Family pictures 2013

My good friend Randi (check her out here) took our pictures again this year.  We did it in late September and I told her I wanted something besides the usual pretty green foliage…so we decided on an industrial park.  I think it turned out so cool.  I love the lines and blocks of color (notice the parking lines behind Seth and the cool garages behind Faith and Ryan and me.)  I have to say this was our most laid back photo session ever…one of the benefits of all older kids. 

You’ll notice I changed the sidebar pictures and our header (does anyone ever actually click on an actual blog anymore, outside of their reader?).  Here are the some more of my favorites:

            

ALSO** big news!  I finally remembered to get into my settings area and remove the stupid comment verification thing!  Sorry that was even there, I didn’t even know, until Paige complained.  So make sure you comment and go on and on about my lovely family. 

New Header Pic

November Instagrams

Location: McDonald’s

Birthday lunch with Ronald!  #ivereallybeenhavingahardtimewithFour

 

Location:  Mt Pleasant Utah

Bittersweet.  At my grandpa’s funeral.

 

Location:  Memory Grove Park

Walk through Memory Grove with my fun aunts and cousins.

 

Location:  Manti temple

Finding my great great great grandparents’ headstone in the Manti temple cemetery.  #latergram

 

Location: a very blue state

We don’t get stickers here, but when your husband has the same name as the republican ticket, you feel special anyway.

 

Location: a very blue state

As a result of many disappointing election results, I’m listening to things like this all morning.

 

Location: Liberty Lake County park

Running in the sunshine with these kinds of friends: also making me feel better.  #endorphinsarebetterthanpolitics

 

Applesauce making helpers #benefitsofbigkids

 

Hello winter.  #slightlyokaybecausemykidsaresoexcited

 

Tonight I love having kids with every ounce of my being.

 

This week’s project.  #writtenbysethpicturesbyseth

 

Location: LL meetinghouse

Put on a Relief Society dinner tonight.  We had a very handsome waitstaff.  #ihavethebestcommitteeever

 

Getting ready to ship 72 dresses our ward Relief Society made for Little Dresses for Africa.  Easy, sweet service project.

 

Because apparently my goal is to go to a grocery store everysingle day this week.  #iswearihadaplannedoutlist

 

In honor of the Early Americans, our kids are honing their slinghot skill. #frozencranberriesworkwell

 

Lunch=Appetizers #pleasenotethedarlingveggieturkey

 

Location: Rocky Hill park

Working off our dinner

 

Kept a count of sticks of butter I used for yesterday’s meal.  #cranapplepiehadtwosticks

 

Location: Coeur d’Alene Beach and Lake

First time at the Nighttime Lighting Parade in CDA.  #notparadeweather  #stillfun

 

Some sort of gun merit badge Gabe did yesterday. #thatboyiscutenomatterhowmanlytheactivity

 

Location:  Browne’s Addition

Architectural tour in downtown Spokane. #morefunthanitsounds

November Recap

(my fondest dream is to be caught up on my blogging so I don’t have to bore everyone with Thanksgiving in January…)

November 1st was cute Faith’s 4th birthday.  Every birthday with her makes me want to die.  I really hate the growing up thing so much. She had crepes for breakfast. She usually goes to preschool on Mondays and Wednesdays but her teacher asked if she could come on Thursday since it was her birthday and she was thrilled.  We picked her up and took her to McDonald’s for lunch which she’d been asking for, for weeks.  We made a strawberry cake (from Pioneer Woman’s cookbook and it was not that good) and invited her favorite friend Bea over (with family) for a tiny party.  It was a low-key day, but she seemed to love it.  Got lots of accoutrements for her doll house and some cash. 

                

We’d been talking about how four year olds don’t suck their thumbs and she was on board.  We didn’t have high hopes because she is seriously addicted to it.  On her birthday at naptime she said “I have an idea.  I’ll wear these:

and then I won’t suck my thumb”.  Good effort honey.  (2 months later, she tries—pretty unsuccessfully—to only suck her thumb at naptime, but we all don’t make too big of a deal over it.)

 

My maternal grandpa passed away the week of Halloween and so, with the help of a super generous uncle, I was able to fly to Utah and drive to Mt. Pleasant for the funeral.  I have only been to 4 funerals in my life and so I was so pleasantly surprised with the sweetness of the event.  I’ve decided that we should all view/talk about people like we would if we were at their funeral: focusing on the good and the positive things they brought to the world.  My grandpa was a sweet, generous, hard working man, who married my grandma when she had 4 teenage daughters and just took the whole package and treated them like his own.  It was such a lovely event and a privilege to pay my respects to a good grandpa.

All Hal’s sons and daughters:

We had lots of cousins and aunts in town that we don’t see much and I loved the whole weekend.  We had lots of laughing, sight-seeing, and eating (things our family is BIG on) and it was a joyful weekend.

A visit to Northern Utah is never complete without a little Sill’s scones:

My super fun cousin-in-law that I love and didn’t know was going to be coming too!:

 

 

Thanksgiving was small this year.  My mom came to visit.  It was the usual:  morning football and/or run, lots of kitchen time (but I’d so smartly pre-prepped about half the meal with Ryan and the kids, so it wasn’t bad), sling-shotting (shooting?) frozen cranberries at cans, super yummy-fattening food, and an after dinner walk. 

The rest of the weekend we spent shopping, playing games, watching the lights turn on at the Holiday Parade in Coeur d’Alene and a fun walking tour of Spokane’s old homes in the Browne’s Addition area.  We were sad to have Grandma leave after such a short visit…boo on working Grandmas!

Other random November things:

Ryan and Faith were matchy shirt wearers, so we took a picture:

Faith was besotted with Freeze Dancing so we did it a lot (dance for a while, then stop the music and everyone freezes)

Seth’s birthday is in August so his teacher had his “VIP week” be during November this year.  He wanted me to make mint brownies (a la Denae) and so I did.  Apparently I didn’t  comb his hair, though.  Priorities, people.

We also had a genius Family Home Evening:  I realized we had a bunch of little coupons/gift certificates for a free ice cream cone, or a free loaf of bread, or $5 off Baskin Robbins order, etc.  So I rounded everyone up and we drove all over getting our free stuff.  Everyone just shared a bite or two of each thing and we moved on to our next activity.  It was a fun night…we ended up with 1 free frozen yogurt, 1 McDonald’s sundae, 1 loaf of bread, 1 free cookie, 1 free pizza, 3 jamba juices, 2 ice cream cones…all for $5 total and quite a bit of gas. 

Next up…Instagrams from November!

Quick Quote

"This time, I'm gonna win!  I know it!"

(said by Faith while having a staring contest with

...Dora the Explorer doll.)

The Post where I’m ugly, then immobilized

So December was a little rough for me.  Physically, I mean, because emotionally it was a great month.  You’ll see when I put up the much anticipated December recap, that we had a lots of fun and did plenty of good family and holiday activities. 

However, I had a few crazy things happen to me and I wouldn’t be a true blogger if I didn’t share the humiliation or sadness with the world.

Thing #1:

My friend Melissa and I went downtown for a night of shopping and sushi.  I’ve had sushi probably ten times (love!) and never had a problem with it.  I, frankly, never have problems with any food ever…which I’m sure leads to my constant weight battle, but that’s another post.  It was one of those assembly line sushi place where you just grab whatever plate you want as it goes by and we had a yummy dinner.

As we headed upstairs to shop, I began to feel a bubbling sensation under my upper lip.  After a few minutes, I asked Melissa to check it out and she could tell there was some redness and puffiness.  I figured I was having an allergic reaction.  I paid attention to see if there was an throat swelling (know that’s dangerous) and there wasn’t and so we kept shopping.  Until Melissa began to laugh at how I looked and my vanity insisted we head for home.  I sent this photo to Ryan to alert him to the issue heading his way:

  

I stopped at Walgreens where I told the pharmacist I was having a reaction to food…to which he promptly replied “Yeah.  I can see that.”  (Embarrassing).  He advised lots o’ Benadryl, so we purchased that and headed home.

I spent the rest of the evening feeling very groggy and looking like a muppet:

(It’s okay, you can laugh.  I look ridiculous.)

and it wasn’t until evening of the next day that I was back to normal.  I have no idea what it was and no way to find out due to the nature of the restaurant.  I’m slightly suspecting a red sauce on the final roll we ate, only because I’d never had it before.  Anyone have similar issues or ideas as to have it was and what to avoid in the future?

 

WAY worse Thing #2:

Basically I talked Ryan into going to the pretty expensive trampoline place in town 2 days after Christmas.  I was having a super fun time bouncing around with my kids, when I decided to try to jump off of one of the side/wall trampolines.  I came down, heard a couple of loud pops while my knee went in 5 directions, and then I couldn’t move and had to convince Ryan that was crying, not laughing, so he would help me. 

It immediately swelled up and I limped out of there and headed home for a pretty painful night.  I woke up the next day feeling okay, so I sent Ryan and Gabe on the snow campout my Scoutmaster husband had been planning for weeks.  Emma was so capable and helpful and I wasn’t in pain anymore, so we did all right.  I really couldn’t walk at all, though for 5 days and hopped or crutched or slid everywhere I needed to be.  As always, I’m deeply moved by the amount of help people jump in and give…I’ve had rides for children, meals brought over, grocery store trips made, playdates organized, visits.  People are so nice.  Reminder to self:  always just jump in and do SOMETHING when someone is in need. 

Self Portrait, taken on day #2, at the doctor’s office:

Here I am a week later and this is what I know, after a doctor visit, a PT visit, and an MRI:  I tore my ACL completely and have a minor tear on my meniscus.  I will most likely opt to have it surgically fixed but need to wait a few weeks because apparently you have to have Physical Therapy to prepare for the surgery.  I’m very much hoping to have surgery in February so that we can get this thing on the mend.  I have promises from medical professionals that I can be running by summer so I’m banking on that.

Basically, taking exercise, especially running, away from me is my biggest nightmare.  It was my social time, my reading time, my social media time, my stress release, my best way to control my weight.  I’m holding the panic at bay by not thinking about it in detail.  I’ve had some really good prayers, conference talks, blessings and scripture study, that have helped me to feel calm and reminded of the things that really matter and so I’ve been focusing on that.  I’m walking again as of yesterday and that has hugely helped my mood and my family.

So there you go…. bad news, huh?  Feel free to share any ACL tear experiences…I’d love to hear about how you are ALL BETTER NOW.