Hooray, Isabel's leg is healed! Cast is off!

We went to the doctor this morning to get Isabel full cast off and expected to get a new shorter cast below her knee. However, when the x-rays came back, the doctor said that she didn't need more time with a cast, and just set up a follow-up appt. Isabel is still tentative about putting any weight on her leg without the cast, but she'll start getting around in no time I think. The doctor was amazed that it healed so fast. He just kept saying "WOW"! He told me that she must be really healthy and active and eat well, and he just kept saying, "I can't believe how fast kids heal!" Isabel was fascinated with the saw and did a situp to see the whole thing. She kept talking about the big scissors and the tickle that she felt when they used the saw. When the nurse used the spreader and the scissors and started peeling off the cast, Isabel said, "My foot's coming out!" and she also said, "my legs is better, all better mommy". However, when she tried to straighten and bend her knee, she started crying, which the nurse says is totally normal, because it's stiff and sore from being bent and immobile for a whole month. But the worst part was trying to keep her leg straight for the x-ray. She was sobbing, I felt so bad, but she was very brave and tough. She kept telling me to hold her and hold her leg and she said, "thanks mommy for holding my owee leg, you're so nice, I love you" with big crocodile tears in her eyes. She was adorable! Our princess will be running soon enough. Love to all!

Jamie, our daddy and hubby

What is your husband's name? Jamie George King
How long have you been together? 7 years, 4 months, 3 weeks, 4 days, 5 hrs, 30 min, 2 sec....(well almost 8 years anyway).
How long did you date? We met briefly in Nov 2000 right after we both returned from missions (yes he's 2 yrs younger than me, can't tell can you, hee hee), started dating in Jan 2001, engaged May 2001, married August 2001...wowee fast, love ya honey.
Who eats more? Definitely Jamie, but I can hold my own...obviously.
Who said "I love you" first. I think we said it the same night, but I honestly don't remember who said it very first....sorry honey, help me out, do you remember?
Who is taller? Jamie, he's 6' 1'' and I'm 5' 8"
Who has more speeding tickets? I'm guilty...Jamie very strictly obeys the speed limit, to a fault almost, sometimes traveling under the limit just to make sure :) But I'm a repentant lead foot, since my last ticket for which I was ordered to attend traffic school, I have been much better, probably mostly out of fear for my life should I return home with another such ticket :).
Who is smarter? Hmmm I have to be careful here. Jamie was valedictorian with a 4.0 GPA. But I am pretty dang brainy too, the proof, our Collin is a freakin brainiac (as Andy would say).
Who is more sensitive? Gotcha hands down babe, sorry, but it's to a fault at times.
Who does the laundry? Me, me and me. It's amazing how someone who is master of everything electronic cannot figure out the dials on the washer and dryer!
Who does the dishes? Oh my, also me, except the four or five times a year that he takes pity on me, then he expects a medal or something.
Who sleeps on the right? from foot of the bed, me
Who pays the bills? I did for the first 5 years of our marriage, now Jamie has everything automatically "programmed" online, it's been a nice break for me. Thanks honey!
Who mows the lawn? Jamie mostly unless I've nagged him for weeks and it gets way too long for me to stand, then I do it, even if I'm 8 months pregnant...imagine the stares I get. Mostly though, Jamie keeps up on it, when he hasn't, he's been extremely busy winning lots of bread!
Who cooks dinner? Me, but I usually enjoy it. Jamie makes amazing crepes, pumpkin pie, and ramen (ooh yummy) but not all in the same meal thank goodness.
Who drives when you are together? ALWAYS Jamie, way too much of a back seat driver, makes me nervous oh man. But he is really a good driver.
Who is more stubborn? That's a hard one, but I would have to say Jamie, he can hold out a lot longer than me.
Who kissed whom first? Surprised the heck out of me babe, definitely all Jamie, but I enjoyed every minute of it!!!
Who has more siblings? I do, I have 8 siblings: 3 bros, 5 sisters, yes I count Camielle too! Jamie is the only boy. He has 4 sisters, 3 living.
That was kinda fun to spotlight my honey a little bit, since I mostly write about my kids and post their pictures. I love you my sweet hubby! You are the best daddy ever to our kids and you do so much for us! We love you and are so grateful your ours!

Snuggle with me Your Majesty!

So all three kids were really troopers the whole trip. We were in the car a ton, not only 3 hours each way, but we did a lot of fun offroading and some traveling between national and state parks and we got back to the hotel (yes hotel, no camping for me thanks, not with 3 little kids...mom and dad, how did you do it, I'm a big wimp!) it was usually pretty late. But we did let them sleep in. The hotel provided a rollaway bed for Isabel and Collin and a Pack n play for Gavin. Then there were two double/queen? beds for the adults. These kids were sooooo cute. They were snuggled so close. We got several pics on multiple mornings. One time Isabel woke up next to Collin, snuggled closer, kissed his forehead, put her arm on his back, and went back to sleep...how precious is that! At one point, the kids were playing together and I heard from my corner of the small hotel room: "no, I'm the king...when you bow to me, you say your majesty". Yes that was my Collin...and Isabel justed grinned and played along. Priceless!

Moab's many sights

The humongous sand hill right as you head into Moab was by far Collin's favorite thing on the trip. He jumped and slid on his belly and played for almost an hour in the sand. We wished we had brought shovels and pails or something fun for the kids in the sand. He also made us chuckle because he asked to go back to the hotel at least 10 times a day. He just thought it was really cool that we had a room where we all slept and ate and watched movies away from home. Jamie's sister and I teased Jamie quite a bit about "like Father like son" because when they went to Disneyland when they were kids, he was constantly saying "I want to go back the building". I don't think we got pictures of it, but out in the middle of the desert on one of our off-roading excursions, there was a random plaque about real dinosaur tracks. Collin and Isabel were so excited to see real footprints! We also saw some Indian writing in one of the canyons. My sister-in-law Cindy teaches 4th grade Utah history so she was esthatic to take pics to show her class. Overall it was an amazing trip and we had a blast. Other highlights for Collin were chasing lizards and feeding chipmunks and squirrels.

Fun Fun Fun in the Sun!

1)The whole family at Onion Creek, yes Jamie is sporting red gym shorts...stylin. 2)Baby G in the luxury seat in Arches National Park

3) Closeup of G eating his hat, he either ate his strap or slept most of the hike. He was an absolute angel the entire trip, especially with all the driving we did! 4)Jamie's sister Cindy and her husband Reed came with us. They were a huge help with the kids and tons of fun. This is one of the arches we visited. 5) Isabel's setup...although after the first hike we ended up ditching the stroller because most of the hikes, even the easiest ones had big rock steps to hike up. So Jamie carried her on his shoulders, and she even hobbled along by some of the arches.

Superman--Ready for Takeoff!

So Collin was in his PJ's the night before our big trip to the "Wild Wild West" (the kids watched an Elmo episode about the wild west and the desert and cacti--Collin called them castickes--so that's what we called the trip). He was so excited, he said he was gonna fly to the wild wild west and then ride some horsies and rope some cows with his "lasko" he was beyond thrilled to go where the cowboys live. He had left his cowboy suit (complete with bandana, hat, shaps, etc) at Gma and Gpa's so he insisted that we get it before we left. He's really into dressing up, as I've mentioned before. Anyway, he was sooooo excited to go!

Collin's Curiosity

So Collin has been reading a lot of books about the weather. Then Wednesday he got a dvd at the library about airplanes (kind of like Thomas the Train with faces) called Jay Jay the Airplane. The movie talked a lot about the weather. So this morning he informed me that I needed to help him make a moon and stars for his bat (a finger play he does) that only comes out at night, and that we should make a sunrise, sunset, clouds, rain, lightning, etc. So we did! Here's our masterpiece. Most of the ideas for the pictures were Collin's, I was the just the artist. While we were designing in thunder and lightning, Collin said, "Kaboom, that's the sound for a rainstorm and oh, and thunder too." Without missing a beat, he said, "Mom, do you know what rain's work is?" I asked him to enlighten me, "What does rain do for work?" He said matter of factly: "Growin' the flowers, and Makin' puddles, and Fillin' lakes and streams, oh, and vaporatin'"!

Everyone's SnuggleBug

Make sure you scroll down a bit, it was my catch-up day today. I have like 5 new posts today. Gavin sure likes to snuggle, and his brother and sister like to maul him, but it works out because he is so patient and mellow about it all. We all took turns snuggling our little hugabug...Well except for mommy. Lori, I am usually the one taking the pictures so I'm not in a lot of them...but I looked back through all the posts, and I'm actually in some of them, and I'm in the permanent pics on the right side of the blog.

Our Little Sweet Potato!

His bib says it all, "Mom-I am so not into Green Beans"! I tried beans first and he was sort of interested at first, cause it was a new taste, but not so much. Next I got out the Sweet Potatoes, this was a favorite of Collin and Isabel. He downed the entire tupperware container!!! He loved every single bite. He would literally growl at me if I didn't shovel it in fast enough, and if there was any hint of me setting down the container, he was on it...he almost grabbed it several times. He had orange goo everywhere...including his hair, eyebrows, and yes--even in his left eye. He kept grabbing the spoon and shoving his fingers in his mouth with it, and then he'd smear it everywhere. It was fun times. We sure love our little wiggler...We'll call him Wiggles number 2!

A Happier Little Princess

Now that she's gotten the hang of crawling, scooting, and yes even limping around, she is much happier, and I must say very resiliant! She is such a sweetheart. We sure love her and we're amazed at how little her temperament has changed, dispite this hardship in her life. She is just as happy and loves to play with her brothers and help mommy with cooking, vacuuming, and other projects.

Collin's latest!

When Elder Holland spoke in General Conference (this was after we had explained that President Hinckley had died and that we had a new prophet, President Monson):
Collin asked, "Who's he?"
Jamie: "That's Elder Holland."
Collin: "Is he a prophet?"
Jamie: "Yes, he's one of our prophets."
Collin: "Wow, well, if he's a prophet, that means we have a lot of prophets to follow!"

Another conversation, this time while Jamie was reading Collin one of his books about planets and stars, and in particular, the sun:

Jamie wrote:
Living Scriptures videos finally paying off...I was reading a book about the Sun with Collin, and I said, "If you look at the Sun too long, your eyes will burn out and you won't be able to see anymore."

And in a matter of fact way he said, "Well, then we'd have to get Jesus to put mud in them and then go wash in the river seven times or something..."