Happy 30th Ben!!!

Well, things don't always go as planned. That seems to happen a lot to us. We were supposed to fly out to Vegas on Thursday night, and meet Ben's family there to celebrate Ben's birthday. Wednesday night, we get a call from his parents saying that they are supposed to get 8 - 16 inches of snow on Thursday, so they weren't sure they would be able to get out. The snow wasn't supposed to start until the afternoon, so they got on a 1:00 flight, and we thought everything would work out. NO!!! They cancelled all of the flights in and out of Denver after 11 AM on Thursday, so there was no way they were getting out. Ben and I decided we would just go, after we had both tried to cancel our flights with stupid Allegiant Air (seriously, they are RIDICULOUS)!! We were hoping that the fam. would be able to get out Friday or maybe Saturday morning to meet us there. We loaded up and took off for the aiport. As we are going through security, there is an announcement saying that the plane has been delayed and they aren't sure when it will get there. Great! After waiting for about an hour, another announcement is made saying that the plane had been on its way, but had turned around back to Vegas because of mechanical issues. So, Ben and I decide just to forget the whole trip, Brooklyn is cranky, we are getting cranky, and maybe we can reschedule for another weekend. Ben goes down to talk to the ticket counter. What do you know? They don't have an Allegiant representative there, so the people working have no authority to do anything for us. Ben has to call the airline and was on the phone with them for an hour and a half!!! After about an hour of it, we get word that they have found a plane to come and get us - but, it is in Great Falls, MT and has to go to Vegas, and then it will come to IF and pick us up. Seriously?!! We were looking at flying out at 11 PM instead of 7 PM. After that long on the phone, Ben finally gets us a credit for the tickets minus a convenience fee of $27. Why? Because he called them on the phone - how else were we supposed to get a hold of someone? We were at the freakin' airport, and no one could help us there! So, after an eventful evening in the Idaho Falls Airport, we called my mom and had her come pick us up. What a trip! The good news? We have a credit with that stupid airline, so we get to do it all over again. : )

On a better note, HAPPY BIRTHDAY BEN! Today is Ben's 30th birthday - and although it won't be as exciting here as it would have been in Vegas, we are still going to party (including the WILD trip we took to Pocatello to go to CostCo and our wonderful dinner last night at Texas Roadhouse)! We love you and are so lucky to have you! Thank you so much for all you do for us: going to work each day to provide for our little family, helping me with things around the house, taking such good care of everything, being a wonderful father (and playmate) to little Brooklyn, being my best friend, husband and so much more! WE LOVE YOU!

Happy Birthday Ben!

So, ever since Ben and I have been married, I have always wanted to throw him a surprise party for his 30th!!! This was the year! Ben's actual birthday is March 29, this coming weekend, and we are going to Vegas and meeting some of his family there. Yay for Vegas! But, I knew that if I was going to throw a surprise party, it would have to be the weekend before. I have been planning for about 2 months now, conspiring with my accomplices (Weston and Amber) on how to get Ben over to my parent's house, etc. I am proud to say that Ben had NO IDEA and was SO surprised when he walked in to "fix a water leak." I had gathered our wonderful friends and family to help celebrate. We had a blast visiting, playing games (30 Years of Ben Watts and 30 Years of Pop Culture Trivia), and eating yummy food and cake! Everyone brought 30 of something for Ben, and people were CREATIVE! Ben got supplies for 30 car washes, 30 golf balls and tees, 30 water guns, and many varieties of 30 treats! Thanks everyone for coming and helping us celebrate! Happy 30th Birthday Week Ben! Now, it is time to get ready for some warm weather and fun in Vegas!

So surprised (and a little embarrassed) . . .

Jameson.

Schyler.

Amber and Tatum.

Brooklyn enjoying the food. : )

Ben's Uncle Mike.
Cute little Gracey.


Birthday cake . . .

Some of the presents . . .

If I missed pictures of anyone, sorry. I was a like a crazy lady that night running around. : )

Brooklyn's New Pet . . .

After work on Friday, Ben showed up at home with two goldfish for Brooklyn. Brooklyn loves Elmo (as you know) and loves Elmo's pet goldfish, Dorothy. When Brooklyn saw her fish, she said "Dor" for Dorothy and was so excited! She loves her fish and is always wanting to hold them. : ) So, we now have two pets, Dorothy, and Dorothy's brother.

We also finally bought a dresser for Brooklyn's room! I've been decorating and we finally put up pictures and all of that fun stuff, it feels much more "homey" now!

Daddy and Brooklyn with our fish!

Dorothy and "Dorothy's brother's" new
home . . .

A Brooklyn Fix Anyone?

Just in case you needed a little Brooklyn in your day. As you can see the broken arm hasn't slowed her down too much . . .

And, here she is talking about some of her favorite letters and numbers. I bought her bath letters and numbers that float and stick to the side of the tub, she loves them! Another great learning tool. : )

My Latest Projects . . .

One of my new year's resolutions was to organize (and type) all of my recipes. My recipe box was a chaotic mess! Check that resolution off of the list, I now have all of my recipes typed and in a binder. How nice for me. : )

And, I decided that I needed to start some type of program to teach Brooklyn (it's the teacher in me), since she is picking up things like crazy these days. With the help of my friend, Linda, my old teaching supplies, and this website - letteroftheweek.com, I now have a (pre)preschool program for the little lady! YAY! Every week, we have a new theme with a new vocabulary word. And each day we add to it with a new shape or color, a new letter of the alphabet, a new number, and a nursery rhyme. Brooklyn loves her poster, and gets so excited when I pull out the new things each day. We do different activities each day that go along with our theme. It is really great, and I love that Brooklyn is so excited about learning. She loves to show Ben what she has learned when he comes home from work, it is so sweet. Yay for smarty pants Brooklyn!

Update on little miss B . . .

We went in this morning for a follow-up visit and X-rays with the orthopedic specialist. The X-rays looked good, and little Brooklyn's arm is healing well. Everything looks as it should, which is great news. Brooklyn has to be in her "cast" until March 16, and then we go back in on April 6 for hopefully our last visit and X-rays. The doctor has been great, and he said as far as breaks go, this one is looking really good. He also says that little kids are so resilient, and heal so quickly, that she will be totally fine. Brooklyn is doing great, and is using her arm quite a bit since we took off the sling. Thank you everyone for your care and concern. Now, if we could just get her to sleep early and to sleep through the night. : )

Brooklyn's Broken Arm . . .

So, it is time that I posted about our latest drama. It is actually kind of hard to post about something that is so sad. Last Saturday, little Brooklyn fell and broke her arm. It all started when I told Brooklyn that she was stinky and that I needed to change her diaper. She took off, running away from me, and went around the bed (where I couldn't see her.) Next, I hear a fall, and her cry. By the time I get over to her (we think that she tripped on some pillows that were on the ground), she is standing up, holding her arm and crying this awful cry. I hold her for a minute and calm her down, and then I changed her diaper. After I was done, she rolled over and tried to get up using her left arm. She couldn't do it, and started crying again, holding her little arm. Ben and I rushed her to Urgent Care across the street. I am bawling worse than Brooklyn at this point, it was very traumatic. They take X-Rays, and the doctor says she sees a break in the radius bone right in the middle of her arm. They splint her up (with four of us holding her while she FIGHTS hard) and put a sling on her, and we head home. It was so sad to watch our little girl be in so much pain, and especially not be able to do the things that she normally does, like push her stroller, and drink from her cup. This is Brooklyn on Saturday after we got her home, she was pretty mellow for 2 days straight:

This is Monday, she seems to be doing better and getting pretty good with one hand. She would come up and tell us though, "Arm huwt."

She liked her sling because it had "dogs and kids" - Snoopy. : )

The Urgent Care doctor referred us to an orthopedic doctor, just so we were with a specialist. They took some more X-rays, and this is what they found:

Definite breakage!!!

So, little Miss Brooklyn has a new hard splint and a new sling. We go in again next week for more X-rays (just to check the progress), and she has to wear her splint for 3 weeks, but should be completely healed in 6 weeks!

She seems to be in good spirits . . .

Okay, side note: the orthopedic doctor said that kids this age heal 3 times faster than adults. And, that she would probably heal just fine on her own without anything. But because we have ONE CRAZY LITTLE LADY on our hands, he thought it best that we splint her up to avoid further injury. Smart move on his part, because she is one ACTIVE little girl, and I'm sure that this broken arm won't slow her down too much! : )