Happy Birthday, Little Man!

4 Years old!

(He wanted an oreo cake so this is what we came up with!)

High School Football Fans

We have only been to 1 or 2 High School Football games since we moved to Colorado. We know a couple of kids on the local high school team this year so we decided to attend one of their away games, 30 minutes away. We made the kids wear jackets, thinking it wouldn't be too cold. It was pretty cold, but the kids were troopers & didn't complain much. A few weekends later, we went to their Homecoming game. We were a little more prepared this time with coats & blankets. It was freezing! It started snowing around halftime & the kids huddled under the blanket while we froze to death watching the rest of the game. We are such die hards! Too bad they lost both games.

Guess What I Won?

Most people know that I don't cook. Bake, yes, but they are 2 totally different things. Our ward had a chili cook off & had a contest for the best chili, cornbread, & pie. I signed up to bring cornbread & I won! That in & of itself is hilarious! I felt really dumb because it was actually a Marie Calendar's cornbread mix that I buy at Costco every year. Everyone kept saying "congratulations" & I just laughed. But hey, I got a really nice apron & a beautiful boquet of flowers. I put the flowers on my kitchen table to make me laugh every day because the funniest part about the whole thing is, I WON A COOKING CONTEST!!!

September Fun

Sick Day (Apparently they are ready for winter!)

Soccer Clinic

Pumpkin Patch Field Trip

First Day of School

Meet Jill, our first pet!

9-yrs-old!

BYU football game in Dallas

Denver Broncos Football Game

Museum of Nature & Science with Grandma

Lunch with Grandma & Patti

Stupid White Coats!

Having worked in the medical field with many different kinds of doctors, I feel I can say this about those doctors who have served their time with actual patients & feel they can then move on to an higher office only to dictate a standardized program of what will & will not be covered. They basically are taking their experience with those actual patients & assuming the rest of the free world will have those exact same symptoms & problems. They figure they have treated them already, so the rest of us can be treated the EXACT SAME WAY!

Holy crow! I am actually "blogging!" It's kind of my way of venting I guess, but whatever. ANYWAY, I am so frustrated with my insurance company right now & it has taken me 2 weeks to have a minute to think, as my kids started school last week & I have already put in 17 volunteer hours in 9 days, not to mention finally found a pre-school that would take my son! I decided to make the time today to do more research on what my son has, velopharyngeal incompetence, or VPI, since we are appealing the "white coat's" decision to deny coverage. Our pediatrician is going to do a peer-to-peer review with the "white coat" but no guarantee what will happen there. While we wait we continue current therapy & feed him from his 10-item diet!

Since so many people have asked what VPI is, I thought I would post it. Beware, there are tons of medical mumbo jumbo that you might need to take a class for, but hey, some of you asked! "Velopharyngeal incompetence is failure of apposition of the soft palate against the pharyngeal wall or lateral walls of the pharynx, resulting in excape of air during phonation leading to nasal speech. It may occur as a primary lesion or be secondary to cleft palate lesions pre or post repair. The child is examined by fluoroscopy while phonating prepractized speech sounds, in both the sagittal and coronal planes." I also found a great link that describes it in a little more detail: http://www.cincinnatichildrens.org/svc/alpha/v/vpi/about/vpi.htm

Basically, his palate doesn't close all the way therefore, air escapes through his nose causing hypernasality. In order to avoid surgery (which insurance is totally willing to cover, no problem!) he can have additional speech therapy. Insurance says they cover speech therapy but it's diagnostic specific, although they deny every single ICD9 code I have given them! No wonder there is insurance fraud! Yeah, I can use a different code, but he doesn't have that problem! Stupid white coats.

Last Month of Summer

View of the amphitheatre

We made it to the top!

So many stairs at Red Rocks !!

Tiny Town

Swimming with Dad

Wildlife Experience Museum

Denver Museum of Nature & Science

Camping with friends

I Love My Kids!

Everyone always tells me that I am a good mom.

I AM a good mom! There, I said it!

Film in the Park

I painted our toenails!

Crazy after a long summer!

Red Rocks

Wildlife Experience Museum

Movie Night

At the Park