Sleep, Swim, & Snow Cones

Liam has been a really great little sleeper. He goes to bed about 8-8:30pm and sleeps until about 10am. There are time when he wakes up in the night. I panic and assume everything is worse than what it really is and have to walk myself through the fact that all of my kids would wake up occasionally for various reasons and that he is fine. Somedays the PTSD of what we have been through is very real. I'm working thru it a little at a time but I'm so grateful to have this little guy here and doing so well.

Just another day enjoying the pool. They have a kiddie pool that is 18 inches deep and the perfect size for the kids specifically Liam 

Usually in the valley the houses are spread out to the point that something like a snow cone shack isn't very profitable but after the first couple weeks of summer we could tell that weekends at the condo would be very different. Hallie came up with the idea and we worked out all the details. We sat down and wrote out a business plan. She was going to be borrowing money from Matt and I to get started and then would pay it back as they went. She enlisted her 2 sisters to help. Emy was eager to help but needed more supervision. We ordered most of the stuff off Amazon and The Dollar Store. We made posters for advertising and prices and off they went. The first night they made $87 we were floored but they got a $25 tip from some really nice people. Hopefully it will continue. I think this is a really important lesson to learn and what better time than now.

One of the weekends we got together with Nic the cousins decided to make up a dance and some cheers. It's so fun to see my kids making memories with their cousins.

The First Hair Cut and Remission Celebration Dinner

Although all of Liam's hair didn't fall out during chemo it did get quite thin. His hair has since grown quite a bit and is think and bleach blond just like Matt and I's were as a kid. I decided one night to try my hand at cutting his hair. I wasn't sure how he'd respond to someone else cutting his hair or if he'd even hold still. To my surprise he did great. It ended up shorter than what I intended but since I didn't have a clue what I was doing I think it went pretty well. 

Our nice neighbor brought us some cookies after his daughters gender reveal party. The kids were thrilled

We wanted to do something special for Liam's official remission but with COVID that made things more limited so we went out to dinner. The first time in over 6 months. The girls voted on Olive Garden. We should have just done take out or ate somewhere else. I don't know that we will ever make that mistake again. The menu was super limited and the service was among the worst we had ever received. When we told them about what we were celebrating they nodded and smiled without another word. That alone was super deflating. We ended up packing most of our food and leaving. We all decided we needed to celebrate in a different way because it just wasn't what we expected. It was at least nice to be together and mostly for Liam to be on the mend.

6462 E Summit Cove-Saw Cutting & Suspended Slab Deck

Although the entire house wasn't ready for concrete they were able to pour the suspended slab part so it wouldn't slow the progress with that. Matt saw cut all of it and Liam loved helping with all of it. He wants to be such a helper and where he is getting older he does really well following directions and being helpful.

Laim and I were in charge of sweeping after Matt cut 

Now to set the beams for the suspended slab. We were able to hire some workers from Sure Steel on a Saturday and Matt helped them. They were so slow and Matt was so frustrated so he ended up helping.

Matt ran the equipment to move the decking onto the beams

And all done

Liam's Fight With Cancer-3 Month Scans

Although the time went quickly the anxiety still remains. I seem to feel peace and a taste of "normal" life and then when they call to schedule scans a month before from then until scans I'm kind of a mess. I feel in my heart from all that has happened that Liam is going to do great and that cancer is a thing of the past for us I still feel terrified to be wrong. This was his first scans that I would be on my own. I am thankful for Marco Polo because it gives me a connection to my family and close friends that keep Liam and I company because there is usually some waiting. Because of COVID they were only allowing one parent in. We had to be there bright and early at 630 so we left just after 530. Liam slept til about North Salt Lake and then just looked out the window until we arrived. They were able to get us checked in quickly and into a room. They had him start drinking the contrast for the CT scan and put in an IV as well as drawing labs. After he finishes most of the contrast we have to wait an hour before they can do his scans. They are good about bringing various toys that seem to work for a while but he is at an age he really just wants to run around.

Scans went well. Liam did great with sedation and once he was awake and ate some goldfish and a root beer slushie we found this cool ride to head up to clinic. He loved this little car and I can't wait to get his car out of storage 

Once we got in a room at clinic we had to find new toys since the car wouldn't fit. Medical devices seem to be his favorite. Then the dr came in and all results were good. His tumor continues to shrink 3.4 cm x 2.5 cm x 1.6 cm (96% in total and 15% more since scans in March) and his labs are all stabilizing from the chemo. We couldn't ask for better for our sweet man. He is the light of our lives and the perfect one to complete our family.

So thankful for Nic and her willingness to keep the kids while I do follow up stuff with Liam. On the way home we stopped for chicken nuggets and fries since Liam had been NPO since the night before and then headed to Nic's where we found the girls having a ball! Playing games and in the water.

Liam and Griff settled for the water table but still had a great time.

To The Lake We Go

The condo definitely has it's perks! If the pool is busy we can just load up and walk down to the lake. I bought a wagon this year and it has been a game changer. Although pulling it through the sand has been a little difficult. We are getting a system down. 

I love how when I put Liam in the wagon that he just hung his arm over the edge just relaxing

Liam loves to play at the edge of the water but is more timid when it comes to getting in. He is more than wiling if mom will go with him. The water has stayed colder this year with the temperatures being all over the place.

The look of pure joy being at the beach and in the water

The awesome thing about the beach is you have both sand and water so when you get cold in the water you move to building in the warm sand

The girls are so great at helping Liam to accomplish whatever he wants to do. This time around he wanted to get water to their pool up the beach.

Looking forward to many more careless afternoons like this one. One of the many things I love about the valley is how close we are to recreation. We don't have to tale the whole week or the whole day we can just pick an afternoon and escape a little.

6462 E Summit Cove-Underground plumbing and Waterproofing

Ok so we ended up figuring out that the hole for the house was dug to deep making our foundation walls to short blah blah blah. Luckily Matt is brilliant and figured it out before it was to late and had our foundation guy add another 12 inches to our already huge walls. At the end of the day the excavator will have to eat that cost because it was his error. Now that we were able to work through that issue and the walls were put it. Although they are all as crooked as the footings. Matt has been so frustrated trying to lay out the framing on a bunch of crooked walls. Needless to say we wouldn't use our footing and foundation guy again. But now that it is in place we can move on. Underground plumbing, water proofing, and gravel placement. Bonus that this time they didn't have to use a jackhammer to put in the plumbing because the dirt is way better.