New Blanket

I made Dallas a new blanket (yes I may have too much time on my hands -or just a love of blanket making).  Emmitt wanted a picture of both of them together with their "blankies"

Cuteness

We just adore our new puppy Gracie.  She is cuteness overload.

Brayden Injures MCL and Wrestles On

The day that Kevin and I were headed out to Puerto Rico for our cruise, Brayden wrestled that morning in a tournament.  At the very end, he hurt his knee.  He finished the match but knew he was hurt.  Kevin and I still flew out, leaving Grandma and Grandpa to figure it out.  They met with Dr Haslam in our ward who was so super helpful.  After an MRI it was determined that Brayden had a grade 2 MCL tear.  And this is awful timing because he had regionals and then districts and was hoping to go to State this year.  The rest of this post is taken from texts Kevin composed to friends about the wrestling tournaments because they convey the details and the drama much better than I could. 

Feb 8

First came Regionals on Feb 8....

"It was such an incredible yet gut wrenching performance to watch; it literally brought tears to Melissa and I at one point... 

The incredible news is Bray placed 3rd at the District Championships! (He was barely standing at the end of the day, but he did it!)

It was an incredibly difficult and painful day for him - it started out with him waking up at 5am to put heat on his knee and stretch. Then at 6am he received two steroid cocktail shots in his knee / MCL and then wrestling began at 9:30

He won his first match but it took longer than normal because he had to make a lot of adjustments due to lack of his normal mobility 

And he was quite sore afterward 

Then He lost his second match to a kid who had cut down from 170lb class and was extremely aggressive (clubbing Brayden in the head right out of the gate). A 100% heathy Brayden would’ve given that kid the match of his life and probably would’ve beat him. Even still, only being at 50%, bray went all three rounds and only lost on points - the kid couldn’t pin Bray

That kid was dirty and knew Brays knee was hurt so midway through, the kid grabbed Brays leg and fully extended it and jerked it around - Brayden screamed so loudly in pain that everyone in the gym heard it and that’s when our tears started.   It was a dirty move because it was not a wrestling move and was done solely with the intent to injure - our coach argued it but no action taken. 

(Had bray won that match, he would’ve been in the championship match and could’ve forfeited the champ and finished 2nd and been done.)

We didn’t expect Bray to continue after that... he could barely walk and was in tears but he wanted to and so he then wrestled his third match which was against a kid he beat the week before his injury. His plan was to give it a try and if his pain was too much, he’d tap out and be done 

But he won that third match 17-6 but it took all three rounds (he arguably had the kid pinned a couple of times but the ref didn’t call it). So that put Brayden in the final 3rd place match

Our thought was now that he should forfeit the 3rd place match and finish 4th and that moves him on to regional finals, but this year they implemented a wrestle back rule which meant that the person who won 5th place could challenge the 4th place person if he had not faced him during the tournament. So there was a risk that Brayden could’ve been challenged and would’ve had to wrestle for 4th place anyway. 

 So he decided to go for it. The kid was someone who he had already beat a few weeks ago but it was close that first time so I was really nervous. 

But in an incredibly gutsy “one legged” performance Bray dominated the kid and pinned him with 7 seconds left in the first period!! It was incredible!!

Brayden is obviously extremely excited but incredibly sore and tired. He met with the doctor late last night to reassess the knee and he said that there is no risk of any further injury because of the brace, and by watching the videos of his matches, he said Brayden was performing really well for his injury

So now he’ll spend the next week resting and going to physical therapy every day and doing work with the trainers twice a day at school (it’s what our doctor does for his D1 college athletes or pro athletes) and then Thursday night he’ll will meet with the doctor and Brayden will decide whether or not he wants to attempt to wrestle at regionals on Friday. If he wrestles Friday, he will receive injections again in his knee but this time the doctor is going to add more numbing agents to the cocktail

He said it’s now just a matter of what his pain tolerance can be, and the focus is to keep swelling down and manage his range of motion

It was crazy ... he is such an incredibly determined young man!"

Feb 15

"Bray lost his first match 1-6 vs the #7 guy in the state. 

Bray was seeded lower than he deserved due to his injury so he had an unfavorable first match up (coach forewarned me before the tournament about it  saying the coaches committee voted him down a few seeds last night at the seeding mtg due to his knee) 

This kid also jerked an his knee toward the end of the match which hurt him a bit ...

The put bray in the consolation bracket where now he needs to win 5 straight in order to qualify for state 

Bray won his second match 8-4. His calf was quite tired afterward so he’s got it on heat right now 

They then had a 3 hour break while the girls wrestled

Now they’ve started up again and he’ll be up in about 20 mins 

Next up he faces that kid  who jerked around his knee at districts last week (the kid in yellow in that video I sent last week) 

Now it's seriously a mental thing for Brayden - he’ll need to get past the mental hurdle of that kid hurting him last time

he’ll wrestle once more today and if he wins then he’ll get the chance for three more tomorrow. If he loses his season is done. I’ll keep you posted

....

Brays season is over

He just gave the must gutsiest effort ever but ultimately lost 

 That kid was so dirty - was punching, grabbing his crotch, and jerked his leg all over the place again ... (brays friend later heard the kid in the hallway bragging about how he was wrenching his leg to “ensure the win” ) 

Bray battled hard and is in a lot of pain now but had a tremendous season

He had a bunch of other teams’ coaches come up to him afterward to congratulate or commend him as he was getting iced by the trainer and being carried up to the stands by his teammates - his effort was truly inspiring 

But it was so hard to watch - I was in tears... there’s just no reason to be dirty"

Brandvold Owen Thomas cruise #2

Kevin and I had a fantastic getaway with our favorite friends the Owens and Thomases.  We did a 7 night cruise out of Puerto Rico stopping at St Thomas, St Marten, St Lucia, Barbados and Antigua.  It was fabulous.  Heres what we did in each port:
St Kitts- catch a cab to South Friars Beach
St Johns Antigua- snorkel sail catamaran
St Lucia- island tour to Gros Pitons
Barbados- horseback riding
St Maarten- tour with our favorite cab driver Joyce (who we met on our last cruise)