Being Heroic........NOT!!!

We had an exciting evening in the emergency room last night. It so happened that Sean, busy talking on the phone while filling up with gas, went to step over the gas hose and tripped, the concrete won! He managed to get home and eat dinner and then we took him to the emergency room where we commenced to spend the next hour and a half. He broke his radial head, better known as the elbow. He is in a cast and can't eat or write very well and needs my help to get dressed. Did you know that they don't do plaster casts anymore? Just fiberglass and a sling. This is his first ever broken bone so he was disappointed that he didn't get one that people could sign and he could auction off on EBAY once this is all over.

He had to re-tell his story like 10 times while we were there and was feeling kind of silly about how it happened. He told the receptionist to put on his admittance that he was helping some old lady who was getting mugged, or was fighting off Ninja's or something more heroic like that. They all laughed and thought that was funny. Should make for lots of fun over the next few weeks.

Only a week late......

I know, I'm late, but I just barely got the Father's Day photo layout done. This is my first ever digital layout. My sister always does her layouts this way, and I think it makes her blog so cute, but it took me forrrrrreverrrrrr! I'm sure I'll get faster. Maybe I can find a class to take that will help. Anyway I thought it turned out pretty good. I want my hubby to know how much I love him and let him know what a great father he is to our boys. I didn't get his project done, so all of the trees we bought for the yard ended up being his Father's Day gift, but I'll be sure to get it done for his birthday. The top 3 things that I think make him a good dad are:

#1 Honors his priesthood and has a strong testimony (OK that is really 2)

#2 Loves spending time with his boys doing what they like to do

#3 Has taught his boys to love and respect their mother (ok this one is kind of selfish, but I love it)

I also wanted to tell my dad how much I love him. I couldn't have asked for a better dad. I hope he knows how much I respect and look up to him. Top 3 things I love about my dad:

#1 Humility (I need a lot of practice here, I can only hope to be like him someday)

#2 Taught me independence (he helped me be able to do lots of things on my own, like when he had me learn to change the oil and tires on my car and how to complete my tax returns before I went away to college, I know those may be trivial, but he has taught me many things that have made me a better person)

#3 Patience (he always was very patient, no matter what problems I was having, he always took the time to talk things through with me and help me see others perspectives on different things, I also have a long way to go here as my kids will attest to)

Love you DAD!

I also want to tell my Father In Law how great I think he is. Top 2 things I love about him

#1 Sense of Humor (always is happy and fun to be around and can make any event or situation a ton of fun)

#2 Raised a wonderful son (again I am being selfish here, but I do love all of the values and things that he instilled and taught Sean so that he can be a wonderful husband to me and father to our boys)

Love you too!

I wish, I wish, that I were a fish......

Swimming lessons round 1 are over. Travis and Tyrel both passed their stroke development class last year, but I thought it would be good review and keep them in shape to do it again this year. I was amazed at how much better they were than the other kids in their class. All of the other mother's kept saying, "Your boys are such smooth swimmers." They kept laughing at their kids thrashing around the pool. It was kind of comical to watch the others. Travis and Tyrel make it look effortless. After listening in to their classes, I decided I should probably take a class because I'm sure I don't do it right. The teacher gets very technical going over every little thing to make sure everything from their fingertips to their tippy toes are doing the right thing at the right time. It has been really beneficial for them and they are both little fish (I guess not so little anymore) and love being in the water. I am debating signing them up for a lap class later in the summer where they just swim and condition. We'll see what finances are like after we get our yard work done and our front steps replaced.

Trevin didn't quite pass his class this time around. He is really scared when he knows he is in water over his head although he is getting a lot better about it. I'm definitely signing him up for another session probably in August to reinforce the progress he has made so far and hopefully get him over his fear. The pool we take lessons at is a private pool here in Elk Ridge and it is landscaped beautifully. Their teacher said that they have quite a few weddings scheduled for their pool and yard this summer.

We are having to get our front steps and porch replaced because the wonderful builder forgot to put a barrier down on the old porch and then he put tile on top of the wood, so now we get water that leaks through the grout lines and collects in the light fixture in Trevin's bedroom and then leaks all over the floor when it rains really hard. What fun! This time we are putting down the water barrier and putting an epoxy finish on top. I think it will look really nice.

We have also got the front yard almost shaped and ready for the rock retaining walls to go in. I'm hoping we can get more than that done this year, but we will have to see how far our money stretches.

Sean and I went and bought peppers, cucumbers, strawberries, more ground cover and a tree for Father's Day today.

He is going to be busy tomorrow planting it while I host Andrea's baby shower. The back yard is looking really good though. I'm excited for it to be finished.

Andrea's baby shower is tomorrow at my house. I was in charge of invitations and favors. Heidi is doing the games and my mom is doing the food. I thought the invitations turned out cute and I think the favors are cute also. I'll have to post pictures another day in case she reads my blog tonight, I don't want her to see what they are before the shower. I'll also post pictures of the gift I made her later. Stay tuned!

Grandma Richardson

I was thinking about my Grandma Glenda Richardson yesterday. Tyrel was the one that got me thinking. The boys are out of school now and he wanted to make macaroni and milk for lunch, so I had some with him. I'm sure many of you are saying "gross" right about now. I know Sean is. But, I remember when I was little and she would make me macaroni and milk to eat. It was one of my favorites. My mom would make it for me when I was home and requested it, but it never tasted the same and it took me until I was an adult out on my own to figure out why. You make it kind of like macaroni and cheese, without the cheese, so the ingredients are cooked macaroni noodles, milk, butter, salt and pepper. "Butter" being the key ingredient. When I got married, Sean and I decided that we liked butter better than margarine. I made macaroni and milk one day and it tasted just like grandma's. I figured out then that it was the butter that made the difference as my mom always used margarine.

I know this is all useless information for most of you, but just in case some of my cousins remember this and were wondering the ingredients, and because this is one of those weird family traditions that I want my boys to remember, I am putting it here for posterity. This dish is actually one of the favorites of all of my kids although Sean won't touch the stuff. This is what they always request when dad is out of town and mom doesn't want to make a big dinner. So, think what you will, we love it! And, every time I make it, I remember Grandma.

She had MS for most of the time I remember her. After Papa passed away, she would take turns living part of the year with each of her kids. So I remember when she was with us, I was like her little nurse. As soon as I got home from school, I would go to her room. I loved rubbing lotion on her feet, helping with her exercises, rolling her hair in curlers, and giving her the pills and vitamins she had to take daily (she cold swallow more pills at once than anyone I ever knew). We also spent hours playing gin rummy together. I also watched "General Hospital" with her. I wasn't so much a fan of "General Hospital" as my mom had me hooked on "Days of Our Lives", but it was fun to watch the whole Luke and Laura thing with her. I can't believe I still remember their names. Actually, I can't believe I watched such corny shows with such bad acting. My favorite time with her was when she would tell stories from when she was little. I wish I would have written them down, because there are few that I remember now. My favorite one that she would tell was about when she sat in a pile of red ants. My nephew had a run in with ants not too long ago and it reminded me of grandma telling that story. Anyway, this post is getting long and I have work to do, so farewell for today.

Macaroni and Milk

cook macaroni noodles according to package directions. Drain. Add milk, BUTTER, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil. Serve. I don't have exact measurements because I just make it and never measure.

Shar the Star continued.....

Shar had an article in the Deseret News yesterday. I tried to copy and paste it here, but it wouldn't let me, so here is the link. Hopefully it works for a long time. http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,700229312,00.html?pg=1
Great article Shar!

Mother's Day Gift

I'm a little late here, but half of my household was sick on mother's day, so I didn't get my annual mother's day picture with my boys until a week later, and my gift has been a work in progress, so I am just finally posting the pictures.

Sean asked me for weeks what I wanted and finally, the day before Mother's Day, I said I wanted a garden. We had just opened our last jar of salsa and we haven't had a garden since we moved to this house, so I figured that would be a good gift. Sean, Travis and Tyrel (Trevin was sick) worked really hard that Saturday before mother's day to get it ready, but the garden shop was out of top soil, so they didn't get it finished. but we did get it mostly done yestereday. We got tomatoes, zuccini, yellow squash, rhubarb and strawberries planted. We still need to get some cucumbers and peppers planted this next weekend. THANKS GUYS! It was so cute on Saturday when we were working on it. The boys were out working on it and I was doing the inside chores. Trevin came in and said "Mom, can you come help me grow a garden?" I had to drop my work and go help him plant. He was pretty excited to get things in the ground.

Odds and Ends

We had my dad's retirement party on Friday. It was fun to go and see how much everyone looked up to him and respected him. Some of his old bosses flew in from out of town for it. Me, being the dork I am, brought my camera, but didn't find out until I got home that my memory card was not in it. So, I have no photos. Maybe someone will feel sorry for me and email me theirs.
I spent the day on Saturday working on Andrea's baby shower gift and invitations. Sean, Tyrel, and Trevin went on a scout campout/fishing trip over the weekend. Only 1 fish was caught so with the price of gas to get the trucks and boat there, Sean said it was $200/lb worth of fish. The boys did have fun catching and eating crawdads though.
We had Stake Conference yesterday. I especially enjoyed President Trevort's talk. He said that he used to teach his kids "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all." Later he learned a lesson and they changed their family motto to "If you can't say something nice, think of something nice and say it." I need to live by that motto also. We all need to look at the bright side of things and try to find something good in everything.