I SURVIVED!

Yesterday I had my first EVER hospital experience. I was really scared because I didn't know what to expect. when I checked in I had to get MORE labs done! For the record I think I've had enough lab work done to last for the rest of my life! of course the lab tech wasn't able to draw the blood from my arm so he had to get it from the top of my hand! OUCH! After that I went down to medical imaging where they put me in a room and got my IV in. This was me right before the IV was put in. Jas was trying to make me laugh cuz he knew I was nervous. As you can see I was less than ammused .

I was so nervous about the IV but it really wasn't that bad other than the initial numbing shot the nurse gave me. Here I am after The IV. Even smiling! Can you believe it? LOL! Can you tell I was nervous. It's scary when you don't know what to expect!

We hung out for a little bit and then the nurse sent Jas to the cafeteria and wheeled me into the room for the procedure. Aparently I was awake for the procedure but don't remember any of it! I remember the Dr. explaining what was going to happen, and then the nurse gave me the sedation medicine. The next thing I remember is waking up in a different room and Jas and the nurse were watching Toy Story 2. I slept off and on for the next little bit.


I ate a little food and then after a whie I got to come home. SO there you have it...proof that I Survived my first hospital experience! or I guess the better phrase would be... proof I survived the fear of my first hospital experience. Thank you Jas! I couldn't have made it through this without you!

O' Christmas Tree

One of my favorite things this time of year is the Christmas tree! I love trimming it with ornaments both traditional and sentimental! Jas and I painted these ornaments the first Christmas we were married 6 years ago. I will always cherrish the memory of the day we painted these and how much fun we had!



Nothing is better than sitting by A lit Christmas Tree when all the other lights are off. It gives me time to reflect on happy thoughts, and puts me in the Christmas Spirit. That being said I would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas. May the Chrismas Spirit be with you and yours this great Holiday Season! Here's to a great start to the new year!

On My Mind

Tonight I have a bit of a heavy heart... a lot of people in our life are going through hard times right now. It really puts things in perspective and reminds me how scary it is that things can change in an instant. I just try to remember that we all go through hard times at some point and we need to help each other through them. Sometimes there isn't much you can do except be there... be there to listen....be there as a shoulder to cry on..... be there to help each other get back up! In the end all of these small things are actually a lot. So tonight I will say an extra prayer for all the people going through hard times. Things can only get better from here!

Hunting with the Hubbie

Some believe in lucky and some just say it is fate. I am starting to believe more in luck every day. This is the 2nd year that Mandy has gone with me deer hunting and both years I have taken down my deer. Both times it was right at the end of the season after I had gone several times and nothing. Also both times it was right at the end of the day when we were about to pack up and go home. Most men only dream of their wives hunting with then, but I have the luck of having the best hunting partner. The best part is that she also brings me luck in finding my deer. On the 28th of October I had the day off to give it one more try. I had spent 4 long hard days and sweltering heat wave with no luck of seeing any bucks prior to this day. So the day started off on my own at about 4am in the morning and a long drive to the "No Tell-Um" spot to hunt. As I pulled into my spot I was surprised to find my brother Erik there. We preceded up to our spot and I was able to help him get his deer early in the morning. After we got his deer loaded into the truck he had to leave.
I told him I would be sticking around to try to get my deer. I called Mandy to give her an update only to find that she was getting off early, so I asked her if she wanted to come hunting with me. She said she would, so I drove home to get her. After Mandy used some tricks to get the camo clothes to fit her we were on our way. We drove back up to my spot, and after a little hiking found a place where we could sit and wait to see a deer. We got there at about 3:30pm. After sitting there for a couple hours and seeing nothing I finally spotted a buck. I went up the hill to check it out a little closer only to find it was on private property. Then I thought maybe it would go to the other side of the hill and down on the property I was on. It turns out I was right! Mandy and I headed down and around to the other side of the hill and the buck had come over onto the property I was on. With only a few minutes of shooting light left I got my deer. We got the deer down the mountain and I gutted it. Now we just had to go back to the truck so we could drive in and pick up the deer. The only problem was it was pitch dark! Things look a lot different in the dark and my headlamp wasn't very bright so all we had was the flashlight Mandy was using. Aftr wandering around for about a half hour we finally found our way to the truck. SUCH A RELIEF!!! Even with a few scary moments things worked out in the end. Like I said, I think that I am very lucky and Congrats to Erik for his deer and the Help he gave me this year.

She's Still Got It!

we had a great visit with grandma and grandpa a couple nights ago. as we were leaving grandma showed us she still has a great sense of humor. she saw jasons hat sitting on the table and put it on and posed for us! soooo cute!

Happy Halloween

Here are some fun halloween videos starring some of our ADORABLE nieces and nephews! The first one is Haddon, Ellie, Sydney, Paige, and Savannah. The second one is Brooke, Aubrey, Hailey, Leah, and Cody

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

A Great Mentor

For a while now a lot of us in the family have been taking turns taking dinner twice a week to Jasons grandparents (Who i've completely adopted as my own grandparents by the way). They like us to stay and eat with them which is great! One night after we finished eating Grandma said "mandy lets go paint!" I was so happy she was feeling good enough to paint that I just couldn't say no. For those of you who don't know Jasons Grandma she is an AMAZING painter! She herself would never tell you that, but really she is! Me on the other hand not so much LOL! I have not painted since art class in high school, and that is the only time in my whole life I have ever painted. In my defense I told her that from the beginning. She said don't worry just have fun with it and I will give you tips when you need them. so I said ok and we went to work. It was so much fun! The next few times I went over to their house grandma and I painted together... What a treat for me to spend that time with her! It is something I will never forget! Love you so much Grandma!

This is nothing compared to Grandma's paintings but here is my finished product. Grandma didn't finsh a painting she just worked a little bit on a few paintings she had started a long time ago. When she finishes one of them I will post pictures.

End Of Summer Update

I have completely been neglecting my blog all summer! I know, I know I should be more on top of it. I will do my best to keep up on it now I PROMISE! Since I haven't posted anything for a while here is what we have been up to.....
It has been one busy but TOTALLY FUN summer... we have been camping a few times (which is always great), went to oregon for our anniversary, went to spokane to visit my family a couple times (jas only got to with me once), went to salt lake to visit jasons sister and see my brother while he was there visiting his family (again jas didn't get to go with me :( gotta love retail... NOT!!!), and we took a drive up to redfish lake (which is so amazing!), and in between just worked and spent time with family and friends. All in all it has been a great summer and I'm sad it's over....

I'm too tired tonight but i will be posting A BUNCH of pictures very soon~

HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!

Happy Birthday to the BEST husband ever!!! I love you and hope you have a great day (even if you are at work)!! This year has been a rollercoaster but we made it through it! I look forward to another great year with you! I hope this next year brings you lots of happiness and smiles!! LOVE YA LOTS!!!!

xoxoxoxo
mandy

Times have changed

I miss the way things were when I was younger. People (kids in particular) were so much more respectful. Last night at Jasons birthday BBQ he had to tell 2 kids (about 9 or 10 years old) to leave because they were getting into our stuff. One of them even tried to take off with our camera! UGH!!! what is this society coming to?? I know not all kids these days are like this, but you find it more often than not anymore. What happened to the good ol' days when kids played kick the can, and hide and seek, and built tree forts?? Back then you didn't have to worry about a 9 year old stealing your stuff! SAD :(

check out my kitchen aid

Big thanks to your shop for doing this Jeff!! You guys are awesome!!!! I can't wait to see it when it's all finished!!!

A Little Relieved

For the last month I have had a scare with my liver. I went in for a routine physical and bloodwork. My Dr. called the next day and told me my liver enzymes (ALT and AST) were really high. He did more bloodwork and I went in for an abdominal ultrasound. I ended up going to a specialist last week and she re-ran the test again and also tested me for other things (diabetes, hepatitis, ect...) that can cause your enzymes to be high. All of my tests came back negative and my enzyme count actually had gone down quite a bit. It's still higher than it should be, but at least it has improved. I have to go back in 3 months to re-run it again. The specialist is pretty sure I have whats called fatty liver disease, which (imagine this) is common in TS patients. Luckily this is something that can be controlled with a low fat low carb diet. The problem is diagnosing it because it can only be diagnosed through ultrasound (mine did not show fatty liver disease, but sometimes you won't see it on an ultrasound) or a liver biopsy. We are still not 100% sure that I have fatty liver disease, but more than likely that's what it is. I'm hoping that with ruling everything else out, and my levels improving, she can diagnose me without doing a biopsy. I will know more when I go back in 3 months, but for now all I can do is eat a low fat low carb diet. Thank you for your support and concern everyone! We are truly blessed to have such great family and friends.

weekend in spokane

We had a great trip to spokane this weekend! My mom works for an assisted living home so on friday I went and sang for them. So much fun to pick up that mic again!



Friday Night we got to go visit my aunt and uncle. I had a little geneology lesson! SO much fun to see them!




On Saturday we went to Kettle Falls where we got to stay with my Grandma. My aunt and cousin came over and played games with us. We also got to see my brother and his family. My brother also stayed and played games with us. My sister and her kids stopped by too! I can't believe how big the kids are. It's pretty sad when an 8 year old is almost as big as you are LOL!





We also got to see Dee and Jeff and Hailee. Hailee kicked our butts in wii bowling!



Jason was playing with Hailee and said hey whats that in your ear and pretended to pull a dollar out of her ear. Hailee then tried to put the dollar back in her ear LOL! SO CUTE!!



It's always great to go visit family! I am exhausted from staying up WAY too late chatting and playing games all weekend,but thats part of the fun! We came home and both of us fell asleep. Now time to go back to bed and then work tomorrow. It's great to be home!

The mouths of babes

we just got back from the hotsprings with jasons family. It was so much fun!(we missed you Erik, Nicci, and Savannah, and wish angie and joel and the kids could have been here to come with us! (move back already guys!!!!!!) we swam and played to our hearts content. There was just one thing I couldn't figure out... I was trying to play with our neice Hailey. She always gives me hugs and wants to play, so imagine my surprise when she politely (in her own "hailey" way) declines! what!? my first thought is did i do something that upset her? I couldn't think of anything, but nonetheless there had to be some reason for her polite "Hailey way" decline. I shrugged it off for a while, and then had this conversation with her where she (in her "Hailey" way) declined again. I GIVE UP LOL!

me- Hailey do you want to come swim with me?

Hailey- no!

me- Why not? It will be fun!

Hailey- I don't want to because you're just too small

me- (while laughing) ok well is that such a bad thing?

Hailey- (looking at me with an "are you crazy" look...swam away from me and said "nevermind"

She is too cute for words! We love each and every one of our neices and nephews, and the funny things they say!!!!

garden of glow

Winter 2009

I tried snowshoeing for the first time today. It was so much fun! It was the perfect day to go to Bogus today!