Summer Besides the Toe!

Well, I just couldn't leave the last ghastly toe post up for months until I got around to finally posting again. I decided to make posting sooner then later and add some of the not so ghastly things that we have done this summer.

We took a trip to St. George and spent some time visiting with Eric and Amie's family. This really seems like it was forever ago!

Jane has discovered how to take off her diaper and does it in the most inconvenient places!

What would summer be without a parade or two. Jane screams "TWEET" (aka treat) throughout the entire parade and has even been know to join them.

me: "Jane let me see your pretty smile!"

Jane: me: "Jane, let me see your grouchy face."

Jane:

This is Jane's first household chore. She loves it. She will learn sooner or later that emptying the dishwasher is one of the worst jobs ever! This was the extent of our families 4th of July fireworks. We were at Danny's parents house and Danny was stuck on the couch with his smashed toe. Valerie and I went out on the front porch and did a few sparklers. WAHOOOO!Jane is famous for her diaper rashes. Here is my way of cheering her up! How time flies! It is no wonder that Jane calls the sink a "baby tubby. Jane learned her colors this summer. I think it opened up a whole new world to her. Everything she says is associated with a color (purple grapes, pink blanket, blue car, etc.) This is what we have spent most of the summer doing. COUSINS...Jane loves her cousins! Ella is only 5 months younger than Jane and they are already the best of friends and occasionally the worst of enemies. They are learning the meaning of "cat fight."

p.s. Notice Jane's diaper...full of sand from the sand box!

This is on Danny's 29th birthday. It is incredible to think that I first met and fell for him when he was 18 years old (I was 16). At the time I didn't think I could possibly love him more...boy, was I wrong!

Happy
Summer!

(or what's left of it anyway!)



p.s. Someone really needs to teach me how to put a cute background or something on my blog. I am bored out of my mind just looking at it. Anyone want to volunteer? :) Tee hee!

HAL the stub!

Well, it has officially been a lame summer...sorry for the bad attitude, but read on and you will find out why.

Nearly a month and a half ago, Danny was bringing home a big attachment (approximately 2, 000 lbs) to hook on to the bobcat so that we could spend the weekend putting grass in our back yard. Unfortunately, the attachment fell off of the trailer into an intersection while Danny was making a left hand turn. Amazingly enough, within minutes we had two faithful members of our ward there to help, including a bus full of inmates (seriously!). The inmates and Danny were trying to move the attachment off to the side of the road and in the process the piece of equipment was dropped on DANNY'S FOOT! One neighbor rushed him to the nearby Insta Care, while the other neighbor finished securing the equipment back onto the trailer and brought the truck home as well as meet up with me to take me to the Insta Care. I have to say that when I first saw his foot and the pain that he was in I was sure that we were in for it....Well, I ended up being right.

To make a very long story short, Danny had miraculously not broken any bones in his foot, but his big toe was a disaster. It was broken in a few places and was smashed severely. They called it a partial amputation. He was stitched up by the emergency room, and week after week we saw all kinds of specialists. All of which didn't have promising news about his big toe. Danny was not able to do anything for weeks but lay down with his foot elevated. As we babied and nursed his toe day after day, we realized that it wasn't doing much good. It was dying. The black continued to spread and it became as hard as a rock. (Danny even tested it out by trying to stick a tack into it. The tack wouldn't budge). It was discouraging and confusing on many different levels, but we kept reminding ourselves that it could have been so much worse! Finally, we had to come to grips that it was going to have to be amputated. A week ago Tuesday was the day. Danny went to the hospital with ten toes, and came out with 9 and 3/4. Since then the healing process has started all over again. UGH! He has been back to doing nothing but laying down and keeping his foot elevated. We saw the doctor for the first time since the surgery and were able to look at Danny's new small stub. To be honest with you, I have been gearing myself up to see it, but it still felt like I had been punched in the gut when I actually did. The doctor warned Danny that there was going to be a "grieving" or "mourning" process that took place when he saw it. Danny handled it very well, but I definitely felt that I was "grieving." Sounds so silly for a toe, but nevertheless, that was the case. My heart hurts. Today is his first day back to work since the surgery and it feels good to be on the mending path. Maybe our life will get back to "normal" again soon.

Sorry to the faint of heart, but here are a few before, during, and after pictures.

Here is Hal the Stub (short for Halix which is the fancy name for "big toe." We might as well "name it and live with it," right?)