Sunday, July 27

The basement is a little closer to being done. Simon and Dave have worked hard to get the sheetrock on the walls and get ready to tape and mud. We're hoping that the next few steps will go quickly and that we'll soon be picking out paint colors!

 

 

Saturday, July 26

Simon made it to his 10-year anniversary with MACU! His VP brought in treats, balloons, a nice card, and a gift card all in recognition of this accomplishment. He was recognized during the week but his actual anniversary date is the 26th. He also got a brand new iPad Air! Good job babe!

While Simon and Dave slaved away in the basement, we met Amie and her kids at her apartment's pool and took the kids swimming. They had a blast! And of course, it was so nice to visit with Amie. Love my bestie!

 

 

Friday, July 25

This was the kids' last official day of their summer break so Jenni and I wanted to take them to do something fun. We met at a park in Riverton, had lunch, then let the kids slide down the hills on ice blocks. They had a lot of fun! I enjoyed watching them because it was so different. I don't think my kids have ever been ice-blocking but it holds so many fun memories from my childhood. We all enjoyed our last Friday together before school! :)

 

 

Thursday, July 24

Happy Pioneer Day Utah! We had some old fireworks in the garage from last year so the kids (and the daddy) had fun setting those off. Our neighbors were all out lighting fireworks so we walked down and visited with all of them. We just had one scary moment where Zack and a dog were running in the road and almost got hit by a car. Luckily, the speedy driver was able to step on the breaks quick enough to avoid a tragedy.

 

 

Wednesday, July 23

Simon has been promising Jake and Nick a sleepover in the backyard since before Ricki was born. They were finally able to do that tonight because Simon had the next day off for Pioneer Day. Jake came over with his sleeping bag and pillow and they set the tent up in the backyard. Unfortunately, it rained and thundered on them at 4:00 am!

I had to post about two things today because I'm so darn excited about this lamp! I had some returns at Hobby Lobby and I've had my eye on this lamp for months for Zacky's fire truck room. I finally broke down and used my return money to put toward this lamp. I just love it so much! His room is going to be so cool when it's all done!! 

 

Tuesday, July 22

The South Towne Expo Center hosted the Days of '47 Float Preview Party so Jenni and I loaded up all 10 kids (our 8 plus the two she babysits) and went to check it out. It was so fun! We topped our day off with lunch at McDonald's and let them run around the Play Place for a bit.

 

 

Monday, July 21

I've wanted to spend time in my backyard since about January so when my kids begged me to get out the pool and slip 'n slide, I couldn't say no. They played outside for at least 3 hours...maybe longer! I sat in the shade and enjoyed some time catching up on my journal and watching them play. I was inside as we were starting to clean up and heard Kendra start screaming. My heart sunk and I knew exactly what had happened - she got stung by a bee! Poor girl...it was bad. The stinger was still in and about half of the bee's butt too! She was so sad. The only good news is that the bee is long-dead by now! That fact at least made her smile a little.

 Sunday, July 20

We celebrated Simon and Zack's birthdays with a fun BBQ in our backyard. It threatened to rain the whole time but only sprinkled lightly twice for about 2 minutes each time. We lucked out! Of course, it is Pearson luck to plan a party in the middle of July when there haven't been any rain storms in weeks and we get rain!!! :) It was really fun anyway!

 

 

Saturday, July 19

I love this lady! Grandma Howard and I went shopping for the boys' birthday gifts. Dave & Viv (my heroes) watched all of my kids so that we could go for a couple of hours. We decided to top off our shopping date with Cookies 'n Cream shakes from Chick-Fil-A. Yummers!

 

 

Friday, July 18

I see all of these beautiful newborn baby pictures and I've never done them before with my kids. I decided to make an appointment with FotoFly (my favorite photo studio) and get them done. They are amazing with babies and captured some really amazing photos of Ricki. I couldn't help but jump into one or two too. She's such an angelic baby, I just can't get enough.

 

 

Thursday, July 17

Amie and I have made a plan to meet at the Herriman Library with our kids once a week. This will give the kids some time to see each other and give Amie and I a chance to visit too. This time, Amie wanted to take her kids to the splash park right by the library. I went back and forth on whether to go or not but I finally decided to tag along. The kids had so much fun running back and forth between the water and the playground next to it. I think I'm going to like our new arrangement!

 

 

Wednesday, July 16

Happy birthday to the love of my life! Simon turned 34 today. He's getting the main bulk of his gifts on Sunday but the kids and I wanted to make sure he got something on his big day. Each kid picked something they wanted to give him so he ended up with a 2-liter of Diet Coke, a king-size Reece's, and a package of Red Vines. These kiddos love their daddy!

Monday, July 14

Nick went to his first of a two-day cub scout camp. Judging by the dirt on his face, shirt, legs, and socks, I think he had a pretty good time!

 

 

Sunday, July 13

All good things must come to an end. We were sad to say good-bye to St. George and the fun time we had. We definitely want to do this again next year! We had a blast this week touring a bunch of LDS history sites. We went to the homes of Jacob Hamblin and Brigham Young, visited Fort Santa Clara, and toured the historic St. George Tabernacle. It was really fun and interesting.

 

 

 

Saturday, July 12

The awesome house dad rented has a pool and that is pretty much all the kids wanted to do! They had such a blast jumping off the diving board and going down the slide. I got to enjoy watching them from the sidelines as I continue to recover and get a little better each day!

 

Friday, July 11

Once a year, Chick-Fil-A does a "Dress Like a Cow For Free Food" day. Heavens, how could we pass up free food just for dressing like a cow? Plus, it's a tradition in our family to do this! We all dressed like cows and got about $75 in free food for dinner! Hooray!!

 

 

Thursday, July 10

Dad took us to some really cool sites around St. George but this one was super interesting. It is called Anasazi Valley and it's just replicas of how the Anasazi people lived when the pioneer settlers came to this area. The missionaries from the church run this site but unfortunately, they weren't there while we were. It was fun to walk around and see the displays though.

 

 

Wednesday, July 9

Happy 3rd birthday to my sweet little guy!! I spent an hour or so decorating him an Elmo cake to celebrate and mom & dad bought a bucket of ice cream to go with it. We stopped at the store and picked him up a little toy so that he had something to "open" on his special day. I sure am thankful to have Zacky Boy in our family. I love him so much!

 

 

Tuesday, July 8

How could I pass up posting this cuteness?? I love my girls! (And their matching outfits - thanks Aunt Jenni!!)

 

 

Monday, July 7

Today was Ihop's 65th anniversary so to celebrate, they did short-stacks of pancakes for $.65 each! There was no limit so Nick even got 2 short-stacks! :) It was a cheap but very yummy breakfast had by all!

 

Sunday, July 6

This is day 1 of our surprise St. George trip for mom's 50th birthday. Dad rented a super fun house that had a pool, trampoline, and swing set. The kids were absolutely in heaven with the pool! This vacation is just what I need to relax and keep healing. I've been really sore, especially where that hematoma is so taking it easy is pretty much all I can do. But I'm so glad we made it and that we can enjoy this fun family time together!

 

 

Saturday, July 5

Happy 50th birthday to the most amazing woman I know - my mom!! Dad, Jenni, and I have been planning a party with 100+ guests since the beginning of October and tonight it all came together. We had a DJ, photographer, donut cake, candy buffet, and enough soda to stock a store! The grandkids all sang mom a song about her "Favorite Things" and we recited 50 facts about mom. It was so much fun throwing this party and being such a big part of it all. Everything came together just how we wanted it! It was a wonderful evening spent with friends and family!

 

 

Friday, July 4

I am still in the thick of my recovery so when it came to 4th of July festivities, I sat out. Simon picked up Trevan on the way to the Sandy City Parade and they walked the parade route again with Mountain America. They also stayed until the firework display with my family. I am sad I missed it all but it was nice and relaxing to be at home with my baby. Rest is the best medicine after all I have been through.

 

Thursday, July 3

Jenni came over to visit and let her kids meet Ricki. She brought a gift for Nick with her. It is his baptism book. She took a bunch of pictures (thank heaven cuz I didn't!) at Nick's baptism and then put them in a Shutterfly scrapbook for him. He was SOOOO excited to get this from her. It's a wonderful reminder of that awesome day! That same night, Kendra was holding sis on the couch and next thing I knew, they were both asleep! Kendra simply adores this little girl! She's going to be an amazing mommy someday!

 

 

Wednesday, July 2

Simon had to return to work today, darn it, and I was nervous so Grandma Sharon came over and helped me take care of this little sweetie. My super wonderful neighbors took Nick, Kendra, and Zack for the day for me so I didn't have to worry about them. My ward has been so wonderful!

 

 

Tuesday, July 1

I didn't go home! I was in an incredible amount of pain that lasted until early Tuesday morning. I just had a child pretty much naturally and I can honestly say, this is hands-down the worst pain I have ever been in! Finally, around 1:00am, they called my surgeon and he said it sounded like muscle spasms that I was experiencing. Both of my ER IV's had blown so they had to start a new IV. It took 6 pokes and 3 different nurses but they finally got one in. About 15 minutes after they gave me a muscle relaxer, I felt so much better! Dr. Hansen cleared me to stay throughout the night so I was finally able to go home Tuesday afternoon. I ended up with a large (12x8cm) hematoma later on but we didn't know about that until a few days after my surgery. This has been a long and horrible ordeal. This makes 3 out of my 4 babies that I've ended up back at the hospital! :( I'm glad that Ricki is the caboose.

 

 

Monday, June 30

I have no gallbladder! Remember how Dr. Twelves wouldn't let me eat yesterday? Well, Dr. Hansen wouldn't let me eat today either. Grandma Howard came to visit me in the hospital and I could not physically force my eyes to stay open long enough to visit with her. I was just too tired. Right before surgery at 2:00, my nurse came in to get me up to go to the bathroom and right after her, Dr. Hansen walked in. I told them that I was sorry but I was seeing spots. Really bad! I could see clearly in my straight-forward tunnel line of vision but everything in my periphery was...moving and pixelated. Ashley, my nurse, ran out of the room and came back with a glucometer to check my blood sugar. It was 35! To compare, a normal 8-hour fasting blood sugar is between 70-99. She said some people go into a diabetic coma at 40 so I am "lucky". No, they're lucky that didn't happen!! It doesn't take a medical degree to realize that a breastfeeding mother needs to eat. I fasted for over 30 hours! I got a quick (huge) syringe of sugar through my IV and immediately felt better! I was able to go into surgery at 2:30 with no problems. The surgery went well (they said) and I can go home today (they said).