HAPPY

day after Halloween!! Phew, so glad it is over. Did you know Utah celebrates as big (or bigger than) Christmas! I took the older 2 boys, and went to the younger kids' school to watch their "Halloween Parade"...all the kids wove in and out of all of the parents in the gym, and.... HOLY COW, SIR! Little kids, dressed in the most scary, blood-dripping costumes, making the younger siblings that were there all out SCREAM! I contemplated putting this into the blog, but I hope it serves to remind me that next year, i will keep my kids home from school that day! All they did was play games, and be scared. The silly/scary music being piped through the school's loudspeaker system was enough, but the posters plastered throughout the school with frightening images and the large coffin and ghost-filled pumpkin in the cafeteria were over the top.

...on a lighter note, our kids did dress up, and did a little bit of trick-or-treating, and some "trunk-or-treating"...at the school parking lot, all the parents come with their trunks filled with candy, and the kids can go around in a "safe" environment.

Here are some photos to show you how things were fun inside of our house....can you guess what they were? Victoria couldn't help but pose for every picture!

Then there was Luke - he did not dress up for school...too "mature" for that I guess, but upon realizing trick-or-treating would not be too fruitful in normal clothes, he opted to be a rough-and-tough hockey player. Hence, the Karo syrup-and-corn meal wounds on his face. GO, mom!

I had a house full

of polygamists yesterday! technically they are former p'lygs, as my friend corrected me. how wild - to sit and have brunch with people who spent time with the guy on the FBI's most wanted list himself. Boy, does he need Jesus! As do all of those terribly decieved people. I don't even know how much I can type here, but I know that freedom is a precious thing - to be able to wear your hair how you want, or the very COLOR of clothes you like...We take a lot for granted. If you missed Oprah's special on polygamy in this country, you can view some of those interviews here. quite a day! I hope they come back soon...there is so much to tell them!

Yesterday, Today, Forever

DETAIL:

Hi - this is on the art blog, if you have ever peeked there, but I had to post this latest completed art project just for the record of our family/house/life progress...it looks much prettier on the wall now that the wall has been painted, but i can't find that picture!! It is in Greek...Luke did the research, and can pronounce the words if you ask him. All I know is the middle one is something like "Cimarron". The faux-iodized metal background compliments Ben's custom-framework beautifully, and the detail shows a little of the 2-D acanthus leaf in copper with a verdigris finish. Definitely one of my favorites!

have I told you....

how absolutely FABULOUS my husband is??? last night, he made to DIE FOR pizza!!! ~ hand tossed crust, with fresh garlic, and Ragu's cheesy garlic cream sauce, fresh: spinach, olives, mushrooms, feta (sheep's milk) cheese, and sun dried tomatoes and artichoke hearts. WOW! I even had more for breakfast. You could add some garlic chicken, too, if you wanted, but it didn't need it.



THENNN...he has been working on and tweaking this amazing fountain for several weeks, and now it runs beautifully in the kitchen...standing 6 feet tall, it is the most beautiful focal point ever!! The darker portion is brazilian hardwood - moisture resistant, stained a deep mahogany shade. The back, where the water falls is lined with copper sheeting, and the base contains native Utah rocks, straight out of our yard!



Thanks, babe! you're awesome!

making up for lost time...

i may have mentioned, we went away for a little last-minute weekend at a ski resort, and here are some of the photos...from the tram looking down on the lodge, and from the ground with a view toward mountains. SO beautiful, PLEASE come visit us so we can share it with you!! The sun was VERY bright up there....so we are both a little squinty in the photos, but it was very nice to go relax and get in touch with God's creation!!

Today marks the anniversary of....

my 29th birthday! It is not good manners, you know, to just blurt that out to people, but I can here, because I don't think anyone reads this anyhow. my ACTUAL 29th birthday was in 2002, so you can do the math.

last night, ben surprised me with a CROWD of people, and made wonderful pizza, and fun was had by all til nearly midnight. have a great day! ~ jodie

it is wednesday.

who can title their blog post on a wednesday? not me. not I? yep....not I. no one would say "me can't".

anyway...LOTS going on here...we have a district women's retreat happening at our church this weekend, at which I am in charge of decorating. Tomorrow night is our parenting class, and we are talking about honoring age. AGE means OLD. I have been realizing lately "age" is catching up with me, but has not yet passed me by....that would be SO nice, to be overlooked by "age". Today, I am in negotiations: 1. to pay on a goofy bounced check, of which our bank faxed me a copy, plainly showing it CLEARED. 2. to wrap up the order form for the church cookbook after the pastor's wife sends me a cute little photo, and time is running out! 3. to secure a room that has been reserved for our ladies retreat DINNER, but is being trumped by some other activity that happens at church weekly. 4. to convince the kitchen to clean itself, after it makes dinner, and now I have a crying 6 year old, because she was on the exercise thing and her sister got on there, too. APPARENTLY, she was on the thing DOING HER LIST, "looking for what she could pick up in the living room". What immediately followed were lots of TEARS!! wow, life can be dramatic at the end of a long day! New rule - no "doing lists" on the exercise thing. phew! on to tomorrow!

wow...

gotta catch up, I guess! yes the past month has been SUPER full!!! sorry i don't even have pictures to post, b/c they are all sitting on my camera, waiting to be transferred to hard drive (G)...it is called that for some horrific word that begins with "G", I think...as in mid-september, we had nearly 2 weeks with our computer on the FRITZ...having overloaded it with action hero stunts, You Tube videos, and Barbie games. I LOVE kids!! even when they are download-happy!! (Did you know my teenage son is on YouTube...playing guitar hero, on "expert", blindfolded. OH, do I wish we lived on a farm where I could give them more to do!

on top of that, our parenting class began, we went to more than one pastor's/leader's conference, a couple of birthday parties, some pot-luck dinners, a few soccer matches, several back-to-school events, had a couple of different flus breeze through here, worked on some more art, painted a couple more walls, organized some closets, spent about 2 weeks at Costco, went on a last-mimute romantic getaway to a ski resort in the beautiful salt lake city mountains, had several pizza bashes, ranging in number of guests from 14(which I now think of as a "small" party, helLO!) to 38...had 3 extra children over one weekend, decorated everything with fall leaves, pumpkins, and 2 cute ceramic pilgrims, and pretty much everything else I can think of, except BLOG! Ugh. I think i even squeezed a couple of naps in there. I did manage to outsmart a number of migraines with some much-needed calcium-magnesium supplements. (Thanks, Sarah!) And, took a bridesmaid's dress in to be altered for my very-out-of-proportioned-too-short-and-too-lots-of-other-things figure. The Chinese woman said "thees will bee a mayjorr prohject." All I could say was "sorry." That wedding had better be a LOT of fun!

Now it is October. Kids are deciding on halloween costumes, ben's parents may come for thanksgiving, we are planning the trip to arizona in november for my sister's wedding, the weather is getting cooler (we even had snow last week!), and then it will be Christmas!! I will try to find more time in there to blog further, but please understand if you check often and read nothing NEW, that I am not trying to ignore anyone...just have a LOOONG to-do list! happy day, see you soon!!

Something new!

perhaps not to all of you, but I am excited...it is a website called BlogVertise...similar to the parent blogger netowrk, where they ask for reviews which you cover in your blog. this tool refers a blogger to companies/website owners who in turn write a review, with honest comments about the business they have investigated. The PERK is that there is MONEY in it! Not a lot at first, but for those of you who enjoy writing, or sharing your random thoughts, it could grow to be a lucrative prospect for a small amount of time each day. Be on the lookout for upcoming reviews! You can check out this funky new BlogVertise here !

Woo Hoo!

what a weekend, and it is only saturday afternoon!!

we had 26 guests at our house last night for pizza..some who had never come before, and some long-standing friends. just for the record, I need to keep track of the WONDERFUL pizzas ben made, b/c i hope he does it again soon!

Cheese
Pepperoni
Garden Vegetable Alfredo (artichokes, peppers, olives, mushrooms, onions, zucchini. feta cheese, spices, and mozzarella)
Chicken and spinach with garlic sauce
Tomato and garlic (commonly a "margherita" pizza)
Chicken taco (Seasoned chicken, peppers, onions, salsa, mozz and cheddar cheeses, doritos, quacamole, salsa verde) YUMMMMM!
Pepperoni and jalapeno-stuffed green olive
Hmm...okay. I thought there were 2 more. I will have to ask him!

One more item of note...
i began a new blog, you can see the link to the right. I am hoping within the next week to develop it into a web SITE..we shall see. I just needed a starting point. If anyone has a fabulous tip for web-page design they would like to send me, I would welcome any and all advice!! Thank you!

getting old...

last night some of us were watching t.v., with the rare circumstance that the mom had the remote...and the channel clicking came to a pause when I noticed a movie I liked, recounting days of extreme racism in America. The setting was obviously not modern, and one of our sons asked "Is this movie OLD or WHAT?!?". We checked the channel info, only to find that it had been released in 1985. SO Ben says "Yep - 22 years old". He looked at me and said "That means WE are old! To say the we once watched a movie that is 22 years old. Wow." I asked him, "Will you still love me as I get older and uglier?" He thought for a millisecond, and said, sweetly, "Oh, I can't imagine you being any uglier".


Then we both burst out laughing, knowing full well that was not what he MEANT to say, and all corrective comments that followed were meaningless. The words had escaped his mouth. And there you have it, folks. Just when you thought life was going along smoothly. You hear you are as ugly as you'll ever get. Guess I can live with that.

Free $15 Best Buy certificate!!

Just fill out a survey..it took me about 10 minutes...asks questions about your current electronic services..tv, phone, 'net...here is the web site:

Just log on at http://www.bcwebsurveys.com/

and enter 75137 as the PIN number.

I can't lie...it also means I get 2 free on-demand movies because you were so wonderfully nice to do this, but you will get your $15.00 fun at B. Buy.. Thanks SO much!!

we are home!!

phew, and getting back to normal! I found Victoria in the living room yesterday and asked her how she was feeling, having been home from the hospital about 14 hours, and she said "Well, I tried to do a cartwheel". (I gritted my teeth, thinking "OOWWWW") and she followed that up by saying "It didn't go so well". hel-LO. She tried again to do one in front of me, with her hands down on the ground, and her little feet just hopping gently in a 90-degree curve behind her. She asked "Is that a good 'sick' cartwheel?" Poor thing...she is ready to live her normal life again. Before leaving the hospital, she said "Now I can go home and jump on the trampoline!" I gave her the classic mom response... we will see.

Here she is ready to head OUT! The church sent her a giant balloon bouquet, and friends added a couple more. her bag is loaded with new stuffed animals, including a little beanie baby fish named "lips"...a gift from the nurses, that soothed the pain a bit in the E.R.

THEN...on the way home, there was the most beautiful sunset....shining brightly behind a storm system moving away from the mountains...it was so refreshing to see daylight again!!!

a history in pictures

just so you can feel like you lived through some of this with us...i was not able to get pictures right away, as the camera was in the car! but starting the day of her surgery, after she was up and around...we have preserved a few moments in time, and are so glad to finally be home as of 8:30 p.m. saturday night!



This was our first try at walking the halls...at a children's hospital there were all sorts of fun little things like this. I said to her "This is quite a vacation!". She responded with "This is NOT a fun vacation." You might be able to see she is pretty stiff and protecting that tummy!

Jordan and Anne were the first visitors, and they went for a walk with us, too! By that evening, Victoria was in very good spirits and happy to have guests.


3 owies in a row...one hole was for a the camera, the other two for tools.The white board in her room, where we could write anything we wanted to. Visiting friends and family added something, and I tried to post up there what other friends sent via text message. If you click on the photo, you should be able to see a (somewhat blurry, sorry) close-up of the board and all the fun notes.
Day 2...feeling
stronger and
able to sit up
on the edge of the
bed to watch t.v.
She got a giant bear, "Curly"
from grandma and Grandpa Jensen...
the nurses gave her a roll of bandage
tape so she could "play doctor", too.
**********************************************************************************

Her best friend, Makayla. Ben brought her up when he and the kids came, and they were so happy to see each other. If the hospital would have allowed it, she would have spent the night. When Victoria was packing up to leave the hospital she asked if Makayla could come over that evening to play!

Luke hopped onto the bed, too...then Christian. Even at her sickest, she still looked like an angel!

She shared a popsicle with Emme, who thought that was just peachy! I apologize for the outfit and raggedy hair, lol...fashion was NOT at the forefront of Ben's mind that day! Perhaps you can see him in the background, wiped out on the oh-so-uncomfortable little cot they provided for parents. Well, one parent. Actually, one SMALL parent.

update on the patient...

she is doing very well!! Went in for surgery (finally) at 7am on thursday after a LONG night! she was back in her room by 8:30 a.m., and slept most of the day. By late afternoon, she was eager to get up and walk, and the nurse said "that morphine must really be working!" with the way she cruised down the hall with her iv pole, as if nothing had happened top her. Back to bed she went for a few hours, and the NEXT try at a stroll was a little more difficult. Lots of company yesterday left her a bit worn down, and late at night she was in a lot of pain. A new dose of morphine made it evident tht her iv site was no longer good, so they needed to remove it and movbe to a new spot. She was VERY apprehensive about this, but I requested some Emla cream (lidocaine, a local anesthetic), and that made a HUGE difference...needed to sit on her hand for about 45 minutes, and she hardly winced when they inserted a new needle. They did get it in on the first try, so that was good. within one hour, she was comfortable and sleeping soundly.

Today, we ordered some breakfast...french toast, broccoli, and pears, and she had some of everything, which seemed to agree with her just fine. The surgeon came in and said if she has 2 good meals with no complications, and passes the "mom" test, she can go hom. how sweet is that?!?!? I never like it when they send you home before your are truly ready. Victoria is anxious to be there again, so that is a good sign.

She said she thinks she feels better because of the white board in her room, where people can write little notes. Her brothers wrote funny things, and I have been trying to add the kind words that friends and family have texted to our cells. One dear (non-serious) friend, Chip, said "Life is like that. You wake up one day and BAM! No appendix!". She really enjoyed that one!

Thanks everyone for your prayers, thoughts, time, meals, babysitting, driving, balloons, stuffed animals, and toys. God has truly worked through all of this, and i will post more later, as right now I need a NAP!!