Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Lasting Memories

As I was helping Ashton and James get ready for school this morning we were talking about going to Grandma and Grandpa Swift's house tomorrow. They were very excited! James said "Are we going to go with the wagon?" At first I wasn't sure what he meant. I quickly realized he was talking about going on a walk with Grandpa and Grandma and the red wagon, he usually rides in. Then Ashton said "You know what I love about Grandma and Grandpa? I love that they take us for walks and to the dollar store!"

Simple things that make traditions they will always remember, you can't beat that! Can't wait to see lots of family tomorrow, and of course one of my favorite traditions- playing LOTS of games!

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

A Day in the Life.......

I know you are probably all in shock!! I am sure you can't believe your eyes. Could it really be true, an update on the Abel blog? I just happen to have my camera with me as I went through out my day today, I decided to take a few pictures so you could see what a day in my life is like.
As usual my day starts pretty early. I usually take Amery to seminary, then head to the gym for a quick workout. Then pick Amery up and bring her home to have family scripture study and prayer. Only to turn right around and take Amery up to high school and drop Dallen off at band practice. All before 7:50 Am. Only this morning I didn't do some of the usual things. I have been sick, so don't want to go to the gym until totally better and Dallen didn't go to band because I had to have him to the Doctor by 8Am.
About 3 1/2 weeks ago Dallen broke his thumb. He was being
a typical boy, by hurdling over the couch. He had used his hand as support to get over and somehow his thumb got bent wrong. He was in a lot of pain and it was pretty swollen. Of course this was on a Saturday, when the doctors offices were closed. I thought it was probably just sprained, and it would feel better soon. When Monday came around and he was still complaining about it, I figured I better take him to the doctor. After an exam, x-rays, etc., we found out his right thumb was broken and he would have to have it in a splint until the orthopedic surgeon could look at it on Friday. In between Tuesday, when it was put in the splint and Friday, Dallen decided to do his swimming merit badge in scouts (not a great idea) and play tether-ball, as well as other typical boy activities. I thought maybe there was a mistake and it wasn't really broken. But no such luck. Needless to say the orthopedic surgeon wasn't too happy about his activities. He put him in a cast for 2 1/2 weeks. Which also meant, I would be spending an hour or two with him each night writing his homework. ( I think he will miss that part)

So this morning was the big day, Dallen was finally going to get his cast off. The assistant did a great job sawing it off.

Dallen was so excited to have his arm free. He could cleanwash it (hurray for me). The first thing he wanted to do was try to write with it, which still kind of hurt.

He was so excited!!! That is- until the doctor came in....

It wasn't healed thoroughly and so Dallen had to get another cast. This time he chose a black cast with glow in the dark stripes. I hope he doesn't stay awake all night looking at it in the dark :)
Then off to drop Dallen off at school.... and to pick up Evan for the next Doctors apt. We woke up this morning to find Evan looking like this, only his lip even more swollen before he iced it all morning.
Apparently, last night while I was grocery shopping and Jim was gone, Evan was hit by a flying TV remote. Amery said he had been gushing out blood everywhere! She had cleaned him up, given him an ice pack and sent him to bed. WHAT!!!! We can't leave the house for two minutes with out our children calling us about anything and everything. How come when there is a real emergency, we get no phone call??!!?? It was after 11pm when I got home from the grocery store (this tells you a little more about my typical day :), and everyone was asleep. Wonderful right? Guess not :( When we saw him this morning, Jim thought he might need stitches because his nostril was split pretty badly. He had a huge fat lip, a super red bloody looking nose, and a scratch connecting the two. Luckily, I called Evan's doctor on the way to Dallen's apt and got Evan in for 9:30am. We barely made it on time. The doctor said it probably could have used stitches, but it was too late now and it seemed to be coming together correctly, so he was lucky. She added for him to not be rough housing for the next week or so (REALLY! She has been Evan's doc for 8 years now. IMPOSSIBLE!!). If it was to split open again we should take him right to the ER, like I have time for 6 hours of that. While we were there, I decided we might as well give Evan and James their flu shots. Of course, they didn't think that was such a great idea. James didn't keep his cute smile for long.....
Evan said he wasn't going to go to school. He was sad because there was a special party today, but he didn't want all the kids to make fun of him and laugh. I tried to assure him that they wouldn't do that, and he should think about going back to school after we stopped quickly at the store. We ran, and I mean ran, into the grocery store to grab something really quickly. The first person we saw said "Do you want me to grab a tissue for his nose?" Evan just about died! He was so self conscious already, now I had no chance of getting him to school.
Luckily, Jim had a light day and was able to come home to watch James and Evan because, I had to get to the next appointment. Off to pick up Ashton from school early. I was so sad because today was there special Thanksgiving Feast with their 3rd grade buddies. Both Evan and Ashton had been talking about it. They were very excited! I didn't realize it was this Wed. until after I had made Ashton's dentist apt and couldn't really reschedule. Evan's class is Ashton's kinderbuddy class. Evan and Ashton are usually partners, they both are very excited about it. The feast had just started when I had to take him out. He wasn't as sad as I thought he would be, because his brother wasn't there with him.
Ashton had a marathon dentist appointment. We were there over 2 hours, and they had got him right in. Ashton was so good, but it must have been hard for him to be so still for so long. Unfortunately, he has bad teeth. He has the best brushing habits out of the 4 youngest boys, but he has had the most trouble lately. He had to get crowns on two of his front teeth, and they were thinking another crown on a side tooth, but I told them to really look at it when they get in there, and he was able to get away with out the third one. He also got a couple of other fillings. Poor guy!

Some of you wonder why I don't update my blog very often. Maybe this explains a little. It seems like most of my days are filled with excitement, drama, adventure, sorrow, joy, tears, laughing, teasing, arguing, group hugs, and lots of prayer. Maybe this also explains a little about why I seem a kind of crazy sometimes, I probably am! Yes! I actually made a post on the actual day it happened, just barely :)

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Busy, Busy!

I have lots to write about. Maybe someday my life will slow down a little so I can update you all on the latest with the Abels! I really enjoy reading all of your blogs, although it takes me a while to get to that too. Better yet, come visit us then you can see it all in person for yourself :)

Friday, January 8, 2010

Free Stuff!!

I guess by now you all know that I love a good deal. I also love sharing my good deals with others. I just ran accross this good deal this morning. It is a way to earn free things by just doing what you already do, searching the internet. It is called "Swagbucks". If you click on the link on the side of my blog you can get signed up. I guess you can use their search engine and just by using it they give you points. If you sign up, remember to sign up under me, so I can more points. With your points you can get free stuff. Here is some more info I found about it on Yahoo answers:


Good news! While it may seem too good to be true, Swag Bucks is not a scam.

Swagbucks.com is absolutely legit.
It pays out. We've been using it for 6 months and have earned $310 in Amazon gift certificates.
And it is EASY. All you do is use their search engine for your everyday web searches. No answering surveys. No clicking on adds. No completing 'offers'. No need to purchase anything (even shipping is free) and no need to supply a credit card. No email spam. No viruses.

Fist off you need to sign up

Then it’s easy as 1-2-3!

1. Search the web as you normally would using SwagBucks.com search engine. You’ll get results from Google.com and Ask.com.
2. SwagBucks will be periodically awarded to you as you search. You can win up to 5 SwagBucks with a single search and on Fridays you can win up to 100 SwagBucks with a single search. You can also find and redeem SwagCodes which will add to your SwagBucks total.
3. Redeem your SwagBucks for prizes ranging from gift certificates for Amazon, Target and iTunes to televisions, video games, iPods, movie, music and sports collectibles and more!


If you sign up under me, I get more points which of course means more goodies.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Annual Tradition

We have an annual tradition to go to Silverwood amusement park as a family. We usually go on Labor Day, but this year Labor Day was supposed to be rainy and cold so we went a few days early. Unfortunately, Amery couldn't come this year. She had a football game she had to preform at. We have some fantastic friends who worked at Silverwood this year and we so kind to save enough tickets to get us all in for free! We were even lucky enough to enjoy their company for a short amount of time while we were there. Thanks Greens, you guys are the best!!

This is the Panic Plunge. I rode a couple of rides like this at Lagoon, in Utah, many years ago.


This is a pretty cool roller coaster. You go through the whole thing forward then get to the end and you do the whole thing again backwards.

I didn't really ride on many rides. I spent most of my time with the little kids. I have learned the older I get, the more sick I seem to get on the rides. I love being with my family have a good time though.

No, I didn't let the little kids go on the scrambler by themselves :) I went with them. It just about did me in. I wasn't sure I would make it off before I got too sick. Lucky for everyone, I made it with out loosing my cookies.

James was so funny, he went on the scrambler and didn't seem very nervous at all. But as soon as the little kid squirrel cages started, the tamest ride in the park, (Dallen was probably too big, but they let him go with James) he cried and cried like he was scared to death. They had to let him off after one time around. Later he even went on the kiddy coaster without too much fuss. Maybe because I went on the other two rides with him.


I had the hardest time convincing Ashton to bring his helicopter down so I could get a good picture of him. He wanted to stay up high the whole time.


Dallen and Evan had a great time on the bumper cars and bumper boats trying to get each other.

James and my favorite part was the water. He loves playing in the water and I love the water tube rides. This is Jim on the middle slide.




And,of course, you can't go to Silverwood with out getting a funnel cake. Well at least Jarom can't :)

All in all, a great and exhausting day!

And The Winner Is........

I thought I would let you know that we decided to go with this choice for Jarom's senior picture. Thanks for all your opinions :) Also, I am having camera issues, that is one of the reasons it is taking me so long to get postings on my blog- that, and I'm sure the 6 kids and crazy schedule might have something to do with it!

Saturday, August 29, 2009

Jarom Senior Pix

Last week Jarom got his senior pictures taken. I just can't believe it is already time for this. I am sure our last year with him is going to go so fast! Senior year is an expensive one too! Plus Amery's band fees (got the bill yesterday, $560), I may need to get a part time job :) Anyway, here are some of the ones I like for the yearbook. Tell me what your favorite is.

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Amery's Big Night Out

Amery and her two best friends decided they wanted to get all dressed up in formals and go out to dinner for her friends B-day. We went back and forth about whether or not she could go because she would have to miss some of band practice. In the end I gave in :) They looked so cute!! I had to practice my picture taking skills for when she is actually old enough to go to a formal dance. They were going to dinner at the Olive Garden and I gave strict instructions that she was supposed to bring me home pictures. Well no luck with the pictures from them. Good thing I got some. Don't forget you can click on the pics to see them better.


Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Dinner with the Band

Since Amery has had band practice everyday for the last two weeks, my friend Alison and I put on a dinner for a bunch of the band kids. They have a dinner break from 4-6:30 this week, so we took 3 cars and went and picked up all the kids they invited. Somehow the first two cars left 1/2 empty and my car was extra full. There were about 21 freshman. The kids were so good and so well mannered. I think they really had a great time.

More confused then ever :)

Thanks everyone for their answers to my blogging question. Now I know that everyone seems to do it differently. Two things I have decided. First, every time I leave a comment on your blog I will try to remember to check the box that sends further comments to my e-mail. Then I don't have to check back and see if you answered. It will come right to me. I suggest you do it too:) The second thing I have decided is that I will post the answers to you after your comments or in my blog. Then the answer will come in your e-mail if you follow the first suggestion. Hope this helps. I am still open to take more suggestions :)

Monday, August 24, 2009

Proper blogging etiquette

Since I don't know the proper blogging etiquette , I have another question for all of you. If someone posts a comment and your blog and you want to answer their comment, do you post it on your blog or do you go to their blog and post a comment on one of their posts?
I think if you post it on your own blog, they might not see it. Or do people know to check back for your answer? If I post it on their blog under one of their posts, will it make sense to them since it is out of context? Obviously, I am confused!! Maybe the answer is neither :) Can you all shed some light on this?

Sunday, August 23, 2009

The Winds of Change

Well, the Jamba Juice didn't cure me, but it sure was good. Hopefully soon I will feel better. I stayed home from church today because I didn't want to spread the germs around. Today wasn't a good day to miss. Especially because I always like to know the news. Our ward boundaries were changed. A couple of months ago it might not have been as big of a deal. Our ward was very LARGE, like chapel full, over flow full and several rows into the gym (or the cultural hall, as brother O'Donnal reminds me :) ). The last couple of months our ward has been shrinking. We have lost many many active families and some of our biggest families :( Today with the boundary change, we loose at least 4 more of our big active families, and gain none. They just took people away, no additions. I guess we will survive, we have been in much smaller wards before and loved them!! Great opportunity for growth, I guess. Anyway, we soon found out one of our good friends who was just moved out of our ward in the morning, became the other ward's Bishop in the afternoon. How hard would that be?? Brand new in a ward, don't know anyone, and you are called with in the first few minutes to be the Bishop. Our friend has never been in the Bishopric before, as a matter of fact he was an Elder. Good Luck Scott!! I enjoy change, most of the time. I hope we can stay in touch with our friends who have been transported to another ward. I am sure they can use them.

Saturday, August 22, 2009

Peaches, Granite and Pizza???

Last night I finally finished canning the wonderful peaches my sister Doranda picked up for me on her way to my house last weekend. They were a great deal $7.50/box. I really should have got to them a few days earlier. My family loves to eat home canned fruit, but doesn't want to help can it. Does Henny Penny sound familiar? I usually convince (force) them to help. Most years we do peaches, pears, apples, applesauce, and plum jam. Last year we also did pickled asparagus (James personal favorite), tomato sauce and chopped tomatoes. They were a nice addition so I plan on doing them each year. This year I might make a second attempt at salsa. Last time I made it, 10 years ago or so, my family didn't like it very much. I have a new recipe I will try this year, lets hope for good results.

As many of you know I have been remodeling my kitchen for awhile. I am taking it very slow and so far we haven't had any disruptions in using the kitchen. The counter tops are taking me the longest. I just can't make up my mind about what granite to go with. I have looked almost everywhere. We finally thought we narrowed it down and had high hopes to pick out our actual slab today. We drove all the way to a slab yard in Idaho, just to find out they are moving to Spokane and many of there slabs are already over here. No luck today, maybe next time :) Jim is so tired of looking at granite, so maybe you can help us. Here is a link to the yard we went to today. http://www.montanastonegallery.com/gallery_view.asp?sort=%20ASC&type=%20AND%20Material_ID=1&color=%20AND%20Color_ID%3E0

Some of the colors we are considering are:
Golden Ray
Pietra Imperiale
Mountain Mocha
Talisman
Copper Canyon
Giallo Cappella
Giallo Cappella Standard
New Venetian Gold
I would love to hear your opinion. Remember each slab can be so different. After you click on the color you can click on the left on each load number and see how different they are. Also, keep in mind our kitchen cabinets are very honey oak and stainless/black appliances.

On the way home from Idaho, we ran across a pizza place having a grand opening. Since they had jumping castles and we had two of the kids with us, we HAD to stop. The pizza was good, but expensive. Since they had free Slurpee's and the jumping castles, we made out okay :)