Ow! Ow! Ow! My Coccyx!

I slipped on the driveway this morning and I landed on my tail bone. I heard and felt a crack or snap. I'm in pain. Here's how it went...it could have been way worse...
Of course it snowed. I had to work this morning at 10:00 a.m. We also had the ward Christmas breakfast at 9:00 a.m. So Andrew shoveled and then parked my car at the bottom of the driveway because the snow was coming down fast. I started down the driveway and got about halfway down and realized I forgot my cell phone in the kitchen. So I ran back up, got the phone and semi-ran down again. I slipped almost at the bottom of the driveway and fell, heard a snap and screamed in pain! The real problem was that Andrew was driving down in the Pilot and almost ran me over. I had to do a combat roll over the curb, into the snow to avoid being hit by the car. Luckily, he saw me and stopped into the curb to avoid sliding down the driveway until I could get up and move. Another lucky thing is that my cell phone had fallen out of my bag and was laying in the path of the tires. That would've been bad, too!!
We made it to the breakfast and then I went to work, in pain, and did 5 haircuts. Now, I'm in massive pain and taking Ibuprofen. My doctor (Ashley) told me to sit on a doughnut cushion and call her if my symptoms change. (She called me from Disneyland, by the way! I'd much rather be there!!! Lines and all!)
This might actually be a good thing in the long run... I'd been having mild pain in the tail bone area since ice blocking in the summer... I think I fixed that problem!!
Thanks for listening

The Highlight of my Week

#5...Seeing Twilight with my honey. I liked it a lot. Didn't think I'd like Mr. Patterson as Edward but he grew on me. But he's only 22 years old so it wouldn't work out for us...
#4...Finding a pair of jeans that actually fit. J.Jill of course. Tried on 5 pairs at Old Navy-nothing. Tried on 1 pair at J.Jill-perfect!
#3...Lost 4 lbs since forever. I'm officially at my lowest weight since 1991. Holy Cow!
#2...The cops busting us at Thanksgiving dinner because someone in the group dialed 911. We are such a rowdy bunch!
#1...I finally finished my quilt top from my Quilt Block of the Month Club!!! 10 months of my life with only blue and white fabric and thread...I'm free!!!

The Reason I Called This Meeting Is...

Just a couple of things on my mind. First, just a reminder of the season we are about to enter. If you have a hair appt. with me and you are sick, think you may be getting sick or are getting over being sick and you think that getting your hair done will make you feel better...let's reschedule. I do not want to get sick and bring it home to my family. Sorry. It happens every year and last year I even had 2 people come in with pneumonia! Go home and get better. Thank You.
Also, if I call you and tell you that I can't make my appt. with you because I am stuck in my driveway due to snow... I am not making that up to get out of coming in to work. My driveway is legendary up here and all my neighbors sympathize with me. Last year I had a client not believe my story because she lives in Riverton and didn't get any snow so how could I have that much snow? Lake effect. Believe me. Thank you again.
Now that I have that off my chest, a gentle reminder to make your holiday hair appts early because I have children that have holiday recitals and the time slots go fast this time of year anyway! And maybe I'll actually be invited to a party this year...probably not.
Thank you for understanding and lets have a great season!! Go Team!!

A Learning Vacation

We went to Williamsburg, Virginia for our family vacation over UEA. We had a great time in Busch Gardens riding roller coasters and having some Halloween spookiness. We went into Colonial Williamsburg and soaked up some history and enjoyed the feeling of colonial times. We drove down to Virginia Beach and played in the sand and rode a couple of bikes around the boardwalk. We took the commuter train into Washington D.C. and did a lot of walking and picture taking of our national monuments. We hit a deer on the parkway and had to trade in our rental car...awaiting the insurance phonecall. Took a ghost tour of Williamsburg in the rain. Swimming and eating and playing at the resort. We didn't want to come home.

I need a toolbelt!

Andrew told me that I haven't updated in a while so here goes. (WARNING: this may tell you how extremely tedious my life actually is)

We've been cutting down trees along the driveway so that maybe the sun can warm up the ice in the winter and we won't slide down. Then I had to cut it into 5 foot lengths and BUNDLE them for the trash pickup pile. Ooooh, I know how to party!

Then I've been scraping and painting the railings on our stairs. I hate the railings on our stairs. 13 cans of spray paint! And that's only the finishing color. I hand painted them with primer! Never again. Next time I take a sledgehammer to the stairs!! They're so ugly they remind me of an apartment building. They were white and rusty before and now they're "almond".

And sraping and sanding a pulling out old grout from the windows and around the garage doors. I hate old grout. Then painting and regrouting. The old color was white. New color, hot chocolate brown. The only thing that still needs to be done is the front door. But with the cold weather coming in fast, it might have to wait 'til spring.

The good news is the front of my house looks SO NICE and FRESH! The bad news is I've broken four nails! Is it really worth it?

Renew the Zoo

I decided to take Emma to the zoo yesterday because she was "so bared!" (bored) The first thing she wanted when we got there were some new sunglasses. And a stroller because she was already "so tired!" We went around the whole zoo and had a relaxing day without brothers or sister. Then she fell asleep in the car...(they're always so much cuter asleep!) I think she had fun yesterday...Today is a different story!

Wedding Bells

Travis and Robert, Kent and Wendy, Emma, Kierstin, Maren, the bride and groom.

My uncle Scott Stewart was married on September 12th to Elizabeth Myers. This is his 2nd marriage. His first wife, Christa, was killed in a car accident quite a few years ago. The wedding took place in a ward in West Jordan and was a very nice ceremony. Then the reception afterwards was in the cultural hall and included treats. It was a great opportunity to see family on the Stewart side. Emma made a new friend with her 2nd cousin, Kierstin. It was a nice evening.

Mom and Dad, Ron and Shawna, Jana, Sylvia, Lindsay and her boys.

Anyone, anyone?

I've just signed up on Facebook so if any of you want to be my friend, come find me. I looked up my graduating year in high school and it's amazing how many people are on it that I haven't seen in 18 years! Just go to www.facebook.com and sign up. It's free. And kind of fun.

More of what's happenin"

Here's a picture of Emma after she got into Maren's sparkly makeup. And notice the self grooming...Bang cut, HELLO!! Andrew took pictures of it on our video camera. I didn't know it could do that! Why are we always lugging around a digital camera and video camera on every vacation if the one can do both???

The girls started dance class on Monday. Maren is taking Hip Hop and Emma is taking Preschool Dance. They were so excited to go shopping for their dance clothes and shoes. Mom is the greatest!!! (At least for today...)

Also of note, do you see the red leaves on the tree? NO, NO, NO! I'm not ready for autumn. 'Cause that means snow is soon. Say no to snow!!! NO SNOW! NO SNOW! Maybe I'll go move in with Alden and Emily for the winter. I bet they'd LOVE that!

What's a happenin', hot stuff?

Well, let's see...
Andrew broke our camera so I don't have any new pictures to post. And I really could have used it yesterday! Emma came in our room in the morning with pink sparkly raccoon eyes. She'd been using Maren's makeup again. And she has cut her own bangs! So she was quite the sight and no camera.
The kids have started school again and already Josh has had his phone taken away once in math class. He got it back after some shmoozing.
Tim needs a haircut in the worst way. His hair is down to his shoulders but doesn't want it cut. You know what they say about the cobbler's kids going without shoes...the stylist's kids go without cuts!!
The parakeets are still alive despite the cats CONSTANT attention. Talk about stalking!! But I guess that's what predators do. It's hilarious to watch the cat climbing on top of the cage and running from clear across the room because they finally came off their pirch and are trying to eat some food. It's straight from Syllvester and Tweetie.
The Relief Society is having a talent night and they heard that I'm making a quilt. They want me to display it on the 20th of September. Those of you who have seen me working on it, you know it's nowhere near being done and it's in pieces. What am I supposed to do, display all my quilt blocks seperately? Really. But they keep asking...
And to top it off, I think I'm going through vampire withdrawal. I just have to wait for the movie in November. And I'm not sure I like the trailers. We'll see.
That's about all for now. Hopefully Andrew will buy a new camera and then I'll have something visual to post. Signing out.

Cherry Hill Reunion

Our annual Cherry Hill Family Reunion was August 8 & 9. Yes, I'm slow in posting the pictures. I think all of us had fun. I had to work on the 8th so Andrew took the kids and they went miniature golfing and had pie and ice cream. Then on Saturday, we went up and did the swimming and slides, spent some time with grandpa Hansen and had lunch. We lost Emma for about 10 minutes only to find her in the big swimming pool having the time of her life using her new swimming lesson skills! She's fearless! Maren also put her swimming lessons to good use and she is a regular fish! Can't get them out of the pool. We were very tired by the evening and so we say goodbye to the Hill for another year!!

Tuesday is Play Day

Every Tuesday we go down to Lewis Park with other neighborhood kids and have some summer fun. So far we have had hopscotch tournaments, made beaded bracelets, a water balloon fight and games, bubbles and lots of treats. The kids and I really enjoy going because we can be with friends and talk and play.

Today at the park we had a blast!! We tye-dyed shirts and ice blocked down the hill. First, we tied rubber bands around the shirts and then picked a color to soak them in. The girls loved this. They didn't understand the rubber band part but they will when the shirts are finished "curing". Some kids did multi-colored shirts and used squirt bottles and fun dipping techniques. But Emma only wanted pink and Maren only wanted blue. That's fine. But it was fun to see how serious some kids took it and really were serious about their shirt.

Then we ice blocked down the hill and even I went down a few times. Ahhh...brings me back to the times when we used to ice block down the big hill at Sugarhouse Park. Of course, my core muscles were in a little better shape then...

Even the Applegate's grandpa went down about a dozen times... and their grandma, too!! All in all, I think we had about 15 kids and 5 adults sliding down on towels and ice. It was great!! And cheap!! Ice blocks are only $1.39. Better than a water park!!

Maren's Baptism

Look who turned 8 years old and wanted to be baptized!! Maren was absolutely beaming on her baptism day! She walked around holding the edges of her dress like she was a princess and a smile from ear to ear! The most special part of that day...her primary teacher went to Israel and brought back a bottle of water from the River Jordan. We put that water in with her baptism water so she could be baptized in the same water as Jesus was!! Wow! Gives me chills just thinking about it! What a special day!

San Francisco Weekend

We decided that we needed a vacation after our family vacation. So I met Andrew in San Francisco for the weekend after his business meetings. We walked everywhere! The Fisherman's Wharf, Pier 39, Boudin Bakery Museum. Then to the Ferry Building where they were having a huge farmer's market. Almost jumped on to a ferry to Sausalito but we would've had to wait an hour. So we walked to Chinatown and looked around there. Saw some dancing dragons letting off firecrackers. Walked to the Museum of Modern art and expanded our cultural awareness. Took in a movie and had some dinner. Went swimming. That was Saturday. Sunday we avoided the Gay Pride Parade (sorry to disappoint...no pictures of this event...) and headed for the Golden Gate Park where we saw more art at the De Young Museum. They were hosting the Chihuly Exhibit (which was in Salt Lake during the Olympics, if you caught it there) who is a world famous glass blower. We are big fans! Then headed to the Japanese Tea Garden, Stow Lake and the dutch windmill. Had lunch at the Beach Chalet with a band playing good music. (My fourth beach in a year, by the way...) Then finally made it to the Golden Gate Bridge after a bus fiasco that wasn't our fault. We only had about ten minutes to spare at the bridge before we had to turn around and get back to our hotel and make our flight home. It was windy and cold in San Francisco. Only about 63 degrees as a high and not much sun. I guess the wild fires were not helping and a cold front coming in late Sunday were the problem. I think it was a really nice, quiet weekend away. I think we need one of these vacations about every four weeks...

New Matt!!! Love it!!!

Here She Is

I didn't think she'd be outside my bedroom door
first thing this morning!! She's so cute!!