Ice Skating and Hockey

Saturday night we had the opportunity to go to a Grizzly Hockey game! Our friend Amy got us some discounted seats with the Utah Autism Council. Before the game, we got to go out on the ice and skate around either using skates or just shoes. All the kids and Cory put skates on. I didn't feel like falling, so I kept my shoes on the entire time. (I actually ended up falling on my knees when I threw a puck on the ice. Go figure!) Eventually, the kids took off their skates and pushed each other around on chairs. Cory finally took his skates off too and joined us on the chairs:)

(Katie and Cory. Kelli and Mak. Katie, Tim and Amy. Tim, Kelli, Mak, Gavin and Katie.)

Tim wanted to get in on the action with a puck, so he took off his leg and had me push him around, chasing the puck, so he could use his leg as a hockey stick! We got some stares from the other families there:)

(Mak and Tim. Tim and Cory. Finally Tim got a whack with his leg!)

We played around on the ice for about an hour and a half. Then we had dinner with our friends before the hockey game. This was mine and the kids first hockey game, and we were not disappointed! There was lots of players thrown up against the glass, a small fight after a goal was made and a tied game at the end of three periods. The game went into overtime, then a shoot out to determine the winner! Utah ended up winning by scoring 2 goals in the shoot out! It was a lot of fun and affordable!

Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to all! We hope you had an enjoyable day with loved ones. We are so blessed to have so many wonderful people in our lives this year. It truly is a year to be grateful for! Here are some pictures of our Thanksgiving day spent at home:)

(Cory carving the turkey. Mak and Tim serving up some food. Let's eat-my Mom, Kelli, Mak, Cory, my grandma, Katie and Tim. The pies I made-apple and pumpkin!)

(After dinner activities - Katie and Kelli spinning on the tramp. Tim jumping. Mak watching the Brady Bunch. Toby resting from eating too much turkey!)

Indoor Soccer

Kelli and Katie finished up playing indoor soccer last weekend. The season was only 6 weeks long, with 5 games. The girls' team was made up of mostly girls, and they won only 1 game, their last one!

(Kelli was a little timid at first. But with each game, she figured out how to play the game. Each game, she became more aggressive, and scored 2 goals in the last game:) This may be Kelli's sport!)

(Katie was really excited to play at the beginning of the season. But with each game, she lost interest. During the last game, she walked up and down the court and watched the ball roll by her:( Soccer may not be for her!)

(Some action shots of the girls. Pretty funny watching ten 7yr olds all chase after a ball. No strategy at all. The best is when they would get caught in a corner and just kick at each other!)

WOW!!

It was an exciting day for Tim today! To start the day off, he was named "Student of the Month" for October! There was a special assembly at the beginning of school where 5 other students received this honor! Cory and I have known about this for 2 weeks because we were asked to write a letter about Tim to be read at the assembly. Cory went to the assembly and said that Tim was shocked that he was nominated and won. He received a standing ovation from the 7th grade kids!!

(Tim with his plaque, and Diamondback snake. He also received a certificate.)

(Tim's plaque!)

After the assembly, the principal asked the 8 SBO candidates to stay so he could tell them which 4 won. Tim is now a 7th grade Student Body Officer! Tim is very excited! Can't wait to see what he looks like in a black/purple/turquoise sweater the SBOs get to wear:)

Elder Mooney

Today, another nephew of mine entered the MTC! He will be in the MTC for about three weeks, then he is off to the Canada, Calgary mission. His older brother is currently in Mexico with about 8 months left on his mission:) This past weekend, we had the opportunity to visit with him and other family members.

(Good Luck eh, Dylan!)

(Most of the cousins on my side-Kelli, Katie, Tim, Dani, Nic, Taylor, Davis, Zach, Dylan and Mak)

(Me, Dylan's mom, Trisha and Lynette-my older sisters. They are my step-sisters, but no matter, family is family!)

SBO!

No, SBO doesn't stand for "stinky body odor!" It stands for Student Body Officer, and Tim is running for one of four positions in the 7th grade! 140 students signed up a week ago. They were allowed to put up a poster, then voting took place last Thursday. Tim found out Friday he was one of eight moving on! This is the first poster he put up!

(That's a picture of Tim holding up his prosthesis!)

He put another poster up this morning and gets to perform a skit this Thursday. Final voting is Friday. Next Monday, Tim will know if he is a SBO or not :)

(Tim's second poster)

I don't know about you, but I would total vote for this handsome, smiley guy! I like the bald look too:) BTW, take a look at Tim's hair line! Everyday, he gets more and more dark hair on his head:) It's very exciting. We know that he will have the dark hair again, but we don't know if it will be straight, like it was before, or curly!

Tim's Room

We moved Tim back to his room in the basement about 2 weeks ago. The first night was a little rough for him. He was so use to being close to Cory and I for the past 9 months:) But now, he loves it! We updated Tim's room by painting his headboard and bookcase the same color as his furniture. I also put on his new bedspread which I found on sale during the summer. We "hid" things and displayed all his "Star Wars" legos, including the completed "Death Star!" And of course, we kept BYU in the room with his signed flag and a pillow. He also has a BYU blanket on the bed under the bedspread;)



(The completed Death Star!)

So Long Port!

Friday afternoon, Tim had yet another surgery. This one was to remove his port. This "buddy" has been with Tim since January 14th. It faithfully put chemo into his blood stream to fight the cancer! The device also made blood draws easy so the doctors keep see what Tim's body was up to. This was a big day for Tim and the family. Now we can celebrate cuz this means that Tim is really in remission and he no longer needs blood, platelets or chemo! PARTY:)

(Tim and Cory in the same-day surgery waiting room)

(Last picture of Tim with the port in him. The little black/purplish round bump over his left chest is the port just under the skin)

(Tim coming out of surgery. This was the most animated I've seen Tim coming out of surgery! He was asking me about a text he asked me to send, his speech was slurred and he kept sitting up and falling forward!)

(This is what a port looks like. This is not Tim's; his was broken when the doctor was removing it from his chest. Tim was so disappointed that he didn't get to keep his port and take it home)

After surgery, Tim just wanted to go home and chill. After not eating for 18 hours, Tim put away a full-sized candy bar and a couple pieces of pizza. Then he watched a movie and stayed up late with a friend and Mak. He keeps saying how his chest feels "weird" with the port not there. I tell him that we can put it back in if he wants. Tim's reply is always, "NO THANKS!"

Metal Mouths

Both Katie and Makayla are "metal mouths!" This is Mak's second round. Now she has a holding arch in on her bottom teeth. This is to prevent any further movement when she looses the rest of her baby teeth. Last year, she had an expander on her top teeth to get more room for teeth.
Katie got two braces on her front, top teeth to get rid of the gap between the teeth. She was going to get an expander, but when the orthodontist put it on and tried to turn it, it would not move. So, he took the appliance off and we get to go back in about a week to try another one. Each one is custom made for each patient. So, for now, we are dealing with the braces. Katie has been very good at cleaning them every time she eats! She is just like Tim when it comes to following "the rules" to a "T." (Mak waiting to get her holding arch put on. Katie showing off her yellow and blue braces!)

Halloween 2011

Another night of dressing up and getting enough candy to last us a year, is over and in the books! The kids had a great night trick or treating and going through a neighborhood haunted house! Mak worked in the haunted house til 10pm. Tim rode on the back of the 4-wheeler, while the twins ran along side of us! Tim fell a couple of times while walking back to the 4-wheeler. His foot just gave out on him! But you know Tim, he laughed it off and kept on going:)

Katie the vampire, Kelli a naughty fairy, Mak a school-girl devil and Tim the skeleton! Tim had some glasses that were light up eyes which he wore under his costume. For awhile, I wore them while driving the 4-wheeler around! I think I scared some kids cuz all they could see were some glowing eyes coming at them with lots of noise from the 4-wheeler :)

Here we come! Mak was upset with me cuz I made her put on a long-sleeved shirt:( She has a very hard tween life!

For dinner I made pizza mummies. They were so good and almost too cute to eat!