Football Injury

Well - I just found another thing to add to my ever growing list of
"Things I never want my kids to experience!" BROKEN BACK


As I mentioned in previous posts, Dowlin began weight training and practicing as soon as we got here with the HS football team. All was going well! He was playing with the Varsity players in the passing clinics all summer.

August 2 - 1st week of full pads, he came home in a lot of pain. He had gone up to catch a pass and was hit in the air, hurting his back. The coach and trainer took him out for 2 weeks. He iced and heated, and waited. 1st day back - hit again. Out for another week - obviously not ready yet... He practiced 1 week, played 1/2 the 1st game - hit again - Mom said "No more!" We went to his Dr. the next day, he couldn't move! The pain was so bad. He gave him some muscle relaxers, and I made an appointment with an Orthopedic Surgeon at the CORE Institute, they work with Willow Canyon HS.

It was Labor Day, and Dean's Bday, so we headed North to Sedona, and Flagstaff, then East to Snowflake for the weekend. Dowlin was "ok" but pretty dopey. (Kinda funny, we met a "Healer" at the hotel pool... Lol - It's a different story, ask Dow if you want a good laugh. I'm just going to quote a little tidbit for your amusement - healer, "repeat after me...(balh blah blah)" -healer, "Ok, we're done." Dowlin, "Ok, we're done," HA HA! Hilarious!

When we finally got into see Dr Greene, it was clear that he would be out for the season. Xrays were hard to see the spine, but he ordered a Radioactive Full Body Scan which took about an hour. (it was pretty cool - if you've never seen a 360 degree Xray) It confirmed that he had fractures in his spine. (L4 I believe) "Out for the Season" are tough words to hear for a guy who loves football!
Options - Permanent damage, or paralysis - you decide.

After weighing the REAL options, we decided to wait out the months of recovery - not do surgery.
UPDATE - Dowlin was in a hard, removable only for shower, cast for 6 weeks. And we defied the "No Spohomore drivers" rule with a note from the Dr stating he should not be made to walk extreeme distances or carry heavy back pack on his back. (lol - I win!)

This has been a very disappointing thing for Dowlin, as you can imagine. He will be unable to play Basketball this year as well. We are hoping that by February or March, he will be well enough to tryout for Baseball.

UPDATE - Dowlin has healed remarkably well! He did miss Basketball, but made the JV Baseball team and so far no problems other than an ache here or there! He's even ramming into guys and sliding head first into home plate - We're wondering if it was his back or maybe a head injury he got in football, LOL.

Fun Fact - The Texas Rangers and KANSAS CITY ROYALS have their Spring Training here in Surprise! This is at the Royals/Rangers Stadium. The kids get to use it in the off season - cool huh!

Brittney's Birthday

Brittney turned 10 on September 16! She walked away from summer with a killer tan! She is a Cheerleader for the Pop Warner football team the Cobra's - what a busy schedule she is keeping!

July Birthdays

Dowlin turned 16 on July 21! Where does the time go? He has spent this summer working out at his new High School, and playing football. What a great kid!

Olivia turned 1 on July 25! She was lots of fun to watch, she's a joy to us all!

Kids keep cool!

We have quickly learned to survive in Arizona - WATER is a must! Thankfully we have Cheri to be our "Follow me to Fun" tour guide!

We went to this "splash pad" to play for the afternoon. Ya, we packed lunches and lot of water to drink - Otis even brought us popsicles! The kids had tons of fun!

Disneyland

While in CA we took the kids to the "Happiest Place on Earth" - it was fun, really it was, I think we waited to long to take the older kids, they were kinda bored :( (I'll try not to post pictures of the painful faces)

Despite waiting in lines, and "baby rides" and having some of the "classics" closed, we all enjoyed the day together.

Favorite moments were Daddy "Booing" Snow Whites Step Mother, the evil witch as she passed us and having her turn and "hiss" at him. "Oooh's" from the crowd cracked us up!

The Parade was pretty good, you know how Dean loves "Ariel" LOL. Then as we sat on the curb eating ice cream waiting for the fireworks to start... looking at the tired kids, thinking about the walk to the car and the long drive home, Dean and I had a "magical moment" of our own... "Let's go!" No complaints - we were lucky to get to the van before the snoring began.

It was a great day. Family fun - that's what life's about, right?!

Family Beach Trip

Now that we are only 5 hours from the ocean, we decided a trip to the beach and Disneyland was a must! So Memorial Day weekend, we were off! Dean and I could smell the Ocean and what a welcome, after so long in the midwest it smelt like heaven! We choose Oceanside, CA because we had stayed there before and Great Grandma Dowlin lives there -

The kids have seen the Puget Sound while we were in WA when Zach was a baby, but they all learned how fast fun can go to fear as each took a tumble and emerged soaked to the bone. It was so fun to watch their excitement! (Dowlin and Mercedes would argue they didn't "go down" but this was just suposed to be a walk on the beach)

We learned a couple of things on this trip - #1 it's still a bit chilly in May! ~ #2 we need our own boogie boards (Dowlins belly was ripped up after riding all day ~ #3 We suck at sandcastles ~#4 should have used sunscreen! ~ #5 Sand in the crack - how does it get EVERYWHERE?

We had a lovely day with Great Grandma Dowlin -

what a treat, this is why we moved West!

We enjoyed seeing San Diego, and the coastline - I thought this view was so pretty! After I forced the kids to sit there - and they all climbed back to us - Dowlin was ticked off! I then learn behind them the rock they were sitting on was a straight drop about 30 feet down! What a stupid Mommy! This picture is a reminder to me that just because it looks great, doesn't mean it is... I"l never send them out again without checking it out first! UGH

BIG Move West

Welcome to Surprise Arizona!

In February of 2006 Dean took a new job for Lofton Company in North Phoenix. We franticly began preparig the Olathe house for sale! He left for Arizona mid February and began work. Although he flew home every other weekend - this time was high stress for him being away from his family, and high stress for me - keeping everything in Kansas rolling forward!

Dean was able to live in the spare room of our wonderful friends Otis and Cheri Henson. What a blessing! They have a wonderful family and helped him not to get too lonely between visits home. On his weekends home, we painted, stained, recarpeted, put in new kitchen appliances, we even had a new roof put on and I surprised him with having the house painted, so he didn't have to do it. It was hard and laborous work...but it paid off big time! We listed the house and were signing the sale papers in 2 weeks! On Deans next trip home (2 weeks later) we were closing and loading the moving truck. It was a miracle! And to top it off, our house sold the highest in the neighborhood!

We sent the truck on it's way, and we spent a few days at Ken and Taleens. We said our goodbyes to all the family, Messersmiths, Roths, Taylors, and Rosses...and Our Friends the Millers gave us a wonderful Farewell party at their house - so many friends came, it was awesome, we love looking at the scrapbook we created, and reading the words of love and encouragement there! We loved Kansas, and will sorely miss the connections there!

Our House in SURPRISE ARIZONA!

This is our beautiful house in Surprise! We doubled our square footage, it is wonderful! However our back yard shrunk by atleast 3/4! it is tiny and the houses, as you can see, are so close together. OH and the HEAT! May 1, driving into town - 101 degrees! it's only May. When you go outside, it feels like someone left the BBQ grill open, lol. Anyway, we are together - we are happy! We're not sure this is our forever home, or state, but it got us closer West and we are looking forward to this new adventure in our lives!