The Stevens Family: May 17, 2017

July started out with us heading down to Kanab for the 4th! We love the 4th there.

I made a stop in St. George for 2 nights before heading to Kanab. Jori and I got a pedicure and had some time away from the kids- I needed some time to do something for myself.

I also went to see an ear, nose, and throat doctor. I am going to get a hard bump behind my right ear removed finally! It's been there for awhile and it's been growing over the last 15 years. I asked if I could stay awake because I am so nervous to go out, but there was no way he wouldn't put me out. He said, "i'm going to be grinding and drilling at your skull!" Soon after, my friend Misty texted me and asked about what the doctor said. I came to find out she has/had the same fear. I felt justified in how I was feeling because she felt the same way- so I could tell J.D. "it's not just me and I'm not crazy, ask Misty!" Thank you Misty! lol

We got to spend time with J.D.'s Aunt Roberta, Uncle Harold, and their two grandkids. We swam with them at their hotel and got to visit for a while.

The next day we watched an amazing parade and Dawson got soaked from the firetrucks! Monty LOVED getting candy!

Here are my kids and their 4th of July outfits with Grammy! (Carson doing the bunny ears)

Hazyn was so hot, we headed home pretty quick. I stayed with the Monty and Hazyn while J.D. took Dawson to the park for the festivities. There was a 42foot waterslide! They had funnel cakes from Uncle Danny's booth. At home, my dad and I got chicken strip dinners from Junction! Lyndee watched the kids once they fell asleep so I could go up to the park and see what was happening up there.

I ran into a lady who is my mom's age and has a daughter my age, Susan Honey. She asked how many kids I had... I responded with"3". She said, "Don't you have another one?" I was hesitant and said yes. She began to tell me how she lost her 2nd baby and never counted her as her child for a very long time. She made sure to tell me to always count Andee regardless of what others think or say. "Always count her". I think Heavenly Father had angels guiding her my way because I can't tell you how for a while now I've been reluctant to count Andee. I did in my heart and mind, but I just don't want to explain it to others. But, that's probably not the best. I'm still going through the grieving process and for some that process never ends. I think I needed to hear those words. There was much more said between us, but I just don't want to forget that experience and the most important part that stuck out to me.

This is about how we all felt the night of the 4th!

After the 4th, I scheduled my surgery for the 18th (my mom's birthday). It was soon, but I had to get it out of the way. I can't keep worrying about it.

I love watching how Monty reacts and watches Hazyn. It is the sweetest thing!

We got a new car on the 11th! A white volkswagen Jetta diesel. We thought it would be the best since J.D. has to commute 40 minutes to work and 40 minutes home. We love it and so do the boys! It's a perfect little car that has more power than our van.

The next day I had to go to Cedar City for CT scans and that morning Dawson said his throat hurt. (The day before Choc called and said his kids had strep and we'd just hung out with them on the 4th... so my kids could have been exposed by someone at the 4th too). Sure enough, that afternoon in Cedar we went to a pediatric doctor and he confirmed strep for both boys. The next day I felt a soar throat. I immediately got on antibiotics and prayed for any symptoms to go away. You can't be sick for the surgery, and I was less than a week away. I knew if I didn't feel better by Sunday I would have to cancel and reschedule which I didn't want to do. I wanted to get it over with. I was still a little sick, but we went ahead with the surgery.

This is what was underneath the skin....I asked the doctor to take a pic with his phone before he sawed it off.

We left Sunday and got to our hotel room. We immediately went swimming and FINALLY got some time with J.D. His handy man business kind of took off this summer and we hadn't seen J.D. since the wedding in June (not exaggerating). He was so tired by the time Sunday came, we would go to church and he would come home and sleep until he had to go to work again. ANYWAY- back to the surgery. We took my mom to Denny's to eat that night for her birthday. It was so calm and low key. We loved getting my mom all to ourselves for a couple of hours.

This was Monty's first attempt at going under water! He is so brave!!!

The next day was surgery day. BTW- I ate up until the last minute I could eat because I knew I'd be starving. So at midnight I stopped eating, and at 5 am I stopped drinking anything. We dropped Hazyn off at Jori's, and off we were to the surgery center.

We got there... and waited... and waited... and then got a call for a nurse asking us to come back in an hour. Are u kidding me?? I was literally in the waiting room and they called from the back room.. lol! So J.D. and I went to home depot. To be honest, I was mainly mad because I was starving and to put me another hour later just made me so onery. Any who, finally the time came. We went back to the surgery center and we walked straight back to be prepped! We didn't wait at all this time. I was so nervous. I told the doc to take pics :-) Then they rolled me to the back room and I don't remember anything after that. I woke up and kept asking where J.D. was... and no one told me that there were 2 post surgery rooms. The first is with the nurses until they have okayed you to go on. Then the second is where my mom and J.D. were waiting. I finally got to have some Jello! Then we left and I just wanted to eat something so bad! So we got some Arby's and a pepsi! Ohh so good! I healed up so good and so fast! He super glued it shut so I didn't have any outside stitches.

Now we just hope it doesn't ever grow back! I love having it gone though! Wearing glasses and sleeping has been so wonderful.

We came home Tuesday and just relaxed. I had my niece Rylee come stay the rest of the week with us, which helped so much. We did miss the Quigley reunion, but we will hopefully get to go to the next one. We took Rylee home and began recovery on our own. To be honest, I recovered so fast and didn't even feel like there was much of a recovery other than the soreness of the surgery. Heavenly Father really blessed us :-)

The next week was "The Friend Reunion"!! Ben and Misty were in charge and we spent 3 nights and 4 days at their cabin by the Delta Reservoir. For the most part it was Ben and Misty, Me, and the kids. Which was pretty fun and low key. My kind of style for a vacation! I tried to win Hoyt's heart over lol! I think I succeeded with Timber the most. The kids swam, and played, and swam, and played, and ate and pretty much stayed in the water the entire time. We stayed in the cabin a lot because it was so bloody hot. I learned how to play a game that I already forgot the name too... but it was fun! lol! We ate SOO good too!

So much sweets between our families ahah! Jamie and Jeremy came during the day time for Thursday and Friday and brought their jet ski's. I think my favorite part was splashing them with the jet ski, and then watching the kids idle around on the stand up jet ski's!

The dad's let the kids ride the stand up jet skis and cruise around the dock.

Sunday there was a family that came out with their boat, but J.D. and I had to get back home. :-/ J.D. had to hurry up and get back to working on this house for a family to fix somethings that he hadn't actually done, but they said he'd done when they showed the house. He wanted to make sure it actually looked good since his name was stamped on it.

Here is a pic of Hoyt and Hazyn! It was so fun to see them together. Hoyt is just a couple months older.

Here are the 2 year olds chillin!

Then, we had J.D.'s birthday! We went up to provo that day. We shopped at home depot, helped Chet with his tenants fridge, and then we saw some puppies! Which is what J.D. got for his birthday! It's a puppy from Chet and Bobi Sue's dog. J.D. is pretty excited and we can't wait to bring her home. We then went to stop at my brother Choc's house on the way home and got some things from him moving out of his home. AND we finally made it home! finally! It was a great way to end July.

J.D. smashed his finger so bad while working, and it was black and blue for days. He finally had our friend Katie poke a needle through the top of his nail to release the pressure. It was so gross to watch, but J.D. said it felt SOOO good afterwards.

I've never had a kid who has gotten stung so many time by a bee... but poor Monty has the scent they love or something. He got stung 5 times this summer! It's unreal!