Monday, August 31, 2009

Boys Pictures

When my sister was in town my friend Amy took some pictures of our boys. My boys were NOT cooperating, but she worked her magic and got a few shots.






So, this is not an intended pose. Ethan was actually pulling my hair to make the picture madness stop!




Monday, August 24, 2009

It's blackberry season again!



I made a yummy cobler and we had melting ice-cream on top. It was delicious.

Everett came to visit!

This year we have done a fair amount of entertaining. That means, we have hit all of Seattle's major attractions several times! This visit was no exception. My nephew Everett drove up with us from Utah and got to stay for a week and a half. We went to: the zoo, the aquarium, the space needle, the science museum, the music museum, the serpentarium, snoqualmie falls, the flight museum, swimming, the underground, pike place market, spent time with friends and played a few hours of video games! Here are a few pics of proof.

Apparently when you are a 14 year old boy you are supposed to look like you are NOT having any fun! Hence, the expressions in the photos. Snoqualmie Falls.


The boys were regulars on his shoulders and would climb all over him!

The zoo. I learned this time that Komodo Dragons are really quite violent and kill any animal for dinner. Fascinating!

The Space Needle.

The boys got to hold a cockroach! Ethan pet it and I didn't get the picture of Cole holding it.




One of the first Seattle toilets.....

An ER visit

The trip ended a little differently than expected. Matt has a theory that I should never travel longer than 10 days because something bad always happens after that. This trip was no exception! On the 10th day the boys both came down with a cold and that night Ethan smashed his thumb in a door! He was with my nephew while we were eating at a restaurant and a few minutes later he handed him to me and told me he had smashed his finger in a door. I went to see some smashed fingers and saw a thumb hanging off his hand! He had cut it so bad it could bend all the way back words! I was in shock and didn't quite know what to do. My dad threw some napkins on his hand and I put pressure on it and then we raced out the door to the ER.

Apparently a nearly severed finger is not that big of an emergency. We waited for quite awhile and then they decided to sedate Ethan while they looked at it. At first glance it looked like it hit a tendon so they said we needed to go to Primary Children's to see a hand specialist. They wrapped his finger up and off we went!


Ethan was quite the trooper. I am grateful that I stopped at my parent's house and picked up his blankie and a DVD player. They helped us get through the several hour wait until they finally gave Ethan some morphine at 12. He was able to fall asleep and even told the x-ray tech thank you!

Around 3:30 in the morning they finally were able to complete the procedure. They sedated Ethan again, but this time he was talking and saying all kinds of funny things! He would say car, boat, blankie mommy and Carter's house (his cousin). I didn't realize this but I don't do very well with a hurt child! I think it was mostly the fact that I knew he was in pain and there was nothing I could do to make it stop. However, it didn't take long to fix him up. They cleaned it out, put in about 6 or 7 stitches and splinted it.

He had to wake up, eat some and not throw up before we went home. We went to leave the hospital around 6 and realized that our car battery was dead! My mum had parked the car and didn't realize you had to turn off the lights. I had to call my dad collect because our cell phones were also dead. It was a very long night! My dad rescued us and we made it home. Matt decided to fly back so he could help us drive home. It was a good idea. An entire night of no sleep is hard!

Ethan did just fine and acted as if nothing had happened. When we got home to Seattle we saw another hand specialist and they put a cast on it. I have been very grateful for the cast because it feels much much safer for him. He will have it on for only two weeks. It is getting pretty stinky so I will be happy to see it go!

This is before it got casted.




Utah Trip Highlights

We went boating with friends.


We got to try wake surfing!

I wasn't as graceful as Matt, but hey, I got up anyway!

We went to Thanksgiving Point.

The Children's Garden.

The Secret Garden (where Matt and I got engaged)

The Dinosaur Museum.




We had lots of cousin time.


We rode motorcycles and four wheelers.

Cole loved it and keeps asking for a four wheeler.

Ethan wouldn't put on a helmet so he just played in the dirt.

A few things that we didn't document with pictures: lots of family time, dinners and hanging out, swimming, and my sister Kathy's wedding. I also got to meet the three new babies and snuggled them loads!

The Spudman

All spring I had been training to compete in the Spudman Triathlon. On our way to Utah we stopped in Burley for the race. I had a great time! The river swim was interesting and hard, I had a few issues with my transitions, but overall came in under my 3 hour goal at 2:51! My parents came up to cheer me on and of course the boys were there as well.