January

 

 Mark starts the year off right by spraining his ankle playing basketball. It was his worst ankle injury ever, which his saying a lot. He was showing off for the young men at the church when it happened, so they helped him to the car and I left the family history center early. Luckily Mark's mom Loie was here visiting so she could help us out. We tried taking him to the doctor's office but Mark was adamant about just going home and looking at it himself (so stubborn). When we got home, we wanted some assisstance getting Mark up the stairs so we knocked on our favorite neighbor's door. They were having an Elder's Quorum meeting inside, so we had the whole presidency get him up the stairs! Once he peeled off his sock with a lot of hollaring and he saw how swollen it was, he was finally convinced. Yay peer pressure! Our friends gave him a blessing, got him ice, gave us directions to a good urgent care center, and got Mark to the car. We are so blessed to have the best ward. It is exactly what I have been hoping and praying for our whole married lives. Off we went! Evelyn hung out with Grandma! Mark got an air cast and crutches and was told to take it easy. The ankle still hasn't healed, and he's had a surgeon keeping track of it's slow progress. It has good days and bad days, but hopefully soon it will be back to normal.

  Here's another high chair picture:

 We have loved going to the park in our complex to enjoy the mild winter. Evelyn is only big enough to enjoy the swing. Here she is, fallen fast asleep.

 My favorite skirt! Of course, the fingers are never far from the mouth!

 Evelyn loves my PEZ collection. Here she is chewing on poor Geordi LaForge's head.

 

 I love to help do the dishes! Especially since it is messy and dangerous!

 Falling asleep with attitude:

 Looking concerned riding in the shopping cart. We love shopping at Target!

 We were lucky and got to visit Grandma Shelley for a while. During this time, Evelyn was in the middle of a tough stranger danger phase and wouldn't let me out of her sight. So it was pretty exciting when she layed on Logan's lap. He was caught off guard, for sure.

 We bought a fun walker, and Evelyn loved it! She learned how to climb at Grandma's house. She climbed up the first stair step (scary!) and loved to climb on the walker.

 We went to the park after picking up the kids. Swing time!

 Cousin Elsie's first time in a park swing!

 It was so fun to have the baby cousins together again!

 Another favorite of Evelyn's: the foot bath. Or is it a baby bathtub paradise? Everytime we pull one out, she heads straight for it and won't let you bathe your feet in peace. Casey was a good sport and shared.

 Mark was happy when we got home. Evelyn was happy to see her daddy. She woke up and said "Da!" and reached for him. She fell right asleep again in his arms. Nice haircut, right? He always shaves his head when I visit my folks. Maybe its punishment for me. He loves being bald.

 We love our little girl!

Christmas

Here's what's been happening around here the past few months.
Oh yeah, Christmas in March! Evelyn loved the Christmas tree and tried many times (sometimes successfully) to open the pretty packages. She got lots of fun toys!

 

 Fun Christmas presents!

 We have a zillion pictures of Tiny girl in her high chair. She makes the cutest faces and holds still long enough to take pictures. She loves clapping her hands in excitement. "Yay food!"

 Here's Evelyn wearing her cute outfit from Aunt Debra. Playing with her sweet pea doll from Grandma Shelley. Thanks for all the thoughtful gifts from our loved ones!

Christmas Tree Hunting

 Evelyn and I went out west this month. While we were there, we went to Nephi with my family to visit the Shelley grandparents and chopped down some Christmas trees. It was very fun and cold.

Gotta love Max peeking from the bed of the truck. A lot of the pictures are inside the Suburban because us girls didn't play outside much. Grandpa got the grandbabies those hilarious beanies, so we were still prepared.

Merry Christmas!

 We have a crawling lady with a tooth on our hands! She loves crawling over to the sparkly tree and climbing on the presents to play with the ornaments or lights. So far she has left the wrapped presents intact, minus a few bows. Evelyn is super busy! We are so entertained by our little precious girl.

September

Hello, friends!

 Things are going really well around here at the Tuscaloosa Cash's!

 Someone is getting more and more curious. Evelyn has been discovering fingers and arms and toes. She is getting interested in objects all around her. She loves the pretty pink blanket Sister Miller made for her. Especially getting her fingers tangled.

 

 

 This is my favorite dress. I saw it and had to buy it. I kind of want her to wear it every day.

 Love that smile!

 This is Evelyn's singing face! When she makes that shape with her mouth, you know sweet noises are about to happen!

 I don't know if there is anything more darling than a sleeping baby.

 Evelyn is a laughing baby! The trouble is that only novel things are funny. So everyday we try to make her giggle with silly faces and tickles and noises and toys. We ran out of ideas pretty quick. Maybe soon her sense of humor will expand. The best laugh happened when daddy smacked his shin on the bedframe and rolled around in pain. Evelyn laughed and laughed and I laughed at her laughing which made her laugh harder.

 "I just love my toes!"

 

 Utah baby! It was a good thing Utah won, we stayed up so late watching it! Evelyn had a hard time going to sleep because it was too exciting to have friends over. We love our Alabama friends.

"Hmmm... looks good enough to eat!"
Evelyn doesn't have any teeth yet, but I keep checking. She's just so stinkin' chewy! She would love to suck her thumb all day if I would let her. She's constantly putting her fists in her mouth, or anything she can manage to get a hold of. She's recently started to chew on her toes. She also loves to take her binky out and examine it. Sometimes a binky isn't enough, so she adds thumbs and fingers in her mouth.

She is our precious joy!

Mark is having some fun at work in the continuous improvement office. He gets to do studies and try to think of new ways to save money, make things safer, and...improve. He misses working underground a little but loves the more normal hours! Sometimes he comes home at 3:30! I guess all you have to do to get an office job around there is almost die.

I have been quite preoccupied with all things Evelyn, but Ive started drawing again. I started watching some watercolor DVDs that I inherited and decided that instead of jumping right into watercolor, I should improve my sketching. So hopefully I'll continue to work on that. I've also been reading a lot. The pool has gotten chilly, so it is sad to see that fun summer past-time end. Evelyn got to really love playing in the water. I'm still trying to learn some more piano hymns! It is pretty exciting when I master one. Another goal I have is to get excited about cooking. I have hated making dinner for the past few months. I hate that it happens at the end of the day and everyone is so tired by then. So hopefully I can change that.

Well, my little baby friend is getting bored so I guess that ends my September post!

Mark's Shocking Experience

Is that title tasteless? It has been twenty-four hours and I still feel so anxious about yesterday so I figured I could just blog about it. And maybe you're curious, I don't know. At 2:45 on Thursday the 19th, I got a phone call. Unfortunately I was having a hard time understanding who it was because I have a rough time with accents over the phone. But it turns out it was Alice, the mine nurse at Mark's work. She said there was an accident at the mine and Mark was hurt. He's being loaded into the ambulance, but he's walking and talking. I need to meet him at the main hospital. Of course, my defense mechanism of pretending everything was fine kicked in full force and I calmly told Alice thanks and I'd be there. I of course didn't even think to ask what happened, which seems obvious now but she didn't seem to want to be forthcoming with information anyways. So as soon as I hung up my phone I started gathering things for Evelyn. Also some snacks. You're always hungry at the hospital, right? Evelyn was sleeping and I really didn't want to wake her up, but I did as I buckled her in. She hates being buckled. Luckily she went right back to sleep. We loaded into the jeep and headed for the hospital that I'd never been to. I knew where it was because we pass it on the way to church. So I somehow navigated that maze and found a place to park. I may have cried a little bit on the drive over. But I was calm as I asked the information desk lady to point me to where my husband was. He hadn't arrived yet, so they said I should go down to the er and wait for him there. The lady found a gift shop worker/hospital volunteer to walk with me. Of course then she said wow you're so calm! And I started bawling. I had no idea what to expect from Mark. Walking and talking? Did he loose an arm? Is his head split open? Oh nerves. They are so fun. So Bobbie was my companion walking to the er which was pretty far away since that hospital is gigantic. I found out that her son in law is boss big honcho #2 at the mine. She found out my mom was flying in that night and arranged for someone to pick her up if I needed them to. Crazy nice, these Southern people. She really wanted me to call someone to come help me, but that just seemed so overwhelming to me so I didn't. When we got to the er Mark still hadn't arrived yet, so I waited in the lobby. Evelyn woke up and I fed her, she was so good and happy. About twenty minutes in, i got a phone call from Bobbie's daughter. She found out from her husband that Mark had been electrocuted and wanted to know if i wanted her to come down and help me and was super nice. I felt so much better knowing what happened. I mean if hes walking around after being shocked, it cant even be bad! An hour into it, someone from the mine came out and found me. Mark had been there for about an hour so I assume after I stopped asking that he got there. I was busy with the baby I guess. I wanted to go back and see him but they said I couldn't bring Evelyn back there. I guess there was some yucky sickness. So the nurse convinced me to let her watch Evelyn while I saw Mark. Of course that made me bawl, but I felt alright since there were a couple nurses and security guys there. So then I saw that Mark laying on a stretcher in the hallway, covered in coal with an IV and blood. I guess the IV poker had a rough time sticking him. The mine manager was there hanging out with Mark so I didn't feel bad just saying hi and see ya later. When I got back to the lobby Evelyn was screaming her head off. She didn't calm down for a long time. Several old ladies tried to help and I kept trying different things. People kept asking if she was sick. I kept telling them she has colic, or maybe she misses her daddy. About an hour later they called me back to fill out some paperwork. Apparently everything was safe for baby and they let me bring her back. As soon as I got to the desk Evelyn went to sleep. Thankfully, I had my stroller with me and I set her in there. after that was finished I was able to stand by Mark who was still in the hallway on the stretcher, shirtless and covered in coal. They were still monitoring his heart and checking his blood pressure and running other tests. We just stood there and talked with the mine manager and Mark. They told me Mark had flipped a switch to turn a pump on, one that they had been using all day that had been turned on and off like twenty times. For some reason a wire had been stripped and touched the circuit breaker and Mark flipping it on made it arc. It threw him back and the pain or shock of it made him puke a lot. His arm was stuck curled up to his chest, but relaxed within two hours. It didn't stop his heart or anything, despite being a wonky 480 volts. He was so lucky. The boss kept saying it must not have gone through Mark. It must have grounded some other way, because it could have gone through his arm through his body to the ground, cooking his organs and stopping his heart. What I found out later was that Mark felt the electricity travel up his arm and stop halfway up to his shoulder, then the pain started again at his right knee and down through his foot. It is such a miracle that he was protected. It makes me feel sick and grateful and anxious and overwhelmed to think about. Eventually they moved mark into a room and continued to test and wait on results. There were a lot of miscommunications with the hospital staff or something, because they kept needing more urine samples. Lucky for the saline IV setup, I guess. We were trying to figure out how to get mark home without ruining my car seats. That coal is cakey and nasty and black and was getting all over the hospital floors. The nurse was saying usually they dont remove the boots before they bring them to the hospital and the mess is way worse. But mark had his taken off before being loaded into the ambulance. I can't describe how dirty and nasty coal is. You'd have to come to my house and see the way it ruins all the things even after showers and clothes changes have taken place. While we were sitting and waiting, I did a quick google search on my phone about electrocution which was a mistake. I saw a lot of articles about dead guys in similar situations as mark. Oh boy. Evelyn woke up happy and avoided looking at Mark's scary black face at first. I think she figured out it was her daddy pretty quick though. It's hilarious to have a baby with you sometimes. So many people stop and talk to you or her. So much gushing and baby talk and compliments. Evelyn seems to eat it up and smiles back which is super precious. Other interesting things we whitnessed included hearing a lady react to being told she had cervical cancer, and a poor lady with some sort of memory loss yelling about things and being confused. The nurse found a paper suit for mark to wear, and he gladly switched out his nasty pants which we sacked. Sometime after Marks tests had come back saying everything was perfect except for slight muscle tissue breakdown, they said they'd discharge him. About an hour later, they said they'd need to do breathalyzer and drug testing for work's sake and THEN they'd do paperwork. When things were looking nearly done, Evelyn decided she had had enough of the hospital and was grouchy. That nice mine boss who had been there the whole seven hours said that he would be happy to bring mark home if it would be easier for us. It was okay with mark so I gratefully took the baby home. Mark was home twenty minutes later and Evelyn was happy again the second we got home. Mark's arm didn't hurt anymore, and the pins and needles feeling was gone too. He doesnt even have burns, or any marks! He had a follow up appointment today, but everything is perfect. I have listened to so many people tell him how truly lucky he was. I feel so blessed and grateful. I can't imagine what I would do without him. Now I'm just awake. My family is flying in tonight, since I postponed my mom flying out yesterday. They were planning on coming in shifts, but now they'll arrive together. I believe in the power of prayer. I believe in miracles. I am so grateful for my testimony. Now I just have to figure if I should post this or not. If I do, I'm sorry if it's not especially well written. Just the rambles of a stress-addled mind who wishes for sleep.

Baby Faces

I'm so in love with Evelyn's little baby face. She can be so expressive. She changes so fast! She's been discovering her little tongue. She grabs at things and kicks when she's mad. She does this really funny smile that's pictured under the super sad face. She has the best smiles. She smiles in her sleep, when she's waking up, after she's fed, and when you talk to her. Once you whip out the camera she stares at that and isn't so smiley, so you have to be super quick on the smile shots! She didn't used to do that, but oh well.

Oh, the sad face. I see that sad face a lot, usually in the late afternoon to early evening. The worst part is that she looks right at me and wails and there's nothing I've found that makes her little tummy stop gurgling. I'm hoping she grows out of that really soon. Statistically, they say just a few more weeks?

I love that Evelyn has eyes the exact shade as Mark's. Maybe I secretly love that she's been super clingy after she had her shots and wants to cuddle all the time. I like carting her around in her carrier as I try to do cleany-things. It cracks me up when she gets bored or mad when I sit down.

I find myself day dreaming about playing pretend or reading stories with a more grown up baby girl. I find myself in awe of how much she's grown already. Part of me wishes she could stay just how she is, fitting into her tiny clothes and telling stories with her adorable baby voice. Love, love, love. We are so glad she's ours.