Update

I went to see sweet Marcia in the hospital today, and she was in such better spirits. Her color has improved 10 fold, and she is able to eat soft foods and drink. She also can feel tingling (which she says hurts a lot) in her left arm and leg, which is great news! She was joking about the way her face droops, she said she looks like a Halloween mask. I told her she looks beautiful, which she does. She said she'd scare the grandkids, and that Bailey would say "Grandma--what happened to your face?!" Bailey would just want to snuggle by her on that great bed and want to watch Fantasia. That's what I love about kids, they can look past the fear, and just see grandma. At first I was only telling them grandma wasn't feeling well and she's in the hospital, but last night Tyler was saying he wanted to go see her. I decided this was the time to try and explain a little more, and told them that Grandma got an "owie" in her brain, and from books we have we've learned that your brain is the boss of the rest of your body, and so Grandma's brain forgot how to work her arm and leg. But it will get better, and we just have to keep praying for her. Today after I got back from seeing her, Tyler asked if she still can't move her arm or leg, with cute actions. I told him no, but she is working on it. I am seeing the power of prayer in her--she probably should have died from the initial stroke, and then a couple of times since, but she is doing remarkably well. I told her this is just a way for us to get to take care of her for a change, and she HAS to let us! Thank you all for your thoughts & prayers. Keep them coming.

Shout out for prayers!

We got a call at 6 o'clock this morning, which you KNOW is never a good thing. Mike's mom had a stroke this morning! She was filling her water up to go work out, and dropped it. She tried to take a drink, thinking it might help her feel a little better, and water spilled out of the left side of her mouth. Then she fell to the floor, paralyzed on her left side. Luckily my sister in law (Rachel) was in the room, and called for her dad & brother to come help. They called 911, and gave her a blessing while they waited for the amublance. She was taken to Utah Valley Hospital, and just got out of surgery a little bit ago. They said she had the worse type of stroke you can have and survive. When they got in to remove the blood clot, the found that the tissue in her brain behind the clot was dead, and if they removed the clot it would cause more problems, so they left it in. The doctor said she will have swelling, and worse case scenerio it gets bad and she may die. We are all hoping and PRAYING for best case scenerio, and I just wanted to ask all of you to do the same. My mother in law is one of the best people I know, and so many people would be lost with out her. It has been hard to watch Mike, who doesn't really show emotion, struggle with this. His mom has been so many things for him, and I know he is devestated at the thought of losing her. There is not a person I know with more faith than Marcia, and I know she will come out of this shining, but it is scary none the less. Thanx!

My husband.

OK, I just have to write and say that my husband is the best! He has been out of town for a couple of days, and will be for 3 days a week for the next 5 weeks! It's funny because I realize while he's away how much I love him. Not that I don't know it while he's here, but I guess I fool myself into thinking I have it all together on my own, and he just helps out for a couple of hours with the kids in the evenings. Sometimes it feels like maybe we're just co-habitating, with "roommate perks" a few times a week ;) But since he's been gone I realize it's so much more than that. He really is my best friend. I have been feeling so unmotivated, not caring if I even get a shower or put make-up on--why do I care? I guess I lean on him a lot more than I thought. And my kids really miss him too. As much as they love me, they need some daddy time too. Today my back is really hurting, I know I'm a whimp, but I just feel like crap (stupid hormones anyway!) And kyle isn't feeling so hot and was up a lot last night so I am just tired! I finally talked myself out of bed to get showered and the house clean before Mike gets home tonight, and he called to say he was just about to get on the plane and he loves me. Then the doorbell rang--it was flowers! I can't remember the last time I got flowers (probably my B-day last year) Beautiful daisies, and even more than that--the thought behind them! I cried, timing could not have been more perfect. We're almost at 8 years married, and it's nice to know he still thinks about me enough to send some flowers while he's away & missing me! No pictures---Kyle drowned my camera in the sink, which is his new favorite place. Guess maybe a new camera can be our Valentines gift to each other.

Power.

Some people laugh at me (my husband & mom included) because I return stuff that I'm not happy with. To me, the power is in the consumer. If you don't voice your dissatisfaction with a company and/or their product--how will anything change? I love Huggies diapers. I have had a few "bad batches," and have called them to complain. They sent me about $60 in free diaper coupons both times! That's a lot of money--for a few minutes on the phone. I don't abuse this, I fancy myself an honest person, but boy it's empowering to feel like your'e heard--even in the coorperate world. A few weeks ago Tyler was eating some chicken nuggets, and found a blue piece of rubber in one!!! How discusting is that? He lost his appetite for the rest of them that night, and I had to convince him to eat anymore "homemade" nuggets after. He asks "But what if there's blue things in it?" Sad. I called Tyson the next day, and they send me $14 worth of coupons (original nuggest only cost $6) and a prepaid envelope to mail the rubber back to them so they can see what the heck happened. Another example: Tyler got a Leapster for Christmas last year, and for a while now the screen has not been working too well. I called LeapFrog and they told me to mail the old one to them and they would send a replacement--for free!!! I should have called sooner than I did so the new one could have been here in time for Christmas, but luckily Bailey willing shared hers with him (for the most part). I tried to call them a few days ago to confirm they received the old one, and to see it the new one had been mailed out yet. I was frustrated that first of all youhaev to go through the 20 minutes of pressing "1" for English (It's America people!) "2" for whatever, and so on. Then when I finally got a live person, she was in INDIA! What happened to good ol' American customer service?! I would gladly pay a little more for things if it meant speaking with someone who can understand me, and I can understand them. She could not tell me if they had received it or not, but that if they had, a new one would be out in 5-10 days. (Kyle is always getting in my purse looking for gum and lost my tracking #) Fine, I settled for waiting to see if the new one came. Sure enough--yesterday (just in time for our long treck up to Clearfield to get Mike's new car) it came. Yeah!!! He is so excited, as is Bailey that she no longer has to share (now she wants to play with Tyler's though) I guess the point to this blog is to encourage you to not be afraid to complain. Don't be rude, but don't lie down and accept poor quality, or just go buy a new one.

Fuzzy, but this is the piece of Rubber that Tyler found in his nugget. We decided it must be a piece of someone's glove (what else was in there?!!)

Faith

So I have recently, as of today, been awaken to the fact that there are some people out there who think my sister Amie is dying! I don't know where they are getting there info, but she's not going anywhere. Amie is my oldest sibling. She is 9 years older than I am. That is a large span, especially when you consider that she moved out of the house when I was only 8. She has been amazing to me though. Her and her husband took my little brother and I to Disneyland at a time when we needed to be away from our house for a while. Now that I am old enough to realize how BIG that was, especially for 2 starving students, I will be forever grateful. On the way home she drilled me for hours about my first kiss, which no one else would have done. I spent an entire summer with her after she had surgery on her ankle. I was down there to help her with her toddler, but she ended up helping me through one of my life's greatest crisis' up to that point. She has never treated me like her baby sister, but always as an equal. She has been there for me to listen to me cry about my problems, and I'd like to think I've done the same for her a time or 2. When Amie was 5, she had cancer. What an aweful thing for a 5 year old to have to go through. I cannot imagine my 5 year having cancer--I'm not sure I'd be able to hold it together. She made it through that, but has suffered from it's effects ever since. She was not able to carry her own children, but has been able to adopt 2 beautiful kids--who were definitely sent to her! Within the few years she has had a lot of complications health wise, and a few weeks ago had a tumor removed from her kidney, which they found to be cancerous. BUT, she does not have cancer. They removed the entire tumor, and found no more cancer in the surrounding tissue. She mentioned in her blog that she wondered if it had returned because she lacked faith somehow. I am writing this because I want Amie to know that she is one of the greatest examples of faith I have ever known. Heavenly Father doesn't give us more than we can handle. Not to say I have not questioned why things happen, but we are always forced to remember that we are STRONG! I hope Amie doesn't mind me posting this, I just wanted to put this out there in the blogging world I guess. Amie is not going anywhere because I won't let her! She means too much to too many people, and who'd take care of all those DARN animals?!! And besides, we all know she's too stubborn. Thank you Amie for who you are. You always have and always will give me something to strive for.

It's about dang time!

I am just now adding some family pictures that were taken at Mike's brother Spencer's wedding. It hasn't been too long since I got the CD, and I am a slacker--what can I say? I love how hard it is to get kids to cooperate for pictures! And I always thought the reason we didn't have a lot of family pictures growing up was because we were poor.