Tagged

8 things I am passionate about:
Family; Acupuncture; Reading; Holidays; Children; Daisy & Duke; Church; Lost

8 words or phrases I use all the time:
"I'm sorry."; "You are so cute." (to Linc or the puppies); "I'm so weird."; "I love you."; "I'm so funny."; "Go to the bathroom." (still trying to train the pups!); "I'm hurting."; "Crap!"

8 things I want to do before I die:
Have more kids; Learn to play piano; Be debt-free; Learn to sew; Become a great homemaker; Read Jesus the Christ; Make sure Linc knows how much I love him; Get in the habit of exercising

8 things I want or need:
Clothes & shoes; Meliss to move back to AZ; Laser hair removal; Linc to be done with school; New car for Lincoln; Rock Band; Kids; Food storage

8 places I would like to visit:
Paris; North Carolina; Hawaii; Italy; Colorado; Spain; Disney World; Egypt

8 restaurants I love:
Whole Grain Bread Co. (not exactly a restaurant, I know); Crackers & Co.; Carrabba's; Paradise Bakery; PF Chang's; Macaroni Grill; Outback; Coldstone Creamery (also not one!)

8 shows I like to watch:
Lost; Gilmore Girls; Dancing With The Stars; Bones; Amazing Race; The Office; Biggest Loser; 24

People I tag:
Anyone who wants to!

Emergency Room

I got to spend yesterday morning & part of the afternoon in the ER. My pain was the worst it has EVER been...so it was bad! I'm pretty tough when it comes to not crying when I'm in pain, but yesterday I was an emotional wreck! I called Lincoln bawling, telling him how bad I was hurting & he told me he was coming home to drive me to the ER. He had to drop me off & go back to work. After waiting for an hour, they gave me Dilaudid which kind of worked...but then my pain gradually got worse again. I had to get another iv with another round of pain meds. These worked quite a bit better. I was sent home with Vicodin. So needless to say, yesterday was NOT a good day for me!

Last night & today have been kind of rough. It still hurts to walk, even being on 2 Vicodin every 4 hours. I went to see my primary care dr. today & actually had a really good visit. She listened to my whole history & asked me what the game plan with my ob/gyn was. When I told her there wasn't one, she kind of freaked out. After calling a pain specialist & talking to me for quite awhile, she gave me a referral to another ob/gyn. She basically told me that I need to keep trying different ob/gyn's (no matter how long it takes) until I find one who will listen to me & help me!!!

She was so nice though, & I really feel like she is putting a lot of effort into my case. I really appreciate her. I also had a good appointment with my endodontist today...my mouth is looking a lot better. Hooray! Let's hope it continues! So that's the latest...I am trying to keep my hopes up and am just doing the minimum right now. Hopefully that changes soon! By the way, thank you to Jana for getting my meds for me & to Erica & Heather for dinner!

Allen Halloween Party 2008

This year there was a petting zoo at the Allen Halloween Party! The kids loved it...& I'll admit, I really liked it too. :) My cousin Krystal and I had fun posing with the llama.
This pig was cute but the little grunts & snorts it was making were even cuter. It was pretty smelly though.
We got to meet my cousin Savannah's little girl Leesie at the party. She is adorable! I love this pic of Linc holding her.

"No, No, No 3"

I went to see High School Musical 3 with Christa & her girls on Saturday. It was so much fun.
We met at the IMAX and were first in line...we had a little while to wait before the movie started. McKenzie was having fun taking goofy pictures of Savannah & I while we waited.
Because Savannah's favorite song from HSM is the one that goes, "No, no, no, no...stick to the stuff you know", she was calling this movie "No, no, no 3". To tell me what movie we were waiting to see, she would say "Nay (Anjane') no, no, no 3!" and would hold up four fingers (instead of 3). It was so cute.

I loved their cute HSM outfits...thanks for the fun time girls!

Visit from Melissa

I really enjoyed hanging out with this girl last weekend. I love having my sister also be my best friend! Melissa & I have always been extremely close. She is going to BYU right now & came to visit us for a few days! We went to Aaron's cross country meet, ate at Costa Vida with my family, went for a walk with the puppies, and just visited with each other. I didn't get to spend quite as much time with her as I would have liked to, but I loved the time we were able to spend together! I always come away from hanging out with Melissa feeling refreshed and uplifted. I love you sis!

Reasons

All day today I have had such a reassuring feeling that Heavenly Father knows exactly what is going on with me and my body. I have to admit...I am a better person when I am in pain. I pray longer & harder & more sincerely. I realize that Heavenly Father is in control of my life and my future. I am less judgmental of others & realize that so many times things are going on in others' lives that I know nothing about. I let people help me more. I appreciate Lincoln more and think of our time together as more valuable. I am more down-to-earth, more humble, and more submissive to Heavenly Father's will. When I am in pain I am almost always thinking, "Why is this happening to me?" but Heavenly Father has made it very clear why. I NEED this in order to become the person that I can be. I know people are praying for me...I can feel it. Thank you!
P.S.- I really felt today too that this pain won't last like it did before. I think this is just a small step back for me...I hope it's a short one too!

Nervous!

This past week I've been feeling lousy. My pain is back (not as bad as before, but definitely worse than its been since I've been doing acupuncture)...I am waking up with pain every day again! I've been on a medicine that's not a narcotic but is stronger than Tylenol. It works well...but I just don't want to go down this road again. I am trying not to think about it too much. I missed working for my parents this week. I watched way more tv than I usually do & stayed in my pajamas all day for two days in a row. I just told Linc a couple weeks ago that I was finally going to bed at night not worrying about waking up in pain the next day. It took me almost five months to get to that point...I've been afraid to get my hopes up that I could feel so good permanently. Ugh... I just had to post & say that I am SO, SO frustrated! I'm sure it will work out, but I can't imagine going back to how things were before. I didn't tell anyone how bad it was (only Lincoln kind of knew)...I don't know if I can handle it again!

Snowflake!!!

This past weekend I went to Snowflake with my brother Aaron & his friend Clint...and I even took the puppies with me. Linc couldn't go because he had to work. I felt bad going without him but I really needed my Snowflake fix...I LOVE it there! I come back with my batteries recharged and feeling very good about life! We left on Friday and ended up having a 4-hour-drive up there...we had to stop for the puppies, I had to make a little emergency stop to pick up a prescription at Walgreens (this last week my pain has been worse than usual), & then believe it or not, we missed the turnoff to go to Snowflake! I know...I've been there probably 50 times & I've never missed it until now. I guess Aaron & I were just too deep in our conversation. We ended up going through Showlow & I dropped the boys off at the football game there, so it all worked out. I spent that night visiting with Linc's parents & playing with the puppies.


The next morning I was able to go to my nephews' soccer games. They are such studs. I learned that I should never bring puppies to a 5-year-old's soccer game. They paid more attention to them than to their coach and kept wanting to sit out to pet the puppies...oops! Poor Jayten got hit in the face with the ball during his game, and cut his lip. He was tough though & made some really great plays.

Pumpkin Patch

Saturday afternoon we all hung out at the pumpkin patch, helping get ready for the maze that night. I got to be with these cuties for most of the day...they make me so happy. :)
The pumpkin patch
Jarod in his boots...
Aaron & Clint fixing the catapult
I got to bring home these beauties...so fun! I am so excited for the holidays!

Lincoln's aunt & uncle run a big haunted corn maze. This is what it looks like this year...it is AWESOME! I got to help while I was there. I didn't know that I could be so scary...I was quite proud of myself! :)

I know I don't look too scary but in the dark we looked pretty creepy. I was in the same area as three of Linc's aunts & we had so much fun. I hid behind this doorway that the people go through & crouched in the corn. Then I would jump up & hiss really loud & shake the corn stalks in their faces. I heard lots of swearing and scared a few people half to death.

At the end, I got to go through. I knew what was coming up & I still was freaked out! There was one part in this dark tunnel...this guy popped up right in front of me and was wearing this incredibly scary mask & I screamed my head off. I can scream REALLY loud too! Lincoln's family was yelling up to me to see if I was ok...I think they thought I was traumatized. Ha ha. It was SUCH a fun night. I wish Lincoln could have been there!

On Sunday morning, Linc's mom & I went to the cemetery and put a little pumpkin next to Jackson's headstone...it looked so cute.

After that, we had breakfast and then left to make it home in time for the primary program practice. The ride home was interesting...the dogs were throwing up the whole way back. I guess they ate too much grass & other stuff up there. It was disgusting. Aaron was gagging because it smelled so bad. Oh, the joys of puppies!

It was an incredibly fun weekend though. I already want to go back up!

Emma's Show

Last Monday I received a call from our friend Emma (age 5) inviting us to a show that night. She made sure that I knew that the puppies were invited & told me that she hoped they would participate. When we got there, Emma gave all of us tickets to the show...even Daisy & Duke :)
Emma played Ariel...
Her mom, Jana, played Flounder, Sebastian, Ursula & Prince Eric...she is quite talented.

Lincoln & the puppies enjoying the show (I was hoping Emma wouldn't notice that they were sleeping during it)
Hanging out after the show...
Emma was so excited that Duke fell asleep on her lap. Jana said that in Emma's prayer that night, she said that she was thankful for Lincoln & I and the puppies. She also said that she was grateful that Duke could snuggle with her & that it was so cute. She is so sweet. Thanks for the fun night Emma, Jana & Jeff!