A Thanksgiving To Remember

I will warn you ahead of time that this a quite a lengthy entry.  If you will continue reading this I promise you will be completely entertained. 

Several years ago it became a tradition to go to St. George over Thanksgiving for baseball tournaments.  It started with Kalen playing and eventually Braden.  This particular year was quite interesting.  We completely skipped dinner with my family and headed south. Of course we had to get gas and treats.  We spent more money on treats and hot dogs than we did on gas.  Apparently gas wasn't $4.00 a gallon back then. Arriving in St. George we were expecting something to be open for dinner.  Other than a gas station we found K-Mart was the only option.  The grocery selection is pretty grim.  So my two friends and I  used our imagination and gathered up what we could find to make the best nachos you could imagine.  Yes nachos for Thanksgiving Dinner!  On Friday we had 4 games to watch since Kalen and Braden were both playing.  As we were watching the last game Mason came running to us saying that he had 'snapped his bone'.  He said he and his friend Kobe were playing football with a pine cone and Kobe tackled him. He said his arm hurt but we couldn't see that anything looked wrong and couldn't really pinpoint where it hurt.  So he climbed up on Eric's lap and fell asleep for a little bit and he kept wiggling and moaning while he was asleep  so we could tell something was wrong.  We ended up taking him to the Emergency room and sure enough he had 'snapped his bone'.  His collar bone to be exact.  Mason was only 5 at the time and he was quite a trooper for the whole weekend hardly complaining at all. The broken bone and the great dinner was just the start of the issues to come.  The games were all played and Kalen's team made it to the championship game which were to be played on Sunday in St. George until it rained so hard that the streets were rivers and the games were moved to Mesquite.  Saturday night Kalen and Eric didn't feel so good but Kalen was ok in the morning.  So we drive 45 min. to Mesquite with a sick husband and a broken collar bone.  They lost the game so we headed home.  We knew a storm was coming in but we had no idea how bad it would be.  Around 4:00 we left St. George and headed home expecting the typical 4 hour drive.  It was smooth sailing till we hit Cedar City and it started snowing a little.  By the time we were about  10 miles outside of Beaver we came over a hill and the traffic was at a complete stop. The snow was coming down hard.  People were sliding off the road and stuck.  All you could see were brake lights for miles.  There was no place to even turn around.  We were stuck!  It was awful!!  It took 2 hours to drive those 10 miles!!  When we exited the freeway along with everyone else, the gas station parking lots were full, the streets were packed and there were no hotel rooms any where.  We had finally gotten hold of my mom and dad (there had been no cell phone service) and they told us if we could get to Filmore there was an Army Reserve Building that had been opened up as a shelter. So now I'm driving, Eric is sick in the passenger seat.  Thank goodness for the DVD player to entertain the kids.  Again it takes hours to get to Filmore.  At one point Eric had fallen asleep and when he woke up he asked where we were and you could still see the lights from Beaver behind us.  It took us 8 hours to get to Filmore!  It should have only taken 2.  We arrived in Filmore at the luxurious Army Reserve building.  We checked in and were given a sleeping bag and mat that who knows who has slept on and were told to find a place on the floor.  Imaging being in a very large school type gym with hundreds of random people snoring and coughing and sneezing and cots creaking and crackling.  Not exactly the set up for a good night sleep.  I ended up taking Mason to the van to sleep so he would be more comfortable.  It was freezing!!  He was warm and cozy in all the blankets but I was cold.  I would randomly drive around to get the heat going.  Eric sat on a bench in the restroom the whole night since he was still sick.  I think Kalen and Braden slept ok.  About 6 am after a wonderful night sleep we checked out and went home! After 4 years we can now laugh about this awful experience.  Hope you all get a good laugh and remember this story as you take your next road trip!!  Happy Thanksgiving!!

Thanksgiving Turkeys

Gobble Gobble!!

Fun festive Thanksgiving Turkeys that you can make yourself.

With just a few items these are a snap.

All you need are Oreos, Candy Corn, Whoppers,

Royal Frosting (which you make) and regular

cake frosting.

Very easy to assemble.  Just follow the picture!

Use them as place settings for your dinner.

You can even eat them!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

The Other 4

Kalen's first broken bone-shoulder.

  Snowboarding. 

February 18, 2004

Braden's first broken bone-wrist.

Fell from the 2nd story of an old house.

Required surgery and 3 pins!

April 8, 2002

Braden's second broken bone-elbow.

He was hanging on the rim of the basketball hoop and fell.

April 7, 2003.

Yes it was almost exactly one year to the day later!

Not so cool when it ruins 2 baseball seasons in a row.

Mason broke his collarbone when we were in St. George.

November 24, 2004

He was playing football with his friend and came crying to us saying that his bone snapped!  Sure enough it did.  No Picture of him.  He's the last kid, you know how that goes!

I think we are good on broken bones for a while.

I guess we were about since it has been four years

since the last one! 

That Makes 5

A second trip to the doctor confirmed that 

Kalen has a buckle fracture on his wrist.

With a sweet (GO UTES!) cast for 2 1/2 weeks it

 will make snowboarding a little hard but Im sure not impossible.

Not that there is even enough snow now.  

This is Kalen's 2nd broken bone and the 5th broken

bone amongst the three boys.

We had only been home about 10 minutes and Kalen was already

 complaining that he couldn't move his fingers and could we

 just cut the top of the cast off a little?

  I finally gave in and helped him.

  I figured if I helped him I could prevent having to take him back for stitches.

  Using a sharp knife, scissors and a few

 other kitchen utensils  we cut the top off.

  Now he can do his homework!

.

It's official!

Does he look a little excited?

Braden was officially invited to play on the Tuff Country Predators (Preds) today.

A great beanie with the Preds logo was accompanied by an official letter from the 2 coaches inviting him to play on their team in the spring.  

This is going to be a great opportunity for Braden and he is

way excited to be a part of this team.

We look forward to an awesome season!!

Tag---Smile

I had a few minutes to kill while I waited for my appointment

to get here so I decided to play along with the tag.

Im sure Kalen wishes I would have found something else

to do with my extra time.  Especially since my last

entry was also at his expense. 

 

This was my fourth, fourth, 4th file, 4th picture.

Open wide so we can get these things off.

This is the end result of almost two years of torture.

Doesn't he have a nice smile?

Dr. Skanchey did a great job!!

I now get to be the tagger and I tag Keri and Jess.

Have fun!!

tag again

This tag is all about Eric 

What's your husbands Name - Eric Charles Olsen.

How long have you been married?  Almost 17 years on December 6. 

How long did you date?  7 months.

How old is he?  39.

Who eats more sweets? Probably me but he eats his share.

Who's the better singer?   Oh Eric is.  He is always told he should be in the choir, he says no. 

Who is smarter?   Eric is much smarter.  He helps the kids with their homework.

Who does the laundry?  That would be me.  Im not sure if he even knows how to work the washer.

Who pays the bills?  That's also me. 

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed?  That would also be me. But  Im thinking Im changing because my side of the electric blanket doesn't work so well. 

Who mows the lawn? Thats a toss up between the boys and Eric.  Eric definately  has the straightest lines in the grass when he mows.

Who cooks dinner? Mostly me but he can figure something out if I haven't planned a dinner. 

Who drives?  Well we both drive. But Eric drives when we are all in the car.  

Who is the first to say they are wrong? That would be me.

Who kissed who first?  He kissed me first standing at my front door.

Who asked who out first? Eric asked me out first.

Funny tag---Love ya Erk

Thanks for the tag ASH!!

I tag Jessica and Annemarie

First Day Snowboarding

It really stinks when you go snowboarding for the

first time of the season and you take a couple

of hard falls and hurt your right wrist.

Then you continue to snowboard for the whole day.

Then you go to the doctor the next day because

you had better things to do on a Saturday night

than go have it looked at.

Then they tell you it just looks like it is sprained

and bruised and to just take ibuprofen and ice it

for a couple of days.

Then you get this sweet splint to wear for a couple

of days.

Then the nurse calls when you get home

and tells you that the radiologist says it looks 

like there could be a small fracture and to

have it checked out at the end of the week

to make sure.

Then you can't cut your dinner up because you are

right handed and your mom has to do it for you.

Then you can't button your pants and probably won't

be able to do your homework either.

But you can still play X-Box!!!!

 This isn't the first time Kalen has gotten hurt the 

first day of the snowboarding season.  He broke his arm

a few years ago on the 2nd run of the day.  Funny thing he was with the

same friend both times!  The last time was worse.  One friend stayed with

him while the other went and got the ski patrol

 and they took him down the hill on a sled.  

Eric had to go get him and he threw up in the car 

because the pain meds made him sick.

He still loves to snowboard!

Man's Best Friend

Bath time!

A best friend shares his Bath time!

A best friend lets you cozy up on the couch.

  

A best friend shares all their good treats!

Peso is our best friend.

A best friend always waits for the good stuff!

These dogs have quickly realized that if they stay close to Kash they will be the happy recipients of crackers, pretzels, puffs, cheese sandwiches and whatever else he is eating because half of it ends up on the floor!

One Man's Junk....

After being in the garage for over a year, the oven is finally gone!!

'One man's junk is another man's treasure'

  How true that is.  Our neighborhood clean-up is tomorrow

 which means that for the last week people have been

 putting all the stuff that has been cluttering up their

 houses, garages and yards that they can't fit in the garbage cans and

 is not  worthy to take to the D.I. to the curb

 for Sandy City to come pick up. 

 This is done in the spring and the fall each year.

  This also brings  a variety of people driving around

 scouting for the best 'treasures' in the piles

 that they throw in the back of their trucks and take with them.

Who are these people and what do they do

with all the stuff the find? Do they have piles of useless stuff

all over their yards?  Do they have to park their

cars in the driveway because the stuff is packed

in their garage?

 I guess it doesn't matter.

  Our cars can fit in the garage 

and the stuff is now gone from our house.  

So it is no longer my problem.  

  You would be amazed at the stuff people take.

  Before I had a chance to take these pictures there was

 also a big quarter pipe skateboard ramp,

  about 6 small skateboard ramps, a bike and a basketball hoop.

  All of which were completely broken, cracked, chipped or warped.

 There is a reason we are throwing all this stuff away... 

it's broken!!!

   As we were eating breakfast Sunday morning we sat

 and laughed as we watched these 3 men 

 rummaging through our pile deciding what they would take.

There are still a few things left in the pile, but there is sill one

day till the big dump trucks come and take the rest away. 

Happy scouting my friends.

  I hope you find what you are looking for.

  If not come back in the spring and try again!!!

Did I also mention that this is against the law?  

But we won't tell!

  

Team Spirit

She could be on a hair entry also.

These moms have got to be the best examples of team spirit!

  Im told the one in the purple doesn't even have a boy who plays.

Im all for going to the games and cheering

and being supportive of my kids.  

However, I've gotta draw the line at

face painting!

Good Night Moon

This is the book that reminds me of when the kids were little and wanted a story before bed.

 Why?  Why?  Why? 

 Why is the whole bedtime ritual so grueling?

(Did I spell that right?)

Every night for the last how many years we

have done the same things.  

You shower, brush your teeth, put your jammies on 

and read for 2o minutes. 

 That is unless you lolly-gag so much that there is no time for reading.

However every night at least one of the boys if not all, finds about 

a million or more reasons to keep getting

up out of bed.

  There is the 'I have to tell you good night.'

The 'I need a drink of water.'

The 'I need to go to the bathroom 5 times.'

And the greatest is the 'I forgot to do my homework.'

Which sends me through the roof.

I guess it's better that they don't completely forget it.

I just wish they would remember it a little earlier.  

You have had many hours to do the homework but 

save it till you are already in bed and half asleep.  

We also get the 'will you come check on me?'

If you get out of bed too many times you 

will not be checked on!

By the time they are all in bed and asleep it has taken hours to 

get to that point and it makes you want to start the whole process a whole lot earlier the next day at like 6:30.

Maybe if we started that early they would be in bed by midnight.

Can you tell that I was a little frustrated with he festivities of the night?

Oh well there is always tomorrow night we can fight for perfection!! 

 Good luck with that!!