Snowmen:Pictures:Zoo

Here's a catch up of everything else that has happened in the last week or two so that I'll be all caught up! Just in time to go to Utah and have a BUNCH to blog about! :) We leave tomorrow and we are so excited! EVERY morning Kolton wakes up and tells us how many days until Utah.  This morning when I was waking him up, the VERY first thing that came out of his tired little mouth was "One more day until Utah" in his yawning/stretching voice.  It was cute! We can't wait to go! 

One Sunday evening Kolton and I made snickerdoodles.  He's an awesome helper in the kitchen! 

 We had our first (and probably last) "real" snow fall on February 13th.  We woke up to some snow on the ground and Kolton couldn't wait to get out in it.  I postponed it as long as I could so that hopefully it would warm up some and not be so cold, but I think we headed out at 10:00. 

 He really, really wanted to make a snowman so I showed him how.  The snow we received was perfect for making them.  It stuck together really well.  He did awesome at it! He would just roll and roll and roll!

 We used carrots for the nose and little rocks from our backyard for the eyes. 

 Kolton with his first snowman.  He was pretty darn proud! After he finished that one he decided to make two more so we could have our whole family of snowmen.  :)

 And here he is with them all! They look pretty cool to me! Especially coming from the hands of a sweet little 4 year old.  Once we were done with the snowmen he asked me to have a snowball fight with him.  He thought that was hilarious! I had so much fun running around in the front yard with him throwing snow at each other! It was a great morning! After we were done with that we came inside and warmed up under a blanket and watched a show together. 

 Tyler's birthday was on the 22nd so we did the same thing we did for Shawn's birthday for him.  I put up a grey sheet for him to stand in front of to hold the signs thinking it would look better than the wall but it didn't work out too well.  Anyway, I could hardly get him to take the pictures with the signs we made because he just wanted to pose for me.  He cracks me up.  He came up with all these poses (and MANY more not shown) on his own. 

 I kept telling him to smile and he kept squinting his eyes...not sure why, but I thought it was funny. 

 He's just so darn handsome! Love him!

 

On Monday morning we went to Journey Church to play.  A girl from the ward put on the relief society email that she was going there and for anyone else who wanted to go to join her so we headed down there.  They have like a McDonald's type playground in their lobby.  We were there for an hour and a half and Kolton had so much fun! 

Tuesday we went to Jumpzone.  Kolton has been asking to go there for months and so I told him I'd take him before we went to Utah.  Well, since we were going this weekend I figured I'd better take him soon.  We met the Foys there at noon and played.  We were there until almost 2:30 and the kids were going strong when we left! I couldn't believe it! There was hardly anyone there so that was nice too.  Unfortunately one of the slides wasn't blown up because they didn't have enough workers to man them all (even though they are never out there and always back in the back) but the kids had fun none-the-less.  After Jumpzone we walked to Once Upon a Child.  Kolton picked out a swimsuit and a shirt.  When we got home the first thing he wanted to do was put the shirt on and take a picture and send it to Daddy, so that's what we did.  Check out his posing...the leg crossed over the other, knees bent...haha.  If only we could get a real smile and not a fake one, it'd be perfect.  :) He makes me laugh. 

 

On Wednesday we went to the zoo with Vanessa, Pierson and Rigdon.  It was such a beautiful day! We had a lot of fun walking around everywhere and the boys were funny to listen to.  They talked and talked and talked to each other the whole time.  I fully expected the zoo to be packed that day since it was supposed to be so nice, but surprisingly there wasn't very many people there, so that was great too! We got to see a lot of animals that we don't usually go see...like the bald eagles.  

 The boys were running up this hill and decided to take a break and catch a breather.  I liked how they were leaned over resting.  Thought it was cute.  They held their pose for me to turn the camera on.  :)

 We also went to go see the jaguar which I don't think I've ever gone to go see at this zoo.  All the cats were pacing in their areas.  Not sure what that was about but it was fun to watch! :)

 This snow leopard totally looked pregnant to me. 

 We went to go see the baby tiger cubs as well.  They are TOO cute.  One was over by itself for a while, resting on a rock, while the other three were over by their mama while she licked and cleaned them.  It was fun to watch!

 After a few hours walking around looking at the animals we went to the playground and let the boys play for a bit.  I seriously can't believe how much energy little boys can have after running through a zoo for hours!

 Wednesday night I watched the Foys kids during youth since it was New Beginnings.  Brady had to go to youth early that night because they were doing a physical fitness merit badge and so he left at 6:00.  They finished fast, though, and so he was able to come home around 7:30.  Brady's dad decided to come by and bring us smoothies.  Yummy! When Brittney came to pick her kids up that night she asked if Kolton would want to spend the night.  I was going to be going to work the next morning and she was going to watch him for me, so if he stayed the night I wouldn't have to drive him over there in the morning.  He was super excited to go--especially after Kade was nice enough to let him sleep in the top bunk! The next day they were all wearing their Thunder shirts so Brittney took some pictures of them. 

I love them all! So cute! Thursday night they came over and watched the Thunder game with us.  It was fun! The boys really like to watch the Thunder play too so that makes it even more fun! 

Right now the Thunder are tied for the best record in the NBA.  No biggie. 

Valentine's Day

For Valentine's Day this year I did little mailboxes for Brady and Kolton for the 14 days leading up to Valentine's Day, starting on February 1st.  I bought the mailboxes at Target in their dollar spot and each day they would get a note with some goodies in their mailboxes.  I did things like "I o'fish'ally love you!" or "Life would be a circus without you!" or "You make me 'snicker'!"  You know...like the usual candy grams. They both loved seeing what was in their mailboxes each day.  Some times I wouldn't have done it yet and it would be evening and so I'd go in my room and put it together and come out and yell "Mails HERE!" and Kolton would come running to see what was in his mailbox.  It was fun to do!  

 Valentine's morning Kolton woke up to his mailbox full and a note from mom and dad with a special present.  He got three puzzles and a Finn McMissle from Cars2.  He was SO excited for his toys! He kept saying how nice we were to give him those things and how lucky he was. 

 Kolton and I took some pictures together that morning making some silly faces.  :) He seriously loves to have his picture taken.  Whenever we go somewhere fun he'll ask before we leave if I have my camera so I can take pictures of him.  :)

 This one he wanted us to pretend we were giving hugs...

 This one we are monkeys sleeping...??

 Brady had lunch on Valentine's day at 11:00 so we went to Mazzio's for lunch.  He loves to eat there but he usually has lunch at 1:00 so we can't go (the lunch buffet ends at 1:15).  He was excited that Kolton and I surprised him with a trip to Mazzio's.  

After we took Brady back to work Kolton and I headed to the library.  Kolton played on the computers and with the toys and found some books and movies.  I figured out how to use the library "redbox" type thing and got Mars Needs Moms for him.  He loves that movie.  We've rented it from Redbox enough times to own it by now...so its good to know the library has it and you can keep it for 7 days, so that's nice too.  

I made dinner that night.  We were supposed to have bacon fettuccine alfredo.  I don't know what is wrong with my cooking on Valentine's Day but I think every year something has gone wrong.  The alfredo sauce went horribly wrong...like was all lumpy and sticky and I have no idea why.  I make it all the time.  SO, we went to Sonic and Taco Bueno for our Valentine's Day dinner.  :)

 Brady and Kolton went to the store after Brady got home from work and bought me a present and flowers.  They were pretty! Kolton said that he smelled the roses and they smelled gross so he decided to get me these.  They were pretty!

 Here's the inside of the card Brady and Kolton made me.  Its a picture of me with my flowers.  I love it!

 That evening we played some minute to win it games as a family.  It was such a blast! We did ones that were easy enough for Kolton to participate.  We threw marshmallows in cups to see who could get the most in a minute, blew cups across the table with straws to see who could do it the fastest, we put Vaseline on our noses and moved cotton balls from one side of the ottoman to the other, and then Kolton wanted to make up his own so then we threw cotton balls in to the cups.  It was seriously so fun.  We had a fun Valentine's Day! 

The next morning Kade and Emery came over and we played some of the same games from the night before.  They had fun!

 These are the signs Brittney made for the kids to take pictures with.  I made a storyboard and sent it to print and when I went to go pick it up it was totally cut off in all these weird places.  It was weird.  I was bummed...So, Brady just got to look at the pictures on the computer. 

That evening I made cookies.  Kolton was in his room and had no idea I had put cookies in the oven (I used pre-made dough).  He came out of his room probably half way through the baking time for the cookies and was telling Brady something.  He stopped mid sentence and started sniffing.  He looked at us and said "I smell something..." I asked him what he smelled (trying really hard not to smile) and he said "I smell...COOKIES!" It was pretty funny! This kid has such a powerful nose! Its hilarious sometimes the things he can smell and how quickly he'll smell them.  

We had a great Valentine's Day spending time together! Its so great to have a day to remember those you love!
XOXO

The ACCIDENT

Monday, February 6th, I was working at Brady's parent's house for his dad.  Liz had picked me up and brought me to their house so that Brady could have the car.  Unfortunately he had already left for work on his motorcycle, so he was going to go home at lunch and pick up the car and drive to his parents for lunch since Kolton and I were going to be over there while I was working.  

At about 1:00 (when Brady typically has lunch) I was in the office with Brady's dad and Kolton was out on the driveway with Jaycee and Liz playing basketball.  Jeff got a phone call and sounded all concerned but I couldn't tell what was going on or who he was talking to so I just continued on working.  He got off the phone and as he was walking out of the office said "Your husband got in a wreck on his motorcycle.  He's ok but I have to go." I was like "WHAT?!" So I went after him and as I caught up he was in the driveway about to tell Brady's mom what happened.  He was driving on 19th street, about to turn on to Sante Fe, when he decided to look in his mirrors.  He felt like the car behind him was really close to him so he just wanted to look.  While he was looking in his mirror, the truck in front of him had slowed down to turn in to Walgreens, and so when he looked up he slammed on his brakes which made his front wheel lock up and his bike slide out from underneath him.  He hit the ground going about 35 mph.  He landed on his left side and slid about 10-15 feet he thinks.  He says the first thing he thought was "crap! I just got in a motorcycle accident.  I'm in the middle of the road.  I need to move." so he got up and crawled to the curb.  After a second or two he realized his motorcycle was still on so he got up and turned it off real quick and then sat back down.  The lady behind him had stopped in the road and put her hazards on so that no one would come in that lane and the guy in front of him in the truck had seen it happen and so he came over too.  A couple more people stopped, including an off duty cop.  He told Brady he had called 911 for him.  Everyone there was really nice and took care of him.  When the ambulance and fire trucks got there they checked him out and then left when Brady convinced them he'd be ok.  People started asking if Brady needed a wrecker service and that's when he thought he should call his dad to come get his motorcycle.  Because of the adrenaline he hadn't even thought about calling anyone, so he then called his dad.  At first I was a little upset he hadn't called me first...I mean, I am his wife, and it totally freaked me out not being able to talk to him and make sure he was ok, but after hearing the story I understood why it happened the way it did.  I totally should have gone with his dad, and to this day I still don't know why I didn't, but his dad left and met Robby at the warehouse to get the trailer and go get the motorcycle.  They were gone for forever! When they finally got back, the adrenaline had started to slow down and the reality of it all had hit Brady.  I took him in to the bathroom and took off all his clothes so they wouldn't stick to his wounds and cleaned them all out.  His pants were all torn up and ripped open.  He had some pretty bad cuts on his knees and his wrist.  His left knee had been rubbed almost down to the bone, while the right one wasn't as deep. 

  

 Brady was pretty sure he broke his finger (it was getting more and more swollen and was crooked and turning purple).  We got a hold of President Bean and asked if he would be willing to x-ray his finger. 

 Sure enough it was broken straight through and his knuckle was dislocated.  President Bean called an orthopedist that he knew, Dr. Ewing, and got us an appointment for the next morning at 10:00.  Brady's shoulder was also hurting really bad but President Bean told us to just wait until we went to go see Dr. Ewing the next morning instead of going to the E.R.  He told us that the E.R. would just tell us to go see an orthopedist if something was wrong, anyway, so since we already had an appointment we might as well just wait and save that money.  

We went to the doctor the next morning and Brady's parents watched Kolton.  They looked at his finger x-ray and also did an x-ray on his shoulder.  They determined that he was going to need surgery on his finger to place pins in it and reset the knuckle.  They also told us that he had torn/sprained his AC joint in his shoulder and it had moved out of place by 50%.  He also hit a "trigger point" when he hit the ground when he fell off his motorcycle.  His shoulder did not require surgery but it would take 4-6 months to heal.  Most of the severe pain and most of the healing should take place in the first 4-6 weeks, but will remain painful and continue to heal for up to 6 months.  They gave him a couple of shots in his shoulder to numb the pain to allow the muscle in his shoulder to relax to help the "trigger point." Usually treatment for the shoulder includes those shots as well as steroids but since he hurt his finger as well they can't give him steroids because that will slow down the healing in his finger.  Anyway, we left with a surgery scheduled for the next morning. 

 

 

Here's some pictures of his bike and helmet and stuff.  Part of his helmet broke off and then it got scratched up.  I'm so glad he was wearing his helmet because he hit his head hard and then slid.  If he didn't have his helmet on, his face would have been all cut up and he would probably have some sort of brain damage.  He told me that evening that he was thinking about asking me in the next couple of days if he could stop wearing his helmet because it was really annoying and would mess up his hair when he'd come home for lunch and since we live so close he thought he'd be fine without it.  I'm so glad he hadn't done that (even though I'm pretty sure I would have said no! :)). 

 His light broke off and the left side of his bike is cracked in a few places and scratched all over.  

 This is the left peg with the gear changer (not sure what it is called).  It totally just snapped off.  

 This is where it should be...

 The surgery was scheduled at The Surgical Hospital of Oklahoma in Oklahoma City.  We were supposed to be there at 8:30 and his surgery was scheduled for 10:00.  Brittney watched Kolton for us while we were at the hospital.  We were in the waiting room for about an hour I'd say and then he was called back to get all dressed and I stayed in the waiting room.  They called me back after he was dressed and had his IV.  We talked to the anesthesiologist and Dr. Ewing and his P.A.-Amber.  He went in to surgery at 11:30.  I got called back at 12:45 to see him when he was done.  They did a block on his arm so he didn't feel the pain but he was awake for it all.  He watched them put the pins in on the x-ray machine that they had going constantly to check as they went along. 

They put him in a soft cast and sent us on our way.  He was numb for about 24 hours so that was nice.  Typically you are only numb for about 3-4 hours with what they did to him but the effects were long lasting for him. He was worried at first--like maybe he had some nerve damage or something, but he called the doctor and they said he should be ok.  His pain returned, though, the next day.  We wrapped and re-wrapped the wrap on this, I don't even know how many times.  It was so uncomfortable for him.  The hard cast that was going down his arm was rubbing the bone in his wrist raw and was causing him a lot of pain.  We tried so many things to try and make it better with no luck.  I felt so bad for him. 

He stayed home from work through Thursday and then went back on Friday.  Come Friday night when he got home he was in a lot of pain.  His shoulder was more uncomfortable because he wasn't able to rest it and his finger was super swollen because he wasn't able to keep it above his heart.  I called the doctor's office on the following Tuesday, I believe, and Amber, the physician's assistant, told me that they were going to put a splint on him at his follow-up appointment on Thursday.  Brady was so excited! He couldn't wait.  

His follow-up appointment was Thursday morning at 7:30.  They took his soft cast off and cleaned around the pins.  He has one that is sticking out of his finger with a hook on it.  That is the one that is holding his knuckle in place.  He then has three that go across his finger to hold the break in place.  The one with the hook on it will come out in 3 weeks (on March 8th).  The other three will come out in 7 weeks.  We are hoping they don't have to do surgery on those.  If the pins start to stick out than they can just pull them out in the office.  If they don't stick out, though, than they will have to do surgery, so we are praying they make their way out.  

 

After they cleaned it and stuff they started to make his "splint."  We totally thought it was going to be just a finger splint and the rest of his hand and arm would be free.  Unfortunately, it is pretty much just like what he had before except it doesn't cover his whole hand.  They cut out part of the "splint" to allow his ring and pinkie finger to be free but it still covers his hand and goes up his arm.  It isn't as wrapped up, but totally not the "splint" I was envisioning. 

 

Kolton and I feel so bad for Brady and that he has to deal with this pain.  He was so lucky, though.  As uncomfortable as he is, it could have been SO much worse.  I am so glad that he came away from it with just a hurt shoulder, broken finger, and cuts and bruises.  I'm so glad he was wearing his helmet and gloves and long pants and long-sleeved shirt.  I'm glad he came away walking.  Everyone that asks him what happened to his hand then tells him a story of someone they know that either died in a motorcycle wreck or spent months in ICU because of a motorcycle wreck.  I'm so glad that nothing like that happened to him and we are able to have him here in our home with us.  I'm grateful for all the support we've received from my parents, Brady's parents, Jaycee, the Foys and everyone else.  Many people have offered help and kind words and we are grateful.  I love Brady so much and am so glad he is ok and can't wait for him to not be in pain anymore!