Paul's accident...

Paul was riding his electric longboard down Pine Rose, the very steep hill around the corner from us, and got out of control and fell off. I got a call from a neighbor that Paul was hurt badly, and then Jackson came running in saying that Paul's leg was broken. I was freaking out that he was probably in a lot of pain, and that we would have to go to the ER during the COVID19 pandemic. I grabbed face masks and was shaking as I drove the van around the corner to see what Paul had done. I could hardly look at his ankle, which was clearly broken, and he said he was pretty sure his wrist was broken also. The good thing is that he wasn't upset or in pain. We arrived at the ER and I was surprised to find that it was empty and we got right back to see a doctor. They called in the orthopedic surgeon and determined he needed surgery when the skin and tissues had a few days to rest, and he needed a cast on his wrist. The first day after he was all set, he was in quite a bit of pain, but the doctor said it was ok to give him more meds, and that helped a lot. He got to have surgery a few days later, and it was an 8 hour process from check in to check out! Luckily, because Paul is a minor, I got to stay in the OR and wait for him. Because of COVID19 they aren't letting adults have visitors. 

Here are the 2 plates and several screws implanted to help Paul heal up. The surgery went perfectly, and he didn't have much pain afterwards because the bones were set in place. 

The Peirce's brought us dinner and some get well cards. Becky Bowen sent Paul a Tec Dec longboard to play with while he was sitting around, and he got that stuck in his soft cast before the surgery! The kid doesn't have good luck with skate boards! She also sent Paul a huge box of snack bag chips and Cheezits. Becky Cramer dropped off 3 boxes of Cheezits for Paul, because I had told my friends how he ordered them on Amazon without permission. They both told me that Paul sent thank you notes thanking them for junk food that I don't ever let him have, and there was a line about "thanks for making a random cripple boy a little happier!" Ha-ha! Kazie gave Paul and Easter basket with some more Cheezits and fun treats. Daedre, from our neighborhood, brought Paul a cake and some Easter candy. 

The Johnson's sent Paul some Crumbl Cookies and just made his day! 

And Alanna was so excited that Tiffany herself came and put this sign in our yard to make her feel special! 

More spring break fun...

We had a popcorn breakfast like the pioneers did, but the kids didn't appreciate "popcorn cereal" much , not even with sugar on it!

They did love pulling and eating taffy like the pioneers did though! We tried this a few years ago and it was a horrendous mess, but now that they are older they handled it like pros! I even got them to do a full workout with burpees and pushups afterwards!

We spent an afternoon watching home videos and came across footage of Caleb and Andrew from 13 years ago! I snapped this pic of them and texted it to them. Andrew said "hey Caleb, do you ever remember being that skinny? I don't!" And then Andrew told me to tell our kids never to turn 30...it's downhill from there! 

The kids had been begging for homemade mac 'n cheese, so I gave it a go! I really don't get homemade mac 'n cheese...it's so bland! And I though since I didn't have the saltine crackers to top it with like the recipe suggested, I'd use the CheezIts that Paul ordered from Amazon instead! James looked at it and declared that I had "lost it"! I think so too! What kind of mother serves CheezIts for dinner! Besides a Mormon mother from the 70

s making RS casseroles!

These sugar cookies took the place of dying chicken eggs this year since I was running out of eggs and didn't want to go to the store. We are supposed to limit our trips to the store, and even curbside pick up or delivery makes me nervous because they could still be contaminated!

Paul's Biiiig Whoops!!!

Jackson and Paul told me they were going to go play basketball in the driveway, and the next thing I knew, I got a call from a neighbor saying that Paul was on Pine Rose (the steep hill just around the corner) and was hurt pretty badly. Then Jackson ran through the door an elaborated...they had been long boarding down the hill and Paul was going pretty fast and fell off and broke his leg. I immedietly started to panic for Paul, and for a trip to the ER during this COVID19 pandemic. The hospital is the last place I wanted to be! I asked Jackson how he knew Paul's leg was broken, just so I could mentally prepare. Jackson just said it was pretty obvious, so I braced myself for the worst. I got in the minivan with my purse and face masks and arrived to find Paul just sitting on the side walk with the Burrups, not crying or in shock, so that was a bit of a relief. I did see blood, but that was from road rash, the bone hadn't pierced the skin, phew! We loaded Paul up, grabbed James, and headed to the ER. We were greeted by a nurse who handed us medical masks, and explained that only because Paul was a minor would one parent be able to accompany him. Adults didn't get to have a visitor with them at this time. We found out that Paul had a pretty badly broken tibia and fibula where they meet at the bottom of his ankle, and his wrist is broken. At first, the ER doc said he could set Paul's ankle, but upon further inspection, he needed to call the ortho for help. They had a hard time setting the break, and they wanted to let the swelling go down before doing surgery on Monday. This was only Friday, so that made me nervous that Paul would be in a lot of pain, and possibly injure himself again in the splint. He was in some pain on Saturday, and the doc said we could up his dose of pain meds which helped a ton. After that, he didn't complain which was a huge blessing! On Monday, we got a call that he couldn't have surgery until Tuesday, and I was SO frustrated! Because of COVID19, they had limited space in surgery and needed to have him wait. But the surgery went well although we spent 8.5 hours at the hospital! He was a little loopy and told me he has a girlfriend who he kisses in the hall before gym everyday, and he kept telling me "she's so hot!". I was laughing so hard at how he was talking! 

Blaze and Jackson slept in the family room with Paul for several nights. We brought the comfy couch in for Paul so he can be right by the bathroom and kitchen. He is doing so well and doesn't complain of pain much! This is a great time to break a bone if it had to happen since we aren't going anywhere for a while! They will soon put a cast on his wrist and a boot on his foot. I'm looking forward to that so he can finally have a shower. It will have been 10 days since he's showered...he stinks! I'm so grateful that we have such skilled and caring doctors and staff to take care of emergencies like this! I can't even imagine what would have happened to him if we lived in pioneer days. He would probably be crippled for life, but these days you make a full recovery as though the injury never occurred!

Spring break fun

Our Conference Weekend tradition has always been to meet at Grandma Ce Ce and Poppy's house to have a spaghetti dinner with donuts for dessert. We couldn't live out the tradition this year because of COVID19, and the kids were really missing seeing cousins etc. Sweet Lauren, Bode, and Presley drove all the way down from Layton to leave this on our doorstep! Presley tried to ditch it, but James caught her, luckily! We got to visit with them for a few minutes keeping our distance on the driveway. It was SO hard not to hug them, but we just couldn't. It was like seeing a big chocolate cake and not being able to eat a piece :(

Jackson has been keeping himself busy with art projects using his art kit he got for Christmas years ago! Glad his finally has time and motivation to put it to good use!

Blaze made dragon eggs from an online tutorial his teacher's aid posted on Google Class for the kids!

It's still pretty chilly, especially during the evening. So we have enjoyed some dinners by the fire!

Jackson and Blaze made this Brownie house...Brownies as the in the little creatures in British folklore who come and do your chores at night if you leave them some milk or an acceptable treat! I think it turned out so cute! These boys are very creative!

Quarantine life...

We've had the pretty cool privilege of having church at home during this quarantine. Jackson got to bless the Sacrament for the first time, and Paul was able to pass it. Blaze was the least excited to get dressed up for church, as you can see! He is a shorts guy, and James couldn't talk him into anything else. I let it pass because he is wearing a white shirt and tie, and hey, many adults are showing up to Zoom meetings only half dressed these days! 

The cute YW left this chalk message for Alanna one morning!

Alanna studiously working on her online assignments. She has been very responsible about getting her work completed and turned in on time. 

Alanna had a challenge from the YW to make a piece of artwork to share via text. She enjoyed painting this scene. 

Jackson also got creative painting and carving on a foam board. 

Paul was proud to receive a certificate for good grades from Fort Herriman Middle School. 

Blaze-a-roo has also been an excellent student getting all of his assignments completed on his own! He especially loves and excels at Math, and his teacher has had him working on 4th grade math most of the year!

April Fool's...

On this afternoon, I left for about an hour to take Jackson to SLCC, to pick up some things he needed for an assignment. When we returned, I immediately noticed this beautiful chocolate egg sitting on the counter. Blaze approached me and said that Kristi had dropped it of for me, and he asked if he could try a piece. So I grabbed a knife an tried to cut into it and realized it had a crunchy shell. I thought "oh, Kristi has done something really fancy here, I wonder what's inside!". I couldn't slice the egg, so I kind of cracked the shell and saw some liquid oozing out and thought "hmmm...the filling didn't set up". And then the yolk came out and I heard laughter and all of the kids were up on the balcony laughing and filming their April Fool's joke! They got me really good, I didn't suspect a thing! They pulled the same trick on James, and he picked up the egg to take a bite, but then he saw some exposed shell on the bottom before it made it into his mouth. He was pretty disappointed!