Goodbye Van

This is a picture of my thumb post accident. On Saturday I was taking advantage of some sales that were occurring over the weekend. I had left Josh and Abby at home with Adam. I just did not want to take them with. I felt so strongly in fact I had decided that if I had to take them with I just would not go. But Josh fell asleep and Abby was happy to stay with Adam so I left. First I went to Target to pick up some things. Then I left the parking lot and headed toward Albertson's. As I turned out of the parking lot and proceeded into the intersection directly outside the shopping center I saw a truck coming at me. It happened that quick. Everything went dark and I could hear the crashing sound and my body flopping around like a ragdoll. Immediately after that my air bag deflated and I watched the truck crash into another stopped vehicle. I could see that the driver was passed out and I heard her sister shouting that she thought that she was dead. I instinctively looked back and saw that my children were not in the car and thanked God right there for that incredible blessing. When I looked back the driver of the vehicle that hit me, a young girl, was alert and in fact getting out of her car. I was unable to get out of my car because the door was pinned shut. I got my phone out and dialed 911 and they informed me that the accident was already reported. I looked in my review mirror and saw an ambulance. I thought that that was really weird. I think that it was at this point I called Adam. They came to my door and got me to the other less damaged side of my van but wouldn't let me out. My thumb was really nasty looking and I could already feel that I had whip lash. The paramedics were from Keller and happened to come right up on the accident almost immediately after it had happened. The 911 operator had been talking about dispatching a different ambulance. The Keller paramedics assisted me until the North Richland Hills PD and ambulance had arrived. Then I was carted of to North Hills Hospital to get X-Rays of my thumb. Although it is not broken it is sprained and hurts REALLY bad. Probably the most disheartening thing of it all is the almost imminent death of my van. Dad and Adam got there really quick (thanks guys) and told me later that it is very unlikely that they will fix my van. I have begun the arduous task of dealing with insurance companies. The young 16 year old girl that hit me is claiming to have had a protected left but there are witnesses that state that I had a green light. This means there will be some sort of investigation. Hopefully I will have a rental car tomorrow. And a check for a new van shortly thereafter. Hopefully. Prayerfully. It is unlikely that we will find such an awesome deal again although we are looking. Still we only had 3 years left to pay on this van. And I loved that van. A lot. Most favorite vehicle of mine. I feel incredibly blessed that I was the ONLY person in the van. Abby is already freaked out without having been in the accident. She and Josh would have probably been injured. That keeps up at night and off the roads during the day.

FOR CONNOR

http://i.gizmodo.com/5134222/5000-paper-house-is-the-worlds-swankiest-hobo-pad

Do you think that Mozart had Synesthesia?

I've been thinking about this since I heard a broadcast on NPR about http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synesthesia . Of all the oddities of our human brain this is one that I would really like to have. Not necessarily the common type, but some form of it would be cool. I wonder if Mozart had a rare form of this where he heard music instead of seeing colors.

First Piano Lesson

I taught my very first ever piano lesson yesterday. I loved it! It was very exciting to me to remember playing the piano for the first time and going to my first piano lesson. I was very excited. I wanted to play the piano just like my father. I always loved dancing to the ragtime he would play and was desperate to be able to play ragtime just like him. I remember bargaining with the Lord that if he would just make it possible for me to have piano lessons that I would never turn down a music calling. Sure enough a lady across the street moved in and knew how to play the piano. Her name was Diana Dyer. She was part of our ward and in a few weeks I was taking piano lessons. Happily. True to my word I have never refused a music calling. And I still love playing the piano. Yesterday I got to watch this child play the piano for the first time and I loved it. I hope that she loves it too.

I started Scaravelli Yoga again on Tuesday. It has been almost a year since I last did yoga. I forgot how good it feels. Scaravelli is a slower relaxing yoga. Its counter-intuitive that such slow work would help me with running but last time I did this class it took a minute off my mile. I also just felt better. I'm really happy to be able to do it again.

Yummy Oat-Pancakes

I tried this recipe from Taste of Home and it is very good! http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Oat-Pancakes

Next time I think that I will put honey on the plate and have honey-oat pancakes. They were really fast and easy too.

Monday with Theron

Josh slept the whole time we were gone. This is a cute picture taken later that night.
Abby stayed on this Zebra for a long time. Finally Theron jumped on. Abby was peeking her head around him but moved and this is the picture I got.
I love this picture of Abby. The wind was blowing and she was just so pretty...
This one is cute zoomed in as well but I like the composition of this picture.


On Monday I went up and picked up Theron while Grandma Shirley(Ben's Mom) took a break. Ben and Becca are taking an early morning class to learn how to do home hemodialysis and Grandma Shirley came to help out. Abby, Josh, Theron and I hit McDonald's for an hour and a half and then headed to the Willow Creek Park for another hour and a half. It was a lot of fun and I got some really cute pictures and videos. Videos will come shortly.

This video is of Ben (he is singing Sweet Emotion) and Adam, Chance, and Connor are the featured dancers. For Christmas Adam and I got a karoke machine from his parents. So for our New Year's Party we busted it out. I am proud to say that the boys performed wonderfully for the camera.

My Little Girl

When Josh was born Abby aged a lot. Immediately I felt like she was older and could do older things. In the last few months my relationship with her has changed drastically. Things I had never really done before were happening. I was losing patience at an alarming rate. I've praying for help but this week I prayed for patience. On Monday night when I was putting Abby down I started to remember her as a baby. I remembered how sweet she was at 1 and 2. Somehow remembering her this way made her seem like a little girl again. And somehow this has helped me to feel more patient with her.

Rolly Polly Josh

While I was at the Jiggle Butt Run Josh rolled over to his tummy. He had done it earlier in the week at night too. But since I am not the only one that has witnessed it it feels more official to me. Josh is very enjoyable and smily. He is very laid back and fun. He has started to laugh this week too but it scares him so his laughs usually end up in a pout. Which is also very cute. I just love this little guy and can't get enough of him.

The Jiggle Butt Run

So I decided to go ahead and run the Jiggle Butt. To be honest I was NOT looking forward to it. I felt that I was too out of shape and slow to really have fun. But Becca said she would run it with me. I really like going to races with her because she always does really well and I can live vicariously through her. So I commited to going. We got there and I started to get really excited. I can hardly help it once I am there. I really love the race atmosphere. We all lined up and then the little horn went off. I began to 'run'. My goal for the race was really wimpy. I expected to run slow and stop a lot. Surprisingly I felt really good once I began to run. I really enjoy running in a big group. I settled toward then end of the runners. I walked a little bit but not as much as what I thought I would. I ended up sprinting in about 5 minutes ahead of what I expected. Becca finished 6/600 women. Pretty good. This was not a chip timed event so I don't know my official time or place which made it a little more enjoyable for me. I really like going to an all women event. It was fun. I would like to do this race again next year.

New Year's Resolutions

Last year I resolved to:

1. Sweep the floor everyday: Ha ha this one pretty much died in my third trimester with Josh. Grandpa got a nifty new machine to sweep with so maybe the floors will be swept a little more often
2. Try atleast one new food every month. I did well with this one until Josh was born, then I lost track. It was fun to try a new food every month.
3. Read a book written by a member of the First presidency. Well I had really good intentions. If I can count the For the Strength of Youth pamphlet then I am good otherwise I did not do this.
4. Run a race. I ran three races and walked one last year. I ran the Cowtown (10k) the Fort Worth Zoo Fun Run (5k) the Mayfest Run (5k) and walked the Kidney Walk (5k).
5. Learn or go to 4 new things or places. I did this one, all though it was pretty vague. I went to play group and found new parks that I didn't know about. I also learned to manage two kids instead of just one. I learned to follow basic sewing instructions and learned how to sew a new kind of blanket. Lots more too.
6. Be ready for the day by 9 am everyday. This one bombed pretty fast unless you count being in workout clothes. Even then pregnancy pretty much wiped this one out.

Even though I may not have achieved my goals this year I am glad that I made them. I improved in each category and just because I was not perfect at it I did not give up on them. And that is important to me.

This year I resolved too:

1. Study the book of Alma and Mathew 35
2. Go to Sea World
3. Run atleast 2 races, one 10 k
4. Memorize one new thing (The Stake Primary Presidency challenged the primary to memorize Alma 31:20 this year)
5. Workout with my family every week.
6. Complete 2 service projects, atleast one for the community.

The Stake also asked us to work on these things this year:

1. Read the scriptures daily
2. Seeking the Lord in prayer daily
3. Obtaining a current temple recommend and using it regularly
4. Searching for opportunities to share the gospel with others
5. Earnestly seeking the companionship of the Holy Ghost
6. Exercising faith to change and become more like Christ