A lot has happened at our house the last little bit, few months  FINE... the last year! hehehe. Its been crazy busy at our house. After having surgeries, working two jobs, going to school full time, church callings, and being mom and wife... well lets just say that we were all looking forward to Summer!

One of the major changes in our lives was the addition of a new family member. We were blessed and able to bring home Abby Jane back in April. She has been fun to have, although it took Mom the longest to get used to her.

 One day I heard the kids in the kitchen just giggling, so I went to see what they were up to. They were dancing with Abby at which time Donnovan tells me that "Abby likes it when we wear butterfly wings and dance with her. " Good to know huh!?

Soon after we got Abby Emalee was baptized by her Daddy on April 12th, 2014. It was a wonderful day! Grandma Mick and Lacy Ann came along with Aunt Debbie and Aumanae, Carla, Marc, Robby and Gwendalyn and Mert and Grandma and Grandpa Redmond!

It was a great turn out! She chose her baptism dress because it looked like Elsa's cape from Frozen. We did her birthday party in Frozen so it was all she could talk about.

After the baptism, we had the guys stick around and help us get the sprinkler system put in the back yard. After 10 years of being in the house I finally have a backyard! We had asked the family to help with the system and we would not ask them to help with the sod. We asked the missionaries to come over and help on Robert's Birthday and they said they would have about 16 missionaries there in the morning. The grass was delivered on Friday the 25th because the guy said it was going to rain on Saturday. That freaked me out so I hurried and got on Facebook and asked anyone and everyone to come and help lay sod that night. We had the Bishop and his family, Aubery Peatross and her kids and us-minus Ryan because he went to prom. It took us about 2 hours but it looks awesome!!

Ryan also got his driver license!! I officially have an Errand Runner!!! YAY!! He didn't pass it the first time because he was too slow and he didn't do spot checks. He did soo much better on the second try. Now we have to get the Honda running so he has something to drive. 

My kids are growing up so fast! I love them with all my heart!

Why I want to be a Teacher!

It has been a crazy busy year so far. I am in my level 2 program at Utah State University and have been busier than I had ever been! I wanted to take a minute and tell you why I want to be a teacher (that and my professor is reading this for one of my classes).


When I was little I actually wanted to be a professional shoe tie-er. I saw a football game on TV when all of a sudden this girl ran out onto the field, tied the football players shoe and then ran off the field. I was in awe! That sounded like the best job in the world! I soon found out that they were trainers so I actually started my college education wanting to be a physical therapist or sports trainer.


It wasn't until I went to in school, fell in love, got married and ran off with him, started a family of my own, stopped going to school, raised a family, and had a ton of surgeries on my wrist that I decided that I wanted to be a teacher instead!! :)


It wasn't until my older two were in school themselves and I became a substitute teacher that I really fell in love with teaching. I love when you work with a student and they finally understand the concept that you are trying to teach them. I love that you can make learning fun. So my philosophy about teaching is this: Every student has the right to learn and every student is a kid who wants to have fun. Why not make learning fun for everyone?!


That was probably the least professional sounding philosophy, but that's why and how I want to teach my classroom. That evil pinterest has given me soo many ideas that I cannot wait to become a teacher and see if I can use them in my classroom. I would love to teach first, second or third grade, but I will take whatever grade I can get! :)

Surgeries and Blessings!

So I have had it with my wrist!! I've had 7 surgeries over the past 10 years and still my wrist pops and locks up and kills me. Its to the point where I can't write more than a paragraph before I am in pain and need to pop my wrist. My wrist doctor, Dr. Burrows, told me we are to the last resort- fusion.

Since I have decided to get my degree and become a teacher, I need to be able to write A LOT. I finally decided that I would bite the bullet and finally fuse the wrist. So on August 13th I went in for surgery number 8. Since I had a partial row carpectomy done about 8 years ago, I had limited range of motion of my right wrist anyway. Dr. Burrows went in and put a plate with 8 screws and also a bone graph to make the fusion.

 

 

So this is my new wrist! I have zero range of motion with it and can not bend it at all. I had a drain in my wrist so the Dr kept me over night. It was rough coming out of surgery because I was in a lot of pain. I finally got a nerve block afterwards, and truly it made all the difference. I came home and my wonderful husband was soo good to me! I sat in the chair in front of the computer and watched all 8 seasons of "Monk".

On Thursday the 15th following surgery, my Mom called and convinced me that Donnovan who just turned 5 should go to school. We were going to hold him back since we thought he wasn't ready, but with the prompting of my Mom we decided to have him tested.

I called my good friend Sonya Gibson who is the all day kindergarten teacher and asked her if she would test him. She said to bring him over to the school, so since Ryan has his learners permit, he drove us over. After testing him she told us that he was actually right smack dab in the middle of all the other students she had tested and thought he was ready.

So we decided to enroll him, two days before school started! School started on Tuesday the 20th for everyone except kindergarteners, who started on the 27th. Sunday the 18th of August, I got a text from Sonya who said that her para-educator wasn't coming back and asked if I was interested in coming back to work in kindergarten land. I was soo excited. I filled out an application, one handed since I was barely a week post op, and interviewed for the job.

Note to self: when going on a job interview do not take a loratab right before going. I was a little loopy. ok A LOT LOOPY.

BUT I got the job!!! They hired me on Friday and I was to report to work the following Tuesday the 27 for the first day of kindergarten. I was soo excited. I called my boss at Beehive and worked it out so that I could do both jobs.

On Monday August 26th, not even 2 weeks post op wrist surgery, I went down stairs to wake the kids up for school and fell down the last stair. My knees went over my toes and I landed on my knees then feel forward onto my stomach. Luckily I didn't land on my wrist, but I did sprain my big toe and little toe on my left foot and tweaked my left knee, and I also broke 2 bones in the right.

It was so painful we ended up having to call 911 to have the ambulance help me get up from the basement. Truly a "I've fallen and I can't get up" moment!

So the day before I was to start my new job, I broke my foot! I ended up having surgery on my foot on Thursday the 29th to fix it. Dr. McKenzie told me he would try his hardest to just put plates on the toes, since I told him how much I hate having external pins. Once he got in there I had done too much damage on the 4th metatarsal that he ended up having to use cadaver bone and pining it.

Needless to say when I woke up I was not happy!

 

So now here I am, non weight bearing on my wrist and non weight bearing on my foot. My husband is a saint!! I again sat in front of the computer watching movies for another week.

But I had to go back to work! So on Sept 9th, a week and a half after my foot surgery I went back to work. With a pin sticking out!

 

 Luckily I have a scooter that I use to get around with. My Dad and hubby built me a ramp so I can get out of my house and every morning my Dad comes down and puts the scooter in the car for me so I can go to work. It has been an adventure.

 

I have been soo blessed throughout this whole ordeal with a wonderful husband who helps me out and does everything for me. I have wonderful kids who help out and get me things when I need them. I have great friends who have brought us dinners and candy and treats and are willing to do my laundry for me. I have patient bosses who were willing to wait till I came back to work.

I am also blessed that even though I have trails I didn't break both feet or do more damage to my wrist or break my fools neck falling. I am blessed that there are fun drugs like loratab which help me to cope with the pain.

But mostly I am blessed that I have such a wonderful and loving family who get me ice packs and put my feet up and hand me things that literally are 1 foot out of reach. I love them and they deserve a vacation... as soon as I can walk again!!

 

 

Kiersten's Lemonade Stand

I have to tell you the back story: We had a yard sale 2 years ago and at the time we had a cheap little fold-down-into-a-briefcase-type table for Kiersten to use as a lemonade stand. She had it set up in front of the yard during our yard sale. Well, this lady walks up and asks how much and I say its not for sale, she says well if you were to sell it how much and I said its not for sale. She then said well how much is it worth to you and I said $5, she said sold! So the next thing I knew I had sold Kiersten's lemonade stand out from under her!

Needless to say, I had a very upset little girl on my hands. I felt horrible! So I promised Kiersten that we would make her an official one. I searched and searched and finally found this computer desk hutch thing at a yard sale. It was painted black and they wanted $5! So I brought it home, had Robert and Kiersten paint it yellow, nailed some scrap wood to it, and made cute little banner for it. I had my friend Valerie make us a vinyl sign and little pokadots.

I think it turned out super cute!

 

She's used it at each of our yard sales and last year alone she made about $80! This past year she set it up in front of our house which is right in front of a ball park. Needless to say, it was much better than the old briefcase table she used to have!

Kids say the darndest things!

April Fools Day was a few weeks ago and I played a joke on my friends on facebook. I told everyone that we were moving to Detroit because of Robert's job with Detroit Desiel. Most people figured it out and knew that we were not moving, but there were a few who I got. One in particular was a gentleman from our ward who thought it was real and even questioned my parents about it. The funny thing was that I didn't tell my parents about the joke, so they were kinda upset that I had posted it on Facebook and didn't tell them we were moving. Needless to say, there was a lot of explaining to do.

Well, on April Fools Day, the kids played some pretty funny ones on us! Kiersten drew all over the pictures on the wall with what she said was perminant ink. Thank goodness it was actually expo marker. Emalee was sick the day before, so when Dad got home she sat in the chair with the puke bucket and a little bit of overcooked ramen noodles, food coloring and bits of other "stuff" in it. When Dad walked in the door and asked how she was doing, she told him she had thrown up and was still sick. He was totally grossed out with the ramen noodle concoction. They then yelled April Fools!

During bedtime prayers that night Emalee prayed " please bless mom and dad, Ryan and Kiersten Emalee and Donnovan and please bless that we will die in a firey pit- APRIL FOOLS" Needless to say, it kinda ruined the whole point of being reverent when we are all laughing during her prayer. I just hope Heavenly Father has a sense of humor.

A few days later while tucking Donnovan into bed, he looks up at me and says "Mom, sometimes you're beautiful and some times you're not. Right now you're not." Wow what a confidence booster he is! I still said thank you, kissed him and left the room to laugh in private.

All these funny things with my two little ones reminded me of some of the funny things my older two said while they were young.

When Ryan was 4 he crawled into bed one morning and I asked him if he had good dreams last night. He said yes, so I asked him what were they about. In his 4 year old voice he told me serviously "Oh Mom I can't tell you." I said why not and he turned to me and said " because I dream is a wish your heart makes."

A few weeks later on a day when I was having a really hard time he asked me what was wrong. I told him I was just sad and that I was worried about my job. From the back seat he said "Mom,
Hakuna Matata." There was not much in this world that would have made me smile at that time, but that made me giggle. I needed that and he knew!

A few years ago we were watching TV where someone had won a million dollars. I turned to the kids and asked what they would do with a million dollars. Kiersten said in a dreamy voice " I would buy food that wasn't on sale!!" Whenever we go to the store and the kids would ask for something, I would say no because it wasn't on sale. After this I would splurge once in a while and actually buy something that wasn't on sale just to remind my kids that you don't have to be rich to have the good stuff.

To do List!

So I am at work, stalking looking at people's blogs and wishing that I could do and have what other people have. I know its bad of me but sometimes I wish that I had enough money, energy, creativity, patience and/or time to do what other people do. Sometimes I feel bad, and other times it kinds kicks me in the butt and gets me going.

It got me thinking today: what I would love to accomplish. So I have decided that I am going to write down a few things that I would love to get done this year ( and maybe somethings that I would like to get done in the next few years.)

1. Paint the bathroom and give it a mini makeover

source

2. Pour cement patio in the back yard
3. Actually finish the whole back yard
    a. level out the back yard
    b. build retaining wall
    c. sprinklers
    d. grass
    e. plant garden, plants and trees
    f. build race car track for the kids

source

    g. build hammock for Robert
http://theindecisivelife.blogspot.com/2010_11_01_archive.html
    h. paint the shed

4. Make a coat rack out of the old door
5. make a summer bucket list with the kids ( we had soo much fun last year need to do it again)
6. get out of debt and actually stay out of debt!
7. cut and dye my hair
8. buy a good camera and learn to use it
9. loose weight... a lot of it!
10. reorgainze our bedroom and the closet

Now this is just a small list of everything that I want to get done. The getting out of debt will most likely take a while and the camera buying thing might have to wait till I have the debt thing done. BUT TO DREAM!!! I am getting excited to do this. Hopefully with me writing this down I will get up the gumption to actually get it all done. Now on to convincing the hubby...

Kiersten's Award

Kiersten was nomiated for the Mayor Youth Recognition Award. I am soo proud of her. One of her teachers nominated her because she is such a hard worker and tries her hardest in all that she does. She was given the award during one of the Tooele City Council Meetings. They called her up and Jacklynn Sagers read what the teacher and wrote about her along with a quote from Mom and Dad.

We said:

"Kiersten has overcome many struggles in her life. She has done so with courage, strength and positive and cheerful attitude. She has such a giving and friendly personality and strives to do what is right no matter what anyone else is doing. She is our happy, laughing, frolicking daughter who is an irreplaceable part of our family and we love her with all of our hearts."

 Mayor Patrick Dunluvey and Police Chief Kerby gave each awardee a back pack full of goodies such as: a water bottle, candy, letter opener, a stress ball and some other little things.We are soo proud of her!!

 Emalee photo bombing!!