Ashlyn Turns 10!!!

Ashlyn turned 10 last Sunday! Our original plan was not to have a birthday party or anything. We were going to go to Vegas and go shopping instead. She really wanted to buy a few summer outfits from Justice! I truly have a Tween in the house!! At the last minute, she decided we needed to have a big birthday bash since it is her first double digit birthday! So I threw together a Glow-in-the-Dark Dance Party for her birthday. She invited almost 40 girls! We had about 30 who came to help us celebrate. I had lots of kids food and great music. I even had a fog machine and a laser light machine, oh and some black lights. The birthday party was a hit! We had tons of glow in the dark bracelets and necklaces. We had the cha cha slide, glow in the dark limbo, the conga..... The girls had a great time! I had buckets of candy, cupcakes and nachos....who knew that is all you need to keep kids happy? Nachos are Ashlyn's absolutely favorite dance food....you will almost always see her at a dance competition with a spilled plate of nachos! haha. Here are some pictures of the party.....

Dixie Spectacular 2011

We had our first competition of the season this past weekend! Well, Ashlyn had her first....haha. I was so nervous for her solo on Friday night. Since I've had my surgery, I haven't had any time at all to help her practice at all. Also, we like to start our solo routine in November, December or at least January, but this year, it was March! We had a rocky start with our choreographers, but luckily we found Lucy! I am so happy she was able to work with our schedule and that she fit in as many practices as she could with Ashlyn! I guess I had nothing to worry about because Ashlyn won Queen!! She danced to "Strut" by Adam Lambert.

This year Ashlyn is on two teams, the Small Stars and the All Stars. She danced in 7 dances on Saturday, one right after another. At one point, she and her friend Deja only had about 3 minutes to change after one of their dances. They were ready to pass out! Our teams did really well.....lots of 1st places and even a grand champion award for the Alls Hip Hop dance. It was a really, really long weekend, but totally worth it!

p.s. A lady kicked my knee as she was walking by at the competition....she didn't even look to see what she had kicked....I tried running her down, but she was faster than my crutches!

Staples are gone!!

I was finally able to get my staples out yesterday! Yay me! Whoever said it doesn't hurt when ripping staples out of your flesh is a darn liar!! I wanted to take a picture of the scar, but they quickly sealed it with adhesive and steri strips so I was out of luck. I'll have to wait until I am bandage free. I'm beginning to get stir crazy at home so I volunteered to work for a couple of hours today. Crazy, I know! Nobody is even here today, so I don't think anyone even cares if I work here any more! I'm not supposed to come back for 6 weeks, but who the heck can afford that?? I finally get to start outpatient physical therapy next Tuesday. It will be nice not to have "home health care" any more. Matt was my home health therapist. I do have to say he is awesome! He put up with my crying and screaming and has done everything he can to help me! He came to my house 3x a week to do my exercises and to do my blood work. Lucky me, I got to be on blood thinners for the past couple of weeks. I'm finally off of those too! Since I was getting so sick with the Loratabs (I have no idea how people get addicted to those things!) the doctor was nice enough to try another route. It's more like a cocktail of pills, but hey, whatever works Right?

I'll be busy the next couple of days getting ready for Ashlyn's dance competition this weekend. I have no idea how I'll make it through it! I do have some great dance moms who I'm sure will help Ashlyn with her million costume changes......Can't wait to post some pictures of her in her costumes :)

I know...It's been forever!

I realize I haven't blogged in forever! I've been thinking about it a lot lately. I really need to be blogging. Even if it's just for me to look back on. So much has happened in our lives since the last time I blogged (last August). It's been so long and so many event I don't even know where to start. I guess instead of trying to "catch up" I should just start fresh :)

So I finally had my knee replacement surgery on March 8th. I had to fast starting at midnight on the 7th. Of course, I ate dinner at about 9:30 and had nothing after that. Big mistake! I didn't go in the next day for surgery until 3:15. My actual surgery time was supposed to be at 5 pm. Being as lucky as I am, they didn't actually take me back until 7:30! It was the longest day of my life!! I was starving by the time they took me in. For this type of surgery, they give you a femoral nerve block and an epidural. They are supposed to give some sort of sedative so that you don't remember the actual surgery. Ashlyn and I thought it would be fun to actually watch a full knee replacement surgery on line before the surgery. That also was a mistake!! I guess I ended up freaking out during the surgery when I heard the bone saw, so they ended up giving me complete general anesthesia. The surgery ended around 9:30 and I was finally taken to my room on the 4th floor at 10:30 p.m. Of course that first night I got no sleep at all.....too many machines hooked up to my legs, arms and fingers. The blood pressure cuff going every 30 minutes, drain tubes, iv's, cpm machine, oxygen, catheter.....the list goes on and on. My physical therapist got me up at 8 am to start walking. Doesn't this seem crazy!? I can't believe you walk so soon. Anyway, the best part of waking up at 8 am is that well, when they do the surgery, they untie your gown. So ya, my male physical therapist gets me up and gets a horrible view of my back side!! He even got to to tie my gown back up. My mom wasn't at the hospital yet that morning because she was busy driving my carpool for me. Remember how I mentioned they ended up giving me general anesthesia? Well ya, I was sick the entire day. So not only am I stuck back in my bed with machines, I'm throwing up on top of it. There were so many crazy things that happened at the hospital during my stay.... During my stay, they require you to walk with your walker and golden purse (catheter and bag) to the dinning room for some of your therapy. Then after your meals you have to go to physical therapy. I have never felt so old in my life! Besides walking with the walker, I got so tired so easily. Could have been from all the drugs I was getting, but whatever it was I was exhausted by 6 pm! I finally was able to go home on Friday the 11th with my walker. As soon as I got home, Intermountain Home Health Care dropped off my cpm machine for me to start using. This is a machine that moves your knee for you. I have therapy 3x a day and then have to be in the leg machine for a total of 6 hours a day. My recovery is basically a full time job. So right now, I have home health care that comes in 3 x a week to help with my therapy, change my bandages, and do my blood work. I'm on blood thinners, so I can't eat dark leafy vegetables, broccoli, salad, salad dressing, mayo and many other things. This is rather difficult being vegetarian! But I'm happy to say tonight is actually my last dose of Warfarin! Yay!! The therapy is going ok other than I have noodle leg. I had the pain pump for the femoral nerve block for almost a week. So ya, my leg is still numb! I was finally able to graduate to crutches this past weekend. So happy!! I hate the walker!! Tomorrow I get to have my 24 staples removed and I couldn't be happier. I'm hoping the doctor will finally release me to drive. I hardly take my loratabs because they make me so sick. I'd rather have the pain than be sick! I'm pretty sure I've already written a book and I left out sooo many details. Anyway....I think I get to go back to work next Monday. I've been working from home at night, but it is definitely hard to get my hours in and I need the moola!! I've added a picture of my wonderful incision and staples. I think I need a lifetime supply of scar cream!!!

I have to thank my mom who stayed at my house for 2 weeks to take care of Ashlyn and me. I really couldn't have done it without her! This week is a little harder having her gone, but she is coming down tomorrow to take me to the doctor and to help with some housework and meals.

And Then There Was Easter.......

I know I'm so far behind....but I have to share these pictures from Easter. Of course we did the usual of dying eggs with my parents and two nephews (not sure where those photos went). Easter morning, Ashlyn decided she had to put on her new swimsuit she found in her Easter Basket before she could go egg hunting outside. It is still freezing in Enterprise that time of year, but Ashlyn is strong willed (nice way of saying STUBBORN!) She threw on her yellow rain boots and took off outside! The great thing about Ashlyn in Enterprise is that she is totally carefree. She wears whatever she wants, doesn't care if her hair is combed or what she looks like. Complete opposite of when she is in St. George....won't leave the house without her hair done, earrings in, lip gloss on.... in fact, her new teacher at school that she's had only a week calls her "My little Shopper" because Ashlyn is always put together with every accessory possible. I'm glad she is so carefree at grandma's house and wish she was a little more like that at home :) Alas, here are some pictures of Easter.

Ashlyn the Actress!

Ashlyn tried out for the Pinocchio play at Enterprise Elementary School. She was so happy to be selected as one Fair Isle Kids. She thought it was hilarious that she got to be a naughty boy! She loves to be dramatic!! There is a professional play company that travels to rural areas to teach kids all about theater. Enterprise Elementary was one of the lucky schools to receive this training! This was an awesome experience for Ashlyn who aspires to be an actress (she is proud of the fact that she can make herself cry on demand!). The kids learned lots of songs that they had to sing in the play. Ashlyn even had to be a donkey at one point and she loved it! They had practices every day after school. It was a lot of hard work, but completely worth it in the end. Of course we purchased a dvd of the play, and it is played often :)

Competition 2009-2010

Last dance season, we were living in Enterprise. This made it rather difficult for Ashlyn to be on the Show Team considering she would need to have someone drive her 45 mins each way for classes 3 days a week! We decided to take the year off from team dancing, but Ashlyn continued to take her technique classes once a week. I have to give a big thanks to my Mom for being committed to drive Ashlyn all that way for dance! Ashlyn also decided to do a solo. At first we were only going to do local competitions, but soon we decided to follow the team. This took us all over the place! New Mexico, Nevada, Salt Lake City and Ashlyn even competed at Lagoon! That was a fun weekend. Ashlyn did really well this year and I am so proud of her! Here are a couple of photos to recap the season.....