Jacob Turns 14

Jacob at the Thai Diner at Discover Mill

Jacob playing Blacklight Putt-Putt

Jacob's fav's--Chocolate Cake and Hershey Pie

Mom giving her baby a Happy B.D. kiss

Anybody know a good dentist?

The Party continued in Cochran.....

The Birthday Boys (Jacob 14 yrs. and cousin Ross 15 yrs.) at

La Cabanas Mexican Restaurant in Cochran.

Is there such a thing as being Caught Up?

Do you ever catch up? I don't seem to be able to catch up with housework, laundry, cleaning out closets, office work and business files, cleaning the garage and SLEEP (I am always overly-fatigued)! I do seem to stay quite busy all the time and sometimes it feels I'm running in circles. I remember feeling this way quite often when my children were small and toys seemed to be all over, but now they are older and "their things" still seem to be all over and out of place. I've discussed with them about respecting their rooms, and especially the "common areas" of our home, but frankly somewhere along the line they missed that instruction or rather I've failed miserably at teaching this to them. I hear from their friends Mom's and others how wonderful my children are at their homes.....so how did I miss teaching them that our home is important and deserves respect also? I'm at a loss when I come home and find the living room looks like a tornado has gone right through it leaving only the roof and walls intact. Anyway, back to my original question---Do you catch up? and if you do, please share your secret!

2 Sisters, 2 Cousins and a Braves Game

2 SISTERS:

Lisa and Cherie

2 COUSINS:

Jordan and Jacob

And A BRAVES GAME:

My sister Lisa and I took our boys to the Braves Game Friday night. We had great seats 4th row ground level near the Braves dugout. We had a few mishaps throughout the evening, but survived it all.....These pictures are from my cell phone camera-so they're not that great (mishaps with our cameras). We did order pictures online that the FanPhoto guy took of us and they'll be shipped to us in a few weeks--they turned out pretty good. The boys had fun at the Batting and Pitching Cages and watching Batting Practice before the game. We enjoyed the fireworks after the game too. It was a fun night over-all--hanging with our boys.

Finding Joy Movie....

My dear friend Jody from Chicago emailed me this link--it was very uplifting and inspiring. I wanted to share. Enjoy!

http://www.findingjoymovie.com/

My Husband to the Rescue!

It was driving me absolutely CRAZY that I could not get my pics to post of my dayplanner and phone (see post below). So, after fussing over it all day, I went to my in-house computer guru--better known as Scott--my dear hubby!! This was the first time that I had downloaded pictures from the camera into the computer--usually he does it for me--but since I was trying to hurry that morning, I tried to do it myself--since I consider myself pretty computer savvy--I thought how hard can it be? Well.......I didn't make it small enough--zip it enough or whatever the term is, so it was too huge of a file and would not up-load into blogger. He quickly did it for me with no complaints.......and he taught me what I had done wrong, so I should be able to do it right from now on!! Thanks Scott!!

Problems Uploading Pictures?

Does anyone have problems uploading your pictures to your posts besides me? I have been trying all morning to post 2 pictures and it won't take. This has happened before and I had to just wait awhile and come back to it. I'm not sure if the blogger is having problems or what. My laptop is working fine with everything else so I figure it must be the blogger. Let me know if you have had this happen and what you did to make it work. Thanks!

Goodbye old friend....Hello to my new one!

Goodbye old friend.........



Hello to my new one!



Everyone that knows me well, knows that I live by schedules, to do lists and planning everything out and it must be listed in my red Day Planner that goes with me everywhere. It is packed full of any and every info that I (or my family) need or might need. Well, my new PDA has changed all of that. I absolutely LOVE it. (now since I've figured out how to work it!!) Besides having my next 2 months schedule (that's all I've entered yet), appointments, b.d.'s, reminders, addresses, contacts, notes, etc. in it---my favorite part is--It has all 4 standard works of scriptures, R.S. manual, the hymns and primary songs, my music, all of my Word/Excel documents, business files, my digital scrapbooking files, photo files, ALL of my computer files, etc. (Thanks Scott for loading it all!) and another great part I like is that it has a QWERTY keyboard that makes texting so much easier......I just love it and it's much lighter in my purse than my Day Planner---although, I'm having a hard time letting go of it.....I'll get there!! Happy Monday everyone!

Wonderful World of ITunes

As much as I thought that I had already entered the high-tech world (laptops--lots of different computer programs, etc., DVR's (even though I'm still learning how to record), cell phones-I have a new PDA phone)--my family has reminded me I haven't until I get an Ipod (they all have one--Morgan even has the touch one--it's pretty neat!), but I do have music on my cell phone that I actually have only listened to once (Scott put it on there for me)--who can listen to music with an earphone and talk on the phone at the same time? Not me! Anyway--we have been signed up with Itunes since I don't even remember how many years ago and Scott has made me c.d.'s to listen to in my car, but the other week when I set up my "ChatterBox Tunes" I realized I wanted some of those songs on c.d.'s for my car. So my hubby introduced me to Itunes and taught me how to make my own playlists and c.d.'s. What a WONDERFUL new world of music I have entered into. I now have several c.d.'s for my car. It's AWESOME! I have never taken time for this before--and when I pondered the simple joy the music brought me--I feel like I've been missing out on life! Now it's got me wondering......what other uplifting, inspiring things am I missing out on? So my search is on.................To Be Continued!!

Things I take for Granted....

1. Being able to wash my own hair--Morgan can't right now and it was quite the "water experience" for us both last night trying to wash it as she sat in a chair with her leg propped up on pillows on a stool--found out it takes an extra person (thanks Dad) to help hold the plastic tub to catch the water as I use the pitcher to wet and rinse out her hair. It almost worked pretty good without soaking the floor too much.

2. Being able to take a shower/bath--Morgan is having to sponge bathe these days--which she proudly managed by herself after her hair wash.

3. Being able to use both legs for walking or standing--Morgan is doing an AWESOME job with her walker and only being able to use one leg.

4. Mom's Right Hand Girl--Morgan helps me clean, cook, and doing any and all household chores that I ask her--(when she doesn't have a hurt knee).

5. Laundry--Morgan washing her own clothes--(when she doesn't have a hurt knee).

6. Taking Care of Herself--Morgan being able to get her own food, drink, etc. as needed--(when she doesn't have a hurt knee).

7. Not Being in Pain--Morgan has been in excruciating pain and I really feel for her.

8. SLEEPING for 6 hours or more Uninterrupted---the most we've gotten has been maybe 4 hrs. straight--it's a good thing I had my children in my 20's--I never would make it these days with a newborn!

These are things that I realize this past week that I really take for granted. Especially the Uninterrupted Sleep---I miss this the most and I am so grumpy and grouchy these days (just ask my hubby). Lesson Learned--not to take things for granted....especially a WONDERFUL Daughter that is such a huge help to her Mom. I love you Morgan and hope you recover quickly so you'll be out of pain!

Busy Saturday at the Echols House

Grandma, Gracie Ann and JoJo

Grandma and Grandpa came up to visit Morgan today and brought JoJo with them to visit Gracie Ann--she was really missing him--so we invited him to stay this week. They have been running around playing and having so much fun together! Grandma and Grandpa brought Morgan a gown, a fuzzy poster to color and some of Grandma's home-made Brunswick Stew--Morgan's favorite. Aunt Ronda also came over to change Morgan's dressing on her knee (she works for an Orthopedic Surgeon)--thanks Aunt Ronda! And to our amazement since we hadn't seen the incisions--there is an 8 in. incision on the inside of the knee and about a 3 in. incision on the other side and 3 small ones over the knee cap. Lots and lots of staples in the larger incisions and stitches in the 3 small ones. Aunt Ronda said everything was looking good--so we're happy about that. Morgan is still in a good bit of pain, but that is to be expected considering all the work they did.

Jacob left for Scout Camp this afternoon. It's at Camp Rainey Mountain near Clayton, GA (North GA). This is the first year they've left before Monday--they will have Sacrament Mtg. tomorrow morning up at camp. He was concerned about who will pass the sacrament at our ward and I assured him that the older priesthood brethren would take care of it. This is his 3rd year going and I'm still a worried Mom, wondering if he's doing okay and missing him like crazy! He won't be home until next Saturday--that's a long time! Don't know how I'm going to make it when he goes on his mission!! LOL

14,610 Days Old

Today I am 14,610 days old, but who's counting anyway? Not me! that's for sure. I've been trying to let this day just slip on by...but some of my favorite people keep reminding me. So, Happy 40th Birthday to me! Jacob asked again--how does it feel to be over the hill Mom? and my answer to him and everyone is: It's an AWESOME view from the top!!

It's been a fairly slow day....Morgan and Nurse Cherie were up every few hours last night again, so needless to say we're very tired. Jenn had offered to sit with Morgan tonight for my birthday so that Scott and I could go out to my favorite restaurant--Carrabbas Italian Grill---but I decided to postpone it until next week when Morgan is hopefully doing better and when I have more sleep. So we stayed home and got pizza from Johnny's (another fav of mine) and Scott got me a "Chocolate Ganache Supreme Cake"--it was wonderful! As you can tell from my birthday photo below, I look everybit my 40 years!! No makeup, dark circles under my eyes and very tired all the way around. We'll take more pics when we go out for dinner. Thanks everyone for the phone calls, emails and gifts that made my day so much more special!

Home from Surgery

Morgan and Dad before Surgery

Morgan and Mom before Surgery

Morgan after Surgery

Morgan and Dad after Surgery

Morgan and Rebecca after surgery

Morgan at Home in Dad's Recliner

Morgan and her new Best Friend--the "Walker"

They took Morgan back for surgery around 130pm and she got out a little after 5pm. We had started to get a little concerned around 4pm when she hadn't come out of surgery to recovery yet since it was only supposed to be about a 2 hour surgery. When the Dr. talked to us around 530pm he told us there had been a little problem, but he was able to repair it another way . They had a little trouble with the allograft, it slipped back out of the thigh bone, so it had to be attached with screws to a post on each side of the knee, resulting in another incision on the outside of the knee. This will add a little more to the recovery time, but over-all the surgery was a success. Rebecca and her Mom came to visit, but Morgan had just come out of recovery and was still heavily sedated. She remembers seeing them, but couldn't remember much else. They brought her flowers and a Friendship Angel that is so precious. Morgan had to stay overnight and did pretty good. She was able to walk with the walker later in the night (as requested by her Dr.)--although she was in a good bit of pain. I think she (and I) only got about 3 hours of sleep. We had to wait on a walker to be delivered to the hospital before we could go home today(after lunch)--but it was worth the wait to have it to take home with us. She has been hurting a good bit tonight--most of the Femur Nerve Block has worn off now, so she is feeling much more of the pain. My sister Ronda and my sister Lisa and her family came out tonight to visit her. They brought her flowers and balloons and also flowers from Grandma and Grandpa (they will come up to see her this Saturday). She appreciated everyone coming over. She is finally sleeping tonight and I'm hoping she will sleep through the night. She will not be able to put any weight on her leg for at least one month and possibly two months depending on her recovery. She will start Physical Therapy next week going 3 times a week for the first month. I think overall she is doing as well as can be expected. It will just be a long road to a full recovery. Will keep everyone posted.