Can I get a Hallelujah!!!!

We have been dealing with Medical Bills for most of the year.  First it was my ear infections.  Can I tell you that dealing with those for 11 months was a NIGHTMARE!  So glad that we finally got those under control. Then it was Aushlynn's elbow....and then Avery's elbow......and then Madison stomach.  Well, it lead to a big pile of bills. 

 

The stack is this high!  Ugh!  I have been slowly paying them off a little at a time each month.  In other news we are only $977.24 away from our $8600 out of pocket yearly MAX!

Anyway the reason for the post is......I paid the LAST....ONE....OFF....TODAY!!!!  Oh my gosh I am so excited!  Well, at least they will be paid off for a few hours and I will not owe anyone until after 4:00 pm when Madison has her ultrasound on her leg.

Well, this calls for a hardcore CELEBRATION!  CHEERS!
(I know pretty hardcore...but I gotta attempt to sleep tonight!)

63 Miles to Nowhere

I will do just about anything for my kids.  This includes driving them around on a Friday night, you know because I have nothing else better to do. Me and Kendall were watching a show when the request came......"Mom, can you drive us to the Crazy Corn Maze in West Jordan and then pick us up in a few hours"? Well, I think that I can handle this request.  It is about 10 minutes from home...fast and I will be right back.

 

I really should have went to the bathroom before I ever got in the car.  Hindsight is 20/20.  I ran to the car...no shoes or purse.  I asked Madi in the car if she had money.  Yes she did.  Phew, I don't need my purse...lets get the show on the road.  After picking up and additional friend, we were on our way.  When we almost get there it is discovered that the Corn Maze is not even haunted until next week.  Can you believe that?  No use in going to a corn maze when it is not haunted.  Now, in my personal opinion is that this would be a perfect time to go...no scariness...good friends...perfect.  No!  These ladies want to be scared!  BOO! 

 

After a lengthy discussion amongst themselves, and 10 minutes of driving around later it is determined that they want to go to the Nightmare on 13th.  Okay, this is downtown.  I told them, I would take them there, but was not about to hangout downtown for a few hours and I did not want to have to pick them up.  Calls were made and it was agreed another parent would pick them up when they were done.  I remember asking them if they had enough money..... of course they did.  They had plenty.

 

Well, we set off for the freeway and made our way downtown.  I had Madi call Kendall and let him know what was going on and that I would be home later. Twenty minutes later we arrived.......before I drop them off, I want to make sure they have enough money....Mom's are so embarrassing.  Long story short is that they were $2 short.  You have go to be kidding me!  Why I ever trusted 10th graders with money math I will never know.  Now, remember me telling you earlier that I did not bring my purse.  Yeah, we drove downtown for nothing.  One of the girls wanted to ask a complete stranger for the money...no way.  I told them maybe we could just try again next week.

 

We headed back home......Picked up Toni and then I taught the kids the Toni Chest Nut song..(Toe Knee Chestnut song) It was really a Win, Win for them!  I am pretty sure that I an now on youtube with my song singing ability!

 

Superhero

Madison has not been feeling well lately.  Her stomach hurts every..... single...... morning.  She cannot take it anymore and demanded that I take her to the doctor.  We have been going to the same pediatrician's office for the last 15 years.  Madison's favorite Dr. "Baldy" was not able to see her, so we saw somebody else.

 

But by far, the most exciting thing to happen for her was after 15 long years, she was finally put in the Superhero room! No more Princess room for her!  This girl is hardly a princess after all....she can belch louder than any man I know! She was pretty stoked on it so we had a photo shoot! It's the small things that make life awesome after all! Right?

After feeling around her belly the Dr. discovered that a cellphone was in her sweatshirt front pocket.  Alas, there was not a hard mass in her stomach the shape of a IPhone.   After asking a series or questions and poking around her torso we are going to go with the diagnosis of acid reflux.  Lucky girl!

We also had him check out the lump on her shin.... now we get to go and have a ultrasound on Tuesday to have a look at what it is........why not??....we have meet the deductible this year!

I'm a mess....

So, I have something wrong with me....surprise!  My friend's son Carson left for his mission yesterday.  She posted a picture on Facebook of them in the airport parking garage rolling his luggage to the terminal check in.   I cried.  Not a little sniff, but I cried a lot.  A little while later she posted another picture of him and said he left them an hour earlier then he had to because he was so excited to start his new adventure.  On my goodness....I had another good cry.  Then she posted that he was flying over Ecuador and I had a nice cry in the shower. Good Grief...this in not even my son!  Why are my emotions so close to the surface?  It could be that Aushlynn is going to the exact same mission as Carson and she is next in line to go. But, then I think about other missionaries that we have sent back to their homes and I get emotional too. How in the world can I get so attached to them in such a short amount of time.  I think that I might be pulling them into my heart because I miss Avery oh so much.  Maybe like if I take care of the missionaries around me, then others around my missionary will take care of them where they are serving. Problem is....I then turn around and miss those missionaries when they leave.  I want to keep them....but Kendall says that I can't. Sigh.

Aushlynn leaves to Peru in 40 days....did you hear that FORTY DAYS,  so clearly all my thoughts are completely rational.  My mom once told me the problem that I have is my tear ducts are connected to my heart.  So anytime my heart hurts the tears flow.  Hence why you never and I mean never want to sit next to me at a funeral.  I am a complete basket case and I will embarrass you.

 So, I guess I am not sure what to do with myself.  I am trying to keep busy...but I still have all night long to think about it.  And then I cry. I just wish I could fall asleep at night. Don't get me wrong.  I LOVE the fact that my kids want to serve missions.  I have found that missions seem to fix all the mistakes that I made when I was raising them.  Well, maybe not all.......but they are amazing people when they come home.  I look at Dyllon and think.....Man, you are pretty awesome!  I guess in a way I am pretty envious of my kids that they get to serve missions.  I like to think that if I had not been married when I was 21 that I would have gone, but Kendall snatched me up at the tender young age of 19 and we have been in bliss ever since. I think of how lucky that they are to spend such a long period of time devoting their lives to nothing but their Savior and serving others.  What a huge blessing for them and I am grateful that they get to have that opportunity. I would never want to take that from them.

I guess what my momma heart wishes it that I could have all my babies home for just a minute or two. I just miss them so MUCH!  When Aushlynn returns from her mission I will have gone 58 months straight of having a missionary or two out serving.  It will be two months shy of five years.  That is a long time for a momma to be missing her babies and hence why I am a freakaziod!  So if you see me crying know that I am really trying to hold it together.

Happy Birthday Aushlynn!

Today this beautiful girl turns 19 years old.  I cannot believe that all my babies are growing up.  Can you believe what a hottie that she is! This is one of my favorite pictures of her. It is a selfie that she took of herself a few months ago.  My selfies never, and I mean never turn out this good.  I sure do know how to make gorgeous kids right? 

 

It is a miracle that this girl is even here!  Aushlynn and her brother Avery are only 13 months apart.  I do not know how she was conceived.  Well, I do know how......but I had just had a baby, was breastfeeding him and was on a depo provera shots.  This girl was determined to come into our family and she did not want to wait. I always say that her and Avery are my twins that could not fit at the same time.  We did not tell anyone that we were having her until about 3 months before I had her.  Our families were shocked! 

This girl has always been a mystery.  I had two ultrasounds done while I was pregnant with her and we could never tell if she was a girl or a boy.  This baby was always so modest.  So, I went into labor not knowing the gender of the baby.  She was the only one of our kids that was a surprise at birth.  When I was in labor with her...for some reason nobody at the hospital believed me.  They kept telling me to go home and wait another month.  Well, I knew what labor was.....I had done it twice before.  Long story short she.... was born 2 hours later.... in a recover room..... with no epidural.  I remember telling the Dr. on call that if the baby was not a girl I was going to kill him.  He told me I was talking to the wrong guy and should take that up with my husband.  I assured him that it was him I would kill because he did not believe me I was in labor and I was having to do this without pain meds.  I told him that if it was a boy it was not worth it.  Anyway... he lucked out because we had out first GIRL!

Aushlynn was named by her brother Dyllon .  When I was pregnant with Avery we asked him what we should name the baby, he said "Aushlynn".  He had just turned two.  I loved it.....remembered it and then named my first daughter it.  Thanks for the awesome name Dyllon!

One of my favorite things about Aushlynn is that she has a tender place in her heart for those who have special needs.  Thru her high school years she participated with the Best Buddies programs and the Special Needs Olympics.  She is going to play basketball in a few weeks with the Special Olympics as a last hurrah before she leaves for her mission.

Anyway, I hope that this girl has her best BiRtHdAy yet!  I am so going to miss her when she leaves to Peru in a few weeks!  Happy Birthday baby girl!

Entrepeneurs

We have an awesome bunch of kids here in our neighborhood that are trying to earn a few bucks.  We found them on our corner when we arrived home from the grocery store.  We went to check out what they had to offer.

 

 

So for a meager  $25 you can come and take a look. We told them we did not have $25.00 on us, so we were charged 25 cents a piece.

 

Below you can see a video of the what you get to peek at.  You probably should send me $25 to 25 cents for each view...you know....what ever you can afford. I can get the cash to the kids.

 

Texting while Crunching....

So a funny thing happened at the gym yesterday.  Now get this, I am not making fun of people that go to the gym because we all know that I am one that needs to be there.  In fact....I am probably a person that people make fun of...no worries there.

But, we were about 15 minutes early for our bootcamp class, so me, Kendall and Aushlynn went and hit the elliptical trainers to warm up.  Well, after we had been there for a minute or so in walk three guys to workout.  Two of them hit the treadmills, which are in front of us, with the exception of a row of recumbent bikes.  The third guy looked over our way.  Now, I'm pretty sure that it was not me he was impressed with but Aushlynn.   He was certainly dresses to impress with half his boxers showing and his shorts sung around the middle of his butt.  Can I just take a minute here.....guys this look does not impress us.....pull your pants up for heavens sake! You are not doing yourselves any favors going with this look.  Anyway third guy went over and grabbed a black mat so he could work on his crunches.  He laid the mat right behind his friends treadmills.  Now, this would have to be the worst place to choose to do crunches in the gym.  What if a friend fell off the back of the treadmill??  Anyway he was positioned right in front of us.  He then sat down on the mat and took his cell phone out and started crunching and texting at the same time. WOW!  Boy was he lighting speed at both.  I was impressed.  I mean he did about 30 crunches in the time that I could do 5.  Now, I have not seen my abs in this decade...I feel them everyday because they hurt, but they are just not there for me ya know.  Also, I was impressed with texting.  He had a sweet slider phone.  I mean was he really making actual conversation and spelling words right?  I sit down with no distractions and I can't type a correct sentence on my phone to save my life.  My smartphone is always making me look like an idiot. This boy was IM...PRESS...IVE!  I looked over at Aushlynn and she just rolled her eyes!

The best thing I ever ate....since August

Now, I do not claim to be the worlds best gardener. In fact if my Dad saw my garden today he might skin me alive.  Sometimes I just get to busy to spend oodles of time out there.  I know, I know if I just spend 5 minutes a day weeding I would have no weeds....but ain't nobody's got time for that. 

 

This year I planted two zucchini plants, two crook neck squash......lets talk about that for a second.  You can see them in the background of the picture dead. What was I thinking.  Way to much.  I had to stop watering it a month ago because I could not take it anymore.  I also planted beans.  Yummy!

But what I am most proud of is my bumper crop of 28 tomato plants.  Why so many. Well duh... I don't want to take the chance of not getting any tomatoes, so I might go overboard.  You can tell they are organic with the weeds and all.

Oh my gosh....they are so good.  I start getting excited around the end of July when the green ones start turning a little orange.  Me and Kendall always try and call dibs on the first tomato.....who am I kidding, I want the first ten all to myself.  I am selfish like that.

But I am not kidding, there is nothing that can compare to a fresh garden grown tomato. They are delicious.  I detest store bought tomatoes.  GROSS! They do not even compare according to me.  As a kid, my mom made me go and pick tomatoes in a field so she could bottle them.  I remember taking a salt shaker with me.  I would sit in the middle of the field and pick the best red-orange orb out there and rub it around on my shirt to get all the dirt off.  I would then lick a spot and add the salt.  It had to be wet for the salt to stick.  Then I would take a bite of the delicious, warm tomato.  Oh my starry-eyed surprise, it was HEAVEN!  Then it was salt, bite, salt bite...well you get the idea.  I am sure that I would eat about 5 during the time that I was picking them.

The best way still to eat them is to slice them up and add a little salt...AMAZING!

I think I will go have another.......

Perks of being my Kid



Well, my kids have to admit that they have some pretty sweet perks when it comes to being one of our kids.  Not to toot my own horn or anything, but they get to have me as their mom.  Now, if that is not enough of a perk they also get the following benefits.  They have an endless supply of cold cereal in the food storage.  The only problem with this is they need to finish what they open in the cabinet before they can open a new one.  The humanity! You can also sit on the bathroom counter and put your feet in the sink and run the hot water over your feet until the water heater is drained.  2% of the time not a word is even said to you about the water waste. You get to choose your own bedtime.  I stopped telling my kids to go to bed ages ago.  No one ever listened to me so I figured if they were tired they would go to sleep.  This makes for always bright and sunny morning faces from the kids because they are well rested. But by far the greatest perk is be able to use these keys at the age of 16.

 



Now, I think that the keys are pretty awesome.  First off they are attached to a partial Broncos lanyard. Second off, they can be washed and they still work.  Lucky! Third they go to this awesome 1992 Honda Civic!

Isn't she a BEAUTY!  Folks you are looking at a maroon 1992 Honda Civic DX.  I know what you are thinking those are some lucky kids!  It has less than 200 dents.  I am not sure where they came from...but it just adds character.  Less that 200000 miles..it purrs like a kitten when you start it up. Peeling clear coat on the front of the car gives it a vintage look.  It comes with all 4 plastic painted silver hubcaps to make it look SIC!  It sports a Eagle emblem on the front thanks to Avery who replaced the boring H symbol. You don't have to worry about losing the electrical on the windows because this car features a window roller downer on each door.  No pesky parents can lock you out of rolling down the window on this baby.  She has had many radios....all of them being used by other people who needed a sound system more than my kids did.  The security system is top notch....you just need to manually lock every door when you get out of it.  This car does have air conditioning that works! YES!

Madi is super stoked to get her license in March...I just know it. 

Confessions of a Football Widow

I like football.....do I love it?  I would not go that far. I used to love football.  When my boys played little league...I did love it.  I loved everything about it.(except maybe the practices) I loved going to the games.  I even loved being the team mom.  I loved getting caught up in the craziness of being part of something big. It was awesome!

Now football might just be a little to much. I like football.  I support the Denver Broncos and the BYU Cougars.  Always have, always will.  I like to root against the Utah Utes just to get under Dyllon's skin.  Okay , I might love to root against them....he is just to much fun to tease about it.  But, I do not know how this happened...... I am forced to watch way to much football.  We have to watch the Thursday night game.......Why???  Unless the Broncos are playing I do not see the point.  Then we must watch football all Saturday for the college games.  Who cares about all the games.  Then on Sunday....its another three to four games. Then again on Monday Night.  Not to even mention all the pre-game shows! AUGH!  TO MUCH FOOTBALL. 

Once upon a time I was invited to play a fantasy football league with Kendall. I had the best name. IGOTCHA.  I even took second place that year.  It was awesome.  Nothing like kicking some pansies guys butts, but alas, I have never been invited back to play since.  I ask about it each year and I am denied.  I get told that the league is full and that I should start my own league...or maybe that we will start a family league.  Never happens.  It just breaks my heart each year.  Maybe this is why I think football is to much?

Anyway...all I really have to do it sit in my room and read and I can make it to all the important plays when I hear the screaming!  These guys are crazy.  I guess that this is my lot in life.  Today when the Denver game started Kendall was watching and there must have been a great play because Kendall yelled out, "Beautiful". I said, you were talking about me right?  He looked confused for a second and then said "Absolutely".  At least he is smart, but I am pretty sure that he was talking about the pass play.

Anyway....I like football.  Go Denver!  Go Cougs!

Processing Chickens

I have blocked out a lot of my childhood.  Don't ask me why....but I remember very little of it.  My siblings or parents will say remember when this happened????  Most of the time I do not remember. Perhaps it is because of these memories that I have.

 

When I was a kid....we did not go to the grocery store like normal people to buy our chicken.....NOOO...we had to raise our own chickens.  Now those chicken were cute for about 2 weeks and then they started to hate you.  You know what...it was my job to feed those suckers.  I am sure that I had to trade off with my siblings with the chore but now that I think about it I can remember it vividly.

 

I had to trudge across the field to my Grandparents house.  I had to take a trek people.  The second part of the misery was opening the barn door and getting inside without any of the chickens getting out.  It was a good thing that I was a skinny little girl.  If one ever got out you had to chase the little sucker down.  Next step, plug your nose.....Chickens smell awful. Going on to the next task you had to pour the chicken feed while 5000 chickens tried to attack you and poke your eyes out.  I remember taking the water lids and trapping the meanest chickens underneath.  After you fed them, you had to water them and give up your protective water lids.  The last task I had to perform was to gather the eggs.  The chickens never wanted to just let you have them...they would try to protect those little orbs with all their might.  Oh and last but not least you would need to get out of the barn without letting any of the chickens loose again this time with a basket of eggs that you needed to not break.

 

We had to do this during spring, summer and into the fall. But during the fall, we always had a chicken massacre.  We had to process those chickens for eating.  So not only was I forced to eat those eggs I had to gather, but I had to help butcher the suckers to eat. 

 

My Dad and Grandpa would go grab a squawking chicken by the neck and then with a ax they would cut off the head.   The chicken would then run around for a few minutes with the head cut off.  No lies... there were headless chickens running around everywhere people.  Gross.  Once they finally died, my dad would grab the chicken by the legs and move it up and down in boiling water for a little bit.  Then my dad would slap the legs on a hook on the barn and I....ME....was forced to pull the feathers off the chickens.  It smelled terrible.  I am sure that my parents were breaking all kinds of child labor laws by forcing me to do this task.  Once the feathers were off one chicken, another chicken took it's place.  I had to do this for hours. (practically forever)  I guess that I was lucky that I did not have to gut the nasties from the chickens, I was only forces to do that with fish.  Needless to say, I could not eat chicken for years... the process kind of ruined it for me.  Come to think of it....I might not have chicken for awhile.

 

Anyway, the whole reason that I remember this part of my childhood is I received a text this morning from someone out in Ohio where Avery is serving his mission.  Guess what he is doing today.  Processing Chickens!  Lucky Boy! When you are in the SERVICE of your fellow beings you are in the SERVICE of your GOD!  What an awesome missionary he is.  He is willing to serve the people of Ohio in incredible ways.  This is going above and beyond. He is a trooper!  I love this Boy!

 

 

It does not look like he had to cut any heads off and watch the chickens run around headless. He might have enjoyed that part.

 



 

Get this, they now have an electric plucker that plucks the feather clean off the chicken in 15 seconds.  Where was this device when I was a kid??

 

I see that the Chickens finally loose their heads.  It looks like he might have enjoyed this part.