The Ellsworths

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Lake Marion

Our last trip of the summer was to Lake Marion, South Carolina. This was our Ellsworth/Brallier reunion. The lake was beautiful, but because of the drought it was really low. You could see tops of trees pokin up through the water and you couldn't see that until you were close. So it was a little nerve racking to drive the boat around. But Mike learned if you stayed in the channel you were ok. The weather was HOT and MUGGY! So we were eith on the lake, in the pool or hanging out in the condo. We'd wake up early, wakeboard, come home eat, swim, nap and then go back out on the boat in the evening and then play salad until bedtime. We had a great time. Very relaxing.

Braxton

Playing in the water

Good Morning Dad!

Hailey loves to sleep. If she doesn't get enough in the night, she'll fit it in somehow in the day.

Hailey learned to wakeboard.

Charleston is only an hour away, so Jarom, Liina and Hanele were able to come out and stay with us for a couple of days.

Jarom, Hanele and Braxton in the background. The current was so strong that it was easy to get pulled away from the boat.

Getting ready to head out for some morning wakeboarding.

Utah 2011

Our first trip this summer was to Utah for the Hanson Family Reunion. When we landed in Salt Lake and walked outside to get our car, the weather was beautiful! Then a cold front came in and it was FREEZING!!! I only packed for summer weather, so we were huddled in blankets. But, in true Utah form, it warmed back up and it was that dry, hot weather I look forward to. We went up to Park city again for our reunion, and as usual, the kids had a blast. It seems like yesterday that I was running around with my cousins at reunions. Oh to be young again. We were also able to spend time with Grandma Cheryl and Aunt Traci, and the Colemans. We also were able to do a picnic with some of my highschool friends. It was a fun filled trip, and I can't wait to do it again next year.

The boys rented bikes and did some biking in the mountains.

Most of the grandchildren

Logan and Mike relaxing in the hot tub

Swimming in the pool at the Silver King Lodge

Kim and Kerry

Happy Logan

We always have to go to the pool by Stacy's at least once or twice while we are out there. The boys getting dumped on by "the bucket"

Aunt Stacy putting Logan to sleep, as you can see, she's good at it.

Saturday, July 2, 2011

5th Grad Graduation

This was Braxton's last year in Elementary school. Since he is moving to Middle School next year, the fifth grade holds a "graduation" ceremony to send the kids off. There were 5 classes that were graduating, so it ran a little long, but it was neat and a little sad to see Braxton take this step in his life.

Walking to recieve his medal of achievement.

Logan's not happy because Mike accidentally bumped his head on the wall as we were having the picture taken. Poor thing....

The 4 muskateers...Jared, Braxton, Brody and Zach. They have no idea how much different life is going to be next year...

Friday, July 1, 2011

Baseball and Ballet

Another season of baseball come and gone....Braxton played third base again and outfield when there was a strong batter up to bat. They had a pretty good season 5 wins 4 loses, I think. Our team made it to the tournament, but lost our first game, which went into overtime three times. It was a really close game, but the other team took the win. Braxton had a great time playing and did pretty good this year. He had some really good plays, the best one of the season was when the batter hit the ball, Braxton was on third, and the ball was going to be a foul ball, but Braxton ran up, slammed against the fence and caught the ball. Everyone was on their feet cheering, it was awesome!

Up to bat

Third base

Hailey did another year of Ballet and Tap. Her recital was in May and she started talking about "dancing on the stage" in about September. She was very excited when recital time actually arrived. I don't even know what the show was about, but Hailey did a great job. It seemed like she got it this year.

She was a music box dancer this year.

Grandpa Ellsworth drove down to see her performance and spend the weekend with us.

Orlando with the Sampsons

Well, we did it....we all survived (all 12 of us) living together for almost 3 years under one roof. The Sampsons were getting ready to move down to Florida, so we thought it would be fun to take a trip together before they left. While we were down there we went to the Magic Kingdom for a day and hung out at the resort pools. The kids had a blast! It was a great way to end this journey.

The Clan

Mike and I waiting for the kids at the autobaun

Mickey's Philarmagic

Small World

Pirate's of the Carribean

Watching the parade

Nicole's super excited for the magic carpet ride...

Nicole and I left just before the firework show to take the boys home.

Swimmin at the pool

Mike and Logan in the lazy river

Downtown Disney

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Easter

We got in our Easter best and took pictures before church. Since this was our last year with the Sampson's we decided to do some combined family photos. After church we had the Crosby's and the Maddox's over for dinner and our annual honey baked ham....YUM!!

The crew

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

3 surgeries and Spring Break 2011

The past few months have been long and very trying, to say the least. I've had problems with kidney stones since I was 22, so it's not a surprise when I have an attack, or have to have surgery, especially after a pregnancy. However, this go around has been the longest most frustrating occurance I've ever had. The last couple of months of my pregnancy I'd had pain with stones and passed a couple, so I knew I was going to have to see the Urologist after I had the baby. He found several stones all passable on their own except for two, one in the right kidney and one in the left. So we planned our first lythotripsy procedure and all went well. The stone was broken up and we were just waiting for the fragments to pass. But they never did and I was having a lot of pain. But the Dr couldn't see anything on the xrays or the ct scan that would explain all of the pain. So, I thought maybe it was just residual pain from the surgery. I decided to wait a month to recover and get ready for the next lythotripsy. Still had pain all through the month and spent many days in bed and made a trip to the ER with fever and chills and pain thinking my kidney was blocked....nope just stomach bug along with kidney issues (that was a long night) Anyway, it came time for the lithotripsy on the otherside and instead of following my instincts and take care of the issues on my right side I went ahead with the lithotripsy. After the surgery the Dr didn't seem very hopeful that it worked. Apparently the size and location of the stone didn't make for a great candidate for the procedure (I wish they'd told me that before). At this point I was feeling very frustrated with my Dr, that the communication just wasn't there or the empathy for what I was going through. I realize that he deals with 100's of patients, but my life was pretty much on hold because of this. I was at the point of once again switching Dr's. Several nights spent on my knees asking Heavenly Father what to do. I decided that I would switch Dr's. I planned to go to my postop appt. and then switch. The Dr confirmed that lythotripsy didn't work and said basically I just have to wait for the stone to try to pass and block my kidney, and then he can do a basket retrieval. He was just going to send me on my way when I felt compelled to talk to him, I explained that I was still having a lot of pain and that I knew something was wrong eventhough he couldn't see anything on the xray. I explained that I have been doing this for a long time and I am a mother of 3, one of which is a baby and I can't live in bed any longer. And then he said the magic words..."I'm smart enough to know that I don't know everything." my opinion of him changed right there. He set up a ureteroscopy for the next week to hopefully be able to see what was wrong. The date was set for the day before we were to leave for Florida...risky, but I'd rather possibly feel better than definately feel crapy. He did the procedure and found what they call a ureteral stricture, basically a narrowing of the ureter, in my case due to scar tissue from trama to the ureter. (which can't be seen on an xray) So he ballooned it open and put in a stent. Recovery was pretty rough and we ended up leaving a day later than planned, but I now feel so much better! (I've actually had this procedure done before on the same side) Wow, this has turned out to be a really long story.....sorry....Moral is..trust your gut. If a Dr is a good one he knows that he doesn't know everything!

Now onto the fun stuff.....The perfect end to the story, a trip to West Palm Beach, Florida. We were lucky enough to get a condo from Mike's Mom and Step-dad for the week of Spring Break. We were in a new place this year, which was beautiful! Our good friends the Maddox's came down with us. We all had a great time. It was a much needed vacation!

The cute kids...

Mike and Logan ready for a morning walk.

I love this one....looks like Logan hugging Hailey and Braxton.

Seth, Ella and Hailey waiting for the water taxi to Peanut Island.....I don't know what's going on with Hailey's hair.

He was such a good baby, very content, loved the sand!!! We bought a little tent to put him in on the beach to nap and be protected from the sun and wind. I layed him in it to nap and after about 30 minutes I see his little hand sticking out the door playiing in the sand.