The broken collarbone

On Tuesday June 28th after dropping Stephen off at a one day camp session of BYU football, this is the way I saw him next when I received a phone call to pick him up at the Out patient medical center in Provo.  It seems that Stephen tried to run thru his opponent instead of letting him tackle him and he was successful in knocking him down and he believes even giving him a consussion.  However, what Stephen had not been successful at is staying in one piece when he was finished!  He had broken his collarbone in half!

He was looked at by one of the many doctors that work on some of the BYU football players and the following week he was operated on by one of BYU's orthopedic surgeons.



  Stephen felt very confident in Dr. Kimball.  He knew what he was talking about, kind of a no nonsense kinda guy.
Dr Kimball did a great job putting Stephen's collar bone back together!

BEFORE

AFTER

So, now Stephen has a metal plate in his shoulder with 7 screws holding it together.  This will help it heal correctly though and get him functioning and back to normal in about 6 weeks.  Poor Stephen!  It's been a tough road but he sure has been a trooper!  

Well, at least we got the surgery done before Michael returns. 

 So, now he can heal and we can get on with the party!!

The Gathering

Last night we drove to West Jordan for a break- the- fast dinner and fhe with the Mark Nelson family.  Mom and Dad also joined us as we enjoyed the last fast sunday meal with Brittani before she heads off on her mission to Germany and the last fast sunday meal we will have without Michael here.  It was an emotional time for all of us.

Mike was aksed to prepare a short fhe message on Independence day/Missionary work.  He didnt bring anything with him just the knowledge in his head and the testimony in his heart.  I was very impressed with the message he shared with us about our freedom and the people who made it possible for us to enjoy what we do today.  He then related this to the gospel and the importance of the work that missionaries do to teach Heavenly Father's children what they need to do in order to be free in this life from Satan's grasp and to return and live with him again.

This led into a discussion about the advice that our children have been given to help them stay close to the spirit.  Which led into a discussion about the blessings of the gospel in our lives and the experiences that some of us adults have had in our lives that have strengthened our testimonies.  It was a very heart warming and touching evening with our extended family.  Mom and Dad sat quietly as some of us shared our feelings about how this family has had such an important impact on our lives.  Dad, in particular, is a man of few words and so I asked him to share with us some words of wisdom.  He was speechless at that moment.  However, it led me to think about the reason his words mean so much to me.  You see, Dad gave our opening prayer.  When Dad prays there is a very deep and humble spirit that accompanies him and all who are partakers.  When I mentioned how his prayers touched me, Stephen nudged me from behind and said, "that's what I was thinking".  So often the spirit speaks so much louder than the words that we say.   Uncle Mark then shared a personal experience about a simple prayer that he heard spoken by his grandfather and how it changed his life.

It is times like these that I cherish and make a difference in my life.  When I say that dreams really do come true.....this is what I mean!

Summer so far

Bryce went to Scout Camp and we went up on Parent's night and the boys 

did a silly puppet show for us.  It was very fun!

Bryce came home from Scout Camp...didnt shower all week.....GROSS!

The Robinson's moved here from Arizona last week and Stephen and his friends

helped them move all the heavy stuff into our basement.

The Robinson's...our new next door neighbors...

when we move into our new house they will moving into our current house.

Bryce has found himself a great group of friends through dance.  He's been spending 

a lot of time with them this summer and we had them over one night for a movie night.

Great kids!

Stephen brought the blender into my bathroom to make himself a milkshake

one day because Dan works from home and was on a conference call.

Had to get a picture of this!

We took a trip to the Timpanogos Temple last week with the Mark Nelson family

so that the kids could do baptisms for Grandma.

We had 5 kids and they did a total of 70 names!

Then of course Stephen broke his collar bone and his friends came over to comfort him.

So far it has been an interesting summer...

A walkway and a patio

The walkway leading up to the house was poured yesterday.

Love my new walkway!

And the back patio was poured as well around the back of the house coming from the 2 back doors from the kitchen area.  There will be stairs leading down this part of the back patio which will lead to the 

lawn area of the back yard.

This part of the back patio on the east side of the house there will be another set of stairs

 that will lead down to a lower patio area.

 Dad has a good friend across the street who has been doing all the concrete for us.

He is a great finish concrete guy!  So, coming up soon will be the back lower patio as well as the driveways out front.  So, stay tuned! 

 We are getting there slowly but surely!

"We never do anything fun"

So, my kids are always saying, "we never do anything fun"!

Well, they are kind of right.  Especially since we have been building the house.  There really isnt any time to do anything let alone extra money to go somewhere fun.  Mike and I are pretty much task oriented people.  Mike loves to build and I love to organize.  So, our work is never done. However, the kids get really sick of it.  Not only do we work all week long but on Saturday we usually either work on the house or some other project.

Well, the kids are just sick of it....and I dont blame them.  Soooo, I decided that we would use this #10 can from the cannery that was sealed without anything in it, for our "Do something fun" Fund! So, when it is full(with all our spare change) we will open it up and whatever is in there will be used to do something fun.

It is about 2/3's of the way full right now.  I am hoping we will fill it full soon. It is only filled with coin, so do you want to take a stab at how much money will be in it when we open it?  I will come back and let you know how much is actually in it.  So, leave me a comment and guess the amount.

House update

Well, for starters we got our garage doors in this week.  They are dark brown not black.  So, as you can see we will be using browns and tans on the outside.

Here is the inside of the garage.  Dad is getting ready to start building cabinets!

I am sure he is excited since he is a master genius when it comes to cabinets!

Most of the month has been spent on sheet rocking and then the past week or so Dad has been working on sanding and taping the inside of the house.

This view is from standing at the master bedroom door looking in across the living room into the kitchen area.  The french doors are being reinstalled again after having to send them back twice. 

This view is looking out from my laundry/pantry/mud room

into the kitchen area.

So excited about this room!

And here it is!  I know, I know, this picture does not do it justice.

However, I love the way the window looks out to the mountains.

And around the corner to your right is where my washer and dryer will sit.

Then under that window will be a work counter.  Then to the left from the doorway all along that wall will be floor to ceiling cabinets!  With a bench on the other side of the doorway.  Cant wait!

Here is the master bedroom.

And here is the master bathroom with toilet/tub/shower on your right and 

 the closet on your left.

And here is my office.

And this is looking out from my kitchen nook to the front entry way.

Can you imagine that my 82 year old father in law has sheet rocked, taped and sanded this entire house himself with little help here and there?  He is something else!  Next on the list.....Paint, then baseboard, door trim, stair rails, etc.  Still picking out colors.

We havent done much else downstairs as we are trying to get this upstairs area done first.  We will be stuccoing the outside very soon!

Chicken in my tooth

 Enjoy a peek into our Saturday night entertainment! It's amazing how you find so many ways to entertain the family when you dont have cable!  Seriously, it was impossible to do this with a straight face while watching Mike crack up as he was recording it!