A Month in Review

A lot can happen in a few weeks but here is the best I can do for now...... We went to the Grand Canyon for Taya's basketball games. I am the assistant coach and she is a fifth grader on a sixth and seventh grade team (something about small schools).

Some where happier than others to be there!!

We went to Thanksgiving in Aztec, NM where Troy's sister Traci lives. The kids had a blast playing with cousins and enjoying the days off. They played moon sand, play-do, made gingerbread houses, wrapped and unwrapped presents, watched movies, and everything else cousins do when they get together. We managed to get a lot of shopping in. We were about the 180th person in line at Sears at 5 am in the morning!! We should have gotten an earlier start I guess. But we managed to get some coupon shopping in on Black Friday as well and that's what counts!! Not sure why they did the belly thing but Sydnee's usually tops off everyones... she just wasn't in the right position!

Sydnee's happiest day ever! Finally gets to ride horses. The weather has been so nice lately they were able to ride for awhile this Saturday, December 6th.

Then in the evening we went to the parade of lights in Williams. It was short and sweet and very festive. We then went to Pine Country restaurant for pie and hot chocolate which turned into biscuits and gravy, hot chocolate, a few pies, and lots of fighting and crying. Reminded us once again why we are only taking Kai with us to the NFR this week.

And then to top it all off we put up the tree and decorations all in the same day/night. I am glad to get it done but can there be that much fighting in putting up a tree, a train, and a few decorations? Yes. I pretty much stayed out of it as much as I could and we let the kids do most of it. At least it will be up three weeks before my moms and go down and away at least a month or two before hers!!

Payce played in the NAU dome on Friday night, I believe it was the 21st. They were supposed to play on Sunday but luckily his coach was able to rearrange it to Friday night. It was exciting and seemed overwhelming to play in there but a good experience for the kids! Football season is over now. Payce will have to move up leagues but is leary of that because he still only weighs 55 pounds, just 20 pounds or so shy of everyone else his age.

Here is Sydnee leading the music at FHE. She loves this part and is so funny to watch do it.

And let me not forget my experience at the hospital! Yes everything was taped up with plastic and it was supposed to stay that way the whole 3 days. Try going to the bathroom like 50 times a day and making everything go through the little hole cut out in the plastic bags!! I drank a case of water the first day to get everything out of me quicker. Then there were the soap dispensers and faucets and door handles covered in blue rubber gloves, classy!

And the path I was supposed to stay on from the bathroom to the bed. I took pictures before I went in and then Troy took the phone out so I didn't have to throw it away on my way out of there. I managed to read Twilight and some of the D&C. I need to watch the movie now and wish there was one to watch on the D&C.

And there you have it..... the new bishop of the Williams Ward. Yes in fact they did call Troy to be the bishop the Sunday before I went into the hospital. And I thought thyroid cancer was a lot to take on this year! So on the 23rd of November he was called and put it. Should I have a five year count down thing going on my blog to show how many more years I get to sit with just me and the kids at church!! This will be ten years now, five years as a counselor and possibly five or more as a bishop... Wow. It has certainly started to change our lifestyles.

And that will be my posting for awhile because I have been able to sleep more lately so I don't get up quite so early with nothing to do. As well as I have a tax class in Phoenix all day Monday, going to the Rodeo in Vegas Tuesday thru Thursday, Taya's basketball tournament on Friday, Youth temple trip on Saturday, Primary program on Sunday, Zoning classes Monday thru Wednesday and who knows I am sure something will come up next Thursday!! Maybe I will finish the Christams sewing projects I have going on or maybe the shopping I need to do or maybe spend 20 hours trying to coupon shop!!

A sweet invitation

Okay so I got invited to the "elderly" community birthday party on Tuesday. It was the lady on the right below that was turning 89. I know a few of them from our ward but the rest I have never seen before. The lady on the left I visit teach and have for almost 8 years now. She is 94. My friend Cami said she was coming because often she comes along to help her grandma and it was her grandma's birthday.

So, as I go and pick up Anita, 94, we head to the restaurant. I pull in only to see all the other women being taxi'd in by who knows and then they walk in. Thier taxi drivers didn't stick around. One of the ladies had two other ladies in with her so she is still able to drive her and miss daisy around herself! So I am thinking what have I gotten myself into? We get into the restaurant and the fun begins!! They immediately start head counting and asking where so and so is and where so and so is and that goes on and on. Then they start their conversations. I am almost certain they were the same conversations from the last party they had. How old are you now Betty? When is your birthday Fay? It was hilarious. I had to break up a few arguments that I thought were going to turn hostile. So we get seated and then came the confusing part..... the menus. Who was going to read the menu for them all? Cha Ching - Wah Lah = ME! Try to explain cheese enchildas, a lunch special, and inflation to 11 women over 80... and not more than once..... good luck! I was the only one there under 75 besides the 45 year old handicapped friend of ours and her care taker. Let me say that I think it was a set up. Cami never showed. So as comical as it was we made it through. I ended up sitting between the birthday girl and the lady who makes the cake each time. I got in a little trouble. The birthday girl kept wanting a piece of the cake really bad so I started slipping her some icing off the side with her fork. She loved it! And just kept wanting more. So I was feeding the 94 year old and the birthday girl the icing and I got caught by the cake maker. Let's just say it was not a nice look I received from her. It may have changed the mood of the party but hey the hot sauce was too hot for them and they were getting hungry. And yes I got a shot from underneath the table just to show the canes lined up and put in a safe place for dinner.!! So then there came the ordering. Wow... should have never told them there was a special but this is how it went. Well after explaining the special for a couple of times, a red and a green enchilada with beans and rice, the two I felt responsible for decided to "share". Oh no! They weren't sure what they were sharing but they felt like they couldn't eat all of the other stuff. Oh and by the way the 94 year old I brought said she was paying for mine or else she wasn't coming... to pay for the gas. So I felt obligated to order a bean and one piece of rice to save her money. Then there was the complaints for waiting for so long for the food and a few other arguments I kind of jumped into to try to quiet down. Then the arrival of the food.... oh no, again!! So they got one order wrong... that was not a good thing and I will leave that to your imagination. But my two... who decided to share, were my next task!! So I cut the enchiladas evenly in half and split the beans and rice and we are on our way but I see the 94 year old giving the 89 year old a big piece of hers and listen to the 89 year old say well it just looks like nothing is there!! It was so funny. When they took bites of things they would ask "What is this I am about to eat?" It was pretty funny. So after cutting cake for all of them and then taking a few of their tickets to the register to pay for them and trying to keep the change straight.... we made it through. It was enjoyable and I met a lot of people in the community and was glad I could help out.

By the way... the enrichment night went well. I left a lot out that I wish I would have covered but time ran out and brain cells. There were a lot of women there. More than usual so that was good. If anything I learned more so hopefully some of them did. Thanks to all the coupon helpers I am sure you will hear from me in the future!

Dehydrating potatoes

So yesterday we decided we needed to do something with the 100 pounds of potatoes we bought from my Aunt Paula that she picked up in Farmington. So I text Jeanne, our most wonderful neighbor and say "You are cordially invited to a potato party at 5 pm" So immediately my phone rings.... a what? So the sucker that she is she shows up!!!

We started the kids on sorting, washing, and cutting a hundred pounds of potatoes! So I am on the internet researching exactly what we are going to try to accomplish. So out on the porch and I totally forgot to take pictures, so mad, but are the kids with pans and bowls all over filled with water, bad potatoes, good potatoes, chicken food potatoes, french fry for dinner potatoes ,and then dehydrating potatoes. I try to stay away from them because I am still radioactive for a few days. So we start the process and Troy is in charge of the knife and me the boiling water and what not. So this was our process.... wash them, cut out bad parts (which meant 3/4 of potato) and then slice into like 1/4 inch pieces but for Taya that turned out to be like 3/4 inch potatoes on some and then you blanch them by putting them into boiling water for 5 minutes or 20 if you lose track of time, and then take them out and into ice water and lemon juice immediately and then let them sit for 15 to 45 minutes whichever you get around to and then you blot them dry and stick in the dehydrator, which by the way holds about 6-8 cups of potatoes and not 100 pounds worth! Then have husband stay up all night checking on potatoes to harden. I woke up this morning to an unplugged dehydrator and one still going. He got tired of getting up so unplugged the powerful one and left the other one going.

That was the process.... and yes Jeanne and her kids showed up for the party. It was a lot of fun and once we got the system down it went smoothly. I dealt with the water and the dishes to avoid touching the potatoes. Jeanne and Troy in charge of the transferring of potatoes from cold pans to boiling pans to ice water pans and then on to blot, dry and put in dehydrator. We are waiting for husband to get home from California to be in charge of the food saver operations! It was a lot of fun even the kids enjoyed it. We had potatoes cooking in the oven for fries for everybody and pizza from Marie and applie pie from Marie and we just had a good time. Now we know we made way too many to fit in the dehydrator but are soaking them in fridge in lemon juice and water to hopefully start a new batch today. We didn't even get to the "good" potatoes. We only sifted through the bad ones to get them used up. I'll take pictures next weekend of htis weekend all over again!

So anyone try this before because it takes some time and I am hoping it actually works. You are supposed to be able to store them and then just boil them for 25 minutes and serve! At least we didn't have to peel them.

Next week we will be having potato soup, potato appetizer, and potato pie while doing the rest! Then we will all hate potatoes and not eat these for our year supply!

New Hobby For ME

Okay I am starting a new hobby now that I have gotten into this enrichment night of balancing budget and year supply stuff. Thanks to all of you for your ideas. I wish you could come on Thursday night but maybe I can send you the packet if you would like.
So here is what happened while trying to do my homework and with the use of Trachel's blog site! I started coupon shopping! Crazy stuff. Makes me feel like I have been getting ripped off my whole life and I am obviously have been but hopefully it won't take too much time out of my life to start this.
So I went to Walgreens, just because I had all the kids and not a lot of time and wanted to experiment. I came prepared with my coupons... manufacturers and in store coupons and Trachel at home, on line, to answer questions!!
This is what I bought in one purchase..... 4 boxes of Kellogg cereal( $3), 2 full size bottles of lotion ($4.50), 2 full size bottles of honey ($8), 1 peanut butter ($3), 2 big bottles jelly ($2.50?) parenthesis are approximate actual costs. So it should have been somewhere around $45. I paid $18. Can you say CRAZY?
Here is what I did... had a manufacturer coupon for $1 off the cereal so I had 4 coupons. The store had a coupon for 4/$10 and if you bought all 4 you got a $2 coupon to be used on anything at Walgreens at next visit (this is important for later transaction). So I ended up paying $6 for all the cereal but really $4 because I got the $2 coupon but I used that for a different transaction. So then the store had coupons for lotion buy one get one free and it was good lotion, honey coupon was $3 coupon so I bought what they had left, jelly and peanut butter was 3/$5. There was probably a manufacturer coupon out there for these but I didn't have time to look. So anyways then I had the coupon from Walgreens to spend $20 and get $5 off! So I needed to get to the $20 and did so. So add this all up it came to nearly $45 and I saved like $26.
THen..... they had Progresso soup, normally $3.19 a can. I used a manufacturer coupon of $2 off 4 cans, the store coupon buy 4/$5. So with my coupons I paid $5 - $2 = $3. So now I am down to paying $3 for the 4 cans so 4 for the price of one. But.... hold on..... I have this $2 in store Walgreens money from previous purchase so I use it and Wa-Lah!! I hand the lady a dollar and am on my way with 4 cans of rich delicious upper class Progresso soup all for the whopping price of twenty five cents a can!! Addicted to coupons!! $5-$2-$2 = $1!! So I saved $11.80 on that. So I bought like close to $60 of groceries for $19. Now just to find what activities i can cut out to start being a coupon shopper. It is going to be fun at enrichment sharing my shopping trip homework with them. Oh ya, I did all this while still being radioative... I will have to blog that later with the pictures of my room all taped up and the whole experience.
And by the way.... I miss our little Kai. She is at my moms until I am less radioactive. It is in her best interest and I am sure she had a great time but we are starting to really miss her.

Our First Snow

I am so not ready for the cold but here you have it for Monday morning with the kids waiting for bus! Notice the metal pole they are leaning against and read story below.

Kai didn't understand the full meaning of snow and "Ice". Needless to say she wasn't all too happy with her first venture out. It was so fun watching the kids from the window that she had to get out in it. She was crying and mad but I wanted a picture so I told her to keep crying, "no problem Mom".

Just the scenery from our driveway. Okay for all of you out there who think they have the smartest best kid in the world, stop thinking this because apparantly I do! I guess here is where I will post what "brilliant" decided to do and truly she is usually a straight A student. So I go into the house with Kai and the kids are waiting for the bus. They all come running in laughing saying "mom, dad, Taya tried it." "Tried what?" "She tried sticking her tongue to the pole outside. " Genious! So they were all so excited because she got it stuck to the pole. I wish I had had the camera and for some reason I couldn't get her to do it again to take a good picture. Way too much Christmas Story movie watching in these kids. Payce always goes around laughing like the little kid on it and now Taya with this high IQ does the worst of all. And then they go on to say... well at least I didn't have to call the fire department to get it off. The end of her tongue was a little red. When it all came out in the end I guess Sydnee decided to try it to but she was bragging and they were too on how hers came right off and didn't get stuck. Hope one of them doesn't ask for a leg lamp for a Christmas gift.

It started coming down on Sunday afternoon. We had a church meeting in Flagstaff that night. It took us over an hour to get to it. But most melted by morning and this is what we were left with. I usually like the snow but have never been more excited for it "not" too come yet. I just can't tolerate the cold yet. I usually can stagger out in this stuff with shorts and a sweatshirt and be just fine but now I am thinking a real "Poofy" snow suit may not even cut it. Maybe I will resort to some Carhart insulated overalls.

So it is 3:30 am in the morning. I guess I am anxious to get to the hospital today and get this whole process over and done. I cannot take anything in there that I wish to keep because it all has to be thrown away in special trash. But let me remind you everything is still "Safe", ha! So there went my Christmas shopping venture on the internet, my three days of intense blog surfing, and anything else I was considering to do for 3 days. Oh well I am writing down my credit card number because apparently I have access to QVC. I am going to resort to doing something I hate, read a book. I finally am giving into reading "The blessed vampire" books. One anyways, the one that cost $6 and I can throw away. Hope I finish it there and am not left hanging. I am also going to try to read a paperback Doctrine and Covenants straight through. Not only will I be glowing with radioactive iodine but the spirit of God! I think I will do lots of exercising and moving around in there in my hospital gown to pass the time and sweat out the pill I don't need, ya right. Thank you to everyone who has helped us through this long process. It has been very much appreciated. Marie, Troy's mom, is staying with the kids today while there is no school, thank you Veterans, and then they will fly solo until Thursday. I am then scheduled to head to Farmington, New Mexico to begin my first classes on Footzonology but the schedule is looking pretty tight and Payce may end up playing his last game in the NAU dome on Friday night so may not make it to Farmington. Thank you to his coach for fighting for a game change from Sunday to either Friday night or Saturday. He knew Payce wasn't playing nor Troy coaching if it was this way so he is working with the Flagstaff board to get the change. I hope to be knowing soon on the outcome of the decision. So there is our story... see you fellow bloggers in a few days and hopefully no more 3:30 am blogging after this.

By The Way, the two kids did not have to sleep in bed rolls in pig pen thanks to the snow and some bargaining which we knew was coming. We got about 6 good hours of drawer cleaning out of it anyways, without fighting. I heard Payce tell Taya, it's kinda fun cleaning it out huh Taya? To find all this stuff.

Thankful for dads

This is Taya's new steer. We bought a different one that was tamed and ready for her but while the owner was in the hospital for an emergency the steers missed a few meals and then when fed hers apparently ate too much, bloated, and passed away. So we went to look at more and Taya decided to go with this one. He, on the other hand, was not tamed.

After a good one hour or so rodeo with "Flash" and Troy and lots of lost blood, we managed to get him back into the trailer and home. It's a good thing my dad showed up when he did with his saddled horse to help drag him back from escaping Troy the almighty who wasn't going to let go of the thing at all costs. I had all the kids secured from it and Taya standing there with the most sickening look on her face ever.

So he got tied to a post for a few days. Apparently that is all it took because after two days she was leading it herself and doing very well. She put him in the shoot yesterday and brushed him and led him around. His name is Flash for a few reasons, Flashy looking, Flash Gordon the super hero - because he looks good, and Flash just in case any more of those rodeo's occur. I'm thankful for Troy to be helping with her because if it were up to me I would have loaded him and drove him straight back to where he came from and get a refund, if the thing wasn't dead before that!

I am so thankful for dads for this reason. I absolutely hate this type of play. And it's okay to say hate because it's true. I even don't watch usually because it wears me out and the end result is always Troy winning and most of the kids crying. It usually leads to an argument with me because the kid in Troy or the competitiveness in him won't even let the kids pretend to have beat him. It is always a crying ending but it must be real fun for them all while it's going on.

But you have to give them all credit. I remember when I was a kid and how much fun it was to run around our house in circles while my dad tried to pop us with his belt. Now that was fun times??? And we played it often. THank goodness for those double wides that you could run in a complete circle around that center wall that supported the TV on one side and the stove and kitchen on the other. You could make it in seconds thru the dining room to the kitchen thru the family room and land in the living room only to start the track all over again. Roller skates were the best.

This is a picture of Riley, Kai, and Syd on Riley's pony in Holbrook. Her dad takes so good care of her and she loves him you can tell. He loves her too. I'm sure it's because she thinks the world of him and his love for chickens and animals. They named their chickens as they hatched on the back porch. At church last week she couldn't quit talking about Ol' Trapper, her new puppy. She kept asking my girls if they wanted to come and see Ol' Trapper at her house. "He even can come in the house."

On the thankful side of things....

This to me is so amazing it almost made me cry. So I have been thinking of what I am thankful for and it just came to me this morning on the phone. I don't mean I don't have much to be thankful for but some really significant things to go along with friends and family and the whole spill. I will be going in on Tuesday to stay in the hospital for possibly three days. The doctor called me to see when the hospital scheduled it for. I told him Tuesday and he then asked if it would be okay if him and his wife made my family dinner (pot roast) that night while I was away. I was speechless. He is such a good person and really care. They seem like we have known them forever but we just met in August and hardly know them. He really wants us to try the steer meat out that he bought from Taya. He offered us some while I was in for surgery but ackward timing. Now maybe you guys have doctors like this but I don't know of too many that even would make the time to do something like this. As much as I wish I wasn't going through all of this I am thankful for him and his care. I am glad we have gotten to know each other and will be seeing him a lot in the future to regulate the thyroid medicine but I thought that was just really neat and wanted to share it with you. If you ever have something wrong with your ear, nose, or throat..... give him a call!

Tiger Football

This is Payce's final year for Tiger football then he moves up a league. They are playing this Saturday and if they win they will go on to play for 1st place out of all the teams from Holbrook, Winslow, Prescott, Tuba City, and Flagstaff. Payce played his best game of the season on Saturday. He believes it is all due to his new hair doo from Halloween. He is sporting the grandpa look. Yes actually shaved the top and sprayed the long hair gray. He looked great. So with that said he does not want to shave it because it is good luck. He also believes that he will just grow out the top and leave the bottom. New philosophy to me but in the Mortensen family hair doesn't grow that fast on the tops of their heads?? He is starting to play really well. He either plays quarterback, receiver, or blocker. He has 130 rushing yards this weekend. The weight limit for 8 year old players is 65. Most of the 8 years olds are on diets. Payce is pushing Oreos down to get to 45. He says he weighs 50 now but that's with full pads and a full head of hair. He probably set himself back a few pounds with the new "doo".

"Toot Walks"

She calls her shoes, walks. So she says "Mom, where me toot (cute) walks?"

Our Halloween Fun

We had a church party last night so we were able to give it a trial run for Friday night. Payce I guess will be the mystery costume because he couldn't actually do his costume last night because of football practice

A Girl Trip

The girls and I went up to Snowbowl with the Hansen's. Jeanne's sister, Stephanie, took a real camera to take some nice pictures of everyone. She is still arranging them and will get us a disc. As for now you get cell phone shots. Troy and Payce were deer hunting. We had a fun time. We had to bribe Kai with a dum dum sucker to even get her to look at the camera let alone smile.

Enrichment ideas

I am shouting out for ideas for enrichment night. It is focusing on financing, balancing your monthly budget, etc. Any of you have any great ideas you have heard, tried, or been taught? You can even include the ones you tried and failed at!! Traci I know you have something going on with your plastic bags labeled with money in them in your purse, a little insight please. I mean I get the idea but is there more info I can give others on that one? I also need some little activity to show the point, a hands on idea.

Where are our imaginations these days??

Okay what we've been waiting for. Troy saw the pictures his sister Trachel drug out and posted so he immediately went to his treasure box to find his to see if he could top her pictures she posted. I am thinking this is a Hobo and he had a napsack. Apparently in Animas New Mexico they didn't have a lot of costume shops and so proceeded to make their own up. I think they didn't get TV reception there and didn't know of the "modern" characters but maybe Holbrook didn't get the reception either because I have some interesting costumes myself. And apparently they dressed up often because one of the pictures was taken in May at a cub scout meeting. I love the pumpkin next to him with the potato ears and red fluffy nose. By the way it won the "Funniest Pumpkin" award.
And oh boy this is Troy being a skeleton. I am not sure if his cheeks were that way always or if the milk carton on his head was just way too tight? By the way there was no note on the back saying this pumpkin won a contest. And now for the drum roll please....... no it is not a masking tape contest..... he is an astronaut. The back of the picture says 5-31-84 (proof that they did this often), and Troy's space costume. And also might I add that it was "The Most Far Out Costume". Fun times and more to come just waiting for Marie to dig up some more years for us!!

No More Money

I have to share this experience with you all. It was just the icing on the cake! When I went to the doctor on Wednesday he told me I need to make sure and have my boss check the payroll and any other important things that I usually do because my mind won't be functioning right. So yada yada I go on and he says you should have Troy take your credit and debit cards away too, yada yada. So today Troy and I were going to run to the mall to get a TV wall mount, instead of putting the TV on a bucket for the winter because it is usually is in front of the fire place. We decide to go into Ruby Tuesdays to have their salad bar because it is sooo good. So we sit down and I look at the menu and see this WHOPPING deal of the day. It's an appetizer, all you can eat salad bar, and any two entrees off the specialty menu for a low price of $15.99. So it's a two for one special. So I kind of show Troy it and he says sounds good to me and we order. I order the shrimp and talapia and he orders some other talapia and we are eating away. We just went in for salad and possibly soup but this great deal we just couldn't pass up. We didn't even touch our entrees we were so full so we boxed them up and here comes the check. It was something like $40 and something cents. We freaked out and then I grab the menu and realize what the small gray print says, $15.99 per person. Needless to say I have now been banned from making decisions and all debit and credit cards taken away!! Whoops!

The Randall's on a mission in Nauvoo, IL

These two people are really good friends of ours. They are serving a mission in Nauvoo, IL right now and love it. We want to go out there to see them before they come home in a year. Garna is Mary Poppins, practically perfect in every way and Burt has to be because he lives with her!! They are some of our best friends even though they are a "tad" bit older. They have a ranch in Ash Fork (you all know where that is), and a house in Mesa. Our kids love them and miss them but we are glad they are enjoying their mission.

"Enjoy The Journey"

Well we are certainly enjoying the journey. I am now free and clear from thyroid cancer as well as a thyroid! It was a long hard summer with hard decisions to make but I am very satisfied with the results and am glad to get back to living. It all started out with this weight loss program I started in June. I was working out a lot and one day had a small TIA (transient ischemic attack or symptoms of a stroke) or a migraine still no one knows. So this led me from the ER room to a cardiologist who noticed my thyroid was large as I was leaving his office, to the urgent care and then through enough x-rays and scans to cause more cancer and blood work until my arm fell off but it all came down to papillary thyroid cancer. So of course you may think you know what it would like to be told you have cancer but until you do, you don't! I am so thankful it was this and not somewhere else because it is 99 to 100 percent cureable. I thought I would try some natural remedies. I still believe they would have worked but I wasn't patient enough with them and I am glad it's just over and done and I don't always have to wonder my whole life. I got really sick from the natural herbs I was trying and was introduced to the "organic coffee enema" to make me get better. Anyways long story but on Thursday I had the surgery and there was no doubt I was taking it out. A decision I struggled with for a month with a lot of fasting and prayer and I didn't mind the weight loss that came with the stress. The surgery went perfect and quick. The incision is just pieced back together not stitched or glued because the doctor says it's the best way for less scarring. The tape stays on for over a week and I can't move my head around too much. I got to come home a day early from the hospital, something the doctor says he has never done before but it all went so good. He is a very good doctor and a really nice person. So now the journey includes me sitting around for three or four weeks with no thyroid supplement until I go back to the hospital for two or three days to take a radioactive iodine pill that will kill off any thyroid cells left behind. Doctor swears it's safe but I am quarantined there, sounds strange to me!! Then I will finally get the thyroid pill and be on the road to finding the right dosage of thyroid supplement. THANKS to everyone for your prayers and thoughts for our behalf, they were truly appreciated and needed. Thank you. And in case I run into any of you in the next few weeks and I say something out of line it is because the doctor says I wil have major mood swings, weight gain, and may not even want to get out of bed. I don't mean anything I say!!!

Okay here are some flashbacks of last years Halloween. Payce likes to dress up and has the funniest ideas. This year he demands that we can't cut his hair until Halloween because he is going to cut it like a "grandpa" so for now we get the long shaggy look. I have a few other pictures of him looking good in his "stretchy pants."

Peenk Owies

Syd decided one day she would finally pierce her ears. She had been wearing these fake clip-ons for a few days and crying every time she lost one. A girl in her class that wears boots, and that's important, has hers pierced so she thinks she could do it. So I took her and she did the piercing and was fine. No tears or anything and she is so happy about them. Well when she jumps out of the chair Kai crawls right up and says "Me, Peenk". So that means she wants pink ones. So I am thinking no way because I like them to appreciate them so they can take care of them so I don't have to, selfish. So I am thinking well if I do it now I won't have to come back someday and I might as well. Besides Sydnee raises her anyways so she will take care of them. So she gets all ready. Picks out some Peenk ones and on her way. The first gun goes off and she immediately is crying. So I am thinking oh well she will be walking around with one earring because no way will she go through with the next one. But she sat there for the second and cried all over again with the second. When you ask her if she got Peenk earrings she says no Peenk Owies!!

Diagnosed my sickness

It was a very long weekend around here and a busy one. On Friday I had set up some sessions for everyone to try out with a "footzoner". It turned out really good and I hope it was helpful. It is my new career, soon to be anyways. Anyways I stayed up really late and got up early Saturday morning and came home and drove straight to Prescott for Payce's football game and then came home that afternoon. I was on the phone with a friend from high school and she asked why I wasn't going horse riding with the rest of the family. Dumb question but since I am more willing to do those "real fun" things with the family I thought well I might as well go. So Troy saddles me a horse and we took off in the mountains. Sydnee was steering Payce and just to let you know you have to drag Payce to go also but he went. So she kept running him into tree branches and close encounters with trees and she would laugh so hard. I kept telling her to stop but you know how that goes!! As we were going up a steeper hill she ran him and herself right under a Juniper tree that couldn't have been a foot and a half taller than the pony. I saw it all happening. I can't believe they didn't fall off and get really hurt but they both were screaming crying and I would post the cuts on their backs but I would probably be getting a call from CPS if I did. Payce then bailed off and rode with Troy and Kai. Sydnee is a little dare devil. But anyways, I believe I was worn out from the weekend but when I flash back to what I really put myself through, the horse ride, I think that is why I am down sick now with the flu and cold stuff. It may be awhile before Payce and I go for a ride again. The others go every now and then and I love it because the house is quiet and Payce plays Legos. They saw and heard elk bugling. It was kind of eary because it was so close but they were excited.

Ponies

Just scrolling thru my pictures and decided to post a few of these because they are cute. I have been reading everyone's blogs and getting ideas and trying to not feel sick to my stomach so I thought what better to pass the time by with another blog! This is Sydnee and Shea at Traci's house in Aztec, NM. Sorry Traci I couldn't crop the suburban out. The other picture is of the baby miniature pony that our little one had. It was born on July 26th in the morning. You can see how small it is compared to two year old Kai. Our friends down the road are going to buy it for A LOT of money and so they have named it Flap Jack (don't know the story behind that....I put A LOT just to see if they pick up on it while stocking my blog). The kids have fun with it though. The barbie jeep picture is just the girls out on a Sunday evening stroll. This Barbie Jeep has entertained them a lot. Only cost $25 at a yard sale, it's one good babysitter. Kai knows that Syd is the driver and just sits on the passenger side ready to go all the time. If Payce decides to go with them her seat then becomes the hood. Payce had a football game this weekend. They ended up losing 12-0 but it was a tough team. I will get some good pictures sometime and post them. Well at least I can say I "journaled" for an hour on Sunday after posting this, let's keep it holy now!!