Stitches

Jon has done a lot of sutures in his life as a medical student, resident & physician. He's even done stitches at our house (Ethan Rasmussen's chin, a couple of cut hands from cutting up food, a head wound, etc.), but he's never had to do any stitches on our kids - until yesterday!

Jon didn't have to work until later in the day, so he had left to take Emily to a store. I was trying something on my sewing machine and I heard a loud thump. I hear loud thumps all the time. Then, I heard Jack start to cry. I hear Jack cry all the time. But, I decided I better go see what happened when I heard Lindsey's concerned voice say "Are you okay?"

Jack and Lindsey had been on the computer and he leaned back in a folding chair. It toppled over and he whacked his head on the wooden bottom of our railing. I walked up the stairs and he told me he fell and hit his head. Lindsey was behind him and said "He's bleeding." Sure enough, his hand was full of blood and it quickly ran all over his back (he had a swimming suit on).

I took him into the bathroom, gave him a cold washcloth to put on it and then called Jon. When Jon answered, I asked him to turn around and come home. When Jon got there, sure enough, his head needed stitches. While waiting for Jon to come all Jack could say was "I really don't want stitches. I really don't want stitches."

Jon was able to numb the wound with some lidocaine cream and then put in 3 stitches. Jack was really brave about it and was so happy when it was over. That ended swimming lessons for him this week! Poor guy! Hopefully he's learned to not lean back in a chair, especially a folding chair!

Here's his head with the cream on it - waiting for it to get all the way numb.

3 Grandaughters

In 2011, my parents have had 3 new little grandaughters! They are all so cute and sweet and fun! When Sophia was about a week old, I took the kids over to see her and they loved her!

Sophia (1 week), Hailey (3 months), Brooklyn (5 1/2 months)

Tee Ball

A couple of weeks ago, Kate finished her first season of tee ball. She had a really fun time and it was so fun to watch her play. She missed the first couple of practices and games (we were out of town), so when she showed up for her first game, she just had to try her best. She would swing and swing and miss the ball and it made her so mad. Then, a thunderstorm rolled in and they stopped the game.

When the next game came around, she was really worried that she wouldn't hit the ball. I told her to just try really hard and she'd get it. Well, her first time to bat, she got up there, swung as hard as the could, hit the ball and ran all the way to 3rd base. Cute little thing! The coaches re-directed her to 1st and then she'd still start heading to 3rd, but would remember a couple of steps into it and then run to 1st.

She was really cute and ended up loving to play!

Here she is "running" to 1st.

Now, she's running!

Do all intense tee ball players fold their arms, look into the outfield when other teammates are up to bat and wear Dora bandaids on their legs?

Independence Day

We had a really great 4th of July this year! (We do always think of our wonderful days in Ohio on the 4th of July though and miss all of our great friends!). We got up early and headed to Murray Park for the 5K Fun Run. I had registered Jon & the oldest three kids to run it and had planned on taking the littlest 3 and saving a spot to watch the parade. But, then I decided I'd rather walk the 5K and then we'd decide if we wanted to stay for the parade.

It was a great weather-day. It was overcast, so not super hot. Jon ran with Jack, Lindsey & Emily while pushing Kate in the jogger. I walked and pushed Hannah & Hailey in the double stroller. We had a great time and enjoyed popsicles at the end of the race. We decided we'd rather go swimming than watch the parade this year, so we went home and did some quick cleaning the got ready to swim.

We met Peter, Becky, John & Brooklyn at Fairmont indoor pool and swam. The water was a little chilly, but the kids had fun. We stopped and got Taco Time & McDonald's (we really go all out on holidays :) ) and then had a fun afternoon hanging out at our house.

That evening, we had a BBQ with all of my siblings (except Richard & Misty who had just had a baby), Meg, Jason & Lucy, my Aunt Camille and her friend Sandy, the Cowden family and my friend, Julie. Dinner was delicious and then we played "psychiatrist." It was a fun game that Annie learned and it made us laugh & laugh. We let off fireworks in our driveway and enjoyed sitting outside visiting.

Happy Birthday to the best country ever!!!

Hannah & Hailey (almost 3 months)

Kate & Brooklyn (5 1/2 month)

Bowen Family Reunion & Hailey's blessing

The last weekend in June, we had a wonderful weekend with Jon's family. It was a super, busy, crazy week, but it was really fun and we created lots of fun family memories. Beth & her boys, Rebecca, Paul, Jack & Diane all drove down from Oregon on Thursday. Beth & her boys and Rebecca stayed with us.

On Friday, we rented a bounce house and had it all day in our backyard. The kids had a blast jumping on it and going down the slide, but in the afternoon it got really hot and they would only play on it for a few minutes. Finally, Jon put some wet towels on it and they started on it again.

All of Jon's siblings were there (there are 10 of them!!) except for Bill. We had a fun dinner together at our house and enjoyed visiting with each other. I'm telling you - there were some really cute kids, grandkids & great-grandkids there!

On Saturday morning, we got up early and drove to Provo. Jon and the 3 oldest kids hiked the "Y" and I stayed at Anne's house with the 3 little ones, Beth's boys & Jon's parents. After they hiked, we all met at The Cougar Eat on campus and ate lunch. We went to the bookstore and then drove back to Salt Lake. All the kids were exhausted and they were out!

I drove to my sister's house to pick up food that she had bought that day for me for Sunday's lunch and then we headed to Bob & Debbie's house for dinner all together again. They have such a fun backyard and Lindsey even convinced Bob to let her swim in their hot tub. That, of course, led to a hot tub FULL of kids!

We drove home to find my wonderful sister and brother Mike at my house to help me cut veggies & fruit to get ready for the next day. I was feeling so overwhelmed at the thought of putting on another major meal, but we worked quickly and they really lifted my spirits. We even went and bought 6 bags of ice and cream slushes from Sonic to celebrate our quick hands.

Sunday morning, Jon blessed Hailey at Church. We had wonderful family there and our sweet neighbor, Denny came too. Jon did a wonderful job and Hailey was a perfect angel during the blessing - just laid there looking up at all the wonderful Priesthood holders around her. Mike & Becky left early to come to my house and they had everything set up ready to go when we walked in the door.

The food was delicious (we had the meat catered and it was worth every penny - so good!), the weather was beautiful and the company was wonderful. Thank you to all of our wonderful family who came! We wish ALL of our family could have been there, but we felt of your love and support from far away.

It was great weekend! Thank you to Beth for planning the reunion and thank you to Debbie & myself (smile!) for pulling off some major meals!! My only regret is that I didn't take very many pictures!

Kate and Kyle...Kate loves this boy! She was disappointed to learn that you can't marry your relatives though. Just the other day as she was talking about the boys she liked, she said she like Kyle, but she can't marry him because she's "allergic to him." She meant "related."

Tyler (Beth's youngest little boy)

Hannah at the Cougar Eat

Emily

Brooklyn & Becky after getting everything ready for Sunday!

Food table

Nancy Moore, Hailey, Areli Olsen & her sweet baby, Lucas.

Hailey wore the same blessing dress that Brooklyn did

Oh, we sure love this little girl!

Morning at the Park

A couple of weeks ago, the kids and I found a fun park that had everything "spinny!" Everything spinned! The kids had a really fun time playing, especially because it was first thing in the morning and it was still cool.

Hailey has started to smile and it's so sweet & cute!