highways, byways, and getaways......

Well, I am back from my week out of town. It was a blast, I learned a lot at the substance abuse conference. Especially my favorite breakout session called "undercover with the DEA". It was nice, I managed to obscond to Mesquite on Tuesday and Wednesday nights while I was away, and play a little slot machine action. Not so good was the money that went down tube.. Ky says well it was hours of entertainment so no big deal. Whew, she always makes me feel better when I see money flying out the window. Plus, it was only the penny slots (which what a crock of crap it is WAY more then that when you bet 20 lines for 2 cents a line or whatever the hell).

My cute family joined me on Thursday night around 7 pm. It was SO good to see all of them. We have never stayed a night at a hotel as a family ALONE. We have always been with friends or family in our out of town travels (not that its a bad thing). So we LOVED it we had such a great time doing nothing. Thursday we went to an awesome dinner with some of my coworkers and for the record I hate cheesecake but ate the BEST cheesecake of my life that night. Infact I want some more right now. We did a whole lot of nothing on Friday, swam in the pool, chatted, and spent some 'quality" time together. We had previously decided to come home on Saturday because that would still give us a bit of a weekend. It was a real bummer because So. Ut Pride was on Saturday and originally we thought we would stop in. However, WINTER hit that day and we thought it best to get home as soon as possible. So we drove through a blizzard for a good 2oo miles, it was so strange I wanted to be in total denial that it was actually close enough to winter for SNOW. Ky goes "is that snow, sure is it is sticking" It took me a triple take to believe it. That is until I had the white knuckles on the steering wheel, pretty much all of the way to SLC.

We had fun last night we pulled out the new Karioke Machine Ky got me for our Anniversary and had a couple glasses of wine (ky had shots). This morning I finished up some school stuff. I am finishing my first class as of tomorrow at 10pm (how nice it goes so fast you don't even have time to hate it). Then we went and took some family pictures at Memory Grove, fun but not that fun with 2 toddlers who are done after the first 5 minutes. Infact we are going to have to get dressed again to go and get a few more of the whole family. We got cute ones of the kids but no family pic, and for those of you that know us well you know that we don't even have a family picture in the house. Why? well when we had the lovely state in for the visits monthly we thought it easier to just hide our whole family away and in that did not EVER take a picture till now. So I am VERY excited but my excitement will have to wait a few more weeks to get a few more done.

Then we went to the circus, my Ky got us 3rd row seats. After my panic of trampling elephants (LUCKILY OUR SEATS WERE ON THE END) I couldn't believe how good the seats were. We went with the Proud Prowsers and it was so much fun. Thanks girls we have missed you and it was so good to see you!! I am so niave though, we are walking into the circus and this "sweet" young man walks up handing out literature, I thought he was really giving me a "program" thinking to myself, those programs are so expensive, I scored by getting one on the way in. I looked at it for a minute and Ky was like oh they are soliciting, and picketing for the (P))E&&T##A) Organization. Not that i have a side either way, but when am I going to not be so niave to think that pretty much everyone is out for a cause, and now a days there is not going to be some nice person handing out a free program. Nope the programs were 15.00 at the door. Oh hell I might as well rant a bit more, to rid my guilt. So you know they sell so much damn propoganda at the circus and other events that Ky and I decided a few years ago that we would NEVER buy the kids any of that stuff at those events so that it never becomes a habit. Good damn thing Ky had a momentary lapse and wanted a snow cone I asked the guy for fun how much 15.00 oh and they had a 23.00 and 30.00 cup for a snow cone also. Come again, $15.00 for a snow cone in a cheap plastic cup. HOLY HELL!! We quickly changed that thought process and did NOT have a snow cone. Who pays that, well apparently everyone because the guy would come back and forth with the empty tray... To top that all off the cotton candy cost the same $15.00 for swirled up sugar, you must be kidding. Anyways, I remember as kids my Grandpa would buy us whatever we wanted at those things, we would probably take it all home and throw it away in a week, cuz it broke or whatever...... Now, it was probably MUCH cheaper back then and that is neither here nor there... the bottom line is if people would stop buying that crap it would not be so ridiculous.. Then when our kids looked at us longingly we could justify spending a bit to get them something. I mean REALLY it is not about the money for me (I am the one who blew money on NOTHING in Mesquite). It is about the principal, is it not enought to pay 35.00 a ticket, 35>00 for popcorn, hotdog, drinks, and some nachos. Oh and 5.00 TO PARK. Thank Heavens Sum and Mer feel the same way and Cam did not end up with any of those things either because lord knows that would have made things a bit harder, at least made it harder for me to stick to my "decision".

What an awesome weekend... I am on the countdown for my "anniversary getaway", Ky has now informed me that we are going to be flying." She has such a hard time with secrets, a couple of times she says, "do you want me to just tell you" I am bad with secrets too... but I have said no don't tell me I really want to be surprised. I CAN"T WAIT, I would like to think it was a romantic cruise, but the logical side of me says that 2 days is not enough for that.... So for now I will wait to see.

Have a great week, and keep an eye out for some more updated pictures that are downloading as we speak!

This and That

Sheer craziness, I don't know how else to explain it. Things have been wonderful, even better if I could just find another 2 hours in the day, and then have my alarm clock disappear. I guess, my little subconscious decided this morning that it did disappear because 2 alarms and I didn't even hear them. Funny, when you wake up at 7 am when you should have been up at least an hour ago and even that excludes my good morning workout. I guess my self is exhausted, no time for that. This week was kind of a fun week, Ky and I had our Anniversary. I know that she has a little surprise planned for me in a couple of weeks. So... I initially got a phone call on Tuesday afternoon, do you want to go out to dinner tonight, with the kids for our anniversary. First thought sure, but how funny when we both got home and in the door from work it sounded like way more fun to just stay home. So, my darling wife made me 4 cheese lasagna hamburger helper. I have been laughing about it all week, it seemed like the easiest thing in the cupboard and nothing sounded like more fun then being with my family. I know she would have made something fancy and elaborate and it would have tasted wonderful I am sure. No thanks, time was much better.

It is interesting this is our second anniversary of the year our first is the one that we celebrate in July (6 years), well we don't really celebrate it a kiss and a hug and a thanks I am happy we met gushy speech :). September 18th (3 years) is really the best one, we had our commitment ceremony up Millcreek Canyon at this huge group campsite, it was the most amazing day of both of our lives (well except for having and getting our kids). I pulled out our wedding DVD, at which of course I had to cry because it was such a beautiful experience (one of which I hope to never have to do over because it was a hell of a lot of work too)! Anyways, Babe I Love You, Forever and Always!!

School....... seems to be going well, I have moments of severe intellectual deportation from my cerebral cortex, but hey I am sure that's normal and I am even more sure that is an actual diagnosis for feeling idiotic. Tonight, perfect example I had my first team paper, well I can write and I can usually write a paper, I could absolutely not wrap my head around writing a team paper in which I only had to write one portion, one portion without seeing what everyone else wrote. So after about 6 tries 4 of which I seemed to head towards writing the whole darn thing, I think I finally got it. Simple one page paper on "Ethics of College Admission Policies in relationship to Socio Economic Status" My part "the virtuous cycle" created by socio economic status. I feel like that commercial right now "THIS IS YOUR BRAIN, (sizzle sizzle, sizzle) THIS IS YOUR BRAIN ON DRUGS" The worst damn part no drugs in this arena, just freakin school.

My kids..... Good God I think I might be thinking we might be thinking we might be wondering if we might want to start trying to see if we might want another one and now I am trying to decide how that would ever fit in the mix.(whew that's funny I crack myself up, slap happy I think) I don't want the kids to all be too far apart, they say when you start pushing 4-5 years you might as well consider them "only children" "or a second family" WTF I don't want that I have this cute family ties type, sibling love type, cosby show type, family type view in my head where my kids are all best friends they protect and love each other..... Oh brother, well ain't no spermy swimming my way this month so guess we will see whats next..... To baby or not to baby that is the question, MOM (if you are reading this), don't answer this question, I know you would sink the moon if you could have another, PATIENCE sweet mama PATIENCE.

P.S I just re read this blog and its a bit sporadic, I know forgive me!!

Nurse maid elbow

So, one of Jacks loving uncles was swinging him by the arms the other night at the fair. On Saturday morning Jack would not use his left arm at all. I thought maybe he just had a sprain or something so we gave him Tylenol and kept going through the day, we kept thinking he was guarding it and we iced it. He would say "mommy my arm hurts" and at the Ute Football game he would not even put to much pressure on it. He did not cry a lot about it and I figured if it was broken or something he would be crying a lot more. My dad did a "Papa" check on it and thought that we should give it one more night and see if it rested enough he would be better in the morning. NOPE, this morning he was still in obvious pain and complaining about it. Ky leaves town today for another week and I was worried about her not being here if it was something more serious. So I decided that I would take him to the urgent care clinic at least to have it x rayed. He was so good laying under that big machine, it obviously hurt to have them turn it all over the place but he was a little champ (I thought to myself, well this is not going to be the last time you are sitting in this position you have a little boy so you better get used to it). They took us back to the room and Dr. W came in and says so... "what can I do for you, his bones look great?' Immediately I felt relief wash over me, but what was wrong then, the poor kid can not even get food to my mouth. The doc says "well I think it is nurse maids elbow, let me look" He grabs his arm and starts twisting, my mother who was with me hits the doctor and says "stop it you are hurting him." Jack of course was screaming. The doc "well I didn't get anything that time let me try just once more." I was cringing I knew it hurt Jack, the kid can lay himself out on asphalt and stand up and brush his hands off and keep going. The doc grabs his arm once more and twists and sure enough "POP" the doc says "Oh, I got it!" I could tell it felt immediately better. So the doc told us to hang out for ten minutes force Jack to use it so we could make sure there was a difference. So we went to the lobby and what makes a kid move better then anything but candy. Sure enough the boy was back to normal and announces to the doctors office "my arm feel better.' The doc checked him over one last time, Jack thanked everyone walking out of the office and it was so nice to have him back to normal. The doc spoke to us about why this happens and I looked it up and am posting it below so you can all see, he says it can simply happen from a child holding hands with Mom in a hurry, but mostly from picking them up and swinging them by their arms. We know this and have told this loving uncle NO MORE many times but guess you can't resist horseplay with boys.


Nursemaid Elbow Overview
Nursemaid elbow is a common injury among preschool-aged children. It refers to a condition (medically called a radial head subluxation) in which a child's elbow bones get partially pulled out of joint and do not line up normally. The injury can occur innocently from swinging a young child by the arms or pulling a child's arm while in a hurry.
A temporary condition without permanent effects, it can be quite frightening to parents who find their child lacking the ability to use his or her upper arm.
Specifically, a portion of soft tissue, whose function is to hold bones together, is pulled between 2 areas of the bones that make up the elbow joint. The involved bony areas are the radial neck and head of the radius bone in the forearm and the capitellum portion of the humerus, or upper arm bone. Movement of the elbow in this condition results in pain and keeps the child from using the upper arm.
Typically, this type of injury occurs in children aged 1-4 years but has occurred in infants aged 6-12 months as well. As children grow, their bones become larger and more defined. So this injury is rarely seen in children older than 6 years.

Nursemaid Elbow Causes
Nursemaid elbow occurs after a sudden pulling force is applied to the extended upper arm of the child while the arm is slightly twisted. The force may not seem strong, and you may not even realize it has happened.
Some examples of typical situations that can produce the mechanism of force required to cause this injury are these:
In lifting the child by the hand
Swinging the child while holding the child by the hands
Pulling arms through the sleeves of jackets
Catching a child by the hand to prevent a fall
Pulling a child along when in a hurry
The young child is prone to this type of injury largely because of the anatomical features of their bones and ligaments. Understanding the mechanism of this injury is helpful in explaining the cause.
The end of the radius bone that connects to the elbow joint is known as the radial head. This will eventually become shaped like the end of a dowel rod. In the young child, however, it does not yet have a well-defined lip at its end. As such, the radial neck and radial head portions of the radius are similar in size in the toddler.
The annular ligament holds the radius alongside the ulna, which is the other bone in the forearm, and allows for the radius to twist. At this point in childhood development, it is still relatively loosely attached to the bone and can experience a small tear in some of its fibers.
The combination of these 2 things allows the loose portions of the ligament to slide over the radial head as a pulling force is applied to the elbow when the forearm is slightly twisted inward (pronation). When this happens, this tissue can become trapped between the 2 bones, resulting in the subluxation of the radial head, or nursemaid elbow.

End of Summer Fun

I cannot believe it, I can't believe that summer is coming to an end. It is time to put all of the fun away. Ky and I were driving home today and started planning out the winter, and I have to say. We are going to need some fun in there somewhere. This winter..... The house, painting and new carpet. That should be fun.

Anyways, our summer fun is not really ending but it is clear we are transitioning into fall because the fair is coming, and in the mountains this weekend the leaves on the ridges were starting to change. I am not going to lie, I LOVE fall, when I lived back East fall was the most AMAZING season of all. The trees and season change was absolutely breath taking, and the thing I miss the most from Maine, we could do so much in the fall my favorite... Apple picking, we would get out all of our first of the season fall clothes and head out to the orchards for this yearly event, this was usually followed by some apple pie, a fair or two and some awesome beach campfires. Utah.. isn't half bad though, it is quite amazing here also so I am certainly not complaining!

So as our farewell to summer we spent the weekend camping at East Canyon... Although this was the "trip originally planned for the grandparents" upon there canceling, we ended up inviting some friends up to join us. It was a blast, we spent some time at the Lake in the BIGGIE (which sadly had gained a few holes from the ride up, and I spent most of the time the first day holding the holes with my fingers, Mitchy and I went on a mad dash down the canyon to find patches for the next day, and succeeded in that project). We saw wildlife had a near "spray" experience on several occasions from the skunks that visited us nightly, played games, and let the kids run wild. There is nothing better then having your family, in the mountains, next to water, with no real expectations. Thanks to those who joined us and made it an incredible experience and to anyone who didn't we are thinking that we should start planning for next year sooner then later so that we can get a great spot, in an incredible area, and be joined by incredible people!!

I am sure Ky will give the full update and picture report so stay tuned!!