navy man

This is my Daddy!

This is my Daddy and I am so glad he is alive!

It has been a crazy 2 weeks. 

 He was diagnosed with a bladder infection that turned into a kidney infection that then turned into pneumonia which then made his heart go crazy fast.

He was in the ICU for 6 days pretty much comatose.

We were certain that we were going to lose him.

One day, I told Mom to come back with me to his room to say goodnight, and we took off his by-pap mask to give him some ice and he started talking to us.

MIRACLE!!

And from that day on it has been a roller coaster with him getting better.

But now, as you can see, he looks amazing, and is doing amazing.

We will hear more tomorrow about what is the plan for him coming home.

We had a great big group cycling through his room to visit.

My brother dropped everything and flew down from Washington state,

 and my other brother dropped everything and drove 5 hours to get here.

 My sisters and I came down in a hurry too.

It's so good to know that family will be right there in a jiffy when they are needed.

Thanks to everyone for the loving thoughts and prayers for my sweet Daddy.

I love you all so much and I am so thankful for you.

And I LOVE MY DAD!

I am trying to change my background with one that I bought and it is so confusing! Hopefully I will figure it out eventually. I am glad to see that I am not the only one that had this issue with this template.

random picture

My Alice

this is what happens...

This is what happens when you live in the desert and someone has to pee!

We even have the girls trained!

Toads

We went to Toads with some friends and had a great time!

The go carts were so the funnest!

Glow in the dark golf. Wicked eh?

It is what it is...no men ever read this anyway..not even my husband!

WE all have it!
WE all HATE it!!

It is necessary.

And when I look at my little kiddos that I love so much...I am actually thankful for it!

What is it?

MY PERIOD!!

Why is it, that from month to month, we forget how it can drag us down, make us emotional, make us want to eat the Chocolate factory and want to rip someone's head off?

 Is it because it is completely different from month to month?

 I have noticed that one month it will be all emotions, and the next month, it will be aches and moodiness. And the next month, it will be everything at once!

 Maybe that is why I feel compelled to write about it this time. 

Because at this moment, I am bleeding like a stuck pig, and I feel yucky, and I feel like crying, and I feel like eating a bunch of chocolate!

Lets face it, we all have horror stories about a period that we had in high school that we weren't prepared for. 

Mine was right in the middle of a track meeting.

 We were all sitting on the grass outside listening to the coach.

 I was wearing white shorts,

 ( I know the worst thing to be wearing)...

.I happened to glance down and see RED!!

 Ahhhh!

What the  Holy scrud!

 How could I have not felt that?

 Isn't it obvious that you are bleeding everywhere?

 Not to an oblivious teenager.

 I begged my friend Danielle to take me home and she said, NO!!! 

Okay, maybe it was... "No, I want to stay and listen."

 But to me... who was having a horrific moment if felt like she said NOOOOOO!!!! 

So, I ran to the bathroom, filled my underwear with a whole roll of toilet paper....

(you know you've done it)

 then went back outside and sat very carefully so no one would see and waited until it was over so Danielle could drive me home.

(who was i kidding, everyone probably knew...)

That is one of many horror stories I have had. 

It seems as though I have seen a lot of  girls with Oops written all over the back of them too! 

At church, at school, at the store!

Oh, and at Disney world!

It's a thing we have to learn to deal with, learn to take care of and I think that I have more control over it now than I ever have in my 22 years experiencing it, thanks to the iPhone app. that keeps track of it for me.!! 

I love that little calendar!!

You simply put in your dates and it maps out everything for you.

 My husband has it written into his palm pilot.

 And after 14 years of marriage, he is very sympathetic to my needs and the time of month!

I never thought it would happen, but as I have gotten older my periods have gotten shorter.

I have ALWAYS been 25 days in between and a full 7 days on, 

but,...this past year has brought me 5 days on! 

Thank you Mother Nature!

Are you getting too much information that you didn't think you needed to know about me?

Well, stick around....it gets better!

My mother was never really into talking openly about this TABOO subject. 

One time, before I was old enough to start, I was in the back seat of the car, Vera was in the front, Mom was driving, and Vera told Mom that we needed more pads.

I said..."What are pads?".....silence....."Mom, what are pads!!?....silence....

I started 2 weeks before I turned 12. I tried and tried to tell my Mom, but I could never find the guts.

She found out, and one night she called me into her sewing room to measure me for a skirt and she wispered in my ear.."did you start your period?" I said, "Yes, how did you know?" She said, "I found your underwear in the laundry room!" 

And, that was that!

 I don't think I ever talked to her about it again.

Except one time, I had a period, then two weeks later, it came again. I asked my mom about it and she said, "Don't worry about it, sometimes it happens."

She wouldn't let us use tampons, so I would pay my friends to sneak me some at school.

I am obviously open about it now.

 But I have not always been this way. My mom made me think that it was a TABOO subject so I always blushed when someone talked about it, until I met my friend Janette in Florida. 

She would announce to everyone that her daughter Cori couldn't get in the pool because she just started her period. 

I was horrified!

 I felt so sorry for poor Cori.

 But, I soon found out that it didn't hurt Cori's feelings at all, she didn't know any different.

 It was an open subject at their house. 

I became more and more comfortable talking about it until I realized that it is not taboo anymore like it used to be back in my mothers time! 

It's now an open subject in my house, right along with sex. (what?) You heard me right.... My kids know and will continue to know that they can talk to me about anything. 

Well, about 4 months ago I was out shopping with my sister at a store called 'Real Deals' in Ogden and I came upon this beauty.

Cute huh?

 You open it up and find a place to stash all the goods..

Janette will yell to her girls...."Can you bring me a pad?" And they will yell back..."What color?"

There is something for all occasions these days, and it is nice to have what you need. And this little cabinet holds them very nicely.

(my sister Loni, says that she invented the maxi pad with wings on it long before it actually came out)

So its just a way to make my period a little nicer.

Don't forget the wet wipes....(I call them butt wipes!) and a good book. This book seems to come in handy during this oh so lovely time of the month!

My friend handed me these a couple of months ago and said, "My husband bought these thinking it was tylenol p.m.. And he laughed when he got home and discovered what he had just bought." She gave them to me because she no longer has those woman parts that make Mother Nature greet us every month!

I haven't used them because I don't want to be drowsy.

 I made the mistake of taking one before work years ago, and needless to say, I was not very efficient that day!

My drug of choice...

It does the trick!

So, Have a happy period! 

I may or may not have stolen that phrase...

Next time you need an idea for a gift, just put together a basket of period goodies for a girlfriend!

I am not sure about this new blogger program for uploading pictures. I haven't really figured it all out yet so its kinda jumbled.

Every year, they have an Easter egg hunt in dugway.

 It was horrible this year.

 You will see pictures of the result.

The above picture is of Easter morning! The kids were so excited. Well....except for Carter. He took one look, said thanks Mom, can I go back to bed now?

We had a hunt at our house since the Dugway one was lame.

We invited a few friends.

Before we said GO!!

This is all Allie got at the Dugway one.

Emma is surprised how many eggs she got. But....while the other moms and i were chatting, she opened every egg and dumped out the candy into her basket. She even opened the nerds and poured them in there. It was a complete mess! Ahh, seven year olds don't really think things through sometimes...

Finally sun today! 

Still can't find my camera.

I keep forgetting to ask Russell when I talk to him. 

I only get to talk to him once a day.

He is in Texas for work.

I tried calling him this morning hoping I would catch him before he went into his training.

He answered, whispering... "i'm in training, is it important?" 

"No, I was just hoping to say hi before you went in." I said.

"i will call you during break. love you bye." he responded.

"love (click).... you too Bye!" I finished.

Having lunch at the park with a friend today. 

The only way to survive as a stay at home mom here in Dugway is to meet your friends at the park and eat lots of subway sandwiches.

This is what we are experiencing at the moment. snow!

This is what I would like to be experiencing at the moment.

And this is pretty much the view I see every time I drive through the canyon.

This would be nice to see also.

Thank goodness for pictures to help us daydream.

I'm sure there is a spring waiting for us soon. I'm sure of it!

I was going to do an

Easter post, but I cannot find my camera.

Hopefully I will find it by tomorrow.

Ramblings

Sometimes I just ramble on and on so feel free to skip this novel of ramblings if you are not in the mood. Sometimes I don't like to read peoples ramblings, it depends on my mood. We went to the Dugway Easter egg hunt tonight. I wasn't going to go because last year was so lame, but Russell said that it would be a good thing for the kids... so I took them. First of all, it didn't start on time because they were waiting for the Easter Bunny who in the end didn't even show up. So while waiting, the lady in charge was trying to get every ones attention to say that they were still waiting to get started, when this mom, not me, but someone who thought they were helping blew a whistle to get every ones attention and accidentally started the race for the eggs. Everyone started running out and picking up eggs. They certainly didn't have enough eggs this year because there were little girls with empty baskets crying as they were walking away. Jarom only got 4 eggs and he shared two with this cute little girl that didn't get any. Allie only got 2 eggs and Emma got 7. The worst thing is....the eggs aren't filled with candy, they are filled with cheap little toys. One of Jaroms eggs had a rusty key chain in there. I threw it right in the garbage. To top it off, Emma biffed it in the parking lot and scraped up her knee, elbow, and hand pretty bad. So the moral of the story is... If you think you shouldn't go to something that you know is going to be lame, listen to those feelings and ignore your husband! Ha!

I will definitely have to put on a killer Easter egg hunt to make up for it! We were planning on going camping to southern Utah over Easter break but we had to change our plans, so we are going to have Easter here in Dugway. Not sure how excited I am about that.

I signed us up for a garden plot this year. It's going to be a lot of work, but I am looking forward to it. Carter is not playing baseball on a team this spring so we will be around to get the garden started. Plus, we will have a bunch of little hands to help....or hinder....

Speaking of little hands, I could not wait to get them in bed tonight. Argh!! I just needed a break. They were noisy and constantly begging for my attention, when I didn't want to give my attention to anyone but myself. Selfish? Maybe, but holy cow, 12 hours of non stop kids can get a little tiresome!!

Carter and Emma are out for spring break so I need to come up with some fun ideas to get us out of the dang house. Good luck right? Feel free to leave any suggestions.

Fun things to do when you're sick

Last week when I was miserable with that nasty cold, I didn't want to do anything but sit around, so the twins and I built a castle with our awesome legos.

Last night, I was awakened by that horrible sound.....of Allie puking in her bed.

Russell is so lucky that I came home from my mini vacation yesterday so he wouldn't have to do the throw up thing.

Poor girl has been trying to puke all day but nothing is left to come out.

Sorry for the details, but that is what us moms deal with on a daily basis is all the yucky details.

See, it was perfect timing for me to be all relaxed and not stressed out to be able to deal with the mess in the middle of the night!

Relatives

I was so happy that my awesome relatives stopped by to say hi before they headed back to Arizona!

This is my Mom's brother Eldon. His wife Lyla. Their daughter, my cousin, Susan, her husband and their beautiful baby Becca!

I love them!

They are so great!

Hopefully we can see each other over easter weekend too.

Mom's weekend away

It was my weekend away so I grabbed Mary and we drove 4 hours to ST. GEORGE and stayed at my parents place while they were in Seattle.

We were gone for 3 nights! It was so fantastic.

I highly recommend this for those moms that are in need of a break.

It was just enough time to relax and come home refreshed!

We went to Mesquite Nevada to eat Mary's birthday dinner!

She grew up in Eureka Utah so we stopped at the Eureka casino to eat at the buffet.

The bad thing about going there is the second hand smoke that we encounter while walking through the casino.

We wandered around the St. George temple for about an hour.

It was so peaceful and fabulous!

And we took a bunch of self timer shots.

We went to Estee Lauder for a make-over.

I went there with questions because I thought I was in a slump with my eye make-up.

This cute girl named Sabrina spent two hours with us and showed us some make-up tips.

She was so fun and friendly. By the time we left, it felt like we had known her forever!

Random picture

I chose a picture from a file that said 'couch'

It popped up and I was pleasantly surprised.

It makes me want summer here even faster.

This is Emma at my friends pool in South Florida.

Oh, I miss it!!

Icky Sicky

Friday night I was driving home from Russell's basketball game, and as I was driving up the canyon, I kept feeling pressure in my sinuses. I kept telling Russ that I thought I was getting sick. By the time we got home, my cold was in full force. No wonder why I was dragging at the gym all week long. I was on the road to a cold. I stayed in bed most of the day yesterday. And today...right now, I am skipping church. I really should go lay down because my head feels like its going to explode. But, I can only lay down for so long before I am restless. It's just your typical cold. Stuffy, sneezy, achy, runny nose, pain in the rear cold. Hopefully no one else gets it. Of course, every time I say that, someone inevitably gets sick. So I should say...I wonder who is going to get it next!

I am looking forward to thursday. It is my turn for a weekend away. I am going to St. George to stay at my parents house while they are gone to Seattle for my nephews wedding. And best news of all, its going to be just me!! Russ went to mesquite on a golf trip with his dad for a weekend, a couple of weeks ago, so now its my turn! I am excited. The weather should be fabulous! I am determined to get the rest and alone time that I need to come home afterwards and be the best mom and wife I can be.

Hey, we all need a break every now and then right? This will be my longest break since we got married 14 years ago.

black and whites

Russell's parents Alice and Forrest came out to dugway to watch Carter and Emma's basketball games. Then we celebrated Russell's birthday. We made homemade pizza and had cake. Then Russ and his dad went golfing.

It's a shame I didn't get pictures of the basketball games.

Tomorrow is their last season games so I will have to shoot some then!

I had to turn all the pictures to black and white because the lighting in the gym is very offensive.

I leave there with a dizzy head every time!