SNOW MUCH FUN!!

This winter has been a little mellow. We really have not had a lot of snow; and when we DO get it, it's not on the ground very long before it melts. Unlike a few years ago when there was a seven foot snow drift in my yard between us and the neighbors. Just walking into it you would get lost. I am sad that my children did not even get to build a snowman and I didn't get pictures of it. That's the second year for me with no snowman pictures. Do my children NOT understand that mom LOOOVES to scrapbook and I've got cute snowman paper to use!! COME ON KIDS!!

So though we didn't get a snowman, they sure did get some playtime in. Nicholas really got to enjoy it this year. He got a little sled and loves being pulled around in it. Although when his brother made a sharp turn and he face planted into the snow, he didn't think it was all that fun. Colton loved throwing snowballs and making snow angels. Nicholas picked up the theory of snowballs fairly quickly and had fun chasing Aunt Lori with the snow.

Our dog is MEANT for the snow and loves playing in it; as long as we are playing with him. He is so funny, he will dig a hole in the snow and burrow down into it in the backyard. Seeing him, you can't help but picture the movie Snow Dogs or the movie Eight Below.

As for mom, I just love looking at it out my window. It truely adds such beauty to the earth and changes the entire scenery and neighborhood. The men in the neighborhood get excited and come out with their snowblowers or fourwheelers to shovel gutters and sidewalks. For them, it's just another excuse for playtime!! I'm somewhat grateful my husband isn't one of them who has to be out there with his toys. We would have to get a garage first before he had toys. However, when that day comes, so will the toys!!

To Be or Not To Be...SICK

The year has started off with quite a bang for us. More like a bang to the checking account to pay for all the medical expenses. The beginning of January, Colton somehow developed a samll case of insomnia. After approximately a week of little sleep for him, we took him to the Dr. who graciously gave us a mild sedative. I was hoping he would give him a tranquilizer to KNOCK HIM OUT. (Then mom could take one too and maybe catch up on some sleep)

Though the pills would put him to sleep, he still didn't STAY asleep. He would get up approx. 2-3 times a night, wander into my room and ask me questions. I swear the kid was sleeping. He would ask me things like "Mom, do you need any money? Mom, remember you told me about the wizards? Mom, can we get a bird?" And my personal favorite "Mom, I don't remember." We FIANLLY got to a point where he was once again sleeping through the night and I had that oh so brief moment of seeing a normal future...when the school called. Colton was in the office with a fever.

Took him home and did what any mom does. After three days of a fever though, it was time to go to the Doctor. Yep, it was strep. Changed the sheets, gave him a new tooth brush (To use ONLY while he was sick) and sprayed the house down. By Saturday he was NOT getting any better and oops, mom was starting to have a scratchy throat. Dad took him in Saturday night to find out that ontop of Strep, he now had Croup wich was starting to turn into Pnuemonia. GREAT!! Out came the nebulizer, wipe down again with Clorox and Lysol, wash the sick blankets he had been using, wash the sheets again and try to put Nicholas in a bubble to avoid getting it.

My efforts were in vain. By Sunday afternoon, Nicholas had a fever. By Wednesday, he was coughing just as bad as his brother. Not wanting to play around with croup, I took him in to see the SAME Doctor. Thiswas now my 4th trip to see him. Nicholas was negative for Croup...but POSITIVE for RSV. (This was the point where I swore in my mind!) Oh, and did I mention that I'm also coughing, phlemy, feverish and have NO VOICE.

So back home we go, out came all the cleaners, two children on the nebulizer and both of them on Amoxicillan. On Friday morning I wake up with goopy eyes that are NOT feeling right. Afraid that I have Pink Eye, I quickly make an appointment with MY Doctor who gives me eye drops and antibiotics to help me aviod getting whatever else my children have. I told him that my husband ALSO sounds exactly like me. He then quickly writes a perscription for Scott too. The antibiotic of choice, AMOXICILLAN! So there we are, 4 of us toasting to our health with our dose of pink medicine and pills.

Suprisingly, I had some sort of allergic reaction to the antibiotic; which has never happened before and the Doctor took me off the stuff. I passed my drugs onto Josh, who now sounds just like mom and dad and has no voice.

When everything is said and done, I have made 5 trips to the Dr.'s office, 6 perscriptions filled, 2 containers of Clorox wipes, 1 can of Lysol spray, washed bed sheets 3 times, 2 children on a nebulizer, 1 bag of cough drops, 1/2 a bottle of Ibuprofen, 1 Gallon of OJ, 4 trips to Blockbusters for Games and Movies, 1 humidifier that has run endless nights, 1 box of Kleenex, 5 sick people and countless hours of lost sleep. Can I please have a do-over??!!

TO SUM IT ALL UP

I have been really bad at keeping up with this. Every time I think I need to sit and blog, something always comes up. So, I guess I'll just give a little summary on the rest of the year.

I recovered from my surgery very well. I ended up staying in a cast for 6 weeks instead of 3 because of the extensive surgery the Doc did. Three weeks on one foot and taking care of a 2 y r. old. is NOT my idea of FUN! I am on two feet now and feel better than I have in years. I no longer tremble walking down stairs, afraid of falling. My back problems have been almost non existant since my frame and posture are now better. The only thing to do now, take a serious dive into EXERCISING!! (That's another fear to tackle!)

Yes, Nicholas turned 2 in August. He loves Disney CARS so that

kind of became the theme. I am not noticing the "terrible two's"

attitude though. Just more independance on his part. The little

attitude he has picked up is ALL from his older brother. The stomping foot, folding the arms and "humphing," and yelling at mom when he's not getting his way. Maybe that all does qualify for the terrible twos. He is talking a lot more and some of my favorite words out of his mouth are: " Wub you, Happy tots (happy thoughts), momma happy, I did it, Nigh-Nigh moon, and Ho-Ho Yights (Christmas Lights), and Woody Boat (for Woody & Buzz). Christmas with a two year old is going to be very fun!

This fall was very "mild" considering all my leaves didn't

fall off my tree. So my boys didn't get

to do the traditional jumping in the huge leaf pile. We did have a small one and that was good enough for them. Mom and her silly traditions of getting pictures of the boys in the leaves. Just got my two little boys this year, biggest brother was not into it.

Before I can focus on Christmas, I first have to get through two

December birthdays. Joshua turned 19 on the 4th and Colton

turned 8 on the 10th. This year, we celebrated both boys with a family dinner, but they each got their own cake. Surprisingly, they decided on sub sandwiches, chips and little smokies for their dinner. Easy enough for mom!! Colton's aunt made him a surfing themed cake while I made and "adult" peanut butter chocolate cake for Josh. He freaked out when his name wasn't on the cake though. Silly me, thought maybe he was "grown up" now.

So now I can focus on Christmas and ending the year on a good note. Shopping is done, now have the endless task of wrapping everything. That's actually my favorite part. Pop in a fun movie and sit on my bed after kids are asleep. My sister will be flying in to spend the Holidays with us and I'm beside myself with excitement. Colton will be getting baptized on New Years Day so that will be an awesome beginning for all of us. Funny thing is, 11 years ago, Josh was baptized on New Years day too! Lots of growing and chainging with my boys. Mom and dad are the same, just older and a little more grayer. Unfortunatly, also a little heavier. But we'll probably join the millions of others in making our New Years resolution to loose weight and be more healthy. I'ld like to say we won't be like the millions of others who only stick to it for two months and then give up. My other goals for the year will be to get Colton into piano lessons, stay caught up on my laundry, FINISH my cook book and get it printed, and attempt at being better at using my sewing machine! (Just to name a few) Maybe I should also add being better at keeping up with my 2 blogs. Thanks to those that read this and share a part of my life for all it's ups and downs and humor. Have a wonderful Holiday Season and see ya next year!!

MY SURGERY!

July 16th, had my very first surgery. I'm not counting my surgery for wisdom teeth removed or my C-Section. This was a REAL operating room, just like on ER or those other Hopital shows. My Dr. had some cool music playing and the room was filled with masked people, all you could see was there eyes and I didn't see much of that because the "Happy Juice" kicked in.

I was having surgery on my foot. I have my dear fathers weak ankles, they pronate. Well, they have caused me so many problems over the years that I sprain and twist my ankle quite often. It has become so bad that my Dr. said that I tore my tendons that hold my ankle into the socket and therefore have NO support; which makes me fall more often.

I came to with the Nurses yelling at me to wake up and open my eyes and to take some deep breaths. Then they had the gaul to take me off the bed and put me in a chair! The Dr. later told me that once he got into my foot, he couldn't sew my tendons back together because they were COMPLETEY gone. There had been so much damage that I pretty much shredded them. So he had to graft some new tendons out of muscle to give me support. Hopefully, it will work for a LONG TIME!!

So now I have this lovely soft cast on. The Anasthesiologist gave me a nerve blocker in the back of my knee which has numbed the entire nerve system in my leg. Plus, I have a medicine pump constantly pumping medicine into my foot. So, for the time being, I have no pain. I'm sure by Monday, everything will have warn off and I may be singing a different tune. I have crutches to get around with and they are sooo not fun. A fat woman on crutches is just not a pretty sight in my opinion! I'm already tired of laying around and elevating my foot, of not being able to walk or do things for myself. I feel like such a burden alreay and it's only been 2 days. This is suppose to go on for 3 WEEKS!! It's going to be a LOOOONG 3 WEEKS!!!

THE GRADUATE OF 2010

Ever have one of those moments in life that seems to take forever getting there; but once you do, the time went by only WAAAY too fast. That's what we experienced with Josh graduating. For me it came faster than others because I came into his life when he was 8 yrs. old. Still, the entire school years flew by. Scott and I didn't think he would make it to be honest. There were those times when we thought of exiling him to Tim-buk-to, times when we thought school was actually sucking OUT his brain instead of filling it with knowledge; and the times when we thought that as parents, WE weren't going to make it. He was actually sweating bullets till the very end just trying to get his grades up so he COULD graduate. Nevertheless, the day FINALLY arrived. There was much preperation behind the scene as Scott and I did some home modification and beautification for all the family that would be arriving for this momentous occasion.

The family ALL arrived safely from both Idaho and California. It took 4 carpools to get everyone to the graduation and 2 trips back to the house because Josh forgot his placement card and grad hat. I was the stressed mother thinking "maybe this kid won't make it because he keeps forgetting everything." With a graduating class of over 300, it took a LOOOOOONG time to read all the names and FINALLY get to the W's. At last, there he was and his name was being read. We cheered loud for him as he accepted his diploma and walked back down the isle. I can honestly and proudly say that this mother didn't shed a single tear!! Yes I was proud, but I had to keep emmotions in check so I could see through the camera!

One of his grandmothers use to be a professional cake decorator and made a WONDERFUL grad cake just for him. That thing was huge and it only took two and a half days for everyone to devour it!

And now, it's onto the real world. A job, taxes, mundane routines, balancing a checkbook and if my husband has his way, RENT!! Hopefully he has been taught everything he needs to know and is prepared, or will be brave enough to admit that he really DOESN'T know everything and will ask for help when needed.

CONGRATULATIONS JOSH!! I hope you really do know how proud we are of you and the young man you have become. Please see the potential that we as parents see in you, believe in yourself that you can conqour and accomplish anything with determination and hard work. Discipline yourself and you will be succesful. WE LOVE YOU!!!

MY SOON TO BE GRADUATE!!

Took Josh "Picture Taking" today. One of his "oh-so" favorite past times. Had to share some of the good ones that came from it. We didn't order the typical Graduation announcements. Instead, we are having some made so I did the photography myself. A few show his 18 year old personality. Not too bad if I do say so myself!

JOSHUA'S SR. PROM!!

I can think back to my Sr. prom and all the excitement that comes with it. Tonight, I just experienced the other side of Prom. The side from the parents point of view. My son wanted to go but had been turned down by the few girls he asked. It was the day before Prom and it didn't look like he was going. Until he got a ride home from school from a friend in our ward. She randomly asked if he was going to which he answered no. She stated she was just going with a group of friends because no one had asked her; and then asked him to join along. When he told me he was going, he was actually shaking! I asked if he was excited or nervous. He stated BOTH!!

So, here it was Friday night and we had some SHOPPING to do. We quickly bought a new shirt, tie and shoes to go with his suite. Had to quickly get that cleaned too. Thank goodness for the 1 hour Dry Cleaning!! the biggest problem was finding a florist that could make a corsage last minute. Everyone was booked!! I finally found one in SALT LAKE!! Luckily I was going to be in Salt Lake the next morning so I could easily pick it up. That night, Josh sighed and said "Mom, thank you so much, I would have had NO IDEA what to do." That's what moms are for!!!

Ran over taking care of the bill at dinner, leaving a tip and all that "date etiquette." I then told him that all the table manners that mom has harped on him for years about, will all come into play tonight!! HE BETTER REMEMBER!!!! I loaded him up with the breath mints, (To get rid of the garlic breath...THAT'S ALL!!) while dad loaded him up with the money. I had to laugh as he put his wallet in his pants and had that cocky look on his face that said, "I got money and I'm going out on the town!"



It was finally time to go and he looked REALLY HANDSOME!! Took him over to his dates house and she looked BEAUTIFUL!! The florist did PERFECT on matching her dress too!! Yes, she's a little taller than him, but that wont matter. They are good friends and joining a big group of friends, I think it will be a blast!!