Graduation another chapter finished

We have been busy getting Clayton ready for graduation. Amongst scholarships, baseball and getting his wisdom teeth pulled it has been busy. We are trying to schedule all of this now because as soon as school is out he starts working full time at the canal company and does not want to miss work. We had his teeth out Thursday morning, he went back to school to study for a final and then he had Seminary Graduation on Sunday. On Tuesday he went to Lagoon with the Seniors. You just can't keep that boy down when there is playing to be done. Graduation night was amazing. Coach Sawicki was there speaker and he did a fantastic job. There were a lot of tears shed but they are such an amazing group of kids. It has been a rough year with them losing Mabry and Loren but they are a tight knit group and they have really pulled together and had a really fun year. Their Senior Party was not as planned so with the help of a bunch of mom's we pulled them an all nighter at Rockwelz in Terreton and then we fixed them breakfast and sent them out into the real world.

Eagle Scout

With literally hours to spare Clayton finally finished up his Eagle project and got all the paperwork done to receive his Eagle Scout Award. Clayton built a loading and unloading ramp at the cemetary and pulled up some ld tarp and trimmed around the trees and pulled out the suckers that grow up around it. He then met with the board and turned in all his paperwork. This was in May. In July while at the family reunion in Indian Creek Clayton was presented his Eagle Scout Award with all of his cousins, and Uncles as part of his eagle's nest. While Kim was talking about eagles and the importance one decided to soar right overhead of our gathering. It was a perfect ceremony. Way to go Clayton. One of those mom moments when you go yes we did it!

Prom

While Clayton was on American Heritage he asked Melissa Newman to go with him to Prom. They went to Rexburg and went golfing and then came back home and got in their formals. They went to dinner in Hamer at Taylor Savage's house. His mom fixed them a fantastic meal. The dance was held in Idaho Falls. Clayton was named
1st attendant. It was a fun way to end his Senior Prom.

Cousin's Party

While Ranell was here we met at a church house in Idaho Falls and invited all the cousins to come and see her. We also invited friends that she had not seen since High School. McKenzie brought a friend. His name is Chris Marston from Paul. He has two little boys named, Kade and Coltrin. We fixed lunch and just sat around and visited with everyone that was there.

Piano

The Sunday after Makay broke his leg was his first piano recital. We wheeled him up to the piano in his wheelchair and he played his pieces. He has only been taking about 6 months and he has done a very good job. I love to listen to him practice.

Idaho Visit

Ranell, Brent and Justin came in April for a visit. They came for Brent's grandparents anniversary party and spent some time with us. They drove to Salt Lake with Brent's sister and stayed the night at Daren and Mellonee's. Daren drove down and picked them up from there. When they got to the house Justin walked in with a T-shirt that said "Big Brother" Yeah Ranell is expectin again. We are so excited. We love grandkids. They spent Easter with us and we took Justin to the community Easter egg hunt. Makay also has a remote control helicopter that Justin would just get the giggles watching it fly around the living room. It was so much fun to have them here. Wish they were closer.

Traveling Man

Clayton is off on his big adventure. He has gone with the high school on the American Heritage tour. He was a little nervous because he has never flown before. He calls every night and lets me know how his day has gone and all the cool sights he is seeing. He had a really good time. Statue of Liberty, Boston, Amish country, New York, Broadway play, lots of time on a bus and in airports but he loved the entire experience. He is really glad that he saved all his potato and grave digging money to be able to go. He said he would recommend this to everyone.

Are you kidding?

We went to Aberdeen for wrestling with Makay. He got paired up and we went to the mat for his first match. He was doing really well and was a head in points when all of the sudden he was down on the mat crying. He was holding his leg and I figured he had just landed wrong on it. I asked him if he could stand and he got up. He said it was sore. I told him to walk it off. He moved around the mat a little bit but said it hurt to bad to finish wrestling. He walked to the bench and then across the gym. I went out and got the car and brought it to the front door he walked out to the car. We stopped and got some ice to put on his knee. I figured he had popped it out. He laid down in the back seat and I headed home. He wanted a blessing so I called to see if Brian was home since we had to drive right past their house. They were gone. I figured if the community care was open when we got to Idaho Falls I would stop but it was later than I thought so we just headed home. I gave him a couple of ibuprofen and rubbed his leg with some ointment. The next morning he still would not put any weight on it. I had him get in a hot tub of water and soak it. It was still pretty sore. I was getting ready to go to Rexburg and decided I would take him with me. I decided to watch the video before going. To my amazement I was shocked at what the video showed. Makay's leg bent at such an angle there should have been no way he was walking on it. We immediately went to community care. The doctor felt his leg and really wasn't convinced that it was broken. Their x-ray machine was down and so we wnet for an MRI because they thought it was ligiments. While they were processing the film I went to Parker to a baby shower. While there the doctor called to tell me that the orthopedic surgeon was waiting for us. Makay had actually broken his leg in a very unusual place. The surgeon did not think that it needed surgery but he wanted to set the leg himself. The break was so odd that it could not been seen on a regular x-ray. Even after knowing where the break was you could not see it. Makay is now in a cast from his hip to his toes. Try moving that boy around. We got him a wheelchair for school because I did not figure he could do the halls at school on crutches. Makay had a piano recital the next day and we wheeled him up to the piano in his wheelchair and he gave a great performance. Well I guess our wrestling is over for another year.

Wrestling continues

Now it is Makay's turn. We went right into Makay's wrestling as soon as we got home from Boise. We do a Little League Wrestling program with schools in our area. It is not as long as the freestyle program but we think it is a better program for the boys. Our first matches were in Firth. No one was in Makay's age group so we moved him up a year. He had one win and one loss but he did very well. We then had a match in Pocatello. After wrestling we went to visit Melissa in her new house.

State Wrestling

Clayton's first trip to State Wrestling. We headed to Boise and wrestling in the Idaho Center. McKenzie came with us. Clayton had the number one seeded guy first. He lost that match but came back and pinned his next kid. I was a nervous wreck. My hands were shaking so bad I could barely hold the camera still. With that win Clayton got to come back for the second day. Day two had me nervous again. Clayton wrestled a kid from Prarie. He went three rounds but did not win. He looked like he had been through a boxing match. He was pretty upset but not with the fact that he had lost but that for him wrestling was over. We are very proud of him and how much he accomplished considering he missed a full year with his knee injury. We had a great weekend with all the boys and we love the parents and all the coaches that have truly made wrestling part of out life. Our school size had the toughest heavy weight group in the entire state of Idaho. Clayton had wreslted some of the other bigger school heavy weights that actually placed at State and he had wins over them. They will graduate most every heavy weight that went to State this year throughout all of Idaho so you know the competition was fierce.