September 26, 2010-Post Surgery

As hard as it is to find the time to type this out. I am finding it to be rather therapeutic. I actually think it is helping me get over the post traumatic stress.

I woke up wondering how long I had been out. It felt like a few minutes, but I later learned it had been about 17 1/2 hours (1046 minutes). Th first hing I heard was, "Okay, you have all your fingers and you are a mom."

I thought, "Wow! I have ALL my fingers--NEAT! And, Of course I am a mom. I have two sweet little boys, and I am going to have a girl soon. . . (as I reach down to feel my middle). . . Oh, I am a mother of three now! I can't wait to see my new sweet little girl!"

I laid in the recovery room for what felt like an eternity, it was actually about 45 minutes. I just sat and processed everything that had happened. there was no one to talk to, and I couldn't really talk anyway, due to a massively dry throat. Eventually they wheeled me upstairs, I saw my family, asked for water and was told "No.", then Dr. Fryer came and looked at my fingers. He examined them, said he did not like the coloring of my index finger, so I was re-prepared for surgery, and I went back in for about 3 1/2 more hours (192 minutes) of surgery.

I went through the wake up/recovery process again, then made it back to my post-op. room again. I had a lot of family coming in and out of my room to see me and say "Hi". It was rather overwhelming for me. I remember feeling desperate for some water because my throat was so dry. I was only allowed ice chips for several hours after surgery. After a while it became a very difficult production just to swallow. I felt silly when I had to ask a person to pause whatever they were doing to me just so I could focus all my energy and chi on swallowing, but it really was that hard for probably the whole first day or so. Then some fabulous person brought me some chicken broth. After sipping a couple big cups of that, life was good again.

Okay back to Sunday night. I had a lot of people coming in and out of my room and calling on the phone to check on me. It was a little overwhelming. My room was really hot too(yes, like a sauna)! The Dr. ordered a sauna like atmosphere to keep all my blood vessels dilated so my fingers could heal at optimum level. Then, the room started vibrating, or so I thought. My pulse jumped up to about 160 beats per minute. I was vibrating, my chest started hurting, and my vision had become blurry. I was scared. I asked my husband, dad, brother, and brother-in-law to please give me a Priesthood Blessing. After the blessing I felt a little better and the tightness in my chest decreased, but I was still vibrating. That lasted a long time. I want to say half a day to a whole day. (I don't have a great grasp on some amounts of time in the hospital because I had no watch, and I couldn't see the clock very well from my bed). My vision stayed blurry for a few weeks.

Without going into much detail, I will say this; After all the visitors left and my husband fell asleep for a little while. I was left mostly alone, and my body told me it was exhausted. It had been "raked over the coals" and did not want to do this any more. My spirit made a choice at that point. That choice is what gets me through my difficult days. I am so grateful for my family and my support system, especially my husband and my older sister who coordinated everything for me for such a long time after I got home. I am eternally in debt to them. I am out of time, but I want to post this. I will continue on with stuff soon.

Mostly Pinless and Oranges

This is what my hand looked like 8 weeks after my accident.
I got all the pins out of my finger tips at 10 1/2 weeks. This is what my hand looks like today:
It kind of looks like it did before my accident. I am amazed at what modern medicine can do! (I still have one pin in my thumb that I will get surgically removed in January). When Dr. Fryer removed the 6 pins from my fingers he did not numb anything. He used some surgical pliers (they looked similar to thick scissors) to clamp down on the pins. Then, he just twisted and pulled/yanked each pin out. It was quite painful.

It has been/is still a hard adjustment to get use to my new hand, but I am grateful for what I have left.
There are so many things I am having to re-learn. I have had a hard time peeling oranges since this happened. One if my main concerns with citrus fruit right now is getting juice in the sores on my finger tips. Today, I successfully peeled an orange without getting any juice on my finger tips.
Lemons and limes, here I come!

May you all enjoy lots of yummy oranges this Christmas season!

September 25, 2010--Hospital, Life flight, etc.

Wow it has been a while since my last post. Where does the time go. I am definitely feeling like a terrible blogger. I think it may be due to the fact that most daily activities take me longer to complete now that I have a lower functioning hand, and an adorable little baby to occupy my time. Here I go on part two on my life changing experience:

We got to the hospital and the Paramedics took me in the VIP Entrance (Very Injured Persons). Then I was hooked up to some stuff; more IVs (medicine too!), nasal cannula (for oxygen), and a baby monitor. The X-ray tech. took some pictures. Here is one picture:
Ryan and my dad arrived at the hospital right around when I had started feeling overwhelmed with my situation. They gave me a priesthood blessing and I instantly felt calm again. Several hospital employees kept coming in and out observing different things about my situation, and I remember listening to my dad tell all of them to "spare no expense to save my fingers".

I kept thinking, "Uh, that is not true. My dad won't be the one paying the bills. My sweet husband and I will be doing that. Oh boy! This is going to be so expensive. What have I done?!?"

(these next details are in no particular order)
I was given a nerve block (a massive shot) in each finger for pain. Two of my moms came to visit me in the St. George E.R. and fret about everything. The plastic surgeon came in to talk to me. After observing my situation, he said he would definitely be able to close up my pinky, repair my thumb, and possibly save my ring finger. He said he did not think he would be able to save my other two fingers, my best chance for that would be a life flight ride to Salt Lake County. After a couple hours of coordinating, waiting, and stressing, Ryan and I were flown to Salt Lake. I recently learned they were not going to life flight me, because I was so pregnant. One of the life flight nurses stepped in and said she was confident that I would be okay, and she would be willing to chance it for me. (Just one more miracle/blessing to add).

The hospital was going to fly me to the U of U hospital, but then they checked our insurance coverage. We had better coverage at Intermountain Medical Center, so that is where I went. It just so happened that the best plastic surgeon in the state (who also specializes in hands) started working there in August (yep, another blessing to factor into the miracle of my hand and having a healthy daughter).

I am so grateful it was a beautiful and sunny day. It made the life flight as pleasant, smooth, and fast as it could possibly be. I looked out the window a lot and tried to mentally prepare myself to wake up from the unknown future (I had never done anything like this before and had no idea what to expect) with my current stumps sewn up.

We arrived in Murray and I was taken to another triage /pre-operation room. Shortly thereafter my little brother, Jesse, tearfully greeted me and asked if it would be possible to do a finger transplant. He told me he would give me one or two of his fingers if they could perform the surgery. I was very touched but I laughed at the thought of ruining a perfectly beautiful hand because of my mistake/accident. I did not cry then, but I cry now whenever I think about what my sweet little brother was willing to sacrifice for me. The doctor chuckled too when my brother asked him. Once we established that a finger transplant was not an option, I reassured Jesse everything would be okay. Everyone, except Ryan and I cried a little more, then I was prepared for surgery.

Before I went into surgery, a member of the staff explained to me that I may have to have an emergency C-section. If they could prevent it, then they would. She reassured Ryan and me that they would definitely keep a close eye on our little girl. Then they transferred me to a new bed, wheeled me down the hall, into the operating room, and shortly thereafter I was out. . .

September 25, 2010, pre-hospital

I have decided I need to start writing down my hand experience even though typing with one hand takes forever. I don't know how long it will be 'till I can type with two hands, so I am going to do this in segments. Here I go. . .

I planned on pressure bottling some dry beans on Saturday morning. I got up early, saw Ryan off to work, got the kids fed and ready for the day, then started pulling things out to start bottling. Then I realized I had a question about the process of bottling these beans. I thought, "It's only 8 AM, I can't call my friend this early on a Saturday to ask her a bottling question. It is a beautiful day. I will just take the boys outside and start on a woodworking project I wanted to get done.

I proceeded outside with my two little boys. I wanted to make some toy train pieces with my scroll saw (which I love and plan to use when I am better). All the pieces of wood that I could use for my project had a routered edge. So I thought, "No biggie I'll just square up a piece on our table saw, then be on my way. I proceeded to cut the 22' piece of wood. About half way through cutting, there was a knot (knots are more difficult to cut, for those of y'all who don't cut wood very often.). I put my left hand toward the back of the wood, then the whole piece split and jumped. I blinked, heard a loud noise, then looked down and my fingers were gone. There was blood everywhere. I thought "Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! can I pause then rewind my life a second then fix that?!? My fingers are gone! Wow, That is a lot of blood. Is that my bone? Yes, I think it is. Should I call someone? Yeah, I probably better."

I wrapped my hand in my shirt then told my boys I would be back. I ran in the house and grabbed the phone. I started to call Ryan, then I decided I was really bleeding a lot and I better just call 911. So I did. I told the woman on the other end of the call that I had cut off my fingers and I needed some help. Oh yeah, and I am pregnant. How pregnant? Uh, uh, I could not seem to remember how pregnant I was. . . (I think I told her 27 weeks, because that is what the paramedics and police thought when they got there.) While on the phone I grabbed a package of steaks from my freezer to put ice on my hand, it was a little awkward, so I scrapped that idea. The woman asked if I was keeping it elevated and I realized my hand was sitting at lower chest level. I needed it to be at least above my heart. I dropped my shirt and grabbed a kitchen towel so I could keep compression on it while elevating it. Then I realized I could not keep very much compression on it. I thought, "I am losing strength. Oh no! That must be because I have lost so much blood!?!" I proceeded to tell the 911 lady that I felt like I was starting to go into shock, so I had better just sit by my side door and wait for the ambulance. I sat, my hand really started throbbing. I waited, and tried to take slow, deep breaths.

Then, my sweet little four year old came over to me and with his big blue eyes, asked, "Mom, are you okay?" I replied, "Yes dear, mommy just has a big owie." When the police and paramedics got there, I think I was trying to have my four year old be my breathing coach and explaining to the 911 lady that I had my two kids with me.

Hooray! The paramedics arrived, I am not going to bleed to death/die in front of my kids! They asked me if I was 27 weeks pregnant, and I said, "No I am further along than that. . . 36 or 37 weeks I think. . . I can't seem to remember for sure. Just look at my middle--I am really pregnant." Once we got the prego info squared away, I told them about my kids and asked them to please take my children to my neighbors house. The police took care of my kids while the first responders gathered my two missing digits (they were distressed when they could only find two, they came back to report, so we checked and--phew! One was still hanging by a little piece of skin. Thankfully!). I was strapped to the bed, loaded, and we were on our way.

Okay, by this point I am totally ready for some pain medicine! I asked and was told "No, sorry, you are pregnant. We have to wait until we get to the hospital." My thought, "What?! (followed by several deep breaths of oxygen--I can't wait to get to the hospital )."

I am going to stop there for now, because I have been typing for ages. I'll type the rest in my next post. (sorry if this is too long, just don't read any more posts if they are too long).

P. S I am so thankful for friendly and efficient police and all EMS workers. (Especially Deward Stout for keeping me company on the ambulance ride. It was nice to have a familiar face to talk to.)

Just an annoyance...or Drive me Crazy?!

I think I have discovered the most annoying thing in the world. . . I just hope it does not drive me crazy. My fingers have started occassionally itching on the inside. I cannot scratch for relief when they do that. I can hold, rub, and squeeze, but it does not relieve. i just tell myself I need to be grateful for this sensation--it means something is healing.

I have read several blog posts of gratefulness, for the month of November. I have decided to join the club and post something I am grateful for with each post I make.

I am grateful for life experiences that teach us lessons. I am grateful I worked at scout camp and taught various merit badges, one of which was Wilderness Survival. The most important thing to remember in a survival situation is to have a positive mental attitude. That thought went through my head a lot after I cut off my fingers. (I should be getting my pins out in a few more weeks. When that happens I will work on typing faster, then I will type the whole story of my fingers...according to me.) So, I am thankful for lessons we learn in life to help prepare us to handle other experiences and lessons. :)

First Walk

The boys and I took Eliza for her first walk outside today. (our first walk since before I went to the hospital). I did not think to take a picture until we were back home and unloaded. Tucker and Eliza both fell asleep. I only snapped a picture of Eliza. . .
I love the fact that she fell asleep with Binky in grasp. Our walk was fun, I can't wait to go for another one! It's funny what simple things we can take for granted until the privilege is taken away (only for a small time, thankfully, in my case). I am even getting better at one handed typing. I think I will wait to type the whole story until my pins are removed (hopefully in three weeks or so).

Happy Halloween! Hopefully I remember to snap a picture of my kidlins costumes. Then I'll post them. :)

Hands

Before September 25, 2010, this is what my left hand looked like:
Wasn't it beautiful?!
After a split second with a table saw, a long ambulance ride, a life flight ride, several hours (21-22 hours) of surgery (including an emergency C-section), the safe arrival of our precious little girl, and a week in the hospital, I have this left:
It doesn't look that great right now, but it will. I am so lucky to still have my fingers. The first surgeon I saw in Southern Utah thought he could maybe save my ring finger, but my pointer and middle fingers were not salvageable (if he did the surgery). I ended up going to Salt Lake and Dr. Richard Fryer is my new hero! He worked all afternoon Saturday, all night to Sunday morning. I came out of surgery, he looked at my pointer finger, decided the color was not good, so he turned around and performed a few more hours of surgery to save my hand.
This whole experience has been really hard for me to endure, whenever I start to feel overwhelmed, I just look at this:

Eliza Kristine Nay
Born: September 26, 2010; 7:26 AM
7 lbs. 1 oz. (yes, four weeks early)

Isn't she darling?! This is the first dress she has ever worn. She is almost three weeks old in this picture. She will be four weeks old tomorrow.

Home made Ginger Snap Predicament

I made some home made ginger snap cookies last week. They were so Yummy! I can't remember where I read the recipe. It was on some sort of bottle in my pantry. . .oil, molasses, or something like that.
They were really good, and now I can't seem to find the recipe again. I finished using the contents of several bottles in my pantry last week, then I threw them away. If anyone has a wonderful Ginger snap recipe, please share!

Also, does anyone else lose their mind/memory during pregnancy?!? I can search all over for a pen that I put in my hair a minute before I started looking for it. It is driving me crazy. I am just glad I have still been able to bottle peaches and bake food for my family, as well as continue to function somewhat normally.

The Elk Hunt

We went Elk hunting for 4 days over Labor Day weekend. It was a lot of fun. The trip started out slow. Our 3 1/2 hour drive turned into a 5 hour drive because we ended up stopping a little more than we planned. We also had a tire blow out. Luckily it was 5 to 10 miles south of the Cove Fort Chevron. We ended up getting two new tires because our spare had some big cracks in it. We were just grateful it got us to the Chevron tire shop.
Brycen had lots of fun helping set up the trailer and our beds. We also went on lots of hikes, picked flowers and kept a little camp journal about what we learned about. He practiced writing some of his letters and the kids and I colored a LOT.
The boys both loved riding the four wheeler. Sadly, Brycen has grown out of his helmet, and we have not purchased a new one for him, yet. Therefore, we did not get to take the kids for as many rides as we would have liked to.
I was quite proud of myself too. In my pregnant state, I awakened before everyone else the first morning to set up the rest of camp and make breakfast. We all had a lot of fun!
Saturday night a big mama moose walked along the mountain side right by our camp. My little boys were SUPER excited to see a real animal so closely. I was glad they got to see the moose, because they didn't really get to see any other animals other than other campers dogs.

We left the mountain empty-handed after this hunt, because all Ryan and his family (the ones who were hunting) saw were cow elk with their little calves (who can shoot a mom with a baby?!?). I think he may have seen a spike or two, but it was too windy to take a shot.
Anyway, it was okay because my dad took Ryan hunting a few weeks ago, and Ryan shot this beast.
We have lots of meat now, but most of it is sliced for jerky because the elk he shot was pretty old, so the meat will be pretty tough. I think I am going to try bottling some of it too. We'll have to see how that goes. :)

Sweet Children

Ryan and I found out this morning that his Grandpa, Glenn Stratton, passed away during the night. He has been in the hospital for a few weeks so I guess some people would say it could have been a little more expected, but we still were not ready for the news.

I have been crying on and off all morning. I stopped for a little while, then started again. My 4 year old son came up to me and said, "Mom, what is wrong?" I said, "I am just sad that grandpa died." His reply with a smile was, "But mom, now he feels better. He is in heaven now."

I am so grateful for sweet little innocent children and their impeccable timing. I have always loved the saying from The Count of Monte Cristo, "God sees you out of the corner of his eye." I think he sees a little more than just out of the corner of his eye, but I am grateful that He always reminds me in so many ways that He lives and loves all of his children.

Bell Pepper Recipes?!

Does any one have a fabulous bell pepper recipe?

I love to make kabobs and fajitas. I have made an occasional stuffed bell pepper. In the pepper department I mostly have green bell peppers, but I also have some banana peppers, tomatoes, fresh rosemary, basil, parsley, and oregano. If anyone has an amazing recipe involving bell peppers PLEASE SHARE!

Thank you to everyone who reads this blog and shares information. :)

Peach Days challenge quilt

I joined the "Zion Piecemakers Quilt Guild" this year. They have a quilt challenge every year for Peach Days. This year the fat quarter fabric is the peach fabric you see in the project above. The theme for the quilt is "Peach Days". This little quilt is what came to my mind the second they introduced the theme to the guild. When I think of peach days I think of picking peaches in an orchard somewhere then taking them home to bottle, dry, and freeze.
Truthfully I started in April (I think), then I became discouraged when my sister popped hers out in a month. I finally decided about a month or so ago to bit the bullet and finish it. Anyway, if you want to see it live, come to the Peach Days Quilt Show this year. There will be some amazing quilts on display there!

4th Birthday

My three year old turned four on July 27th, 2010. He wanted a spider man/spider cake this year with licorice legs. I wanted his cake to be red, but after almost a full bottle of red food coloring, I ended up with more of a pink cake than a red one. I decided it was okay because it had a spider web on it, and it was not a "girly" cake even though it was pink. Next time, I think I will have to go to a craft store or a specialty bake shop to find real red food coloring.
Despite my concern for the color, my son LOVED his cake. All the cousins enjoyed the licorice legs. Overall, I think he had a happy birthday! He loved his cake, got some fun gifts, and had fun playing with all his little cousins.
He's one year older and hopefully a little wiser too. ;)

Morning conversations

My three year old got up this morning, went to the bathroom, then came in the kitchen for breakfast. This was our conversation:

Mom: "I am so proud of you for remembering to flush the toilet after you went potty! Did you wash your hands? (I knew he didn't there was no sink action after the flushing)."

Son: "Mom, I am so tired of washing my hands!!"

Mom: "Sweetheart, you just woke up. You have not washed your hands at all today."

Son: "Dang it! (as he turns and heads back to the bathroom.)

When he was done playing with the soap in the sink he came running back into the kitchen;

"Mom, wanna smell my hands?!? (I smell them). They smell good, huh?"

I love the way he was trying to get out of washing his hands, then the way he expressed himself after I caught him and sent him back. I have smiled every time I have heard the interjection "Dang it!" today.

Hope everyone has had a wonderful weekend.

Boys in the morning

After my boys and I got up the other day I quickly went to the bathroom. Then I came in the kitchen to find this:I thought it was so cute! Brycen got in the fridge and grabbed himself and his little bro. an apple, then they sat down to eat them together. I am proud of Brycen. He is such a good older brother. He really looks out for his little brother, and he is very excited to have a little sister.

I am hoping to finish my peach days challenge quilt in the next week or so. Wish me luck!

Weeding the garden

This is what my garden is looking like right now. I have about fifteen tomato plants, six pepper plants, and some carrots in the back. I took this picture about two weeks ago after I spent about 15-20 minutes weeding. My garden always looks so nice after it has been weeded. :)
My kids on the other hand, DON'T. This is what my one year old looked like after 15-20 minutes of me weeding the garden. Here is the front view.
This is the back view.
I am sure his big brother had fun playing with him. I just realized you cannot see his eyes in either picture. They had some mud in them too. We played with the hose before he came in. He screamed a little. I am so grateful that my neighbors don't call the abuse hot line or something when they hear my children screaming in the backyard.
Overall, weeding the garden is a great weekly adventure at our house. I enjoy weeding, and the kids enjoy. . . playing.

I do have one question, does this happen to anyone else?!? Or are my boys the only ones who fall/play in any small amount of mud that they can find anywhere? I have decided if there is a puddle anywhere in the vicinity, my boys will find it, fall in it, then play in it, and become covered.

Bottling Tomatoes

I harvested these from my garden! This is more tomatoes than I have ever picked in a whole season from any plant I have ever grown. (yes, I am very excited!) My dear sweet neighbor gave me a bunch of tomatoes too, so I decided to try and bottle some of the beautiful tomatoes. It was not very hard. You basically clean them and cut any bad parts off. Then, you slip the skins, cut them to the desired size, cook them or pack them straight in the bottle, and then process them. This many tomatoes makes almost 5 quarts.
I decided to do diced/crushed tomatoes. I cooked them for a little while, then added 1/2 tsp. of Citric Acid to each quart. Then I boiling water bathed them for 55 minutes.
Oops! I forgot to take a picture of the finished product. I must have forgotten while processing them. Anyway, they turned out great! Hooray, another bottling experience under my belt. :)

Girls Camp

Where did June go? Between Youth Conference, Girls Camp, birthdays, and beginning the summer--June flew by for me! This year I was the Assistant Camp Director for girls camp. It was so much FUN! The picture below is from the pre-camp we had in May. We worked on making our T-shirts for girls camp, then we ate, sang some songs, and hung out around a campfire. (I love having a fire pit in my backyard!)
I am sorry I have been neglecting my blog. I will try and start catching up on the events in my life. I have no idea where my actual "girls camp" pictures went. They disappeared from my (husband's) camera. :) Sorry, that is the only picture I have to share.

Oh! I found a Youth Conference picture! The leaders took the youth on a mini-trek (through the honeymoon trail). I went to help a little, but mainly to be another female leader for them. I only got to stay with them from Thursday to Friday. Friday we hiked about 6 miles in the beating sun pulling handcarts. The youth pulled the handcarts the whole time. I helped for a little while, but I didn't last very long (I am so weak when I am pregnant!). Anyway, here is a picture. I am the one with a straw hat and a wet triangular bandage under my hat on.
The young men helped build the handcarts too. Neat, huh?!

Messy Children

Right now I am trying to get everything ready for girls camp, which is next week. Instead of finishing projects for girls camp over the last few days, I have been cleaning up messes. Brycen pulled an almost new bottle of ketchup out of the fridge and squirted it all over the kitchen floor, kitchen table, and his little brother. Then, he got out a butter knife and spread it around a little more. I gave Tucker a bath while Ryan coached Brycen through the clean up. The ketchup was on Friday.

Thursday, Brycen and Tucker dumped out about half a box of crackers all over the kitchen floor and smashed them into tiny little crumbs, then spread them throughout the entire kitchen area. Once the crackers were completely spread out, they found half a bag of trail mix and dumped it under the kitchen table. I found them huddled around the pile gleefully consuming all the M&Ms.
Oh, and earlier I thought Brycen was going to the bathroom. Nope. He took the Windex and some Lysol Disinfectant spray and emptied both bottles all over the bathroom floor. Needless to say, our bathroom smelled suffocatingly clean all day on Thursday.

Today my boys found some fresh green beans in a bowl in the fridge. They broke them into bits and threw them all over the kitchen floor. Then, I took the boys with me downstairs to put some things away. I got them busy playing with some toys and left the room for a couple of minutes. Brycen opened the door to our office and found Ryan's multicolored permanent markers (yes, his partner in crime was right along side him). They drew all over their legs, hands, Tucker's face, Then floor, and a few boxes.

Did I mention, earlier this week Brycen took a black permanent marker to some of our new living room furniture, our computer desk, and some of his toys.

My children made lots of messes this week, but I have found myself grateful that all of their messes have been on some sort of hard floor. :)

This has been a very long week, and amid all of these things, I found myself entirely with out a camera on every occasion. Part of me is sad I have no pictures, but I am not sure what my kids would think if I scolded them, then took a picture of what they did. . . would they want to do it again? Who knows.

May everyone have a better week next week than the last week I just had! :)

Photographer, Sister, Friend

I have a sister who loves to take pictures and I am so grateful for her! There have been times when my boys are being so cute and I seldom have my camera with me at the time. . . but my sister has hers (thankfully)!
A couple years ago I decided that Heavenly Father sends us BEAUTIFUL children so they live to become adults. When I walk into a room with crackers and bread broken and smashed into the ground, and there is a freshly dumped pile of trail mix under the kitchen table with two little boys secretly consuming it. . . I start to feel frustrated. I only left the room for five minutes. How could this happen so fast?!? Then I see the look on my little boys face and my frustration melts away. I am thankful I am related to someone who can capture these angelic little faces while my boys are young. I hope I keep these picture close by when they are teenagers.
They LOVE playing on the gate whenever we go to work at the community garden.

I had an Ultrasound today!

I had an ultrasound today and the baby is looking really healthy. . . We are having a GIRL! I am so excited but a little nervous too. She looks really healthy. Her heart and overall little body looked really good. She might have big feet like her two older brothers. Anyway, I just thought I would share my news with everyone. I am having my first girl. :)

Mystery Quilt--picture posted

I joined a local Quilt Guild in January. I thought it would be a great way for me to learn something/anything about quilting. I have always been fascinated with the art of quilting, but I don't seem to be very good at it. Well, this year our guild has been offering a small monthly instruction session on making a "Mystery Quilt". No one knew how it would turn out, but we have all been following monthly instructions since January. We received our last instructions a week ago, and I finished my quilt top last night. It is a 48" square. I am wanting to make it into a twin size quilt, so right now I am thinking of how to do that. Anyway, I am so excited to be done, and it even looks decent.
Here is a picture:

A Powerful Thought

I just viewed this on someone's blog. I don't think I had enough tissue. If you watch it, make sure you have a couple of tissues. (Perhaps I cried a little more due to pregnancy. . . who knows.) Thanks for reading.

Figs, herbs, and tomatoes

I am just thrilled that it is May, and I still have things growing in my yard! My figs are coming along great. I think they will be ready in another three to four weeks.
This is Oregano. I am trying my hand at growing some of my own herbs. I am growing some Rosemary, Parsley, Basil, and Oregano. So far they are all growing well. I am a little concerned that my basil will be eaten by bugs before I get any of it. I think I may start trying to put a little organic pesticide on it. We'll see if that helps.
Lastly, my tomatoes are still alive! I even have some little fruits growing. I have five Roma tomato plants as well as about fifteen other plants (three or four different varieties). I am hoping they all survive this summer. . . then I can try my hand at bottling tomatoes (my dream!).

If anyone has any sort of advice with gardening, please, do share!

Happy Mother's Day!

I just wanted to wish everyone a happy Mother's Day! I hope all you women out in the blogging world have a wonderful day today. :)

Strawberry Starts

This is part of my strawberry patch. It is too long to take a picture, unless I tried to take a panoramic picture. One of my friends moved away in January and she left me some beautiful strawberry plants. I transplanted them mid-January, and they have been doing wonderfully! I have always felt that I have a black thumb, but this year I think it is developing a green tinge to it. Hooray!
These two pictures uploaded in the wrong order. Before my friend moved she told me about little "shoots" a strawberry will send out to start a new plant. My plants are starting to send out lots of these little shoots. When you find one, you are supposed to bury it in the ground (I think it should look about like the above picture).
The "shoots"/starts look like this. I will wait until this plant is a little larger before planting it. (Maybe another week or so). Can you see my strawberries growing in the background?! I am very excited to have lots of little light green berries. I think I will have a nice little crop in another month or so. I'll try and remember to show y'all how they look when they are ready.

Frogs and Cocoons

Ryan took the young men on a camp out a couple of weekends ago. He brought home four frogs for our boys to watch/play with. We had lots of fun watering them every day as well as catching bugs for them to eat. It was really fun watching them eat the bugs! We only kept them for a week, then last week my mother-in-law (a kindergarten teacher) took them for a week to show her class. They were working on a science unit. The frogs were lots of fun for all the kids, but they were safely returned to their natural habitat over the weekend.
My mother-in-law also had some worms for her kindergarten class, and she shared them with us too. After a while they all created a cocoon and sat for about 10 days. Then they hatched! My three year old LOVED it! He was fascinated with the idea of a butterfly coming out such a small thing. They were beautiful monarch butterflies--sorry I didn't think to take a picture until after we released them. Anyway, we've been having fun with bugs and amphibians for the last few weeks!

Denim Placemats

I have been working on these for a while, and I finally finished some. I have only made four so far, but I plan to make more as time allows. (I have too many other projects to work on right now.) I made them because I have lots of scraps of fabric and I had some old jeans lying around, so, voila! Place mats! My sister told me I should do a little tutorial of some sort, so here I go:
I started with a #10 can (from my food storage), and I traced it several times on some old blue jeans. If you do this, remember to trace on the inside of the jeans, not the outside--unless you want black marks showing on your place mats. Then I whipped out all my scraps and started cutting lots of 4 1/2 inch squares. Once all your squares are cut, place one square (centered) on a circle, and sew an "X" from corner to corner on the square.
When you are done sewing lots of X's, decide on the pattern you want. I just put all of mine in random orders because I have lots of little random scraps. Once you have your pattern, sew the side of two squares together, leaving the raw edges of the circles out for later.
After all the squares are sewn together, I went through and ironed all the circular edges flat (for easy sewing).
Once you have everything ironed down, pick your favorite decorative stitch, and sew down all the scalloped edges. I used a zigzag stitch, because that was the quickest. . . The above picture is what it looks like when you are done sewing down the edges. I think these could be a reversible place mat, if you want, because the scalloped edges make a fun circle design on the back. You can also use this method for quilts, etc. So, if you get a hankering to try it, have fun sewing!

Hoover Dam

April has simply flown by! Several days went by slowly, but the month in general has passed a little too fast for me.
At the end of January my husband and I purchased a camping trailer/toy hauler. Upon completion of this, we made a goal to use it at least once a month from now on. We have done just that. We went to Sand Hollow Reservoir in February and March. In April, my sister and her family invited us to tag along on a camping trip to Lake Mead. We went and had a blast.
On the way, we passed over Hoover Dam. It was amazing! I have never seen that much concrete in one location. I thought the water level looked really low. Hopefully Lake Mead will be receiving a huge spring run-off this year (or something to that affect).
After September 11, 2001, they (The U. S. Department of the Interior, maybe), started a project to build a highway/freeway above Hoover Dam to eliminate unnecessary traffic. Looks like they are getting close to completion. I thought that bridge was amazing. I took several pictures, but I think this one is my favorite.
The drive was about three hours, so it was a little long for my munchkins, but they had a blast at Lake Mead. We went on a little hike, took pictures of flowers, and played in the water. As well as had a campfire and roasted hot dogs (one of my boys favorite things to do/eat).
Brycen and Grace on our hike--I think they had fun, but we didn't hike for very long. I guess it was a long time for little legs and short attention spans.
These flowers grew wild all over the place at our camp site. Aren't they gorgeous! I fell in love with our campsite the second we turned off the main road and started heading toward it, because these happy yellow flowers were everywhere!