My boot is off!!!

I went to see my foot doctor today. He looked at it and then he pulled the pin out. It didn't hurt at all. I thought it was going to be long but it was really short. Now the important part... he told me that I could stop using my boot! Yay!! He told me that I can start working out. I can bike and swim but I still can't quite run yet. Maybe a few more weeks and then I can run. Another thing I get to do now... take showers!! Waaahooo!! I've been taking baths for the last 5 weeks and I'm sick of it!


Ok, I'm going to post a picture of my foot and it might gross you out. If it does, then I'm sorry! I just wanted to post it to compare the before picture!

Here's before...


Here's after...

Wow! That is amazing!! Can you believe how cool that is? My foot looks almost weird now because I've lived with my bunion all my life. Now that it's gone, my foot looks crazy weird!! What do you think??

I do notice that my big toe looks pretty swollen still. And yes, it looks like I need to cut my toe nail. I haven't been able to do it for 5 weeks. Sorry if that grosses you out.

I'm happy now that I can get back to my life. I'll be glad too when I can start running again... but I'm stoked to start riding my bike! I just got a brand new bike for my birthday too! Wahoo!!

'Tis the Season for the Water Slide
(( Fa la la la la, la la la la ))

Today was the first day that we got out the water slide! Ryan had an absolute blast! We invited over Kari and Sara with the kids.

Benjamin didn't want to get on the slide. One way or another, I'll get him in this summer. Maybe Troy will have to go down with Ben to get him more comfortable.

Here are some pictures that I got of Ryan...



After awhile, Cody and Whitney showed up and Cody decided to get in too with Ryan. They both had a blast!

In these 2 pictures, Cody was counting to 3 and then off they went!

Lastly, here is a video of Ryan and Ben. I thought it was funny!

Day out with THOMAS!

Yesterday we went up to Heber and went to their annual Day out with Thomas. The boys had a blast!

Here are tons of pictures...


Here is Troy and Ben with Sir Topam Hatt. Ryan was off to the right because he was scared.

Here are the boys on the train. They were so excited!

Here is Ben watching everything go by.


Ryan liked to look outside too but he really wanted Thomas to go faster. It was a really slow moving train.

Here we are in front of Thomas!

After we rode on Thomas, they had these little motor cars that you could ride on. Ryan was dying to get on them! He had a blast!

We were happy that we went. The boys sure did have fun!

I got my cast off today!

But, I still have to wear this big boot. The doctor told me that my toe still hasn't healed enough for me to walk on it. So, he put me in the boot. At least, at the end of the day, I can take it off and move my foot around and rotate it. That will feel good. But, I still can't take showers... baths only. That has really been hard for me since my surgery!!

Ryan's Craft

Ryan came home today from school with a craft. It looks like a fish to me. He seemed pretty proud of it. Troy called me and Ryan tried to show Troy what he made. He didn't quite understand that Troy can't see it over the phone.

Here is Ryan's craft he made...

Surgery Done!

Here is a picture of my bunion...


And here's after...


Do you see the color of my cast?? PURPLE!!! For those who know me, I'm infatuated with the color purple! I love love love it!

The before picture doesn't look horrible but it sure did hurt! Do you see that bone or hump that's sticking out on my right side of the foot? That's the bunion.

So, Troy and Ben took me to the hospital to drop me off. Luckily, it was Wednesday and Marianne (my MIL) was off work and she put Ryan on the bus. After my surgery, the hospital called Troy to come pick me up. I remember waking up but Troy said that I was really concerned that Marianne was there at home to get Ryan off the bus. I was also worried about Ben because he caught a little bug a couple of days ago and he was throwing up and had a fever. Again, thankfully Marianne took the kids so Troy could focus on me. I came home and I was out of it. I was so tired! After my numbness wore off, my pain medicine helped a little. I was in pain yesterday and the boys were driving me nuts because they were in my face. They were concerned about me but I couldn't take it. I was really super tired. But, I had some really nice things happen to me yesterday!

Ryan came home from school with this...

Then, I got my birthday gift from my sister Lindsey! She makes these watches! Her site is called Her Findings... *click on the link to see her store!*

Aren't they gorgeous?? I am so excited to wear one of them on Mother's Day to church! The top one is, of course, green but the other one is my favorite color, Purple!! Thanks Lindsey!

Then, my great FIL, Andy, let me borrow his awesome chair! I know it's totally ugly but it is sooooo comfortable!! It reclines up and down which is perfect because I need to have my leg elevated.

Anyway, back to my leg, I do have a walking boot but I'm on crutches right now. I don't want to walk on it yet.

I'm hoping that today, the day after surgery, I will be feeling better. Pray for me!

Happy Birthday Benjamin!!

I forgot to post some videos I took of Ben on his birthday.

Here's me pregnant with Ben... (by the way, that's not my Dr. Pepper I'm holding. It was Troy's.)


And here is Benjamin when he was born...


For Ben's Birthday, I made a number 3 cake...



Also, here is a picture of Ben after he found my swimming goggles...


And, here is Ben and daddy laying down together watching Toy Story... his favorite movie!

Well, the videos aren't working. I'll try again later.

It's sad news... and official now

So, since last month, I've been training for another 1/2 marathon. I was getting pretty excited about this one. It is the Utah Valley Marathon and it looks to be a great run!

Well, everything seemed to be going well until last weekend. I started getting this horrible pain in my toe. I decided to go get it checked out at my family doctor to see if there was something really the matter with it or if I just needed to suck it up and deal with the pain.

Turns out, I have a bunion. This bunion is very painful. I saw my podiatrist and he recommended me getting some orthotics for my shoes for my race. He told me that eventually, I needed to get surgery to correct this problem or else I just need to get use to this pain. I was going to deal with it until...

This last weekend, I don't know what happened but my toe got MUCH worse! I was in pain all weekend and it was miserable.

With the big decision, I decided to not race in June. I need to get surgery done NOW. I went to the doctor and got some pain medication and they are working wonderful! My surgery is scheduled for May 5th.

Hopefully, there is another race in August that I might sign up for. That would be fun to do again. This is the same race that I did last year.

So, here's to a successful surgery and a speedy recovery!

Happy 5TH Birthday Ryan!

Wow! My baby is 5 today!! I can't believe that all these years have gone by. I'm not going to say that they went by fast, because they didn't. They have been challenging. But, I wouldn't trade them for anything.

Here is me 2.5 weeks before having Ryan...


And here is Ryan brand new...


Today, we went to Chuck e Cheese. Ryan has been excited all week to go. I was actually really excited too because this year is the first time when he really understood what is going on and that he was turning 5. Here he is playing his car game at Chuck e Cheese...


So, I attempted to make him a cake but it kind of fell apart on me. I did the best I could...


Here we all are singing Happy Birthday to him! He actually blew out his candles this year! This was the first time he could do it! Way to go Ryan!!

After we sang, Ryan held up 5 fingers for his new age...


I'm really glad to know that he had a great party and a great time! I love my Ryan! Happy Birthday!

Funny and Silly Week

This week for Ryan was Spring Break. Guess how I got to celebrate it? Bronchitis. It was wonderful, let me tell you. Troy went off to work everyday while I stayed home with the boys in the house. I tried to get as much sleep as possible. I tried laying down on the couch to close my eyes whenever I could. Ryan always comes up to me whenever he sees me laying down and says, "Momma, don't close your eyes. Get up." Benjamin was happy to lay down on the couch with me as long as the Backyardigans was on tv. That kid is addicted. Do you know how many episodes we have?? I can sing them all too. It's so wonderful being a mom.

This week, the boys picked up on how important naps are to me and so they found a cupboard in the kitchen that is emptied out now that we are trying to sell our house. They can both fit in there... with their pillows and blankets, might I add!


Benjamin originally found that cupboard convenient when he was sick awhile back to hide in there because he didn't want to take his medicine.

I also just have to include this picture of Benjamin smiling. This is what I see almost every minute of the day when I'm with Ben. It's really nice actually...


In our HOUSE news...

During the wonderful week that I've had Bronchitis, I've also had a ton of showings for the house. It's great news but I had to scramble around to clean the house up. There is a hopeful potential buyer that seems to want the house but we just have to keep our fingers crossed that it will work out. I'm sure that once an offer is made, I will post about it with all the sentimental crap about how I might be making a mistake by selling the house because I brought my 2 little baby boys home in this house and that now we need to stay here forever.

We will have to wait to see what the future holds for us...