New Camera!? And Lydia's photo shoot

 I just ordered a new camera. It was a belated birthday present.  Lydia needed a picture for school. She was leader of the week. So we dressed her up and curled her hair a bit and took some pictures in the back yard.  Isn't she gorgeous!!!

A little bit of sass 

 

 

Sisterly love.

Of course Eli wanted to get in on the action.  His face was a bit dirty.  But his faces are classic.

Then I caught a few of Anna.  

 Sometimes she is sad. She was mad that she was getting bounce to much on the trampoline.

And last but not least...

 A picture from Lydia's birthday! More to come.  I need to do birthday post for every one!!!

Eli's Cornmaze fieldtrip

Half of Eli's class posing on the big chair.

The corn pit. Filled with dry corn.

The barrel tractor pull.

Fun tire swings cut like horses and tractors.

Giving Claire a push.

There was also a farm animal petting zoo.  We ate lunch there too!

Anna!!

You all know that Eli love horses and Lydia loves clothes and all things fancy

But Anna... She love her hair done, but with only pink hair ties.  She likes watching only princess movies, especially Princess Sophia or Frozen.  The only other think she will watch is football. She loves to cheer on the teams.  She will sit and watch and shout lets go! Go! Go!! Go!! while she claps her hands.  She is such a Daddy's girl.  Tonight I asked her to let me help her wash her hands. She looked at me and said, NO. As if she was saying come and make me.  Two seconds later Ben looked at her and said, "Lets wash your hands."  "Okay," she said, and came  straight  over to wash her hands.  This doesn't just happen every once  in a while but all the time.  She will cheerfully do anything for Ben. She sleeps better, and enjoys life better with dad around.  Just another testament to me why a family needs a mom and dad.

This little girl loves having her Dad around. 

I put an new pillow case on Eli's pillow. It was a basketball pillow case. She wanted so badly.  I told next time I washed it, it was hers.  She insist on doing things herself.  She can buckle up her self and put on her own clothes, pants and shirt and shoes.  She even sits on the potty by herself. but won't let me help her.  Potty training is going to be interesting.

Pose for the camera.

Sleeping Beauty.

When Eli was home with his arm we watched The Man From Snow River.  After we watched that she hopped on this panda, stuck the gun to the side and rode it like a horse.

This is her face when you tell her to smile.  Shes squishes her eyes just right.

A bit here and there.

Playing at the mall.

Girls time!  Trying on Halloween costumes.

Showing off her birthday high heels, from Grandma Dalton.  Thanks Grandma!!!  She insited on wearing them to the school after her birhtday. Her feet got worn out a little.  She 

Eli riding the bus on his Kindergarten orientation day. Claire is a good friend of his.

Eli  at riding lessons. I loved how they exposed him to horses.  

Lydia got a few lessons too!

Eli and the curse of the Trampoline

When Ben was about ten he dislocated his elbow jumping on the trampoline. He had to have a cast for a long time.  He still has nerve damage from the accident. Well the other day Ben got home early and was jumping on the trampoline with the kids. They often play together. They love it when Ben comes out and plays with them. He is such a big kid. I was in the kitchen making dinner. As they were jumping Eli caught a bounce and dislocated elbow and broke his arm. Ben described that when Eli was coming down from his bounce that he hyper-extended his elbow. He didn't really land on his elbow that hard.  Right away Ben knew that it was either broken or dislocated. He scooped him up and ran in side. He said "We got to go!" I grabbed the girls some shoes and keys. I drove and Ben held him. He was crying a little bit, but Ben was able to talk to calm him. We sang some songs.  In the Er room they took ex-rays. The girls and I  had come back home and I found a friend that I could drop them off  at. I thought it would be a couple of hours. On my way back to the hospital, I talkef with Ben and found out that Eli had to go to surgery. What?!   I was shocked. I was glad to be there with him. And it was comforting to know that the girls were well taken care of. His arm was laying to one side of him and he had to be still. He was crying off and on trying to deal with all the pain. We tried watch a show on TV but it wasn't distracting enough. He had several doses of pain medication each dose would last about 15-20 minutes.  With what seemed like an eternity in between. Another friend called and asked what she could do to help. She went and picked up the girls and kept them the whole night. I often have her oldest two babysit and they sure treat our kids like family. This was the first time any of my kids had stayed overnight with any one but family. I knew they would be fine and Lydia would still be able to go to school. The wait to surgery was difficult. We came to Er at 6:00 and he didn't go until 10:00. Ben had called a friend to find Eli a priesthood blessing.  He is also a doctor. He's a radiologist. It was very comforting and kind.There was a doctor that kept checking on him and was worried about his finger movement and capillary refill. He also came and splinted his arm. Which was super painful for him. In the ex-rays it showed the bone placed about an inch to an inch and a half away from where it needed to be and there was a main artery that they were worried about.

Right before surgery

 They also could tell that the arm would need to have pins placed in it. When he finally calmed down about nine and slept for a few minutes. That's when I started crying. I'm kind of a delayed reaction kind of a person. And it hit me
 It's one of the hardest things to see your child go through so much pain and to not be able to take it away. They moved us upstairs for surgery. We talked a lot about horses and I able to pull up the sound track from The Man from Snowy River on my phone. He listen to it right before they gave him the anesthetic.  The surgeon, Dr Allaire, took about 30 minutes and was done but Eli didn't wake up until 11:30 or 12:00. It was a relief that all went well. I opted to stay with Eli for the night. Ben would have but I knew that if he could get to sleep he would be able to sleep deeper than I would. I knew that if I went home I would only sleep worse. Eli was starving and so after a snack if frosted flakes, I laid next to Eli and  we got a couple hours sleep here in morning the nurses coming in and out.

The surgeon brought me photos after  surgery of the pins in his and how it was set.

                                     

The morning after surgery. He was feeling better but if was a rough night.

After we got home.

He was feeling less pain, but over the last couple of weeks he has been waking up at night. Sometimes at he would wake up twice a night for a hour or so at a time.  I would tell him lots and lots and of stories. Scripture stories, Family History stories, and all the horse stories I could think of.

He is doing great no and I can't believe that in a week he gets his cast off.  If it looks healed than he will be good to go. If its not ready than he will have to get it recast for another two weeks.  The doctor has assured us that children heal quickly.  We will also get to tell if the growth plates have been effected.  Its been an adventure!

A little one armed fun. He only wore the sling for a about a week a he hasn't been letting that arm slow him down.  He has been playing soccer and football.

Summer Fun

Where to start!!  Our summer began with  many day of relaxation.

June...

We took a tip to Idaho Falls to Hang out with the Dalton Cousins

  There were games and play time and a huge water balloon fight.  Everyone provided great food.  We chatted and caught up.  This was so great because we hardly ever see Lesley.  She lives in California, so it hard to travel for both ends.

 We meet a the Rexburg Splash park where they have a carousel.  We had a great ride. 

   

Well maybe not all of us. Ruger didn't like it so well

Playing a Lindsey's house

 We had a water balloon fight so much fun!

The kids got to play with all of Lauren's fun toys

We also stopped for the weekend at Great Grandma and Grandpa Erickson

Grandma Ice Cream cone is what some of the grand kids call her .  She keeps a big box , I mean big as in about 200 cones handy for all her visitors.  Grandma and Grandpa  work so hard.  They accomplish more than the average 20 year old.  Grandpa was right in the middle of hay season.  Grandma helped the kids out while I helped on the farm.  We worked hard.  I loved every minute of it.  It was hot hot too.  We hauled and bagged hay.  Grandma came down for some of it. She was able to get one of,  Janet's kids, , to watch my kids. 

 Great Grandma has a trampoline too!

July

The kids got and I got a blow up swimming pool and they played. We love having our back yard.   We all so were able to get a trampoline.  The absolutely love it.

We went on a family hike. In the middle is a split rock tunel

Ben went on a hike with  His dad and my brother Joshua came a long. They went in The Bob Marshall Wilderness that is close to Kalispell, Montana.  They ended up doing hiking sixty miles.  They also fished some of the best spots.

While Ben and Joshua went on  a hike for a week.  The kids and I went to Grandmas and Grandpa Erickson house in Post Falls, Idaho.  

We swam and had water fights by the river.  

Pictures to come later

A bit of August...

 We went to a reunion in Bear Lake, Utah.  The was a reunion just for the Alan and Sheri Erickson family.  Chrystal and Luke were in charge.  We each stayed in a little two room cabin that had a full bed in front room and a two sets of twin bunk beds in the back room.  The cabins also had electricity.  We had great food. On Monday it was a rainy and wet. But we enjoyed great conversation.  Chrystal and Luke brought a pavilion tent. We all huddled under it and ate dinner,  On Tuesday was a boat day and tubing.   The younger kids played on the beach and got super sandy.  There was little pools that were warmer that the lake and the would run through them and find the sea shells.  On Wednesday we took family picture and then went shooting. The boys loved this and some of the younger kids got their try at shooting a twenty two.

The other day when Lydia and Eli were playing in the yard the were pretending they were at Bear Lake.  It brought a smile to my face and was such great evidence that the reunion was a success.