4th of July and Swimming Lessons

I know, like almost a month late on this one, but here are some pictures from our 4th of July celebrations. We started the day with the Inkom Parade.

Here are the kids waiting for it to start. I got Link to look for this picture, but Corgin is hidden.

 There is Corgin, but of course Link isn't looking for this one.

 Grandma got the kids Pop-its to throw while they waited. They had lots of fun.

 Waiting between floats. See that their bags are already heavy with candy (except for Link, he didn't care much about the candy).

 With almost all their cousins.

 After the parade we had lunch and played water games. I forgot to get out my camera for that because I was too busy playing and having fun.

Then we were off to my Aunt Joanna's for dinner and fireworks. Link was a little scared at first, especially of the fireworks that made a lot of noise, but once he figured out that he would be okay, he loved them.

 And we had to let the kids play with Sparklers. Here is Corgin.

 And Link.

We also put Corgin in swimming lessons this summer. The instructor heard Link crying and told me that she wanted some time with him too, so he also got a few lessons. Here are some pictures of the boys at swimming lessons.

Link getting rings.

More rings.

Floating on his back.

Corgin's turn to get rings.

Corgin floating on his back.

Time to go off the diving board. Corgin didn't want to at first and she had to give him a little help.

After a few times, he decided he could do it himself and he did.

Here are a few videos of the boys during their swimming lessons.

Link floating on his back.

He may have cried almost the whole time, but he knew what was expected of him and he did it.

Corgin going down the slide (another thing he was afraid to do at first).

Corgin going off the diving board.

These last videos are from the last day of their swimming lessons. They were asking me if we could go today and telling me how much they love their instructor, so I definitely think the lessons were a success! Looking forward to next year.

Here's Link.

And here's Corgin.

Next up, our vacation to Dworshak!

T-Ball and Other Fun

So, Corgin is playing T-ball. Here are some pictures of his first game.

Here he is up to bat.

 Swing! And a miss. Time to get the tee.

 He hit it off the tee and is running to first.

 He ran home, but had to have his coach tell him to touch home base.

 Playing in the field. It was hot this day and he kept putting his mitt on his head.

 Or he played in the dirt.

 Team photo. He's the shortest one in the front in the red shorts.

 Link spends most games hanging out with his Grandma Kristi.

 Or running around checking things out.

 My adorable boys!

 Clint's been busy around our house. He repainted the boys' room and put together the bunk beds he built. Now we have Corgin and Link together in the same room so we can get the baby's room done.

 One day we were cutting some things out of vinyl and Clint made the boys some vinyl mustaches. Corgin didn't ever want to take his off. He thought it was so fun.

 I asked Link to go get his shoes and put them on one day. He came back with Clint's shoes on instead. He even got the ones that matched and put them on the right feet.

 Clint helped me make some freezer jam the other day. We have been getting Bountiful Baskets and had some fruit we had to get used up. I thought we did pretty good for our first try.

 We also got us an upgrade on our vehicle. We went from our Jeep Commander to a Suburban, or as the kids called it the other day, the new bus. Clint and I agreed that if we couldn't get our payments where we wanted them then we would just walk away. We almost did a couple times, but then the dealer came back and gave us what we wanted, so we were pleased. We keep finding new features that make us pretty excited that we got it.

And that is what we have been up to lately.

We've Been Busy!

So, Blogger loaded my pictures opposite of how it did before, so they are out of order. Anyway, I guess I'll start at the end to match the pictures. We went to Utah. The last night we were there, Clint and I went to a Real Salt Lake soccer game. It was lots of fun.

 We also took the boys to Hogle Zoo earlier that day. Here they are getting a ride on the merry-go-round. They were pretty spoiled on our little trip down to Utah.

 Riding in the stroller at the Zoo.

 Link on the train ride.

 Corgin on the train ride.

 The day before that, we took them to Chuck E. Cheese's. They had a blast! Here they are on a ride together.

 And earlier that day we took them to the museum at Hill Air force Base. They had a helicopter that was open for people to go in, so here are my boys hanging out the window.

 Corgin ran ahead of us and was always checking things out and telling us to hurry so we could come look at this or that.

 He was always pointing things out, making sure we didn't miss any of the cool planes and things.

 Outside, I actually got both boys to hold still and look at the camera at the same time. They had so much fun running around all the huge airplanes.

 Attempting to get them to hold still for another picture.

 Link tried to keep up with Corgin, but he was too fast (he's all the way over by the double helicopter).

 Before our little trip to Utah, we got the celebrate Clint's birthday. Doesn't he look so happy to be 30?

 A few days before Clint's birthday, we got to find out whether we are having a boy or a girl. The ultrasound showed that it's a GIRL!

 Here she is!

 We also had a few nice days to play in the sun. The boys liked jumping on the tramp at my mom's after playing in the water.

 We even had one day toward the end of April or the beginning of May that was nice enough to take out our new toys. Clint's parents and us each bought a jet ski with our tax returns. They turned out to be a matched set, even though we got them at different places. You can see them both in this picture. One is a two seater for the crazy riders and the other is a three seater for the kids and the more conservative drivers.

 The boys had fun riding the jet skis and playing in the water and sand. Here is my Corgin man.

 And my Linkers.

 Both of them played so hard and got covered in sand, but they were the happiest little boys!

So, as you can see, we have been keeping ourselves very busy and we have more fun things planned already to keep us busy all summer. We love the sun!

Link's Birthday, Among Other Things

So, it's been a crazy month. My mom got very sick and was in the hospital for almost two weeks. She was admitted on her 50th birthday (we told her that just because she was getting old didn't mean she had to start falling apart) to Bingham Memorial for spinal meningitis. They did a lumbar puncture and took blood to culture. They kept her from the 12-16 with her cultures coming back negative for meningitis. Her doctor told her she was "unlucky enough to have a stiff neck" and sent her home in more pain than she was in when she was first admitted and told her to follow up in a week.

Five hours later, my dad took her to the ER at EIRMC. They did a CT scan and would have done an MRI right away, but they thought they would have to remove a BB from her cheek. My dad convinced them that it wasn't steel, it was lead, and they did the MRI. The doctor that was overseeing my mom told her that there was definitely something there, but it was "weird". He assembled a group of doctors which included him, an infectious disease specialist, an Ear Nose and Throat doctor, a neurosurgeon, a radiologist, and a few other doctors. They were able to determine that it was an epidural abscess and once they knew that they prepped my mom for surgery right away.

The surgery went well, but it was worse than they thought once they got in there so they had to do a little more than what they originally planned. They went in through her throat and removed the front half of C-6 and part of C-7. They then vacuumed out and scraped out the infection. They replaced the removed vertebrae with a titanium cage, plate, screws, and a graft from her hip. She felt so much better after surgery than she had before. The doctor that performed the procedure told my parents the next day that at the rate her abscess was growing, she would have been paralyzed within 12 hours and then eventually died and had it ruptured she would have been gone.

Anyway, she is home now and doing well. She has to wear a neck brace and has to have antibiotics administered through a PIC line for another month or more. Very scary, but we are so glad for good doctors who were definitely answers to our prayers.

Then, on the 27th, my little Linkers turned two! We celebrated a couple days later, but let him open two gifts on his actual birthday. Here are some pictures.

Then he got to open some presents when we partied too.

And of course we had to have cake.

I think that he enjoyed his birthday and I can't believe he's not my little baby anymore. Where does that time go. He also had a well check and is in the 25th percentile for his height and 10th for his weight. He's just growing up so fast. Tomorrow he goes in for an echo cardiogram to make sure the heart murmur he has isn't caused by a valve problem or a hole in his heart. So keep him in your prayers and I will post again when we know more about that.

On a different and very happy note, we are expecting Simonson baby #3 in October! We find out in a couple weeks if we are having another boy or a girl. Corgin told us that he knows it's a girl. When I asked him how he knows, he said "because I asked Heavenly Father." He's very excited and has shared the news with everyone! Another cute Corgin story: He was riding his scooter in the basement the other day while Clint was working. Clint hears him saying, "And Chicken Bullion wins the race!" And so Clint asked him about chicken bullion and he replied, "That's my racing name." So funny. I love my kids!!!