Life and Times of the Calders...

Wow! Where did summer go? This has to have been the quickest summer of our lives... Really shows how much we need to live for the minute and appreciate each new day for what it is - because tomorrow, today will be yesterday!  Pretty profound, huh?  So I will try and wrap up the last month all in one post:

Newest member of our family:  "LADY"  Got her this last week in a wonderful little town called Hooper.  She is everything we could have dreamed for.  Her mom looks a lot like Cheyenne.  Let the puppy days begin!

Everyone was excited for school to start - which is a good thing, right?  I wondered about Kam making it a full day since he was only 6 days post-surgery, but he was a trooper.  Football practice starts on Tuesday and he can work out but just not hit (or get hit?...) for a couple of weeks.  He is PSYCHED!

Shani is just my girly-girl.  She had a really fun time working at the "Berry Bowl" this summer.  It is a new yogurt joint here in town this year.  It taught her great people skills and responsibility.  Needless to say, she was a life-saver in the raspberries.  Hers is a "dumb" job, but hey - somebody has to do it.  Her dad has a new appreciation for her since he has had to be the "patch master" the last couple of weeks.  Volleyball started this last weekend with a tourney up in Cokeville.  She is starting varsity as an opposite.  I love this girl!

And then there was Kayden...
Worked all summer at the golf course perfecting not only his game, but his tan.  Helped us when he could in the raspberries...  Worked hard at conditioning and weight lifting.  We will see if it pays off...  Played his first football game of the season last Friday at Mt. View, WY.  Got a win but had lots of injuries on the team.  He is the most "fashion-conscious" boy I have ever seen.  School shopping was a hoot with him.  Had to make sure his shoes matched his shirt which had to go good with his levis...  Kinda like him, too!

Let's hope September is as fun as August has been. 

And Then...

Talking to Lar on the phone tonite and she cussed me for not updating on Kams condition so I better get on it!!!  Mondays appointment confirmed appendix troubles so Tuesday it was surgically removed and we came home Wednesday around noon.  He was a real trooper through all of it.  Dr. Anderson (what a fun guy!) was suspicious of some other condition (Meckles Div something or other - check with the translady) besides the stone in the appendix would just continue to cause problems and part of it was enlarged so WHAM BAM THANK YOU MAME and it was out. I am totally convinced his episode in Boise last summer was the same thing so hopefully this will solve a lot of questions - and he can eat all the red licorice he wants! The first couple of days were a little rough - then he snapped right out of it and felt great.  Went to church sunday and did fine so went to school today.  Yeah right - an elementary student missing the first day of school???  Not happenin'.  And again he did great.  He sure has been through a lot for a little guy!  I was a mean mommy and took videos of him coming out of the anesthesia and they are HILARIOUS!!! But I havent figured out how to get them from my phone to the blog so stay tuned for that, too!

Messin around BEFORE surgery - listening to tunes with his buddy, Blackie.

AFTER surgery... Not quite so chipper... But Blackie is still hangin' in there.

Walkin' the halls...

Tryin' to catch a lil shut eye... Glad SOMEONE did!

Is it just me, or do you think they got a little wild with the iodine?  Hope they don't charge by the ounce!

Thanks for experiencing this experience with us... And thanks for all the phone calls, visits, texts, etc.  They all meant a lot to Kam and me, too!

Todays vocabulary word is...

I N T U S S U S C E P T I O N:  "...When one part of the bowel folds "inside-out".  One part of the bowel encompasses another part like a telescope.  Solved by applying one mega-sized barium enema to the "affected area".  Does not make an 11-year old very happy...

Before...

After !

Amazing what a little pain medicine can do for a kid!!!  Threw up a few times during the night and then started screaming randomly when pain would come.  Called doc and went to clinic and diagnosed it as appendicitis.  Went to LRH and after an ultrasound, they decided it was that lovely word intussusception. Option was to try enema and see if the pressure of it would unfold the inside-out area.  As uncomfortable as it was, it worked.  Chance it will happen again in the next few days and if so, they operate and remove the bad part of the intestine.  BUT... that is not all.  Although the appendix was only slightly enlarged, there is a round, hard thing in it.  Like a stone I guess.  So have to go see a specialist on Monday to decide what direction to go with that one... Stay tuned!!!  (Never  a dull moment, is there mothers...)

And may I please give one great big THANKS to Trish Wallentine and her kids for filling in at the raspberry stand... That's what friends are for!