Jordan's Day!

Here we are at the Mesa Temple after going through with Jordan. He is going on a mission to Uruguay in April. We are so happy for him. It was a super day and he will make a wonderful missionary. Mike and Nicole had so much support from friends in Yuma. They had about 8 people show up--for those that don't know, that was a three hour drive for them! I guess its because Mike and Nicole and Jordan are super people and very loved--but then I already knew that!! Oh, by the way, I am not as short as Freddie--I was crouching down so the faces behind me could be seen!

No cast, no pins--Hallelujah!

Well, after the big break--Tye's arm while he was mountain bike riding--he went to see an orthopedic surgeon. As you know from the title he does not need a cast or surgery for pins and we are very grateful!! They used to cast a break like this but then when the cast came off, the bones had fused together in that position and the arm never regained complete mobility. The surgeon said Tye needs to move it a lot while it is healing so that complete mobility will be there when it is completely healed. We are so grateful and although it is still a little painful, Tye is able to move it quite a bit--especially since he wants full use of the arm for his golf swing!! As I said before--HALLELUJAH!!

Vampire Mania!

Okay--I'm grateful to Stephenie Meyer for sparking an interest in reading for my daughters. Taylor is an avid reader and Lauren read the "Twilight" series with passion. (I didn't think Lauren would willingly read anything!):) Then, of course we had to go see the midnight showing of "Twilight" which was very fun! I read the books with passion, too. We even had Twilight shirts and everything! I can't believe I stayed awake passed 10 PM. Well, I think my girls have vampire mania--and I think my niece Maggie has joined them! They recently took a trip to the mall and found this shirt--"I Kissed a Vampire and I liked it!". They had to get one for Maggie and I had to get a picture! I think any vampire would love to bite any of these necks!

Broken Arm!

Well, I have news!! Friday morning Tyrel decided to forgo his normal golf game and go mountain biking. What I thought would be a great idea--good exercise, no money out of pocket--turned out to be a disaster! Tye came upon a steep incline he was not prepared for and he ended up stopping short and falling to the ground and sliding down the incline. In the process of stopping, he landed on his left arm. He knew immediately that it was broken (having broken parts of that arm 5 times before--I guess it is the arm of choice when breaking a fall!) He was very dizzy and ready to pass out so he laid down on his backpack to gain his equilibrium. As he is laying there he hears his phone--which was in his backpack--begin to dial a number. The number he happened to be dialing was mine. I answered all pleased that he would think to call me while he was out having fun--something I wondered about later--and he tried to act as normal as possible as he is writhing in pain. He sounded far-away which was because his phone was in the backpack--something I also wondered about later! He said he would see me in a few hours and I ended the converstaion with "Be careful!" (I guess I was too late with that warning.)

After he gained composure he had to walk about 4 miles out of the canyon he had been hiking in--while holding his bicycle with one hand. In some areas he was able to ride his bike but he mostly walked to avoid another accident. (Another broken bone would not be good.) Once back to civilization he got some ibuprofen in his system and he and Derrick, his biking buddy, came upon an older lady with a flat tire. Derrick changed her tire as Tye watched. By this time I had been informed about the situation--which he prefaced with "Just know that I'm okay, but...." I guess he was trying to avoid my hysterics.

After an x-ray in Urgent Care we found that he has a radial head fracture. In my language the bone in his forearm was jammed into the head of the bone at his elbow. He can't rotate his arm but he can lift his arm and he has full use of his fingers. We feel blessed that it wasn't worse and that it wasn't his right arm. We will see an orthopedic surgeon this week to see if he needs pins put in--pray that he doesn't! Hopefully a cast will suffice.

The moral of this story is...there are better ways to get out of church to watch the AZ Cardinals play in the NFC Championship than breaking your arm!! GO CARDINALS!!Also, golf is my preferred sport for my husband!!

The Log Ride

While I have Knotts Berry Farm on my mind I thought I'd include a pic. of our kids on the ride. Normally I am opposed to buying the picture they sell at the end of the ride--a waste of money! Well, after seeing this picture of all of our kids--so cute, I couldn't resist. They knew exactly when to pose because they had ridden the ride 100 times! This was Grant's favorite!

Christmas Adventure

Well, this is my first blog. I am writing this for my own journaling purposes and to keep in touch with family and friends.

I wanted to tell about our Christmas adventure. We decided to take the kids to Knott's Berry Farm in CA for Christmas. We did this last year and had a blast! After opening our presents and eating breakfast we piled into the car and headed out. We were traveling at quite a good pace when the car made a jerk and it felt and sounded like our little trailer hitch fell and was dragging behind the vehicle. That wasn't the case--we had a blow-out! What a blow-out! There is a huge dent behind our wheel and it chipped the paint off of the door--not to mention the black mark running up the side of our car. Our tire was ripped to shreds! I wasn't worried, even though we were on a barren stretch of highway about 10 miles from Quartzsite, AZ.

Tye got out to change the tire and we soon found that our jack was missing a crucial piece that allowed us to get to our spare tire. We were stuck! We tried to improvise but nothing worked. Finally a good samaritan stopped and took us to the gas station about 5 miles up the road. Tye found someone there that had the same vehicle as ours and asked if he could use their jack to get to the spare. This person was going the opposite direction so took Tye back to the vehicle. He got the tire changed and we were back in business. The rest of the trip was uneventful--or I should say, very eventful--but in a good way.

One funny side note is that Tye forgot the hubcap--left it on the ground where we were stranded. I suggested we stop on the way home and try to find the hubcap--knowing us we would not bother to get a new hubcap, or forget about it--can you say "white trash"? Well, much to my surprise, Tye said that was a good idea. So after two great days at the park, we headed back to AZ. Tye approximated where our breakdown was and stopped our car. He then crossed the lanes of traffic on our side, crossed the middle grass area and then crossed the opposite lanes of traffic. As he is doing this I'm thinking, "This is impossible!" After walking a few feet, he bends down and finds our hubcap! It was a miracle!! We were so happy! What a great ending to a horrible experience!