Just some things...

I usually have most of my shopping done before Thanksgiving but this year it didn't happen. Then with my surgery and being on crutches for a couple weeks put me even further behind. I will be wrapping presents at the last moment and won't have time to just enjoy the holidays. Next year I will definitely get things done sooner so I can relax.

I had a doctor appt yesterday and got my walking boot off. I'm back in real shoes. My ankle feels really good. It's still a little weak and I have to do physical therapy on it and walk every day to get it strengthened. But I'm so glad the surgery and recovery is over with.

Savanna is such a little cutie. She is so grown up it just makes us laugh. I took her with me on Friday to about 7 stores, only 2 that we actually had to walk around and shop but in and out of the rest. I told her when we first left the house that if she came with me she had to be a good girl. If she wasn't I would take her home. Of course I wouldn't have actually taken her home since we were miles away. As we were out and about she kept telling me 'I'm a good gurl mom'. She was super. She did everything I asked her to. She didn't cry about wanting something at the stores. She sat where I told her to in the cart. The other night she was taking forever to eat and I yelled at her to hurry up. She said 'I'm a good gurl'. I said 'yes you are but right now you are being naughty'. She knows just the smile to give to me and Paul. It's so funny.

Zachary won't give me hugs and kisses at night. I have to hold him down to try to get a kiss. The last few days I've been saying to him 'don't you dare kiss me' then I end up getting smothered with kisses on my forehead and cheeks and he thinks it's the funniest thing. I'm sure he'll soon realize my reverse psychology, but for now it's working.

Seat Party

We had a party with Paul's family on Saturday. It's always good for everyone to get together. I didn't get very many pictures but did get this cute one of Paige and Brynlie.

Delta Party

We had our family party with my dad's side of the family a couple weeks ago in Delta. It's always fun to see everyone. That's about the only time of year we see most of them. Each family was supposed to do a talent and I told my mom that we weren't doing on. So we figured it would be easy to have all the kids sing and act out the 'Once there was a snowman' song. Everyone did it except for me. Zachary and Savanna have been singing and doing the actions ever since.

This year all of the gifts were supposed to be homemade so I made fleece blankets for all of our gifts.

There is always a piniata but this year there was a piniata for the little kids, one for the bigger kids and one for the men. The men's piniata was all taped up with packaging tape so it wouldn't break so easy. And they had to wear a blind fold. It was fun to watch them try to hit it.

We had a visit from Mr. C himself. Hanley didn't want to sit on his lap and neither did Zachary. I told Zach that he had a present for him so he had to at least say 'hi'. He went over to him and gave him a high five then said 'I want my present'. It was so funny. Savanna sat on his lap and then started touching his hair and mustache. I was hoping she wouldn't pull it off.

Nu Skin Party

A couple weeks ago was the Nu Skin party. This year they did a dinner instead of entertainment and snacks. I can't believe that many people fit on tables inside the McKay Events Center. It was a full house. A few people won prizes, we all got great gifts and a bonus. I'm really grateful that I work for such a good company.

Snow

We really haven't had much snow this winter but the last 2 days it's catching up. Here's a glimpse of what's at our house.

Surgery…. Again

This is a lot of detail and a long read. This is mostly for my own remembrance years down the road. But if you are interested, here it is. :)

On the 5th I had the second surgery on my ankle. It was a long day. We arrived at the hospital at 8:45 am that morning and surgery was scheduled for 10:00. I got in my beautiful hospital attire, got my IV, answered a million questions about myself and signed several papers. Then waited. At 10:30 the doctor walked by and pointed and me and said “you.....are not next, we had some delays this morning”. He said it would be about an hour before my turn. Paul went to get himself some breakfast and returned shortly. We turned on the TV and 11:30 came around. Still nothing. At 12:00 noon a nurse came in and said “it will be about 30 to 45 minutes before we will be ready for you”. Really? I couldn’t believe it was taking so long.

Finally at 1:00 the anesthesiologist came in to talk about what kind of anesthesia I could have. He also talked about a block they can do by putting a shot in by the nerve under my knee that would keep it numb for about 24 hours. It kinda scared me so I told him I’d just stick with the local the doctor would do that would numb it for about 10 hours. Off to surgery I went about 1:15. When I woke up in the recovery room it was about 4:00 pm. I remember thinking ‘Hanley is going to go home instead of to the babysitters’, because I had told her we should be home by the time she got off the bus’.

I had a really hard time waking up from the anesthesia. I kept falling back asleep and the nurse would say “ok, keep breathing”. I would get so relaxed that I wouldn’t take the next breath. She had to keep reminding me and she told Paul to keep telling me to breath. My ankle hurt so bad! They gave me a shot of morphine and 2 percocet (sp?) and it didn’t touch the pain. I was wondering why I hadn’t done the block, it was so painful. Finally at about 5:00 I told the nurse that it still hurt soo bad and that the anesthesiologist said that I could still do the block after the surgery. So I asked her if we could get him to do that. She looked over and he was just walking by. He was out of his scrubs and just getting ready to go home. Luckily we caught him before he left. As the nurse held the ultrasound thing (?) by the nerve he put the shot in next to it. It took about an hour to take effect and then from my knee down was completely numb. I was so glad I asked about it. It would have been a miserable night without it. The cast goes from my toes to right below my knee. It’s heavy. :)

We left the hospital and grabbed some food on the way. We picked up the kids and went home. When Zachary got in the car he had the biggest eyes looking at my leg. He patted me on the shoulder and said “everything will be ok”. When we got home I laid on the couch with my leg up. I had a sandwich sitting on my lap and he then said “you will be fine, just eat your food”. It was really cute that he was so concerned.

Mid-day Friday the medicine started wearing off and it killed. The medicine they gave me didn’t do any good. My mom and niece, Lanie, came up to get the kids Friday afternoon. The kids were so excited. It was nice to be able to rest over the weekend. By Sunday afternoon it was feeling much better. We went out to eat with my family when they brought the kids back. Savanna wouldn’t even come over to me or smile at me. The next day she said to me, “You scared me at the store (meaning the restaurant)”. “I scared you with these? (holding up the crutches)”, I asked. She said “yes”. I don’t know why it scared her.

Monday morning I had a checkup for him to make sure there wasn’t any infection or a blood clot. I didn’t have either, although I don’t know how he checks that with a big cast on my foot. Maybe just by the looks of my toes he can tell. He told me that the pain was most likely from the bone cyst they removed, not necessarily the ligament reconstruction. He said the bone was bleeding pretty good where they scraped the cyst off. I was scheduled to come back in 2-3 weeks and he could take the cast off and get me moving my foot a little bit. I scheduled the appt for 2 weeks because I didn’t want to have it on during Thanksgiving. It’s really been bothering me the last 3 days though so I am going to see him on Wednesday. Hopefully he’ll take the cast off and put me in a walking boot. Even if he wants me to use the crutches longer, the boot would probably feel much better than the cast.

I worked from home the next week and it was really hard to do nothing but sit all the time. I felt useless around the house. Luckily Paul was home with me the entire time. He has been doing everything. Grocery shopping, bathing kids, getting kids ready for school and making lunches, laundry and cooking. I feel guilty that I can't help but there isn't anything I can do about it and that's what makes it the hardest. I guess I didn't realize how unable I would be to do things.

Halloween and more...

Halloween was fun. The kids had a blast and it was fun to have their birthdays as well. Zachary is now 5 and Savanna is 3. Although she says she's 4 but holds up 3 fingers. Savanna was a witch, Hanley a 'zombie chick' and Zachary was Mr. Incredible. This is the first year he actually would wear his costume.

We got our family pictures taken a couple weeks ago. We have never had a family picture done and figured we better do it. We couldn't seem to get one with all the kids looking at the camera at the same time, but they turned out fine. At least we got them done.

I have my surgery in the morning. I picked up my crutches yesterday and was trying them out last night. It will not be fun. On Monday I had my pre-op appointment with the doctor and he told me that from surgery on Thursday to my post-op appointment next Monday that I better not do ANYTHING. He said I can get up to get food out of the kitchen and to go the bathroom and that is it. Otherwise I need to be laying down with my foot resting up. Luckily my parents are taking the kids for the weekend so I don't have to worry about them.

I just wanted to note some fun things the kids have been doing. Hanley has a project on Friday to present at school. All of the kids were assigned a different county to research and make a board about. She's excited. Savanna and Zachary are always counting. They always count the stairs as they go up and down and lots of other things. Savanna has an attitude. The other day the kids were on my bed watching a movie and I came back to my room a little while later and Savanna was standing next to the bed instead of laying by Hanley. I asked her what she was doing and she said "Hanley is bodering me".

Last night she started crying about 2 am and I went in to see what was wrong. She wouldn't say anything and I asked her if she wanted to sleep on my floor. So I brought a blanket and her pillow and put it on the floor next to my side of the bed. When she woke up this morning she said "I sleeped good and you didn't get mad at me". Side note: when Paul was gone she kept waking up in the night and coming in my room and I kept telling her she needed to stay in her own bed.

Zachary loves school. We had his parent/teacher conference last week and he gets so excited to see his teacher. She said he is so fun and always happy. Hanley's report card was super. The best she's had. She had all Excellents and Very Goods. I was so proud of her. She is a really good student.

Weekend

I've been wanting to rent a Rug Doctor for a while and finally had the energy to do it. Ok, maybe not the energy but I wanted my carpets cleaned before the holidays. So Saturday morning I picked up one. It was so nice. It worked so fast and I was totally disgusted at the water after it cleaned. Even spots that didn't even look dirty turned the water ugly. I'm wondering why I didn't get one a long time ago. I'd like to get new carpet next year but this did a good job for now.

I took the kids to Salem Pond last night to feed the ducks. There were probably about 40 that came to greet us. They thought it was so neat. There was a really big duck that got up on the sand by Zachary and it was just squawking and Savanna says 'it's talking to me'. Then they played on the playground for a bit then we ate dinner. They love the littlest things.

Paul is coming home this week. Yeah!! He was going to stay for one more week but we have to close on the refinance on our house and I want to get family pictures taken before Halloween and my surgery.

Hayride and Pumpkins...

Friday after school I took the kids to the Red Barn to go on a hayride and get pumpkins. The only other time I've done this was last year on a field trip with Hanley's class. It was much more fun this time with just my kids instead of hundreds of loud 3rd graders. It was so fun. The kids were so excited. Zachary loves tractors, so to be on a wagon being pulled by a tractor was the neatest thing for him. They loved picking out pumpkins and knowing they each had their very own. When we got back to the barn we had ice cream. It was a perfect start to the weekend. It was a super fun and cheap way to do something together with the kids. There was one thing missing though, Paul.

Where does the time go?

I really cannot believe that it is October 1. Where has this year gone? Savanna will be 3 and Zachary will be 5 this month. It seems like I just had Savanna, now she's such a big girl. Finally potty trained. Can be really cute and obedient, and can be really naughty. On Monday the babysitter had them at the school for soccer practice. They think it's so fun to go with her and watch the kids. There is a big hill that goes up to the flat grass where they practice. Savanna saw me drive up so she starts running down the hill. I got out of the car and told her to slow down cause she was going to fall. As soon as I got the words out of my mouth, she tumbled and rolled about 5 times. I thought oh great, now she will be awnry the rest of the night (I guess my first thought should have been that she was OK?). She sits up and shakes her head and says 'Whoa!!' and gets up and continues running. It was the funniest thing ever. I really wished I had a video camera with me.

Paul came home last Thursday night and was only able to stay Friday & Saturday. He had to drive back on Sunday. It already feels like he's been gone for a month. I really miss him and realize how hard it is being a single mom with little kids. He really does a lot and is helpful with the kids, so to have him gone is hard. He could be gone for 2-3 months, but will have to be home when I have my next surgery the first week in November. Hopefully they won't ask him to go back and he will be working local again.

Zach has been so sweet (amongst his awnry times when he gets hungry and tired). He has been so good at saying 'Please' and 'Thank you' and 'You're Welcome'. And the one I love the most is 'I loved you mom'. We made a poster last night for his school when it's his turn to be the highlight in the class. He thought it was so fun to glue pictures of him on the poster. I love how he gets so excited for the little things. And he has the cutest laugh. He laughs so hard it reminds me of how he laughed when he was a baby. It's so cute. When we hear it, it makes us all laugh. I bought some Halloween costumes and told him it is for when we go trick-or-treating. Bad thing on my part, cause he's going to ask me every day if it's the day. I shouldn't have said anything.

Thank goodness for Hanley. She has been the only thing that has saved me while Paul's been gone. She's so good to help out and do all of my 'go get this, go do that'. She's such a good kid.

Fall

I am so cold today. I took all of my jackets home now I need to bring one back. Since it's the first day of Autumn and I'm freezing, I thought I'd change my blog background. I just ordered some Halloween costumes. How can it be this time of year already? I just don't know how every year goes by faster and faster. Maybe I'll get my fall decorations out tonight. And dare I say that I should be thinking about Christmas already? It's only 3 months away! AAAHHHHHH!!!!

I'm realizing that the pictures on the side with my kids swimming just doesn't fit now. I'll have to take some new pictures in warm clothes.

Surgery

I had surgery on my ankle last Thursday to get a biopsy of a tumor that had grown on an old injury. Since Paul is gone, my friend Julie from work took me to and from my surgery. Thanks Julie! and sorry for making you get up so early!

I went to the doctor yesterday for my post-op visit. He removed the big wrap that had been on my foot. My whole foot is swollen and bruised. The results had come back from the tumor, and as expected, nothing bad. Apparently I had broken something and tore the ligaments years ago. The next surgery they will repair the ligaments and do some grafts so that everything will be strong again. I will have to be completely off of my feet for 7-10 days, then in a soft boot cast for up to 6 weeks. He said I could have swelling in there for up to 6 months after.

We drove down to Delta Friday night. I figured I could somewhat rest down there. At least the kids would be occupied with cousins. And I wouldn't be going up & down stairs at my house all day long.

Paul has been gone for almost a month now, only being home for 2 days over Labor Day. I am so excited that he'll be home later this week. It has been miserable without him. Zach & Savanna really don't understand why he's gone. But Hanley and I have really missed him. I know Zach & Savanna have too but they don't say anything. The other night the phone rang and Savanna says 'I want to say hi to daddy'. I didn't even say anything about it being him on the phone. Then as I was talking to him she runs in crying and says 'I want to talk to daddy'. When she got on the phone she said 'I hurt my nose'. It was too cute that she wanted sympathy from him.

Lagoon

My work summer party was at Lagoon last Friday night. I ventured out without Paul (he's still in Wyoming) and took the kids. Hanley and I kept saying 'woo hoo and yea!!' on the way up so Zach and Savanna were excited even though they had no idea where we were going. When we drove into the parking lot and they could see the rides they just started laughing. They were so excited.

Hanley spent the entire night with her friend so I didn't get any pictures of her. Savanna and Zach were just tall enough for a lot of rides. I thought we'd be stuck in kiddy land the whole time, but there really were lots of rides that all 3 of us could do together. But of course the first ride just went in circles so I felt sick the rest of the night. I'm glad we went, the kids had so much fun.

Update

Paul came home on Saturday and went back to Wyoming yesterday. It was nice to see him for a couple days and I really think he needed a break. He was going crazy up there. Hopefully he will not be gone for too much longer.

I hurt my ankle 3 years ago. I was 8 months pregnant with Savanna, carrying Zachary and going up the stairs. The front of my foot gave way and went up too far and it hurt so bad. I didn't think much about it but would hurt it again once in a while over the next 2 years. Well this last year it's been hurting all the time. When I walk up stairs, or any non-flat surface I really have to be careful cause it feels like it's just going to give out again.

Well I finally went to a foot doctor a couple weeks ago. He did some x-rays and could see that I had chipped a bone in there but couldn't see the soft tissues so he sent me for an MRI. He called me Friday night to tell me the results. I have torn the ligaments in there and need to have my ankle rebuilt, which explains why I have procrastinated so long, I knew it would be something bad. And I've always thought my ankle was really swollen all the time, but I actually have a tumor in there. The doctor doesn't think it's cancerous and I don't either, considering it's in the same location as my injury. I'm sure it just formed to protect the area. Now I have to have a surgery to get a biopsy of the tumor. Then another surgery to rebuild my ankle. That one could put me in a cast for months. I am so not looking forward to this, especially with winter coming on. But I guess it's finally time that I do something about it.

Hanley has a field trip tomorrow to the Timpanogos Cave. She's really excited. I was going to go with her but I have too much work to do and it's probably not the best idea with a bad ankle to go on that hike.

10 Years

This month is my 10 year anniversary at work. I can't believe I've been here for 10 years. Time has flown by. I started off making web updates for a small portion of our company, and am now doing web marketing and content management for all of our region websites; North America, Latin America, Australia, New Zealand, Israel, South Africa and Europe. I work for a great company with great benefits, a super fun atmosphere and a great boss. When you hit your 10-year mark you get a $1,000 bonus check. Yeah! It couldn't have come at a better time, too. I am grateful to work for such a great company and great people. I really can say that I enjoy coming to work and enjoy my job. It is really busy right now and can be overwhelming at times, but am so happy to be here.

Brynlie's Birthday

Yesterday was my grandaughter's 1st birthday (still getting used to the fact that I am a grandma). We went over to visit her and Paige and to take her something. I bought a big box of diapers and wipes and a few little toys. I can't believe it's been a year already.

Weekend

Me and the kids went to Delta on Friday afternoon after Zachary's preschool open house. It was nice to go and relax. I actually had a nap on Saturday. I am not much of a napper but it felt nice. We stayed until late since Paul is gone and there was nobody to go home to. I took the kids to the park to play.

My nephew Mikey, he loved the swings.

The kids have been driving me nuts. I realize how much Paul does and helps out with the kids now that he's been gone for a week.

Zachary started Preschool yesterday. He was so excited. He walked around for about 30 minutes with his backpack on before the bus got there. He hopped on the bus and didn't care at all that he was leaving. He looked so handsome. He's getting so big.

Zachary and Preschool

Zachary has to go to a new school this next year for preschool. We've driven by the school a few times and I'll tell him that's his new school. He gets mad and says "No, I don't wannu". Yesterday we had an appointment to meet the new teacher and for her to get to know him a little. When I got home from work I told him that we needed to get him ready to meet his new teacher. He got mad again and said "No, I don't wannu". I thought oh great, he's going to be naughty and throw a fit and it'll be a perfect first impression for his new teacher. We got to the school and he was so happy. He was super smiley and did all the little things she asked as she got to know what he knows. I asked him to stand by her so I could take a picture and he climbed right up on her lap. I was so glad that he was so happy and excited.

Just some things...

Paul got a call from his boss yesterday asking him to go up to Gillette, Wyoming for 3 weeks. They've got a job going up there and things aren't going good so he's supposed to pull it together. He was not excited. It's a 10 hour drive and barely a days notice. He's a homebody so 3 weeks away will not be fun for him.

Savanna is so dang funny. Hanley got an iPod for her birthday and will let Savanna have one of the earbuds on while we're in the car. So yesterday she has this little round part off of a toy and she puts it to her ear and says "My iPawn". She just says the cutest things. The other day she said "I love you", then I said "I love you too", then she says "I love you too too".

We saw this funny clip on America's Funniest Videos a while ago. This lady kept locking her husband out of the house, the car, anywhere. And she'd make him dance before she'd unlock the door. So I did that to Paul a few times. Now it's just something we all do, even Zachary and Savanna. If I go outside they will lock the door and stand there and say "Dance".

Hanley has been loving school. She did not want the teacher she got. But she has absolutely loved his class so far. Every day after school she talks about how nice he is and how fun the class is. I'm really happy she's enjoying it. In a couple weeks she gets to go on her first field trip up to the Timpanogos cave.

Grotto

We took the kids for a ride up Payson canyon last Saturday and took a little hike up to a place called the Grotto. It's a waterfall that ponds up in the middle of these big rock cliffs. The hike wasn't very long and the kids thought it was so much fun. They didn't want to leave.

First Day of 4th Grade

Hanley started 4th grade yesterday. I really can't believe she is in 4th grade. I remember being that age and thought I was so grown up. Before school registration, she kept saying that she wanted a certain teacher and that she did not want Mr. Haskell cause he gives a lot of homework. I'm sure it was one kid who said that so she automatically had opinions about him. I told her that maybe he just pushes kids harder and there is nothing wrong with that. Well of course she ended up with Mr. Haskell. After her first day she said he was really nice and really liked him.

No kids...

I've been a little stressed lately. Paul was layed off for a couple of weeks and before that had short hours for 2 months, the kids have just been naughty, and Paul being home with them made him a little on the 'not-so-happy' side and work has been busier than ever. So all I needed was to get to the babysitter's house yesterday morning and have her tell me that she was taking today & tomorrow off for vacation. Usually I would just consider that a good excuse to be home for 2 days. But it's so busy at work right now to be trying to work from home in between keeping kids from fighting and constantly saying 'I want this, I want that' just wasn't going to work. My brother lives right next door to my parents so I hoped between all of them that they wouldn't mind watching the kids for a couple days, then I can come down on Friday after work. Luckily Mike & Kathy were going to the Manti temple last night so they met me in Nephi and took my kids home with them. THANK YOU so much!

The kids were sooooo excited. When they hopped in their van Savanna said to me "K mom, get in your car". It was so funny. I'm so happy that they love their aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents so much. And I'm so grateful they could help me out. Being gone last weekend and going to pick them up tomorrow, I can actually get some house cleaning done tonight.

St. George

We took the kids to St. George for the weekend. Just to get away and let them swim and hang out before school starts next week.