Macy Got an Owie

After all of our water fun on the 4th, Macy and Tyler were jumping on the tramp.  We were all out there, but missed exactly what happened.  All I know is Macy was on her belly and crying.  I went to cheer her up and had her follow me to my chair and she wouldn't walk.  After a little while of holding her and cheering her up, we found she still wouldn't walk on it.  Somewhere below her right knee was really hurting so we headed to get x-rays.  I had visions of her running around in a cast (just like Tyler did before his second birthday) and couldn't believe 2 of our 3 kids were going to have a broken leg and both before their second birthday.  She fell asleep in the car right away, thankfully, but woke up only twenty or thirty minutes later really sad about her hurting leg.  *Note: it only took maybe 25 min to get to the St. George Instacare, but they had a long wait ahead of us so we went for a little drive to pass the time and let her nap a little longer.  So much for that great plan.  

Colby decided to grab a water and a snack from Target and Macy made sure to cheer right up before he made it back to the van.

She is the cutest little character.  Even when she was really hurting.

We had a really long wait in the doctor's office.  The doc's first evaluation was that she most likely had a spiral fracture in the small bone in her shin (just like Tyler had) so he ordered x-rays.  Turns out, there were five other people needing x-rays ahead of us so we sat and waited and waited and sat.  Macy still couldn't walk on it or put any weight on it, so we had to get really creative to keep her entertained.  She does not sit still.  Ever.  Taking selfies worked for a little while.  Colby got a good nap in as well.

Once it was time for her x-ray, she was hysterical.  She didn't like the room.  She didn't like laying on the table.  She didn't like the lead blanket.  She didn't like Daddy holding her down.  She didn't like the x-ray tech.  She didn't like any of it.  So the poor guy taking her images gave her as many stickers as he could so she might cheer up.  It didn't make a difference until she was sitting back in the exam room, but they kept her rather busy until the doctor came in to tell us the results.

Turns out, no breaks.  Just a sprain or deep bruise that left her in a lot of pain for almost two days.  But she's a determined little bugger and was back on it, walking with support of the wall, chair, or anything else she could find by the next day.  By the second day, the only real evidence of her injury was slightly less jumping and a little less aggressiveness in her climbing.

We are happy to report she's as good as new and the cutest little patient.

4th of July 2014 :: Water Fun with the Fam

Cassadee & Grandma put together a fun water party for the afternoon of the 4th.  The water slide, kiddie car wash, and pool were on the agenda and kept the kids wet and happy!  Catching pics of the kiddos in action is totally my favorite.  Squealing, laughing, wild children are going to be the highlight of these years.  Here's a few fun shots from the day.

Marshall

Tyler

Macy

As far as I can remember, this was her first time playing on this slide and she wasn't hesitant at all.  She loves a good thrill.

I love her tiny cuteness.  

Now for a glimpse at the kiddie carwash.  It never disappoints.

Colby was sweet enough to snap a few photos of me swimming with the kids.  Swimming this summer has been a great one.  Macy is wild and adventurous, Marshall is unstoppable, and Tyler is getting pretty independent.  It makes my heart so happy!

I love water fun with the family.  It's the best part of summer.

4th of July 2014 :: City Festivities

 Our 4th was pretty typical; parade, BBQ at Grandma & Grandpa's, hiding from the heat, and watching Daddy in the home run derby & city softball game.  The home run derby was cancelled due to CRAZY wind, but they played the game and it was a fun time.  Here's some photos from our appearances at the city festivities.

It didn't take long to have the kids celebrating here and there for the handfuls of candy they scrounged up.

Cousin Brigham... the kids loved getting these little flags from one of the floats.

Macy was in a kind of crabby mood that morning, but people throwing candy at her helped her snap out of it.  She loves to clean up and put things where they go, so she LOVED picking up candy and putting in in the bag.

Cute little Harper.

 I don't know what it is about the 4th of July, but we always go hog wild taking pictures.  We seem to get the most cousin pictures on the 4th and Christmas Eve.  Here's Cassadee and Carly in the middle of those shenanigans.

The annual photos of the cousins on the grassy hill.  

It's fun that everyone comes to watch Colby play softball and it lends to a really easy opportunity to snap our favorite photos of the kids.

(This one was blurry, but I loved it.  Silly boys.)

These silly face pictures were great, and the fact that Macy was a little late with it (on the second one) but she soon caught on and tried to pull a funny one... so funny!

The kids had the hill mostly to themselves for a while and had a ball playing catch and tag.  Macy had a little crash with Tyler on the tramp earlier so her leg was super sore and she was stuck sitting on the blanket with Mom.  She wanted to get in middle of the fun with the big boys, but she got over it eventually.  She had a blast making cheesy faces at the camera and kissing her little Lambie.

The stormy night shared some pretty sights with us as well.

 It was a beautiful day (minus the horrible winds for that little while in the evening) which lent to a great opportunity to reflect on our many blessings we enjoy living in this great nation.  Happy birthday, America.

Why I CrossFit.

I try not to blab about my love of CrossFit too much, because for some reason people either love it or hate it.  I'm not sure why people hate it, because I've never met anyone that tried it and HATED it.  Have the haters really tried it?  There are surely those that have decided it's not the right fit for them and I completely respect that.  But I love CrossFit.

Lately, I notice the phrase "this is why I CrossFit" go through my mind when I encounter a moment that I can really see the difference it is making in my life.  Besides the confidence and power (mental & physical) I have gained from the sport, here is the beginnings of my list:

1. Macy is now 20 months old.  20 months going on 13 years.  She's a handful.  She's clever.  And creative.  And stubborn.  And she's big.  Carting her around is a fairly good workout on it's own, and when she's refusing to walk, kicking and screaming in protest... it's a chore.  Yet I can hold her in one arm while she throws her fit and not be overcome by her size, strength, and aggression.  It's awesome.

This is why I CrossFit.

2. Seven year old Marshall weighed 70 lbs at his well child check a few months ago.  Now, because he's seven, I don't often have to lift him up or carry him anywhere.  But the other day we were swimming and he only had his new tennis shoes that he did not want to get soggy.  We had to walk a bit from the shade to the car, so I gave him a piggy back ride.  It was easy.  Even when I was squatting so he could easily climb on and then had to stand straight up with his handsome, genius, and pure awesome 70 pounds on my back.  I felt like a rockstar.  It was awesome.

This is why I CrossFit.

3. So I can be stronger than PMDD.  I don't want to go on and on about it, but PMDD is something I've come to learn is a part of my life.  It's like PMS, but on steroids.  I end up with "symptoms" that overtake my life... sometimes for a day and sometimes for a week or more.  It's ridiculous.  And stupid.  And today I was feeling discouraged and really low.  I almost couldn't bring myself to head to the box, but I went to attempt a tough workout anyway.  Right when I started, I realized I was probably in over my head.  But I walked into the gym wanting to take control of Me, so I just kept going.  I dead lifted 155 pounds 20 times in a row (as only one part of the WOD) even though my one rep max is 165#.  I had to do them one at a time, yet I kept moving.  It was crazy hard, but I pushed through.  I came in sort of defeated from my day and walked out feeling like I could do anything, seriously anything, in the world.  CrossFit has shown me I can bring my mind over matter, and conquer something that seems impossible (usually through a good lifting session) and remind myself that I am strong, determined, and capable.  PMDD might be monsterous at times, but I'm stronger than that.  I am awesome.

This is why I CrossFit.

One of the best ideas...

Last weekend I fulfilled one of my goals for the year by going to the Power of Mom's retreat in Park City.  It was such a wonderful way to help me refuel and become more motivated as a mom.  I really cannot say enough good about the experience.  The one "not so positive" thing I might say is that so much of what I came home with was kind of common sense stuff... all of which I'd never put all together into conscious thought.  So that made me feel a little foolish.  But only like 1%...

So one of the best things I came home with was a new way of looking at to do lists.  I NEED to use them more because it just helps keep my mind organized and focused on what needs to be done.  I'm not big on writing down every tiny thing I accomplish each day (I know, I'm weird...), but I do write the non-daily tasks that need attention.

Now let me break it down... this new system I'm embracing.  This idea was introduced by Richard Eyre, a funny, brilliant author of so many parenting books.  We were at his beautiful home for the retreat.

You start out by choosing three "choose to do" items before ever writing the "have to do's".  Each of those "choose to do's" fall into one of these categories; personal, family, work.  Sometimes it could be something unnecessary like painting my nails and sometimes it could be a job that really needs to get done but I'm choosing to put it before other things on my priority list.  

After that, the "to-do's" get listed on the left side of the page and you make another column on the right for "serendipity moments."  Richard had a lot to say about the serendipity moments that probably puts it in an even better perspective, but you'll see how it pays off by the end of the day and the end of the week.  Simply put, the serendipity moments are the things that occur throughout the day that you weren't planning for but they enriched a moment of your day.  Sometimes they will be interrupters of your "schedule" that end up putting a positive twist on your day.  Other times it might just be a little moment of joy that you discover amidst all of the things you had to do.

Really, the whole point of this, to me, is to let my to do list be a part of my life with my kids rather than my kids being a part of my to do list.  I set a goal to do this for a week with the intention to look back on my week and see all the tasks (at least 21 of them) that I chose to accomplish and also to see the countless amounts of joyful serendipity moments that occurred during the week.  Seeing those things add up really ought to improve my outlook at life, right?

So here's a glimpse at day one.

As you can see, it was a simple day as far as to do lists go.  I had worked the night before and knew I wasn't going to have the energy to save the world or anything like that, but I had a few things that really needed to happen so I wrote them down.  And as I mentioned before, plenty of household tasks did get done I just didn't write them all down.  Being totally honest, I only did two of the three "choose to" items, but that's ok with me.  I took a nap instead of doing item number one.  And that was the "personal" item so I felt like swapping it for a nap was beneficial to the entire household.

My favorite part at the end of the day was the chance to reflect on the lovely parts of my day.  First off, I resolved to stay unstressed while we got ready for school and we got up late (totally my fault) so I just jumped in and put Marshall's shoes on him while he ate breakfast.  It was a tiny gesture towards my kiddo that I cared about him enough to help him.  Strangely, he begs me to put his shoes on for him multiple times a week.  I think he gets overwhelmed sometimes by being older and more responsible and it's one of the only ways I can do something FOR him.  It caused me to reflect though, that I really could do better at serving him and helping him feel loved.  It's hard to be responsible and he's trying to balance that right now, so I'm going to do better at being there for him in moments I can serve.  The next two things were little things that enriched my day and I was grateful I could look up from planting tomatoes to visit with the neighbor and that I could break from my regular schedule to enjoy the company of friends at the park.  The fourth thing on my list was a special little moment I am sure to forget if I hadn't written it down.  And who knows... I may still forget it someday, but at least now it's been documented.  I was finishing with my planting and weed pulling when Macy joined me in the garden, picked up a trowel, and sat down and started "digging."  She would just scoop up a little dirt and let it drop, over and over again.  The best part though, was she was just singing to herself in her cute, little, wordless voice.  It was something I hope my heart remembers forever.  She was just having the greatest time and I got to see it.  So special!  Lastly, Marshall was resisting doing his chores so instead of losing my cool I invited him to walk and check the mail with me.  I figured maybe we could chat while we walked and he might catch on to the idea... sure enough, it worked!  He felt more relaxed and contributed to the conversation and we got home ready to get all of the chores done in record time.  When he was headed to bed he told me, "Mom... I really liked walking with you today.  And I never got disappointed ALL DAY!"  After asking a question or two, it was apparent that a little calm conversation while on a walk dispersed his frustration with chores and he never lost his cool.  He noticed that he went the whole day without losing it and we all went to bed much happier than other days can sometimes end.  After looking at what I've written, I realize that I even have another thing to mention on the serendipity list.  The time I spent in the garden would typically have been when I would have been at the gym.  And I LOVE my time at the gym, so it really never makes the to do list because it's just the way I live.  But while in the garden I got two great additions to my day.  How nice to sit back and be thankful for the day I had.  And it was a Monday even!

I'm loving this approach to the things I need to accomplish and I hope I can make it a habit and a more permanent way of thinking.

Party time!

The boys' had a fun, simple birthday party this year.  They wanted a hunting party, so we gathered a few friends, shot nerf guns at balloons, threw "target practice" at stacked cups, then ate some goodies, and headed home.  

 As we were getting the cake ready we even had a fun little "freeze" dance party.  

They showed off their best moves and when the music paused, so did they!

We ended up with a fun little clan that brought some fun gifts.  I loved watching the boys open the presents and get excited about the simplest thing.  I wish the party hadn't had to take place on Easter weekend so we could have invited more friends and just played and played.

P.S.  Macy likes cake and loves to feed herself like a big girl.