Memorial Day

I love holidays! I think the main reason is because Tyler gets to be home from work. I also love the fact that we are usually with our families for the most part of the day. This Monday just happened to be my dad's birthday, as well as Memorial Day. My brothers and I went over to my parents house for a fun afternoon of swimming, eating, relaxing, and just enjoying.  

Here is some of the fam. Happy Birthday Dad! I love you!!!
I used to love going to visit cemetaries on Memorial Day. I always thought it was so fun. This time around was different. I spent a good part of the weekend crying, and missing my baby and sister. 
Tyler's parents are so awesome. After we lost our baby, Becky organized a service project called "Matthews' Quarters." All of the grandkids were encouraged to do extra jobs around the house to earn money. All of the money they earned went to help pay for Matthew's headstone. It was so sweet. They are all such cute kids, and worked hard for their money. Thanks Dallan and Becky for being so thoughtful!!

Pure entertainment

 Jacob has been so funny lately, and is always making me smile. I just had to post a couple of cute pics I have taken of him recently. He is always wanting to be big, just like his brother and sister, and trying to dress like them. He LOVES hats, and doesn't care if they are made for girls or boys. I have finally given up on trying to make him take off the girly ones before we go on our walks. If he is wearing it, it stays on! He loves his "ak-back" (backpack), and thinks he is going to school every time we take the kids in the morning. He is talking so much lately. My favorite word he says is, "Peeeeees" (Please). We make him say it over and over again because he is just so dang cute, and he knows it! I love my little bud, and we have so much fun together during the day when the kids are at school. This stage will be over too soon!

and the destruction begins...

We have been planning a remodel on our home for at least a year. Last Saturday was the official beginning. We have this great tree that was planted too close to our house, and the top of it barely reached our rain gutter when we moved in 7 years ago. It is a fast grower, but TOO close to our foundation. The root system is uprooting our fence, and destroying our sprinklers. SO, our great Elders Quorem president, who just happens to be our good friend and neighbor organized a little tree/chainsaw party for us. They got the tree down pretty quickly, and managed to do so without taking out our neighbors tree and mailbox. I am sad because that tree provided so much shade in our backyard, and I really did love it! Oh well, I guess I can plant a new one.

When the tree was done, they guys were feeling manly, and decided to rip apart our back deck. Again, this was so needing to be done. We are going to lay a concrete patio soon, but it just wasn't on my Saturday "to do" list. It was so fun to watch them all at work. A little extra man power can go a long way! They got the whole deck out in about 35 minutes. Thanks guys! You are all the best! I am so excited that it is gone. Now I HAVE to get my patio layed soon. YEA!!



I will post some before and after pictures of the whole back yard. I can't wait!!

I'm still here

I just realized the other day that I haven't blogged since Tyler was in the hospital. So much has happened in the last couple of weeks: I tell ya, 2009 is not my favorite year... Tyler is home, and doing SO much better! Thank goodness!! I guess he was feeling better until he backed right into our neighbor's car that was in our driveway last week, crushing his light, and banging up her bumper pretty good. Two days later, his BMW totally died. Yes, died! He could barely make it up our hill, and ended up in front of our house, since our driveway is too steep to get up. Out front is the resting place for the car until Ty gets two seconds to see if he is able to fix it. Then, Friday night, Jakey grabbed a pair of scissors, and managed to cut himself right between the eyes as he fell off of the chair with them. Tyler took him to kids care at 9:00 p.m., and they were able to glue his wound shut. Keep in mind that I had a house full of my nieces and nephews that were all freaking out about the blood all over his face. I am counting my blessings on this one, because he SO easily could have cut his eye, or worse, poked the darn thing out. Scary!

I guess since Friday we have been accident-free. Hurray!! Call me tomorrow, and see what the latest is!

Are you kidding me?

I am typing this post from Tyler's hospital room at the IMC hospital. Yes, that's right, the Sohm family has been slapped in the face once again with trauma. Seriously, when is it going to stop? Just when things were starting to feel back to normal, we end up spending the good part of the week in the hospital...

Tyler woke up early Monday morning (about 2:30 a.m.) with excrutiating pain in his abdomen and back. I took him to the Emergency Room, where they diagnosed him with Diverticulitis. This is basically an infection in the large intestine. We were there only about 3 hours, then sent home with antibiotics and pain killers. Mon, Tues, and Wed. kind of came and went, with Tyler being in pain and nauseated. Thursday morning, he woke up (or basically just got up after a no-night of sleep), and couldn't stop vomitting. I called the ER, and they said to have him come in right away. We spent all day Thursday in the ER again, with more X-rays and CT scans. They had him hooked up on pain meds, and anti-biotics all day, and finally admitted him that evening. It has been a long couple of days. You sort of lose track of time while you are in the hospital. He is doing a lot better right now and is finally able to eat (liquid diet), and is up and walking around. Hopefully he will be able to come home tomorrow.

I would rather not be here right now, but since we are, I have made of list of my favorite things about the hospital. Hey, I need to stay positive. :) #1-My favorite thing is the view!! It is spectacular! We are overlooking the Wasatch mountains, and it is gorgeous. We are on the 11th floor, so we can see just about everything. #2- Our room is right over the helicopter landing pad, so that keeps me entertained. I get so excited every time I see the choppers fly. I have never even thought about how many emergencies a day that AirMed is used for. #3- My other favorite thing is hospital ice. YUM!! Tyler says that he doesn't have any favorites about the hospital. I think he is ready to get out of here.

You know, this whole experience has made me realize that anything can happen at any time. I have thought a lot about how grateful I am for Tyler. I don't know what I would do without him. I have hated seeing him suffering, and wish that I could just take it away. I think we have both had our share of pain this year. On top of that, I have felt so bad shuttling my kids around to other people just so I could spend time with him at the hospital. This has broken my heart every time I have had to leave my kids with someone. I love them more than anything in the world, and am so blessed to have 3 sweet little angels in my life! I CANNOT wait for all of us to be home together again!!!! Let's pray that we are done for the year!

Birthday Party

Abby has the cutest friends ever! She wanted to have an "all-girls" party. I tried to encourage her to invite the boys too. I realized that she will be wanting boy-girl parties soon enough, so I will just stick w/ the girls for now.

They made cute fairy wands, played games outside, made bead necklaces and bracelets, and had cupcakes (which abby decorated with sprinkles), and ice cream. I heard the greatest idea, and finally tried it today. I pre-scooped ice cream into cup cake papers, then set them back in the freezer. When it was ice-cream time, I just gave each girl her own little cup. It was such a time saver, and the perfect portion size for little people. I highly recommend this!

Abby was so excited by all the fun gifts she got from her friends! Thanks to everyone!! Once again, we have the greatest friends ever!!!

5 year old girl!!

Happy Birthday to my sweet little Abby!! She turned 5 years old yesterday. I can hardly believe it. Honestly, I don't know where the time has gone. She has grown up so fast! Do you ever feel like you are always rushing on birthdays? I feel like yesterday flew by. Abby had school in the morning. When she got home Grandma Becky took her to lunch and birthday shopping. Abby thought she was so special getting to go with Grandma! She came back so tired, so I made her lay down on my bed. Of course she just HAD to watch Dora while laying down. Whatever. She wanted to go to Asian Buffet for dinner, and has been planning this for months. Come to find out, the only reason she wants to go there is for the jello (ok, so I don't make jello enough apparently), and the popcicle/ice cream bars that you can choose from. Seriously, I will just go and buy her a box of cream cicles for $1.50 if that is what she really wants. We did make her eat her shrimp and rice however. After dinner, we had her change in the car, and raced to her first soccer game. I have to admit that I was pretty impressed by my little girl. She has spent many seasons watching Riley play, but she quickly caught on once she was out there, and did awesome! She even made a goal. Way to go Abs!! We came home from the game, and opened presents- finally. She waited so patiently all day until Tyler was able to be home to do it. We had cake and ice cream, then went to bed. We had a fun-filled day. I love Abby so much. She is my best friend, and I am so happy to have her in my life!