Best. Husband. Ever.

So Brad entered me into a contest and I won free Lasik for Mother's Day. It's being done tomorrow (Friday May 7th) at The Eye Institute in Murray. I am so excited and nervous / sick at the same time. Channel 13 will be there doing live coverage of me and the other three women who won during the 11 a.m. hour and then Channel 2 will be doing a little story about it on one of their evening news broadcasts if you are interested in seeing it. Personally I am not real thrilled with the idea of being on TV with no makeup, wearing my glasses and being my usual overweight self. But I want the free Lasik so I'll comply with their wishes. Isn't he a nice husband to enter me into this contest? I was lucky to win, apparently they had hundreds of entries and my name was drawn. I have wanted Lasik for years but haven't been able (or wanted) to afford it.

No more contacts or glasses for me....Yipee!

100th post GIVEAWAY

I've been blogging for probably 2 years now but I'm lame and don't post very often so I'm barely hitting my 100th post. In celebration of this momentous occasion I am giving away one of my favorite things...

A Loreal Lash Boosting Serum and Double Extend Mascara
to one lucky reader!

Anyone can win, just leave a comment and a winner will be randomly selected on May 21st. Even if you have never commented before or are a blog lurker and don't know me personally, it's OK, you can still enter to win (I'll be mailing the prize so you can live anywhere). This is an equal opportunity giveaway!

Good luck!

Little Black Raincloud

I've got a little black raincloud following me around. I seem to have a case of the blues that I can't quite kick. I think Satan is working double-overtime to get the best of me and sometimes he wins.

I had a little run-in with a jerk at the gym who was cheating the system and making others wait longer than they should've had to to get on a machine. It wasn't fair and I called him out on it. Now he gives me death-looks and I never want to be leaving the gym the same time he is since it is a dark parking lot. He scares me. Of course, I now foil his little plan by intentionally signing up for the treadmill he is on so that he has to end his session after 35 minutes. I know, I'm rude but he should have to play by the rules everyone else does.

My car turned to 100,000 miles. I guess I am a snob and never thought I would drive a car long enough to get to that (judge me as you will- I deserve it). The car is 10 years old and is in awesome condition and I am so thankful to no longer have a car payment. I just wish I could afford a newer, even better car but 100k miles or not I will just be grateful that we have it.

Every day I feel guilt/frustration at not having enough time to do all the things that I need to do. Right now instead of doing soccer or swimming lessons for the kids I am focusing on taking care of myself and going to the gym. I hired a personal trainer and everything. I can't get up and go early in the morning before work because, well, I am lazy and I like my sleep too much. I have a hard enough time getting up to go to work and they pay me to be there at least! So I try to go in the evenings but I end up having to take the boys to the childcare center there two nights of the week because of Brad's work schedule and that costs me another $13/month. (I won't even tell you how much my gym membership and personal trainer has cost me...let's hope it's worth it in the end). On those nights when Brad is at work I end up picking up the boys from daycare, running home and giving the boys a snack while I change and then heading to the gym. Another drawback to these two days is that I am limited to an hour so I don't get time to do cardio and weights. But I digress. So then after the gym we go home, I make dinner, help Tyler with homework and then do whatever else we need to before bed (showers, bed time routine, etc). But I don't have many quick recipes so I feel like I never have anything to feed the boys and I don't want to feed them a bunch of junk. See? Satan wanting to squash what little self-esteem I do have and keep me from feeling better about myself.

Tyler is having a tonsilectomy and adenoidectomy on March 31st. He has had strep throat three times in the past 4 months not to mention all the times he has had it in the past year. So after this most recent case I called the ENT who did the ear tubes for both boys and asked about getting the T&A for Tyler. He said that Tyler has definately had it enough to "qualify" so we are going ahead with it. Thing is, ever since we made the appointment I have felt all nervous and upset about it (even though it was my idea in the first place!- I know, call me crazy). I know this is a very common procedure and the ENT has done it hundreds of times, it's just that I know of every possible complication because of the job I have and the thought of my little boy under anesthesia and then in pain afterwards makes me want to cry. So, is me feeling this way a sign that we should cancel or postpone it or am I just being neurotic and should go through with it because he will be better off in the long run? I mean, my internal dialogue tells me that there are mothers who have to watch their children be taken into far scarier surgery than this one and I am being a super-freak over this? Sheesh!

Maybe this little black raincloud feeling is because I am going through Olympic withdrawals. For two weeks it was routine for the boys and I to watch some of the Olympics before bed each night (and then I would stay up way past my bedtime and keep watching!). I love the winter Olympics and loved watching them with my boys. Tyler was totally into them and asked great questions about the sports, Olympians and countries. It was awesome to see him so in-tune. I also have a little crush on Apollo Anton Ohno so seeing him skate several times didn't hurt either. You know, he trains at the Oval here by my house....maybe one day I will run in to him. Tyler wants to learn to ice skate so as soon as life settles down we are going to let him take some lessons.

Trevor's birthday is in less than two weeks and it is killing me. How can my baby be 4? The time has gone too fast since he was born. I don't even know if I am done having kids but the older he gets and the more nights I have without having to wake up with a baby and the further away from diapers I get the less I am going to want more! Ahhhh, too many decisions.

There are potential life changers coming up in our lives but I cannot talk about they yet. I am waiting to see what all plays out. Hopefully some really good things will happen so that life will be a little less stressful.

Thanks for checking in on us. I know this was a long post. I am feeling a lot better physically since my appendix surgery....now I just need to feel better mentally.

Just call me Frankenstein

Last Thursday evening I started having abdominal pain which isn't uncommon for me and luckily it was Brad's night off his second job so I was able to take a pain pill and go to bed. I woke up Friday still hurting but able to get through my day. By Friday night though I wasn't feeling well and it got real bad about 5 a.m. I didn't want to wake Brad up so I suffered through it until 8 and then told him it was time for me to go to the hospital- this wasn't like any ovarian cyst I had had before.

After a CT and blood work the doctor came in to tell me that it was appendicitis and that it had to come out today. Like in the next two hours. That's when things got really interesting. The surgeon came to see me, we called my brother-in-law Jeff to see if he could come give me a blessing with Brad, made arrangements for the kids, I called my boss, Brad called his boss, they did pre-op stuff. You know- it was crazy. At least by this time I had morphine on board so the pain wasn't as bad.

The surgery was successful and my appendix had not ruptured. The doctor said it was probably within a day of rupture so it was good I went when I did. She also said it looked as though it had been infected and inflammed for several days and we think that antibiotics I was taking for something else had held it at bay. Otherwise I could've had this done on my birthday! I was admitted to the transplant floor for post op care and it was nice and quiet up there. I had trouble with my respirations after the surgery so I had to stay in the PACU for longer than expected and then on oxygen the entire night which was totally annoying. I think if I had been able to take the oxygen cannulas off my face I would've slept a lot better that night but they had to wean me from 4 liters to room air throughout the night and every time they took me to room air my sats would drop into the 70's. In the morning when my breathing had stabilized and I was able to use the restroom on my own I was unhooked from all the machines and that was a great feeling. I ate breakfast and got out of there as quick as I could.

Now I've been home resting and healing. Today I feel like I have started to turn a corner. I still feel crappy but a lot better than I did on Monday so it's progress. I'm constantly worried about work and need to knock that off. My boys have been going to their normal daycare and school so I have been home alone and then Brad has been home in the evenings until tonight. This will be my first night caring for them since the surgery.

The good thing is I have now lost all non-essential organs:
Tonsils: gone in the late 80's
Gallbladder: gone in 2000
Appendix: gone in 2010

And, at least my 2-piece swimsuit days are over because my abdomen looks like Edward Scissorhands got to it!

On a side note....I'm one post away from my 100th post and I will be doing a giveaway so check back soon. You won't want to miss this!

They say it's your birthday....

I turned 31 last week. It's been a little bit of a bummer because I realized that I met none of the goals I set when I turned 30. None. That's a way to make me feel like a loser.

But I did win a birthday cake and that was fun because until that day I had never had a professional birthday cake. Not even from Walmart. I entered a drawing here http://www.4theloveofcake.blogspot.com/ and won! The cake was an awesome chocolate with raspberry filling and it was the best cake I have ever had. It even tasted better than my wedding cake (because it was chocolate, of course). The cake decorator gives away a cake every month so if you want to enter visit her site the month before your birthday and register. But you should check out her website just for the fun of it too. She does great work.

Here's the cake:

We celebrated my birthday over at my Mom's. Lilly (Jennifer's youngest), me, Mom and Jennifer all have birthdays in the same week so we had a big ol' celebration. We had a repeat of Thanksgiving (minus the stuffing and yams-boo!) and it was so darn tasty and then stuffed ourselves on two cakes. It was great!

Christmas 2009

We had a nice Christmas this year. The season was busy with parties and shopping but Christmas eve and day were really nice and spent with family.

We did Christmas eve like we always do with my Mom but this time it was at her new house. I am still having a hard time adjusting to this new way of life with her. I am not comfortable in Garry's home and miss the way life was before she got married. I miss her. But I digress. We had a great dinner and gift exchange and stayed up way too late. They gave me a Lion House cookbook that I love and Brad and cool flashlight that has a tripod for a handle. How cool is that? And then money for the Bosch mixer that we are saving up for. My life will be complete once that appliance joins our family. My sister Janeen just got her Young Women medallion again since she is in the YW in her ward. For one of her projects she transcribed my dad's journals and had them bound and a copy made for each of us. It was the most amazing, treasured thing anyone could've ever given me. These journal's were written when I was young and to hear how he talks about his love for us kids and his hopes and dreams for us was incredible. He also expressed the love he had for my Mom and he loved her in a way I didn't even realize. I hope Brad loves me like that. He was also so hard on himself and had high expectations for himself and it was painful to read some of it. It also made me understand him more. It is a beautiful and bittersweet memory I will treasure for the rest of my life.

Christmas morning we opened gifts at our house before going to Brad's parents for breakfast. We tried not to go overboard on spending this year and I think we did pretty good. All Tyler wanted was "100 sets of Lego's" (that's an exact quote) and Trevor really didn't have any specific thing he wanted. They both go Zhu Zhu pets which are my kind of pets. Brad surprised me with a pink Creative Zen mp3 player. It's pink! And he got me a rice cooker/steamer and a hot cocoa maker. I love them all! I got him a Blue Ray player and a Guitar Hero guitar.

After we filled ourselves with food we did presents with Brad's side of the family and that was fun. Lynette made me a Family Home Evening assignment board which I have always wanted and Lynn & Margaret gave us all season passes to Lagoon. I guess we will be spending a lot of time there this summer.

We missed great-Grandma & Grandpa Newman at breakfast. Grandpa wasn't feeling well from the Christmas eve party he went to the night before so they stayed home. Turns out he was having a heart attack and wound up in IMC's Cardiac ICU later in the day with 2 new cardiac stents. Little 90-year-old man gave us a good scare. He's doing excellent now. We got another treasure of a Christmas gift, this time a book made of life stories written, and typed on a type-writer, by Grandpa Newman. One of Brad's cousins then illustrated each story and it was hardbound. Too special for words!

Wanna know what my best gift this year was?? Trevor deciding to potty train. Oh yes folks, it's finally happened. I thought he would be wearing diapers into college. It was our Christmas miracle.

Overall a great ending to the decade.

A call for action, a plea for help

Dear family & friends,

As many of you know I was a living kidney donor in June 2004. Recently, the gal I donated to contacted me in a panic because she had just learned that Medicare was going to stop helping cover her immuno-suppressant drugs and she could not afford them on her own. Without these drugs her body will reject the kidney I gave her and she will need to go back onto dialysis and eventually be re-transplanted. This is a terrible loophole that kidney transplant recipients fall in to and right now we all have a chance to do something about it. I am asking you to contact your local Senate and House representatives and urge them to support Section 1232 of H.R. 3962 (also know as the Affordable Health Care for America Act). There are lots of details to this bill and I won’t go in to the here but if you want to know more I’d be happy to share them with you.

These are not lazy people looking for handouts; in general they have returned to great health after being on the brink of death. In the case of Mia (my recipient) she is now able to work again but her private insurance will not cover immuno-suppressant drugs because it is considered a pre-existing condition. It makes no sense that the government will pay for them to be on dialysis and get a transplant a second or third time but will not pay for the medication they need to keep their first transplant from rejecting!

All I am asking you to do is contact your Senators today using one of the two methods below and ask them to "urge conferees to include Section 1232 of the House bill, H.R. 3962, in the final health reform bill." Section 1232 extends Medicare coverage for immunosuppressive drugs for the life of the transplant to ESRD patients who have received kidney transplants.

1). Call the Capitol Switchboard to call your Senators and Congressmen at (202) 224-3121

2). Click on the following link to locate and contact your Senator: www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

Click on the following link to locate and contact your House Representative:

http://www.house.gov/

I thank you with all of my heart. One day it could be one of us who needs a transplant.

People bug me

OK, not everyone bugs me but I encountered someone tonight who really irritated me.

I took the boys to Panda Express tonight. Believe it or not, that is their favorite restaurant. The one nearest our house is the one at Jordan Landing which also happens to be busy pretty much all the time. So as we were standing in line they were horsing around with eachother, being a little crazy (but really I have seen worse in both my children and others) and I could tell that the lady in front of us was getting annoyed. I made sure that we were far enough back that my boys didn't bump into her and I tried to calm them down a little but they were excited and hungry and maybe a little hyped up from the sugar they got at the family Christmas party today. So after about 10 minutes she turns to me and says "do you need a whip or something?" and I did a little fake laugh "ha ha, maybe a little duct tape would do"- you know joking, friendly banter. Then she says "maybe you shouldn't take them out Christmas shopping or anywhere else if they act like this". At first I was shocked but then after it sunk in I was a little mad. My boys are generally well-behaved and tonight they were certainly not being bad. The man with this woman didn't seem bothered by them but she sure did.

I have every right to go places with my children and to be honest, I really don't go many places anymore since Brad has been working 2 jobs and I am alone with the boys in the evening. You know how kids are in the evening when they are tired....not the time to take them out shopping or anything. So generally we just stay home, but sometimes I have errands to run or shopping to do and they have to come with me. It hasn't been fun. Recently at a grocery store Trevor decided he didn't want me to buy milk that night so he cried all the way from the back of the store (why is the dairy in the back of the store?) to the checkout area "I don't want to buy miiiiillllllk!" while I carried him. He was tired and so was I but we needed some groceries and it was the only opportunity I had to go to the store.

It reminded me of a time, many years ago, when I was strapping Tyler into his car seat in the Walmart parking lot and an impatient woman honked at me because she was unable to pull in to the next parking space because my back door was opened. You parents out there know it only takes a few seconds to strap a child in so it's not like I was taking very long but apparently it was too long for her. Back then I did give her a little piece of my mind, today I didn't.

So why do people have to be so rude? I don't get it. If I see a child throwing a temper tantrum or crying in a store I feel sympathy for that parent because I know what it is like and it isn't easy. I guess I will just have to let her rude comments roll off my back and know that I am doing the best I can.

Oh Trevor! Part 2

The other night we spent 30 minutes looking for Trevor's favorite blanket at bedtime so he could go to sleep. We searched everywhere and finally found it in the refridgerator. When I asked him why he said "because I wanted it to be cold" as if that were a completely normal answer!

A productive conversation

This exchange happened tonight between Tyler and me.

The scene: I come walking into the kitchen to find him and Trevor digging in the cupboard where we keep the paper plates, paper cups, napkins, etc.

Me: Tyler, what are you doing?

Tyler: I'm doing something so I can do something.

Trevor: Yeah, do something

That cleared it up for me.

Tyler's 7th Birthday

Tyler's real birthday was Sunday November 15th but we celebrated the previous Sunday at Grandpa and Grandma Newman's house. Then on Friday I brought cupcakes to his class and they sang him "Happy Birthday". On Saturday we had his friend birthday party and on Sunday we celebrated with Grandma Thacker.

For his friend party we went to the Taylorsville Rec Center. A little bit of a drive for us but it was so worth it. We spent an hour climbing the rock wall and then went in to the party room for pizza, soda, cake and presents. I bought an ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins (it's the first time I had ever bought one) and it was toxic-bright but tasted good. The party was so fun and I am glad we did it there. My mom's fiance Garry works at the Rec center and told me about the parties they offer. He also helped me shuttle the kids to and from (in the snow!) so extra thanks to him.

Here are a ton of pictures:

The invite

Tyler climbing the rock wall

The brightly colored and illegible cake

Isn't this a great looking group of kids??

Instead of a cake this year he had cupcakes that looked like....

Hamburgers!

It's still hard for me to believe that I have a 7-year-old. It seems like just yesterday he was born and now he is an incredibly handsome, smart little boy. I love him so much!

Isn't he a doll? He got lots of Lego's for his birthday. Betcha didn't guess that already!

I am so stressed-out!

I think this is the most overwhelmed I have ever been in my life! Last week I had a big UNOS- United Network of Organ Sharing (For more info click here) audit at work that took a lot of preparation. We did well but my perfectionist tendencies come out during these things and I get really hard on myself for any mistakes that I make. You know, I am not allowed to be human but everyone else can be. We have two other audits from other agencies coming in 2010- I can hardly wait. Oh, and they want to take new pictures for my work's website. This stresses my out because I look so young and skinny and acne-free in my old picture. I don't want a new one, but they are making me!

I also (for the first time ever, yes I am a bad mom) was throwing a friend birthday party for Tyler's 7th birthday. We have always just done family parties but this year he recognized that other kids were having friend parties and he wanted one too. So add that in to the mix.

And now I am preparing for my mom's wedding. This is a hard one and earlier this week I went through a day of grieving for my dad. I mean full-blown hysterical sobbing. I don't want to see my mom married to anyone other than my dad so this has been a big struggle and is the reason that it hasn't been posted on my blog before today. But the time is nearly here and I'll do what I have to do to support my mom.

Oh, and one of my co-workers asked me if I could present to a group of medical students on the Living Kidney program that we have in Utah and my experience as a living donor back in 2004. I was like sure, no big deal until she told me I needed to fill up 40 minutes. 40 minutes?!?! I haven't even begun preparing for this yet! For more info click here

To top all this off there is also Thanksgiving, Christmas, shopping for Christmas, two work parties, two family parties and a 90th birthday party for Brad's grandpa (the one who was our temple sealer).

It truly is the most wonderful time of the year.

Here's something positive to cap off my negative post. I made this beautiful and delicious apple crisp. I used Granny Smith, Jonagold and Gala apples and it was divine!

Halloween 2009

Here are the boys in their costumes

Originally Tyler wanted to be Frankenstein and Trevor wanted to be a Ghost but they don't make classic costume like that anymore and I am not creative nor do I sew. Instead we went to the Halloween store and looked around. Tyler settled on a Star Wars Clone Trooper (big surprise there!) and once Trevor spotted the Superman costume he was hooked. It was a nice, easy shopping trip.

Look how nice my front stoop looked. I was so proud. Here's a close-up of our pumpkins.

The boys and I painted them one evening when Brad was at work because I don't do the goopy-gross mess of carving. If Brad had been home he would've though.

We went to our usual Halloween Party/Trunk or Treat with my in-laws about 2 weeks before Halloween. Their YW/YM plan a party in the gymnasium and then the adults do a trunk or treat afterwards. It's always so much fun with a cake walk, face painting, fish pond, crafts, etc. Here's Trevor decorating a candy bag. I thought it was cute that he sticks his tongue out when concentrating.

Here's Tyler doing the obligatory donut-on-a-string. I try not to let myself think about how many other people's mouths have touched that string because then I get high-strung. He was cute though and really wanted to do it. The only bad part to the night was the trick or treating in the rain. Cold and wet does not make for a happy mommy.

Here's my adorable niece Katelyn in her Cinderella costume. Isn't she a doll? She totally ignores me but I'm OK with that because I love her anyway.

A couple nights later we did our other tradition which is to go to Red Butte Garden's Garden After Dark. This picture is of all the kids who were there with us that night. This year was particularly fun for the kids. They painted pumpkins, made witches potion (dried flower petals in a vile), made witches brooms, had broom races and did all the other games and activities scattered throughout the garden. It was so fun.

Tyler's painted pumpkin

Trevor digging in the hay to find a hidden object to turn in for a packet of magic seeds. Unfortunately he spotted a plastic spider and....

This is what happened.

I laugh because he was never afraid of spiders until this one incident in Walmart. I took the boys in to the Halloween area with me. Neither of them were afraid of any of the Halloween displays including the moving scary pretend people. So, I picked up this huge (probably 3 foot in diameter) hairy spider and when I went to show him he freaked out. I mean, you could've heard him on the other side of the store. And ever since then he has been afraid of spiders- real or fake. My mother-in-law gave the boys each a little goody bag full of Halloween things and in it was one of those little spider rings. Once he saw it he threw the bag across the room and refused to touch it again until I had taken the spider out. Crazy kid!

Next we had Trevor's preschool Halloween program. He absolutely refused to sit on the chairs with the rest of his class and ended up sitting on my lap in the front row and singing all the songs from there. Much to my surprise though when it was his turn to do his speaking part he marched right up there and said it without any hesitation. Oh Trevor, how I love you. You always keep me guessing.

And finally, all the adorable cousins getting ready for the ward trunk or treat on Halloween. From left to right there is Hailey, Trevor, Tyler, Lucy and Avery. After the trunk or treat we went over to a house in our neighborhood where this guy wears stilts, is dressed in all black with a scary mask and comes walking out with a chainsaw. We hadn't ever taken the kids up there but wanted to check it out. Hailey was the only one brave enough to walk up there (or to young to know to be scared!). He was way nice though and when he saw the kids hanging back by the car he took off his mask and turned off the chainsaw to show the kids he was just a person dressed up. We chatted for a bit (my brother-in-law knows him through their stake somehow) and then we headed over to my house for our usual pizza and chatfest. Fun was had by all.

Even though we didn't get to do all the things I had wanted to do (Gardner Village, Cornbelly's, a pumpkin patch and corn maze) we still had a great time together and that's all that matters.

Gorgeous Flowers

Aren't these beautiful? They are just two of the gorgeous flowers from our San Diego trip.

Vacation Day 7 and the road home!

As mentioned in an earlier post we spent 2 days at Sea World. Trevor's favorite part of Sea World was the Sesame Street Bay of Play area so we spent a lot of time there on both days. These are the three rides they have plus they have a splash pad and a huge obstacle course/climbing area that parents and kids can go through together.

 Oscar's Rockin' Eel

This was the big boat that the life-size characters would come out on to sing and dance. You could also pay to take a picture with them. We didn't.

Abby's Sea Star Spin

This one was Trevor's favorite- Elmo's Flying Fish. He asked about going back to San Diego to ride this for several weeks.

We had originally planned to check out of our hotel, swing over to Sea World , spend a couple hours there and then hit the road home. Well, once we got to Sea World we started having so much fun that we stayed until 9 p.m.! It was Labor Day weekend so it was more crowded that we had been used to all week but we tolerated it. They were having fireworks that night so it got more crowded the later it got. After we left we went to an In-N-Out Burger to see what all the rage is about since they are not common yet in Utah. Let's just say we were underwhelmed. From there we just wanted to go home. I told Brad we could rent a cheap hotel room for a night but he wanted to try to drive it so we stayed up and took turns only stopping for gas, snacks and to switch drivers.

It took 12 hours to get home and when we did Brad and I were exhausted. The boys slept most of the way home so we really lucked out there. My feet were hugely swollen by this time and I was starting to worry that maybe I was having some kidney function issues. We hurried to unload the car, unpack, get the laundry started and then we got naps. It was so nice to be home but we feel thankful that we were able to do this dream vacation this year. This is the first real vacation we have taken as a family and it was bliss.