Feeling Blue

Sick with a nasty stomach bug, the boys turned into snuggle bugs. A rare moment in our house for sure!

48 Hours

The last 48 hours have been some of the scariest of my life. I got word Wed. evening that James had a fall while working out, hit his head, and was being taken to the hospital by ambulance. That's all I knew and I headed down to CO Springs with my mom and dad to see him. On the way, I got a message from Sara that they would be moving him to the ICU. I began to fear the worst. My heart agonized over this news and I had to brace myself for what was to come. When we arrived at the hospital, more news came... he had been working out with one of his soccer players from the team he coaches and they ran a mile on the treadmill. He got off and went to the restroom. While he was in the restroom, he blacked out and fell, hitting his head on the way down. Someone came and found him unconscious and bleeding. He was rushed to the hospital in an ambulance. That hospital was not able to handle his head injury because they did not have a trama center so he was taken again by ambulance to a bigger hospital in CO Springs. When we arrived, he was stable, but in and out of consciousness. We found out he had bleeding on his brain, a fractured skull, and bruising on the front of his brain. He did recognize us when he was awake and that made me feel hopeful, although it is incredibly hard to see your brother lifeless and hooked up to machines while his wife sits holding his hand by his bedside. Sara is amazing; she has been strong, patient, prayerful, and loving during all of this to James, as well as friends and family. During hard times it is comforting to know that He who is greater than us walks with us every step of the way and that He is our true healer, the one who brings us peace and rest. May we trust and rest in Him as we wait for healing.

Bathroom Transformation

Out with the old.....

In with the new.....

What was supposed to take 1 week, ended up taking 3 due to unexpected delays. Matt's parents were gracious enough to let us stay with them the whole time so we didn't have to live in the dust and the mess. Their life was definitely turned upside down with two very energetic and curious toddlers roaming the house! The extra time was worth the wait, because we now have a very beautiful transformed bathroom!

Wet!

Watering the bushes with Boppa.....

Turned into little hands playing in the water.....

Turned into J taking over the hose.....and giggling hysterically while dousing himself and N with cold spring water (N was not happy about this!).....

Turned into 2 very happy, silly and WET boys! I have not laughed so hard in a long time!

My Superheroes

Priceless

• 2 tickets to Huntington Beach, CA - United Miles
• Several Trips to In 'N' Out Burger -$25
• Coffee and muffins to enjoy on the pier -$4
• Massage after the Race - $35
• Watching Matt finish his 1st marathon - Priceless

A Little Getaway

I kept telling Matt how nice it would be to spend Christmas in Mexico, not really thinking that we would ever do it. Well, Matt's best friend Jason, his wife Hwaling and her mother had decided to go, and invited us to go along. A friend of theirs owns a condo outside of Puerto Vallarta, near the town of Bucerias. How could we pass that up? We decided to leave the boys for their 1st long stretch away from us with Grandma and Boppa Johnson. We left Denver and a huge snowstorm behind on Christmas morning and off we went for 4 days of sunshine, beach, relaxation, and reconnecting.

Does it get any better than this?

Our place had a little plunge pool right outside our door!

We spent a fun night out in Puerto Vallarta. We ate dinner at a nice restaurant called Le Bistro, and then walked on El Malecon (boardwalk). They had some amazing sand sculptures on the beach. My favorite was the nativity scene.

On our second to last day, we caught a bus and headed up the coast to a quaint little Mexican surfing town called Sayulita. We spent the afternoon shopping and watching the surfers and people just hanging out on the beach. Matt braved the cold water to do a little body surfing himself! It was one of the highlights of the trip for me!

So now we are home. I feel relaxed and refreshed and ready to be Mama again. I highly recommend time away. It truly does make the heart grow fonder and it was so good to be back home with the boys!

Christmas

On Dec. 23rd we celebrated Christmas with the Martins at James and Sara's in CO Springs. This was their 1st Christmas together as a married couple! It snowed that night making for a beautiful white Christmas!

On Christmas Eve, we had a great Italian themed dinner with the Johnsons and Isaksons and played Never Have I Ever (great fun with teenagers!) We had lots of fun opening gifts and playing with the cousins!

One of the Johnson family traditions is eating cornmeal mush on Christmas morning. This was the boy's 1st time to try it. The big question was whether or not they would like it. Well, they gobbled it up and could not get enough. Matt was very pleased that the tradition of cornmeal mush is here to stay!