Hair

A couple of weeks ago it was time to get my hair cut. For a long time (like years) I have wanted to cut my hair short. Not bob, like pixie. I have always loved these hair cuts on others and wondered if I could pull it off. If it didn't workout though, I did not want to be stuck looking like a boy for an unknown amount of time. Lately though, my hair was driving me CRAZY! It took forever to blow dry, has weird curl kinks in it from having children and was so heavy and thick. I needed a change.

I shared with Justin my thought on short hair and he said, Do It! I still wasn't convinced. I told my sister when dropping my kids off my thoughts and showed her some pictures of styles I liked. She said, DO IT! I again was still not sure. I went to my hair dresser who has had short hair and everything in between. She told me I should totally DO IT! I asked her several questions and raised my concerns about it. She reassured me on all accounts. I decided it was time to Carpe Diem! I DID IT, and I LOVE IT.

It has been amazing to be done with my hair within 5-10 minutes. I also really like how it looks with my face. For now, I will be keeping it this way. 
 

Justin and Ruth Blazzard

Lately

I always read other people's blogs admiring all that they write. Then when I find a small slot of time to update ours, my mind is always blank! How does this happen? I will start with today.

 Recreating is not one of my strong suits in life, and that serves me as a strength and weakness. This weekend I suggested to Justin that we do something as a family since he had a 3 day weekend. We decided bowling might be worth a try since both girls could participate.

After Jenna's nap we headed to the bowling alley in Ontario. Natalie was unsure what to think prior to going as she has never done it before. We had a great time. Both of the girls bowled. Jenna pushed her ball of the ramp by using one finger to touch it (we helped her of course). Natalie started getting the hang of it loved when it was her turn.

I am happy to say I beat Justin. :) We went bowling as one of our first dates and I think I was so twitterpated with him at that time I score like a 30! I am still embarrassed by it. We realized after leaving we haven't been bowling in about 5 years.I could see it becoming a family tradition though, especially for this time of year when the weather isn't great.

I have really enjoyed having a piano in our home and being able to have music for Family Home Evening. We have been trying to be consistent at having Family Home Evening every Monday night after the council we received from General Conference. Some nights it has gone great, other nights have been challenging as the girls are crazy and I am cranky. We will keep persevering though! The girls soak everything up right now like a sponge and I know it helps keep the Spirit in our home.

This girl always keeps us on our toes! Whether it be from learning she is allergic to dog saliva to climbing on anything and everything she can and then hanging her toes over the edge waiting for you to acknowledge her. The poor girl got licked by a dog at the hayride my parents hosted before Halloween. We didn't realize it because we were in the dark having a bonfire. When we got home her eye was nearly swollen shut and looked really hot! This picture was the next morning. I felt awful! Justin assured me she would be ok as he has struggled his whole life with allergies.

 It has amazed me while living in this new home, that no matter the weather it seems there is always some new beauty to behold. We have been working on tearing all the dead stuff out, but these purple mums were in the middle of it all. My grandma had an amazing knack at always surrounding herself with beauty!

 On the hayride with cousins. They were all over the moon about the fun and being together!

 Natalie got her Christmas dress from Grandma a couple of weeks ago. It is beautiful and honestly I am nervous for her to wear it because I don't want it to get ruined. She felt so special to get the dress and insisted on having it by her while she slept that night. 

She keeps telling us she is going to be a "little princess" for Christmas! I told her it was beautiful enough to wear to a ball.

 Selfie after a morning workout for a challenge group I was part of. This month I decided to cancel my Beach Body on Demand subscription to save a little money. That means I have been researching and making up my own. It has been hard, which makes it good! Working out is such a blessing to me each day.

 At the outstanding pumpkin patch in Ontario! We loved getting to spend a couple hours there playing.

 Playing outside in the shop.

Yet again climbing to explore her world and show off to mom. This is life right now, sometimes it drives me crazy but I try really hard to be grateful for it because I know it will be gone to soon.

Justin and Ruth Blazzard

My Fall

 One picture of the hundreds of jars I have canned this Fall. It has been a fun work project as it is rewarding to see my storage shelves fill up.

 It has definitely been a challenge doing it with the kiddos. Natalie has been a good sport. Here she is eating a piece of buttered toast (her favorite snack) in a box the peaches came in.

 Jenna loved sneaking into the laundry room and finding  a bucket of pears on the ground that she could help herself too. She thought she was living life like a "Boss" when she could carry a pear around eating it.

 A little sign I want for my kitchen! It was from 1940's during World Ward II when food was being rationed. I went to a Preparedness Fair recently and found this poster board fascinating to read about. The amount allotted to people during the Great Depression and World War. Life may get interesting if we ever have to go back to rationed food. Anyways, canning has been a blessing for my family. Our garden even though it had a ton of weeds in it produced well allowing for a lot of Spaghetti sauce and green beans. I was also blessed to get free apples for apple pie filling and apple sauce! The Lord is blessing us.

Justin and Ruth Blazzard

What a Week

Last week was one for the books. It began Monday. While watching the baby girl I watch on Mondays' and Tuesday for a couple of hours, I heard Jenna letting off a hurt cry in the kitchen. I went in to investigate where I found Jenna face down under the table. I hastily accused Natalie of pushing her, but she was insistent that she did not. We will never know, but Jenna ended up with evidence of a very hard fall on her front noggin.

Tuesday we went to have lunch with my Grandma after story time. Jenna did not want to sit in my lap and eat so went off to play with what toys she could find while the rest of us did. She found a mini metal shopping cart and carried it over towards where we were. I believe she set it down to push it behind my chair, but it caught on the carpet and she tripped and fell into it. The moment her face appeared from the tumble I knew there would be stitches. We headed to the pediatricians office for her first stitches that were full of crying.Crying from the experience, and from not having a nap yet.

                                           Before                                                                                                       

                                                                                                           After

 I had given Jenna her pacifier to take a nap, even after being advised not to because of her lip. That is her one comfort item and I wanted her to be able to sleep after the traumatic incident. When she woke up I was almost certain a stitch was missing. Justin came home to check it out and he too thought the bottom was. He took her back to the doctor's that early evening. Thankfully all the stitches were in place, a top string had come off the stitch that would dissolve, but all was well.

 Natalie found her Christmas wish- a Power Wheels Cinderella Barbie Carriage, too bad it is $400....

Then for the scariest moment that week. Jenna has what is called "Holding Breath Spells." When she gets mad or hurt she will suck in air to scream, but sometimes never lets it out and then her body passes out to get her to breathe again. It lasts 5-15 seconds and while scary the first time we saw it, she is ok. I have seen her do this a handful of times since July and know what we are dealing with. 

For the last 4 weeks she hasn't had any episodes like this, for which we are grateful. Mostly they happen when she is over tired. 

Thursday night she was upset when Justin brought her out to show me a trick she was doing after bath. Instead of repeating her cute behavior, she just cried for me. Justin told her "No, you are going to go get dressed." For some reason this thoroughly upset her and she went into holding her breath. 

Only this time it lasted a long time and she didn't seem to be coming out of it. When she did start breathing again she went into a seizure. Her eyes would not track, she was non-responsive and her limbs were stiff with a slight tremor. This lasted for minutes and was very scary. We called 911 and tried to just keep her comfortable.

When she woke up she seemed cold, so I got her dressed and then she fell right asleep in my arms.

 I didn't understand what was going on at the time. When the EMT's arrived they referred to it as such and it clicked. 

 When they arrived she was awake, very tired and very pale. 

They took her vitals and she checked out ok, but we were told we needed to take her to the E.R. tonight.

We did, but they didn't do or tell us anything that we needed there.

 The next day we followed up with her pediatrician. She listened to me recount what had happened. She said it definitely sounded like a seizure to her. 

No known cause. It could happen again, it could never happen again. 

There is no way to prove it or prevent it.

Right now, medically she does not need further testing.

If it happens again she will need to have a EEG done by a Pediatric Neurologist.

If we wanted to, we could have one done right now just for our own peace of mind.

I pray it never happens again.

 This is her at the Pediatricians office waiting for something. 

She did great with her neurological exam that day. 

I am hoping that everything was due to over exhaustion and stress on the body. 

Since Thursday we have been very careful about her getting naps and to bed at a good time.

This girl is very particular and needs her schedule.

 So there you have it, between Tuesday and Friday last week we went to the doctor 3 times, called 911 and had a visit at the Emergency Room. Not a week I want to repeat. We are grateful for family and friends who were willing to help with whatever and have checked up on us. 

Little J, someday we will be past these days and will maybe even laugh about them, but for right now you keep life interesting.

Justin and Ruth Blazzard

Just a Monday

I love when I actually take the time to record events from our life here. It has been very difficult for me to keep up with this. So many other things have taken priority and having an early toddler roaming the house who likes her mama's constant attention, the tasks that used to not take long, take twice the amount. I am writing tonight just to share a few things from today and life.

First, Justin has gotten a new job! He will be teaching at Treasure Valley Community College in September. His focus will be technical classes. I am very excited for him. He is very skilled in working in this area and I know he can do a great job as he is good with people as well.

I ordered curtains! Finally, I have been thinking about it for 2 years now and I finally did it tonight. Interior design of my home has never been a strong suit for me. I never feel like I can justify spending money on something to just look at. I am excited to see how these curtains add color to our living room. After I decided I would order these I started thinking about all the painting projects I need to do and had to tell myself to calm down and just start with the curtains. :)

My sister in law Elizabeth rocks. Her friendship has been such a blessing to me. She has watched my girls countless times so that I could do many things. Today she came over and helped me cut out dresses for an hour and a half for the girls. Tomorrow she is going to help me sew them. I was so intimidated by this sewing project, but she assured me today that I could do it and she would help me. I am grateful she is part of our family!

I love seeing Justin's smile come through the door after work every day. He is a wonderful husband and love getting to spend time with him. He always makes my days better.

The girls are getting big and were whiny and into everything today, but I wouldn't trade one minute with them. They continue to teach me patience.

Just another Monday and I got the bathrooms cleaned!


Justin and Ruth Blazzard

Summer Miracles and Stuff

This last Monday I woke up and went to put on my wedding ring, only to realize it was not in the location I normally keep it. I checked the other spots it typically is and again there was nothing. I then spent the rest of the day looking and looking and calling all the places I had been Sunday night to ask them to keep an eye out for it.

I prayed a couple different times that day and throughout the week that I could find it, but I began to think it was gone. I was sad and frustrated with myself with not giving more care to such an important item. The time apart from it made me realize how much I did value it!

Last night at 5 p.m. on Saturday I was putting something away in Jenna's closet and as I turned around I caught a glimpse of the top of the dresser. There hiding behind a plastic bowl was my ring! I was so grateful and glad to have it back. This isn't the first prayer Heavenly Father has answered this summer, in fact, he has been teaching me a lot about personal development this summer, but I am grateful that he allowed me find this ring, especially at the end of a hard and emotionally demanding week. It made the whole week better.

Other activities we have been involved in this summer:

1.) Stump Grinding. Justin bought this almost 2 months ago off of craigs list. He hopes to keep it busy every weekend.

 What the machine does is pretty neat. It really does reclaim valuable space.

 2. A lot of playing at home and reading and enjoying being a family.

 3. Yummy food that summer time brings. This is a pan of German Pancakes that Justin likes to make for the girls for breakfast.

 4. This silly girl loves to put blankets on her head and crawl or walk around. I don't know if she is copying Natalie, or just enjoys how it feels.

5. Canning! Green beans are on, corn will be next, apricots are everywhere, and soon it will be time for peaches and pears. I love the reward of canning, but in the heat of it, it is intense, especially with trying to care for a young toddler at the same time. We managed last week and I did 138 pints of green beans. I will do a few more this week.

6. We also enjoy swimming and going to the library. Last night we took Natalie to swim, but when we got to the pool, it was only open to the private party that had it booked. She was so bummed! We promised her we would go for FHE tomorrow.
 
I love summer and am sad to see we are closing in on just a few weeks of it. There is still much fun to be had though with the fair coming up, camping one more time and lots of yummy produce from the garden.

Justin and Ruth Blazzard

Camping

 We rarely do exciting things around here, but when we do it all happens in July! We had the 4th of July, Jenna's birthday and then a camping trip all in 10 days. It was wild, exhausting and a great experience for our family.

Our best friends from Sandy go camping in Prineville Oregon every year. Since we moved away, they invited us to join them this year. I think mostly they missed our girls, but since our girls don't get to do anything without us, we were invited too, LOL.

We have not done much camping since getting married. College and work took up a lot of our time when we were first married, and then for the last 4 years I have been pregnant or had a newborn during the summer time.  I was still unsure as to whether we should brave the irregularity of schedules and conveniences that camping brings, but we went for it.

Thankfully this camp ground was pretty posh. Electrical outlets and running water at each camp site and bathrooms with spacious showers. We still took a ton of stuff with us, too much probably. Justin is such a handy man to have around. He designed (or rigged) this little beauty up.

 Tool box for a pickup, bolted to a steel frame and it fits in the receiving hitch. The camp chairs and tent supplies fit perfectly in it and left room for other necessities.

 Justin told Natalie to get the van packed up. She was more than willing to help, but realized most was to heavy for her. I loved her willing attitude.

 Pit stop in John Day for lunch and supplying lunch meat. I had bought a bunch in prep for the trip, but left it at home. My forgetful brain drives me crazy some days!

 Our campsite. I had to purchase the rain fly separately for our tent and did so online a year later. When we got up there, we realized it was the wrong one as the square wouldn't fit our rectangle tent.....

Good thing we had great weather.

 Our view was amazing. If you live in Oregon and have a boat, this is an awesome Reservoir.

 Jenna was filthy, but in heaven every day crawling around and exploring.

 I didn't get a ton of sleep the first night, worrying about Jenna, so I was a bit tired and sore the next day.

This is me trying to get loosened up and going for the day.

 Our walk down to the swimming area. This day I explained to Natalie that Jesus had created this beautiful area for us to enjoy.

The next day she told our friends that "Jesus Christ created the swimming area for us."

I guess she is listening!

 J sitting still for 10 seconds. 

 Going in and out of the tent. Jenna did much better the next night. She just slept in the bed with us.

 Best part of camping, the campfire! With smores and fun conversation.

 Waiting to ride on the boat. It was fun to go out on the water, but boy were we sore the next day!

 Blazzard's camping trip was a success! We hope to do one more this summer that is closer to home. 

Thanks Thornton's, we wished we lived closer. 

Justin and Ruth Blazzard