All girl

M  l.o.v.e.s. to have her hair curled. I couldn't use a curling iron if my life depended on it. In fact, I don't even own one. Anyway, when we went to Utah last summer for my little sisters wedding, my older sister told me about these cool curler things. Although we've had them since June, M discovered them only about a week ago. She has asked every night since if I will put them in her hair so that it will be curly for school.

The cool thing about these is that they smash when you lay on them. So they don't hurt to sleep on.

 K wanted his picture taken too. If we're being perfectly honest, I'm a little surprised that he didn't ask for curlers in his hair too!

 This is what they look like the next morning when we take them out. The only bummer thing is that her hair doesn't hold curl very well. Even when I put gel and tons of hair spray, her hair still goes flat by the end of the day.

But, she loves it in the morning and although she won't admit it, she loves when she goes to school and her teacher tells her that she really likes her curly hair. I love that they are so fast and easy to put in and that I don't have to do her hair in the morning!

It's a miracle!

On Monday my darling older sister called me. I could tell that she was pretty upset. She told me that our dad was on his way to Utah Valley Regional via ambulance. He had slipped and fallen three weeks before and hit his head. He had fallen on black ice. He had gone to the Dr, but was told that everything was fine. Last Sunday he had gotten a really bad headache that got even worse on Monday. So, he had gone to the hospital where they had done a CT scan. There was a big hematoma(pool of blood on his brain). Now, one doesn't need to be a medical person to know that having blood on one's brain is not great. She told me that she would call us with any updates. She called two hours later and told me that the ER Dr had told them that the Neurosurgeon would probably want to do the CT scans again to get an update. He had just started a case in the OR and would be down to see my dad when he was done. My dad was admitted to ICU where they were waiting. I, in no way profess to be medical. I was trying to remember when B worked on ICU and when he would come home and tell me stories about things of this nature. The only thing that kept coming to memory was that it's bad no matter what, but it's really bad if the patients speech is affected. I asked my sister if dad could still talk normal. She told me that he could, but sometimes the wrong sounds came out or it would take him a really long time to be able to answer the question right. He could still answer yes and no questions. She told me that they were still waiting for the Neurosurgeon and she would call back. She called again two hours later and said that the Neurosurgeon had just left. He told them that looking at the recent CT scan it showed old blood along with the new blood. So, when he fell three weeks ago, the bleeding probably started. He said that he wanted to do surgery within the hour. He told them that he would drill a hole in his skull, place drains to drain the blood and hopefully that would fix the problem. By this point my dad could no longer answer most questions. If he did, the wrong word came out. Like when the Dr held up his thumb and asked what it was, my dad said thug. Now, I tease my dad because he truly is old. I tell him that his social security number is 1. That he went to high school with Moses and Noah and other things of this nature. But I kind of imagine him living forever. Of course I know that he'll eventually die, but I don't imagine it happening in the near future. When I got off the phone with my sister, all I could do was pray. I hated that we were so far away and that I couldn't go be with my mom and siblings as they waited for dad to be done with surgery. I hated that we weren't there to see him and tell him that we love him and that we're praying for him. I hated that if something happened, I don't know if my Dr would let me get on a plane and go to Utah being this pregnant. I just really wanted to be with my family. It made it even worse that B wasn't home to calm me down. Add on top of that, the offspring totally refused to eat dinner and I'm huge and pregnant. All the above made me sit down and just cry and cry. M and K just kept staring at me. Of course I had told them what was happening with grandpa, but they didn't get it. They didn't know why we were saying so many prayers and why I was still crying. My sister had told me that she would call us when he was out of surgery. I tried my best to stay awake until she had called. I lasted until 11:55 but then I just couldn't do it any more. Thankfully, she called at midnight! She told me that the Dr had just left. He had told them that everything went well. He said that my dad's brain hadn't handled the surgery very well, so they had put him on anti-seizure medicine. He will have to be on that for awhile, but other than that, it went well. He said that dad would have to be in ICU for the week and then they would transfer him to the neuro floor for awhile. The Dr told them that he hoped that dad would be able to talk again. All of us were just thankful that he had made it out of surgery ok. I called on Tuesday to see how he was doing. My mom said that he was doing amazingly well. He was talking and even trying to be funny by saying things like, "The reason I'm not in pain is because they have a saying, no brain no pain!" She said it was a night and day difference from the day before. She called us yesterday and told us that they were home from the hospital! He didn't even go to the neuro floor, he got to leave right from ICU. He was sent home with a walker because he's a little unstable and he can't be left alone for another week, but he's home! What a miracle right?! I know that the picture is tiny, but I think he looks awesome with a bald head! I think this was right before surgery. 

                                                                    
                                 
This is his CT scan. You don't have to have any medical training to see the blood on the right side of the scan. The blood was pushing on his brain and causing it to move to the left. That's bad. I am so thankful that there are smart Dr's that know what they're doing and that we live in a time where he can have surgery on his brain, drains placed, head stapled shut and still be home the same week. Miracle's happen and my dad's one of them!

flipping out

The other day, B took M and K swimming. K got up on the side of the pool and said, "I want to do a back flip." B put his hand on K's back and flipped him over. He did that two more times and then K said he wanted to try it by himself. B told him that he could, but he needed to remember to jump out

                                                                     really far.
So, K tried it. He was able to do it the first time he tried. He loved it and did it over and over again.

Even though B is right next to him, I still panic that K's going to hit his head on the side of the pool. He's only tried to do a back flip in the shallow end once. When he landed he popped up and said,"That was awesome! did you see that mommy?!" I told him that I did and that he did awesome, but I really didn't want him to do a back flip in the shallow end. So, he got out and ran to the deep end.

He also taught himself how to do a front flip. I asked him which one was harder to do and he said the front flip. So, he sticks to the back flips while I watch and have small heart attacks every time he does it.

We know they're jealous!

Let me just start by saying that our car is truly breath taking! We know that as we drive down the street, we turn heads. The head turns may or may not be a good thing. I think that our car is truly amazing! The fact that it still runs is an answer to prayer and a modern day miracle. I bought the car while B was on his mission 12 years ago. When we first got out here we noticed that it made an awful sound. We took it to the car fix it place and the car fix it guy said that sometimes a Toyota Corolla's engine will burn the oil. He told us that we would just need to add oil about every other time we got gasoline. Because it Burns oil, there is a beautiful black spot right above our exhaust pipe that doesn't clean off no matter how hard you scrub it. For a while we did only have to add oil twice a month. It has now gone up to adding two quarts a week. If we forget to add it, you can hear an awful sound. It makes me feel so bad for our sweet little car. As of a week ago, both blinkers stopped working. Well, that's not totally true. The blinker's will work if you hold it on or if you move the switch up and down manually so the light will blink. One day I went to get out of the car and the handle fell apart in my hand. The spring came shooting out and almost got in me the face. Thankfully I have cat like reflexes and got out of the way just in time! It has started to leak some kind of fluid. One's not sure what drips out the bottom of the car, but thankfully the cardboard that sits on the garage floor soaks it up quite nicely. I've locked the keys in the car so many times here and tried to get them out myself, so the door frames are bent. The passenger side window doesn't roll up all the way either. So, with the bent door frames and the window not rolling up all the way, when we drive on the freeway it's safe to say that it's pretty loud. Not to mention it's like a roller coaster ride because when you get to about 60 MPH, it starts to shake and doesn't stop. It's like a thrill ride! Since our car is such a luxury car I wanted to show pictures and tell the prices of other cars that we see driving around these here parts.

Let's start with a Rolls Royce. This is a pretty sweet ride. The back doors open towards the front of the car. I think it's ugly, but it probably rides pretty nice. This lovely little number starts with the small price tag of $470,000.

Next we have a Lamborghini. Whenever K sees one of these all he can do is smile and stare. He loves that it looks fast and wishes that daddy could drive this. This one is way cheaper than the Rolls Royce. This one only costs $250,000.

Let's not forget the Ferrari's that cruise around. This car makes my heart beat faster. I truly love this car! If it didn't cost $225,000, then I might even try to talk B in to buying me one. Although I must say that I like the red one that lives here more than the grey one that we see driving around.

This here is a Bentley. I will admit that the top three cars are still pretty rare to see. But, Bentley's on the other hand are pretty common. Of course we have one and just haven't told anyone. Thankfully it only cost us $184,000!

The first time I saw a Maserati I was pulling out of the gas station. All I can say is that I'm so thankful that I didn't rear end this thing! I'm sure the driver wouldn't have minded being hit by our oil leaking, no blinker's working, bent door frames, window not rolling up all the way, violent shaking at high speed car. But I'm so thankful that we didn't hit this $140,000 car. That is more money than B and I paid for the condo we bought in Utah. Crazy!

There are everyday cars here too. I mean it's not like everyone drives a Bentley or a Maserati. Here are some even more common cars.

First there's a Mercedes Benz. I used to think these were rare. Living here has changed that. This one comes with a more do-able price tag. It only costs $60,000. Compared to the cost of a Maserati, this one is way more practical!

Next we have an Audi. We did see a few of these is Utah before we moved. But when we saw one we assumed that the driver was one of the richest people in the country. Here, seeing one of these is like seeing a red light. It's totally normal. Good thing this only costs $58,500

This isn't a very good picture of this car. This is a BMW 328i. This is the car I used to dream about. Then I found out that they cost a lot to fix, so I decided that's a bummer especially since the owner had to pay $46,000 in the first place. This one is even more common than an Audi. Seeing this car is like hearing birds sing. It happens several times a day. 

Now I would put a picture of our car on here, but I don't want anyone to feel so jealous that they do something they regret. I will say that as we drive down the freeway and a Maserati is next to us I think, side swipe us! Just be careful so that no one gets hurt. But if you side swipe us, you can just pay us the cash value of our car. I'm sure that the driver of a Maserati carries that much cash anyway, so they could just total out our car and then maybe we could upgrade to something more obtainable like a Rolls Royce!

love it!

M has always L.O.V.E.D. her baby. She got her baby for her second birthday and has loved her like a real baby since that day. Her name was Cheryl, but as M got older her baby's name would change to whatever new baby girl was born in our extended family. So, she's been Leah, Natalie, Brylee and Kylie. Anyway, her baby goes with us on any vacation. M usually just carries her, but sometimes we put her in M's suitcase and zip the zipper up until all that sticks out is Leah's head. More than one person has stopped us asking if that was a real baby. One lady in an airport stopped us and told us that when she walked by at first and saw the baby zipped up to it's neck, she was tempted to call DCFS on us. But then she realized that it was a doll. If M is holding her by her feet people look at us really weird because she looks real. Anyway, as of late, M has been really in to carrying Leah around in a Moby wrap or the baby backpack carrier thing that we have for the real baby. My mom is an amazing seamstress. If she has a picture to look at, she can make whatever is in the picture. Well, M had a birthday a little while ago. We tried to find her a doll backpack carrier thing to give her for her birthday. We couldn't find one, so I looked online. I saw a picture of one that looked pretty cool. I called my mom and asked her how hard it would be for her to make it for M's birthday. Keep in mind I asked her about a week and a half before said birthday. My mom said that it looked really easy and that's what she and grandpa would give M for her birthday. To say that M loves this little carrier would be a gross understatement. One night before I went to bed, I went to check on them and this is what I found.

She had gone to sleep with Leah in the carrier. She was still wearing it when she woke up the next morning. I love that she loves her baby so much. I also love that my mom can make anything. Just looking at the picture online stressed me out, so thank heavens for talented mom's!

He has been taught!

The last little while when K rode his bike, the training wheels have been mostly in the air. B was gone most of the month at a hospital that's three hours away. Thankfully he finished that rotation and got to come home! I've been telling K that when daddy gets home, maybe he can take the training wheels off of K's bike and teach him how to ride it without them. Since the training wheels were mostly up in the air anyway, K basically taught himself how to ride. He was able to get the balance down with the wheels on. Since that's the hardest part, when B took the training wheels off this morning, K took off!

It was so awesome to watch him do it without falling even once! M was most concerned that he didn't want to wear knee pads. She did try to hold him down and force him to wear them, but he was able to get away from her!

Since he had it down so fast, he and B were able to go on a bike ride. M had her heart set on going swimming, so she wouldn't go on a bike ride. I totally love this picture! I'm so proud of him that he was able to do it and that he seems to love it. They went around the entire circle of our neighborhood which is just over a mile. When they got home he came running in and told me that he did it all by himself and didn't fall even once! It was awesome to see him so proud of himself. I'm so excited to be able to go on a family bike ride in about 7 weeks! The thought of getting on a bike in my current huge state almost makes me cry, so we'll wait 7 weeks. Good job K, you're totally rad!