It Continues...

This is a difficult post for me to make. But I am just hoping that writing about it will make me feel a little bit better.

As most of you in Utah may have heard or read, on Wednesday night an Eagle Mountain Man, named Greg Kehl (pictured above the Christmas of 1994), took off in his paraglider and committed suicide. The news at first got a few things wrong, but I think since then have all gotten their facts mostly correct.

I still don't know everything and I probably never will, but this man was a cousin of mine. He was a guy you wouldn't suspect of having issues and who would even think of killing himself, so it took the family by surprise. His intermediate family is really having a hard time dealing with this, as is the extended family. He leaves behind 2 teenage boys who I am sure are having a very difficult time with their father gone.

We had another cousin in this same extended family who got married yesterday. I feel so bad. There was this cloud over the whole day that our cousin had killed himself. Luckily though most of us were able to celebrate for the cousin who got married.

My poor grandma was feeling so out of sorts. She was happy for the one cousin, but was having a really hard time dealing with the other cousin. She wanted to make sure people knew that he DID NOT shoot at his wife. My mom is very sad as well. She was only 9 when Greg was born so she had lots of fun watching him grow up and raise his family. It really hurts to see your family suffer so much.

We haven't even seen the immediate family members who are dealing with this on a losing their son, brother, uncle, father and husband aspect. When we do run into them it will be very hard for all.

It's so sad to see someone give up so much hope when life comes crashing down all around them. I feel so bad for his sweet, sweet wife and young boys. I hope they will all be able to come through this as best as they can under the circumstances.

So, let me remind you of the week we have had...Monday night, my brother in law gets into a car accident - comes out pretty much okay. Tuesday, my little sister tells me she just passed my uncle on the road and guess what, my uncle was in a car accident - luckily he too seemed pretty much unscathed. Wednesday night, my cousin kills himself, although I don't find out until Thursday morning. Thursday night, we celebrate the other cousin who got married as best we can and it is a beautiful reception.

This morning, I get an email from my sister in law telling me to open it up today. I read the email to find out that my older brother was in a car accident this morning on his way to work. Some lady apparently did a u-turn on the freeway and crashed into the passenger side of his NEW car. Thankfully, my brother was unharmed and was even heading back into work when he called his wife.

I am sure the Lord is trying to teach this family something, probably about being Thankful for Life. I know it's been an eye opening week for me. And I am so very thankful to still have my family around.

Please keep Greg's little family in your prayers though as they struggle through this most difficult time.

Love you all!

What Happens Next...

It Makes You Grateful...

Friday Night we spent the night with my family at a park. We were celebrating some family birthdays.

We had a nice night of enjoying each other's company and just hanging out. The kids enjoyed playing on the playground and the older boys enjoyed throwing a football around and even ended up playing a game of "Jackpot". We've also found a family sport in playing what we call "Noodle Ball" which is pretty fun as well.

At one point in the night I had to take my 1 year old nephew back to his mom after he was done playing on the playground. I had taken my camera to the playground with me and left it with my older sister and brother while I took my nephew back. I came back to find my sister and brother kind of laughing - so I asked them if they had found any good pictures. They said they just picked up the camera.

So, today as I am adding the pictures from the memory card to my computer, I come across the above picture and one other one. The three of them (L-R) Our "adopted" sister, Heather, My Sister, Kami and Brother, Corby had taken 2 pictures of the three of them. Clever, clever, but who has the last laugh now?

Anyway, after we had dinner and were done with the games we headed to my mom's for an ice cream treat. For some reason, I wasn't that interested in the ice cream. (odd, I know) We hung out some more and gave my little brother (turned 22) his gift.

This brother is difficult to shop for and I never quite know what to get for him. Usually it ends up just being money or a gift card (which he doesn't like getting), this year however, I wanted to get him a real gift.

After looking around at the store for awhile I ran across a game I thought he might enjoying playing with his friends. It is called iList by Hasbro. It is a game played with up to 4 mp3 players. I know that my little brother and his friends all have some sort of iPod so I figured what the heck and bought it. I included a gift receipt if he decided to take it back.

I was a little surprised when he actually kept it AND opened it. So, of course, I had to play with him. I had a lot of fun and it is fun to see what songs people have on their mp3 players. I had so much fun with the game that I actually went to try and find it at a store near us on Saturday. I found one and then made Eric play with me. He was at a bit of a disadvantage as he has the ipod that holds thousands of songs...Too bad for him. ;)

So that was the weekend.

Last night around 8:30 I get a phone call from my mom telling me that my brother-in-law, Cody, was in a car accident on his way home from work. He couldn't remember what happened, but as far as what others could figure was that he had to swerve to miss hitting a car and ended up crashing into a pole. The car was totaled and he seemed to be alright.

He didn't want to go to the ER as he hasn't been at his job quite long enough to get the insurance, however, his Mom took him to the ER just to be safe. He had a catscan just to make sure brain activity was all normal.

He got a clean bill of health and left the hospital. They stayed the night at his parents home and he is recovering well. I called my sister today to ask how he was doing and she said that he is pretty bruised and his eyes are pretty swollen, but for all intents and purposes he is fine. He was even talking about going to school tonight and back into work tomorrow. He is a strong guy!

Anyway, when things like this happen it makes you reflect and think about lots of things. You are thankful that nothing worse happened and that the person is still alive and well. It makes you thankful for all of the people in your life and you want to hold them and keep them that much closer to you. I am thankful for all of you who are in my life.

I will leave this post on a happier note however. Eric has been getting into Tai Kwon Do lately with one of his friends who is a black belt as the "teacher." Eric purchased some protective gear to use in sparring with his other friends. Anyway, it arrived today while Eric was at work. Eric wanted pictures of it, so I had the bright idea to put the stuff on Lex and take pictures of it. I took the pictures, emailed them to Eric, then he wanted to see Lex with all the stuff on at one time. So, Lex (bless his heart) agreed and let me put all of the stuff on at once... I leave you with a picture of our little trooper.

Love you all! BE SAFE!

What Happens Next...

Back in Session...

So, school started for Tanis on Tuesday, August 21 and Shaylyn started on Tuesday, August 28th.

Tanis is in 2nd grade and has a teacher that is new to the school. She seems really nice and almost as nervous as the kids were that first week of school. He is really enjoying his teacher and there are a few kids that were in his class last year that have the same class as him again this year. Sadly though, his "girlfriend" is in a different class. He says that he still sees her at recess though and he seems okay with that.

Shaylyn had an assessment with her teacher on the Friday before she started school. I was filling out paperwork for the teacher while she worked with Shaylyn, so I didn't catch everything that they were going over.

I did catch a few things that made me proud of my daughter, and also a few things that made me not so proud. First of all, Shaylyn had to figure out patterns. The teacher had some teddy bear erasers and made one pattern and then told Shaylyn to make a different pattern, she did so with ease. Then Shaylyn was given some story problems (I personally HATE story problems, they confuse me too easily) however, she had no problems with this. One question was an addition question saying we have x amount of boys in our class and x amount of girls in our class, how many children are in our class? Shaylyn answered correctly. Then she was asked a subtraction question - something to the effect of, if so and so has 6 apples and eats 2 apples, how many apples are left? Shaylyn quickly said 5 and then hurried and said no, 4. The teacher seemed a little surprised at how quickly she answered this question and I was a little surprised too. When the teacher then asked her how she knew that she replied, "If you have 6 and then you take away 5 and 6, you are left with 4." I think she's going to have a brain like her dad and aunt.

What didn't make me so proud of her was that she was constantly chattering to her teacher and asking questions when her teacher was trying to do the assessment. This is a "problem" we know she has and are worried about. I did tell the teacher that her constant talking is one of the things I am worried about with her. Oh well.

Shaylyn is enjoying Kindergarten and she goes from 12:45 - 3:30, which is when Tanis gets out so they walk home together. Shaylyn has made a couple new friends - both boys. (Sounds just like me when I was her age)

Lex and I are enjoying this quiet time together. He usually wants to watch a movie and so we sit on my bed and just hang out. I love having this quiet time and time to just be. It's been so relaxing.

Dance started up for Shaylyn again yesterday. She was more excited and more cooperative than she was for almost the whole of the spring session. I am not complaining though - maybe it's a sign she is growing up. We also have Tanis doing singing with this dance teacher, she does singing groups as well. Though now I am a bit worried. I just watched the DVD from the recital in the Spring and there were NO BOYS in the singing group AND they did a few dance moves. Hopefully though, because she is aware there is a boy in the group this year, she will make the proper adjustments. I am just hoping that if Tanis is the only boy, he will be okay.

In other news, I quit my job at Smith's. I just couldn't handle the unpredictability of it all. And with the kids getting homework and with the dance and singing lessons, it was just going to be too hectic. This is putting more stress on Eric, however as he is trying to find a part-time job. I feel bad about this, but he is convinced that if he can get a job at a game store he won't get that stressed. Here's to hoping...

I am also messing around with a new blog site - I am trying to figure out if I can personalize it a little easier than this current one. As of now though, I haven't figured it out so we will see.

Hope all is well with everyone!

What Happens Next...

Donut Break Anyone?

So Sunday night, August 12th, we head to my grandma's house for her 88th birthday party. We enjoy all the visiting with all the family and my little brother who lives in Wyoming even made a surprise appearance. He even took the nice picture of me that is to the left....
Anyhow, because Eric wasn't feeling very well, I drove home. We are 2 minutes away from home and guess what I see...Flashing lights behind me. I start getting really ticked off not thinking that I was speeding and knowing that we couldn't really afford a speeding ticket at this moment in time. Eric keeps telling me to calm down and that I shouldn't get that frustrated and overworked when I get pulled over. Easy for him to say.
So the officer comes to the window and asks for all the stuff...License, Registration, Proof of Insurance and then walks away. He is back in only a matter of minutes and then tells me the reason he pulled me over is because our Registration wasn't up to date...OOPS! So he lets us go telling us that we need to get it taken care of because after 3 months your car can get impounded.
I was so relieved. No ticket and just a "friendly" reminder to get the registration renewed or whatever. So first thing Eric did Monday morning - take care of the registration and also got the brake pads fixed for my car. He only ended up working a total of 4 hours on Monday.
Anyway, so having the Registration complete and everything I had totally forgotten about being pulled over. Until, last night at 12:30. I worked until midnight and when I got off I was talking to one of the baggers for a few minutes.
Driving home on a 65 speed limit road I was doing good to not go above 70. Next thing I know I pass a cop hiding in an area off the road. Once again I check my speed and I am about 67 or so. Then I see the flashing lights AGAIN! At first I wasn't sure if he was coming for me, but he was.
Once again, I was ticked off! This time I knew for certain I wasn't speeding enough to warrant a ticket. But, I pulled over again...Same old routine. License, Registration, Proof of Insurance. The officer goes back to his car and takes longer than officer #1 did, so I was worried about a ticket.
He comes back after like 5 minutes and tells me the reason he pulled me over is because my taillights aren't on! He said when I put my foot on the brake pedal, the lights are on, but just driving they weren't. He asked if the car had been in the shop recently and I told him about the brake pads. I am not sure why that would screw up the taillights or whatever, but oh well.
He sent me on my way and I was really freaked out. Having no taillights driving around at midnight is pretty scary. Especially in one area of where we live where there are no street lights for whatever reason. Thankfully, I got home safely.
Told Eric about the event and so today he is going to have to take me to work and pick me up. Crazy things.
Good thing is - no tickets...Bad thing is now I feel like it's Karma or something...So weird. I'll be happy if I don't get pulled over for a VERY LONG TIME!

Hope everyone is doing well.

What Happens Next...

Beat the Heat!

This summer has been awfully hot. Most of you know that bit of info, but thought I should let

those of you who are out of town know that small factoid.

Anyway, to make matters worse as far as we were concerned this summer, a pipe to one of the water wells in our city broke.The first day it broke we were told that they would be shutting off our water at some point in the night. We hurried and did whatever we to do...When we went to bed at 11 pm, they still hadn't turned it off. When we woke up around 7 the water was back on...So they either never turned it off, or they did it while everyone was sleeping.

For the next month or so they told us to conserve water and even limited watering...For the first little while there was to be no outdoor watering at all. This kinda sucked as its been such a hot summer and our lawn is still new. Needless to say, some of the lawn turned brown.

Within a couple of weeks they had repaired the pipe so that people could water 2 days a week but only during certain time periods. There was still no other use for outdoor water "permitted." They were good to say that people with very new sod could water as they needed to.

Anyway, so we've been dealing with this situation for awhile and it's been difficult all around. I finally heard that they had repaired the well and everything was fine, which also meant that we can water outdoors again and I even took the opportunity to let the kids play in the water.

My brother gave Lex a little water t-ball thing for his birthday that we had only been able to use one time...So yesterday as I was bored and needed to get outdoors, I decided to let the kids play in that again. Tanis & Shaylyn had a great time...Lex, however, wasn't too fond of all the water . Maybe in time...

What Happens Next...

Happy Tuesday

This past Tuesday, August 7, we had quite a busy day.

My older sister was trying to get a video slideshow done from Girls Camp done...She was having difficulties making a disc that would play in a regular DVD player and sadly, I wasn't much help explaining it to her over the phone.

So, I took my actual computer over to her house with a program I use to make the videos I've done. For some reason, however, when I imported the saved Windows Video that she had saved, it wasn't showing the pictures...

I made plans with my younger sister to take the kids swimming and time was running out, so I explained to my sister how to remake the video and how to capture it on disc and went to get my little sister and head to the pool.

We got to the pool and the kids had loads of fun. The place we went actually has a little place where the water isn't deep at all (as you can tell from the picture). My kids had fun jumping into the water - I wasn't worried about drowning as much as I was about broken legs since the drop was nothing...However, no one got injured. Even my little nephew who will be 1 in a couple of weeks had lots of fun splashing in the water - he is one kid who is not afraid of water AT ALL! The pool closed for open plunge at 4, which was good as we had yet more plans...

I dropped my little sister and nephew off and headed over to Eric's parents home. We were all headed to the zoo for a members night. The birthday gifts for all the kids this year was a year membership to the zoo. It was a perfect time of day to go to the zoo. It had cooled off enough that it was nice and there really wasn't that many people at all! I didn't really take any pictures at the zoo because Eric's mom was taking lots and she gives them to me...I just don't have them yet.

We enjoyed the Birds of Flight show which was really cool. There were many birds that flew right over your heads. The kids enjoyed it lots and it was neat to see all the different kind of birds and what they can be trained to do. We also spent some time seeing how the trainers take care of the Elephants. They have trained the Elephants to stick out their feet and ears to get checked for things. They've also trained these elephants to pick up things that may get thrown into their exhibit that don't belong there. One of the elephants could even kick a ball that the trainer would throw in. I think it is interesting how and what you can teach animals with a certain amount of care and patience.

We also saw turtles mating...(Picture is below) This was hilarious to us. The female acted like she didn't even care what was going on as she just kept eating and walking around. This did not deter the male however...He just kept at it no matter how much the female kept walking around. Luckily the turtles were across from the playground and so the kids didn't see the turtles and just wanted to play.

As for what else has been going on - not much!

The IDOLS concert last week was awesome! There is a guy from Seattle, Washington who beatboxes as well. He is such an entertainer and one of my favorites. The show was fun and so enjoyable. I was just mad that I didn't take my camera. I wasn't sure if they would allow it in, but there were lots of people that took theirs...So that upset me. Maybe next year if we have lots of favorites like we did this year we will go to the concert again and I will take my camera.

Monday at work there was an interesting thing that happened. It was about 9:30 and we hear screaming coming from the USCAN area...Monday night was really busy, but everyone in the store turned to hear what was going on. We see two guys yelling at each other and ALMOST getting into a fist fight in the store. One guy and lady had a little baby in their arms as well. It was so scary that my heart was beating fast. They got them out of the store and I guess after they were out of the store they went at it...Someone called the cops though and it was taken care of. My manager came back into the store in the middle of it and didn't know what to do. When I left work that night I asked the manager what had happened and she related the story.

Apparently guy #1 and guy #2 bumped into each other, when guy #2 turned around guy #1 didn't like the way guy #2 looked at guy #1's wife...Is that a crazy thing to get into a fist fight over or what? I guess guy #1 is a little possesive of his wifey? Oh well.

Hope all is well with you all!

What Happens Next...

Another Update

That's me - Simpsonized...Couldn't resist.

Anyhow, just another update about last week.

Sunday, July 22: Tanis' 7th Birthday. Before church at one, we let him open all of his gifts that Eric and I got for him. He was extremely happy and and maybe a wee bit spoiled. We go to church and after church come home and get ready for his party with family. I made the party start at 5 as an open house, so we didn't have time for a major dinner or anything. I just did Lloyd's BBQ chicken and called it good. We all enjoyed his party and had lots of fun. And our family members spoiled Tanis as well. Tanis even got to sleep over at my mom's that night, while my older sister took Shaylyn and Lex. Monday night they were going to swap kids...My mom would take Shaylyn and Lex and my sister would take Tanis.

Monday, July 23: Took the time that the kids were with family to relax. Straightened the house and did all the things I normally do, but then I had lots of time to get pages ready to scrapbook. I had to work at 5 that night, so I didn't get anything scrapbooked, but figured I had the next day to do so. About halfway through my shift I get the feeling that I am getting a sore throat. I wasn't happy...But I figured as long as it's just a sore throat I'll be fine. However, as soon as I got home from work, I knew that I was going to be sick - I was thinking flu with the symptoms I was having. Luckily because the kids were with family I was able to go straight to bed.

Tuesday, July 24: Happy Pioneer Day! Didn't even realize it was a holiday...Spent the morning in bed trying to recover and be well enough to go to work that night. Got out of bed only to take medicine. Around 3:30 I took a nice bath to get ready for work. Worked from 5-10 and was miserable the whole time...It was one of those situations where your head is so dizzy and light you don't really feel like you are where you are...Came home from work and just lied in bed waiting for Eric and the kids to come home. They had gone to Eric's parents to celebrate and watch fireworks. They came home around 11, and after getting the kids settled in bed, I went to bed as well.

Wednesday, July 25: Still don't feel well in the morning. Eric decides he better work from home so that I can get more rest. I rest on and off and around 11 or so I get up to get some medicine. I take my medicine and a drink to wash down the nasty taste of medicine and the next thing I know I am on the kitchen floor with Eric asking if I can breathe...Apparently, I passed out...I was so glad Eric was home. I was supposed to work that night but because I had passed out, and I still wasn't feeling good - I called in.

Thursday, July 26: I still don't feel good in the morning...Feel better, but not like I would if I had just had the flu or a cold...Still spend the day in bed and around 4 we decided to head to Instacare...We see the nurse in Instacare tell her what has been going on - Difficulty swallowing, Lightheaded, Dizzy - and she does a quick strep test. The dr. then comes in does the usual look in the ears and mouth. He looks in my mouth real quick and says it looks nasty in there. And I reply it feels nasty. He tells me that I have STREP! I have NO IDEA where I got it from. No one I have been around has been sick. Oh well. He tells me I have 2 options. He can give me a prescription that would be 2 pills a day for 10 days and I would feel better in 2-3 days, or I can get a shot in the butt and most people say they feel better within 24 hours. Reluctantly I went for the shot in the butt.

Friday, July 27: Still not feeling great, but feel like I can somewhat function. Straighten the house as best I can feel up to doing. Still get tired easily however, so I do take it easy. We spend the night at home just watching a movie.

Saturday, July 28: Still not 100% but feeling better. I head to work to pick up my check and check on my schedule for the next week. Then I head to the Wal-Mart by us, because our bank has a branch there. I pick up a few things and start feeling really worn out again, so I head back home. I take the rest of the night easy reading Harry Potter! Not quite halfway through, but I am still reading. Go to bed kind of early because I needed to rest up for Sunday.

Sunday, July 29: Not happy because I get scheduled to work from 12-8:30. I miss church AND its an 8 hour shift. I DON'T work 8 hour shifts. I think someone different did the schedule. Anyway, I work my shift and feel mostly okay, but totally drained again by the time I get home. We then play DVD Scene It with the kids before bed, then head to bed around 10.

Today, July 30: Still feel mostly okay, but not totally. Luckily only have to work a 5 hour shift like I am used to. I also have a job interview with the city at 1:00 that I hope results in good news...I am so ready to be done with Smith's... Anyway, guess I better get the house straightened and get some things done. Tomorrow is IDOL'S LIVE! Yeah!

What Happens Next...