November 2013

November started out with Makayla being recognized for entering the Reflections contest at her school.  She drew a picure of animals relaxing on a mountain next to a waterfall.  She was chosen to go to the district competition which will be next month. She is quite the little artist!

We went up north to see little Heber be blessed. He is such a good baby, lucky Wendy!

Maisy was in town for a few days. It was fun actually getting all the cousins together. Too bad she lives so far away, I really like her.

We went miniature golfing one day. Two of my former students recognized me and gave me a hug (now a senior and a junior in high school) so that was pretty cool that they remember me in a positive way.

We declawed our energetic little kitty, Rosco, as he was tearing up all the furniture.

I checked out a Thanksgiving craft book from the library and Makayla sure had fun with that one.  She made all sorts of things like flower arrangements, a boat, little indians and pilgrims, and an autumn tree.

They boys and I had a picnic at Hogle Zoo.

We had some fun feeding the birds at Wheeler Farm. Boy, were they hungry! Scared Sterling so much, but Lincoln was enjoying it.

Visited sweet Grandma Paxton at the care center.  She's had some kidney problems and was admitted there for a month.

I got a new church calling, Young Women Mia-Maid Advisor.  Oh boy, I had to think about this one because it is a huge commitment for our young family.  Every Sunday and Wednesday are now blocked off for young womens.  It has been alright so far.  It turns out we have a smaller group than average, about 7 to 12 active young women (20 on the roster), so they just combine all the groups. I only have to teach once a month, and I do like that part (of not stressing every single week preparing a lesson).  And Scott got released as the High Priest Group Leader after 3 years of service.

I finally got brave and dejunked the boys' closet.  I gave Wendy 7 boxes and bags of clothes for her kids.

Took a trip to our favorite spot; Nickelmania.

This month was dental month. We got check ups and cleanings and teeth fixed. Not fun!

Went to literacy night at Makayla's school.

Scott cleaned up a bunch of leaves in the yard.

Saw some fun shows at Clark Planetarium. One about the Light before Christmas and one called Jerusalem.

Makayla had fun in the bubble bath one night.

Lincoln reminded us he can sleep anywhere.

I got some new glasses, two pairs. It has been over eleven years since I have ordered new glasses. I normally wear contacts, but it's good to have them in case of an emergency.

And Thanksgiving was over at my parents' house. It was a fairly small gathering, 18 people if you count Grandma and Grandpa Bjarnson and Uncle Greg. Of course Maisy was in Mississippi and Maria visited California with Dallin's family.  We played a bunch of kid games like button button, the thimble game, cards, and vampire hide-and-seek.

I got a kick out of Danny's moustache for Mo-vember, as he calls it.

And finally, we joined the neighborhood preschool club. We have class twice a week and take turns teaching. Since it's on the off days from Sterling's other preschool, we are able to do it. I think Lincoln is even enjoying it more than Sterling. But it's good because it gets us moving in the mornings, and I have already taught a lesson. I learn things too, like today I learned you can grate butter with a cheese grater for use in recipes.

Of All the Rotten Luck

My Grandpa Hebdon's coined phrase was "Of all the rotten luck!" He would mostly exclaim it on Sunday evenings when we would play SkipBo at their home as a family. He would get a bad hand of cards and then breathe in and sputter, "Of all the rotten luck!" as his team was on a losing streak.

Well our family has had some bad luck lately too. Two of our kids in 12 days had to get their heads fixed at the doctor's office. Lincoln on October 19th and Makayla on October 31st.

We wanted to see Danny and Dixie's new home in Sandy, plus meet their new dog Wall-E. The home is nice, the dog was playful,  and our visit was basically over. I asked the boys to give Dan and Dixie some goodbye hugs on our way out.

Lincoln tripped on his shoe and landed with his head on an inside wall to their kitchen.  Blood went gushing everywhere!  We tried to clean it up as best we could. At least it was on tile and not the carpet.  It just wouldn't stop bleeding, so we decided stitches would be needed probably.

We stopped in Smith's parking log to double check if we really needed to to to the doctors. We try to avoid it if we can because we don't have insurance.  But the wound was shaped like a football and an inch long. Plus it was right in the middle of his face, and we didn't want Lincoln to have an ugly scar for life.  So we went to First Med Urgent Care, and they stitched it right up for him.

After having stitches in for one week he then got them out.

Twelve days later, I had already gone to see Makayla in her Halloween parade and was home for probably 45 minutes when I got the call that every parent dreads.  The secretary at the school explained, "Your daughter has cut her face at recess. You need to come and see this!"  Yeah, not really the way I had planned on spending my Halloween holiday, but I rushed on over.

Makayla had fallen off some recess equipment (the highest red circle) and sliced open her face below her left eyebrow.  It was a large gash and surely needed to be looked at.  I took her home and let Scott see it before we took her in to the same place we took Lincoln.

Makayla took this selfie as we were waiting for the pain medicine to kick in. It's gross how the blood is highlighted in the photo.

I hoped they wouldn't think I was an abusive parent or something.  Hey, this one happend at SCHOOL and I was not even there!

At least the doctor was able to glue Makayla's face instead of stitches. Then we don't even have to go back to get the stitches out.

We are supposed to wait for the bandages to fall off before we pull them out. Now it's been two weeks. Maybe I should call and double check that to see if we can take them off yet.

Don't bad things happen in threes? Well, if you pair these two incidents with my four wheeling accident in August, then we should be off the radar for awhile I hope.  Knock on wood for me.