What is this, some kind of sick competition???

I'm really starting to get a little freaked out! There have been a couple of times that something has happened at the mine and I immediately go through the mental check list of who is there... is Thayne okay? Is Garrett okay? Is my dad? And then my brothers, Shayne and Shalum. After what seems like constant accidents, from Kinzee stepping on a nail the day we were driving home from the hospital, to Tallin getting both thumbs hurt, my stomach seems to constantly be in a knot waiting for the other shoe to drop. So I can't say that I was too terribly shocked when Candice called and asked if it was okay to close the video store a few minutes early so she could meet Shalum at the hospital when he came in from the mine. Yep... he got a finger smashed. He said that when it happened he thought, "Oh, I am probably going to lose a nail!" After he finished doing whatever it was he was doing, he took his glove off and realized that there wasn't a nail left! That and the fact that they couldn't get it to stop bleeding, he figured it might be a good idea to get to the hospital.

He thinks he's in the running with Jace... I'm just not sure... you can be the judge... (this if for all of you sick people that are entertained by sick pictures!) And they said it wasn't as bad as they thought! Thank goodness... Shalum is my baby brother, he's always had a soft spot in my heart and was my little buddy before I left home. So it's like another one of my kids got hurt!

Spa Day

So... lately I have had a knot in my neck that seems to get bigger and more sore by the day! I think it is called STRESS! I'm pretty sure that's what we are calling it these days! Life is stressful... it's not just the out of the norm that seems to hit my life constantly, but then just every day living that keeps us on the edge of our seat anyway! Stress is part of life, we just have to deal with it. But it is apparent that I am not dealing well with it lately. I have been stressed because Thayne has been stressed at work and I like to carry his stress I guess! lol We have one vehicle problem after another... not stress there... I mean we only have to drive every single place we go every single day so having constant car trouble is not fun. Our yard looks like a used car lot, but most of them don't run... the Excursion needs $1000 worth of work, the Tahoe needs $1000 worth of work, and the big van needs oh so much work. The kids cars just don't go, which may be why my cars need work, because they now drive mine! :) Even getting a nasty internet comment because I went on vacation while my ADULT son was recovering as if I left my kids to fend for themselves stressed me out... let's not go where the stress of making sure that little boys were with one friend, several girls were with another friend, AND the fact that I had my brother and sil come out and hang out with my big kids AND I had an actual nurse coming in daily to take care of Jace and some nameless, faceless mean person left a nasty comment made the knot in my neck even more sore... or that another nameless, faceless mean person made an ignorant comment suggesting that my boys were playing carelessly with a gun and pulled a trigger (as if that would EVER happen!!!) actually almost offended me..... almost, because I don't usually find offense, but when I was emotionally bankrupt I almost felt hurt! Who knows... maybe that nameless faceless mean person was the same person! Oh well.... it's all good... I will get through. That's just how it is. Life throws you curves, you can keep smiling and keep moving and get through it. But today Jace just gave me a way to get through it in a very nice way!!! He gave me a gift, thanking me for all that I did for him! It is a Spa Day!!! I am sooooooooo excited! A 60 minute massage, 60 minute facial, pedicure, manicure, shampoo and style and a light lunch sounds like a little piece of heaven! I cannot wait! I am going to go, I am going to not just turn my phone off... I'm not even going to take my phone... I am going to turn off the world and go and enjoy!!! HEAVEN!!!

What will I do today???

Any ideas? I have a day that I am supposed to do nothing... how does one do that? Thayne told me that I am supposed to take the day for myself. Maybe he thinks that huge knot in my neck is from the stress of constant running and doing.... I don't know! He might be right. Doing nothing would be a great thing. But I am so close to getting ALL of the laundry in the house washed that I want to do that, since it so rarely happens! I do think I will call around and see if I can get in for a massage because when I say I have a knot in my neck, I really mean it! I have a couple of books that I put off reading... usually I read a book straight through in a day or so, but I have been working on one for a week and a half. Not sure if it is me or the book. What I really want to do is just run away to the temple but not sure how that would work. I wish Thayne didn't have to work, but this is a really bad week for him and he has to be there. Hmmmm... this is really going to take a lot of work to do nothing!!!

On a positive note, though Jace's leg looks absolutely horrible, he drove himself to town yesterday and got himself a taco from the taco wagon and even got me a salad from our favorite deli and then hung out at the work site for a while. I think it was definitely good for him to get out and do something like that.

And Enrichment is over. We pulled it together at the last minute and were able to get it all done and it turned out really nice. It was for the 'laurel transition' which is to welcome the seniors into Relief Society. All of the young women were there and we had a really good turn out. Everything went really well despite the craziness in every one's life! I am sure glad it done though!

Oh what to do... what to do...

My 'what I accomplished before 9am' list...

A good friend of mine told me that she makes a list of what she did get done each day so that she doesn't feel bad about what she didn't get done. I have mentioned before that I would have made a really good obsessive/compulsive recluse but instead, I chose to have 15 children! After being gone so much this past month, I am struggling with the need to just be home and get my house completely in order since I never got to do that after the carpet was put in.

This morning I woke up and noticed that there was a dish towel on Thayne's side of the bed. What in the world is that for? Well... Kami had a rough night coughing and it would seem that she didn't get up in time to get to thebathroom and she wet Thayne's side of the bed. I am sure Thayne will be grateful that he was already at work when it happened! I asked her if she had an accident but she got all kinds of put out with me and told me that it WAS an accident and then somehow it became MY fault! Not sure how that works, but okay!

So I took the sheets down to wash and walked into a mess. The little kids had cleaned their rooms except everything was thrown into the doorway of the laundry room. And the big kids had done their own laundry but had piled the clean clothes on the table that was already overflowing with socks and clean blankets. I really wanted to just throw my hands up and be mad, but instead I dug in. Got the whole room cleaned and organized and managed to get 4 loads of laundry washed so far. Got 6 bags full of dirty clothes sorted and waiting to be washed and still need to fold them... but that darn laundry room is clean again!

I also got my bed made and my bedroom cleaned and the dishes washed, the stove scrubbed down since whoever was supposed to do it last night didn't do a great job (cough cough, Wilie... cough!), swept the floor and cleaned the counters. All before 9am!

I also made several phone calls about Enrichment tonight and now I have a million and one things left to do to get ready for that tonight... but for now I am going to shower and get ready to go pick up Hyrum from school and put the new releases out at the video store!!!

The spirit of compromise...

Yesterday Wyatt came home from school to inform me that when Willie gets home I HAD to talk to him about wearing his shirt. I had a head ache all day and had a pinched nerve or something so my back hurt from my neck to my hips and quite frankly, I could have cared less about a little squabble over a shirt. And honestly, who knew if Willie had his shirt on or not. You see, they are constantly sharing clothes. I often buy boat loads of shirts all in the same size because Willie and Wyatt can wear the same size and Hayden and Hyrum can to. I don't even sort their underwear after washing... it all goes into their drawers and if they have something they don't want others to wear, then they can take care to put it up themselves! But every few minutes Wyatt came back in and reminded me that I must talk to Willie. I had to laugh.... Sure Wyatt, no problem but those look a LOT like Willie's jeans! Care to explain???? Willie is in middle school so he gets out 2 hours later and Wyatt followed him in the door demanding justice... justice I gave them!!! I let them know that if they could not find a way to compromise, and if they thought anything, least of all a shirt that we have TWO of anyway was worth fighting for, then I would just take the shirt away... and why again did you have Willie's jeans on? His answer was because Willie had his shorts on. I told them again they better find a compromise that they could live with, or they would BOTH live with MY consequences!

Imagine my joy this morning when they came upstairs and told me that it was okay for Wyatt to wear Willie's jeans, because Willie would be able to wear Wyatt's shorts... and they would just share their shirts since they always do anyway!

What a GREAT plan!!! Compromise... what a concept!

Stuck...

Tallin, Kailee, Kassi, Kinzee and Willie went with our youth group over to Utah to go to the temple. They love doing this and were so excited to go. They always have the most wonderful experiences and I love hearing about them.... but today they had a very different experience, but one that we will be laughing about for years to come!

I got a text message from Kailee saying, "We are stuck in an elevator..." What's a mom to say? "Really? An elevator?" She texts back that yes, they are stuck. Okay... what should I do? So I ask who is stuck. She tells me there are about 20 people (TWENTY???) stuck in the elevator, and it's HOT, and they are thirsty, and Willie, Kinzee and a couple other kids are really sick! Then she says that help was there, and that they got the door opened slightly and they somehow pulled the sick ones out through a small opening. They were able to get the elevator door opened, then they opened the doors below them and made the kids lay down and they lowered the sick kids to the floor below where somebody grabbed them and got them out. They tried to close the door again to try to get the elevator lowered to the floor but it malfunctioned and they weren't able to get it to work so once again they opened the doors and got everyone else out the same way. They were stuck for about a half hour. They had to be careful because they could have fallen under the elevator 2 floors below.

We can laugh now... they were terrified at the time. I wasn't too worried about it, but it really was a scary thing. I'm glad that they had great people to take care of them all and even more grateful that they made it home safe and sound! I told the kids from now on, they need to be prepared for ANY situation because I need pictures to blog about them... these were the best cell phone pictures they got. Sue got video, but she had a new phone and didn't know how to use it so she closed the phone without saving it!

Kids...

My kids make me smile! I know every parent feels that way but I just can't help it... they are amazing! Especially how they interact with each other. Yesterday I got on the elevator with Nathaniel and he started whimpering and was almost ready to cry. After Jace's appointment we got into the elevator but Jace asked Nate if he wanted to sit on his lap in the wheel chair. Nate jumped out of my arms and sat with a big smile on his face and even clapping like he was going on the best ride yet. I love how Jace and Nate connect. The kids were snapping pictures of Nate and Jace sitting in the recliner talking about life!

Kami and Kalli have been working with Nate on making his 'monkey face'... it's hillarious when he actually does it... I missed the picture of the blown up cheeks, but he would hold his ears and pinch his own cheeks making faces for the kids who all stood around laughing at him like he was the greatest thing! Nate has suddenly started throwing a fit everytime we try to put him in his crib, but if we put him on the bed he instantly goes to sleep. Willie had fallen asleep with him last night and this is what we found this morning... and Nate woke up happy and ready to go today! It just amazes me to watch them all rally around each other and take care of each other. Sometimes my heart gets so full I am afraid it is going to burst from happiness!

Progress

We made another trip to the burn clinic to have the graft checked out. They are impressed and said that he is healing very well. Jace is now needing to start building strength in his right leg by stepping and walking slowly and as much as he can and by doing some exercises many times a day. They didn't fit him for the 'sleeve' that he will wear on his leg yet because of the open wound above the graft, that will likely come in 2 weeks when we go back for his next appointment. It will take some work, but the doctor is very positive and expects a full recovery. Right now he gets so tired just walking short distances, but as he builds up strength he will get better and better.

Nate and Kailee went with us today and Nate was so thrilled to be able to be in the car with us. He kept waving at the big trucks that went by and then napped for 2 1/2 hours one way and the entire trip home. He hasn't been feeling well so it was nice to see him get some good sleep and he loved being at the hospital and hanging out with Jace. He and Jace have such an incredible bond and Nate just kept waving at him and telling him, "Peace" and giving him big smiles. It was a good trip.

Kinderfair!

What a heart wrenching, yet oh so exciting moment tonight to watch my sweet Kami walk away with a bunch of other little 4 and 5 year old kids to see the classrooms they would be going to this fall. She is so excited to go to school and so many of her little friends will be going with her. She got to go to class and cut out and paste together an apple. She got a new t-shirt and given a goodie pack of fun things like books, coloring books and a packet of things to work on this summer. She's so tiny, but oh so ready to be off to school. I can't believe we have done this 13 times before but it never gets easier, just maybe more exciting because we know and understand a little more how quickly things will change and how much they will grow in the next year! She thinks she is growing up... I'm not so sure I am ready for it. She wants to be like her big sisters so badly that she thinks she is much older than she is! This is the night she has been waiting for and she is so excited. She was showing me all of the things in her bag and I told her how fun, and that I was jealous that she got so much cool stuff. She told me, "Well, when you get to start kindergarten you might get cool stuff too!!!" :) My baby girl is growing up!!!

Lunch with Katie...

I missed Katie's birthday on Sunday and was able to take her to lunch for her birthday today! She may not like her birthday or getting older, but she is aging gracefully and older is wiser, and better! RIGHT?! Hope she has a wonderful year! Thanks for all you do for our family. I am not sure we could have gotten through the last year and a half without you!!! You are the best!

The trip that almost wasn't....

The trip to San Diego had been planned for months... the one that Thayne had promised Tiffany. But after the accident we were constantly gone to the hospital, and running back and forth to the hospital and I felt sick thinking about leaving the kids again. In the end, we decided to go. With only a huge dose of mommy guilt leaving my stomach tied in knots!(And since one commenter felt worried for leaving our family to care for themselves...the reason I felt so worried about leaving was not that I was leaving them alone, but that I actually enjoy my kids and hated leaving while there was so much going on... but thanks to good friends who offered to take kids... we knew that they were very, very well cared for and those great friends insisted on us going... thank you Melissa for keeping several girls and Buffy for keeping several boys so that the big kids were free to enjoy their weekend also! You are all the best and I am so grateful for you being part of our lives!!!) When we left, we left the kids out making snowmen and enjoying what was left of the foot of snow we got the day before! While we were flying into beautiful record breaking heat... they were sending me cute pictures of their snow family.

San Diego is absolutely beautiful... more bautiful than I imagined! We stayed in La Jolla, and it was so peaceful, clean and beautiful. Going to the temple there was just amazing. Garrett was able to see one of his missionary companions that was getting married that day and we were not only able to go through a session, but a sweet couple asked us to help them do family sealings. She could barely speak English but she looked so sweet as we did the work and I felt very blessed to witness such a wonderful event! Did I mention that the San Diego Temple is absolutely AMAZING? I could have sat there all day and did nothing else... but everyone seemed ready to get out on the town and see the sights...
We were able to visit the Birch Aquarium and get pictures of the jelly fish for Kassi... because hey, she asked for them! I can't believe the beauty of the world under the sea... every time I see it, I am newly amazed. A world of beauty we rarely get to see!We spent a lot of time on the beaches, watching the beauty of the sunsets over the ocean, the waves crashing in, walking barefoot in the sand. There were moments when it took your breath away. Went to Coronado Island and loved the beaches there. We loved seeing all of the seals on the beach in La Jolla... especially the one that looked like a dalmation puppy!!!
We loved sight seeing on the ocean front, going through the USS Midway and seeing the ships and Russian submarine. It's amazing to think of all that the USS Midway, and those that were on it did for our country. We went on a flight simulator and had fun but Thayne flew too far ahead of the enemy for me to shoot them down! :)
The bad part was that while we were gone, Tallin went to his senior prom! He took Jenna... Caitlyn's little sister and it sounds like they had a great time. We were gone, but so were Jenna's parents, so we left the older kids, and Candice and Shalum to act as the parents! I hated that we missed seeing him off. But thanks to modern technology, it was like we were here because we got pictures on the cell phone of them!

It was so nice spending the weekend with Thayne, and with Tiffany and Garrett. It was fun to get away and to spend time in such a beautiful place. Of course things were crazy to come home... The top of Jace's incision got infected (Thank you Carrie for taking such great care of him!!!) and he met us over in Utah to see his doctor and get things checked out. Carrie had cleaned it out so well that they weren't worried, but it will take a while for it to close. Again, I am so amazed, and grateful for the blessings of his healing, of his protection. Before Thayne left me in Salt Lake right after this all started, he gave me a Priesthood blessing that told me that the desire of my heart, to see my son's miraculous healing would take place... then it said, "The set back will be minor and everyone will recognize the gift of the miracle of his healing." I think I held my breath waiting for a 'set back' and when Jace called and told us his incision looked infected and that the doctor wanted him right over... I kind of let my breath out and felt like that was what I had been waiting for all of this time. But doctors say he is doing great and we go back on Thursday to follow up with the burn unit to check on the graft! We have had so many miracles and so many blessings... I will just continue to count my many blessings!

Thanks for the memories San Diego... it was wonderful being there and we hope that it won't be too long before we get to come back and visit again! We had lots of fun and were able to forget the world for a short moment and relax! I look forward to visiting again in the future and making more fun memories!!! Good bye room service... oh to have somebody make my bed everyday and make sure I had clean towels.... those are things dreams are made of! lol Thanks for the beautiful sunsets that cleared my mind and eased a burdened heart! I love San Diego!!!