Ryland Thomas Goretsky

Our little boy was born on April 29, 2011 at 3:51 p.m. He weighed 7 lbs. 15 oz. and is 20 1/2 inches long. He's got a head full of jet black hair and can scream just as loudly as Kendall! What a special day for our family! Jason got to come home from Arizona for the weekend. Amelia and Kendall were both excited to hold the new baby and are going to be great sisters for him!

occupational hazards....

being a dispatcher for emergency services is sorta like riding a roller coaster... there are the ups and the downs, the times you keep going in circles, the moment you are floating in your seat, a time you feel like you are about to throw up, a few seconds when you are completely upside down and still trying to function,  laughing so hard that you drool all over your shirt and then of course the ride comes to a screeching halt and your shift is over...

one second you can be talking to a woman who just called 911 because her husband/boyfriend just tried to strangle her in front of their 2 kids, and then the next second you are answering a call about a car that's been parked on the street for too long...

i've had my fair share of the sad, scary, funny, disturbing, unbelievable and "what the heck was that" calls, but there are very few that i let effect me...

i had only been a dispatcher for a few months when i got a call from a female that said she believed that her stolen car was located at her house and that the people who were driving it were involved in a aggravated battery that happened on the reservation... i blew off the call and almost didn't send anyone to check for the car because she didn't seem like she knew what she was talking about... i asked the other dispatcher on duty about it and she said we should send someone just to check... turns out when officers got to the house it looked like someone had been murdered there... there was blood all over the trailer and all over the people inside... we had to call in all the detectives and evidence techs we had... even had to call in additional dectectives from idaho state police... i remember having to call the hospital in utah and asked them to verify that the victim still had both of his eyeballs because we were told that they had ripped one of his eyes out and that it was somewhere in the house... he still had both, thank goodness!  i have kicked myself over and over for this call because if i had been at work alone, i wouldn't have sent anyone to check the area... i always remember my first big mistake..

the first call that ever made me cry (while i was still on-duty, sitting at my station) happened a year ago... it was a 2 vehicle car accident where an older lady ran a stop sign and t-boned a car that had a little 4 year old boy in the backseat... the little boy had unbuckled his seat belt and was just sitting in his carseat unrestrained... the gentleman who dialed 911 was, thankfully, an off duty officer, and very calmly gave all the information i needed with me only having to ask minimal questions... the wreck was not in my jurisdiction, but actually about a mile 1/2 outside of it, but i knew i had units a lot closer than anyone else, so i transferred the call to the county and sent 3 patrol officers to the accident... when the first unit got on scene it was the first time i ever heard that kind of panic in one of my officers voices... the boy was taking a gasp for air about every 15 seconds and had severe head trauma... long story short, he was transferred to Primary Children's and i have been lucky enough to keep track of the little fella through Facebook... he is relearning how to do everything again, but is making big steps to live a functional life... he will be mentally and physically handcapped the rest of his life...

911 call... lady yells, "MY HOUSE IS ON FIRE!"... click... she was so frantic that i was unsure what she said to me and i even asked her, "did you say your house is on fire?"... i tried calling back, no answer... was this a prank?!?!... luckily i got the address because she was smart enough to call from her house phone... i paged the fire department and advised an officer of the information i had... as the officer arrived at the house the windows of the living room were exploding out from the fire... the mom had gotten herself and her 2 kids out of the house and were sitting in their car across the street... it took the fire department 7 minutes to get there from the time i paged them and the house was completely enfulfed in flames... so glad i didn't take that call as a prank... i hate fire calls... the one thing that makes me uber nervous at work!...

the next incident that has had a huge impact on me, just because i have little kids... i didn't even take the call... 2 year old girl was alone in the house with her mom's boyfriend and somehow ends up with severe brain damage... investigation is still ongoing, so i can't give much detail... i have read hundreds of pages of doctor's reports and medical exams and such... the little girl is currently blind, but she is making a bigger recovery than everyone expected... i think about my little girls and wonder how anyone could ever put such a sweet little spirit in the hands of someone they hardly know... the guy had prior child abuse allegations against him... but i guess sometimes love is blind?... not blind enough for me to ever trust just anyone with my kids...

this last experience was actually the driving factor in writing this blog and only happened last weekend... i have felt anger and sadness after this call, and am still questioning why anyone would ever call the police for this... our officers provide funeral escorts for funerals that happen in our jurisdiction... this particular day i had sent 2 officers to a funeral at one of the LDS churches... we rarely know who the funerals are for, it's just a courtesy we provide when we are available... while they are on their way, we get a call from a "concerned citizen" that the people at the church are performing military rights at this funeral and firing rifles into the air and that is against city ordinance.... this guy is probably super lucky that it was not me who fielded the call, because REALLY?  i mean REALLY!?!... what would possess you as a human being to call the police and complain about someone recieving their final military rights at their own funeral!?!... i don't think i can express my actual feelings about this call... to think that this person served for their country... arrgghh!... they are blanks guy, ok?... BLANKS... deal with 21 blanks fired into the air to honor a veteran of the U.S. military and get over it... i just can't understand some people... god bless America...

the things that stick with you... they will always make you a better person... i hope...

my way....

When Amelia was about 16 months old or so, I posted a picture of her on my Facebook page, drinking from one of her bottles.  One of my friends posted a comment that was to the effect of, "Oh my gosh!  She still takes a bottle?!?" GASP!!!

I remember thinking to myself, I'm a horrible mother!  All the literature says that your child should be weaned from a bottle at betime by the time they are 12-14 months, and here I am parading it to the world that my 16 month old still takes her ba-ba!

Well guess what world. That same child, who is one day away from being 3 years old, STILL TAKES A BA-BA!  And I am not ashamed to admit it anymore!

There has only been one thing that she has been attached to in her young existence, and it's the bottle! She climbs into bed, gets out a chunk of hair to twirl around her fingers and drinks that ba-ba until it is all gone.  Every night!  Most nights I will find her snuggled with the ba-ba... this picture was taken 2 nights ago.  She does snuggle with "blue dog" at night, but would give him up in a flash to have the ba-ba.
It's not as though I am not trying to wean her off the bottle, because I am.  I'm just sick of trying to put the poor girl on a guilt trip of "not being a big girl" all because she loves her ba!  How is her sleeping with the bottle any different than say, oh the bink that is in Kendall's mouth - evidence taken via photo the same night!  We brush her teeth regularly, and she doesn't suck on the bottle all night, I take it away once she goes to sleep.  It's actually better than a bink or a thumb if you ask me!  And no, I see nothing wrong with a kid who sucks their thumb or takes a binky either, and I understand the medical reasons of why all these things should not be done.  But, really, what it comes down to, I'm still the mom and will do it my way!

A HORSE!!..

6:35 a.m. - driving to Grammie's house for baby drop off

Amelia informs me that she just saw a horse outside and that I need to turn around and go back so she can get out of the car and pet it! 

Uhhhh... ok honey, maybe another time cause Mommy's gotta go to work!

She continues on that she has decided that she wants a horse for her birthday (in 2 weeks), that I can go and get one and bring it to our house for her party!!

(When did this child get so smart!?!)

I inform her we have no where to put a horse so that's prob not going to happen, BUT I will think about it! 

She yells, "MOM!  We can put it in our backyard!" 

(DUH MOM!) 

I then went ahead and told her that we didn't have a corral or a barn in our yard and so there was no way possible that it could stay in our backyard. 

Do you think this stopped her!?! 

NO!

She said all we needed to do was build the corral and buy a barn and then we would have a place to keep a horse!!

WHAT DO YOU SAY TO THIS!?!?!

Skype!...

My sister took this picture on my birthday.  I was lucky enough to have Jason there to sing happy birthday to me, and it made my day that much more special.  I have to admit that this is one of the most hilariously funny family pictures that I have ever taken, BUT it has so much more meaning than any that have been captured.

I love the program Skype!  I wish they had it when I was stationed in Georgia or living in Virginia!  I would have spent many nights talking with my mom and sisters, being able to see them, rather than just listening to their voices on the phone!

If you have never spent a significant amount of time away from your spouse/boyfriend/lover/whatever you call them, then you may not understand the importance of being able to actually see them when you talk!  Being able to see Jason smile or blow us kisses has a real impact on our kids.  Kendall actually kisses the computer screen to give him kisses goodnight!  The way their eyes light up when they see him sitting there ready to talk, and even the way his eyes light up when he gets to see them is just incredible.  Sometimes, we just leave the computer in the living room and he watches them play and be crazy, which I know he really feels like he's missing out on. 

I know it sounds silly, but we actually scheduled to have a date night last week!  We didn't eat dinner together or anything, but I waited until the girls were asleep so that we could be "alone" and we just sat and talked to each other for 2 hours, uninterrupted!  It was the most glorious night I've had in a long time.  We laughed, I cried (of course) and we caught up on all the happenings of our lives!  I know it sounds weird, but we, maybe, talk on the phone for about 10 minutes on the weekdays.  His day starts at 4:30 a.m. with PT, he gets out of class at about 4:30 p.m., final formation at 5 p.m., PT again at 5:30, out at 6:30 p.m., then he has to eat dinner, and do about 2 hours of homework every night, and he is tired and ready for bed by 9.  It doesn't leave much time for family chats.  And I work weekends so there goes half the day then too.

So, to the creators of Skype, I freakin love you!  Thanks for letting my family be close even though we are far apart!

one of those days....

when you just can't stay awake, no matter how hard you try....

~

stinky Amelia....

with the absence of another adult in the house, time to find a shower has become a challenge for me.  on a rare occasion, Amelia will be so sound asleep that i can take a long enough shower that i actaully get to shave my legs!  however, in most cases i have to wait for her to be absorbed into an episode of elmo's world, sneak downstairs, get a quick wash in, then sneak back upstairs.... in less than 10 minutes... 7 times out of 10 she realizes that i have gone to take a shower and will come down and insist on talking to me while i finish washing.  of course, then she must watch me as i dry and get dressed.... and help me brush my hair...

so yesterday, i was just done drying when i heard her run through the kitchen to start heading down to find me.  we went about our routine and i told her that as soon as my hair was brushed she was going back to bed... i got her all tucked back in and went to my room and was just starting up my laptop when in comes Amelia.  this child, like any 2 year old i'm sure, will find any excuse she can to get out of bed to come and talk to me... this is how the conversation went...

Amelia:  Mommy, I smelled myself and I stinky.

Me:  Really.  Do you think you need a shower?

Amelia:  Yes, but you not stinky anymore.  Grammie is stinky and I stinky so I need to shower with Grammie.

Me:  (laughing)  Well maybe you and skinky Grammie can take a shower together tomorrow!

Amelia:  Yeah.  One day, when I get big, I can stand in the shower all by myself and shave my bod, and shave my pits, and wash all by myself, like you mommy.  When I'm bigger, I can go to counseling! (huge grin on her face!)

Me:  (hysterically laughing now)  Oh Amelia, I sure hope you don't need counseling when you get bigger!  Now go back to bed!

Amelia:  Mommy, will you come sing to me?

Me:  (heart melted)

Side note:  my nephews and niece go to counseling every week, thus the reason Amelia thinks it's a thing that big kids get to do.

cRaViNgS....

guess my cravings with this pregnancy are not all too random... 

craved brownies with all 3 pregnancies!  people say it's an excuse to eat them, but when i'm not preggo i do not eat them every weekend... or even once every 2 months...  

it's no secret i love taco bell, however, i am never a fan of hot, just the fire... started putting this on everything!  used 7 packets on 2 tacos the other day.... ummmm yikes!

devoured about 3 bags of these little suckers... it's not a candy i would choose over, say a butterfinger or reeses pieces, but def passing them up lately... 

greasy pizza... i would probably eat it every day if i could! 

i know this is probbaly the oddest one of all... i crave chinese food just so that i can pour soy sauce all over... what i'm eating is more like soy sauce soup, not fried rice.... yummy!

forever dance partners....

the other night, my dad came running into the house, flicked on the stereo, grabbed my mom and started dancing to one of their songs....

not even 30 seconds later amelia walked into the room, witnessed them dancing, then burst into tears....

no one is allowed to dance with her pappy, unless she says they can...

so as a compromise, she just joined them in their special dance...

and nope, this is not the first time it's happened LOL

making a house a home.... kitchen revamped!

I've been meaning to post pictures of our house that we bought 2 1/2 years ago... now that Jason and I have actually got the place looking how we want it to (or somewhat close) I figure I could start posting the upgrades we have done to our home on my blog.

This house was build in the 1950's, just keep that in mind!

I will begin with the kitchen!  This was obviously not the selling point because it is pretty tiny.  We barely have enough room for the kitchen table, but we make due with what we have!  It was painted in a southwest sort of theme, I think lol, but as you can see the bright orange and brown walls were quite a sight for sore eyes!  So were the gold lights that were all over the entire house!  I HATE GOLD!!  Those lights and all the paint colors were the first things to go!  We were also not very big fans of the white appliances, but we couldn't afford to upgrade and they were all in pretty good shape so we opted to keep the white.

So to make the house feel more "clean", all the ceilings and baseboards were painted white, which I have NO idea why they were painted that weird brown color anyway, it made the house feel a ton smaller!  All the southwest brown and orange were covered with this cactus green, which I wasn't 100% sure I liked, but it has def grown on me!  The cupboards were then painted a vanilla cream color.  They look white in the pictures, but it's not.  And we finally upgraded all our appliances to black/stainless steel!  The cupboard doors have always been a complicated subject.  They are painted with an oil paint and I really don't know what other color to paint them with, so we left them with the reddish brown.  It may look out of place in the kitchen, but it flows with the colors from the living room.  Jason and my dad also had to rip out the cupboard that was above the fridge to make room for the larger fridge.... we never used that stupid cupboard for anything anyway!

  

You would probably never believe that this wall was that horrid orange color.  Yes, the entire wall!  I must not have taken a pic of it because it was just so horrendous that I went temporarily blind!  We replaced the nasty white fan (can't find a pic of it) that used to be there with this one and finally upgraded our kitchen table!  We were using my Aunt Terri's old table, but the color didn't really match anything so we donated it to the DI and gave the chairs to my mom, since she can always use more chairs!  The second pic is from our Super Bowl party in 2009 so you get the idea of how the old table looked with that.

  

A big thanks to my sisters and my mom who spent a lot of time helping me paint and helping watch Amelia, since she was just a wee little babe when this project first started.  I think it took us 3-4 days to finish painting the kitchen, but it was loads of fun!  Times that I will forever cherish and remember!