Catching Up

Wow!! Time has flown since last time I posted! It has been BUSY BUSY BUSY!!!
Our holidays went great! We had a blast! The weather was for the eskimos but we stayed inside mostly. haha
Traveling for the holidays was cold and scary. We went to my brother Jason's house for Christmas dinner and gift exchange party on Christmas day. The snow and wind were out of this world. Thank goodness Nick was there with us or we would have just stayed home and missed seeing the family on Christmas day.

Then a couple days after Christmas we drove to Boise to spend the week after Christmas with Nick's familiy. The roads were terrible, and it took us 11 hours to get from Rexburg to Boise. YIKES!!! And Miss Jodi already doesn't like bad roads. We made it fine tho, no troubles so that is good.

The next morning after we got here we were scheduled to do Christmas with Nick's family and Maddie's knee swelled all up and she developed a weird rash of purple spots on her legs, so we took her in to the doctor and they sent us straight to the hospital. That was scary. They ran all kinds of tests. The docs thought it might be spinal menengitus (I have no idea how to spell that) but the test results came back negative (THANK GOD!!!!). So they kept running tests and concluded that she had some weird thing I can't pronounce or even begin to spell but in a nutshell it was an allergic reaction from her immune system to a virus she was exposed to at some point. She never had anything that had manifest. So we are still not sure where it came from?? It usually follows strep throat or an ear infection. So we were in the hospital for a few days taking care of that, and now after a few weeks she seems to be back to normal. We have to watch for it to come back within the next 4 months, but so long as she doesn't get an ear infection or strep throat she should be fine according to the doctor. So we just have to keep a close watch on her. She is doing really well now tho, back to her normal self, full of mischief and giggles. haha

So we are still in Boise. We have decided we like the weather so much better here we are staying. LOL There is a little patch of snow out in the back yard that doesn't get direct sunlight, and the rest is grass. There are even some spring flowers coming up in the front yard! Wow!!! And back in Rexburg there is still like 8 feet of snow. Not missing that at all!!!

Holidays

It's the most wonderful time of the year...ding...dong...ding...dong...ok, so that's me singing in blog format...hahaha
I LOVE the holidays between the yumma treats and shopping for myloved ones, and wrapping presents....WAIT!!! Dunno if I like wrapping...ok, I enjoy all of it but the back problems it causes from sitting there wrapping endlessly for hours. I like the way they look when they are all wrapped and under the tree tho...hahaha And I love the excitement in the kids' eyes when they are thinking about what they want and Santa and all that fun stuff.
Leesie is asking a lot of questions this year...I think this will be her last year with Santa. She's about that age when you "find out" the truth.

Maybe I'm the meanest mom in the whole world, but this year I decided instead of the kids making ginormous lists for Santa this year and becoming demanding and expecting too much, I had them make lists of what they want to GIVE to other people for Christmas. I think that will be more effective in their holiday spirit than the usual me me me attitude. Perhaps I'm stealing a little of their childhood Christmas fun, but I just want them to be more thankful for what others do for them and I guess the way to do that is to have them give to others.

We are making almost everything homemade this year. We have gone shopping a few times, but most of our gifts this year are straight from the heart...that's my favorite kind anyway. I love to get homemade stuff because I know how much time and effort goes into those things.
So we had some girlz pictures done a few weeks ago. Maddie would not hold still for the pictures...she kept running off and doing crazy wild things...she is a HANDFULL!!! But she is also so much fun!

I hope the holidays are bringing you all much fun and joy and happiness. I hope you will all have a chance to spend time with those you love thru the holidays!

The Big "D" Word

Life has its seasons and change seems to be the only consistant thing in this world. I always hate to see a season end, but sometimes you can't help but to do what you know is right, no matter how difficult it is.

Robert and I were together for 11 years and married for 10. We had a lot of fun together and got along great usually. We were separated for almost 2 years so after a lot of thinking and evaluating I decided it was just time to let go. The past two years have been a roller coaster for us. We had a brand new baby when all hell broke loose at home and tho it has been difficult to adjust to being a single parent, I do my best to help the girls have a lot of fun, and try not to let life get us down when the rocks hit us in the face and knock us over. Robert has been really good to continue helping us out financially and he has consisantly visited the kids as well.

The divorce wasn't anything nasty or horrible...bittersweet as we discussed all of the details of the divorce and reminisced about the good times. But it is for the best that we ended things and hopefully we will both be able to move on and be happy in our separate lives.

It's really tough to let go of someone you have invested your entire life into and were once so madly in love with, especially after a whole decade and a year of engagement before that. We still get along great, just couldn't be together anymore. I still care about him and hope the best for him. I still love his family dearly and hope to be able to maintain friendships with all of them forever.

So it's officially final now and I just thought I would post a little message to tribute the past decade of our lives together. We have had many good times together, and brought two adorable, precious little girls into this world together. So much for happily ever after, but we will get through it no doubt! We gave it our best shot! There are way too many pictures to post, but here are a few family pictures over the years.

Trick or Treat!

We carved our pumpkins on Halloween day as a home schooling project. Leesie did hers without any help at all. I must say she did a fantastical job!! I had a little help carving mine, by Maddie. She is a really big helper! hahaha I spent the entire time very nervous that she would cut herself, but she did fine.
Then we got into our costumes...Leesie wanted to be "The Bride of Death" and we had a lot of fun coming up with her outfit. It was all stuff we already had, so yay, we didn't have to go spend $40 on a costume. hahaha She really got into characater too. I think I am going to have to get her into acting classes...she is so animated she could be her own cartoon. LOL
Maddie had several costume changes before we settled on this one. She has a really cute ladybug costume that would have looked so cute, but when I put it on her, she freaked out and wanted it off. So we tried "Little Miss America" in a beautiful dress, and she didn't want that either, so we ended up as a little cowgirl. She seemed to be ok with this one...hahaha She liked all the shiny pretty stuff on it. hahaha
Jessie (my lil sis) wanted to be a vampire. That was easy enough. She really played up the scary face thing. I tried to talk her out of those gloves to go with my costume, but she was being stingy. LOL hahaha She's growing up way too fast!
My mom and I joined Jason and Josh in the band that night and got a little crazy! hahaha (Got? Um....we are always a little crazy, especially on stage.) We had a lot of fun and rocked the house until the cows came home...acutally until the lights turned off and they kicked us out. LOL hahaha

Love one an "udder". Chelle made this costume for Jason to wear in the band several years ago, and since he went as a cowboy (which is not dressing up for him) this year, she decided to wear his cow costume and use the udder sack as a bag to hand candy out of to the kids. She even passed out milky ways....LOL hahaha So clever!!

Trunk or treating at the church in Roberts. Then we slipped over to relatives' homes and went trick or treating. We still have left over candy and it's over a week later...I know...I am horrible at keeping up with this blog. Sue me. I'm busy. LOL hahaha

And I went as a flapper girl from the roaring 20's. I even did the charleston on the dance floor when I didn't think anyone was watching. LOL Oooooooohhhhh!!!! Scary!!!