Something that makes the Excursion look small??

Olivia and I stayed at my parents again on Saturday night and then they brought us home around 1pm on Sunday. Jon got home at about 4:30 on Sunday morning with the trailer so he was able to get some rest until we got home. It was good to see him, I felt like I hadn't seen him in a week. Jon's parents brought the twins home just a little bit later which was also great. I hadn't seen them since Tuesday night before my surgery. I was surprised that I missed them so much, little stinkers. They are hard work but so cute!

I was also surprised at how big the trailer was. Jon hooked it up behind the excursion today to move it to where we are going to store it and I couldn't believe how little the excursion looked in front of it. Check it out....

We are so excited to be able to use it this summer! I started a load of laundry this morning and thought I better look through all my pockets since Jon left a black marker in his pocket last time I did laundry and guess what I found?? MY RING!!! I was so excited. I know I had looked in those pockets at least 2 other times so it must have been hiding somewhere. I couldn't believe it. What a huge relief that was. After the kids were all home last night they were getting so hyper because they were all so tired and Cody and Olivia were rolling this car back and forth and just hysterically laughing. I had to catch it on tape. If you have trouble veiwing it click here to see it directly on google video.



I am still really sore and taking both my muscle relaxer and pain meds on a regular basis. I got a call from the doctor this morning that she has had a death in the family and won't be able to see me on Thursday so I am going in this afternoon. I HOPE I get to have my drain taken out. It is so uncomfortable. Wish me luck!

Saturday

We had an interesting change of plans yesterday morning. Jon and I bought a travel trailer last week but had a hard time finding one that we wanted that met our needs, to carry the four wheelers and was a bumper pull and not a fifth wheel. There weren't very many of the used trailers for sale with the separate garage area for the quads which we were looking for. Jon finally found one at a dealership in the Los Angeles area that we purchased last week and were planning to go pick it up in a few weeks when I was feeling better. Jon had one of his buddies offer to help him go and get it this weekend so he could have someone else to switch off driving with. If I went with him I would not feel comfortable helping drive it home. I don't even feel comfortable driving a little trailer behind the car so this would be out of the question. With the twins already spending time at grandma and grandpa Brock's and Olivia spending the weekend with Jon's aunt Clara and uncle John the kids were not a worry. I came over to my parent's house yesterday and will stay here for the rest of today and tonight as well. Jon left yesterday with his buddy Kenny to drive out to California and get the trailer. I am glad I got out of the long drive and that he had someone else to trade off driving with. We are really excited to have the trailer and hopefully it will make camping much easier with all the kids and we will go much more often. Did I say we were excited yet? So it is considered a toy hauler because you can drive the quads straight up into the trailer. Here are a few pictures.

Here is the front of the trailer. The circular dining table folds out into a bed and so does the sofa. Here is the kitchenThis is the garage area that has 2 hydraulic bunk beds that come down. I put some more pictures of it on the picasa site. The link is on the side bar of the page. Jon just called and said that they were able to pick it up and everything looked great. Now he has the fun 15 hour drive in front of him to get home.
I am still doing pretty fair. I was up and around way too much yesterday because I was feeling pretty good and today now I am really sore. The displacement exercises are getting a little less painful but still way uncomfortable. I will be camped out on the couch at my parents for the rest of the day staying on top of my muscle relaxers and pain meds. I can tell a difference in the right and left side. I have a drain in on my right side that is still draining a fair amount but not on my left side. I can tell that my left side is more sore and swollen because there isn't a drain on that side. I slept very comfortably last night on my side so already is it much better than the tissue expanders. Thank goodness!!

Surgery is OVER!!

My doc did end up being able to stay and do my surgery yesterday and I am so glad it is over with!! I was only under for about 2 hours and experienced no nausea, which was such a relief. It was a thousand times better than my last surgery and could even walk to the bathroom with some help right after I got out of recovery. The pain was way less intense than the last one. Don't get me wrong it still hurts a fair amount but nothing like last time. I stayed overnight at the hospital and as always had some awesome nurses. Today when Dr. Brewster came in to release me she showed me these displacement exercises where I have to move the implants around, pushing them up to my neck, together and down. This was very uncomfortable but is necessary so the scar tissues doesn't start forming a tight capsule around the implant. I did have to use a drain on my right side which hurts but is working well. The left side that doesn't have a drain you can tell is more swollen. When Dr. Brewster came out to talk to my mom and Jon after surgery she said that the expander on my right side was pushing into my ribs rather than stretching the radiated skin and that is probably why I was in so much pain from the expanders.
All and all I am happy with the results and SO glad to be done. Hopefully this is my last surgery. On Tuesday I couldn't find my wedding ring and still haven't found it. I am so upset I can't find it. I can't even remember where I had it last or took it off last. Sheesh! My mom came to pick me up this morning in the car since the truck was such an ordeal last time to get in and out of. It didn't hurt on the way home to turn corners or go over the railroad tracks like last time so that was also great. My chest feels so much better with the implants in since they are much more soft. I was even able to sleep on my side for awhile last night which was very uncomfortable with the expanders. Well I am off to bed. Just thought I would let everyone know I am doing alright!

Surgery, or no surgery??

Well I have been doing my best to boost the ole' immune system since I do have a bit of a cough still and still getting over my sickness. Taking the Airborne, juicing my carrots, apples and wheat grass. Today I have been feeling a little better with less coughing so I am hoping that my efforts have worked.

We had a great weekend. Jon decided last minute to go out just the 2 of us on Friday night. It was nice. We went out to eat and then to see a movie. We saw The Other Boleyn Girl. It was fair, sad since it was a true story. I am glad I wasn't living in the day it was okay to be somebody's mistress and then discarded with the trash. It was a nice night since we haven't been out on a date just the 2 of us for awhile.

Saturday I got up and went shopping with Cody to Kohls and Target to get the Easter basket stuff and try to find some zip up outfits for surgery stuff. Man I have also been trying to find some jeans that don't have a one inch zipper and super ultra very low. What is up with that honestly. Not that I want them above my belly button but come on now. I even looked in the womens section. Nothing. I did find some some good "shlumpadinka" (Oprah's term for the mom sweat outfit wearers) outfits for surgery. Saturday night we took Jon's parents to a play that our church put on for Easter called Savior of the World. We had lots of people in our stake and the neighboring Greeley stake participate and it was quite the production about the birth and resurrection of the Savior. It was great, lots of hard work went into putting it on and both my sister Heather and brother Ethan were in it. They did great.

The kids had a great time with the Easter bunny on Sunday.

I got the girls their dresses last year at The Children's Place for 3.99. Nice. My mom got the girls these white gloves to wear for Easter aren't they adorable?

Cody was being his usual "pill" self and not wanting to take a picture, but Jon finally got hime in one...

We went to my parents for Easter dinner with my sister Heather's family and my brother Ethan's family, Jon's Parents, and my Grandma Monday. The kids have always called her grandma great but Cody just hasn't been able to quite catch on yet and is still calling her grandma grape. It's pretty cute. Oh and it snowed here on Saturday night. Go away already...

Today I went out to Greeley to transform my hair. My girlfriend Courtnee is going to beauty school there and I wanted it cut and colored and just DIFFERENT already. Stupid girl (me) aren't happy with it aren't happy without it. Oh well. I do like it though it is more light brown. She put 2 different blond highlights in it and then gave me an A line cut. It is short in the back and longer in the front. But still have all those shorter layers throughout it since they haven't grown out. I really like it. I think it will be a nice change to have more of a style instead of waiting in limbo for it to grow out already. I will have Jon take some pictures of it tomorrow since I can't seem to get any good ones of me doing it myself :-)

So I also got a call today from the surgeon that there are some family things going on and she isn't sure she can do my surgery or not. Nothing like waiting around to find out. She will call and let me know tomorrow if it is a go or not. Let's get this over with!!

Wednesday March 19th

I am still struggling with the cold and cough. Still congested and coughing. With surgery only a week away I figured I better do everything I could to try and get rid of the sickness. I went out and bought my wheatgrass, carrots, and apples. I started juicing yesterday and hopefully it will help boost my system and get me healthy again soon!
The Bachelor started on Monday and of course is just another show to add to my "sinful love of reality TV". (just like Juanita!) Just thought I would mention it because there was a gal on there that is from Loveland, CO. My home town! I couldn't believe it. Don't know her though, it was fun to see my hometown's name pop up on TV. Well that is really all the excitement going on here. Just praying to be healthy by next Wednesday when I go in for surgery!

Sick as a Dog

Wow it has been a long week. Instead of going to the relay meeting on Tuesday night I ended up having to take Olivia to the urgent care office. She had a UTI.
Wednesday morning was really crazy. I did the marathon preschool registration for the twins here in town at Community Preschool. I had to stand in line to get a number at 8am. They did 3 groups of parents. The first group that was able to register was for families that currently have students at Community, the 2nd group was for alumni and 3rd was for completely new families. We fell in the 2nd group since Olivia went there last year. There were people in line starting at 6 in the morning, crazy talk. I was number 11 in my group. I had to come back to register at 9:45. Before the 2nd group even got to register they came out and said all the 4/5 yr old classes were full. WHAT?!? I couldn't believe it. I signed them up for a 3 yr old class and put them on the wait list, but was pretty frustrated. I talked to some other people throughout the day about other preschools since I was pretty sure they weren't going to get in. After devoting all morning to this and not getting in I was bummed. Then after I got home Cody started running a pretty high temperature and coughing. He was sick the rest of the day and wouldn't leave my side.
On Thursday I woke up feeling like I had been hit by a train. I was so sore all over and was getting super hot and then super cold minutes later and my throat hurt. I couldn't believe that I was hit so hard with this. Cody was fine after Wednesday. I couldn't even function the entire day. I called the dr. to make sure that I could still get in to get my last fill and she said that should be fine. I spent the entire morning in bed trying to stay warm and couldn't even get comfortable because my muscles hurt so much. I haven't felt like that since I had that neulasta shot to boost my white blood cells and my bones hurt everywhere. I made it to the doctor to get filled and then spent the rest of the day on the couch.
Friday was the same except the sore throat was so painful it hurt to swallow. I couldn't even sit and work I was so sick. I went to the urgent care on Friday afternoon and I didn't have strep throat, just some virus going around. He was nice enough to prescribe me some cough syrup with codeine that has at least helped a little. Friday afternoon I got a call from the preschool saying that they were adding an afternoon class on Monday and Wednesday and could get into that one with both the twins. I was ecstatic since I had a great experience last year with Olivia. At least the stress of finding them another preschool is over.
Saturday was boring, same thing. Couldn't function and wanted to die. On top of that I lost my voice. Even breathing hurt my throat and on top of that I started getting a bad cough. Saturday was a sad day for Jon.....We sold the Jeep. He's totally bummed, still bummed. Poor guy. It was a fun car but just not realistic to keep around anymore.
Today I finally got a break. The hot and cold and body aches both stopped and my throat even is feeling a little better but is still hurting. I have my voice back somewhat but the cough is worse today. This is just the pits. I hate being sick. Mom and dad were nice enough to take the girls to church since Cody was running a temp again today and now Jon is feeling a bit under the weather. I hope he doesn't get the same thing. So that wraps up my terrible week. Hopefully this next week won't be as bad. Oh, and it is snowing today.....spring, where are you??

6 years later....

Well still dealing with being sore and sitting with my heating pad. Welcome to my world. Today I went to a nursing information session at Front Range (the local community college) to find out more about their nursing program. So the skinny is that there is AT LEAST 2 semesters of prerequisites to take (if I want to be a full time student for a year) before I can get my name on a 3 YEAR WAIT LIST! Then after going to school for a year and then sitting around waiting for 3 years I am still expected to remember everything I learned in those prerequisite classes 3 years ago. Then the nursing program itself is 2 full years. Oh wow. I better have a good memory.
Not that the time is a huge deal but if I want to do this it is either this route or commute 45 min each way to UNC and take the 4 year bachelor of nursing program OR commute to Cheyenne a hour each way and do their 2 year nursing program. That's a lot of commuting. Lots to think about.
I have the first official captains meeting for Relay for Life tomorrow night. They extended the sign up discount of $5 per person until the 15th of March so sign up for my team soon! Follow the link on the side bar of my blog to sign up. Looking forward to doing it again this year.

Buddy Check 9

Hello my family, friends, and lurking readers! Today is the 9th of the month and therefore buddy check 9 day! This is the day that we are all to remind our buddies to do their monthly self breast exams. Remember early detection is key and if you find something, don't let your doctor tell you it's nothing or you're too young to have breast cancer. Coming from someone who is 27 and "too young to have breast cancer", it can happen to you! Keep a close eye on any abnormalities and monitor if they grow or change. Love you guys all!!

We lost an hour last night to daylight savings and the kids slept in until 8:30 (okay 7:30) but it would be nice if they would sleep until 8:30.

I have been pretty sore since Thursday. On Friday I went into physical therapy and basically got a massage under my arms and on my back for an hour. I also was able to try this massage bed called the Sola Jet. You lay down and it uses warm water jets to massage. I would love to have one of these in my home!! I wanted to take a nap afterwards. I am still being vigilant about my stretches and exercises although very sore. Hopefully that is helping to keep me loosened up.

Yesterday Jon took the kids and his parents down to the outdoor show to look at boats, trailers, RVs, etc. I was feeling still really sore and didn't want to over do myself so I relaxed at home and worked. My Mom, Dad, and brother Mason came over and brought me lunch from Costa Vida. Yummy.

Jon had a gentleman take the jeep yesterday to get looked at from a shop and gave us a deposit yesterday. Hopefully this will all work out. He is of course sad to see it go. It has been a fun car and we went on our first date in the jeep. However with it almost never being out of the garage and driven it is very impractical and will get us almost entirely out of debt. Just our car and house left on loans. What a huge weight to be taken off our shoulders!! Hopefully this will all work out for us.

Don't forget about your self breast exams and have a good Sunday!

Thursday Fill Day

I have been really good about doing my stretches from physical therapy in hopes that things would continue to help me out. I think that it paid off. I have been feeling less and less tight and was able to fill 20 cc's at my appointment today. Hopefully I will be able to do the same thing next week. Dr. Brewster said lets just try 10 since that is what we did last fill. So we did 10 and I didn't experience almost any of that uncomfortable pressure so she did 10 more. I am extremely sore right now and have a pain pill in my system but hopefully only one more week. The sooner I can get this over the better!
My surgery I have now scheduled for Wednesday March 26th. 3 weeks baby! Mom came over to help me out tonight fed me my muscle relaxer and pain pill so I am sitting pretty on the couch for the rest of the night!

The 80s Called....

Oh yeah. I had my girls night on Saturday and it was a total blast! My friends Alyssa, Michelle, Melanie, Aislinn, and I all went out to the roller skating rink in Fort Collins.

I can't even tell you how much fun we had. We even all bought those oh so cool glow sticks, because after all we were at the roller rink!

Here is me video taping AND skating at the same time. There is some real talent. Remember to pause the music on the bottom of my blog before playing the video. Does anyone else hate the sound of their own voice on tape? (so if you can't view the video here click here to go to the google page)

Remember my idea from my post on Saturday about the knee high socks and sweat bands? These kids there jacked my idea so next time we go we are going to go all out and dress to the 9's in similar outfits.

There were even moments of falling down laughter!

After skating we went looking for something to eat and ended up somewhere where they had dancing so we took advantage of that and got our grove on for about 10 min.

Notice how there is barley anyone else there? We opened the place up at 10pm! Ha! Here is a great clip! (If you have problems viewing video click here to veiw it directly from google)



Looking forward to making time to do this again soon, for sure! I have many more pictures on my Picasa site.

The twins got to have their sleep over at grandma and grandpa Brock's house last night and it was a nice break. I can't believe how much easier it is to have only one and a pretty independent one at that. I was here ALONE all morning while Olivia was in school. Wow, crazy! But I did miss them and it was good to have them home this evening. We went out to eat with my Dad last night for his birthday and it was fun to spend some time with my parents and brother. Olivia and I went out to lunch today with my friend Jerilyn that I haven't seen in awhile and Olivia fell in love with her daughter Ella. She talked about Ella all afternoon. We went to about 50 stores to find Olivia her "tying" shoes. Now that she knows how to tie her shoes she needs to have ones with laces, so I have been told. (by Olivia) Fine, except nobody carried shoes she liked in her size. We ended up going to 6 stores before finding ones in her size. Wow, what a pain. But thank goodness we found some in her correct size!

I am really tired of my hair.....we have a love/hate relationship my hair and I. Don't have it, hate it. Have it, still hate it. I just have never had short hair and I struggle with the style. So I figured since there is absolutely zero I can do with the style until the front grows a little more I want to do something pretty drastic with the color. Any suggestions from anyone?? (this is where you leave me a comment and /or email me a picture)

A Nice Day Finally!

I think this has been the warmest day of the year. It was in the high 60's here today, but supposed to snow tomorrow...darn! This week has gone by much faster than the week before. I went to physical therapy on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday this last week and I think it is getting some what better. I am trying to stretch it a little every day also. My pec muscles are still super tight but not painful, which is good.
Olivia got the flu on Wednesday night, that was fun....NO! She was throwing up about every 45 min from around 7pm until 2am. Poor girl, she kept saying, "Mom, I hate throwing up." Yeah, I hate cleaning up your throw up! She did make it in a bowl or the toilet every time which was good, but still...yuck. On Wednesday the drywall crew that has been working on our basement finished with the primer and texture. It is really looking great, still a long way away, but looks great! We had the missionaries over from our church for dinner on Wednesday and they had that really loud texture machine on for most of the time there were here. Although that we pretty crappy I had tried this new recipe I got from my sister Amy for the sweet pork that Costa Vida sells. They are similar to Cafe Rio. So I made the meat and then also had a recipe for their rice. Oh wow, it was a big hit. They even took home ALL the left overs. I made burritos so we put the rice, black beans, and all the fixings in the burritos and then smothered them with enchilada sauce and cheese. Yeah, we will be eating this again, lots in my house. Here is the recipe for it:

Costa Vida Sweet Pork/Chicken

(This is so similar to the restaurant and can be used for salads, burritos, or tacos. I have also included the rice recipe that is so good!)

4 Chicken Breasts or 1 pork loin (I used pork loin)

2 Cans jalapeno El Pato (in green can) (If you like the meat really sweet only use one can)

(this stuff I found on the Mexican food isle and it says jalapeno salsa on it and is about 1/2 the size of a normal can, just FYI b/c I had a hard time finding it)

1 cup brown sugar

a dash of cumin

sprinkle of pepper

sprinkle of garlic salt

Combine all ingredients in crock-pot and cook for 6-8 hours. When done shred and use however you like.

Costa Vida Rice

1 cup rice

2 cups water

3 cubes chicken bouillon

½ tsp dried onion

¼ bunch cilantro

1 tsp oil

1 fresh lime

Cook rice with all ingredients on stove or cooker. Squeeze lime juice over rice and mix before serving.

I just used the sauce and beans out of the can.....SO GOOD!!

On Friday Olivia decided that she wanted to play this new game called Maid. She wanted to be the maid and loaded the dishwasher and picked up the kitchen and living room in this little dress up skirt. She also took all the cushions off the couch and cleaned out from under them. I was like, you should play this game more often! It was funny.

On Friday Jon went down to Denver to pick up our new four wheeler. We sold my old one because I wanted one that was a little more user friendly. This one has automatic shift, is four wheel drive and is a little bigger and easier for the kids to ride on with me. Also there are racks on the front and back so we can strap coolers or backpacks on it for long rides. I am really excited to take it out on a ride when it is nicer outside. Tonight I am going out with some girlfriends to go rollerskating and for appetizers. It ought to be a riot! What else are you going to do when your married with 3 kids and don't drink?? I will post some pictures. I think I might wear some short shorts, knee high striped socks, and sweat bands on my wrist and head! HA! Alyssa said like the Jessica Simpson Video where she is rollerskating.......Okay So I just went to find the video, that I have never seen, I was going to put it on my blog but it is R rated in my opinion so I am not going to put it on here. It is called a Public Affair if you want to subject yourself to that on you tube knock yourself out!