Happy 4th and Happy Birthday Adam!

We spent Friday purchasing everything we would need for our camping trip. We then drove to Sparks and fought our way through a very slow, meandering flow of traffic and eventually found a spot where we could watch the Fireworks. We spent the next hour or so killing time. We didn't plan too well. No food or drinks or toys. Just an empty lot to run around in. The show was good and the kids enjoyed it except for a slight cool breeze once the sun went down (again, not so good planning, no jackets or blankets). We opened the back of the van and folded the seats down for some stadium seating. I think everyone in the area comes to watch this show. It is put on by John Ascuaga's Nugget Casino and Hotel. It is actually quite good. They have both towers shooting off fireworks and another station shooting off rockets from the ground.

Just so no one is wondering or worried, here is an udate on my clavicle. I had surgery and all is well as of two and a half weeks later. The scar looks good. I am quite surprised at how well the orthopod closed up the incision, al though at first glance it was longer than I anticipated. I should be in a sling for about a month or longer but over the vacation I refused to wear it and seem to be ok so far.

Still bruised more than a month later.

The incision is approximately 4 inches, running along the clavicle.

This is what it looks like on the inside. A titanium plate with 7 screws. As you can see it spans about 2/3 - 3/4 of the clavicle.

Here are a couple of photos that i didn't put on the vacation post.

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Our "animal" with his little bear, waking up from his afternoon hibernation.Adam loves to go upside down and just generally rough house and wrestle. There's a reason why we call him "Animal".Father and Son having fun on the water. Man we look good in our hats. No wonder the ladies can't leave us alone.Adam taking a swim with Grandpa. Sorry about the pink floaties Adam, not my call.After our camping trip, we came back to California and saw Leslie's family before they took off to Saint George and then take Mike up to BYU-Idaho for his first semester. Good luck Mike!

Vacation on Topaz Lake

I have to apologize in advance for how jumbled this post is. It's all over the place but I don't want to repost it. Deal with it!















As you can tell, we celebrated Adam's first birthday while we were camping on Topaz Lake. He had fun, stuck his fingers in his cake, licked them off and went back for more. He also came out on the tube with me so we both could at least get a little ride in. Brave kid.

Mya was our little swimmer. She's starting to get the arm action but mainly does the doggy paddle wonderfully. She had a blast in the water.

She loved going on the tube and getting splashed and going over the bumps. She has gotten fearless on the tube. Well, almost. A couple of large wakes got her looking pretty serious.

Brianna surprised us all. She normally would cling to the sides of the Watkin's pool but she decided she wanted to be in the water and swim freely. She was all over the place. We definitely have some water loving kids.

The girls were relentless with granny. "Granny, swim with me". "Granny, float with me". "Granny, hold me". "Granny, eat with me". She was an awesome sport and probably wore herself out trying to please them.

We camped there Monday through Thursday. We had some wind come up occasionally since the lake is in the high desert just on the east side of the Sierra's. It was a lot of fun though. All of us got lots of sun and pretty much ended up different shades of red.

Now it's back to normal life. Could you all here the large, desperate sigh as I typed?

Surgery and other Happenings

Here's a few pictures to update you on my clavicle. The first is a pre-op pic and the rest are post-op.

Despite having surgery on Thursday, I went with Leslie and family back to California. Leslie took the girls to see Mike's last performance. I tried to recover as much as I could but I could tell traveling took a bit out of me. The girls spent Saturday with Paul and Dena swimming in the morning and then at the Snowline Engineering company BBQ. Mya watched the 4th of July fireworks at Cameron Park lake with Dena while Paul and Brianna slept.

Adam has become quite the climber. He really enjoys the blue rocking chair. He especially loves the shower. He actually climbed/fell head first into the shower while Leslie was washing. He was proud of himself.

Summer Fun Starts Now!

The girls and Adam had some fun in the sun and sprinklers. Dena spent a few hours while Paul was working here in Reno.

Here's an update on my clavicle. I went and saw an orthopaedic surgeon and it is still broken. I am going to have surgery next Thursday. I will have some more hardware added on. They will make an incision along the clavicle and and screw a plate on the bone. Sounds like fun huh?

Here's a chronological photo spread of my shoulder. Notice the increasing bruising. It traveled down and increased in color.

Day 2: Still swollen, some bruising to the armpit.

Day 3: Bruising starting to appear as well as the fractured clavicle.

Day 4: Bruise now yellowing and still spreading down. Left side of my chest is swollen compared to the right.

Happy Father's Day

So everyone knows my little accident didn't put a damper on our father's day. Sure I had to take it easy but we had a good time. We had Paul and Dena come out with Terie and Morgan. They brought Cal and Debora's old couch out to us and had dinner. Morgan and Paul gave me a blessing that has brought down the blessings of heaven. Thank you Paul and Morgan. We enjoyed their company and the girls enjoyed seeing grandma and grandpa and showing everyone the park. Here's a few pics.

It's all fun and games until someone gets hurt!

We had Ryan and Rachel come out with AJ and Sarah and went dirt bike and quad riding. we found a great spot where the kids got to ride and learn on their own. As well as let Leslie get used to her new quad. Yes, Leslie has her own quad now. It is becoming a family affair. They all had fun. All the bikes ran well and we were having a blast.


Ryan took AJ with him on his dirt bike and I rode with them. We were checking the place out and followed the trail all the way around. Then I decided I would jump my bike from rock to rock and hit as many as I possibly could. Basically I bounced around through a rocky section of the trail and instead of just locking up my brakes and possibly laying the bike down I tried to save it and ride through. It didn't work out so well. I ended up hitting a rock head on with my front tire causing the bike to "endo" or flip over the front and tossing me 8-10 feet. I was upside down about 5 feet in the air when I landed, on a rock, on my left shoulder. If you have ever seen a slow motion video of a boxer being punched in the face and seeing it distort, that's what my shoulder did. It imploded and didn't come back out.
It's odd when you crash how everything seems to slow down. I can perfectly visualize the wreck. As I flip head first, I can see my bike endoing back tire up in the air. Then I tuck and take the rock on my left shoulder. My head is next and smashes into another rock. I roll out of it with my left arm tucked into my body. I know immediately what I did and but still tried to move my arm even just a little bit. No way, not happening. I walk back up on the trail, pacing back and forth trying to subdue the now emerging pain and to make sure Ryan was able to spot me. I am trying to strip off my gear as Ryan notices and spins his bike back around. He approaches, shuts his bike off, and asks if it is my shoulder. "Yeah, it's my collar bone."
He parked his bike and came over. I pulled my shirt down so he could take a look and a surprised look come over his face, eyes wide and lips tight. "Yeah it's done" was the response. By now I was getting light headed and nausious. I sat down as Ryan got his bike and told me he be back as fast as he could if I was ok by myself. I said I would be as long as I was sitting or lying down. Sitting got uncomfortable very quickly so I lied down. That's the last Ryan saw before he left.
I said two prayers after he left. The first was that the pain may be bearable and that I could have the strength needed. Also that Ryan and who else may return could do so in safety as so many times in stressful cases people also injure themselves or put themselves at risk. Probably 20 minutes later, I asked that Leslie would know I was ok and that she would be comforted in that. Probably 40 minutes later, Ryan was back with his truck and Leslie. Let me tell you the ride back was not a pleasant one, in a 4x4 pickup on a rocky dirt road. several times I had to have Leslie stop so I could gather myself and bring the pain back within reason. Ryan and Rachel graciously stayed and watched the kids, loaded up and brought them home while Leslie took me the emergency room.

As you can see from the next couple of pictures I have an amazing disappearing clavicle. In place of my left clavicle is a large bump, the tell-tale of a fractured clavicle.
This one shows the difference between both sides. Ryan said immediately after he could see the jagged pieces pressing against the skin. Since it is now swollen, you have to rely on the x-rays.

And now for the x-rays! These are beautiful shots, al though they are not for the weak. Can anyone tell me what's wrong?

You can probably notice that my shoulder is pressed in by an inch or so and depressed by about two inches. Notice how many pieces and their orientation?
Close up. I am pretty sure the vertical piece is fractured down the middle.

Don't try this at home!