So Long, Good Riddance!

I have (had) a tooth that has been causing me grief for at least a decade, maybe two. I have lost count. It first manifested itself as a cavity in my youth, probably sometime during Junior High. Then, when I was in college, I think the filling broke or some such nonsense and I had to have a root canal. I moved to Utah, literally on the day they finished up with the root canal (my family waited in the car in the parking lot) and was given a permanent filling to hold it over until I could get a crown. No insurance and several years later, the filling finally gave up the ghost and I had no choice but to fork over the hard-earned cash for a crown. A year or two later, the crown broke, fell off, gave up the ghost and I had to fork over yet more cash for yet another crown!! This time at least I had some insurance, but it still was several hundred dollars as insurance only covers crowns at 50%. Ugh! So, now here we are less than a year later and being caused much grief over this stupid tooth, yet again. So, another trip to the dentist to find out the problem, and a referral to the Endodontist. The endontist says the only thing he could do is get another root canal, but is not convinced it will solve the problem and it would be extremely difficult to do under the circumstances and probably only has a less than 20% chance of succeeding. He believes there is a crack somewhere in my tooth and all the work I have done has only been a bandaid and not a solution. His suggestion is just to pull the tooth, it is a molar way in the back top of my mouth, Tooth #2 for those of you aware of such things. So, today I went back to the dentist and had the tooth pulled. Several shots and good yanks later, I am now sporting a nice hole in my mouth. I am thinking I should have saved the dumb thing since it has been such a huge part of my life and has cost me so much money. Hopefully I made the right decision as I now have a huge hole in my mouth that bled for hours and caused me to have ice cream for dinner. (Not really complaining about that part!) Hopefully it will heal with no problems and won't ruin my vacation this weekend. :o( So long, crappy tooth. You have caused me much grief and undeservedly so!

When Daddy is in Charge.....

Happy Easter!

Easter Morning

Easter Egg Hunt

Kensley got sidetracked a little in the middle of the hunt and took a ride in the swing.

Coloring Easter Eggs

Kensley had fun coloring the Easter eggs, but quickly became frustrated because she couldn't understand why we weren't eating the eggs and kept putting them in her mouth after taking them out of the dye. Yuck! Nothing like licking colored vinegar off an egg!

Poor Baby

Kensley loves having her daddy home, but doesn't like to let him take care of her instead of me. Whenever he tries to do something for her she says, "No Daddy! I want Mommy!" and she is very adamant about it. I have been trying to leave for a little bit every day so that she can get used to being with him and know that I will always come back because in less than two weeks I am leaving them alone together for four days! Everytime she realized I am gone, she becomes hysterical and then sobs until I come home again. I had a Primary meeting tonight at 7PM and left her with Stephen. I got home a couple hours later to a quiet house and no Kensley. I was shocked thinking Stephen actually put her to bed without me, but this wasn't the case. When I left for the meeting, I put her on the couch with her blankie and a couple stuffed animals and she watching "Go Diego Go!" and she was, of course, crying. Stephen said that a little while after I left she stopped crying, but was still doing the hiccuping thing and then said "I am going to bed" and she took her blanket and bear and got in her bed. Stephen followed her up to her bed and she said to him "shut the door" and then said to him "you, downstairs!". :o( I feel so bad for her putting her own self to bed while she was still so sad. He checked on her 15 minutes later and she was already sound asleep. Poor little thing.

Road Trip

Last week me and Kensley drove to Bullhead City to spend time with my sister-in-law, Caroline's family and attend the blessing of her new baby, Stacie. This is a picture of Kensley with her 8 Beals cousins together at one time.
One day Caroline braided Kensley's hair and I had to get some pictures because it was her very first braid and so cute. :o) I took a picture from every angle.