Week over yet?

Well, this week has found me without my Joshua.  He went to scoup camp on Tues. and won't be back till Sat.  I know he was really excited to go because he got out of swim practice almost the whole week...


I have been keeping busy; Tues. night I went to Golds on University Parkway to go to a Zumba class with a friend from work.  Boy it was fun!  Haven't done Zumba in a VERY long time!  Surprisingly wasn't that sore, either.  Like that!  Then last night I went to my regular gym and worked my biceps & triceps.  That made me MORE sore!  Tonight I get to run!  Maybe one of these days I'll lose what I've been trying to the last 3 years or so.  If not, at least I'm doing something!


We got out garden planted about 3 weeks ago and the strawberries that I planted last year are really producing some good ones this year!  Love strawberries!  Can't wait to see what else grows.  We planted zucchini, red and green peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes and I even tried a watermelon plant.  Hopefully, something will come out of it. 


Been wondering if I should get one of the Pass of all Passes and if I did, how much I would use it.  Hmmmm?


Marlin had a good Father's Day.  The whole family came over for a BBQ.  My mom, dad, sister, brother, sis-in-law with her daughter, Amber, Nate, Desi, Lillie, Ty, Ashly, Jaxson, Carter and McKinnley!  What a group!  Had lots of fun with the kiddos though.

Offically certified

Well, Josh is officially certified to become a lifeguard!  He took the lifeguard training this week since it's Spring Break and now he is ready to become employed.  I can't believe he's old enough to hold down a job.  He's pretty excited about lifeguarding this year.  Hope he can find something pretty soon.  He did get an application from the Provo Rec. Center yesterday so it's just a matter of getting him to fill it out.

High school swimming

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!

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...

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!

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...

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

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!

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

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.

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

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????

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

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

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!

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.

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!

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!

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!

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!