Injuries, Surgery & Holly Homemaker!!

Ok, since I have been ‘out of commission’ for a few weeks due to cutting the top of my finger off and then having hip surgery – it is time to update the blog and get busy!!

I have been off my crutches around the house for 3 days now!  I am so excited to walk around ALL BY MYSELF!!  It is really liberating to leave them in the other room while I do something.  I have learned that when I walk too far, or a lot at once, it causes pain and I probably should have used the crutches.  Soon (hopefully next week) I will really be able to go everywhere without them!

Since the weather has turned, we decided to go pick our ripe tomatoes.  I haven’t been out to my garden for a while (due to not being able to walk!) so I was very surprised when I went out there and the girls and I picked 30lbs of tomatoes in one shot!!  I am THRILLED!!  We still have a TON of green tomatoes, so we will be picking those tonight and let them ripen inside.  The girls and I bottled 13 quarts of tomatoes today.  They look so yummy!!  I am excited to start stocking up our food storage again, since we have eaten all the ones in there so far.  We also picked our zucchini last week and mom grated all of it and put in in the freezer to use later on. 

All of the girls peeling tomatoes

The tomatoes…

 

BEAUTIFUL!!

Canning Double Time

All done and waiting to seal

So in my freezer I have several bags of grated zucchini and some black bananas.  Yesterday, I decided it was time to make some bread!!  The girls helped and we made 12 mini loaves of Banana Bread and 8 loaves of Zucchini Bread!  I couldn’t stop there… I made 10 mini loaves of White Bread w/ cracked 9 grain in it.  YUMMY!!  Of course the girls wanted to help make bread, so today I decided that for school, the girls would learn how to make bread by hand!  They got into partners and each team made the bread dough together.  I also made a double batch.  It was so much fun watching the girls get into kneading the bread and mixing in all the ingredients.  In the end, we made 12 regulars size loaves of bread.  I am SO happy to have it all done.  I need a nap now! :)

Girls mixing the dough in the first stages

Catie & Chloe were a team

Allison & Mary were a team

Look how fun that looks! 

Don’t you want to just stick your hands in it??

 

Mary is not too impressed with having to get her hands dirty

 

Catie and Chloe are thoroughly enjoying it!

Mary feels much better now that she has clean hands, but she is eyeing Allison to make sure that none of that mess gets on her.

Our finished dough!

Our beautifully baked bread.

YUMMY!!!

Some of our Zucchini and Banana Breads

Father’s Day Pictures!

For Father's Day this year, I gave Brian pictures. It has been a tradition to give him new pictures of the girls every Father's Day, since Allison turned 1 because her birthday (and then Chloe's ) was right before the big day. This year, because of Allison's baptism, I made all the girls new dresses and I wanted to get some new pictures taken anyways. I had been envisioning a kind of timeless picture that I could take of my girls and have hanging on my wall forever. So, we got dressed up and went out to the middle of nowhere and got some great pictures! So here they are!

                                                                                                 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Allison’s Baptism

On June 6, 2009 Allison made the choice to get baptized.  It was a WONDERFUL experience and I cried most of the time.  She looked so beautiful and I am so proud of her.  It was a little hectic at times and we weren’t sure we were going to be able to pull it off on that day with Brian’s surgery being just 4 days previous, but everything worked out.  here are a few pictures from our wonderful day.

  

Brian’s Car Wreck

On Wednesday May 27th, Brian totaled his ‘87 Volkswagen Golf (lovingly named Chips) in an accident on Bangerter Hwy between Redwood Rd and I-15.  He drifted onto the shoulder, over corrected, spun out and slammed into the center barrier.  Luckily no one else was involved, but unfortunately Brian was hurt pretty badly.  He tore up his left shoulder pretty good.  He has had problems with this shoulder for years and this was the final straw.  He dislocated it in the accident and was taken to Jordan Valley Medical Center.  This all happened around 7:30am.  I got a call from my mom around 10:30 asking why I wasn’t answering any of Brian’s calls – and she sounded pretty panicked.  Apparently I had let my cell phone die and my home phone wasn’t working very well.  Either way – I hadn’t received any phone calls from Brian or the EMT’s letting me know that he had even been in an accident!  I immediately called the hospital and figured out what was going on.  I found a babysitter for the girls and headed to the hospital.  I figured I would get there just in time to take Brian home.  Wrong!  We ended up staying there until 4:30 that afternoon!  They could not get Brian’s shoulder to stay in socket.  It dislocated itself another 6 times after they put it back in place – the same thing over and over.  It looked VERY painful!  They had referred us to an orthopedic surgeon, so I had my mom call (since we were still in the ER) and tell them what was going on and find out how soon they could see us, since i usually takes a long time to get in to see a specialist.  They seemed so worried about Brian, that they told us to come over right away and they would see us immediately.  We were able to get in, and for a while, not even the orthopedist could get Brian’s shoulder in place.  After about 35 minutes of tugging, pulling, pushing, and Brian trying not to scream (but there was yelling involved) his shoulder was finally put back in place.  We were then told that Brian would be having surgery as soon as possible.  That we just needed to wait for the swelling to go down, and the blood to dissolve.  Brian went in for shoulder surgery (a Bankart Repair) on Tuesday June 2nd.  While we were at the hospital and Brian was in surgery, the power went out 4 times!  The Dr.. said later that every time the power went out, his cameras reset and the had to wait a few minutes for them to come back on so they could continue with the procedure!  While they were repairing his shoulder, they also found out that Brian had a torn rotator cuff!  So they fixed that as well.  He gets to have a ‘lovely’ sling for 6 weeks and then at least a month of therapy.  The Dr. thinks he will be ‘back to normal’ by Christmas!

Here are a few ‘fun’ pics:

Brian in bed right after the accident – the worst casualty of the accident was his favorite shirt!, Hannah in bed while daddy was getting x rays – isn’t she cute!

Brian and Chips for the last time :(

I WIN!!!

I can't believe it!! I won the give-a-way!!! No Way!! But, yup I did!! YEAH!!!! I am so excited!!! What a cool one to win!!! Check out the adorable dress and bow!! And check out http://www.allthingsribbon.com/ if you like it too! She has super cute stuff!!

http://hairbowsforgirls.blogspot.com (you can see here where she announces the winner!)

Give-a-way

Ok, time to post about another give-a-way, but this time I want to win it!!
www.allthingsribbon.com has just launched a new blog to go with her buisness - http://hairbowsforgirls.blogspot.com. (she sells fabulous bows and dresses for little girls) She is now giving away an adorable sun dress and a matching bow! You should totally go check out her store - they have the CUTEST stuff!! I am not kidding! (and I do know cute girl stuff :) )

Happy Mother's Day

I just wanted to wish all my mommy friends a Very Happy Mother's Day! You truly inspire me to be a better mom and I am grateful to have friends like you!!

Allison is Getting Baptized!!

Allison will be baptized on June 6th 2009! Yikes!!! We have been getting ready for the big day!

Here are my favorite pictures that we took of her in her baptism and confirmation dresses for her announcements and invites. Tell me I don't have a beautiful child - I dare you!

Our Family Vacation – Disneyland

Last time we took the girls to Disneyland, it was …. shall we say … a disaster?  Allison and Chloe were terrified of all of the rides and all we did for 2 days was stand in line waiting to meet princesses.  Not my idea of fun – especially since Brian and I LOVE the thrill rides of places like Six Flags Magic Mountain!  We were all very nervous to take the family back this year, but we made Allison a promise that if she earned the money for her ticket – we would pay for the rest and let her go dance.  She earned more than 3 times what she needed and was so excited to dance in Disneyland that there was no way we could say no!

This time was WAY BETTER than last time!  Allison and Chloe did much better on the rides, and only got scared on one ride.  Allison chose not to go on Splash Mountain and they both got scared on Big Thunder Mountain.  But other than that – they were awesome!  Catie and Mary had a wonderful time and other than Mary getting lost at Mickey’s house (more on that in a minute) the only crying we had from them was when Mary had to get OFF of the roller coaster!  They are going to be thrill junkies like their parents!! :)

Here are a few pics!!!

(The entire Dance Studio that attended Disneyland)(Allison’s Starting Pose)

(One of my favorite poses in the dance)         (The end!)

(Allison at the A)

(Chloe at the C)

(Catie at the C)

   (Dad, Catie, Allison & Chloe)

(Catie, Allison & Chloe)

(Allison, Jordan (cousin), Catie & Chloe)

(Jordan & Mary – Jordan was Mary’s ‘best friend’) (Rachel (another cousin)& Catie) (Mary & Catie)

 (Dad, Mary & Catie outside Sleeping Beauty’s Castle) (Catie & Mary in Toon Town – don’t you love Mary’s ‘natural pose’??)

(Seeing Minnie Mouse)

INSIDE MICKY’S HOUSE /  MARY GETS LOST!!

This was an experience!!  We decided to wait in the enormous line to see Mickey since neither Catie nor Mary had every met Mickey.   You get to go through Mickey’s house during the line and see fun things.  It is usually a fun photo opportunity.  We had only gone through 2 rooms and had taken just a few pictures when Mary decided she was enthralled with Mickey’s desk.  It is located just next to a door way that quickly turns the corner.  The line had started moving and Brian, Allison and Catie were already ahead of us.  I had told Mary to get off the seat and come with us and then turned to see where Brian was.  I turned to get Mary and she wasn’t at the desk anymore.  I quickly looked around and figured she slipped by me and went to daddy.  I walked up the line to Brian and he asked where Mary was.  What?!?!  I turned and ran back to the other room and Mary was NOT there.  It was quickly apparent that we had LOST her!  I spent the next 10 minutes running back and forth up and down the line trying to find her.  I had a few parents in the line tell me that they had seen her head backwards towards the front door and outside.  I ran outside and looked.  I could not see her.  There were 2 older teenager boys, both more straggly looking, who asked what Mary looked like.  I quickly described her and said that she was wearing a pink shirt.  One of the boys asked if it had anything on it, and I remembered that it was a 4th of July shirt and it had a flag on it.  They offered to look for her and I ran back inside to talk to Brian.  He was starting to panic too (of course I was already there) and said he was going to get out of line.  I told him ‘no way!’ what if she was still in the building!?  He had to stay there in case she was still inside.  I turned to go back outside and halfway there, I ran into one of the boys from outside.  He told me that they had found her!  A woman had seen her walk out of the Mickey Mouse house looking lost and had picked her up, and they had recognized her and had come to get me!  What good citizens!!!  I went running outside and the minute I saw her I started crying.  Even just typing this up again, makes me cry.  I have never been that scared before.  I was so thankful for good people and the willingness to see a little girl who needed help and to try to help her instead of hurt her and for a Heavenly Father who was watching out for us!

(Inside Mickey’s house) (Mickey’s couch) (Mickey’s Desk – and the last place I saw Mary) (after we found Mary – playing Mickey’s piano) (Allison playing Mickey’s drums) (Catie playing Mickey’s piano) (Catie, Mary & Mickey Mouse) (Dad, Mom, Allison, Catie, Mary & Mickey Mouse) (Mary next to Mickey’s Mailbox – where she was found)(Mary on her favorite ride – the rollercoaster in Toon Town)  

(I didn’t want to get off!! I wanted to go again!! – People kept asking if the ride scared her and we kept having to tell them that she wasn’t scared, she wanted to go again!)   (Mary’s other favorite ride – the carousel) (Dad, Chloe & Allison on the Train)

(Mom, Catie & Allison on the Train)

(Dad, Chloe & Catie riding Splash Mountain – it’s hard to see, but this is really them!)

 

WE HAD A BLAST!!!!