September in Summary

Wow! We have had a lot go on in this short month. We started off with a bang with me down with a case of strep. I hate strep.
Then when I took the two little girls in for their 3 year and six month well checks, Sweetsa tested positive for strep too. Thankfully, Baby B , Mimi, and Buddy were all negative. So Sweetsa and I spent the next 10 days on antibiotics.

After a few days on the drugs we both felt a lot better...good enough for family dinner and a special Birthday for Sweetsa. Our little Sweetsa girl turned 3 and boy did she have a sweet one! She had a confetti cake with marshmallows for decorations. I can not tell you how excited she was for those marshmallows! Every time some one asked her about her birthday the week before and the week after her birthday she had to tell them all about the "smarshshmallows on my's take!" She was equally excited about her new Dora blanket, Dora dolls, Dora alphabet magnets, and coloring book she got (Yeah, she likes Dora a little bit!)

The next weekend, D and I decided to treat the kids to a day of fun. D took Buddy to the AST Dew Tour that was in the "Big City" up north that weekend, while I took the girls to the State fair. It was so fun! I am so glad we did this. It was such a great thing for me to spend time with the girls...we looked at a lot of the crafts and handiwork, as well as a butter sculpture using 800 lbs of butter! We watched the horses compete (not racing...showing their gaits). The girls went on rides together and were able to choose some to go on without the other. We did Little Hands on the Farm where the girls got to do a lot of things that happen on a farm, and even got to buy something with the dollar they "earned" on the farm! As we were leaving Mimi discovered that there were real animals at the fair, so we walked through the show barns and saw the Biggest Cow I have ever seen in my entire life! IT WAS A MONSTER! I wish I had a working camera... because this girl was worth a picture! I know I'm not tall but this cow was at least six feet at the shoulder. She was not a long horn, but her horns were each a few feet in length. She was amazing!
Buddy had a fantastic time at the Dew tour. There were skateboarders, BMX bikers and motocross racers, not to mention lots of freebees. Buddy and D got to play airhockey and won at least $25 in Wendy's gift cards. They came home with new bags, stickers, buttons, keychains and comic books. We were all tired by the time we got home, but it was so fun to make those memories together.

Unfortunately, that day also brought some really sad news to us. Our sweet Aunt Betty Boop passed away that morning. I will so miss that wonderful woman! We also learned that Froggalee's dear BIL (brother in law) collapsed and died unexpectedly. As I type I can hardly believe that Bob will not be there the next time I visit in AZ! He will be sorely missed too, and our prayers continue to be with and for both families.

Here is pic of the day I did the girls' hair in ringlets (or "turls"
as Sweetsa says)


Mimi and Buddy have been taking a gymnastics class with the city. At first Mimi was not too happy with it, because they wanted each child in her class to do a cartwheel and forward roll, so they could place each in the appropriate group. I suppose she was embarrassed, since she had never really done either. But once they were placed in their groups and started getting the appropriate level of instruction, she LOVED gymnastics! Buddy never seemed to have that angst that Mimi had. Then again his class is for 4-5 year olds (almost all beginners) and Mimi's is for 6-10 year olds (and therefor has many kids that have taken gymnastics before). They are both doing really well, progressing fairly quickly (especially after I showed them at home how to do the forward roll and cart wheels...then they we so excited to practice out on the lawn. The only drawback to gymnastics is that they are in different classes, so I get to entertain three kids in the gym for two hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays (good thing the older kids get homework!)


Of course all that has changed now because on the fourteenth, Mimi slipped and fell off the tramp and broke her right arm. It was a supracondylar break, so they took her in for surgery the next morning. I guess they actually termed it a procedure. Anyway, from the time D took Mimi to the ER on Sunday night until the time they brought her out of recovery I was praying for her and I know that others were too...thanks to all who kept her in your prayers...it really helped!
I am so grateful for righteous priesthood holders too! When we dropped Buddy and Sweetsa off at our friend's house before heading to the hospital Monday morning, D and Bro S gave Mimi a priesthood blessing. When they told me that they had done that, much of my anxiety went away.
That morning when the orthoped saw her xrays, he said, "Oh wow! We'll try to do this closed, but we may need to open it up to get it aligned properly." YIKES! Not what anyone wants to hear right before surgery! Then he said that it would take anywhere from a half an hour to an hour and a half. They took her away to the OR a few minutes later, and we began the wait. I would definitely much rather be the one being worked on than have my children be "under the knife" so to speak. The nice thing was, that when we saw him after the surgery (but before they brought Mimi back) Dr. J came in and said, "It went beautifully! You must have said your prayers this morning! Things literally slipped right into place and the pins went in very nicely." I know it was the prayers and the blessing that helped things to go so well that morning!
They put three pins in her elbow to keep the bones in place and told us to bring her to Dr. J's office in ten days for a post op evaluation. We did so and everything looked good enough that they put her in a cast and said see you in four weeks! Things are getting pretty much back to normal, except that Mommy and Daddy have to help Mimi a lot with her homework...she still has a hard time writing with her left hand. Neither D nor I had the heart to tell Mimi that she wouldn't be able to finish her gymnastics class or even take another one for quite a while. She finally realized that consequence of the break on Monday afternoon, after we got home after the surgery. She cried, it was sad:( But she is reassured that at some point she will be able to do gymnastics again.

That same afternoon, I went to the doctor and got more antibiotics for another strep infection (joy of joys! I REALLY REALLY hate strep!)

Two days later D took off to Bear Lake with the singles. D has been in the Singles Branch Presidency for almost 5 months now. One of his biggest assignments has been planning what was called the Super Activity for all the young single adults in the stake. They ended up going to Bear Lake area for three days, where they camped, went boating, went hiking, ate great food, had some great spiritual speakers, did some service and went to the temple to do baptisms. It sounded like great fun, and maybe next year the rest of us will be able to join in the fun!

While D was gone, Gertrude and her family joined us so she and T could attend a seminar up north. I took all seven kids to our Ward camp out (at least for dinner) and we got to enjoy the fall colors in the canyon, and little Abey kept saying "Climb mountain! Climb mountain!" it was SOOO cute!! They tried to climb the mountain a bit, but where we were, it was too steep for such little kids (ages 1-6).

Well. It's now into October and I still haven't posted about September. SO I'll quick finish this and move on! Other things happening in the month: Buddy and Sweetsa started and LOVE Computer class. D and I got to go to the BYU-UCLA game (It was awesome). We had Carolioness' baby shower here at the house and had a great time getting to know people who love our Carolioness! (We can hardly wait for that cute boy to come!)SPH-1 and I have also started the fall canning/preserving process. We've done salsa, and applesauce, and will do more applesauce (and more and more...)