Summer Vacation 2009- Blanding

We made our annual pilgrimage to Blanding this summer for the Round Up. Tony's brother Kenny has a cattle ranch, and the family gets together in June to move the cows from the winter range to the summer range. It's always a good excuse to go camping, and have a nice time enjoying the beautiful scenery on the Elk Mountain. It's such a drastic difference in scenery, I love the contrast!

On our drive out to the mountain, we stopped to see some Dinosaur footprints. The kids had fun pretending they were roaring like a dinosaur!




Monday night we all went up the mountain for a fun dutch oven dinner with all the family. While we were preparing and getting ready for dinner, we had a nice visitor.


We always see deer around the camp, but never a BEAR!!!! Does anyone know what kind of bear this is? Tony's brother said it was a black bear.It was kind of exciting, but a little scary at the same time. I have never seen a bear in the wild like that except at Yellowstone Park, but that's different. Tony and Logan were camping in a tent that night, while Avery and I had the luxury of Grandma and Grandpa's trailer. I don't know what we will do next summer when Grandma and Grandpa are home from their mission! I have gotten spoiled being able to use the trailer!Now that's the way to camp! Anyway, I was a bit worried the bear would come back to camp that night, and it worried me about my boys being in the tent. The bear must have decided to get as far away from us as possible, cause he did not return...thank goodness!


Logan and Trace had fun with their matching bug barns!




Early the next morning, all the cowboys and cowgirls left to start rounding up the cows. The kids and I hung around camp with Aunt Alicia since she was weeks away from having her baby, and Aunt Marlene and Tanya. I took the kids up to the frog pond with Tanya to try to catch some frogs, but no luck. It was a nice way to spend some time that morning enjoying the beautiful scenery and fresh mountain air.






After the pond, we hurried back down the mountain to meet the cow-herding group for lunch, and to hopefully see them push the cows across the road. we were just a tad bit too late, so we missed watching the cows cross, but made it in time to see cowboy Tony come riding in for lunch. Avery acted excited about the horses until we tried to put her on it, and then she freaked out. Logan had no problems of course, and could have ridden around all day. After lunch, Tony headed back out again to help round up some stragglers, and I headed back to Blanding with the kids, where we were all very much in need of a bath!







Wednesday, we just hung out at Suzie's, and the kids played and played with their cousins. Tony and I started reading "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins while driving out, and took turns stealing it from each other to read ahead. I would tell Tony that I had read up to chapter 18, so he could read up to there and then he had to stop so we could be on the same page for the rest of our travels. Then he would read to chapter 20 before I would catch him and make him stop, so by the time we started driving to California, we didn't have a lot left to read. I read out loud to him while he drives to keep him awake. It's a good system.





We left Thursday morning to drive to San Diego to my parents house, and it was sad as always to say good-bye to the cousins! The kids had so much fun playing with them. Thanks again to Suzie for letting us stay with them, and taking care of the kids for us. We couldn't have left them in better hands, and what fun memories for them to have. I wish we could be closer to family. That's the one negative to living so far away! We always enjoy our visits to Blanding and seeing our wonderful family!

Summer Vacation 2009!

Wow! We have had a great time this summer, and it is hard to adjust to real life now that we are home! We left June 11 for our 6 week extravaganza. We got home almost a week ago. I have a lot to write about, so sit tight!

10 Year Anniversary

I almost can't believe it has been that long, but Tony and I celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary on June 11. We were fortunate enough to have Tony's sister Suzie watch our kids for us so we could enjoy a week-end in Durango, CO to celebrate. We left home Thursday evening June 11 and drove 5 hours to Colby, KS to stay the night. We drove the rest of the way to Durango on Friday, and got there around 6 p.m. Tony's brother Andy and his wife Alicia met us in Durango, and we had dinner with them to give the kids some time to warm up to them. They were nice enough to drive the kids back to Blanding to Aunt Suzie's house, where they stayed for two days! I have never been away from my kids that long before, so of course I was worried about how they would do, but they were great! They had a fun time playing with their cousins. I am so greatful for wonderful family members who I know I can trust to take care of and love my kids. It makes it easier to know they are in good hands.

Tony and I haven't had time alone without kids for 5 years, so it was a very nice break. We just wandered around Durango and looked at the shops, went and "listened" to a vacation package presentation at a campground resort and got free tickets for the Bar D Chuckwagon. We had a fun evening hanging out there, despite the rain! I am glad I convinced Tony to leave the umbrella in the car when we were packing for our trip! It came in handy for sure!

The next day we checked out of the hotel, and went down by the river for a while to watch some kayaking competition. It was pretty cool! There was a 7 year old little boy totally doing all these flips in the kayak, it was crazy! I could never imagine Logan doing anything like that two years from now. He barely learned how to doggy paddle!


We decided to head out of Durango, and spend the day at Mesa Verde. This place is way too huge to see everything in a few hours. I would love to go back again another time. It was really fascinating to see all these Indian ruins in one place...and many of them right next to each other. I can't imagine living on the edge of cliffs like that...how did the mother's stay sane with children living there? Yikes! It would have been neat to actually see this civilization living for real...history is so fascinating!Of course, I didn't even think about taking pictures when were in Durango. I never think about it until after the fact! It was our anniversary, and I didn't have anyone take pictures of us!I took pictures at Mesa Verde, but again didn't ever get any of us together.




There weren't people around when I thought of taking pictures of each other, and of course when there were people, it slipped my mind. I am a horrible photo documenter! So, sorry. Not many pictures of us.



After we left Mesa Verde, we drove back to Blanding to see Tony's siblings and their families, and our sweet kidlets who we missed terribly! When we got there, they didn't seem to have missed us all that much. They were having WAY too much fun! I am glad. I would rather them be happy and content, than sad about being away from us.

Preschool Graduation

Tomorrow is Logan's last day of preschool. I am really sad about this! My baby is growing up!He is going to be a kindergartner!Yikes! I have really loved seeing him learn and grow this year in pre-school. We didn't put him in pre-school when he was 3, so this was a big year for him. I think he struggled with the routine of things, and knowing what to do, but has really improved in this area in the last few months. I am so proud of my big boy! Since Logan's birthday is next week, he gets to be Happy Helper tomorrow for the last day of school. I just finished making vanilla oreo cupcakes for him to take for snack. Logan and I also finished up his Teacher's gifts. I think they are cute! I hope they like them, and that it will be something to remember him by. His teachers have done a lot for him this year.Besides primary teachers at church, these are the first outside adult role models and influences he has had in his life. That's important! Here is what we made for his teachers. I saw this idea online, and copied it the best I could. I had a hard time finding a frame that allowed enough room for the crayons, but was successful tonight. Logan dictated the notes to the teachers, and I wrote it on the back for him. He signed it of course!

Monday we got to go watch Logan's program at school. It was so cute!This was the first song they sang for us to start their program. Logan is sitting next to his best friend Dakota. She is moving back to Utah in a few weeks, and we will be so sad when they go.

What's new

Ok, so my once a week blogging has turned into once a month blogging!

Logan finally earned his 20 pennies last night.It's been a long time coming, but it has been working really well, and much better than anything else we have tried. We will be going to Chuck E. Cheese tomorrow night for Family Home Evening as his reward. Then we will have to start all over again with a different number of pennies, and a new reward.

This week-end was General Conference. I had heard about a little attention getter from a friend, and decided to try it out. I bought some skittles at the store, and gave the kids a little cup. For each speaker, we chose a word or two that they needed to listen for, and if they heard it they got a skittle in their cup. Logan did soooo good! I was so proud of him! Sometimes he caught the words when I missed them, so he was being a really good listener! Avery just wanted candy all the time, and didn't like the fact that we were trying to only give her one at a time. She did catch on after a while, and when Logan would call out the word to get a candy, she would yell the word and hold out her cup too. For almost all the sessions, Logan was able to sit through at least two speakers, or almost the whole first hour, and then we would let him go play. He would come back to listen to President Monson at the end though. I think we all consumed a little too much sugar, but the kids did great!We will have to make this a tradition, as it not only kept the kids listening, but Tony and I as well. Well, Tony was already doing a good job listening as he was taking notes on his laptop the whole time so he can play a game with his seminary students.But it kept me listening for sure!

Tony and I like to go for drives. We always have, even before the kidlets came along. One of our hobbies I guess, is to go for drives to look at houses. Tonight after dinner, I decided we should go for a drive, to get out of the house for a bit, and to wind the kids down to get them ready for bed. Tony came up with a fun idea the last time we went for a drive, so we implemented it again for this one. Since we never know exactly where we want to go, we made it easy. We each have a quarter, and at every intersection, we flip our coins. If we both get heads, we go right, if we both get tails, we go left, and if we get one of each, we go straight. It has been a fun way to go for our drives, and see something new!

On Friday night, we went for another outing. Tony found a hedge trimmer on craigslist, so we had to go for a drive to pick it up. I have been looking on Craigslist, etc. for a loveseat, or chair to put in my piano/toy room. It is the "formal" dining room in the house, but since we have an eat in kitchen, we have our piano and toys in there. When the basement gets finished, then the toys will be moved down there...I can't wait! Anyway...I always want to escape into that room on occasion and sit down to read or whatever, but we have nothing to sit on in there.This room is in the front of the house, and I am always wishing I can sit by the window so I can watch the kids playing in the front yard. I decided to go check out the JC Penney outlet Friday night just to see what they had. Lo and behold, they had a chair that was exactly what I had in mind for only $110! Full price it is $399! Woo-hoo! I never find deals like that on the exact thing I am looking for!So it wasn't the loveseat, but that's really ok right now, as the toys are still in there, and I don't really have room to move them somewhere else right now. The chair is a natural color, and it is slipcovered, so I can take the whole darn thing off to wash if necessary! Everytime I see it in the room now it makes me happy. Now I just want to hurry and finish the basement so I can buy new furniture for my Living Room! Baby steps, baby steps.

I will post a picture soon!
That's all for my week-end. Thanks and good night.

Miss me?

I know, I know. It's been a while! I am definitely falling off the blogging bandwagon. I will try to do better from now on!

Before I catch up on things like Avery's Pinkalicious birthday party, and such, this post will be dedicated to my big boy Logan.



Where do I even begin? Crazy kid! Over the past while...couple of months at least, Logan has been developing some insane attachment issues. He loves his daddy something fierce! Which is a good thing...except at 5:30 in the morning when daddy is either getting ready to leave for seminary, or has just left. Logan has decided that he needs to run around the house screaming "daddy! daddy! hugs and kisses! hugs and kisses!" like a mad child maniac who is out of control. This is horrible at 5:30 a.m. when the household should be calm and peaceful and everyone asleep! Logan will hear the garage door open or close and start in on his screams of despair.It is the worst thing to have to jump out of bed, and chase the child through the dark downstairs,pulling him away from the door where he is frantically trying to get outside and chase his daddy all the way to the church to make him come home. I have had to physically lay on the kid on the floor because he is so out of control. It's sad. I don't know why he gets in such a panic about it! He knows everyday daddy goes to seminary and to work, and then he comes home. It's not like he has never NOT come home. I don't get it. He will sometimes think daddy is hiding, and therefore run around yelling "daddy, are you hiding? daddy are you in the basement?"

Because of this attachment, he has also been HORRIBLE at going to bed and staying in his own bed. He eventually ends up in our room, so he can snuggle with his daddy.There are even plenty of times when Tony goes to bed around 8:30, and he will just let Logan lay by him to put him to bed, since he doesn't want to fight making Logan stay in his room. On several of these evenings, I will be gone for a RS activity or whatever, and come home to my two boys snoring peacefully all suggled up together in MY bed! I feel bad disturbing their slumber, and have ended up sleeping in Logan's bed, so we can all hopefully get a good, uninterrupted night's sleep. The only one so far to be unaffected by this craziness is my sweet girl Avery. She is the best sleeper, and hasn't YET been awakened by Logan's craziness. Which is shocking, because I swear the whole neighborhood can hear him.

I finally decided I wanted to reclaim my bed, and made a new rule for Logan. If he woke up in the night to come in our room, he could sleep on the floor, but couldn't get in our bed. I think this plan backfired, as he loves sleeping on the floor in our room, and would rather just start there than go to his own bed. He is almost 5 years old. This is ridiculous!

So...Tony went out of town for work yesterday, so I was all alone with the kids last night for bedtime. This is usually not a big deal for me, but because the last several nights it has taken over 2 hours of fighting, and chasing Logan back to his bed before he finally went to sleep...next to his daddy, I was NOT looking forward to dealing with that! I had heard of a little incentive program thingy that I decided to try. I found a little baby food jar that I had still, and told Logan it was going to be his penny jar. If he could stay in his bed all night, then in the morning he could put a penny in the jar. After he gets 20 pennies (he chose that number) he gets a reward. He chose to go to Chuck E. Cheese. I put Aves to bed with her book (she likes me to read to her first, and then take her book to read in bed...with only the hall light on, so she can't really see, but whatever!) I told Logan to choose 3 books and I layed by him in his bed to read to him. By the middle of the 3rd book he was snoring. Sweet! It was 7:50 p.m.! He hasn't been asleep before 10 the past several nights!I was nervous to see if this penny thing would really work, and how long it would last. Around 2 a.m. I heard a sweet voice calling "mommy...mommy" He didn't get out of bed, and he didn't yell and scream for me either! Amazing! I went in there to check on him, and he was anxious to find out if he had another penny in his jar yet. Sweet boy! I snuggled him for a few minutes, and told him he was being so good, and that if he stayed in his bed the rest of the night, then in the morning I would let him put his penny in his jar. He said "thanks mom!" then rolled over and went back to sleep!He didn't get up this morning until 8:15 a.m.! Happy Day!

I am so excited about this new method! I can't wait to see how much better things get around here. Let's hope the excitement lasts! He even has the ability to earn more pennies for doing other things, like clean up his toys, and stuff. Woo-hoo!

Happy Birthday Avery!

Monday, February 2 was Avery's 2nd birthday! I can't believe what a big girl she has become. We had a little family party after dinner where we ate cake and ice cream, and opened her presents. She was such a happy birthday girl, all day! She would even sing Happy Birthday to herself, it was so cute!

Her day started off when she woke up, Logan and I went in her room singing Happy Birthday. She was so excited, she jumped out of her crib into my arms with a big grin. She got dressed in her new birthday dress and pink "ugg" boots. She loved her new clothes, and kept stomping around in her boots, giggling. She chose "pink" Cheerios for breakfast (the strawberry yogurt ones), and then we opened the present from Grandma and Grandpa Bowden. It was the cutest little stuffed lamb, and she immediately gave it a kiss and a hug, and "baaa'd" at it. She also got some fun little bracelets, and immediately added them to her wardrobe as well.



After Logan went to school, Aves and I went to the gym, and then to the dollar store to get a few balloons for her, and some wrapping paper since I hadn't wrapped her gifts from us yet! While she was napping that afternoon, Logan helped me make her birthday cake. I just used a Strawberry boxed cake mix and a can of strawberry frosting. I remember now why I don't like canned frosting. I should have made my own, but I was trying to go the less stress route.Anyway...then Logan helped me wrap her presents so everything was ready when she woke up.

Tony came home and we had Avery's birthday dinner. I asked her what she wanted, and she told me "chicken, duh dies (french fries), dettup (ketchup), milk" So that's what we had. I tried to throw in some clementines as well to sorta make it healthy. After dinner we sang Happy birthday again and had her blow out her candles. She did a great job! ** Please ignore the embarrassing narrator in the video following, thank you.


We then watched her open her presents. She got the Tinkerbell DVD, a boxed set of little board books, a Fisher Price Go Anywhere Girls ice cream truck, and a little Polly Pocket. I know it isn't exactly age appropriate, but she lOVES playing with little dolls, and the ones I wanted to get her were no where to be found!



Anyway...Logan had a great time changing her clothes, and combing her hair. It was so funny! We are having a birthday party for her on Saturday with a few little friends. It is a "Pinkalicious" theme, and we will basically read the story, eat pink cupcakes, play with pink balloons and send them home. It is onyl an hour, and no gifts. Super easy.She already loves this book, and has had her daddy read it to her about 50 times in the past week! Overall, she had a great birthday, and was a super happy girl! We love our little sweetsie! Happy Birthday Aves!

When I'm a Little Old Lady

I found this poem just now and thought it was hilarious! I am sorry I don't know who wrote it to give them credit. The best part about it I think, is that whoever wrote it obviously experienced all these things with their kids, and I have been enjoying almost the exact same things with my kidlets! It's nice to know that other moms have been in my shoes.... I love it when I find out I am not alone!

When I'm a Little Old Lady

When I’m a little old lady

Then I’ll live with my children and bring them great joy

to repay all I’ve had from each girl and boy

I shall draw on the walls and scuff up the floor;

run in and out without closing the door.

I’ll hide frogs in the pantry, socks under my bed

whenever they scold me, I’ll just hang my head.



I’ll run and I’ll romp, always fritter away

the time to be spent doing chores everyday.

I’ll pester my children when they’re on the phone.

As long as they’re busy won’t leave them alone.

Hide candy in closets, rocks in drawers,

and never pick up my clothes from off the floor.



Dash off to the movies and not wash a dish.

I’ll plead for allowance whenever I wish.

I’ll stuff up the plumbing and deluge the floor,

as soon as they’ve mopped it, I’ll flood it some more.

When they correct me, I’ll lie down and cry,

kicking and screaming, not a tear in my eye.



I’ll take all their pencils and flashlights, and then

when they buy new ones, I’ll take them again.

I’ll spill glasses of milk to complete every meal,

eat my banana and just drop the peel.



Put toys on the table, spill jam on the floor,

I’ll break lots of dishes as though I was four;

What fun I shall have, what a joy it will be

To live with my children, like they lived with me!

Blurb

A few months ago, I won $50 off my purchase from blurb.com. I had plans to use it to make the first year of my blog into a book. Unfortunately, with life happening, and my lack of computer expertise, I just haven't had the time to really sit down and do it. This code expires in two days...the 31st.

If anyone is interested and thinks they will actually use it by then, let me know and I will send you the code. I hate to have it go to waste, but I just can't stress over it. It isn't that important to me.

I will hopefully update about the past month and our holiday soon!

Thanksgiving

Our original plans for Thanksgiving this year were to have my parents come. Of course my mom had her accident, so that plan pretty much flew out the window!I will have to tell the story about their plane tickets another time. It is interesting.

Last year our Thanksgiving was really lame. We got invited over to someone's house in our ward and woke up that morning and both Tony and Logan were sick.I hadn't planned for anything for dinner, so Avery and I went by ourselves. It just didn't feel like Thanksgiving at all!

I didn't want to be alone this year, and all our close friends here either had family in town, or had other plans. We decided to go to Blanding. It was a LONG drive, but we made it. Both the kids did so well! Avery had a hard time getting back in her seat each time we stopped, but otherwise, they were great little travelers. We woke them upWednesday morning around 5:45 a.m. and threw them in the car, hoping they would go back to sleep. Logan did nap later, but little Aves stayed awake the entire day until bedtime, around 7:30. Both the kids zonked around that time, and we finally arrived in Blanding around 9:30 p.m.Of course they got all riled up and we had a hard time getting them to bed after that.

Thursday we woke up to rain. Tony's youngest brother Andy and his wife are building a house, so all the men went out in the rain to help frame. They only lasted until about noon, and didn't get much done due to the weather. All us "women-folk" stayed indoors cooking the Thanksgiving meal. I helped Alicia make stuffing, and I made a Candied apple pie cheesecake. Of course we had a yummy dinner that day with all the goods! It was so nice to be with family!

Friday the men worked all day on the house again. I took the kids over to Tony's sister Suzie's house so they could play with their cousins. They had a great time! I wish they had cousins closer to play with. They all got along so well.And there are LOTS of little boys, so Logan had fun playing with them. At home most of the kids his age are girls!

We had Thanksgiving leftovers for lunch, and haystacks for dinner, and then some of us girls had a girl's night out! I helped raise some excitement about going to see Twilight. In Blanding, there is a small movie theater that only has one screen, and mostly only has one movie playing at a time. I was surprised to learn that Twilight was the one movie playing! It came out on opening day (for the midnight show) and is only there for three weeks.My SIL's Alicia and Shauna have both read the books, as well as my 15 year old niece Brielle. My SIL Jody hadn't read the books, but she was willing to come. I wish my other three SIL's Suzie, Amber and Marlene would have come too,but they didn't. Amber's brother was going through the temple that night, so that was a good reason to miss. Suzie offered to watch Amber's little boy Stetson, and Marlene opted to stay to help watch the rest of the kids too. We did manage to round up a few of the men a bit early from the house building to come watch kids so we could go.

It was so much fun! We were all so excited! Ok, maybe it was just me. I think my SIL's and niece think I am a Twilight obsessed psycho now. And a bit silly too. I have never had a girl's night out with them before, and it was so much fun!I am really glad my niece Brielle was able to come with us. It was a lot of fun.Have I said how much fun it was enough times now? Anyway...that brought my Twilight viewing number up to 4. I have to go at least 5 more times to beat my Titanic record!Ha ha!

Saturday was our last day there. Tony worked on Andy's house all day! I don't think I even saw him until about 7 that night when we had dinner. I ran a few errands during the day, and let the kids play over at Suzie's again. They had a great time!We all got together for a lasagna dinner that night, and then Tony and I went and loaded up the van full of boxes that we have had in storage there since before we moved to Indiana! That's been about 7 years! We finally had room enough this trip to bring it home. Now I need to get it unloaded out of my van!We will see what kinds of treasures we haven't missed in the past 7 years.

We left around 5:45 a.m. Sunday morning to drive home. We all started coming down with a cold and cough, so we weren't feeling well for our travels. The worst part of the trip was getting stuck for 4 hours in the mountians outside Denver! Seriously awful. Bumper to bumper ttraffic in horribly snowy weather. People were sliding off the roads, and we maybe went 60 miles in the four hours. Yuck! I was sooooooo glad to finally be out of that mess! But because of that, we didn't get home until 1:30 in the morning. We were glad to be home and out of the car!

We have all been sick since we got home. Tony came home from work yesterday around 11:30 a.m., and stayed home today. Logan fell asleep tonight around 5:30 and Avery was in bed by 6:45.I kept Logan home from school yesterday, but I hate to have him miss tomorrow. I hope he feels well enough in the morning. I hope we all feel better in the morning!

Anyway...when my SIL sends me some pictures of Tony working on the house, I will be sure to post them. I think I only took one picture of Tony and the kids at the dinner table, and that's all. I get too distracted and forget to take pictures!

I will be going to bed soon.Over all...we had a really nice trip, and we are so thankful for FAMILY!!!!! That's the most important thing, and I am so glad we were able to spend time with them for the holiday.

Twilight Obsession at its worst?

I am going to show how obsessed I am with this, by posting this clip, but I can't help myself. I have seen this movie twice now, and I am already trying to figure out when I can go again. I am hopeless. I can't get this song out of my head, and unfortunately it isn't on the soundtrack, but it is in a very moving part in the movie, and it's one of my favorite scenes. This clip is just a montage of clips from the movie, with this song. It is called "Let Me Sign" and is actually written and performed by Robert Pattinson who plays Edward in the movie. It is totally growing on me. I love it!

Little Models

 

It has been forever, but I can finally cross this item off my to do list!Avery has actually changed quite a bit since August, when I was supposed to have had their pictures taken! I was looking at photos of her from then, and her hair was much shorter. It's grown a lot in three months! She is such a pretty little girl!

And then there is my cute and oh so silly 4 year old. I love that little guy! I can't believe how much he has grown up, and how smart he is. It is so fun to watch him learning, and sharing his knowledge with us. Time flies...it is amazing!












I Love My Kids!

Update on Mom

Ok, so I guess I should explain a bit more what happened to my mom and how she is doing at this point. I haven't wanted to write much about things, since it took a while until we knew all the details, and as far as her condition, it changes constantly. I think things are at a point now where they are slowing down, and it is just uphill from here...hopefully.

So, on Tuesday evening, October 21st, at around 5:45 p.m., my mom was out on her daily walk.There is a greenbelt behind our house that we have walked through and played in as long as I have been alive practically. We call it the first park. There is a street at the end of this park, and across from this fairly wide road, is another subdivision, and yet another greenbelt, or park. This one is kind of in the middle of the houses in the neighborhood. We call this the second park. Then, once you exit the second park, the sidewalk begins again across that street, and it curves around the outside of this subdivision, and ends up back again across the road from the first park. Are you still with me? I know it's confusing.

Anyway...apparently when mom was crossing the road from the first park to go to the second park, she was hit by the car. My mom doesn't remember anything that happened. She doesn't even remember going on her walk at all. The last thing she remembers is being at home, thinking about going for her walk. She doesn't even remember putting her shoes on. I guess this is both a blessing and a curse. I wish she could tell us what happened, because it is so mind boggling as to how she didn't see the car coming. This road is very open and wide, and it should be easy enough for both cars and pedestrians to see the other coming, from both directions.

It turns out it was a cheerleader from the high school that hit her. She was going about 45 mph I think, and slammed on her brakes probably about the same time she actually hit my mom. There were some HS kids sitting on the wall on the edge of the park, near the road who said my mom walked out in front of the car. I have a really hard time believing that. I just can't understand why my mom would do that. It really bothers me.

From the bits and pieces I have heard about the following events, it sounded like it was a pretty serious situation. I have only heard these things from my siblings and my dad, and have kind of pieced things together, so I hope I am stating the facts accurately. I heard the police officer first on the scene reported mom as being DOA...dead on arrival, I think that means.The firefighter who was next on scene with the paramedics, happened to be a man from church, in our Stake, who noticed that mom was a member of the church by what she was wearing. He didn't recognize her, which is really sad, since he actually does know my mom. But he did whisper in her ear that he couldn't give her a blessing, but to know that the priesthood was with her. That just makes me cry. It was such a blessing that he was the one to be there, i am sure.

Mom was lifeflighted to Sharp's Memorial hospital in Mission Valley, which is about 20 minutes away, and there are two other hospitals in between that one. I guess that hospital has the best trauma unit which is why they took her there. She didn't have any ID on her, so they had her listed as Jane Doe. My dad walked in the door after work to the phone ringing, at 8:30 p.m., about 2 1/2 hours after the accident, and it was the hospital. I guess mom came to enough to tell them her name and phone number for dad.

Her injuries consisted of both arms being broken, her jaw and nose broken, and one rib broken. She also had severe lacerations on her face that required a plastic surgeon. Another blessing that occurred, was that the best plastic surgeon in the city happened to be at the hospital for something else, and was able to stitch up mom. The trauma doctors later on told mom what a great job he did on her, so that is definitely a blessing.

She was moved from Sharp's to Kaiser which is where their insurance is through, on the Saturday after the accident I think. She was able to have her own room there.

Her right arm didn't require surgery, and is only in a sling for about 6 weeks. Her left arm and shoulder is another story. This is the most severe of her injuries, and what we are all most worried about. She had to have major surgery to repair her shoulder and to place rods and screws and stuff to fix her arm. She had some nerve damage as well, and is now having to undergo a lot of therapy to hopefully regain movement in her hand and wrist, as well as the shoulder and rest of her arm. She had surgery on her jaw the Friday following the accident, and her jaw is wired shut for a few weeks. The accident also knocked out her two front teeth on the top. Her arm and shoulder surgery took place the Monday after, and she has been in terrible pain since then. She had a really bad week last week after that surgery, and is slowly improving now. They weaned her off the morphine, and she is now just on pain pills.She is able to get up and down with help now,so that is good. Her knees were bruised and scraped, but otherwise, her lower extremities and her whole midsection is relatively injury free. The trauma doctors were absolutely amazed that she didn't have serious internal injuries, or that she wasn't dead. Someone was watching out for her for sure! I think it was Derrick, personally. He has got to be his mommy's guardian angel now. He loved his mommy.

She was finally moved to a care facility earlier this week. My grandma, her mom, flew in and has been able to keep her company during the day so my dad can go to work and get things done at home. She is having her therapy daily while she is there, and although she really wants to go home, she will stay there for almost another week. They are planning on letting her go home next Friday or Saturday.So, from the day of the accident, until she gets to go home will be about 3 1/2 weeks.

My grandma will hopefully be able to stay until she goes home, and then next week my aunt is planning on going to help mom for a few weeks until my sister goes at the beginning of December.I guess I need to look into going around the second week in December. I guess that still gives me some time to make plans.

I have been able to talk to my mom a few times when I happen to call my dad's cell phone when he is there with her. She is able to talk really well even with her jaw wired shut, but she gets tired quickly, so we can't talk too long. I really miss being able to talk to my mom. I am used to talking to her almost daily, and just unloading about all the things my kids have done that day.It is also really hard not being able to be there, or to see her to really know what she is going through.The good thing is, that it seems like she is recovering faster than the doctors even expected, and all I can do is be grateful for all those little blessings, and the little miracles that have occurred in the midst of this horrible situation.I am so thankful that she is still with us! She still has a long road ahead of her to get back to her normal routine, but it will happen.There are MANY prayers being offered in her behalf. Prayer is a powerful thing! I know it really works. Thanks to all of you who have kept her in your thoughts and prayers. I know it has made all the difference.

On some normal life topics...I took the kids to get pictures taken today. I am WAY overdue for it. I should have had Logan's 4 year old pix taken back in May, and Avery's 18 month pictures taken in August! So, technically, Logan is still 4, almost 4 1/2 really, but it counts. And Avery, I can just say is 1 1/2. It works, right? She will have to get her pictures taken again in February when she turns 2 though! But, the pictures turned out so stinking cute! Logan had a silly face in most of his, but Avery looks like a DOLL in all of hers, and it was hard to not buy them all! My favorite though, is the one of them both together, and they are standing up hugging each other. It is so sweet! I love it! I am so proud of my cute cute children!I will post them for sure as soon as I get them! I have to show them off!

October Fun

This has been a rough few weeks with my mom's accident, and I haven't felt like blogging much. I have a lot to catch up on!

Cider Mill

We went to the Cider Mill for a play group activity earlier in October. It was a fun outing. We got to see how they make apple cider, and then got some to taste, as well as a cider donut! Yum! We also went on a hay ride, got to pick a pumpkin, and play in some of the other things they had there.












Ward Halloween Trunk or Treat

We had our ward Trunk or Treat and Chili Cook-off the week before Halloween. Tony and I got a little crazy and volunteered to perform the Thriller Dance for the ward party. There were about 8 of us total by the day of the performance. It was really fun, and I totally enjoyed myself.It has been a long time since I have done something like that, and I wish there were more opportunities.I think Tony was the best zombie around!

The kids had a fun time too. Avery hung on to her pumpkin bucket for dear life and wouldn't let me help her with it even when it was getting so heavy. Even Logan was complaining about it being so heavy!







FHE Carving Pumpkins

For Family Home Evening, we carved pumpkins! Well, Tony and Logan carved them, and I took pictures and helped Avery. Logan drew his face on his pumpkin, and then Tony carved it for him. He did a great job! We asked him what his pumpkin's name was, and he said "Pumpkin Man". The we asked him what daddy's pumpkin's name was, and he thought for a minute and then said "Man Pumpkin". Sounds good to me!








Play Group Halloween Party

The Tuesday before Halloween, we had a Halloween party for play group. We met at the church, and the kids wore their costumes, and we passed out candy, and they colored and basically ran wild in the gym. It was joyous. We also did the chicken dance. That's a must for any kid activity!




Halloween

Tonight, we got together with some friends for a yummy dinner of chili and homemade rootbeer! I drank so much root beer!It's good stuff! We took the kids trick or treating, and had a really fun time. It was a beautiful night! I was almost hot!Tony pulled Avery and her friend Savannah in the wagon, and Logan ran along with the other kids. At one point he was running after his friend Dakota yelling "Best Friends Forever!" I wonder where he got that from? I got Avery out every now and then and either carried her up to the door, or let her walk. She hung on tight to her pumpkin bucket again and did not want to let it go! At one house, Logan went up to the door and said "I need some water!" I was so embarrassed! It was so nice though, cause the man went and got him a cup of water to take with him. Silly kid!Overall, we had a lot of fun this month with all the festivities.











Happy Halloween!