The Ballard Bunch

Yep, Tatum's been at it again. :) Those of you that know my daughter, know she's the most accident prone kid ever. Not that she even had a fighting chance with me as her mother and Beau as her father, but we did have hope.

On Sunday she was jumping on the trampoline at Beau's grandma and grandpa's house and was brought in the house crying. The kids are usually VERY careful with her, so I didn't really know what happened, but she was having a hard time putting any pressure on her right leg. We just assumed she'd sprained or rolled her ankle. We quickly took her home, iced it and elevated it. She slept through the night just fine, but when she woke up in the morning she was still unable to walk on it. Just to be safe, I called her pediatrician.

I found a sitter for Hayden and took her to Dr. Terashima at 11am. He was very concerned because it wasn't sprained and feared that it could be a break. We were then scheduled an appointment w/ a ortho surgeon at Jordan Valley Hospital. After some x-rays and and exam, it was determined that she did, in fact, fracture her fibula. Poor kid!



She was a trooper, though, and gave no fuss when she got her "purple band-aid" on. She's been showing it off to everyone that will see and is getting really good at hobbling around. I've even made her a make shift "cast shoe" so that she has some traction on the bottom of the cast. If she doesn't have this on, it's like ice skating on any kind of smooth surface. And, I found out after going to several medical supply places, no one carries a pediatric version of the official shoe. So I rigged it. It's made out of the most hideous Barbie sandal from Wal-Mart, but it's perfect for her needs. I was pretty proud!



Anyway, we're all well now and Tatum is just getting frustrated at her limited mobility. But she's also pretty happy laying in bed watching "Dragon Tales".

Here's Shanna's Happy Birthday Cake.



I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, but wish I could have done it w/ white fondant instead (she hates the taste, so I went the frosting route for her birthday). The fondant would have had a much smoother look, but who am I to judge?

I couldn't wait for my husband to hang this up on the wall - I need to blog! :)



I seriously am in LOVE with this frame. Finally, I can have all of the pictures I want up in our house without being bombarded by frames that we have no room for. We even get some pictures of us up now!

If you want one, go to Joanne's ($49.99) - totally worth the trip and the $$$!

p.s. The picture at the top that is blurred from the flash is one of my most favorites ever!

I'm so happy with how these turned out!



I may have to do some "Ho Ho Ho"s for Christmas now. :)

I secretly love being tagged via blog. This one is courtesy of Shannon! Let the fun begin...

Five Things I Was Doing 10 Years Ago:
1. I was a “couch mate” at King Henry.
2. I was an accomplice in a hair “salon” farce gone terribly wrong (or right – depending on who you ask). Butchy!
3. I was wrapping my roommates personal belongings to give as birthday gifts to her.
4. I was contributing to the AMAZING “Wall of Fame”. Such photos included: Ricky Schroeder and Richard Simmons. Does anyone have a picture of this? I might – I’ll have to look through my boxes.
5. I was dating a boy that was entirely wrong for me. Thank goodness it all worked out the way it did. And, to add to the irony, as I was dating said boy, my husband was a high school junior – haha.


Five Songs I Know The Lyrics To:
1. “Parents Just Don’t Understand” – DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince
2. “Forever In Blue Jeans” – Neil Diamond
3. Almost every Dixie Chicks song (I’ve been through a few fazes)
4. Every song on Alanis Morrissete’s “Jagged Little Pill” Album (more fazes – namely Atlanta w/ Susanna)
5. Anything from Backyardigans, Dora or Little Mermaid (Tatum’s favorites right now)


Five Things I Would Buy If I Was A Millionaire:
1. A new house
2. A new, bigger ride
3. Lipo, lift and a trainer
4. Family vacations (everyone)
5. Someone to clean my house for me


Five Things I Would Never Wear Again:
1. Units. Have to copy Shannon’s item because I TOTALLY had the things.
2. Along the same line as above, anything Hyper-Color (remember that?)
3. My senior prom dress – I wish! I was skinny and cute and thought I was chubby.
4. My wedding dress – same reason as above.
5. Any kind of shirt tied around my waist. Karen’s threatened me with a picture from Jr. High w/ a denim button up shirt tied at the waist. You know you’re jealous, people.


Five Things I Would Like to Do:
1. Be debt free and financially secure. All without my husband working long hours (poor Beau right now).
2. Take my girls and my husband to visit all of my family living far away (mostly my grandma right now).
3. Have money to remodel our house (we need work in every room – I’m anxious to do it all at once!)
4. Buy a tantrum-stopping pill. It’s at the embarrassing stage sometimes now. I almost cried in Robert’s yesterday and it was only 11am.
5. Never have to go grocery shopping w/ both of my kids ever again. I hate it. (see above)


Five Favorite Toys:
1. Glue Gun. Every girl needs one.
2. My new picture frame (I need to get it set up and take a pic – it’s absolutely amazing and now I can have more pictures up than I’d been able to pre-birthday).
3. My Dyson vacuum. I still love it as much as when we got it.
4. My Ikea cheese grater. I’ve had it for ages and give it to everyone for wedding gifts.
5. Pull-Ups. For those horrible, poor 2 year old that’s potty-trained-but-has-explosive-diarrhea days (yesterday) that no mom could survive without. (sorry to share, but it’s been a long week) I need to go buy new 3T panties – I threw a few away yesterday.

TAG! You’re all it!!!

Here she is, all of a year old. Kids get a free 8x10 at their one year, so I figured why not? I think they turned out pretty cute!




Shannon, I still need to schedule time with you to take pictures of my girls before summer is up!!! :)

Just a friendly push to you blog regulars (and stalkers - I don't hate!)...

Beau's cousin, Cami is an amazingly talented singer and just made it to the semi-finals of a local Idaho radio station's take on the Idol competition. To move on she needs people to vote for her online.

If you get a moment, visit www.z103.fm/ and take a listen. (She's warned several times that it's an over-the-phone recording that doesn't sound up to par, but I think she still sounds amazing!) If you feel so inclined, vote away. She's awesome!

If any of you were able to hear her sing at my wedding luncheon or at Brie's wedding, you know how truly talented she is.

Thanks. Leaving the soap box now.

It's official, Tatum's been snipped. And not by me, well at least not by my choice.

I made the mistake of leaving scissors on the bathroom counter for a minute after trimming a few strays of my own. When I returned, I found Tatum with them in hand and a small chunck of bangs missing.

After some damage control (bang clean-up), here's the final result. Not too bad, but still.

Some crazy ladies have been up too late (or too early) on this fine 30th birthday of mine. Here's what Beau woke me up to see at 6am this morning.







I knew whose handy work it was the second I saw the bottle of Dr. Pepper and a note that says "For You". Shanna's been trying to get me to break my 1 year abstinance from the heavenly drink since I started on New Year's Day. Once I found the signed sign, my suspiciions were confirmed.

And a word of warning if there is more "mean-ness" planned. Karen will be 30 next month and I have a few tricks of my own up these sleeves, should I need to use them. :) And that goes for you, too, Shanna - just a couple of years behind me...

Thanks & love ya girls, but who in the sam hell is Brenda? :)
I apologize ahead of time if I should know - it's early yet.

Happy 30th to me!!!!

p.s. The house was TP'ed, but the pictures I took didn't quite turn out well in the dark. I'll try and get some more later in the day when it's light out. Didn't want to discount all of the effort that might have taken! :)

Here are the instructions to make the sheep cake. Let me know if you have any questions!



INGREDIENTS/SUPPLIES:
1 baked dome cake (baked in a 1-liter bowl, such as Pyrex)
1 baked 9" round cake
3 baked cupcakes
2 cans of white icing
1 can of chocolate icing
2 bags of mini marshmallows
2 blue m&m candies (eyes)
1 strawberry whopper candy (nose)

1. For the basic shape, set a dome cake upside down in the center of a round cake and secure with icing.

2. Cut one cupcake in half and place it for the ears, then arrange two more cupcakes as legs.

3. Frost the cakes with the white icing.

4. Use a pastry bag (or a plastic bag with one corner cut off) to pipe small dollops of chocolate icing onto the face, bottom halves of the hooves, and centers of the ears.

5. Decorate as shown. (Cover white areas w/ marshmallows and chocolate areas w/ chocolate chips)

Well, the birthday has come and gone. We've partied hard and this mamma is glad it's over with. :)

On Saturday, her actual birthday, Beau, the girls and I spent the day together. We took the girls to IHOP (they LOVE pancakes) and then swimming for a bit before going home to open presents and have cupcakes and ice cream. Tatum was a great helper, but often "mistook" the toys as her own. It will be our ongoing battle, I'm sure. Luckily, Hayden is still pretty good about sharing. When she wants to.












Today we had our family party with Beau's siblings, spouses and kids. Karen, Scott and the girls also came over to celebrate. Hayden had a great time and received some fun (and useful) gifts. Shay and Tiffany got her a new sipper cup (the good kind, her favorite), a touchy book and a cute summer outfit. Shanna and Travis got her a cute animal print dress with leggings and a baby doll. Grandma and Grandpa got her a new Disney Princess ride toy that she absolutely loves. My mom got her a cute graphic t-shirt ("Faries Rock!") and the Little People school bus. Brie and Sam got her a huge assortment of Little People animals (notice a trend here, she loves them!). And Karen and Scott got her a totally classic red wagon. I can already think of the pictures we'll take in that thing! She got lots of other toys and clothes from us, but I won't bore you with the details. Thanks to everyone!




After opening presents, we were attacked by a swarm of bees. Tatum and B both were stung twice and Beau had to kill a nest and do some major clean up. Hopefully we're bee free now.

And now, the pièce de résistance. I am in love with the cake I made. I know it's not cool to brag, but this thing turned out better than I'd expected. We went with the farm animal theme - all centered around this sheep cake that I stumbled across. I'm not a huge marshmallow fan, so that was the only downside for me. But Hayden is addicted, so it was totally appropriate.





We had a great time spending time with everyone and celebrating our cute newly one year older babe. She's such a sweet little part of our life and we couldn't imagine anything without her around.

Happy Birthday Hayden!

I haven't posted any of our crafts lately, but these were especially cute so I wanted to share. Super easy, if anyone wants to know how.

Two weeks ago I met up with some friends (Kendra & Karen) at the Gateway. We took the kids to the kid's museum there and then afterwards took them all to play in the fountains (Tatum's favorite pasttime). Lots of pics, but I'm way behind posting!

(Please note, the pictures of the two babies and their size difference. Hayden - 1 Year Old. Payton - 6 Months Old. My baby is a midge.)

Tatum is ALL girl when it comes to play time. Her favorite thing to do is play dress up and model all the looks for us. Chantel was over babysitting and this was the result. Our own 2 year old bride. She was totally in character, humming the wedding march as she walked down the hallway. She even had a scrunchie as a garter. But, I think my most favorite part was that she had the dance outfit on backwards so it was a total plunging neckline - she insisted it go that way. I couldn't resist some pics. Enjoy!

As soon as I finish up everything for Hayden's birthday tomorrow (I can't believe she's going to be one already!), I promise to move "blog updates" to the #1 spot on my list. Life's been busy these last few days!