It’s Thanksgiving!! And almost December!

What the heck? Time sure flies.  We decked the halls 10 days before thanksgiving this year because it was 40 degrees and you just don’t know how often that will happen in the great white north.  Joe said if he was getting out the stuff for the outside lights he was going to put up the trees too.  So there ya go!  I am always a hard core after thanksgiving decorator but since it was so late this year I was ok with it.  And it’s a good thing we didn’t wait to put the lights up.  48 degrees last weekend and in two days we will be getting a blizzard lol.  4-10 inches so we will see.  We usually fall on the lower end.  We don’t get a ton of snow up here actually.  It truthfully gets too cold to snow lol.  

Today was BUSY.  I hosted cocoa and coffee for several Chief’s spouses.  Can you believe I have never made coffee before in my LIFE? Like ever.  Lol.  I don’t drink it but ya think I would have made it before.  Good news though I own a coffee pot for when Joe’s parents visit and the coffee has directions on the back! No one said it was terrible but no one said it was good either lol.  My hot cocoa got raving reviews but that is because I am a pro at it!  And I put love in there.  That’s the secret ingredient.  Right after my morning company left my friend Leslie stopped by.  Her hubby is Joe’s commander and I adore her!  I am so thankful we are part of their command team.  Anywho, she and I could talk for days but she needed to vent and I was happy to listen.  She was here for an hour And a half or so.  She left and I started prepping for tomorrow. I cut up veggies and cheese, made the stuffing, made the pumpkin crack, and boiled and shredded two packages of chicken breasts so I don’t have to cook for the next week!  Yay!  While I was cooking I called a few friends to tell them I was thankful for them. It was good to visit and work at the same time. Then I saw a friend had posted on Facebook that she was in need of an elf on the shelf.  She had searched high and low and couldn’t find theirs.  I messaged her that I had one she could borrow so she came over.  She was in a hurry but ended up staying a while and chatting.  It feels good to be a trusted listener.  As we chatted about the elf and all the antics you have to come up with I told her our elf, Crimson, would often challenge us to do good deeds.  She loved that idea!!!  Super loved it!  I happened to have a new printed Light The World calendar on the fridge  so I grabbed it and shared with her the church’s worldwide initiative.  She was so thankful for the daily ideas.  It was a fab way to start the giving season.  

I have so many things to be thankful for, my family...oh how they bless my life, my home, my friendships across the world, the gospel, my Savior.  Richly, richly blessed.  I want to note here that a few weeks ago I was mad at Heavenly Father.  MAD. Sierra was really struggling.  I asked Him why he had spared her life in the crash just to torture her with more pain???  WHY?  All the whole having complete faith that there IS a reason.  But why is it so dang slow? WHY can’t she be better NOW? she was really having a hard time which meant I was having a hard time.  I prayed and prayed and prayed for her to see the happy in her life, to see the light, to SEE the tender mercies.  And ya know what? Things got better.  Her life is hard.  Super hard.  But she is fighting every day.  I am so thankful for her example of endurance.  I would’ve given up long ago.  Keep going friends.  It’s what we have to do.  No matter the circumstances of our lives. 

Here are a few pics...

This little man turned 6 months old on the 24th!  He is so happy!!  We adore him. 

Decorating 





A picture of me crying because dumb Disney made a dumb commercial about a girl going off to college and her dad crying and watching videos of their Disney adventures while she packs, with the tag line “Because they’re only little for a little while.” Cue all the crying!!! I am already sad that this is a year of “lasts” Dang Disney! 

My cute seminary kids being amazed I could turn water into “wine” I had some tricks up my sleeve that day!

Then they cheers’d their cups and Braden said “this is us pretending there are more people here.”  LOL

Haylee and I went to see Frozen II.  We LOVED IT!  Super loved!!  We may go again!! 

And Haylee is getting really good at figure skating.  


Gotta go for now.  Happy Thanksgiving reader(s)!  I am thankful for you! 

Sunday

Today was the primary program at church.  It is my FAVORITE SUNDAY!!  Those kiddos are just so darn cute!  

I look a little cray cray in this photo lol.  Joe and Haylee were making faces before this one.  Goofs!

The rest of Church was good and Haylee was set apart as the young women’s class president.  The first one in the Minot 4th ward with the new changes.  

We came home and watched some football, Haylee napped, we had mis match dinner (fend for yourself night lol) and decided to craft.  We painted some ceramic Christmas ornaments I have had laying around forever. 

Gotta add some polka dots to make it more fun!  :) 


It was a nice family day.  

She’s 18

A few days ago our cute Haylee Jo turned 18!!!  One eight!  How does this happen? How do kids grow up so darn quick??  

Haylee was not excited for her birthday.  She does not like change.  Ever.  Even in turning a year older.  And this birthday was a big one.  I promised her Not much would change from her being 17 on Tuesday and 18 on Wednesday but I am not sure she believed me.  We had a great day celebrating.  We started off with doughnuts for seminary, then I picked her up from school at 12:30 and we went to lunch and did a little shopping at Target. She was supposed to go back to school for her last class but talked me out of taking her back.  It was just Spanish after all and this will likely be the last birthday we spend with her in person for a while.   We picked up her cake and headed home.  We waited for dad to come home (he was in school this week too for his PMP certificate prep, don’t ask me what that means because I have no idea!). When dad got home we headed back to town for dinner at her favorite place Longhorn steakhouse.  Joe tried to talk her into a 25.00 dinner but she went with her regular choice of an 8 oz sirloin.  They gave her a free ice cream sundae and we came home and had more cake and ice cream.  I had been dealing with some spouses club/thrift shop issues that afternoon and by bedtime I had a splitting headache.  I’m sure it had nothing to do with eating junk all day and lots of cake.  Blah.  Anyway, here is a bunch of stuff I love about Haylee. 

*she is kind *she is loyal! *she is a defender of those less fortunate/odd/“Weird” *she is so darn smart! *she has the most gorgeous hair in all the land- she doesn’t really care lol *she is beautiful without makeup - she doesn’t really care *she is brave *she is obedient *she is passionate about learning *she does her own thing *she is funny! *she is witty- which sometimes turns into snarky -but mostly witty *she loves her momma, and dad ❤️ *she is a cute auntie, she was very worried about moving down the ladder of her brothers favorite people but she loves that Emmett boy and he will always have a protector in his Aunt Haylee/Aunt Heyhey/aunt lollie (Haylee did not go for that last nickname at all!) *she loves her Heavenly Father *she loves going to the temple (she got to be a witness today!!) *she does not accept that things have to stay one way because “that’s just how it is” -she is a changer *she is so creative!  

I think that makes 18, that wasn’t my initial plan but I got close and decided to finish it :) here are some pictures of our Haylee girl 

Some of her senior pics: 

This was her selection for the yearbook

We all loved this one too! 

Minot has some great murals downtown 

First day of senior year, also the first year I printed signs for her to hold- never to late right?  

On her birthday 

Those curls! 

More senior pics 

Love her to pieces!!  

Emmett Colton

Life is busy and I am missing so many small updates.  I wanted to post about Sierra’s accident and then about Emmett.  Big stories in our lives this year!!  Emmett couldn’t really be a quick post so I was trying to find time when I could sit down and focus.  I got three hour of sleep last night so obviously this is the perfect time. Ha ha ha. 

The night of Sierra’s accident they had decided to induce Kassi. That was the 22nd.  He wasn’t born until early in the morning on the 24th.   He took his sweet time coming!  Poor Kass was in labor for 30-ish hours!!  Later we decided that Emmett had to straddle the veil between heaven and earth a bit longer so he could help his Auntie Sierra through her accident.  💙 

I tried to stay up through the night of the 23rd/24th waiting for news but I was exhausted.  I kept my phone turned on and still slept through the ringing when HD called around 4am to say they had decided to do a c-section.  Poor Kass was having a hard time.  I woke up pretty quickly after he left a message and prayed for them all.  Emmett was born just before 4:30am.  He weight 7’11 and was 20 inches long (I think) I need to go back and look!  They sent pictures as soon as they could.  Trina, Kass’s mom, was with them the whole time.  She is an angel!!  We FaceTimed them later that day.  Oh how excited we were to have this little one join our family!!  We all tried again and again to figure out his hair color.  Would he be a ginger like his momma? It looked that way at first but then the kids said blonde.  I of course thought they just weren’t holding him in the right light.  Well I am here to tell you we still don’t know what color that kids hair is!  Lol.  Some days it looks reddish, mostly it looks brownish blonde.  I think he will end up blonde with a hint of strawberry. ❤️ Emmett is now five months old and the light of our lives.  He is the happiest, smiliest most giggly baby ever!!  We FaceTimed him once a week or so in the beginning. Now we do it every coupe of days.  He is so interactive and laughs when we play peek a boo together.  I think he really knows us!  He probably wonders why Mimi lives in the phone but all is well.  He sleeps like a champ and has been such a good baby.  HD and Kass are great parents.  That kid is so lucky!!  They adore him and each other.  It’s a pretty sweet life.  

Haylee and I saw him in May at three days old, hung out for a few days then drove to Cali.  Saw him a couple more days when we drove back.  Then we all went out in August for his blessing. HD gave him a beautiful blessing and Sierra flew in from Cali so we were all together.  It was an amazing week.  It was so good to see Sierra walking!  Unassisted!!  She still has a slight limp and is scarred but she handles her roadblocks like a warrior.  

Here are pics from the first five months of Emmett’s life.  

Just kidding I have done this post five times and it keeps messing up!  We will do a couple of recent pictures and then update from there!! 

He is a darling happy boy!!! 

The accident part 2

I got to Sierra about 8 days after her accident (I stopped in Utah to see baby Emmett - more to come on that amazing little one in the next post) 

I didn’t rush to her because she wasn’t alone, she was in the hospital (where they took mediocre care of her) and she has my dad and Joey.  So let’s talk about that real quick. About 6 days after the accident Joey said he needed to think about some things and that hospitals were “hard for him”.   Seriously.  When I got there day 8/9 he hadn’t come to see her and wasn’t checking in.  Day 13 he broke up with her completely.  I went to get lunch and came back to a hysterical Sierra.  She was sobbing, hyperventilating and just losing it.  I did my best to calm her but nothing was working.  She wanted to get out of bed and run. Not easy to do with a recently repaired femur and ankle (her ankle needed two plates and a bunch of screws to stabilize the break)  we got her out of bed and walking the hall a little bit she was dying to go outside.  She needed fresh air and to see the sun. We had asked for days if she could go outside but they gave her the runaround.  That day I found a nurse (it was actually student nurse George cause he was the first person I saw) and told him “George, find her nurse.  We ARE going outside. Get us a wheelchair.”  After a quick explanation they did and we went out and Sierra felt the sun for the first time in two weeks.  Obviously Joey was a super jerk and Sierra is WAY better off without him.  The pain he caused her was almost worse than the accident. Hate that guy. 

Ok now back to when we got there.  I spent every day cheering, advocating and trying to keep Sierra comfortable.  They had not let her have a shower -and never did in that hospital. It was awful. I got her in the bathroom and washed her hair and helped her clean up all over. When I was helping to take off her underclothes I saw her bum and back for the first time. She had a HUGE bruise running up her right butt cheek. How the heck did that happen? Obviously Sierra didn’t know it was there since she couldn’t see it. I commented “How on earth did you get a bruise here?” She replied “must have been where the angles were bracing me.” I really think that had to be it.  Oh that poor girl.  She was so beat up.  Day 14 she had surgery on her orbital bone. That was the exact surgery Joe had on his eye when he got hit with the softball.  The doc was impressed with my orbital bone surgery knowledge lol. Every surgery set her back in pain so much.  It was horrible. She was doing ok then they operated on her eye and she was back to square one. Out of control pain, just miserable. They afternoon they told her she was being discharged.  What. The. Heck?!? Her pain was a nine she hadn’t eaten or moved but they wanted me to load her up in the car and take her home. The whole time the plan was to get her to a rehab hospital.  She was in no condition to go back home.  She hadn’t even showered!!  I was on the phone with her case worker, the rehab place and her nurses.  We finally made a plan to get her to the rehab hospital. We had to transport via ambulance. Keep in mind two seconds before that they were going to throw her in the car with me. Anywho, the ambulance came around 8:30pm. The nurse gives me a bunch of paper work and tells me I need to go to the pharmacy to get Sierra’s meds.  WHAT? It’s almost 9 at night and now I have to find a rite aid to get meds? Awesome. I ran to rite aid, talked to the pharmacist like a crazy person because I am not Sierra but need her meds.  The pharmacist says to give them a minute. After 10-ish minutes they call me up and tell me that the rehab hospital has their own pharmacy and in fact four of these five prescriptions have been sent over there electronically.  I cried then I was FUMING.  I ran out of there and down to the rehab hospital. The place is locked up but the ambulance that took Sierra is there they give me her room number and about that time some nice lady is walking out the front door and she holds it open for me.  I had to look completely crazy. Crying, carrying three vases of flowers, goodness. I went in the place looks deserted. No big signs so I am wandering hallways looking for a room number.  I finally find her, I am so relieved and she tells me they have her almost zero pain meds. The rehab place had to follow the hospital orders until  the rehab docs saw her the next morning. She had had surgery THAT DAY. Her pain was a 9!!  I lost it.  I was just bawling s. Poor Sierra.  She was telling me she was ok and trying to comfort me.  Oh what a night. It was just terrible. I stayed with her for a while and had to get home to get some sleep.  I went to Tys  and cried myself to sleep. The next morning I get a text from Sierra that says the rehab docs almost choked on their coffee when they realized how little pain meds she had been given considering she has EDS and was a trauma patient!!  They adjusted her meds quickly and got her a shower.  A real actual shower!!  What a blessing Casa Colina would turn out to be.  Sierra spent two weeks there and they were amazing. We met some wonderful people and they just took such good care of Sierra.  I had to leave her about day 19 and it was crazy hard.  The only thing giving me the strength to walk out the door was knowing that the nurses and docs at CC would take such good care of her.  

The months since her accident have been rough.  Sierra is amazing.  Not that we didn’t know it before but this has brought it to a whole new level.  She has strength that goes deeper than anything I can describe. She is full of grace and keeps a smile on her darkest days.  Our testimonies have all grown because of her.  

She went back to work about 8 weeks after the accident. She was driving about 12 weeks later.  She has just been a shining example to us all.  I will post more pics soon.  Just wanted to get the words out. :) 

My next post will be all about our baby Emmett.  He is a joy in our lives.  💙

The Accident

I have needed to blog this for awhile.  I knew it would take some time but it must be documented.  On May 22nd I had a normal day.  Went to a retirement celebration and had fun visiting with friends.  We had found out a couple of days before that Joe got a new position at work and it was a big step up for him. It would mean two more years at Minot and we were excited and proud. HD and Kassi were on their way to the hospital to be induced.  The doc thought Emmett was big and since Kass isn’t they decided to induce her.  The evening was full of energy and happiness. At around 9:30 my phone rang it was Sierra’s boyfriend Joey.  I figured Sierra was in the hospital. I assumed her pain was overwhelming or she was having kidney stone issues again.  Joey was calm and said “Sierra is in the hospital” (duh I already knew that) then he said “she was in an accident.  She is hurt but she is stable.” The words she was stable seemed comforting and scary why would a doc describe someone as stable? Was she unstable before? Joey told me her femur was broken and that she had “some swelling” around her left eye.  She was conscious and hurting.  He had called my dad (they were on their way to her) and said he would keep me updated.  I told Joe what had happened and called HD and Kass.  I told them to focus on the baby and to be happy to  keep me posted and I would do the same.  After that I called my mom, texted my brother and sister and a few friends and waited.  Joe went to bed telling me to wake him up if I needed him.  I called my dad.  He said he would call when he got to Sierra.  One friend I texted asked me what I needed and offered to come over to give me a hug.  I let her.  I was having a really hard time.  Why would Heavenly Father let this happen to Sierra? Her poor body goes through so much.  She is in pain every day and now her leg had to be broken??  I was sad and frustrated. Keva came and we talked through some of that.  Then my dad called.  He said Sierra was pretty beat up but doing ok.  I asked if she was going home (I had no idea) and he said “no way. She isn’t going anywhere for awhile.”  I was asking him a bunch of questions and then he told me Sierra was right there and that she was awake.  He put her on the phone and I lost it.  She said “I’m ok momma.  Its ok I’m ok.” Sweet girl was trying her best to comfort me.  We talked for a few and she handed the phone off.  I told dad to keep me posted.  Keva got ready to leave and I asked Joey to text me pictures of her.  Right as Keva was walking to the door I got the first pics of Sierra.  When I saw them I gasped and started to cry.  Her beautiful face was covered in blood.  Her eye was completely swollen shut and cut.  She was badly bruised.  Had I seen the first picture of her face and not known she was alive I would have assumed she did not survive the accident. It was the craziest rolllercoaster if emotions.  I was so sad and scared and happy that she had survived and that we were getting a baby! Craziest!!  Here are the pictures of Sierra that first night: 

Her poor face

Her left ankle was in bad shape too.  Badly, badly sprained.  Almost three months later it is still swollen. 


Cleaned up.  Her face and head were full of glass. 

Her hands were both cut up. 


Sierra doesn’t remember what happened.  She was not on her phone.  She hit two cars.  We don’t know if her old car malfunctioned or if she was looking at the next intersection. We may never know.  We still haven’t seen pictures of her car.  Joey and her dad went to the impound and got her stuff out of it.  They both said the could not believe she survived.  The engine was pushed all the way back to the firewall.  The front seat pushed to the back.  Sierra was unconscious and when she came to she said she was screaming for me and that the UPS driver was outside of her window telling her the paramedics were on their way then she passed out again. When she came to the paramedics were there and had to cut her out of the car with the jaws of life. She would later find out that when the paramedics came upon her accident they thought she was dead. She was taken to Pomona Valley Hospital via ambulance. The EMTs had to cut off her clothes and could not get an IV while they were driving which meant no pain medication for her. She was in the hospital alone for an hour or two before they got a hold of anyone. She was telling the EMTs to call her grandpa and they said we don’t do that. When she got to the hospital she repeated that phrase over and over until the nurse got her phone and got my dad’s phone number. My dad didn’t answer the call because he didn’t recognize the number and the message they left so that it was Pomona Valley Hospital social services calling. They said nothing about Sierra. Sierra said she laid there in the ER scared and praying being thankful that she was alive and asking heavenly father to take some of the pain away.  I can’t imagine how scared she was.  Sierra said she remembers getting into her car after work and having the thought who would I call if I were in an accident? It’s just the craziest thing to me that the spirit was whispering that to her before the accident happened.  

Sierra would spend the next four weeks in some type of hospital two full weeks in a full lawn hospital. Her femur was broken into places with the middle piece pushed out to the side and splintered. Her orbital bone was fractured deeply underneath her eye. She also had a broken ankle that she wouldn’t find out about until five days later. The swelling was so bad they had a hard time seeing through the x-rays Sierra would spend the next four weeks in some type of hospital two full weeks and a full lawn hospital. Her femur was broken into places with the middle piece pushed out to the side and splintered. Her orbital bone was fractured deeply underneath her eye. She also had a broken ankle that she wouldn’t find out about until five days later. The swelling was so bad they had a hard time seeing it in the xrays.  She would also require a blood transfusion two units of blood because when you break your femur you tend to lose a lot and her body was having a hard time replenishing it. Her accident happened on a Wednesday night. My dad stayed with her into the wee hours of the morning. When they moved her from the ER upstairs to her room and they had to move her from one bed to another my dad said her screaming was so bad and loud that nurses came running, he had never, ever in his life heard somebody scream like that her pain was unbearable.  Dad almost had a breakdown listening to her.  It was a long night. She had surgery on her femur Thursday early afternoon.  They insterted a rod from her hip to her knee.  It was rough.  Her pain was so bad. She did not get out of bed for 4-5 days.  It was awful not to be with her.  I am going to stop here for this post but will continue it soon.  It is good to remember all that she has been through. 

Complex

This post isn’t a catch up one. I still have three more to do -the next one coming is going to be a whopper and I am drained just thinking of writing it -I will though it’s important. 

I have been thinking a lot about personalities and relationships. I heard of a good book about that very topic. I need to get it and read it. 

My personality is very outgoing. Neither of my daughters are that way and it has been hard to relate to them sometimes. Haylee is a complete introvert.  She is very smart and often feels awkward in social situations.  That causes her some social anxiety and makes everything worse.  She has a few good friends but not a best friend and none that she sees more than once a week if she isn’t in school.  She prefers to be in her room alone at home.  She is kind, obedient, a little fiesty but that is usually manifests itself because of her anxiety.   She can’t handle being around a lot of people for a long period of time.  She needs her space.  Total opposite of me.  She feels everything very deeply.  She tries to take care of everyone but never lets her own needs be known.  I am a teller of all feelings, thoughts, ideas etc.... 

 Sierra likes her alone time too.  She is more outgoing than Haylee but still an introvert. Having EDS has changed her. Some good, some bad.  She is equal parts more and less empathetic.  She can’t stand dramatic people.  She feels empathy for those who feel pain but not if they seem to be exaggerating.  She is confident.  I am confident in who I am overall.  Sierra is stronger than any of us.  

HD is like me in most ways.  He is outgoing, never meets a stranger and doesn’t get too phased by others and their actions.  He is confident and has a positive outlook on life. It is easy for me to relate to him because we are so alike. 

It is interesting how our personalities have shaped our relationships with each other.  Despite our differences I am very close to each of the kids individually.  I am so thankful Heavenly Father gave them to me!!