Jubilee of Trees

We went to the Jubilee of Trees this year.  It's always held before Thanksgiving and Bryan was given some free tickets, so we decided to go. It's been a long time since I have been so it was fun to see all the trees.  After a while I had tree overload and I realized that I really like simple trees.  

We all were able to vote for our favorite tree (Ethan's was a Star Wars tree and Courtney's had owls on it).  On our way out we were able to see a cool map of the area that is at the Dixie Center.  I had to take a pic so people could see.  It's very simplified but it works.

Working his muscle

I called a neighbor, who is a physical therapist, asking if there were exercises Ethan could do to strengthen his quad muscle and help with the pain in his tendon.  She came down and told him of some exercises and then hooked him up to a "taser" (as Ethan calls it).  The problem was that Ethan still has a fracture so the electrical jolt went right to his break and he was in so much pain.  She left it for him saying that he needed to use it because it would help his muscle get back to working order. But I don't think he used it again.  It did prompt him to start the exercises she gave him religiously.  He would sit in class and be moving his leg side to side, front to back, etc.  It has really helped and he has been able to lift his leg easier and has been getting his strength back.  His left thigh is still really skinny but he will work on it when he can walk again.

School newspaper

Courtney is on the school newspaper staff at the elementary.  The published their first edition of the paper the other day and Courtney had an article published in it.  She did a great job!

Smart Ethan

The middle school has been having a bunch of college and career readiness fairs.  They had one the day Ethan's cast came off and the college represented were giving away sunglasses.  All the kids popped the lenses out and wore them.  Ethan thought he was pretty cool with his lens-less sunglasses.

What a goofy kid!

Mini shakes from Iceburg

Ethan was so bummed after the appointment.  I had to run an errand to Iceburg on the Boulevard to ask if they would sponsor the spell-a-thon for the elementary school.  While there I took pity on Ethan and told him and Courtney that they could get mini shakes.  They griped about it and Ethan thought I was being "a cheapskate" but I just smiled and waited.

When the girl put the shakes on the counter you should have seen Ethan's eyes bulge out.  The shakes below are mini shakes and they are huge.  I knew they were big so a mini would still be way too much ice cream for them.  They quickly apologized and thanked me for their mini shakes.

It took Ethan about an hour to finish his shake and Courtney never did finish hers.

The cast comes off

The 3 1/2 weeks was up and it was time to get Ethan's second cast off.  Courtney had an early out day so she was able to go along.  We checked Ethan out early and drove to the dr's office.  Once again Jenny was there to take care of us.  She had Ethan sit on the table and got the saw out to cut the cast off.  It took a while but they got it off ok.  Ethan was really nervous that his ankle would hurt like his knee had but it wasn't too bad.

Jenny had him lay down on the table and I cleaned between his toes for him.  It was pretty gross but someone needed to do it.  I couldn't get over how hairy his leg was!  He kept asking me to itch his foot and I tried but apparently I didn't scratch him hard enough so he took over and did it himself.  You can see how he had scratched off the top of his foot because it's all red in the picture below.

They took Ethan for another xray to see how the break has been healing.  It is healing pretty well.  He has a slight lump on his shin from where it is healing and he still has the blue pen "X" where the EMTs marked the location of the break, but it is looking good.

After the xrays, Ethan sat in a chair to wait for the doctor to let him know what they wanted to do now.  He spent his time scratching off the dead, dry skin from his leg and foot.  It was pretty gross to watch the skin flake off but Ethan loved the way it felt.

After a scratching fit, Ethan moved his heel and found that he had left a flaky skin footprint.  It was so gross that I just had to document it.

You can see the slight "X" that marks his break.

We didn't get to see the doctor but instead saw his PA.  He looked at the xray and said that Ethan still needs to wear a boot for support for another 3 weeks.  This wasn't what we wanted to hear at all.  We were prepared with his tennis shoe so he could walk out on his own.  Ethan had been walking in his cast for 4-5 days so we figured it was healed enough that he would be fine.  But the doctor didn't want to take the chance.  They fitted Ethan with a boot and told him to take it easy on his foot for a while.  They said to lean on his crutches for a few days until he got used to walking.  But once we were out of the office, Ethan handed me his crutches and just started walking.

He said it felt fine for a while but then it started to ache.  The boot had some extra padding that was squeezing his foot and causing some discomfort.  Jenny came over the next day and took it out and helped Ethan learn to adjust it a little better.  She gave him a paper with all kinds of stretches to do so his heel would feel better.  He was really disappointed to still be in a boot and I don't blame him at all.

We have another appointment in 3 weeks to have more xrays and see how things are going.  We are hopeful that he will walk out in a tennis shoe after that appointment.

Captain Bree and the Lady Pirates

There was a play at Snow Canyon High School and Courtney wanted to go really bad.  The boys didn't want to go so Courtney and I went on a date to see it.  We went on opening night and it was actually really empty.  It was the night Snow Canyon's football team was playing a state football game so most of the people were in Salt Lake for the game.  But the play was pretty good and we had a fun time.  We knew some of the kids in it so that was fun to see them.