A little humor

Do you ever feel like this is your day?

This is from a card that we sent a family member when he was going through a rough time and was having some health problems. I just thought it fit and was the perfect thing to add a little humor to our lives. I think we can all use that right now!!

The best thing we can do is find a way to continue to laugh and enjoy life even when we are facing some tough challenges! I love you all and hope you can always find something positive to look forward to.

If the front of the card hasn't done it for you, then I have also added a picture of myself when I am getting ready in the morning. My boys always find it hillarious. Eveidently it never gets old because they laugh everytime they see me like this:

May you all find something to laugh about today!!!!

A Dose of Reality

This is another one of my posts where I feel as though I need to rant a little about something. Everyone is talking about health care reform and that we need to change how health insurance is handled in America. I am going to be very candid and blunt about our situation and hope that some one reads this that can understand and help move this arduous process of democracy forward so that people like us can finally have some relief and decent health insurance.

We have insurance through my husbands employer and we are only offered one option. For our family to be insured we pay roughly $600 per month (this does not include the dental, that is more). We then pay for everything out of pocket to meet our deductible of $5,000 per person. In simple terms, we are paying hundreds of dollars just so we can say we have insurance and we have an insurance card but that is about it. As long as we stay in their network we do receive a small discount for our office visits and for some of our medications. The only reason we kept insurance was because one of my husband's medications can cost close to our premiums alone. However, it does nothing for my medicine that I need.

My husband is Diabetic and I have been diagnosed with a Pituitary Tumor, PCOS and Fibromyalgia (I am still going through testing because there is still something wrong and my doctors can't figure out what is going on but they keep leaning toward Lupus). We are both at the doctors office a lot, sometimes weekly. When we go we have to pay our co-pay and then we get the bill for the rest of the visit amount after the "discount". We owe for a lot of visits, labs and other tests (if you know me then you know what the other tests were). My youngest son also has some birth defects that have required him to have several surgeries. Luckily we have been blessed and led to Shriners Hospital for his care. Without that we wouldn't have been able to get him the healthcare that he needs!

Just this week I had to fill 3 of my medicines and pick up insulin for my husband. My total for just 4 refills was $221.00. We are living on one income because I can't work any more. We do have a health saving account but we use the full amount plus some every month. We probably could change the amount we put into that account, however, we do need to be able to put gas in our cars and buy food and keep our utilities on and pay rent.

Does anyone up on the hill in our Capital realize what it is like for families like mine? They might think they know but they have no clue. They are busy passing bills to give us a State Gun. They are trying to balance the State and Federal budget but are any of them willing to take a pay cut? I have heard many stories of people who have done just that so that the business can carry on and still keep their employees working so they can still have some income. I'm sure they are hearing these stories just like I am but do they really appreciate what the middle class is enduring right now?

In order for us to survive after I had to quit my job we moved from our home that we were leasing and wanted to buy and moved into a 2 bedroom apartment. We got rid of our gas guzzling SUV and got a more economical car. Odds are that we won't go on a vacation again this year and it has been 8 years since we had a true vacation. We are truly in the middle class and just out of reach to receive any government help for our family. Luckily we have been able to receive help from our Church.

It is very humbling to admit this publicly and I am hoping that it doesn't come back to hurt my family, but no one is really talking about healthcare too much anymore and the changes that President Obama tried to make are now tied up in court. We all know how fast that moves! I agree with the fact that we shouldn't be told that we have to have insurance, especially if we can't afford it. In the mean time, we will still be paying top dollar to just have an insurance card in our wallet so we can receive a small "discount". I wouldn't even mind paying that much for our premiums if it covered something more than giving us an insurance card.

My heart goes out to those families that have it worse than us. I know that we are blessed and fortunate to have a home to live in and that it is in a good neighborhood. However, just think what we could do if we didn't owe thousands of dollars to doctors and a hospital. We wouldn't have to struggle to buy food or pay our rent. We could buy shoes and clothes for our children when they need them instead of making them wait until we have a little extra.

We need our Government to please, please notice what is going on!

Please take the time to work together to do something other than bicker about illegal immigration and making sure we have a State Gun!!

Please take a moment to focus on what is affecting the Citizens that elected you. But then what do you care, healthcare can wait and move slowly through the court system because you already have wonderful insurance through the government!

Grounded for a Year!

Taylor had a sleepover at his friends house last night and I started remembering all of my childhood sleepovers. We always had so much fun and I only got into trouble one time. My friend Rachel would have a sleepover every year for her birthday and I looked forward to that all year long. It ranked up there with all the holidays. Her dad would let us make our own French bread pizza's. I had never done that before and once I had it I couldn't wait until the next year so I could make my own pizza and watch movies with my friends and of course celebrate Rachel's birthday.

The first sleepover I really remember having at my house was when I was still fairly young and I think I had all of my close friends there; my close friends were Christy, Rachel, Tonya, and Masina. I remember this sleepover because in the middle of the night Christy woke me up scared to death that there was a bear in the house. It took me a minute to realize what she was talking about and as I woke up and became more aware I could hear my dad snoring. He could snore and snore. I never thought about what it sounded like but that night it really did sound like a big bear growling. Once I was able to explain that to her she relaxed a little and we were able to laugh about it.

When I was in the 5th grade I made a new friend and invited her to sleep over. We got to sleep in our trailer out in back of our house. I was even nice and let my sister come with us (I'm pretty sure there was some heavy persuasion there from my parents). We got all settled and played games and played house and all those things that we could come up with being all alone and feeling big. I still don't know what possessed us to do what we did next but it ended badly. My friend suggested that we go play outside, it was about one in the morning, and even though my sister tried to get me to stay inside the trailer I didn't listen. We all ended up sneaking out and never did leave the back yard because both my sister and I knew we shouldn't be out there. As stealthy as we thought we were my mom heard us outside and watched what we were doing from her bedroom window. I don't even remember what we did or why it was so important to be out in the middle of the night. I think we just walked around and tried to be quiet, we were such dare devils. Not! In the morning after we took my friend home, we got it. We were informed that mom had been watching us the whole time and since we broke the rules we were to be grounded for a year from sleepovers. A whole year!!! I thought that was extreme since we never left the yard, but my parents didn't waver at all and for one whole year we did not get to sleepover anywhere. When it came time for my favorite sleepover at Rachel's, I was lucky to be able to go over for a couple hours and then I had to come home and leave the party.

After that I never tried to sneak around anywhere, I usually always told my mom what I was doing and where I would be (even in high school; I know I was such a dork).

Taylor just got home from his sleepover and was telling me what they did and how much fun he had. He also told me that his friends little brother was trying to get him to play a video game that Taylor knows he is not supposed to be playing. I am so proud of him right now for saying no and leaving the room. Both of my boys are like that, they know what they can and can't do and so far they have always had the strength to follow those rules. I wish I had been that way when I was young. I wouldn't have been grounded for a year!!

My Love

When I think about how we met, I think of what a miracle it was that we were brought together. My best friend from high school, Michele, met this amazing guy, Adrian, and they got engaged. They were both insisting that I needed to meet his friend when he got home from his mission. I had a month to think about meeting Kenny and thought it would be fun to meet but I hadn't been going to church for years and Kenny was coming home from his mission. I knew it wouldn't go anywhere. We meet on December 4, 1993. We went to a Jazz game with Michele and Adrian and ended up having so much fun. We just clicked that night and it scared me so much. We had our first kiss that night and then we sat in the backseat of Adrian's car and talked for hours.

I truly thought that I had scared him away once we were done talking. I shared everything about me that night, I figured he had the right to know before we went to much further. He wasn't scared and he called me the next morning to ask if he could come over and see me again. We spent the day watching football and then went to see a movie. After the movie we went to see the lights on Temple Square and Kenny told me that when he was ready to get married it would only happen in there. I already knew that he was the one but thought that I could never just get married in the Temple. I told him that night that it had been nice to know him but that I didn't think this was going to work. I am so thankful that he didn't give up on me so quickly.

He proposed to me on December 17, 1993 and we got marriage on April 16, 1994. Our engagement was short but we had a lot to talk about, pray about and try to figure out. Kenny insisted that we get married and then he could be there by my side so we could work together to be sealed in the Temple. He was right and was so patient. We were able to be sealed in the Salt Lake Temple in May 1995.

In April we will celebrate our 17th Anniversary. From the first day we met we have had many obstacles to overcome, but through all of it he has been there by my side to help me or for me to help him. Kenny has been amazing since our first little butting of the heads on our second date. I didn't know that I could love someone any more than I did when we met 17 years ago but I have learned that love can change and grow and become something so much more. Even though we aren't perfect and we can argue and butt heads, we love each other so much and have learned over the years how to talk to each other so that we can understand each other.

Kenny, thank you so much for being so patient and loving over the years. Thank you for always being there and taking such good care of me. I love you so much! You are such a good and loving husband and an amazing father. Thank you for taking your spare time to research and learn about my new diagnoses. It helps me to know that you are trying to understand and you have been so patient with me. I thank our Heavenly Father every day for making sure we came together and for blessing me with such a good husband and friend to spend my life with.

Valentines Party

We decided to go to our Wards Valentines Party/dance. Our Bishop is in a band and they were playing, I thought it would be fun to at least go see out Bishop perform. I've never had a Bishop that played in a band before. It was crazy trying to get out the door (as usual) and we were running late. Our evening ended up being so random that I just have to share it and I'll start with our conversation in the car.

I honestly don't remember how we got on the subject of end of the world stuff, but we did and it all went downhill from there....

Kelton: I'm ready for it and I'm going commando!

Mom: honey, you need to be careful how you say that because there's more than one meaning to commando.

Kelton: (probably blushing) I know mom, I meant ready to fight

Mom: Oh, good. I'm glad to know that you plan to be wearing underwear! (I love embarrassing my boys)

Our converstation quickly changed to the Dodge commercial that was on the radio and how the announcer had a very manly voice.

Kenny: Well it should sound manly, it's Sam Elliot.

Kelton: What has he been in?......Oh, was it Ghost Rider?

Taylor: Yes and in the Hulk

Kelton: Yea, he was the General

Taylor: The 4 star General, duh! (it's all about the details, we must have them right)

I sure hope we aren't the only ones out there that can have such random conversations in such a short period of time. Even if we are the only weird ones that can go from one topic to another in the matter of the light changing, I love it!

We finally get to the church (and this really is only about a 5 minute ride) and head into the party. Kenny and Taylor had decided real quick that they were there to hold up the wall. Kelton disappeared as soon as we were there and found his friends. and I was left to dance and sing "alone". I say "alone" because I was standing next to Kenny but I don't think he even twitched a finger. It was fun to watch the little kids dance and play and the group of young men that Kelton was with just stand and hold up the other wall across from us. They finally loosened up and at least started moving around and being silly.

The band started to play a slow song and one of my friends decided that we needed to have a group of us "older" couples go dance, but it had to be a group. That finally peeled Kenny away from the wall and we danced to one song. However, while we were dancing Taylor walked by and said, "Get it on!" Kenny and I cracked up laughing but I'm still not sure how I feel about my son telling us to get it on. We had a wonderful time visiting and dancing.

We ended our evening by being informed by both our boys that it was disturbing to see us dancing. I think they'll get it one day and I hope their children give them the same crap that they gave us.

This was our first Valentines Party and I don't think I'll forget it. How could I ever forget an evening that ends with a mothers curse being dished out?

He was the one

About a year ago Taylor told us a story while we were driving home from the grocery store. I will never forget this story and have wanted to share it but thought it would go better if I had some kind of visual to help paint the picture of what Taylor was saying. I asked Kenny to draw a picture but he keeps putting me off, I think he just doesn't feel comfortable with drawing the subject matter (you will understand soon). Taylor got this shirt for Christmas this last year and when I was folding laundry this morning I realized it was the perfect picture to use to tell this story.

Now picture this plane as a little sperm wearing a fedora and holding a tommy gun (you can actually take away the cigar, for once he didn't mention smoking) and you'll be ready to read this story about how he was the one that was going to make it.

We had been talking about going on vacations and staying in hotels and both boys insisted that neither of them have stayed in a hotel. I was trying to give them examples of different trips we have gone on and what hotels we stayed in when I mentioned a trip to Yellowstone before Taylor was born. All of a sudden from the back seat, Taylor announces that he was a sperm! We all just sat there for a second not knowing how to respond. Taylor then adds, "I was a sperm and I was going to be the one to make it...shew, shew, shew (that was the noise he added while making his finger move back and forth like it was swimming). "That's right," he said, "I was a sperm and I was going to be the one to make it. So I put on my fedora and pulled out my tommy gun and took out anyone who got in my way...shew, shew, shew!"

The silence didn't last long we were all laughing so hard that Kenny could barely keep driving. I went around for days saying shew, shew, shew and making my pointy finger bend back and forth like it was swimming. I still tell this story a lot because I still love how creative Taylor can be and I have to brag. I also love seeing everyone's responses, they are all so varied.

I am very happy that Taylor is the one that made it and that we have him as a part of our family. Life is never boring!

Royal Ring

I got my Royal Replica engagement ring today. I know, dorky huh? I have always been fascinated with anything to do with royalty. It may have all started with always being called everyone's princess while I was growing up. My Aunt Donna even had a shirt made for me; it was powder blue and it said Princess in pink writing. I loved that shirt and wore it all the time.

When I was little I would pretend to be princess Aurora from Sleeping Beauty. I had a Sleeping Beauty book that came with a record that read the book to you, it also had all the music on it and I would dance around the living room singing "I know you". I still have that book and its record. I still love Princess Aurora and even now as an adult I get sad that they never have her with the rest of the Princess's.

I remember watching Princess Diana's wedding and wanted that wedding dress. I still remember how big everything was; her big dress, the big church, the big (huge) crowds. She was so elegant and was up to her death. She was a great example of how to serve and love everyone. I never knew what her engagement ring looked like until her son proposed to his girlfriend, I immediately fell in love with it. So, when I saw that I could order a replica of it I jumped on the internet and ordered it. It took forever to get here, but I have it on right now and love it. One more thing to "encourage" me to keep thinking I'm a princess.

Later, I got to have my own Princess day on the day that I got married. I had my big heavy beaded dress with the long train. It had so much beading all the way down my train and all across the top of the dress. It was off the shoulder and everything I had dreamed of. I even had a matching beaded tiara with a long veil that went to my knees. I even had matching earrings and choker. I loved that day! I did have a small bit of guilt because everyone else was running around like crazy getting everything set up and ready for the wedding and reception, but they wouldn't let me help. I was so pampered and doted on that day. I went and got a manicure that morning, then Kenny's Aunt Katherine did my hair and then it was time to head over to the church and get my dress on. I was so nervous that I was passing back and forth waiting for our ceremony to start and had rolled my train up into a not. My sister and dad had a fun time unwrapping my train and straitening it out so I would be ready.

Now I officially fall into that group of Americans that love and follow that Royal English Family. I am now one of those people who the English are hoping for right now, they have created guided tours for us Americans so we can see all the places Prince William took Kate on dates. As much as I would love to go over and see everything, I will be one of us watching it all at home on T.V. I will be watching on April 29th with my ring on!

I am excited for Kate to have her princess day and then for her to go on as a Princess. I'm also glad that she is the one who will be carrying those responsibilities and I get to go on being my dorky self with my somewhat simple life and my replica princess engagement ring.