Connor's surgery

Whenever people would ask how to tell Connor and Tanner apart we would say 2 things:  his off-centered dimple (due to a soft tissue mass on one side of his chin) and a little scar to the side of his eyebrow (he got this when he was just a toddler and fell and hit a window sill at the gym).  As he grew older the soft tissue mass seemed to look more obvious, which gave him a crooked pointy chin look.  When he was in kindergarden we decided to have the soft tissue removed.  His surgeon made the incision under the chin so as to not have a noticeable scar.  When the swelling went down after surgery we were disappointed to see NO difference.  A few years later we sought out a different surgeon who took pictures and watched it for a a couple of years until we decided to try one more time.  The only thing he remembered about his first surgery was that he got to have a Sprite afterwards.  Being older and wiser this time around he asked many questions, repeatedly, obviously nervous about what exactly things were going to feel like, how much pain was involved, etc.  It was just he and I the day of surgery.  He was quiet on the ride to the hospital, which is normal, asking just a few questions.  He was very brave getting his IV in and asked me to take a picture of it to show Tanner and Sydney.  When he came out of the anesthesia he was groggily excited.  "Wow, surgery is awesome!  That didn't hurt one bit!" He was more chatty than I've ever seen him as he came fully out of his anesthesia.  He loved getting his jello and sprite and didn't have any trouble pain tolerance.  In the next few days I kept asking him if he needed his medicine for the pain and he would reply "no, if just feels like "ow" but not bad".  He loved the attention he got from his family and grandparents.  I think he would do it again if it was required :)  We are hoping this does it for his chin repair.  Other than a tough looking scar things look great.

Senior Trip

Ok, I have a few more Allie posts to do....maybe I'm just excited that she comes home between semesters this week....

Trey got to take his 3 best friends to the Beach House in Oak Island his senior year without any adults.  Somehow we didn't really want to let a daughter go with girls and stay by themselves, so I unselfishly agreed to go with Allie, her three friends and their moms :)

And so we had 4 days filled with sun, beach, and bakery items.

Sunburns

Crab hunting attire

Allie's senior pictures

Allie is beautiful.  This is about the 5th post in a row about Allie - sorry triplets, there is just a lot going on when you are a senior!  We had Lindsay McCormick take Allie's senior pictures and man oh man was it amazing.  Lindsay has a talent.  She is REALLY good with her subject, coaxing just the right amount of smile, placing limbs in just the right manner.  Allie, who does not like getting her picture taken, felt like a million bucks when Lindsay was all done with her.  Lindsay makes you feel like you are a model and the most beautiful person in the world.  Thanks to Amber Harrison for letting us do the photo shoot on her property.  I might actually suffer through a family photo shoot with her when Trey gets home from his mission.

Allie's FHS graduation

Even though Allie decided to graduate in December, we didn't officially celebrate until she walked with her class in the spring.  It was wonderful to have such good church friends graduating with her and to have both sets of grandparents there to help us celebrate.  Allie graduated with honors and ended up with a 3.8.  That's hard to do with AP and honors classes!  And so another of our children put mine and David's high school GPA's to shame :)  She also got to participate in many service clubs, serve as her Sophomore class vice president, play JV basketball and start a girls lacrosse team.  Way to go Allie, Happy graduation :)

Seminary Graduation

Allie's Senior Prom

Allie and her friends planned an awesome alternative to their high school prom this year.  They decided they wanted a prom with clean music, clean dancing and a modest environment.  The night was action packed:  pictures, dinner, dancing, swimming, and a waffle/ice cream bar.  I'm so proud of these amazing youth and the wonderful night they created.... Memories they will never forget.

Allie = Awards

Allie has a knack for winning awards.  It seems she is continually being recognized for one thing or another.  Her senior year, her awesome guidance counselor, called her into her office and told her she thought she should apply for the Prudential service award for all the hoops for hope work she has done.  She filled out the application and ended up making it all the way to just shy of winning a national award.  Way to go Allie.  At FHS they have "signings" when student athletes get awarded sports scholarships to different college.  I didn't realize though that they also have academic signings where they recognize students for things like "perfect ACT score", "national merit finalist".  They invited Allie to be honored as the "State honoree for Prudential Spirit of Community award" as well as the "Presidential community service award" and "FHS outstanding community service award".   They even served cake.  Way to go Allie!

Spring Break 2013 - Bahama Cruise

David and I have always been a little leery of cruises....crowded, not so great food, sea sick....didn't sound all that appealing.  We decided what better time to try a cruise then when Carnival, our cruise line, had a string of mishaps, like being stranded at sea with no water, electricity, etc.  Ha!  We wanted to do a special trip for Allie's senior year and so Langford's joined us and we all had a great time.  Cruises are mainly all about a few things:

Food:

 Room service was the favorite late night past time, it didn't matter if they were hungry or not, food WOULD be ordered!

Towel animals:

AND PORTS:

Thanks for the memories!