Head Wound

Here's another story...

Our Tahoe has been in repair since our last post here. Nothing Casey can't fix (with the help of his dad), so we are happy. Casey took the car yesterday and left me home with no way of transportation besides my bike. Since I've had kids, I've never been without a car and it's never really mattered before, so we figured it would be fine.

I decided I was going to take the kids for a ride in the trailer on my bike. I let them play on the grass while I got it all hooked up. While I was doing that, I saw Benson pick Molly up. I guess she had started to crawl on the cement, so he picked her up so she wouldn't get hurt (and carried her across the cement). I told him to put her down on the grass so she wouldn't fall on the cement and get hurt. I started walking over to them when he put her down. On the grass, but also right on the corner of the wooden ladder to the slide. Head first.

I got to her before she started crying and she didn't cry too bad until I started freaking out because of the gash on her head and the blood spewing from it. I took her in and got her cleaned up. Benson followed me WAILING!!! I thought he was upset because he had just hurt his sister so badly, but no... he was going nuts because he had gotten some of her blood on his leg. Oh, what a poor child.

I called Casey. Oh yeah, his phone is broken. So I called his work phone, no answer. Texted, no answer. Emailed, no answer. Called again, no answer. I took inventory of my neighbors that I trust and neither of them were home. Took inventory of our family close by... then Casey called. He didn't have service, so he couldn't get my calls, but he got my email. He was having a bit of a work emergency because some printers weren't working, so he couldn't come to attend to OUR emergency at the moment.

I wasn't sure if she needed stitches or not. I called my pediatrician and he said to bring her in and they would look at her. If she needed medical attention, they would check her in to his office, if not, they would send us home with no cost or anything. So when Casey got home, we took her in and they said it needed to be glued. So she got her head glued shut.

Besides the initial crying for about 3 minutes, Molly hasn't seemed to upset about the whole thing. And besides the initial crying for about 3 minutes about blood on his leg, Benson hasn't seemed upset either.

Hopefully nothing happens today because once again, I am home without a car. It is raining, though, and I need to take Benson to Joy School in 2 hours. I guess we will ride my bike, rain or shine.

Please excuse the cell phone picture. It's hard to see. Right on her hair line above her forehead.

Count Your Blessings!

So here's a long story for your pleasure:

Saturday night, Casey and I left the kids at his parents' house so we could go to Idaho Falls to do our photobooth at a wedding there. We charged our "clients" an arm and a leg to travel there, and we were going to stay the night since we wouldn't be done until about 11:00 p.m. We planned on leaving pretty early so we could check into the hotel before the wedding. We got ready way early, so we dropped the kids off at Casey's parents house much earlier than we had planned.

We've been doing this photobooth thing now for almost a year, so we think we have it figured out by now, which is wrong. It seems like every time we do a photobooth, we have some problem and we barely get it set up by the time the wedding starts. We always joke that if we leave an hour early, we'll have a problem that takes an hour to fix; if we leave 2 hours early, we'll have a 2 hour problem. (Makes you want to hire us, huh?) But, it hasn't failed yet that we have been able to fix every problem we have had and are able to provide wonderful service to our photobooth customers.

So... we were drivin' along, listening to the 3rd book of the Hunger Games, when I saw smoke coming out of the engine of our Tahoe. Crap. Casey pulled over and we were litterally in the middle of nowhere. A highway patrol car pulled up behind us and asked if we needed help. Since our plates were expired by 4 days, we told him no, but asked if there was somewhere closeby. Nope. Great.

So I called some tow trucks and it was going to be at least an hour and a couple hundred bucks to get us off the freeway and into a town. We were two hours away from Idaho Falls and had to be there in no later than 3 1/2 hours, not to mention checking into the hotel. Since it was Saturday and Labor Day weekend, the chances of getting towed to a town and getting fixed were slim.

So back up to Thursday night... Our registration on the Tahoe was due. Our side mirror was broken (thanks to Benson and a golf ball). I took it in and got the mirror replaced and was literally on my way to the inspection place when our check engine light went on. So I took it in and they told me that it wouldn't pass because of the check engine light, which said that either the coolant temperature censor wasn't working properly, we were low on coolant, or the code was faulty. Also, our back brakes were bad and we needed a new light bulb somewhere. I promise, we try to take care of our cars.... So Casey decided he would take care of the problems on Friday after work. After a trip to Auto Zone, Casey came home with this information: We were low on coolant, and so he filled it up and they told him that he had to drive it for a while to get it to register, then if it didn't, we needed a new censor. He also tried to get brakes, but they weren't sure which ones he needed, and since the whole censor thing was going to take a while, the brakes weren't a priority. We decided that since we were pulling a trailer and there was no way we were going to get the Tahoe registered prior to leaving on Saturday, that we would just drive it and hope we didn't get a ticket.

So the smoke coming from the engine was the coolant thing. It broke off and sprayed antifreeze everywhere. Casey googled it while we were sitting on the freeway, and to replace the censor would have been $30. But no, instead of paying $30 and taking 15 minutes to replace it, we were sitting on the side of the freeway with our photobooth on a trailer, in a panic. My parents were out of town and so Casey called his parents. His dad was at their cabin, but should be on his way home soon, and had his truck. Crap. We sat there for a minute saying silent prayers. Casey told me to call the bride and tell her that we would not be there. I refused. If it cost all of the money we were going to make, we would figure out a way to be there with our photobooth.

And then Casey's dad called. This is where our blessings start pouring in. He had made it home from the cabin and was getting his flatbed trailer hooked up to come and rescue us. Casey's grandpa Lloyd was already on his way in his truck and would give us his truck to pull the trailer with the photobooth to Idaho Falls. Then he would sit with our Tahoe until Casey's dad got there with his truck and get our Tahoe on the flatbed and towed home.

The plan worked flawlessly. Grandpa Lloyd arrived much faster than we had anticipated. He pulled up and got the photobooth trailer hooked to his truck and then we left him sitting on the side of the freeway with our Tahoe. Casey's dad got there and got the Tahoe on his trailer and pulled home. We got to the wedding and set up with about 15 minutes to spare. The photobooth ran flawlessly the entire night, and they paid us a bundle of money for it. We had a wonderful stay at the Marriott and drove home without any problems (except for Casey's phone has bit the dust, but that's a whole other post).

During the whole trip, we kept saying "Wow, that was lucky!", but after about 30 times of being lucky, I decided that we are blessed!!! Let me count our blessings:

• We just happened to leave 3 hours earlier than we actually needed to leave, which NEVER happens. We are never early to anything.
• We didn't have the kids with us sitting on the side of the freeway. They were in the very loving and capable hands of Casey's mom, whom we LOVE!
• The Highway Patrol man didn't give us a ticket. Even after we saw him look directly at our licence plate, he didn't give us a ticket. Amazing.
• The problem with our Tahoe really is a small one. We made more than enough doing that wedding to pay for it.
• I forgot to mention this, but after we got on our way in Grandpa's truck, one of our straps on the trailer broke on the way, and so Casey pulled off the freeway and guess what we saw RIGHT THERE.... Harbor Freight. So we got new straps. Perfect.
• Casey's dad got home from the cabin just in time to rescue us. Had he been at the cabin, there would be no way to reach him. And he just happened to have a trailer that he could pull our Tahoe home on.
• Casey's grandpa was able and willing to let us borrow his truck for a while.
• And the biggest blessing of all is that we have wonderful families who are willing to help us. No offense Emily, but we are really blessed to have so many family members close by that we can trust. We kept thinking that if we were living somewhere else, we wouldn't have had all that help.

About Benson.

I was just going to do a post about Molly because I feel like she gets left out sometimes, but then I felt like I was leaving Benson out, so here you go...

Benson is a little stubborn. He likes to do things by himself. If I carry him up the stairs and he wanted to do it himself, he will go back downstairs just so he can come up on his own.

Benson really, truly is a good kid. Sometimes he has a moment or two, but usually, if he's not provoked, he is a good kid with good intentions. He is really good about helping me or getting me things I need.

Benson is a spaz. Actually, it's really weird because for us, he's a spaz, but for people he doesn't know, he is completely quiet and reserved. We just started "joy school" with our neighborhood, and I am so surprised because Benson is the quietest kid. That's probably because we don't know any of the other kids. I bet when he gets to know them, our problem won't be quiet anymore. (Did that sound like I was referring to Benson as "our problem"? hah, that's funny. I'm leaving it.)

Benson is SUPER smart. Probably every mom thinks that about her kids, and I think Benson is too. After I tell him things once, he usually remembers them FOREVER. He talks so well and most of the time says words right and uses them correctly too. We have been working on teaching him to say things the right way and so now if he says something wrong, he'll stop and correct himself, and go on. He also knows how to use every gadget we have, which is many. When I got my iPhone, he showed me a few neat features that I didn't know about. It's hard to trick a kid so smart, though, cause he remembers what I say and then uses it against me.

Benson is not the world's nicest brother. Although, most of the time his intentions are good, he usually ends up hurting Molly whenever he touches her. If it weren't for Molly, he'd probably never get in trouble. If Molly ever gets into something she shouldn't, he is more than happy to rip it out of her clutches, usually pretty forcefully, but with good intentions. He watches out for her, which is nice. Sometimes he's watching out for a moment to kick her in the ribs when we're not watching, though. Also, he doesn't like when she gets attention. It's been hard for him that she's crawling and standing up and doing more things now, because she gets a lot of praise. Usually when we praise Molly for doing something, Benson knocks her down or sits on top of her until we stop praising Molly and start yelling at Benson.

Benson doesn't like to be alone. He is always within 5 feet of where I am in the house. If I send him outside to play, he comes in 20 times to ask me to come out and play with him. It's strange, though, because he just likes to play with adults. If other kids are around, he usually doesn't play with them at all, but loves when he gets to play with an aunt or uncle or grandparent.

He never stops talking. (other than at preschool, apparently). This is probably because we have just sat around talking to each other for almost 3 years. Driving is the worst because I can never listen to a book on tape or focus on anything besides the jabberbox in the back seat. I love this, though, because he usually says really funny things. He is also a bit of a commentator. He gives us the play-by-play for everything. Here is a simulation:

"Now I'm putting on my shoes. Oops wrong foot. Better switch. That's better. Hey, these match. Blue shorts, blue shoes. That's silly. I love my running shoes, they make me run so FAST. Faster than Lyking Ukeen. I mean Light-ning Muh-queen. That's better. Mater is the best backwards driver. I can't drive cause I don't have a driver's licence. I can ride my mo-cycle, I mean motorcycle, though. I am the fastest motorcycle pedaler. I bet I could beat dad in a race. He rides wheelies on his bike. But I can't ride wheelies cause I might tip over. I better where a helmet cause if I tip over then it could keep my head safe...." and on and on.

there is hope

Yesterday was a good day.

I felt like a good wife and mother.

Which seems like a rare thing lately.

I...

Scrubbed.

Washed.

Folded.

Vacuumed (the roomba did).

Loaded.

Unloaded.

Read stories.

Played games.

Baked cupcakes with Benson.

Let Casey golf.

Road my bike 10 miles.

Got heat exhaustion from riding.

Went to a church activity.

Rocked the babies to sleep.

Didn't complain about Casey playing soccer in the wee hours of the night.

I love days like yesterday.

They give me hope that, maybe after all, I could be a good wife and mother.

And I think it gave Casey that same hope, which he could probably use a lot of.

About Molly.

I want to write some things about Molly so we never forget how very special she is right now.

She has red hair. I never knew that I could have a baby with red hair. But apparently, Casey's mom has red hair, but it's always been blonde to me. His grandpa had red hair, but now is white, and his other grandma had red hair but is white now too. So, that's where she gets it. It is always the first thing people point out about her, and then they usually call her a boy if she doesn't have a bow in her hair... and sometimes she still gets called a boy with a bow. Having a red-head has taken some getting used to for me, I'm not going to lie, but I really love her red hair. I think she is beautiful!

She is the happiest baby. Ever. Benson was content, but she is happy. She always has her mouth wide open in a huge grin. She laughs and giggles and coos. She makes the cutest noises and even in the wee hours of the morning, I love to listen to her jabber.

She is curious. She crawls like a champ all around the house and loves to get into things. She loves to push buttons and play with all of the things she's not supposed to. She put everything straight into her mouth, which always makes her smile more.

She is sweet. Whenever Benson gets in trouble, Molly starts to fuss a little bit. She doesn't like yelling or fighting. She is always the happiest when everyone around her is happy. It is a rare thing to hear her cry. Usually if she cries, we know that Benson has gotten to her and is sitting on top of her, but as soon as he moves, she is fine. Sometimes it seems like we neglect her or forget to feed her because she just NEVER cries and so we forget that she might be needing something.

She loves to watch people. Usually she watches what Benson is doing and is content to sit for a while and watch before she tries to get into whatever he's doing. She has the BIGGEST eyes. They are a little hazel/ brownish. They are beautiful.

She loves Benson. It doesn't matter what he does to her, she is always smiling at him. He could whack her over the head and as soon as she stops crying about it, she gives him the hugest grin. Whenever he tries to play with her or give her attention, she gets so happy. He can make her laugh faster than anyone else and it never fails that when she's around him, she's happy.

She loves her dad too. She will sit and stare at him for what seems like forever, and as soon as he looks back at her, she smiles and looks away like she's shy. Casey told me last night that Molly can melt his heart faster than anything. I don't blame him for being smitten by her. She is beautiful.

Oh What do you do in the Summer-time?

Benson and Molly have been enjoying the summer so far. Benson thinks he has to wear his sunglasses whenever the sun is out. And he FORCES Molly to wear her's too.

We've had a lot of projects and we frequent the Home Depot. The kids love their "funny carts".

We have been doing a lot of photobooths. Did I ever mention that we own a photobooth company? One day, Casey decided to build it, so now we go around renting our photobooth.

Parades. Molly loves her aunt Shawnee. They had a rocky beginning, but they are good pals now. We can't wait for Brady and Shawnee's new baby to come.

During the entire parade, Benson sat there and waved to all the parade people. He wouldn't stop.

Molly has become very mobile, so she spends a lot of time in her jumperoo to keep her out of trouble while I'm busy. Luckily, she LOVES it!

Benson and Casey made my birthday cake.

(Ok, I baked it, Casey frosted it, and Benson licked the mixers)

These are the bright eyes I wake up to every morning. No, they do not sleep in my bed. Ever. I was trying to make them sleep for a few minutes longer here.

Bad picture, but look how stinkin' cute Molly's little shoes are. Thanks, Brady & Shawnee.

Benson helped (hindered) Casey mow the lawn so he could earn a dollar to buy popcorn at the movie. We saw "How to train your dragon". Benson sat through the whole thing and fell asleep for the last 10 minutes. If you ask him, he'll say he didn't like the movie.

Another photobooth. We have to sit there for the whole time, usually 3 or 4 hours. It's loads of fun... Not

The neighbor's chicken came inside our house again and pooped all over my kitchen.

I was doing laundry downstairs and Benson must have left the back door open. When I came upstairs there was a chicken sitting on my counter. I did what any rational human being would do, and I got the kids' baseball bat and chased the chicken around screaming (I was screaming, not the chicken). We went around and around the kitchen, the chicken tried to fly out the window, it's knocking things off the counters. Finally I got it to the back door and it decides to go downstairs instead. At this point I realize that I could have just picked it up and taken it outside, but touch a chicken? Won't I get bird flu? So the chicken is running/ flying around our basement while I'm chasing it with a bat. It finds a hiding spot behind the filing cabinet and stays put. I poke it with the bat over and over, but it won't move. So I get a box and after many tries, I trap that DANG chicken in the box and take him back over to the neighbors. Casey told me I should have just used the pellet gun or the blow dart gun in the basement, but then there would have been blood instead of poop to clean up. We would have had a good dinner, though.

We went to the splash pad with Casey's mom and our nephews. Turns out we went on a day that it was closed for maintainance. So we played on the swings instead. I thought it would be fun to let the kids swing together. Until Bens figured out it was a perfect time to squish Molly. Poor girl.

Molly has been VERY mobile lately. She's quite the quick little crawler.

She can pull herself up to standing by something.

She is such a happy baby. We really lucked out with her. Benson was happy too, but Molly is such a good girl. If you ever even look at her, she'll return your look with this giant smile.

I rode my bike 14 miles last night. From our house in Ogden to my parents' house in Hooper. Just over an hour. It was sooo fun. I could see myself getting into this bike riding thing.

Typical

See Nat Ride

Yesterday I ordered this...

... in Silver.

I also borrowed my mom's bike and we went on a ride with the kids in this...

... Casey did all the work, pulling the kids.

8 miles. Way better than running. At least for me.

Felt GREAT!!!! I felt like I could have done 8 more. That's cause we didn't do any hills.

Can't wait to get my bike next week.

We are split!

We are now a part member family.

Me with the Apple iPhone 3G.

Casey with an android, the "Google Phone".

So the question is, which is the true religion?

Of course our first concern is the children. How will they grow up? Will they prefer Apple or Android? Although Android joined our family first, Benson seems to be resilient and still prefers the iPhone. It's too early to tell with Molly, though. Let's just pray that the children will be able to decipher the truth in all things.

Popcorn Fireworks

The 4th of July is my very favorite day of the year. Or is it the 3rd? Either way, I love this time of the year... Sometimes I feel disappointed after it's over because it didn't feel like something very special. But I told Casey that I think this has been the best 4th of July I've had. And that says a lot.

We always have a family "reunion" on the 3rd with my Haws cousins. All but 3 of us grew up on the same street and now most everyone lives far away. Getting together with them is fun. But it's being with my brothers and sisters that I love most. When we get together like this, it feels like we are complete again. It almost never feels like we are complete, so feeling that way is really special to me.

Since the 4th was on Sunday, we moved the celebration to the 2nd and 3rd. On the 2nd, we got family pictures (below) taken by Dana Willis, which turned out amazing! I love that we have everyone in this picture. What a precious keepsake. My sweet sister-in-law also took seperate family pictures for everyone. I love the one she took of us, click here to see it.

The festivities of the weekend included: playing softball, doing fireworks, sleeping in our tent in my parents' backyard, renting out the Roy Aquatic Center for about 70 people, having a slide contest at the pool, going to the parade, eating cream-filled chololate donuts, having a cookout, playing bocci ball and "horse balls", and watching fireworks again... Together.

The Hooper fireworks might have been my favorite part. We always go to my parents' church to watch them. My dad rigged something to make all the church parking lot lights go off while the fireworks were going. Benson and Casey pretended the fireworks were popcorn popping, and they reached out for handfulls of the firework popcorn, pretending to eat it, while sweet Molly snuggled with me, which is rare, eventually falling asleep during the fireworks.

Then, on a whim, Casey and I decided to go to his parents' cabin for Sunday and Monday. We packed everything up and left Sunday afternoon. The drive was beautiful, as always. We listened to the "Hunger Games" on my iPhone while the kiddos slept for the entire drive. The cabin is quickly becoming one of my favorite places on earth. It is so quiet and peaceful. Every once in a while we see a deer or a moose and the beauty of the whole thing helps me remember that our Heavenly Father loves us.

Casey's parents came up Sunday night and his grandparents came up for lunch on Monday. It was good to spend time with them and I felt the same way about being together with them as I did about being together with my family. It's my favorite thing. I am so lucky to have great in-laws.

We rode the Rhino, relaxed, had a campfire, and enjoyed the cabin while Casey and his dad did some work. I am so glad we went.

We got home Monday night and the kids were tired, so they went to bed early. I told Casey that he could go to bed while I watched the bachelorette, and he did. But only for a minute before he came out and snuggled with me on the couch while we watched the train wreck. I could tell that he was trying hard not to snicker at the whole show, and his trying made me love him more for watching it with me. And guess what? I didn't even have to coax him into saying nice things to me. He is much sweeter than any of the guys on that show.

Every minute of this whole weekend was perfect. It was perfect because I got to spend my time with all of the people I love most in this whole entire world. I can't help but thinking that maybe that's how it's supposed to be. I think Heavenly Father wanted us to be happy together and maybe how I felt this weekend is just a glimmer of what our Heavenly Father feels. Good thing this family stuff is forever. I hope every day in Heaven is like the 4th of July.