Smile!

A Spectacular Day

The entire family spent another Sunday at Alta under a perfect blue sky. Charlet hates the cold but fought through today's low temps for the boys. It was 16 degrees when we got on our first chair at 9 am but warmed up nicely as the day went on.

Andrew finished week three with his AYC team. He's skiing so well and enjoying new friends and challenges. His group is together from 9:30 to 3:30 so they access the entire mountain by day's end. I love to hear him talk of the runs they took throughout the day when we take our 3:30 run together. And I laugh when he talks about all the steep runs they'll get to eventually.

Benjamin skied with Charlet and me all day and was terrific. We moved out of the Albion Basin at mid-day and were amazed at how well Benj handled tougher trails off the Sugarloaf and Supreme lifts. These lifts access two of Alta's highest peaks and Benj took on the weather and the pitch like a pro. We were so proud of him - 5 years old and there he was making great turns down blue runs from 10,500 feet.

These pictures are from the top of Sugarloaf, looking west across the Wasatch.

Benjamin's 1st Run of the Season

Benj is skiing great today. And I'm Blackberry blogging from Alta.

53 Places to go in 2008

This NY Times list of The 53 Places to go in 2008 is great for daydreaming on a snowy, winter morning.

Happy Birthday Asher John Oberkirch!!

Our dear friends, Jen and Gabe, have welcomed their first child, Asher John Oberkirch, into the world. Asher and Jen are doing great, and we're sure that Gabe can't stop smiling. Congratulations, Jen and Gabe!

Happy Holidays

Happy Holidays!

Sledding

First snow - first sledding!

Finally!

Woke up to snow today.

Alta Youth Club Tryouts!

Last weekend, we headed up Little Cottonwood Canyon so Andrew's skiing ability could be assessed by the coaches who run the Alta Youth Club. Andrew (and 30 other new AYC applicants) got to ski Alta before it opened for the season so the coaches could determine if he was a strong enough skier to join the program. This was the first time Andrew had skied on his own so we were all a little nervous. And the icy, man-made conditions didn't help.

Andrew made the cut after skiing very well so he'll spend the next 14 Sundays skiing Alta with great instructors and the same group of 7 and 8 year olds. Benjamin is scheduled to join Alta's Jr. Explorer program in January for 7 weeks of Sunday sessions. Once they're both involved in their programs, Charlet and I will get to spend more time skiing together - just the two of us.

It should be an incredible winter!

The Greatest Snow On Earth?

Utah's ski industry has branded Utah as home to The Greatest Snow On Earth. Andrew and I spent the day after Thanksgiving skiing Solitude (the only mountain that had enough man-made snow to open). As I'm from New England, I'm used to icy, man-made conditions. But Andrew was not too comfortable on this stuff. We had a great time anyway.

No November Snow

We spent November waiting for snow. Utah ski resorts typically open mid-November, but through Thanksgiving, just one resort had opened.

Happy 8th Birthday Andrew!

Andrew celebrated his 8th birthday November 3rd. He had a pool party with his friends and a family party at the house.

New England Visit

We wrapped up a great New England visit in mid-October after spending a week visiting with family and friends. It was great to see everyone and especially nice for the boys to spend time with their east coast family.

We all had fun at the Fryeburg Fair, did some hiking in the White Mountain National Forest, spent the day at Story Land, went off the technology grid (and had a fantastic breakfast) in Hubbardton, Vermont, and traveled many, many miles of highway during peak foliage season.

Catching Up

We're obviously not good at keeping this blog current. It's been a couple months since either of us has posted anything here. I'll add a few "catch up" posts this morning to bring things up to date.

Home Sweet Home

We're spending a week in my home town, Bartlett, New Hampshire.

Andrew & Benjamin 1st day school 07

Andrew and Benjamin in their first day of school get up. Andrew is in the stage where he avoids me and the camera, this was the only shot where he looks half way happy. Benjamin is in love with anything camoflauge. He first day attire included a camo shirt, belt, shoes and back pack. I wouldn't let him wear his camo pants.

Kids started school & family update

Last week was Benjamin's first week of kindergarten and Andrew's second week of second grade. Both kids are enjoying school and the the new experiences that come with it. Andrew has an excellent teacher who is willing to go beyond and seems very patient with working with him and his hand. Writing has been hard. Benjamin has the same teacher Andrew had in kindergarten (Mrs. Homer) and we love her. I'll post photos soon of the boys and their cute backpacks on their first day.

We are still working with Andrew and his hand with an occupational therapist. This past week his hand has been hyper sensative and we are looking at that as a good thing, perhaps the feeling is coming back? The sensativity makes it very hard to work with his hand. He keeps asking why we are always "punishing him" when we start his therapy. It's hard for a seven year old to understand that even though it's unpleasant it's a good thing.

Some exciting family news to share. Geoff and Kylene are pregnant and expecting their first baby in February and just today we found out Beau and Nicki are also pregnant and expecting baby number four in April or May 08. Very cool.

The family is looking forward to another small vacation in October. We will visit Grammy and family New Hampshire and hopefully friends in Vermont. I'll finally get to see the leaves change (fingers crossed), in all the trips back east I have never been lucky enough to catch it. Always visit a bit too early. I'll bring my camera and share photos.

Soon I'd like to personalize the blog a bit more but I need to call on Geoff's skills to help me out. Make it look a bit better with some fancy design and stuff. I'll make this a goal and we'll see what happens. Have a great week.

The Intrepid Photographer

The Intrepid Photographer!

Tigger

Charlet and the boys met Tigger at Disneyland.

Back from vacation!

We made it back from vacation. It was a much needed break from all the summer madness and health mishaps. We started our driving vacation in the Redwoods (drove our car through a tree) and from there continued down the PC HWY and camped at various coastal stops. We went to a Giants game (they lost) and to the Monteray Aqurium. We finished camping at Malibu beach (ghetto campground) before our 3 day trip to Disney and California Adventure. We wore ourselves out but were able to come home to three more glorious days off. Life returns to normal on Aug 20.

We're home!

Andrew was released from the hospital Tuesday afternoon. The cellulitis has not developed and abscess so, for now, his treatment is a two week course of oral antibiotics (4 huge pills each day).

He's looking and feeling pretty normal. His rash has faded considerably and his fever is gone. After taking it easy in the afternoon, Andrew was riding his bike and playing with friends last night.

Thanks, everyone, for your support this past week! It meant a lot to all of us.

A Good Day

The day began with great news from Andrew's MRI exam. The antibiotics seem to be doing their job as Andrew's infection has clearly not affected the bone or tissue in his arm. The lead pediatrician told us that he had been expecting the opposite result - that an abscess would have developed in the tissue that would require surgery. Thankfully, the cellulitis appears to be superficial, after all.

Andrew spent the day watching movies and playing video games. He seems to feel much better than he has but he's still running a fever. His rash has both faded and expanded (strange). And the pain in Andrew's lymph nodes is less.

Benjamin is off tonight to spend a few days with Grandma and Grandpa Brooks. He's excited about that.

We're hopeful that Andrew will be able to avoid surgery and that we can treat the infection with continued use of antibiotics. We'll know more as lab results come back and the PCMC teams make their rounds in the morning. Another day like this and we may be home!

MRI Scheduled

The bacterial infection Andrew's dealing with is known as cellulitis. Cellulitis may be superficial, or it may affect deeper tissues. When cellulitis affects the deeper tissues, it may spread to lymph nodes and the bloodstream. Andrew will have a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) exam this evening to determine the extent of his cellulitis.

A Nasty Infection

We're back at Primary Children's Medical Center as Andrew has been admitted with a serious left arm infection. We're completely surprised (and frustrated) by this as he had been recovering so well from the break and vascular surgery he had in May.

Andrew began complaining of pain in his arm yesterday afternoon. Charlet took him to our pediatrician, who referred us to the PCMC ER. When we arrived, Andrew was running a high fever and had developed a small rash around the surgical scar on his left arm. By 11 pm, the rash had grown exponentially and the fever had not subsided. He was admitted late last night and began a treatment of IV antibiotics.

Today, we’ve met with many surgeons, docs, and specialists (infectious disease folks, vascular folks, orthopedic docs, tissue specialists, and pediatricians), each one trailed by three or four med students. They’re still not sure what the infection is, but have ruled out one or two of the worst case scenarios. Two more and we’re down to just a nasty skin infection; treatable by a two week cycle of IV antibiotics, to be administered in our home (yikes!).

We'll probably be here another day at least. And we're desperately hoping to avoid another surgery to explore and/or remove the infection.

July 4th

A little late but here is a photo from our front yard firework extravaganza. The kids had a good time.

I've also added a picassa album of images from the 4th & 5th of July. We celebrated Grandma LaRue's birthday at the Brigham city pool. All the family (Shawn & Lisa, Geoff & Ky, Beau & Nicki) was in town and it was nice to see everyone and have all the kids play together.

Andrew Physical Therapy

Andrew started physical therapy this week for his arm. He has many exercises to preform daily on his arm and hand, as well as a massage routine. The therapist did some nerve tests on his hand and he has little if no feeling on the bottom of his hand starting around the wrist. Also, no strength in the hand, we will work on his grip. We hope the exercises will improve his strength and allow the nerves to regrow into his hand. The therapist seemed to think it might take a few more months but she was hopeful.

We visit the orthopedic surgeon on Wednesday and perhaps he will refer us to a doctor to help with the nerve damage. The therapist will also be at the appointment. From a bone perspective his arm is healing nicely.

We met with the vascular surgeon last week and the bypass is also healing well. No scar tissue so far. We will follow up every three months for the next year to be sure no scar tissue develops.

We'll keep everyone updated with Andrew's progress.

Other news: The summer is passing quickly, garden is growing and the kids are enjoying sport camps. More soon, Charlet

It's Hot!

Good thing we live close to the Alta Canyon pool.

Skiing

We all had a great time skiing this past winter, spending most weekends at Alta.

The season got off to a great start with a mid-November opening day. Andrew ditched his edgie wedgie on the first run of the year and Benj quickly started to use poles. Charlet and I skied more than we had in years and it felt great.

By April, Andrew had mastered several blue runs and had made it down a black diamond trail or two. Benjamin finally agreed to make a few turns on his way down the hill. And both boys managed to keep from breaking anything during their frequent attempts at tree skiing.

We're sure anxious for snow. Too bad it's only June.

Backyard Path

Here are a few pictures of our backyard pathway and side yard project we began working on this spring. It took about four weekends of working Saturdays to complete. The plants are starting to come in strong and we have harvested a few strawberries.

Boys at the Bear Lake beach

Weekend at Bear Lake

Family took a short trip up to Bear Lake for the weekend to see mom and dad. Always nice to get away and slow things down for a bit. The boys had a good time and so did Samson. Andrew is working on getting feeling back into his hand a trying to move that arm, time and patience. Benjamin spent time flinging sand into the water at the beach. We had an awesome dutch oven dinner and smores for dessert. Good times.

Biker Bros

KITE BENJA