National Champs!!!!!

Almost a year ago Maddi had one of the worst experiences of her life.  She was cut from her high school cheer squad.  She was devastated!  She had been cheering for Lehi for 5 years and we couldn't understand why they would cut her when it was going to be her last year.  I called the coaches and they told me they had to balance the squad and if they took Maddi there would be too many seniors.  Maddi was later told by some of the girls that they were told they couldn't win if she was on their squad.  Maddi was so hurt that she decided to transfer schools and go to Lehi's biggest rival Westlake.  After we transfered her we found the cheer coach and he let her turn in a video tryout and took her on the team!  She has had the best cheer season of her life!!!  Her coaches were amazing.  This past weekend we went to Vegas to the National Cheer Championships.  After putting on the performance of their lives her squad took FIRST!!!!  It was so exciting they competed against  teams from all over the country!! It was by far the best competition we have ever been to.  Did I mention that Lehi has never had a first place National win?  They have come in 2nd but never 1st!  It was very bittersweet for Maddi.  I am so proud of her, she has worked so hard this year.  If she had not gone through something so painful she never would have had this wonderful experience.  Congratulations Maddi, we love you!!!!!!  (To watch the video of the competition click on the Family Videos link on the right.)

Waiting.......

Winning!!!!!!

My favorite picture...shows the pure joy Maddi is feeling!

Showing off their National Champions jackets

Maddi and Mitch

Maddi and Sydnee

Maddi and Grandma

Maddi and Mom

Maddi with her coaches

She wanted a picture with the trophy alone

WARNING****WARNING****WARNING****

**GRAPHIC PICTURES LOOK AT YOUR OWN RISK**
Last week we let Josh and Andy skip school for a day and go snowboarding with a few of their friends.  It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining and there was fresh powder from the storm the day before.  At about 2 in the afternoon I got a call from Tyler's (Josh's friend) Mom telling me Josh had fallen and cut his knee.  She said they had the bleeding stopped but it looked like he was going to need stitches and they had called an ambulance to take him to the ER.  About 6 phone call and an hour later I finally convinced the Ski Patrol to allow someone to drive him down and meet me at the hospital instead of making him ride in the ambulance.  I couldn't figure out why for stitches he would need to ride in ambulance or even why I couldn't just take him to his own Dr.?  I would soon find out why!!!!  I got to the hospital at 3 and Josh arrived at 3:30.  They took us straight back to a room and the nurses got right to work on him.  The Dr came in within an hour said he needed an ex-ray and he would be back soon.  Well the ER was packed so we didn't see the Dr again for another hour or so.  When he came in he dug around in the cut while Josh tried really hard not to scream until the intern finally asked if they could give him something for the pain.  Finally they realized how much pain they were causing and gave him morphine. Let's just say that Josh is not a very nice "drunk" but his pain calmed down!  The Dr determined that he wanted an orthopedic surgeon look at it to make sure he didn't cut a tendon.  Unfortunately the surgeon had just gone into surgery and it was going to be an hour or so.  More like so...3 hours later he finally came in.  He looked at the cut and said he needs surgery and walked out.  10 min later he came back to explain everything to us.  Josh had cut a tendon that would have to be repaired.  While in surgery they also found that he had cut a ligament.  3 layers of stitches later his leg is all closed.  Below are the picture I took with my phone through out the event.  Please keep in mind they are graphic!!!

Cutting the bandage off at the ER

My first look at the cut...just a little worse than I expected!

Numbing the cut so the Dr can look at it.  This was so painful for Josh!

The pain was so bad they finally had 2 nurses giving him shots at the same time

Cleaning it out

Over 100 shots later and all "clean"

Very large needle 

Filling his knee with fluid 

On his way into Surgery...he doesn't remember this part

Vaughn waiting for Josh to come out of Surgery

Me...waiting on Josh's hospital bed..it's about midnight

Finally Josh is out of Surgery

Relaxing with the help of LOTS of pain meds

All stitched up

Shelton Family Christmas

This year we had an ugly "Christmas Sweater" contest.  If you look close you will see that I have a bird on my head and a bird on my shoulder that match the beautiful bird on my shirt.  Thanks to Megan for the pictures.

Maddi Senior Pictures

A few weeks ago my incredibly talented sister, Megan, took Maddi's senior pictures for us.  These are just a few of our favorites.  Thanks Megan!

A Close Call

This past week was Fall Break for my kids.  Which means they had school off on Thursday and Friday.  It was a nice break for a couple of days.  Two days of sleeping in with nothing to do!  Maddi spent the weekend hanging out with her friends just enjoying a break from Cheer for a few days.  Friday night after hanging out at the Mall, her and her friends came over to our house to watch a movie.  Oh did I mention that a few weeks ago she broke our TV in the basement.  Without a TV downstairs Vaughn and I got "kicked out" of the main floor family room.  I always try to listen for doors opening and closing so I know who is coming and going.  About a half hour after they started their movie I heard the door slam shut so I stepped out of my room and saw Maddi driving off in my car way too fast.  I said to Vaughn "well I guess she had to take someone home and must not have enough gas in her car, but she is driving way too fast!"  About 30 seconds later my phone rang and Maddi was frantic and crying telling my that Kylee and Melanie had just been in a wreck.  These are two girls that I love like my own kids.  In her rush to get out of the house to get to her friends she could only find my keys so she took my car.  I asked her where they were and they were at the intersection down from our house.  Vaughn and I jumped into his car and took off to make sure everyone was OK.  This is what we saw when we got there.

As Vaughn pulled to a stop, or tried to, I jumped out of the car and ran for my girls.  I could not believe they were standing on the side of the road with no injuries.  They were, and still are, very emotionally shaken but physically they were both OK.  Melanie and Kylee had decided to run to the gas station to get a drink while they were watching the movie.  On the way back a car ran a red light and Melanie hit the other car.  Her car was brand new:(  which is probably why they walked away without being physically hurt.  Her mom later told me that last year she just felt like she needed to get Melanie a new car.  I am so glad that she followed that feeling!  We spent about and hour and a half helping the girls work with the police to get all the information they needed.  It turns out that the other driver tried to tell the police that her light was green and Melanie had run the red light.  There were cars stopped on both sides of the light.  After the wreck they got out of their cars and asked if everyone was alright.  Then they both left!?!  We can not figure out why they would leave, but unfortunately they did.  When Vaughn spoke with the police officer in charge he said he believed Melanie and Kylee because their side of the story was more detailed.  He spoke with both girls alone and they were so upset and crying there is no way they could have matched their stories.  Right now we are just grateful the girls were protected and are going to be OK. 

Melanie, Kylee, & Maddi

Happy Birthday Mitch & Andy

Mitch turned 11 last week.  It's crazy that my baby is already that old.  He chose to go to the Asian Star for his birthday dinner.  Here are a few pictures of him at dinner.

Eating Sushi

Getting his Birthday present...Money

 

 

 

Birthday Cheesecake

Andy turned 14, that about kills me, this week.  He wanted to go to Rodizio Grill for his Birthday dinner.  He really wanted to try rattle snake.  He said it tasted a lot like sausage....probably because it was in sausage form.  He enjoyed all the different types of meat but his favorite was the Ham and Grilled Pineapple.  We were chatting so much and they bring the meat around so fast that I didn't get pictures of him eating. 

Singing Happy Birthday

He had to play the tambourine while the servers sang him Happy Birthday in Portuguese.  

 

Sunday I made both boys a cake.  Usually I make one cake and they share but this year I decided they could each have their own cake. 

Happy Birthday to two of my favorite boys in the whole world.  Love you both!!!!