So, it turns out Jacob has not been cleared to play football games yet and have full contact. Wow, lesson learned. Below are some pictures from a special testing session. He was hooked up to a computer and it was able to measure force, power, etc. Cole, who did the assessment, is not his regular PT. But from what we understood Cole was the one who would clear Jacob, based on his performance/results. Jacob went Aug 9 and at the end, I specifically asked Cole if he was comfortable, based on what he saw, for Jacob to play football. He said that of course there is always the risk of injury but that he felt comfortable with Jacob playing football. Two a days started Aug 13 and Jacob fully participated. Then on Aug 19th, he finally went back to his regular therapists, who had the test results. They told him they were not yet comfortable releasing him to play. They said that Cole told them that we had directly asked him but he was not comfortable telling us the truth. So, the day before the first full on scrimmage, we told the coach Jacob was not cleared yet to play. So frustrating. I appreciate them wanting him stronger, but the way everyone communicated with us or sometimes what they did not say and should have, led to false hopes. His bone is fully healed but they are concerned for the strength and stability of the knee and hip to take a hit. Jacob was incredibly frustrated but has realized it is what it is and we are hoping he gets cleared in time for the last 3-4 games. (However, now, the insurance is denying any further PT. The therapists are advocating for him and that he is not quite there to return to sports. The insurance does not list returning to sports as a reason to extend therapy!! The therapists were suppose to have a peer to peer call with them on Thursday. I have not yet heard how it went. If they still deny it, not sure the protocol for getting him cleared to play)
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A cool, rainy day...perfect for a few projects! Finally got the pictures off my phone!
The summer marches on for another week!! Then it will be 6th, 9th and 12th. Two in high school! Crazy.
Benjamin has finally gotten on the line in the kitchen cooking. He is doing saute and his sandwich shop job has taken back seat. Still getting about 40 hours a week, not sure what the school year work schedule will look like. His current class schedule Sports Medicine II, Welding III, English, Strength and Conditioning and currently CAD. He thinks he needs an art of some kind to graduate, so hopefully he can get it sorted out. I have always been amazed at the high school senior guys and how they just look so old and like men. Well, that has been Benjamin this summer. He has transformed into a man! He is hoping to get his braces off soon and finally close the chapter on his jaw surgery almost a year ago.
Jacob has started football two a days. That kid is rocking it. He gets himself up by himself every morning at 5:30. He is still slotted for QB. I guess there are currently three QB options on the Froshmore team. Will be fun to see how things shake out. He will also be playing linebacker. He has been lifting weights all summer and starting to fill out. Jacob has recently dropped to PT once a week and has things scheduled through early October...so he plugs along. It was exactly 6 months ago today! We have purchased his ski pass for this coming year, so hoping for no drama this time around!!
Joseph still hangs out at the skate park and with neighbor friends. He is doing another refresher 'summer school' right now, before things kick off next week. His first year in middle school was last year, in 5th, but with Covid, it was anything but normal. Excited for him to have a 'normal' year, switching classes, being able to roam outside during lunch and recess.
JR plugs along with all kinds of special projects. He is going on his annual hiking trip to the Wind River Range, going with a friend, in early September. Then he is hoping to do some Texas hog hunting later in September.
Benjamin, Jacob and I are headed to Seattle in a few days. We are going to watch an NFL preseason game between Seahawks and Broncos. We are staying in downtown and will hit all the popular spots. A very short trip, just on the ground about 2 1/2 days!
Here are photos from camping trip last month. It was just Jacob and I, along with a few other friends.
Mid July, time marches on!!!
Benjamin continues to work 30-40 hours a week. He works at a nice sit down restaurant and a sandwich shop. Both of them have tried to get him to quit the other job and just work at one place. The sandwich shop can offer morning hours, which he likes, but loved the kitchen experience of the restaurant. He has been out paddle boarding and golfing lately! One of JR's clients gave him a used set of nice golf clubs so I see the links/driving range becoming a more frequent thing. We have started having senior year conversations and what things might look like going forward. He is 100% undecided to what next year will hold. The one thing he does know, it will not include traditional higher education, at least not for next year or two. I totally agree and support him either working or finding a trade school, etc. We recently celebrated his 17th bday! Can't believe it. He and I have been trying to go out to eat once a week. I told him his Senior year I would love to explore all the many eating options that our community has to offer. (Eating out is not something we have ever done on a regular basis, so we could easily go every week and not hit the same restaurant twice.
Jacob has been involved in all things working out. Still doing PT twice a week and morning workouts from 7-9 M-F at the high school. There are not a lot of kids and I think he really enjoys working out along side some of the upper classmen. There is a new coach this year doing the workouts and Jacob adores him. Comes home every day talking about how he know just how to push athletes for more, encourage them. I see him as a coach that will definitely build into Jacob's life through his high school years! This next week, he will be working out 7-9, helping with younger football camps from 9-11 and 1-3, then participating in a high school camp from 5-7. Makes for a very exhausted kid! But the best kind of exhaustion. I love watching him strive to get bigger and stronger. Unfortunately, his vertical challenges (height) put him behind the 8 ball but I have just told him there are lots of amazing athletes that are well under 6 foot. He just needs to work harder. We have also had conversations about his friends who are choosing not to do workouts and how coaches see that and all the work and dedication that kids put in. He has also been working with JR a few days and really helping him stay ahead of things. And oh my word, we are starting to have driver's education conversations!!!! He could start driving as early as September if we go the Driver's Ed route or next March, if we choose to bypass Driver's Ed.
Joseph! He has found his second home at the skate park! He will hop on his scooter and be gone for hours on end! The sun, fresh air and exercise are amazing for him. He enjoyed his few weeks of summer school (they ran it more like summer camp, but educational). He has a 12th birthday coming up and discussions are underway as to what he wants to do. He would love to go to a hotel for overnight, but holy cow, hotels are about 300 a night here!!! Yikes! For Christmas last year he just wanted money for extra curricular things (like pool, trampoline park) and he has just recently empties his money envelope. Now comes the huge life lesson of you either find a way to make money or you don't get to go and play! We recently got him a phone with restrictions on it. As much as I wanted to wait a year or two, there is such a peace of mind knowing I can get a hold of him and him me. I wonder how we ever survived without cell phones...ha. Sure made life much simpler without them!!
JR has some long days this summer. He has done a great job of slowly growing his clientele and, in my opinion, learning how to be competitive in this market. Living in a resort town, service providers often charge 20-30% more than what he does and it is hard to wrap your mind around what people would pay for your service. I have had several conversations recently where it is stated that people of higher income usually don't mind paying more because they feel like they get more, so they actually look for the higher priced services. He has a long standing client who is almost fully moved into the new 10,000 square foot home he built and JR will begin to manage that. It is crazy to think how someone could need that space, and three laundry rooms, but sounds like he basically built three wings so that when his two kids bring their families, everyone has their own private space!
I have enjoyed voluntarily lowering my hours for the summer. Of course the money is nice, but I need to be available to go and play with the boys too. I have been meeting some friends up at the high school track 3 days a week at 5am for workouts! I really love the early mornings and watching the sun come up, as long as I can get to bed early enough. Since its summer I don't stress about the boys being up (they are old enough to manage their time, not that they always do, but if they choose to stay up until 2am and miss their early morning commitment, no better way to learn). So, I have been getting in bed around 9. Sure is nice. There have been few car rental turn overs this month. I think there was such a frenzy on rental cars in June that dealerships, etc go smart and started renting vehicles, so market is somewhat saturated. Again, sure don't mind a slower pace!
We have our annual camping trip this weekend but given schedules, location, etc it is looking very different this year. I had hoped to borrow a friends camper but that fell through. Joseph doesn't want to sleep in a tent, so just Jacob and I are going. Really looking forward to just down time! Might get a hike in on Saturday. There is no cell service so excited for Jacob as the weekend will be all about being a boy and exploring!
Here are a few pictures from recent outings.
JR and I took out the four wheeler one day. Rode about an hour back. Sure was beautiful and weird to see the new electric poles so far back.
Oh my, it has been a long time since I posted!!
We are in full summer mode! Benjamin is working both jobs and is enjoying the morning shift at the sandwich shop and his same evening shifts at the sit down restaurant. Jacob continues therapy 2x a week. He has already participated in a basketball camp and has plugged in with summer workouts at the high school. The schools offered a 'catch up' summer school, so Joseph has been doing that every morning for the last two weeks. It has been nice because it gets him up and out of the house early.
I have found a good balance with all my commitments. I have decided to cut my hours back to 20-22 a week so I have time to breathe. It is hard to work long stretches when the boys are home and I felt like all I was doing was working in between appointments, running kids, etc. Trying to carve out some me time too.
After living in Montana for 23 years I finally broke down and bought a small window AC unit. We only have one for our bedroom, because that is the only south facing room and the hottest. I have tried to keep the set up pretty portable so I can easily remove it when it isn't 90 degrees! The first day we had it in, it was amazing the difference. I never really knew how hot things felt until we had the AC on with the door shut. Walking from the hallway into the bedroom was a huge difference. The boys actually enjoy hanging out in our bedroom now!! (It reminds me of the Labor Day weekends we spent in Woodson growing up. AC units on with doors closed and how great the rooms felt.)
Things have been really busy for JR. He has occasionally recruited Jacob and Benjamin to help him out. Bree enjoys going to work too. She gets lots of running around time!
Really not much else going on! I finally got a good phone now I just need to remember to take more pictures/videos!
Summer is quickly approaching! The boys get out June 8th!
Ben will be working 40 plus hours (he is not doing football this coming summer/school year).
Jacob hopefully will find a few shifts a week somewhere to work, doing a basketball camp and 1-2 football camps.
Joseph has no plans for the summer. I hope it includes lots of outside time with friends.
We recently purchased a new basketball hoop. A nice one that has a break away rim, which means you can properly dunk on it. It is nice to see the kids out front playing on it. (Just wish our neighbors didn't have nice new vehicles that we have to constantly worry about hitting) We also have an inflatable paddle board, just waiting for it to get warmer outside. So lots of opportunities for exercise.
Jacob is currently doing a week of early morning spring football practices. On Monday he goes for a special PT appointment where they will put him through a battery of tests to figure out where he is still weak, etc. He also sees surgeon next week, so hopefully he will get a green light to do more workout type stuff.
I am gonna be really busy this summer! I am back to unlimited hours with work and my Turo gig, has grown from 1 rental car to 4!!! I am just about driving myself nuts, making sure systems are in place so as not to forget a car. I am finishing up a financial coach class and excited to see if I can start working with people about being intentional with their money. Still not sure if I would want to do it as a ministry or for a fee, but going through this class has made me realize even more that I am passionate about budgets, investing, freedom in being debt free, etc. We live in such a consumer driven society and the borrower is truly slave to the lender. Hoping to connect with people and help them understand their relationship with money and changes that could be made to make the relationship much better.
JRs work has been pretty quiet but getting busier. He is going to Honduras to visit his parents the second week of June. It is a quick 6 day trip. So he will be trying to get ahead before he leaves. He is bringing on a few new clients, which is great!
My highlight of the trip though, was going to a jewelry store. Benjamin is one that is beginning to love all things nice. He has talked about Rolex watches before, but I had no idea how much he knew about them. He wanted to go try one on. Thankfully the sales person was very engaging and picked up on his huge interest. It will be several years before he permanently gets to wear one but he said he wants to save. The salesperson showed him another brand that was really nice and way cheaper. I thought he might walk out with it, but didn't. (He told me he wasn't that impulsive.) I did not know that Rolexes are investments, they only get better with time.!?
The look on his face when he had on the stores top of the line model. Priceless. There were two small Rolex gift books, so to speak, on the counter and he started flipping through the books and showing me all the pictures and what he loves about each style. The salesman said "You can have those, if you want." Benjamin just about fell over and asked if he was serious. The guy said, "yep, we get a lot of them" We immediately got to the car and he carefully wrapped up the two books.
At one point we were looking at some lower end, nice women's watches and Ben asked me if I would ever wear one. I jokingly said I would never wear a watch like that with sweats. The salesperson asked why not. I just kind of shrugged and told him I have never been one for finer things, so to speak. I think he thought I was nuts, but watches just don't draw me in....I would rather spend my money on other things.
Speaking of money, I am in the process of finishing up a Financial Coach Class. Not sure what my long term intentions are with my training, but I do know that one of the things I am passionate about it finances and helping people learn their money behaviors and finding ways to control their money instead of it controlling them!
Jacob plods along with therapy! I continue all things around the house while my work weeks are limited to 7 hours a week. I managed to empty out my storage unit, so I can give up that monthly expense. Did some more painting around the house. Finishing up my last high school graduation t-shirt quilt for my niece. Hard to believe, aside from my boys, all the other grand kids are out of high school.
No extra curriculars between now and the end of school, which is about 6 weeks away! Hard to believe. Really, no set plans for the summer either! Hoping to do a few day/overnight trips with the boys and maybe a weekend of camping. Jacob will start football 2 a days mid July. (There are some local levies being voted on in a few weeks and if the levies don't pass, the school district will be cutting all extra curriculars/sports, except varsity football, volleyball and basketball.) Ben is still undecided if he wants to play football his senior year.
After talking about it for a few years, we took the plunge. We might have to take it out on a few weekends too! I told him it would be nice if he would move his fort to someplace that we could take this....we could get quite a few miles back then!!
Jbird continues to work hard at therapy.
I continue on with all kinds of projects, hitting the gym, doctors appointments....
Hard to believe Easter is almost here. The first quarter of 2021 is in the books!!!
Spring is here!
I have decided I am going to let go of my storage unit, so I have been purging stuff. Feels so good to get stuff out of here! They have cut my hours at work, so the timing is perfect. I am doing about 7 hours a week. Not sure how long the limited hours will be, but hopefully I can complete most of my projects.
Jacob continues with physical therapy. He is going twice a week and probably still has 8-10 weeks left. I asked him recently if while he was laying on the mountain waiting for ski patrol, if he had any idea what the next few months would hold for him. Of course his answer was no. He does pretty well with one crutch but still tends to use two. The therapist said that his quad is not strong enough yet to walk without one. It is just crazy to see how hard he has to work to do a leg extension when he is sitting down. His right foot at times is colder than the left one. The therapist said it seems that the pulse is a little weaker on the right side. Something we are definitely watching. Not sure what could be causing it, but not an urgent matter yet. We go back to the surgeon early April, so will see what he has to say.
Benjamin took the ACT today. Sounds like it was required for all juniors, which sounds odd, but that is what he said. Tonight is his first night off in 34 days. He was been working every night. Between his restaurant job and his Jersey Mike's job, he is seeing two very different sides to the food industry. He gets to do a lot more grill work at Jersey Mike's, which he enjoys. JR and he are considering a trip in April to either Florida or North Carolina to see family. Benjamin is just itching to do some traveling but the places he really wants to go, aren't fully open yet (New York City and Chicago).
Joseph has been out enjoying the nice weather, playing hoops and just running around with neighborhood kids. He has also been on some bike rides with JR. Sure hope they can log a lot of miles this summer. He recently ended up at the Chiropractor for some foot issues. Still trying to get to the bottom of it. He is also wanting contacts, instead of glasses. He has done a great job of taking care of his glasses, so it just might happen.
JR is wrapping up the season quickly. I believe there are 3 weeks left then things drop off. He is meeting with several new clients, so he could be looking at a busy summer, come June. He has been back to his fort a few times. It appears that it has stayed untouched and no one has discovered it. Sure would be nice if it stays that way.
I am just in my element, puttering around the house. Still trying to hit the gym a few times a week. Also staying plugged in teaching Sunday School (3-5th grade) and attending a weekly small group.
Headed down tomorrow to Texas for a quick three nights! Will be nice for warm weather and to see the family.
Happy 14th Birthday Jacob!. Growing up I always referred to you as my Texas Tornado, because it seemed you always left a wake of destruction where ever you had been. As you got older, it was difficult to keep up with you, always on the move and blowing and going. Well, that came to an abrupt halt 4 weeks ago, when you broke your femur as you overshot a ski jump landing. Going through all the pain, ambulance ride, a rod that runs from hip to knee, an overnight hospital stay and countless hours of laying in bed, unable to do simple tasks, you have prevailed! The memories you unintentionally created as you soared through the air that day! I can say without a doubt, that the last few weeks have been one of the SWEETEST seasons of my life, as I have had the privilege of serving you and meeting the most basic of needs. The crutches have temporarily slowed you down, but I know it won't last long. You are crushing PT and on schedule to hit the football field late summer! So looking forward to the return of my tornado and all God has in store for you this next year. Happy Birthday Jbird!
The last three weeks have been all things Jacob!
On Thursday we saw the orthopedic surgeon at the 2 week mark. The staples were removed and two of the incisions have healed up nicely. The third one doesn't look bad, just not as far along in the healing process. The bone is healing nicely and we are looking at least 3 months before full recovery.
On Friday he had first PT appointment. The therapist are all really impressed, given how bad the fracture was, as to how far he has come. He had PT again today and I took two videos (posted below). One of the hardest things for him is to get his right quad firing. So weird to see how such a simple movement is so difficult for him.
I have had several conversations with the school and the goal is for him to go back half days on Wednesday. That will be just under three weeks since the accident. They have moved his schedule around so he will be there for his four core classes.
Aside from struggling to carry plates, etc while using the crutches, he is self sufficient. He has figured out how to put on socks and shoes and get himself in and out of the shower. He still has not tried to sleep in his bed. It sits on the floor and getting on and off his bed is still too difficult.
I know he is ready to get back to school and I am ready for him to get back to the classroom, but am sure gonna miss him being around 24/7
(If you can't see videos below, click on this link www.welcomeatmyfire.blogspot.com)
Here he is walking and putting a little weight on right foot.
This was in the ER room. You can see how much shorter the right one is. Femur injuries are all significant, because of the bones retraction, the muscles contracting and then the whole issue of the femoral artery that runs down the leg and depending on break and movement, could cut the artery.
Here is the xray. A clean break!
We are in the middle of a really cold snap here! These are the days that we have to remember why we live here, for amazing summers!
Jacob and Joseph and in the middle of basketball season. Jacob's grade plays other schools and the 5th and 6th graders just practice and scrimmage with each other. Amazing how much better things go when they have extra curricular activities. Jacob has also been on the ski hill most Saturdays.
My mom is coming up for a visit this week. Looking forward to having her here!
I am still working a lot plus helping a guy with his Turo rental car. A sweet side gig. He and I work really really well together, so nice to have the extra income.
Some random pictures. These were taken the last time JR was at the fort. Sure would be nice if it could just become a permanent structure. Pretty sure no one has come across it.
