South Carlsbad Beach Camping - Day 2

Adam and Xan let us borrow their cots for this camping trip. We usually just sleep on the ground with some quilts for cushioning, but we thought cots might be a little more comfortable for my pregnant body. The first night was comfortable enough and the next days got progressively more uncomfortable. Why is it that naptime in tents is more comfortable than actual bedtime?

I woke up to a plea on Elliot's part to just try the breakfast that Joe & Lynnae were making. This made me a little nervous, but since I'm a grown up girl now, I usually try everything (unless it's fish related). Joe made some apple cinnamon pancakes with sour cream topping and apple syrup. Elliot thought the sour cream was going to throw me off and run away screaming, which it probably would have if I was not a grown up girl like I have just mentioned. It was delicious! The apple syrup made the sour cream taste like cream cheese and I even ate 2 pancakes (I'm not usually a pancake fan). It really was delicious and I was looking forward to their dinner that night too.

The mornings were SOOOOO clear this year that the kids were begging to get down the the beach before breakfast was even over. Last year it was so overcast that we waited most of the morning and then had to force ourselves to go down before lunchtime. Stella always makes it down to the beach before I get a chance to lather her up with sun screen, but we did really well this year. I never get her face very well, but the only sun she got was just under her eyes. My toes and cleavage got burned. Elliot was practically in his snow suit and under the canopy all day, so he didn't get any sun.

Sandy sunscreen application

Tyler

Garrett & Clark (pretty much all of the kids would eventually fight over who was Garrett's best friend . . . Stella thinks she won because they're related)

Macy and Reagan would splash around in this little raft. Reagan continued to elude my camera. I guess I'm not as stealthy as my large waddling shadow approaches.

Stella

It was freezing. I don't know how kids don't care how cold the water is. Also, they started a "Save the Sea Weed" cause.



Emma, Sarah, Stella

Lorraine & Travis

We pretty much just sat here and ate snacks every 10 minutes.

Lynnae & Joe



Aunt Beth

We were never far from the snack box.

Frankie had the best sand goatee's on the beach days (this picture was pre-goatee). If it had sand on it, he'd eat it.

More sitting, less sand.

I said I was excited for the concoction Joe and Lynnae were brewing for dinner and I was right to be. It smelled so good for over an hour that I nearly couldn't stand it! Dutch oven chicken pot pie. They continue to outdo themselves. So delicious!

If we couldn't find one of the kids, they were in a tree.

It was such a relaxing day, yet exhausting at the same time. I was really hoping for a great night sleep because we had a big day planned the next day!

(Elliot's coworker Curtis graciously let us borrow his camera for our vacation. Thank you Curtis!)

South Carlsbad Beach Camping 2011 - Day 1

You could barely see Stella and Aunt Beth in the backseat under all of our camping supplies! I don't know what we're going to do when we have another child to add in there next year! We'll have to get a magic car like Aunt Xan has or just have her pack for us (she can fit her family of 7 plus all of their supplies AND extra fun stuff for ALL of the other kids that are camping . . . she's magic).

We were so sad that Adam and Xan and their family couldn't come on the annual beach camping trip this year due to Adam's broken arm. We had fun, but it seriously wasn't the same. Don't ever do that again.

I'm worried. This is the second time Stella has fallen asleep during the day since she was 2-years-old. Maybe she just believed Daddy when he said that we'd get to the beach faster if she'd fall asleep. It only lasted 20 minutes.

Big improvement on my restrain in taking pictures this year. 128 compared to over 700 last year. Lucky you.

(photo by Bethany Dibble)

Beth was a life-saver in helping Elliot set up the camp and basically doing stuff I didn't want to do because I was tired.

I don't even know why I fight it. How are you supposed to be a kid and even try to listen to your mother when she says "you can walk on the beach, but don't get wet." You have to get soaked. You have to.

Elliot made dutch-oven loin and cheesy potatoes for dinner and we enjoyed the company of our family and friends while the pyro-kids made the fire bigger. I am grateful that the bathroom facilities were direction across from our campsite and I was so excited for a whole beach day the next morning!

Random

I've been camera-less for WEEKS! I'm shriveling up as we speak. Luckily, Elliot is coming home with with my precious camera tonight, so I'll be able to post some clear pictures for a change. My SLR has been on the fritz for months, but I've been borrowing my cousin's camera since then for photo shoots. I also had my point & shoot until I dropped it when I was trying to take a picture of Stella's cute hairdo . . . I ALWAYS have it strapped around my wrist . . . not that day. Now it has erectile dysfunction. So here are some pictures I've taken with my phone lately.

The Young Women in our ward had a fund raiser for Girls Camp and asked if they could use my chocolate chip cookie recipe. My cookies are pretty good, but the recipe is NOT a secret and really should be called McAllister-istic Cookies instead of Dibble-icious because the recipe is my grandmother's. It also makes a butt-load of cookies, which was good for the $15 container of cookie dough people got from it. I think one family ordered 6 . . . at least I won't have to make cookies for anyone in the ward for a long time since they probably all have cookie dough poisoning and some serious gas.

Elliot got this electro-stimulator machine for his leg/foot after he got his cast off. You can see how swollen he was and though the e-stim feels good, I think our whole family is allergic to adhesive and now he has perfectly square-shaped rashes on his ankle. I'll give it a go after I'm not pregnant.

Little Hannah-Banana turned 4-years-old in May and was the cutest little goggle-wearing new bike rider I've ever seen! I love her!

You can't see a darn thing in this picture, but it was such a momentous occasion that I have to share. Stella climbed to the top of the rope at gymnastics! It may have been a little clearer, but I was so excited that I moved when I took the picture. You can sort of see her little black figure just a little left of the very middle of the picture. The girl has some serious muscles.

And speaking of the girl . . . this never happens. We were all ready for church and Stella came out of her room and fell asleep on the couch. This only happens when she's very, very sick. Even when she's just normally sick (which is never), she still jumps around like a crazy person because she doesn't know she's just supposed to rest. So when she actually falls asleep during waking hours, we stay home from church.

I love her. And I'm really going to love having my camera back.

ELLIOT'S SURGERY PICTURES!!

Reach for the

BARF BUCKET

if you get grossed out by
OPEN FLESH and a mess of
TENDON and EXPOSED MUSCLE.

GO . . . get it now before you scroll down!

Here we go then . . . in Elliot's words . . .

1 - This is what the injury looked like. My injury was a complete rupture, but, as the picture suggests, there were a few strands remaining after the injury - just nothing that would allow me to move my foot up and down.

2 - The doctor severed the tendon in order to detach the remaining strands to initiate the repair. At least, I think that is what is going on in these first two pictures. I could be wrong.

3 - This is the initial part of the repair - the tendon is reattached to the calf muscle by braiding the available strands together. The doctor did tell me that he had trimmed some of the strands in order to give him something to work with.

4 - This is the complete repair. The initial repair was wrapped in human heart tissue (from a cadaver) to protect the repair, strengthen the attachment to the calf, and to lubricate the tendon in the future.

Last Day of School - Bustoz Buffalos!

Stella just had her last day of 1st GRADE on May 27th at Bustoz Elementary School!

Stella loved recess, reading, seat work (oh please), and playing babies with Jimena and Fowsiyo, and judging from the callouses on her hands she also did a lot of monkey bar playing.

Mrs. Christina Damer was her 1st Grade teacher. She had a baby at the beginning of March and got to take 8 weeks off. So unfortunately when I ask Stella about Mrs. Damer, she says she was mean. She really wasn't though. I just keep telling her that coming back to a class for the last 3 weeks of school after an 8-week absence and trying to retain some sort of classroom management as well as not sleeping because of a newborn baby might make a person a little grumpy. I hope she eventually remembers the other great things about Mrs. Damer!

Stella had excellent marks in 1st grade even though she did get her name on the board A LOT. She reads at a 2-3 grade level and has "excellent expression." We were given the suggestion to put her in some sort of drama class. I don't know if it's just because I'm not a very good homework Mom, but it was a pain to get her to do her homework each day! She understands it all, but just didn't ever want to do it. Hum, could it be because they had "seat work" all day as well?

According to the Health Alerts that were sent home, Stella visited the School Nurse more than 20 times during the year for bloody noses, stomach aches (she just needed to poop and always got a snack), and some other fake excuses to get out of class. I almost called the Nurse to tell her to not be so nice to Stella so she wouldn't want to visit so often. The front office staff ALWAYS loves Stella . . . and they know her well because she wasn't exactly punctual each day.

Principal Ken White. Seriously A.W.E.S.O.M.E! I never knew how important a principal was to a school until we met Mr. White. I can't even tell you the name of the principal at the other school Stella went to for Kindergarten. Mr. White was a crossing guard after school, knew ALL of the kids names and a lot of the parents, was super happy, was at lunch with the kids every day, and just made Bustoz a sunshiny place. Even when Stella got sent to his office (she was supposed to sit on the wall at recess for 5-minutes and she "forgot," so she got sent to the office for not listening), he made sure she was not intimidated and even reminded me a hundred times how great he thinks Stella is.

When we found out that the district was going to merge Bustoz with another school, we went to a couple of meetings to discuss. There was a little concern with the merge until we found out that Mr. White would be the principal. Any school will be FANTASTIC with Mr. White as the principal.

Elliot went to Bustoz when he was little and his 2nd grade teacher Mrs. Harper still works there. She teaches 4th grade now. All of the teachers got to keep their jobs and transfer over to the new school, so hopefully in a couple of years Stella will be able to have the same teacher her Daddy did . . . even if it isn't as a Buffalo!

Bustoz Buffalos! Bustoz Buffalos!
From North to South to East to West
You will know that we're the best!

Bustoz Buffalos! Bustoz Buffalos!
We fight for what is right
We will try with all our might!

We're the Red and Blue! We will be so true!
We Read and Write and Learn and Play
We're proud of what we do each day!

Bustoz Buffalos! Bustoz Buffalos!
From North to South to East to West
We will know that we're the best!

Walking & Kung Fu

Look who is WALKING!

After a 5-week hiatus from walking, Elliot was deemed a COMPLIANT patient and given permission to put weight on his injured, yet repaired, leg. He's barely even limping! My brother-in-law tells me that hardly any patients are compliant, so Elliot is very proud of himself. He is, however, extremely ready for this injury to be healed completely. He starts physical therapy after our vacation.

Dr. Hansen is nice and all, but doesn't always seem like he likes to joke around like Elliot does. Every time we have an appointment with him, Elliot asks for his surgery pictures. So we're not sure if Dr. Hansen appreciated the humor in Elliot saying, "You have NOT been compliant!" . . . the office staff enjoyed it though.

We celebrated Elliot's walking and Stella's last day of school and my pure awesomeness and attractiveness by going to Kung Fu Panda 2!

Out of Office

. . . ah, I'm relaxed already.

Mother's Day & Canyon Lake

We still haven't quite figured out how to do the whole split between parents on holidays since my parents moved to the valley, but it is forcing us to plan ahead a little bit. By the time Elliot gets home from church (after 4:30 sometimes), we usually just head down to his parents house for dinner. We don't have time to visit both sets of parents all the time. This is seriously throwing us off our game. We'll handle it. We have parents who like to see us. Poor us. :)

(Stella's job was to take pictures of the lake while I drove . . . Elliot still can't drive)

Since we spent Easter with my parents, we decided to spend Mother's Day with Elliot's family. But since I wouldn't be around without my mother and didn't want to forget her on a special day, we made sure we snatched Mom and Dad away from their perpetual unpacking mode for a little brunch and day trip to Canyon Lake on Saturday. It was so fun to see (and show) a new part of Arizona that is practically right down the road!

Stella sure loves the attention of the camera . . . oh, I mean her grandparents.

Elliot just wants that blasted cast off so he can take over driving.

26 Weeks Pregnant

May 8, 2011 (picture was actually on the 1st, but it's about the same)

SICKNESS: I finally threw up. I can't remember why though. I almost made it the whole time without being sick. I don't think it was pregnancy related, but I sure felt better afterwards. I'm mostly just incredibly tired and can take a nap ANY time of the day. Not sick though.

CRAVINGS: Fruit. Bananas mostly, but apples are on the list now. I wouldn't say I have an aversion to any foods because they don't make me sick, but nothing else sounds good to eat anymore . . . even my regulars (chips, bread, Fiber One bars).

FEELINGS: I can't believe I didn't do a 24 week update. My last one was
20 Weeks and HOLY MOLY have I grown! I must apologize to the lady at church last week who I reprimanded for asking me if I was having twins . . . it really does look like I am (I'm not).

I'm not nervous, but I'm realizing that we're getting toward the end of the pregnancy and I don't feel prepared. I know, we've had 7 years to get ready for this one, but still, it's so weird how much there is to be done! This little guy is a MOVER! I don't remember Stella kicking so much as just rolling around, but this guy kicks. Stella, Elliot and I love to feel him and now that we can see him kicking through my belly, we're entertained for quite some time.

I'm not sure I'd call them contractions because they don't hurt, but my belly sure does get tight on occasion. I never had contractions with Stella until I was induced, so I don't really know what the first ones feel like. I'll be done with the 2nd trimester at the end of the week!

Still no name. It's hard to believe, but it's becoming even more difficult to pick one that we agree on. We might have to start from scratch again.

Also, sometimes I just need to cry. Does everyone's husband panic when you cry? And really, does there have to be a reason why it's happening?

I'm not uncomfortable AT ALL, in fact, I could be pregnant FOREVER because I love it so much! I'm excited to get in the pool though and see what kind of tricks he does then! I LOVE my huge belly!

SOME THINGS I NEED TO WORK ON:
*Interview midwives & doulas
*Continue Hypnobabies scripts and present reading and practices to Elliot
*Go to Birth Circle
*Write Birth Plan
*Clean the dining room because we have to feed the missionaries on Sunday

Uh-Oh

Speeding AND on the phone AND I look so cross.

I'm going to work on looking more pleasant when I drive. That is the priority over the other two infractions, right?

The Cast

So Elliot's surgery to repair his ruptured Achilles tendon was on a Thursday. My podiatrist brother-in-law says that he should have taken 10 days off of work and yet my husband decided to go back to work on Monday. He only lasted 30 minutes before he called me to come pick him back up.

He did go to work the rest of the week though and by Wednesday he had already accidentally put weight on his foot. PAINFUL! He had gone to a restaurant with clients and lost his balance going up a step and reflexively put his foot down. We were both so worried that he had re-injured it, but the doctor didn't seem worried. It still hurt though.

Dr. Hansen was also impressed with how very little swelling Elliot has had. He took out the stitches last Monday.


Elliot has had his cast for a week now. Apparently they don't do white casts anymore, so he chose green. He was also planning on NOT having anyone sign it, but I squashed that idea with a text or two to some friends who showed up after FHE for a little signing party.

It doesn't really look like it, but his toes are pointed down a little bit. I thought it would be more ballerina-like, but not so. The plan is that this green cast will be on for 2 weeks, they'll take it off, check it out, and cast it again for another 10+ days. We're hoping to get it off before we go to the beach at the end of the month, otherwise Elliot refuses to go. He should be in a walking boot for a few more weeks after that and doing physical therapy.

In other news, Elliot's brother Adam BROKE HIS ARM (both bones . . . ow) a week after Elliot's injury. Accident prone boys anyway. The Dibble family apparently became superstitious and Grandma Dibble cleared the aisles of bubble wrap for Bethany the next week. No more injuries to report.

Elliot finally got to see his surgery pictures which were even more awesome the second time around. Dr. Hansen said he'd email them, but hasn't yet. You better believe they'll end up here, so BEWARE you fainters. They are incredible.

Elliot is totally annoyed by the cast and the muscle cramping, but is getting around better and using crutches more since someone insulted his manhood by telling him that only people age 55+ and women without upper body strength use the roller cart. Mind your business. You should see him move on that thing. He's left skid marks on the pavement with that apparatus. I prefer those kinds of skid marks to the other kind.