We're Back!

So we got back from Ireland on Wednesday night, very late. It was so much fun! Everything was so awesome. I will get pictures on here in the next few days. We got some bad news the last night we were there and are working towards rectifying it. We are all healthy (with the exception of some late night vomit and a fever for Hyrum, which he is now recovered from) and we will get through this, but please keep us in your prayers.

PF Chang's Rock 'n' Roll 1/2 Marathon

Yesterday my sister-in-law Julie ran the 13.1 mile PF Changs' Rock 'n' Roll 1/2 Marathon. It was her first and she did an awesome job! I think we were more tired at the end of the day than she was. We drove along her route and stopped at 4 different spots to cheer her on. It was so much fun. She is trying to convince me to train over the next year to do it with her in 2011. It was so exciting just to watch her, that she almost has me convinced. I would have a lot of training to do though.

Today I did add my extra lap and I made it! 1.5 miles in a light drizzle. It was so nice. I only stopped once when I dropped my keys and once to check the mail.

Squished Fingers

My little 3 year old is bound and determined to out-do his sister's broken collar bone. So far he has not achieved, thankfully. A little over a year ago he injured his foot jumping off of an ottoman (see here). Today he tried with his finger. Josi was riding her bike in the back yard and her training wheels got high-centered, so she was going nowhere, just riding in place. Hyrum decided it was a good idea to stick his finger in and smashed it between the gear and the chain. Mind you, I didn't see any of this first hand. I went running down the stairs when I heard Hyrum crying his real "I'm hurt" cry.

This is Josi's version of what happened: "I was doing my exercises and I just didn't see him and his finger was in the spiky thing." I figured out the rest when I saw the gouge in his finger that was as wide as the gear that only smashed half of it. It looked like it smashed it all the way to the bone, but there was almost no blood. This is the best picture I could get of it. He held really still for the first picture, but the flash was too bright so it was all washed out. When Josi saw it the first time, she just said "eww" with a sickly look on her face. She felt really bad and just kept saying "I'm so sorry, Hyrum".

I gave him some children's Tylenol, then I got it cleaned as well as he would let me and poured hydrogen peroxide on it a few times. Then bandaged it with gauze and tape. He wouldn't let me put a bandaid on it because we didn't have a Spiderman one. It about broke my heart to hear his cries and not to be able to ease his pain. That is one of the worst parts about being a mom. I am so glad I am able to keep a level head and not get sick when it comes to my family. 'Cause it was disgusting looking. He was trying to be so strong and hold back the sobs, but it was just too much for him.

I sang him about 4 primary songs and rocked him while I held his hand above his head to ease the throbbing and he was out. When he woke up from his nap he was fussy again and he wouldn't move his finger. He said it hurt too much when he tried to bend it. So, I decided to take him to the Urgent Care to make sure it didn't get broken. They did an x-ray and found no breaks. It's a good thing Josi is a timid pedaler.

As we walked out of the x-ray room Hyrum said, "Mommy, my pinger doesn't hurt anymore. Well, it till hurt a little." I think he thought the x-ray was supposed to make it better and he wanted it to have worked. The doctor and nurses were really great with him. The doctor was the same doctor that checked his leg out last time we were there. I don't think he recognized us though.

The dent has mostly filled in with just a little hamburger-ish gash left. He doesn't like to leave bandaids on for long, so he keeps telling me that it is all better so that he can take the bandaid off.

So in the end:

2 children's tylenol, a dab of neosporin +pain relief, a gauze pad and 4" of tape - less than $2

tiny finger x-ray, a spiderman bandaid and a little peace of mind- $35 copay

Being able to sing and rock my generally less than snugly 3 year old baby to sleep again - PRICELESS

Karin, I hope it is out of his system now so you don't have to worry when you watch them next week :)

Christmas projects

So I forgot to take pictures of the projects I was working on for Christmas before I got them mailed out. I had to steal these pictures from my sis, Kristin's blog. She and her husband have a new little girl and I read about some blocks that someone in our ward made and thought I would give it a shot.

I appliqued the letters of her first and middle name on two of the sides. Then I put some other shapes like stars and dragonflies on a few of the other sides. Inside I put bells and crinkly cellophane and rice in an easter egg in a few of them.


Thanks for the inspiration Deirdre.

The other project was for my mom. She will have to take a picture for me.

Christmas in a Minute

We won't bore you with the details . . .

Catching Up

So, I haven't been blogging much lately. It is hard to though, because all of my time has been spent on Christmas presents. I can't post anything on my latest projects until after Christmas. They have been some fun ones though.
We have gotten most of our Christmas decorations up and lights on the house. Hope to get more lights on clearance after Christmas. The kids are so excited. It is gonna be wierd this year. This will be our first year having Christmas with just us. We traded Christmas with my family this year for Thanksgiving, because all of my siblings were able to go to my parents in Washington. We made the 20 hour drive without stopping overnight! It was so nice to be all together. It is the first time that we have all been together, I guess since Ben and I got married seven years ago. Usually somebody is missing (generally my hubby). The kids and I met two new additions to our family (one on my side and one on Ben's). We were able to get family pictures and just have a lot of fun, maybe too much at times (Lysha are you still working on your musical about putting a puzzle together?)
Hope to get our Christmas card done soon. The weather hasn't cooperated much and then Ben has had to work late a lot; so it's dark by the time he gets home. It may end up being a New Year's Card.
It has finally cooled off here and it feels like autumn now. We have had rain a few days and I am so happy to be wearing long pants and warm clothes. I love to be bundled up. I love jackets and sweaters and hoodies.
MERRY CHRISTMAS! Hope you are all enjoying this holiday season.

dinner conversation

Josi- who is Christopher Robinson?

Me- He's from Winnie the Pooh.

Josi- no, the one who lives by us.

Me- you mean, Cooper Robinson?

Josi- no, Cooper's mom

Me- Oh, sister Robinson

Josi- Oh yeah.

Josi's Birthday

Since Josi's birthday was on Sunday, we had her birthday dinner on Monday. We would have done it on Saturday, but Ben was out at PIR for the NASCAR race 'til 11 that night, working. Her choice was Sushi again (that is what she chose last year). We tried a new place called Li's Bowl. The prices were really good, ie. 16 piece California roll for $5 and 8 piece Gyoza (potstickers) for $4. It tasted pretty good too!

those are chopsticks in her left hand. She insists on using them when she eats sushi.

They have this tank set up in there with a huge cichlid. It would follow the kids back and forth across the tank and they had a blast with it. The lady behind the counter laughed when Hyrum "kissed" the fish.

Afterward, we went home and had birthday cake. I attempted an icecream cake again and have decided it just isn't my thing. It melted way too fast while I was trying to frost it. And the frosting wouldn't stick to the icecream on the edges.

I did decide to try making frosting roses, which I haven't done since I was in high school. They turned out pretty well. Some of them aren't as good because the frosting kept getting too warm in the bag in my hand and the petals would kinda melt together.

I was going to put the roses all around the base to hide the ugly sides, but my hands got too tired so I just put them on the worst side. Overall, I am pretty happy with how it turned out. And Josi was just thrilled with it.

Who knew it was so hard to eat a chocolate covered pretzel!

'nuff said.

I made another doll dress for a friend.

with little panties underneath.

Hope you like it Amberly!