Finger and Blanket Update

My finger is healing pretty well. The nail has grown quite a bit and in about a month I think it will be as good as new. I am blogging about this today because I FINALLY finished the blanket I was working on when I sewed my finger. I didn't stop sewing it because I sewed my finger. I stopped sewing it because I was having a lot of problems with some bunching that was going on and I had a huge line of stitching that I had to pick out. Elise kept asking me if I was done with it, so today after I got done sewing my apron I finished the blanket for her.

Burrito Girl

Ta Duh!

I have been wanting to tweak my apron pattern for a really long time and I finally got around to it. I am really happy with how it turned out. So, here it is!

Busy

I was so excited to start summer vacation. I was ready to not have to get up early with the kids and be able to relax and have fun. Unfortunately now what we are in the full swing of summer I feel like I am still SO busy! Maybe it is just because I was on vacation and didn't have to do the usual stuff like cleaning and paying bills. Having a break from it and then having to come back and play catch up has not been fun. Maybe it is just because all my kids are home, but seriously, I feel like I have had NO "me time" forever. I used to be able to steal 30 minutes or an hour here or there but I just feel like I haven't been able to do that. I feel like I work ALL FREAKING day long and STILL don't get anything done. My house is a mess even though I have been working and cleaning what seems like all day. And I can't remember the last time that I woke up in the morning and I wasn't tired. And I can't remember the last time when I went through the day and didn't feel like I'd pass out on the couch if I sat down for 10 minutes. Anyway, I guess I needed to vent and say that this mom thing is SO hard sometimes! (ok, always.)

"I only hate you sometimes."

Yesterday was a momentous day. It marked the first time one of my kids told me that they hate me. I am sure it was only the first of many, because we still have many years to go before the kids are to and through the teenage years.

I gave Elise a time-out for hitting Ian. As she was headed toward the chair she said, "I hate you." very quietly. "What did you say?" I asked her. "I hate you" she said. So I added 2 minutes to her 6 minute time out and sighed.

Later, after her time-out was over she came up to me and very reassuringly said, "Mom, I don't hate you right now. I only hate you sometimes. Sometimes I love you and sometimes I hate you." Great. At least she doesn't have a difficult time expressing her feelings right?

Home Sweet Home

We are home, HOORAY! We had a really fun time on our trip but we were pretty pooped when we got home. Here are some hightlights and lowlights of the trip plus a bunch of pictures:

Highlights:

• Riding on the waverunner at Bear Lake
• Playing with all the cousins. The kids were occupied almost the whole time and had a blast with the cousins
• Having a romantic evening with Kent at his parent's house roasting marshmallows and sitting by the fire
• Seeing 8 out of my 9 siblings
• Meeting a nephew and a niece I haven't met before
• Getting a fabulous raspberry shake at Bear Lake
• The drive home. The kids were good and so was the conversation
• Getting to ditch out on my calling for 2 weeks ;)
• Meeting my new sister-in-law to be
• Driving through Logan and seeing our old house (I really miss Logan)
• Getting squeaky cheese at Gossner's in Logan
• Doing karaoke to "Copacabana" with a Mexican accent. Not sure this was a highlight.... It is true that when you are sleep deprived you have the judgement of someone who is drunk.... Normally I would never EVER sing in front of people.... At least the accent sort of made it sound like I was purposely trying to sing badly

Lowlights:

• Being eaten alive every night by mosquitos
• Adele getting thrush
• Sleeping in a room with kids for 9 days
• Being stressed out because I was in charge of the activities at the reunion
• Sand
• We couldn't get grandpa's boat to work

Pictures:

My dad and mom and 9 out of their 10 kids

Me and my 5 sisters

Ian in the sand

Kent took the 3 older kids fishing one day at Bear Lake. They didn't catch anything but it was good Daddy/kid bonding.

Drew and Michelle (to be married on 8/23/08)

My girls and their cousin Hailey

Feeding The Horses

Travels

I was kind of waiting to post stuff until I had the pictures ready but I think I am never going to be that organized so I guess you'll just have to take what you can get right?

We are in Idaho and have been here for the last 4 days. We have one more full day here and then we are headin' South for the fab family reunion.

We have been having a great time and it has been fun to be able to visit with family members that we don't see very often. Being here at Kent's family's house has been so nostalgic for me. The sights and smells really brought back a lot of memories. It reminds me so much of when Kent and I were doing the "LDR" (long distance relationship). He lived here and I lived in Utah and I'd get a ride up to his folks' house when my sister and his brother would come up to visit. When we got here I was excited to see how excited my kids were to see everything and to be here at "grandpa and grandma's house". It reminded me of how I used to love visiting my grandparents as a kid and just the random things I remember from those experiences. Like the tall clear plastic glasses with the ridges all the way around them, having "hotcakes" for breakfast and hearing my grandpa play the harmonica. I am just really glad that my kids are making memories like these. It makes me wish that we lived closer and that we could visit more often.

Here's what we have done so far on the trip:

• Swam at an awesome pool in Lehi
• Went for 4 wheeler rides and stopped during the ride to feed the neighbor's horses the tall weeds by the road
• Had a huge family party with many of Kent's brothers and their families
• Went to Idaho Falls to visit my sister Carol and Kent's brother Mark (who are married in case you aren't familiar with how we met.)
• I got to go out to lunch with Carol and go SHOPPING (which seriously deserves its own blog post, but who knows if I will get to it. Let's just say that Lisa does NOT appreciate all the crazy retro 80's styles out there, as much as I love the 80's and all....)
• We returned to Blackfoot today and had dinner with one of Kent's good high school friends. I am also good friends with his wife since both our families used to live in Logan. I went for a walk with her tonight and it was beautiful walking around in the country in the fresh air as the sun was setting.

I just wanted to tell my inlaws THANKS SO MUCH for hosting us this week. My mother in law is a very busy lady with work and church responsibilies but she has been a very patient and gracious hostess (as always).

Haircuts and Cell Phone Photos

I cut my girls' hair on Tuesday. "A little trim shouldn't be too hard," I thought. "I COULD take them somewhere, but it is just a simple trim and I can do THAT. Maybe I will layer it just a little bit for more body while I am at it". So, I cut their hair, trimming a little here, and a little there, trying to get things even... adding a bit of layering. It didn't look good. It actually looked pretty bad. Since we are leaving on our trip tomorrow, and I don't want my children looking like their crazy mom TRIED to cut their hair (and did a horrible job), I decided that it must be fixed. By a professional. Well, by a professional-in-training. So we went to the beauty college. I decided not to bring my camera because that would be silly and so obvious. But, if I brought my CELL PHONE I could very secretively take photos and then post them to the blog later. I had never actually taken any real photos that were used for something, so I thought it would be fun. I thought about doing before and after photos, but that would just further incriminate me and my terrible hair cutting skills. So, here are some DURING photos.

Elise, not thrilled in the SLIGHTEST to be getting another haircut.

Emilia, a bit happier.

Ian, the happiest of all. This is what HE did during the haircuts.

During the haircut I was trying to be inconspicuous with the phone but I finally gave up taking pics on the sly and just tried to get some decent ones. I couldn't get Elise to do anything but scowl, so there you have it. So their hair is cut, end of story right? No. So, now that I have all these GREAT hair cutting photos on my phone all I have to do is go home, plug the phone into the computer and upload them and VOILA!: Pictures to post on my blog! No. Something I did not know is that the phone companies don't LET you do that. (Now WHY in the world would I ever take pictures with my cell phone to use for blogging purposes? It is a huge pain!)

FINALLY after :
chatting online with a Verizon representative,
registering for an account with the Pix Place,
uploading the photos ONE AT AT time,
emailing my pictures to myself,
having to click on the photo and connect BACK to the photo sharing place to get a picture that was bigger than 60x60 pixels,
trying to figure out HOW to open them in the full resolution (which I only figured out once and was too brain-fried to figure out again),
and trying to copy them and save them in my picture folder

I have decided that is just too much of a pain to take photos with the phone. If something totally crazy is happening like someone is getting mugged and they need photo proof of the offender, or if there is a giant tornado, or if I ran into Britney Spears and wanted to sell the photos for a million dollars to the tabloids, I would take photos with my cell phone. Any other reason is just not good enough to bother with. If anyone has any brilliant advice for a newbie cell phone owner, please feel free to tell me. I feel like I MUST be missing something. There MUST be another way to get those pictures from my camera to my computer.

Update

Well, nobody has severed or punctured any body parts this week so things have been slow for us. I don't have to wish for exciting things to happen to us right now though, because we have PLENTY of excitement coming up. We're goin' to Idaho. It is too warm here in the "South" (not) so we need to go up North for some cool air. We are headed up to visit Kent's folks in South Eastern Iderhoo and then we are headed to Bear Lake for a family reunion with Lisa's family. Posts might be sparse during this fabulous 9 day vacation. Then again, if it is anything like MOST family get-togethers there might be a LOT to talk about.

So here's a random update of what has been going on since I posted last:

• Elise wrote a song (more of an ode with music): "Bacon, bacon, I love you. You are made of fried PIG"
  
  
• Ian's great aspiration has moved from being the Prophet to being a girl. He doesn't want to grow up to be like his dad, he wants to be his mom. (Not LIKE me, but ME.) The explanation had something to do with soup but I didn't really follow it at all.) I guess we'll have to start singing the Mr. Rogers song What Do You Do where it goes: For a girl can be someday a woman, and a boy can be someday a man. (Anyone remember that song?)
  
  
• I have decided that I am sick and tired of being the maid around here. Why is it that nobody can clean up after themselves? Having kids home for the summer sure makes more work for ME!
  
  
• Adele has slept through the night a couple of times recently and that was very exciting. I am sure that whatever good sleeping habits she might be developing will surely be destroyed by the time we return home from our fab potato vacation.
  
  
• My Wii fitness age is 36. Does anyone have any Miis that want to mingle with my Miis?
  
  
• Taking 4 kids to Wal-mart is a bad idea. Unfortunately I have to do this tomorrow.
  

The Baby's Growin' Up!

My baby is getting so big. Here are some of her latest tricks:

Sitting up all by herself

Making a funny-mouth face

Sitting in her high chair and eating food

We have the eating part down. Now we are working on making the entire digestive process work "smoothly and regularly".

Sorry, no slimey food pics here. I think my my babies' messy face pictures are cute. However, I am not sure that they would be appreciated by others. I came to this conclusion awhile ago after seeing some messy face pictures that truly made me want to toss my cookies. I vowwed to never nauseate people that way. Just because I think MY kids look cute with saliva/food smeared all over their faces doesn't mean that other people will.

Garden

We have been working hard to get our yard looking decent and getting our garden planted. Here are some pics of what we have done.

Here is how it looked at the beginning.

We discovered something black and mysterious that was buried in the dirt.

The buried treasure ended up being a pond liner.

The people who lived here before us obviously had a pond. Then they decided they didn't want a pond anymore so they just filled it with rocks and dirt. Brilliant.

This is how it looks now.

I hope our little plants grow! And I hope it will stop sleeting and snowing at night so my poor baby plants don't die. (Yes, it snowed last night. Global warming huh?)

Happy Birthday Elise!

Elise is 6 today! Where has the time gone? Here are some pictures the birthday girl.

We love you Elise!

Dora Loses Her Hair

The kids have been at it again. I found this the other day. It is pretty self explanatory. You can click on the picture to enlarge it.

Emilia's Mother's Day Present

Here is one of the things I had "on the back burner" that I have been meaning to write on the blog for awhile. It took me forever because I had to scan some stuff (and I am lazy).

Emilia goes to art lessons once a week and she absolutely loves it. She was asked to bring a picture of the two of us when she was little. Here's the picture she took:

Here is the picture that she made. The teacher put the picture on an opaque projector and traced the lines onto the paper. Emilia filled in the rest and had to do the shading and coloring. I thought it turned out really well. What a beautiful Mother's Day present! Em is quite the artist isn't she?

Last but not least, here is the sweet card she gave me for Mother's Day. It says: Dear Mom, you are the best, best, best mom on the earth!!! You are one great mom!! You make the best pancakes ever! I am glad I have a mom like you! Love, Mil Mil (Emilia)

Keeping the Dr. in Business

I was just thinking this morning that it had been almost a week since I blogged. I was thinking that I needed to think of something to blog about, or at least pull something of the back burner that I have been storing for a slow day. I should learn never to think this way. Whenever I wish I had something exciting to blog about, something happens.

I was talking on the phone with my sister Linda today, working on details for our upcoming family reunion when Emilia ran inside the house. "ELISE'S HEAD IS BLEEDING!" She tells me. Now my kids tend to overreact sometimes, especially when blood is involved, so I said, "Ok, bring her inside". So they all came inside and proceeded to tell me that Emilia had accidentally run into Elise with her bike. ("I didn't MEAN to!!! Elise was in the middle of the sidewalk....") I saw the blood on Elise's head and thought, well that isn't so bad. Until I wiped it away and saw two holes in her forehead. So, I called the Dr. to see if they could get her in. Then I called Kent to see if he could come home. (This is sounding an AWFUL lot like another incident that happened recently... I didn't get the camera out immediately this time though.) So, we went to the Dr. and Elise is now the proud owner of 2 stitches. 1 in each hole. The Dr. said it looked like she must have been hit by the "cog" of the bike or something. Here are the pictures.

You can hardly see it right?

Ow!

More Funny Things

The kids have been at it again, saying funny stuff:

Ian: "Our Prophet died so I am going to be Prophet. I am almost a Prophet."


Elise: "I am not going to get married."
Me: "Why don't you want to get married?"
Elise: "I don't want to be a granny. Just an old lady. If I don't get married I won't be a granny"
Me: "Why is it better to be an old lady and not a granny?"
Elise: "Old ladies have more fun. Grannies just sit around in their rocking chairs being old."

Elise: "If I was an owl and my mom owl told me to practice my flying skills I'd listen."
Me: "What about if you were a person and your mom told you to practice your cleaning-your-room skills?"
Elise: "That's boring."

Tagged: About Me

Ten years ago:
1. Kent and I had been married 6 months
2. We moved into Wymount Terrace at BYU a.k.a. "the rabbit hutches"
3. I just quit working as a Psych Tech at the Utah State Hospital
4. I got a new job as Recreation Director at Oakview Living Center in Provo
5. I drove a 1993 Black VW Fox

Five things on today's to-do list
1. Go to the P.O.
2. sew some bags
3. teach piano to my 1 student
4. make dinner
5. clean up my kitchen

Five snacks I enjoy, in no particular order:
1. popcorn
2. chips & salsa (with melted cheese)
3. ice cream
4. skittles
5. grapes

Five things I'd do if I suddenly became a billionaire:
1. I'd buy a new house with a kitchen and yard that I love and I'd have someone landscape and decorate it
2. Start a scholarship fund
3. Travel everywhere
4. Buy a new van. Get some new clothes. Eat out a lot
5. Donate money to Love Without Boundaries

Five of my bad habits:
1. Waiting 'til the last minute to decide what to make for dinner
2. Saying YES to people when I don't want to or shouldn't
3. Letting my bedroom be the "junk depository"
4. Spending too much time online
5. Eating after 9 p.m

Five PLACES I HAVE LIVED:
1. Southern Utah
2. M. Smith Hall (Heritage Halls, BYU)
3. Naknek Alaska
4. Lakewood Colorado
5. Idaho Falls Idaho

Five JOBS I have had:
1. Dental Assistant
2. Hardware store clerk
3. Recreational Therapist
4. Secretary
5. Catering Supervisor

Five Things People Don't Know About Me:
1. I love looking in drawers and cupboards at hospitals so I can see all the weird and cool equipment they have
2. I am very afraid of heights and will therefore never EVER bungee jump or sky dive
3. I hate most seafood (and regarding shrimp I think it is VERY misleading that they call that BLACK POOP INTESTINE a "vein". I cannot eat shrimp with poo in it.)
4. I love Survivor
5. I have a Muppets cd that I listen to often

I am tagging Natalie, Kate, DD, Yohanna, Heather and Nicole (and anyone else who wants to play).

Finger Update

Well, here it is. It doesn't look too bad... but not too good either. It doesn't hurt too much but typing is kind of difficult. Tapping with my fingernail also hurts. Ow. Do not try this at home.

Body Piercing, Blankets and Blood

I have been sewing a lot this week. I did a JP for someone and I finished an apron for a friend just this morning. Here it is:

After I finished the apron I started working on a "magic blanket" (think machine quilt) for Elise. As I was sewing I was thinking about blogging about my sewing projects this week. I thought I'd talk about my late friend Zora Mae who used to make magic blankets for humanitarian aid, general authorities, and even all the members of the Jazz team. My mom would take her to D.I. where she'd stock up on some great fabric and make tons of blankets even though she was 90 and legally blind. She taught my mom how to make magic blankets and my mom taught me. So there I was, sewing peacefully while my I.B.V. is rambling along about magic blankets and Zora Mae. Without even thinking I reached in to smooth the fabric or something and all of a sudden I felt pain in my finger and my needle broke. I looked at my finger and there was a thread completely through my finger and sticking out my fingernail. I called to Ian, who was in the room, to get my scissors for me since I was still attached to the thread. Right after severing myself from the spool I immediately (after freaking out: "AAAACCCCKKKKK, I CAN'T BELIEVE I JUST SEWED MY FINGER!") reached for the camera which was only feet from my sewing machine. Sad but true, I started thinking that when this ordeal was over I would definitely have to blog about it. Zora Mae and her blankets just got trumped by my unintentional body piercing experience.

I called Kent and told him what I had just done. Then I called the Dr. and they said I could come right away. Since I was still in my pajamas I got dressed, put my hair in a ponytail and got ready to go. While I was waiting for Kent to get home I took advantage of the moment and took some more pictures. (All the other ones were a little too bloody and I didn't want to TOTALLY and COMPLETELY gross you all out....)

I got to the Dr. and was greeted by the receptionist who I had talked to on the phone. Some of the other office staff came over to look at my injury. When I was explaining that I had sewn my finger the office girl asked: "With a sewing machine?" Uh, no, actually I was sewing BY HAND and I started to poke my finger and instead of stopping I JUST KEPT ON PUSHING THE NEEDLE all the way THROUGH my fingernail before I realized it.... OF COURSE IT WAS WITH A SEWING MACHINE, DUH!

They took me to the back, took the ever important vitals and the Dr. came in. He looked at it and sort of tugged on it a little and I said, "Don't pull it out! I need some anesthesia!" He left the room for a second to get the shot and then came back in. He asked if I had ever had my finger numbed and I told him no. He said it was pretty painful since they have to do a nerve block and told me it would probably hurt less just to have the thread pulled out than have it numbed first. So I opted for the non-anesthesia method. They trimmed the strings, pulled it out and it was over. I got a Rx for an antibiotic, a tetanus shot and I was on my way.

I still cannot believe that I actually sewed my finger. All the way through. Everything had to happen just right in order for that to happen. I probably couldn't do it again if I tried. (NOT that I would be that crazy....) The needle must have been at the highest position and on the way down just as I was reaching in to do whatever I was doing. (Sorry, I am sure you are shuddering at the thought). I guess this is definitely classified in the "freak accidents" category. Now I just have to hope that my fingernail doesn't fall off. You'll be sure to hear about it if it does. Ready for the picture??? Here it is. Those who are squeamish better not look.