Letting It All Sink In

2009-09-17T23:40:00.002-05:00

Today....I loved that I skipped doing house work and played hookie....I'm grateful for the fact that I don't feel guilty about it either. Ha Ha!

Okay...kind of lame on the gratitude spectrum, but hey...it made for a fun day. I enjoyed every minute of it...but I have to admit I had a few moments of guilt when I walked back in the door and the house wasn't clean. I just figure I'll do it tomorrow. It definitely will wait for me.

So, my day was spent with Steve. He took the day off and we ran a couple of errands. We took my car in for service...the radio went out on me. We went to lunch at Corner Bakery....then to Barnes & Noble...then off to Nordstrom to shop.

Then in the evening we went to Kyle's football game. They lost 40-6. Ouch! Tough loss. Kyle played offense....starting center and then some defense as middle linebacker.

All in all a good day....with NO housework!

2009-09-16T22:26:00.003-05:00

Well so much for sunny days. =)

Today it was back in with the clouds and rain.

Dont get me wrong I love a good cloudy, rainy day once in a while....just not 4 or 5 days of it.

So, today I took advantage of the dreary day and curled up on the couch for a nap.

For those that know me and that are close to me, know I love a good nap.

I enjoyed every sleeping moment of my nap today. It was the perfect day for it.

Love Naps!!

2009-09-15T23:36:00.004-05:00

Over the next 2 weeks I want to make an attempt at finding the things in my life that make me happy, that make me smile. Call it a gratitude journal, if you will but it's my attempt to get rid of some of the negative things that I tend to focus on. It's time to find what's positive in my world.

Today it was seeing the sun shine....it broke through today after 4 days of rain. What a great thing to see it shine. You don't realize what you miss until it's gone.

I love sunny days!

Gratitude

2009-09-14T20:00:00.002-05:00

"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow." Melody Beattie

What makes me happy....

What am I grateful for in my life....

Today it was the laughter.

Steve making me laugh. Me making him laugh. After all these years we still enjoy making each other laugh. Enjoying each other's company. I love to hear him laugh a good deep hearted laugh after something I've done or said to him. It makes me feel good.

2009-07-22T18:55:00.001-05:00

Will having the ability to update my blog via my mobile mean I will start blogging again? We will see. =)

2009-03-11T21:22:00.003-05:00

I've been working a lot lately and it's been killing me.
I'm tired!
I don't want to complain because I'm thrilled I have a job. I worked the past two weeks and today was the first day off. Woot hoo! I'm also off tomorrow! Yay!

My job is a PRN job (as needed).
Explanation...it's like being a substitue teacher...filling in for vacations or for people that get sick...but I'm at a Women's Health Care facility.
It's Spring Break around here and a lot of the gals are taking time off so I get to fill in. I'm hoping that this job will turn into something a little more permanent...maybe work 2 or 3 days a week. That would be perfect.

Last week I had a day that I got off early and when I went home I ended up taking a 3 hour nap! HOLY COW....3 hours! No one was home...the house was quiet and I slept the afternoon away. Crazy! I woke up around 6 pm, just in time to head over to Kyle's baseball game. My philosophy is....if I slept that long I needed it! It's called catch up!

Other things going on around here....well...it's pretty quiet.

I don't thing I've mentioned that Kyle tried out and made the freshman baseball team. Their season just got under way and their doing pretty good. Kyle pitches and plays 1st or 3rd. They are supposed to play in a tournament that starts tomorrow but it's been raining all day and expected to continue through the weekend. It's cold too! Just yesterday we had temperatures in the high 70's close to 80 and today it was 40.
I prefer it to be a little warmer...just slightly.

2009-02-23T21:56:00.003-06:00

Finally logging onto my blog and it looks like I need to dust the cobwebs off.

There's something that I have to admit.
I've had something else distracting me lately....

It's Facebook.

I know I'm a dork...I'm one of the 'older folk' that has joined Facebook...much to the chagrin of my kids. I hesitated joining, because it was a kid thing and really didn't want to impose on their territory. But guess what? I joined and I'm having fun.
The reconnecting with old friends and finding out how they've been doing the past 30 years has really been a kick.

I do need to quit spending so much time on Facebook and get back to blogging.

2009-02-09T00:47:00.009-06:00

Kyle is definitely sick with an upper respiratory type flu...the stuff he came down with on Thursday night.

Kyle stayed home from school on Friday and then I took him to the doctor after I got off of work, hoping to get some Tamiflu or a Z-pak...whatever we needed in order to at least cut the sickness in half...get him on the road to feeling better. The doctor tested him for the Flu...but the test came back negative for it. He said it could be too early for the test but wanted to get him started on the Tamiflu anyway. We did. Kyle rested, slept and took it easy the rest of the day and all day Saturday.

Then......
he went to this on Saturday night.....
Can you believe I let him go to this.....
First off, I think he's too young for this, the whole date dance stuff.
And then he wasn't feeling good.
Oh boy.....

The boys are waiting for the girls to arrive....the girls were really late getting there.

Kyle and Anna ~ good friends.

2009-02-05T23:48:00.003-06:00

This morning as Kyle was about to walk out the door to go to school he asks me....

"Do you have $36.oo?"

I look at him a little confused and ask "$36.00, what do you need $36.00 for?"

Now, as only Kyle can do.....straight faced and no emotion, he says
"The Valentine Dance"

I'm thinking to myself....What Valentine Dance.
I've not heard a thing...nadda...nothing about it from Kyle. I guess I should've known this could happen, I mean Valentines Day is coming and my two older kids have gone to this Valentine Dance in the past. But, this completely caught me off gaurd with Kyle...it came out of the blue this morning. Oh and the dance is this Saturday!!

I tried not to look or sound surprised as I asked a few questions like....
"Did you ask someone to go with you?"
"Who else is going in the group?"
"Oh, a Limo???"
"Dinner?"

So...I'm not thrilled that he's going to the Valentine Dance with only 2 days notice...but it sounds like it's a big group of kids going as friends. They all want to go together and have fun. Hmmmm. I'm still contemplating the whole thing.

Update.....there could be a change in the plans.......

When Kyle got home from school today....he wasn't feeling good.
I took his temperature and it was 100.3.
Dang! He's sick.
The flu is going around the school...quite a few kids are out with it.
So now Kyle has it. It's the fever and cough starting.
Now I'm wondering even if he will be able to go to the Valentine Dance.
We'll see.

2009-01-27T16:12:00.003-06:00

We're bracing for an ice storm here.
It's definitely COLD and it's been raining and drizzling off and on all day.
As it gets later in the day the temperature is dropping and things are starting to ice....it's 28 degrees at 4:00 pm.

The schools let out early today...at 1:45 pm.

I didn't even send Kyle to school. We took a break.

2009-01-23T18:54:00.002-06:00

It seems that I've gotten lost in the New Year....is it really the 23rd of January??

I seriously don't know where the time has gone. It’s not like I’ve been busy…because I haven’t been.

It’s actually pretty quiet ~ too quiet ~ around here now that the holidays are over. Cam and Kelsey are gone ~ they’re back at college.
Well sort of…Cam moved out and followed his girlfriend back to school. He’s working for now and hoping to get in Spring Semester.
Kelsey went back to school and now, poor Kyle is an only child. I don’t think he’s liking all the focus and attention on him. He likes to keep a low profile but now he can’t. He has our full attention. :)

Last weekend we made him go to dinner with us and he was extremely quite as we sat there waiting for our food to arrive. It was painfully quiet.
Steve was trying to ask him all kinds of questions about school….but that went nowhere. Finally, after a little bit, the two of them got talking sports.
That did it…all was good.

On Saturday night Kyle went to the Mavericks vs Jazz basketball game with us. But….this tells you what kind of 15 year old we are dealing with right now.

We had 4 tickets to the basketball game and we told him he could bring a friend to go along.
He wouldn’t!
We couldn’t convince him to bring a friend. No way.
He thought it would be dumb to sit there with his parents. He wouldn’t subject a friend to such a thing.
How sad is that??
Are we really big dorks, like he thinks.

Camden and Kelsey weren’t like this so I’m having a hard time dealing with it. It’s really sad…it bothers me, but I realize some teenagers can be like this. It’s not fun…nor is it easy.
I’m hoping this attitude only last a year or so. Hoping!!

So….all in all I think the reason I haven’t gotten on here to blog is I’ve been in a funk and haven’t felt like writing. I think after having a great holiday with the kids home…and being all together, it got a little depressing having it so quiet and having my youngest not so thrilled to be around his parents.

Just a little sad.

Oh well...such is life.
Move on and move forward....right??
Stay happy…stay positive…right??

2008-12-31T21:24:00.004-06:00

Holiday Wishes

2008-12-16T16:56:00.004-06:00

Just sending some holiday wishes....
I still haven't sent any Christmas cards out this year....I'm getting to it...eventually.

It might be a New Years wish.

I hope everyone is having a happy, peaceful holiday season.

Hugs!

Tornado Warning going off

2008-12-08T23:39:00.002-06:00

Wow....the tornado warnings were just going off in our area.

Seriously!

I had the boys come downstairs and Bella (Cam's puppy) while we checked the TV station to see what was going on. We went out back to take a look and hear the sirens going.....it was dark outside and it wasn't raining at all....the TV station said the storm was about 10 miles east of us....the east side of town.
We seemed to be in the clear.
It was a little unnerving to hear the sirens go off.
That's the first time in our 13 years here that they've gone off....other than just the monthly testing they do.

It rattles you for a minute.

thank goodness everything is fine here.

2008-12-08T13:35:00.005-06:00

Weekend Update

I had good intentions of getting ALL my decorating completed this past weekend.

Did it happen?

What do you think?

This is what sits in my front entryway.

The tree is up but not decorated.

It sits waiting for me and here I sit.

This happens to me every year.....it takes me forever to get decorating.

My excuse for not doing it on Saturday......

I spent the day watching Kyle at baseball tryouts.

He tried out for a Dallas club team and made it!
He's pretty excited about it even though we had to really talk him into trying out.

Blog Award

2008-12-01T22:59:00.010-06:00

Thank You Whitney!!

Thanks for giving me this little blog award.

Now in order to accept this award I need to tell you 5 of my Addictions....and I mean fabulous Addictions.

Okay, let's see....addictions, huh?

I know I have a few but can I reveal them here??

Yes....they're pretty tame.

So here they are:

1. Top of my list would be Diet Coke. I can't start my day without it....and then I continue through the day with it.

2. Cinnamon bears....the hot sweet gummy kind. It's a good thing I have a hard time finding them around here because I've been known to order the darn candy online.

3. Shoes....love to find darling shoes. High heels....sandals, boots you name it.

4. I hate to admit this one....Sudoku. It's addicting. I sit with my Sudoku magazine while the guys watch football on Sunday.

5. Candles....I buy and burn scented candles all the time. Yankee candles are my favorites. So there they are....tame addictions...but addictions all the same. :)

Now with the rules of this little award.... yes there are rules and I'll do my best to follow them....even though it's taken me over a week to post this.

THE RULES
1. You have to pass it on to 5 other fabulous blogs in a post.
2. You have to list 5 of your fabulous addictions in the post.
3. You must copy and paste the rules and the instructions below in the post.

INSTRUCTIONS: On your post of receiving this award, make sure you include the person that gave you the award and link it back to them. When you post your five winners, make sure you link them as well. To add the award to your post, simply right-click, save image, then "add image" it in your post as a picture so your winners can save it as well. To add it to your sidebar, add the 'picture' gadget. Also, don't forget to let your winners know they've won an award from you by emailing them or leaving a comment on their blog.

Okay.....ladies....I'm choosing you..... All my fabulous nieces
Amber
Amy
Jessica
Monica
April ~ she just went private.
April if you're reading this send me your email address....I missed the chance to let you know I would love continue reading your blog....send it to ms.livealittle@yahoo.com

Once again thanks Whitney!

2008-11-25T14:56:00.004-06:00

Alright, everyone is home for Thanksgiving.

It's good!

Kelsey got home last night....we (me and the boys) picked her up at the airport last night around 8:30pm. She was so excited to be home, although she did say it was 'weird' being home. Weird but nice. She stuck around the house for a few hours and then she was out the door to see her friends.

We are staying here - just us, our family for the holiday.

I'm cooking and if you know me....this is a RARE occasion.
This is probably the one and only day....(probably?? It is the one and only day) where I put on a full blown meal with all the extras and all the goodies.
My family looks forward to a FULL meal....it's a REAL treat.
Sad but true!
I'm not sure I'm ready for it...but I've made the trip to the grocery store and I believe I have everything.
You know, I've actually tried to get out of cooking this year....I've hinted to my family that Fox Sports Grill is cooking a Turkey dinner for 12.95 a piece and you can watch all the football you want on their tv's. :) I'm only kidding...but we were eating their last Saturday night watching the Texas Tech vs OU football game and they kept announcing it....I thought it was a beautiful idea. No clean up, no stress for me...just head over to the Sports bar. Yeah!
Ok....it's not happening....I'm cooking and I will enjoy it.
I. WILL. ENJOY. IT.

Oh...yeah and about work....
I'm a working woman now. It's been a long time.
It's going good.
I'm liking it and I'm picking up on all the things I used to do....you know the old saying 'it's like riding a bicycle' it all comes back to you. Well...it has.
I'm just trying to get their system down and how they do things in their office.
It's not been hard...it's just trying to remember everything but I feel like it's going well.

On my first day...when I came out to my car at lunch there was a white envelope stuck in the driver's side window. It was addressed to me... I grabbed it and got in the car, opening it up and reading it.
It said...

"With Deepest Sympathy"

Inside it read....

Each life so fragile, so dear, so deeply missed.
and then in my husbands hand writing he wrote.....

'The death of the life of the stay at home mom! :)
So sad, SERIOUSLY!!
Congrats -- you are great and I love you!
Steve

It truly made me laugh....very clever of him.
It did make me think..... this is yet, another phase in the life of me and of our family.
It changes all the time.

2008-11-18T20:48:00.001-06:00

Has anyone thought about Thanksgiving??

I can't believe it's next week.

2008-11-12T16:42:00.003-06:00

Back in September I mentioned I got a job....well I did, sort of. I haven't written about it since then because I haven't been working....yet.

What I did do, back in September, was all training. 3 days of it.
I had to do 26 patients....supervised with another mammo tech.
Then, next I needed 8 hours of CE credit (continuing education) before they could officially hire me. I needed a Digital Mammo course.
I ended up waiting til the end of October for a class that was scheduled in Houston.
I flew down on a Monday morning....sat in the class all day...then flew back home that evening. It was an expensive way to get my 8 hours but I did it and it's done.
When I finished that I called the manager and told her I had completed the digital mammography course....she had me come in the next day and fill out all the paperwork for getting hired. The one major piece of paperwork was the Background check. That was the most important one to them.
You know, I wasn't too worried because there isn't much in my background to check. I've been a saint all my life. :) (at times I wonder if I should've been)

Anyway....I just got a phone call from the manager and I passed the background check and..........

I'm hired!!

I'll be starting next Thursday!!

As of right now I'm only working PRN (as needed) which is what I wanted.
I'll wait and see how going back to work will be.

Special Olympics Texas Gala

2008-11-08T13:48:00.006-06:00

It's Saturday afternoon and I've been trying to get the house cleaned....it's been a mess and I haven't felt like cleaning...but I made a pretty good attempt.

Kyle and Steve went to the Batting cages for a while....they're there right now. Kyle was picked for the All Star team and will play in the game tomorrow.

Tonight, Steve and I will be going to the Special Olympics Texas Gala
Yep, we get to dress up....it's a Black Tie event.
Yeah, just a little pressure to be all dressed up. I went looking for a dress the other day but didn't find anything.... (it had to be my mood)

Soooo, I'm going to have to wear one I've worn to something else.
No one will know...right???
I wont tell if you wont tell.
Hey, I believe a nice dress should be worn more than once, at least get some good wear out of it.

I do have to mention that Steve is the Honorary Chair for the event and will take a few minutes during the program to speak. It's a real honor for him and I'm excited for him to share our experience with Special Olympics.

One of Kyle's little buddies all through elementary school was Austin who has Down's. Kyle and Austin were always paired together for different little things at school and field trips and were always in the same class all through elementary school. I found out later from his mom that she requested that Austin be in Kyle's classes.
Kyle spent a lot of time at Austin's house playing basketball and football with his family. We had Austin here at our home too. I realized as time went on how good
Kyle was with Austin. He really kept an eye on him and enjoyed being his friend.
When they were in the 4th or 5th grade Austin won a Reflections contest with his story about "My friend Kyle". It was very touching and so sweet. This has been a great friendship and I'm so proud of Kyle for being that kind of friend.
Kelsey was also friends with Austin's older brother and spent a lot of time at their house with a big group of kids. Austin's family always welcomed the kids into their home...they loved having them around. It was always an open door.

I know my kids and my family have really benefitted from the true friendship of Austin and his family.

2008-11-05T16:07:00.003-06:00

What an exciting few days it's been with the election......
it's now over and we have a new President.

President Obama.

It was interesting to watch and see it all play out yesterday.
I loved seeing my kids take an interest in this election and then to have two of them vote for their first time. Yay! ohhh, to think that they're adults ~ :)

I will say this....I'm glad the election is over.

This is a great country and there's a lot of work to be done.
I hope we can all do our part to make it even better.

2008-10-31T16:08:00.001-05:00

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

2008-10-30T19:28:00.005-05:00

Halloween Party from Saturday night.....
We were thrilled to be in town for the annual Family Halloween Party and get the chance to party with Steve's side of the family. Since we are so far away from everyone we miss out on these fun parties....I can't remember when the last one we were at, it has to be at least 13 years ago. Wow...a long time ago. I have such fond memories of these get togethers....the dressing up, eating, and taking the kids out Trick or Treating.

This party was just as fun even though the kids have grown up and some of them were missing....Cam, Kyle. Kandace couldn't make it and Karlee was at home recovering from having her wisdom teeth pulled with her dad keeping an eye on her....Ouch!
And yes you, April & Brian...so far away like we are.

Steve and I dressed up as Juno & Beeker....it wasn't a huge hit at the party....no one in the family had seen the movie except Emilee and her boyfriend. They knew who we were....thank goodness...I got tired explaining my pregnant belly. :)
Kelsey was Sarah Palin....I think she pulled it off really well.

2008-10-29T14:53:00.017-05:00

I know it's Wednesday and I've been meaning to post the pictures from our weekend. I just kept putting it off knowing it was going to take some time getting them uploaded. Anyway here they are.....

We got to town on Friday morning...EARLY.
Steve scheduled an early flight for Friday morning and I. MEAN. EARLY.
Our alarm went off at 4:15 am so we could make a 6:00 am flight. UGGHH. Let me tell you I moaned and groaned about it too...I hate waking up early. The only good thing about it was we were in Provo early enough to take Kelsey to breakfast....and we had the whole day ahead of us. :) After breakfast Kelsey had to go to class and so me and Steve went on to campus to check in for 'Parent Weekend'.

Here's Steve after we got our cute little backpacks....

The next picture is Y mountain. Can you say gorgeous??
I absolutely love this time of year with the colors on the mountain and the crisp cool air. Love Fall...especially here.

Yep...next picture....dorky parents on campus!

The next day, Saturday....Steve and Kelsey went to the BYU - UNLV football game. Here they are just before they walked over to the stadium.

I took that picture and then left them to go have fun at the football game and I went and picked my mom up to go to my niece Brianne's Bridal shower.

Here are some of the pictures from that....(these pictures didn't turn out too great...I think the setting on my camera wasn't right...my bad)

But all you girls still LOOK FABULOUS even if they are a little grainy. :)

Here's my mom and Brianne....
Mom you look fabulous!!
Brianne even with a mouth full of marshmallows you're darling!!

Here's my sister, Shauna and her daughter Jessica.
(All these pictures are of Shauna's daughter's.....my nieces)

Brianne opening gifts and Amy sitting on the ground

Monica and her little guy Hayden

Amber....hostess!!
You did a fantastic job!!

I had so much fun being at the Bridal shower and seeing everyone.
It's sooo nice to be around family!

2008-10-22T23:39:00.002-05:00

It looks like another chance at a weekend get away is really going to happen.
I made sure Camden knew well in advance what weekend I would need him to stay home and keep an eye on Kyle. I made it very clear so we wouldn't have the fiasco of a couple of weeks ago where I had to stay home and Steve went to St. George to run the marathon. That was a real bummer weekend all around.
Well, now we have another one planned and it looks like it's going to play out like it should. Me and Steve leave Friday morning for Utah. We're going to visit Kelsey at the University. It's Parent weekend. YAY!
I don't know what they do for us dozers that show up on Parent weekend but we're excited to be there and see Kelsey. We're going to stay in a Hotel in town even though we both have family there ~ our mothers both live there ~ but we wanted to treat this like a real get away....a fun get away.
We're also excited about being in town for the annual Halloween party that Steve's brother and wife throw. From what we hear it's quite the costume party for the whole family. We've decided on our costume and I'm keeping it quiet for now. You'll have to wait for the post party pictures. It should be good!
I will also get to see my sister and her daughters, (my nieces.) One of her daughters, Brianne, is getting married soon and the Bridal Shower will be on Saturday. So I'm really excited to be there for that. This will be a great weekend visiting and seeing family.
Let's hope Camden holds down the fort here while we are gone. (crossing my fingers)

2008-10-15T14:03:00.004-05:00

It's raining outside and it definitely suits my mood.
One where I want to stay in and do absolutely nothing. I would've gone back to bed this morning and slept the day away if I could have. I actually was feeling a little dizzy this morning, not sure what that was about...just kind of out of sorts. Feeling better this afternoon but I still don't want to do anything. I managed to clean the kitchen and vacuum but that was about it....oh wait, one load of laundry done. Hey...making some progress just not breaking any records doing them.

I've also been sitting here searching for some fun Halloween games.
I need 2 games for a Halloween carnival that will be at our church on the 29th. If any of you have any fun ideas let me know. It's for some of the younger kids...so something easy and fun. I have a couple ideas but I'm open for any great ideas.

Sitting at home

2008-10-04T03:26:00.008-05:00

Yeah, I should be on a weekend get a way with my husband...but here I am at home and my husband is gone for the weekend. No, we aren't fighting and all is good with us...it's just that our plans came to a screeching halt during the week. One of our dear children, who shall remain nameless at this time, threw a monkey wrench into the works.

On Tuesday evening, I was going about my business folding laundry or one of those other mundane jobs and 'nameless child' came into the room and mentioned he would be leaving Wednesday afternoon to visit his girlfriend for the weekend.
As soon as the words were out of his mouth
I wailed "N-O Y-O-U C-A-N-T...You can't go!
Your dad and I are leaving for St. George on Thursday and I need your help here with Kyle."
The two of them, according to my plan, were going to be hanging here at home while we were gone.
He looked surprised and somewhat irritated by my reaction.

As this was blowing up I realized that I was somewhat at fault for this. I hadn't specifically mentioned to, 'child who shall remain nameless', about the specifics. I didn't tell him to put it on his calendar. (he doesn't keep a calendar) nor did I pin him down and tell him I needed him this weekend while we left town. I just assumed he would be here because he is living here, he is going to school here, he has a job here.
Wouldn't he be here??
Ugghhhh, I didn't take into account he might leave to see said girlfriend. UGGGHH!! (I swear he was just there)

So....the weekend plans became a huge issue.
Disappointing to say the least.

How were we going to work this out?
Kyle had a school football game and 2 baseball games scheduled for the weekend and would need rides to all of these. We didn't feel that dumping Kyle at a friends house would work....asking another mom or dad to take on his schedule and get him to all his games wasn't an option. You just can't impose like that. I wasn't about to do it. If Kyle were just going to a friends house for a day or two to hang out....no problem. I've had some of his friends stay at our house when their parents needed favors....no problem.
It's what you do, trade back and forth.
But, to ask them to take on his schedule...not going to happen. I won't do it.

So, as the situation unfolded and 'nameless child' (you know who it is, by now don't you?? :) ) made his best attempt at trying to help, with reservation.
He did offer to leave on Thursday or Friday but he really wanted to spend as much time as possible with his girlfriend.
(I understand, I do, I remember being that age once..HA!)

It really was frustrating that everything was falling apart and there really wasn't a great solution and our child really didn't want to give up his weekend with his girlfriend to babysit his brother. I finally told him to go and do what he needed to do and dad and I would figure out our weekend....possibly me staying home and dad going. He knew that our weekend would most likely be ruined but his wasn't going to be.

The weekend get a way was for us to fly to Las Vegas and spend a night there....have fun there and then the next day drive to St. George, Utah where Steve would race in the marathon on Saturday. Then come home Sunday evening.

After a lot of thought and frustration about what to do I decided to stay home and Steve went by himself. He wasn't going to go but that would've been crazy...he's been training and running, he needed to go. He wasn't happy at all about the whole thing. Very frustrating. I hope he put his frustration to good use while he ran the race. :)

And so 'Nameless child' went on his merry way to visit his girlfriend...he left on Wednesday and as he left I don't think he had a second thought about how everything changed for us once he left the house.
He was happy as could be. :)

This whole situation brought back a memory of mine when I was that age. I was a brat to my parents and only thought of myself.
NO, not me.
I was a good kid but I was a little selfish this 'one' time. (sorry mom)

I was 23, married 6 months and I'd been living with my parents for about a month while Steve had gone to Spring Training in Florida. He was playing with the Detroit Tigers in the minor league system.
When Spring Training was over and we found out where he would be playing...Lakeland, Florida. My parents helped pack me up in Steve's S-10 Blazer and we headed out from Utah to Florida.
I don't remember how long it took us to drive cross country but I do remember making it MISERABLE for my parents almost the entire way because I was in a hurry to see Steve. They wanted take their time and see the sights and stop along the way and I wasn't about to let them. I didn't want to see a Southern Plantation or sit and eat at a restaurant I wanted to get to Florida. I know my dad almost put me on a plane in Dallas because I was driving him crazy. To this day I feel horrible about that trip and what I put them through. I've apologized several times and we've laughed about it many times....but it doesn't change the fact that I was selfish and only wanted what I wanted. My mom and I talked about it recently and I think she probably silently chuckled at the fact that what goes around comes around. :)

2008-10-02T17:14:00.003-05:00

Playing around again with Photoshop and some of the pictures I took of Kyle at his baseball game last Saturday.

They lost the game but he came in as relief and did what he was supposed to do....get them out of the inning. His curve ball is really coming on and looking great. We all love going to the games and watching him....even if his team is on a losing streak.
Hey...it's not about the win...or is it??

2008-09-26T20:48:00.002-05:00

Tonight Kyle's celebrating his birthday with 4 of his friends.

It's a party of video games and pizza.

Easy enough for me. I supply the food and they stay upstairs with their games.

2008-09-18T19:42:00.008-05:00

I've been thinking about my mom the past couple of days and I wanted to let her know I'm thinking about her. She occasionally reads my blog to see what's going on around here, so I wanted her to know we're thinking about her and hope she's feeling better and out of the hospital soon.

On Tuesday she went in to have 1/3 of her stomach removed due to some problems she was having. She's had a long history of hiatal hernias and ulcers and it eventually has led to problems with her stomach and it not working properly. Over the past several months she was losing weight and having trouble eating...nothing was staying down and very little was getting through. She had to be very selective of what she ate and it wasn't much....like yogurt and yogurt. She thought she could survive on that diet but it finally got to her and she decided it was time to try surgery.

I just got off the phone with her, she's doing as well as can be expected.
She sounded good, maybe a little slurred speech with the pain meds but hey, if they keep the pain away then keep em' coming.
I really wish I lived closer especially when things like this go on....I hate being this far away. There's not a lot you can do but call and send your love.

Mom....we love you and are wishing you a speedy recovery!

Anniversary

2008-09-18T19:42:00.007-05:00

Someone else I've been thinking about.....
my husband.

Today is our 23rd wedding anniversary. (can you say WOW!)

Do ya think I should mention it here and let him know I'm thinking about him???
I'd really be a heel if I didn't.

He remembered first thing this morning....
when we woke up he rolled over and whispered in my ear ~
'Happy Anniversary' and then I rolled out of bed to go wake Kyle up for school and he went back to sleep.
Oh come on, I wished him a Happy one too before climbing out of bed. :)
Isn't that the way old married couples do it?

We didn't do anything to celebrate today because he had to go to work but he's taking the day off tomorrow.......to golf.
Oh, but we are planning on dinner and maybe a movie.

Happy Anniversary Steve.....

2008-09-14T15:15:00.004-05:00

I've been glued to the TV the past couple of days watching what's been going on with Hurricane Ike and it's aftermath. It was quite a thing to watch it all play out and see the devastation a natural disaster can make....very sad and very humbling.

I've also been keeping in touch with Steve as best I can...he's been extremely busy.
He's doing good, he's tired but otherwise doing fine.

The news crew spent all of Friday evening and into the early hours of Satuday covering Hurricane Ike as it came in. They were in downtown Houston at the time and experienced the 80-100 mph winds and the rain. Steve said that it never let up...it was 7 hours of non-stop wind and rain. They never experienced the lull or eye of the storm...it never passed over them so it was non stop. It was also pitch black, and in the middle of the night so they had a hard time seeing what kind of destruction was going on. It wasn't until daylight that they were able to see how bad it was.
As they're tried to get around and cover the hurricane aftermath they've run into a lot of flooding and debris covering the roads which has made it difficult to navigate. They wanted to head south to Galveston but the roads were closed so they spent yesterday around the Houston area. The hotel they they were staying at on Friday eveing had to boot them out because they didn't have running water or power. So they headed to Sugarland, Texas for the night where they got a good night's rest and I'm sure a shower.

I talked to Steve a little while ago and he said that when they went to get gas for their car they ran into a line 3 hours long....people just waiting to get gas. People are waiting for gas, for water, ice and food. It's been tough he says.

He's been so busy I haven't had a chance to ask him when he thinks he'll be on his way home.
I hope soon.

My thoughts and prayers go out to all of those people affected by this hurricane and that have lost so much.

They're heading out and he's going in

2008-09-11T22:57:00.006-05:00

People are evacuating and my husband is going in.

Yeah just great....everyone is leaving because of this massive hurricane ~ evacuating because of Hurricane Ike and I had to send Steve off to work to cover this huge storm.

What was I thinking letting him walk out the door?

I guess when there's a big story like this then I should know the media will be there to cover it....even if I'm not thrilled about it.
No, I didn't have a lot of say or pull on this one.

Steve is excited to do this, he left today flying into Houston and was picked up by some of the news team and they then headed to Surfside, Texas which is about an hour south of Houston.

I just got off the phone with him and he is at a hotel in Clute, Texas...a little more inland than right at Surfside. He said after they did some stand-ups for the news tonight they checked into their hotel and then went to find something to eat. The only thing still open and not boarded up was a 7-11 with some marginally fresh food....a hot link and a cold sandwich. (Mmmmm yum....ha!)
He mentioned that the guy he's with came prepared with a small grill, a cooler full of hot dogs and hamburger patties and some other food. He's prepared...he learned his lesson when he had to cover Hurricane Katrina. He found out you have to fend for yourself once the storm hits and who knows how long it will be before you find a place where you can find something to eat.
Okay....so I hadn't even thought of this when I sent Steve off earlier. I tried to get him to take some candy with him but he didn't want any. Yeah, candy...that's all I thought about....No, not a sandwich or anything of substance, just candy.
That's about par for me. :)
Anyway, I'm sure they'll be fine.

I know where I'll be tomorrow and the next day....glued to the tv.

Oh and Kyle talked with his dad tonight on the phone when he called. They talked for a long time. Kyle was asking a lot of questions...and talking...which is unusual for Kyle. He's a man a few words. I could tell that Kyle was and is very concerned about what Steve is doing. It was good for him to hear his dad talk and tell him what will be going on. He needed that reassurance.

Just an update on my few days of training at work.....It went well.
My first day I observed and followed one of the techs around in the morning then by the second half of the day I was right in there doing patients with a tech in there watching me. I was really nervous and fumbled around with the machine but I did fine.
It's all coming back to me and I'm feeling better and more confident about how it's all going.
Trace thanks for asking!

I got the job!

2008-09-07T15:31:00.005-05:00

I did it.....
I'm going back to work and I start tomorrow!!

This is unreal to me, it's actually happening.
It doesn't seem like it because it's taken me over 2 years to do this.
I've considered it for that long but I've balked, I've hesitated and just plain ignored the thoughts of going back to work.

I found that I couldn't push myself to get out there and look for a job. I didn't feel like I could do it and I figured that I'd been out of my field for waaay too long and that I wouldn't be considered as a candidate.

But I did it!

The interview went really well. I'm going to start training on Monday and Tuesday and then we'll go from there. I'll be working at a Women's Health Center doing mammography. It's been 13 years since I've worked but with a little on site training I know it will all work out fine.
I'm nervous but ready to do this.

I think! :)

2008-09-03T21:20:00.004-05:00

I have a job interview tomorrow!!

Me?? Back at work??
I can't believe this is happening but I'm actually doing it....I'm going to try this work thing again. It's been 13 years and I'm nervous about doing it but I'm ready to try.

It's time, time for me.

Wish me luck.

2008-09-01T21:31:00.015-05:00

Sometimes when I don't post for a while it's usually because there hasn't been anything to post about....yeah, I know there's got to be someting going on like Life...Life in general right?

Yes, life is moving along and things are happening it's just taking the time to get here and jot it down.

Okay, so bear with me....I'm going to go back a little bit and try and update what's been going on around here.

Back on the 23rd of August.....Kelsey and her dad set off to do the 20+ hour drive to get to college in Utah. It was a hectic and emotional morning saying goodbye and getting them on the road.
I hate saying goodbye.
The only saving factor for me that morning was knowing that I would be seeing her in 2 days. I would be flying, (yes flying...yay for me) there to help her move in to her apartment and visit family for the week. YAY!
So with that, saying goodbye wasn't as bad as it could've been. It wasn't easy but we made it through it.
Here are some pics of that morning....

Kelsey saying goodbye to Bear.

Cam giving her a big hug.

Kyle giving a hug....which is tough for him to do..doesn't like to show to much emotion.

Packed car!WHAT?? What is she holding?? What kind of reading material is that?? Cosmo??
Does her dad realize what she's holding up?? I don't think so!

Off they go!!

More to update soon....

Last Day

2008-08-22T11:06:00.004-05:00

Alright it's here....Kelsey's last day at home.

It definitely comes with mixed emotions.
I'm not sure it's really hit me because of how much we have to still do......

Take the car in for an oil change....rotate the tires, wash the car.
Get her things all packed up and in the car. Let's hope we can get it all in.
We still need to get some of the packing done, we need to go through my closest and divvy up the shoes. We wear the same size and share a lot of the same shoes.....so, to benefit me....I'm planning on her taking a lot of them and I'm then going shopping!! (do you think that will work?) ;)
Make-up needs to be divvied too....at least some of it.
The laundry's been done, I think all of her clothes are ready to go.

Right now, she's out getting her hair cut and then she wanted to run by the nail salon and get her nails done. (Is it the last time I'm paying???)

The plan is that Steve and Kelsey will be leaving early in the morning for the LONG, LONG road trip. This is the trip we've taken quite a few times as a family and driven straight through....20 hours!! The record is 18 hours....only stopping for gas and quick potty breaks....and I mean they were quick. No time to flush. This time Steve is thinking they will take their time and stop somewhere over night. I think that's a good idea.

Anyway....I'm off to tackle the day.
Emotions and all.

Cam's 21st Birthday!!

2008-08-18T00:38:00.006-05:00

Happy Birthday Camden!!

Wow!!
A real, official adult....not that 18 yr old I'm a sort of an adult thing but 21!
The real deal!
You'd think by turning 21 you'd be ready to make some great decisions that will impact your life....get you going in the right direction.
Well.....on Cam's birthday, (yesterday) he brought home a puppie! Yes a puppie!!
He'd been telling me about how he had been going to the pet store all week and looking at the dogs. I kept shaking my head and telling him....
"I wouldn't do it if I were you"......"it's not such a good idea."
Well, I must not have been convincing enough....didn't I sound serious enough when I said no?? (The thing is I'm a push over and he knows it.)

Here is the cute little boxer puppie that Cam bought for his birthday with the help of his girlfriend.

Now....Steve isn't happy at all with this puppy coming home with Cam. He was mad last night and pretty much stayed silent for a while. Mad!! The reason he was so mad was because Cam didn't listen to us, especially his dad. Steve was more specific about NO DOG...and then when he found out how much Cam paid for the dog....that sent him through the roof. So we are currently trying to figure out what and where this little puppy is going to go....what will happen.
I'm wondering if Steve will soften a little....I think Cam is hoping he will.
I don't like the idea of having so many pets. I love animals but my house is going to start stinking with all the animals around. Dog hair, cat hair, litter box, puppy training means peeing and pooping all over. Ooohhh so not ready for that.
Well....Cam had a good birthday....I think!
As long as the puppy gets to stay then it might be great!

2008-08-13T13:31:00.007-05:00

Time is slipping by....
Kelsey leaves for college in less than a week.

This Friday! (this Friday ~ the 22nd)

It's starting to sink in and it's getting to me.
I've noticed I'm a little on edge and easily irritated by the little things.
I know it's from being emotional and trying to keep things in check while trying to get organized and figure out what she'll be needing to take with her to school. I can't seem to get organized and help her out. We've down some shopping but not nearly enough. She's been trying to go through her clothes and figure out what she's taking and what she can't wear anymore....so I guess that's a start. Funny, I think we are a little late getting started but that's typical for me. Yeah, I procrastinate....but when I have to get it done, I will. It'll happen. I hope.

Most of Kesley's friends have all left, she'll be last one to head out. It's been a little lonely for her and I can tell she misses her friends.
The other day I was in the office and she came into me and said "Mom, I'm bored what can I do?" I chuckled at her and said "What, you don't have anything to do?" I know theirs plenty to do, pack, organize, pack and clean....but that's no fun. Who would want to do that.....So we decided to go to IKEA and see if we needed anything from there. It was Kelsey's first time in IKEA and maybe my 3rd. I don't venture in there to often because I think it's a little overwhelming and somewhat of a maze....so I think twice before venturing into IKEA. But hey, we were bored and thought maybe we could get some ideas of things Kelsey might need for college. We did find a quilt cover for her bed. It's simple and darling.
Now that we've got her color scheme going I think we can find a few things to help her decorate her room....she's going with red.

Today at church the girls presented her with a quilt that they had tied and put together for her send off. Then Steve and I had put together a quick little slideshow of Kelsey and we showed that to the girls and her teachers.
I had a hard time keeping my tears in check I looked over at Kelsey once it started and she looked at me and smiled and she had tears. That got me! Steve was even trying hard to keep the tears back. It's emotional knowing that our time is short and she's going to be gone....so far away too.
She's going to be really missed around here.

Here's the video with the song "My Wish" by Rascal Flatts.

What is this stuff oozing all over the place??

2008-08-06T14:41:00.007-05:00

Oh this is gross!
I guess it's time to clean out the cupboard when you find something like this oozing all over the place.

What do you think it was?

When I finally got down on my hands and knees and had pulled everything else out, I found the culprit hidden way in the back......

It was a very OLD, outdated can of peaches that had disintegrated and left me the mess.

Once I cleaned up the sticky mess I decided I better look at the dates of the other canned goods....oh and yes I figured as much, most of them were OLD and OUTDATED.

Here is what I have to throw out.

Can you tell I don't cook very often??

Florida Vacation Pics

2008-08-04T23:50:00.001-05:00

Vacation's over and I'm exhausted

2008-08-03T19:03:00.004-05:00

Why is that?
I don't get it. I'm tired!
After a week at the beach relaxing I should be feeling great....but I'm tired. I think it's that I have to get back to reality.
Unpacking, laundry, house cleaning, the grocery store....yadda, yadda, yadda.
How depressing!

So, for now let me think about vacation time.
We had a good week together and some of the highlights of our trip were....
The beach
Air Boat ride
Alligators
Parasailing
Comedy Club
Movie ~ The Dark Knight
Barnes and Noble 12:01 am release of 'Breaking Dawn' by Stephanie Meyer.
People watching
Not having to cook
Not having to do laundry
Relaxing
Laughing

All in all a good time!

(I'm hoping when I get a few minutes I can go through our pictures and post some of them here.)

Florida Family Vacation

2008-07-30T20:45:00.005-05:00

We're here in Fort Lauderdale staying at a hotel on the beach, having a fun time.
It's beautiful and yes, it's hot. But a lot of fun!

We really needed this vacation before Kelsey heads off for school in less than 4 weeks. (SIGH)

There's been a lot of beach time.
Hanging out time.
People watching ~ as they cruise A1A
Lots of laughs
Good times!

Expensive visit to the vet

2008-07-23T22:46:00.005-05:00

Wow! Expensive!
2 dogs
Well visit/check up
Shots
1 dog needing a blood test ~ possible thyroid problem.
2 pkgs. heart worm pills

$425

I've done absolutely nothing today...

2008-07-21T23:15:00.007-05:00

Sort of....
if you can say sitting at the computer playing with photoshop is absolutely nothing....then I did pretty much nothing and it took me ALL day.

I've sat here in the office working on digital scrapbooking since around 2 pm with a few minor appearances, just to show my face around the house and let my teenagers know I'm still around. Yes, there is adult supervision....sort of.

Here is what kept me stuck in the office for a good part of the day...

These are two pictures of Kelsey we took as part of her Senior pictures. That was fun.

Kelsey and her best friends in Puerto Vallarta in March 2008.

Kyle learning to surf at South Padre Beach.

2008-07-17T12:36:00.002-05:00

Last night we received some sad, sad news.
An old high school friend passed away.
It's so unbelievably sad to get this news and hear he's gone.

Dave was one of those rare guys....always the gentleman, always the nicest guy. When we would hang out with all our friends, he was always the quiet one but he always had the biggest smile. Steve played baseball with him through high school and then at UTC and then at BYU. They definitely shared some great times.

It just doesn't seem fair that he's gone.
Dave was only 45.

I'm Glad I Touched Shoulders With You

There's a comforting thought at the close of the day,
When I am weary and lonely and sad,
That sort of grips hold of this poor old heart,
And bids it be merry and glad.
It gets in my soul and it drives out the blues,
And finally thrills through and through.
It is just a sweet memory that chants the refrain:

"I'm glad I touched shoulders with you!"

Did you know you were brave?
Did you know you were strong?
Did you know there was one leaning hard?
Did you know that I waited, and listened and prayed?
And was cheered by your simplest word.
Did you know that I longed for the smile on your face,
For the sound of your voice ringing true?
Did you know that I grew stronger and better because
I had merely touched shoulders with you?
I am glad that I live, that I battle and strive
For the place that I know I must fill,
I am thankful for sorrows, I'll meet with a grin
What fortune may bring, good or ill.
I may not have wealth, I may not be great,
But I know I will always be true,
For I have in my life, that courage you gave,
When once,
"I touched shoulders with you."

George Michael Concert

2008-07-14T19:27:00.002-05:00

Loved it!!

We went to the concert last night and I loved it, it was great....he sounded so good.

I forgot how much I love his voice. Listening to him took me back a few years...just a few.
Like 1988....that's just 20 years ago. Oh wow...I'm old. Dang!
Anyway, I saw him in concert in San Diego in 1988. I took a 3 hour bus ride from Yuma, Arizona where we were living at the time to see him and let me tell you....It was worth it.
Well worth it! That concert in 1988 was and has been one of my all time favorite concerts.

So, last night at the concert George Michael apologized to the audience for his long absence and promised to deliver and rock the house. He did!
Steve really enjoyed the concert too...he kept saying "Wow, his voice is amazing." We had a fabulous time....everyone around us was having a great time too.
This was an early birthday present for me and it was the best.

2008-07-04T11:23:00.001-05:00

I hope everyone has a safe and Happy 4th!

ENJOY!!

All Star Game

2008-07-03T13:27:00.001-05:00

2008-06-28T00:05:00.006-05:00

Steve went to the Dr. last Tuesday afternoon because of some lower leg pain that he was having. It started when he was with Kyle on the trip to South Padre Beach. He thought he had shin splints from running back and forth on the beach. He figured it would eventually go away but after a week of pain and swelling around his ankle we decided he better go to the doctor. I was a little worried that it might be phlebitis which isn't good, it's essentially a blood clot. The Dr. was concerned too, so he sent Steve for a venous doppler exam to look for blood clots....thank goodness it came back negative!
What a relief.
After the exam we went back over to the doctors office and he told us....
"Boy, good news for you. No blood clots! I thought I was going to have to put you in the hospital."
He told Steve it's tendonitis in the lower leg from over use...most likely from running on the beach. He put him on a steroid for a week and told him to rest and ice his leg. No running for a while. Which isn't what he wants to hear....he was supposed to start a training program for another marathon 2 weeks ago. We'll see how his leg heals and cross your fingers the tendonitis doesn't flare up again.

In other happenings around here......
I finally, after about a year of putting it off, got my paperwork done to apply for my State license so I can go back to work.

Well, to be honest....Steve got my paperwork done for me. I'd been putting off making phone calls and finding out how to get all the other different state licenses where I've worked before....like Florida, Arizona, Nevada, and Utah. It was a pain and I kept putting it off because I hate making phone calls and I guess I wasn't feeling the pressure or need to go back to work.
Call me scared or whatever....but I haven't worked in 13+ years and it's a little intimidating to get back into it. I feel like a lot has changed in Mammography since I worked so it worries me.
So, last week me and Steve were having a conversation about finances and having 2 kids in college....and gas prices....and just the general pinch we're feeling.
That got us motivated to get my paperwork taken care of.
We did it....he made the phone calls to the different states...I filled out my application and it's done.
Sent it off for processing. Done!
I should be looking for a job in about 4 weeks.
Holy cow!! Me working after 13 + years.
Crazy!

Before and after pictures/photoshop actions

2008-06-18T20:05:00.005-05:00

This is the original photo taken at Kelsey's graduation.
This is after messing around with Photoshop actions.

I got these photoshop actions free from The Pioneer Woman website....love her website!!
A lot of great information off her site.

2008-06-16T22:42:00.005-05:00

After last week being a busy one, today has been a total blow off. I managed to do a little laundry and go to the grocery store but that's about it. I didn't feel like doing anything and there wasn't anyone around to make me feel like I had to be doing something. Cam and Kelsey both worked today. Steve and Kyle are gone for the week to South Padre Island with the Scouts.

So, I was lazy and I didn't feel guilty about it at all.

Here's why......
a run down of last week:

Steve's dad and step-mom came in from California for Kelsey's graduation. It was great to have family here.

Kelsey's graduation ~ a great day. I'm so proud of her.

Rough Riders baseball game. Fun!!
Grandma Pam was picked to go on the field in-between one of the innings and use a 'pick-up' line on the MC/announcer. She said something along the line of
"If you were an alien then you've just abducted my heart" (okay, I can't remember what the pick-up line was....I'm so bad at remembering and hey...I couldn't use a pick up line to save my life.) hee hee Anyway, the crowd loved her and she won a t-shirt. She hammed it up...very cute!

And yes, golf was part of the week.
Definitely have to have golf, at least a couple of times, when visitors are in town.
In most cases I'm doing my best to avoid playing golf, but I knew there wouldn't be any way around it with Grandpa and Grandma Pam.
They love to golf and you know what I'm glad I went. We had a lot of fun.
The score? What score?
No way.....I didn't keep track of mine. :)

One of the evenings I took Steve's dad and step mom to the TV station to let them watch from behind the scenes at what Steve does. It was a first for his dad, which surprised me. His dad loved it.

We also made it over to the Fort Worth Stockyards and walked around. This is always a must for any out of towner....esp. if you love the cowboy thing.

We didn't do anything for Father's Day. I dropped Grandpa and Grandma off at the airport and Steve and Kyle left early in the morning for Padre. Not much of a Father's Day but we had a great week.

With it being quiet around here I'll be keeping it simple.

Don't Blink

2008-06-12T13:01:00.006-05:00

Kelsey 6 months old ~ 1990

Kelsey 18 yrs old ~ Graduation 2008

He did it!

2008-06-05T14:43:00.002-05:00

He passed!
He passed Algebra.
Thanks to the math tutor we paid to help him through it.

YAY!! No summer school!
Great news for all of us around here.......Now we can all sleep in, have a lazy summer and possibly go on vacation.

Last Day of School!

2008-06-03T20:28:00.005-05:00

Kyle has a half day of school today and then it's over.
Well, maybe....He's taking his Algebra final and we're crossing our fingers that he does well. If he doesn't, he'll be in summer school for 6 weeks. Uggh!
I even had a dream last night that I was taking an algebra test and that I couldn't do it, I had NO clue. Absolutely no clue! Talk about stressful!
I hope Kyle isn't stressed out.....no pressure right? Ha!
Well....well see.
It is what it is and I'm sure he'll do just fine. :)

Kelsey finished up school yesterday and now we're waiting for the big day.
Graduation!!
Graduation is next Tuesday!!
This blows me away. I can't believe she's done and will be heading off to college in August.
So sad for mom, but so exciting for her.

Laughing still

2008-05-27T21:32:00.003-05:00

One of Kelsey's friends just dropped by the house to give her a graduation gift.
After her friend left, Kelsey came into the family room where I was watching tv to open the gift.

As she opened her gift she said,

"It's an umbrella and it's mammogrammed."

I started giggling and said "do you mean, monogrammed?"

"Oh, yeah...mammo, mono, one of those things."

We had a good laugh.

The Week's Over

2008-05-23T11:59:00.003-05:00

It's just been one of those weeks and I'm glad it's over.
With Kyle getting 2 more detentions, one for not having me sign a progress report and then one for 'hiding in the storage closet' with his 2 buddies.
I swear my youngest is wearing me out!!!

Then Kelsey's Prom drama, I'm glad the week is over.

Kelsey's doing great.
The first few days at school were a little awkward after Prom. She finally talked to her friend and then the guy about everything. It seems they've talked it through and although it's not going to be the same with her friend she's moving past it. She started a new job this week.
Her first job.
She'll be working at a country club swimming pool at the concession stand. She's excited about it and especially about the money, her own money!

Then Cam got a new job. He decided the retail job he had wasn't working out....they didn't pay enough and the distance to and from was eating up his paycheck just to get there. He figured it was taking at least a $1.00 and hour out of his paycheck just to travel to work...and when you're getting paid minimum it doesn't leave you with much.
So, he found a job closer to home at a local restaurant, trying the waiter thing. Personally, I think that's a tough, tough job....but he's excited about it.

I'm looking forward to the weekend.
Sleeping in!! Definitely sleeping in!
We really don't have any big plans for Memorial Day.
Just staying home.

7 Days left of school!
Wow...almost over.

Prom & Drama

2008-05-19T15:43:00.004-05:00

I had every intention yesterday to post about Kelsey's prom but it didn't turn out to be the best night of her life like she'd hoped.
I guess you could say it will rank up there as probably one of the most memorable nights, not a happy one, just one she'd like to forget.

So....what could possibly make it a miserable night?

How about your best friend stealing your date, 'hooking up' as the kids say.

Sad and oh so wrong.

It was heartbreaking to see my daughter in tears over the betrayal of her best friend and then this guy she was so excited to go to Prom with. It was awful to see her hurting and not be able to do anything about it.

You know......
I'm going to post the picture that she 'photoshopped' yesterday.
We had some laughs about this. It made us all feel better to photoshop her date out of the pic.

Turning socks inside out

2008-05-15T12:25:00.002-05:00

Hate it!
Disgusting dirty socks!
I have 3 adult people in my house and 1 teenager. (this doesn't include me) :)
And all of them seem to have no clue about how to take off their socks, therefore I'm the lucky one who gets to unravel the clump of a stinky, dirty sock so it can be thrown in the wash.
You realize, this excludes me because I know how to take off my socks without it being inside out, or in a clump....or stinky. :)

I guess there is one minor point to all of this....I haven't taught any of them the proper way to take off a sock. I'm just waiting for the day that they have to do their own laundry.

Phone call from the school

2008-05-14T20:13:00.002-05:00

It's not usually a good thing when you get a phone call from a teacher concerning your child. Wait, I have had one phone call, in the past, from a teacher telling me that they just wanted to let me know what a great child I had and how well they were doing in class. That was a very nice, pleasant surprise.
Well, this time the phone call wasn't for praise.
Last friday Steve took the call from Kyle's football coach, who was acting as the dean for the day, he was calling to let us know Kyle had gotten into some trouble at school.
OH BOY!
Not fun to hear those words.
It seems that Kyle and a group of kids, over the course of the semester, have been taking/stealing candy from one of his teachers 'reward jar' without her knowing. It was really disappointing to hear that Kyle would be stealing candy from the teacher. His punishment is ISS (in school suspension) for 2 days and $1.00 for the candy.

We talked to Kyle about this and I hope he realizes how wrong it is. I know the kids weren't thinking that it was a big deal to take the candy....like no one would notice it was gone. But, it's definitely wrong and it's stealing.
So....Monday and Tuesday he spent his school day in a room, at a desk doing his homework. He couldn't talk to anyone else in the room. He had to eat a sack lunch brought from home in that room.
Not a lot of fun. I hope he got it....learned his lesson.

2008-05-10T13:23:00.004-05:00

The weekend has started out pretty good. The weather has been nice and warm...80's.
Really Nice!
This morning we got up early and went to Kyle's football ~ '7 on 7' Tournament that lasted all morning and ended around 12:30. They didn't do so well....but that's okay. Now, Steve and Kyle are over at the school field taking batting practice and working on pitching. Those two never stop......they go, go go. Me, well I'm taking a break for the moment. I should be cleaning the house....bed still needs to be made. Maybe later.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and an especially wonderful Mother's Day!!

We are attending a Charity event tonight....it's a great one. I'll fill you in on the details later and hopefully some pictures.

Happy Mother's Day!

Dallas Mavericks are done!

2008-04-28T22:25:00.002-05:00

Soooo done it's not even funny.

Yes, I witnessed the the implosion of the Mavs by the Hornets last night.
Let me tell you......It wasn't fun.
The evening started out fun with Steve and I getting the chance to go out for the night and hopefully see a great basketball game....but NO!
We were sorely disappointed by the Mavs. It stunk!

I also had to put up with a Hornets fan sitting right next to me. At first I didn't mind I thought I can deal with this....it could be fun. He was maybe all of 14 or 15 years old and I knew I could be nice while he cheered for his team and I cheered for mine. Little did I know that by the end of the 3 rd quarter I wouldn't be thrilled anymore. I didn't want to hear him cheer "HORNETS" anymore. Our team was imploding and it wasn't pretty.
Then I had Steve sitting on the other side of me and he wasn't talking...he was getting so disgusted watching the game he couldn't even speak. I was getting all rialed up and wanted to talk but he was tight lipped. Yes, he gets a little uptight when the game is going on and he doesn't like to discuss it.....me, I start talking.
Not a good match.
Yeah, I figure it out sooner or later and realize I need to keep my commentary to a minimum. When the game was all said and done and we were walking to our car......that's when Steve started ranting about the game.
So now he talks. :)

We still had a good night out but disappointed in the Mavs.

Dallas has one more game back in New Orleans on Tuesday night but I really think they're done! It's over!

Digital Scrapbooking

2008-04-26T16:11:00.004-05:00

Just a few digital pages from our Spring Break trip.

What time is it?

2008-04-25T03:24:00.000-05:00

Here I am awake at 3:30 in the morning....UGGGH!
I'm awake with my allergies bothering me...sniffy, running nose, itchy eyes and throat. It's lovely to feel this pain. It's all because of the cat. Camden brought his cat home with him and the cat seems to have taken over the entire house. I guess I can't say it's entirely the cats fault because I can't keep my hands off her and I want to play with her. She's a fun little novelty for me at the moment. I never thought I would say I like cats....but she's cute. I'm having fun teasing and taunting her. But because of the playing and petting her I'm beginning to feel the consequences. Steve keeps telling me "Stop that....would you stop touching that cat" He sees me and how gorgeous I look with swollen, red bloodshot eyes.....it ain' pretty.
So I've taken a benadryl tablet and I think it's starting work. I'm getting tired! I hope I can wake up when the alarm goes off.

Cam's home!

2008-04-21T17:41:00.000-05:00

Steve flew to Utah last Saturday morning to help Cam drive back home to Texas.

I dropped Steve off at DFW airport around 7:30 am....he landed in SLC around 10:30 am. He then met up with Cam and they finished packing Cam's stuff and got him checked out of his apartment.
By 2:30 pm they were on the road headed for Texas.

They pulled up in front of our house at 10:30 am Sunday morning.

Yes.....they drove straight through -- 19 hours straight (1 hour time difference)-- with only gas and potty breaks.

This is crazy and yes this is my husbands way of traveling by car....'not stoppin for nothin' kind of drive. You better be prepared to go to the bathroom ONLY when you need to fill the car up with gas because there's no stopping just to go to the bathroom. It wastes time.
Wait, I will say he's lightened up over the years and he will allow just a potty break if needed. :)

When we were first married and we were driving from Lakeland, Florida moving back to Utah. I had to resort to tears in order to get him to stop driving and find a hotel so we could rest. I'd had it and couldn't take sitting in the car any longer, I knew the only way he'd stop is if I broke down and cried. I did....and it worked.

So, Cam is home for good, at least for now. He wanted to come home and take a break from college and try to figure out what he wants to do. College hasn't worked out very well for him....he struggled keeping his grades up and he struggled just getting to his classes. I think it was because he didn't have his Mom there to get him out of bed. :)

But man, it's been tough seeing him not succeed and not know how to help him. With Cam's situation, we've been hearing how common it is for kids to struggle their first year of college. I hate to say it, but it seems more common for boys. At least that's been our experience in talking with other parents. I'm hoping that things start to kick in for him and he starts making some decisions that he'll be happy with and that he'll figure out what he wants to do.
I'm just thrilled he's home and here with his family.
We've missed him.

I've been Tagged!!

2008-04-10T16:48:00.000-05:00

Alright, I finally did this. Amber tagged me a little while ago and because I'm such a big procratinator and didn't do it I got caught and tagged by Trace yesterday....so I got right to it and finished it. :)

Here it is....

The rules of the game get posted at the beginning.
Each player answers the questions about themselves. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5 people, posts their names, and then leaves a comment on their blogs, letting them know they've been tagged.

Now for the fun part =)

-What was I doing 5 years ago?
Training for my first (and last!) marathon.

~Five things on my to-do list today ( or things I did today):
1. Cleaned the kitchen
2. Fed the dogs
3. Load of laundry
4. Ran a few errands with Steve
5. Go to the Dallas Mavericks vs. Utah tonight with Kels and Kyle.
Exciting day!!

~Five snacks I love:
1. Diet Coke ~ is that a snack?
2. Cinnamon Bears
3. Bit O Honey Candy
4. French Fries
5. Popcorn

~Five things I would do if I were a billionaire:
1. Set my kids/family up financially so they have no worries
2. Buy a Ranch out in the country or in the mountains!
3. Buy a Lake House
4. Give to charity…yes Trace, either Make a Wish or Childrens Cancer Fund
5. Travel

~Five bad habits I have:
1. ignoring or screening phone calls
2. procrastinating
3. sleeping ~ love it just a little too much
4. Diet Coke
5. ADD ~ can’t seem to finish one project

~Five places I have lived:
1. Orem and Farmington Utah
2. Lakeland, Florida
3. Yuma, Arizona ~ itty bitty town
4. Las Vegas, Nevada
5. Plano, Texas

-Five jobs I've had:
1. picking cherries in the summers
2. working for my dad at his pharmacy
3. X-ray Tech
4. Mammographer
5. Mom

~Five people I don't know very well and want to know more about (a nice way of saying TAG!

Please feel free to do this Tag....I mean come on why not? All of you! :)

2008-04-07T19:50:00.000-05:00

Typical....I can't seem to stay on top of blogging.
That's just me though, I tend to procrastinate and say I'll do it later and then I never get around to doing it.

So just a few tidbits of what's been going on around here:

Kyle had Strep throat last week and missed 3 days of school.
The first day I kept him home because of his fever and sore throat thinking it was a virus but the next day when he was SO MISERABLE (I know bad mom-feeling guilty) I called and got him to the doctor. When the doctor took a look at his throat he even winced in pain. Thank Goodness for the Z-pack (antibiotics) it really had Kyle feeling better the next day.

Kelsey received some good news last week......she got into the college that she wanted and they're giving her a scholarship. YAY!!
It will pay her tuition for the year. HAPPY DANCE happening here!

The other good news is she will be at the same college with her brother. I'm really happy about that....it'll be good to have them together, he can keep an eye on her, no wait, she can keep an eye on him....he needs a little more tending to than she does.

I'm thrilled that this is finally decided for Kelsey and that we're not waiting anymore for the acceptance letter. It was getting stressful watching and waiting for the mail. It makes everything a little more set in stone and now the reality will start to set in that I'm losing another child to college. It's sad but yet exciting to see them make these choices and see them venture out for that college experience. It's such a great time of life and I'm thrilled for them.....but definitely torn seeing my babies go.

Life is changing so fast and so quickly......where is the time going.

2008-04-01T21:26:00.000-05:00

We just went through 4 1/2 days without the internet.

It was a internet free weekend. Imagine that!

I thought Kelsey was going to go through withdrawals without it but she seemed to manage pretty well....it was me that had the withdrawals. :)

I guess it was the wireless router that went out on us and we finally got the new one today.

All is right with the world.

Now, the reality of it is.....I got a lot more done around the house not being able to get on the computer.
Hmmmm, maybe I need to rethink the time I spend on here.

Puerto Vallarta

2008-03-24T20:04:00.001-05:00

Here are some of the pictures from Puerto Vallarta!!

This was the first time for a 'girl's trip' and it was so much fun!
When we got there I knew we would be staying in a 'rental home' but I had no idea it would be so unbelievable. One of the mom's that we traveled with has spent quite a bit of time in P.V. and she was the one to set this whole trip up......with the house, the cook, the maid and even a masseuse on one of the days.
We were definitely PAMPERED and SPOILED the entire week.
You know, I've not traveled like this before and I will say it was to die for but it won't be happening again anytime soon. (SIGH) :)

We pretty much either just floated in the pool or layed around the pool soaking up the sun all day. Can you say "What a week!"

We did manage to do a little shopping in downtown. I didn't buy anything but it was fun to venture into the little shops and wander around. We also went out to dinner a few of the nights and then we let the girls go out dancing a couple of the nights....with their mom's close by. I was grateful to have the other mom's more paranoid than me about letting our girls go out by themselves.....we just weren't going to let them out of our sight, if we could help it. The girls managed to have a lot of fun without going wild or crazy....and having their mom's around helped. I was thrilled about how the girls handled themselves.
I had to laugh about their first night out dancing at a club....when they came out and we were going home in the car they started telling us how they didn't leave each other's side the whole night and that they were arm in arm with each other. They were just as nervous about the club scene as the mom's were.
Thank goodness for sweet girls!

The day before we were to leave we did do one excursion/adventure.
The Los Veranos Canopy Tours.
It's a zip line through the jungle and it was a blast!!
You're harnessed to this pully thing and you go from platform to platform through the jungle. It's quite the rush.
It wasn't as steep or dangerous as I had imagined....it was just right for this old lady. Also, the guides were a lot of fun and really helpful....especially to the girls. :)
I really wanted to take my camera with me on this trip but I didn't dare....it's a big SLR digital camera and I was worried I'd break it....so now I don't have any pictures of one of best days we had. Dumb!
I think I would have been fine with the camera strapped around my neck. Oh well...I'll know next time. If there will be a next time.

Oh and yes, Kelsey and I did bring something home from Mexico.....can you guess what it is??

Have you ever heard of Montezuma's Revenge?? YEP we got it!
It's lasted 4 days so far...but I think it's getting better. I HOPE!!

I know I'm late but I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter!

We did....it was nice to be home with the family....except Cam....we miss him!! It looks like he will be home from school in about 3 weeks!! I called him yesterday to wish him a Happy Easter and he was sicker than a dog....with the stomach flu. He had it bad! We didn't talk long cause he sounded so miserable. His girlfriend was there with him and keeping an eye on him.
Today he sounded much better and he was keeping fluids down for the first time. Good thing!

Well...I hope everyone had a beautiful Easter!

2008-03-14T23:48:00.000-05:00

Apologies, apologies but no real excuse for not posting.
It's been a little crazy around here.
On short notice, I ended up going to Utah last weekend. My mother in law needed someone to help her with her recovery, post surgery. So, I was the lucky candidate. :) I was happy to go and help her. I spent 5 days with her and she's coming along fairly well. The care taking wasn't that involved, she's a very independent woman so she's making great progress.

Now, I'm trying to get ready for the real vacation.
Kelsey and I leave in the morning for Puerto Vallarta. We're so excited but not packed!
You can say I'm scrambling around to get it all together. We plan to have a wonderful time and just take it easy on the beach. Can't go wrong there.

Hope everyone has a great week.....
and I'll catch you on the flip side. :)

2008-03-03T16:47:00.000-06:00

We had a good weekend around here.

Saturday Kyle had a church basketball game.
All l can say about it was....it was 'church' basketball.
If you know how some church basketball games go then you know it can get pretty wild and this one definitely lived up to it's reputation. It got pretty intense with the boys and the spectators. I was feeling the referees pain... they're just volunteers and don't get paid for all the harrassment that comes with church ball. Anyway, it was an intense game and we almost pulled a come from behind win...but didn't quite make it. I believe we lost by about 6...but we were down about 15 at one point. It was a hoot to watch...always is.

Then Saturday evening Steve and I went out to dinner with another couple and had a really nice time. It was good food, good friends, and good conversation.
The restaurant we went to was The Oceanaire and it was fabulous. The food was delicious and I'm not the biggest seafood fan....I'm pretty lame when it comes to fish, keep it mild for me, but hey I loved my halibut dinner it was to die for. Steve had the Mahi Mahi dish and thought it was really good too. We stuffed ourselves but it was worth it.

The weather here was so nice over the weekend and now we've dropped like 35 degrees and they are prediciting snow showers overnight. It drives me crazy when the temperatures go from 75 to 35. Come on...give me those warm days. I'm ready for them.

2008-02-29T11:45:00.000-06:00

Yesterday we received some bad news. One of Kyle's best friends 'C' lost his step father to pancreatic cancer.
It's a sad, sad day.
I can't believe this little guy is having to deal with this....my heart is breaking for him.

Last night as I was trying to decide what we could do for this family, Kyle hollered down from upstairs and asked me if I would make chocolate chip cookies.
My first reaction was 'No', we don't need cookies', it was 9:30 at night and I certainly didn't feel like making cookies at that hour.
And then Kyle said "I want to take some to 'C'.
I smiled at the thought of this....because whenever this friend is here at our house he's begging Kyle to have me make chocolate chip cookies.
'C" loves the cookies.
What a great idea.
Kyle took the cookies to school to give to 'C'. (he was going to be at school today from what his mother said) If not, we'll drop them by at the house.

Vacation countdown

2008-02-28T09:28:00.000-06:00

17 days til this......

The vacation is a 'Girl's Trip'.
Mom's and daughters off to Puerto Vallarta for Spring Break.
Yay! Wooo Hooo!

2008-02-17T15:58:00.000-06:00

Let's see....
what's been going on around here since my last post.

Lot's of little things, so where do I begin.

My mother-in-law had her surgery for her shoulder one week ago. She's doing pretty good, considering she had to have a total shoulder replacement. (The head of the humerus was replaced) We were told that the doctor is optimistic and feels that she'll do really well in gaining mobility back in that arm.
We're saying our prayers and crossing our fingers!

Now to my oldest son.... we've been dealing with some health issues with him for the past 10 months or so. When he came home from college last April for a visit we took him in for a physical because he was tired all the time and was having a hard time getting motivated to do anything. He was bombing out of most of his college classes. Not a good thing.
So with the doctor visit we found out that he was borderline diabetic and that his thyroid wasn't functioning properly. With a good talking to by the doctor about eating healthy, exercising and changing his lifestyle and thyroid medication we were sent on our way. Cam started the medication and started to watch what he ate. No more hamburgers, fries and sodas. Within a week or so he started feeling better and over the course of the next month or two he lost 2o lbs. We were thrilled that he was feeling better.
Fast forward to now...
About a week ago he called from school saying he wasn't feeling good again.
He was feeling tired all the time and just down in the dumps. We talked for a little while and we decided maybe his medication isn't working and he should get in to see a Doctor. I called and got him an appointment with a friend of ours who has a Family practice there in the same town.
So, long story short, after Cam's visit with the Dr. and some blood work they decided to up his dose of the thyroid medication and see if that will make a difference.
Well.... after a week Cam isn't feeling any better and I'm a little worried about him. He says he hasn't noticed any change with the new dose and feels pretty blah.
I know the Dr. discussed with Cam the possibility of SAD ~Seasonal Affective Disorder. I wonder if that could be part of it because this happened to him last year during the winter and this year has been particulary cold and dreary with a lot of snow....not too many days with sunshine.
I also realize I need to be careful with what might be going on with Cam because we definitely have a family history of depression on my side of the family.
Time to take this seriously and be proactive.
More prayers and crossing of the fingers!!

Steve has mentioned to me "maybe you need to take a trip to see Cam and my mom"
Not a bad idea.

2008-02-14T19:28:00.001-06:00

Shattered Shoulder

2008-02-07T19:13:00.000-06:00

Steve called me from work last night to tell me that he'd just heard from his brother in Utah that their mom had fallen down her front steps and shattered her right shoulder, fracturing it in multiple places.
I was just sick when I heard this, I can't believe it.
From what we understand she was out trying to clear off the snow from her front steps when she slipped and fell, her feet going out from under her and she landed on her rear end with her elbow then hitting the cement step causing her shoulder to jam and fracture into 4 or 5 pieces.
OUCH!! (I can't even imagine the pain)

She couldn't get up and I believe she laid there in pain until her neighbor drove up and saw her there on the ground. We were told that she was out there for about 5 minutes....we're lucky it wasn't any longer.
I can't imagine lying there in pain, unable to move or get help.
Thankfully the neighbor and his wife came along when they did. They immediately loaded her into their car and rushed her off to the ER.
The orthopedic that saw her in the ER has decided to send her to a specialist in Salt Lake City at the U of U Med Center. He told her that he's not seen very many fractures like this and doesn't know of anyone in the area that can take care of it or do the kind of surgery that's needed. He mentioned she could possibly be in for a total shoulder replacement with her shoulder fractured in so many pieces.
Oh man....I can't imagine it, I'm feeling her pain.
When something like this happen I hate that we live so far away from everyone.

I just got off the phone with her a few minutes ago and she's doing pretty good. She's wrapped up with the arm immobilized and she's on some good pain medication so she's hanging in there. Right now, she's staying with Steve's sister Lauree and her family so they can keep an eye on her. The plan is she will go in for a CT scan tomorrow and then she has to wait another week before she can get in to see the specialist in Salt Lake. I can't believe she has to wait that long before getting this taken care of but I don't know that we have much control over it. She seems to be in good spirits as long as the pain medication is working. Thank goodness for that!

2008-02-03T23:30:00.000-06:00

Alright, that was a good game.

I had originally planned on cheering for the Patriots only because Tom Brady is gorgeous.

I know, I know.... it's not the way anyone should choose a team to cheer for but hey, he's gorgeous....oh and then I really didn't want the Giants to win after they beat the Cowboys a couple of weeks ago. So there I was choosing the Patriots all week long but when it came game time I changed my mind due to pressure from the family. They were all pulling for the underdog and I was pulled right into it with them. I'm glad I switched (a lot of loyalty I know) and what a game!

Then the commercials were pretty good. I loved the E-trade baby with the clown. Made me laugh!

(I tried loading it from you tube to share but kept getting an error...maybe later)

Time for bed....getting late.

Until next time

Losing it

2008-01-29T23:07:00.000-06:00

I think I'm losing it....
I had to post what happened earlier today...yes, I forgot to mention it earlier...and yes I'm losing it.

Around 12:00 today we got a call from the school nurse telling us Kyle was in the clinic with a fever and not feeling well. So Steve went and picked him up and brought him home. When Kyle got here he went straight to the couch and I asked him "Have you had any Advil or anything for your fever?" He told me no so I went into the kitchen got him a glass of water and then grabbed the Advil bottle and poured 1 gelcap into my hand. As I did this, Steve started talking to me about the 2 big bags of clothing that were sitting on the floor to be picked up by Goodwill. We had a quick discussion of where they needed to go and that was that. About 10 minutes later I looked at Kyle and he was laying on the couch and I had to stop and think....
Wait "Did I give him the Advil?"
I stood there for a minute thinking and then I asked him "
Kyle, did I give you your Advil?" He turned to me and said "No"
I started cracking up, laughing....

I took his Advil, swallowed it down whole!
I have no idea why I took it....I didn't need the Advil. I guess I got distracted and as stood and talked to Steve with the pill in my hand and the glass of water....I took it. Loser! Totally losing it.
We all laughed about it....but I think that's a little odd.
Pill popping mommy!

Yes, I did give Kyle his Advil.

Catching up

2008-01-28T22:27:00.000-06:00

Let's see if I can catch up on some of the things that have gone on in the past couple of weeks without going into a lot of detail.

Here it goes.....

First off, Kelsey is feeling much better. It wasn't Mono after all and if you can believe it it was all because of a fever blister/cold sore. Little did I know that your first exposure to the herpes simplex virus 1 can be miserable and you feel like you have the flu or strep throat. Finally after some researching online we figured it out and then the family doc confirmed it and gave her a prescription for 'miracle mouthwash' for the sore throat and fever blisters. That saved the day, finally!

Next up....

The jeep that's been through 3 drivers and a few 'minor' things.....like Cam taking it mudding and getting it stuck.
Awww, the memories.

A few weeks ago on January 13th, the jeep was parked in front of Kelsey's friends house when a girl, a Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader, on her way to the Cowboys-Giants game rear ended it.
She hit the jeep going about 35 mph....her windows were fogged and she was heading into the sun so she didn't even see the jeep, the parked jeep.
She was fine, a little shaken. The impact of her car pushed our jeep into another car parked in front of Kelsey's....her friends car.
Here are pictures of the cars after being towed to the shop.

Cheerleader's car below...

The jeep below doesn't look that bad but it's totaled.
They tell us the frame is bent pretty bad and when they tried to straighten it out it basically fell apart.....so it's a goner!

Kelsey's friends car that she got 2 months ago.

It was an interesting day....I'm just glad that our girls weren't in the cars when they got hit, and I'm glad the Cowboys cheerleader is okay.
She did make it to the game but....... the Cowboys lost!!
Bad Day all around!!

Other items.....
I recently spent one Saturday in meetings trying to get caught up on Continuing Education in Mammography so I can possibly go back to work.
It's been 12 years since I've worked....that's a long time!
I need to brush up on what's going on in my field first and then think about putting a resume together.
I loved what I did but I'm a little nervous about going back. I've been dragging my feet and hesitating about the whole thing but I know I would love it if I got back in there and did it.

Steve and Kelsey spent last weekend visiting colleges in Utah. They had a busy weekend and it went well. They also got to see Cam and visit with my mom and Steve's mom. I can't believe Kelsey is only about 7 months away from heading off to college. Crazy! Sad!

Today....Kyle came home from school sick. He had a slight temperature and a cough. He must not be too sick....he's upstairs playing Rock Band,
Boston's 'Long Time'. Gotta love those old songs.

Rock Band

2008-01-17T22:24:00.000-06:00

Rock Band and 14 year old boys make for a NOISY evening....
and before I thought this one through I agreed to let the boys spend the night.
What was I thinking?
Obviously I wasn't.
Then to make matters worse the boys are in the family room upstairs and I'm in the family room right below them....I can't hear the news on my tv but I can hear and feel the beat of the drums. Oh and someone is trying to sing.

Kelsey's 18th Birthday

2008-01-15T15:54:00.001-06:00

Kelsey is 18 today!!
Where did all the time go? She's all grown up!!

Love you Kelsey!!

Doctor visit

2008-01-10T22:06:00.000-06:00

I finally took Kelsey to the doctor yesterday.....she still wasn't feeling good and it had been about 5 days with a horrible sore throat. I had been keeping an eye on her over the course of the past few days thinking she had the flu and not strep throat. Her symptoms were classic flu and she didn't have the white patches (strep) on her tonsils until she came home from school today....I was baffled to say the least. I'd also started her on an antibiotic which didn't seem to do anything for her....so I thought for sure it was the flu.

When she got home from school and was still complaining of a 'burning' sore throat we headed over to the local Prima Care and got right in. The doctor took a look at her ears and throat...did the swab test on her throat and mentioned if the strep test comes back negative he wanted to test her for mono.
What?? Mono??
Oh geez!

Strep test turned out ~ Negative.

That meant a blood test for mono.

OH NO!

Kelsey hates needles....she hyperventilates when she thinks of needles, let alone let anyone near her with one.
When she was about 2 years old we'd taken Cam to the doctor and it hadn't been too long from a visit Kelsey had had with her immunization. When we all walked into the doctors exam room Steve was holding Kelsey and all of a sudden she freaked out, she just lost it....she started screaming and clawing her way over her dad's shoulder trying to get away. I was right behind them both and she was screaming so hard she couldn't catch her breath....she was beside herself.
I still remember how upset she was, it was awful....the poor thing.
Now days with a little ribbing, we like to remind her of her freak out in the doctor's office when she was little.
So,yesterday when the doctor said blood test Kelsey's eyes got BIG!!
We smiled at each other and I told her she could do it...she was going to be fine.
She didn't freak out or lose it but she was nervous.
Then wouldn't you know it, the phlebotomist had trouble getting a vein. He had to stick her a couple of times, he couldn't find a vein.
Kelsey did great, she didn't say anything but she was wincing and making faces at me the whole time.

After all that the......
Mono test ~ Negative too.

The doctor did say that a lot of times in the early stages of mono the blood test will come back negative. If she doesn't feel better in a few days then to bring her back in and have the mono test repeated.
As of tonight, she's still not feeling great and I suspect that she has mono. Everything I've looked at online makes it look more and more like mono, especially the picture I saw of someone's throat/with mono.....YUCK....but it looked just like Kelsey's.
Symptoms are:
Fever ~ Kelsey had a low grade fever for 4 days
Sore throat ~ she's still very sore
tender and swollen lymph nodes ~ her neck
Fatigue ~ she's extremely tired
Body aches ~ typical body aches...back and knees...knees a little odd

This really isn't fun for her.
I'm feeling her pain!!

Shh....don't tell anyone

2008-01-08T19:35:00.000-06:00

The Christmas decorations just came down, they're sitting in boxes in the front room waiting to be put away in storage. This could be one of the earliest times that my decorations have come down. I'm not kidding. No, they're not still up through July, but in the past I have made it through the third week of January or so. Hey, what can I say I don't like putting it all away, it's kind of a downer.....plus the house looks bare.

On another note........

I think we jinxed Kelsey a couple of weeks ago with a conversation about how she never gets sick. We were talking to Cam about how we thought he needed a flu shot because he seems to get sick every year and sometimes a couple times a year. As we were discussing this I asked Kelsey "When was the last time you were sick with the flu?"
We seriously couldn't remember. She remembers getting sick when she had to take a pain pill after having some work done on her teeth and it made her really sick.
That was a few years ago.
So......
Yes, you guessed it she got sick on Sunday and has missed the last two days of school.
She's starting to feel a little better tonight but she's been miserable. She's had a low grade fever, sore throat, the achy body.....feeling just plain yucky. I hope no one else in the family gets it.
While Cam was home I did take him in for a flu shot and Kyle went with, to get his immunization ~ DTP. I probably should have gotten a flu shot....I hope I don't regret it.

Cam went back to college on Sunday.....we dropped him off at the airport in the afternoon. I think he was anxious to get back I could tell he was getting bored here at home. I know he was happy to be here for the holidays but I could tell it got to that point where there wasn't much else to do and he was ready to get back to his routine. We had so much fun having him home and spending time with him....he's got the greatest sense of humor.
Love having him home! I miss him!

Cats, what do I know about cats?

2008-01-02T22:20:00.000-06:00

This is Missy, Cam's cat.

Absolutely nothing!

First off.... I've never owned a cat because I'm allergic to them, so I've avoided them and never really had the chance to become fond of them. Yeah, I've seen them in action and I've heard how independent and elusive they can be but I literally had no clue about taking care of a cat.

Then Cam calls me from college, a few weeks ago, and wants to bring home his cat for the holidays.

Boy, I had no idea what I was getting into.

(What was I thinking when I told him he could? Oh, how I regret giving in)

I have to say I was intrigued with his cat, it was fun for a little while. Yes, I tried to get the cat to like me and play with me but I found out this cat is a little skittish and not friendly, the cat has snubbed me....and I hate that. :)

And then to top it all off, the darn cat has gone into heat....unbelievable!!

Just what I wanted a moaning, writhing, annoying cat in my house. I do feel sorry for her, she looks miserable. I even called my vet to find out how long this will go on and the tech told me it could last a week.

WHAT, a week??

I about died.

I feel for this cat, really I do!!

Then the tech kind of chuckled...and said 'yeah, it gets annoying'

Uhhh Yeah, you think so?

I've wondered if I should let the cat outside and see what happens.....do you think I should?

I wont, but I want to put her out of her misery and let her have her pleasure.

Okay, not funny....but I hear that would do the trick but who wants a pregnant cat. Let's hope that this ends soon for everyone's sanity, especially mine!

Happy New Year

2007-12-31T19:15:00.000-06:00

This is going to be one quiet New Year around here.

We aren't planning anything special other than just hanging around. The boys are upstairs right now playing video games. Kelsey is getting ready to get together with her friend, they're not sure what they're going to do. She did ask me if this is one of those nights where

'no curfew' applies.

Uhhh...I don't think so! This is definitely not a good night to be out without a curfew.

We'll see how that plays out.

Steve is at work tonight and wont be getting home until 11 pm or so. He just called to check in and asked me what we would be doing when he got home and I kind of chuckled at the idea that we could pull anything off or go anywhere for the New Year when he got home. I prefer to stay home and keep it low key. ( I may be the only one that likes that idea, but I'm kind of a homebody) I did stop at the store tonight and grabbed some munchies and drinks and then I stopped in at one of my favorite restaurants and picked up dinner to go. Can't beat that!

Can you tell I'm keeping it low key ~ no cooking either. :)

Is it low key or just lazy?

Probably a little of both....For the New Year I never make resolutions, I don't bother. Sure I would love to set some new goals and work on them but I just have never really made a resolution, or for that matter kept one. I feel like life is a work in progress each and every day and that I'm a work in progress. (LOL)

So, I'm taking it one day at a time. :)

Christmas Post ~ Finally!

2007-12-29T14:00:00.000-06:00

Christmas party. Done!

2007-12-18T22:48:00.000-06:00

Despite my worry and anxiety getting ready for this party, it turned out to be a fun evening and I'm glad we did it. This was the last party for the girls as a club team....they will all be off and gone to college next year, moving on with new and exciting things. It's sad but an exciting time for them. It was a fun evening sitting and talking with the girls and their parents....all of them great people.
We ended up having some of the food catered ~ (because I can't cook and that would stress me out even more) we had fajitas with all the trimmings, chips and salsa along with other appetizers and desserts that other people brought. The food was delicious! Thank goodness for the catering!

So on Monday I spent the day trying to catch up on laundry that I'd neglected all last week. I did get online and order some jewlery for my mom from Red Envelope. I hope it gets to her for Christmas. I'm cutting it kind of close, I know!
Today me and Steve headed out to try and pick up some things for the kids for Christmas. We were somewhat successful. We stopped in at GameStop for the boys and then we found a cute dress for Kelsey at "Lucky Brand" and Steve even picked up 2 pair of jeans there for himself. He looked mighty fine in them :)

Later today I talked to my oldest, Cam who is away at school. He is in the middle of his finals and will be coming home on Thursday for the holiday. YAY! He called because he wants to bring his cat with him on the flight home and he wanted to know if I wouldn't mind. Uhhhhh, I don't really have a problem with him bringing it, it's just that I'm allergic to cats and so is Kelsey. I told him it's okay, but he will have to keep it in his room or maybe the laundry room. Maybe his girlfriend can keep it at her house....that might be a good idea. I love animals...I wish I wasn't so allergic to them.
Cam doesn't want to board it while he's gone, so I guess the cats coming with him. Oh, I haven't mentioned this to Steve....he's not going to be thrilled about a cat coming. He's not a cat lover. Sometimes I just figure it's better not mentioning it until the cat is coming in the door with Cam. :)

2007-12-13T17:22:00.000-06:00

I thought I better stop in and at least update with something, even if it's not much.

I really can't believe it's December 13th....it's flying by.

Steve has had this past week off of work and he's kept me busy running errands and trying to get the house all decorated. Yes, it's done!

It better be because we're hosting a Christmas party this Sunday for Kelsey's soccer team and some of the parents. We're planning on around 40 people here ~ YIKES!

I love having the parties, but I'm not good with planning and organizing....and the stress!

It should be fun ~ just talk to me when it's all said and done.

With this party being a priority my Christmas shopping hasn't happened....talk about YIKES!!

I definitely need to get online and do some quick shopping so I can get our families, that live out of state, taken care of. Then next week I can focus on getting my kids taken care of.

All is good around here... I just seem to be a little out of whack with the holiday craziness!

Painting and not decorating

2007-12-03T20:22:00.000-06:00

The Christmas tree isn't up, it's not even out of storage.
(Yes, I have a fake tree, shame on me)
Every year I think I'm going to get a real tree and add it to our Christmas decorations but once I'm finished putting that darn fake one together....I'm done ~ finished, no more trying to decorate a real one. Don't get me wrong I love Christmas but I'm finding that decorating is a bigger chore than it used to be ~ it's work!

Anyway, I digress....the reason for not getting any kind of decorating done is I've got painters here redoing the living room and dining room and the entryway of the house. What was I thinking??
The painter started last Monday and tells me he should be out of here by Wednesday of this week. He's done a fantastic job, I'll have to post some pics when it's all done.
I'm excited about how it looks and I'm getting ansty wanting it all finished so I can get the house back to normal and yes, start decorating.

I haven't even started Christmas shopping....this is so me....I do this every year. Wait until I'm in a panic.
Maybe tomorrow! HA!

Where did November go?

2007-11-28T16:45:00.000-06:00

This month has slipped by and I don't know what happened to it, it's almost over.

Thanksgiving was really nice.
Everyone, that is our small little family, was here.
All 5 of us.
I picked Cam up at the airport the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, it was so good to see him and have him around for the long weekend.
On Thanksgiving morning the boys did the traditional "Turkey Bowl" over at the high school football field. They meet up with all the guys from church and it's the 'men vs. boys' football game. They have a great time and it's always a battle to the end. I believe the boy's won this year, beating the old guys! Oh and yes, Steve always pulls a groin or hamstring in the Turkey Bowl, it never fails. I warned him this year as he went out the door that I didn't want to spend the day in the Emergency room. No emergency room, just a pulled groin. Maybe it's time to sit it out and watch from the sidelines.
I did all the cooking this year, and knowing me that's an accomplishment! My cooking has a lot to be desired, I don't love to cook so it becomes an all out war in the kitchen. I did okay, and really the dinner tasted good this year....I'm pleasantly surprised. (patting myself on the back)
After dinner everyone had their little naps and I did the last of the clean up.

Here they are sleeping after dinner. (I couldn't resist taking their picture)

Steve didn't get to nap for very long, he had to work the holiday. Once he left for work I took my nap.....a 2 hour nap!! I couldn't believe I slept that long, but I did.
Hey, why not....I worked hard.

On Friday, I didn't do any shopping, in fact I avoid shopping on Black Friday. I've tried the getting up at 4 am and rushing the door when the store opens....I have to say it was an experience and fun, but I don't feel the need to do it again.
I love my sleep and my warm bed just a little too much.

I ended up going to Kelsey's soccer games over the weekend. Her team was in a tournament here locally. It was also a very cold and wet weekend....I felt bad for the girls out there playing, and freezing. I was bundled up in my heavy coat and blanket while they are out there running around in shorts. The tournament ended up being cancelled on Saturday afternoon because of the rain and the cold. The girls played 3 games and then were done. They lost one, tied one, and won one. Not bad considering the horrible weather.

2007-11-06T17:19:00.000-06:00

I'm sitting here waiting to head out to Kyle's last school football game of the season.
It's going to be kind of chilly sitting out there tonight. I know I shouldn't complain because we've had unseasonably warm weather around here...Sunday I think the high was 84. I mean come on...that's not bad, except it doesn't feel like fall. Today was maybe 62, that's more like it!

Okay, Confession here:
since Halloween one week ago...I think I've eaten 2 bags (or more) of mini Butterfingers all by myself, SICK!!
I had a lot of candy left over and I can't keep my stinkin' hand out of the bowl. I should throw it away....will I throw it away??? Probably not. :)
The only thing that MIGHT redeem me is the fact I made it to the gym 4 times last week...it may not be enough to work off all those butterfingers but maybe a few.
Now, reminder to self....GET TO THE GYM TOMORROW!

Halloween Slide Show

2007-10-31T22:06:00.000-05:00

2007-10-31T21:51:00.000-05:00

I ended up getting pumpkins.
Yes, I probably would have done without but Steve insisted that we go get some.
I was worried because I knew that the grocery store that I frequent didn't have anymore so I wasn't sure where we would find any but I remembered that the Farmer's Market on the east side of town would most likely have them.
We headed over there and they had about 2 dozen left. YAY! (lucky for me)

Me and Steve had fun wandering around this little Farmer's Market, we ended up chatting with the older gentleman that runs it. He was so nice, he cut into a tomato and sliced us off a piece to taste. It was delicious! It was nice to get such personal service and have him talk to us like we were old friends. Sweet man. I'll have to get back over there and get 'fresh' produce.
Great little place.

After all my searching for pumpkins and making sure that we had some to carve, I couldn't get Kyle to come home from a friends to carve one. Stinker!
He told me....
"I'll be home in a minute but I'm only going to be home for 10 minutes and I don't want to carve any pumpkins"

I couldn't believe what I was hearing....I was trying to convince him to come and help me and Kelsey...we needed and wanted his help. But no, he was too busy with his friends and had his own agenda.....a party at a girl's house in our neighborhood. Oh, so I see we've been replaced with friends and girls...it was bound to happen. (sigh) Kelsey stuck around and helped me carve the pumpkins. She even dressed up to answer the door for the Trick or Treaters.
We had a lot of fun!
She mentioned to me....
"This will be my last Halloween at home."

Talk about Reality Bites!! A huge boo hoo!!
I hate thinking about that...so I wont.
We had fun answering the door and checking out the cute and scary trick or treaters.
Fun times!

What? No pumpkins?

2007-10-30T23:45:00.000-05:00

I forgot to get pumpkins for tomorrow. What's Halloween without pumpkins to carve and then scooping out the gooey mess of pumpkin seeds.
Love that!
I'm not sure why I forgot to get pumpkins because I definitely didn't forget the candy. I've been eating that for the past 2 days....shame on me!
Love those Butterfingers!

Digital Scrapbook Pages ~ Baseball & Homecoming

2007-10-29T21:18:00.001-05:00

Kyle playing baseball a few weeks ago.
OH no! I just noticed I put September on the layout and it was definitely October when I took these pictures. OOPS! Do you think anyone will really notice....hey, baseball season is in the fall ~ Sept thru Oct. At least I'm close. ( a little side note...in the middle picture you can see the ball coming off his bat, not bad for an action shot for this rookie photographer.) :)

I had fun playing around with these pictures. I especially like the one with Steve and Kelsey....father, daughter. Sweet.

Kelsey's Homecoming

2007-10-29T14:47:00.000-05:00

Homecoming, Saturday night ~ October 27th

The evening started out with all the couples showing up at a home for pictures. Their were 36 kids in this group, so it made for huge production of getting pictures taken with parents all trying to get their son or daughter's picture. It was a little crazy but fun to watch the kids and see them all dressed up. I don't remember looking like this when I went to Homecoming. When I went it seemed much more simple and low key....nothing like this. :)

Kelsey and her friends.

Best buds!!

Kels and her date.
They're good friends and as a mom, I was thrilled that they were going as friends....it made it easy and I knew they would have a fun time. Their group ended up being mostly friends....no serious couples. (YAY!) I think Kelsey mentioned maybe 2 couples had been dating for a while but that was it.
After 45 minutes of pictures the kids loaded up in 2 seperate Limo buses and they were off to dinner and the dance. Then after the dance, the kids were dropped off at a home for an all night after party.
We were concerned about the 'after party' and all it involved....at first we weren't going to allow Kelsey to stay the entire night but Steve called the parents that were hosting it and found out that there were 4 other couples (parents) that were helping chaperone and to be there with the kids the entire night. That made us feel comfortable with the situation.
I know I'm not a fan of the all night after parties, but this seemed like it would be more controlled than the ones I've heard about and I also felt very comfortable with the kids that were going to be there.
All in all I felt good about it and it turned out to be just fine.
She had a fantastic time!

2007-10-27T21:13:00.000-05:00

This past week has been Homecoming week for Kelsey, she's had so much fun participating in the different activities.
Monday they dressed up 90's....

90's ????

I mean come on what's so different with the 90's to now??
About 15 years or so.....so,I guess there are some differences, the styles have certainly changed.

Kelsey and her friends wore white keds, shorts with leggings and then they sponge painted fun stuff on a white sweatshirt. They also found in Kelsey's bathroom BIG bows that she STILL had from when she was a little girl and they wore those in their hair. (Yes, we are keepers of stuff, it's unbelievable...help me!)
It was fun to see how cute they all were. I should steal Kelsey's pictures from her to post because they were cute!

Wednesday night the girls and their dates got together to exchange Mum's and Garters.

Now this Mum thing was so foreign to me when we first moved here. (12 yrs ago)
I had no idea what a Homecoming Mum was, I had never heard of such a thing.
Boy, did I learn fast when Cam, my oldest, went through this. I learned after him, to order the Mum and not attempt to make your own.
I also, after 12 years, don't quite get the Mum tradition here in Texas.
I'll just say, I think it's a little over the top.
Here are some of the pictures from the exchange and you can see what the mum is all about.

And yes, the girls wear these Mum's at school for the day.
The kids are darling, I just don't quite get the Mum thing. :)

Tonight Kelsey is off to the Homecoming Dance.
I'm going to try and post the pictures tomorrow that we took of the kids tonight before they took off in the limo.
They looked great...so cute!

Pictures of the Remodeling~stairs

2007-10-15T21:56:00.000-05:00

This is what our stairs looked like before we ripped them out. I hate to admit it but the carpet on the stairs was really WHITE at one time, but not so much anymore.....it got so disgusting at the end that I didn't really care what happened to them. Finally we had someone come in and tear out all of the carpet and start working on putting in wood floors.

This picture below is of what it was starting look like.
No more carpet, just bare wood and the rod iron banisters.

I have a few more pictures but I'm having trouble getting them to load. But this is basically how it's going to look but with the wood stainded dark.

2007-10-08T21:44:00.000-05:00

It's Homecoming time for Kelsey, it's only 2 weeks away.

Here are just some of the things that Kelsey is planning and needing to do in the next couple of weeks.......

Mums,
garters,
shopping for dresses,
plans for the dance,
hair cut with highlights,
tanning
makeup

She's picked out 2 dresses so far and we're waiting on one to be shipped to the house so she can make her decision. I love online shopping because if it doesn't work we can ship it back. Easy as that.

Now tonight.......

Kelsey started to work on her college applications!! (sigh)

Please tell me it's not happening, tell me I'm not sending another child away to college.
It's just unreal, I can't imagine that she will be away at college this time next year.
I hate the thought of it.

Cam called the other night and wanted to know how to cook spaghetti. :) I love those phone calls when he needs something and I can help out. He rarely calls me with those kind of questions....he's either eating out all the time or his girlfriend is taking care of him. He doesn't even call about laundry, I think his girlfriend helps with that too. :)

2007-10-06T23:09:00.000-05:00

I keep messing around with this blog, changing the pictures, moving things around, deleting stuff. I know I have better things to do but when it's late at night and I'm bored....why not?

Oh yeah, you wont believe who got the flu that I had.
Let me just say, I know that when someone gets sick in the house that you can almost be certain that at least one or two family members is going to come down with it.
It's a given, right?
Well, it was Steve. He got sick the night he arrived in St. George, Utah.
This was the trip where he was meeting his brother and sister to run the marathon.
He arrived Thursday night and then called me early Friday morning asking what my symptoms had been when I was sick.
I couldn't believe it.....he couldn't get sick now, he had trained for the last 16 weeks for this. As we talked, he definitely had the flu. What surprises me is he never gets the flu and he's the type that refuses to get sick. As he says 'mind over matter'
We had even discussed this on wednesday on how he never gets sick and how he refuses to. That's where we probably went wrong....discussing it. :) Bad luck!!

All day friday, I kept checking on him by cell phone. He wasn't doing too good but he was resting and hanging in there. I tried talking him out of running the marathon but he told me he was going to wait until this morning to see.

He ran it!
He ran the marathon and did great.
He ran it in 4 hours and 32 minutes.
Fantastic for a guy with the flu!

I wouldn't have even tried to run it. You couldn't have gotten me out of bed.