Daniel's Surgery

Daniel went in for his surgery yesterday. We had to be there at 7:15 am but it was 9:30 am before they actually took Daniel back into the OR. It was nerve-racking waiting around, but the surgery itself was so short that we didn't have time to get too nervous.

The urologist said that he could find nothing, so we didn't have to worry about incisions other than the one they put in his belly button for the scope. So we won't have to worry about cancer later because there is nothing there to get cancerous.

Now we are dealing with the effects of the anesthesia, though. Because they inserted a breathing tube down his throat while he was under, he is now dealing with a sore throat and it sounds like his body is creating mucus to help his sore throat. So now I am worried about keeping him well enough to stave off pneumonia setting in. He seems to breath easy while he is asleep, though, so that is a good sign. It is only when he is awake that you can hear occasionally raspy breathing. Weird.

He is still a bit sore in his belly button (obviously) but the doc said he should be completely healed and back to normal by next week at the latest. Poor Daniel keeps remarking that he wishes the doctor wouldn't have hurt his belly button or made him feel awful, though, so it seems like next week is a long ways away. But we are just relieved to have it over and done with.

What I Did For My Summer Vacation

This blog has been quiet for a few weeks. It's because my mother surprised us with a vacation to visit her in Utah. She flew in August 9th and drove back to Utah with me and the kids. Greg stayed home since he couldn't take off any work. We stayed for two weeks and just made it home last night.

It was nice going "back home" and visiting friends and family. We had a packed couple of weeks. This is what we did:

8/9-8/10--Traveled to Utah. We stopped overnight in Boise and visited with my Grandma Beverly, Aunt Deanna and Uncle Ben. On the 10th we made a slight detour to Pocatello and visited my sister Erin and her husband Scott and son Connor.

8/11-8/13--Settled in to my parents' house in Uintah. My mom and dad still had to work every day, so the kids and I stayed at their home and played in the back yard or in the house during the day and visited with them each evening. On the 13th my sister Erin and I took our kids to the Deseret Cheese Co. for a tour of their cheese factory. You can read more about our trip on my kids' school blog.

8/14-8/16--Drove into the SL Valley and stayed with my in-laws in Taylorsville. The first day my father-in-law, Bill (affectionately called Grampa Goofy by my kids) gave each of us a much-needed haircut. Friday we had a barbeque with the whole family except JR and Alyssa and Emma who live in Arizona. The cousins played together and the adults talked and visited for the afternoon/evening.

8/16--After leaving my in-laws, I met my mother and sister, along with my nephews Connor, Atley and Carter, at the Utah State Capitol Building. We went to see a copy of the Declaration of Independence that was on display there. You can read more about this trip on my kids' school blog.

8/17--We were prepared to go to church with my parents but it was stake conference. Since we aren't members of the stake and there was no primary available, we opted to skip church for sanity's sake. Trust me, taking kids to someone else's stake conference is NOT FUN! Later that evening we had a barbeque with my family. All of my brothers and sisters and their kids were there except Scott (Erin's hubby) and Reid (Erica's boyfriend). Well, obviously, Greg wasn't there either.

8/18--We went back to SL and went out to a late lunch with Bill and Jody. They took us to Golden Corral because Bill let Ammon choose the restaurant and Ammon loves a good buffet.

8/19--We met my friend SherrilAnn and her kids Josh and Megan at the Bountiful Rec center for an afternoon swim. My mother, sister Erin and nephew Connor came with us. It was hot (about 90 degrees) but the wind was really blowing so I was cold. So was the baby. The outdoor pool was a wading pool for the younger kids, with a huge pirate ship in the middle. The boys loved it (of course) but we didn't stay outside long with the wind whipping around. The indoor pool also had a wading place with a play structure. It also had a lazy river and a huge waterslide that Ammon and Josh loved. We stayed for about an hour and a half before heading out.

We drove to my in-laws and I left my kids with them for a few hours and went out to dinner with my friends Alice and Nichole from my old writing group. I took the baby with me, too. We met at Ruby Tuesday at the Jordan Landing in West Jordan. We ate and chatted about writing and each other, and we took a few minutes to go over a query letter I needed help with. It was great to see them and have others to swap writing stories and ideas with. We stayed overnight at my inlaws.

8/20--We left my in-laws house in the afternoon and visited my friend SherrilAnn on the way back to my parents' house. Ammon played Yu-gi-oh with SherrilAnn's son, Josh (he's a big fan, too) and the other kids played in the back yard with her daughter Megan. We adults chatted. Since we didn't really get to talk at the pool the day before, I was glad for the visit.

8/21--In preparation for our drive home and with the help of the kids, I cleaned out the car and washed it.

8/22--We went over and played with some new neighbors that had just moved in three houses down from my parents. They had three kids nearly the same age as my own and they had come over to meet us while we were washing the car. Even though we only met and got to play one day, we promised to stop by the next time we came for a visit. Then I went home, packed most of the car, and spent the evening making a Cubby man out of tin cans and string. My mom actually did most of the work since I'm not so great at that type of thing. The Cubby is a rotating award I will use for my cub scout pack. I'll try to remember to take pictures and show you the completed Cubby (he's still not painted).

8/23-8/24--The Drive Home--We stopped in Boise and had a "party" with Deanna, Ben and Grandma. The plan was to have a big turkey dinner but Deanna's fridge works a little too well and after three days the turkey was still frozen. So she bagged that idea and bought pizza. Then the kids played one round of Stop Thief: Electronic Cops and Robbers, an old game by Parker Brothers. I'm going to have to find my own copy one of these days. They also played Head to Head Perfection but tempers flared due to tired bodies. The next day was the long trip from Boise to Seattle. We did make it home in time to watch the Olympics Closing Ceremonies, though, so I was happy.


There you have it in a nutshell. We had a great vacation but we're glad to be back home. Our homeschool "officially" starts next week and our classes at the school coop start the week after. Our vacation was the perfect ending to our summer break.

A Decade Old

Though Ammon officially turned 10 last Saturday, I'm just getting around to posting pics of his happy day.

This year he is obsessed with Yu-gi-oh, so I covered the top of his cake with his very own Yu-gi-oh card I made on the computer. Ammon laughed hysterically while he read the card, which showed a picture of him and was titled "Birthday Flame Quencher." The cake, by the way, was a homemade ice cream cake which looked like a huge ice cream sandwich before I frosted it.

For his birthday Ammon received (surprise surprise) lots of Yu-gi-oh cards, be he also managed to score a skateboard from his parents and a cool multi-tool from his Grandpa Putnam.

You may be wondering why Ammon is dressed so warmly. Well, he had just returned from the ward campout. The whole family was planning on going, but Daniel came down with a fever the day before and we didn't want to risk taking him. So I stayed home with the three youngest while the older boys toughed it out with their dad. Ammon had a good time but they all complained about the tight squeeze in the 2-3 man tent (apparently the 2-3 men need to be really short toothpicks to actually fit). And because there was a fire ban, there was no campfire and no hot breakfast. I wish I had photos but they didn't take the camera with them. Shucks.

Third Blog's the Charm

With all the excitement over my burgeoning writing career (ha ha) I have noticed how many blog entries I have dedicated to writing. So have others, and their response is always, "You need to put more pictures of the kids on your blog." Sigh. True talent often goes unnoticed (or in this case, unappreciated).

So I've decided to add yet another blog to help separate my private life from my public life. This way those of you who cringe every time you have to read another entry about writing won't have to worry about it anymore. This blog is now strictly dedicated to my family and life at our house.

However, for those who truly are interested, please check out my new blog, elissadcruz.blogspot.com. I am excited about sharing more about my passion with others than I have been able to on this blog. I hope to share more writing tips for others wanting to get started, plus it will be a place where I can bring you along on my journey through the world of writing for children. I hope to see you there.

It's Nice to Be Accepted

Today is Ammon's 10th birthday, but the best gift that came today was not for him. It was for me. Today in the mail was an acceptance letter and a contract from The Friend magazine for a poem I sent them a few weeks ago.

I can't tell you how excited I am. And that's saying something since it is my job as a writer to capture feelings on paper (or in this case online). But some things just can't be described. If it helps, though, I did jump up and down after I got over the initial shock. And I'm not the jumping type.

In case you are curious, it will take a year or longer for the poem to actually show up in print. And until then I can't publish or distribute it (so don't ask me to). But once it makes it into print I'll make sure to let you all know which issue you'll find it in.