While in Grand Junction we went to the Math and Science Center that we love so much! 

The Python named Monty…….

The Lizard whose name escapes me.

This game is called Ball of Whacks.  No joke.

That evening we celebrated Grandma Dot’s 89th birthday.

She and Liberty chatted all night long.  Though Grandma admitted she only heard about 40% of the conversation. What was funny was to listen to Liberty’s responses when Grandma happened to repeat a question like “How old are you now?  Libby started saying“I’m STILL four, Grandma.” 
This cute picture was taken by Uncle Dave.    Love it!!!

Reading her birthday cards from the kids. 

Cade had to write his card left handed and had to try three  times to get it right.  The completed card promised a Cade Hymas origami card when his arm heals.

And then our time was done in GJ!  It went by so fast!  On our way home we stopped in Salt Lake to have dinner with Rock’s family.   Got these on Temple Square:

Really wish I had a GOOD camera.

Someone to look up to.

And to end on a funny note, here is Liberty in the bathroom at the restaurant.  She walked in and gasped with joy,  “I LOOOVE this bathroom!!!!”
She hadn’t even flushed the toilet and was already planning to paint her bathroom back home.  No way Reagan is going for that.

Thanks for a great trip G and G!!

Who knew ellipticals could be so deadly.  Actually, I did have a gut feeling that I shouldn’t let the kids play on Grandma’s elliptical because it was so big and powerful, but I am too often a paranoid parent and didn’t want to be the party pooper again.  I should have pooped this party, though.
 
Exhibit A-The Elliptical:

On Tuesday Cade was using the elliptical when he got his elbow at the wrong angle and the moving handle smashed his arm into the stationary handle he was holding.  He stepped down in terrible pain, crying and then promptly fainted!  I had to catch him and sit him with his head between his knees for a few minutes.  I searched all over for a bone or something sticking out figuring that fainting must mean something really bad.  But there was nothing we could see to indicate a break.  He laid on the couch with ice around his arm for a few hours before we took him to the urgent care.  It’s always hard to tell if a kid needs to go to the doctor with stuff like this.  With Levi it is usually evident, gushing blood is a pretty clear sign, but that’s not true for the rest of them.  When the doctor pushed and prodded on his arm it was very obvious he was not faking it. 

The X-Ray

Exhibit B-The X-Rays

Notice where the radius bone (big arm bone to the left) bulges out slightly on both sides.

I drew lines to show where the true line of the bone should be.  That slight bulge or buckle was the proof apparently.

Verdict: Broken!  The technical term is “distal radius buckle fracture”.  Rock’s cousin helped us understand why we couldn’t tell it was broken by looking at this x-ray.  He said your bone is like a stick with a bunch of saran wrap around it.  If the stick breaks, the saran wrap holds it together if it’s not too big of a break.  And the “saran wrap” is pretty strong when you’re a kid.  That’s why it is so hard to see the actual break.

The Urgent Care put a splint on him and sent us home with instructions to see our pediatrician for a cast once we got home 3 days later.

Left: Mount Garfield, Right: Grand Mesa, Center: Beaming boy who now has the bragging rights to the first broken bone in the family.  He could not wait to walk in and show off his cool sling to his siblings. 

Had to take his picture with the offending machine. Which, I might add, all children were forthwith banned from using.

The next day, Rock’s cousin Grant, an ER doctor in Grand Junction, took a look at Cade’s arm for us.  He then went to the hospital to confirm the break as valid, got us copies of the x-ray (Thank you, Grant!!), and brought back the materials to put on his cast!  Never thought I’d have a kid get a cast in the kitchen, but Caderade did.  With an audience, no less!

Grandma Dot was second only to the doctor in signing his cast. 
It was almost full with family names by the time we left GJ. 

Ironically enough, his arm is not the only thing Cade broke this week.  You can be a bit clumsy with a sling on, and Cade tripped over a basket and sent Grandma Hymas’ lamp crashing to the ground.  Grandma was very gracious and Cade’s parents are now out $80.00.  That is not the end of the irony  here, however.  This is not the first grandmother’s lamp that Cade has broken.  When he was one or two years old he  broke Grandmother Wesel’s heirloom lamp and his parents were out $150.00.  I’m sensing a pattern here.  Thank goodness he only has two grandmothers.  But as pointed out earlier, he still has two great grandmothers so I should probably warn them.

And that was Cade’s Spring “Break”.  Or maybe I should say Spring “Breaks”.  Stay tuned for the rest of our Spring Break story.

We spent Spring Break in Grand Junction and had quite the adventure.  The night before we left on the trip I said family prayer and prayed that we would travel safely and that the car  would work well.  After the prayer Liberty said, “And make sure you don’t hit the side again.”  It took me a second to realize she was asking us not to get in another wreck like our last trip home in the snow.  LOL!
On our way down we stopped in Provo for lunch with Alli and Sarin.  We ate at the Pizza Factory because I love their bread twists! 


So did Cade.

The restaurant is right near where Rock and I got engaged almost 14 years ago to the day so we took the kids to see it. They were not duly impressed.

Our first day in Grand Junction we went on a bike ride along the river.  Rock’s mom rounded up bikes for all six of us! 

Here’s the fun bike Liberty and Rock got to ride.

She pedaled for part of the time, but rested her feet for most of the ride.

We rode five miles out free and easy, but on the way back the wind was awful and after only one mile we were all ready for a break. 

Towards the end it got to be too much for Cade, so he and I walked the last mile.  Here we are coming down the home stretch with Grand Mesa in the background. 

It was a beautiful day and an awesome bike ride.  Thanks, Grandma!!

No trip to GJ would be complete without a ride on the four wheelers at Great Grandma and Grandpa Roper’s house.



Reagan got to ride one by himself this time!

Levi found a caterpillar!

He brought it home to Rock’s parent’s house and kept it for a few days before bringing it back and setting it free.  The kids had a great time creating a home for it and trying to feed it.  I’m actually surprised how well they took the idea of setting it free.

When we first got to G/G’s house that day, Liberty had a tummy ache and just wanted to lie down on the couch.  Grandpa John came in and told her that he had been looking forward to riding with her on the four wheelers and wouldn’t she please come out.  But she wouldn’t do it.  We still don’t know if the tummy ache was because she was afraid to ride or not, but she laid around for a while longer and then decided she felt good enough to play dolls with Grandma Dot.

While I was out riding with Levi, they finally managed to get her on a four wheeler.

I love this picture.  It is so fun to watch this 91 year old man tearin it up over the hills on these machines.  I dearly love all Rock’s grandparents and am so glad they have all stuck around long enough for me to enjoy having grandparents again since all mine are gone.  I never knew any of my great grandparents so it’s also great they are still around for my kid’s sake!

Stay tuned for part II, “The Spring “Break”

Reagan and Cade just finished up ski lessons.  This was Cade’s first time skiing and he did great.  His second day he was feeling so good he tried a black diamond run, but wiped out so badly he became much more cautious from there on out.

This was taken on the ski lift BEFORE the wipe out.

Reagan tackled all the black diamonds he could this year.  I got a text from Rock the second day that said, “This kid eats black diamonds for breakfast!”

Here he is coming down one.

This is Reagan on the ski run called Widow Maker.  Doesn’t that inspire happy thoughts in all you mothers?  I try really hard not to think about all those trees he could hit.

I’m glad Reagan and Cade are loving the sport, though.  Rock is thrilled, and is counting down the days till the whole family can go skiing together.  I just see big price tags.

For a service project last week we made cookies for the construction workers building the Meridian Idaho Temple.  We got to see the progress on the temple site and also got to learn about how the foundations of temples are built.  It was very cool!  The following link will show you an amazing video of what the temple will look like when finished.  http://www.ldschurchtemples.com/meridian/model/

Behind us to the right are the elevator shafts, the first thing to come up past ground level.

We are so excited!  The temple will be just five minutes down the road from us!  It is scheduled to be done in 2017.  Can’t wait!

We took Liberty on her Half Birthday date on Friday.  Yes, technically she was 4 1/2 last month, but we are usually running a bit behind on these dates so it’s all good.  She has been begging to go to Texas Roadhouse because, like Levi before her, the fact that your big brother cannot eat there due to a peanut allergy, makes it all the more exciting of a place to go.  So we went.  She had a ball eating peanuts and would actually eat the entire nut, shell and all!

Miss Liberty has decided she doesn’t like it when people play with her ponytail, so when Dad flipped her ponytail, she turned on him with flashing eyes and said, “Keep your hands to yourself, Dad.”

After Rock shared a few bites of his sweet potato with her, she decided it was hers and pulled the plate over in front of herself. Then, looking over at Rock, magnanimously said, “You can have some too, Dad.”

When Cotton Eye Joe came on and the waiters started to dance with clapping and stomping, she looked at them with scorn and said, “We don’t clap in ballet.”

This girl is quite a kick; definitely knows her own mind.  So glad she’s here to make us laugh.

The other day Liberty measured herself with the measuring tape,

and then said, “Dad, how many pounds do I cost?”

Cade is so addicted to origami that he even folds while having a mouth mold made in the orthodontist’s chair! 

The orthodontist was so impressed with the finished product, he took a picture of it and posted it on his Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/KelsonOrthodontics?ref=br_tf

It’s Blue and Gold Banquet time in Cub Scouts this month.  The theme; gardens and growing.   You can guess what Cade made without too much difficulty. 

Dirt! with flowers growing in it.

 
The boys were supposed to write a description of how their cake represented the theme and one of the Cub Scout Values.  Here is what Cade wrote:

My cake is an Origami Garden.  It is related to perseverance because origami takes a lot of folding and unfolding, folding and unfolding, etc.

We had a fabulous Valentine’s day here at our house.. hope you did too!  Thank you, Alli and Grandma H for sending Valentine’s to the kids!  Homeschoolers don’t get many of those.

Reagan is excited about his waffles with strawberries, buttermilk syrup and mini chocolate chips… he just doesn’t look like it. 

They are already counting down the days till St. Patrick’s day…. sigh.  I never should have set such a high standard. 

The Beehive girls (ages 12-13) in our ward had a great Valentine’s day too.  The Deacon’s quorum delivered a flower and some chocolate to every Beehive girl in the ward!  Reagan and I both thought it was a joke when the quorum president told the boys they were going to drive around in a limo the night before Valentine’s day and deliver flowers to the girls.  Reagan REALLY didn’t want to go.  What twelve year old boy in their right mind would want to take a flower up to the door of a girl his age!  But this was no joke.  Luckily, they all went up to the doors together and absolutely made those girls’ day.  The moms reported smiles like they’d never seen before on their daughter’s faces.  Such a sweet gesture.  I’m so glad Reagan went and he did have a good time.  The doughnuts at the end helped, I’m sure. And yes, there really was a limo ride all over the neighborhood too.  A family in our ward bought an old stretch limo for super cheap.  What a great memory for all those kids they’ll never forget.  And today at church, the Priests, not to be out done by the lowly twelve year olds, gave roses to the Laurels.  Looks like a new tradition has been born. 

This is the beautiful hot pink rose my Valentine got for me.   Unfortunately, I’m not at liberty to post what I got for mine. 

We had a fun Martin Luther King day on Monday that I wanted to share.
First, we had Fondue for lunch.  Simple, poor man’s fondue, that is,  minus all the fancy forks and heating apparatus.  We just did a few things we had around the house; marshmallows, Rice Krispy treats and bananas.  But the kids were thrilled!

If you are wondering where the strawberries are, (because who does chocolate fondue without strawberries!) they were $5.00/lb. so they stayed at the store.

That afternoon Liberty came up to me dressed like this and asking me who she was going to marry.

That’s a pink tutu on her head, believe it or not!

That evening for FHE we played Clue, the new favorite game at our house.  I was Mrs. Peacock and since Liberty is too young to play the game, she came up with another way to entertain herself while we played.  She made me into a peacock.


I’m thinking of making this my new profile picture.  What do you think?

And there you have another wild and crazy day at the Hymas family Zoo!

This Christmas was many months in the making.  We told my parents way back in September that their Christmas presents from their kids this year were plane tickets to Boise for Christmas.  Every person in the family wrote them a letter telling them why they should come for Christmas.  We planned and re-planned and agonized over where my parents would stay for Christmas Eve and Christmas morning  and when to see extended family and when to move from staying at one house to another so that they would get to be with everyone “equally”.  The logistics for our perfect plan would impress the most seasoned general or wedding planner.  I should say here that when I say “we” I do not mean Rock and I.  He would want everyone to know he had no part in our ridiculous planning and apportioning.  The “we” was all the women in the family.  Of course. 

December 17th finally arrived and my parents flew in right on schedule.  For several days things went as planned.  Grandma and Grandpa helped us open our Christmas books, we got some Christmas shopping done and made yummy gingersnap cookies.

And then…. the flu hit.  First it was Levi, and then Levi and Cade and then Levi, Cade and Libby and then Reagan and on down the line till within a few days, eleven people were sick.  One more got it after Christmas.  I don’t know if you’ve ever been sick at Christmas, but it’s bad enough when it’s just you and your kids and you’re not hosting a million people.  This time we, and those million people got sick!  Needless to say, the best laid plans got changed, scheduled events were postponed or canceled all together and our Christmas kind of fell apart.  We sat around looking like this the week of Christmas:

Twas the week before Christmas and all through the house every creature was coughing, including the mouse.  Luckily my kids were mostly past the worst by Christmas and it was me laying around feeling miserable.  We did manage to do the Nativity on Christmas Eve.  Though our last few carols sung by the tree turned into a chorus of hacking instead of a chorus of angels.

Mary and Joseph of equal size.  Very cute.

It’s blurry, but I love this one…

Christmas Eve Presents:

My nephews, so cute in their matching jammies!!!  The one on the right was the sickest of us all.  Flu AND strep throat.  Poor kid.

Blankets and Jammies

Grandma reading The Night Before Christmas before the kids went to bed.  She could have done it from memory, as she did when I was growing up, but my kids like the pictures.

I have NEVER gone to bed early on Christmas Eve, but I did this year.  Thank goodness my mom was there to help with the last minute preparations.

Christmas Morning:

Waiting to run upstairs to see what Santa brought them.

A foosball table!!!

It came with this note:

I was feeling so crummy and we had so many people opening presents this year that I didn’t get many pictures, but there are a few that are worth posting.

Reagan locked himself in his bedroom for two days to sew this stuffed pig for Liberty.  He did not even use a pattern!  Pretty good for a kid who took 6 weeks of Home Ec!!

This one of Levi is pretty funny.  He was so excited he dropped the Pokémon cards!

The Master of Ceremonies

The boys favorite gift this year was Minecraft.  Santa set up the game on their computers and left them a note in their stockings.   This is what Levi wrote in his journal about Christmas morning.

I guess it’s good to know that if Santa ever needs to quit his day job, he can go work for Microsoft.  They always need good programmers.

Reading their Minecraft handbooks.  

They played this computerized lego game the entire Christmas break and there was NO FIGHTING.  It was wonderful.  Especially since I was trying to recover from the flu.

This Christmas went so awry that Cade even forgot to give his biggest Christmas gift to the family.  He worked the whole month of December to learn a really hard Christmas song and he kept it a secret!  (Benefits of having a digital piano).  Finally a few days after Christmas he remembered to play it for us all.  The video is pretty long, so here is just a clip.  Keep in mind he hadn’t practiced for about a week prior to this because he’d been sick.

Cade did a great job and we are all so impressed at his talent!  It was a wonderful surprise.  If you want to hear the professionals do the whole song, click here:  
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6P9xxJ4V7no

I thought I was just being funny to call this blog post the Flu Epidemic, but my mom told me yesterday that Idaho and Utah literally reached epidemic flu numbers this Christmas.  Wow.  So glad we could participate in such a historic event.  Hope we never have to again!

As you may recall if you read my Three Trees post, we were a little late in getting our tree up this year.  After we realized that our fake tree was not going to cut it (no pun intended!) we were too lazy to take it down until we got the real one put up.  So it sat in the living room empty of ornaments for more than a week.   One night we opened our Christmas story called The Christmas Oranges.  It is about an orphanage that decorated its tree with only oranges that the orphans then got to eat.  I had not yet bought any “Christmas oranges” this year and so that night I bought some and put them on our empty tree for the kids to find the next morning. 

Cade decided to buy his own Christmas presents for his siblings this year and couldn’t wait to wrap them.  Finally, once we got our real tree up and decorated, he wrapped them all.  Here is a bow he made from ribbon.  This kid never stops creating.

Truffle Night

For the last couple years the Wesel women who live here in Boise have gotten together to make the most amazing truffles ever created. We love my brother’s wife, Penny May Wesel,  for many reasons, but one of the biggest is that she brought this recipe to our family.  They made them for their wedding and I have been in love with them ever since.  So we get together to make them and chat at Christmas time.  This year my mom and sisters were able to join us.  It’s been three years now and I’m finally getting the hang of this special recipe.

It all starts with this monster bar of gourmet  chocolate.  It is about 12×18 inches large!

Then you melt the chocolate.

And stir it REALLY hard with ALL your concentration.

After scalding the cream you stir it till it’s cool enough.

Making sure to smile while you are doing it.

Then you mix, pour and chill!

This year’s Truffle Night almost didn’t happen because four days before Christmas every single one of my kids got sick with the flu and my mom, who should have been in this picture, was sick with a stomach bug!  But we quarantined them (the kids, not my mom) in the basement and were able to make our delicious treat. 

Little did we know that was the beginning of the Christmas Flu Epidemic of 2014.  Stay tuned….