Ouch!

Birch limped into the house Tuesday night when he came home an hour early from playing basketball at the church. He always wears a brace on his left ankle after rolling it so often in high school but this time he came down on his right. Here is the injury on Tuesday night:


We spent Wednesday morning in Urgent Care and the x-rays confirmed it wasn't broken, just badly sprained. Birch has tried to keep it elevated but had to go to school on crutches for a few hours today. His ankle was getting more and more swollen, but it had never looked like this!

Even the toes are fat and swollen--ouch!

Did You Know???

Thanks for the tag, Eevi! Here are 6 things you may not know about me:

1. I'm VERY afraid of animals. Even feeding a dog with my hand or picking up a cat gives me a shiver. When I was little, one of my uncles made me touch a bobcat skin when I didn't want to...maybe it comes from that?

2. I love trying new recipes! If you find something good, send it my way.

3. Every night around 9:00 I need something to munch on and usually I grab cereal. The best kind for a late night snack? Life!

4. My favorite restaurant is P.F. Chang's. The more people, the better, so we can all pass our food and share.

5. I get a thrill whenever I get rid of something in my house. I hate clutter so dropping off a bag at DI or Goodwill is a happy day for me.

6. I won a Chicken Dance contest on a cruise I took with girlfriends from my singles ward. My prize? A nice bottle of champagne.

Now I tag Bethany, Megan, Allie, Kelly and Brittany.

Mud Party

Whenever people ask me why I like Tucson, I try to explain events like this. I enjoy living in a big city but not as large as Phoenix, I love attending games for the Wildcats but I especially like the activities available for families.


This morning we brought Trevor to the Mud Monster Mud Puddle Party. It was a FREE event at a park for babies up to adults. Birch and I just brought Trevor around to the stations for toddlers but next year I think we'll come ready to go through the obstacle courses!


First we stopped at the kiddie pools, all filled with muddy water and sand at the bottom!










Scooping up muddy sand with the big kids. (I'm sure this lady is glad to have her behind in our picture!)




















After standing in line for some of the big mud puddles we found that Trevor was happiest just splashing in the creek.

Washing off with dad and the firetruck hose!

One-Year-Old Discipline

Like many moms out there, I find myself repeating the same phrases over and OVER again. At our house what is heard most often is, "Trevor, we throw balls!" He has a pretty good arm and loves to launch anything he can get his hands on. Birch and I both have a few bumps that have come from flying cars and play animals (usually at the face).

Rather than tell him no every time he throws, we've decided that it's okay to throw balls but everything else needs to stay on the ground. When Trevor does launch a toy, we give him a warning and after that he goes to his "time-out mat." The problem is that he doesn't show any remorse when he's in time-out. He's learning the word sit so he stays on his mat saying "Sit, sit, sit" while he smiles.

I don't think the message is getting through, any ideas???