Dance Off

Friday Night we headed to the Y for another night of volleyball.  Unfortunately the Cougars lost in 5 but as you can see we still had a good time!

January Adventures

 January has brought mighty cold temperatures this year.  Its also brought BYU Men's Volleyball games back too.  We have made it to at least one game each weekend since the season started.  We even talked my mom, stepfather, and my sister and her family to come to the biggest game of the year thus far.  It was packed but thankfully the Cougars brought home the win!  Currently they are #1 in the country and we love taking the family to the games.

 Sam has stayed true to form and dances his heart out at each match.  The players join in on occasion and the fans around us cheer him on!  Sam's dancing even earned us seats on the front row one match and a cameo on True Blue!

 Of course we hit Krispy Kreme's on the way home as well.  So far the "Hot" light has been on each time we stop!

January also brought lots of snow and lots of haze.  Joseph's asthma is acting up with all the junk in the air.  I think the kids only got 2 outdoor recess days all this month between the temperature and the air quality.  Ronny took the scouts on the Klondike and came home reporting success as everyone came home with 10 fingers and 10 toes.  I think he said the average temp that night was -6 degrees.  Brrrrrr..........

Joseph's New Friends

With the Christmas money Joseph received this year he decided to try his hand at fish.  We braved the pet store and Joseph chose two beta fish and a tank that could keep them separated.  He loves them.  Unfortunately we have gone through 2 red fish and 1 blue one.  We are down to one and think we have finally figured out what is wrong.  It's too cold.  I keep our house at 68 during the winter trying to keep the utilities down.  We learned the fish like to be much warmer so we'll have to look for a heat source for them.  It sure doesn't help that January this year hasn't seen too many days above freezing.  I'm ready for Spring!

Catch Up On Christmas Season

I am really behind on posting here.  Sorry.  Here are the highlights from December and our Christmas Festivities.

This year we decided to cut our own Christmas Tree.  Ronny went up sometime in November to Soldier Hollow to get a permit.  He waited in line for hours but brought home the "golden ticket/permit".  We along with two other families loaded up one Saturday morning thinking we would only be gone a few hours and that the weather was not so bad.  Little did we know our experience would include digging our van out twice, the SUV of our friends out once, wondering if our van would topple over the side of the cliff, waiting in the van with 7 kids watching Elf while the Dads cut the trees down, and almost 12 hours of adventures; we finally had our tree and were headed home.  On the way home Joseph asked, "Can we do this again next year?"

The kids decided to surprise us Sunday morning by decorating for Christmas themselves.  Ron and I came downstairs to find the tree lights on, the banisters decorated, and the stockings hung.

This is the mess that was left after the decorating frenzy.

I'm not sure why Sam didn't have a picutre infront of the tree but these were so cute I had to add them.

Joseph surprised us with writing a Christmas Newsletter.  Ron and I opted to forgo the letter this year with our busy schedules.  We emailed this out to our family and called it good!  You can certainly see where Joseph's priorities are.....

From the clippings off our tree I decided to try my hand at making Aaron's Christmas wreath.  It turned out well and looked so nice with all the snow at the cemetery.  Hiking through the snow to his headstone made me grateful that we decided to go with the wedge style so we didn't have to hunt for his stone in the snow.

We had my family over for Christmas Eve dinner, of course I forgot to take a picture.  We decided on soup and rolls.  I tried my hand at making homemade noodles.  They were a hit!  Ronny planned a nice devotional around the Christmas Story.  It was a great night and we hope to repeat it next year!

Santa seemed to know just what everyone wanted.  Charley her very own kindle, and the boys (including Ronny) all got remote control helicopters.

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.

Bad News

Today we went to the doctor to have Joseph's finger x-rayed again to check on his knuckle and growth plate.  Sadly it turns out Joseph did brake both the joint and damaged the growth plate.  The doctor told us we should have had it x-rayed last week as Joseph would have then been referred to a hand surgeon and discussed surgery.  Unfortunately we are now 2 weeks from injury and things are a little more complicated.  I told him the doctor at urgent care told us to wait 2 weeks which is why we waited until now, had he said to come in a week we would have come in a week.  (I am none to happy at this point!)  So the new plan is to put Joseph in a hard cast and have it x-rayed again in 2 weeks and if things still look as they do then refer us to the surgeon.  AHHHHHHHHHHHH!  He also told Joseph no more soccer. He is bummed as there are only 2 games left.

Something the think about.....

The other day I was driving to work and just thinking about all the things that needed to happen that day and then about everything that needed to get done the next day, and so forth.  Usually driving is when I get teary most of the time, you know when a song comes on the radio, or I pass a certain landmark and the flood of emotions come and it just gets the best of me.  Yesterday I did get teary too but not for what usually brings those tears.  Somewhere in the midst of all the "to do" items I was thinking about, I realized just how happy and content I was.  I thought wow, I am one blessed lady!  I have a great marriage, I have great kids, I have a job that I love that allows me to be a full time Mom at home, I have great students that love to learn, we are still financially stable even with all those medical bills to pay off, I get to serve my friends, neighbors, and some super cute kiddos at church.  Wow, life is really good!   I realized although I still have lots of crazy going on with places to be and things to do, and stress here there and everywhere, amongst all of that I am still amazingly blessed and am really happy.  Which of course brought tears of gratitude for those wonderful blessings, (nuts how those pesky waterworks get in the way sometimes!).  With all that has happened over the course of these last few years the Lord has continued to bless us and wants us to be happy.  Trials come and go, some of those trails are overwhelming and last longer than we want them to, yet life still continues on and I am seeing the sunshine, the joy, and overall beauty this life has to offer.  Life is good!

Bubble Boy!

Ready to play, ironically today is picture day for the team.  NICE.....

Taking One For The Team

On my way out the door to take Charley to karate and head over to my own volleyball game Ronny called from soccer practice.  I couldn't think of why he would need to call me as he should be loading up to take the boys over to karate as well.  When I answered he explained that Joseph blocked a shot from a teammate and was standing next to him with his pinky finger now pointing straight out.  So, change of plans!  I met him at the field put the kids in my car in his, put Joseph in mine and we headed over to urgent care.  We called the grandma's while we were waiting to be seen, they helped distract Joseph from the pain.  Thankfully there were only two people ahead of us.  They took 3 x-rays and I am still amazed at how quickly they get those back now with all this new technology!  The doctor came in and we all looked at the scans together.  Sure enough they showed a break in the pinky from the joint closest to his hand all the way to the next joint.  The doctor didn't think he damaged the growth plate but wants more x-rays in 2 weeks to make sure.  He then started to explain the splint Joseph would be getting.  We both laughed and Joseph held up his index finger and told him we were more the experienced with fiberglass splints.  The doctor was pretty impressed and wanted to hear the story which Joseph happily supplied.  We asked if Joseph was able to still play in the games and were pleasantly surprised when the doctor said that if we wrapped his hand in bubble wrap he could play, although playing goalie was out as is karate and dodgeball!  I can't wait to take a picture of this one!  Thankfully this time it was not his writing hand so school shouldn't be too much of a problem.  I am amazed at Joseph's pain tolerance last night when they were manipulating his fingers in the right position for the splint.  He was a trooper!