The Hubsters

A great day needs a great ending. Our family friends, the Hubbards invited us over for dinner. We love them like family and we enjoyed our visit with them. The boys talked fishing and the girls talked essential oils. 

Isla, their 11 years daughter, really wanted a puppy but they were all spoken for but the people who were going to take this one fell through so her dad said she could have it. She was so happy when I told her she got take this one home in January.

Date Day

Doug's parents got him a gift card for Christmas. We decided to take the morning and go redeem it. We got in the car and drove all the way to Glendale to go to Cabelas Sporting Goods Store. Doug commented several times about how far it was. We were ok with it since we haven't spent much time together lately but it was a hike and I made him pay for the gas in my car for the trek. Luckily gas is cheap right now at $1.98 a gallon!

Once we got there we spent over an hour looking at what he wanted to get. I even found a coupon on my phone. We stood in the long line (not getting a basket for the heavy items was a bad idea). The clerk rang us up and Doug handed her the gift cards. She politely said, "I think that Bass Pro Shop is the only place who will take these cards." Doug was so embarrassed He had gone to the wrong store! We told her we didn't want the stuff and quickly left the store. I laughed so hard. So we then headed to Bass Pro which is much closer to our house.

At Bass Pro the items were much more expensive and it didn't have what he needed there at the store so after another hour of looking he decided it would be better to order online.

Then I got to redeem my gift card to Red Lobster! I love crab legs. LOVE THEM! We even shared so we have a balance to come back again. I loved spending time with my guy before I have to head back to work again. It was a great day.

Kamryn's Turn

Kamryn wouldn't be a normal part of our family if she didn't have some type of medical weirdness. Unfortunately she has been feeling some of the same symptoms that Sadie felt last year and rather than let that blow up in our face I decided to get ahead of it. She gets really light headed when she exercises and almost passes out. I took her to Dr Porter before our deductible resets in January. He did a full work up on her. He did the blood pressure test and he said she also has extremely low blood pressure even when standing and laying down. That can cause her to feel yucky so he said she needs to eat more sodium like Sadie but wanted to rule out infections. When we took her back to get her blood drawn she was all smiles like always.

Until they poked her. Then she was all business.

Christmas 2014

I will have to say it really stinks when your husband works all during Christmas! Add night shift to it and you have 1 unhappy wife. At least we got the one day on Saturday. I was really wanting to have more family time but that's alright. Christmas morning Doug got home around 6:15. The kids were told to be up and waiting so we could open presents quickly cause we needed to head to Granny Slades house for breakfast. I couldn't sleep as usual and was up at 4. I watched some TV then took a shower and got dressed. Some kids were not thrilled to be up so early.

This year Sadie asked that instead of gifts from people she wanted others to do an act of service for someone else. (she writes about it here on her blog Click for the Link)  I did not have tons of time so I bought a gift card and gave it to a family in need. I know others did similar things. She did lots of service for others. Despite her wishes we did get her a gift. I found a great deal on a really nice laptop and she will need one hopefully when she decides to go to college. 

She won't put this puppy down. I think it thinks she is her mother. Doug says she can't keep it but we will see who wins that battle.

Here I am for hours Christmas day getting rid of bloatwear and configuring her new laptop. She managed to get a virus in the first 10 minutes of her using it. I look determined hu! lol. 

Derrik was sneaky about his gift. I woke up in the middle of the night Christmas Eve to all the lights on in the house. I was half awake and I went into the front room to turn off the light and I barely remember Derrik, Sadie and Derrik's friend,  Jayse Hardt in the room. They said I didn't say anything but looked at them and turned around. They were finishing this up with Sadie being woke up as well so she could draw the words on it. So thoughtful. I love it. Derrik received lots of hunting stuff that he is thrilled with. He also go all of us hunting baseball caps in case we feel like looking like hunters. For some reason I didn't get any pictures of him.

Kamryn was Santas helper this year and knew what most everyone was getting since she went shopping with me. She didn't even spill the beans. She is always so kind and helpful. I love that about her. She got everyone very thoughtful gifts and spent the little money she had on them. She made me my gift. When I opened it I thought it was just a picture of her but then soon saw that it was of the 2 of us. It is a snow globe.

We got her a home recording studio setup. I got a smokin deal on it too. I knew she would love it. She is so musical. It is a nice condenser mic that hooks into  mixer box with headphones so she can hear what she is recording. It hooks up to the computer and runs through some nice software so she can make fun edits and then burn it to a CD if she wants. She is not the most technical person in our family (not sure where that come from cause Doug and I both love it) and doesn't enjoy it at all but I told her she needed to learn and figure it out cause it will be fun when she does. She has been working on it and has got some good use out of it already.

Doug got some bike riding gear and a new hunting jacket and some lights and a adapter for his binoculars to go onto a tripod. He got me some fancy expensive bone china dishes. I'll be too scared to use them cause I break everything that matters but they look nice anyways.

After I picked up Denton's kids we headed over to Granny and Grandad Slades house. Doug was still up and getting tired but Christmas is just not the same if you don't get to see at least some family. I really miss home right now especially since it snowed and I haven't got to be in snow for years. Hopefully I can go home soon. Too many busy schedules to work around.

Doug got his parents some really nice gifts. Some quad tires. So glad to get the giant package out of my living room and his momma some hiking stuff.

It was a nice short visit and we enjoyed our quite day home while Doug slept for work the next night. I have a whole 10 days off work so I have lots to get done. Clean house is high on the list. 

Primary Nativity

Today the kids sang in Sacrament for our Christmas Program. I have been so busy with work and home and having been with Derrik while he was sick I did not have much time to prepare the kids to sing. Just 1 Sunday before. Well it showed today in church. First off the kids were totally lost and only sang the first part. Then our pianist played the wrong song and really never figured out she was playing the wrong song even though not 1 kid was singing. It was so pathetic I almost started laugh uncontrollably. When I sat down Doug said "If anyone tells you good job they are lying" So funny. Some people would cry and be upset but it is what it is. At least we have the cutest kids in the world in our ward. 

Then for Sharing Time we combined Singing Time and had the kids act out the nativity and sang songs. The younger ones did not know most of the songs but they were sure cute. I sang the whole hour by myself. The Senior Primary did good and we had so much time leftover I had time left to tell them about my experience when I visited Bethlehem. They liked it. This calling is really hard for me. I hope I get better at it. Doug got called today as a Primary worker. It might be the most I see of him all week.

Christmas

Doug's night schedule has really screwed up our Christmas traditions this year. Since he is working the whole week we did what we usually do on Christmas Eve tonight. We have not spent much time as a whole family lately so it was nice and we all got along even. We ate a nice dinner out and then went real quick to a wedding reception of a kid that use to babysit them. Then we drove around looking at lights. Came home and watched Frozen the movie eating snacks. I even had them open a gift. I have always given them PJs but tonight they got new Sunday clothes. I sure love my little tall family. This could be Sadie's last one home as we have no idea where she will be next year after she graduates. Cherish the moments. Merry Christmas.

1st Chair Orchestra

 Kamryn had her Christmas orchestra concert. She was once again first chair first violin in the high school orchestra. Her little group has really improved and I enjoyed listening to it from up in the sound booth. Kamryn has been focusing on her Regionals tryout coming up in January. 

This is her teacher Mrs. Tryon.

Choral Dinner

December is the month of concerts at our house. I have had to work almost every night this month. At least more than half of the stuff my kids are in. The girls had a very fancy choir dinner. It was so nice. The plates were $40 a piece but I ran the sound so I didn't have to pay. Both of my girls groups did wonderfully.

Sneaky Neighbor Dog Strikes

So while we were on our cruise Bell went into heat. She has been in heat before. We even had other dogs around her to breed her with but none of them wanted anything to do with her. We thought maybe she was broken. Well our little angle had some sneaky neighbor dogs come over while we were gone! She got so huge she couldn't even fit though the doggy door. I could feel her pain. I remember the feeling well.

We have never been dog people or had puppies or anything so it was all new to us. Well the time had come and Sadie was home from school  when she realized Bell was having the puppies under her bed in her winter clothes bin. She had a couple puppies when Sadie moved them upstairs into a kennel. Next thing you know she had 3. We had heard small dogs usually only have a couple especially for their first litter. We also heard they have a high chance of them being dead.

A little while later I got a text from Doug saying there were 5 babies! I could not believe our little dog could have so many.

Then 2 days later Doug discovered there were 6 BABIES PUPPIES! No idea how that happened. They all look like rats to me. Sadie is in love. I am guessing they will get cuter once they can walk and open their eyes. This poor momma is having a hard time keeping up her weight feeding all 6 puppies.

I am pretty sure we won't have a hard time getting rid of them.

20 Years In The Making

Who can believe it! I can't. It has gone by so fast. Doug and I have been married for 20 years! I have been so blessed to be married to this guy of mine. He is such a hard worker and great dad to our kids. We  celebrated by going to Red Lobster and then watching all 3 kids ball games for 6 hours. Couldn't have thought of a better way to spend it.

Here's To Eternity!

Early BBAll

Sadie has really been feeling well for her ball games. She had one on an early Saturday morning in Phoenix so we all went to watch. While we were there they asked Derrik to keep score and he wasn't too excited about it.

Later on I found he didn't seem to mind as much. The reason might have been the 2 pretty college girls that were flirting with him the whole morning.

Live Nativity

I had to work and missed the ward party. Derrik was asked to play Joseph in the live nativity because they had a real donkey and wanted a kid that knew how to handle animals. He said it stepped on his foot but it was all good.

I made him take a picture for me. Luckily the Kleins helped us out with the clothes!

Kamryn was asked to sing. I heard it was beautiful.

Mary and Joseph are a handsome couple I'd say.

Unscheduled Visit

Well Derrik didn't get any better. Monday he continued to have a high fever. Doug stayed home with him. Then on Tuesday he woke up with a very small fever and was feeling better. He even thought he might be able to go to his basketball tournament and play so he had his bag packed but I said no. I went to work as well as Doug went to work. I checked on him through out the day and his fever kept coming back. After lunch I started feeling kinda yucky myself so I went home. As I walked in the door I got a text from Derrik saying "help" so went in his room and he was very hot and crying and hurting. I gave him some medication and after 20 minutes it was up to 104.9 so I told him we needed to go to the hospital cause I was sure he had an infection. He really didn't want to go and I practically had to carry him out to the car. He started complaining his heart was really hurting and said he couldn't wait much longer as I drove to the ER. We have learned our lesson the hard way that going to any other hospital other than Cardons Children's Hospital is a waist of time with his diabetes and it is a solid 45 minutes away. 

When we got there he was in bad shape and they got us right back. So sick. They were worried he had swelling around his heart. He got blood work and pain meds and EKG and X-RAYs done. When he was getting the X-ray he passed out. His fever would not go down. Finally the X-ray came back and it showed he had a full lung of fluid on his left side causing all the pressure and heart pain. 

His breathing and air were good and the Morohine they gave him had kicked in and he was looking better so they decided to release him. Doug was there and so was his good friend Stratton and his dad. I just had a feeling (the Holy Ghost) tell me he was not ready to go no matter how much I would have loved it. So when the nurse with the release papers came in I started asking questions about his fever and his very high heart rate. Derrik was getting mad at me because it sounded like I really wanted him to stay. Then the nurse started to closely take a look at him and hadn't realized his breathing was so fast and his heart rate was fast and decided to have the doctor take a real quick look before she let us go. 

While we were waiting Derrik's fever skyrocketed again and he turned the greenest puke color I have ever seen and was in so much pain! The doctor came in and said no way are we letting him go home. I was so grateful I listened and didn't leave. We would have been driving home when that happened. We got admitted and he was still super hot so they packed him in ice.  

All night he was high and in pain. The doctor came in and said they wanted to keep him another night. The heart pain is a concern as well as complications of diabetes even though it has been good. As horrible as I feel right now sick wise I was glad to stay because I don't want to have to worry and be so far away from the hospital and the antibiotics are in an IV so I think they work faster. 

His basketball team came for a visit after their game on Wednesday. They were so much fun! They were teasing him and they really laid it on thick about how much they needed him to get better so they can win and how much they missed him. They are such good kids and Derriks coach was so concerned about him and has texted and called all week. 

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So it looks like we will be spending Thanksgiving in the hospital but I am just grateful for the Holy Ghost and that we can be in a great hospital with nice smart people, we have good insurance and that Derrik is going to be ok! Lots of blessings to be thankful for today. 

Basketball Start

Sadie and Derrik had their first game this week. It was in Eloy Arizona. I told my boss I would be leaving early to watch the games he asked where it was. I told him and he said YOU ARE NOT GOING THERE ALONE! I told him I was going with Lisa. He said that is a scary place. Well when I got there I needed to run to the store for a girl who needed some Advil. Oh boy Tony wasn't kidding. I think everyone in the store was high on drugs!

The girls did a really great job. Sadie didn't start cause she has missed too many practices. She was fine with it. I stole this picture. I forgot to take pictures of Derrik. The girls rocked it and won 44-17.

Derrik didn't start either but only because the kid that did start can only play in non counting games like this one because he played in another school last year. He is the coaches brother and he is a very large black kid. Super nice too. When Derrik went in though it was apparent that Derrik has earned his place as starting center! He has really improved his game and has proven himself. Even his sister turned around to me and said WOW he is good mom. All his many hours have paid off and I think he is going to have a great season. He did almost get into a fight on the court so that is scary to me but he got himself under control and continued to play well. They won by a lot. I lost track which was bad cause I was suppose to be taking score but I have sports ADD. Can't wait till next week and then we get to see Kamryn play too. Hopefully Doug will be off work enough to catch a few games this year.

My Girls

I think I have beautiful girls. I always think it is a compliment when people say I look like either of them. This week I was in a classroom that Kamryn was in and the 2 boys who she was sitting with about jumped out of their chairs with excitement cause they could tell I was Kamryn's mom. The whole time I was there they were comparing us. Later that day the lunch lady at another campus grabbed me and told me her son was going on and on about a really nice girl and she figured out it was my daughter Kamryn. She said he was a pretty shy kid and she appreciated her being so nice to him. Makes me proud to be her mom even more.

Sick Sunday

Derrik and I have been sick all weekend. I really wanted to go to Eagar to my nieces homecoming but we ended up being in the ER all day instead. Poor kid couldn't keep anything down which is very dangerous for a diabetic. They pumped him full of fluids and he is feeling so much better. He has 3 basketball games next week so he is really wanting a miracle fix.

On The Field

Doug's awesome work gave him 2 tickets to the ASU Football game this weekend. They chose Doug and his friend Tim to go down onto the field before the game and hang out. They got to be at the tunnel as they came out and be around all the players as they warmed up. Needless to say they had a great time. To make it even better they won in an exciting game.

ALA XC Honors

Sadie was given a nice sweatshirt at the cross country banquet for being the most improved runner. She also was honored as a senior. We are so sad that her coach will not be coaching at ALA any more. She is amazing and has taught my kids a great deal.

I put together the video and I think it turned out good. The file is too big so I can't post it.

Basketball Season

Well it starts again! Here come the crazy time. All 3 of my kids made the basketball teams and all 3 are on 3 different teams. They are excited to play again this year. I love watching them which is weird cause I hate sports. There is something about watching your own kid play a sport. I am proud of how hard they have worked to become good at the sport they choose.

They Made It

Krissy and Robert were sealed for time and all eternity Saturday. What a great blessing in their lives. I can't believe the life changes they have made in such a short amount of time. They had a great turnout from their ward for support. Lots of tears of joy were shed. Even Kashley shed a few because she did NOT WANT THAT lady holding her on the alter. We also had to wait a few minutes because she needed to go poop.

We went back to Krissy's house for some fashion shows with Kashley. She changed 10 times while we were there.

Doug was hunting and Derrik had basketball practice so they couldn't make it.

Missing Amber.

I forget how tall I am compared to my family.

ALA State Cross Country

This is the final moments of Sadie's High School Cross Country career. It will be a start of many of her lasts as she finishes her Senior year of high school. I know it won't be her last run though cause she is a great runner and will continue to run throughout her life.