Speaking of Feet.....

Those of you who see me often have seen my fantastic runway-style limp for the past year.  Also, you may notice that I'm rarely without my best friend, my black foot brace (see our header picture).   What you may not know is that this ever ongoing saga in my life ended in surgery.  My foot never seemed to heal correctly.  Insurance made it impossible to see my initial doctor until this past August.  He ended up trying several cortisone shots.  They worked to a point, but never really did the job.  Next step, cat-scan.  What do you know?  A larger break in my foot that they never noticed the first time.  The cat-scan showed that the broken bone never healed back into place, so it's been flopping around my foot this entire time.  No wonder I was still in pain!

So....on October 9th I had surgery to smooth the bigger bone off and drill/chip the broken piece out.  Oh what fun.  I understand when they say take it easy.  However, the guilt makes it so difficult to follow orders.  I ended up paying for it too.  Once I got back into the swing of things, I realized how behind I was, so that explains a lot of why blogging has been on the back burner for me.  On October 30th, exactly one year from the date of my fall, I had my stitches removed and I can actually walk without limping.  What a long year!

I do have to thank a ton of people who helped me out while I was sitting on my fanny.  Quint & Chelly (you guys don't know how much having you in town helped me and my sanity), David & Amy for taking Ben for a couple nights, my friends in the ward for giving my kids rides here and there, and especially my hubby for taking control of things around the house.

  

My foot a few days after surgery.  

Taylor thought it would be funny to write on my legs in the hospital.  The right calf said "Pain down here" with an arrow.  The left one said "Not this one the other one".  The writing you can see on my leg is my doctor's initials.   He said they always write on the body when there's two body parts involved.

I Think I'm Gonna Be Sick

Doing my usual housecleaning brought out some severe nausea today.  Not because of the smell.....luckily puberty hasn't brought that one on yet.....but because I realized that I could not tell the difference between Jordan and Taylor's dress shoes as they sat on the the stairs.

Now, I have known for a long time that his feet were big.  My size 10 feet fill his shoes with room to spare.  However, reality didn't sink in fully until I saw these big boats sitting on the stairs.

I Think I Can....

I absolutely love taking pictures, but I've always wanted to learn how to take better shots.  I don't have the time and/or money to go find a school that teaches photography, so I started searching around online.  Luckily I found a website that has courses for a multitude of things, but the one that really caught my eye was the photography course.  So many people gave positive reviews for the course and teacher, that I knew I needed to try it.  Now I'm just hoping to learn enough to figure out what all the different technical terms mean.  This way my camera won't be glued to the "auto" button.

It's only been less than one week, but I'm surprised at how much time and energy I'm spending working with the camera.  Since I have my niece Clara staying with us for a week, I'm trying to take advantage of having a different face around for my practice.  I love the lighting of this photo.  As for the class, I am hoping that this will become a skill I learn.  

As for this shot........pure luck.

The Pounds Will Just Melt Away!

I recently found this new workout while blog stalking one day. I was so impressed by this routine that I think I'll be getting up early every morning now to workout. I can feel the pounds melting away already.

I Love School!!!

I took this picture on the first day of school last year. Check out how thrilled Jordan is to be starting school again.

This was taken on their last day of school in July. Notice the huge difference in their faces. Jordan was so excited to be moving out of elementary school that he REALLY dressed up by wearing a black button-down shirt. He looked great!

Hailey had Ms. Roach for 1st Grade. I absolutely ADORED her. She was so much fun with her class and really had a great sense of humor with the parents. I could have spent all day in the classroom sometimes.

Taylor & I really contemplated whether or not to advance Noah to the next grade, but she made his adjustment to the new class so smooth for him. She made me feel so much better about our decision when she told me at the end of the year that it was the right thing to do. He "fit" in this grade much better than 3rd.

I couldn't get a shot of Jordan and his teacher Ms. Henderson. This is him at his 5th grade Promotion program. We are so proud at how much he accomplished this year.

Hailey & Noah are both excited to have the teachers they are assigned to this year. Noah is the big man on campus this year in 5th grade & Hailey is in 2nd grade.

Jordan is in his first year of Middle School. He is so excited to being starting such a different experience and he really adjusted well the first week. I'm thrilled that they have uniforms at this school. They look so much nicer in these polos, plus dressing him is a LOT cheaper this way.

Ben was so excited to have his brothers home at the end of the first day of school. There is always entertainment when they are around.

San Diego

This month, Taylor had a conference in San Diego for a few days. In order to take advantage of the free room and gas money, we decided to make it a family vacation. This trip was a little different though because I had to entertain the troops while Taylor was in meetings for two of those days. Since I'm not the greatest with directions and maps, I tend to rely a lot of Taylor when we travel, so this was a big learning experience for me.

The first place we went to was Sea World. My foot is still causing me trouble, so we rented a wheelchair. The kids thought this was great fun to hitch rides with me. One thing I learned is that if you have a wheelchair, waiting in long lines can be virtually eliminated. We got to ride the "special boat" (our raft was blue while the rest were yellow) and the kids got to ride twice since Taylor and I switched off. We also had lunch by the killer whales' tank while they practiced their tricks. This was pretty neat to see.

Benjamin was just 1 inch too short to ride most of the rides. Taylor tried to work it and have him stand a little up on his toes, but it's not like anyone has ever tried that before. They were pretty tight on this rule. I had to take a photo of Taylor trying to work the system.

For the Journey to Atlantis ride, we ended up being able to get Ben on the ride. I love the picture they took of us on the big drop. At this point there is a stream of water pouring down on us, so all of our eyes are closed......except Ben. He had a look of terror on his face that partly made me feel bad, but partly made me laugh (I know we're horrible parents).

This was one of the days the kids and I spent alone. Coronado Island has some pretty good beach areas. The area we went to had a dog area right next to us. It was fun to see all the dogs playing in the water. Benjamin was VERY nervous to even touch the ocean water. I was even really good by staying under an umbrella most of the time (and we were only there for 2 hours!).


The next day, we went to Birch Aquarium. This aquarium is right next to the ocean and has some really neat looking animals. I was mostly fascinated by the dragon seahorses (center picture) and the potbellied seahorse (center right). Afterwards, I had the kids pose for a picture by this amazing fountain with whales diving in and out of it. Noah thought it would be a great idea to walk along the outside of the fountain. While he was reaching up to touch the tail of one of the whales, he lost his balance and fell completely in the fountain. He's going to be mad I posted this picture, but as the saying goes, he'll look back at this someday and laugh. You can't live a good life without at some point completely embarrassing yourself.
Finally, we headed back to the hotel, but not before stopping off to see the San Diego Temple. It's an amazing site as you pass right by it on the freeway.

We took a tour of the U.S.S. Midway. We couldn't believe how small the areas were for them to sleep. I already have a great respect for the men and women in the military, but I never quite knew how miserable the living conditions were for them while they were on these ships.

There is a ride simulator on the Midway that is called "StrikeFighter 360" where you fly a fighter jet trying to shoot at the enemy planes. I knew this would be bad news for my motion issues, but of course the boys were all over it. Boys will be boys and thought it would be fun to crash into the ground. Listen closely and you can hear them yelling when they start facing up.

I have seen a photo of this statue before. The actual picture of this scene on the cover of Life magazine is a classic. It's always been a favorite of mine. So, naturally, we needed to imitate art.

Ben was completely wiped out one day coming back to our hotel, so Noah & I had some fun messing with him. I am a mean mom aren't I?
When all was said and done, it was a great vacation to squeeze in before school starts again. The kids and I may get to know San Diego pretty well over the next few years since his new job has their conference there each year. Next year I'll be a little more prepared, so maybe we can venture out a few more places.

I've Fallen

Okay, so I admit, I've fallen off the blogging wagon. I have so many things I want to post, so bear with me, I'm working on it.

Hormones

Jordan & Noah are up in Utah & Idaho with Mamoo Mike for about 10 days. I didn't think I would actually get to a point where I wished they were here. Ben needs constant interaction, and unfortunately I'm only able to be entertaining for so long. Hailey's also bored because her friends are on vacation.

I was having one of those contemplative mornings (I'm actually able to do that with only two kids here right now), and realized that I've hit that stage in my life where my children's hormones are starting to kick in. I knew this would happen at some point, but not quite this soon. Jordan told me that he made a goal of finding 30 "Hot Girls" while he was on his trip with Grandma. Oh please! Noah just laughs, thank goodness. He's not as vocal about liking girls. I'm not sure that he even cares at this point.

Thanks to the Disney channel, Hailey is completely obsessed with Zac Effron and The Jonas Brothers...especially Joe (far right). It's funny when any of these boys comes on the television. She giggles really loud and hides her face because she doesn't want us to see her reaction. She even ran out of the room giggling when she saw what I was posting about.

I don't remember really getting into cute guys until I was older than that. Maybe I don't remember correctly though. Oooo, Rick Springfield was so cute & Duran Duran, especially the bassist John Taylor. Getting so excited when their songs would play. Pretending with my cousins that we were married to them. I even got to go to a Rick Springfield concert. I was probably 10 years old and I went with just a friend.

What?!?!?!

How in the world did I ever get that one past Mom? I would never allow Jordan to go to a concert at his age with just a friend. Times have definitely changed, but I digress.

So as I sit here, thinking about my children and their obsessions, I realize I don't need to worry. If Hailey wants Jonas Brothers posters up in her room, I'll let her. If Jordan talks about a "hot girl" at his school, oh well. I survived my crushes and think I turned out pretty normal, so I'm pretty sure they'll be alright as well.

"The Robot"

What's always entertaining about having a 3 year-old is that they always seem eager to perform, especially if it's for a laugh. Embarrassment doesn't usually kick in for a few more years.

Ben, or "Benji" as he now insists we call him, and Taylor were listening to music on the computer the other night. I don't know how it all went down, but from the other room I get called to come watch Ben dance for me. I love the faces he makes during the dance. He's always been very expressive with his face.

Notice the complete concentration on his face as he mentally prepares to dance.

Sleepover at Momoo's

July 4th, after a fantastic hike with my brother and his family, we decided to let our boys sleep over at Momoo and Dadoo's house. I have realized that sometimes I would rather not know what happens, but it never fails, every person has to give me the blow-by-blow events of the night.

Personally, I have fond memories sleeping at Grandma Cherie's house: watching Bugsy Malone & Freaky Friday (apparently Jodie Foster was a staple of our movie selections), helping Grandpa stuff envelopes, unknowingly committing a felony by photocopying $100 bills (we never saw those in our own home), and a sugar-dense breakfast of Winchell's donuts.

I have tried to remember the phrase "What happens at Grandma's, stays at Grandma's." If this happened often, I'd probably put my foot down more. For some reason, whenever Bradley, Noah & Jordan get together, they try to stay up later than the time before. This last sleepover was no exception. Not only did they surpass their last record, but they never ended up going to sleep that night at all (Mason was the only reasonable one). Mom being notorious for her lack of sleep, thought it would a blast to go out to breakfast at 3 a.m.

Apparently the boys did too.

I am thrilled that they are creating memories with their cousins. However, I have oft uttered the phrase that was also drilled in my brain......"If you are going to be this crabby after you have a sleepover, you won't get to do it again."

I have become Mom and my children have become me.
It's a cruel, cruel world.

Blueberry Hill "breakfast" at 3 am