Baseball 2013

The kids had a great time playing baseball the month of June.  I love our little community low key baseball league!

Tyler was SO excited to play for the first time.

He seemed to understand the game quite well.

He loved waving at me....to make sure I was watching.

Cute little team!

Heidi really liked playing again.   This was her second year.

Darin pitched most of her games.   Best looking pitcher there!

Kyle is in the big leagues now!

He wanted to try pitching SOOO bad.   His team really didn't have a star pitcher.   His coach had told him he could pitch the next game, and that he should practice.    He practiced for several hours...whenever anyone would catch for him.     At the next game the coach never put him in...the game was moving along.   Darin finally went over and told the coach that Kyle had been really practicing and that he was pretty good.   So the coach had Kyle warm up, and he looked really good.    So he got to pitch!     He did SO well!   He throws a pretty dang straight ball!   I was so proud of him, for trying so hard and practicing so much!   He was pretty cool guy, didn't let things bother him.   Seemed super confident and so proud of himself!

 

Boise Trip

Since we are going to Boise once a week during the summer, occasionally we will sleep over and do 4 sessions in 2 days.   We decided to take advantage of the time we have there and headed to the Discovery Center.    It is SO awesome!!  We ended up buying a season pass so we can go there every time we have to do 2 days.

Heidi and Tyler loved this fun pulley system.  They were able to pull themselves clear up close to the ceiling and then let go and it would zoom down.

Really cool bubble exhibit.  They made some gigantic bubbles.

Ever laid on a bed of nails?   Well, Tyler has!   It feels pretty cool!

There were so many things there.   We didn't even see every exhibit in the two days we went.   Of course we visited our favorite parts several times.   If you love science this is a super place to take your kids!

We also found an aquarium!   It was really cool too.   There was a lot of open tanks where the kids could feel the animals.   It was really neat and made it much more fun.

This iguana stayed on the front of this little boat the whole day!     The kids were able to touch him and he didn't even flinch a bit.

Kyle and Christopher touching a  SHARK!

They made it a point to get me to touch one too.   Very interesting!

Tyler touching a sting ray.   I  liked the way they felt.   They were really friendly and seemed to like to be touched.

Heidi really enjoyed the sting rays too!

There was no way Kyle was going to be Ursula, but Tyler didn't seem to mind one bit!

It was a fun couple of days.  We will definitely be visiting the Discovery Center more!
Thanks to Christopher for needing Vision Therapy!  (which is going very good by the way)

Utah State Lidcombe program

Tyler still went to speech therapy once a week during the 2012- 2013 school year.   He really had a lot of fun and it helped both of us with our continued therapy.

Fall semester 2012, he had Jodi.   She was extremely creative and crafty.  He really enjoyed anything that she had planned.  It was always different.   She really understood the Lidcombe program and was confident and really loved him.

Spring semester 2013 he had Andrea.   She was super fun too!   It is amazing how different each clinician is.  It took her a little longer to be confident in the Lidcombe program and to be creative with Tyler.   She was much more laid back and let him call the shots a lot.  She enjoyed cooking, so we did some cooking.  Making waffle cookies, ice cream in a bag, play dough, silly putty.   Another favorite activity was making paper airplanes, and balloon ping pong.   She was in a married student ward in the same building that my Dad is a bishop in.  So that was fun for my Dad to see her and talk to her about Tyler.

This is Anne.   Oh how I love Anne.   She is the stutter professional!   She is the professor that monitors and helps the students.   She helps them/me so much!   She really knows her stuff and is always there for me when I feel hopeless.     She loves Tyler and wants so badly to help him.   I love her and always will for her help and support.

Tyler has been pretty up and down this year.... which is par for stutters.   Sometimes he is great...rated at a 2..which is little stuttering (no stuttering is a 1 and he has never been there yet).   Other times this year he has been up to a 5.   Anne has been a little perplexed by Tyler.   She has never had a student cycle so much.   He changes in severity, and he also cycles in his types of stuttering.  Meaning sometimes he is blocking, other times he is doing a whole/ part word repetition, other times it is more prolongations.    With the Lidcomb program she has always had students respond to it and within a year become stutter free.  There were only 2 students that didn't respond well to this program and she could tell in the first 6 weeks.   Tyler responds to the therapy very well, he is just not becoming stutter free.  At times he does super good and can maintain that for a while.  But still not stutter free.   She has been in contact with the head of the Lidcomb program and they told her some kids stay at a 2 for a long time and then one day it clicks.   Then there are other kids, especially the real severe cases, and it never fully clicks.   I am feeling like this is my Tyler.   But I do know that what we have done and what we continue to do, will and has helped him.   I feel like he would be real severe if we weren't doing things now.  Of course I want him to be stutter free.  I don't want him to have to have to struggle anytime he has something important to say.  So I can't loose hope.  I have to keep trying and keep doing my therapy.   But, I can't beat myself up if it doesn't work as it should.  Because it is working....he is better than he would have been.   As my life gets crazier it is harder to do the therapy.  It only takes a few crazy days and I can really tell a difference in his speech.   Where as when I am home and things are a little slower.  I am able to play games and do lots of therapy with him, he does much better.   Too bad I can't just cancel everything and focus on him...but I can't.  So I do my best....which is really hard when it is not working.

I have been very emotional about it.  Especially when he is not doing so well.   I get so scared and feel so bad and wish I could or would devote more time to him.   I tend to cry pretty easily whenever I talk about it.   It is kind of hard because people tell me....he doesn't sound that bad, or I don't hear him stutter very much.   But really they are not listening, or talk to him very much.   They are not hearing what I am hearing at home. 

Tyler is such sweet heart.   Such a great kid.    I know he will be great in life.   He has such a kind heart and is so easy going.   I worry about him starting Kindergarten, but our school changed to T, W, TH all day kindergarten so he will be home with me on Monday's and Friday's.   Hopefully he will be able to say what he would like and the kids won't tease him too bad.    I worry that he will be teased.   But he does have a VERY protective big sister that will keep him safe.   I have no doubt she will let anyone that teases him have a piece of her mind...

State Track 2013

  First off Brandon made it to state in the 400 open, the triple jump, and the 4X4 relay.

He comes home and says "Mom, can I get a mohawk?"   I was like huh!  Who are you!!

This is what he came home like a couple days later.    They had all gone to his friends house, and his Mom cut all their hair into a mohawk for state!    It was pretty weird, but fun for the whole team to do together (a couple kids didn't).

Brandon preparing for his triple jump.

Lookin good in the hawk!   The girls did all the boys hair for them.   There was no way this hair was going to lay down....he tried!

It was so fun....and nerve racking to watch him jump.   He didn't get a PBJ (personal best jump).  But he did have a great experience and was happy to be there.

I have no idea what he was doing here.   Giving himself a pep talk maybe?

Running the open 400.    He did well again.

Parade of Athletes.   

This was soo cool!   I felt like I was at the olympics watching all the amazing athletes come into the stadium.     Brandon is on the left side towards the back in black sunglasses looking to the right.

1a, 2a, and 3a schools were there.

He ran leg 3 of the 4X400.   They got 4th!  Which was exciting!

 Starting at the back, Wil Holtman, Brandon, Bowdrie Ottley, and Edgar Gomez

He was looking a lot older than I wanted him too!   Strong, lean, tall body!

The family......We had a GREAT time!   We went up Thursday night and stayed with Darin's cousin's.  Friday morning we had an appointment with Christopher's eye dr.   Dr. Lewis.  It was perfect that Darin could come with me to that.   All day Friday the weather was a little unpredictable.   It rained a little on us, then was warm.   Usually it was on the cool side.   We had lots of food and games to play.  The kids were super good and enjoyed watching all the racing.    We went to pizza hut that night and back to the hotel to swim!!!   They had waited all day to swim.   After we were in the pool about 1/2 hour, Heidi wanted to get out and go ride the elevators!   Such fun for country kids!

Saturday we swam some more in the morning.   At track we sat on the other side of the bleachers where there was more people.   We brought bubbles and the kids had a blast blowing bubbles.   Other kids loved it too.   Some of the other adults around may not have loved it so much, but it was fun for us!    It was never super hot, so we didn't get the suntan like I wanted, but we had a super great time and the kids were really amazing!   I thought they would get bored fast, but they kept themselves busy.      I have always wanted to go to state track since we have lived in Malta and I was so excited to go this year.   It was everything I thought it would be :)  

We got home about 10:30 and Brandon said right off...Mom, cut my mowhawk off please!

 So we did.   Such a fun memory...not sure he will ever do it again!

Brandon in his new do!   He loves it, he doesn't have to do anything with it.

He looked like a pink skunk.   Sunburned on the sides with a white stripe down the middle.    It was pretty funny.

Monday was my birthday.   I took Christopher back to Boise for his first Vision therapy session that day.   We went to dinner at a nicer place and had a great day together.  I didn't open any presents until Tuesday night because we weren't all together.   Darin surprised me with new powerful blender.  I have been into green smoothies lately and the kids even love them.  It is nice to have something a little bigger and stronger.   Thanks honey!

Showtime performance

Heidi looking so cute in her Showtime outfit.

It is hard to see...but we couldn't put enough glitter on her!  She wanted lots!

So I was a back stage Mom for this performance, so I left the camera with the family.......

We got some interesting pictures that is for sure!   They were pretty cool, so I post them anyway!

This is a super cute hip hop number.

Little orphan Heidi!   They did It's a hard knock life.

The ending is always 'Proud to be an American'

She was ready to be done with Showtime for the summer, but she did have a wonderful time.   She did much better performing than I thought she would.  She is still a little serious on stage, but she got better as the year went on.  I was proud of her, it is for sure out of her comfort zone to be in front of a crowd!