My Hands Are Tied

It was strangly quiet one afternoon at my mothers.  I hadn't seen my kids for a while, knew they were with my sister and decided it was time to go check on them.  I laughed so hard when I found this...

My four-year-old was being a pirate or something and had tied up Auntie's hands and feet.  It was pretty darn funny.

I've been thinking alot lately about how often things happen in my life and I feel that I am powerless to do anything about it.  Two weeks ago my four-year-old took a spill at the playground.  From his cries I knew he was hurt.  I sat him down to relax for a minute but when the crying hadn't subsided in five minutes I knew I needed to get him home.  After Tylenol and some rest I thought he was improving but took him into Urgent Care.  The doctor was pretty sure from the swelling it was broken.  I took him down to X-ray and my heart broke as I had to move his arm for the X-ray.  He screamed in pain at the slightest movement.  The verdict was a subcondular fracture or hairline fracture on the elbow end of his upper arm.  They sent us to Primary Children's hospital (which was 45 minutes away in the afternoon traffic). 

He was really calm which was great because it killed me to see him in pain.  After five hours in the ER they sent him home in a splint.  The little guy had been a trooper all day and then, at 1:00 it hit him.  The pain was in full force and there was NOTHING I could do to console him.  It took about 30 minutes of soothing and reassuring (and more medicine) before he finally calmed down.  I was on the phone with the hospital trying to figure out what happened.  I was up every three hours for the next two nights giving him pain relievers.

I was shocked at the emotional toll this took on me.  It was such an aweful feeling to sit and try to soothe him each time he woke in pain.  The only thing that kept me from falling apart is that I knew my presence there was a comfrot to him.  I really felt as if my hands were tied.  My heart ached for all the parents who have children with serious health concerns who fight that helpless feeling on a regular basis.  It also made me think of how a loving Heavenly Father must feel when he sees us making choices that cause us pain in our lives.  My greatest comfort is that His hands are never tied.  When we seek Him the comfort and strength that we need to pull us through is there.  As my love for my children grows stronger I am beginning to understand how God really feels about me, about you.  He loves us so much and is always close at hand when we cry out in pain and His hand aren't tied.

Read More Here:

I'm The Girl Who Hides in My Bathtub...And That's Okay!

Doing The Impossible

My Hands Are Tied-Part 2

Trout Farm

I am not a fisherman.  I like to eat fish but I've not done much fishing.  Our family took us to a trout farm which is really my kind of fishing.  There were four ponds loaded with fish and it is a beautiful place.  Grandma likes to fish and I loved seeing her teach the kids what to do.

 I love the little one's face in this picture.  He wasn't sure exactly what we were doing but he was loving it.  He also got to feed the fish.

 Look at my four-year-old's face as he watched Dad getting so silly.

After fishing we went home where Dad and Grandpa grilled up our fish for dinner.  Yum!

Idaho Summer Dress Code

When it gets hot on the high desert the dress code becomes clothing optional for the littles.  Okay, most of the time they were in their swim trunks but the second day there they got wet and I just had them strip down and have fun.

 We did end up with some sore feet from rideing wiggle cars and using bare feet for brakes but other than that we were injury free and keeping cool.

Movie Quotes

My children are hillarious.  After watching Tangled for the umpteenth time they picked up some phrases.  As we were driving down the road the other day my two-year old asked me to roll down his window.  As the wind came rushing in he said, "woo-hoo, best day ever!"  It was just too funny and he did it more than once.

Another one of our favoirtes actually comes from the internet series "How it Should Have Ended."  They have a series of short cartoons called Super Cafe.  In it Batman and Superman have conversations over coffee.  Batman often says, "I AM BATMAN."  Somehow this phrase keeps popping up at our house.  It is pretty hillarious.

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Update:  My two-year-old posted this.  Apparently he decided it was ready.  Here are a couple more of our favorites:

BANGARANG! (Hook)
My favorite neverfoods (Hook)
Eezma put your hands in the air! (Emperor's New Groove)
The past can hurt...you can run from it or you can learn from it. (Lion King)
Keep moving forward. (Meet the Robinsons)



George Eccles Dinosaur Park

We had a fun day in Ogden with the Kings at the dinosaur park.

This was the biggest fossil they had and it was impressive.  They had some robitic dinosaurs and the kids weren't sure what to think of that.  My four-year-old was drawn to it even though it scared him.  I sat with him for ten minutes as far from them as he could and still be able to see them.

My favorite part was all the models out in the outside area.  I loved walking down all the paths and finding more dinosaurs.  The kids were scared at first and we had to explain the noises were coming from speakers camoflauged to look like rocks.  It was interesting to see the models especially since they gave a scale so the cute stegosaur that was 1/3 scale would be very intimidating full size.

After a fun day at the park we stopped at Dylan's for lunch and ice cream.  Yum!  I also bought and sent some post cards which I haven't done in years.

Sprinklers

I just love activities that are multi-purpose.  On a hot day there is nothing better than utilizing sprinklers for a cool down.  When the tempurature rises and there's no breeze it feels so good.

It was so hot that day the I couldn't resist running through the sprinklers myself and it felt SOOOOOO GOOD!  What a way to spend a Summer vacation!

Private Pool Party

We love visiting our family in Brigham City!  The heat was getting to us so we went out to enjoy their pool.  The kids ended up turning a ring toss game into a safety device.

 They kept them on for almost 1/2 hour and didn't seem bothered that we were so entertained by them.  It was a small pool so it was unneccessary...

especially since we had a life guard.  We had so much fun this afternoon and it was a great way to beat the heat.  The kids little cousin even got in on the action a bit before getting distracted by a grasshopper.

Evening Ride

Our trip to Utah and Idaho this year was AMAZING!  The weather was super hot and tempruatures were over 100 degrees some days.  We ran through sprinklers, hung out in the wading pool, and went  swimming.  My favorite time of day was the evenings when everything would start to cool down.

There is something amazing about the cool in the air after an insanly hot day that just soothes the soul.  The first day in Idaho we loaded the four of our little family onto the 4-wheeler and took a ride.  The last night we were there Grandma and Grandpa took the littles while Matt and I sat in the porch swing.  Listening to the sprinklers and feeling the cool breeze brought back many memories of summer evenings out in the yard working, playing or just watching the sun go down.  Thanks for a great visit!

The Effect of Words

"Look what you did!"  My anger was evident as I pointed to the ding in the car parked next to us at the pool.  We were running late for swim lessons and in my haste I failed to catch the door as the kids swung it open and into the Malibu.  The scratch was small and probably would buff out but I felt horrible that it had happened as the car looked shiny and new.  I was super frustrated and asked the lady at the desk if she had any idea who the car belonged to.  She didn't but offered a paper and pen if I wanted to leave a message. I didn't now quite what to write but ended with something my Father always says, "Let me know what we need to do to make it right."  I quickly scribbled a note on a post-it and stuck it to her window fearing the call that might come.

By evening the incident had been forgotten when I recieved a phone call.  I didn't recognize the numer and let it go to voice mail; it was the owner of the Malibu.  As I listened to the voice mail I expected the worst.  My nervousnous was unfounded as the message was entirely positive.  She was so impressed that we had left a note and even said, "it is the nicest thing that happened to me all Summer."  After having a busy day I melted and started to cry.  It is rare in life that doing the right thing (especially when it is so embarassing) is so sweetly rewarded and her kind words were much needed that day.

So the next time you have one of those odd experiences with a starnger just remember that a little kindness goes a long way.  As for my four-year-old, I'm really relived that I didn't scold him harshly because if he hadn't opened that door into that other car I would have missed out on a truly sweet experience.