Halloween Week Catch Ups

Ok so here is a little catch up for the past couple weeks.. The week before Halloween we or at least the kids got swine flu all but Austin.. Allie was the first to start with fevers of 105 and nasty cold symptoms then it spread to Jessie and Logan and finally me, but by the time it got to me I think I just got the cold symptoms of it.. I never got a fever or the body aches and pains just the good old cough and congestion and runny nose.. It was a very long week.. each of the 3 girls missed a week of school.

Logans idea of not having to blow her nose so much during her rough week of flu.. Alas we all got over it just in time for Halloween. Remember you can click on pictures to get bigger view.

Here my little pioneer girls are wanting to help me make some homemade bread. They had a field day helping knead the bread..

A little oddly shaped but they came out tasting so good.. I was very happy with the taste and texture.

Here is logan almost everyday about 2 hrs after she gets home from school.. school days are long days for her still..

Family Home Evening Pumpkin Carving Time!!

The Master Carver!! The kids and I clean the pumpkins out and Steve does most of the carving.. Austin actually did most of his pumpkins carving this year.. Dad is always so miticulouse.. It's usually a several hour job.. I forgot to take picts of the finished work but they were awesome...

The week of Halloween was dress up days for the kids at school. So by Weds finally everybody was well enough to go back to school and it was Wacky Weds. So we did the kids hair all up crazy and had the girls wear their clothes backwards and inside out, and Austin wore a dress but ended up taking it off shortly after he got there because to many kids made fun of him.. I swear kids are so mean these days.. All week he was made fun of for something.. I felt so bad he came home and said they did this kind of stuff all the time in Utah and everybody did it and out here all they do is tease you and make fun of you.. I felt so bad.. He was so looking forward to these days of dressing up and now it's totally ruined for him..

The kids had a Halloween parade at school so I was able to get a shot of each of them with their class.. Here is my little vampire girl.

Our little Pioneer girl or Laura Ingles as she would say.

And our Ozzy Ozbourne.

Getting ready to go trick or treating.. Out here there is a law that all kids have to be in by 8:00 PM so we had to get an early start.. Plus it was really windy and cold thus the gloves so the kids tuckered out pretty quick.. I kind of like the idea of a curfew for halloween night.. I think its alot safer for the kids.... It was really strange though because like in Utah I would buy like 6-7 bags of candy and be out withinn 2-3 hrs and have to end up shutting my lights off and turning kids away.. Since this was our first Halloween in MI I wasnt sure what to expect.. I bought like 6 bags and ended up only having like 7-8 trick or treaters and that was it so i have all this left over candy ontop of what the kids got.. And man oh man did they score out here.. Our neighborhood has alot of nice big homes in it and everyone was giving out like full sized candy bars and kittles and starbursts and bads of chips it was crazy... The kids made a hauling..

I didnt get to make a big halloween dinner like I was wanting too but I did get a recipe for this worm jello I just had to try and it turned out to be a pretty good success almost to much because my kids wouldnt eat it because it looked to real I guess.. I was a little dissapointed with the purplish color. Next time i think I will do red jello instead I think it would have made it more real looking. But I think they turned out pretty good if I do say so myself..

For an update on my hip injurys go here to see my other blog.

Life taken over by facebook

I know its been a while since I have been on here.. Sad to say my life has seriously been taken over by facebook now.. With trying to run a cafe as head chef and harvesting and plowing my farms on farmville and farm town, trying to keep my fish alive in fish world, trying to get my island established in Island Paradise, and trying to get my apartment decorated in Yoville, and trying to keep in touch with all my buddies I just dont have time for anything else.. I seriously could spend all day on the computer.. Since I have been prisoned to my home with my injurys I pretty much do spend alot of time on the computer.. But I just wanted all my bloggy friends to know I havn't forgotten them and I hope to get a little better with posting a little more frequently since I do try and consider this as my journal writing..

I finally met with the neurosurgeon today. I found out I actually have two herniated discs in my back one is just a small bulge and the other is quite bigger and is pushing on the nerve so my reccomendations were to start seeing a pain management specialist who deals with alternatives for pain rather then surgery. I will start with some physical therapy and possibly some injections in my hip or back to try and ease the pain with the pinched nerve. And then if after a month if it hasnt gotten better then we will discuss having surgery but I am hoping it wont come to that and the physical therapy and shots will take care of it.. It already is improving slightly so I have hope that it wont come down to surgery but I tell you I would just about do anything to get rid of this pain it has been so miserable.. To not be able to sit, walk, lay, bend over, get dressed or pretty much anything without pain has been a nightmare.. It really makes you realize and appreciate being able to do the little things such as these.. I cant believe how bad the pain was in the beginning.. I would just break down crying because I didnt know what else to do and I was in so much pain and pain pills and muscle relaxers wouldnt even touch the pain.. At least now I can sleep at night and walk somewhat normally.

As far as my other fractured hip it has been 2 months now and it still hasnt fully healed yet.. I think alot of it had to do with not staying on the crutches like I was supposed to because it seemed to increase the pain with the pinched nerve so I have been walking on it and bearing weight on it which has not allowed it to heal and then the medication they gave me for my back actually stops the healing process so it too is still having some pain it in.. I have to meet back with the Dr. next week to see what he says.. I know he told me to go back on the crutches until i can walk without having pain but I just cant seem to go back to the crutches I can deal with the pain of the fractured hip more then I can deal with the pain of the pinched nerve so I guess I will wait and see what happens.. hopefully they wont have to go in and put screws into my hip because of the bone not healing... So what a mess I have been the last couple months.. I am so ready to be over all this already.. I really miss being active and being able to do the simple things like chase my kids or go shopping or to just be able to get dressed in the morning without horrible pain, let alone I am really missing being able to go running and weight lift.. I felt so much better when I was staying active. I was eating better and drinking water now that has all gone down the drain and I have watched all the muscle tone leave my body again and it's very depressing.. Soon winter will be here and it is so hard to stay active when it is so cold and snowy outside.. Blllaaahhhh
Owell hoping this will be over soon and just be a faint memory..

Last weekend steve had a walk for diabetes fundraiser at the detroit zoo and we were all supposed to go walk. So steve rented a wheelchair and pushed me the whole 5 miler and then we spent the rest of the morning walking around the zoo and seeing the animals.. It was really cold though.. When we left it was a balmy 28 degrees and and finally made it up to 34 by the time we started the walk. I had 5 layers of clothing on and still was cold but I think its because I had to sit the whole time in the chair instead of walk.. But it still ended up being a beautiful day.

My guys went to a scout overnighter camp out so it has just been me and the girls so we made popcorn and watched a movie and had ourselves a little girls night out.. I feel bad for the guys they are probably freezing their little tooshes off in the tent right now.. The high was only supposed to be in the mid 40's and the nights have been dipping down to the low 30's high 20's.. Hope they dont freeze!!

Halloween, Pinched nerve

Halloween!!

Yeah I love this month.. I was so excited to get my halloween page and music up.. This year I bought a little christmas tree that fits on my lamp table that I am using as a year round tree for all the holidays. I have it all decorated up with pumpkin and spider lights it looks pretty cool.. I still want to add more stuff to it but I need to wait until I get all my halloween decorations out to see what all I have.. I still have been under the weather lately and have been trying to take it easy..

I am still trying to get over a nasty cold we have been passing around here for the last week or so.. I just hate colds.. Also still having some problems with my fracture in my hip.. Doctor said the xrays show that there is new bone on the hip he didnt see before so it does show it is healing but it still is painful at times.. I am hoping to give up the crutches by tomorrow.. Speaking of which..... Because I have been using the crutches it has thrown my back off a little and has irritated a pinched nerve I had in my butt on the other hip which is causing some serious pain right now so I have been so miserable because I have pain on both sided of my hip now and it hurts to walk, lay sit, bend over, anything...... It has been so miserable.. It seems like not matter what I do I cant get comfortable or lay in any position to take the pinch off the nerve.. The doctor put me on some prednizone saying it should take care of the pinched nerve pain but so far I am on day 3 now of that medication and it's still not helping.. I have this radiating pain all the way down my leg and into my foot.. I just about cant stand it anymore.. I have been messed up with hip and leg problems now for 6 weeks and I am so ready for it to be over with..

The bad thing with taking the prednizone it slows down the healing process in the fracture of the other hip so I still have to be careful. But he said if I can walk without pain I can get off the crutches so I am trying it out today.. I tried using a cane this morning but it didnt work to well it didnt give me the relief of the leg as I was hoping it would so I am just going to try and walk it out and see how it does.. If the prednizone doesnt work for the nerve then we are going to have to do more testing like a MRI to see if we can find out exactly whats going on with it.. I am really hoping the prednizone will start working soon. I am so tired of hurting with every little move I make..

So much for the idea of thinking that it was going to be so great with the kids in school and being able to go running in the mornings and go and do whatever I wanted.. so far all I have done since school started is stay home and stay down waiting for my hips to heal.. And now the weather is starting to get nasty and cold and soon enough winter will be here and I wont be running outside anyways.. Blaaaagghhh What a waste.... Just when you try and do something good for your body it backfires on ya....

Owell theres my pity party complaining for the day.. Sorry to bore you all with the details.. I'm just so ready to be better again.... On a good note I have the best family.. My kids and hubby have been such a wonderful help for the last 6 weeks with the meals and all the little things the mother has to do in a day.. They follow me around and make sure I am using my crutches and chastize me when I'm not... They make me lay down and take it easy and that has been super nice.. Steve had to go out of town for work this week so my ward has been so wonderful and brought meals in for me while he is away so I didnt have to worry about dinners so that was such a huge relief and so very thoughtful... One thing about the church wards out in the east well out of utah for that matter is most of us are away from our familys so we really count on each other for our times of need and we really become a great close ward family.. It's nice to know there is always someone there to help no matter where you are...

Much Awaited Catchups +Vacation Updates..

Ok so this has been a long time coming.. I had some picts on a camera I couldn't get to transfer on my computer so I finally took them in and had them burned to a disk. So now I am doing a catchup on them all..

So back in May just as I was packing up to move I recieved this wonderful gift from a friend in Utah for winning her baby guessing contest.. How awesome is that?? Thanks Chelsea!!


Right before I moved One of my best friends from Utah came to visit and we went and had a girls night out in NY.. It was so fun..
Central Park.


Rockefeller Plaza

Ok so this is crazy.. We were crossing the street and we hear this loud explosion right next to us and we couldnt figure out what it was. It scared the crap out of us we thought at first it was a gun shot. we were looking around and saw this.. A transponder from under the ground had blown. right next to where we were standing.. If we would have been a second earlier it would have got us.. soon were were being asked to get away that it could blow and soon fire fighters and cops were showing up and taping the area off as we were watching.. The smoke and rumbling kept getting higher and louder. It actually blew a few more times as we were there.. It was kinda freaky!!

Looking off the Empire State Building.

Standing on the top of Empire!!

Empire State Building..

We went and saw the broadway play wicked and it was the best play I have ever seen not that I have seen more then two but it was so awesome.. definently worth seeing..

Night life in NY..

Ok so here is the picts I promised a while ago from our vacations.. Sorry this is so long. There was so much to catch up on. There were so many other ones I wanted to put on here but for some reason my camera transferred them in NEF format and blogger will not upload any files in that format. I have tried to open them up in paint and re save them as a jpeg but my comp wont allow me to do it and I have no idea why... I have no clue as to why my comp is transferring them in that format and I am not camera savvy enough to figure it out.. Anyone have any idea?? Anyways this is what I had that were in the jpeg format that blogger would upload... The one day at macinac I had forgotten my camera so my mom has all the picts.. She did send me a couple that I have put on here and the rest I will have to add later..

Mackinac Island doing our 8 mile bike tour around the island.. Stopped on one of the beaches to throw rocks in the water.. The water was so beautiful and clear..

I cant remember what the name of this site was but it had a beautiful arch with the lake in the background..

Coming over to the Island on the ferry we got this shot.. The Govenors Mansion is in the background I believe..

This was carthage Jail where the prophet Joseph Smith was murdered. The top window is where he fell out of when he was shot.

Austin standing by the door where the bullet came through and killed Josephs brother Hyrum.

This was the brick house where the saints got their bricks to build their homes in Nauvoo.

A view of the Mississippi River from the back yard of the Joseph Smith Farm house.

As we were walking down the trail of tears Austin was practicing his roping skills.

One of the places along the trail of tears where the saints camped waiting their turn to cross the Mississippi river.

Grandpa and Allie tuckered out from all the walking we did..

The Joseph Smith Farm.

The door at carthage Jail..

The room that the prophet Joseph and the men with him spent their first night..

I had much prettier picts of the temple but again they were in the wrong format.. It is a very beautiful temple.

Brigham Young and Joseph Smith overlooking Nauvoo

It was a great time!!