Perfectly slow

Since summer began my Etsy shop has gone perfectly slow. I've only had a handful of sales in the last month but it has been such a blessing.

As soon as I hit 6 weeks with this pregnancy I was sick. And then it just became progressively worse each week. I honestly had no desire to work.....on anything. Not even checking blogs or writing emails. I was so out of touch, I felt.

But when I did receive orders I mustered up the desire and energy to complete them. In one weekend, I had 3 separate orders, one to Scotland even! I made 200 cupcake flags!! That's a lot of flags. I also thought of a new way to package them. With all my orders, I package them in pretty tissue paper and tie them with string. Then I realized I should add an additional little flag for an extra touch. Wouldn't you love to receive this in the mail?

It's starting to come back to me as I feel better. I have some great ideas coming soon! And shop announcement: I will be closing from July 22-26th and again from August 7-15th for personal reasons and vacation. Wahoo!

You can tell that I am feeling slightly better since I am blogging again. I am only sick from 2pm on instead of 11 am on.

Living in the rural life is not for the faint of heart. Jocelyn came rushing to me, through the usual barricade of grasshoppers that adorn the sidewalks/ground here at my parents. She kept saying, "ants" and brought me her book that had a couple ants on it. Big deal, I thought. They are everywhere. But she kept insisting that I come "show me." So I went downstairs and found a trail of ants, 2 ants wide, going through my entire bedroom! Like one of those ant trails you see in cartoons that steal picnic food off the red checkered table cloths. Ya, I've never seen one so prominent before. How do they get in? They find the tiniest crumb and then tell all their little ant friends to join the party. I got the vacuum and got rid of them. But any little tingle or itch I am afraid it's an ant crawling on me. Yuck.

And Samuel came downstairs adorned like this. He wanted to be "cool." He insists that I can't wash it off---ever. I think he's been watching daddy and uncle Levi play too many computer games. I also later found out that he did the same to his bike. That's not so cool.

First broken bone

You may have noticed that Jocelyn had a cast on her arm in the previous post. I neglected to blog about that experience. Here is what happened.

While we were in Colorado Jocelyn fell down the stairs, about 4 of them, carpeted. She was carrying her princess dress in her arms and tripped. She tumbled actually. She cried right away and I could tell she was in pain. Her wrist was a little red and I iced it and the redness went away. She immediately wanted a nap (at 11:30am) and woke up in pain again. So I gave her pain reliever and monitored it for the rest of the day. When Tyler examined her much later in the day he noticed it hurt when he turned it a certain way (like when his arm broke so many years ago) and it was starting to swell a lot more. So after calling insurance people and trying to find a provider that would accept out of state insurance, we took her to the ER the next day. She did great. Didn't cry once. After the X-rays she perked right up and became more active with the Dr's. Of course, I couldn't go in with her to get the X-rays but she did fine with Tyler. So, she came away with a splint and a sling. It's really cute actually. She has two minor buckled fractures, one on each of her arm bones. I am glad we went in to the ER! (we were only there for 2 hours!). And the attending nurse said we did the right thing by waiting to see if it got worse before taking her in.

Here are the photos of her right after we got home. Sammy took the "leg" shot.



She'll have to wear her cast for 4 weeks total and she does great with it. Even with the little blisters and chaffing it causes her. And by the way, try, at all costs, to avoid doing any medical stuff out of state. Even if your insurance is willing to be billed....the other state may not be willing to bill them. So you'll get stuck with the bill. Such a pain!! We even waited a few extra days (with permission from the nurses, of course) to get her cast on so we could drive to Utah early and not have to pay for an orthopedic surgeon to put it on in Colorado! Crazy!

So, we have our first broken bone with the kids. But like I said, Joc is a trooper. If Samuel so much as gets a splinter, he shrieks, kicks and screams in pain. I am glad it was Joc and not Sammy. Knock on wood he doesn't break anything any time soon.

Independence Day 2009

We had pretty fun time for the fourth this year. In short, we attended the Mt Pleasant parade, ate hot dogs for lunch. Then we drove down to Richfield to hang out with my brother Alex and his family. The kids loved this the best (okay, after collecting candy at the parade) because they were able to play with their cousins and their cute little kitten. We then drove back to Mt P and witnessed a really cool fireworks, I mean, lightning display that spread across the whole valley. The lightning was better than the fireworks that we did actually see in Mt P!



I am grateful to be living in this country. I am worried about the course it is taking (politically speaking) but for now, I know that I am safe. I feel blessed to live in a land that we are still free to practice our religion, have access to great medical treatment and public schools. Happy Independence Day!

Emu's

We're staying with my parents in Mt. Pleasant, UT for the next month. Mt P is a podunk town but it's quiet and peaceful.

As I mentioned earlier, my parents have peacocks that live next door. But there are also Emu's.

Pronounced Ee--meeew. They are quite unattractive creatures. Sort of like an pre-historic ostrich. 3 toes, fraggle rock like feathers, big orange eyes and a long neck. But the best part about these birds is that they sound like drums. They make this sound in their chest that sounds like beating a barrel drum. It's pretty cool.

Today I took the kids on a walk past the emu's. We also saw some baby peacocks and fed the horses. But the funniest part was when Samuel named one of the Emu's Parker, after his best friend in Utah. That made me laugh (maybe you too, Meliss). They do not resemble each other at all and I have no idea why he made the comparison. Lol. I guess Parker is just on his mind.

Here are the two together. I see no resemblance. Unless Parker can make a drum sound in his chest.

• extra saliva
• nauseous from 11 AM on...
• all too familiar with the porcelain throne
• weight gain
• In bed by 9:30/10 PM, if possible
• tossing and turning all night
  
• lack of motivation to do much of anything

You guessed it, I'm pregnant! 10 weeks along to be exact. Due the end of January. I am nervous, scared and a bit excited all at the same time. Just thought I'd let you know :)