Summer In One Week

We had a jam-packed week in Idaho. I think we got to do everything that we wanted to do there and more.  It was a little crazy going from one thing to the next, but oh so fun!  We loved every second of it, even if our kids were exhausted the whole time we were there.  They also had fun, so sometimes ya gotta do what ya gotta do, right? 

We got family pictures with both sides of Hadley's family.  I forgot my camera when we got them taken with Blayne and Leslie, but here's a few I snapped at John and Melissa's.  (Yes, the whole family got pictures taken in Oregon Ducks clothing.  That's for a different post.  Gotta love it!)

As I was saying, we basically crammed everything we missed doing in Idaho, in one week.  We went four wheeling, waterskiing, swimming, to the sand dunes, razor rides, had a big volleyball tournament, visited with friends, rode horses, went on a Harley ride, and cruised up the river for a steak dinner, and a little fishin. Ahh!  We love to play! 

Weston and Mandi's horse that Jerzi was in love with

Here's Had showin us he hasn't lost his skills.  He got up his first try in the air chair.  He's still got it in slolem skiing too!  He makes everything look easy.  I heard his brother say as Had was skiing, "Gosh dang it, why does he have to be good at everything he does?"  It's true folks, everything he tries or does, he's good at it.  All of his siblings didn't care about anything else except Hadley not winning the volleyball tournament.  That could tell ya a little somethin about Had and his family.  HAHA  

I got up on the air chair too, and I slolem skiied.  I was so happy!  I'm not good, and I definitely don't make it look easy, but I was happy that I could still do it, and it was so much fun.  That air chair thing is so cool!  I loved it.   

Jeter didn't want to do anything in the water.  He's a little afraid....of everything.  And he doesn't like cold.  But those excuses just won't fly with Had around.  We're all about forcing them into having fun. :)  It took a little bit for him to go from being mad, to being ok with it, to having fun.

Good times with the fam!

We went on a Harley ride all through West Yellowstone, then looped around to Jackson Hole, met up with the rest of the family and went swimming, ate dinner, and over the Jackson Pass back to Rexburg.  Such a pretty ride!  I took a ton of pictures.  I forgot how pretty everything is here!  I loved it.  Had didn't get to enjoy it as much as I did (we may have been going a little too fast for him to take his eyes off the road), but it was so beautiful and peaceful.

Look at those Tetons!!!  Man, what a site!  I can't get over the mountains.  Oh how I miss them.

Boating down the Snake River, with a beautiful sunset like this, I reminded Had of a song we learned in 4th grade about Idaho.   It goes like this:

Celebrate Idaho, it's a century old. 

 Look around and enjoy what you see. 

We've built a beautiful home

 where are children can grow, 

Celebrate Idaho.

Celebrate Idaho.

We sang it together on the boat.  (I hope John and Melissa didn't hear us. HAHA)

We weren't cheesey singing it, I promise.

But I thought about how we were celebrating Idaho, and all the things we love to do there, and how much I enjoyed everything I saw.

I couldn't get over how beautiful this place is. And so I had to force my thoughts and songs on Had.  :)

I

(Don't worry, we don't have an influx of creepy flying things in Idaho, those are just bugs on the windshield of the boat.)

And having this cute boy by my side the whole time we were in Idaho made it all that much better, cold sores and all.  :)   I love him.  I love Idaho.  I love family.  And I love playing.

Great Summer!!!

(p.s. it's not over yet.)

My Fears

 We just got back from another awesome trip to Idaho, but before we left, two of my worst fears came true.  The first one being one of my kids getting hurt.  And of course it would be Jeter, because he's crazy.  I have always been so scared that one of my kids would get seriously hurt, which I'm sure most parents are.  But on top of that, I have been afraid that I wouldn't know what to do when they do get hurt, or that I wouldn't take them in when they need to be taken in, which would mess them up even worse.  (I never want to go to any doctors or hospitals unless absolutely necessary.  I feel like lots of them are idiots [no offense to any doctors out there, including my own husband.  He's one of the smart doctors.] )    :)

Then it happened on August 7th.  Jeter was running around like a freakshow, and ran and jumped from the top of our staircase, to the bottom, which is fairly common in our house.  But this time he decided halfway through the air that he actually didn't want to jump, and tried to stop himself, midair.  That resulted in him landing/hitting into the bottom stair with his foot.  There was a pause, then a super loud yelling scream.  I ran to check out the damage, thinking he probably hit his head into the wall, cuz that's usually the main body part that he hurts.  It was his foot, not his head.  I had him stand up to walk, and he couldn't.  Then I started pushing everywhere on it to find out where (ya know, pretending I knew what to do if I only knew where it was hurting at.)  Well, we figured out where, partly cuz of the bump that was forming.  I instantly knew it was broken.  It was weird.  Looking back now, I feel like I had a little mother's intuition.  I don't usually get that, so that was kinda cool.  And I stayed calm.  I wasn't as freaked as I thought I'd be.  Jeter was fine.  Hurting, but fine.  He only cried for about one minute total, and then just sat around, cuz he couldn't walk anymore.  I called Had, told him I think Jete just broke his foot. So after telling Had all that happened and him agreeing with me that he needs an x-ray, we took Jete in to Daddy's work.  Jete said on the way there, "Well, I guess if you wanna see Daddy at work, all's you need to do is hurt your foot."

Well, Had read the x-rays and yep, broken.  He broke his 5th metatarsal, which is the bone right below his pinky toe.  He got to pick his cast color.  It was a cute little black cast. I loved seeing it form to his little calf muscle.  And I LOVED having Had be a foot doctor, and not having to pay a cent for this.

   

He got a little walking boot to go over it so he could still walk around on it.  The doc that was there helping Had said he should be walking around on it in about 3 days.  It took Jete about 5 minutes of being home and he was playing and walking around on it like nothing happened.

He did really good with it.  During baths, playing, and everything.  He only had 2 little freakouts during the middle of the night cuz his foot was itching and he couldn't itch it.  Other than that, he didn't ever complain about it once.  I did though.  It stunk.  And sometimes he would touch his stinky toes, then chase me with his yucky fingers. 

This was the day he got to get it off.  He was so happy!  He got to get it off the day before we went to Idaho.

I said earlier that two of my worst fears came true.  The second one was getting in a car accident.  Ever since we moved away from Idaho, I've been afraid of these freaky, fast, traffic-packed freeways.  I never want to drive on them, and when I do, I am tense the whole time.  Well on Aug. 22nd, two days before we left for Idaho, I went with the youth to the temple.  I was going to drive, but at the last second, everyone got out of my car, and we all piled into my friend's van because she had an EZtag to get on the toll roads.  On the way home from the temple, we stopped at Arby's, grabbed our food, and started cruising down the freeway. My friend saw brake lights up ahead of us, so she starts slowing down... and we either came to a stop, or were going maybe like 5 mph, when all the sudden,

WHAM!!!

Some dude didn't see us all stopped (it happens fast on these busy freeways), and drilled us from behind, going around 40-50 mph!  Our food, drinks, ketchup, Arby's sauce covered all of us and the whole van, so when I turned around to ask everyone if they were ok, it looked like everyone was covered in blood. Kind of a freaky sight! We had 5 youth in there, plus me and my friend Brittany.  Everyone was totally freaked out, and shaking like crazy.  One girl kept saying how she just wanted out of the van, and another girl kept taking the Lord's name in vain.  No one was seriously hurt though from what I could tell.  I tried to lighten things up by cracking jokes, and talking to them calmly. I was calm.  It was weird.  I thought I would be freaking out.  We called 911 and they were there within like 3 or 4 minutes.  It was kind of a mess, since none of the kids parents were with us, and they were all under 18.  We had 3 cell phones between all of us, so everyone was calling their parents, parents were talking to the EMT's, and I was talking to EMT's and parents.  Between all that, I had the thought that I should let Had know, so I hurry and sent him a quick text.  A few minutes later, when I got my phone back from one of the kids, Had was calling me.  Turns out I sent him a text that said something like,

"Just got in a wreck.  We're hangin out on the freeway right now."

Then he tried texting me back and calling me, but I didn't have my phone for a few minutes, so he was left to worry and wonder.

Woops.

I guess it would have been helpful to know that I was ok.  Or that we were all ok.  Or that I wasn't driving, like he thought that I was.

(I guess I wasn't thinking too clearly.)

Anyway, 4 out of the 5 kids went in ambulances to the Children's Hospital.  I rode in there with them, as the "parent", although the EMT's had a hard time figuring out if I was one of the kids or the adult.  After we took the kids to that hospital, me and Brittany had to go to another hospital to get checked out.  After all was said and done, we had a couple kids with concussions, some with bruises and cuts, and I think all of us had whiplash, but no one was seriously hurt.  We were so blessed.  We all felt very grateful we were coming home from the temple, and that Heavenly Father was looking out for us.  

Here is the van that we were riding in.  The back was crunched right up against that back seat, where 3 teenage girls were sitting.  All of them are fine.  I know that we were being protected. 

Nothing like facing your fears head on!

I'm a little surprised with how I handled them, but impressed with myself.  :)  haha

Now if someone could please tell me what to do about this insurance adjuster and "settling", that would be awesome, cuz I feel a little clueless when this dude is asking me if I want to settle or wait.

Workin Hard

 Jeter has this cute little workshop that has all sorts of power tools, nails, bolts, wrenches, hammers, etc.   He plays with it every once in awhile and tells me he's going to work.   Then he comes back after hammering really loudly for about 2 or 3 minutes and says, "Whew, I've been workin hard!"  Or sometimes he "calls" me from work and says he'll be home from work at 10:00.  Then he comes and finds me and says "Mom, I'm home!" He waits for me to give him a hug and tell him I've missed him.  That's usually the extent of him playing with it.  A couple minutes every once in awhile.  The kid really doesn't have a very big imagination at all.  I blame myself.  I'm pretty sure I don't have an imagination at all.  It's sad. 

But for his birthday, we got him the coolest thing ever for a kid with no imagination.  We got him play wood (styrofoam stuff), and tools that really work, with plastic screws and nails.  He's got a power drill, a saw, and a nail gun that really work.  So no more imagining....he gets to do the real thing now!

 

Look at that little hard working face.

The finish product: A new tool box

The only bad thing about this, we're gonna need to buy a lot more wood!

Idaho

 I was so excited to be in Idaho for the 4th of July.  I love the 4th!  I was only a little sad that I was gonna be gone from my own home cuz I had lots of cute decoration crap that I wanted to make (from pinterest)and put out, but I'd take Idaho over making my own craft crap any day.  I was a lot sad though that Had couldn't be there with us.  He didn't even watch fireworks this year, just went to bed.  He said what's the point in watching them if you're watching them by yourself. 

 We started the day off right by getting to the parade at approximately 9:57, when it started at 10.  I'm sure Leslie was a little panicked that I wasn't gonna show up at all.  They were saving seats for us!  We made it though, just in time for the flag to pass, I think.  Maybe we were still trying to find them.  Anyhow, we found them, and it was fun to see all the little kids supporting their country by wearing the clothes us parents picked out for them.  :)

My old basketball coach, Gary Gardner, from BYU-Idaho happened to be sitting there at the parade, right next to us.  I was so happy to see him, and he was happy to see me.  He told me to take a picture of him for Had. So here he is waving to Had.  :)  Funny guy!  I miss him, and playin for him.  He moved to Utah, so I rarely get to see him.  But his son lives across the street from Had's parents, so every once in awhile, we get to see him.  He's funny.  He told me and Had when we got engaged that we are the greatest basketball couple ever.  He's the one that convinced me that I was good enough to play for a college, when I didn't believe it myself. Because of him, I ventured off to Virginia and played basketball there (and ran cross country).  I have a special place in my heart for this man.

Here's "Scary Spice" as my sister called her, showing her patriotism.

And my little Jeter boy, rockin the red white and blue.

Gettin sprayed was awesome!

Jeter, Lexie, Ashton, Deegan, and Jerzi... some dang cute kids! 

Ok, so really I just liked the fact that I figured out how to make only these colors stand out on a black and white picture, but the kids are pretty dang cute too. 

Linds had no idea how fitting "Scary Spice" was for Jerzi this day. Only Bird... and sadly Todd and Suzy Holman got to see a little taste of it (oh and the people all along the streets that were walking to their cars after the parade was over).

This was the calm before the storm.  

Look at her all cute and happy....

Seconds after this picture was taken, she totally freaked out.  I think it was because she wanted to take the lid off the waterbottle and couldn't get it, and I being engrossed in a conversation didn't fully listen to her, but took the bottle from her and unscrewed the lid to quiet her whining, and gave it back to her.  This apparently was not what she wanted, but instead wanted to do it herself.  (Keep in mind I hadn't been giving her naps and we had been staying out till 11 or 12 each night, due to all the fun we were having.)

Anyway, she threw a major fit, and wouldn't walk to the car.  Just sat in the street.  I picked her up and carried her (the car was about 5 or so blocks away) she was kicking, hitting, and trying to buck out of my arms, and screaming,"Let me go!!!" the entire 5 blocks.  If I wasn't in front of all those peeps, I'm sure I would have spanked her, or dragged her to the car.  Lucky for me, Bird was with me.  So we just laughed the whole way, when in reality I wanted to cry.  This fit went on as we got in the car and drove up to Grandma and Grandpa's.  They were going to watch her and Jete, while I went and played in a softball tournament.  I felt so bad leaving her with them in this kind of state, but also so happy that I could have a break from her nonstop screaming.  She didn't really stop crying for them either.  I told Les to just put her to bed.  I think she cried herself to sleep.  I'm gettin all hot and sweaty just thinkin about this story again.  Geesh! 

So like I said, I got to go play in a coed softball tournament up in Ashton, thanks to Kenzie.  It was so fun!  I miss softball so much!  I needed a break from the kids too.  (When I say kids, I mean Jerz.  She's hard for me somedays.  Jete, well he's mainly good.)

The kids got to stay up and play at Grandma's all day.  They ran across the field to go see Grammy Whyte, they played in the park, and drank out of a garden hose.  What more could a kid want?  They loved it.  We were all happy! 

Reunited.

  Me and Jerz became friends again.  I liked her again. It's amazing what naps do for kids, and what a little sports does for me.  :)

Blayne and a couple of his neighbors put on a firework show for their whole neighborhood that night.  It was so fun and relaxing.  We threw a frisby around, ate, and talked until it was time for the show.  The kids played and played, even during the show. 

They all loved being together.  And I love that!

Look at that beautiful sunset!

We went to Bear World one day with Blayne and Les.  As much as I'm not an animal person, it is actually a pretty cool place.  The kids loved it, and I was intrigued by the bear that would sit up on his back legs and wave to the tour bus throwing out food, eat the food, then wave again at them.  It was pretty amuzing to watch.

They come right up to your car.  It's awesome!

They have a petting zoo there at Bear World.

For some reason, Jerzi is afraid of dogs and cats, but not goats and deer. 

How disgusting, look at him lick Jete!  Vomit.  Good thing Jete's all chill about it.  I wouldn't have been.  That's usually when I kick animals in their mouths, if they lick me. 

They also had little rides there for little kids.  They all went on each ride a billion times and didn't want to leave.  It was super hot outside.  Lucky for these kids, they have a nice grandma and grandpa. 

How cute is this?

Two peas in a pod!  Coolin down with their root beers.

Broc is always so nice and volunteers to take the kids out riding every time we come.  It's so awesome and makes them so happy.  Jeter never wants to get off. 

While the kids were riding, I snuck up to the college to watch Bird play in her semifinals flag football game.  It was fun to watch her and made me miss football so much.  I wanted to run out on the field and help them so bad!  Here's Audrey, Bird, and me after her game. 

After Bird's game, when I got back to the track, Broc and Blayne had to race.  HAHA It was funny to see these grown men on those tiny dirt bikes, on a tiny track. 

Brayden and Diana had their sweet baby Madilyn while we were there.  I'm so glad she was born before we left.  I was getting nervous she wouldn't come before we had to go back to Texas. She's so sweet and tiny.  I can't wait to see her again and see how much she's changed!

What a cute little family!

The night before we left we had to have one last hurrah, so we watched a movie out on the big screen up to Blayne and Les's.  The weather cooperated for the most part and we got to see everyone one last time to say our goodbye's for a month.  We can't wait to go back!!!