I've done it again...

Somehow I managed to break another bone. This time it is in my foot. I believe it is the same type of fracture as my thumb injury, but much less serious. I think it was called an evulsion (you medical types can help me with the correct spelling and name) fracture. A tendon breaks a piece of the bone off. So lucky me gets to where a lovely surgical boot so that I can't bend my foot. The good news is that it doesn't hurt any more and this hopefully will only be for the next two weeks. The bad news is I can't get out of dishes like I did last time!

I have no idea what I did to my toe originally--it has bothered me for the last couple of months, but not so much that I thought there was something seriously wrong with it. On Monday evening I played volleyball and could barely walk after the game, so I decided I probably should do something about it.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Celebrating 30!

Yes Joel is turning 30 tomorrow. He even started a blog to commemorate the big event! It seems like we've been celebrating all weekend and his birthday isn't until tomorrow.

Emily Jantz and I decided to try to throw a Surprise Birthday Party for our husbands. Peter turned 25 yesterday. The surprise didn't end up working out...the weather was rather disagreeable. Joel was scheduled to ref a basketball game in Holmen until about 7 p.m., so I was hoping to do my party prep and be ready when he got home. Due to the accumulation of snow on Friday the game was canceled and I spilled the beans! I understand that Peter started making plans for Friday evening that did not include going over to the Rech's , so Emily had to adapt her story as well. I have never tried to plan or pull off a surprise party and it is a bit of a challenge. Especially getting the "invites" out and responded to without tipping the surprisee off. I ended up sending out a mass email and have since realized that I did miss people while attempting not to use the groups that included Joel...I apologize. It was wonderful to have people over to celebrate Peter and Joel.

Today we had some of our family over for lunch. It was fun to have both our families together (We missed Ann, Mark, Louis and Sarah, who couldn't make it), especially seeing all of our nieces and nephews playing together. They also eagerly help Joel open his presents.

For more photos of these events check out this link...Joel's Birthday

New Online Scrapbook for Cornerstone!

Jenn Macainag and I (mostly Jenn) have been working on an easy way for us to keep the Cornerstone website's scrapbook up to date. We think we have it. We are using Flickr.com. Check out what we have so far. Feel free to make comments and suggestions!! Enjoy!

Check it out @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/cornerstonelacrosse/sets/

Birthday Packer Game

Green Bay Packer Game

We attended the Packer game on my birthday last week. My aunt Sandy invited my mom, Joel and I to tailgate with my Uncle Mark's family and use the Halada family's season tickets. The weather was great and the game was great until the last few seconds when the Packers fumbled the ball near the end zone! Check out the photos I took.

Trying something new...maybe

I am checking out a new blog service. There are a few things that I get a little frustrated with Blogger on, so I thought I would try something new. I haven't officially switched, so continue to check here for updates, but check out this link and let me know what you think!

http://rech.wordpress.com/

And now I am going to bed!

The Big Project...continued

I can't believe just last week we were still thinking about what we should do with our yard. Now, a week and a half later we have two new pieces of concrete in our yard. Tomorrow we will be able to start drivng on our new widened drive-way. Those of you who visit us often will be excited to note you can turn around and enter Losey facing forward instead of backing out onto the scary four-lane highway! We are excited that we will no longer park each other in and have to juggle cars or park on our lawn or across the street.

The back patio will be stained and engraved in mid-September. The concrete needs to cure for 28 days. Today we received some digital photos of what it could look like. We haven't settled on anything, but we are thinking a dark red flagstone look.

Unfortunately, I have more photos to share, but they are not downloaded yet. They will be coming soon!

The Big Project

This is our big project. Yes we finally are doing something with our backyard. You won't even recognize it when we are done. We barely do and we are only about half-way through it.

The first photo was taken after we and some very wonderful friends helped us pull out the sidewalk and part of the retaining wall in our backyard on Wednesday evening. Thank you so much Josh, Anne and Lance!!

On Thursday evening, the concrete guy came with a couple of people and took the roof structure. When we said we were going to use it as fire wood they said they'd take it which made our life a lot easier. Joel and I watched them take it down and transport it and it did not look fun (I do have photos).

Today, they came back with the bobcat and a dump truck. He made quick work of destroying our old patio which ended up being at least 8" thick! I am so happy we did not tackle that on our own. It took him an hour to remove it and then grade the yard so we did not have to replace the retaining wall. The were also able to use much of our existing stone and rock as fill. In the second photo, the bobcat is dumping that into a hole he dug.

Feel free to come peek at the backyard as we make progress. I will try to keep you all updated, but sometimes time gets away from me and I know I will have a lot of work to do in the next couple of weeks.

4th of July

What a beautiful night! The Riverfest Fireworks were wonderful. Thank you La Crosse Skyrockers!

These were just two of the shots I got. I finally read up on the "proper" way to shoot fireworks and had much better luck. I am kind of disappointed in myself that I hadn't done this sooner. So if anyone knows of upcoming fireworks I would love to do some more experimenting!

I hope you all had a wonderful and safe holiday. We were able to spend it with friends and family. Once everyone arrived at Riverside Park in La Crosse there were 17 people on our tarp and even more people that stopped by earlier in the day. I look forward to doing it again next year!

Family Wknd in Trempealeau, WI

The Smith family spent the weekend in Trempealeau, WI @ Perot State Park canoeing, kayaking, hiking and just enjoying each other. Don't we look great after a day on the backwaters of the Mississippi River! Watch for more photos later this week!

Lance's Bithday Kayak

We finally got our kayaks out last weekend!! What made it even more exciting is that our friend, Lance Wulf got a kayak from his lovely wife, Jen, for his birthday! To see photos from our outing click on the link!

Lance's Birthday Kayak!

Photos Slide Shows & Family Easter

So one of my friends that has a blog http://thereynoldsfam.blogspot.com was asking about putting a photo slide show on their blog, so that got me to thinking. The following is a link from the photo sharing service I use.

2006 Easter Celebration

The photos are from my family's Easter celebration. This just a taste of what you will get to see. This is my niece Kya, she really is smiling.

Enjoy!

It's Off--It's On

It has been about three weeks since I had surgery. All is going well. I had my casts changed today so they could check on the pins that are sticking out of my thumb. I even brought a camera along so I could share the experience with you all. I know the photo quality isn't great, but you have to remember I was working with my left hand only. The two dark spots on my thumb are the wires holding the little piece of bone that broke off in place while it heals. You can also see where they made the incision when I had surgery. They put another cast on to protect the wires. I go back in two weeks to have it checked again. They may be taken out then or it may be another week. We will see.

For the most part I can do everything, however, it either takes longer or I look really funny while I am doing it. Typing goes pretty well and I have adapted to using the mouse with my left hand. What I miss the most is not being able to handle my camera (digital SLR). I can manage the other one put I definately am not getting shots I desire. The thing Joel is probably missing the most is me not being able to dishes (hee, hee, hee).

Thumb Update

I had surgery yesterday and it went well. I am in a little pain, but not like imagined. I think it is more of an inconvenience. For example right now I am hunting and pecking for letters while typing, I don't think I have done this since middle school or high school when I took typing. So pardon any typos.

I have taken for granted having two hands. I can't imagine only having one or even one that doesn't function as it should.

Thumb Adventures

Just wanted to give you an update...

I went skiing on Sunday evening with Jenn M, Jamie D, Joy and Jess. I
had a blast and got lots of bumps and a sore thumb. The thumb was
still sore on Monday after I iced it and took a couple of Ibuprofen.
The school nurse at the high school said it would be a good idea
to go to the doctor because it then had started bruising and swelling
more.

On Monday after work I headed over to Urgent care in Onalaska (I
should have went to La Crosse). They looked at it and did x-rays. I
broke a little piece off my thumb the ligaments tore a little piece of
bone right off (for a better description I would ask a medical person
you know). The doctor wanted to refer me to specialist later in the
week. OK not a big deal... But the big problem of Monday evening was that I couldn't drive my standard car home, so Joel had to come get me :( in Onalaska.

This morning I had an appointment with sports medicine doctor, he
didn't seem overly concerned but was consulting with a hand doctor.
He had me put in a cast and sent me on my way. I thought great 4
weeks in a cast and I'll be good to go. At lunch I got a call saying
that I needed to see the hand doctor. So, I went and there I had to
have the cast, just put on this morning, taken off. The hand doctor
thought surgery was a good idea and I really wanted to err on the side
of caution since it is my right thumb and I AM RIGHT HANDED!!

So tomorrow I am having surgery. I would add more detail, however,
typing is a bit of a challenge with the cast on.