I used this post to get a list of domains and zwave was not listed even though I see it listed as the domain of the zwave_js_value_notifications. I tried excluding all of the domains listed and zwave_js from recorder but I was still getting the events showing up in the logbook. I added excluding zwave_js_value_notification event type to the recorder and that fixed it. So my config file has this in it:
recorder:
commit_interval: 30
purge_keep_days: 7
#purge_interval: 1 # obsolete, replaced by "auto_purge" (default: true)
exclude:
domains:
- automation
- binary_sensor
- button
- device_tracker
- light
- media_player
- person
- scene
- select
- sensor
- sun
- switch
- update
- weather
- zone
- zwave_js
event_types:
- zwave_js_value_notification
Thanks so much everyone for the help!