Cute Kids...

I decided that my last blog was too depressing and awful so I had to cheer up myself and anyone else who happened to read it. How do I cheer myself up? I look back at cute pictures of my kids that make me smile and laugh and bring back fun memories of what makes life worth while. Please enjoy these photos as much as I did!

A string of bad luck...

Do you ever feel like things keep getting worse and your luck has just run out? Not that I had real good luck or anything to begin with, but these past few weeks have been nothing but bad.

About two weeks ago my husband's uncle passed away of a sudden unexpected heart attack. We couldn't make it to the funeral because it was in Portland so it was tough not getting to say goodbye.

About the same time we ran into another problem, this time the death of a vehicle. Ben has started a busines recently with a friend doing custom colored and stamped concrete curbing as landscaping. They started out using his truck to pull the trailer but they could tell it wasn't strong enough and the transmission was going to go out, so they began the search for a new one. After much searching they traded in the old one for a bigger truck and thought all was great! Well, four days later the transmission went out on the newly purchased used truck. Luckily the vehicle can be brought back to life, but business had to slow down and got behind without a truck to pull the trailer to do jobs and we have nice new bill to pay!

Then just a week ago a dear friend of our's that Ben grew up with was killed in a car accident. It happened just down the road from where Ben works so going there has been extremely hard. It's especially hard to deal with death again when you don't have the chance to say goodbye, but we carry on.

Well, on Thursday Ben got a huge opporunity for the business to pour 400 feet of curb for a neighbor down the street from his folks house who had seent eh work they had done. This was their biggest job yet and they were pumped! They worked hard from 6 in the morning until about 10 that night getting the job done. He finally got home around 11pm, barely able to walk through the door and get into his pj's (this partly because of exhaustion and partly because of the 1st degree sunburn all over his arms and neck from LACK OF SUNSCREEN!!!) May I note I tried to warn him but he did not listen!! Anyway, he finally fell into bed around midnight and was out.

Well, about 5AM I awoke to go feed Jadyn a nightly snack and noticed some pain in my lower left back. I sat there for a few minutes wondering what I had done and then went on down to her room. It continued to get worse but I thought it would subside eventually. Well it didn't and conintued on and I went back into the room to wake my poor tired husband up to hold Jadyn while I winced in pain on the floor. After about 15 minutes we decided somethin may be wrong and called the ER. They told us to come in after I started throwing up and so we threw on clothes grabbed the poor sleeping kiddos and headed in. They pain was awful, along with the nurse taking care of me who had no sympathy whatsoever for a poor crying woman obvuiosly in a lot of pain! You would think that would be a requirment or somrthing in the medical field!!

Anyway after 4, yes 4 attempts to insert an IV they finally got one started and gave me some drugs to ease the pain...and oh did it feel good. After a catscan they confirmed I was suffering from the infamous KIDNEY STONES! Yes, every man's worst nightmare being as it is labeled the closest thing they can experience to childbirth for a woman! So once again we ended up with a fun trip to the hospital, Ben living off of about 4 hours of sleep in two days. The poor guy was so looking forward to sleeping in but I had to go and get kidney stones! Well, all is well now, I have no idea wether they have passed or not, but all I know is I am home and feeling much better. For those of you who have had them, Sam I think, they are the strangest unexplained things, yet so painful.

So, hopefully this is the end of a little string of bad luck. I usually like to blog or read blogs about happy life things so sorry this one is so depressing to read, but hey, life's not always a box of chocolates right! I am thankful my experience didn't end in a worse matter though, that may be our only good luck for the week, but I will take it anyday! Hope all of your days are going better than mine!

Much love to all!

Sometimes you just feel like an...IDIOT!

So, if you read my last blog entry, I made note of my dear Grandpa and his birthday on May 1st. Well, as I was cleaning out my file cupboard today, which needed it a long time ago, I came across my "Remember Date Calendar". It is a cute little hanging calendar type thing that my oldest sister made for me that has lines next to every day in each month where you write down birthdays and anniversaries of everyone you know and love and more! It was set still clear back to January and I began feeling awful as I flipped through the months and noticed all the birthdays I had forgotten:(

Well, sure enough as I turned to May...BOOM! I saw that I had also missed one of my dearest friends from high school's birthday which was also May 1st!!! She even commented on my thoughts about my Grandpa!! AHHH! As Napoleon Dynamite would say...."Freakin' Idiot!" At this time I would like to tell this dear friend how sorry I am for not remembering her and wish her the happiest Belated Greetings EVER in the history of Belated birthdays!!!

LINDSEY ZUFELT.... can you find it in your heart to forgive me??? I hope your day was wonderful and I love and miss you tons! Even though we have grown our separate ways and rarely see each other any more, I will never forget what a great friend you are and always have been. You are one of a kind and were always such a great friend who we could all count on...even when your friends didn't back you up against a weaselly sophomore!!! I won't mention any names there! My memories of you and the CATS... I mean girls and fun times at your house blowing hairballs across the kitchen table (oh man did I say that out loud- we really weren't always that lame) were some of the best and will always make me laugh and smile! Some days I wish we could all go back in time to the good old days - and then I quickly snap out of it ! Yikes! Anyway, Happy Belated and I love you tons!

Gotta Love Grandpa...

Yesterday was my Grandpa Ralph's 87th birthday and it brings back a lot of memories from when I was little. The way he tickled my face with his scruffy whiskers, taking my cousins and I floating in the river (amazingly we all eight of us girls made it out alive!) , seeing him half awake in his Lazy Boy recliner watching Jeopardy ( I think these were invented for Grandpas), and of course learning how to play cards from good old Grandpa! There are so many more fun things I remember about going to visit Grandpa and all of them so special and dear to my heart still.

Why is it that Grandparents are SO SPECIAL! They just seem to have this auora about them that always makes it so exciting to see them! My parents are now grandparents and for their grandkids it seems the same way...they are soo excited to go visit Granpma and Grandpa! To me they are just my parents though- but to them they are superheroes or something! Maybe it's the fact that they usually get spoiled with yummy treats and food, or get fun presents, or go to fun places. I do all of that for my kids too, but maybe just not quite like Grandma does!! Don't get me wrong- I love this feeling that I remember from my Grandparents and I love to see it in my own kids too. Yes, Grandparents really are super special... and I thank them for that. Thank You Grandpa for being the wonderful man that you are and being such a strong foundation for the future families to come! We love you so much!

Go Blake Go Blake!

Ok, I must admit, I am an American Idol Fan! I just got into it the past few seasons, but it is so fun and entertaining, and one of the ONLY tv shows Ben and I will BOTH sit down to watch and like!! Anyway- I just wanted to give a shout out (don't i sound like a contestant!) to my man BLAKE LEWIS who gave an outstanding performance last night! Not to mention he is a major hottie! C'mon I know all you girls out there agree!! Even us married ones can agree! Anyway, I think he's fresh and original and he's won my vote in the books! Great job Blake! Oh, but I must say I wasn't thrilled with the new hair color- he's better a blonde!!