Silly Girls!

My niece, Ashley, had to come down to Primary Childrens to get her bandages changed on her hand. They all stopped by to play for awhile first. All of the girls have lots of fun together.

Ashley (almost 9) Claire (6) Maggie (7) Natalie (4)

For those of you who don't know, Ashley was in an accident with her horse at the fair. Her horse was tied to her trailer and she was grooming it. She was trying to untie the knot on the lead rope and something spooked the horse. It pulled back, pulling the rope tight with Ashley's hands stuck in it. On her right hand, a fingertip was gone and her left hand all four fingers. She was brought down to Primary Childrens Hospital and had a 6 hour surgery to reattach fingers and fingertips. She spent a week in the hospital and was such a trooper. Since the surgery, they have had to remove the middle and ring finger on her left hand. She is doing great though and has had lots of love and support from her family and community.

My brother has been overwhelmed by all of the support where he lives. Ashley had a lamb that she raised to put in the fair. One of her friends showed it for her since she was in the hospital. The night of the livestock auction, her lamb was auctioned off and donated back to auction again- 5 times! It made $10,000 to help with medical expenses. The other kids selling livestock donated 3% of their sales also. $22,000 (and a pig) have been donated so far. It's nice to know that there is so much good out there in people despite everything going on around us in the world.

Bubbles!

A few weeks ago I had 3 of my nieces over for a few days while their sister, Ashley, was in the hospital. It was fun to get to know them better. They live in Big Piney, Wyoming so we don't see them very often.

All the girls piled in the bathtub and turned the jets on for lots of bubble fun! I had a pretty wet bathroom when they got out.

Chelsea (20 mos) wasn't quite sure she wanted to get in with the wild older girls at first.

Natalie (4), Maggie (7) and Claire (6)

Let me tell ya- I don't know how my little brother Spencer does it. Him and his wife, Amy, have four girls! I feel bad that he's the only male in the household. He better brace himself when they all get into high school and start dating. Imagine all the hormones that will be in that house! Just thinking of the expense of school dances, weddings, etc gives me a nervous breakdown. :-) They all seem to be "daddy's girls" though and have him wrapped around his finger.

Single Parenting

I am going on three weeks now of being a single parent. Spence has been gone to Reno, NV working on a business transaction. He wasn't planning on being gone that long. The first week he was gone Nathan was gone as well. He went to EFY down in Provo at BYU. (He had a terrific time and said it was a real testimony booster.) Once Nate returned it made things a bit easier cuz I had my babysitter back. Let me tell you- I hated dragging three kids into the store to grocery shop. They instantly turn wild or something and climb all over the cart, play tag and run up and down the aisles. And that's on top of how much extra it costs to bring them with me.... The worse part of both Spence and Nate being gone at the same time was that I couldn't just run into the convenience store for my diet pepsi. That really sucked.

Anyway, I think I've done pretty well at holding it all together. There have been a few moments where a few tears have been shed. I just know that when Spence gets home he will let me have a break from the kids and go pamper myself- so I'm trying to hang on to that thought to get me through!

Any of you that know Claire knows that she thinks she is about 15 or so. She has a sassy little attitude (and mouth) on her. She kept bugging me about something yesterday and I kept telling her no. She was talking very loudly to me and I kept interrupting her with the same answer of NO. She waved her finger in my face and told me to let her talk. Then she preceeded to tell me to stop treating her like a kid. I just walked into the kitchen and told her I needed a huge break from her. She goes "Mom, you need a break from ALL the kids." Can't argue with her on that one. :-)