november 2018

I have so much to blog, and I'm not sure how to split it all up this time, so I am just going to go month by month.  It will make for long posts, but oh well.

November was busy, as usual.  Dance, gymnastics, cheer, soccer, scouts, young womens, scouts, school, piano lessons, church callings and on and on and on.

Mary got braces in November.  She was hilarious the day before.  She wanted to get "used to what it would feel like," so she made her own braces.  She used the backs of several earrings and some small rubber bands.  hahaha!!  She is one creative girl!

Getting her braces on was quite the ordeal.  We are driving to Pocatello, because my cousin who is an orthodontist, is giving us a crazy great deal.  I decided to drive down with Mary, Sam and Molly. Ben and the boys stayed home.
The drive there was a little scary, because there was a random storm and the car kept on skidding all over.  Freaked us out.  We got there pretty late Sunday night, and Molly ended up throwing up all night long from carsickness or something.  I got no sleep.
We got up bright and early for Mary's appointment.  An hour later, the told me Mary was done.  But the second Mary closed her mouth, ALL of the brackets fell off.. what the???
The orthodontic assistant "forgot" to put the glue on the brackets.  ugh.

Another HOUR later, as she was finishing up, half of the brackets fell off again.  I was about to lose my mind.  The lady had forgotten another important step.  This time, my cousin decided to supervise and make sure they were put on correctly.  I spent the next hour rearranging my schedule, because we weren't getting back to Utah when we though, by a long shot.
Finally, Mary was done.  She looks so cute!  She can totally pull off braces!

Right after her appointment, we headed home.  I had to get back in time to teach 4 piano lessons, and to get the boys from school.  We were cutting it close.

When we got to Salt Lake, we ran out of gas.  Yup, that's right.  Ben told me how much gas we needed to get home, but for some reason the car was going through it faster than normal.  I pulled off the freeway, and called the police.  The closest officer was 45 minutes away.... no joke.  So, there we sat, for 45 minutes.  I was rearranging my schedule again, and now finding places for the boys to go after school.  Mary's mouth was killing her, and Molly was carsick again.  Sam was fine, because he was missing a whole day of school.

When the officer finally arrived, he did not have gas. ????  He decided to just push our car with his car to the nearest gas station about 2 miles away.  We got all ready to do that, and then we realized that we had a bike rack on the back of the car, that would not allow the car to be pushed.  aaahhh!

The officer was amazing, and decided to drive to his family members house about 20 minutes away, grab a gas can, fill it up at a gas station, and then come back to us.  Talk about going above and beyond!  So, there we sat again, for another 30 minutes.  The officer came back, filled our car up with gas, and then we went to the gas station.  I tried to offer the office money for the gas, but he refused.  He was truly a great person.

We arrived home, just in time to get Sam to soccer practice and to teach a few piano lessons.  That evening, as I was driving our other car full of boys home from soccer, the car died on me on main street.  Seriously!

It was quite the day, that's for sure.  Felt like one cruel game of dominoes.


We decided to go to Boise for Thanksgiving.  Unfortunately, I have no pictures.  I am horrible at taking pictures.  I always forget.  It was a great time though.  We stayed in a hotel, which turned out to be really fun.  We spent the day time with Ben's family talking, eating, going to a movie, and so on.  The nights we were able to hang out in the hotel, and even work out in the mornings.  The kids had a blast with their cousins, and Ben and I had a good time catching up with everyone.  It was a really good visit.  It was short, but it was nice to get away, and to spend the holiday with loved ones.

When we got home from Thanksgiving, we went into full Christmas mode.  We started off with decorating the house and making gingerbread houses.  It was really fun!

Of course, Christmas decorating would not be Christmas decorating without a massive fight over who puts the star on the tree, and the tree falling over TWICE the night after we get it all set up and decorated.

We ended November with a ride on the Polar Express. 

 Molly spent most of the train ride with her face plastered to the window looking for reindeer.  She was obsessed with reindeer this Christmas season, haha!

The boys reaction when they played "let it go," from Frozen.  haha!

We sat by our friends, the Muhlesteins.  Their daughter and Mary's friend, Lydia, was also an elf this year.  William and Tyson are best friends, and loved being together.

Mary got a job as an Elf on the train this year.  She did a phenomenal job!  Her elf name was peachy.  She had so much fun, and had her first official experience having a job.  I love that she was able to do that.  What a cool opportunity!

Mary had her first official cheer competition at the end of the month.  Both of her teams were amazing!  Level 2 took first place and level 4 took second! 

 

And, that's a wrap for November.

halloween 2018

We had a fun Halloween this year.  We carved pumpkins, ate yummy pumpkin seeds, we had  ward trunk or treat, the schools had parties and parades, and of course, there is the actual Halloween night.  The kids had a blast.  It was a fun year!

 

 

Mary was a lifeguard zombie.  She went to a party this year instead of trick or treating.

Luke was a skeleton army guy.  He and Tucker trick or treated until their bags literally got too heavy for them to carry.  They were so much fun and they were hilarious.  They really wanted to become "professional trick or treaters."  I think they succeeded.

Molly was a unicorn.  She had a ton of fun with her preschool friend Charlie, who was also a unicorn.

the text Sam sent me the morning of Halloween.  hahahaha!!!!

The dog ate Molly's unicorn horn the morning of Halloween. gggrrr
Luckily, Molly has about three spares..

Sam was a crash dummy and William was a shadow man.  I have spent the last 30 minutes trying to find the pictures I took of them, but for some reason they aren't showing up on my phone.  I did take pictures of them though.

They both had a great time!  Sam went trick or treating with his friends, and came away with a ridiculous amount of candy! 

I stayed home and handed out candy, and then I drove Luke and Tucker around when they were too tired to walk anymore. haha!!!

Happy Halloween!

randoms

I always have random pictures on my phone that I want to document, but that don't need a huge post.  Here are some from the last bunch.


Yesterday, we were burning the weeds, and Luke and Tucker got all dressed up like fireman, and got a bunch of water bottles.  The second the weeds were burned to the ground, they would run in and pour water all over the pile.  It was cute, hilarious, and awesome all at the same time! haha

The movie "Benji" was on Netflix, and I was positive that Molly would love it!  Its all about a dog that is abandoned and then turns into a hero and becomes part of a family.  She bawled through the whole thing, to the point we had to turn it off.  She couldn't handle the dog being abandoned.  It was one of the saddest yet sweetest things I have ever seen.

Luke lost his very first tooth two days ago!!  He was so brave and let Ben pull it out.  I found him at the table crying before Ben pulled it out.  I asked him what was wrong, and he tearfully told me that he felt like, "he was losing a friend."  Heart. melted. 
I reassured him that he could put the tooth in a bag and that the toothfairy would let him keep his friend forever if he wanted to.  He is such a sweet boy.

Charlie was watching the movie too.  Good grief!

Juliet came to visit and Hazel came with her.  Luke and Hazel are the same age.  They have only seen eachother a few times, because they live in Alaska, but they hit it off instantly.  They played and played and played for two solid days.  I LOVE it when my kids can bond with their cousins.

Ever since Luke was stung in the neck, twice at the same time, a few years ago, he has been terrified of bees!    By some horrible turn of luck, he was stung twice in the eye at the end of this summer.  This poor kid must taste as sweet as he is.

I had to do a fast grocery run.  This happened to be what the kids looked like at the time.  Mary was mortified, I was amused.  Good times.  Mullet Molly, ninja luke, stinky football William, mortified Mary.

big buddy plays football

William just completed his first season of tackle football, and he LOVED IT!

William played right tackle most of the season.  He had some great quarter back sacks and some nice tackles as well.

William learned a ton about how the game works, and about how he can utilize his personal talents and abilities.

I have been wondering the whole season why William wasn't in a position to utilize his speed.  FINALLY, on the last practice, the team had a bunch of races, and the coaches realized that William was the fastest one on the team.  HELLO!  What has this momma been saying for months! 

He did great this season in his position though, and he had a great time.  I can't wait for next season when the coaches will utilize his strength AND his speed.  He will be a rockstar! Go Wasatch!

William up against a HUGE Xman

benny boo turns 37

Ben's Birthday was a few weeks ago.  His mom was able to come spend the weekend, so that was an added bonus.  I think it was fun for Ben to have his mom here for his special day.

We had a busy day with Sam's last soccer game, and William's Football playoff game, but we still had fun.

We went to a bounce house the day before, and went out to dinner with everyone.  I am pretty sure that pizza pie café is now our kids restaurant version of Disneyland!

We had fun watching the kids games, and we went out to dinner again on his actual Birthday.  I made him his favorite Chocolate cake, and we all just hung out together that evening.

Ben is going on his 11th year with Cintas, and is an excellent sales rep.  He is really into downhill biking, and he does competitions through the spring and summer.  He is still very much in to snow skiing as well, and like to do some competitions there too.  He is active, healthy, and doing his best to be able to stay in good health and shape in order to do what he loves.  He is currently working with the scouts in our ward.  He is an amazing dad and a loving and faithful husband.  We are all so grateful for this day 37 years ago when he came in to this world.

i got cut

About 4 months ago, I went in to Dr. Davis for ANOTHER cortisone shot.  My leg was killing me again, and it was worse than ever.  Dr. Davis gave me the shot, but it was in a different place.  I told him that I felt like my leg was worse, but he didn't seem too concerned.  He pulled up my 18 month old scans to base his diagnosis off if. 

Basically, I wasn't a fan of that appointment, and I was definitely losing trust in my doctor.

The shot did not work, and I was in so much pain.  I couldn't run anymore without paying dearly for it.  Ben heard about a doctor down at the U named Dr. Maak, who was supposed to be awesome with torn labrums, so I made an appointment with him.

The appointment was amazing!!!  He took one scan, and diagnosed me with extra bone on the head of my femur and a torn labrum.  The extra bone was so bad, that my hip was not able to fully swing in and out of the socket like it was supposed to.  I didn't not have range of motion, and every time I used that joint, I had bone smacking bone.  I needed surgery, and finally, it was not a question, and I had no doubts. 

No THAT is an amazing Orthopedic surgeon.  He was nice, funny, informative, experienced, and easily convinced me to get a surgery that I had been putting off for 3 years.  It took one appointment with him, and my surgery was scheduled.

Knowing I needed surgery came easy, after talking to Dr. Maak, but it does not mean that I didn't panic every single day leading up to it.  I just did not want to have to be held back, and to not be able to run.  I was worried about being able to take of my family and my home.  I was worried about getting all lazy and fat and out of shape.  I was worried about everything.

The day finally came, and the surgery went really well.  I was in loads of pain when I woke up, and it took a good 2 hours for them to get it under control.  That was pretty terrible.  The nurses were awesome, my surgeon kept Ben informed the whole time, the surgery was done 45 minutes earlier than planned, and I was just so amazed with the whole experience.  It was not fun, and it was very painful, but the staff at the surgical center was so, so good.

The next few days were hard, as far as pain control.  I quickly got sick of the crutches, and having to sleep in one position all night long.

My mom came a few days later, and she ended up staying for two weeks.  She absolutely SAVED us!  She cooked, she cleaned, she got kids to and from their activities, she helped me get pain meds, get to appointments, she was a listening ear, she was a great friend to have around all day, she was everything we all needed.  I would not have survived without her.

I was very surprised with how quickly I was able to get around without crutches.  I was off of them by week 2.  I had horrific spasms of my hip muscles though, that literally took me to the ground.  They were the worst of the worst of the entire experience so far.  I still get them every once in a while, and they take me down.

I am now 6 weeks out from surgery.  I am doing physical therapy every day along with an hour on the bike.  I have been trying and trying to get on the elliptical, but every time I do, I get a hip spasm and it shuts me down.  I did, however, make it 25 minutes on the elliptical yesterday.  I was absolutely beaming the entire time!  I felt like I was on top of the world!

I am healing up exactly as planned, and I am progressing right at where I should be.  Dr. Maak says I am doing great too.  I just get so frustrated though, because I want to do more than I can.  The better I feel, the more I feel like I should be doing, but them my leg freaks out and reminds me that I have to try to take things more slowly.  It can be so frustrating, but I keep looking toward being able to not only run pain free for the first time in three years, but to actually walk with full range of motion in my hip for the first time since I can even remember.

incision site. (the upper side of my thigh)  I had laparoscopic surgery, so I just have three tiny scars now.

drugs baby!

ouch ouch and more ouch!!!

Dr. Maak rocks!

cringe!

As of right now, I am happy I had the surgery, because I hope that things will be better than ever before.  I am not even close to 100%, but at least I can walk, bike, and take care of my family and my home.  I will call that a win at the moment!