Here are a few pictures of my new salon!

Charles converted our shed and moved in last September. He lived there for almost a year, then moved out at the beginning of the summer. That' s when I decided it was time to take over before Russ did. I use to do hair out of the house but when Rusty came along I decided to quit for awhile. Now that's he's older and Russ has more time... (to watch the kids--Hee! Hee!) I've been wanting to get back into it. It's been great and I love it! Melanie has been a huge help. She came over with Clark and helped paint and clean and has even brought me quite a few color clients. She's been coming over to do haircuts so it's been nice to see her a lot more.


The curtains around the shampoo bowl were Melanie's idea. It helps block out the light and give it a spa kind of feel. Cute huh. Do you recognize the mirror and desk? They're from the collection that Melissa and I grew up with. I inherited the mirror and dresser and Melanie got the vanity. We put the two together and I think they are so stinking cute!



We still have a few finishing touches to work on like: hanging the mirror and installing the curtain hooks. I also want to put new baseboards in, the really tall ones. But it's still cute and I love it. I take my kids in there a lot to style their hair. Rusty wants his turn in the chair just like his sisters. We might have another Eldon on our hands here in a few years. (Smile!)

Thursday

Here's a little photo journal of Thomas's stitches adventure on Thursday.  Most of the pictures were taken by Thomas.

This is the stool he fell onto and split his lip while he was supposed to be taking a nap

This is the sticky alligator the nurse gave him at urgent care to make him feel better when she told us we had to go to the ER because they have to put him out to give him stitches on his lip

This is Thomas REALLY bored and hyper (remember, no nap) waiting for the doctor to see him at the ER

This is one of the nurses that Thomas took pictures of after he got bored with coloring and ripping apart his sticky alligator.

This is the doctor that took forever on the phone while Thomas, the "child drugging staff" and I waited not so patiently

This is the nurse that taught Thomas how to turn the camera around and take pictures of himself

This is one of about 30 pictures that Thomas took of himself

This is the doctor who is finally ready and trying to distract Thomas while they give him the nasty shot in his leg to put him to sleep

This was the last picture he took before he went to sleep (well, sort of went to sleep, it was totally creepy because he never closed his eyes, eek)

This is Thomas when he woke up and demanded the camera back.  He was rewarded with a popsicle instead

This is a close up on the nasty thing (his lip, not the popsicle)

And this is the children's Motrin that Thomas took a picture of when he stole the camera back after we got home ... 5 hours after we left for Urgent Care!  

The End

Luke turns 1

Luke turned 1 on Saturday.  We tried to put a candle in the cupcake but that didn't work out too well.  He wasn't sure about the cupcake at first.  He looked up at us as if to say, "are you sure", and then he dug in.

I think he likes birthdays.

Only 6 months to go before nursery!!!

Kate Thomas

As some of you in AZ may have noticed Kate cut off her hair. She was inspired by her friend, below. They both donated their hair to Locks of Love. Kate just made it with a minimum of 8 inches of hair.


We also finally had Kate's Baptism, a month after her birthday. But it was great. The highlight was a big black spider at the bottom of the font. Kate wanted to check it out!


Of course after we had to have a big shindig at the house. We finished it off with enough pies to make you think it was Thanksgiving or something.

It was great to see Mom and Dad and Mindy's family. Only two more baptisms to go.

Mispronunciation Fun

From time to time, we have been in Sunday School classes where the teacher repeatedly pronounces a word either wrong or with a thick Utah accent. One of our favorites from Heather's parents old ward was learning about the "plegs" of Egypt. This one happened over 4 years ago, but still comes up every once and awhile and gives us a good laugh.

Today's lesson in Gospel Doctrine was on Alma chapter 5. The instructor, posed the question: "What does it mean to have Christ's image in your continence?" Yes, that's right your continence not your countenance. Even some of the others in the class tried to help the instructor out by emphasizing the correct pronunciation of the word, but to no avail. Wondering why this kept making us chuckle? Click here for the definition of continence.

Forget the spiritual aspects of going to church, it's times like these that keep me coming back week after week.

my weekend

Melanie posted a recipe for a yummy lamb sandwich on her blog last week.  I was dying to try it but it looked like a lot of work.

So Mike and I doubled the recipe and invited some friends over for dinner on Sunday night to be our guinea pigs.

Mmm, doesn't it look soooo good!

At 5:30 everyone had arrived and we were just finishing last minute preparations, Mike was slicing the lamb and I was putting away a few clean dishes as we talked and joked with our guests.

I was especially witty, I was captivating my audience with a story while I pulled the blender out of the dishwasher and set it on the counter.

I had them laughing as I stacked a heavy ceramic bowl on the shelf and I turned around to look at them and enjoy their smiles. But they weren't smiling.

Apparently I was concentrating on my story more than on what I was doing and the ceramic bowl teetered and fell, smashing and shattering the blender on the counter. The blender, or what was left of it, then began to fall off the counter.

I looked back to see it falling and instinctively reached out to catch it.

I caught it.

I just had one real cut and it really wasn't as bad as it could have been,

but lots of glass and blood later we were all trying to decide whether or not I should get stitches.

Then one of our guests jokingly said she knew from parental experience that you can wait up to 12 hours to get stitches. That was enough for me!

We wrapped up my hand and ate our yummy sandwiches.

I did end up in the ER later that night and it's been gross and sore ever since. I'm so glad I enjoyed my food first.   In case you were getting hungry here's my lovely hand today, 4 double stitches later. GROSS!

Garrrett's Birthday

At long last Garrett is 5 years old. His constant asking about his party didn't help it come any faster, but it did just about drive Mom and Dad crazy.

At school he got a Birthday Crown which he wore all day long.

That evening we had a little party with our neighbors where Garrett got a new bike so he can go biking with Dad.

The next day was his party at Pump It Up, which according to Garrett is the best place ever to have a birthday. This would have been great with the Texas contingent.



We are looking forward to Kate's baptism next weekend, only 1 1/2 months after turning eight but we have a busy schedule around here. For example this coming weekend. School is out on Thursday, Paige has her birthday on Friday, Kate's baptism on Saturday, then the girls drive back with Mom and Dad for Cousin Camp with the Lee's.

Baby Conversation

Me:  Thomas, Mimi is going to come and visit in a couple weeks, she has a baby in her tummy just like I used to have.

Thomas:  Oh, what's her baby's name? 

Me:  I don't know. (Changing the subject)  Aunt Jill is coming to visit soon too.

Thomas:  Yeah, and she has a baby in her tummy too.

Me:  No, Jill doesn't have a baby in her tummy.

Thomas:  Why doesn't she have a baby?

Me: Umm, because she isn't married yet.

Thomas:  Oooo. (long pause)  Mom, we're married because we have baby Emerson!!

Me:  (longer pause)  Yep.

Wedding Video Conversation

Thomas:  (looking at the cover of our wedding video) Mom, it's your movie!

Me:   yep

Thomas:  It's so beau'ful.  Mom, you're a princess, and Dad has a flower.

Me:   yep, that's when we got married in the temple

Thomas:  Oooo

Me:   Are you going to get married in the temple?

Thomas:   No, I'm going to get married at Costco

  

I'm a GREAT AUNT

I wish I had pictures but I don't & I know being a great Aunt is nothing to get excited about
BUT it's not everyone that is the GREAT AUNT OF TRIPLETS!!!!
Stefanie Omerza Garcia had her triplets today!! All are doing great.
The little girl, Isabell was 4 pounds something.
The twin boys, Joseph & Jarrett were both 3 pounds something.
None of them needed oxygen.
Just thought you would like to know!

Rusty Busty!

I was thinking of Melissa while posting these pictures.
I know how much she loves injury photos,
so this one is especially for you Melissa!

This happened yesterday at my mother-in-laws house.
She has brick steps that lead
into the sunken family room
and they are vicious.
Nasty, huh?
The babysitter was watching the kids
and you should have seen her face
as she knocked on the door
and handed him to me.
I almost felt more sorry for her
than I did for Rusty.
She's 19 and the sweetest thing.
I had to explain to her that
this is how things roll at this age.

Haylee broke her collar bone
from falling off the toilet at 18 months.
Lindsay was not quite 2 years old
when she fractured her arm
from falling at the park.
So this is our first time going in for stitches
but it's not wholly unexpected.
Especially because he may
or may not have been pushed
by one of his sisters.
We will probably never know.
They're not talking.

Russ got a good picture of the opened, gaping wound
while he was driving us to urgent care
and when I figure out how
to upload pictures from phones,
I'll eagerly share those with you.
It sliced right through his eyebrow.
I was remarkably calm
and it wasn't until we got in to see the doctor that I felt
shaky and nauseous.
They bandaged him up and
then sent us to a pediatric plastic surgeon.

Once we got there
they had us set him down on the table
and leave the room.
I was okay but then
one of the nurses suggested that we wait outside
so we didn't have to listen to him scream.
Once the door closed behind me I started crying.
I'm such a baby
but it turns out
that they didn't even need to use
the straight jacket on him
because he started to fall asleep.
Can you believe that?
I'm talking about him falling asleep during stitches,
not them using a straight jacket.

So anyway, here's my beautiful baby boy
with three layers of stitches
and a black eye.

Still Handsome!

Choo choo

Someone at our house got train tracks.

(Not an actual photo.  Someone is being stubborn)