A celebration of 10 years of life

So, here is one good thing that happened in February!  This year marks ten years since I got in my bad car accident and was in a coma for a month, and in the hospital for 2 1/2 months.

So, yeah, that is what I looked like ten years ago.  The accident was on February 16, 2004.  My family wanted to celebrate February 16, 2014, because it was kind of a big deal that it really has been 10 years.

It is tradition in the Davis family to go up to the cabin for President's Day weekend.  We had things going Friday and Saturday and Sunday, so I asked Chris if he wanted to go to the cabin for just a day after church.  He said that sounded fine, and my mom did too, so that was the plan.

So, this year, for Valentine's Day, Chris said that he was going to take me on a date.  He said that Grandma and Grandpa were going to be our babysitters.  I thought that was EXTREMELY nice of them, and was happy to go on a date.  Chris kept saying that there was going to be a big surprise involved.  Little did I know . . .

I wanted to go see the movie Frozen, and it was playing at 6:30.  Chris said we couldn't go because it was at the wrong time.  I was confused.  So Chris got tickets to the Lego Movie, which was also very cool.  He texted my mom and I and said that we were going to leave at 5:30, then later said that it was changed to 6, because that would work better for my mom.  I wondered why my mom had so much to say about our date, but whatever . . .

So we went out to eat at the Thai Kitchen, which was CRAZY on Valetine's Day, and then we went to the Lego Movie.  On our way to pick up Davis (or so I thought), I told Chris that I needed to ask my mom a question about making my new drapes.  My mom had texted him earlier and said that Davis was asleep (a miracle!), so Chris said that would be fine.

We showed up at my parents' house, and my WHOLE FAMILY except for Casey (obviously) and Colby and Maria (who got snowed into DC) surprised me!  There was a big banner in my parents' living room, which looked like this:

After we dropped off Davis, my parents spent the next few hours scurrying around and getting everything ready for the party, and Taylor and Carter and their families showed up for the surprise as well.

It was a wonderful weekend, where we celebrated the joy of being alive.  We went to the temple on Saturday, which was wonderful, and I was able to spend the weekend with family.

And, no, we did not go to the cabin.  But Mom and Chris made it a very funny joke in all the planning!

A month of food storage

Ah, February.  I am so glad that you are over.  I think I have cried more this month than in any other month of my life.  But I digress . . . one of the things that we accomplished this month was living completely on food storage.  It was a success!  Here are some things that we learned:

• We had WAY more food than we thought we needed.  I guess that is better than having less!  But we definitely made it through the month without starving.  :)
• We like having meals in the freezer to just warm up and serve.  Pizzas are a BAD idea for a freezer meal.  Don't do it!  But we are having chicken enchiladas from the freezer tonight, which is great, because Chris just made twice what we wanted and we froze half of them.
• I think the only thing that we really ran out of was ketchup.  I found this recipe on how to make ketchup.  Chris liked the homemade ketchup.  I didn't.
• We didn't buy enough ice cream before we started.  We are excited to have ice cream again.
• We are excited to have ice cream and fresh produce again!  I seriously cannot wait!
• Something I learned about myself: I have never been a huge fan of vegetables.  Ask my family.  But I am much more likely to eat FRESH vegetables than frozen vegetables.  Chris ate the frozen ones, basically every day, and was fine.  But I am not that good at having frozen ones, unless I make myself do it!
• Leftovers are our friends!  Seriously, we rarely had sandwiches for lunch because we had so many leftovers.

Davis at 15 months

I took Davis to the pediatrician today.  We did not have shots, because he has a cold and an ear infection.  However, it was still very traumatic.  Being naked and having a big guy poking you all over is no fun!  Thankfully, we had Grandma to help out with the wrestling match.  But, here are the stats:
Weight--24 pounds 7 ounces--73%
Height--31 1/2 inches--60%
Head circumference--20 inches--99%

So, yes, this child still has an enormous head!  To be expected from the genes he has on both sides.

Davis is a lot of fun right now.  Here are some funny things about him.

• He has certain "tasks" that need to be done every day.  One is emptying out his toy basket.  And another is emptying out the tupperware cupboard that I have open for him.  He knows right where it is, and is intimately aware of everything it contains.  Hence, it is organized differently every single night.
• He has an obsession with how things sound if you drop them in certain places.  It is the funniest thing to see him take a toy to the tile to see how it will sound when he drops it there.  This gives him great joy.
• He loves anything electronic.  iPads, computers, surge protectors, anything.  In fact, he really loves to play with the surge protector in our room, even if it is covered by blankets (which it usually is when he gets to it).
• He is walking, almost full time.  The word that I would use to describe the walk is definitely "toddling."  So, yes, he is surely a toddler.
• Words that he knows: more, mama, dada, grandpa, yeah
• We are working on the concept that when you drop things, you don't get to play with them or feed yourself any more.  This is especially difficult since he loves to hear how things sound when you drop them.
• He is learning how to play with others.  We have been playing with other kids, such as his friend Alvin, and he is getting away from the "parallel play" idea:

We sure do love this little boy!

My project

This was a project that was supposed to be done in January.  But, alas, we are almost done with February and it just got finished.  For my birthday, I got stuff from my parents to make drapes for the living room.  With a LOT of help from my mom, this is the final product:

I learned a lot while doing this project.  Namely:

• Like I said, my mom is amazing.  Could not have done it without her.
• I have never been, and never will be, a perfectionist.  I try.  Hard.  But it's just not in me!
• Handling this much fabric is easier when there are two people involved.  Thanks, Chris, for your help!
• Even through the blood, sweat, and tears (there honestly were all three!), I feel very accomplished.
• I honestly do not know how people could do this without pleater tape.  Seriously.  I could barely do it with pleater tape!
• I CAN do something I put my mind to.
• I am not sewing again for a long, long, long time.

Faith and Prayers needed

Ever since I was a little girl, I have wanted to be a mom.  When I was really little, that was all I wanted.

I didn't get married until I was 27 years old.  So I decided on . . . other things . . . that I wanted too.  But most of all, I still wanted to be a mom.

Soon after we were married, we decided to stop using birth control.  I thought that this would immediately result in having a baby.

A little over two years later, and with the help of a doctor and in vitro fertilization, we finally had Davis.

After he was born, we did not go on any sort of birth control.  The hope was that we would be able to have a baby without help.

We were wrong.

I had an appointment with the fertility doctor on Wednesday.  Because he was sick, he was not able to make the trip from Sandy.  I honestly went through times where I wondered if it was even worth it, because our plan was to do IVF in April or May, because ALL of our birthdays are in November or December, and we didn't want another one.  The doctor called us on Wednesday morning and told us about all the tests that we had just done.  I told him our plan to do in vitro later, and he said that he would not recommend it.

My FSH level was too high.  He said that the chances that I will get pregnant are small, and the chances that I would be able to carry without a miscarriage are even smaller.

He did say, however, that he would do in vitro if we wanted to pay for it.  He said that ultimately, it is not his decision whether we have a baby or not.  He realizes that there is a power greater than him that will make it happen if it needs to happen.

So, we went to my parents' house.  We told my mom what he said.  She called my dad, and we decided to go with the in vitro, even though the doctor doesn't think it will work.

A week from tomorrow, I will start the in vitro.  The medicine is ordered from England.  The paperwork is signed.  The whole thing is paid for (by my wonderful parents).  So, here we go!

A miracle happened almost exactly 10 years ago.  I am alive.  We need your faith and prayers to help bring another miracle to happen too.  Thank you.

Food Storage!

So, as I said in the last post, we got our shelves in our food storage room put up.  This was very exciting for us, because we got to actually look at what we have as far as food storage.  So, we assessed what we had, and what we needed, and went to the cannery to get some more stuff.  Holy smokes!  It is so fun to go to a cannery!  We bought a lot of stuff that we didn't even know that we needed!  We also rented a canner, and canned our own rice and flour today.  So now we are set!
Chris looked at the food and said that we should make it our personal challenge to not buy any food in February. We are making it our personal goal to not go to the store for anything besides milk or eggs during the entire month of February.  This is going to be a test of our food storage, and of our freezer meal making skills. (I have never tried it before.  Wish me luck!)  So here we go for an adventure!  Here is our menu, very subject to change:
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February Menu

1.     Pepperoni pizza

2.     Penne pasta skillet x2

3.     Grilled chicken and veggies

4.     Potato bar

5.     Breakfast

6.     Italian chicken and potatoes in the crockpot

7.     BBQ chicken pizza*

8.     Curry chicken and rice

9.     Spaghetti and meatballs

10. Tacos

11. Enchiladas*

12. Freezer lasagna*

13. Beef fajitas

14. Chili

15. Pepperoni pizza

16. Grilled chicken and veggies

17. Homemade bread

18. Leftover penne pasta skillet

19. Tater tot casserole*

20. Curry chicken and rice

21. Breakfast

22. BBQ Chicken pizza*

23. Freezer lasagna*

24. Spaghetti

25. Leftovers or breakfast

26. Italian chicken and potatoes in the crockpot

27. Enchiladas*

28. Breakfast

If you want to know more about our church's views about food storage, click here!  Wish us luck!

January

I am not the biggest fan of January.  Don't get me wrong--I like getting back to life after the holidays, but after a little bit, it seems kind of dull.  January is NOT my favorite month.

But here are a few things going on in the Rusch household:

We put shelves in our food storage room!  We found shelves for a good deal at Sam's Club, so to start off with, we bought three.  Then we decided that they were such a good idea that we bought three more!  We figured it was easier to reassemble after we already had learned how once.  And we were right!

 Davis has discovered that his walker is really a walker!  Before now, it was just a cool thing with lights and sounds, but he suddenly discovered that he can walk with it too.  He will be walking on his own in no time!

Chris has a new schedule in January that I am not the biggest fan of.  He teaches on Tuesday and Thursday nights.  I am all for teaching, don't get me wrong, but mutual is on Tuesdays, so that makes it . . . hard.  We are halfway through and surviving though!  Life could be worse!

And our microwave broke yesterday.  Sigh . . . at least we had a "back up" leftover from our house in Orem.  But it looks like we will be getting a new one.

Another exciting thing is that we are inheriting my parents' family room furniture to use in our bonus room!  Hip, hip, hooray!