I've been tagged...

So here it is, 4th folder, 4th picture.  It just so happens to be some of my husband's handiwork on a house. My Scotty has always been a go getter.  He's not afraid of a challenge and he's not afraid of failure.  Yesterday it was very cold and we have yet another huge pile of rocks in front of our house waiting to be distributed.  He went out in his power chair yesterday and used a shovel to load rocks up into the wagon with Asher's help to distribute them.  Like I said, he's not afraid of a challenge. 

p.s. I must mention that we have the best neighbors who helped to finish hauling all those rocks.

I TAG:  Em, Ging, Wendy, and Molly:)

I could Eat Her Up!

She laughs now when you nuzzle under her chin. 

She smiles when you walk in a room and talk to her.

She is wonderful.

Hair today, gone tomorrow

Spring Break-St. George style

For Scotty's Spring Break we headed down to the sunshine in St. George.  Personally, the ride to St.George was one of my most favorite parts!  We just talked and laughed.  I almost had to pull over once because I couldn't see through my tears.  I really like driving through little tiny Utah towns.  I told Scott I could picture us living in a little tiny town with lots of land for kids to run on.  It seems like the perfect thing for a kid- freedom to run and play and explore.  Anyhow, it was a fun drive.  St. George was beautiful.  The weather was perfect- 74-79 degrees while we were there.  

We ate at Olive Garden the first day there and this is where I noticed the "St. George phenomenon".  That being-- there are a lot of older people in St.George.  It felt similar to spending some time on the rehab floor of the hospital, except these people were spry.  It was fun to watch them exit by our table hand in hand, white hair gleaming, usually one or the other a little bent.  After noticing this first phenomenon I realized the second one- old people love babies.  They're like a bit of magic to them.  Their eyes light up and you can tell they remember that feeling, but don't necessarily want to relive it.  

 

Our second day there (after we had the van's lock & tumbler fixed) we headed to Zion's National Park.  It is breathtaking.  I dislike being the driver when we're going through places like this.  I become very accident prone because I'm gawking at those awesome sheer rocks.  I was determined that we would go on a few hikes.  You see we brought the kids to St. George  6 years ago in February and we went hiking and had a fantastic time.  I found some  hikes listed as "accessible", so with that in mind off we went. 

I was excited that one of the hikes we had taken the kids on was listed as "accessible"- the Emerald Pools Hike.  It would be sort of  a re-conquering for us. We were off to a roaring start as we tried to find a way across the street and Scott became mired down in this soft dirt covered with bugs/red ants.  Of course we were laughing our pants off again and people were looking at us strangely. Then I was dancing my pants off trying to fling the red ants from my shoes and pant legs.  This one nice guy stopped and helped push Scott through the muck to safety.  (Yes, I took his picture.)

The Emerald Pools hike ended up being a labor of love and trust for Scott.  It has several deep dips in the pavement to help direct runoff.  Nothing that would have even registered before, however, these dips were so deep that Scott's footrests would drag on every single one.  There was also a large buckle in the pavement and combined with the fine dirt/sand it threatened to throw him and his chair right over the edge.  He was sweating a bit.  

I gave him a friendly reminder that if the chair was heading over to not hold on, but to bail out.  
Grace enjoyed the hike as you can see.  It put her right to sleep laying against that big soft pillow called Mom.  This is us as far as the wheelchair could go. It is the first waterfall.  I was so glad we made it.  

The second hike was more of a leisurely walk down by a river.  It was much more wheelchair safe.  There was no risk of death and so it was somewhat boring :), but we enjoyed ourselves.  Grace was awake for this one and we loved watching her big eyes look like they were trying to take in those cliffs. We were quite popular carrying her around, people would stop and comment and hold her little hand.  

It was a great trip and I'm so glad we got to go.  We're so lucky to have my Mom and Dad to come down and watch our other kids so we could enjoy some time alone.  Scott's really excited to go again, but with the kids this time and take them to some of the spots we went and just enjoy the outdoors together.  It is one of the things we love to do as a family and we have been missing it.  

I never knew...

Did you know...

The St. George temple was dedicated in 1877.

The St. George Utah Temple is the oldest operating temple of the Church.

It has more sealing rooms than any other temple (18!)

The gleaming white exterior really stands out in that city of red rock.  The exterior is actually made from the native red sandstone and plastered white.  

If your car breaks down in the parking lot while you're on vacation, this temple is so unique with it's architectural style and weathervane on top that you'll just sit and stare.  

Want to learn more?

Check it out. 

http://www.ldschurchtemples.com/stgeorge/

Did you know?

So, Scotty and I are on Spring Break in St.George. We've had a lot of fun and even more laughs. So I had to share something that made us both laugh. We were just chatting and I remembered something from High School.

When I was a Senior in High School I remember going to the movies, or out to eat or whatnot and I would see that you could get a "Senior Discount". I honestly thought that meant High School Seniors got a discount. I remember thinking how cool it was to be a senior and to have people recognize that. Isn't that funny? I can't believe I thought that. Scott asked if I ever called anybody on not giving me the discount. I told him I was too shy.

Another little known "Amy-ism"--if I have a sock or shoe on only one foot it is very difficult for me to go down the stairs. I really have to concentrate so I don't trip. I have actually tripped down a few stairs once or twice because of this odd phenomenon.

And lastly, I always flush public toilets with my foot and use my paper towel to open the bathroom door. (I'm sure I'm one of many who do this...right?)

Pictures of beautiful Zion's National Park to come soon.
Have a good one.

The formula

Scotty in a cool new Superhero shirt + Scotty in new no-line bifocals = Scotty too Hotty

p.s. he hates the shirt and threatened me to not post any pictures of him, but I couldn't resist. love you honey.

Simple

Cole's prayer tonight:

"Thank you for God, Thank you for the moon, Thank you for the fan."

I can appreciate that. 

Good Stuff

Who is this masked man with the big brown eyes?

It's Cole!


Today we took Scott's power chair to have some repairs in Salt Lake.  Scott, Cole, Grace & I headed inside to drop the chair off.  This place was full of power chairs (mostly Jazzy's).  Cole immediately hopped on one and began turning the steering device.  Then he looks at me and says,

"Mom will you buy me one?"

What!  "No Cole I won't".

"Please Mom, me haunt one."

"No Cole, they cost too much money".

"Pretty please Mom, me be a good boy."

"Cole, they're for people who can't walk".

"Me can't walk Mom, me scratched my leg."

Of course he had people in the place just laughing.  It was as if he was in Wal-Mart asking for candy, not in National Mobility begging for a Jazzy!

After they fixed the wrong wheel, that Scott had been waiting for 3 months to have replaced, we ordered the correct wheel and headed for home.  Good times.  It reminded me of how Doctor's write "THIS ONE" on the correct limb that needs operated on and such.  I should've had my sharpie and written on the correct wheel I guess. 

 So, on the way home Scott asks me to stop by one of his old favorite haunts- Maverick- and buy him one of his old favorite lunches- a burrito.  He asks for 2 of the burritos with the green sticker on them.  I searched and found what I thought compared to that and bought 2 of them, with much reluctance.  You see, this thing was called "The Bomb".  Does that even sound like something your digestive track is going to appreciate, let alone your wife!?  I said to the kind clerk, "This isn't right", as I plopped those things down on the counter.  Scott smiled as I handed them over and told me he only needed one of "The Bomb's" and that would've been sufficient.  Ah well, here's to bombing it tomorrow too! Yippee!

This is just a little picture to show you what can happen to a small unsuspecting baby when her big sister gets a hold of her, and the bassinet, and some cheap flowers.  

Grace had her 2 month check up and now weighs in at 10 pounds 7 ounces. She's in the 30th percentile for her weight, 75% for her height and 50% for her head.  That's the Browning mold.   

Have a great day!

On this day 4 years ago...

" I've been in the surgery waiting room since 11:30 a.m. It's 4:40 now.  They call every hour and a half and give us updates.  I've gotten 3 and they just tell you that surgery is going well.  Mom came around 12:30 and brought this journal and my book To Draw Closer to God.  She bought me a sandwich and rubbed my feet.  After she left I slept for 1/2 hour then decided to write and  take some pictures. Scott's Grandma Dorothy and Michael arrived.  Terri's with the kids and Karen is going to take them to dinner and swimming.  I'll keep waiting and praying. "

From my journal

It's odd to read back over my journal, and painful.  We've come so far, and yet there's so far left to go.  Scott held Grace for me so I could get ready for bed the other night.  She was screaming.  As I washed my face I could hear him quietly saying, "You're okay Grace.  You're okay." She just kept right on screaming, but he never quit trying to quietly soothe her.  "What patience! ", I thought.  This challenge has definitely brought out some of Scott's best qualities, and some of my flaws.  I remember sitting at my dining room table talking to Terri one day and sobbing, asking how could I live a life like this?  What if things never got better? I doubted that I could do it.  I had so much learning and growing to do, I still do.  

The most difficult part has been to accept the will of God in my life and remember that he has a plan. " Be still and know that I am God".  

Scott is not a quitter, and he doesn't put limits on himself.  He pushes forward and challenges himself and finds happiness by meeting those challenges.   

We've been talking about unity a lot in our ward, Stake, and with our home teachers.  Challenges have the ability to unify a family, a ward,  a Stake, if everyone does their part.  If everyone has charity in their hearts and looks for ways to lighten the overall burden.  I feel so much love for my ward and neighbors and for my family and Scott's.  I think this is because when we had our most difficult times and felt our lowest and weakest these people were there as God's hands lifting us, pushing us forward, loving us better. I felt so unified with all these people who were an answer to my prayers, and I still feel that unity.  I still read little notes I was given, and go through my journal to remind myself of all the love and goodness in this world.  And to remember that we can be an answer to someone's prayers.

Happy Anniversary Scotty! 

Aidan aka Mr. Personality

Aidan turned 6 on Wednesday.  He keeps things happy around here.  I love his smile and his happy-go-lucky approach to things. He got a Nerf sword, black Spiderman costume, Wii game, and a puzzle and he was thrilled.  He wears that costume daily and sneaks around the house on all fours.  He's well known for his quirky comments.  The most recent one was this, "I know why Jesus made snow Mom."  "Why, Aidan?"  "Because he wanted kids to be able to do something besides just sit in their houses. "  

Love that boy.

 

farmers, fur, foreign objects

We drove past a farmer working on his fence today.  He had a little chihuahua running around his feet.  Hmm?  Not exactly my idea of a fine farm dog.  

I think there is good fur and tacky fur.  I don't like real fur, but if you're going to wear some fur I think it needs to look like it may be real fur.  Red and blue are simply NOT real colors fur would be, okay.  

Binh made some fantastic wonton soup and also some potstickers.  Trouble is, the ground beef she bought at Smith's was laden with little bits of bones.  Those'll hurt your teeth.  bummer.