Issac's Birthday Weekend Celebration!

I had a huge, all weekend long, surprise birthday celebration planned for Issac's birthday this year. We got to thinking, and Ireally think that this may be the first year that we have actually been together on his birthday, so I wanted to go big.

We started on Friday night and went to see GI Joe. It had been forever since we'd gone out to the movies. Then we went to a local restraunt that we hadn't tried before and were pleasantly surprised with how good it was.

Saturday morning, I got up early and made his favorite breakfast. Then the two of us took off to Park City, Utah where we went and saw the Flying Ace's. They are professional ski jumpers that are training for the Winter Olympics. They put on a fabulous show of their skills and tricks, and then we also got to just watch them practice. I have no idea how they do what they do. AMAZING!

After that we walked around down town and Issac was finally able to show me some jewelry stores that he's been talking about. Very unique pieces and when we have a couple thousand dollars just burning a hole in our pockest, I'm sure we'll come back. It was such a beautiful day and the whether was perfect. It was so nice to just walk around together. Then we grabbed some chinese food and headed home to play some games and watch a movie with the kids.

Rhett update!

OK, I've been putting it off a little because I was hoping to have some definite news before I blogged about it, but.... We took him to the specialist and he was not convinced that what he has is Hershprungs disease, so he wants to exhaust all other options first since the test is not exactly pleasant to confirm. At any rate, he put him on a VERY POWERFUL cleansing routine. We were needless to say very worried about leaving the house with him for the whole weekend. It took way longer that we think it should have ( he is only 4 years old and we were giving him four times as much as any adult would take ) but we finally had some success. I guess that we are going to just keep up this routine for a few weeks and then see if he can somehow start going normal again? I really don't understand this process, but we will try what the Dr. is asking. I just wish that it all wasn't so traumatic for Rhett. He is a trooper though. Thanks for all your prayers and concerns. We really appreciated it. I'll let you know when something more definite is finally decided on.

First day of school.

It's that time of year again. There is a hilarious commercial on TV right now that made me stop and do a double take. I wasn't paying much attention, but the TV was on in the background so I could hear it. They were playing a Christmas song. Now, I've seen the Christmas stuff up in the stores already, but I couldn't believe that they were showing the commercials already. I looked up as they sang, "It's the most wonderful time, of the year!" To my surprise, they were showing a dad, dancing around the back to school isle, filling his shopping cart with pencils and paper, while the two children in front of him stood with arms crossed, and faces drawn. It was pretty funny!

I can't believe with each passing year, just how old and big my kids keep getting. Wesley has started 6Th grade.

Damon is now in the 5Th grade. They are both still going to North Davis Preparatory Academy and we love it! The school has an emphasis on Spanish, so they each have an English speaking teacher, and one from Spain that teaches their subjects mostly in Spanish. It is such an amazing program and we are very grateful to be a part of it.

Summer fun Gagon style!

In July of 09, we held our Gagon Family Reunion. An earlier post explained some of our downfalls, but we had a great time inspite of everything. We rented a house in Escondido, California. It was basically large enough for all 21 of us ( wish that there was one more bedroom and a few more bathrooms ). It had a beautiful back yard and pool that we took full advantage of. We had a luau to celebrate birthday's and mom and dad's anniversary. We went to the beach, museusm, and saw all of our extended family that lives in the area. I love my family and enjoy all the times when we are able to get together. Can't wait for the next reunion!
* Little side note! They caugh the guys that robbed us. YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mom and Dad with all 12 of their grandchildren.

The original 6!


I couldn't help myself. I had to have these shirts made for everyone. They had fireworks exploding on the front with the year. Mom and Dad had red shirts, the adult children and spouses had white, and all the grand kids had blue. I was really happy with how they finally turned out and was really glad that I did it.



It was such a special experience to all be together for Dalin as he prepares to go on his mission. This was the first time for all of us, I think, to go to the San Diego Temple. BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!!

Cousins are the best! These three have a special connection because they have spent the most time together. I really hope that it stays close and lasts forever. We love our Timmy!

What's wrong with Rhett?

OK, since so many people don't know what is going on with my little Rhett, and I am not going to go into all the details on face book, I decided that I would put it all down on my blog.
We started potty training Rhett almost a year ago. He is 4 1/2 now. He got peeing down immediately and has never had a problem day or night. Poop on the other hand has been a whole different story. We'd gotten pretty upset, feeling like he was just being too lazy to go sit on the toilet and was instead opting to go in his pants. We had started giving him cold showers to clean him, making him clean out his underwear, and of course trying all different kinds of bribes and incentives, but all to no avail.
At his Dr. apt two weeks ago for his school physical, I mentioned our little problem to see if she had any great words of wisdom for us. Upon feeling his abdomen, she discovered what she called the, "largest, hardest mass she has ever felt on someone so small"! We got sent over to X-ray where they confirmed that he had a huge blockage in his intestines. Going back a little farther into his history, we are concerned that he has what is called Hirshprung's disease. We were able to get an appointment with a Pediatric GI specialist for the 28th of this month. If they confirm that that is what he has, the poor guy is looking at some very serious surgery. I won't go into everything about it. If you are curious you can look it up online. That is what I had to do that night to fully understand what we were up against.
I spent so much time being sick as a child, I was really hoping that my kids could be spared from that agony and discomfort. It kills you as a parent to see your kids hurting or having to go through such things, especially when they can't understand why. We feel so bad for punishing him every time he had an accident. The Dr. said that he really has no idea that it is coming and can't feel it at all. The guilt has been killing me. I wish that I had asked the Dr. about it sooner, but you just keep thinking that he'll eventually get it.
Right now it is just a waiting game until we can get into the specialist, but I promise to keep everyone up to date when we learn anything new. Thanks for all your concern!

How to Post?

Well, I'm afraid that it may be a little while before I can update my blog with more of our fun summer activities. While on our family vacation in Escondido, California, our vacation home that we were renting for our family reunion was broken into and robbed. Unfortunately we lost our laptop computer. Luckily no one was hurt and nothing too major was taken that we can't at least replace except for our personal stuff on the computer like pictures and letters. We had a wonderful time with family though and as soon as we get a new computer I'll post the pictures and more info.

Happy 4th of July!

We didn't do a whole lot for the 4th this year. We spent most of the day working in Damon's room, remodeling and painting. We did take the kids to the big fireworks show in Layton. They put on an amazing display of fireworks. I just love how cute the kids are with all their glow sticks and red, white and blue outfits. It is such a great day though and reminds us all how amazing it is to live here. I've always gotten a little choked up with Patriotic music, but after being a military wife, I can pretty much say that I sob now. It just brings up so much emotion and pride for our men and women in uniform and for their families. I know the great sacrafices that they make and continue to make for our freedoms. I am so proud to be an American. GOD BLESS AMERICA!

LAGOON!

We got season passports to Lagoon again this year. The boys have been thrilled. Wesley and Damon are big enough to go off together and ride the big rides. Unfortunately they lost my cell phone during one of the upside down rides! :( Rhett has absolutely loved being able to go on the rides. He makes sure we measure him on every single one to make sure he is tall enough. That boy has no fear and would be doing all of them if he was just tall enough. McKenna however, does not like them at all. We got her on a few that we could go with her on, and she hated it the whole time, so now she is happy to just sit and watch big brother do all the rides.

Play Ball!

We took the kids to a Bee's game for family night. We didn't get to see too much of the actual ball game because the kids were too excited about the train rides and bouncy gyms. We ate hot dogs, popcorn, had a great time, and even walked away with a home run ball. (Rhett didn't quite understand how that works, and tried to throw the ball back to the players. Thank goodness he doesn't quite have a good arm yet.) :)

Hill Air Force Base Air Show!

We've wanted to go to the big air show for the past few years, but something has always come up. I made the decision to go this year no matter what. Unfortunately Issac had Reserves this weekend so we had to go without him. It was really neat to see so many of the planes doing their tricks and stunts. McKenna didn't care much for the loud noise that they made, but the rest of us had a great time and will try really hard to make it back again next year.