Lots to say

This may be a long post as I have a lot to catch up on. Well, long if the kids stay asleep. Scratch that, Claire is not sleeping yet, so if she goes to sleep we'll get it in.

We've had a fun week with lots of visitors and visiting. We spent the 24th-26th in Salt Lake. After dinner on Thursday Claire was chasing birds in her usual fashion when Taylor and I noticed that one was injured (it flew right into a wall). We told Claire that it was hurt and that she shouldn't chase it. About twenty minutes later we were in the car and Claire said, "I have an idea! Mommy, does birdies wear Ban-Baids?" The sweet little girl had spent the whole ride home thinking of how she could help the hurt bird. We told her that the bird's mom would get him a bandaid and take care of him. What a thoughtful little thing!

We got to go to the Osmond/MoTab concert Thursday evening with Kerry Lynn, Whitney, Dan, and Meg. We all got split up, but had a nice time. We then went to Lehi and had ice cream and adult conversation with Dan, Meg, Suzy, and Dakotah.

On Friday we went to have my pre-op appointments in Provo. Things are looking good, and my inflammation has settled a lot. We're still planning on the 12th. The surgery has to be paid for this week. As of last week we had planned to put it on a credit card, but we are very humbled to have had a number of family members contribute to our plight. Big thanks to the efforts of my mother-in-law who took the initiative to arrange for all of the fund raising, she was able to gather enough to pay for this surgery and for the new prosthetic. The amount we owed was staggering and overwhelming to our little family. We are so grateful for the generosity of others. This gift has given us an even bigger desire to someday be in the position where we can help others. In the meantime we will just have to keep offering ourselves and the meager dinners that I enjoy bringing to those in our ward who need them.

Suzy came up to spend Sunday and Monday with us, and she was met here by Jake and Britt and my parents who were on their way home from Yellowstone. We had dinner (I only neglected to add the two main ingredients), and I saved myself by presenting a wonderful frozen strawberry dessert. Suzy and my mom stayed the night, and we had a good time Monday just hanging out, playing the Wii, and wading in a tiny river in the canyon.

Of course both of my children are sick. They do this whenever I'm stressed (we're the only people planning the ward party Friday) or whenever I'm in the hospital (I'm sure this is just the beginning of ear infections or pneumonia due to settle in the day of my surgery). Kyle had his 9-month checkup today, so that was convenient that they were actually sick before the appointment. We got him some medicine, but Claire spits hers out (she's never done that). Kyle is a little over 20 pounds. He's right above the 50th percentile in both length and height. Best of all his little head has stopped growing at such a rapid rate and is not longer huge and off the charts. This is a big relief to us.

So that's our update for now. I've posted a few new pages in my scrapbook, so check that out on the link at the top of the page.