Matt's Homecoming

On Friday after Nate got off work we packed the kids off and headed to Utah for an action packed weekend. We got there early Saturday morning (around 12:30 in the a.m.) and settled ourselves down and crashed until morning. When morning came (about 5 hours too soon) we spent a little time with my family then headed over to The Musil's house to see the much anticipated Matt. Matt has been gone on his mission for 2 year to Brazil and the kids were just giddy with excitement to see him. We hung out with him for a little bit and then the big girls and I headed over to Grandma Swenson's house for Nate's sister Tessa's baby shower. The girls had fun running around with the other cousins about their age and I had fun crawling up the stairs to settle myself into the living room to not leave again until it was time to go. While at the baby shower Ella (who was invited to the shower but refused to go because she wanted to hang out with Matt), Ty, Nate, Matt and David all went miniature golfing and to a 3D movie. After the shower we once again went back to Nate's parent's house where we hung out until 9:30 that night. By the time 8:00 came around my foot had blown up like a balloon and I wasn't feeling to hot. When we got back to my parent's house Nate and I sat on the couch in a daze for about 20 minutes and decided that we just couldn't take it anymore and crashed for the night.

The next day we all got ready for church and headed over to the musil's house. I still had not recovered from the night before so I stayed home from church while everyone else went to listed to Matt report on his mission. After the first church meeting a bunch of family came to a luncheon and to welcome Matt home. I got to hang out with Mindy most of the time. I also played it safe and had my leg up the majority of the day. My foot felt so much better that night. We headed back to my parent's house and hung out with them for a couple hours before hiding in our room and finishing the book we were reading out loud to each other. Today we got up and went back over to the musil's to say good bye to Matt and Tessa.

It was great seeing everyone again. Especially Mindy I mean Matt. We are all glad that you are back.
All of us were extra tired and extra bored on our trip. The kids discovered that they could make their eyes huge by holding their water bottles over them. And this was only our first hour into the trip. Luckily they all fell asleep by about 9:30.
Tyler stinker while we were in the car and Ella said "Ewww Tyler has gasoline."

Nate and Matt. Matt posed like this in all of his picture's that he sent home on his mission. Nate's face just makes me laugh.

more leg picture's

When I sat down to write this post I thought to myself "no one really cares about all these stupid leg updates." Then I thought to myself "I don't care if they do this is my blog, my journal and I write this for me and my family not everyone else so there." I waited to take pictures of my leg for a few days after the steri-strips fell off because I just didn't have a second to myself to take the picture. The healing process has been an experience like no other for me. It has taught me to accept service and that it is okay to rely on others and ask for help. It has taught me to be thankful for things not being as bad as they really could be. But, it has also turned me into something that I am not quite used to being--an emotional wreck. I think for the most part I can handle my emotions quite well. I don't show my pain to very many people. But I have done more crying over the most stupid things EVER! It has been very hard for me to accept that fact that I can not do much on my own. For the first few day's I couldn't even go to the bathroom by myself. And when I had to try something new (well new with this broken leg) I have without fail cried about it. I was so excited about getting into the shower and I got in just fine (with help from Nate of course) but I was terrified of slipping in the bathtub on the way out that I cried for like 10 minutes. I have cried over the stairs, meals, getting dresses, brushing my hair, because someone had to hand something to me, not being able to sleep in my own bed, and just about any other thing that you just do on your own. Then I cry because I am so frustrated that I am crying. I feel venerable and I don't like that at all. Poor Nate has to put up with this emotional wreck of a wife. But, everyday gets better and everyday I cry less. Mostly. And these next 6 and a half weeks are going to pass by so quickly I just know it. See how fat my ankle is. I have to do stretching exercises all of the time so that I can get my range of motion back in my ankle.
This is my smaller incision. It doesn't look as bad as the other one but it aches more.

First Day of School

Yesterday the kids got to wake up bright and early to get ready for school again. I love, love the summer months when I get the kids home with me (although I didn't get to do all the things with them this year). And this time every year is a little hard for me to see my kids get older and have them gone most of the day. But they all love it. This year Nate got to do all of my traditions with the kids. He started them with a big meal of pancakes and eggs. Tyler school starts 30 minutes after the girls school does. So Nate took the big girls to school and then came home for 15 minutes and took Tyler to school. It was very hard for me to leave all of this up to Nate because I love taking the kids to school but there was no way that I was going to be able to hobble across the school to take Tyler to class.He said that he was going to be sporty for the first day of school.His 3rd grade teacher is Mrs. Bowlden. He has 3 of his friends in class with him this year. He is super excited about that. When asked what he learned he said "Not to talk while the teacher is talking." What a great thing to learn. Doesn't he look so thrilled to be having his picture taken.
Natalie is going into the 6th grade this year. That means a full 7 class periods this year. She is taking band and is going to play the saxophone this year. She is also going to be an office aide next semester.Nichole of course is going into 6th grade this year too. She is hoping for a better school year this year. She signed up to be in Choir. She is very excited for that. She also gets to take team building this semester.My baby is in kindergarten this year. As hard as I have tried I can't talk her into not going. She refuses to skip school and stay home with me. She did not think that it was fair that she had to wait until 12:30 to go to school. Her teacher seems very nice and I cross my fingers that she will be patient with Ella.She looks very unhappy in this picture because she did not want Nate and I to go with her to her first day of school. She was okay with us dropping her off but, she did not want us to stay with her the whole time. The way they do it here is, for the first day of kindergarten the kids go for 1 hour with their parents. If their parents can't go then they don't get to go until the following day. She spent a lot of time pouting about us going.She enjoyed her class and she got to have circle time which she was very excited about. Today she got to ride the bus to school. And once again she thought it was unfair that she had to wait until 11:40 for the bus to pick her up for school. She is excited to go and learn new things. And she can't wait to see what kindergarten brings to her. I must admit I shed a tear or two when she got on the bus this morning.

Heather's Baby Shower.

I got to co-host a baby shower for my really good friend Heather. She is having her first baby girl (she already has 2 adorable little boys). I think it turned out really nice. We had a meat and cheese tray, a veggie tray, a trifle, and these adorable cake pops to eat. We also played a candy bar game and a game where you can't say the word baby. It was so much fun to just visit with the ladies that made it out to celebrate Heather and her future little girl. Kori, Heather and I. These 2 are both fun and amazing woman. I love hanging out with them.

Natalie got to go with me to the shower which was extra helpful especially since I wasn't much help to Kori setting things up. Natalie did everything that I asked her to do. She was a great assistant (by the time you get to a certain age you aren't a helper anymore so I promoted her to assistant).

Mommy Daughter Activity

For Activity Days the girls all decided that they wanted to do a party for their moms. The girls spent many weeks planning the party and it turned out to be tons of fun. The girls decided that they wanted to have a water party so I didn't get to participate. But, I did get to sit back and watch my girls have fun.

The first game that the girls planned was a balloon game. Everyone got two balloons to attach around their ankle. Then they all ran around like crazy and tried to pop each other's balloons. The grass was kinda pokie so the balloons did not last nearly as long as they had hoped that they would.Then they played a game where everyone was given a partner. You and your partner would put a water balloon between their backs and race to the finish line. You have to do all of this without letting the balloon fall.The girls also just ran around popping balloons on each other.The next game they did was a marshmallow game. Each team would use their marshmallow shooter (which they had made on a different day) and try to catch the marshmallows in a paper bag. Natalie and her partner Kami won at this game.They also played a game where they had to jump a rope three times while holding a paper cup filled with water. Every team member had to jump twice. The team who spilled the least amount of water from their cups won.They also got to play in the pool.

The girls had a great time. I was just hot the whole time. But at least I got to watch them have so much fun.

The Fence

We are very excited because Nate completed building the fence. He finished the fence on the right side of the house last year and it took him over a week to complete. Of course he was just figuring things out. He started and finished (except for paint) this fence in one weekend. I went outside and visited with him while he worked on it. Now the dogs and Ella can stay outside all by themselves and we don't need to worry about them anymore. Ella was Nate's helper through out the whole thing.

I got my soft cast on.... Now for my boot.

I went into the doctor on Thursday for my follow up appointment. I was so excited because I knew that I was supposed to be getting my boot that day. They took me back and had me just relax on the bed until the nurse could come in to take my splint off. When she did my leg was so gross. It just feels so weak and just hangs there. I then had to get some xrays taken. I was a little nervous hopping around the doctor's office without anything to protect my leg. After the xrays the Doctor came in and did his exam. He said that I was looking great. That the ankle bone was healing how it was supposed to. He also had to build something inside my leg to help the joint work correctly again. He then took out my staples (he didn't count but well over 30 is what he said) and no matter what anyone else says staples are awfully uncomfortable when they get removed. It is like having a shot every time they take one out. He then steri stripped it which will stay on for about a week. Then thank goodness for me I got my boot. I can't walk on my leg for another 4 weeks but it is a start. I can take my boot off whenever I am sitting down. I can sleep with it off. It feels nice although my foot feels vulnerable.

Nice hairy legs right? I vowed not to shave until I could shave both legs. Of course I knew that it was only going to be a few weeks that I would be going without shaving.My ankle is still really swollen. It is a nice shade of pink and purple right now. My leg is also in the process of losing a lot of skin. I am like a snake right now.

This is my very fashion forward boot. A.K.A. my best friend for the next 2 months. It has an awesome air pump on it that will fill air pocket throughout my shoe to help it fit better when my swelling goes down. It also has two tags on it that I get to use to help me position my foot as far back as I can. The downside... It's heavy and awkward. I still trip on it a lot.