It is not a tumah!

So for those of you who haven't heard , I had surgery a couple of weeks ago. And yes, I pretty much have felt like I had a head on collision with a Mac Truck, just as the nurse actually warned me I would. I was in the hospital for 4 days, and I've been home (pretty much) since.

Several items of good (or just silly) news that came with having surgery:

1. (And you have to say this with an Arnold Schwarzenegger accent) "It is not a tumah"
2. "Every day in every way I'm getting better and better".
3. They let you drive those cool motorized shopping carts at Target if you have just had surgery. (All I could think was PLEASE don't let me see anyone from High School) I threatened to get some cool scooters like that for the boys when they hit high school next year, they even have a basket for their back-packs, and they could plug them in when they get there, and I don't think they could go fast enough to hurt themselves too bad. I thought I was hilarious, which was probably because of the meds. (see #9) The boys, however, didn't think I was so funny.
   
4. I will forever be more sympathetic to women who have c-sections. My incision was similar but a little bit bigger -- ooooo was that TMI? (Too much information in teen-speak)
   
5. Some of my very favorite people have come to see me.
   
6. My kids are doing pretty much anything I ask them to do (we will see how long that lasts)
7. The Relief Society Rocks! Thank you so much to everyone who blessed my family with dinners, etc.
   
8. Eddie is the most supportive amazing husband ever, but I did have to tell him "You are so lucky that you don't have ovaries" and his not-so-funny comeback was "you are lucky...you barely do anymore either"
9. I am not taking any more prescription pain pills. If I have had any really strange conversations with you over the last couple of weeks I apologize....... but at least this time I had a good excuse. I did learn that I have adverse reactions to Morphine but the Lortab was a party while it lasted.
   
10. Stairs are not my friends, so living in the basement has been more confining than I ever thought it would be. But the upside is that it is nice and dark, so I have been able to rest a lot.
    

Anyway, all in all I am doing much better. Christmas is definitely different when you can't do much, but it really was a wonderful day. I will post pictures as soon as I can talk someone into going upstairs to get me the cord to plug the camera into the computer.... dang it, the kids doing everything I want thing seems to be wearing off.

I hope all of you had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Jordan is going to Canada, Eh?

I feel so strange, and happy, and sad, and proud to see my brother Jordan leaving on his mission. He is so excited to go to Canada, and he hopes to find many people to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with. But I am most proud and excited of the fact that he has his own testimony and that he has a personal relationship with Christ. He has turned out to be such an amazing kid.

Jordan is the baby of the family and I have often said that I felt sorry for him because instead of having brothers and sisters he has about 5 sets of parents that get after him. He is also only about 5 years older than E.J. so the two of them have always behaved more like brothers than uncle and nephew. He has been a good example to all of the kids.

When he was set apart as a missionary the Stake President asked if any of us had anything that we would like to share with him. All I could say was "I am so proud of you, Jordan, and I hope you know that we are standing behind you all the way. " I love you, Jordan. We all love you, and are here for you! We are praying for your safety and strength every day! Stay safe, eh? And make sure you write, eh?!?

Kids Pictures

In between family pictures my sister-in-law Libby also took pictures of the kids. She has a great eye for photography and I LOVE how they turned out as well:

My Greatest

Treasures

Call Me

Mom

Family Pictures

Our Thanksgiving weekend was really crazy since it was also my brother Jordan's farewell that Sunday. (He is leaving on a mission to Canada)

We also decided that since we had the whole family together we better get family pictures taken. The Photographers name is Mary Clark, and she is AMAZING!!!

Here is one of the entire Ferguson Family including all of my brothers and their wives and kids along with my parents:


Here are a couple of just our family:

Wrestling Season

This is really weird, but I am excited to say that the wrestling season has started! Many of you know that Eddie retired from coaching a couple of years ago because he was missing so many of our kids' activities. But he also said that he would go back to coaching if our kids decided to wrestle. Well guess what? The boys are now freshmen in High School and much to Eddie's excitement (and my dismay) both of them are officially on the J.V. wrestling team at Hillcrest High School.

I have to say I have been watching wrestling matches for years, Eddie started coaching when I was pregnant with E.J., but it is so much more stressful when someone you love is competing. It is a really harsh sport, and my heart beats so fast and my palms sweat and it is all I can do to try not to panic and scream goofy things and embarrass all of them.

Both Troy and E.J. are doing really well so far, with a couple wins and a couple losses each.

Here are a couple of pictures from the first match of the season:

Thanksgiving!

Have I ever said how much I LOVE Thanksgiving? It is absolutely my favorite holiday. I was looking through this last month's pictures and just had to add this post.

My Top 10 reasons I love Thanksgiving:
10. Feeling Blessed. Thanksgiving gives me the chance to feel grateful for all the blessings that we have. Nothing feels better than a thankful heart.
9. Collard Greens and Candied Yams - two foods that Eddie makes and that I wasn't sure about at first but now Thanksgiving just isn't the same without them.
8. Pumpkin Pie. Need I say more?
7. Turkey-induced Naps. Can you ever get as good of a nap than on Thanksgiving?
6. Making Grandma's Rolls. My Grandma Black made the best rolls in the world, and I am so glad that she taught me how to make them. Although I still haven't perfected this, it is one of the few things that I bake at least once a year. The kids and I love rolling and cutting them out together.
5. No guilt. I think that one of my favorite things about this holiday is that it's not about stuff. There are no presents, no crazy schedules. Just thankfulness.
4. Playing games. And watching everyone else play games.
3. Spending time with my brothers and their families. It still amazes me that my funny brothers have all grown up to be such good men. They are all doing good things with their lives, and I love to spend time with them. And my sisters-in-law are some of my dearest friends.... I wasn't sure at first about all these girls coming into the family, but they all amazing women who are teaching me so much. And if I could top that off, it is that I have the CUTEST nieces and nephews in the world. (I love being auntie Heather)
2. Celebrating my Parents. All I can say about my parents is that they should be sainted. There are not any better people on the planet, and I feel blessed to be their daughter.
1. Hanging out with my family. I have the absolute best family in the world. I feel so blessed to be in love with my best friend, and the cool part is that HE loves me TOO! I have wonderful kids who constantly amaze me with what good hearts they have.

So that is why I think Thanksgiving ROCKS! I hope that all of you enjoyed the holiday as well, and that you have a very Merry Christmas Season!

Birthday (Pan)Cakes!

Sariah turned 9 the day after Halloween, and since Halloween was on a Friday, we decided to have a slumber party for her that night. The girls went trick-or-treating with us then came back to our house to watch not-scary movies. We put mattresses on the living room floor and all the girls settled in to watch a movie, it really was fun. In the morning we had birthday pancakes and then spent a while in the hot tub.

Overall It was a really fun party. I just don't understand why we call them "Slumber" parties. I think they really should call them "Stay awake all night" parties.

Sariah Blowing out her Candles...

Sariah with her best friends Farrah and Lexi!

Halloween!

Ok, I know that it is almost Christmas, but I still haven't posted Halloween pictures. Sariah was the only one of the kids that really dressed up, and she was a "Spy" The costume was actually a 1920's Gangster, but she turned out pretty cute. I am having trouble getting the pictures from my camera to upload, so here is the best one off my phone.



The rest of the kids (E.J. , Troy, and Shelby) Dressed up just enough to go to our "Trunk or Treat" and get as much candy as barely-dressed-up-teenagers could talk people into giving them.

Eddie and I were Barack Obama and Sarah Palin.

My mom had entered me in a Sarah Palin look alike contest with this picture:

Anyway, I picked up an Obama mask for Eddie for Halloween and we got a ton of funny comments. I'll tell you what, we learned more than we ever wanted to know about all of our neighbors' political views, but it was fun.

Here's the only picture we got of the two of us, but I don't think it turned out very well. We both look a little crazed, but then maybe that was part of the charactor, huh?

Anyway, that was the first part of our Halloween. The rest of our night was way more scary, because the teenagers all had a boy/girl party to get to, PLUS we had planned a slumber party on Halloween night for Sariah's birthday the next day. Screaming and freaked out 8 and 9 year-olds AAAAACCCCKKKKK!!! But that story will have to wait until the next post...