scary

We had such a fun time carving our pumpkins.

They were full of gooey guts and crunchy seeds.

And when I mention that WE carved our pumpkins, of course I mean that Nate carved them.

The rest of us just played around.


Jimmy's was a spooky one.


Grace's was of course a Harry Potter one.


And then we found our pumpkins (just 3 days later) in an ultra-spooky state:




ooooOOOOOoooooOOOOOOooooo!

Happy Halloween!

persuasion

To help convince Jimmy that he should agree to watch a Barbie movie with her (um, gag) Grace employed the following tactics:

'Listen, Jimmy, there's a kitty, some horses, a prince, and Real Evil.'

He agreed. Happy Friday afternoon!

no pain no gain

Today's PT appointment was incredibly painful. So painful (to borrow a phrase from my favorite bully, Buford) I was sweating through my eyeballs. Have you ever been in pain so much that you couldn't stop your eyes from leaking? There was no emotion involved at all, just pure pain. It didn't last long and then it was quite gone.

My range of motion has increased. My walking is more like real walking. I'm back at the gym (on a very limited routine, but I'm still going). And I still get to ice down every night, and though that may not sound like fun to you - consider today was one of only 2 days in the last 2 months where the temps here were not more than 90 degrees.

I think I'll refrain from lumbering tonight and instead walk over to the kitchen and make myself a nice up of cocoa to celebrate the release from pain and our fall-like temps (only a high of 82 today!)

more

I realize the last few posts have been about Jimmy. This one is too. Grace is still here and is as Gracey as usual. She has now started playing the flute (so far she's learned B flat AND A flat). She's also trying to expand her literary pursuits beyond Harry Potter. But Jimmy, well he's 5 1/2 and is just as something-else as Grace was when I first started the Grace-isms on the side of this here darling blog.

Tonight during the prayer for dinner, Jimmy prayed "and please bless Mom and Dad that they can be nice." Later on in the evening he said it was uncomfortable to sit next to Nate because he was too warm and too hairy (perhaps I might know someone who has felt that way before).

We must have made progress because his bedtime prayer included "thank you for letting Mom and Dad be nice." Let's see what tomorrow brings.

the opposite man

While contemplating some music to sing at an upcoming Christmas party, Jimmy suggested instead of going for "Still, Still, Still" I should choose "Move, Move, Move."

This is the same kid who has decided to always cheer for the team "versing" BYU. This would be the reason why he cried during BYU's first touchdown last weekend. (I suppose it didn't help matters that it was 46 degrees and well after bedtime.)

j's perspective

We returned home late last night from a week(ish) trip to Utah. Two nights in Provo, two nights in SLC, and (probably my fav) 2 nights in Park City.

On our way out of PC yesterday morning, we happened to drive past the town's cemetery. Jimmy looked over at it through his window and said, "when I get to run through that obstacle course, I'm going to go super fast!"

We just cracked up. I suppose to the uninformed a cemetery certainly does resemble an obstacle course.

lame

It all started benignly enough. A mother-daughter hike with moms and girls from church, a sunrise hike at Pinnacle Peak. And may I say, the sunrise was beautiful. The girls ran ahead, the moms followed. We (the moms in the back) reached our last 1/3 mile or so. We were pleased to have made good time, thus allowing adequate opportunity for the rest of Saturday's activities and obligations to take place. If I was lucky, Grace and I would get home just as Nate needed to go in and round which would prevent Jimmy needing a sitter.

It would seem that I was not lucky.

I managed to slip on some loose gravel, fall forward, gain some major road burn, in-bed a rock in my hand, and tear a few ligaments in my ankle. With the help of a sweet, calm friend, I made it down off the mountain.

Nate and Jimmy met us at the ER (Jimmy even took a moment before hand to make me a picture of a dinosaur to feel me better, I will say it helped). My friend took Grace and Jimmy for the morning. And Nate dutifully stayed with me. We found it ironic that he was spending his Saturday morning at a hospital, but not the one he needed to be at to do his rounds.

We made it home by 11:00 (my, how long the morning is when you actually see the sun rise), with two new shiny crutches and a large, black Darth Vader-like boot.

It has now been 10 days and I can cruise around much of the time with NO crutches (but wearing of course my awesome footwear). I will admit that having a crutch to rely on does give me peace of mind. The first several days were not fun for anyone. Nate and the kids picked up the slack as I hobbled about and we have somehow managed.

And so we continue on.

I get to wear the Darth Vader beauty for several more weeks. I've considered being Vader for Halloween, but truth be told, I've wanted to be Princess Lea for a long time and none of her costumes would be done justice by wearing her father's boot (not even the gold one).

a little-pick-me-up

Here's a quick link to brighten your spirits: click here!