The Finger

 Yah...this picture was just too good to pass up! Poor girl. She cut more finger than apple on this attempt (although she's not supposed to use our knives at all)! Brian took her in to get stitches but it turns out that they didn't have to stitch it at all...just a special glue! It was kinda scary looking and I thought I'd faint at all the blood but Brian did a good job of stepping right in and taking care of the situation and being all calm about it too. Dr. Holmes is so great at helping our family out on "out-of-office-hours" emergencies like this one! Brian asked Zoey " on a scale of 1 to 10, hoe bad does your finger hurt?" She said "Like 100! I need something sweet!" So Brian took her out for a slice of pie. What a good dad.

Hip Recovery

Week one was really hard being on bed rest 24/7 with this lovely ice pack and trying to work out the medications my body could stomach. The first few days were the roughest. My mom is the best for taking care of me, washing my hair, and cleaning up my puke! But by the end of the week I stopped taking pain medications and felt strong enough to hobble around. I even got to take a much needed and much loved shower! I was eager to get back home with my family and start phase two of recovery. It seemed I had been seeing too much of the ceiling for my own good!

But being at home only made me want to be up and helping....helping Brian get the kids ready for school, or help at mealtimes, or help clean. Even with my mom and Judy around (who alternated days to help out with the kids while Brian was at work) doing all these things for me, I felt like I should be doing something. I still spent a considerable amount of time in bed resting and icing, but I was feeling good moving around. Strong enough to use only 1 crutch, if even  crutch at all! I was super delighted with my quick healing!!

But...I was up more than Should have been. Judy went out of town to be with Annie who was having a baby, Brian was out of town on a work trip... and it was just my mom and I. By mid-week of the third week in recovery, I took a wrong step and it put me back on bed rest for another week! AGH! I was so frustrated I could cry! I did. A little. I hate the bed...I don't want to go back to it!! My mom's knee had been acting up and continued to get worse by the day. Especially with all the stairs and child lifting she'd been doing at my place to help me out. Now we were both gimps! ha ha! Even with our best laid plans, this was a situation we didn't plan for :)

Boo hoo. I know things will get better. It's just time. Our ward stepped in immediately and started taking care of the kids. Ladies from my ward are taking shifts to be with them and it's super helpful. I appreciate all the help I've received through this. I really could not have done it without all the support of Brian, family, and friends. I appreciate all the prayers and thoughts, calls and texts, meals and child tending, carpooling and taking the trash out! This is one of those times when I realize how much I can't do, and how much I can't repay for what people are doing for me. Thanks Zoey for taking these two pictures and playing on my phone! She's getting quite good and figuring out how to work it. I'm hoping by the end of next week I'll be right back on track!

Mommy-Kid dates

We've taken the past couple of months to spend one-on-one time with our children. It's great to have that special bonding with each child. With having lots of little guys around the house, some can get lost in the mass and shuffled with the group. Brian took time over the summer to do fun activities with each, and then I took a turn. I wanted to get my dates in before surgery... so they ended up getting smashed in between the holidays, but that just provided opportunities to do fun holiday things at a personal level. Here's what we did:

Jackson: The night before Halloween, we went to a local Halloween carnival. We enjoyed games, making crafts, watching a movie and popcorn, and trick-or-treating in the dark! We even went on a ride in a haunted elevator together! "spooky"! He got loaded with crafts, toys, trinkets and candy! We later drove around to look at decorated homes and talked about nothing in particular as we drove. Good special bonding moments! priceless!

Our Second date was to see the "Light of the World" production in Salt Lake at the conference Center. This was SO WORTH IT!! The timing of this just 5 days before Christmas was very nice as it got us both centered back into thinking about Christ! We had lunch at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, ran to the conference center to avoid the rain, and played puzzles on my iPhone before the show started. It was a very special event and I felt the spirit many times as we witnessed the theatrical and musical portrayal of Christ's life (birth and resurrection). I hope he did too! It was really an amazing production...I highly recommend it to anyone! Only $5!!

Zoey: We went to Witches Night Out at Gardner Village. It was fun to catch dinner together at Cafe Rio (with other witches from our clan--Grandma Gray, Carissa, Taraleigh and their girls). She got her face painted, a broom and an owl! We danced and played until the spooks came out and we were ready for bed.

Our second date was Christmas Craft night with the Relief Society. She got to make wooden trees, snowmen, snowflakes, and pick an ornament! Her room will be very festive this Holiday! We enjoyed dessert at Menchies frozen Yogurt. It was a great date! She's a sweetheart :)

Eli: Eli and I went to a movie at Wynsong and saw "Big Hero 6". He liked it but got a little scared from the "bad" guy. He was treated with popcorn during the movie and Chick-fil-A for lunch. He didn't even have room for dessert!

 Our second date was a ride on the Heber Creeper's Polar Express! This was a purely splendid evening with him! He had never ridden a train before and this event was just magical. We had hot cocoa, listen to a fiddler, sang Christmas carols, talked with Santa's elves, and saw the big man himself! He even got a special bell and ticket to keep :)

I know these dates take a lot of time, planning and coordination, but they are worth EVERY bit! The dates are very special to me to have these one-on-one moments with my kids and the memories I'm making with them. I'm always reminded of how much I love them, how special they are, and how different and unique they are when they are alone! I'm very lucky to have such great kids (yes...even if they are like normal kids which have a tendency to display those annoying habits from time to time)!