Fall Break Lodge

 Fall Break has flown by and I am so thankful I got the chance to sneak away to the Lodge with the boys for a few days.  Wednesday morning we helped my mom and dad pack up some stuff from their house (they sold it) and then we headed up to the high country.  In Show Low we stopped at Safeway for groceries and Michael had fun prancing around the parking lot with a skeleton head and arms.  It was hilarious watching him wave and try to pick up stuff with the arms - like the Saturday Night Live skit with the small hands.  Ben could not stop laughing. 

 Thursday we woke up to gray skies, wind, thunder and rain/sleet/snow.  The weather up there is a fickle thing.  We drove into town to make our requisite Wal Mart trip and by the time we got back the sky looked blue.  However, it continued to rain the rest of the day.  Some highlights from Thursday:  watching The Pioneer Woman on the Foodnetwork - she's making homemade pizza and ice cream pie.  Evan says, "Don't erase this grandma!  We need this food."  Later I told the boys that I used to make pizza from scratch when they were little.  Max quips, "And now all she makes is Digiorino :/

 Kim and Brian came up late Thursday night (yay!).  Brian kept Evan entertained most of the day Friday.  Evan built a robot out of Jenga blocks and then he built the word "Robo" out of the blocks in honor of a business he wants to start (more on that later)

 We also discovered just how double jointed Max is.  Freaky.  He then showed us how he can bend his legs in a weird way and walk on his feet.  That boy constantly surprises me. 

 I love when the boys are together makin' music.  For a long time on Friday Joe played guitar and him and Michael sang while we played 5 Crowns. 

I decided to travel home late Friday night - Ben and Max stayed at the Lodge with the folks and Kim and Brian, which left me with these crazies.  Michael stayed awake the whole way home to make sure I didn't fall asleep.

I love spending time with my parents and sister.  It is wonderful to go to a place where I can be me and feel unconditional love.  I can't begin to say how much I needed that.  Plus they all like me!  I can't ask for more than that :)

Yesterday

was the best and worst day.  I spent almost the whole day with my mom.  We drove out to Sweet Tooth Fairy in the morning to get Kim some cupcakes.  We had lunch with Christy and Drea and then went and got pedicures. Kim came over later and we all went out to dinner and for ice cream in celebration of my mom's upcoming birthday.  I don't get to see my mom much any more and I really loved spending so much time with her.

Repeatedly throughout the day she voiced her concern over my dad.  He had an MRI yesterday.  Years ago he hurt his back and over the years it has bothered him.  These past few weeks have been unbearable for him.  We think that the lack of oxygen he experienced with he had carbon monoxide poisoning made the problem worse.  The doctors think he has an ruptured disc sitting on his sciatic nerve.  The MRI will hopefully help diagnose and deal with what's going on.  I kind of brushed my mom off because I've seen my dad in bad shape before (the worst was when he broke his back) and he always seems invincible.

Nothing could prepare me for seeing him last night.  It took him 5 minutes to get up off the floor where he was laying.  He looks 30 pounds thinner and 15 years older.  Because he is on so much pain medicine he had a hard time talking and communicating.  It broke my heart.  I had to leave Darrel and Trina's quickly and pretty much bawled the whole way home.  Poor Kim had to put up with my sobbing.  My dad has been a constant in my life.  I have always been able to trust him and count on him.  Working with him added to the love and respect that I already had for him.  He has always been strong, steady and invincible.

Except now he's not.

I couldn't stand to see him in so much pain.  I came home and cried and cried.  Ian held me while I just sobbed.  It was like all of my fears and insecurities let loose in one big river of tears.  The boys were concerned until Ian explained why I was so upset.  We had a family prayer together and I felt a little better.

This morning I sent out an email to my siblings asking for a family fast on Sunday for dad.  I then sent a group text to my closest friends asking them to pray for my dad.  They all responded that they would fast too and one even offered to put his name on the temple prayer roll.  I'm so lucky to have such great friends.

I don't know who reads my blog any more but I'd thought I'd share this so that anyone who sees this will pray for my dad.  He needs all the prayers he can get.

Did you miss me?

I haven't posted in over a week, which is so lame of me.  Even if I only have 2 readers on this blog, I want to post at least 3 times a week.  It's a goal.  Anyhow...June has flown by and these last two weeks have been some of the best of my life.  Especially after one of the crappiest years ever.  I still have trials in my life, and maybe that helps me appreciate the good times all that much more.  

I am way behind in my blogging (I still haven't posted about Evan's preschool graduation which happened over a month ago!) but I wanted to blog about a girls trip I went on.  As usual I was stressed about going, about leaving my family.  But my mom and Ian talked me into it, so I went.

We left late Tuesday night.  I was grumpy, but once the girls got in the car and we started talking I forgot I was in a bad mood.  We laughed and talked the whole way (3 1/2 hours) and finally got at the cabin at 12:30am.  My mom waited up and we chatted some more til almost 3 am!

Robin wanted to see why I love my pillow so much.  Adrienne kept punching it to see if it would bounce back.  Of course it did!  After 3 1/2 years my pillow is still awesome!

 The next day I got up and ran and my mom made us an awesome breakfast.  She took Drea and Robin on a ranger ride and then we all piled in the car for an adventure.  We stopped for lunch in Springerville.  We googled restaurants and this one came up as 4 stars.  It was ok.  Let's just say the company was better than the food :)

 After lunch we drove to Greer.  We parked by Amy and Brian's lodge - which is beautiful.  Then we walked down to the river and watched kids playing in the water and posed for pictures.   It takes so little to amuse us.

 We had to stop for some ice cream.  Adrienne amused us with Utah stories.

 That night my dad made us steak, sweet potatoes and asparagus.  It was divine.  Then we stayed up late watching Downton Abbey and made jokes about how much Bates and Anna kissing upsets Adrienne.  And ate the yummy caramel popcorn Adrienne made.  Seriously good.

 The next morning Christy, Adrienne and I woke up and did Jillian Michaels.  Then we made a schedule for the day:  eat, watch Downton, eat.  And that's pretty much what we did all day.  It was awesome.

 Later my dad took Adrienne and Christy for a Ranger ride where they saw lots of wildlife.  We'd already seen tons of elk on the way up.  Drea was more impressed by the cows though. :)

It was such a fun two days.  We had no schedules.  Nothing to do.  We sat on the porch and laughed.  Ate. Watched Downton.  Talked some more.  We never did get around to playing any games.  It was one of the most relaxing and fun times I've had ever.  I love these ladies and am so thankful for their friendship.  And I love that we all have the same sense of humor and we crack each other up.

When we got to Adrienne's house the Chandler High bus was in front.  I told Adrienne that we need to take it on our next adventure.  

So thankful for my parents who took care of us.  My mom was one of the girls and my dad pretty much catered to us.  I am lucky to have them!

Unreal

 I was driving home one day and saw moving trucks in front of my parents' house.   A sight that not only took me by surprise, but something I thought I'd NEVER see.  It sucked.  I can't even explain it.  I made a spur of the moment decision to go up with my parents the next day to help them unload.  Evan came too, of course.

On the way up we stopped for a green chili burro at the Burger House in Globe.  Jared had been there on his mission and got my parents hooked.  We also stopped at Safeway to get lemon filled twinkies for Brian.  I didn't try them but I hear Brian's addicted :)

Evan helped unload the trucks.  Harold, Vickie, Denis and Denise also came by and helped.  It was fun to see my aunts and uncles and catch up a bit.  It turned out that it was a bit of a mistake for me to leave - Max had a project due the next day and it was a nightmare trying to help him from miles away.  Luckily Xander stepped up and helped.  I love that boy.

The next day dad and I spent a lot of time moving things upstairs, then we headed home.

 I love my parents so much and am grateful for the love and support they give me on a daily basis.  I only hope to be able to do the same for them. 

The best intentions

I had the best intentions of getting some serious blogging done last week. But then...life (in the form of a serious injury) happened. On Monday Michael, Xander and Max were playing tackle basketball on our trampoline. Yes, you read that right. One of our basketball hoops is over the net of the tramp and the boys were playing. Well, one thing led to another and Michael's tooth went into Max's head.

Ian and I came home from dinner to see that Max had about a half inch vertical cut in the middle of his forehead. We discussed it and decided to tend to the wound ourselves. Ian cleaned it really well, sealed it shut and bandaged it.

On Tuesday we thought it looked a little swollen. By Wednesday afternoon Max's whole face was swollen. Trina suggested I take him to Banner Desert because they have a children's emergency room. We waited less than an hour and got outstanding service. The ER physician yelled at me for sealing the wound shut because I guess human bite wounds are one of the worst, most infectious things. He admitted Max. I don't know if you can tell from this picture how swollen Max's face was:

I am so thankful for my dad and Darrel who came to the hospital and gave Max a blessing. It calmed me and Max. Max was freaking out about getting an IV and having surgery the next morning. They numbed his hand for the IV so he didn't feel a thing. He was his normal hilarious self. When he found out that he got to stay in bed while they moved him to his room he lit up like a Christmas tree! He loved being the center of attention.

I stayed the night and early the next morning a peds plastic surgeon drained the abscess on his head and took cultures. Then they packed and bandaged the wound. A friend of mine who is a surgical PA was telling me that by packing the wound they prevent it from closing quickly and that allows the wound to drain and get rid of the infection on its own. They wanted to show me how to pack the wound but I made them wait until Ian could get there. No way was I doing that.

Yesterday I took him back to the plastic surgeon - we have to keep packing the wound until it closes and then he will go back for scar therapy. I just want to thank all of the friends and family who called, texted, came by, brought Max goodies and basically just showed us support. We are so lucky to have a good support system. The highlight was a bag Laura brought. She put the hospital symbol on the bag and filled it with different kinds of skittles. Max said, "I wish Laura had been my nurse at the hospital!"

One of the hardest things for Max has been not being able to play football or basketball. I'm praying he will heal quickly so he can get back to his normal, active self.

Garbage Men Rock: a story of friendship and faith

So I pretty much ate myself into a coma on Thanksgiving. Turkey, mashed potatoes, brown sugar & pecan sweet potatoes, rolls, cranberry celebration, coconut cream pie...mmmm....

Anyhow, I begged someone, anyone! to go running with me the next morning to try and undo some of the damage (as if!).

Trina finally agreed.

Well, it rained that night. Anyone who is familiar with the White Mountains knows the mud up there is like clay. It sticks to your shoe and doesn't let go. So we opted to drive to the main road which was paved and run there.

I parked, zipped the keys up in my jacket pocket and we were off. Trina told me to imagine we were in a movie. We were the new girls in town, out for a jog on this brisk, winter morning. We had fun making little jokes and running along. I was tired soon - it might of been all of the food I consumed but I blamed the thin air. So after about 2 miles we turned around. We were almost to the car when I reached to unzip my pocket to grab the keys and realized...the keys were gone! My pocket had come unzipped by itself and the keys had fallen out! I started to panic.

Trina was all calm, cool and collected. We started to walk back - searching for the keys. After about 20 minutes, Trina suggested we pray. So we did. Then we continued to walk. I was becoming more and more worried. It didn't help that about every 5 minutes Trina would gasp like she saw something - but then she would say something like, "Look - that's Indian toliet paper!" Ummm...why would I need to know that? And why is it exciting! Luckily she knows how to revive heart patients because she almost gave me a heart attack! At this point Trina suggests that we think of scriptures or God, or just think good thoughts. That didn't last long.

By this point we were becoming a little delusional - clouds were gathering and we were imagining being frozen mid step - still searching for the keys. After about 15 minutes of using our over active imaginations we hear a honk. We turn around and there is a humungous garbage truck with a humungous man at the wheel. He looks at us and holds up my keys. Now here's where the story gets really embarrassing. We ran over to him screaming and yelling things like, "You're an answer to our prayers!" and "We love you so much!" I'm pretty sure we scarred him for life. Also we were yelling too loud to hear his explanation on how he found the keys.

We start walking back with a skip in our step. My dad comes roaring up a few minutes later - he was worried that we were gone so long. I really love my dad. And I really love Trina - she's great in a crisis.

All in all I think it would've made a pretty good movie. Or atleast a good story :)

Day 3

Ian woke up early and took Xander and Michael fishing at Sheepscrossing. The rest of us lazed around. Played cards:

Played in cars:

Worked (ok, only one of us worked):
Explored:
Found more sticks:
Evan worked up an appetite and ended up eating all of the left over steak from the night before. I've never seen him eat so much red meat. It was entertaining to say the least.


Darrel, Trina and I and the kids made the trek to Greens Peak. It was a cold, windy day. We hiked half way up and then hiked half way down. It makes me sad when I think about what I will see the next time we hike up there. I can't believe I didn't take any pictures! I think I was too busy chasing Evan around.

Finally around 4 the boys returned from fishing. They caught quite a few fish and brought some home to fry up. Michael's were giving each other a goodbye kiss:

I took more pictures while the boys cleaned and cooked the fish.

I love these two :)And these three.
We left a little after 5. We expected to hit a lot of traffic but hit none. I think we made it home in record time. We hope to go up again soon.

Happy Birthday

Today my dad turned 63. We had him and my mom over for dinner. The menu included: steak, scallops, shrimp, mashed potatoes, asparagus, rolls and salad. I just have to give a little shout out to Ian who grilled the steaks to perfection and who makes a mean scallop.

After dinner my dad played cards with Evan and Max while the rest of us cleaned up.

Then we got out the cake. You know - that Costco chocolate cake that is sooo rich but sooo good. If you want a taste, come over tomorrow - we have left-overs. Xander put the candles on it.

Blowin' out the candles:

Of course my dad didn't have the cake, because I made him his favorite - dark chocolate and walnut brownies :)

Then my parents taught us how to play 5 Crowns. We had so much fun that I will be going to Game Daze tomorrow to get the game for us. I lost (big time) but still had a blast playing.

Happy birthday to the best dad in the world!

Weekend Happenings

Holy cow, where has this week gone? It seems like every week flies by. Anyway, last Friday Step Up 3 came out. I have been looking forward to seeing this movie for a LONG time. Mostly because it has quite a few SYTYCD (So You Think You Can Dance) dancers in it. Friday night Tiffany, Tayler and I went to dinner at Sauce (one of my favorite restaurants) and then on to the movie. Tayler wore her leg warmers and Twitch glasses in honor of the occasion. In case you didn't know...Tayler is awesome. We had a blast. And now we want to learn how to hip hop dance.

Saturday afternoon we headed out to Mattas (by Bass Pro Shop) for lunch with Ian's family. Ian's brother Sean has a mustache in honor of National Mustache month.

I told him he looks a little creepy, but he didn't seem to mind.
After lunch we headed over to Bass Pro Shop. You can't tell but John, Meg, Sean & Xander are in front of the aquarium.

Evan has a love/hate relationship with all of the animals there. He wants to see them but they freak him out a little.

After Mattas we headed over to Jared & Tricia's for Molly's first birthday. Holy cow, I can't believe she's one!

Have you seen a cuter baby? I just want to eat her cheeks and thighs.

Ready for cake!

At first Molly wanted to eat the table instead of her cake.

But then big sister Emmy showed her what to do.

Kim and I were chatting on the couch and dad came over and sat between us. I love my dad. He's one of my favorite people in the world.

Molly got lots of loot.

Evan had fun playing with some girl toys.

The weekend flew by, but it's always fun to spend time with the people I love the most. We had a blast!