Special Olympic's torch run

Both grand babies were asleep, so TJ took Alex on a little outing. The Special Olympics torch was running it's last leg today and part of that was in Sandy. They were all policemen /women and they had stops throughout the valley, including Sandy City Hall so TJ and Alex were there to see it AND...

...Alex got to hold it! What an honor!! Hopefully when he's recovered he can participate in an event.

A little 'Alex humor' to share; one of the officers came to shake Alex's hand and Alex said,

"Look at his nose! It's big!" Of course his speech was perfect. Thank goodness the gentleman said, "I know! It's different. It makes me look unique!" Then he introduced himself - Ish. To which Alex replied, "That's a weird name!" Leave it to Alex!!

Elder Mark Johnson

This is one of Alex's best friends - Mark Joseph Johnson. (Mark's dad is Alex's other best friend!!) Mark is leaving today for a mission in Spain for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. He will be a fantastic missionary, and we are so proud of his decision to go on a mission.

Mark has always been a good friend to Alex. He seems to know when to say "knock it off" or "way to go!" at the appropriate times. Mark has been a big help through this whole hip ordeal; he took Alex laser tagging before the surgery and pushed him around in his chair, and before we got a ramp up our front stairs Mark was always available to help me get Alex in and out of the house. And this past week he has come over a couple of times to be a distraction for Alex, and give me a few minutes to put dishes in the dishwasher, or feed a baby.

Mark is only 19 years old and is taking 2 years out of his life to serve the Lord in Spain, but he knows - and I know - that he will be greatly blessed because of his service of teaching those who want to know more about the gospel. He will learn to love the people of Spain as well as their culture and history and in 2 years he will consider Spain to be his home.

We are so glad we live across the street from Elder Johnson(s) and that Alex has such great friends!

A nice day for a picnic...

Today was the first day that Alex and I ventured out in the car without Mike's help, and we did great!!

Mike went with us last night to Walmart to get Alex's haircut - hence the reason he looks like a Buddhist monk - and today Alex and Brendon and I went to Al's school to see his classmates. When we got home, it was such a nice day we ate a picnic lunch outside.

Let's hope for more nice days to follow!!

The mystery....?

Today while we were eating lunch I asked Taylor what was wrong with her hair. I said, "You have a short piece in the back."

"Maybe I burned off a little with the blow dryer." she answered.

"No. I don't think so. You might want to check it out." I replied.

"AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" she yelled very loudly while the rest of us just laughed in the kitchen. It's one of those things you have to laugh at or you would cry.

She has no idea how or when it happened, but it is definitely not just a few hairs that got broken off with styling. I think she is offering a reward for anyone with information to the whereabouts of her chunk of hair. Watch for upcoming Unsolved Mysteries shows for any details I may have left out.

I think our lives have officially changed!

Not that we had a boring life, or even an uneventful one, but check out the picture and see what I mean by our lives have changed.

Yup. That's our oldest granddaughter opening a drawer and getting into things. I had Oakland in the high chair and was feeding her while Morgan was toddling around in the walker and then she discovered this thing opens, and WOW! Treasures!

I guess it's time to make a drawer filled with stuff for them to play with in it, and lock all the others. The only problem with those locks are I have a hard time opening anything with them on it.

Hey!! That might help the diet!!

Look mom! I'm on my tummy!!

Alex is doing so good!!

Here's a picture of Alex just chillin' in his bed, playing with 'guys'. Notice he's on his side! He rolls all over the place. He is getting better at helping me help him; he slides to the edge of the bed and helps move his body to the wheelchair, or from the wheelchair to the bed, he helps with toileting, and he's getting better at eating without my help. That sounds funny, but his cast goes so high up on his chest it's hard to see past to get the food if his plate is sitting on his stomach, and if I put the plate up on the cast on his chest, it sits above his head and he can't see what he's getting. Josh made a ramp for the front steps for me because with this added extra weight of the cast, and the extra length of the wheelchair (it has to recline to accommodate the angle of his cast), I was having a hard time getting him in and out of the house. And I think the most amazing part of this to me is he has had NO pain meds. Not even any Tylenol. This kid has such a high threshold of pain!!

Now if I pan back a bit in the picture, you will see Alex's 'bedroom' is now in our living room! His wheelchair is so long it won't make the corner into his bedroom! So, we've officially become white trash and have a bed and dresser in our living room! We brought up a TV from the basement that sits at the end of his bed so he can watch movies or play video games, and I emptied his dresser then moved it into the living room so I could put toys, markers, notebooks and coloring books in it so even though we are white trash, we can be tidy white trash. I'm sure every day we will make adjustments, but so far so good!

Now we just need to figure out how I'm going to get him in and out of the suburban to doctor's appointments!!