Disneyland, Service and Celebrating!

This year we celebrated Christmas a little differently. First: the weekend before Christmas we went to Disneyland! (I know, it probably gets pretty boring of hearing about the land of Disney for the 4th or 5th time now...) We went with my parents, all my siblings, my brothers girlfriend and our niece Autumn. We were there for 3 days and had a blast! All the Christmas decorations were fabulous. This giant Christmas tree is towards the entrance of Disneyland. Our niece kept saying "I don't know how they got that star all the way up there on the top of that tree!"

We took millions of photos, so I only chose a few of our favorites. Cinderella's castle was spectacular for the Christmas season. Autumn is a BIG fan of Princesses. She even met her favorite princess, Aurora.

She got to meet Mickey Mouse too. And he was all ready for the holidays in that lovely Christmas sweater.

Autumn had lots of favorite rides. But if you ask her- she will tell you that "Small World" was her very favorite. She also loved the Tea Cups, Alice in Wonderland, Pirates and "Halloween and Christmas mixed together" or the Haunted Mansion. Small World was actually really cool for Christmas. This was it all lit up! Uncle "Scotty Potty", Autumn Bottom and Samwise.

We had a blast in the hot weather (75 degrees) and were tuckered out by the time we got home. Thanks for going to Disneyland with us Autumn!

Our regular Christmas celebrating starts Christmas Eve. We all go to my Nana's house for a big party. All my cousins, Aunts and Uncles join for some pizza, opening of Pajamas, a little concert and the sharing of favorite Christmas memories.

And of course, Santa comes to visit :)

Scott and I then spent the night and woke up Christmas morning to open gifts with all my siblings- in our matching Christmas PJ'S!! Then we enjoy Christmas breakfast together.

This year our Christmas tree had to go into what I call the "red room"/office. I call it the red room because when we moved in that room had the most RED carpet and matching curtains I had ever seen. I have taken down the curtains- but the red carpet will remain until we turn that room into a nursery. (Which will be in a while) Anyway, the tree had to go in the red room because our two cats would climb up the tree, chew off limbs and break the all-glass decorations. This tree was left to me from my Grandma who passed away a few years ago at a very young age. I always loved this tree. We have added our own little touches of course :)

We opened the gifts from each other and had a good time. Scott got his car windows tinted (which he couldn't unwrap) and some car speakers, along with other small gifts.

And I was spoiled and got the Kindle I wanted. Love it.

Later on that day we went to Scott's parents house for a Christmas feast and our new Christmas tradition. This year, Scott's mom wanted to start a new way of celebrating Christmas at their house. She was inspired by President Thomas Monson's talk about service and decided it would be good to celebrate Christmas with service instead of gifts. Each of us was to do some sort of service, take a picture and make a scrapbook page. We then did a little Family Home Evening where we all explained what we did. It was a great experience and reminded us what Christmas is all about. These are the pages I made for me and Scott.

Scott and I helped move our friends to their new apartment. It took 9 hours and it was up 5 flights of stairs in the snow! And for my service, I volunteered to assist at the homeless shelter with my boss. We had a great time.

We couldn't pass on giving the girls a little something tho. So here is the clan opening some presents. And of course, little Lexi just happy to be playing with the boxes.

That was our Christmas celebration. We had a fabulous time and can't wait for next year. Hope you all had an amazing Holiday!!

'Tis the Season

I didn't realize how much has been going on until I started to catch up on my blogging. We have been pretty busy. We have been doing lots of Christmas activities- as I am sure all of you have been doing as well :) We have put up the Christmas tree and put up the lights and other decorations all over the home. It is pretty festive up in here. And speaking of lights- we went to Temple Square a couple weekends ago with my family to check out the lighting there. Besides the fact that is was FRIGID.. we had an enjoyable time.

Coolest Santa Bagpiper playing

Mom, Sam and Dad

The next night Scott and I went back to Temple Square with some of HIS family for the Christmas Devotional. We went last year as well and it is way fun to be able to be in the conference center for that.

And this last weekend we were invited to a White Elephant Christmas Party! Our friends Matt and Angie were the hosts and it was an awesome party with TONS of laughs. Our little group of friends has some of the most random inside jokes and that is what our gifts were based on. Still pretty hilarious tho- even if you don't know the inside scoop.

Dano!
Todd. Believe It.

Matt & the Majestic

And the last piece of news is: I was accepted to the University of Utah and I am starting school this January. I am getting my generals and prerequisites done for Nursing. Wish me luck. I am officially a UTE.

A "Little" Accident

I have had a few people ask me about my motorcycle accident and I am FINALLY getting around to blogging about it.


May 2006 started a string of bad luck in my life. That night a group of friends and I went out to Fat Cats in Provo for some bowling fun. After bowling, we thought a slushy from 7-11 was sounding pretty good and started piling into our cars. A friend of mine was on his motorcycle and didn't want to ride by himself. I volunteered to ride with him since 7-11 was just down the street and I hopped on. Tim was driving and I was hanging on tight as we went down Bulldog Blvd. As we were driving in front of the Conoco gas station we were t-boned by a car and went flying through the air and bounced all over the road. I landed at least 50 feet away from Tim (who was driving the motorcycle) and landed sitting up ON my broken leg. Luckily the Provo hospital was one block away from us and the ambulance was there very quickly.


In the ER we discovered that my leg was broken and Tim's leg was broken in the same spot (because that is where the car hit us), and my foot was broken as well as... exploded. I really don't know what other word to use to describe it. Anyway, I had 200+ stitches in my foot to put it back together and a rod inserted in my leg in place of a cast. The miracle of this accident was the fact that neither Tim or I had any sort of head injury. Neither of us had helmets on. We didn't have any. We had a bunch of road rash and bruises, but no head injuries at all. Pretty lucky. After 3-4 days of staying in the hospital I went home.

A few days after I got home from the hospital
My broken foot. The hit severed my nerves. That is why my foot is hanging all to the side and dead-like. I was lucky enough that the nerve endings rejoined and I have mobility. My "exploded" foot. This was about a week after the accident. I was having my stitches out. It looks amazing compared to the before picture that I won't post unless people want to see it.
This is the scar/incision on my knee. This is where the rod was inserted and then 9 months later extracted. My doctor said that was THE toughest rod removal surgery he had ever done. My bone had fused to the rod so much he would have thought it had been in my leg for 9 years.

This is a picture of my thigh. I know- it is the size of an arm. I had SO much atrophy from being bed rest for so long. The bruising is kind of fuzzy but it was pretty much a hand print from one of the doctors. This is bruising from the rod removal surgery. I had two of these big bruises.
My cousin broke his leg a while after me. But we were both in "casts" for a while together. My cast was better because I could take mine off now and then. Lol

I was bed rest for 2 months and was not allowed to put any weight whatsoever on my broken leg and foot. Within the next 2 years I had 6 surgeries on my leg, foot and ankles. I had 9 months of physical therapy and then 3 months after other surgeries. I went from bed rest to getting around in a wheel chair, to crutches and then to a walking boot for months! It was a long and extremely painful 2 years. And I am SO thankful for the talented doctors that handled my case and performed the necessary surgeries. I am thankful for the physical therapists and all their help with teaching me to walk again and get me to the best that I could be. And last but definitely not least- I am thankful for my mom and family who helped me so much through all of this. I have never received so much love, support and friendship. They are amazing.

One thing that I discovered through this, is that my true friends really came out. I had the greatest friends there for me. Polly who has been my best friend for years and years was visiting me and bringing me treats and keeping me company. My best friend Ambria was there with comforting words and knowledge on all the surgeries and pain medication I was on. And some other friends that I NEVER expected to be there for me suddenly became a huge part of my life.

I hope these pictures don't make anyone queasy. I thought I censored them pretty well. I had a picture from my grandma's cell phone of my foot before they stitched it up- then realized that some might not have as strong a stomach as I do. LOL.

After that whole fiasco, I had another accident. I was sitting at a red light and had been at a dead stop for quite a while when someone going full speed ahead rear ended me. Luckily my car was fine, and no one needed to go to the hospital. Just had a little whiplash and my license plate indented on their car.

Just a few short months after that- I was in yet another accident. On my way home from work I decided to take a different way home so I could get my car washed. I was driving in front of Target in pretty busy traffic. I was going to be making a right hand turn at the light and was driving down the right turn lane when a giant truck plowed into the side of me and threw me up onto the grass barely missing the trees. My side air bags deployed and hit me in the face. When I realized what had happened, I also realized that my neck hurt and my arms and legs were tingling and numb. I called 911 and had the paramedics show up. They got me out of my car and started cutting my pants because my knees hurt really bad. Both of my knees had hit the dash and had little bursts. I was taken to the hospital and had a few x rays on my neck. The first one showed a small crack so we had a few more. Luckily they decided nothing was cracked and I went home a few hours later. My whole body hurt with whiplash. My car was obviously totalled but because of how well it held up with this accident and the rear ending, I bought another car exactly like this one. Same color and everything! Pictures courtesy of my sister Boots with her camera phone.



That is my crazy history with accidents in the past few years.