Cast Day!!!!

Kylie has a pretty new pink accessory. :) Yes....she got her PINK cast! And boy is it pink. We love it. The Orthopedic they referred us to has been closed since this happened, so we didn't know until today if we were going to get in until today or tomorrow. But Mama Bear was going to do what she could to get her baby in today. :) I called right before they opened and their computers were down. So I had to call back in an hour. It was quite a long hour, but finally....I called and we got in. I was relieved but so nervous. (Although I've had a nervous pit in my stomach through this whole experience so whatever.) Brian took the day off today so we could all be there. I just have to say that Kylie did AMAZING!!!! I was so proud of her and impressed with her! She actually did NOT want the splint to come off. The doc told us that kids actually get upset when you take them (and the cast) off because the last time they remember not having it on...their arm hurt. I thought that was interesting. Anyway: she was a bit upset when we (actually I got to take it off) took it off but she was so brave. The Doc looked at the x-rays and actually thinks it might just be fractured and not broken. But she's in a cast anyway, and we go back in a week to get it x-rayed again with the cast on. She should be in it for about 4 weeks. I was SO NERVOUS about how she was going to react. I have been talking to her about it so she would know what to expect. And I just have to say...she did AMAZING!!!!!! She really did. She only whimpered a few times, and never even got a tear. Mommy got to sit right by her and even help a little with putting the cast on. Best news....the cast is WATERPROOF!!!! You can totally get it wet and everything. (I have my doubts and kinda don't believe it. She might still have baths with plastic bags over her arm. :) But they say she can get it totally wet, soak it, whatever. Just rinse it so there isn't soapy water in it.) I thought that was a cool feature. Anyway: I just have to say that my baby girl has adjusted SO WELL to all of this. I have learned a lot from her through this whole experience. She is so brave and strong and I'm so proud of her. Here are a few pics....

I was trying to get a pic of the cast and told her to show me her cast. This is what she did. :) She's too funny.

Standing by her kitchen with her new accessory. (And by the way...she doesn't have to wear the sling thing anymore. But I think it's a comfort thing for her because she wants to wear it. So I keep adjusting it because it always shifts behind her. She's just too funny!)

So every time I ask Kylie to smile she gives me this crooked smile and brings her finger up. I think it's precious.

I almost had a decent picture of her and her cast and then she moved right as I was taking it. So I kinda cut off part of her face, but of course it's still a cute pic. :)

And how sweet is my Aunt Karen?! (Well, it's Brian's aunt, but we're much too close for me to call her aunt-in-law! :) ) Our doorbell rang today, and THIS is what was delivered to us (well, Kylie) from her....

A yummy cookie bouquet!!!

Here's a bit of a close-up.

And here is Brian enjoying a cookie with some milk and some light reading. :)

Kylie preferred to eat all the frosting off the cookie first and then gobble up the cookie. I know I might have said this a time or two, but she is too funny!

All in all, things went really well today. I'm so glad the cast is on and hopefully the healing part will be quick. The doc did say that if it's a fracture sometimes they can "slip" or something like that. Then that would mean surgery to pin it together. So we are praying that won't happen...of course. Then another thing I'm worried about is she has eczema. It's not bad if we keep some cortisone on it when it starts to show up. But with it in the cast....I'm really worried that it will flare up. So we'll be praying for that not to happen as well. All things considered though....things are much better now that the cast is on and healing can really begin! Sorry for all these details. But hey! I want this stuff recorded. :)

Temple Square Fun...

Brandon (my oldest brother), Leah (his wife), and all their kids came to visit just before Christmas. (I know this post is out of order since I already posted about Christmas. :) ) We had a great time together. One of the coolest things to do during Christmas time in Utah is go to the lights that are at Temple Square downtown Salt Lake City. It is AMAZING how beautiful of a job they do putting the lights on the trees. It is one thing that is FOR SURE to give me Christmas Spirit. There is such a feeling of love, peace, and joy just walking around Temple Square. It really makes me contemplate the true meaning of Christmas.

So Brandon and Leah and the kids got here last Saturday. There were 2 things on their list of things to do that day.....eat pizza from "The Pie" (it's this AMAZING pizza place that is right on the University of Utah campus) and go to Temple Square to see the lights. Even though it was FREEZING cold....we all wanted to be apart of it! However...instead of eating at the pizza place...we picked it up and took to the KeyBank tower downtown (where Brian has his office) and ate in one of the boardrooms there. It was a FABULOUS idea because the kids were able to run around, we had plenty of room, and we were able to be together as a family.


The kids had a great time drawing on the white board with all the colorful markers.

Look at this pizza. It is HUGE!!! That is my oldest brother's hand that I had him put over the pizza so you can tell how big that pizza is. This one pizza fed 8 adults and 4 kids. Plus we had leftovers. It's SO HUGE!!!





Some pics from some chair races we had there. The kids LOVED it!

While we walked to Temple Square...these two cutie cousins held hands. Lexy is such a good big cousin. She's so good with young kids.

My whole fam together.

Sweet Kaylee. I love this picture of her.

Three of Kylie's cousins: Kaylee, Crae, and Lexy

My sweet Kylie all bundled up.

A SO NOT VERY MERRY Christmas!!!!

This hurts my heart as I write this....but this is how our Christmas went from great to the worst in just a second. We had finished with Christmas morning, had breakfast, finished Kylie's presents, played for a long time with new toys, and just had some great family time. Now it was lunch time and then soon to follow nap time for Kylie. Kylie was eating some peaches up at our kitchen island, Brian was putting dishes in the dishwasher, and I was in the family room. I heard a fall in the kitchen and ran right out in there. Kylie had fallen off the stool onto the tile floor below. I took her from Brian so I could cuddle her and calm her down because of course she was crying. She landed on her arm, and was holding her arm saying "Hurt. hurt." I knew something was wrong right away because she wasn't calming down at all. She would try to use her arm to play with a new toy or something and as she would reach out to get something her hand would shake and she wouldn't move it very far before she pulled it back saying "hurt, hurt." After about 15 mins we decided we should get her checked out at the ER. So Brian and I headed out. We had a wait in the ER room....of course....and during that time she started using her arm and moving it a bit. So we thought maybe it was just a fracture or something because she was playing and having fun. We finally made it back into the room and then of course waited again FOREVER! They finally came in to take x-rays and we really didn't think it would be that bad. Well....the doc comes back and tells us my baby's arm was BROKEN!!!!! My 2-year old broke her arm. It was just a small break (I could barely see it in the x-ray) but it was BROKEN!!!! My heart broke right along with it. So they set it in a splint and then we will go in on Monday or Tuesday to get a cast. Kylie was SO BRAVE and SO GOOD!!!! It was only when strangers (the nurses, docs, etc.) came near her that she cried. :) She is such a big girl.

I told her if she could be a strong girl that I would get her whatever treat she wanted when we were done. Well, she wanted french fries. Ummmmm.....well.....everything is closed on Christmas day. Hmmmmmmm. We were communicating with my parents and brothers that was at my house during this whole thing. So Grandpa jumps in the car and goes driving all around to try to find anything open. NOTHING was. So plan B. Matt finds some potatoes at our house and he MAKES HER SOME FRIES! How sweet! So this is her enjoying the yummy treat her Uncle Matty made her. Look at her sling. Still makes me weep!

Here she is resting her arm, eating her fave cereal....Fruit Loops, and watching her show. She only stayed here a few mins, but hey....I get her arm elevated when I can. :)

This has been a big adjustment for all of us. Kylie has adjusted the best....I have to say. :) Her mommy on the other hand.....not doing so well. It breaks my heart to see her little arm in the sling. She's been SUCH a trooper through all of it. I guess things like this really open up your eyes and make you see just HOW MUCH LOVE you can have in your heart for such a little girl. Any parents out there that have gone through this....how do you deal?! It's SO SAD and SO HARD to see your child go through something like this!!!! I wish I could take her place. Anyway: wanted to let you know how our Christmas was! Hope yours was better!!!

A Very Merry Christmas...

We had a very merry Christmas morning. Kylie got a kitchen and LOVED it! She couldn't stop playing with it. And hasn't stopped playing with it since then. I love Christmas mornings. They are so magical and fun. Add an excited child to the mix and I just can't think of anything better. Kylie was so excited and just LOVED the experience. It took forever to open presents because after every present was unopened we had to open them all up to play with them. I love watching her excitement and enthusiasm. We took a break for breakfast after all the adults had their presents opened and Kylie was halfway done. :) It was great having my family here as well. My parents and two of my brothers were here for Christmas and we had a blast. My brother, sister in law, and kids were here just before Christmas (I'll post some pics of their trip here in a bit) and we definitely missed having them here. Of course they had to get home for Santa to come! :) Anyway: Christmas morning was fabulous, but the next post will explain why it turned into my worst Christmas....

She couldn't stop smiling at this kitchen. She LOVED it!!!

She got right into cooking!

She picked up the phone to call Santa to thank him. Then as she opened presents from Grandma and Grandpa Van Camp, she goes over to the phone and picks it up and says, "Thank you Grandma and Grandpa Camp!" It was SO CUTE!!!!

Merry Christmas Early....

So Brian gave me my Christmas present early. It's a.....
Blackberry Storm! What a thoughtful gift. :) He knows that I LOVE the internet so why not have it available to me at all times? However....I know the majority reason he is giving me this is because I give him a hard time about being on his BlackBerry ALL the time....ALL hours of the day. He wants me to get sucked into it too so it's more acceptable for him to be so addicted. :) Whatever the reason...I'm still EXCITED! :) But...it's kinda been driving me crazy getting used to it the little bit I've been able to play with it tonight. So....do any of you have a Blackberry that can tell me if it's worth it or not? Anyone have the Storm? And do you like it? I have 30 days to try it out and want to make sure I want to keep it before my time is up. Brian has the Curve one or whatever it's called. And it has actual buttons...not the touch screen thing that the Storm has. His seems a bit easier to use, but maybe not once I actually get used to mine. So anyway...any thoughts?! :) Thanks for sharing any advice you have! :) Hope you are all doing fabulous and getting ready to have a Merry Christmas!!!!

My Accessory Girl....

Kylie LOVES her sunglasses, bracelets, necklaces, rings, whatever accessory she can find. When she finds a pair of her sunglasses, she will wear them around all day. It's too funny. So today she comes up to me with these sunglasses on and says, "Look mommy!" I then ask her if she is my accessory girl. She replies, "NO!!! I your buddy!" I guess I'll take that. : )

Jazz Fun Time...

It's that time of year again! Brian gets tickets to the Jazz game for he and his team so they can take clients. Last Wednesday we went to the game for our first game of the season. We like going "suite" style because you have your own private room with seats that give you a great view of the full court. You have your OWN bathroom, you don't have to fight the crowds, they feed you yummy food and dessert, etc, etc. Brian and I both comment that we just would not enjoy games anymore if we had to go sit in "regular" seats. :) Sorry, we've been spoiled. :) Anyway...we usually find a babysitter for Kylie, but we ended up taking her tonight. I was a bit worried about it because it's a "work event" but I guess sometimes it pays to be the boss. :) Brian was excited to take her. I thought she would love it, and she did. It was hilarious watching her. We got there and she walked right out to the seats and just watched intently at all that was going on on the court. (It was just set up and then warm up time at this point.) Then when the game started she was totally into it. She would not take her eyes off it and she would TOTALLY cheer whenever everyone else did. It was so cute! :)
The Delta center.....I mean Energy Solutions Arena (I'm still boycotting that name...I think it sounds dumb)....had all these trees lit up for Christmas. Kylie LOVES seeing Christmas lights so had to snap a pic of her standing amongst them. :) Isn't she precious!

This is the scene that captivated her attention from the beginning. Nothing too exciting going on, but she loved it. Little did she know how exciting it was going to get! :)

She made herself right at home. :) She would rotate between the seats intended for game watching and the seats intended for eating some snacks. :) Too cute she is! :)

The best Mommy/Kylie picture I got. :) Yeah....I really gotta work on getting Brian to take some pictures of us. :) Kylie, of course, loved eating some ice cream towards the end of the evening!

It was a great evening. We had a lot of fun and am so glad that I got family time the whole night!

My Silly Kylie....

So a funny Kylie story from yesterday. I have not been good at recording these like I should. (What?! I'm a bad mom I guess!) So I'm going to blog this funny thing to make sure I do have it down. :)

I'm really working on getting Kylie to listen and obey when Mommy or Daddy tell her to do something. (She is pretty good about it, but she is a 2 year old too. :) ) Anyway: yesterday I told her to do something and she wasn't coming. So I tell her again, "Kylie....you need to obey Mommy when she tells you to do something." She then says, "Ok! Well, here goes nothing!"

I about lost it. I thought it was so funny. Kids are the best, aren't they?! :)

Gift of Music....

So what is this you ask?!?!? Why....it's a new addition to our family!!!! Meet our new piano! :) We are SO EXCITED! Here's the story....Brian's mom is a piano genius. She can turn a old broken piano into a work of art! Now....I have no musical ability, but I really want my kids to! And Kylie LOVES LOVES LOVES music. Every time she sees a piano...she runs to it and wants to play on it. So....we have been bugging Brian's mom to get us one. :) (What?! We aren't needy! :) ) She had been talking about finding one and coming to fix it out here. But we knew she was having problems finding one. Well...on Monday she called to tell me to expect a delivery the next day. I was expecting the postman to bring whatever this delivery was. What a SURPRISE it was to me to see a guy standing on my porch with a piano in a truck behind him! I could NOT believe it! It was SUCH a SURPRISE!!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH MOM!!!!! She ended up finding on that BYU was getting rid of. It looks/works great still so she doesn't even have to do anything to it. (Well....except tune it when she comes out to visit. Although it's not like I could tell if it was out of tune or anything, so I think we're ok here! :) ) Kylie and I were so excited and had a lot of fun pretending we could play the piano all day. :) Now I have to try to have some musical ability so that I can play a song when she comes to visit in March! :) We are so excited though and love it so much! It's gotten lots of use already this week! THANK YOU!!! THANK YOU!!!! THANK YOU!!!!

We have it in our living room, which is just to the right when you come in the front door.

Look how cute this sweetie is playing the piano. :) This last pic....she's trying to do the "slide" (or whatever that's called) and it's so cute. She always wants to play it together, and it's so much fun. I am so excited she loves music!!! :)

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

We had a fabulous Thanksgiving. We went to Colorado to visit my family. My youngest brother in leaving in February to serve a mission for our church. And so my Mom and Dad wanted to get us all together for a few days to have a big family hoop-la. So my Dad got us all hotel rooms close to their house so we could all get away and no one was distracted by normal life things. It was a BLAST! We had our own spaces to be in, but since we all had suites there was hang out space for everyone as well. We went out to eat for Thanksgiving dinner at Cracker Barrel. Brian and I did this last year, since we had just moved, and it was a FABULOUS thing! Other than waiting for an hour for a table....we were just able to sit back and relax the whole day. Didn't have to cook, clean, etc. It was great! We hung out, shopped, went swimming, tried to have game nights, and just had a great time together. We even ended up spending an extra night there because we had so much fun. It was a great weekend! Thanks Mom and Dad for the FUN! It was great to all be together for a few days as a family.

I hope all of you had a great Thanksgiving!

Brandon and Leah also had their friend come up on Thanksgiving morning to take a big family picture. I need to get those from them and will post them when I have them. But that was fun to have a big family picture taken. So thanks for organizing that Bran and Leah!!! The pics below are just a few pics I snapped myself. The professional ones will come soon. :)

I saw the girls sitting on the steps while other pictures were being taken. I ran over there to snap some pictures.

Then we brought all the cousins together on the steps. Aren't they darling?!!!!

I got a picture of Handsome Crae. How cute is this?!?!?

Kylie with her Grandma and Grandpa Brown. Ahhhhh.....more preciousness. :)

Back to our room where sweet Lexy read to Kylie. The kids LOVED hanging with Kylie. It was so cute.

Crae with two of his girls. This was a momentary pause between running up and down the hallways. They would all pause on their imaginary start line and would say, "Ready, Set, GO!" Then they would all run down the hall. It was really sweet watching Kylie play with her cousins and having fun.

PJ hang out time. Kylie did NOT want to get dressed each day...she just wanted to hang in her PJ's. I guess you can't blame her. :)

The final night we tried ONE MORE TIME (we attempted each night, it just didn't seem to work out) to have a game night. We got some games of Candy Land in....
Yes...yes....the adults all joined in on the Candy Land fun along with the kids. But no adult games. :)

It was fun being able to lounge around with each other as well. Leah hanging and Grandpa/Dad Brown with Kaylee and Cameron hanging on the couch.