Homecoming and an injury report.

The Bruins had a great game Friday night.  They beat Miniko (last year's conference champs) by five touchdowns.  Yea!  Dallin played right tackle and did a super job.  At one point we could see a scuffle on the field and some of the team members pulled Dallin back.  It turns out that the opposing team piled on the already tackled star running back.  Right in front of Dallin.  Duh. I think if I were a player, I would like to have Dallin around--he has no tolerance for anyone beating on his teammates.

Landon had a great game too--for almost one quarter. 

Looks like he has torn the meniscus in his 'good' knee.  I could tell he was injured immediately.  He started limping and favoring his right leg right after a tackle in the first quarter.  Darn.  His knee is swollen double its normal size and it is super painful to bend.  And it is a nice shiny purple color on the back.  The father of the running back on the team (the same one Dallin fought for--see above) is an orthopedic surgeon.  He's also in my parents ward.  He took a look at Landon's knee and ordered a set of x-rays but we are betting that they won't find anything on the x-rays.  We will need an MRI.  

We were just in the office of our regular ortho surgeon on Thursday making shoulder rehab plans...  

Landon's shoulder still hurts like crazy.  

Have I mentioned how much I hate injuries?

Landon's knee didn't stop him from having a great time at the Homecoming dance!

Such cute, nice girls!  The boys got new suits.  Actually their first suits!

For some reason the dance was at the beginning of Homecoming week this year.  We are sad Landon won't be playing in the Homecoming game! Maybe next year...

I'm sure he will find something to keep himself busy!

Friday Night Lights

TFHS against Hillcrest (Idaho Falls)

Dallin and Landon played in their first varsity game Friday night!  

I am surprised at how much I enjoy watching football when my kids are playing.  

This game definitely helped in the excitement department.  

We won in quadruple overtime.

Have you ever seen a game with four overtimes?!

At the end of regulation time they were tied  12-12 so each team got four downs starting at the ten yard line to try to make a touchdown.  We both scored every time until the final fourth time around when our team ran the ball in for the two extra points and then they kept Hillcrest from scoring. 

Landon started as the Mike (middle linebacker) and Dallin started as the right guard on the offensive line.

  Landon ended up playing on the offensive line almost the whole game as well because one of the linemen dislocated his shoulder.  Kind of ironic because Landon has been fighting with an unstable shoulder all year.  He first injured it last spring playing rugby and now it keeps slipping around in the socket with the occasional partial to complete dislocation.  Ouch.  Really ouch.  He said he felt it pop in and out 6 times during the game.  The last time it slipped,  Landon's brace had come off so it (the humerus bone) moved more than normal and left him screaming with pain until it slipped back.  And then he played the four overtimes.  

I'm super frustrated. So is Landon. 

 We bought every extra protective piece of equipment we could find--gloves, forearm pads, extra neck braces, shoulder brace, knee pads...

 Have I mentioned that I hate injured kids?

So back to physical therapy.  With our fingers crossed!

'rasslin

Landon wrestling  against Canyon Ridge

 Wrestling is something that has always come naturally to Dallin and Landon.  {As Dallin put it when they were young, "we've been wrestling since before we were born and Landon stole all my blood." (Twin to twin transfusion--Landon had extra blood shunted to him through the placenta, Dallin was super anemic)}

This year is no different!

Wrestling in high school has been the most intense sport that the boys have participated in.  They come home with their clothes literally dripping with sweat.  The workout are hands-down more difficult than anything the boys have done so far--and they have done some intense workouts.

Dallin missed a good portion of the year with his knee injury. He tried to get back into the swing of things right after Christmas only to have his knee swell up to double its size again.  So he went back to physical therapy and we had a family fast and many prayers for him.  His knee improved rapidly and he was able to get back into workouts mid-January. He found it extremely difficult to keep up after a couple of months minimal exercise but he stuck it out and did his best.

This last week we had district finals here in Twin Falls.  Dallin went in as the dark horse at the very bottom of the rankings.  Actually he wasn't ranked at all.  He ended up beating the first place sede in the first round and then went on to beat the fourth place sede for a place in the finals. He ended up 2nd in district overall and will go to State in Pocatello next weekend.  We are thrilled for him!

Landon was ranked 3rd in district and he was the only ranked freshman in the state. He ended up having a much more difficult schedule than Dallin and after a LONG day he placed 4th in district and earned a place at the State competition next weekend as well.  If he hadn't worked so very hard in all those workout this last winter he never would have made it through the six matches he wrestled on Thursday. Wrestling is the only sport I've seen that can leave the athletes so exhausted they literally can't hold themselves up after only 6 minutes of competition.

All the wrestlers show so much courage.  They keep going even though they are injured or hurt  until they have literally exhausted all glucose and glycogen stores their bodies have to offer.  They cheer for each other and offer encouragement and tips.  One kid from another team even offered Landon a tip about how to beat one of his opponents.  It was a long day that was awesome to watch.

Actually I have to admit I don't think mom's are meant to watch their children wrestle. It's so hard to see those expressions of pain.   Dallin and Landon weigh almost exactly the same so I have my fingers crossed that they won't have to wrestle each other...

These beautiful pictures of Landon under were taken by Drew Nash.  Check out his blog for the photo setting specs.
Twin Falls Vs. Canyon Ridge Wrestling Duel--Drew Nash

Fair and Balanced

           We love that Dallin and Landon get along and generally treat each other very fairly but these two seem to have an 'injury equality' philosophy that is getting seriously expensive.  

And painful for all of us.

Both boys somehow tore the meniscus in their  left knees last spring.

Landon  had surgery to repair his a couple of months ago.

We thought Dallin was going to get away with physical therapy but no luck.

Dallin had a flap of the meniscus hanging into the joint which (despite several months of physical therapy)  has gotten more and more painful and he also had a spot on the condyle of the femur that was smushed in (to put it scientifically...) from an  injury in a game a few weeks ago.  

So he had surgery today to fix the meniscus.  The bone will just have to heal on its own.

All day the nurses were saying "you guys look really familiar..."  

We were in the same room with the same doctor with the same knee injury and the "same" kid.

It was funny. 

He will heal well but he has six weeks of no running so football is over for this year.  We'll have to see about basketball.

In the meantime he is wearing support hose, watching netflix and eating Oreos.  

Fall, twins and other random thoughts

Today is a perfect Fall-ish day.

I always feel panic when I realize that summer is coming to an end.

But then, just as I begin to despair in earnest, the mornings and evenings turn crisp, the afternoons are nice and warm (hot?), the garden doesn't need to be watered or weeded anymore, the grass grows like crazy,  I get to watch the boys play football and I can make beef stew and baked squash...suddenly I can't remember why I was so worried about summer ending!

Dallin grew an inch this summer and gained thirty pounds making both Dallin and Landon 6' 1 1/2".  Dallin is 204 lbs and Landon is 205 lbs.  How's that for being twins? They have always, always gone through spurts when one was bigger or taller than the other and then they have always evened back out.

Speaking of being twins, last Sunday everyone sat down to play Settlers of Catan and they rolled the dice to see who got to go first.  Dallin and Landon rolled the exact same number FIVE times in a row.
Hilarious.
What are the odds?
Seriously I would like to know...

Landon got to play in his first football game last week.  He has recovered from surgery well but has some tendinitis in his knee.  Wearing a patellar strap helps a lot.  Oddly enough, Dallin's knee hurts in the exact same place.  It is swollen and painful which means that he, too, needs an MRI--for the bargain price of $1500. There is a good chance that he will need surgery as well.  We have already tried a bunch of physical therapy. Is this a genetic thing?  Seriously how 'random' is it that both boys randomly tore the meniscus in the lateral left knee at the same time?!

Both boys are playing offensive line and Landon plays defensive end, strong side and Dallin has been playing linebacker.  I think.  They all make fun of me when I get the positions wrong.  I'll have it down by the time Jackson gets in there.

Austin is playing football at the middle school this year and he loves it. Of course.

Jackson and I are home during the day.  I spend a lot of time trying to keep Jack from terrorizing the chickens.  He crawls out the dog door and climbs in the chicken coop and picks them up by their tails or wings or whatever else he can grab.  Little stinker. Between Jackson's snatching and Beau's habit of herding the little chickens all over the yard, I'm sure we will never get a single egg.  But it's fun anyway.

I'll have to post a picture of the cutest chicken coop ever.
As soon as it gets its final coat of paint.
Which might be a while...

Fifteen years ago today...

Fifteen years ago  Rustin and I settled into our little student apartment with a newly doubled-in-size family.  It seems like a lifetime ago and just yesterday at the same time.  When we brought those little twins home we had no idea what we were in for.

Those first few weeks with two little babies are a blur.  My body was so wracked with adrenaline and nervousness that I could only sleep in short nap-like bursts for months.  I was seriously sleep deprived.

I did eventually learn to sleep again.  

I think the most important lesson I learned from mothering twins is to be patient because everything unpleasant  is a phase that kids will outgrow if you just leave them alone.  And everything pleasant is a phase too so enjoy it while it lasts!

If I could go back and give myself advice here are a few things I would tell myself:

Biting--don't worry, they grow out of it.

Potty training--they aren't going to go to kindergarten in diapers--just relax.

Injuries--if they aren't in danger of bleeding to death or suffocating then don't panic--everything is fixable (believe me it's a good thing I am a nurse because I have never seen more accident prone children...).

Binkis/bottles--they will almost always give those comfort items up on their own if you don't make it a big deal.

Dirt--seriously.  That's what bathtubs and washing machines are for.  It doesn't hurt them to eat a little dirt. Or grass.  Or an occasional bug... (gag)  But if they eat a bottle of claritin you will have to take them to the hospital to get their stomachs pumped--put the claritin up really high. And put the lid on really tight.

I would also tell myself:  

Be positive as much as possible--"let's build a really big awesome tower" instead of "stop knocking the blocks over."  "Let's take little tiny polite bites" instead of "don't shove food in your mouth."  Almost every single statement can be rephrased in the positive by stating what you would like instead of what you don't want.  

Kids will be kids. I have a philosophy that if something is an age specific irritating behavior (e.g. throwing things out of high chairs, being scared of sleeping alone, wetting the bed...) then I can just ignore it and it will go away on its own. I don't waste my energy worrying about those kinds of things.

And you know what?  Almost everything fits in the age specific self-limiting behavior category.  Seriously.  Everything.

A few other twins lessons we've learned through experience:

We are really careful to never label our kids and especially the boys' personalities {as in 'Dallin is the stubborn one' or Landon is the patient one'} because we know they will likely trade around.  They really do go through personality changes and differences and they are almost never uncooperative at the same time. It's almost like they know I can't handle both of them being moody or grumpy.  

I actually think that is part of the twin dynamic--they compensate for each other's personalities. 

They have always traded around in size too. Landon was the bigger baby for the first couple of years and then Dallin was bigger through the toddler/early school years and then back to Landon... Currently Landon is 6'1 1/2" and Dallin is just under 6'1".

When the boys were toddlers they started to develop differences on purpose.  One would only like peanut butter with jelly (Dallin) and Landon would only eat it with honey.  We let them have those different food preferences where we wouldn't let the other kids get away with such pickiness.

The best advice we got was from my {identical twin} mother:

"Only singletons think it's a problem for twins to be really close to each other.  

Twins just know it's a blessing."

We definitely think these two are a blessing! 

Happy Birthday!

To build a snow cave

There have been lots of snow cave designs over the last three or four years of klondike campouts.

This year was the best.

Troop 104 made two types.  First the traditional cave.

The scout leaders went up a week early and piled up a bunch of snow.  The digging was easier than ever and the cave was big enough for six toasty warm scouts.

Rustin and the boys used the trench method this year and it was awesome!

They just dug a huge trench--six feet wide and 12 feet long.  The digging was fast--they used shovels and pick axes where the snow was packed--and not nearly as wet as the burrowing method.  They lined the interior with a tarp then covered it up with wood, more tarp and snow.  All four slept in the trench together two by two with their heads together.  They slept through the raging wind and snow and didn't stir until after 8:30 in the morning.

Everyone made it home warm and happy. And smelly.  And tired. And covered with dirty laundry. Awesome.

Can it be?

Dallin and Landon age 13 1/2

We have two fourteen-year-olds!  It's true.  It was fourteen years ago that our lives suddenly and completely turned upside down.

Kendra and Ryan saved the day with this ice cream cake when the cake I made fell to pieces.

We were just remembering that night (4 am...) so long ago.  Rustin and I very naively thought we would have another month before babies arrived...  (they came 5 weeks early) Rustin was in the middle of finals (organic chemistry and physics) and we didn't have anything ready for them.

 I remember the next day when Rustin had gone home to shower and nap and the nurses left me alone in my room with two babies. That was the most overwhelming feeling ever.

My mom remembers scouring the mall and stores for any clothing that would fit their  barely 5 lb bodies.  It is a lot easier to find tiny clothes today.  I guess there are more premies these days?

We always love our crazy toddlers but Dallin and Landon were particularly full of it.  Last night we were talking about their younger years.  Kendra remembers them running along in the back yard and Landon tripped and yelled, "Dallin tripped me!"

 Dallin quickly replied "I didn't trip you--it was my magic!"

 I remember watching them boost each other out the ground level window of our Pocatello apartment so they could escape to the nearby swings.

Rustin and I both remember how {before 18 months of age} both boys could get out of their cribs faster than we could get out of their room.

Today Landon can make pancakes from scratch without a recipe.  And he is the designated cookie maker.  Dallin {more than any of the other kids}  has taken like a pro to caring for baby Jack.  And he is very quick to compliment and encourage the younger kids with reading, math or whatever is hard for them. They set a great tone in our house--we couldn't ask for more awesome oldest kids!

Go cubs!

I have to admit it--I love watching the boys play football.  Two hours every day of blood and sweat finally pays off at the game.  Dallin and Landon were on the 7th grade team.  As usual for us, Dallin ended up in the  ER with a sprained ankle at the beginning of the season so he only played in the first and last games.  Opposite foot from last time.  Landon had a great year playing defensive line and he carried the ball a couple times on offense. The coaches created a new award (head hunter) for Landon after one particularly great game (more than 20 tackles).  

Landon 67, Dallin 62.

Benson with a little half time show of his own.

Austin had his first year playing tackle football. The daily two hour practices were a shock to his system at first but he loved it. He played offensive line most of the time but spent quite a bit of time on defense. Rustin told him if he got a solo tackle he would buy him a milk shake. He finally pulled through on the last game of the year.  Dallin and Landon knew they would benefit from Austin's success--we can't think of a better way to encourage brothers to cheer for each other!

Tweens no more!

The twins turned 13 today!

I really can't believe how fast time flies.  Didn't they just look like this???

In the bottom picture Dallin and Landon are sharing a bassinet with plenty of space.  The doctors think Dallin and Landon started to have twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome at the very end of the pregnancy.  Thankfully this didn't happen any earlier--Dallin especially had a rough start but was able to go home with us after three days.  Interesting trivia fact--Dallin and Landon had monochorionic but separate amniotic sacs--that means that they had separate inner sacs but one single outer sac during pregnancy. 

You can't see it terribly well, but Dallin was super pale in color (not getting enough blood) and Landon was bright red (getting way too much blood).  That's how we could tell them apart at first.  Looking at them today It's hard to imagine those tiny beginnings.  These two boys have blessed us in more ways than we can express and we are excited to have teenagers in the house!

Time flies

Dallin and Landon turned 11 last month. They are growing like weeds. We have really seen a lot of growth (of all kinds) this last year. The boys are looking more and more long-limbed and big-footed (like my invention of descriptive terms?!). They are ready to start football camps this summer. whoa! They are really such great examples to the younger kids. We are extremely pleased.

I'm going to include some pictures of scouts. The boys earned their arrow of light awards and bridged over into boy scouts. (Again--time flies!) Their scout troop set up a time line that will have them earn their first class scout award by this fall. Pretty ambitious--we'll see! They have a great group of boys their age which we are so grateful for.