Pictures of Jessi's Bed and Bath Make Over

It was such fun to be part of the team of sneaky ladies who surprised Jessi with her own pretty space in her home.  She switched rooms with her girls to let them share the master bedroom which was working great, but she had never made her room and bathroom "hers".  We helped her out with that.

Look at that cute face!

She had no idea what was going on while she was away at girls camp.  This is when she first walked into her room.

 Sara helped by watching kids and also decorated these frames. Dandi couldn't come up from Tucson to help so she sent these awesome prints so she could be a part of the project too.

Tim and Sam also spent time watching kids.  Lindsey, Laura, Taylor, Nicki, Crystal, my Mom and I all worked like crazy people to get it done in time.  They were all really good about telling me to stop working and lay down so I wouldn't hurt my back, even though I didn't listen very well.

Sam's Mission Call

We waited about 5 weeks for Sam's mission call to come after he submitted his papers.  It was a bit like torture.  We were out of town for 3 of those weeks, so we had friends checking the mail for us.  His call came a couple of days before Gavin and Cadie were going to bless their new baby Freddy so we waited to open it with all the family at Gram and Papa's house.  We had a double celebration!

It is handy that Cadie's family is Richard's family and Gavin's is my family because then we already had both sides of the family gathered for the double event.

He was SO ready for this day and will be an incredible missionary!

Michigan Detroit Mission, Spanish Speaking, Report to Provo MTC September 24, 2014

I stayed in the Lay-Z-Boy trying not to move my broken back.

Cute little baby Freddy on his big day with his beautiful parents.

Broken Back Blues

After returning home, my back was no longer improving past the initial couple of days.  I was still in a lot of pain and wasn't able to sleep well or move much.  I decided it was probably a good idea to get x-rays and see what the damage was.  The doctor said I had 3 broken transverse processes.  I didn't know what that was.  

Spinehealth.com says: Transverse process is a small bony projection off the right and left side of each vertebrae. The two transverse processes of each vertebrae function as the site of attachment for muscles and ligaments of the spine as well as the point of articulation of the ribs.

I had broken 3 of them with my fall down the stairs.  The only way for them to heal is to stay still.  There is no way to set the bone, so I was told to stay in bed for 7 to 10 weeks for it to heal, sitting and standing only for short times as needed to eat and use the restroom.  I was so sad, this was not what I had planned for my summer.  I mostly obeyed, with a few exceptions, because I would have been so crushed to not participate in some of the activities we had planned.  I tried to listen to my body and not over due it, which of course happened sometimes, I'm a mom! Thankfully, pain medicine makes me sleepy and I slept through many of the lonely hours in bed, while my kids played and did summer activities.

My kids were so thoughtful and created a beautiful mural for my ceiling so I would have something pretty to look at while I lay in bed.

One of the the things I didn't want to miss out on was a make over that my friend Lindsey, from the blog Better After, had planned for my sister Jessi.  Here is the 1st of 5 posts about her bedroom/bathroom make over.

It turned out beautifully!

Luckily, with many, many prayers and lots of help, I was back up and doing things in 5 weeks with an ok from the doctor. He was surprised I had healed so well and so quickly.

Adventures at the the Bytheways

Visiting the Bytheways is one of the highlights of our summers.  The kids all think they are cousins and play near perfectly together.  It is always a wonderful time. Things started off great, lots of fun and silliness. 

Then, it was time to go on a hike.  I was headed down stairs to get Richard so we could load up the kids when my very slick bottomed flip flops failed me and I fell down the stairs. I heard and felt my back crack several times as it hit one of the steps.  It was VERY VERY VERY PAINFUL!!! I couldn't move, not because I was paralyzed but because it hurt too much.  I was embarrassed and scared and crying from pain.  My mom had just recovered from a back injury and I did not want to have to go through what she went through.

After sitting there for about 20 minutes and Kim overdosing me on Aleve, (she gave me three) we decided that even though I didn't want to go to the ER (it was a Saturday) and didn't want to spend money on my back, I needed to get checked out.  Kim's brother-in-law Tim is a doctor, but we couldn't get in touch with him.  With great effort and care we got me out to their Sequoia and seated.  Just then, Tim and Tiffany (Kim's sister) pulled up.  Tim said he had just felt like he was supposed to come over with Tiffany.  He checked me out and could tell I didn't have any spinal cord damage so Tim and Richard gave me a priesthood blessing and got me back in the house, put me on the sofa and iced my back.

I think the overdose of Aleve helped tremendously, but I was still so embarrassed and felt bad for ruining our plans. So, we decided to just hang out at the house and let the kids play.  Kim was so sweet to me and assured me that she was just glad that she could take care of me. Richard and Kim kept me company and we had fun talking and laughing about it even though I still couldn't really move.

 A short while later, Laney came and snuggled in between Richard and I saying she didn't feel well.  She said she didn't feel like she was going to throw up, but just wanted to rest with us.  She dozed a bit and then suddenly sat up and puked.  I couldn't move because of my back and is surprised us so much that all Rich and I could do is try to catch it all.  We were sitting on their brand new sofa.  Luckily, we caught almost all of it.

Again, Kim was so sweet and reassuring that she was just glad she could help us out. She and Richard got Laney taken care of and me cleaned up and all was well.  Laney felt fine then and was ready to play.

I sent Sara around with the camera, since I couldn't see what every one was doing. The kids watched movies and had fun being goofy with each other. Kim took a nap.

And so did Susanna.

Matthew

Bethany and Laney

Andrew and Sara

At midnight, John called everyone together for family prayer.  We had already lost several to sleep, Josh, Susanna, Tim, Bethany and Timothy.  Every one knelt to pray, except for me (I stood), and as John was calling on someone to pray, Tim, who was sleeping in the middle of everyone, popped his head up and puked all over Kim's nephew Aaron and the area rug.  He said he had no idea that he was going to throw up, it just came out of nowhere.  Poor Kim, had to step outside, she had met her limit of barf for the day.  Aaron got cleaned up and Richard and John cleaned up the rug.  I felt silly that I could only watch them clean up. Josh and Susanna just kept sleeping.

I thought Sam was going to puke from laughing so hard.  I was just so sudden that it was comical, well, maybe not to Rich, John and Aaron, but to everyone else.

Tim threw up again in the hotel parking lot on our way back for the night.  Josh threw up that night too, but just like Laney it was very short lived.

The next morning, which was Father's Day, Sara and Nate woke up not feeling quite right, so we told them to stay in bed while we went to church.  I was feeling slightly better, but still was moving like a 120 year old, shuffling my feet along. I couldn't lift my legs, who knew that your thigh muscles were attached to your back.  We told John and Kim that we would just go hang out at the hotel for the day so we didn't get anyone sick.  They insisted that her whole family didn't care and that they wanted us to join them for the Father's Day celebration if the kids felt well enough.

We went back to the hotel for lunch and a nap.  Sara and Nate were sleeping, but woke up feeling great.  We ate dinner at the hotel and went over to Tim and Tiffany's.  They all laughed, lovingly, at me and said that I had improved and was moving around like a 90 year old now.  

Tim and Tiffany showed us pictures from their two week, 2600 miles on a rental car trip throughout England, Scotland, and Wales.  They were amazing! We had a great night.  The Loveridge family (Kim's family) is a blast to be with and are such kind, loving people.

Lots of silly friends and cousins

 Tiffany, Tim, Steph and Rich

This was Sam's last trip with the family before his mission.  We were all dying with anticipation because he still hadn't receive his mission call.

Sam and Ashley

 Sara, Andrew and Tim

Josh and Ash

Tim and Ash

Sara and Ash

Susanna and Andrew

 Andrew and Sara

Monday, we rested in the hotel and did a little shopping.  I was still in a lot of pain, but I didn't want to miss out on the fun.  I couldn't drive, because I couldn't use my legs much, so Sam drove a few of us around to the mall. Richard and the other kids swam at the hotel.

That evening we met for Family Night at the park.  Richard and John played soft ball with the kids while the ladies watched and cheered.

I love this lady!

Kim took a turn at bat too.

Amy and her girls came to play too.

Josh was being silly with Nate, but what he and I didn't realize was that he really was hurting Nate, who ended up crumpling up, passed out at my feet.  I still didn't realize it was real.  I thought he was pretending until he came to, teary because he got hurt falling to the ground.  Josh felt terrible because he truly was just playing around.  Ooops.

Tim loves to climb everything!

He thought it was great until he got snagged on the way down.

 Laney batting

It started raining!

Since it was raining, we packed up and got milk shakes at Sonic and went back to visit at the Bytheways house.

The next morning we packed up the hotel rooms and started home.

We had had the girls and Daniel sleeping in our room and Sam, Josh, Tim, Nate and Drew in the other. It was pretty comfortable.  We love the Crystal Inn in Murray, UT.  They not only have great breakfasts, eggs, potatoes, sausage and much more, but they serve dinner too, Shepherd's Pie, Orange Chicken, Hamburgers etc.

For some reason, Sam thought it was hilarious to hang an apple out the window in a nylon knee high.  He had it bouncing and swinging along as we drove down the interstate.

After passing through St. George the van the started acting weird. And let's just say this was not a great drive for me already with my back problems.  Just before the exit for Mesquite the van battery completely drained, the air stopped working and we knew we needed to get help. We prayed and called Papa Ely to look up repair shops that would be open after 5 pm.  Luckily, we found a Big O that was open until 7 pm.  We got the van check out and found that it was a damaged pulley from when our serpentine belt had previously broken.  

Some napping went on while we waited.

They repaired it in about an hour and $350 later we were on the road again.