PROM

Be careful what you ask for...

Junior Prom 1991

(HOLY HAIR)

The story goes...

My mom was on a mission.

A mission to find a dress for me.

She wanted one that came up to my chin.

She found it.

And bought it.

I wore it.

My prom date: Brian Christensen.

(The only other mormon aside from Ben in my grade.)

He was one of my best friends in high school.

Here I am being crowned as Prom Queen. (whatever) Let's just say that I felt a little 'overdressed' for the occassion, me and my covered shoulders/neck and all.

DINNER

Dinner, my FAVORITE time of day. I LOVE when my kids tell me "EWWWW". I LOVE when they make faces at me. I LOVE that after I've slaved over their meal they thank me like this...

Harvest Soup...it's yummy.

Don't let them fool you.

C'mon...doesn't this look delish? Don't hide Kaleb, EMBRACE it.
"Maybe if I avoid my soup long enough it will go away."

Rice Crispies...

THANK GOODNESS!

There is NO dinner they can't remedy.

As you can see, even Ben enjoyed his rice crispies!

(uh, Ben...you've got a little snap, crackle, pop right about there...)

COVER UP

Today I was reading from this blog.

click here

(she's funny, you won't be sorry:))

This is what it said:

In 1898 American Girls and Women were applauded for embracing sports such as bicycling and swimming.They were cautioned, that exercise does not mean they

"should don a garment so scant as to leave limbs exposed!"

My mom (Prisciller) would be PROUD!

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Apparently I didn't get the MEMO!

MY RETREAT

I went on a retreat two weeks ago.

All by myself.

Just got the bill today...

to the tune of

$13,631.24

I know...Wow!

Jealous? Don't be.

Pharmacy--------------------$162.15

IV Solution-------------------$240.00

IV Therapy------------------$660.00

Med-Sur Supplies------------$140.00

Sterile Supplies--------------$267.54

Laboratory------------------$516.00

Lab/Chemistry--------------$90.00

Lab/Hematology------------$244.0

Pathology Lab---------------$370.00

OR Services-----------------$2,078.70

Anesthesia Drugs & Equip.---$430.00

Ultrasound------------------$450.00

Emergency Room-----------$1,760.00

Pharmacy - Coded-----------$486.00

Self-Administrable drugs-----$148.00

Pre-Post OP Nursing Care----$4,417.85

Other RX Services------------$825.00

Prof Fees/ER-----------------$346.00

No pedicures, spa treatments or fabulous meals for me.

Just a couple nights in the hospital with an unexpected surgery.

(I totally know how to live it up!)

*****

Hospital exenses: $13,631.24

Great health insurance: priceless!!!

(looking for the positive)

WHOA...

Ever say "I'm sorry" to a stranger

only to have them say...

"No your not".

Happened to me.

Totally floored.

It's a long story...I'll tell you about it someday.

THANKFUL

(Ben, Becky and Aaron)

Today I'm thankful for:

MUSHROOM HAIR and BIG HOMEMADE BOWTIES.
(my kids are seriously deprived)

FEELING IT TODAY...

Learning to be joyful in hope
Patient in affliction
faithful in prayer

"...I have loved you with an everlasting love..."

Jeremiah 31:3

Joseph Smith said:"I have meditated upon the subject, and asked the question, why is it that infants, innocent children, are taken away from us, especially those that seem to be the most intelligent and interesting. the strongest reasons that present themselves to my mind are these.....The Lord takes many away, even in infancy that they may escape the envy of man, and the sorrows and evils of this present world; they were too pure, too lovely to live on earth; therefore, if rightly considered, instead of mourning we have reason to rejoice as they are delivered from evil, and we shall soon have them again....The only difference between the old and the young dying is, one lives longer in heaven and eternal light and glory then the other, and is freed a little sooner from this miserable, wicked world. Not withstanding all this glory we for a moment lose sight of it, and mourn the loss, but we do not mourn as those without hope."

QUESTION

These are Stevie's friends.

They're what make her

world go round.

MY QUESTION TO YOU:

She wants to play football next year.

What would YOU say?

BEN

Yesterday was one of those unexpected trips to Dartmouth with Ben. I love Dartmouth, (just not this much) can't get enough of the place apparently. I feel like I'm there every other day....oh wait, I am. So yesterday Ben had a last minute appointment scheduled with dermatology. It was for 10am. While there I figured we might as well try and get in to see Dr. Moen - his ortho. doctor - to look at his elbow again. They were nice enough to squeeze us in, but not until 1:30pm. Fine. That's perfect. I got to the appointment early hoping that just maybe we might get seen. Nope. Didn't see her until 2:30pm. At that point, she proceeded to tell me that not only is Ben's elbow dislocated, but so is his wrist. WHAT? Thanks for casually throwing out that one. The tears begin to flow, can't help it. I'm trying to figure out how the HECK this happened to my child. In the process of examining Ben, she decides that his dislocation is acute - meaning it happend suddenly - versus being a chronic problem. To help his situation she felt that he needed to have what is called a "closed reduction" (putting the elbow back in place). In order to do this, Ben needed to be sedated. That meant a trip to the OR. An hour later I was dressing in the big green jumpsuit and lovely showercap walking down a mile worth of corridors to kiss my boy and tell him that I'd see him in a little bit. 90 minutes later Dr. Moen came out to talk to me. She told me that they looked at both his right (the good one) and left elbow under flouroscopy and decided that they looked pretty similar. She took this to mean that Ben's dislocation has been a developmental one and not so much acute like she thought a couple hours earlier. Same thing with his wrist. She did try to manipulate it back into place but the elbow was not having it. So...it wasn't something that anybody else did but rather a slow developing process. For a whole week I've been told many times that it's acute, no chronic, no acute, no chronic. Can I get off this rollercoaster now? The question left is this...if his elbow is not an acute problem, then why is his arm swollen? Nobody knows. GREAT! We're back to ground zero.

Ben before surgery
right after his procedure
his splinted arm

BEST.NIGHT.EVER

Meet my TWIN. He's my other half. I love this guy. We have too much fun together. We're what you call TROUBLE! (don't worry...we behaved) He flew out just to take me out for OUR birthday. (okay, that's only partly true) We went to the CHOP HOUSE. It was DELISH!

This is me standing on tippy toes and him crouching down 3 feet so that we could meet somewhere in the middle. That's what happens when you're
twins with a giant.

mmm...440z. of pure goodness. WHAT? I need the iron... Just kidding, I shared with Ben...just a little.
He even bought me dessert. He's generous like that! My favorite BENs in the WHOLE WORLD!!! Saying goodbye...
Thanks for the fabulous night Ben, I miss you already!