I'm So Glad When Daddy Comes Home!

Ronny just arrived home late Wednesday night from a 10 day long business trip in Europe.  He visited Romania, The Netherlands, and Belgium.  We surely missed him and were thrilled he made it home in time for Thanksgiving!  With all the time differences and our crazy schedule here we do our best to find time to talk over the computer with him, usually when its very late at night for him.  Sometimes the hotels he stays in have choppy internet access at best so even then its difficult.  This was a busy trip for him with lots of meetings and lots of work.  There was not as much time to sight see this time around but it looks like they will be returning again shortly, as in just a couple weeks!

I've been sick for the last 5 days of his trip so I was extremely excited to see him and know I wasn't alone in the parenting world once again.  Thursday morning we woke up bright and early to run the 5k race for the Utah Food Bank.  Ronny ran with the boys, Charley and her cousins stuck together and Ben and I took up the rear and walked.  My lungs were in complete revolt from the start and 10 minutes into the race Ben announced he needed to use the restroom.  I told him the fastest way for me to get him to a bathroom was to finish the race as there were no port-a-potty's in sight, something I will definitely comment on in my survey I will return!  I was a bit bummed not to get to run as I have been training for this race but the cold I've been battling and the fact no one else was there to walk with Ben made the decision to walk for me.  I will have to find another one to run soon.  We had a great meal with my family at my sister's house and then ended the day with a movie.  Great Thanksgiving!

We are excited to see this new company finding work and moving forward.  We knew travel would be a part of the new job so we are taking these trips as they come.  One of these days we'll plan on traveling with him and tour a few of these spectacular countries he is working in.  For now we will enjoy our time with him while he is home!

Sibling Affection

Its not often I find all 4 kids sitting at the island without some kind of trouble going on.  I found them like this, enjoying pancakes this morning.  I just had to snap a picture while they were distracted!  Ronny has been gone for the last 10 days on a business trip in Europe and I have been sick the last 5 days of that trip.  We are sooo excited for his return tonight.  Things usually go much smoother while he is gone but with this nasty cold I have been hibernating as much as possible.  The kids are so independent now that they take everything in stride.  We know Ronny has to leave again next month for another long trip back overseas but we enjoy the time while he is with us and the kids enjoy talking to him on the computer.

What We Do For Sport!

Recently I started playing volleyball again with our church team.  I quickly realized my knee injury from college was going to give me trouble.  I was good and wore my brace every time I played and iced for days afterward, even babying my knee, it ached for days after each night I played.  I averaged about 2 nights a week.  Our team was fortunate to have some great women so we played some pretty intense games.  Towards the end of the season my ankle began to swell.  I couldn't remember injuring it and it didn't have any pain associated with the swelling but it was getting pretty big.  I called a good friend of mine who is a Chiropractor (Dr. Luce) who specializes in sports med and KT tape and asked if he could tape me one night.  This was my first experience with the tape, although Ronny has used it in the past.  I was shocked at how well it worked!!!  That little bit of tape on my knee gave me more support than my hinge brace and I had no pain or swelling after our matches when using the tape, it was AMAZING!!!! My knee never felt so good, even before my college playing days!  I will definitely use this again!

Our women's team ended up playing for the regional championship against a really good Polynesian team.  They were great and so much fun to play against.  We were able to hold them off though and won the regional tournament.  Yahoo!!!  I then started to play on the Coed team, that same Polynesian team hammered us in Coed!  In the end we had one of our guys end up breaking his nose from the elbow of another one of our players.  Even with his broken nose he played the following night.  We had lots of fun but were defeated early in the tournament.  I am now really missing playing and can't wait until next year!  I wish I could find a rec league around here, I would definitely sign up!

I asked Charley what she thought of me playing with the younger ladies and if she thought I could keep up, (I was the oldest one playing on both teams!).  For the most part I did keep up, although I am not as inclined to lay out for a stray ball anymore!  She told me it was awesome!  Sure do love that girl of mine!  I coached her rec team this last season as well (it was a volleyball filled fall season!).  Her team was so much fun to coach and Charley did great considering this was her first experience.  By the end of the season she was serving over hand and digging up balls the other team was hitting over.  Her team ended up taking 3rd place although I really think had the tournament been structured differently they would have had a good shot at second!

A Teenager Amongst Us!

 Happy 13th Birthday Charley!!!!

Halloween 2012

Sam Turns 9!

Happy 9th Birthday Sam!  I asked Sam where he wanted to go for dinner.  He said anywhere that has salmon!  So we headed out to Blue Fish sushi bar where he and Joseph ordered their salmon dinner (which was huge!!!! as they didn't have a child's size version).  The both scarfed their plates clean!  We headed home for cake, ice cream, and presents.  He is excited to advance to Bears in cub scouts and excited to use his Sports Authority gift too!

A few things we've been up to lately.....

 BYU vs. OSU football game

 Dad waiting in the loooooong line to get a permit to cut down our own Christmas tree this year.

 Our Camry's odometer the day our engine light went on and the new registration forms came in the mail.

 The car we traded our Camry in for!  

 Dad's new church calling, Scout Master!  He is sooooo excited!!!

 Picking out pumpkins and climbing hay bales.

 Volleyball!!!  First time Charley played outside of church ball and first time Mom coached her team!

SoJo Marathon #3, this time running with new friends.

Good News!

Friday we went to see Joseph's doctor yet again for another set of x-rays, our 4th set in 4 weeks!  (One of those sets was just a few days before on his thumb, the stinker needs to take better care of his fingers!)  After the x-rays were done the doctor walked in with a big box and other casting materials.  I looked at him and said, Doctor Ormund you never have good news for me!!!  He smiled, laughed, and said today was our lucky day, Joseph's x-ray's looked great.  You could still see a small fracture on his pinky but could tell it was healing nicely.  The joint no longer had a bone sticking out the side and the growth plate looked clear.  So, no surgery!!!!  He also was sent home without another cast because the bones looked like they were well into the healing process and he should finish healing nicely without the cast, double hooray!!!  He is still banned from major sports and was told to take it easy for another 2 weeks.  We'll see how long that lasts with him returning to school before then.