The Last

Friday was Brandt's last swim meet of this summer.

It was the Silver County Meet.

He Swam in five events.

They were all very close races.

All the kids there were very fast.

Hence the Silver Meet.

Medley Relay

His team was DQ'd because one teammate missed touching the wall.

Too bad. 

Freestyle

Not his fasted, but he did terrific!

Backstroke

He was in the top 5!

Breast stroke

He was in the top 5!

Freestyle Relay

His team was in the top as well!

He did so amazingly well!

I am so very proud of him!

He also had so much fun.

He brought his best friend to hang out with in between races.

Some waits were nearly an hour!

A friends dad was decorating the swimmers.

So Brandt and Stetson got dragon tattoos.

It sure made it nice to figure out where Brandt was.

Especially since the boys all look alike in their suits!

Hurray Brandt for doing so well!

Now, we get to sleep in past 6am....

...at least until school starts!

Snakes

It seems that every time I go outside to try and be useful, I get scared off by none other than a SNAKE!  (They must like my raspberries and rhubarb as much as I do!)  I have only seen a snake once in our backyard since we moved out here.  However, I think I have found the problem.  The snakes are getting tangled up in our netting that we put over the berry patches so the birds don't get to eat all our yummy fruit.

This snake the kids wanted to see it and have me take pictures of it.  They were scared at first, however when the neighbor boy started helping to untangle it, they all braved up and touched it!  Yes, even Brandt held it in his hand and of course Josselyn wasn't ever scared by it at all!

Kids Cancer Crusade

Today we got a box in the mail from Kids Cancer Crusade.  Of course everyone was very excited because the box was BIG!  We opened it and inside found the makings of a party.  To do what you ask?  To celebrate Odette being a HERO and being CANCER FREE!  I think that is a good reason to celebrate!!  So we put Odette's princess crown on her head, gave her her trophy and broke open the pinata!  (Josselyn was the one who ended up pulling the right string to get it to pop open.)  And within minutes all the candy was gone and the kids were trying to figure out how to repair the pinata so that we could do it again.  Thanks Kids Cancer Crusade for such a fun package!

Getting Healthier

Odette is starting to eat a little healthier

Favorites:

1. Dark Chocolate (I know that is the healthiest kind!)

2. Graham Crackers

3. Ranch Dressing

4. Corn

5. Guacamole  

and something new as of today...tootsie rolls 

Now to get the fruit in there and we are good! 

Play we Have

While Odette was really sick, I would always wonder how I would feel when we got the all clear.  Would I still freak out every time her temperature started to climb?  Would I even dare to take her shopping anywhere?  What if someone coughed in the same area as us, would I run away?  I know, pretty cheesy, but those are things I would do when she was sick.  However, I have found that I have relaxed and my mind is at peace and we have been able to play.

WE DID FIREWORKS

A couple of times.  The best ones were the flashy ones.  The kids could dance around and their shadows showed up on the house.  It was cool!  And of course watching the fireworks from our porch is always great...you can see the entire Utah county doing them!

PLAYED IN THE WATER WITH FRIENDS

We have done this at least three times, I just was too lazy to take pictures each time.  I think we need to invest in the big blow-up water toy.  The kids sure do love them!

WENT TO THE POOL

Odette didn't get in since she was still on her feeding tube and who knows what is in public pools water!  She didn't seem to mind as long as she had one of the water toys to play with.

HUNG OUT WITH SOME AWESOME COUSINS

Our cousins got a new playground for a surprise.  They were nice and invited us over to try it out with them.  It was way fun!

ODETTE SURE DOES LOVE OREO!

Oreo is our cousins dog.  He is just the right size for Odette.  She was so soft playing with him and feeding him grass.  She even gave him kisses.  I am sure they will be good play buddies, until Odette gets bigger!

WENT TO THE ZOO

Had to go before our pass expired that we got since we "lived" so close to it.  Now, I think it will be good enough to visit it just once a year as we have done in the past.  It was fun to see the baby elephant out playing this time!  All the kids loved the elephants.

MADE THE BIGGEST SNOW CONES EVER!

They sure were yummy and yes, the boys ate it all gone!

And there is still a long list of things we want to do.  Guess we better hurry since school isn't too far off!

What do they have in common?

Cheetos

Dr. Suess book

Ketchup

Cheddar Cheese

Ranch dressing

Refrigerator Magnets

Graham Crackers

Toast and Butter

Blanket

Alfredo Sauce

Peanut Butter

Baby Soap

Soft Serve Ice Cream

Marshmallows

Sippy Cup

Pistachio Salad

Guacamole Dip

Josselyn's finger

Spagettios

Pizza Goldfish

Cinderella

Grapes

Yogurt

Mom's shoulder

French Fries

Sour Cream

Salsa

Yellow Marker

Cream Cheese

Water

Limon Potato Chips

A gallon of whole milk

Dove Dark Chocolate

Noodles

Did you figure out what they all have in common?

These are all things that have been in Odette's mouth this week!

Some of them have been licked.

Some of them just bit.

Some smashed up and thrown on the floor.

And some of them have been swallowed A LOT!

A LOT as in enough to have....

{drum roll}

NO FEEDING TUBE!

Odette really is a walking (almost talking) miracle.

She is an answer to my prayers.

She shows me your prayers are answered.
The Dr. said to expect December before she would eat anything.
Many said it could be a few years and a G-tube is in her near future.

However,

Many of you have been praying for her to start eating.

AND SHE IS!

Now, there should be no talk of a G-tube.

Not another surgery.

Just more living the normal two-year old life!

Thank you for praying for and having faith in Odette's behalf!

 

Pioneer Day

Yesterday we celebrated Pioneer day.  It was a wonderful relaxing day spent with family and friends.  In the morning we were in the neighborhood parade.  I couldn't convince Brandt to dress up at all, however all us girls dressed up in some pioneer costumes.  We made Kathleen a horse by taping her stick horse to her scooter.  It was a very cool horse.  We made it walking through most of the parade and got breakfast at the end-YUM!  At the end of the celebration the kids were  pleased to know that they had won a prize for "The best Get-up!"  The best prize for me was that we got to drive home...we had walked, and walked and walked and walked already!  I definitely wouldn't have made it as a real pioneer!

Later in the afternoon, we went over to be part of our friends in American Fork celebrations.  We swam and played on a huge blow up water toy.  We had yummy food and did lots of fireworks, that had a big explosion in the middle!  The kids had a lot of fun playing with kids their age.  Even Odette got wet!  I think I have another fish in the family!!

Perfect Vision

I have heard that when you look back on life you have Perfect Vision.
20/20
You can see your mistakes.

Your happiness.

Your miracles.
Everything Clearly.

So I wanted the kids to look over the past year.

I wanted them to see all the happy things.

Not have a year that they wrote off as a nightmare.

A year of miracles and blessings.

Here is the list of the miracles and blessings that we came up with.

It was great to see through the eyes of my children.

• Made new friends both old and young
• Got to go to girl scouts and sold the most cookies
• Playing at the fun zone at the hospital
• Learned a lot about cancer and surgeries
• Got to work hard
• Learned gratitude for those who help us
• I know my prayers are answered.  Sometimes in silly ways.
• I have faith
• My testimony is much stronger
• I am braver than I thought I was
• I loved my new Grandmas that came every morning
• Went to Disneyland with my cousins
• Tried new foods from neighbors.
• Learned responsibility
• Still had everything that we needed even with expensive bills
• Odette is a fighter and special
• We still got to go to church each Sunday
• We were more healthy this year than normal
• Went to the zoo A LOT
• We can do hard things with the Lord's help
• We are loved unconditionally
• Cancer does and will always suck.

I am sure the list could go on, however that was the end of their attention span. 

I was amazed and humbled by the list of things the kids came up with. 

Truly they are very special spirits.  

Blessing come in all shapes and sizes.

Miracles do happen.

Happiness can be found in difficult times.

Just take a minute to look back with your perfect vision.

First Monday

Today was our very first Monday with Odette being CANCER FREE!  It is kind of a weird feeling after the past 56 weeks of not being so.  Our very thoughtful neighbors brought over a sign that they had people sign on and a big bunch of ORANGE balloons!  How very blessed we are!

 And even though we aren't wearing orange for Odette anymore, there are still plenty of kiddos out their fighting a good fight!  Please continue to show your support for them!

HopeKids

HopeKids is a group that our family has been involved with for a short time.  It has been wonderful and we only wish we would have discovered it sooner.  It is a network of families that have children with life threatening illnesses.  We are able to talk to and be a support to one another.  The other nice thing is that they try and bring HOPE to the families by providing activities for the kids to look forward to.  The activities vary from movies to arcades to ice skating.  The kids absolutely love this group.  Their motto: HOPE IS A POWERFUL MEDICINE is so very true.  This time the kids got to play at My Gym.  What fun they all had just using their imagination and all the fun "toys" they had available!