CrAzY hAiR dAy!

This week is Red Ribbon Week at school, and in addition to making sure the kids wear their red ribbons to remember to be Drug Free, they get to do some other fun things. Yesterday was "Hat Day" and today was "Crazy Hair Day." We love crazy hair day. Sometimes it's hard to come up with for B since his hair is so short, but we managed to do some sweet spikes this time. Eryn did her own, and it was definitely a crazy looking 'do. K's was fun. She wasn't sure how crazy she really wanted to be, but she decided that a bunch of bows would be crazy enough.

Coming soon: Fall Break Activities.

I Am Blessed

What a week! We had Fall Break last Thursday, Friday... and clear through Monday! It was super fun, and I'll post some pics from a couple of activities soon. I just need to write about how grateful I am for sweet kids. Although Fall Break was fun, I fell behind on a few important things. I fell even FURTHER behind when my wonderful Photoshop decided to just die. Dead. Right in the middle of editing. It's been struggling for a couple of weeks now, and I've nearly pulled all my hair out just trying to get it to work. Then yesterday, it really decided to quit. It froze up and then an error message came up saying that my License wouldn't work anymore. Oh boy. I tried un-installing, re-installing, doing all kinds of other weird things... and nothing would work. It just kept telling me the same thing. I finally decided that I would just have to upgrade to the newer version. I bought it online, and finally got the download link and began to download it. Well, it didn't want to cooperate. I had to try it three times... I was getting SO FRUSTRATED. Between that, and a couple of kiddos fighting in the other room, and some other craziness going on, I totally lost it! Unfortunately my frustration was obvious to everyone. It wasn't pretty, and I felt terrible and totally broke down in tears (probably TMI, but seriously... I guess it's just the way life goes sometimes). Well, I went back to the computer to try and get things figured out. I heard my kids head downstairs... well, all but one of them. I finally got things figured out (after having to download a program just to open up the files I needed) and headed back into the kitchen. I couldn't believe what I saw. There was Kaitlyn wiping down the counter tops and table, having already loaded the sink-full of dirty dishes into the dishwasher. The kitchen was spotless. This sweet girl has a knack for knowing when Mom needs a little bit of help. She doesn't say a word, just goes to work. I walked over to her and hugged her tightly while blinking back tears. She really is such a thoughtful girl, and I am so grateful for her.

Don't think that I'm not grateful for my other kids, though. Eryn really tried to help keep the boys from fighting and getting into trouble, knowing that I was busy and stressed... and both boys gave me a hug and told me that they were sorry I was having a hard day. They are all so sweet. I am so lucky to be their mom, and I am grateful that they forgive me when I'm not the most patient mom in the world.

Feels like a long time...

It has only been a week, but it feels like forever since I've blogged. Thankfully I've recovered from the infamous gravy incident, however Eryn noticed that there is still a spot or two on her shoes that I missed. Oops! We have definitely been busy, however... I've been taking family pictures for people (including our own), forgetting to do important things (like go in and decorate desks for kids' birthdays in Kaitlyn's class - I'm the birthday mom, and I totally failed on Monday. Good thing K's teacher was on top of things, and good thing she forgave me), trying to conquer the continuously growing mountain of laundry that I just can't seem to whittle down, and counting down to Fall Break!! Oh, how we need it. We had planned a trip to Denver to see Jared's grandfather. He is battling lymphoma, and we thought we should go see him... it's been way too long. However, he is very tired, and all the constant visitors are just adding to the exhaustion, so we have decided to put it off. I guess we'll just enjoy sleeping in here at home. We are planning to have a movie night, and go to Trafalga. Should be fun ;)

It's the time of year for School Pictures... and guess what? I don't buy them. Oh, they're cute and all, but they all look the same, and I can just go out and do my own kids. Hopefully during this wonderful fall break I'll get my other kids done, but I started with Hayden (since he's out of school by noon... and we picked a nice overcast day to go out. He earned a dollar to spend at the dollar store for being so awesome!)

So here are a couple of Hayden's "official" Kindergarten pictures. There are a few others on my photography blog HERE

The Great Gravy Incident

I wish I had a picture. Really I do. If I had a picture (which I was actually very tempted to take...) there would not need to be much explaining. Well, maybe that's not entirely true.

Let me start at the very beginning. We and some of our friends in the neighborhood have organized a little dinner group where each of us has a day to cook dinner for everyone else. This has been SUCH a blessing! Three days out of the week, I don't have to make dinner. It just shows up at my doorstep all warm and yummy and ready to eat. It makes me so happy :) Wednesdays are MY day to cook, and boy oh boy was today going to be good! Around 9:30 this morning, I put 4 juicy roasts in to cook. Within an hour my house smelled like heaven! I went about my day as usual until BAM! The power goes out! The only thing I could think was "NOOOOOOOO!" This was around 2:30-ish in the afternoon. I knew the roasts weren't done, and I hadn't even started peeling potatoes. I was worried. I ended up peeling potatoes in the dark while my kids tried to see to do their homework with just the cloud-covered light shining through the kitchen window. Just as I finished peeling my last couple of potatoes the lights came back on. WHEW!!

Well, as luck would have it, I also had to be at the school for Hayden's SEP with his teacher. I called everyone to let them know that dinner would be just a little bit late, but amazingly I was out the door by 5:50 making the deliveries!

As I turned the corner, I heard something tip over in the back, but I was sure that since lids were on bowls, it would not be a problem. However, as I opened up my sliding door to reach in for the goods, there it was. All over the carpet. GRAVY! (Let me assure you, however, that this is NOT the gravy that constituted the "incident.") "Okay, Jen," I thought to myself. "No big deal. I'll deliver the other meals and hurry home and quickly make some more." I knew one of our families wasn't home and I was just supposed to leave their dinner on their counter. I left them a note saying: "I'll be right back with the gravy!"

I calmly walked into my kitchen, put some of the yummy broth from the roast that was left for us into a pot, and started the gravy. It only took a few minutes. MAN it smelled good! I poured it into a bowl, placed the lid on top, and began walking toward the door. Suddenly, the steam from inside forced the lid off and in my surprise at the flying lid, I pretty much THREW the entire bowl of gravy into the air, simultaneously screaming "NOOOOOO!" as I melted into a sobbing heap on the floor.

Here's where the picture would have come in handy. There was basically a sea of gravy right on the floor in front of me, and my kids looked in shock at the splashes of yummy brown goodness that now painted several walls, jackets, backpacks, shoes and the kitchen door. Oh, and my pants were pretty much covered as well. Seriously? Really? Please someone pinch me and wake me from this nightmare!

Dang! No such luck. I quickly (and I mean really quickly) made just one more batch of gravy, mopped a spot that I could walk through and delivered the gravy. By this time the ridiculousness (is that a word) of the situation finally sank in and I started laughing. But I knew what awaited me back at home. The fallout from a gravy bomb. I scrubbed and scrubbed (and managed to melt a pot-holder that I accidentally left on the stove, which I had accidentally left on, filling the house with smoke - but we aren't mentioning that part, right?) The worst part? I hadn't even been able to make any potatoes for my own family. We had roast, with gravy, and a few green beans. I have no more tears left, and I'm still finding gravy in places that I didn't realize even existed. Oh, and I think it's gonna be a long time before I make gravy again.

When Life Gets Busy...

...and you feel like you just don't have enough hours in the day to get all the things done that you need to accomplish, what do you do? Well, knowing that laundry would STILL be there tomorrow (although the pile may be larger), and the dishes aren't going anywhere (in fact there will be even more), and absolutely not wanting anything having to do with work or any word that resembles it - we get SILLY! It relieves the pressure just a little bit! :)

B and I got CrAzY! He had a great time being goofy and silly, and I loved every minute of snapping away with my camera :) Here's proof that my little Superman can fly!

Too bad I have to get back to reality now. The laundry awaits...

Trophies and Busted Limbs

Wow! What a weekend we had. It was the best of times, and it was the worst of times. I'm tellin' ya, this is the kind of stuff that only happens to us.

Let's ATLEAST start out with the positive events. A wedding. I love weddings. I love attending them. I loved having one (although I don't want to have another one. Ever.) I love reading about them, looking at pictures of them, weddings are great! However, when I decided to take up photography, I said... no actually I SWORE, that I would not EVER shoot a wedding. Why? Well, for one thing, there's a little bit of pressure. There are no do-overs. If you don't get it the first time, you just don't get it. And if you mess up? Well, I don't even want to think about it! I thought it would be WAY too stressful. However... last year, my wonderful hubby's boss said "My son is getting married. We need a photographer." And my wonderful hubby said "Oh. My wife could totally do it!" I was mad. Seriously, I was! But of course, how do you say "no" to your husband's boss? When I mentioned that I had never shot a wedding before, they reassured me that it was a small wedding, and it would be fine. Yeah. You say that NOW. We are talking about somebody's important memories, here. Well, I ended up doing their engagement pictures - and I LOVED it. Then I ended up doing her Bridals - and I LOVED it. I was still super nervous about the wedding, but guess what? I LOVED IT! I took Jared along to assist. He even took a few pictures with my sister's camera that I had taken as a backup. Fast forward a year. A girl who grew up in the ward we are in (and whose mama is the YW pres) called to ask what I would charge to do a wedding. I still didn't feel super experienced, and I still felt very nervous, but I said I would do it for her. I took along an "assistant:"

Don't you LOVE the look of concentration? He really took his job seriously ;)

I had my back-up camera all set up for him, and kinda told him what to shoot. He was great! He noticed little details that I was too busy to notice, helped me gather everyone for group shots, and caught a few really nice shots while I was changing lenses. I don't know if I could have done it without him, and as we drove away, he said "I can totally see myself doing this with you when I retire." I laughed a little bit. I may need him WAY before he retires, so I guess I better start teaching him to shoot manual! It was really fun to just have him there with me, lending his support, and reminding me that I CAN do this! And now I have another wedding under my belt. I've learned something each time, and I hope to have the opportunity again sometime :)

Friday ended on quite a nice high. Saturday started out that way...

Eryn's soccer team was playing in the 7th-8th Grade Recreation Championship (I don't know if they really call it that, but she IS in 7th grade, it IS rec. soccer, and it WAS the championship). They came into the tournament as the 2nd seed, and had won their previous game in mega overtime with shoot-outs and sudden death, finally pulling out the "W". We were feeling pretty good about the finals. They played their little hearts out, and then late in the 2nd half, Eryn goes down. Yes, DOWN. On the ground, landing right on her wrist! She sat out on the field crying, and all I could think was GET UP... GET UP!! When she did, she walked off the field holding her right arm and crying in pain. SHOOT! We've done this before, and it's not fun. Just a mere 2 years ago, she fell while ice skating and broke her LEFT wrist. There is even video of the fall (it's here on the blog, but you'll have to look for it. It was December of 2008. ;) ).  Only this time, it's her RIGHT wrist. She's right handed. Well, we just hoped it was only a sprain (please let it only be a sprain!) The "Heatwave" ended up losing (in a very similar ending to the other game - shootouts, sudden death) and it was heartbreaking... and apparently ARM breaking. This morning (Monday) the X-ray concluded that her Radius was in fact BROKEN!! Hey, atleast she got a trophy out of the deal. 2nd place really aint that bad!!

Notice the ice on her arm. But GO ERYN!! We were proud of her - she had a fantastic season. She gets better each year.

And I wasn't pushy enough (or patient enough) to get a picture without some other mom's arm in the way. But here's the whole team with their trophies!

I had to leave Eryn at the clinic to get her cast on alone, because Hayden would be getting off the bus at home at any moment. Can you just imagine him getting off and nobody there to meet him? Nobody home? It was giving me anxiety just thinking about it. Good thing Eryn's old enough to hang out by herself for a little bit. When I picked her up, there she was with a beautiful, bright green cast!

I told her I wanted to take a couple of pictures of her with her cast... and she tried to hide it. She is NOT happy (despite the cute smile) about having it. It's gonna be tough!

Ah, there it is!!

The next 4-6 weeks should be interesting, to say the least. She shares a similar trait with me, in the fact that our left hands are essentially USELESS! I don't honestly know how I can even play the piano, because really, my left hand can't do anything. Poor kid. Note-taking will have to be done with a voice recorder, hair will have to be done by me... and patience will have to be key!! Wish us luck ;)