And You Thought You Had Problems...

Now I know that you can always find someone out there that has a harder trial, or sadder story then you. Everyone's trials are different. Mine just happens to be my extra-ordinary health! I would not be categorized by any means in the healthy column. I have had my fair share of medical problems. My running list is as follows, if anyone was keeping track...under the list of Surgeries: Gallbladder, Hysterectomy, Decompression of the Brain for Chiari Malformation, and Back Surgery for Tethered Cord Syndrome. Under the list of Diseases: Ulcerative Colitis, Thyroid Disease, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Fibromyalgia, and the newest one that they are looking into is Eosinophilic Esophagitis, but basically I have Autoimmune Disease and all of these are just the different parts of my body that my immune system has decided to attack. Sadly there is not just one doctor to take care of Autoimmune Disease so they send you to a bunch of different one's who all gladly except your money.

So my newest doctor that I have been going to is an Allergist. I have never been to one and found it very interesting. Apparently, I do belong in a bubble! So far I have just taken one of the tests, the pollens, and I am pretty much allergic to everything! If you have never been to an allergist this is what they do...They lay you on the table and you take off your shirt and they prick your back with lots of different tiny needles with what ever it is they test on you. Then you wait, and they tell you NOT to move or scratch! Now I have experienced my fair share of 10's on the pain scale but this is a whole different experience all together. It wasn't the pain that got me (which there was some burning, like little drops of acid dropped on your back) it was the being told not to scratch then putting stuff on you that makes you itch like no other! I was so allergic to some of the stuff that I had big welts on my back for a few days. I go back for my food allergy test next week!

So why you may ask am I putting myself through all of this...well I have had a sore throat for a little over a year now. Now you may think big deal...well think about it this way, how would you like strep throat for over a year!!! Yes that is at some points the pain level of my throat. It hurts and sometimes is hard to swallow. For a while I was having trouble breathing, but they stretched out my throat and now I'm doing better for now with that. This new autoimmune disease Eosinophilic Esophagitis is basically you have had an allergic reaction in the throat, usually something you eat, and your immune system goes to help out, well with this they think my immune system just hasn't stopped "helping" out, and continues to attack my esophagis. So they send you to an allergist to find out what is causing the reaction to start with and then you are suppose to stay away from that thing. If my life were only that simple! (And sadly yes I think that is one of the simpler sounding solutions to a disease!)

As Josh and I have found out in our lives with me and my health it rarely is THAT simple! When it was first suggested that maybe the answer to what is causing me to have a chronic sore throat, I started paying attention to what may be making my throat hurt more. Because some days were worse then others, some days I didn't have hardly a problem then others I wanted to ripe out my throat. A pattern started to form. Now.....I don't know how to say this without it sounding mean......but I was better when Josh was out of town and we didn't kiss. Josh and I have always joked that I was allergic to him, but when you have to tell your husband for real that you suspect that you really are allergic to him....tell me, how does he not take that personal? 

So Josh went with me to the Allergist and we asked him about what I was thinking. I really liked this guy he listened to us and he asked us a bunch of questions and he said that it was possible and that he has heard of it, but that he didn't know a lot about it and needed to study up on the subject. He did have Josh spit in a cup and took a needle and pricked my arm and put it on it to see if there was any kind of a reaction. Now he said that to really test it they would need to take Josh's spit and run it through a machine that takes it down to it's purest most concentrated form, but he just wanted to see. Josh thought it was funny that he got to spit on me. It wasn't a big reaction, but there was a reaction. At first nothing I didn't think it was doing anything, then as it was on there longer it started to burn like acid and after a while it did begin to itch. It got a little red and the doctor I think was even surprised that it had even that much of a reaction. After that he was more interested in this theory that it was Josh that was causing an allergic reaction in me. 

So that is where we are at right now we go back to the Allergist next week and test some more. I still have a sore throat and now my husband feels bad kissing me! You may ask "How Do You Deal With All Of This?" We deal with it the best way we know how...we shake our heads and joke about it!!

Yet Another Pinterest Project!

Yes I know I have been a little overboard with Pinterest lately...but I always see things like this and think I can do that....but it NEVER materialized to much more then that statement! So I saw this awhile ago and thought that shouldn't be too hard. Oh and by the way these are bookmarks. They are super easy and made with things I already had. All I had to buy was the little clamp that connects it to the ribbon, which found at Walmart for a pack of 10 for $2.00!!! The charms are off of old necklaces that have broken or are just old and I don't wear anymore! I used velvet ribbons so they could grip in the books and not slid out. It took maybe an hour and I think they are super cute!

The World According To Abby...

I was driving my girls to gymnastics today and half way there Abby announces, "I am going to start wearing boots Oct. 1st!" Elizabeth asks, " Why?" Abby states,"Sister, because that's when it gets colder and you need to." Elizabeth declares, "I'm not going to start until later in Oct." Abby somewhat asks and somewhat just states, "Mom, when can we change out our summer clothes to winter clothes I think we need to do it before Oct. 1st so that we are ready for Oct. 1st!" I ask, "Why Oct 1st?" Abby says with a bit of annoyance in her voice that I don't know the answer already, "MOM, because I already told you that is when it gets cold!"
WOW! That is all I have to say. I don't know who taught that kid the seasons but she already knows what she should wear for each of them, and when to start getting ready!!!

My Ultimate Crafting Project!!

 I have been wanting to do more craft projects lately and have been a little frustrated with having to drag all of my stuff out of the storage closet set it all up then after drag it all back! I have decided I need my own space. I went to Josh and my mom and told them I need my own space in this house that I can do with what I want! Josh suggested a room down in the basement in my dad's old shop. Now he has suggested this before and I have declined it, and these have been my reasons....It has been filled with my dad's old stuff, our many boxes and many many many spiders!!! I don't like bugs, and I didn't want to hang out in a room that gave me the creeps...but Josh made a good point that I would be able to do WHAT I WANT in this room and that once it was cleaned and sprayed that it wouldn't be so creepy! So This is my new Craftroom....well the before pictures because I have just gotten started on it. Josh and I have now taken most of everything out of it I just need to start cleaning it up and I'm going to be painting some of the things in here. I'm going to paint this filing cabinet and make it cute! There is a sink and a drinking fountain in here!

 This big wood thing I going to try to paint it and fix it up to use for storage of all my crafts.

I have been on pinterest looking at craftrooms and getting ideas of what I can do in this room. I am excited to see how this all turns out and hopefully this will become the room that I have been dreaming about! I will let you know how it turns out!

The ONLY Way Josh Will Get Me To Eat Sushi!!

Another Pinterest Project Complete! I have been on such a high of energy for projects and I know it will not last so I've been trying to get it all in before the bottom falls out from my surge of energy!! So I found this on Pinterest the other day and thought that it would be the perfect surprise for Josh. 

Josh LOVES sushi. He has even tried to convince me that his Doctor has told him to go eat more of it. Every time we go out on a date and he is planning it....guess where we go!!! I on the other hand, to put it mildly, HATE sushi! So on our dates I pretty much just sit there and watch him eat....

So I thought this is a way that we could enjoy sushi together!!! And this is the ONLY way I will ever enjoy the stuff....

 I made so much that I wrapped some up for Brad Godfrey, Josh's sushi partner! His wife also doesn't like the stuff and I thought she would get a kick out of it. The tag reads, "The ONLY way I will ever LOVE Sushi!!" I wrapped up one also for my sister's Cory and Celeste, they both LOVE sushi.

 The girls thought this was the best idea I could of come up with. They were so excited to eat sushi with chopsticks and just to be eating sushi...I don't think they understand that this isn't really sushi...but what ever! Elizabeth wants to take it in her lunch for school tomorrow so that she can tell the other kids that she eats sushi.

It was funny to watch the girls try to eat with the chopsticks. They did figure out how to get it into their mouths! I was kinda surprised that they just didn't give up and eat it with their hands, but they hung in there and didn't put the chopsticks down until they were completely done!!!

Project Complete!

I think that I must be nesting...can I be nesting even though I'm not pregnant? I am in the state of mind to finish ALL projects that I have thought about starting or started and haven't finished. I found this project on pinterest a while ago and with a LOT of help from Josh we made this for my long necklaces. I love that Josh helps me with MOST of my project ideas, and even does it without TOO much eye rolls!

I Think She Got Stung By A Bee...

Today I got a message from a friend of mine to call her she wanted to tell me a story about our two girls. She has a daughter the same age as Abigail and they are in the same class at school. I got the message but was in the middle of cooking the meat for dinner (I know shocked expressions, it doesn't happen very often but yes I do know how to cook) so I thought that I would just call her back after I dropped the girls off at gymnastics. Well on the way to gymnastics my friend sends me a text message picture of her daughter who was in a cast!! What! Now I really wanted to know what this story was all about. I asked Abby what she did today and she didn't really have a whole lot to say. So I call my friend back and she tells me that Abby and Tess, her daughter, were playing on the playground at 1st recess, with another little girl. Apparently Abby and the other girls were doing flips off of some bars and Tess wanted to try. Abby encouraged her to try and just told her to go really fast and she would flip....well....she did and she fell and well.....she broke her arm.
So when gymnastics was over I asked Abby, "So what happened at school today?"
She said, "Nothing."
I asked, "Did anything happen to Tess?"
She said "Um.........."
I asked, "Where you doing flips on the bars today?"
She gave a look and said, "Um............NO......" and then she hid behind me for a while.
I told her, "Tess broke her arm after doing a flip did you see her?"
She said, "I think she got stung by a bee!"
"WHAT?"
Abby went on, "Yea I think she got stung by a bee?"
And then it was my turn to say, "Ummmmm......."
After a while I got Abby to admit to being at the scene of the accident, but not to admit to seeing anything happen and certainly not to admit to telling Tess to go for it!!! Even after telling her that we weren't mad at her or that she wasn't in any trouble Abby still is not liking to be associated with anything to do with breaking anyone's arm....So of course Josh calls her bruiser now, just in case she didn't have anything to tell her therapist when she gets older!

Peter Piper And His Peppers!

 Now I don't think Josh and I will be winning any parenting awards after you read this....but it is really funny!

Josh got these little peppers from the gardener today. I guess they are REALLY hot. Elizabeth was looking through this magazine with Halloween costumes in it and wanted one that was $80. I of course asked her if she had $80 because I wasn't going to buy it. She had been working all day and earned $5 from my mom and had already saved $10...so she had $15. Josh told her if she ate one of these peppers and chewed it for 8 times (because she is 8) he would give her $5. She thought about it for a little while and decided it was worth it so that she would have $20.

SIDE NOTE: Elizabeth is a really good saver, she has saved her money and has paid for her own bike, and DS system! Now how she got the rest of the money for the bike was that she was only short about 10 or so dollars to buy the bike and Auntie Celeste told her she would give her $5 to eat a hot pepper...She ate it, She cried, and we paid for the rest of the bike. She swore she would never do that again....but now she only remembers that she got money for doing it and doesn't really remember the pain it took...good or bad who's to say?

 This is after just a few chews. The heat started to burn a bit...believe it got worse!

 We let her spit it out after only 8 chews but the burning just didn't stop after it was out of her mouth!!!

 We gave her milk to help with the burning...but she said root beer really helps more so she got some of that too.....believe me she started to milk it a little!

 Cory and her family came over that night and Josh gave the same offer to Cory's boys...however the price went down to $1.00! Josh was running out of money! The boys jumped on it not really understanding I think how hot the peppers where! This is CAL before the pepper got in his mouth!

 First BIT....

 He got more serious as the bits went on. He only had to chew 7 times because he is 7!

 He ran into the house screaming and ran to the bathroom first to run his mouth under the sink! We ran in after him to get him some milk too.

 He earned himself a dollar!

 Deacon on the other hand took it the hardest! He cried and asked why no one told him it was hot??? He wouldn't talk to Uncle Josh for a bit and doesn't think that is worth the money....

 But he took the dollar anyway!

These photos are awful but I took them with my phone and was running after the kid to catch them on it. Next time I need to be prepared with my camera so I can catch every painful expression....that is if these kids will fall for it again....

You know the Higbee's were probably right when they said Josh wasn't fit to be around children...but he does come up with some good entertainment!

I Am On A Roll!

I found this quote on Pinterest a while ago and showed my mom because I LOVED it so much. She too could relate and wanted me to cut the vinyl to put it up in her closet. That was like 6 months ago... but today I thought was a good day to start getting those projects done that I have said I would do but have put them off for one reason or another. This quote is for ALL shoe lovers!!!

Pinterest Project

I have finally done something from pinterest! I love pinning things on pinterest and I always think, "I can do that!" But no surprise I NEVER do that!!! Things are changing. Abby's school teacher's birthday is today and Abby wanted to get her something, I happened to be on pinterest when she told me and saw this vase made out of pencils thinking how cute and that I could so do that! A few dozen pencils and a whole lot of hot glue later I have come up with Abby's gift.  My mom helped me with the ribbons because lets face it she is a genius with ribbons. I had to blog about it because this maybe the one and only time I complete one of my pins from pinterest!!

Conversations Between Our Girls...

Elizabeth and Abby were in the car with Josh driving in a thunder and lightening storm. Elizabeth was very scared every time the lightening would come.

Abby asked Elizabeth, "Why are you so scared?"

Elizabeth answered, "Cause lightening can shock you and kill you!"

Abby thought about it for a second and then stated, "Well....you have a point!"

A Night Out With The Carnies

Lindon's school Carnival was tonight and the girls were soooo excited to go. I went and bought advanced tickets last week so that we would have them ready for tonight. I even sprang for the unlimited bounce house wrist bands...Elizabeth told me that I was the coolest mom ever (at least for now until she gets mad at me for making her do something terrible like her homework and then I quickly will fall from that pedestal)!!
We had a very busy Monday that was scheduled to the minute. From 2-3:30pm I had to bring a table and set up one of the booths for the carnival, after that from 3:30-4:30pm I ran Elizabeth over to activity days, then I picked her up and made her run into the house to change for gymnastics that started at 5pm until 6pm. From there I dropped the girls off at Josh's office to change so that he could bring them over to the carnival. I had to be there for my shift at the rocket booth.
When I got there the weather was not looking too good and all I could think of was that the girls better get their before it rains too hard. By the time Josh got there with the girls the thunder got a little too close to the carnival that it scared everyone enough that they shut the carnival down.(did I mention that our carnival is outside!) Josh says I had the biggest smile on my face when the announcement came that the carnival was ending early, at the same time big tear balls started to run down Abby's face. They had not done a single thing!!!!
They told everyone that they would give 2 tickets for every punch that wasn't used so the girls got in line to claim their tickets and prizes. That seemed to help Abby's mood a little. And I was told that we could keep our punch cards and wrist bands and just use them next year at the carnival ( now I just need to remember where I put them and that I have them)!!!!
Because we didn't get our carnie food also we decided to go out to eat. That also somewhat helped the girls moods. While at dinner Abby announces that she doesn't want to do gymnastics next year so that she can go to the carnival early just in case the weather is bad and so she doesn't miss it (That's my girl thinking ahead!)!
So even though we didn't get to have our annual night out with the carnies we look forward to next year because believe me Abby won't let us miss it twice!

We Have Got To Get Lazier Friends!

 Saturday late afternoon we went on a group date with some friends of ours. I love the date ideas that these guys come up with and in theory I think I can do anything...in reality my body can't keep up with them. So for the second time this week Josh and I were off on another bike ride...since the last one went so well! We rented Tandem bikes and went out for the best couples therapy Josh and I have had in a long time. This is a picture of all the girls.

 And this is a picture of all the guys...yes they can't follow simple instructions to stand in a line together. This was just a preview of the events to come!

 We started out a bit rocky...Josh yelled at me a few dozen times to start off the trip. On these bikes you have to work together and communicate with one another...it was the communication that we struggled with at first. But we adjusted seats and got the hang of working together...somewhat!

 By the end of the trip I got tired and decided Josh could do the rest of the work. This is how we got the hang of working together. It really worked out better!!

 After the adventurous bike ride we all went out to dinner. It was a lot of fun. I love this group they can even make couples therapy seem like fun!  

After dinner the "little Andersen's" and us went to get ice cream at the BYU creamery! We couldn't go through all that work and not leave the night without some ice cream! I just can't wait to see what these guys come up with for our next group date!

Girls Late Night

 When I picked the girls up from school on Thursday they were filled with so much excitement! Little did I know they were also filled with big plans!! They had been planning with their friends to have a "late night" over at our house. Now a "late night" is basically what I would call an old fashion sleepover but you don't sleep over you just stay at your friends house really late. I have found that a lot of parents don't let their kids sleep over at friends houses these days but they have invented this new thing of late night parties. Any way the girls asked me if they could have a "late night" with their friends Maddie and Kaitlyn Andersen on Friday night. I didn't care but made them ask Josh, since he is so not the night person. Josh has a bed time and feels that everyone should leave him alone after that time has been reached...that time is like 9pm! But Josh said sure and the girls were jumping with anticipation. We called up Amy Andersen to make sure Maddie and Kaitlyn could come and it was set. Elizabeth and Abby were so excited and off on their party planning. They had a schedule of things that they wanted to do which included games, a movie with popcorn, treats, getting their nails done, to mention a few. They are becoming the party planners already.

Friday after school came and I picked up all four girls from school. They get in the car and Elizabeth says, "Ok there are rules..." I'm thinking what? She is laying down the rules...this is so my kid, because of course in every civilized society there are always rules! By that point I couldn't wait to hear what these rules were, because I hadn't set any yet and I wanted to know how well I have trained this kid....She went on "...Rule #1 NO FIGHTING...", and while she is saying this she is looking at Maddie and Kaitlyn! "...Rule #2 No cheating on the games...", this one automatically ruled out Josh on getting to play any games with them, because he ALWAYS cheats! She only got to 2 rules before she got sidetracked by talking about all the activity they had planned to do.

We go home and of course it was snack time. They picked out snacks and then were off. Kaitlyn and Abby decided they needed to be in their PJ's right off, and changed. The older girls were off outside to play fairies! They played inside and outside then decided they wanted to go swimming. I watched them swim until Josh came home from work with the pizza. 

 We ate pizza and the girls declared they didn't need manners and proceeded to try to gross each other out. After dinner they wanted dessert but I hadn't made it yet so I quickly started cookie/brownies. Once that was in the oven we got started on their nails. They picked out their paint colors for their fingers and toes. After girly painting was done they were off to play a game, remembering that they couldn't cheat of course.

 After the game we started the movie, Mirror Mirror. The girls popped popcorn and got their drinks and were set. We stopped the movie for a little bit when the cookie/brownies were done and Josh got back with the ice cream to put on top. Once they were completely filled with sugar we sent them down stairs to finish the movie. By this time is was getting dangerously close to Josh's bed time and he was getting tired. We planned to have the Andersen girls home by no later then 10pm but the movie took longer then planned and it was more like 10:30pm before the movie was over and the pillow fighting began, apparently pillow fighting doesn't fall under the rule #1 of no fighting. When we went into the theater the girls were all running around not looking tired at all except for Abby who was asleep on the cushions.

We gathered up everyone's stuff and put our girls to bed and were off to take the Andersen girls home. We get into the car and Josh is trying to help these girls out by giving them advise, it went something like this..."Girls I know your dad pretty well and I know that if you guys are at all grumpy or smart mouth for the next few day because of staying up late that you will NEVER get to do something like this again..." Which in my opinion is pretty good advise, but to an 8 and 6 year old they didn't want to listen and just proceeded to pretend that they couldn't hear Josh, which made me laugh a little. Finally he gave up and said oh well I tried!
I think the girls all had fun for their first "late night" party! Maybe there is a future in party planning for these girls after all...