Friday Foto September 25,2009

About 2 years ago we had a visit from some awesome friends. They were moving from Florida to Idaho and stopped by our house on the way. We let the kids stay up late because who knew when we would get to see them again. It was about 10:00 at night and they were out jumping on the trampoline. In the dark. Smart, I know. All of the sudden Caden comes screaming into the house with blood pouring down his face. We all started running around in circles and hollering. "What happened?!" All he could get out was Parker and my first thought is, "I'm gonna kill that kid." We start heading out the door to the emergency room and Parker comes thru the door with blood pouring down his face! The whole place is in an uproar as we are trying to figure out what in the world is going on!!
We jump into the van, while I, in true Erma Bombeck style, have a dirty dish rag wrapped around each kids head. We finally get out of them what happened. They were all in a big ball rolling around on the trampoline and Caden thought that it would be a great idea to tackle them. So he leaps as high and as hard as he can into the pile. Unbeknownst to him, Parker had the same great idea and leaped at the exact time into Caden's head.
I think that was a first for the doctor's and nurses at the ER. They even snickered a time or two. Parker required 8 stitches and Caden 12.
We don't have a trampoline anymore.

If this is what toddlerhood is like, I don't think we can handle teenagers.

We always thought that Joseph or Parker would be the first of our kids to wreck one of our vehicles. Apparently we have bred a NASCAR driver without realizing it.
Yesterday Joseph had a dentist appointment so we were headed out to the school to pick up the kids early. I told Abigail and Jacob to pick up the blocks off the living room floor and I went upstairs to get Matthew out of his crib. I heard the front door open and Jacob head out to the van. (you knew his name was going to pop up, didn't you) I really didn't think too much of it because he does it all the time. I came downstairs with Matthew and looked out the front door and the van was not there. That struck me as odd for a half a second and then I came to my senses and screamed, "WHERE IS THE VAN?!" I looked closer and I saw it sitting among the trees down the hill. It was totally like a movie, running in slow motion. I ran screaming down the hill for Jacob and I could see him in the driver's seat crying. I had to climb over the fence and thru all the poison ivy and weeds. I could barely open the door because the fence was jammed up against the driver side door. I kept asking him, "What happened? What happened?" His only reply was, "The car. The car." There was not a scratch on the child. You would think that somebody standing in the drivers seat only holding on to the steering wheel, careening backwards, down the hill at probably 15 mph would have been flung around the car, but apparently he has superhuman strength and was able to hold on.

The best I can figure is a) He grabbed the keys out of the house and decided that he was going to start the car and be helpful, (yeah right!) or b) He grabbed the keys out of the house and decided that he was going to start the car and be mischievious. (yeah, that one sounds more like it!)
So I call Joe, because now I am in a huge predicament. I have 7 kids. There are not many vehicles that we can fit in. He doesn't answer. I am not really sure what I thought he would do at that precise moment anyhow. I am still thinking "got to get to the dentist on time" so I go slipping down the hill in the mud, crawl thru the van and pull out carseats and throw them in the truck. By this time I am dripping with sweat. We high tail it to the school where the boys are sitting in the front office waiting on me. Joseph looks at me like "why are you so late?" I just shoot him a look and say, "You have no idea." We get to the dentist only 10 minutes late where we explain very calmly why we are running late.


Later that evening when Joe got home, he got on the tractor and pulled it out of the woods, off the fence, and out of the mud.



Joe asked Jacob if he wrecked mama's car. Jacob looked very panic stricken and wouldn't answer. Joe asked him again and Jacob said, "No Sham." (that is how he says no, ma'm) Joe said, "Well, who did it?" Jacob replied, "Parker".

Joe said it is probably totaled. It will cost more to get it fixed than it is worth at this point. I was really hoping to get 300,000 miles out of it. I was almost there with 268,000.

This is where it came to rest up against 2 trees.

This is a view of the back side. It looks like an accordian. The metal is just rippled and the bumper is folded in half.

This is the back of the van. The back window busted and flew out into the woods. My beloved stroller survived!

This is a view of the house from where the van was sitting. That little person on the hill is Parker. This gives you an idea of how far it traveled.

We are driving my brother-in-law's suburban. Thank goodness for family with extra vehicles lying around!

IF this child survives to be a teenager, he will NEVER get his license. I can just hear the insurance company now....hmm, If he totaled a car at the age of 3, yep, let's push their rates thru the roof!

All in all, we are truly thankful that he is ok. As Joe put it, it is probably a lot like our Heavenly Father looks at us. We couldn't punish him, more than he had punished himself. We hugged him, kissed him, and told him we were so glad that he was ok. Along with NEVER GET IN THE VAN AGAIN! Heavenly Father loves us and forgives us for the really dumb stuff that we do.

Hopefully the insurance company will forgive us!

Run Chikin Run

I have no excuse as to why I have waited almost 2 weeks to post about our race. It is not like our photographer didn't send us the pictures 2 days after the race. It may be because Joe beat me this time and I didn't want to admit it! ; ) Last weekend, Joe and I ran our 10K in preparation for our half marathon. It was sponsored by Chick-Fil-A, hence the name. The course followed along the greenway and went all thru the Battlefield. That was my favorite part. (I love history, especially the Civil War.) Least favorite part, dude that decided that 2 feet off the pathway was a great place to relieve himself. Seriously dude, I have to go too, but I waited until there was an actual bathroom.


I CANNOT figure out how to put pictures in order when I upload them, so we will start at the end. : )


Here we are right after the race replinishing ourselves with water, smoothies, and cookies.
Here we are at the start of the race, feeling great, looking great, and posing with the cow.

And here we have an awesome action shot of me right before I crossed the finish line! I would like to say that there was a bug that flew in my mouth, I had a stitch in my side, or sweat was running into my eyes. Truth is, I probably just look this goofy running!

My mom came down to watch us and to take pictures. She beat us there and she lives an hour away! Many thanks to her for coming and cheering us on and watching us sandwiched in between 586 other runners that she doesn't know, cross the finish line. It meant SO much to have someone there at the finish line cheering us on! She didn't get a picture of Joe crossing, because he was wearing a white shirt like 400 other runners and she didn't see him. He started pulling ahead the last mile and a half. I just didn't have it in me. As we came around the last corner, I saw people running around the lake crossing under the finish line. We both (and also a lot of other people) thought that the finish line would be right where we started, but we had to go around the lake to finish. Joe said he poured it on and then he got around the corner and about cried. He said he was so bummed when he didn't see the finish line where he thought it would be. Our official results:

Joe: 29 out of 39 in age group

347 out of 588

chip time: 1:02:59

pace: 10:04

Lisa: 32 out of 52 in age group

365 out of 588

chip time: 1:03:50

pace: 10:17

Not too bad. Just hoping we can actually run the entire race in a few weeks!

Many thanks to our nieces who babysit the younguns'. Couldn't have done it without you all!

Squirrel Huntin'

A few weeks ago it was "free" squirrel hunting day. (for those uninitiated folks, yes, you really do have to have a hunting license to hunt squirrels and yes, people really do eat squirrels!) The 3 big boys were off in different directions and so Joe took Gabriel hunting. Ever since he got a bb gun for his birthday he has been dying to go hunting. They went up into the woods and sat for several hours. Joe kept asking him if he was ready to go back to the house and he kept telling him, no he wasn't leaving until he got a squirrel. Alas, no squirrels, but a very happy little boy who got to sit in the trees with his dad for several hours one very beautiful sunny morning.

(no, you can't really hurt a squirrel with a bb gun, but Gabe doesn't know that!)

Mr. Vice-President

Meet your new Vice President for the Middle School Student Body.

Caden is kind of like me in the sense that the less attention called to himself, the happier he is. That is why we were surprised when he told us he really wanted to run for vice-president. We set up shop one night making posters and coming up with clever slogans. He bought 2 big bags of candy to "encourage" votes and practiced the speech that his dad wrote for him. ; )

He got in the car on Friday with a sad look and I thought, "Oh man, he must have lost." All the sudden he busted up and started laughing. I won! I won! We don't know how many votes he got, but while we were at the football game last night, every kid that passed us said that they voted for him. He is a great friend to everybody. He always goes that extra step to make sure that everybody is included.

Congratulations Caden!

Friday Foto September 18, 2009

Look at that hair! I'm not talking about Joe's either! Ok, in my defense, this was the early 90's. This is on our way to what was then known as Ricks. Joe and I had been dating for about 9 months. We were sitting at the airport waiting for our flight to leave. We met right after he came home from his mission. He laid rock with his grandpa, dad, and brothers to make money for college. Under those shirt sleeves are some awesome muscles! What a hunk. Man I am a lucky girl!

It's not easy being Sick around Here

I have MANY posts to catch up on. I just figured that I would start with this one so as to explain the lateness of the others.


I woke up Sunday morning to an exclamation of "It is 8:00! What are you still doing in the bed?!" "I don't feel good, leave me alone." I mumbled back. Joe normally leaves around 9 for meetings and we have until 12:00 to get ready and out the door. He took off his suit and stayed home to play Mr. Mom while I slept the entire day away. I haven't felt that sick in a long time. Fever, body aches, sore throat. I figured I had strep throat. It is usually a yearly occurance for me. Every once in a while the bedroom door would open and someone would escape thru the crack before they were caught by dad or an older sibling. Abigail thought that I might get "sick" so I was brought a bowl and I woke up with that next to my head at one point. I found an extra blanket on me since I was cold. There was a lego airplane on the nightstand and 2 get well cards CRAMMED under my pillow. I had 6 water bottles, a cup of STRAIGHT lemon juice with some honey to sweeten it up, and a glass of gatoraide on the nightstand. I woke up once to detangler spray being sprayed in my face, because I had tangles and my hair needed to be fixed because, it was a mess. Once when Joe ran to get me some medicine, the hockey game in the living room got so loud and heated, that I had to drag myself out of bed to make sure there were no casualties. I drifted off to sleep that night thinking that (hoping that) this was just a bug and tomorrow would be another day.
Monday I went to the doctor and found out that it was indeed strep, and that I was also severely dehydrated. This sickness came on the heels of a 10K . So coupled with probably not drinking enough fluid while running, and definately not drinking while my throat hurt, that was not surprising. I picked up the prescription, and headed back home to make a tent with the couches and blankets for Abby and Jacob to watch tv in, stock the coffee table with an arsenal of tippy cups, bowls of cereal, granola bars, and fruit snacks, put Matthew in the bed, and crashed for a couple of hours in the tent with the kids. They were Very good, but it did look like a General Mills factory had exploded in the living room by the time that Joe got home. I went to get Parker, Caden, and Gabe from school later on and told them all what and who they were responsible for and fell back in the bed. At one point I heard someone screaming that they wanted, needed, demanded popcorn right now!!! I have never heard this child speak to anyone like this ever before. I sent word to him that he was to come to my room and he told his sibling he wasn't going until he had his popcorn. He had a serious whispering to and was told that he was going to get it when I felt strong enough to swing more than a shoelace. About 30 minutes later I was woken up by the exclamation of "Whew, she is still asleep." I then felt another note being shoved under my pillow. This one said: I im so sarey for throeng a fet mama (I am so sorry for throwing a fit mama). I drifted off yet again thanking his teacher for being so patient with his spelling. Later that night when Joe came home after the wrestling pickups, work drop offs, and stopping by the store so we would have something for dinner, I could hear the house being whipped into shape, and was feeling somewhat better. I ate a half a hamburger while the family entertained me with the tales of the day. Joe informed me that I really didn't look all that good and that I needed to be drinking more. I don't really enjoy chugging water, so I just sipped on some here and there. At around midnight I woke up SOAKING wet. My fever had broken and I was freezing because I was so wet. I went to the bathroom to change and literally scared myself to death. My hair was sticking up on end and my eyes were sunk back in my head with dark circles under them. I could have gone out for the part of The Wicked Witch of the West with no time in the makeup chair required. I figured I might need to drink some water. Tuesday morning found me feeling So much better. Joe and were in the bathroom getting ready and he made the comment, " Well, you did say that you needed a day away not to long ago..." I was thinking more along the lines of shopping, spending a couple of hours at the library with a good book, getting some lunch somewhere other than McDonalds, maybe even a pedicure. Better be more specific next time!

We are a family of walking Encyclopedia's

Seriously, I couldn't make this stuff up.
Wednesday night we were coming home from church. It was already about 8:15 and the little ones were so tired. I told them as soon as we got home it was baths and bed. Joseph pretty much said it the same time I did. He then says, "Hey, I'm psychotic." I knew exactly what he meant to say, and I wasn't going to say anything although I was smirking to myself. Parker chimes in and says, "Dude, it is synthetic, not psychotic!" Psychic, boys. Although you all make me a little psychotic!
Somebody get us a set of encyclopedia's or something!

Friday Foto September 11, 2009

Who is this?

Anybody that never knew Joseph, Parker, or Caden when they were younger, they aren't missing much. Just Kidding! What I meant was they each have a twin in the younger part of our family. Joseph's is Gabriel, Abigail is the female version of Parker, and Jacob looks a little like Caden. The ones that look the most alike are Joseph and Gabriel.

This is Joseph at about age 6 at the temple in Atlanta. They had a Primary activity day and we all traveled down to Atlanta, the closest temple at that time.
We tell Joseph quite frequently what an example he is to the younger children in the family. He is such a responsible, hardworking, and worthy young man. He has a burden to bear. Whatever he does there are 6 people following his every move. He knows that whatever his decisions are, the rest will base their lives on him. We are so thankful to have Joseph as our oldest son.