what we've been up to.

Here are a few things we have been up to lately:

Stumbled across a blog post on how to make sidewalk paint with cornstarch, water, and food coloring, and in an effort to enjoy every last minute of the warm weather, decided to give it a try. It was lots of fun.



Ellie is DEEP into all things girly right now - princesses/rainbows/unicorns/butterflies/paint-my-nails/everything must be pink phase.


Addie - well - see previous post. Turned my head for two seconds. Two seconds! I swear she had it planned. Good news is, it's super washable.



Ok, and I had to stop and look at this photo for a minute - is this my little girl? This girl is BIG! She’s completely lost those baby features in favor of a girl’s face. Beautiful and heart-pulling all at the same time. Wow. Motherhood is an emotional web of complexity, and it seems like just when I feel like I’m finally getting hold of things, well, goodbye toddlerhood and hello Little Girlville.



We've really focused the last few months on reading scriptures as a family every night. A couple of times a week Ellie will tell us she needs some "peace and quiet" and goes to Grant's room to read her scriptures. We find her like this every time. I swear, this girl is everything good.



We went to Logan last weekend to pick up Addie Cakes. She stayed with them for a week. My sweet family has been so good about helping us out with this whole broken leg thing. We hung out for a few hours, went to dinner at the Olive Garden (a couple minutes after they brought us out our food we were all digging in. Nobody noticed Addie was standing in the aisle and had taken off her pants and diaper. Nobody except everybody sitting at the nearby tables). When we were leaving my parents took our vehicle and the kids and we took theirs. I wasn't quite sure what was going on, until we pulled up to Anniversary Inn. He had completely surprised me. After four months of broken leggedness at our house (and still a few more months to go), we both needed a little getaway. And it was pure bliss. We stayed at King Arthur's Castle - complete with a sword in the stone.


Sometimes I miss L.J. We live in the same house, sleep in the same bed, sit at the same table for dinner, raise the same kids. But sometimes, when things get really crazy, like now, it's like we're strangers passing each other in the hallway with ringing headaches from screaming kids. On a typical evening as we try to talk...him asking what is on the agenda for the next few days and me telling him some story that happened at work. Ellie is interrupting to tell me (in a very dramatic way) every detail from her imaginary princessland, Addie's screaming for who-knows-what and Macie is pounding on her high chair tray and throwing her roll across the table. And I have lots of extra chores to do, that LJ normally takes care of, but aren't really do-able with one leg. And LJ's going nuts not being able to do those things.


But this night, for twelve hours, I got to have him all to myself. Oh boy, was it nice. I sit and wonder sometimes what I ever did to deserve L.J. I know that sounds as cheesy as it gets, but man oh man I hit the jackpot. He has the kindest heart I know. And he can see the "big picture" in life better than anyone I've met. On our wedding day 6 years ago I thought I was head over heels in love. But when I look back I realize how much deeper love can be. Has it been butterflies and rainbows the whole time? Heck no! But I'll tell you what: I still get a little heart-jump when I see him across the room. And I adore him more than I can ever even try to express.


And to top it all off, we got to enjoy the awesome fall colors of Sardine Canyon on the way home.







LJ Update: healing but VERY VERY slowly. At his last appointment two weeks ago, the plan was for a walking cast, but his bones hadn't healed enough to do so. At least they are healing, a little tiny bit. That's better than last time! Then yesterday his incision was really red and swollen with some pussy drainage coming out of it (I'll inhibit my nursing instincts at this point and stop with the description). He woke up with a fever of 102. His disolvable sutures have not dissolved and have turned into abcesses (infection) = super high dose of antibiotics and pray the infection hasn't gone to the bone. At this point it's wait and see for a few days. I'll keep you posted.