Stronger

To quote one of my homies, Kanye West, "What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger." (Okay, Okay all you smarties out there. I know that Kanye didn't pen the quote. That happened to be Frederich Nietzsche....Oh, and just so you know, I had to google that. I'm really not a brilliant quotition (I'm not even sure if this is a word. I may have just made it up.) Anyway, I just wanted to express my gangsta side....'Fo Shizzle. But this is not even the point. The point is this......It has been a long and, dare I say, exhausting summer. And to end this glorious season, my husband took a little trip to the operating room to have the screw removed in his foot.....because what's better than getting screwed???? Why, getting un-screwed, of course! So, for all my fellow bloggee's.....

A RECAP.

116 is the number of days that Lewis spend in a hard cast....or walking boot....or walking shoe....or any combination thereof. It is also the number of days that I spent praying to be put out of my misery....and Lewis probably spent praying for the exact same thing.

6 is the number of pillows that Lewis propped his foot up on for the first week after surgery. After sharing my bed with a vast array of pillows.....I'd say it was about 5 too many.

115 is the amount of cherry limeades that I consumed. I had one a day.....every day.....but the first day when I was weeping silently in my room and hoping that it would all be over soon.

60 is the amount of ice creams, or shakes, or some form of frozen, delicious goodness that was consumed. What can I say? I'm a sympathy eater.

10 is the amount of pounds I have gained since this whole D thing started!

14 is the number of times Lewis mowed the lawn in his cast....or boot....or shoe....because he cares so much about our beautiful lawn. I love that he's like that.

0 is the number of times that I mowed the lawn. I don't do lawns. I'm just like that.

6 is the number of times I weeded my yard and hated every stinkin' minute of it. It was then that I found out that I don't do weeding either.

27 is the number of times that I muttered under my breath "go put your own *bleepin'* gym clothes in your gym bag. "

27 is also the number of times that I apologized for being such a bitty.

14 is the number of baths that I helped Lewis with......and quite frankly, giving baths is WAY overrated.

1 is the number of Sunday's my husband missed throughout this whole ordeal. If it had been me, I may have not gone to church for the whole 4 months. This is another thing that makes my husband so great.

80 is the number of times Lewis asked me to rub his foot.....or put lotion on his "dry" foot....or both.

25 is the amount of times that I actually did it.......I'm a horrible wife, I know.

So, It's all said and done. No more cherry limeades.... or ice creams......or lotion on feet....baths.....or pillow propping.....no more casts/boots/awesome walking shoes......an end of an era, if you will.......and one that I gladly hope to not visit for a very, very long time! And just think, we're both not dead.....we're STRONGER!

Stay tuned for pictures of the burning of the boots.....I'm totally serious. If we're going to do this, we're going to do it big. I can't wait!

LMN

I have a confession.....it started out rather innocently, but now I'm starting to wonder if it's turning into something bigger. The other day I was running on my treadmill and flipping through the channels for something mindless to watch while I ran away the miles, when I came across channel 109. Hmmm....that's funny, I thought to myself, I never remember having the Lifetime Movie Channel. So I tuned in.....and was hooked before I knew it. The miles just flew by, because after all, watching a movie about (an abused wife who leaves, after years of abuse, with her child only to start a new life, remarry, and then have her abusive husband reappear back in her life) can be quite intriguing, in a "train-wreck of a movie" sort-of way. It was quite a mindless way to spend an hour......and five or six miles. So, before I knew it I was DVRing all sorts of movies. Movies with titles like, " Wife, Mother, Murderer" and "Sleeping with the Devil." I then slowly realized that I was becoming like my mother.....not in a negative way, mind you. After all, my mother is a saint.....that being said, she MIGHT just have a slight addiction to the LMN. Nary a Sunday goes by that we don't go over to her house for dinner and during her preparations she is tuned in to one of those fine pieces of movie. (Shhh.....she may have a bigger problem than I do....I LOVE you mom.) And then I recalled the time that Lewis and I got drawn into a Lifetime Original movie, and got hooked from the get go. We decided to record the remainder of it because we were both falling asleep, and the next morning I caught Lewis watching it "just to see how it ended. " Oh LMN....no one is immune to your powers! But the more I write this, and think about it, and continue to watch movies while I run, I am struck by these questions: Do I really want to live in a world where surrogate mothers steal your husband, and your baby, while the wife goes crazy and starts killing everyone? Do I really want to live in a world where your next door neighbors might kidnap your three children and take them out of state because they think that you are an unfit mother? Do I really want to live in a world where your best friend seduces your father and then kills your mother?........I'm just sayin'........

Feminine Hygeine products???? OH MY.

Let me paint a picture for you. Me and my four lovely kids are out running errands. One of them happens to be to Toys-R-Us. (I know, I know....the very thought of it makes me want to lose my mind too.) BUT, it is a necessary evil. There is a toy that Zach got for his birthday (um....like three weeks ago) that I MUST return. I say must because if it sits on my kitchen counter for one more day, my husband might likely lose his ever lovin' mind. So, I deem today errand day. It is not pleasant, it is not fun, but it has got to be done. I am dragging my kiddos all over the town and, quite frankly, none of us are having the grandest time. They are excited for a trip to the old toy store because places like the bank just aren't doing it for them. I am praying that I will be able to get my four little natives out of that evil store in less than an hour. Things are going pretty smoothly. I exchange the present, pick up a couple of doll strollers and am letting Zach look at the nintendo DS games when I smell it. C'mon Moms, you know what I'm talking about......that unmistakable smell of a child who has gone off to the corner and dropped a load in his pants. I look around for the culprit. AHA! There he is, and wouldn't you know it, the kid just happens to be mine. I send my oldest two out to the car to get the diaper bag. (I know, I am never prepared, but then again, I'm not a boy scout.) They quickly return to the store, but WITHOUT the baby wipes. I have got to do something, and QUICK! Braden is stinking up the store so bad that they just might condemn it. No time for nonsense. I whisk him off to the bathroom with plans to improvise. And here's where the comedy happens......

I drag all four children into the bathroom. (And yes, this includes my NINE year old son. I have heard too many horror stories of children going to the bathroom alone, and I just refuse to have that happen to anyone that I love. Not if I can help it. So I have become THAT mom. The one that takes her pre-pubescent son into the ladies room. OH WELL......better safe than sorry.) Anyway, back to the story. I lay B on the changing table and proceed to wet aprox. 20 paper towels with water so that I can properly clean my child's poopy hind end. By the way, this is not going exactly as planned. Has anyone ever tried to clean a poopy bum with wet paper towels??? I guess there is a reason that baby wipes were invented.....those lovely little things. Several rolls of paper towels later (okay, that may be a mild exaggeration), I am washing the poop off my hands (I never said this story wasn't going to make you dry heave), when my darling Kylie asks this question "Mom, what's a Tampon? (only she pronounces it Tampone, like rhymes with snow cone.) She is staring straight at the dispenser that distributes those "special" feminine hygiene products. I am flustered, I am weary, I am washing human feces off my hands for crying out loud! So, I respond with a little, bitty, teeny, weenie, eensey white lie. "Uh......a tampone is a kind of medicine." YES. Slam dunk. A totally believable story. And don't judge. I don't make it a practice to lie to my children, I just wasn't going to have "that talk" with my kids in a bathroom in Toys-R-freakin'-Us. I thought I was home free. And then, as we are passing the men's bathroom Zach decides to peek his smart little head in to see if the little boys room has that Tampone medicine as well......."But Mom, why doesn't the men's room have a Tampone medicine machine"......

Hey look kids. There's Santa Claus! End of Story.

New Addition

I have lost my summer nanny......and I couldn't be HAPPIER! (I think my new nephew is an even trade off.) Aubree, Dave, you two will be the BEST parents ever! Congratulations on your new arrival. We can't wait to hold him in our arms and will be anxiously awaiting his arrival here in Utah. We love him so much already. Give him a kiss from his Aunt, Uncle, and four new little cousins! See you soon.

Aubree, Dave and baby Will

P.S I may have lost my nanny, but I have gained another "mommy" in my circle. I can't wait to do things with you and your brand new addition. Let's live it up girl!

For further reading, check out Dave and Aubree's blog. Just click on their link.

Busy, Busy,Busy = Very Bad Blogger

I know. I know. Lately I have been slacking on my blogging duties. I think I have bloggers block. Either that, or I'm just too lazy to write about anything that we have done. July has been a fun-filled month packed with parties, eating, day trips to get my kiddos out of the house, more eating, more parties, holidays.....etc, etc. I think I should be nominated mother of the year. Either that, or worst mother ever. It changes from day to day. Anyway, A LOT has happened this month. I have created a picture collage of some of the highlights of the month. Think of it as my own little present to all of you. I would not, could not, bore you with the hundreds of pictures that I have taken this month. And after all, the best things do come in small packages.......

Some of the highlights of our month so far:

*The Fourth of July. Lewis and I's favorite holiday. As one friend of mine told another friend, "You will not see the Nuttall's at all on July 4th. It is like their Christmas." Oh, truer words have never been spoken. We rise and shine at 5:00 a.m to go and see the balloons and don't plop our tired, bloated, exhausted booties in bed until 11:30 p.m. The day is filled with eating, swimming, parties, barbeque's, fireworks, cherry limeades, games, and just good clean fun. This year Zach and I rocked it on the three legged race and took first place fair and square! I even had the bruises to prove it. He who will not be named robbed me of my title as "Queen Bubble Blower", and was disqualified. Swimming at Craig and Chaunte's for 5 hours was an awesome way to spend the afternoon. May they always be the hosts for the family party!

*Me and my summer Nanny (okay, it's really just my sister-in-law Aubree. But doesn't Nanny sound so much better?) took a trip up to the Children's Museum to spend the afternoon. We met my other sis-in-law, Emilie (and her darling daughter Claire), and had a great day. Lunch at CPK, an afternoon with four kids completely occupied in a place that they can mess up and you don't have to clean up after them, and a treat at the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. Really, it doesn't get much better than that.

*Lewis' summer work party at Thanksgiving point. We went to the Dino Museum, saw a 3D movie (Who is loving those glasses BTW??? Lewis thinks they are not too far of a departure from some of the glasses that I normally wear. I think he is up in the night.), went to the Discovery Garden's, the kids climbed a rock wall and had more fun falling off the wall than actually climbing it, ate dinner, watched a firework show that was better than the Stadium of Fire's, and collapsed in our beds after an exhausting day. Thanks to Xactware for planning such a fun day.

*My oldest child turned 9 on the 6th, and 10 days later my youngest turned two! Happy birthday to my two sons. I cannot believe how time flies! And now I refuse to let you two get any older. Does anyone have a magic potion that will stop children from growing up????

And there you have it. My July in a nutshell.....in the nuthouse.....where every day is a party! (OOOH, that should be my new slogan! I love it!)

Words of Wisdom

Yeah......What he said.