Fall Break 2009

Fall break was a little interesting for us. I refer to it as the "Medical break". It all started a few weeks before fall break, I was suffering from severe back pain. At that point I thought it was a strained muscle. Several doctors and x-rays later I was told I had injured my facet joint. Not good!
It is now 6 weeks later and I am still in pain and unable to fully function. I have not been able to exercise, standing for extended periods is excruiating to say the least. At this point I am considering an MRI.
Friday of fall break Scott, Alec and I were at the outpatient surgery facility.

Not fun to see your little one like this. This is how we started our fun fall break. What a brave guy Alec was. So scary! All went well and Alec is fully recovered. It did take him the whole week to get feeling better. I was so thankful he had that time to recover.

Wednesday of fall break, Mackenzie went in to have her ingrown toenails removed. During all of this I was going back and forth to the Chiropractor for my back. Once again, I have such brave, strong kids. Mackenzie was so tough while having two shots in each toe. Oh, man! I cannot tell you how painful those are.

At this point we have, one bad back, one recovering 9 year old, and two very sore toes. Not a lot of fun at our house.

We made it through the week. Nothing too exciting. Lots of movies, treats, pain med's and poor Jensen and Scott had to help us recover.

AMAZING!!!

Last night was "AMAZING!!!" I loved every minute of it. Before I get into the concert details, let me set the stage.

After a quick taco at Gecko Grill. Scott and I headed to the Stadium for the concert. We had plenty of time. It was only 5:15 at this time.

2 1/2 hours later we were just parking in the parking lot. YES, you did read that correctly!! Unbelievable!! The concert had already started.

I began running in my 3 inch heels. Not a pretty sight, but I could hear the Black Eyed Peas. And man I wanted to dance to the Peas.

We were able to get to our seats in record time. YES, I did get to dance, jump, clap and yell with the Black Eyed Peas. So Fun!

U2...amazing, everything I thought it would be, time just flew by! We loved every minute of it. It was 2 1/2 hours of enjoyment! I am so glad we were able to go.

Thanks Scott for the great memories!

Tonight I will be here....

U2

and The Black Eyed Peas

Now to find the perfect shirt and heels.
Its going to be a rocking good night!!

Life....sweet and precious

For those who do not watch Oprah, I recommend going online and watching the tidbit from her show on Wednesday, October 7th.

Oprah had a segment with Christian and Stephanie Nielsen. Stephanie has a blog Nie Nie Dialogues.

Christian and Stephanie were in a serious plane crash a little over a year ago. The pilot died, Christian was injured and burned and Stephanie was burned over 80% of her body.

These two show such love, devotion and strength. Not only to each other, but their children and life.

They are remarkable and inspiring. What an amazing reminder of how sweet and precious life is.

Road trip, BYU and Conference

This is how we felt last night when we arrived home. It was a whirlwind 3 days! Yep, Thursday afternoon we took a road trip to Utah.

The 3 Amigo's came along, Alec, myself and Scott flew in on Friday afternoon.

We loaded the car Thursday and hit the road at 1:30 in the afternoon.

Just imagine the ride with these 3!

Friday, we dropped the 3 Amigo's off at BYU.

They checked out guys, bought BYU shirts, ate and checked out guys!

Oh, boy did they check out the guys!

Yes, we froze at the game.

Arizonians are not equipped for the cold!

Saturday morning we were up and at'em early.

Off to conference.

It was amazing to be in the conference center.

If you have never attended Conference, I highly recommend it!

It was so incredible when President Monson entered.

Everyone stands out of respect and remains standing until the

1st Presidency is seated.

It was extremely quiet the entire time.

What a road trip!

We packed in a lot of fun in a short amount of time.

Deep in the Trenches

Motherhood is tricky. We wear many hats, multitask like crazy and wear ourselves thin emotionally, physically and mentally.

Right now I feel like I have been Deep in the Trenches for a very long time. I have not seen sunlight for awhile. Where is that ray of bright sunshine? The one that is to let me know that these trials have passed?

Not only am I a mother to my own 3 children, but I am a mother to 23 Young Women. The work is never done.

Recently I have spent much time in prayer and thought. There have been numerous reasons for this. One of my children going through a difficult emotional time regarding her favorite past time, finding out that another child needs a surgery and yet the other child is overwhelmed, frustrated and trying to make sense out of life.

And then there are 23 others with trials, upsets, troubles and just trying to be a teenager in a crazy world.

You know you are spent when during the primary program you start sobbing during a song that your friend's darling girls are singing. What???? Why then???

The emotions are right on the surface. I could hardly read a story during YW's yesterday and it wasn't a sad story.

I don't claim to have all the answers or solutions. All I can do is my best. It seems as if my best has not been good enough.

There are day's when I am just so tired and worn out. I know Satan is trying to get the best of me. I WILL NOT let him win this battle!

I must keep fighting and get myself out of the trench before the next battle ensues.

And so it continues....

Another Testament