Bubble wrap anyone?

We spent another night in the ER. Our poor Landon left football practice half an hour early to go to the end of his good friend's birthday party. As he bounced down one of the giant slides he somehow hit his hand and snapped the bone right behind his pointer finger knuckle. The doctor was sure it had cracked right through the growth plate, but on follow up x-rays it looks like it missed it by a hair. phew.

I was feeling very optimistic as we walked back into the treatment area and we could see that the familiar "bed three" in the hallway was occupied. We ended up in bed four instead. Dang. The doctor on call was the same doctor that's treating Dallin's leg. He offered to bubble wrap our remaining uninjured children!

We did get to move into a room when it was time to set the bone. We joked that our frequent flier miles finally kicked in and we got an upgrade to an actual room. It was extremely painful (for both Landon and me!) to get the hand numbed up enough to set the bone but Landon handled it like a champ (I had to leave the comforting to Rustin). Such a really great kid.

Landon's hand was hugely swollen so he has to wait a week to get a cast on. He can play once we get a cast if we just wrap it up. Land was glad about that.

In other news: the kitchen is still a construction zone (driving me nuts), Jenna started violin lessons (Benson tags along with her and does really well), everyone else is happy and healthy. Rustin and I spent Thursday-Saturday at an optometry convention in Idaho Falls. I spent two great days reading and relaxing. We both loved it. It was a true vacation. Who needs Hawaii? (At least that's what we tell ourselves:) Thanks Mom and Dad (and Tom) for the help with the kids.

The weather is definitely fall-ish. I got our first (and probably last) tomato from the garden. It was delicious. Now we will work our way through apples and peaches and corn. I love Fall!!!

Landon Football

Landon is number 2 and is a left tackle and a defensive lineman (did I get that right?)




Landon is playing his first year of tackle football. This has been anticipated (and practiced) since toddler-hood. Of course Rustin had NOOOO part to play in that line of thinking...

Dallin is missing this season with his cast. His coaches said they were totally looking forward to having bookends on the line. Bummer...


Rustin and I were both really surprised at the intensity of the practices this year--2 1/2 hours to 3 hours every day. They work until they are dripping with sweat and they run until they can barely put one foot in front of the other. Then they do it just one more time. I have seen Landon reach down in himself and do that one more push up when I could see that he was almost past his breaking point.

I guess this is why people play sports. This is where character development starts. I can see that really working hard is an important skill to develop. I kills me to watch though. The linemen always have to stay and work for an extra twenty minutes when they are already about to tears. ("The line is the engine of the team...") I know in the long run it will pay off whether they win or not.

Landon has Osgood-Schlatter disease in his knees. It basically occurs in a rapidly growing kid and it involves a painful bony growth at the very top of the shin bone. We were told he wouldn't get better if he didn't rest the leg but he really really wanted to play. So we have been doing some exercises given to us by the physical therapist (and a lot of ibuprofen) and quite a few prayers and he seems to be doing better now than he was at the beginning of the season. They have their first big game tomorrow so we'll have to write about that later.

Benson puts on the pads and jersey every chance he gets. He steals it out from its hiding spot under Landon's bed.


He said to me in the car "Mom, I'm going to be the guy that runs." He has obviously been listening to his dad and brothers talk about positions. He already labels himself as a runner--which he seems to be. He is made out of a different mold from the other boys. We can't wait to see how he grows. One of the joys of being parents.

Smash is married!

We had the big day yesterday. It was as much fun as we hoped. Ashlee and Trevor Thomas were married here in Twin Falls. All seven original Patterson kids were home for the occasion. That was really a treat. I don't know how my parents raised seven kids who are happy and well adjusted and who love each other. They did.

Ash picked the perfect match for her and he can hang right in there with the rest of the fam. What a relief. Six down and only one to go. (no pressure there Tom...)

Juli and Shon stayed here at our house with their five kids (which our kids thought was as good as Christmas--seriously!). We had a blast and I loved having them here.

My mom and dad got through the event (barely) without having any nervous breakdowns.


Emily-the party planner-(aka Spencer's wife, have I mentioned how much we love this girl?) kept all the details rolling the day before. I was the designated baby sitter. Juli, Becki and Kendra (and of course Dad) were the workers. Ashlee was a gem. Honestly. She was so laid back. She just wanted to be married and didn't really worry about all the details. All brides should be like her. She even made her own cake (and was delighted to show up all of us skeptics!).


Abby hiding out in the apple tree with a treat


The lawn was beautiful. Mom and dad spent most of the summer getting everything just right. We all helped with weeding and raking and apple picking. It was sooo nice to have the wedding in our very own temple. The reception was perfect as well. The kids could run up and down the hill as much as they wanted and when they were tired we put them inside with a movie.





We had dozens of white roses (which are now making my house smell lovely!)



We even had golf carts to drive people to their cars (which was the hot spot for the brothers to hang out).


Trevor's family was also really great. They jumped right in and helped with all the little last minute work. We had everything packed up and cleaned in less than an hour. We are really happy to be indirectly joined to a great group of people.

Of course the best part was the actual wedding ceremony in the temple. The sealing room is beautiful and peaceful. Because the temple is a medium sized temple, there isn't a chapel so we all got to wait for the ceremony to begin in the very large sealing room. It was so peaceful. The ceremony was also very peaceful and well done. It was really a great day.

What's Labor Day anyway?

We got home from our camping trip on Saturday, so that gave us Monday to unpack and clean up. The kids were glad when we reminded them it was a holiday and they didn't have school. They asked us what we were going to do for fun. We reminded them it is called Labor day for a reason. (They were thrilled about that):)

We got a lot done. We cleaned up all the summer remnants on the back porch and lawn. We also moved furniture and dusted floorboards and walls and we organized and cleaned out shoes and washed the sheets and blankets.

Fortunately for the boys, Uncle Tom came to the rescue and took them to the fair on Monday afternoon. They of course had a blast. Jenna and Benson were pacified when we took them to the video store and let them pick out any movie they wanted (Barbie Mariposa and Superheros). It will be good to get back to a schedule again on Tuesday. The main project this week will be to help my mom and Ashlee get ready for the wedding on Saturday. Yea!

Last day of summer

Austin fishing in the Sawtooth mountains

We had a long weekend this weekend. The kids were out of school on Friday and Monday so Rustin took Friday off and we loaded up Thursday afternoon and went camping. This is the first time since we've had kids that we went camping by ourselves without any other friends or family.

We wanted to go somewhere we had never been. Alaska and the Oregon coast were a little out of our league (this time) so we headed up past Stanley (north of Sun Valley). We took my parents' trailer AND our four wheelers. It was a little tricky to back the massive line of vehicles but Rustin did great.


We found the perfect campsite right on Marsh Creek. The water was shallow enough for the little ones. The kids had fun fishing. It was beautiful.

Benson and Dallin fishing. Dal did great 'cross-country' with his crutches.

Landon braving the creek water.

Austin in the f-f-freezing water!

We had good food. For future reference the tinfoil dinners were the biggest hit. I could have brought a lot more. And the popcorn was great.



It got really cold at night but we were great in the trailer. Benson and Dallin slept in the tent the second night. We put hot rocks in their sleeping bags and they were toasty warm.

We asked everyone their favorite thing about the trip---

Benson--sticky marshmallows
Jenna "The longest four-wheeler ride" (Rustin took all the kids for about two hours)
Austin---Popcorn cooked over the fire
Landon--Going on a long ride with Dad and Dallin
Dallin--Sleeping in the tent alone with Benson
Kim--Having everyone sleep in until 9:30 in the morning! (and reading an entire book uninterrupted!)
Rustin--Looking at the bright stars with Mommy
Molly--absolute beagle heaven with all the room to run and sniff that she could imagine



I took the little kids on a nature walk while Rustin and the twins went for a long ride. I let them each take control of the camera for a while. Here's some of what we got:

We ended the trip home with a beautiful sunset. The weather turned cold the day after we left so we had perfect timing. Definitely a great end to the summer!