November 2012

Waiting for C's meet to begin.

November was filled with lots of ups and downs.  The first weekend of the month J-rod's sister C qualified to run in her State Cross-Country meet, so with just a couple of days notice…off we went to cheer her on!  Yay-we LOVE it when we get to visit with family! Luckily the meet was in only about a three and a half hour drive for us (minus any necessary stops). We drove up Friday night, spent almost all of Saturday with family, and then returned home Saturday night.  

Run like the wind Aunt C!

O'Callaghan-Tillman Memorial Bridge

The meet was Saturday morning and then that afternoon we all went to see and walk along the “new” Hoover Dam Bypass Bridge that spans across AZ and NV.  It was completed in the Fall of 2010.  We had so much fun together and learned a lot about how bridges are built.

On the Bridge Plaza

Even though Mom, Dad, C, and N were staying one more day, we had to get back home Saturday night because J-rod had a plane to catch the next afternoon for a business trip to the California Coast.  He had asked me to go with him and I wanted to go SO badly, but it just wasn’t to be this time around!  J-rod left Sunday, then very early Wednesday morning I dropped M off at school so he and the entire 6^th grade could board a bus headed to the mountains outside of L.A.  They spent the next three days at AstroCamp where it hailed and even snowed on them for a bit.  M had such a blast zip lining, being challenged in team building experiences, science labs, and taught in the great outdoors!

There were a couple of highlights the following week too.  First, I attended my final opening night party for a Twilight movie. I again went with my friend H to the theater her co-worker D rents out for the premiere of every Twilight movie—always such fun!  Next, we began our Thanksgiving Day celebration about a week early with two Thanksgiving Feasts—one for C-sta's class and one for Li'l J’s class.  They were both on the same day, but thank goodness there were a couple hours in between the two!

The following week we packed up the car with what little “winter wear” we have left from our days in NY and headed north to spend the week with family, lots and lots of J-rod’s family.  Fortunately the week of Thanksgiving is also a week long “Fall Break” for M and Li'l J, so they didn’t even have to miss any school for our travels—yay!

We spent Tuesday and Wednesday at Dad and Mom S’s house.  We had a great time visiting with them and watching Christmas movies.  Everything went well until…Wednesday afternoon.  Wednesday afternoon while out riding ATV’s, M had a bad accident (that could have been a lot worse), and ultimately broke his arm.  M and Li'l J went out riding with their favorite 15 year old Uncle N.  M was riding an ATV on his own while Li'l J rode on one with N.  The blessings poured out upon us during this entire experience are undeniable and I’m so grateful Heavenly Father saw fit to bless us so! 

First, where the boys were riding was on a hill directly in front of Dad and Mom S’s house.  Because of where they were riding when the accident happened, N was able to carefully and quickly get M home to us.  Next, the way the accident happened itself was a BIG blessing as it meant that M’s life was spared.  N and Li'l J rode up the front-side of the hill to the top and waited as M tried to maneuver his way up what turned out to be a very steep side of the hill.  Because N and Li'l J reached the top first, N saw exactly what happened to M and (relying on his first aid/Scout training) knew how to best help him immediately once it had happened.

M’s ATV got stuck, rolled back, hit a rock, flipped (which is when M got thrown off and landed on his right arm).  Then the ATV rolled over and past M, rather than onto him.  Once the boys got home and told us what happened, our minds went directly to a family Dad and Mom S know that just the weekend before lost their 31 year old son in an ATV accident that did not turn out as well.

We were also very fortunate that Dad S had just returned home from work for the day.  He was able to look at M’s arm, recognize that it was indeed broken, and directed us to take M immediately to the hospital which is literally right around the corner from their house.  We spent a few minutes in the waiting room, then a few more in triage before they were able to take us back and have M seen.

The ER doctor said that if you were going to pick a spot to break your upper arm, the spot where M’s break occurred was the perfect spot to pick because: 1. he just barely missed the growth plate and 2. had the break occurred any higher or lower he likely could have sustained major and lasting nerve damage.  Um, wow!  The ER staff was impressed at how tough M was, all said they couldn’t believe that with the kind of break he had that he was able to walk into the ER of his own accord and that he wasn’t crying.  After reviewing the x-rays, the orthopedic surgeon at the hospital suggested that because of where the break occurred, the kind of break it was, and because of M’s young age, that all he would need was a splint and a sling.  A splint to help keep it immobile while the swelling went down and then we could follow-up with a pediatric orthopedic surgeon once we returned home.  The doctor we saw here at the children’s hospital concurred with that diagnosis, and then cut the splint off before our visit was done.  He instructed us to have M keep his arm in the sling while out and about, especially at school, but other than that to slowly begin using his arm as normally as possible until M's follow up appointment after Christmas.  I am SO grateful that our M is still here with us and that he is healing well!

Thanksgiving morning we caravanned with J-rod’s family (parents and all his siblings that had arrived the night before and early that morning) “over the river and through the woods” and up the mountain to California where we gathered with more family at J-rod’s Grandpa and Grandma S’s house.  The scenery on the drive to their mountain home was amazing! Crystal clear lakes reflecting snow capped mountains, blue-blue skies, deliciously crisp fresh air, lots of deer roaming about, beautiful pine trees, trees ablaze with color as the leaves changed over from one season to another.  All of that, plus we got to be with lots of loved ones?  We couldn’t have asked for more! (Well, maybe M without a broken arm and a reaction to his pain meds, but…overall, things were good up there).

Thanksgiving at Grandpa and Grandma S's

While most everyone travelled back to Dad and Mom S's house after Thanksgiving dinner, we stayed and visited with Grandpa and Grandma until Saturday morning when we began our drive home via California.  Because of the direction we choose to travel in, we were able to meet up with my Mom and A for a late lunch/early dinner outside of L.A.  While our lunch stop took a number of hours out of our travel time and delayed us getting home, it was totally worth it as we realized we hadn’t gotten to see them in over a year and boy did we enjoy those few short hours together!

As we were traveling home that day we noted that the brakes on my car didn’t sound good and decided we’d take it to be looked at first thing Monday morning.  Good thing we did, as it turned out we were very fortunate my brakes and my steering system didn’t give out on us somewhere along a lonely stretch along of one of the many roads we had just travelled over throughout the previous week!  Sheesh, when it rains it pours right? Well, I wish that was the end of it, but…NO!  Add to M’s arm and my car, a few more challenges with J-rod’s truck just for good measure.  Monday morning one of the rear passenger windows on the truck would not roll back up…the motor had gone out!  Then after we picked C-sta up from school and were heading home to put away all the groceries we bought on our “date” while she was at school, we were rear-ended in Jrod’s truck as we were slowing down to a four-way stop that had a number of cars ahead of us!  Just what we needed while we were already down to one car for the week, awesome, just awesome.

Fortunately we were all okay (as was the very scared 18 year old girl who hit us) and were able to avoid a chain reaction by not hitting any of the cars ahead of us.

So ya, I spent much of the last week of November arranging rides for the kids and I to get every where we need to be while J-rod drove his “smooshed” truck with his hazard lights on since the tail-lights wouldn't work after being rear-ended.  All of this because we were still waiting for my car to come out of the shop and were dealing with insurance companies and our claim so that we could get estimates on the repairs necessary for the truck.

Guess what preferred to be doing the last week of November?  Putting up our Christmas tree and outside lights; decorating said tree and the inside of our house for Christmas; finishing up our Christmas shopping; wrapping gifts; mailing out packages to family; and baking!  But no, life had other plans for us that week.  I kept my fingers crossed and stayed optimistic that we could get a start on all that by the end of the first week in December until we got word that J-rod was needed back on night shift because someone retired early/unexpectedly. J-rod got pulled off of his day job indefinitely.  Added to the change in his work schedule, the first Saturday in December J-rod was scheduled to be at the church all day doing tithing settlement and a wedding that night, so, I was once again reminded that my plans aren't always the ones that we end up living our life by.  It’s okay though because if nothing else, the last two week of November helped me keep things in perspective.  I know we are loved and I’m grateful we are all safe and together!

Thanksgiving decorations

At the end of November we attended M and Li'l J's Fall piano recital. M of course was unable to play, but Li'l J did a fantastic job!  Li'l J played "Luke's Theme" from Star Wars and the Primary Song "Families Can Be Together Forever".

Fall piano recital