Jackson Hole

This is for you Heather...and anyone else who wants to read it!

A couple of weeks ago we went with Tom's family to Jackson. His dad and sister are working at a Chuckwagon Ranch there. We were able to leave Sunday afternoon and stay the night. We had a nice relaxing day on Monday with a picnic by the Snake River. Then Monday night we went on wagons up the mountain and had a dutch oven dinner. After dinner they put on a western show. We were even attacked by "indians" on the way up the mountain. We all had a blast! But getting home after midnight on a night before a workday was a little rough.

That week soon became one of a lot of stress. Let me back up, Emma, Tom's youngest sister, was hospitalized in July with a Spontaneous Pneumo Thorax (collapsed lung) She ended up having to have a huge chest tube put in between two of her ribs. She was there for four days and then released with the doctor saying that it was really weird and spontaneous for this to happen to her.

Now fast forward to September. She and my mother in law were on their way out the door when Emma asked what she should do if it happened again. Evelyn calmly said, "Call me at work and I will come get you" Emma, "Mom it is happening right now!" So long story short she ended up getting transfered to McKay Dee hospital, then on to Primary Childrens. She had surgery and the doctor had to sew up numerous holes and take out a small part of her lung. Now another twist to the story she is a senior in highschool and told the doctors from the beginning that she had to go to the Homecoming Dance, after numerous nurses and doctors, 7 days, 3 hospitals, 1 surgery and a trip home she made it to the dance.

A Long Couple of Weeks

We have had quite the couple of weeks, starting out with an overnight visit to the Emergency Room. For awhile now I have been having some extreme pains in my abdomen and back. The doctor that I first saw was convinced it was a bad bladder infection so I was on antibiotics for a week until the pain was so bad Tom made me go to the ER. Over the next week we did test after test, went to doctor after doctor and no one could come up with what it was. Finally we did a HIDA Scan which is where they inject the Radioactive Dye into you and watch your Gall Bladder functions. Well mine was not working at all. So two days later I had the opportunity to have surgery... not really an opportunity, but I do feel better. Tom says he knows I am feeling better because it is the first time in 3 weeks that I am actually asking for food.

My mom was an angel and came stayed with me for a couple of days and made me home made Chicken Noodle Soup, is there anything better.
One of the sadest parts of this whole ordeal was missing Brooke's baby shower and getting to see some of my closest friends, sorry to have missed it! And I didn't get to spend anytime with my family, we were all supposed to be together and we had the whole weekend planned out, but Tom and I did not make it! We love you all and really missed getting to see you! Anyway sorry this was so long winded, but I just wanted to give an update and that is all that has been going on in our lives.

I am in love with...the state of Montana!!

A couple of weeks ago Tom and I took a little trip to Bozeman, Montana. It was such a fun town and we just had a week together and relaxed!!! It was amazing! We went golfing in cold windy weather... Tom's idea. It was so cold but worth it! On the way home we decided to go to Yellowstone so we spent ten hours in the car and had so much fun! It was wonderful to have a week with Tom all to myself! I definitely recommend a trip to Montana! It was gorgeous!

Oklahoma... a month ago.

So I know this is way past the time, but I am finally getting around to updating my blog!! I had the opportunity to go to Oklahoma and take care of Mike and Heather (brother and sister-in-law)'s kids. It was so much fun being a mom of three for seven days. I now have a better respect for single mothers!! I had fun taking them to school, to McDonalds, their favorite, the movie, shopping. It rained the whole week so we found fun indoor activities.

This is Jacob, he is 7 and was such a good helper while I was there. He loves soccer and actually loves school! He is super smart!

Lily is 5 and will be starting kindergarten this fall. She is such a fun girl!!! She has such a fun personality and is such a little diva!

Leif as you can tell is the boy with many faces. He is so cute! He is 2, but not too terrible.

I had so much fun and I love them all so much! Thanks Mike and Heather for trusting me with your home, children, dog and fish. Especially during Tornado season... LOVE YOU GUYS!

I know I have a boring life!

I really have nothing new to report. I was just playing around with my new camera and got a good picture of Trigger. The picture with both dogs was harder. They were always doing the opposite thing.

This is Sam and Trigger...

Look how big he is getting!

Our lives have been pretty normal and mundane the last few weeks. Just work and more work! I am excited to get to go to Oklahoma and spend some time with my Mike and Heather and the kids! YAY! Tom is not excited for me to go because that means he has to fend for himself! It should be an interesting week for him.

I would like to wish everyone a very Happy Easter this weekend!

~Pass It On~

I think this is such a cute, fun, "pay it forward" kind of idea...and I just signed up for one so I better pass it on!...The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me! It might be a fun project, a sweet letter to you from me, or some yummy goodies, you might be surprised what you get! Give it a try!

Limitations/Stipulations/Regulations, etc.
1-I make no guarantees that you will like what I make.
2-What I create will be just for you.
3-It'll be done this year.
4-You have no clue what it's going to be.
5-I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.

The catch? You must re -post this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on your blog. The first 5 people to leave a comment, win something fun for themselves! Have fun!

Draper Temple

Today I got the chance to go to the Draper Temple Open House. I drove to Salt Lake and met up with my Mom, Dad, Grandma, Ben and Maggie. It was so fun! The temple was amazing! Very modern inside and gorgeous paintings. We had so much fun.

This is picture from the website, (I didn't want to carry my camera around all day). If you have not been there it is set so serenely up on the mountain surronded by huge houses. After we went to lunch at a yummy place in Trolley Square called Desert Edge. It is one of Ben and Maggie's favorites. It was a quick trip down and home again but totally worth it. Tom was not able to come with me due to some issues at the fire station but he ended up having a good day as well.

Nothing New...

I really don't have anything really to post but I decided to put an updated picture of our puppy Trigger. He has such a funny personality and is growing like a weed! I guess that is what puppies do.

Other than that we are just doing the same old, work and sleep and a little play. Tom is still loving the Firefighting part of life and is looking forward to a day long ride along with Air Med out of Salt Lake. He has always wanted to go in a helicopter and combining it with medical EMT personel, he will be on cloud nine for quite awhile! I am excited too because it means a whole weekend in Heber visiting family and friends. That gives us both something to look forward too. We hope everyone has a great Valentines Day!

Tom thinks I need to post!

So here I am. What can I say I live a fairly boring life. Tom continues to stay busy with work, fire and ambulance. I am still just working at Penneys. I do have to say that I got my spring cleaning done last week including shampooing carpets. I decided that I needed a week off after the holiday season to catch up on things at home. It felt good to get my house cleaned and organnized. I was able to throw out a whole bunch of stuff too. Well this is a short post but hopefully I will have some updated pictures of our puppy in the next couple of days.

Christmas and New Year's

We had a great Christmas and New Year's. We spent Christmas at my parent's house and had a good time. We had a party on Christmas Eve, however, I was quite sick that night and stayed home and in bed. Megan went and enjoyed herself. We got to talk to Jenny and Dallin on Christmas morning. They are both in Brazil on missions and seem to be enjoying themselves. My brother-in-law, O'Ryan, did a conference call on Skype so we didn't spend any money on the calls and could be at our own homes instead of having to go to a central location. Technology these days absolutely amazes me. Just five years ago, our cell phones could only call people, now we can get on the Internet with these phones. We enjoyed the rest of Christmas together and enjoyed opening presents and throwing wrapping paper balls at each other. We all got some great presents. I was on call Christmas evening. It started snowing about 6 pm and by 10:30 pm we had over a foot of snow outside the station. Megan got stuck in my parent's driveway and the chief asked me to stay at the station to help cover since people were going to have a hard time getting to the station, so neither of us got home that night. I went over the next morning and helped dig out with my company's snowplow (after doing the boss's driveway, of course.) I started to plow the parking lot at work, but the clutch went out on the truck so I had to call someone else to take care of it. The Saturday after Christmas my whole family was supposed to go to Saratoga Springs for a Christmas party with my dad's family. We only made it about halfway there before turning around. The roads were absolutely horrible being snow packed and ice covered. It was not a very fun day. For New Year's I was on call again, but it worked out since we had a party at the station. We played games and ate lots of food and had fun. We should be getting Internet again at our house soon, so you will be able to read Meg's posts instead of mine. Hers are much more interesting. We were using a cellular card that my boss was nice enough to let me use for personal use when needed, but due to cutbacks and the economy , we cancelled the cellular card and a few other cell phones that weren't being used at work. I hope you all had a great holiday season and stay safe.