Nursemaid Elbow

Tonight after school/work we went over to Mom & Dad’s house b/c she had made some turkey bone soup.  It was super scrumptious.  Dad took Autumn to the store to get an extension cord b/c the one on their Christmas tree went out.  While they were gone, I went on a walk/jog around the neighborhood.  They came back w/ these pretty blue ornaments that Autumn had picked out.

It was getting late, so I went and put Autumn in the car.  She didn’t want to leave, but I had to get her home to bed.  We got in the car and a song came on the radio so I started to sing along w/ it and she was tired and cranky and didn’t want me to sing so she started throwing a fit and kicking and screaming.  I just ignored it b/c I knew she was acting out b/c she was tired.  We got home and I got her in the house and she was holding her arm and saying that it hurt.  I thought maybe she had hit her hand on the door and bruised it when she was throwing her fit.

While I got her bottle ready she put a dish towel on her hand.  Then when I gave her the bottle she put it on her hand and was still crying saying it hurt.  I put her in bed and after we said prayers she looked at me and said, “my brain hurt.”  I gave her some Tylenol to help w/ her headache from crying and also her hand.  She went to sleep and I got out our $15 Christmas tree and put some lights on it that Dad let us borrow.

I heard Autumn wake up and start crying again and it wasn’t just a sad cry.  It was a hurt cry.  I went in to check on her and she was still holding her arm.  So, I finally called Dad to see if I should take her over to the clinic.  He said it was probably a nursemaids elbow and that he would be right over to look at it (this was at 10:30 pm).  Sure enough, he looked at it and was able to pop it back into place and Autumn was moving it around just fine within one minute.

It was such a hard thing for me to witness as a Mom, b/c I wanted to help her so much and knew there was nothing I could do for her.  Her tears and crying just broke my heart.  I’m so incredibly thankful Dad was able to fix it so easily and quickly.  I hate that feeling of helplessness.  Before she got into bed, we said her nightly prayers and prayed that Heavenly Father would bless her arm and I started crying when she repeated what I said about Heavenly Father helping her feel better.  It was the sweetest and most tender little prayer ever uttered.

It was such a huge relief when she started feeling better.  Since Papa & Mimi were there and Autumn was already up we decided to put her pretty blue ornaments on our tree.

This one had glitter all over it and Autumn got some of it all over her cheeks.  We asked her what color they are and she said, “red.”  Guess we’ll have to keep working on colors with her.

Here’s our cute little Christmas tree.  It’s a little ghetto looking, but it was only $15 and I’m totally fine w/ how it is.  I put some lights on it that you can program to flash fast or slow, so I put them on a slow fade, which looks awesome in the dark living room.  I’m feeling so festive & that it’s officially the Christmas season now that we have a tree up.

Sweet Smiles Of Autumn

This morning we got up and got ready for church and then went over to Mom & Dad’s to eat breakfast and spend some time w/ Lex & Jon & Andrew before they went home.  Dad had brought home some sour gum balls and we gave one to Autumn.  I had my camera ready to take a bunch of pictures of her making the “eww-this-is-sour face,” but she never did.  She chewed on it like a champ.

We were going to take some family pictures since the ones we took at Aunt Sandy’s didn’t turn out, but no one wanted to.  So, I had Lex take some pictures of Autumn & I.  All the ones we got were way too bright except for this one, which ended up being my favorite anyways b/c of Autumn’s cute expression.

I also wanted to get some cute ones of Autumn wearing her leopard print tights that went w/ her new dress.  She’s such a little diva.

She’s been doing this little smile lately where she’ll raise her shoulders.  Anyways, we went to church and then after words we came over to Mom & Dad’s.  We just hung out and watched Mulan and football.

I wanted to try out one of the settings on my camera where you can take pictures of running water and make it look like it’s in motion instead of just a still picture.  I thought this one turned out pretty good.

Autumn & I went over to the church for tithing settlement.  As soon as we sat down and started talking to the Bishop I felt her head start to nod and within 30 seconds she was asleep!  She hadn’t had a nap all day and once I finally got her to hold still for a few seconds she was out like a light.  On the ride home from the church she was obsessed w/ all the Christmas lights and kept saying, “More, Mama.  More, Mama.”  Christmas is going to be so fun this year now that she’s a little older and can understand what is going on.  It has been such a nice LONG weekend.  It’s going to be hard to get up at 6:30n t0morrow to get back into the swing of going to work.  But, I’m just thankful to have a job and that I like the people I work with.

Special Saturday

Every night when Andrew says his prayers he makes sure to include, “and go to Papa’s house and ride the lawn mower and throw sticks in the water.”  Well, Dad didn’t disappoint and took the kids for a ride on the lawn mower.  He drove them to the top of this hill and then they went down and it was super fast.

Then they drove over to the lot and Dad let Andrew put his hands on the wheel.  Look at the joy on Andrew’s face.

After we got over to the lot, it was time to gather sticks so the kids could go throw them in the creek.

The kids had the best time throwing sticks in the water.  We had quite the pile for them to choose from.

Dad had to hold onto their clothes so they wouldn’t get too close to the edge.  The longer they were throwing sticks in the water, the braver they got so he had to keep them from getting too over zealous.

After throwing sticks in the water it was time to go back up to the lawn mower.  I think these two pictures of Dad w/ the grandkids are precious.  They look up to him and love him so much.

I adore this picture of them flying over a big hill of dirt.  Both Andrew & Autumn are “driving” and Dad has such a happy and content expression on his face.

After all the fun outside, we came in to have some breakfast.  Nate made omelets for everyone w/ green peppers out of the garden.  The omelets were soooooo tasty and flavorful.

I left Autumn w/ Mom & Dad and went home to get cleaned up and then I headed down to Dallas to go to the temple.  Liz & Liberty took their endowments out today.  This is the Mayberry’s (Liz’s best friend’s family).

Then here’s Liz & Liberty w/ Liz’s family.  It was really neat b/c Liz’s Grandma & Grandpa got to lead the session.

I was so thankful that I got to be there with them and share such a wonderful experience.

Here’s the happy couple.  It will be great when they get to be sealed together in February.  They are such wonderful people and I am so fortunate to have them as such good friends.

I came home and Dad was running around the living room and kitchen chasing the kids.  He caught Andrew and took his socks off and put them on his ears!  The kids were laughing so hard.

Dad read them a book once everyone settled down from running around.  We spent most of the evening watching the BYU/U of U game (GO COUGARS!).  We also had a big turkey that we gave Curt to fry for us (he was doing 3 of 4 others and told us to bring one over for him to do if we wanted him to).  It was amazing and so was the spiral cut ham we had.

Autumn was sitting on Mom’s lap and Mom told me to get my camera quick b/c Autumn was trying to put her foot in Mom’s footie nylons!  Where does she come up with this stuff?  What a crazy (but CUTE) kid!

Friday Festivities

This morning we got up and had pancakes and then just hung out and watched cartoons.  I think this picture of Lexie & the kids sitting together in the chair is so adorable.

After pancakes it was time to put up the tree.  We got some Amy Grant Christmas music playing and went to town.  We had some trouble at the beginning getting the extension cord to work, but once we got the fuse replaced it worked just fine.  I’m glad we only have a 8’ Christmas tree and not a 16’ like Courtney said she has at her house.

We couldn’t reach the top branches, so Nate put Courtney up on his shoulders so she could put lights on the tall branches.  Then Jon came in and helped us finish the very top.

We were talking about how strong Nate was to keep Courtney up on his shoulders for so long (even though she weighs practically nothing).  I was saying he would be really strong if he could lift me up.  So, he tried and was actually able to do it.  Look at his face…classic!

This year we decided to put up the train for the kids to enjoy, which we haven’t done in the past 3 years.  They just laid there on their tummies and watched it go around and around for a long time.  They got so much enjoyment from the train, so I’m glad we put it up this year.

We asked Dad if he was going to take down the scary bat since it’s not Halloween anymore and instead of taking it down, he decided to make it a festive scary bat!

While we were bringing down all the boxes of Christmas dishes and decorations, Dad found a box of my stuff up in the attic.  There was a bunch of nostalgic stuff in there from when I was little.  For example, this is a thing Mom made for me to match  my teddy bear she made me. I thought it would be cute to get a picture of Autumn wearing it.  I’ll have to go back in my old pictures and see if I can find the one of me wearing it.

Lexie & Jon are obsessed w/ the Texas Longhorns and have been teaching Andrew to say, “Hook ‘Em Horns.”  Autumn wanted in on the fun too, and learned how to make the horns sign and say it.  It’s so adorable when Andrew says it.

Autumn & I went home b/c my car was having some troubles and so we took it over to Liberty’s for him to look at.  Luckily it was just the tube that connected the radiator to the engine.  He just cut off the bad part of the tube and reconnected it.  Autumn & I went home and got cleaned up for the day and she was hungry so we had some toast and a can of fruit.  She always wants to be up on the counter so she can see what’s going on.

Mom called and said everyone was going to Chipotle for lunch and that we should come meet them there.  I thought this picture of Andrew trying to take a bite of this monster-huge burrito was funny.

Nate & Courtney

Mom & Nick

Lex, Jon, Andrew, Me & Autumn

The family that fits in the same snuggie together, stays together! LOL!

When Dad got home from work, the kids wanted him to come look at the train w/ them.  I thought this was a sweet picture of everyone laying on the ground together to watch the train.

Mom had gone to Costco after we ate at Chipotle and she came home w/ these presents for the kids..an ADORABLE dress for Autumn that came w/ matching tights and then this Spiderman shirt for Andrew b/c he thinks he’s Peter Parker.

We spent the rest of the evening watching football and playing games like Rummikub and Kings, Queens & Peons.  For dinner we had grilled salmon and spinach.  Mom was going to make some homemade tartar sauce, and so she opened up this jar of pickles.  We tasted one of the pickles and it was really soggy and didn’t taste very good.  We also noticed the pickles were a weird color.  We looked at the side of the jar and noticed the sell by date was Nov 1999!  No wonder they didn’t taste very good…they were TEN years old!

It was a fun day getting the tree and lights up and just spending time together as a family.  I didn’t do any of the Black Friday shopping stuff.  I’ve always wanted to do it, but there’s never been anything I was really needing and wanting enough to get up at 4 am.  Maybe next year…

Happy Thanksgiving 2009

This morning we got up and had breakfast together and then packed up in the car and headed out to Aunt Sandy & Uncle Robert’s to celebrate Thanksgiving. As soon as we got there, we wanted to take our family pictures so that way the kids could go play and get dirty and it wouldn’t matter. This was one of the ones we took, but it was way too bright and everyone was squinting.

So, we moved over to this bench, but the lighting wasn’t working either. Everyone was in shadows except for Nate.

I wanted to practice using my camera so Lex & Jon let me take some pics of their family. I won’t post the good ones on here but this one made me laugh b/c you can tell in this pic that Andrew is DONE taking pictures!

We got a few pictures of Autumn & I as well. This was a cute one of Autumn saying, “Get out of here.” She is definitely one of the things that I am most thankful for this Thanksgiving.

After we stuffed ourselves full of 2 different types of turkey and 2 different types of mashed potatoes and gravy and stuffing and yams and 2 types of salads, it was time to watch football and take naps (for the adults) and then the kids went to the farm to play. This one of Caleb & Autumn & Shane in the little corral is so cute.

Then they went and climbed on the fence and I loved it that Autumn got right up there w/ the boys. Isn’t Shane’s hat so farmish and boyish?

I was trying to say silly things to get the kids to smile for me. I said, “Eww…stinky bummies,” and Shane turned around and actually showed me his bummy. He’s such a funny kid and is 100% pure little boy. Then Autumn decided to make silly faces and start yelling.

What a cutie!

After feeding the cows and climbing on the fence, the kids climbed into the back of the truck and we drove over to the chicken coop.

Autumn “found” an egg that one of the hens had laid in the coop. After feeding the chickens and discovering eggs all the grandkids took off to play on the dirt hill. They did that for a good 30-45 minutes. They would climb up it and get rocks and go throw them in the pond and then get more and chase each other around. Us adults that had gone to the farm were talking about how much fun the kids were having w/ just being able to run around and be outside. Too often these days we think that kids need to have the latest and greatest movies and gadgets and toys. When in reality they really don’t need all that. These 5 kids had such an enjoyable time w/ just a pile of dirt and some rocks and sticks. It’s good to remember that most often the simplest things are the best.

After playing at the farm, we went back to the house to have some pie. I think we had 8 different kinds of pie, plus the 2 different type of pumpkin bars that I brought. We for sure feasted this Thanksgiving. The lighting was better in the afternoon, so we went back out to try and get a family picture. While Nate was over getting into position for the pictures, Andrew went over and sat by Courtney. We were laughing and joking that Andrew was moving in on Nate’s woman! Andrew knows a pretty girl when he sees one.

The pictures this time were better as far as lighting goes, but we still didn’t get a good one. The kids were just too tired by this point and didn’t want to smile or pose for the camera.

Here’s a funny one of Aunt Sandy’s family…look at Tyler & Zack pretending to kiss Uncle Robert.

Here’s a group picture of everyone that was there (except Grandpa Asay who they had to take back to the nursing home b/c he wasn’t feeling very well). We missed having Kerry & Carmen & the kids this year. We had a good time, though, and enjoyed being together.

Here’s Nate & Courtney in their matching Cowboys jersey shirts. We watched most of the game on TV and then left in the middle of the 4th quarter so we could get past the stadium before the game let out so we didn’t have to sit in traffic.

This was how pretty much everyone looked in the car on the ride home. I think is the best kind of sleep to have…the exhausted and worn out kind b/c you’ve had so much fun during the day kind!

As I do every Thanksgiving, I like to reflect on all that I’m blessed with. Grandma Johnson fell and broke her ankle and was in the hospital, which made me so sad. I know it’s hard for her (and Grandma Ruth) to get older and not be able to do the things they used to do. I’m thankful for them (and also Grandpa Johnson & Grandpa Jay) and that they were all such good parents to my parents so that they could be good parents to me so that I could be a good Mom to Autumn. I have such a rich legacy of great people in my family.

I am thankful for good health and the ability to walk and see and breathe and hear. I know that sounds trite, but it’s so true. I am thankful that I have a place to work that I enjoy going to. I am thankful that I have a nice warm place to sleep and food to eat. This Thanksgiving I’ve really tried to think about the blessings that I take for granted and really focus on them and how lucky I am.

I’m also incredibly thankful for my family. I know everyone says that, but I really am. We are so close knit and get to spend a lot of time together. I can think of a list of wonderful things that I love and appreciate about each family member. Being a Mom to Autumn is one of the greatest blessings in my life. She is a joy to me every single day and helps make my life complete.

The thing that I’m the most grateful for this year and every year really is being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I am grateful to have a full and complete knowledge of the gospel that Jesus Christ himself taught and lived while on this Earth. I am so lucky to have the knowledge that families can be together forever. It makes me so happy to know that we have a living prophet on the Earth today that is the Noah and Moses of OUR time! I am thankful that I was baptized and that if I live up to the covenants I’ve made that I can have eternal life. I am eternally grateful to know that Heavenly Father loved me enough to send His Son to live on Earth and set the example for me and then that Jesus was willing to lay down His life for my sake so that when I make mistakes (and I’ve for sure made my share of them and will make more I’m sure) that I can repent and ask for forgiveness and can have a chance to be better and improve myself.

I hope everyone today was able to reflect on all the amazing things (both big and small) that they have been given. We truly have every single reason in the world to be THANKful, even for our hardships b/c they help us to grow and learn lessons. I hope everyone was able to have an attitude of gratitude.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!