Marlin, Becky & Josh

High school swimming

2012-02-03T13:35:00.003-07:00

So Josh did the high school swim team this year along with the USA team he is on. I can tell you that it's quite the experience! Meets are done SO differently and, of course, I was there to officiate. There's never enough of those! So I've definitely put my training to good use this year! Josh did well on the team and says he wants to swim on the team the rest of his high school years. I think next year he will definitely be competing at the state meet. Unfortunately he didn't make it this year but he will be there to cheer his teammates on. Go Red Devils!

2011-10-01T16:16:00.003-06:00

So, the school year is off...fall is just around the corner...

Josh is swimming both UV Rays and the high school team this year. Busy, busy. I guess he is liking school so far. Really doesn't say much about it. He did get his Kindle stolen from one of his classes. Really sucks!

Marlin just got a denial from the VA about his claim for his paralyzed diaphram. Really don't understand how they can not see how it's all connected and he deserves to be reimbursed for how they screwed up. So, we file another appeal and see what happens.

Oops again...

2011-07-01T13:30:00.002-06:00

Looks like I'll never learn my lesson of trying to stay on top of this blog thing....

Well, here it is the first ofJuly. What do we have planned? Marlin is up in Montana so Josh & I get to go play for the WHOLE weekend. We're going to spend the weekend up at my mom & dad's place with my sis and her kids and my brother, Rease andSuzi. Gonna plan on going to the Kearns Water Park and barbecue and be lazy. We might even try to squeeze some fireworks in there somewhere.

Josh is still swimming his heart out. Two practices for him in the summer. First is at 5:10 am in Spanish Fork and then at 4 pm in Provo. Been kinda hard getting up in the morning to get him to practice and thank heavens it's almost finished.

Marlin's in Montana working on the cabin up there again. He's planning on being up there for about a month. Of course, I don't know if that means 1 month from when they started working or when he left. Been gone for a week tomorrow. Boy, time is FLYING by!

2011-03-06T19:26:00.002-07:00

We had Josh's birthday on the 19th & 20th. He had invited about 30 people (that included family). About 6 of the boys were able to stay over the night. They spent most of the night outside playing night games like ghost in the graveyard and other stuff. We they got up the next morning we had pancakes and then they all went home about noon. Taylor, Josh's best friend since elementary, was the only one that stayed for when the rest of the family came on Saturday a bar-b-q. Can't believe he's 15 now.

We went to a swim meet on Friday and Saturday. This meet was called Last Chance because it was the last chance to get any state cuts. Josh didn't manage to knock any time off the things that he usually swims but he did achieve one of the goals that he had set for himself. He wanted to swim a 400 yard event and he did that this weekend. He swam the 400 I/M (which is all four strokes in the same swim). He swam it pretty fast, too. Not fast enough for a state cut but he did really good! Next weekend is the BC State meet that he's swimming in and then he'll get a little break until long course starts.

We've also had to check out what he needs to do to get his learner's permit for driving. Marlin had a driver's book for him to study and he read it all in one day and told me he was ready to take the test. Today I had him do a practice test and he missed 1 question. Yikes! I guess he is ready. We probably won't get him to the Motor Vehicle Division this week since it's going to be crazy again but I told him to keep things in his mind and we'll see about next week.

Here we are at the end...

2011-02-26T18:45:00.002-07:00

Why oh why does time have to go so fast???? I really don't understand where all my time goes and why God hasn't seen it in my best interest to answer my prayers and grant me 24 more hours in my days!!!

Well, this month has been SO busy! I've managed to make it to work every day, host 2 baby showers, visit the newest member of our family (Mckinnley), have an overnight birthday party for Josh (can't believe he's 15-almost), get 11.75 more hours of swim official training in, and I still have most of my skruples in tact! Needless to say, I haven't made it to the gym as often as I had been but my goal is to get back to at least 3 days at the gym and 3 days at home. After all, once again, summer will be here before I know it & I won't be any closer to my goal weight than I am now. Better get it together!

Josh has been sick the last 3 days. He was supposed to swim this weekend for the team Heart Attack meet but ended up staying home from school Thursday, running a slight fever; I made him go to school Friday morning because he wanted to swim in the meet (I'm such a mean, ole' mom) but ended up calling Marlin to come get him and bring him home at lunch, and this morning was still running a fever of 100. So, no meet, no state cuts (we're still praying for a miracle to happen next weekend at the Last Chance meet though). He's bummed he ages up right before state but is still happy he was born on Leap Day.

We had a parent/teacher conference just over a week ago and after the threat of grounding for having any '0' show up on his on-line grades, Josh has managed to get everything turned in--and on time! Of course, I'll have to cut him some slack since he's been sick for the last 2 days. I think the last parent/teacher conference we went to was the faster one we have ever been to. It went something like this: Teacher-Hi thanks for coming. Me-Glad to be here. Teacher-Josh participates in class, stays on task and gets his assignments in. He's a pleasure to have in class. Me-I'm happy to hear that. Teacher-Do you have any questions? Me-No. Teacher-Thanks for coming!

Marlin is still have set-backs from his surgery but is also looking forward to being able to go to Idaho and do some work with his brother, Lynn. Not quite sure how that will go but we're definitely looking towards this will high hopes. An attorney finally got back to him and we've been told that the VA probably won't respond to the lawsuit we're filing for about 18 months! We are certainly hoping that things will start to improve with the warming of the weather (if THAT ever happens!)

Another month bites the dust

2011-01-20T09:09:00.002-07:00

Today is now 21 months smoke-free! Can't believe it's almost been 2 years already! Debbie is doing good now that they seem to have her fluids corrected. She's dong 2 2-liter bags a day now but that seems to be helping her improve her levels. She did get another phone call letting her know that there might be another liver for he but itwas a long-shot and they would let her know for sure. The next day they called and said they had to give it to someone else. Bummer! Hopefully it won't be much longer and she will get the call for her.

Josh has really bumped up his swimming times, too. He swam a 200 butterfly at the meet in December in Kearns for the first time and took 1st place! Then at the meet last Saturday he swam it again and dropped 9 seconds off! He also swam the 200 IM on Saturday and dropped 2 or 3 seconds, and anoher 2 seconds off his 100 butterfly! He is really starting to excel. He probably won't have any state cuts this year since he ages-up right before State is held but he'll have an awesome shot at getting them next year.

Marlin is still fighting with the VA trying to get them to realize that his diaphragm got messed up when he had his neck surgery and get them to pay for it. Seems that we are going to have to file a suit. Can't wait till the weather gets better and maybe then he'll feel better.

20 months!

2010-12-20T10:08:00.003-07:00

Wow! I can't beleive how fast time goes. Today is 20 months smoke-free! Yahoo!!!! I tell you, I still have days when I think a cigarette would be just what I needed (like this morning driving in the snow) but then I think "How would it REALLY be to have that smoke? It is really amazing to me that I made it this far considering that I didn't really want to quit; I liked smoking! Thank heavans for my sister who saved me!

Christmas dance

2010-12-16T13:41:00.004-07:00

Tonight's the night for the junior high Christmas dance. We successfully found some clothes for Josh to be able to wear. I told him he better dance wirh a girl so the clothes will be worth it. I will have to take a picture of him all dressed up before he goes to the dance. It's not very often he looks like that anyway.

2010-12-15T17:32:00.003-07:00

It's almost Christmas and I'm afraid I haven't been very good at keeping this blog updated.

We are just plugging along, or trying to anyways. Marlin had his neck surgery back in July and we have since found out that they messed up his diaphragm when they were in there cause now his diaphragm is paralyzed open and any time he exerts himself he can't breathe. Nice, huh? And the thing that's really bad is that the doctor at the VA that did his neck surgery won't even own up to it. So he's had to file for an increase in his permanent disability, which they declined the first time and he's had to appeal that decision. So, needless to say, he hasn't been working and will probably end up closing his business. Too ad, it was going really good till this came along.

Josh is still swimming and doing well in school. Still can't believe he's in the 9th grade now! He has already picked out the car he wants when he's old enough to drive. I told him he better start doing a lot more chores around the house and saving his money. He wants one of the new Ford Mustangs, bright green if you can imagine.

We are going to get our and get the rest of our shopping done on Saturday. We were supposed to go get it done last Sunday but he slept till 11 and by that time I had lost all my ambition.

He has a school dance tomorrow night and we have to go down tonight to get him some dress pants. I hope we can find some that fit him....

New tattoos

2010-09-10T10:57:00.002-06:00

So here are my new tattoos. I got the purple ribbon for my sister, the rose for myself, and the butterfly for my mom.

First day of school already????

2010-08-24T10:36:00.002-06:00

I can't believe it's here already! Where did the summer go??? Josh is now the Senior of the Jr. High.

Last night we went to back to school night and found Josh's locker (successfully opened it) and met all his teachers for this year. I think it finally sunk in Josh's head that summer is over and it's back to work. At 9:00 last night I told him it was time for bed and he got this look on his face that said, "What!!!!! Already? but it's only 9!!!" But he went anyway. When I went to wake him up this morning he sure was anxious to get to school. Marlin gave him a ride and when he asked what time Josh needed to be there Josh said, "The sooner, the better." Just a little eager huh? the first dance of the year is this Friday even. They don't mess around, do they?

Josh also got his first driving lesson yesterday from Marlin. They went up to the Stake Center and Josh reports that he only hit 2 curbs. Marlin said he did good. There was no talk of when they were gonna do it again but Marlin did tell Josh, "Next time let's try not to hit curbs." I guess that means they will be doing it again but you never can tell.

First 5K

2010-08-23T12:32:00.004-06:00

I did it! My first 5K!!! Of course I didn't do it alone. I wrangled everyone I could to do it with me. I managed to get Josh, Taylor (Josh's friend), Aleca and her kids and Heather (a friend from work) to come suffer with me. Josh and Taylor took 2nd & 3rd place for their age group and they didn't even try (I don't think they did anyway). It was great to cross the finish line, though. I wasn't able to run the whole thing though so I think I'll keep trying.

While we were out running, Marlin went up to Deer Creek to do some fishing and wait for us to finish the race. He managed to catch one before it got too hot. When we got done with the race we joined him up there and bbq'ed some burgers and then he pulled the kids on the tube for a bit. It was a great day but boy was I sore from the race.

Medical update

2010-08-14T13:17:00.002-06:00

Marlin was having some trouble breathing and got winded pretty easily so Friday he went back up to the VA and had his lungs checked out. Come to find out he developed a blood clot the entire length of his left arm and a pulmonary embellism at the bottom of his lung (don't know which one). Anyway, so he's back in the hospital and will probably be there until Monday. The doctors are mostly concerned about the clot in his lung; they say the one in his arm is in a small artery and will just disintegrate on its own. I went up yesterday after work and spent some time with him and took him some dinner since he got admitted so late. While I was there, we were sitting by each other, holding hands and watching TV. Marlin let go of my hand and buzzed the nurse and when the nurse came in he commented that he was having a tingling sensation on the left side of his chest and up the left side of his face. The nurse asked him if he had gotten this sensation before and Marlin told him that he had but had associated it to his neck issues. The nurse stated that he wanted to give Marlin some nitro to see if that helped and got the EKG machine out. The nurse got an EKG reading and gave Marlin the nitro. A couple of minutes later Marlin said that the tingling had subsided and the nurse told him that he would give the readout to the doctor and have the doctor come in & talk to him. The doctor didn't come talk to him till this morning but told him that there was no evidence of a heart attack. Quite the scare! As far as we know, he is still on schedule to come home Monday.

I'm back!

2010-08-11T10:01:00.004-06:00

I know, I know--it's been a VERY long time since I've been here. Sorry. can't believe the cummer is almost over and a new school year is getting ready to start. Let's see if I can update on some of the things that's happened over the last couple of months.....

We actually took a family vacation this year! We spent 5 days on a houseboat at Lake Powell. We included my mom & dad, and sister, niece and nephew. There was a 80's high school reunion going as well which my sis & I attended but the most fun was the time at the lake (duh!). I got to spend some time with my girlfriend, Genia, and her husband; who was kind enough to bring his guitar and entertain us for the night. Marlin also invited some friends from Prescott to join us. We all had a great time!

Josh has been doing his usual summer stuff--early morning (5 am) swim practice, then home for a little nap, then maybe some chores, then computer games the rest of the day. Repeat, repeat. He did spend a week at scout camp up in the Uintah's where he earned 5 badges. He's really close now for getting that Eagle. He's now getting ready to start school (9th grade-can you believe it????)

Marlin has had neck surgery for some disk decompression. It's been 3 weeks now and hopefully it's getting better. He's just been holding the recliner down for now but hopefully he'll be back into the swing of things soon.

I am trying to train for a 5K that Wasatch is doing on the 21st of the month. I had set a goal for myself to be able to run the whole way but the way things are going, that's not going to happen. So, I will complete the 5K but I'm going to keep that goal for myself. I would like to be able to say that I ran the whole way for at least 1 race.

2010-04-18T18:42:00.002-06:00

Well, here's the superstar! He is wearing the medal he got for State this year. It is for the 200 freestyle he swam. He came in 6th! The certificate is from the end-of-season party they had. His coaches named him "13-14 year old most improved" along with another young man on the team. YAY ME!!!

I can't believe it's halfway through April already. On the 20th I will have been smoke-free for 1 year! I've been thinking about it a lot and am having a hard time believing it's been a whole year already. Unfortunately the whole reason why I quit (my sister) is still in the same predicament she was in when I quit. We are all just keeping our fingers crossed for her and hoping for the best.

Marlin has been working in Prescott, AZ putting a a metal building for the man we used to work for in Parker. They now have a ranch there and he is erecting the building for some horses and putting in a couple of "apartments". He's home now for a couple of days for doctors appointments because he's been having trouble with his shoulders and tingling in his hands. he got a cortison shot in each shoulder and he says that they have helped. The real test will be when he goes back down to work some more on this building. They also did an MRI on his shoulders and neck and found that he has some degeneration in his neck and that is probably causing the tingling in his hands. So, he is on another pill to try to help with that.

Tomorrow is the big State swim meet!

2010-03-18T20:29:00.004-07:00

Tomorrow we are heading of to Bountiful for Josh to be able to swim in the State Swim meet! He will not only be swimming the event he got the qualifying time for (200 backstoke) but he is also going to be on 2 relay teams! The first relay team he will be swimming the first leg of the relay and will be doing the backstroke. The second relay team he will be doing a leg of the 400 freestyle which is 100 freestyle. In addition to that, he decided to swim 5 events for the non-qualifying (aka BC) meet. He's gonna be one tired young man after this weekend!

My sis and dad are both doing well again. Dad got his soft cast off his foot and he's been told that as soon as the blister on his heel heals he will be able to get a special shoe and start walking! This has been LONG in coming but he's taking really good care of his feet now. And, since he's been in the hospital, he's lost some weight which is really great.

Deb had another chemo treatment cause her treatment team felt that the reason she's had such a hard time keeping her potassium level up is cause the tumors in her liver became more active. She did another treatment to calm them down again. I wonder how many more treatments they will give her before they explore the option of a "live" donor? After all, that's the main reason I quit smoking & I hate the fact that they are putting her life at risk by not having me tested and ready for being her donor just in case.

Phew-made it!

2010-03-02T15:15:00.003-07:00

Well, I managed to make it through last weekend. Between swim meet and birthday party, the jury was out whether I would make it out alive. But I have overcome!

For those who don't already know, Josh got his very first state cut! That means he finally got a qualifying time to be able to swim in the state swim meet at the end of the season, not just the B-C meet. His qualifying time is for the 200 backstroke. It was quite the surprise because that event wasn't even one he had been trying to qualify for because he had so much time to drop. He managed to drop about 28 seconds and just made the qualifying time! I was so happy that I screamed and ran to him and picked him up and swung him around a couple of times. I'm afraid I made a spectacle of myself but I didn't care. I think I was more excited about it than Josh. I don't know, maybe he was in shock or something. He has another meet this weekend. It will be his last chance to get any more state qualifying times and he has about 4 other events that are pretty close. Should be interesting to see if he gets any more.

As for the birthday party--we had it right after the swim meet got over. He had a really good turn-out. We had hamburgers and sausages, cake & ice cream. He had about 8 of his friends that camped out on the floor and we had pancakes for breakfast. They had a Wii bowling tournament but I don't think there ever was a winner cause they all kept dropping out. They also kept the neighborhood awake till midnight playing "night games." But they had a good time (at least I think they did).

Another birthday!

2010-02-26T13:44:00.002-07:00

Can't believe it but that boy of mine and Marlin's is going to be 14 in 2 days! UUUGGGHHH! How does that happen?!?! For his party this year we are having a gaming party at the house. If everyone invited (including adults show up) we'll have around 30 people. Yikes! Since we got a Wii for Christmas we kinda figured between that and the the DS's everyone seems to have now they shouldn't have ANY trouble keeping themselves busy. Some of them will be staying over, too, so it's pancakes galore.

Josh also has a swim meet this weekend so we'll be busy playing chauffer too. He actually starts swimming tonight and will be done before his party starts tomorrow. He's hoping to give himself a really good present and get a couple, or only 1, state cuts. That would be really nice!

So much for this resolution

2010-02-21T20:05:00.002-07:00

One of my New Year's Resolutions this year was to be better at posting to my blog here. And here February is almost over and I'm just now doing it.

As I sit here and think of what's happened so far this year, I guess I know why I haven't posted anything lately. Really haven't had time. My other resolutions have been to of couse, lose the weight I gained back after LA Weight Loss closed their doors and get our finances under control. I have spent many weekends trying to get that done. I have almost gotten all of the receipts accounted for and broken down into the right categories so all I have to do is put them in the program I have for balancing the books. So, maybe I'll see that resolution to the end if not the others.

Dad and Debbie were both in the hospital recently. Dad had foot surgery on his right foot and then got pnuemonia. He ended up in the hospital with what the doctors think is a staph infection. While he was there he gave us quite a scare when he quit breathing and had to be put on a ventilator. He spent 10 days in hospital and had to get another blood transfusion. But he's back home now and seems to be doing much better.

Debbie's potassium got too low once again and she had to have a potassium IV which led to them finding that her calcium was low and getting a calcium IV. She ended up spending 5 days in Huntsman Cancer hospital for all that. The doctors also asked her if she would be up to doing another chemo treatment after the results of the MRI came back and they determined whether they thought that would help her at all. As of right now, I don't know if she's going to do it or not. Will have to find out when I see her next weekend.

I can't beleive Josh is going to be 14 next weekend! This year he's decided to have friends & family over to play the Wii and have hamburgers & sausages. He was thinking about going laser tagging but that's a little more than we can handle this year. His swimming is still going good. He has about 4 events that he's still SO close to getting his state cuts.

Well, it's over....

2009-12-28T10:01:00.003-07:00

Another Christmas come and gone...can't believe how fast the last yea has gone by! Christmas was great for us. Josh let us sleep in until about 7 so that was good. After all the gifts were opened, we loaded everything up in my truck and headed to my mom and dad's house for more gifts and dinner. Yum! It was a great day for us all! I love being able to spend time with my family. Amber, Nate & Desi and Adam came up also. It was wonderful being able to spend some of Christmas with them, too. We did see Ty & Ashly later that night when they stopped by on their way home from their daily adventure. Carter & Jaxson were asleep so we didn't get to see them open their gifts but I'm sure they loved them.

WOW!!!

2009-12-07T14:28:00.002-07:00

Where does the time go? I can't believe I haven't been here in such a long time!

Well, Thanksgiving has come and gone and it was great! Most everyone from Marlin's family was able to make it to Robert's (his brother) house in Alpine. We were all fat & happy when all was said and done. It was great to see everyone and be able to spend some time with them all. Thanks to everyone who helped to make it such a special holiday!

Marlin's father-in-law passed away earlier that week so along with Thanksgiving we all gathered to pass along our final farewells as he left this world and joined Arlene in Heaven. We will all miss you, Marcus!

After the funeral we drove up to Layton for an extended family wedding reception. It was all beautiful and I'm so glad we were invited!

Josh has been busy in the pool, too. He now has 2 "B" times. That means that there are certain times that you have to have to be able to swim at the Invitational meets or the B/C meets. Up till now he has had to swim in the B/C meets but he will be able to swim in Invitational meets for the 2 events that he now has! Yahoo! He's getting ever so close to those State cuts!

I am just busy trying to get ready for Christmas & keep my sanity. I now have 7 months smoke-free so I guess the sanity would be long gone by now if it was gonna go. Guess I'm stuck with it!

6 months smoke free!!!

2009-10-20T15:05:00.003-06:00

Just a quick post - I am 6 months smoke free today!

Truck set him back

2009-09-27T15:16:00.003-06:00

Talked to Marlin the other day and he informed me that I needed to get another job to help pay for his truck that he managed to wreck.

From what I could gather the story goes like this--they were in his truck headed back up to the cabin and he was trying to avoid potholes and ruts in the dirt road, hit some gravel on the side of the road and ran into a tree stump effectively knocking out his front right tire. The truck had to be towed into town and is estimated to be $7800 worth of damage. Thanks heavens for car insurance! We only have to pay the deductible and hopefully the premiums won't be going up. Apparently it's going to take 3 weeks to get it fixed so Marlin's plan is to finish the work on the cabin and then rent a truck to come home. Then when it's fixed he'll have to go back up to get it.

So, instead of being home this weekend, we're looking at maybe Weds. or Thurs., depending on how things go the next couple of days.

Is he coming home?

2009-09-20T18:19:00.002-06:00

Talked to Marlin on Sat. and he tells me that he thinks he may be heading home next weekend! I'm not holding my breath cause it's still a week away but that's better than hearing, "Two more weeks." He says that things seem to finally be coming together and the weather has been helping them out so they've been able to get things done - finally.

The only bad thing about him coming home is the fact that I still haven't gotten the things done that I wanted to. Well, I guess they're not going anywhere so I'll just have to find the time somewhere else. I guess I need to quit reading books while Josh is at swim practice and start working on that "stuff".

Better go eat before it's cold.

Last weekend

2009-09-14T13:36:00.003-06:00

Marlin is back in Montana after spending a couple of weeks in Idaho with Lynn. Hopefully he'll be home in a couple more weeks. What a long time it seems like he's been gone this year.

I haven't, of course, gotten any of the stuff done that I wanted to get done since Marlin's been gone. That doesn't surprise me, though. I never seem to get the stuff done then I resolve to get it done next time he's gone. Etc, etc, etc.

Josh spent Friday night on a scout camp-out up at Schofield. They came back Sat. about noon. He must have had a really good time cause he sure was tired the rest of the weekend.

When Josh got back from his camp-out we went up to watch Nikki in her pageant, the Miss Jr. Teen Salt Lake City pageant. She was SO beautiful! It was a really long pageant (started at 4 pm and ended about 10 pm) but great to watch her be able to participate in something like that! I remember when I participated in mine (many moons ago). It all seems like a blur but it sure was fun! I'm glad she got to enjoy it. Something like that may only come around once in a lifetime. We spent Sat. night and most of Sunday at my mom & dad's. Sure love spending time with my family!

Josh in school

2009-08-28T20:31:00.002-06:00

Well, it's been a couple of week since Josh started school and I guess he's liking it pretty good so far. He has yet to have any homework but I think that will be changing soon. He can't really go the whole year without homework can he? He was picked to be a library assistant so he got to drop one of his classes that he originally signed up for. Some days he's not done anything but make a couple of copies and read! Wish I had classes like that when I was in school! I was a bad mom this year and didn't get a picture of him on the first day. Shame, shame!

I have been busy trying to figure out what we do with all our money (not that we get a lot of it) since Marlin has been in Idaho and Montana. So, I spend all day at work looking at the computer and come home and look at the computer some more. Fun huh?

Going to cut this update short cuz I'm pretty tired and am having a hard time thinking straight right now.

More later!

2009-08-16T16:45:00.003-06:00

Well, Josh, Taylor (Josh's friend) & I tried to go to the demolition derby at the UT County Fair last night but apparently they were all sold out. I didn't realize you had to buy the tickets early. So, the young men rode rides instead and then we got fry bread for dinner. I know, fattening! Well, I've found out that there is a multi-year high school reunion going to be held in Page next June. So, it's back to my LA Weight Loss ways to lose the rest of the weight I need to lose. I'm back to needing to lose 20 lbs. I figure that's 2 lbs per month-knowing how I am, it's gonna take that long to get there, too. I'll be talking to my personal trainer tomorrow to let him that I'm really going to need his help in acheiving my goal. Wish me luck everyone!

2009-08-14T23:09:00.001-06:00

Dahlgren family reunion pictures

2009-08-14T22:50:00.003-06:00

K. I don't know why but I can't post pictures and then add text to the post. The pictures disappear. The post above is all the pictures that I took on our vacation to Montana for the Dahlgren family reunion. ENJOY!

Family reunion, transplant & school update

2009-08-13T10:48:00.004-06:00

Well, well, well. Haven't been here in quite a while. Things have been pretty hectic recently.

First of all, we went to Trout Creek, Montana from 7/31-8/3 for Vicki's family reunion. What a blast !!! I REALLY didn't want to come back. It was so much fun being able to just sit and enjoy the company and do nothing! And the weather was just perfect and it was SO beautiful! I fell in love with the place. And everything there is Huckleberry--huckleberry jam, huckleberry honey, huckleberry ice cream, huckleberry pancakes & scones--get the picture? I did have 2 huckleberry shakes while we were there and loved them. They are just like blueberries but a little more tart. Anyway we sure had fun. Josh & I tried to be able to fly home (thanks for the efforts JoAnn & Roger) but Marlin ended up driving us home and then turning around and driving back up to go work on the cabin up there with Vicki's brothers. He's probably going to be there for 10-14 days and then he's going to Idaho with Lynn to help him build a deck for one of his friends.

School starts next Weds. Josh is SO not ready! I did manage to get him to go shopping for clothes and shoes and to get all the "essentials" such as paper, pens, pencils, backpack, etc. Now I just have to get him to get his clothes out of the bags and hanging in his closet and get his backpack and stuff all together. I still can't believe he's going into the 8th grade! He's now wearing size 10 shoes, weighs 114 lbs. and is almost as tall as I am.

The most recent update on my sister and her liver transplant--we've since learned that the U of U has never done a live donor liver transplant and want to have 3 surgeons there if they were going to attempt it. The head surgeon has told her that 1 of the other surgeons is sick and they don't know when he'll be returning; so he suggested to her that we plan on going to either a hospital in CO or to the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, AZ. He told her that the transplant surgeon at the Mayo is one that he trained himself and felt that would be the best place to have it done. WHEW! So, there will be no more testing for either of us here as all of the tests have to be done wherever we decide to have the transplant done-Debbie is really leaning towards the Mayo. Anyway, it looks like the transplant won't be happening for a while down the road as there has to be some fundraising done and scheduling and other things. I thought it would have been good to know all of this before we got to this point but oh well.

I hope this post finds everyone doing well!

2009-07-29T14:28:00.002-06:00

I can't believe it's almost school time! When I told Josh that I had gotten his registration for school in the mail and we needed to send a check so we could find out what classes he got, he said to me, "Aw, do we have to?" 8th grade here he comes! The summer has gone by SO fast! Before long, we'll all be shivering wishing it was summer again.

We spent the last weekend up at Rockport again. Different campground than last time-it was closer to the water. We had a really good time. Ty & Ashly brought Jaxson and Carter up for the day and Adam came up, too. So good to see them! Marlin took the kids ( Cody, Nikki, & Nikki's friend Chelsea) fishing Sat. morning and afternoon. In the morning Cody caught 3 fish and Chelsea caught1 fish. In the afternoon, Nikki caught 2 fish and Chelsea caught another one. They out-fished the adults this trip! They all went out again Sunday morning but came back empty handed. Marlin & Dad went back out after dropping the kids off and Marlin managed to catch 1 fish. We all had a really good time and the weather was perfect! I LOVE spending time with my family!

We are now getting ready to head up to Trout Creek, Montana! Vicki's family is having their reunion up there and since Marlin has been helping them build their cabin, they invited us to come up and join them. I'm really looking forward to going up there. I'm not sure what they have planned but I bet it'll be fun and I can't wait to see Lynn & Vicki again. It's been too long since I've seen them!

I have pictures to post from last weekend so I'll try to get them on here ASAP.

What have we been up to?

2009-07-09T16:52:00.003-06:00

Well, I didn't realize it's been so long since I've updated! Sorry!

Last weekend was a pretty busy weekend for us. We went camping up by Park City at a place called Rockport. We had never been there before (although Marlin had been fishing there before) so it was quite nice to camp in a new place. Josh also had a swim meet so we had to drive from there down to AF Friday morning. That was quite the day! We left the park @ 5:45 and got back down to AF about 7. Then we had 1/2 an hour to kill before we had to be at the pool (I overestimated how long it would take us to get there). We spent that time in the AF Wal-Mart since there aren't that many things open that early in the morning. We really didn't feel like eating then so what else do you do? Anyway, the meet was OK for Josh. No state cuts yet but he keeps inching his way towards them. He has another meet this Sat. where he's hoping to get them. We'll just keep our fingers crossed and see what happens!

I was finally able to start the tests I need to do to find out if I'm a liver match for my sister. I got my blood typed last week and although I already know what type my blood is, they had me go to a "certified" lab. I don't know is next but I am glad we have finally been able to get the ball rolling. Only 11 more days & I will be at 90 days smoke-free! Some things are still really hard to get through but I've been able to remember what I'm doing all this for & it makes it worth the sacrifice.

Marlin is still working his butt off. He's been up to Idaho to help his brother on a bathroom remodel, is laying tile for someone over in Orem right now and is lined up to go back to Montana to work on the cabin that he's been helping do for the last couple of years. Busy, busy. Not only that but he had to take a day and celebrate his birthday yesterday. For his birthday dinner we went to Tepanyaki. We had never been there before either(boy we've had a lot of firsts recently!). They have pretty good food there and for those of you who have never been, it's cooked right in front of you. It was pretty cool to watch it all being done right there. Very filling, too. I felt like I was going to explode. Marlin's brother, Mike, made a strawberry cheesecake for Marlin, too. Hope he had a good day.

2009-06-07T16:44:00.002-06:00

Josh had another swim meet Friday afternoon and Sat. He did really well, too. He just keeps inching closer and closer to state cuts. The next meet is on the 26th and I'm hoping he'll be able to get those cuts at that meet. He is really close on the 50 free, 100 back, 100 free and 200 free. All of them are within 15 seconds of being state cuts. The way he's been chopping the times down it's not a far stretch to think he could get them.

I just can't believe that school is over either! Josh made honor roll all year long! His final GPA was 3.58. He says that he's not an 8th grader yet. He says he's a "summerther" right now. LOL

I also can't believe I'm past the 45 day mark of smoke-free! I still have cravings now and then but not NEARLY as often as I did. I think the most times I crave them is still when I get in my truck or I'm on a long drive. I'm still having a hard time being tired during the day and of course the food issue is still giving me fits but I seem to have maintained my weight pretty well for the time being. Right now I'm just waiting for the day to come that Debbie's doctors call me and tell me when I can start all the testing for the liver transplant. She's been doing really well lately and I hope she can keep being as strong as she has been. I can't believe how strong she is! I only hope that if I am ever faced with something like she has been I can be as strong.

I really have to get back into going to the gym 3 times a week and back on my treadmill the other times. I need to get back on track with eating like I was taught at LA, too. I know that will help a lot. Even though they split on me like they did, I know the way they teach you to eat works for me & I need to do it like I did when I first started there (so long ago). I'm using the picture of the winner of the most recent Biggest Loser as my new inspiration. I figure that if a 48-yr.-old woman can get herself back into shape, so can I.

Marlin is back from Idaho for good-right now anyway. He's still planning on going back up to work on that cabin he's helped with the last couple of years but that won't be till the end of July. He's been busy doing little jobs for people but at least it's bringing some money in. He's been doing some fishing, too, which is always good for him. He took Josh & Desi out Friday morning and they came home with 11-Josh caught 5, Desi caught 4 and he caught 2. From what Josh said he spent most of his time baiting hooks and not enough time fishing. But they all had a good time. He also got out with my dad and Josh last Sat. They caught 5 then I think but Marlin lost one down the fish cleaning drain. So, we've been able to get our fish stock back up recently. Should have a nice fish fry on father's day. Right now he's up a Deer Creek with Brad and Aleca-he just can't get enough!

Boo Hoo!

2009-05-12T14:36:00.001-06:00

Boo Hoo!

Posted using ShareThis

Lovin' It!

2009-05-08T10:58:00.003-06:00

The weather I mean! I just wish I was able to do my job outside. Then life would be great!

Josh brought home 5 ribbons out of 6 events from the swim meet last weekend. He got a 9th, 10th, two 14th, and a 16th place. (Yep, they ribbon for lots of places). He's going on a scout camp-out tonight up to Strawberry and they are going to do a service project up there, too. He was "in charge" of getting it all set up (which is why I got to make the phone calls, etc). They are going to pick trash up at one of the day areas - I think they decided on "the Ladders".

Marlin is coming home today and staying until next Weds. I think. He's got a job here to do (yahoo). The job in Idaho is going well enough I guess that he can take the week to do this job then he's back up there to finish the other job up. I'm not sure when he's planning on going to the cabin to work on it but I know that's coming up pretty soon, too.

Oh, Happy Mother's Day to all the moms that I know out there that read my stories here. I hope you all have a great Mom's Day! I think we are going to have a bbq and enjoy each other's company and the weather.

Swimming update

2009-05-03T18:07:00.002-06:00

Well, another weekend, another swim meet. We are in long course now and Josh swam in 6 events this weekend. He swam the 50 freestyle, 100 free, 100 back, 100 breast, 100 butterfly, and 200 free. He was able to knock 5 seconds off his 50 free, 11 seconds off his 100 free and 18 seconds off his 100 back! He is having to swim the longer distances now that he's in an older age bracket so he had to establish times in the other events he swam. But, we were able to have steak once again for dinner! (For those of you who don't know, each meet he is able to better his times in all of the events that he swims, we have steak for dinner). If he keeps this up, he will definitely have state cuts this course.

He's still looking for donations for his fund-raiser, too. We're only about 1/3 of the way to his goal this year so if anyone is looking to help, please let me know.

I had to get him some more tennis shoes and he's now wearing a size 9! I can't believe how big his feet are getting (maybe that's why he swims so good).

Today we celebrated my bro's birthday. He's 32 today! Can't believe that either! Gosh I'm getting old! He's been doing really good in school and should have his computer graphic degree really soon. Some of the stuff he's done is awesome!

I have some pictures that I need to get on the blog so as soon as I can, I'll get them there so keep you're eyes open.

Bye for now!

2009-04-24T10:37:00.002-06:00

Just checking in I guess. Some things I didn't get in the other day.

On Monday I guit smoking! I'm going to try to find a clock that counts up so I know when I have my 90 days in. Why 90 days? Cuz that's when I am eligible to be a liver donor for Deb, my sis. Yep she needs a transplant. so, I'm doing everything I can to be that donor. I only hope that I'm a good match for her.

Oh, and my veggies are sprouting! Now I gotta figure out what to do with them so they keep on growing. Where to put them, hhhhmmmmmm?

I can't believe school's almost over! Where does all the time go? If I'm not careful, Josh will be graduating in a blink of my eye! Yikes!

Josh's swim team has their fund raiser going again. It's the one that he has to swim 200 lengths of the pool in 2 hours or less. He's trying to have enough donations that he can get a team backpack as a prize. So, we'll be trying our best to get him there.

Marlin's coming home tonight for about 4 days, too. Him & Lynn are putting a coat of mud on the drywall they hung and then he's hitting the road. He'll be home until Weds. morning and then back up to Idaho.

We're also having Jaxson & Carter's 1-year birthday party Sunday at our house. Can't believe they're already a year old! Gonna bar-b-q and have cake and ice cream, I guess.

2009-04-21T19:31:00.002-06:00

So, the weather has been absolutely beautiful the last couple of days & I'm loving it! I am SO ready for summer! I even got some veggie seeds and planted them in a little interior greenhouse. Of course, I have NO idea where to put them once they sprout. Guess I'll cross that bridge IF they sprout.

I've also quit smoking! For those of you who don't know, my sis has to have a liver transplant so I'm the right blood type and a family member so that smoking thing was an obstacle I needed to get rid of. So, no-brainer right?

Anyway, we also started another Biggest Loser at work. Yes, I still have about 15-20 lbs. to lose. My goal is now to get there for the 4th of July. I'm still working with a personal trainer once a week but I really need to concentrate on my food and eating the way I was with LA. Hate to say it because of the way they really dropped the ball, but it worked when I worked it. So, starting tomorrow, it's back to eating the portions the way I was.

So, Marlin is still up in Idaho. He's coming home Saturday though! He has some doctor appointments to get taken care of so we get to enjoy him for 4 days!

SPRING VACATION!!!

2009-04-15T21:28:00.003-06:00

First of all, this is my first post! secoundly, YAY ITS SPRING VACATION!!!! NO school until monday! Dad went back to Idaho today so thats a bummer. But im ready for the rest of spring vacation!

BC State finish

2009-03-25T11:40:00.002-07:00

OK, so here's how he finished. On Sat. he had 2 events--100 Freestyle and 100 Backstroke. He knocked 3 secs. off the free and 1 1/2 secs. off the back! All in all, it was a great meet for him! Now it's on to long course. I think the first meet for long course is on April 22 but nothing has been set in stone yet. More info and updates to come so keep checking back.

It looks like Marlin is off to work with Lynn doing some remodel in Idaho or Wyoming or somewhere up there for about 6 weeks. He's planning on leaving on April 6th. Yay for the work, boo for it being so far away. But I guess you have to go where the work is....

BC State meet-day 1

2009-03-20T18:40:00.002-07:00

Well, it's State weekend for swimming. Josh is swimming in the BC State meet, which is like the junior state competition because he didn't have any state cuts. Of course, turning 13 right before state sure makes it hard to get state cuts. Josh was named as an alternate on a couple of the state relay teams so we had to be in Bountiful where the meet is being held Thursday night in case one of the team members didn't show up. Unfortunately, all the team members were there. So, today he had 3 official events that he swam: 200 freestyle, 50 freestyle and 100 breaststroke. He did most amazing on his 200 free - he knocked of 8.66 seconds and now is only 25 secs. off his state cut. That may seem like alot to most people but he could prabably knock that off in 2 meets. On his 50 free he actually added .73 seconds to his time but got a bad dive. On his 100 breaststroke he knocked off 2.64 seconds but got DQ'd cuz he didn't touch both hands on the wall at the end of one of his laps (refs can be so picky sometimes!) Still, personal bests on 2 out 3 events. Not a bad meet so far. Tomorrow he swims the 100 free and 100 back.

Josh's birthday plans

2009-03-03T15:47:00.004-07:00

OMG! What a weekend we had! Friday night (2-27) Josh had a swim meet here in Provo from 4-9:30-ish and again we were back at the pool at 7 am. He swam until about 12:30. He got personal bests on 5 out of 7 events he swam. My little Olympian! Then it was go home and get ready for a birthday bash. You know, you only turn into a teenager once so you have to make it memorable! We didn't do the "usual" thing of going somewhere this year. Instead we had everyone come over for hamburgers, Johnsonville's and chips; with cake and ice cream of course. Then those kids that could (there were 10) stayed over and tried to get through the night without falling asleep. By the time midnight came around, there were only 3 left standing-Josh, his friend, Wade, and cousin, Scott. Then we had breakfast and they all played some more before everyone starting drifting back to their own homes. I asked Josh what time they finally all crashed and he said that it was probably about 3. I think everyone had a good time and I KNOW I'm still trying to recover.
I was hoping to have this posted long before now but I haven't had time to download my pix from the party.

2009-02-14T11:12:00.003-07:00

K, so I know I haven't been here in forever!!!! And I get mad at everyone else for not updating regularly.

Well, let's -- what's been happening? Josh has made it through the 2nd semester of school and we already have a countdown going of how many days of school are left. I think we're down around 70 days left. He just can't wait for school to be over. (Imagine that!)

Marlin hasn't been working that much. It seems like not too long ago he was wondering how he was going to get all the work done that he had and now all of those people have backed off . The economy (and the weather I think) have really slowed things down. I'm hoping that when, and if, the snow goes away people will start coming back to wanting their places done. He's also been sick for the last 3 weeks. So far, Josh & I haven't caught it yet (knock on wood). We both had a little scratchy throat but I started popping the zinc & vit C and got medicine into Josh and was able to ward it off. Hopefully neither one of us will get it.

Josh has had another swim meet but wasn't able to get any closer to having State cuts. There's 2 or 3 more meets that he might be able to get them at but time's running out fast! There's a chance that he'll be on the relay team even if he doesn't get any cuts though. That would be cool!

Well Happy Valentines Day everyone!!!!

2009 New Year's Day party

2009-01-04T20:47:00.004-07:00

Had a great time at our New Year's Day party! Everyone was able to come over and we played darts, had beef brisket & salmon and just had a good time in general! Hope eveyone else's day was just as good!

2008 Holiday Open meet-Kearns

2009-01-04T20:07:00.000-07:00

OK, below this post is the latest swimming pix I took of Josh. He amazes me every time he gets in the water! You can't tell how well he's doing at practice but it sure shows at a meet! He is SO close to having some state cut times! It's just a matter of time now.

2009-01-04T20:06:00.001-07:00

Happy New Year!

2008-12-31T08:56:00.004-07:00

Just a quick note to tell everyone Happy New Year and we hope that the new year treats you all right. May we all be blessed with wonderful family and friend's times and enjoy each day we have.

I have some picutres that I will be posting as well as a swimming update for Josh as we were in Kearns Monday & Tuesday for a meet. More in the next post! Keep watching!

Our Christmas

2008-12-28T21:01:00.003-07:00

We had a very nice Christmas-all around. I didn't get the presents wrapped until Christmas Eve; finished about 1:30 AM Christmas morning. Thank heavens Josh isn't that early of a riser! I would have been in BIG trouble. As it was, it was kind of a long day, but we all made it through. First we opened the gifts we had at home and then got ready to go to my mom & dad's house for more presents and dinner. My sis & hubby with her kids were there; as well as Amber, Nate & Desi. I'm a slacker so I don't have any pictures but it was fun; and the food was great as always. I sure love this time of year; everyone seems to be a little more ready with a smile and courtesy. And I especially love being able to spend so much time with family and friends. We try to spend as much time as we can during the year, but Christmas seems to make it that much more special and reminds us how important family is.

A great big thanks to Robert & Sandy for having us all over for an early Christmas gathering at their place. The weather kind of kept a lot of people away but for those of us who did make it-it was awesome. And Sandy made us use our brains even-having to answer Christmas trivia questions! What fun!

Swim update

2008-12-21T20:23:00.003-07:00

Well, the meet on Saturday was much faster than I thought it was going to be. We got to the pool about 7:30 and Josh was all done swimming by 10. He did very well, though. He swam the: 50 backstroke, improved his time by about 1.5 seconds; 50 breastroke, got the same time, and then established a time in the 100 breastroke. He almost got a 'B' time in the backstroke (which basically means that he almost got a State cut). That's his goal this year: to get some State cuts. There's another meet in Kearns on the 29th & 30th so hopefully he'll be able to improve even more.

I'm still not ready for Christmas. I finally bought some cards to get them in the mail. I did manage to get all my family gifts made and a few delivered. I also got all the cranberry/orange honey made for all the people at work that I wanted to give some to. 57 jars!!! I hope I can get everything else taken care of!

Brrrrr

2008-12-19T10:49:00.003-07:00

Well, I'm always one for a white Christmas, but why does it have to be so cold?!?!?!?!?! Well, the last couple of nights have been kinda crazy (what else is new?) I'm trying to get gifts made for work as well as family. I don't know why I do this to myself every year. I still have half of my shopping to do, a meet tomorrow in Cottonwood Heights and then another one on the 29th & 30th in Kearns. Josh is running out of meets to be able to compete in and he wants to get some State cuts this year (that's his goal anyway) so we're probably going to hit every meet we can. I keep asking for 24 more hours in my day but I have a feeling that if I got that wish granted, it still wouldn't be enough! Well, guess I better see how much I can get done today.

Where have I been?

2008-12-16T07:48:00.003-07:00

Well, I don't know how many people check back here, but it seems the honeymoon has worn off on me & my blogging.

Things have been going pretty good. Hectic really. I've been trying to get a much better grip on my organizational skills. At work we are now required to take an hour lunch break so I've been putting the time to use by getting caught up on things that are suffering at home--like balancing the checkbooks, my recipe book, and being able to actually run some errands that I usually have to wait to do after work. So far, I think I'm making better progress. This time of year my nights have been busy trying to get homemade Christmas presents done and mailed before Christmas. (What a novel idea, huh?) I'm also looking into starting with a personal trainer for about 3 months. I just can't seem to get to where I want to be and I've about reached the point I did when I made the decision to start LA Weight Loss. It's really starting to get frustrating again! I get within 10 lbs. to lose and just keeping losing the same 3 lbs. over and over again. Maybe a trainer is what I need to shake me up a bit. Guess we'll see what happens.

Josh has been swimming his little heart out. We've been to two meets since I last wrote. The first meet he got disqualified in one of his events cause his goggles came off when he dove in and he had to swim blind. He didn't make it to the end of the pool and got turned around and ran into the lane line and had to stop to see where he was. His other 3 events went well, though. Yesterday there was a "mini-meet" with the team in Orem. He swam the 50 breast and 50 freestyle. He was able to knock 2 seconds off both events! He's getting SO close to having some state cuts! Because he's going to be 13 when the state meet comes around, he's had to push himself a little harder because the times are faster. He's also going to have to start swimming longer distances because they only have 2 events that are 50 yard events. The meet this Sat. he's going to swim a 200 freestyle for the first time. I'm so excited that he's still doing so well and still loving it!

Guess I better get to work and get something done. I promise to do more posting!

Trixy

2008-10-27T12:35:00.001-07:00

What a month!

2008-10-27T10:15:00.005-07:00

Well, it seems like it's been forever since I posted last. So much has been happening and I can't believe the month is almost over!

Well, I have managed to celebrate another birthday. It was the big 4-0 this year (doesn't feel that old though). We had a b-b-q at our house and everyone was able to make it! I just love it when the whole family can come together!

We just spent the weekend in St. George. We went down to help clean out Grammy's condo and get it ready for Jenny and the girls to move into. Kind of hard to be there knowing that Arlene's not there anymore. We had a suprise party for Paulene, too. She had NO idea! It was great to see her face when she walked into her house!

We also stopped by and saw Marcus at the Assisted Living home where he's at. I need to do a much better job of staying in touch with him.

We went and saw the production of Thriller at Tuachan Ampitheater. Josh and I really enjoyed it. Josh now wants the song downloaded onto his I-Pod and he wanted to know if we could buy the DVD of it. I doubt they have it on DVD but I told him I would check into it.

Josh is now a Life Scout

2008-10-02T13:03:00.004-06:00

Well, the boy is sure moving up in the world fast! Just last Tues. night he received his Life from Scouts! Eagle is the only thing he has left! I can't believe it!

Things are just about the same for me. Day at work, rush home, rush to swim practice, rush home, go to gym, eat dinner, go to bed on some days-the others are the same except I don't go to the gym. I still have 10 lbs. till I get to my goal weight so I should probably be doing the gym more but oh well. I'll get there eventually. Of course, my birthday is coming so I know it won't be happening any time too soon. We are getting ready to do a "Maintain-Don't Gain" at work over the holidays. Should be fun. There's about 7 people in my dept. doing it so I know I won't be alone.

Marlin has been working on an addition over in Orem. I'm just glad that he hasn't slowed down even though our economy has. It seems there are still people who have money to spend. Thank heavens for that. Sure is having a hard time with it, though. Can't seem to find good help these days. Hard to keep the customer happy when the project doesn't seem to be moving forward.

OH! I also got a new dog. She's a little Pomeranian and her name is Trixy. She's a little cutie but she's an instigator. Her and Cookie play fight with each other all the time. I'll will be posting some pix on Sat., I hope.

2008-09-15T13:33:00.004-06:00

K, so it's been a while since I posted. Thought I'd better get you all caught up. The last couple of weeks are pretty much a blur. Seems like the vicious merry-go-round is spinning faster & faster out of control! Josh had an overnight scout camp-out to meet the new scout master. He seems like he's a really nice guy and excited to be scout leader. Hopefully the boys won't scare him off too soon. They went up to Fairview Canyon and did some fishing and stuff. Josh said no one caught anything & they froze their butts off Fri. night, but he had a good time. Marlin went hunting last Sat. but only saw a 3-pt. sneaking off. Said he didn't even have time to raise his bow. Oh well, better luck next year. I spent the majority of my "free time" working on Josh's swim team's bulletin board. It was quite a bit of work in the beginning but now that the base of it is done, it won't take much to update. Thanks heavens for that! At least I was able to drag some of my scrapbooking stuff out and put it to some use. It's a shame that I have all these neat tools to use but not much time to use them.

Yuba Labor Day 2008

2008-08-31T19:52:00.005-06:00

We went 0ut for the day to visit mom, dad, Deb, Dan, Nikki & Cody at Yuba Lake. We didn't want to camp out there due to the last time we did, we almost lost the boat and the fact that the fishing is so bad this time of year. Anyway, the kids all got to play in the water and sand, we had a really nice dinner (Dan made his terrific rainbow stew), and then we go to have some "real" entertainment when Dan and Marlin had to pull some guy out of the lake. The wind had started blowing real bad and everyone was hurrying to get their boats and sea-doo's on their trailers and this guy had already been stuck a little further down and had to be pulled out by Dan and another truck. Then he came down to where we were at and got stuck again! He had a big four-wheeler in the back of his truck plus a little four-wheeler on the trailer for the sea-doos. Too much weight! Marlin and Dan were eventually successful at pulling him out and we had the biggest crowd of gawkers and supervisors ever!

Nikki's birthday party

2008-08-31T16:01:00.005-06:00

Spent most of the day at Nikki's birthday party (she's 11 now!) at the Oquirh(I probably didn't spelll that right) Fitness Center. They had some really fun slides and a HUGE bucket that dumped water on people about every 15 minutes. At first Desi wouldn't go under the water from the bucket but by the end of the day, she was running over there before anyone else! Josh, Desi & I really had a great time and wished we could have stayed longer - much longer!

First school dance!!

2008-08-29T11:05:00.004-06:00

Josh went to his first school dance last night! He said he had a good time and that his legs really hurt when he got home and I asked him how it went. When he told me his legs hurt, I said, "You danced with someone?" He told me no but that didn't mean he didn't dance by himself. He said that there was 1 friend that he hung out with and they had fun. I was acutally surprised that he wanted to even go. One of these days he'll be going to these things and actually enjoying the company of a girl (that's scary!)

Adams/Kidd Family Reunion

2008-08-24T21:40:00.004-06:00

Well, I have tried to put this text with the slideshows that I have for the family reunion but for some reason, the slideshow quits working when I add the text. Anyway, I had to break the photos into 2 slideshows. I hope everyone enjoys looking at them as much as I did taking them. Sorry there aren't more (probably a good thing with all the trouble I had with the ones I did take). Sorry, too, if I didn't get everyone who attended. I tried to get at least one of everyone.

2008-08-24T21:38:00.001-06:00

2008-08-24T21:34:00.001-06:00

Josh's report on school

2008-08-21T14:07:00.002-06:00

Well, when I asked how his first day was he said, "Fast." I guess he had a little trouble getting his locker open as he tried to open the wrong locker. All was well, though and he made it through the whole day. I think he's gonna like Jr. High just fine.

First Day of School

2008-08-20T15:41:00.003-06:00

The day has finally come and Josh has started Jr. High! I can't believe how fast life goes by! I think I spent the majority of the morning hoping that he gets his locker open OK. It's now 3:42 pm and I haven't gotten a phone call telling me that he never made it to Tammy's house so I'm gonna take that as a hint that everything is OK. Will have to let you all know what he says when I ask him how is day was. I also got a couple of pix this morning that I'll post.

Adams/Kidd Family Reunion

2008-08-19T10:53:00.002-06:00

Wow! What a good time we all had! Spanish Fork River Park was a great place to hold our reunion! Things were a little slow getting going but once we were there the fun began. We even got a BIG surprise when Vicki's brothers, Rick & Bill dropped in on us and joined in the festivites. Once we all got set up and settled in, it was time for horseshoes, playing kids (who wanted to keep playing all night long), golf chipping contest (a big thanks again to Rick & Bill for the prizes), food and great company. There was a pretty intense horsehoe contest between Aleca, Amber and Cori for a winter jacket, which Aleca won. The golf chipping contest was between just about everyone who could swing the golf club. Sandy was the big winner there and took the golf putter. The weather was just perfect, not too hot and very sunny. The wind blew in the afternoon just enough to keep us all cool but stopped a soon as the sun was going down. We had bonfires both nights (we decided to stay until Sunday) and there were marshmellows roasted. All the food was great (as evident when I got on the scale today)! The first night we had hamburgers and hot dogs with all the trimmings and the second night we had steaks that were bigger than our dinner plates with all the trimmings. Breakfast on both mornings was provided by John, Aunt Connie & Cori which was eggs with sausage and pancakes. The last night Robert started a game of passing a Nerf football and you could say something about the reunion, tell a story or joke, or whatever you wanted to talk about. There were many good things said and missing Grammy was mentioned a couple of times. I think that she would have been proud at the turnout we had and was smiling down on us the whole time. Roger and Joanne even flew in and we all got a chance to meet her son. I think everyone had a super time and we were all sad when it was time to roll up and head back to our respective homes.

Well, here we are!

2008-08-14T15:33:00.001-06:00

OK, so we decided to take the plunge. It seemed like everyone but us had a blog so now we've can be conformers (bloggers), too.

School is just right around the corner and Josh is going into the 7th grade. Can't believe it!!! Tonight is Back To School night so we'll be able to meet all his teachers and I'll get to kinda take a tour of the school.

I'll get around to posting some pix when I have a bit more time.