He's Ten!!

Tomorrow is August 1st and it was 10 years ago that my sweet boy was born! I can't believe how fast the last ten years have gone by. I can remember that day just like it was yesterday! I remember arriving at the hospital early in the morning to be started and waiting all day with no progress. Finally around four in the afternoon my doctor came and broke my water. After some intensely painful contractions, I received my epidural. That was followed by some hard pushing, and at 8:56pm my handsome baby boy, Conner Niel was born. He weighed 7 lbs and 1 oz. with a headfull of dark brown hair and blue eyes. It's funny how with your firstborn you remember even the smallest detail. Conner was such a fun baby that was spoiled by grandparents and aunts that loved him to pieces. He is so even tempered and the most polite and tenderhearted boy. I feel so lucky to have him as my son! Happy Birthday Conner!

American Idol, Surgery and Summer fun!

On the 15th a bunch of the girls that I work with took our kids to The American Idol concert at the E Center in Salt Lake. We had such an incredible time! Conner is a HUGE fan of Brooke White and cried alligator tears when she got voted off. We have downloaded all of her songs from I Tunes and listen to them quite often. Of course we are also David Archaleta fans as well! How could we not be, being from Utah? Everyone had a fantastic time even if Courtney fell asleep while the two David's sang! It was hilarious!!!

Then on the 16th we had a follow-up appointment in Layton with the doctor that did Clay's eye surgery on the 11th and 12th. The doctor told us that although the procedure that he did the previous week had worked, the retina had now detached on the bottom of his eye. Which meant major surgery the next day at St. Mark's Hospital in Salt Lake. So, we headed back down the next morning where they performed surgery on Clay's eye. The first surgery that they did in the doctors office was called a Pneumatic Retinopexy where they injected a gas bubble into the vitreous space inside the eye enabling the gas bubble to push the retinal tear back against the wall of the eye and close the tear. Then, they used a laser to secure the retina to the eye wall around the retinal tear. The procedure that they performed at the hospital is called a Vitrectomy, where the vitreous gel is removed which is pulling on the retina. Then the vitreous is replaced with a gas bubble, which filled 100% of his eye. Your body's own fluids will gradually replace this gas bubble, but the vitreous gel does not return. Luckily the procedure was outpatient so we were able to go home the same day but.... now Clay has to be positioned face down as much as possible. So that led to purchasing a massage table, because I couldn't find anyone who rents them. Unfortunatley, laying that way puts too much pressure on his eye and it puts him in a lot of pain. He tries to lay on it as much as possible but now his back and his neck are really giving him trouble. We had another appointment with a doctor in Logan today and he said that he has developed a cataract from the surgery but that everything looks great! He didn't seem to concerned because supposedly the cataract will eventually go away. It was really nice to have some positive news for a change!

Tonight Courtney decided she wanted to jump on the trampoline with the sprinkler under it! She had so much fun!

Tagged!

I was tagged by my sister, Keesha to tell 10 things about myself that you might not know about me!

1) I can't get in bed at night if the bed hasn't been made. (I usually always make the bed in the morning, but sometimes I run out of time.) Even if I'm going to bed, I will make it before I lay down.

2) I don't really like fruit. I will maybe eat an apple, watermelon or sometimes an orange and I have started liking strawberries. But other than that, I can't stand anything else. Yucky!!!

3) I love Diet Coke! I drink it with every meal, even breakfast! I will have one on my nightstand before bed and can still sleep without a problem. Sweet nectar from the Gods! :)

4) I hate yardwork! I would rather clean my whole house top to bottom than do anything in the yard. I have been forced to mow the lawn, only because I don't have a choice. If I didn't do it, I would have a forest! And I guess it's not all that bad, I have a huge yard and a nice riding lawnmower. I am severly allergic to grass so I end up with itchy eyes and a awful runny nose. But, I'll try not to complain.

5) I have a couple nicknames, my brother always called me Ellie May when I was younger and my dad calls me Weezy.

6) I have a little hole next to my right ear. It's kind of weird but I love it. My Grandpa Johnson had one too, so I figure since I never knew him, it's a little kiss from him!

7) I passed out when I got my third hole in my left ear pierced. I have passed out while I've been getting my nails done and if I kneel on my knees.

8) I'm slightly OCD. We'll that's what Clay says anyway. I will admit I'm a neat freak. I love to clean and organize! I don't go to bed at night until everything is straightened up and in it's place and when I load the dishwasher I put all of the silverware grouped together so that it's easier to put away. I even organized the same color plates and cups together. And it's very, very rare that there is ever a dish in my sink. I load the dishes in the dishwasher immediately after they are dirty!

9) At night I bathe my kids and fix Courtney's hair before she goes to bed. It makes the morning go so much smoother because all I have to do is straighten the stragglies and curl the ends of her hair. I also set out my kids' clothes the night before, which also helps the morning craziness!

10) I have started couponing. I'm not a diehard but I have learned so much from my friends and have saved soooo much money. And the bigger bonus is..... it's a lot of fun! Clay calls me Coupon Connie, and I'm proud of it!!! My pantry is stocked up and running out of room, but we are using everything that I have bought so I know it's worth it. I'm not sure if the paper boy likes delivering my five issues of the Sunday paper though. Oh well!

I tag Stacie and Lindsey!

Freezers, Detatched Retina and Camping...well kind of.

Clay's eye after two days of eye surgery. Sorry, hun!

The "Boot Tree"

Where do I begin? Well, Wednesday night I went to the freezer in the garage to get some hamburger out for dinner and realized that the freezer had quit working! Most of the food inside had started to thaw and it was a mess! I couldn't complain since we got the freezer for free about a year ago, but I was so frustrated because I have really started to fill it up! I frantically called my mom and she came up to check the temperature of the meat to see what was salvagable. I lost a bunch of chicken, frozen pizzas and microwave meals and some elk meat that I was storing for my sister. Sorry Keesh! My mom suggested that we check the outlet to make sure that it was the freezer that had quit working. I had already checked the breaker box and knew none of the breakers had tripped. Then I checked the GFI outlet in the garage and found one of them had tripped, so once I had reset it the freezer started working again! I was happy the freezer hadn't died but not looking forward to cleaning it out!

Clay had hurried home from Texas to be able to go camping and arrived early Thursday morning. Later that day, he was having some problems with his left eye and had lost about 75% of his vision. We called his eye doctor and he agreed to see us at 10:00 that night. He told us that he had a detached retina and would need to get to Salt Lake first thing in the morning for emergency surgery. So, we rushed to down to the Retina Specialists in Murray first thing Friday morning. The crazy thing is that this can happen to anyone at anytime and that the smallest thing can cause it. I know Clay was freaking out because he was so worried that he was going to be blind and it's a little difficult to drive a truck for a living when you can't see!!! The procedure that the doctors decided to do was inject a gas bubble into his eye to push the fluid out and force the retina to reattach. After injecting several needles and the gas bubble we were sent home and was asked to return again early Saturday morning to have them weld his retina with lasers. Needless to say the phrase "Cross my heart, hope to die, stick a needle in my eye" doesn't have the same meaning anymore. Clay said he'll lie all day long before he'll have another needle in his eye. (Which they did again on Saturday!!) I had the hardest time sitting in the same room while all of this was going on and knowing how much pain he was in. On top of all that he had been through he now has to sleep sitting up with his head tipped to the side to keep the gas bubble in the correct location on his eye. He still hasn't regained his sight yet.... but the doctor said it's a slow process. He will be examined again on Wednesday and we will know more then. I am hopeful that everything will be ok and he will be back to normal very soon. I don't like feeling so helpless!

Of course because of the eye surgery we weren't able to go camping this weekend. My mom and dad took the kids up on Friday night so that we could go to Salt Lake and so they would still be able to go. They had been looking forward to this trip for a couple of weeks. After I got home from the doctor on Saturday I went up to Beaver Mountain to go for a 4-Wheeler ride with the family and kids. We rode up to "the plane crash" where on January 6, 1953 a C46 plane crashed into the side of the mountain and killed 37 military passengers and 3 crewman while traveling from Seattle, WA to Fort Jackson, SC. There are still small pieces of the plane there and there is a monument that shows all of the names of the deceased. Then I took the kids and we went to find the "boot tree". It's a tree that I remember camping by as a little girl at Beaver Creek, I was always facinated by it and wanted to show the kids. It's a part of my childhood that I thought was so cool. I hope this next week is a little less eventful! :)

Fireworks, Parade and Birthdays

I've finally forced myself to sit down and post an update on my blog. I have wanted to post some pictures so I installed the software for my new Nikon digital SLR camera that my sweet hubby got me a few months ago. Thanks Clay!

Last weekend we enjoyed all of the 4th of July festivities including Hyrum City's fireworks on Wednesday night. Logan City's fireworks on Thursday night and the Hyrum City Parade on the 4th. After the parade on Friday we all went down to my parents and had a BBQ and celebrated Clay's birthday (2 weeks late). My husband drives a truck for a living and was out on the road on his birthday on June 21. He was gone for two weeks, which is the longest we've ever been apart since we've been married! We had a great, busy weekend! This next weekend we have a camping trip planned at Beaver Mountain. I am so excited to go there. When I was little my family always camped at Beaver Mountain so I'm sure that there will be some fun memories to relive for my kids as well. I can't wait to share the beautiful area with them!!!