3 player that he hooks up to speakers.  It makes me smile for 2 reasons.  It makes me feel so very blessed that Heavenly Father would send me a son that wants to naturally be so good like he is.  That he WANTS to listen to good music.  And it makes me smile because it makes me think of growing up and how I would get a new c.d. and have a favorite song and play it over and over and how my parents had to put up with it...OVER AND OVER! 

Awwwww...if only I had listened to good music like Levi though....

So as you can imagine, we pretty much know all the words to "God's Not Dead" by Newsboys and I love it!

Working 9-5

(Carmen, Alisa, Allisha, Peggy, Sarah, and Trystal) 

(Marsha, Sarah, Allisha, and Peggy)

(The AliSHa's!)

 

 

A few weeks ago, Peggy had a Pinterest Party where we all brought some of our creations and traded with others.  It was fun coming home with new stuff but more importantly, it was fun being with girls.  And as always, Peggy never disappoints with her parties.  I laughed and laughed and made new friends.  Those new friends led to a girl night out on Saturday.  And after Brigham's hospital stay last week, trust me when I say it was much needed!  I truly am grateful for friends who can make me laugh and even more importantly to me, who aren't afraid to laugh!

 

We went to the HopeBox Theater in Kaysville.  One of the new friends that I made at Peggy's party (Marsha) was in the production of 9-5 that was being performed there.  I laughed and laughed at her character as well as the others.  They really did a great job.  And they supported a great cause.  Part of their proceeds go to a Cancer patient in need.

 

I truly am grateful that the Lord has blessed me with good people in my life.  People who make me laugh.  People who know who I am and accept that.  People who can laugh at themselves so it can teach me to know it is ok to laugh at myself.

 

I am grateful for little experiences, like a play, where I can get out and recuperated so that I can come home and take care of business with newfound energy.  I am grateful for a Father in heaven that knows what I need and what I don't.  I am grateful He heals those He has big plans for.  Brigham went back to school today and believe it or not, he was READY! 

 

And I'm ready to have a little bit more alone time to get this crazy house back to normal!

It's always that time of year

Brigham was hospitalized for his asthma on Tuesday and came home the following night.  Now that things have calmed down a bit I thought I would journal it.  I was trying to think of a clever title and all I could think about was what these pictures were telling me.  That it is always that time of year for Brigham.  Asthma suffers know that at certain times of the year, they are more prone to attacks and flair ups.  But it truly seems that for Brigham it is always that time of year for the poor guy!

Asthma can be triggered by different things and usually people just have one or a few of the major things that will induce an asthma attack ( Exercise, allergy, environmental, emotional, or sickness induced).  This guy has all of them and it's not easy to deal with.  Sometimes it can be frustrating because he seems like he is always sick.  He can cry and it will set it off.  If someone is sick in our house we have to keep him away because a common cold will bring on attacks.  He will only play baseball now for his sport because it involves the lease amount of running (and he just really likes it!).  He has been tested for many allergens and he is allergic to a ridiculous amount of things, which of course, triggers his asthma.  And the worst seems to be the pollution.  Being snug in between mountains trap in smog so when it is cold, the pollution gets trapped in the valley.  It's sad because then he can't even play outside and we are constantly running air purifiers in our house.  

Other than my family who suffers from asthma and other friends who deal with it, people just don't get it.  We miss a lot of church.  Brigham misses a lot of school.  I am picky about sick children coming into our home.  He always seems to have a runny nose because there is always something in the air that is in the high range that day.  My family can attest to you that even a trip across states will set off major asthma attacks.  It's ridiculous but the last few trips that we have made we have had him stick to bottled water because someone suggested that even changing tap waters could be a trigger for him when we are visiting far away.  Errrrrr....the more I am typing, the more irritated I am getting!  Not at him, but at how I can have 2 very healthy children who rarely get sick and how I can have 1 child that gets everything.  Doesn't seem very fair.

So to add to our ever changing "try outs" we are taking him off dairy to see if it will help lower the amount of attacks as well as his Eczema.  His Eczema has gotten real bad lately and we've been told this could help.  I was told this a long time ago actually but Brigham loves string cheese so much I just couldn't do it to him.  If I find out that no diary is the cure all I am going to be soooooo mad at myself.  Then I'll be asking myself, how could I have NOT taken away his string cheese?

Ummmm, can you tell I'm a little on edge?  Ha!

 Here he is in the doctors office on Tuesday morning.  His oxygen level was at 91 so they did a steroid treatment there in the office and sent us home with a liquid steroid prescription.  But by dinner, Brigham almost collapsed coming up the stairs.  I quickly put Levi in charge and off to the ER we went.

Here he is in the ER after they finally got his heart rate down.  As you can see, he is thrilled with the IPad that they provided him to distract him while putting in an IV.  They had to get steroids in him quickly and an IV was the best method.  They were also afraid he was dehydrated because his food and water intake haven't been great lately.  The McKay Dee Hospital ER was so quick and it really put my momma's heart at ease.

Because he had taken over 100 puffs of his rescue inhaler in little over than 24 hours, his little heart was racing.  His oxygen was at an 84 which is terrible (80 and below cause cardiac arrest as well as some organ failure) but they were most concerned with his little heart working so hard to keep going.   

 So they admitted him into the hospital.  Here he is the following night finding out that he finally gets to go home!  He was so ready.  Though I'm not sure why since they completely spoiled him!  They really did.  I sure do love that hospital!

When I went to get his new prescriptions I found this "Brigham's Brew" root beer as a reward for when he gets better....it's still in the fridge.

We went to a follow up this morning.  His oxygen is at a 91, which isn't the best, but sooooo much better.  We are just keeping him inside while his brain turns to mush while on so many electronics....but hey, he's breathing right?!

Here is a scrapbooking page of one of his first hospital stays.  He was 2 years old and hadn't been diagnosed with asthma yet.  He had double pneumonia and they were pretty sure at this point that he had asthma but didn't want to diagnose him at such an early age.  I remember hoping he would grow out of it.  I still hope that.