We have a new deck

There are some amazing people in my neighborhood, and since Big J is deployed the members of our church decided to help us build a deck. I bought the wood and they did the rest.

It took two nights to build and I was only able to get pictures of one night of work.

Builing the frame for the deck.

This was our old deck

Getting ready to put in the joists.

Putting in the joists.

Little S. wants to help too!

Looks like the joists are done, bring on the planks.

Starting the planks.

Putting in the planks.

Keep them coming.

This is the deck all done.

I am so excited to have a deck. Big J started to build a deck 7 years ago, and I was beginning to think it was never going to be built, but thanks to those in my neighborhood we now have a deck. There are some finishing things that we will do, such as putting up railing and some lattice to keep toys, kids, and animals out from under the deck.

While the men were building the deck the young men were staining my fence the approved HOA color.

Looking down the length of my fence.

Part of the fence that was stained a few months ago by the young men.

The boys and one leader.

Two of the leaders.

Caution wet paint.

Baby Shower

So my bestest friend MJ threw a baby shower for me with the help of some other M friends. There were pink balloons EVERYWHERE. It was so so so much fun.

She made a matching game where you have to match the name of an animal with the name of the mother and the name of the baby. So if the animal was a Alligator the mother was a Cow and the baby was a hatchling.

She also made a baby bottle ring toss. The baby bottles were filled with Reece's Pieces and we used a teething ring to toss on them. We got to keep the bottle and eat the candy if we made it, my friend S took pity and gave me the second bottle she won since they are my favorite candy.

I had lots of family and friends there. It was really great. Thanks MJ!! I received many wonderful and useful gifts, thank you everyone!

Tunnel of Fudge Cake

Growing up this is the cake I would beg to have for my birthday. I don't know if this is a recipe my aunt created or just one that she introduced to us. This is still my most favorite cake, but one of the main ingredients stopped being made by the two companies that made it. I think it has been about 20 years since I have been able to have my Tunnel of Fudge Cake. I found the key ingredient made now by another company, and gave the recipe a whirl.

Here is the recipe:

Tunnel of Fudge Cake from S. Lowe

Beat until fluffy 1 1/2 c. butter

Beat in 1 1/2 c. sugar

Beat in 6 eggs (one at a time)

Then BY HAND stir in:

2 c. flour

2 c. chopped walnuts (pecans are yummy too!)

1 pkg. (dry) Fudge Frosting Mix (Sweet N Low makes one)

Bake at 350 degrees for 55-60 minutes in a greased angel food pan (the middle should be fudge like so the regular method of checking for doneness doesn't work).

Let cool in the pan for 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

This is seriously the yummiest cake ever!

Cooling in the pan.....

Look at the yummy fudge in the middle...

Human Slinkey?

So a week ago I was carrying S down the stairs, I know I shouldn't be carrying him, but he was poopy and I didn't have any diapers upstairs and I didn't want him scooting down the stairs and risk a gross mess. I stopped about 3 steps down when B started to ask me a question and next thing I knew I had lost my balance. I felt myself falling forward so I threw my weight backward to steady myself but I guess I threw too much because I ended up with my left leg getting crumpled under me and going down about 6 or 7 stairs still holding S. I was in immediate pain and and crying. S was scared from the fall and from my crying, but he was OK. My knee and ankle were all red and starting to swell.

I somehow managed to change S's diaper and get Little J and B out the door to school. I then called my friend/neighbor over to help me. I was in so much pain I couldn't think straight so I needed her to help me figure out what to do. I sent a quick email to J letting him know, just in case I had to contact him later through the American Red Cross, I didn't want him freaking out.

My friend discovered that one of our other neighbors was heading to the hospital in Provo (this hospital has a really good NICU just in case there was something wrong with the baby). We got to the ER about 10:15 AM and was finally seen about 11:30 AM. They gave me some percocet (sp?) at noon and I got an x-ray about 12:45 PM. They came in and told me nothing was broken and splinted my ankle about 1:30 PM. Somewhere in there they used a Doppler to listen to the baby's heart beat, and pronounced her fine since the heart rate was about 140 per min. I put in a call to my OB to see if he thought I should go to Labor and Delivery to double check. She was moving a lot and I didn't have any cramping or bleeding, but I was having contractions, and I couldn't be 100% sure I didn't bump my belly in the fall. My Dr told me to go to Labor and Delivery after the ER discharged me and he ordered a non-stress test as well as an ultra sound.

I made it to Labor and Delivery at about 2:00 PM and was feeling quite loopy, but could still feel the pain in my ankle. The started the non-stress test and were concerned that she wasn't moving a whole lot and her heart rate was a little lower. I told them that the ER gave me meds so they scheduled my ultra sound and decided to do the non-stress test while we waited for my turn for the ultra sound.

By the time I got to have my ultra sound (about 3:00 PM) the drugs were starting to wear off. The technician said everything looked good and gave me a few pictures from the ultrasound. Then another person came in reviewed what she had done and looked at some other things to determine that there wasn't a big tear or bleeding in or around the uterus. They called my DR and told him what they found. My Dr then ordered a 4 hour non-stress test. This test started about 3:30 PM and I wasn't actually released until about 8:15 PM with my Dr, the nurses and myself confident that all was OK. I didn't get home until almost 9:30 PM and was completely exhausted. I wasn't able to sleep when I was in the hospital because I was in pain the the beds were so uncomfortable.

I don't have any pictures of my ankle, but here are the pictures I received from the ultra sound.

This is a profile shot of her face.

Another profile.

Her sweet little foot!