Mission Accomplished

Yay! John finished my coat rack/bench for the laundry room AND we are almost finished putting the bricks around the edge of our back yard AND John finally turned our shed 90 degrees AND he built himself a big old half pipe this week. What a busy little bee, huh?

If You Leave Me Now

I am a little ashamed that I'm not the typical mom who cries on the first day of preschool. I am LOVING having a few hours every once in a while to clean out drawers and volunteer and finally work on my family history. I have to admit, on that first day of dropping the last kid off I felt a little empty inside and almost even teary-eyed when the Chicago song, "If You Leave Me Now", came on in the car.
Tolkien was pretty excited to go to finally go to school like his sisters. On the way home he said, "School is fun!" and then 2 minutes later when we pulled into the driveway he said, "I sure am glad to be home with my mommy now."

A Room for Braunté

I promised Braunté I'd put some photos of her new room in here. It's her early Christmas present, but she has to wait until December to decorate. We finally had a new window put in and we finished painting on July 24th.

before...

and after...

Ouch

Here are some photos of Odessa over the past couple of months. Don't look if you're really squeamish. She had all 4 pins removed and stitches out on August 3rd and I'm happy to report that her second cast came off on August 17th. She started school a week later. She has been a little self-conscious about her scars, but she's doing better at dealing with it. I'm proud of her.

At 7 weeks in Lava Hot Springs
(made possible by an awesome waterproof cast cover).

Sad, sad day

Odessa was in a serious accident last Saturday. She fell from a friend's zip-line and had an open humerus fracture and several breaks in her wrist as well. She was life-flighted to the hospital and had two surgeries. We're grateful that John was there when it happened, the surgeon at Primary Children's was great, and we have narcotics. She's home now and suffering from nerve damage, pain, night terrors, and nausea. Thanks to all who have called/prayed/visited/brought food. We have had so much support.

Our computer died so call if you need to get a hold of us!

Summer Break

When did summers stop being relaxing? I feel like I've been running straight for 3 weeks. Odessa girl got baptized on June 6th...yay! What a cutie, I am so proud of her.

Then it was straight to Girls camp. It was exhausting, but incredible. I was feeling pretty happy because two different girls at camp asked me if Braunte' was my sister, ha! Then my good friend pointed out that it's probably because I'm so immature.
We got home Friday, John's birthday was Sunday, and we left for Park City Monday. We went ice skating, saw the movie "Up", took a day trip to the Hogle Zoo, watched videos, went swimming a lot, shopped the outlets, hiked up to Timpanogas cave, and went down the expensive new Alpine Coaster.Home again Sunday night (Father's Day), Tolkien's half-birthday was Monday. We celebrate his birthday in the summer-time and I somehow threw together a big rig truck party for him between 3 tumbling classes, 2 Young Women activities, and lots of laundry loads.Phew! I'm tired....thanks mom and dad for helping with the kids and letting me crash on your couch today.

This is Odessa on her birthday right before bed. I guess that having to wait until the next day to celebrate didn't dampen her mood.