Our Texas Roadhouse Massacre!

We don't attempt eating out in sit-down restaurants very often, for a variety of reasons. Most you can probably imagine: (kids are too loud for the senior citizens :), screaming, food thrown, kids peering over tables to watch other people eat, constant criticism in The Spectrum's Vent (ha ha), spilled drinks, pinching, biting, etc... really the list could go on and on.....) Occasionally, we treat the kids to their all-time favorite restaurant.... Texas Roadhouse (because they tolerate most of the reasons listed above, and because our kids can't be heard over their music. ) Tonight, was one of those special visits. Everything was going as usual: the food was good, our waitress was pleasant, 20 trips to the bathroom, 10 roll/butter and drink refills, kids dancing, conversations with neighboring booths via our nosy kids, and of course constant stares as people pass our booth, all of which is normal for our family......We were about to receive the check to leave, when it all went south... Karter let out a blood curdling scream. Nate and I looked over to see Karter clutching his right hand. Then we noticed blood spewing from a deep gash on the clutched hand. We looked over and saw Peyton wielding a serrated steak knife and a ghost white complexion (he knew whatever he had done was probably not good.) Karter in between screams of horror, explained that he was trying to cut his roll, and Peyton wanting to cut his roll as well grabbed the knife from Karter's hand, and somehow the blade sliced Karter's hand. Nate hurried and grabbed as many napkins as he could to slow down the blood flow, as I discreetly herded the children to the car. Nate was left to flag down the waitress and take care of the bill.

After loading the kids into the van(make-shift ambulance:)), Nate gave a call to the family doc (Grandpa Graff)! Who immediately met us in the Stake Center parking lot, to assess the damage. After a quick and thorough consult, we knew that the only fix was to sew him up. His advice was to head to his office. Upon arriving at the office, Grandpa prepped the surgery room for its latest patient. Karter was incredibly brave (he didn't shed any tears), as he was injected with a numbing solution and sewn up.

The moral of this story is teach your kids knife safety before attempting to eat out!

So long Texas Roadhouse, it's been a good run, thanks for the memories, you will surely be missed!!

*A special thanks to our on-call Grandpa who is always there when we need him. We love you!!

Park date with Emalee

Today the kids and I had a park date with Emalee, Braden, and Aunt Jamie.  We headed off to the  Hidden Valley Park/Splashpad to cool off in this heat and have fun with our cousins!! The kids had fun getting wet and running around on the playground.  They swung, jumped, played tennis (without a racket, go figure), got soaking wet, and ate chocolate animal crackers (or raided Emalee's stash, thanks Emmy!)  We had fun and hope to do it again soon.  Thanks for such a fun day!! 

Lil' Miss Brynlei's Mishap

Yesterday morning the kids were happily playing in their bedrooms, when all of a sudden I heard Brynlei crying.  She then came running into the family room, where I was cleaning.  I took one look at her and noticed that she had a black eye.  So I, being a detective's wife, sent out to investigate what had happened.  After talking to the boys, this is what I was able to find out.  Allegedly, she was up on Karter's top bunk and all by herself (with absolutely no help from anyone, I am sure:)) hit her eye on the edge of the bed.   Since I will never really know what happened, I told Brynlei that she had to hang out with me for the rest of the morning.  She was happy with that, but insisted that she put an ice pack on it.   

I really don't know what I am going to do with this girl.....She is completely a girly-girl and yet when it comes to her brothers, she doesn't like to be told she can't do what they are doing.  She is completely fearless to try things if she has seen her brothers do it.  Her devotion to be "one of the boys" I fear is going to leave her with more battle wounds than beauty marks.  She is constantly getting banged up (along with everyone else in this household), and has even been the first out of all my children to chip her front tooth (that story is for another post!)  But then again she wouldn't be Brynlei without the "marks" to prove it. We love you little girl!!

Kung Fu Karter!!!

Karter passed his belt testing tonight at Karate. He will now move up to a Red Belt. For the belt ceremony, they are doing a swimming party at SHAC this Friday night. He is way excited because now he moves up to a more advanced class. His hard work and dedication has definitely been worth it! Congratulations Karter for passing your test!!! Wahoo!!! We love you and are proud of you!!! *Thanks to Aaron "Ace" Reis, Mr. Bell, and all of Karter's other instructors at Ace Karate!

Final Day at SHAC!

Well the kids finished swimming lessons on the 24th!  They had a blast and could not wait to get there each day.  On the last day, they are allowed to let loose!! This includes going down the big hydrotube slide.  The kids love this part of swimming the best (hard to tell why.)  They all did so well in each of their classes.  Good job boys!!!!  Until next time......

HB Makayla and Mya!!!

 

Happy Birthday Makayla! (7/26)

Happy Birthday Mya! (7/27)

We just wanted to wish our nieces, who live in Texas, a big Happy Birthday!!! We miss you guys and wish that we could be with you to celebrate your special days! Makayla is turning 11 and Mya is turning 7! Wow, time sure does fly! (Sorry I don't have any pictures on my computer, I need to get me some:)) We love you guys and wanted to shout Happy Birthday to y'all!!! Yee'haw!!!!

Pioneer Day Festivities

The day started out bright and early with the annual ward primary parade and breakfast.  The kids  decorated their  bikes the day before, and even went to bed way earlier than normal in anticipation for the parade.  They had lots of fun!  

Then Grandma and Grandpa Abbott treated us to go and  see the movie,  Space Chimps.  The kids love going to the movies and had been wanting to see this one since it came out.  Thank you "Popcorn" Grandma and Grandpa!!  After the movie, we headed out to SHAC for the kids last day at swim lessons (details and photos to come.)

When we finished up there, we headed over to Grandma and Grandpa Graff's house for more swimming, a BBQ, and to celebrate Kande's birthday!!! It was fun and the kids loved swimming and hanging out with all their cousins.. Thanks for the yummy food and fun! 

The day was sure eventful, but we enjoyed every minute of it!!