Fall

Just look at these beautiful trees (and this cute kid!).

Blackhawks Game

Eli randomly looked up preseason Blackhawk ticket prices and was amazed to see that tickets right near the rink were super affordable. He asked his dad if they could go (a couple of days later, since preseason was almost over already), and Jason was willing to make it happen. Eli had to take the train downtown by himself to meet Jason, so it was kind of a big deal!

They loved being so close to the action, and Eli was excited to see his favorite player up close (Bedard even noticed Eli wearing his jersey and nodded in approval!).

End of Summer

Ali, Jake, Jason, and I went to a movie night at Cantigny- it was one of the last things on Jake's summer bucket list, and Ali came even though it was a day or two after she got her wisdom teeth out!

Heart Tests

Starting in March, Logan felt something in his heart that concerned him; it felt like it was skipping beats. When it didn't go away after a while, we went to the doctor.  The doctor didn't seem too concerned (after questioning him a bit to make sure he wasn't doing drugs!), but suggested we do an EKG to make sure. The EKG showed some irregularities, which put us on the path of lots of appointments, tests, and specialists. He wore a heart monitor for two weeks:

He had an ultrasound of his heart:

And he had a stress test.

The ultrasound and stress test he passed with flying colors, but the EKGs and heart monitor do show consistent irregularities. The pediatric cardiologist thinks it is a conduction thing that sometimes they see in elite athletes, where the two parts of the heart seem to work separately from each other for a few beats. They don't really know why it happens, but they see it often enough to not be concerned.

He recommended one more specialist who officially diagnosed him with 2:1 Heart Block, which is where the electrical impulses from the two chambers of the heart are delayed or blocked. Logan can feel it happening daily, though it is less frequent than it used to be. The only treatment is a pacemaker, but because it never happens when he is working hard, and it has never caused dizziness or blackouts, the doctor isn't overly concerned and does not recommend that course of treatment (yet). They want us to have him wear the heart monitor yearly, and Logan's main concern is that they may not want him to skydive (something he plans to do when he turns 18). It's been quite the journey, and though I wish we'd been told it was nothing at all, I guess this is ok too.

Patriarchal Blessing

Eli received his Patriarchal Blessing in September. We're so proud of the young man he is becoming, and it was very exciting to hear some of the wonderful blessings our Heavenly Father has in store for him.

Rebels

Two of the nights Logan and I were out of town, Jason spent the night at his sister's house dog-sitting, which meant the other three were home alone. And what did these two teens and their younger brother do with their parents both out of town? They went to Barnes and Nobles where Ali treated herself and her brothers to new books. I could not love this more.

Colorado

Logan and I took off for a long weekend to visit my parents in Colorado. He kept marveling that it only took a couple of hours in the air to go the distance it takes us 16 hours to drive!

The main reason for the trip was so Logan could hunt with his Grandpa. He also wanted to shoot some guns, so Grandpa made that happen, too!

I had never been to the property my parents and JD and Lianna own, so Mom and I drove up there with them and spent a couple of hours hiking around before leaving them and heading back to my parents' house with my mom.

While Logan and Dad hunted, Mom and I had a lovely day going to the temple, having lunch with Emily, and then going to a movie- basically the perfect day.

After Logan and Dad came home, my mom showed Logan around Downtown Castle Rock, including taking him to her favorite soda shop and buying him several of their 450 flavors to try.

It was such a fun weekend with my son and my parents!