Letters to Santa

The day after Thanksgiving, the girls wrote their letters to Santa. Morgan told me what to write and Megan wrote her own. I had to take a picture because Megan's was just so cute and typical Megan. After they were done writing them, we put a stamp on the envelope and off to the post office we went. Morgan has changed her "list" several times, but I am pretty sure she will be happy with whatever Santa chooses to bring her.

My favorite part..."before I continue I would like to tell you how nice you are"

Some Things I Love

My big brother, Kenny. How can you not smile at this picture of him?!? All this boy needs is a cherry coke and chex mix and he is happy! Kenny is a joy in our family and our one true and special spirit. We are so excited to have him spend Christmas with us this year!

Ah, my Morgan. She is just a ball of fire, but I do love her. She is a huge challenge every morning, well Monday-Friday, when we have to get ready for school (daycare). She always wants five more minutes and then it is a battle. However, overall she is the sunshine. She sure makes me laugh and I love it when she tells me I am "the best mommy ever!"

Megan. Look at her - how can you not love her?! This girl is full of personality, full of compassion, and full of heart. She is such a kind kid, she thinks of others before herself. She is great at making friends. She is a fantastic reader and a great student (her teacher told me so). She has her moments of not wanting to do what we ask, but quickly says she is sorry and tries to do better. She knows how to have a good time and she loves the gospel.

And, of course Ryan. He works so hard to help provide for us. He sacrifices a lot and I love him for it. He is such a great dad. He takes time to just be with the girls. He will play games, read stories, wrestle, he will even let them give him a pedicure. He is a good husband too. He listens to me and I love that we communicate so great together.

Snowman 2011

My girls love to build snowmen. When it just starts to snow they wish for enough to make a snowman. We had a snow storm awhile back in November that gave us enough, even though it wasn't the best snowman snow we made it work. We have a great snowman kit that my sister, Kristin, made for us a few years ago and we love it. Happy snow season everyone!

Jeruselam

How exciting is this?! I went Jerusalem awhile back and it was fantastic! Okay, I really didn't go there, but I went to a place that looks a lot like it would have. The Church built something really amazing in Goshen, UT and I was privileged enough to get to go visit the property. They don't give tours and they are done filming for now so this was a treat. I have some great connections working at the Church. I can't share too many photos, but here are a few. It was really quite amazing to see this in person and to think about what times were like when Jesus was born and living His life. Some of the filming done at this site has been produced into LDS Bible Videos. President Henry B. Eyring announced the release of the Bible Videos during the First Presidency Christmas Devotional December 2011. I love watching the videos and know that I have been there and have seen it. It was a fantastic experience and one I wont forget.

Halloween 2011

Halloween 2011 brought us lots of fun memories. It turns out that my work goes all out for Halloween, I am talking ALL OUT! There was a group that made their entire area the Wizard of Oz; complete with the yellow brick road, the flying monkeys, and even Oz himself. A couple of friends and I created a sensory experience. We had the kids feel in the bowls of stuff. We had witches eyeballs, witches warts, guts, and brains. It was quite the experience. We decorated the office awesome - if I may so say myself! Brittany and Breanna were kind enough to man the station while I took the girls around trick-or-treating. We had well over 1,000 kids come through - it was crazy! Brittany, Breanna, and I made the day complete as we dressed up as witches. My girls thought it was pretty great. Then of course we went trick-or-treating on Halloween night and the girls had a blast and scored a ton of candy. Lucky for me, I don't have to hide the candy from the girls. They eat a little bit that night and then they are pretty much done with it so I get to keep what I want and chuck the rest.

First Day of 3rd Grade

Megan started 3rd Grade this year - crazy how fast time is going by and how much this girl is growing up. She was a bit nervous before school started because she "heard" that 3rd grade had more bullies. Makes me sad that she is worried about that. Part of that comes from her height, or lack there of. 1st and 2nd grade were pretty tough as far as getting teased about being so short, but that is something that won't change for a very long time. I told her a story that happened to me on my first day of 3rd grade...when I went into my classroom on the first day of school, my teacher, Ms. Johnson, came up to me and asked if I was looking for my big sister. For real! I told her "no, I am in your class." We laughed and she became one of my favorite teachers through elementary school. After I told Megan this, she laughed and then was a little bit better. So far things have been great with school. Megan isn't having issues with being short, I think she is finally just owning it - we shorties have to :). Megan is a very good kid and I am grateful for her and how hard she works at school.

Curse of a Broken Knee

Three years ago, at Ryan's sister's wedding, I broke my knee. Two years ago I actually found out it was broken for the first time. July 2011 I finally started the process to get it fixed. Because the knee was broken and nothing was done, it healed on its own and healed wrong. Not only did it heal wrong, but in the last three years, my alignment has become so off on my left leg that it needed to be fixed before anything could be done to fix the actual broken part. I met with the orthopedic doctor on my birthday for the first time. He took one look at my x-ray and said, "well, this is difficult." I felt awesome - not. We talked about a few options, full knee replacement, half knee replacement, some other experimental surgery, or nothing at all. The doctor wasn't convinced that there was a right answer so he wanted to pass my case around to other colleagues. I was fine with that; the more the merrier! Ended up realizing that the alignment was off so much that in order for any of the options to work we have to get me re-aligned. I asked the doctor how we do that and he said, "well, I go in a cut a wedge out of your femur and then plate it with a titanium plate." Sounds fun - you know you are jealous. Anyway, Ryan and I talked it over and we both decided that we are tired of my limitations with pain and discomfort with my knee that let's just do it. The doctor also wanted to go in arthroscopic and check out the meniscus and such. Well, surgery was scheduled for July 5th at 6:30 am...here goes nothing!
Surgery and recovery was about three hours and then they kept me overnight at the hospital for pain control. My meniscus ended up being torn so the doctor repaired that and also took out a lot of arthritic tissue. No surprise that I would have that; eight years of rheumatoid arthritis will give you that! Oh, the doctor did say that my knees are like most 80 year old knees...good to know! I was at home and on crutches for 4-8 weeks; depending on how the bone healed. I will tell you right now that crutches are hard, not only physically, but mentally as well. My girls and Ryan were big helpers and Megan, bless her, she was the best nurse I could have ever asked for. Not many 8 year old girls will stay inside their first two weeks of summer vacation and wait on their mom hand and foot, but my eight year old did and didn't complain hardly at all. Love her! I am still in physical therapy but things are progressing. The next surgery will be when the pain in the actual break of the knee starts up again. Doctor doesn't want to do anything yet.(Picture me doing a happy dance):)
I am glad I did the surgery to get things fixed. I am glad I am done with crutches. I am glad that I can see progress in physical therapy. I am glad I can carry things when I walk again. I am glad that I have a fabulous family that supported me through this trial.

Self portrait in hospital - I had to send it to my mom whose was out of the country visiting Brandon.

Beautiful flowers that former co-workers sent.

Home from hospital.
With the brace
Bandages came off on day 9
After I showered and scrubbed as much as I could
Inside of my thigh...jealous much?!

Manti Pageant

Ryan and I both had been to the Mormon Miracle Pageant when we were younger and have always thought that the girls would like it. We decided that this year we would make a weekend out of it. We booked a hotel room in Fairview, UT and headed to Manti that night. We went to the pageant and then the next day woke up and took the rhino out for some riding in Fairview. It was a great weekend and the girls loved the play.

Dance Competition

Megan started dance again in January and we found out that this studio has every class compete in at least one competition. I wasn't sure how I felt about that, but it really ended up being no big deal. The competition was organized fairly well and we were told what time her class had to be there; we got there and she was completely done within an hour - it was pretty smooth. We chose to not stay for the awards because we knew they wouldn't start until at least 10:00 pm and Megan wanted to go to her cousins house for a birthday party. The next day at Church she found out her class took first place! I felt bad she missed the awards, but only one girl ended up being there for the awards. Her dance teacher made a big deal out if at class. Megan did so good - she really steals the show! The director of the studio told me that she tries really hard to watch the entire class, but she was always drawn to Megan to watch her. Makes her mama happy :). Megan tries really hard to get things just right and at times is a little mechanical, but she is making progress.

Volume Please!

Morgan has fine hair and one morning I thought I would try out the Velcro curlers to see if we could add some volume. She was so funny with the curlers in I had to take pictures.

Lotsa Tots

In mid-April Morgan started going to a daycare full time. We were fortunate enough to have family watch up until now, but this was the right time to move her. She was not happy when I left and yes, I shed tears too. Megan did the same thing and I know they get over it, but it is still hard. Megan stopped crying in the mornings after a couple of weeks, Morgan on the other hand is just barely starting to have mornings where she doesn't scream; it is the end of August now. :) The director of the daycare sent me a picture of her on her first day to let me know she was having fun, made me smile. And when she does cry in the morning, she has finished by the time I get to my car -silly girl. She has moved to the 4 year old class and now she tells everyone she is 8 because her sister is big and I go to the big kid class. She is a character! One fabulous thing that has happened since her going to daycare - Morgan is now potty-trained!!!

Grandpa Keith's Birthday

The girls and I took a trip to St. George back in February and it just so happened to land on the weekend of my Dad's birthday. Ryan stayed back home to go snowmobiling. We love our trips to St. George to visit Grandma and Grandpa Morgan as well as Aunt Allie and cousins. My Dad loves banana cream pie, so that was his choice for a cake.

A Virus

Don't you just love it when the doctor tells you that you just have a virus? Well, I do! When I have a sore throat of something like that it is one thing, but when your legs are covered in spots that look like chicken pox, being told you have a virus is not comforting. So the Monday after Megan's baptism I was getting ready for bed and while lotioning my legs noticed a few spots. They seemed to be mostly on my left leg/foot but there were a few on my right. They didn't itch so I didn't think it was anything serious, but I did take a few pictures so I could see if they proceeded to get worse as the days went on. Turns out that I would not need the pictures for proof that things got worse. Seriously, this is so disgusting and gross. As the days went on I kept watch and not only did these things spread, but my ankle because very swollen - like 8-9 months pregnant swollen. I decided to go to the doctor; she looked at my legs and said, "Yeah, not sure what that is, so I am going to send you to a dermatologist." Well, that was comforting - not really. So the next day I went to the dermatologist, she was pretty sure that it was Vasculitis; inflammation of blood vessels. It is not contagious and nothing to treat it. So, she did a biopsy and two days later her suspicion was confirmed. Well, that is great that I now know what it is, but when will they go away? Let's just say the spots first appeared April 11th and today is August 24th and you can still clearly see that I have had something on my leg/ankle. These dang spots are taking forever to fade! At least the swelling went away and there is no pain. *Warning: Pictures are not pretty!

Day One



Day Two

Day Three

Trying to heal