Asher’s first big injury

I started my new job on Tuesday, so today was my 3rd day.  I got home from work, and the kids were outside playing with the neighbors while Derk was inside starting dinner.  I came in and helped him finish up, and then he went out to call the kids in for dinner.  As I was setting the table, I noticed Derk walking into the house carrying Asher.  It took my brain a minute to process what was going on.  My thinking went something like this:  Derk is carrying Asher, that’s weird.  Derk says to me in this very calm but strange voice, “Do NOT freak out.”  Why is Asher making that weird whimpering noise?  I see red on Asher’s shirt… Derk lays Asher on the table.  More red.  LOTS more red.  Huge gash on Asher’s forehead.  The red is blood! 

I processed it all very quickly, but it really went like that in my head…like my brain was protecting me and filling me in with baby steps or something?  Once I realized Asher had sliced his forehead open (slingshot the neighbors were playing with out front), I had to quickly turn away and walk out of the room to gain my composure.  I really didn’t want to scare Asher any more than he already was, and I knew I needed a clear head.  It was SO scary.  Head wounds bleed a ton, even when they’re not very bad, so it was hard for us to be able to tell how bad it really was.  We were SUCH a great team, though, and were able to stay very calm.  Kyrie was awesome and took Bri out of the room and kept her occupied while Derk and I helped Asher.  Derk and I both were able to stay very calm, which really surprised me because we could tell we were both majorly freaking out on the inside!!!  We knew we had to get the bleeding to slow down first to get a better idea of what we were dealing with.  He was COVERED in blood, literally.  It almost looked like he’d been shot or something – it was everywhere!  Once Asher started coming out of his shock, he saw the blood all over his clothes and hands, and that made him freak out even more.  Thank goodness for our good friends who live in our neighborhood!  I called her and asked if she’d watch the girls, and we were quickly on the way to urgent care.  We were able to slow down the bleeding, but Asher was acting really funny and was scaring us. 

At urgent care, they determined he didn’t need stitches, and they were able to use Dermabond to glue it together.  It was just on the verge of needing stitches, though, so we were very lucky.  The nurses were so good to him and so nice.  At urgent care is when the whole thing really caught up to me, and I did break down for a few minutes.  :(  But they really talked us through everything and were very gentle and thorough.  They were really concerned with his behavior, though, so they sent us to the emergency room and said they wanted him to get a CT scan.  We were SO freaked out at that point – brain damage?!?

Luckily he really perked up in the ER.  He was super scared and nervous about the whole prospect of possibly needing stitches, so I think once that was all over he was able to relax and calm down.  The ER doctor took a very quick (VERY quick) look at him and said right away that he didn’t need any other testing, that he may have a mild concussion but that was it.  She was actually so quick that we had to stop her at the door and ask her to come back.  This was our little boy, we were scared, and we had lots more questions for her.  I know they’re busy, but it was annoying that she literally walked in, took one quick look at him (didn’t even talk to him!), said, “He’s totally fine!”, turned on her heel, and tried to walk out the door.  Geesh. 

Derk decided to take tomorrow off to stay home with Asher.  I could have, but it being only my 3rd day at work we didn’t want me to call off already.  Derk slept with Asher out on the couch and woke him up every few hours to make sure he was okay. 

Here are some pics from urgent care.

And our brave boy after we got home.

It was a VERY long and scary day, and we are feeling super grateful that our little guy is okay!!  Kids can sure scare you to death sometimes, and we are so glad it didn’t turn out worse.

My mini

Today Bri was playing around with my phone, and as soon as I saw the pictures it reminded me instantly of one of my FB profile pictures!  I never really think my kids look a lot like me, but I quickly realized today that Bri sure does.

Love my little mini!!

Job hunting

Ever since I graduated back in May, I’ve been looking for jobs to see what I can find.  I really don’t want to continue on to get a bachelors degree if I can find a good job right now.  I finally heard about a potential job through a friend from one of my last classes I took at the college.  She’s friends with the owner’s wife.  I sent in my resume this past week, and they wanted me to come in for an interview yesterday!  Here I am right before heading over – super nervous!

The interview went really well.  It’s for a small business doing accounts payable and payroll.  The office is literally 5 minutes from my house, exactly in between our house and the kids’ school.  After the interview, we went out for lunch at the mall.  They were having a fun little activity down there that had some free activities for the kids.  They had face painting, snow cones, and a few other things.  The kids had lots of fun.

  

While at lunch, I got a message from the friend I mentioned before, and she said she heard from the owner’s wife that “someone rocked their interview.”  That was super exciting for me!!  That meant the owner had told his wife, who, in turn, had told her friend…all great signs!  After we finished eating, we headed over to Target to get a few things.  Asher, Bri, and I had some fun snapping pics in the car in the parking lot. 

While we were in Target, I got THE phone call – I’d gotten the job!  We were so thrilled that we started doing a happy dance (literally) in the middle of the store.  It was so fun.  Then this morning, I woke up to the sweetest thing.  Kyrie got up early and had this ready for me when I woke up!!!

Isn’t she the sweetest?!  She even made these breakfast cookie type things.  I was just so touched, and it brought me to tears.

Definitely a happy weekend!

Candy corn craft

Bri has been having a very rough adjustment to Kindergarten, so I’ve been trying to plan fun activities to do together after school to lift her spirits.  Today we did a cute candy corn craft I saw on the internet.  She had a fun time ripping up all the pieces of paper and gluing them on, and it was nice to sit and chat together while she worked.  The only downside to this craft was the amount of pieces needed to fill the space.  Bri got pretty bored gluing and ripping after a while (her pieces got bigger and bigger as time went on to try and fill more space), so I had to help her finish it up.  She’s very proud of her cute candy corn!

Cambria’s first lost tooth

Today little Bri finally lost her first tooth, and she couldn’t be more excited for a visit from the Tooth Fairy!  This tooth took FOR.EVER to fall out.  You can see in the picture that the new tooth is already about halfway up.  It was growing in behind the baby tooth and pushing it forward.  She was really close to needing the dentist yank it out, but it finally fell out on its own, thank goodness.  What a big girl!

Desert storm clouds and a reunion

Life has certainly been busy since we got home in July!  As I’m sitting here trying to get the blog updated, I realize I have NO pictures between mid-July and now.  I didn’t realize how busy I was, but the fact that I have not a single picture really proves it. 

Anyway, I’ve posted before about the crazy storms we have in the desert.  We had another crazy one this week that rolled in as I was heading to the store.  I had to snap a picture of these clouds.  Quite ominous!  You can’t tell from the pic, but they seriously just roll in out of nowhere.  One minute the sky is blue without any clouds (which is how our sky is 95% of the time), then suddenly these dark clouds float in…and within a matter of seconds there’s a downpour. 

This week was quite special for Cambria because it meant we started watching little Genevieve again!  Bri was beside herself with excitement, and seeing these 2 cuties together again was just so sweet.  Of course I had to snap a few pictures of them together – they are inseparable! 

Associate of Science

When we got home I had a lovely surprise waiting for me in the mail – MY DEGREE!!  Even though I am continuing on to get my Bachelor’s degree, I am still so proud of this accomplishment!!

Summer vacation 2012–week 6

Our original plan was to stay in Idaho for about 7 weeks.  But with Derk’s broken ankle it really made things difficult, and we decided to head home a week early.  I didn’t get many pictures this week because I was really busy taking care of Derk and the kids.  We got some last minute fun in, though, and do have a few pictures to share. 

We took another trip to Silverwood with Grandma and Grandpa (Derk came, too, but had to be in a wheelchair).  Asher and Grandpa went on lots of water slides together!

We spent a nice day at Farragut with my dad, siblings, and nephews.  This was neat for me because I came here as a little girl and got to think about the fun times my family had here all those years ago.  I love taking my kids to places I went as a child and watching them do the same things I once did.  The cousins had a blast blowing bubbles, digging in the sand, hiking around the lake, and playing in the water with Uncle James.  We also had a nice picnic.  It was a nice day, especially since Derk came with us.  He had to just sit in a chair and read/relax the whole time, but it was nice to spend time together outside.

And we had a last family get together at my mom’s.  The kids swam away in Nana’s pool with Uncle James, and the rest of the adults sat around enjoying the weather and chatting (and if you’re Derk, glaring at your wife for daring to take your picture…).

Cambria has been practicing her swimming all summer and was doing awesome this last time in the pool!

And here are a couple of pics from our trip back home.  I am normally SO sad to leave, but with Derk being hurt it was just really hard and crazy.  We all needed to be HOME.  Packing up the car was really tricky because Derk obviously couldn’t help me load up much.  His mom helped me quite a bit, but even so it took me until 2:30am to get most everything packed up.  Luckily Derk was able to do some driving that first day, but I had to drive a lot more than usual (actually, he normally drives the entire trip).  Once we decided we were taking off a week early, I had to check the Cache Valley cheese factory’s website to make sure we would pass through when they were open!  Yes, the cheese really is THAT worth it!  We ended up leaving a day later than we wanted to JUST so we could stop and get some “squeaky cheese” as we call it.  The kids were so good that Derk promised them they could pick whatever they wanted as a treat when we first stopped for gas.  Next time we’ll make sure to choose our words a little more carefully because Asher + a huge can of Mt.  Dew = HYPER!!!!!!  And lots of bathroom stops.    As we drove the thermometer in the van started slowly creeping up, and once it hit 100* we knew we must be getting close to home. 

It was definitely the most eventful summer vacation we’ve ever had!  We’ll never forget all our memories from this year.    It’s sad that our summer is almost over now.  Derk has about 2 more weeks until he goes back to work, and then the kids are back in school shortly after.  I love having everyone home with me all summer long.  But with such a crazy summer, it’ll do us good to get home and back into a routine!  Thanks to all our family for such wonderful memories from this summer!  We love you all!

Summer vacation 2012–week 5

While we are all here together, Rebecca had the idea to do an annual cousin camp that would be 2 days of fun activities for all the cousins to do together.  She put all the original plans together, even making up a spreadsheet to outline which adult would be helping her with which activities.  And she designed shirts for all the kids to wear!  They sure had a wonderful time!!  There were relay races, lots of craft projects, a service project for Grandma and Grandpa, memory books, even a fun skit at the end that Rebecca asked Kyrie to write (which Kyrie LOVED!).  What a fun idea and such wonderful memories for all the kids.  You’re awesome, Rebecca!  There are literally hundreds of pictures of cousin camp between all of our cameras, so here are “a few" of my favorites!

 

Kyrie, Asher, and Cambria.

Abigail, Lauren, and Dallin.

Zariah, Maleah, Anoni, and Quinten.

All the cousins in their cousin camp shirts, minus Quinten.

LOVE this picture of Asher and Dallin.  They are so handsome and sweet!!

While everyone was together, we also took some family pictures.  Here’s the WHOLE Stephens clan!  And to think…all this started with just Scott and Jean – crazy!

 

Here’s Grandma and Grandpa with all 10 of their grandbabies.

And here’s our little family.  There were 2 different cameras going at the same time, so we’re looking different directions.  But at least we’re all smiling! 

 

This week was quite an exciting week for the Stephens clan!  Aside from being busy with cousin camp and everything else going on, we also had a whole slew of injuries!  Many were minor (scrapes and bumps from playing), but there were 3 major ones – Dallin tripped on my laptop cord and had to get stitches in his forehead, Abbie was jumping on the bed and ended up falling off and severely breaking her arm in several places, and Derk broke his ankle on a water slide at Silverwood!  The x-ray is of Abbie’s arm - you can see the fracture on the bone on the left, and the bone on the right is supposed to be connected up there at the top but was completely displaced.  Poor thing has to have surgery and be in a cast.  Dallin was a trooper getting his stitches, and I cuddled him as much as I could once he got home – I felt TERRIBLE that it was my stupid computer that he got hurt on!  And poor Derk fractured his ankle and will have to be in a walking boot for at least the next 6 weeks.  He couldn’t walk at all, and I was really grateful to Kevan and Eric for helping me get him to the urgent care.

We celebrated the 4th of July.

We ended the week by spending lots of extra time with my sister, Katie and her family.  They ended up having to leave for her husband’s business, so we won’t see them any more this summer.  We made the best of our last days together and spent as much time as we could hanging out.  We went to Starbucks, shopped, and hit Silverwood one last time together.

 

This week was by far the busiest we’ve had, but we sure had lots of fun!