Is it weird. . .

That me, a 35 (almost 36) year old mother of four really likes this song by Jesse McCartney?

FYI: I didn't put the link to the real video because it is a little too racy.

Pictures

We went up to the tow yard today and took pictures of the car. Again, it is a miracle my husband and boys not only survived, but essentially walked away from it.

Gratitude

I have been thinking about gratitude this weekend. On Friday evening, Dentist husband and my two sons were in a serious car accident. So serious, that every eyewitness told me that they didn't expect to see anyone alive inside the car when all was said and done. In short, my husband's car was rear ended in such a way that it was sent rolling several times on I-80. Fortunately, the eye witnesses who ran to the car, found two very alive but scared little boys and one unconscious man, who after a trip in an ambulance and five plus hours in the ER ended up with only a lot of bruising and superficial cuts and scratches on his body. It is a miracle they are alive.


So, here is my list of things I am grateful for in light of this accident:


1. The good Samaritan who called me to tell me about it and first said, "Your boys are fine. Your husband is awake and alert and moving his hands but they have been in a serious car accident."


2. The good Samaritan who gave my kids her cell phone so I could talk to them the whole time I was driving to the accident.


3. The nurse good Samaritan who rushed to the car and held my husband's neck in place until the EMT's arrived. She also checked out my sons and was very good at giving me directions to the ER they were taking my husband to.


4. The kind EMTs who told me before I got to the accident that it appeared as if my husband's injuries where superficial and that his hands and arms were OK. (I kept saying, "He is a dentist and needs his hands. Are his hands OK?)


5. The wonderful people who took such good care of my kids until I got there because they had taken my husband away in an ambulance. The same good people who gave me such good information about what happened (he was reared ended by an older gentleman who confused the gas and brake pedal) and warned me about the seriousness of everything without sounding panicky or distraught. (That helped me keep my cool in that I always cry when someone else cries.)

6. The wonderful doctors, nurses, and hospital employees and volunteers at the ER who took such great care of my husband, kids and me.

7. My best friend from growing up, Diane, who came up to the hospital (leaving her own kids) to watch my kids, so I could be back with my husband. She was a life saver.

8. My sister, who called my best friend and asked her to come up and be at the hospital.

9. The nice lady at Shopko Eye Care center who immediately ordered new glasses for my son and husband and put a rush on them, so they will arrive early this coming week.

10. Our wonderful eye doctor who came in on a Saturday afternoon to check out my husband's eye which showed some worrisome eye symptoms. (They are worrisome but he confirmed his eye is fine and his eye is healing.)

11. The makers of the Subaru WRX who made a car that somehow protected my husband and sons during a multiple roll over accident.

12. The great car insurance people at Progressive who have been prompt and kind in dealing with this.

13. The nice sheriff on the scene to who called later to check on the boys and my husband.

14. My husband for having himself and the boys in seat belts. If they hadn't been in them, there would have for sure been fatalities.

15. Most importantly, a loving Heavenly Father who protected my husband and sons. We know most people don't survive things like this (our car insurance ward member informed us of this fact) and for some unknown reason, we were spared serious tragedy. We are so blessed and realize divine intervention was the only thing that can explain this blessing in our lives.

Two Year Old Hair

In preparation for a family picture, I have spent the last few mornings trying to figure out the best way to curl toothsome #4's hair.

Toothsome #4 is a crazy baby and spends most of her days hollering, "I do yit." Here she is with hot rollers in her hair. (I learned quickly that she has no patience for sponge rollers and takes them out before they have done anything.) So, hot rollers it is.
After they were taken out by her after about 3 minutes--again, "I do yit"--this is the results. Trying to get her to hold still for a picture was near impossible.


Please bless the curls stay in long enough for our very expensive family photo session in a few weeks.

Sometimes I am an Awesome Scout Leader

Tonight was Pack Meeting and in preparations for the Pinewood Derby, which we are doing next month, we had a Lego Car Derby tonight. It was my idea and yes, I will pat myself on the back for this one. It was a huge success and I am now passing on the info to all of you people out there.

At lego.com I purchased a box of just wheels. This is what I bought and where I bought it. As you can see, it was not cheep but I have two boys, boxes of legos and I knew we would use them, so no I didn't turn in my receipt.

I had one table set up that just had the wheels on them and I was the wheel lady. The boys came to me to get their wheels and traded different sizes with me as they wanted them.
Here is the race track. These were made from aluminum siding that was bent up on the sides. I didn't do exact measurements but I would say they were four inches across and about 10 feet long. A man in our stake donated the siding and made them for us.
Our pack has two wards in it so we had two different tables, set up, across the room from each other with legos on them. The den leader in the one ward brought her son's legos and I brought my son's Legos. We threatened the boys to only use the legos from their respective tables, so they wouldn't be combined. We also made it very clear that they would not be bringing the legos or the wheels home with them. I must be a great threatener, because the boys were great about keeping the legos separate and neither family lost legos and I have all of the wheels back.
Here is our Cub master, manning the racing station. She would have the boys line up and race their cars by doing just a simple, "On your marks, get set, go."
Here is toothsome #1 with one of his lego car creations.

The boys quickly learned that the longer and the heavier their cars were, the faster they would go. Most boys started out with a simple brick-like idea and then reworked their cars. Also, because I did purchase the wheel set, the boys experimented with different wheel sizes.

I can't express again, how great and easy this activity was! The parents, the little siblings, the older siblings (one 15ish boy was really into it)--everyone got involved and had a great time. So yes, sometimes, I am a great scout leader, other times--like driving them 45 minutes to visit a very lame recycling center, not so much, but tonight, I rocked.

Canyon Cooking

One of the greatest things about living so close to the mountains is being able to go up regularly and roast hot dogs, make Smores and hang out around the fire.

We haven't done it much this summer, but made up for it by going alot so far this Fall. Already, we have plans to go again this weekend. Every year we try to time it so we go up one last time before the first snow fall. We still have plenty of time, but already we are talking about doing it again this year.

Cute toothsome number 4 next to the beginnings my husbands "rockin" log cabin fire.
This my attempt to take a picture to prove that I was there. Not so flattering of me but great of toothsome #2. Notice our Honda mini van in the back. I love that car.
Toothsome #1 with his hatchet. Again, at home, he would never be allowed to "play" with a hatchet and a log but up the canyon--always.
We have a favorite spot with a lot of great climbing rocks. The kids are in heaven, I am in heaven and so is dentist husband.

When Dentist husband was in dental school, we had a favorite spot about 5 minutes from our house (up Flagstaff, for those of you familiar with Boulder, CO) and we ate up their regularly and developed a favorite meal we called, "Cow in a Cave" which is steak and mushrooms eaten in a hollowed out end of french bread. So, we feel so lucky to be close to great mountains and continue enjoying our Canyon cooking.

FYI: We not big camping people, but big go up for the evening and enjoying the mountains kind of people.

Things are Looking Up

Just when you think you are full of with sadness, toothsome #3 lightens the mood by sincerely asking for a urinal for Christmas. Thanks little guy. It helped with my mood.