Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Crash and Burn


Sean was gone at a Scout Training camp out for the whole weekend. He got home Sunday night. The kids were excitedly running out to the garage to meet him. Megan ran out and slipped or tripped and fell and hit her face right on our brick hearth. I ran out to help her and noticed blood running down her face. She had a good gash on the side of her eye. We checked it out, stopped the bleeding (it actually stopped pretty quick) and tried to console her while we made arrangements for the other kids so we could take her to the ER. We headed down there, but by the time we got there she was doing much better, it wasn't bleeding anymore, she wasn't showing any signs of head trauma, etc. So we called Nurse Lindsay (Sean's sister) and talked to her about it. We decided to wait until Monday morning to call doctors, check out the wound again and then go to the Urgent Care if needed. She slept with us that night (so we could check up on her every so often during the night). The next day there was a good covering over the wound. I called the doctor and then the Urgent Care and asked them about it (they said the stitches would mostly be to help minimize the scarring). After getting all the opinions we decided to just butterfly it up ourselves and see how it heals. So she might end up with a little "character mark" (scar), but so far it's really been healing up well. She also got a good scrape down the bridge of her nose and a few little ones on the side of her nose. Today her eye was swollen up. Poor thing - looks worse than it is. She's a trooper and is feeling great.

Mr. Underpants


This is a common sight around our house these days. Nathan is being potty trained. I was completely and totally dreading it, but I really want to get it hammered down by the time the baby was born. I started a week before we went to CA, so I was pretty low key about the whole thing (I knew we would be leaving for a week and that would mess some things up). He actually caught on really quick. Last week he had four days in a row with no accidents, but since then he has had at least one every day (don't ask me what that is all about). I guess he is just keeping me on my toes - doesn't want to make it too easy. He LOVES to run around with just his underwear on...or not (naked buns works great for him too). Sean caught him on camera yesterday jumping into the Love Sac (a favorite trick around here) in all his fashionable glory.


Tuesday, August 16, 2011

First Day of School

Today is the first day of school. No more staying up late and sleeping in the loft watching movies and having sleep overs with friends and playing in the jacuzzi all day and having no schedule. Back to the grind. We prepared last night with haircuts, root beer floats and Father's blessings (which even Nathan wanted to be a part of). Then this morning Caelan and Ben got breakfast in bed. This tradition started a couple years ago when Caelan asked me on Father's Day, "When is kids' day? You know - where we get breakfast in bed?" I told her I would give her breakfast in bed on the first day of school....and it's become a tradition ever since. We got ready and loaded up the crew and drove them to school to find their classrooms and teachers: Caelan (3rd grade) has Ms. Coffee, and Ben (1st grade) has Ms. Fox. They were both excited to be back. Megan starts preschool in another few weeks. Goodbye Summer.

The Last Summer Hurrah!

We did one final summer adventure (actually one of our only two trips this summer). And it all started with a blessing in disguise. I drove with the kids to Arizona to visit Grandpa and Grandma Dick. We were planning on me taking the Suburban. It gets a little better gas mileage than the van, and with gas guzzlers like ours every little bit counts. Two days before we were supposed to leave the air conditioning went completely out on the Suburban. Since I was driving through the dessert in the dead of summer we changed plans and I took the van. No one ever likes when something goes wrong on their car, but we were lucky with this one. I made it to Casa Grande with no problems (and we drove through three intense rain storms, which were kind of fun). The very next day Sean called and told me that the Suburban had broken down on him. He knew what the problem was right away was able to get it fixed with no trouble the next day (his boss let him use the company truck for the night). If I had taken the Suburban, however, it probably would have broken down somewhere along the way leaving me stranded with 4 kiddos in the dessert. Plus, then I would have had to have it towed and taken it to a shop to get it fixed (which always costs at least three times more). So who would have guessed a broken air conditioner would have really ended up being a blessing in disguise. Anyway, we had a great time in AZ: mostly swimming....because really what else can you do when it's 110 degrees outside.


Megan learned how to swim under water and Nathan went from clinging on to me for dear life in the pool, to jumping off the edge with floaties on and wanting to do it over and over and over again. He was like a little fish by the time we left. We also got some dental work done while we were there - just cleanings and check-ups and such. We saw Kung Fu Panda 2, which was super cute. After 4 days there I drove to Murrieta, CA to visit the Sorensen clan. We had lots of water fun there too. We went to Wild Rivers. Caelan and Ben wanted to go on any slide they could. I mostly hung out in the Kiddie areas with Nathan and Megan (I'm a little too big and pregnant to go down water slides). They all loved it. We also took a trip to the beach. Caelan was way out in the waves finding good ones to boogie board in on. Nathan must have thought he was one of the hundreds of sand crabs we found - he was rolling all over in the sand. We played in the water and sand and later had a fire and roasted hot dogs and yummy banana treats. Grandpa Sorensen made an awesome fort with the kids which was able to withstand most of the waves that came up on it. The kids played in the slip-n-slide in the front yard one day and went swimming in a neighbors pool another day.

Sean flew in to LAX on Thursday. We went on a dinner date that night (always fun to do when you have free babysitting). Then Sean and Grandpa Sorensen and Corbin went deep sea fishing on Friday. They had to get up at the very crack of dawn to get down to the boat. They had a fun time, and then came home and crashed for the rest of the evening/night.

On Saturday Sean and I headed to the Redlands Temple for a good friends wedding. He is friend of ours from BYU. The whole Crusader gang (that's what Sean's group was called) was there - which was lots of fun. We hung out all day with old friends and ate some delicious Mexican food at the reception that night. We got home late that night and made the long drive home the next day. Fun times.

Monday, August 1, 2011

Mary, Mary Quite Contrary

How does your garden grow?

Here is my first attempt at a garden. It seems like we have always either just moved in (too late to plant) or knew we would be moving by the time we would start to harvest...so I've never gotten around to it. This year, I secretly thought, "Maybe if I plant we will stay." Anyway, I got my little plot planted the first week of June. I have already picked a pepper (not bell pepper - more like a chili) and one tomato. I picked these treasures today. My yellow squash plant is growing out of control (that is the plant next to Ben in the pictures).

I have lots and lots of tomatoes on my plants that are just waiting to turn red. My cucumber plants are starting to finally grow, and I have a handful of zucchinis and peppers that are getting closer and closer to being ready. Can't wait. It's so fun.