This is the Place

Well Tyler finally came home and she had a really great time in Utah with her grandparents and cousins. But first I need start with the weekend.

Saturday - Linda's family and ours always go together to the A's game with Family Packs which include the seats, hot dog, chips & a drink - so it's always so fun but with me on crutches there was no way I would be able to hobble around so I got to stay home. Linda stayed home too with Lawson so she came over and she brought In & Out Burger, yum - but since I'm still on bedrest essentially I can FEEL the fat just sticking to my thighs, stomach, arms, etc... but they were still very tasty - then we watched 50 First Dates - it was so funny - I forgot how funny and cute the flick was so it was nice to have a hardy laugh. It was sooooo nice hanging out without any body, luckily Lawson is still small and didn't spoil our pseudo girls day.

With both me & Linda not going and Tyler still in Utah we had extra tickets - so I found some friends to go along - but the real story is - my mom being the trooper and fellow all-things baseball lover - went to help Mike with the boys - well she was the ONLY female with 14 boys/men!!! Now that's love!






Then when the boys came home they had swapped boys as we tend to do so Chris came back later with his special Tri Tip and we had a yummy dinner - score! So it was a really fun night - the kids were being beaten by the dad's in the backyard - they were playing dodgeball with kids and beating them viciously!

Sunday was bittersweet - Mike left to go to Hong Kong, my mom left to go home (poor thing to a messy house) - but my friend Louise came to help take care of me! She is back from Italy for the summer - we always have so much fun! My friends CeCe & Dave took the big boys to church for me and then kept them for the afternoon - AND then brought me dinner! Louise & I then watched Music & Lyrics - she hadn't seen it before - I love watching Huge Grant do the Pop Video - it's so funny! So I lucked out - 2 chick flicks in one weekend!

Today Tyler and my MIL flew in - and my RS President went to the airport to pick them up for me at the airport - I feel so taken care of I cannot even tell you. I have such great friends and family - isn't that what it is all about?

Tyler had so much fun - she did so many things - they went to This is The Place monument, Lagoon, shopping, 4th of July parades - here are some of her pix. I'm glad she is home though. I missed my girl!






Tonight we went to the neighborhood pool for Lucas' girlfriend's birthday - Callie is now officially potty trained - what about us????!!!!! Grandma got into the pool so Lucas could swim too!

With being in bed for 2 weeks my house is a little seedy - so my girl friend recommended a house cleaner to help out, she came by today and wants to come tomorrow - so poor Mary Lou has been helping me all evening getting the house ready! We did the most we could - I'm just excited for my blinds & shutters to get properly dusted! I'm now sitting watching my Tivo'd Wimbledon Final and icing my leg! Poor Mary Lou is going to bed - deservedly - she's still on Utah time!

I see the Dr. tomorrow so we'll see if I've been doing well....

Finally Friday

It's been a nice week but I'm glad the weekend is almost here - we are supposed to go to the A's game tomorrow but I think my family will be going without me. I saw the Dr. the other day and he was so shocked that I had dislocated my hip, I guess it is extremely hard to do, and even more so without breaking anything while doing it. So I've still been off it for another week and I go back next week so the internal bruising to continue to go down. So I just take a lot of Ibuprofen! My mom has been great taking care of all of us - I'm sure she is excited to go home so she can "rest"!


Tyler has been in Utah all week with Mike's parents to visit her cousins - it's been sad because she hasn't really called home much. We even had gotten her a cell phone for 5th grade graduation and she hasn't called her mom! They went to Lagoon and have been doing 4th of July things but I miss her - we set up a blog for her but she can't get to it on grandpa bob's computer she said! But she'll be home on Monday! My MIL is available so she is taking up the role of caregiver since my mom is leaving. It's nice to have parents that can come and take care of us!

Here are pictures of 4th of July - my Grandpa John is reading to Lucas. One picture actually of me & Ty for her graduation to Middle School, and Chandler & his buddies at the event with Mario face painting!

Haley's Day

It is so hot here!! These are the days I really wished we lived on the coast - I could handle living near the beach I think. I told Mike I want to live in Monterey when I retire..... we don't live that far away from water either but with the "micro-climates" in the bay area it amazes me how just driving 30 mins away will change the temperature 30 degrees sometimes!

Yesterday was a fun HOT day. My cousin organized her annual event Haley's Run for A Reason my cousin is amazing - she puts on this event on the 4th of July in tandem with the community celebration. I was supposed to help do the whole silent auction, but with the accident I was a bit out of commission! It was very fun and Mike & Chandler did the whole family run 2 miles - I was proud of Chandler - he ran the whole way...Haley and Chandler were 2 months apart in age - she would have been 9 years old in two weeks. My cousin and I are 2 months apart so we're very close - the event is very fun because so many of our large family come and help. Our next door neighbors came this year so it was fun introducing them to all my cousins, aunties, uncles, great aunties, etc....

I had to camp out under a tree in my recliner chair but we got the auction stuff all set up so that was good. I think last year she said raised more than $45K for the SUDC. My cousin even got to be on the 5 o'clock news on the local NBC channel so here are the pictures we have of her...

The one picture of her holding her baby sister Megan is most precious to me - they were together for 17 days before Haley went to sleep and didn't wake up again. It is always heartbreaking to me - she passed away on the Monday morning after Mother's Day. But my cousin & her husband have done such a great job in keeping her memory alive. I love you guys! I'm always so thankful for the reminders to live life to the fullest and be thankful for the family and friends we have in this life. Go hug a loved one and have a great day!

Who doesn't love free stuff contest

My friend

Okay so I forgot to say - my friend Pat who is amazing all by herself - she is 68, I think her sons are older than I am!

Lazy Sunday

Well I attempted to go to church today - my good friend Michelle was blessing her new baby today. I lasted about 10 minutes in the pews. It was so hard to sit upright! My hip is doing okay, but I had a moment today where I thought I was relapsing, my hip hurt really bad so I had to make sure I came home immediately to lay down. I can't wait until Tuesday, that's when I see the doctor. So here I am watching TV and reading blogs!

There's a lot of catch up to do - the kids have been great - here are some fun pictures of the boys - they took the pictures themselves, can you tell???

Last night was Linda's husband Chris' birthday - gosh, some of those younger pictures on her blog I remember being around for!! Kinda scary.

Here are some of the very fun pictures of the BBQ at the park Linda organized - it was fun - and such great food! We had that yummy BBQ chicken salad from CPK and C&L's famous tri tip - finger lickin' good (inside joke) LOL. Our friends Rachel & Bruce came from Fremont - it was like old times, but 10 kids ago :) Between our 3 families we now have 15 children!!!! Yikes! In our pictures the two oldest boys - Dallin & Devin are gone to trek & scout stuff but we got to get the rest of the kids in a photo! I got to sit in my recliner and be the invalid that I was and of course I was cold so I was wrapped up like an old lady!






Wow, this is a long blog, but I have one more picture to share - this is my friend Pat. We met because during the Triathlon training we were pretty well matched so she was my running & swimming buddy - she always beat me in the though she is so amazing. So here is my question to you - she is older than me, but I wanted you to guess - how old you thought Pat looks, because she is totally fit! I'll tell you later how old she is.......

Friday Fun Auntie NuNu Day

louise
is here visiting me:) hooray! We're testing fun things to do on the blog...

We had a yummy movie night with homemade popcorn.... the kids really liked it - we switched from Netflix to Blockbuster for the convenience so we got Open Season - it was cute.

Earlier in the day we went to the Family Day at Chandler's Cub Scout Camp - they were the Purple Monkeys.... he had a blast and it was really cute to watch him in action doing their beloved skits....gotta love cub scout humor.... :)

Our Town

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kkdm-2AoFw

Here's a fun video of our home town.... our 8 minutes of fame so to speak! Not sure about the "smoking" bit though :)

Can't figure out how to download a video.....

Went for my MRI today - I looked at my pictures but it is all black and white to me!!! Linda brought me a yummy chocolate shake today!!!

The kids had their last day of swim lessons for this session....until next week just to start again!!! They don't seem to progress from one level to the next very quickly... but I suppose how good do you get for being in the water for 25 mins. a day????

Rehab

Well I have been staying in bed the last few days and doing a whole lot of nothing which I am sure is terrific for my hip but BORING for me. I've been doing the Health Insurance dance where I have to keep jumping through hoops to make sure things progress. I have to get an MRI, but before getting it, the Doctor had to authorize it, which he did, verbally, but the staff can't do anything until he writes it up, but he has to dictate it first, and then the person that types it has to type it up, then give it to the office, then they call the insurance, then they fax it to the MRI imaging place, then they call me to tell me to call the MRI imaging place for an appointment!!!!!! Yikes! And then I still have to make an appointment with the dr!

Well I kept up on it so everything is progressing and have the MRI tomorrow and an appointment scheduled for next week for the dr. to read it!! Nothing like living in limbo. It's always misleading because you start to feel better one day, think you can move around, but then it still knocks you off your feet! So today unfortunately my mom had a funeral to go to - one of her friends had been in a car accident and was the only one that died - she was the lady that did the flowers for our wedding. Very sad - so Lucas and I were on our own - he had a runny nose so he was pretty crabby - didn't want Dora, or Diego, or Lightening McQueen, I couldn't understand him this morning. Finally Backyardigans fit the bill and he was appeased! So I was out in the living room a bit more and it was exhausting - plus I haven't been sleeping because my back kills just being on my back all night long.

Ah well. The great thing about this though is you are reminded of all the blessings you have and all the great friends and family you have. My friend Beth brought dinner for us tonight, my other friends in the neighborhood also brought us dinner the other night, my next door neighbor has been driving my kids both ways to summer school each day and one of the girls in the ward has been taking chandler to cub scout camp every day. All my neighbors came to visit me and brought me magazines, candy, flowers, fruit, cake! - so much! That's probably why I'm tired too! :) But a good tired!

Wipe Out

Well, here is my new post, and I have absolutely no pictures to document the event - just as well because as my husband put it, "my foot was turned the wrong direction".....let me go to the beginning though....

Saturday a bunch of friends asked if we wanted to do a training bike ride up Mt. Diablo, in a couple weeks a whole group was doing a reunion ride so since I had not done it before I thought it would be a great idea to do a training.

Saturday morning started out terrific, I was pretty tired though as we went to the Alameda County Fair the night before and we had so much fun, it was opening day for the fair and the kids had a blast. We went on all kinds of rides and ate greasy fair food and bought icees & kettle korn and cotton candy, and my favorite, carmel/chocolate apples!

So Saturday morning I get to the base of Mt. Diablo at 7:30 am. My coach is a doll, she is AMAZINGLY fit, she teaches 3-4 classes of all kinds in one day and can still do a "quick" 2000 ft ride up Mt. Diablo! She was really sweet and stayed with me the entire ride. As you know I'm still a novice. I totally made it to the 1/2 mark (that was our goal) which is 2000ft, and for all you bike enthusiasts, I did it all without clips (special shoes with clips that clamp your feet to the pedals, but gives you more power to ride). Well our descent was going well, I was enjoying it and taking the blind curves slowly, we were almost at the bottom, I think I only had 2 more curves, and I lost it - I was going 20-25mph, I was adjusting my breaking hand, didn't break fast enough on the curve, skidded on gravel, watched my left leg hit the ground to break my fall, and the rest of my body and my bike go to the right - I looked like a Wish Bone!!!! Not kidding. I fell, HARD, then I couldn't move anymore. My girl friend came back right away - they called 911, luckily rangers with radios were on their way up the hill anyway - the firefighters came, the paramedics - I told my girl friends to only call the firemen if they were cute, I only remember seeing their wrists and forearms, and those looked cute!

Anyway, they asked me if I wanted morphine, I was fearful, but I screamed when they tried to put me on the crash board. So they said, "how do drugs sound now?" Now I'm the kind, with 3 of my kids I didn't have any drugs, by choice, so you know it had to be pretty bad. So I got the morphine 2 cc's at a time until 10 in the ambulance because they didn't know how long I would have to wait when I got to the ER.

When I got to the ER it was just like the TV show, people moaning all over the place - mind you, it was only 10am by then, people in the hallway. My husband got there by then - time was extremely foggy for me. I just hope someone got my sunglasses!

They got me in a room and asked if I wanted my $95 bike pants cut off me - I was screaming in my head, okay, but apparently I didn't answer fast enough so my husband was like, Yes, please! I truly think my pants saved me - I only got one scrape on my knuckle - I was also wearing a light weight jacket because going down the hill is pretty cold so I really really was lucky. My whole side would have been totally scraped up.

So they gave me barbiturates, I don't see why people become drug addicts because it is horrible! you feel totally nauseous! I threw up as the dr. was talking to me - just water, but still!! It was embarassing.

So they did xrays, a pregnancy test so they could do CT scans - all that happened was that I dislocated my hip! Scary, I say "only" but my gosh it could have been 1000 times worse. I could have broken my hip, my arms, legs, etc. With the barbiturates I was out for the count so didn't even know when they put my leg back into it's socket. The surgeon on call that day said I may be laid up for 6-8 week!!! Guess no more Triathlons this season! I'm going to make an appointment to see an orthopedic specialist tomorrow morning so I'll cross my fingers I don't have anything else. And hope that when I get old I won't need a hip replacement!!!!

So I've been in bed (in my downstairs guest bedroom) all today really sore, can't sit up, I can only lay on my back, not my good side, can't even lift up my own leg really, I have crutches to help me to the bathroom, but even doing that is hard. I got a chair in the shower so I could do that at lest - luckily my mom came into town to visit on Wednesday, little did she know she was going to have to take care of all of us! Things are going well though - I hope that my kids will survive and I won't have any complications. So I'll have plenty of down time to catch up on all of your blogs - thank heaven's for my laptop!